ROGER N MCDERMOTT

Recent statements by Russian Defense Minister, Anatoliy Serdyukov, indicate that the experiment with contract personnel in the armed forces has finally failed. Serdyukov outlined some of the reasons for these failings, ranging from low pay to how they were recruited and noted the problem of retention.

ROGER N MCDERMOTT

As a consequence of Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov’s military reform, the Russian officer corps is arguably enduring the most fundamental changes and challenges that it has faced in the past two centuries.

ROGER N MCDERMOTT

In the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, as the political and military structures examined the lessons learned from the campaign, the most ambitious, radical military reform agenda since the Great Patriotic War was announced.

YURI PANASIK

The world financial crisis is a real challenge not only for Russia but also for the regional integration organizations and bilateral alliances in the former Soviet Union where Russia pretends to be the leader. This offers new opportunities as well as new challenges to Russia.

SVYATOSLAV POLKHOV

The Democrats’ coming to power in the U.S.A. is highly conducive to unexpected and far-reaching consequences for Russia’s foreign-policy interests. Moscow decided to pursue a preemptive tactic giving much money to Kyrgyzstan, actually in exchange for the closure of the American base in its territory.

VIKTOR KREMENIUK

The rivalry between Moscow and Washington regarding the post-Soviet space will be still urgent under President Obama, but it won’t be crucial as it was under the previous Administration. A certain compromise is possible to achieve.

DMITRY VYDRIN

Russia-Ukraine gas dispute has had several consequences for the Ukrainian politics. As regards tactics, it led to polarization of views in the Ukrainian political establishment and in the Parliament.

VASILE TARLEV

I believe that the initiative to sign the new European Security Treaty that is to unite all the states of the Euro-Atlantic world fully meets Moldova’s foreign-policy doctrine. Moreover, Moldova is interested in creating such a mechanism more than other European countries.

KIRILL GAVRILOV, ELENA KOZIEVSKAYA, ELENA YATSENKO

One of the major resources that the New Independent States inherited from the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union is the Russian language. During several generations the Russian people have put all the huge human and financial resources in its development. What is the current position and what are the prospects of the Russian language in the NIS?

MARIA YULIKOVA

Two months of blaming rhetoric between Russia and the US leaders, prompted by the August Caucasus crisis, nearly annihilated all the diplomatic achievements in the relationships between the two countries of the current millennium, and caused frustration among the diplomats on both sides.

DMITRY TRENIN, ALEXEI ARBATOV

According to Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia has changed the world. This may be an exaggeration, but in fact the war has changed the Russian foreign policy, it deeply influences Russia’s economy and Moscow's relations with the West and the New Independent States.

ALEKSANDR RAHR

The USA, where the presidential election campaign goes full swing, tries to take the toughest possible line with Russia. In many respects that is why some American government officials seek to support Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili.

ANDREY GROZIN

It is known that at the recent SCO summit, which took place in Dushanbe on August 28, the Central Asian states and China publicly interpreted Russia’s military operation in the Caucasus in a restrained way, but on the whole Moscow's actions were supported.

VIKTOR KREMENIUK

The Caucasian conflict indicates intense rivalry between the USA and Russia for the post-Soviet space. Russia still hopes to put an end to the expansion of the U.S. influence.

ALEKSEY MITROFANOV, KONSTANTIN SIMONOV

"I would like to mention three “agents” that can improve the situation with the Russian language in the post-Soviet space. Those include our government, NGOs and Russian companies", Konstantin Simonov.

OLEKSIY POLTORAKOV

The maiden foreign trip of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indicates that Moscow prefers to unite with the East against the West.

ALEKSANDR RAHR

Vladimir Putin’s visit to France is quite unique. In a week new Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is to arrive in France and Germany. It looks like Prime Minister Putin overshadows President Medvedev. During his visit to Paris Vladimir Putin shows the world leaders that he is in charge of the Russian foreign policy.

ANDREY GROZIN

Medvedev’s visit to Kazakhstan was fruitful. Some said it would be a reconnaissance and ceremonial visit. But as a matter of fact, a lot of practical issues were addressed, certain agreements were reached.

ANDREY KOKOSHIN, FIRST DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE DUMA COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND HIGH TECHNOLOGIES; FYODOR LUKYANOV, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF "RUSSIA IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS" MAGAZINE

"The change consists in the fact that Russia can no longer influence the domestic policy of its neighbors. When that became clear Russia chose the pragmatic approach," Fyodor Lukyanov.

MARIA BOTCHKOVA, DMITRY UDALOV

While the whole world is watching the development of the American presidential race, the Russian president elections seem to be simple: the Kremlin’s candidate Dmitry Medvedev is supposed to win it.

ELENA YATSENKO

So far the Russian diaspora has been gaining financial support via social organizations, in the circumstances of lack of transparency in distributing the resources, which impeded the creation of a resource base and caused a cohort of “compatriots by profession” to appear.

ELENA YATSENKO

According to the official data, provided by a number of international organizations, at present 233 million people on Earth speak Russian, with 164 million having it as their native language and 69 million as their second language.

Explosions take place in Russia again. The last week of March started with terrorist acts at the Moscow metro stations which were followed by blasts in the Dagestani city of Kizlar. The horror spread from the metro to the whole city.

The protest actions, which the Russian extraparliamentary opposition had scheduled for March 20, were held as planned, they surprised or frightened nobody. Just as it had been expected, the activists of many organizations supporting the Wrath Day took to the streets… but saw there only the policemen, journalists and each other.

The failure of the Russian team in the Vancouver Olympic Games would not have become a serious problem, if the Russian authorities had not spoken about the sports in its propaganda for many years. The successes of the Russian football and hockey players were presented as a proof that Russia reacquires the great power status in sports, if not in world politics and economy.

I’ve recently realized that the Soviet hypocrisy and doublethink are better for me than the modern cynicism. Why was it banned during the Leonid Brezhnev era to write about the crimes committed under former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin? Because the Communist party functionaries understood at heart such things should be ashamed of and, in a sense, they admitted the guilt of the Communist regime.

Many years ago German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck said about the Russians: “They harness their horses slowly but they drive them fast.” Strange as it may seem, Russians like this aphorism very much. As a matter of fact, the fast driving justifies any protracted, unsuccessful and stupid efforts to “harness” the progress chariot. On the other hand, it is exactly those perpetual delays that make our “fast driving” necessary.

Lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were killed a year ago in Moscow. They were killed in broad daylight, in the center of Moscow, thus defiance was bid to the society and, in a sense, to the Russian authorities. The Kremlin officials disliked Stanislav Markelov, but they do not like disorders and scandals even more. So, this time, the authorities tried to solve the crime. Two suspects have been arrested.

If a train was blown up in Western Europe (as was the case with the “Nevsky Express” train when it travelled between the capital Moscow and St Petersburg last week), the railway companies would suffer in a much larger measure – many people would return the tickets they bought. In Russia the situation is totally different, and nobody is going to induce the passengers to buy tickets offering them the New Year discounts.

On Thursday Evening, when looking for the 2009 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, I found his previous Address which he made in 2008. After having read the two texts I was perplexed. In some parts of his message the President repeats what he said in 2008. Why does he do so?

The modern architecture is inhumane, it does not fit into the historical and cultural context and destroys any ensemble. In other words, it is important not only what has been destroyed, but also what has been built. Constructing a modern architecture building in a historical district is destroying this district. More than that, this kind of destruction is deliberate and mercenary, as the destroyers know what they do.

At first, I did not understand why that article should be read and discussed, since many various articles are published every week. So, I refused to take part in the round tables discussing the article “Russia, go ahead!” by Dmitry Medvedev. Having looked through it, I found neither original ideas, nor refined language, nor some other advantages that would make the article better than all the Internet publications.

The subject of the global financial crisis is getting less and less interesting. Many articles about the crisis have been published and a lot of conclusions have already been drawn. It’s another matter that the conclusions differ from the decisions that are being made. Meanwhile, Russian officials as well as ordinary people would like to hear good news. It would be so nice to arrange a little holiday against the background of the crisis.

The case against police major Denis Yevsyukov is ready to be taken to court. Former head of the Moscow Police Department “Tsaritsyno”, who shot down people in “Ostrov” supermarket in April 2009, is charged with murder of two people and attempted murder of 21 people. The final version of the indictment stresses the fact that Denis Yevsyukov attempted to kill policemen seeking to arrest him.

For the time being Russia is not haunted by the ghost of Communism, but there is a more modest and pragmatic ghost of Nationalization. Those talks started at the beginning of the summer 2009 when some enterprises forming company towns were closed down, and in August when the main assembly line of the AvtoVAZ automobile plant stopped working, the issue of nationalization of this former Soviet industry giant was raised at the trade union protest rally.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Africa. Speaking to the local audience, he said that Europe was indebted to the black continent, which had been colonized in the XIX century. At the same time Dmitry Medvedev noted that Russia itself wouldn’t pay a debt, because it had never been a colonial power.

Over the past twenty years the liberal social and political essays have written that under capitalism the economy must have nothing to do with the activities of the state that can damage the economic development by interfering in the economy. One can come to the conclusion that the Russian government is not responsible for the crisis at all, in particular since the crisis is global.

The diarchy in the Russian politics is a permanent problem for analysts, propagandists and moralists. Who is the head of state? The President or the Prime Minister? And what kind of our system is? The superpresidential republic or the moderate constitutional monarchy? In fact, these questions are not the most unpleasant.

It seems that in this spring not only weather but also the political climate in Russia is getting warm. Although those symptoms are unconvincing, they continue to multiply turning particular cases into a tendency. The crime committed by police major Denis Yevsyukov, who has shot down innocent people in a Moscow supermarket, led to a dismissal of Vladimir Pronin, head of the Moscow police.

The economic crisis makes the social movements more efficient, but the same is not true for the Russian local authorities. The functionaries’ fear of losing their jobs or of being reprimanded reaches the point of hysteria during the crisis.

The Yiddish language has the word “hutspah” that means a person who killed his parents and, during the trial, he asks the judge to make allowance for him as he is an orphan. I believe that this word is the best to depict the morality of Russian big businessmen and most officials.

The main decision, which the Russian government made last week, concerned protection of seals. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to ban the hunting of the Greenlandic seal cubs which are mercilessly killed for their fur when they are one year old. However, the Russian officials are used to applying a double standard to the protection of environment.

As the spring approaches, thousands of people, who have not so far been concerned about the economic crisis, political problems and global depression, are getting seized with horror. Those are senior pupils who will have to take the Single State Examination. This examination itself is a bad piece of news.  But the way Andrei Fursenko, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, is introducing the exam makes this piece of news still worse.

The Russian government has a reason to be quite happy. The oil price has reached this winter $41-42 for a barrel, which is half the price written in Russia’s 2009 budget, but which is better than $25-30 for a barrel that the oil market sought to fix in the autumn. It is not a surprise: oil prices have a tendency to come up in winter since it is cold in the northern hemisphere and the fuel demand is growing.

During the economic crisis all states try to protect their domestic markets. But they are not bold enough to impose administrative measures for this, and a sharp rise of import tariffs is against the WTO rules. Moreover, the liberal ideology blames such actions. The only simple decision is to devalue national currency. Many governments resort to this measure simultaneously and even try to outdo each other.

For the Russian economy good and bad events took place at the beginning of the year 2009. The good events are the gas dispute with Ukraine and the Gaza Strip war. Many people have been killed, many buildings have been destroyed, which is good for the Russian economy. The situation in the entire Middle East can be destabilized, and then the oil prices will grow again making the Russian government breathe with relief.

It looks like the government officials fail to realize that their actions are conductive to the politicization of the protests. What is more, they have bolstered the liberal opposition that had nearly ceased to exist and that now supports the demonstrating motorists.

The question “should Russia join the WTO?” has recently given place to the question “why should Russia do that now?” During the economic upsurge it is possible to speak about advantages and disadvantages of joining the WTO, but during the economic crisis we can raise this question only if we try to aggravate the situation deliberately.

The cri… no the word will not be uttered. Now that President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have finally allowed themselves to belatedly use the word, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to spit it out of these lips. It’s c-this and c-that. If there was C-Span in Russia then it would be c-ing all day and all night long.

It is clear that the current authorities are maneuvering but they are doing that unsuccessfully, inconsistently and unreasonably. Such maneuvers would break up the ranks even of the famous grenadiers of Friedrich the Great, the Prussian king. The Russian officials do not resemble the Prussian infantry battalion.

Today the list of victims of the economic crisis in Russia is not long but is extremely revealing. It starts with “Moskovsky Korrespondent” weekly that appeared at the end of September and was closed in October. The fact that the newspaper, which is independent of the Kremlin, was the first to be closed, is very significant.

It looks like there will be no war between Russia and Ukraine. It is clear that this fact will upset many in Moscow and Kyiv, but, unfortunately, there is a need to face realities. The efforts made by militarism heralds, admirers of Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa and defenders of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet proved to be futile.

Take a drive around Moscow’s Garden Ring. Leave from the Railway ministry near Krasniye Vorota and go anticlockwise toward Tsvetnoi Bulvar. Time will stand still if you are sitting in a traffic jam but if you have a free road, look upwards at the clocks on buildings and you can go back in time.

The Russian society is vaguely alarmed by the world economic crisis. I say “vaguely” because the people cannot realize how the events in the distant USA are connected with the Russian reality and how the stock market crash will tell on their wellbeing. The oil is being produced, the factories continue operating and the public transport works properly.

You can't trust anyone these days. You go on holiday for a couple of weeks and when you come back the world is teetering on the edge of a financial abyss. Banks are imploding, insurance companies are collapsing. Still, I'm glad that I got my five credit cards when I could.

Russia’s victory over Georgia in the armed conflict in South Ossetia, the diplomatic maneuvers which followed the conflict and showed that the Western community cannot (and does not want to) oppose Russia in a serious way, and Dmitry Medvedev’s bold statements at the Valdai International Discussion Club make the President of Russia ‘a hero of the day’.

It seems that after the conflict with Georgia all we need is to clash with Ukraine. A lot of politicians both in Russia and Ukraine would definitely like it to happen. Caucasian crisis resulted in a new quarrel over Sevastopol, this time provoked by the Ukrainian side.

I once lived off Tverskaya in a house that had a spacious courtyard which would see a steady trickle of men celebrating City Day who were drawn like a teenager to a can of gin and tonic to relieve themselves of a bladder full of Baltika's finest. Now, that is not really the kind of thing that sends me into a fury.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky is out of luck again. This time he was refused parole despite he had seemed to have good chances for it.  The authorities made it clear that there was every reason for hoping… Being a state’s prisoner, the disgraced tycoon hoped that the new president of Russia would release him.

I read the story in the New York Times this week, "West Baffled by 2 Heads for Russian Government," and it gave me quite a turn. This article talks of how "there is a sense of bewilderment in Washington about how to deal with what is now a two-headed government in Moscow."

Georgia has resolutely condemned Russia’s actions in Chechnya. Russia has severely criticized NATO actions towards Serbia. Later on the Georgian authorities tried to do the same thing in South Ossetia as the Russian authorities had done in Chechnya. Moscow decided to treat Georgia in the same way as NATO had treated Serbia.

The good people of Vladivostok recently had the chance to see my mug on their televisions. Or the chance not to watch it. Anyone further west however was denied that chance after NTV pulled reporter Andrei Loshak's documentary from the schedule even though it had already been shown in the Far East.

The Russian foreign policy boringly runs around in circles: the row with Estonia on the historic past, the squabbles between Moscow and Kyiv over the Crimea and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the confrontation with Georgia because of its breakaway republics etc. After having made a full circle we are back to square one - another conflict with Georgia.

Who would think that a banal song contest like Eurovision can trigger new round of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. When Kyiv won the right to host the finals of the 50^th Eurovision contest, Moscow was sick with envy and spent millions to catch up with the Western neighbor. It cost Russia several expensive but futile attempts. And finally at Eurovision 2008 Russian pop singer Dima Bilan won the contest.

Despite the propaganda declarations that Russia has finally “risen from the knees” and “returned its status of a superpower”, the Kremlin’s foreign policy is still characterized by inconsistency and complete absence of strategic planning. True, there has been perceptible change since the 1990s – the Kremlin has become more independent in decision-making, the Russian elite are aware of the state interests.

Once I used to think that the Russian authorities possessed an exclusive talent to choose the worst solutions of all possible. I later realized that the decisions they had made were the best of all possible, while I simply couldn’t grasp the root of the matter. The point is that the Russian authorities are motivated not by the abstract ideas. They are governed by their own interests and those of the ruling class.

Recently Russian mass media have focused on labor movement. For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union the Russian journalists are writing about strikes and workers’ protests on May 1, 2008. Strike movement has been on the rise in Russia during the last ten months. It was started by the workers of the transnational companies and was assumed by the employees of the Russian corporations.

The last two weeks Russia’s mass media have been chewing over the information about president Putin’s divorce and further inevitable marriage with the Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Strictly speaking the rumor is not new, it has been circulating for over six months. What was new is the unexpected and massive interest of the media to the old odd noise.

In January the Russian government’s liberals were enjoying their holidays and the last year’s summary reports – they didn’t see anything to worry about. In February they kept on denying any possibility of the world economic crisis, making allowance for slight drop in market rates. In March they finally avowed the existence of the world crisis.

The murder of an anti-fascist activist Aleksey Krylov has made a stir in Moscow and hopefully will reverberate all over the country. The public has endured assaults of the Nazis on Kyrgyz and Tajik nationals or the Black. This time it is another case – in the center of Moscow they killed an ethnic Russian.

The confrontation between employees and administration of the “Ford” plant in Vsevolozhsk ended in compromise. The salary was raised by 16-20% depending on the category of employee, rather than by one third, as the trade union demanded. Using the boxing terminology, one may say that for strikers it was the “victory on points”.

President Putin must be watching the US presidential elections with some mild concern. Because the person who is emerging as the favourite for the US presidency – John McCain – is also one of Putin’s most outspoken critics among the US political elite.

I was skeptic about the last year’s decision of the International Committee of the World Social Forum (WSF) to hold a worldwide day of protest on January 26. And I was not the only one – my colleague from Latin America commented that “it will be too cold in Russia, and in Brazil there will be a carnival”.

Welcome to 2008! This year we are to get a new president, further pension and housing and public utilities reforms in Russia; new administration in the USA... Perish the thought, but apart from that we might also get world economic crisis. Really, perish this thought, because forecasting economic recession is not an easy task.

Once again, celebrating the victory over Nazi Germany, veterans, serving Russian soldiers, equipment and weapons were displayed on Red Square for the May 9 Victory Day Parade.

On April 20, in an effort to promote his military reform agenda, Defense Minister, Anatoliy Serdyukov, held an open day in the 5th Guards Tamanskaya motor-rifle brigade, meeting human rights activists and members of the committee of soldiers’ mothers.

Controversy returned to the Russian Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister, Army-General Nikolai Makarov, following an interview on February 25, during which he seemed to signal a policy reversal on the issue of further developing contract personnel numbers.

Statements by senior Russian defense officials raise many questions concerning Moscow’s defense posture.

After several delays, the long-awaited new Russian military doctrine was finally approved by President Dmitry Medvedev on February 5.

On January 29, the prototype Russian fifth generation Prospective Aircraft Complex of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA) “T-50” finally completed a successful 45 minute test flight in Komsomolsk-na-Amurye.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has reportedly opened negotiations to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) in Israel for use within the FSB border guard service.

On November 24 and 25 two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers flew long range patrolling missions above neutral waters in the Arctic to the Atlantic Oceans.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, during his address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow on November 12, again highlighted the need to equip the armed forces with modern weapons and equipment.

Medvedev identified the key issues facing the defense industry. Despite considerable expenditure, little progress has been made in its modernization, which he described as “patching the holes.”

We are still at the very beginning of the long road towards narrowing the gap between Russia’s internal space and the Russian community abroad.

On October 1 the fall military draft began in Russia with the defense ministry publicizing its “serious reorganization of the enlistment offices system,” while admitting that recruitment levels had been adjusted downwards to 271,000.

In the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war of August 2008, Russia's political and military elites embarked on a highly ambitious program to reform and modernize the armed forces by 2020.

The recent developments in Russia lead to the question whether or not Russia has the potential and the resources to compete with the US - as the Soviet Union had for a long period of time.

Gazprom 'Harms Russian Interests', Ukraine Refuses To Compromise.

Recently President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, who is thought to be Gazprom’s key lobbyist, announced the Kremlin’s decision to join the OPEC cartel and become a vital component of that organization.

The August events have given a boost to major shifts in the alignment of forces and priorities in NATO territory, although these consequences will not become manifest in full at once.

I fear that in the U.S., too few understand the political and psychological problems of the Russians after the collapse of the USSR, the phantom pains of millions, and the problems of a massive country whose capital is nearly as close to Washington as to Vladivostok.

The decline of big powers in history always started with political, economic and social problems inside and on the periphery of their empires. Consequently, the glacis between falling and rising powers became the contested area for exercising influence.

The brief August war between Georgia and Russia served to highlight the destabilizing potential of unresolved conflicts in the Caucasus and thus lent a new urgency to ongoing efforts to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

When European Union leaders convene in Brussels for a summit meeting on October 15-16, they will have little option but to conclude to bury the hatchet with Russia over Georgia.

While Western criticism of Russia continues to mount in the wake of the Georgia conflict, recent polls suggest that such scolding from the outside world has little impact on public satisfaction within Russia.

The lecture by Steven Pifer, Visiting Fellow of the Brookings Institution, on Russia's interests and influence in modern world and the ways for the U.S. government to reach the point in this key bilateral relationship.

Regrettably enough, Ukraine’s image created by the Russian mass media and Russia’s image as created by the Ukrainian mass media are far from the truth. So what is Russia really like today?

Will the change in the balance of forces between the federal center and constituent members of the Russian Federation that began this decade end with a slashing of regional governments’ powers and thus inevitably produce a frustrating reaction on their part?

The first year of an extended program to repatriate ethnic Russians living abroad has failed to produce the wave of immigrants that proponents touted ahead of its approval.

The president has named a successor who embodies two key qualities. Medvedev is both loyal enough to allow Putin to continue de facto rule, and weak enough to avoid upsetting the delicate balance among the warring clans of security-service veterans.

Central to Moscow’s agenda is a proposal to weaken the OSCE’s election monitoring work, which Russia blames for helping to usher in pro-Western governments in Ukraine and Georgia.

The Russian government has applauded the swift response to the country's worst-ever oil spill, but environmentalists are citing the disaster as the latest example of an inherited legacy of ecological ineptitude.

Eurasian Home publishes the results of the "G7 Citizens Critical of Putin’s Impact on Russian Democracy: BBC poll " conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and the international polling firm GlobeScan for the BBC World Service.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) publishes the article "The Russian Phenomenon of Disposable People" by Arbën Xhaferi, Member of Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.

The report “Policy of Immigration and Naturalization in Russia: Present State and Prospects” is a joint research project of the Centre for Strategic Studies of the Volga Federal District and the Eurasia Heritage Foundation.