Russia loses chances for flight to Mars

The time period when the lost Phobos-Ground interplanetary space station could be sent to Mars ends on Monday, November 21. There will be no sense in the attempts to establish connection with the spacecraft afterwards, a source at the Russian space industry told RIA Novosti. Even if the connection with Phobos-Ground is established after November 21, the station will not be able to fly to Mars, the source told the news agency.

"The solar batteries of the spacecraft have unfolded. Phobos-Ground is oriented at the Sun, and the ballistic window of the craft to fly to Mars is restricted with the date of November 21st," the source said.

Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Russia's Federal Space Agency Roskosmos, previously said that Phobos-Ground had not been lost. According to the official, the station will remain on orbit before the beginning of January. It would be possible to rehabilitate the spacecraft before the beginning of January, Popovkin said.

Phobos-Ground interplanetary space station was launched from Baikonur spaceport on November 9. The station was designed to collect the samples of the ground of Mars's natural satellite Phobos. The two stages of the Zenit-2 booster rocket separated normally. The main engine of the station failed to start and set the spacecraft to the trajectory of the flight to Mars.

The malfunction could occur either because of the failure of software or the sensors on board the station, officials said.

All the attempts to establish connection with the space station have not led to any positive result. The head of Roskosmos stated earlier that it was extremely difficult to establish control over the spacecraft.

Roskosmos specialists particularly tried to accelerate the turning mechanisms of the station. In addition, the craft was supposed to start working when it would pass Earth at a distance of several tens of thousands of kilometers.

Vladimir Popovkin stated last week that Phobos-Ground would go out of order completely in the beginning of January if it is impossible to reanimate it before this time. The official also said that there were slim chances for the fragments of the station to reach Earth during fall. There are 7.5 tons of fuel on board the station, Popovkin said. The fuel is kept in aluminium tanks, and they will explode when entering the Earth's atmosphere.

If Phobos Ground falls apart, the fragments of the station may fall down in the beginning of December on the territories of many countries of the world: the USA, China, Africa, the Middle East, several European countries, Australia, Japan, Ukraine and Russia.

The second stage of the Zenit-2SБ booster rocket will enter the atmosphere of the planet on November 22 and fall in the Pacific Ocean, in the area to the south-east off Japan.

A special committee will be established as soon as the station is announced lost. The committee will make conclusions on certain enterprises and possibly people. A source told RIA Novosti news agency that the situation with Phobos-Ground occurred because of the lamentable state of affairs in the field of the Russian space programming.

Roskosmos officials say, though, that the failure with the Phobos-Ground interplanetary station will not cancel the work on other space research programs. The Russian program of planetary research stipulates Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource lunar programs in 2015, Venera-D Venus research after 2016, as well as Mars-Net and Mars-Ground projects. Russia also plans to partake in Europe's Laplace project to explore Jupiter's Europa satellite.

US justice lets adoptive parents kill Russian children

S citizens Michael and Nanette Craver have been charged with the murder of seven-year-old Russian boy Ivan Skorobogatov. The US couple was put on Interpol's wanted list, Interfax reports with reference to Vladimir Markin, an official spokesman for the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation.

"The central investigation department of the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation ruled to name Michael and Nanette Craver as defendants in committing the crime stipulated by Part 2, Article 105 of the Russian Penal Code - the murder of underage individual staying in a helpless condition by a group of people," Markin said.

"We sent the adequate documents to the National Central Bureau of Interpol at the Interior Ministry. The defendants have thus been put on international wanted list to determine their whereabouts, conduct their arrest and deliver them to Russian prosecutors," Markin said.

The above-mentioned US citizens committed the murder of the adopted Russian citizen, Ivan (Vanya) Skorobogatov, Vladimir Markin said. "An order about the pre-trial detention of the defendants has also been sent to the court," the official said.

On November 18, a court of York, Pennsylvania, sentenced the Cravers to 16 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter of Ivan Skorobogatov, their Russian-born adopted son. However, since the couple has already spent nearly 19 months in jail, they will not serve any more time.

Russia's Ombudsman for Children's Rights Pavel Astakhov addressed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in connection with the mild sentence against the Cravers.

"I believe that Clinton must take Ivan's case under special control and attain justice," Astakhov tweeted.

The official also believes that US prosecutors must appeal the sentence. "I addressed Attorney General Eric Holder. I believe that they must appeal the ill-founded sentence," Astakhov wrote.

Ivan Skorobogatov died away in August 2009 after he had been hospitalized with a serious cranial injury. Doctors connected the boy to the artificial respiration system. Several days later, the parents insisted the life-support system should be deactivated. The parents claimed that Ivan (Nathaniel Craver) was suffering from a serious mental disorder. According to them, he would throw himself on the floor and against the walls injuring himself.

Michael and Nanette Craver claimed that the boy hit his head against the fireplace in their house. The injury, which the boy received, subsequently resulted in his death, the Cravers said.

However, forensic experts found over 80 bruises on the boy's body. Twenty of those bruises were found on his head. The experts also determined that the boy was suffering from malnutrition. The boy was staying in an extreme condition of exhaustion, the medical specialists concluded.

The adoptive parents were free during the time of the expertise. The official results of the investigation were exposed in the middle of February 2010. The Cravers were immediately arrested and faced the danger of death penalty.

IMF very sad of losing Russia as its prey

IMF's Managing Director Christine Lagarde urged the Russian administration not to increase the public spending. Lagarde said that she was giving only friendly pieces of advice to Russia and added that she had received the Order of Friendship from the Russian administration.

According to her, public spending was not a very healthy phenomenon, especially before the elections. However, it is clear that Lagarde was not talking about the spending connected with the elections only. The IMF's chairwoman does not like the payments to weakly protected layers of the population, the increase of spending on defense and law-enforcement bodies. Aside from that, Christine Lagarde is concerned about the fundamental reorganization of Russia's entire road infrastructure.

Before the Managing Director of the International Fund released her statements, President Medvedev signed the law about raising monetary allowances to military men by 2.5 or 3 times. The law also raised military pensions by 1.5-1.7 times.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated earlier that the government would delay the increase of tariffs of natural monopolies, except for RZD (Russian Railways). The tariff increase has thus been postponed from January till July 2012. He also said that the tariffs on electricity would be indexed on the level of the inflation rate. The governmental committee for budget projects later decided that the tariffs of natural monopolies would be raised not higher than the inflation rate - by 6 percent in 2012 that is. Tariffs on natural gas became an exception: the prices on this fuel will grow by 15 percent from July 2012.

In addition, Putin said on November 8 that the Russian government was intended to double the volume of transport construction in ten years. As many as 8 trillion rubles will be assigned for the purpose before 2020, Putin said.

It is an open secret that the intentions of the Russian administration to invest in the development of the country, its social sphere, the transport infrastructure and the defense power has traditionally evoked rejection among such international monetary centers as the IMF.

Last year, the IMF addressed to the Russian government with a whole list of recipes. The recipes looked like those the Fund gave Russia during the 1990s. Those recipes became mandatory instructions for the governments of Gaidar and Chernomyrdin.

The set of recipes was standard. It included privatization (natural monopolies inclusive), the minimization and even liquidation of public spending on social purposes. It also included cuts of the funding of the armed forces and other state bodies, including law-enforcement agencies. In return, Russia received modest handouts from the IMF to buy food from Western countries, to liquidate defense enterprises, to destroy coal mines, etc. The recipes from the IMF took Russia to the default in 1998, which automatically ended the "fruitful cooperation" with the fund.

Strange as it may seem, Russia began to recover after that. The IMF could not be happy with that, of course. The Fund became concerned with Russia stepping aside from the "basic principles." IMF officials started saying that Russia had no strategy to scrap the measures taken to support the economy.

To put it otherwise, supporting the national economy is not a correct thing to do from the IMF's point of view. In addition, the fund recommended Russia should intensify the reforms in the field of state funding.

The reforms imply an opportunity to considerably decrease state spending in the field of healthcare and social maintenance. According to IMF's experts, the pension system of Russia will not be viable without those reforms, which particularly include the gradual increase of the retirement age (pensions for the dead, so to speak).

Christine Lagarde said during her visit to Moscow that Russia would rather need to recreate its reserves instead of investing in expensive projects while oil prices remain on a high level. It goes about the replenishment of the Reserve Fund and the National Welfare Fund.

Russia and USA on verge of another Cold War

Russia will pull out from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and refuse from the steps in the field of disarmament, if the USA continues to build the missile defense system in Europe, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated in a televised address to the nation Wednesday.

According to Medvedev, Russia is going to deploy Iskander missile complexes in the west and in the south of the country. The systems will guarantee the total destruction of the European part of the air defense system.

In addition, Russia's new strategic ballistic missiles will be outfitted with advanced complexes to overcome the air defense system. The missiles will also have highly efficient warheads, Medvedev said.

The president ordered the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to start elaborating the measures which, if necessary, would guarantee the destruction of informational and administering means of the air defense system.

The President also charged the Defense Ministry of Russia with putting the radar system in the Kaliningrad enclave in operation.

Medvedev emphasized that Russia was still prepared to continue the dialogue with the United States and NATO regarding the issue of missile defense. However, the president said, this cooperation must be conducted on the legal base, which would protect Russia's legal interests.

"We still have time to reach mutual understanding. Russia has political will in reaching necessary agreements, which may open a principally new page in our relations with the USA and the North Atlantic Alliance," Medvedev stated.

The Russian president is still certain that the creation of the joint missile defense system in Europe will give Russia and NATO opportunities for genuine strategic partnership. He reminded of his initiative of the sectoral missile defense system. Each side would be responsible for a certain sector, whereas cooperation would be based on the principles of equality, mutual confidence and predictability. However, Western partners have not demonstrated "serious readiness for moving in this direction," Medvedev noted.

Russia will not agree to take part in the missile defense program which would weaken the strategic potential of the country in several years. This program is currently being developed, Medvedev. "It's being implemented in Poland, Turkey, Romania, Spain, and they make us face the facts," the head of state said.

"They are not going to, at least for the time being, take account of our concerns about the architecture of the European missile defense system. They only tell us that their plans are not targeted against Russia. This is not against you, don't worry, they say - they want us to calm down," Medvedev stated.

According to the Russian president, such remarks can be heard on the level of executive power. "However, law-makers in several countries tell us directly - "this is all against you - keep that in mind." When we ask them to put that all on paper in the form of precise legal obligations, they say no," the president stressed out.

Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the project of the European missile defense system at the summit in Lisbon in November 2010. The talks reached a deadlock because the USA refused to guarantee that the air defense system in Europe would not be aimed against Russia.

Medvedev's unusually tough statements have not led to expected results. Official spokespeople for the US administration stated that they were not going to refuse from missile defense plans.

"Implementation of the New (Strategic Arms Reduction) Treaty is going well and we see no basis for threats to withdraw from it. We continue to believe that cooperation with Russia on missile defense can enhance the security of the United States, our allies in Europe and Russia, and we will continue to work with Russia to define the parameters of possible cooperation. However, in pursuing this cooperation, we will not in any way limit or change our deployment plans in Europe," Fox News quoted National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor as saying.

It is not ruled out that the positions of Moscow and Washington will shelve the missile defense talks at least before the spring of 2013, when the United States and Russia have new presidents. Experts say that the current state of affairs may seriously affect the reset of relations between the two countries.

USA treats Russians as Indians whose interests can be ignored

US and NATO officials were disappointed with Dmitry Medvedev's recent harsh statements about Russia's intention to pull out from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was one of the first to respond to Medvedev's statements.

"The suggestion that deployment of missiles in the areas neighboring the alliance is an appropriate response ... is very disappointing. NATO's missile defense system [is] designed to defend against threats from outside Europe. Not designed to alter balance of deterrence," Rasmussen wrote via Twitter.

"Cooperation, not confrontation, is the way ahead," he added.

However, the USA still refuses to give legal guarantees saying that the air defense system in Europe is not aimed against Russia. Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, the President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, said in an interview with Pravda.Ru that there were two basic positions determined in the START-3 Treaty (the document was signed a year ago).

"The first one of them virtually reflected the degradation of Russia's strategic nuclear forces. The second one mirrored the transformation of the American defense potential. The USA could afford a planned reduction of missile launchers because the country set the course for the development of the air defense system and cruise missiles.

"The Americans believe today that it's ok for the Russians to pull out from the START Treaty. The Americans are not losing anything from it, whereas the Russian are not gaining anything either. Unfortunately, the Americans are perfectly aware of the fact that the Russian defense complex has been declining. They know that Russia has its limits in responding to USA's and NATO's challenges. How many Iskander systems can Russia make? The Iskander systems, which everyone could see on the Victory Day Parade on Red Square were not operational. Up to 63 percent of the Russian air space is not protected today.

"Unfortunately, Russia has not been making successive decisions during the recent years. The USA pulled out from the ABM Treaty, but Russia continued to hold joint military drills and share technical information with the country. Afterwards, Russia became concerned all of a sudden. Then, Russia was dissatisfied with any kind of air defense, so we put forward a suggestion to build air defense system together. We shouldn't rush like that - no one is going to take us seriously otherwise.

"America has been successive from the very start. Now the Americans intend to develop the air defense system to be able to neutralize Russian and Chinese missiles. It is about time Russia should make up her mind on what exactly she wants from the US.

"Perhaps, Russia today is the best place for the activities of Western intelligence services and non-governmental organizations. The West does not take Russia as an equal partner. They think of Russians as Indians, whose interests can be ignored. What if they eventually agree to provide those legal guarantees about air defense to Russia? They will have to be approved at the adequate committee of the US Senate, which is not likely to happen.

"Of course, the USA and NATO agree to continue the talks. However, they take this cooperation as concessions that Russia should make for them single-handed. They demand - we make concessions. We delivered all laser weapons technologies to them during Boris Yeltsin's era. Still, they are expecting more concessions from us."

Presidential election date announced

The date of the presidential election has been officially scheduled for March 4, 2012, by the Federation Council. The document was approved by a unanimous vote earlier on Friday, Itar-Tass reported.

Current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to officially become a nominee for the coming presidential election after it is announced during the second part of United Russia’s assembly on Sunday, Gazeta.ru reported.

During the first part of the session in September, the sitting President Dmitry Medvedev said Putin was to run for the presidency for a third time.

Shark nets to be installed on Russky Island

Shark nets are to be installed is the Russian Far East after three shark attacks there this year, said first deputy head of government Igor Shuvalov.

The shark nets will be set up along the beaches that belong to Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island.

“Together with education minister, the [Far Eastern Federal University] rector and the Krokus group, which is constructing the university on Russky Island, we agreed to set up shark nets all along the university zone beaches,” Shuvalov is quoted as saying at a meeting with students on Thursday,

“We will definitely do it by the next swimming season. And if in the future we have an extra kopeck, we will do it along all of the Russky Island coast,” he said, adding that the nets would be like those in many countries.