Who's unhappy with Victory parades in Moscow?

Every year before May 9, Victory Day, a parade rehearsal is held in Moscow. Each year, a few weeks before the holiday, rehearsals are held in the center of the city. The rehearsals are held in the evening with an advance warning for those traveling to the downtown. Every year (or rather, last four or five years) traditional representatives of the so-called "creative class" have been whining and moaning about it. They complain that they are terribly inconvenienced by these rehearsals because they as taxpayers do not want their money wasted on useless parades. They do not want to sit in traffic jams and consider proposed alternative to use public transit unacceptable. Before this year's parade, some commentators have crossed all limits. For example, the deputy editor of Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper Eider Muzhdabaev wrote on Facebook that on Thursday, April 25, the capital of Russia was in a dead traffic jam deliberately and cynically imposed on the city residents. He continued that media called it a rehearsal for the Victory Parade, but instead it should be called a deliberate killing of innocent people no better than the Holocaust, albeit on a smaller scale. This was followed by a discussion of the emergency vehicles unable to reach dying patients. In conclusion, Muzhdabaev called it fascism, "Ritual killings for Victory Day." An actor Vladimir Bagramov wrote that "Patriots" should burn along with their parades. Radio station "Echo of Moscow" published these comments on the main page of its website in an attempt to attract attention. Such insane commentary occurs only before May 9. Before the New Year, for example, traffic jams in the Russian cities are often much worse. Of course, the editor of "MK" provided no data on the number of deaths caused by the parade rehearsal. A correspondent of Pravda.Ru was told by a representative of the Department of Health in Moscow that "Fortunately, no one died" because of traffic jams caused by the rehearsals. "Even if there is military equipment on the road and an emergency vehicle needs to transport a patient in a serious condition, it will be given way. If a person is sick and an emergency cannot get through because of traffic jams, another team is sent to the patient," said the representative of the Moscow Health Department. What do Russian public figures and politicians think about it? Below are opinions of Alla Gerber, Ludmila Alexeeva and Boris Nemtsov. Ludmila Alexeeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group: "I also think that the parades are a fun activity for our federal authorities who appear to have not been playing war enough as children. No normal country celebrates a holiday with a parade, at best it is a march of workers, people and citizens. We have a parade, you see ... It is imperative that equipment moves and soldiers march. This is a torture for those who participate in parades, they are tormented by completely unnecessary rehearsals, and citizens are tortured with traffic jams. When the anniversary of the beating of citizens was scheduled for May 6th (the opposition rally on Bolotnaya Square - Ed.), then traffic jams were cited, and we were told that a rally was allowed, but not a march. Here for many days soldiers and citizens, Muscovites, can be tortured for days so the leadership could amuse themselves for a couple of hours, bragging about their power and might. It's disgusting, stupid. This is a sign of an authoritarian regime and a country striving for militarization." Alla Gerber All, president of the "Holocaust" movement: "I think they don't think about anything and can't think in principle. Comparing Moscow traffic with the Holocaust is a crime. The Holocaust is a unique, scary phenomenon related only to the destruction of Jews during the Second World War and nothing else. Comparing it with the Holocaust is a simple mockery of the Holocaust, and all of us. I think we should still think before speaking. Another thing, of course, is the parade rehearsal and a chaos that emerges in the city where one cannot move, people get lost, those driving are in a deadlock, and the entire life of the city changes, and it is very hard. It is not life threatening - it's nonsense, but it's hard, people find it uncomfortable. As for the Victory Day parade, I think that for many people it is an important day of remembrance of those who went to war, who did not come from the war, who won the war, those who survived the war. In the end, we are all alive because there was a victory. We would not have been alive if it were not for this victory. This is a grateful remembrance for all who gave us life, in fact we were born from this victory, we are its children, everyone who is now walking on this earth. I am not against the Parade, I cannot say that I am necessarily pro parade, I'm just not a big fan of loud equipment, but it is purely my feelings. For example, I went to see the parade with my granddaughter two years in a row, and it was very interesting, she perceived it as a holiday. All the people, the spectators who come to the parade were in a very good mood, there was a feeling of unity, solidarity and unification. This, incidentally, is a very nice atmosphere, rare in our country. Because in my opinion it is one day, the only date that we all share, regardless of our beliefs, attitudes, moods, etc. Because it's true, it's honest. People unite around this truth. I think referring to this as the Holocaust is just a crime and a surprising lack of understanding what is the Holocaust and unawareness of the tragedy of the Holocaust itself. Transferring the word to the inconvenience of residents caused by the parade rehearsal, inconvenient, uncomfortable life at this point is just amazing to me. This is not just a fantasy, it is a gross error, and a journalist cannot afford to do this." Boris Nemtsov, an opposition activist: "I believe that there are sacred days we cannot forget, no matter how many veterans are still alive. I think it's probably the only date that unites us all, which we are all proud of. This is the first point. "The second point, I think that the rehearsals can be carried out beyond the Red Square. I believe that the training of the people who organize these parades is such that they can make the layout of the Red Square outside of Moscow. This would not complicate people's life, and it's time to do it so the roads are not covered with tanks, and the people do not get angry. "I do not understand why there is still no appropriate test site, although there are plenty of military units around Moscow where a life-size mock-up of the Red Square can be built. "Yesterday there were several reasons for the perfect storm on the roads. The first one is a "direct line" with Putin. I just saw this outrage with packed Arbat and the entire city center paralyzed as the "Great Helmsman" was driven after fooling people for four hours. The second one is a movement of military equipment. I think we'll deal with the first issue when we send him to retire, since he is in the retirement age. And the second one can be solved now. Indeed, we have the level of organization in the society where it is not necessary to drive machinery through Moscow. "Therefore, I believe that parades should be conducted, it is our duty to explain it to our children. But the archaic history of 40 years ago, when tanks had to reach the center of Moscow, in my opinion is outdated. "But there is an advance warning about the rehearsals and they have been conducted for a few years." "I repeat, I believe that these rehearsals should be conducted elsewhere. This idiocy that they are not able to even hold a rehearsal elsewhere is certainly pathetic."

Russia to create its own offshore zone

Since the time of the financial disaster in Cyprus, Russia has been cherishing the idea of creating its own offshore. It was previously suggested the special tax area should be created on the territory of Russia's Far East. A new idea has appeared now - to create an offshore zone on the base of the International Investment Bank (IIB). Many analysts were left perplexed with such a suggestion. The International Investment Bank was created in 1970 to deepen and develop the cooperation between socialist states. Now it is offered to arrange an internal Russian offshore zone on the base of this bank, Finmarket reports with reference to an anonymous source in the Finance Ministry. The details of the project, which was announced by first vice Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, remain unknown. Meanwhile, it is the details that raise certain curiosity. Should the above information be true, Igor Shuvalov offers something that does not exist anywhere in the world. Offshores are not created on the base of certain banks. The Russian one, if ever materialized, will be the first one. A number of publications say that such an idea could appear after Shuvalov's meeting with IIB's head Nikolai Kosov. He gave perfect recommendations to his bank and called it the only full-fledged international and many-sided institute of development in Moscow. He also said that the IIB was the only possible platform for the International Financial Center that is currently being built in the Russian capital. Indeed, some say that the IIB has the qualities that can make the bank become a full-fledged offshore. The bank does not fall under the control of its member-countries - Russia, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The bank is also relieved of tax payments, protected from court and administrative interference and uses a diplomatic status, Interfax reports. "There is nothing like that in the world, when an offshore ozone is created on the base of a bank. It is very hard to imagine that technically, so most likely, it will not materialize. In addition, to organize an offshore zone in Russia, one needs to attract people to it first. Those who have their business arranged in other offshore zones, will not be interested in making any changes. Taking all of that to another offshore zone will take a lot of energy and money. It can also be dangerous to the funds that will be transferred. I do not think that Russia is capable of attracting investors to its offshore zones even if they are created. There is a country risk, there is a system in which everything is well established and signed, in which everything is known very well to all," Darya Pichugina, an analyst with Investcafe said. In addition, one should bear in mind the fact that the idea about the creation of the offshore zone appeared after the events in Cyprus. There was a great deal of Russian deposits in the country. For them, the creation of a Russian offshore zone is pointless. Cyprus has limited operations on bank accounts, and it is impossible to transfer assets to a Russian offshore zone, even if this zone is created. "Most likely, such an offshore zone will not be popular. Country risks in the country are high, and even if foreign investors are interested in the Russian offshore, they will have a special attitude to it. In Russia, risks are higher than in other offshore zones, where everything is clear, they are even higher than in Cyprus. Foreign investors can hardly be interested in transferring their funds to Russia on account of these risks. Creating an offshore zone in Russia needs people and their money, first and foremost. Offshore zones need residents," Darya Pichugina said.

China and Russia catch up with USA in rearms race

World spending on defense for the first time in 15 years fell by $1.75 trillion in 2012, which marked a 0.5-percent reduction in comparison with 2011, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The share of the U.S. has fallen below the level of 40 percent for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia and China entered the top three of the countries that increased their military spending. The research of the institute is based on public expenditure on the maintenance of armed forces, namely, military exercises, salary or remuneration for troops, as well as other employee benefits, operating costs, procurement of weapons and equipment, military construction, research and development works, administrative costs, etc. The total military spending of the world in 2012 in comparable prices made up 1.753 trillion dollars, which was 2.5 per cent of global GDP. The Institute has also published the list of 15 countries with largest military budgets. The first place still belongs to the United States with its 682 billion dollars, accounting for 4.4 percent of GDP. The second place is taken by China with $166 billion (2 percent of GDP), and the third place - by the Russian Federation with $90.7 billion (4.4 per cent). The statistics on the U.S. is official. Then comes the United Kingdom - $60.8 (2.5) and Japan - $59.3 (1.0). The top five accounts for 60 percent of world military spending - 1.06 trillion dollars. Fifteen heavyweights close the list (in billions of dollars): France (58.9), Saudi Arabia (56.7), India (46.1), Germany (45.8), Italy (34.0), Brazil (33.1), South Korea (31.7), Australia (26.2), Canada (22.5) and Turkey (18.2). Fifteen countries provide 82 percent of global military spending (1.43 trillion dollars). The United States continues to take the lead in military spending in absolute terms. The country spends more on defense than the following ten countries combined. Although in 2012, the U.S. military budget has decreased by 6 percent, the new index marked a 69 percent increase vs. the indexes of 2001 - the year that became the beginning of the "global war on terrorism," SIPRI experts wrote. Unlike the U.S., China and Russia have increased their military spending by 7.8 and 16 percent respectively during the accounting period. However, as for GDP percentage-wise, their share in comparison with 2003 remained unchanged, whereas it increased in the U.S. (from 3.7 to 4, 4 per cent). Therefore, an arms race on the part of Russia and China does not make sense. On the other hand, a slowdown or even a fall in the rate of military spending in the U.S. is connected with economic stagnation, budget savings and the reduction of the mission in Afghanistan. The same applies to U.S. partners in NATO. SIPRI experts predict a further decline of the U.S. share in global military spending after NATO troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan. In terms of GDP share, Saudi Arabia enjoys the highest figure - 8.9 percent. The U.S. and Russia follow with 4,4 percent. All other countries have a much smaller share. Let us make a stop at this top three. Their share in world expenditure is as follows: United States - 32 percent, China - 9.5, Russia - 5, 2. Russia and China face similar challenges: technical re-equipment of the army and the navy, so their military budgets will grow objectively. In Russia, the increase will be by 53 percent by 2014. Prior to 2020, under the state rearmament program, Russia has a goal to increase the share of new-generation hardware to 70 percent. Twenty trillion rubles (689 billion dollars) have been assigned for the purpose. China's defense industry by 2025 will become the largest in the world, according to the forecast from the National Intelligence Council of the United States from 2008. This is a long-term perspective - a part of the "Chinese Dream", to protect sovereign interests and put an end to strategic interests of the Western dominance in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, Beijing has ongoing territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea.China has ambitious plans to improve strategic forces, including the nuclear submarine fleet; the country also plans to create a strategic bomber. In the next ten years, China should develop fifth-generation fighter jets and aircraft carriers, including through cooperation with Russia. China's military budget, according to IHS Global Insight, will double from 2011 to 2015, exceeding the combined defense spending of all other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. China has a long way to go to catch up with the USA, of course. However, the correlation between them has decreased from 7 to 1 in 2003, and then from 4 to 1 in 2012, SIPRI's Sam Perlo-Freeman, one of the authors of the report, told the Associated Press. But he stressed out that the quality gap was still incredibly high. For example, the U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers, while China - only one. "It takes time to make quantitative indicators develop into qualitative changes," said Perlo-Freeman. There is no need for the U.S. and NATO to rearm. Their armed forces have long been working for specific military conflicts. The Soviet threat faded into the past, there is no threat from Russia, the Chinese threat is looming on the horizon. The U.S. has scheduled the further reduction of the military budget for 2013 by 87 billion, then before 2017 - by 259 billion dollars, and in the next ten years - by 487 billion. The emphasis is to be made on more compact, yet state-of-the-art military hardware. However, the Congress does not like such an approach of the military. During a recent meeting of the Committee on Defence, Minister Chuck Hagel was told that his mission was not to "cut out the heart of the Pentagon." Aside for the above-mentioned reasons, the reduction in military spending in the United States is based on the fact that the world has been cutting the procurement of advanced U.S. weapons, such as Joint Strike Fighter by Lockheed Martin, said Simeon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the SIPRI. This is the case of Canada, Italy and the Netherlands. Many countries rethink their budgets in favor of less expensive models, and their budgets are tight, the analyst said. Twenty of thirty-seven European countries have reduced their military spending, except for Germany and Ukraine that increased military spending by 24 percent (1.1 percent of GDP). As for other global trends, one may point out an increase in military spending in the Middle East, with an average of 8.4 percent (Oman - 51 percent, Saudi Arabia - 12, Qatar -10. In Asia, due to the growth of China's military power, neighboring countries prefer to rearm too. Vietnam's growth, for example, in 2003-2012 amounted to 130 percent (Indonesia - 73 percent). North Africa spent 7.8 per cent more funds in 2012 than in the previous year, due to the fight against terrorism in the Sahel. Algeria takes the lead here (5.2 percent). SIPRI noted that there was no evaluation data available on Iran and Syria. As for Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the institute used the evaluative data from 2011. Latin America increased spending by 4.2 percent. The countries that demonstrated the most representative results are Paraguay (43 percent) and Venezuela (42 percent). The fight against drug cartels in Mexico led to the increase in military spending by 9.7 percent in comparison with the previous year. Australia and Oceania increased the spending by 3.3 percent. "We see the things that could be the start of a shift in the balance of global military spending from wealthy Western countries towards developing regions," said Perlo-Freeman.

Helicopter loaded with nearly 2 tons of explosives disappears in Irkutsk region

Rescuers are looking for the Mi-8 helicopter that went off radars in the Irkutsk region. The chopper had ten passengers and nearly two tons of explosives aboard, officials with Russia's EMERCOM said. According to officials, the Mi-8 helicopter of Angara airline was monitoring the flood situation, disappeared from the radio broadcast at 12:54 Moscow time and did not establish a radio contact at scheduled time. It has been reported that rescuers found the wreckage of the helicopter not far from the village of Preobrazhenka. Nothing has been said about the passengers yet. Reportedly, acting chairman of the EMERCOM department for the Irkutsk region, Colonel Stanislav Omelyanchik, was also on board the helicopter. In addition, the chopper was carrying 1.9 tons of explosives that were supposed to be used to blow up ice jams on the Lower Tunguska River.

Russian Air Force receives first Su-34 bomber

Russia's Sukhoi design bureau has delivered the first Su-34 bomber to the Russian Air Force. The delivery took place within the scope of the 2013 state defense order. On Monday, May 6th, the plane took off and flew to the place of its deployment. In the near future, the Russian Air Force will receive a few more of this aircraft. "Large government contracts for the supply of Su-34 that were signed with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2008 and 2010, created the conditions for stable and long-term activities of the factory and identified the prospects for its long-term development," officials with the company said. The aircraft produced in 2012 show excellent performance.

Russian space industry recovers from hibernation

In the past year, the Russian space program and related industries seem to have gotten out of the state of economic hibernation. It appears that the industry's stagnation is over, and distant and near prospects have been identified in a recent large-scale meeting near the new cosmodrome in the Far East. The world is entering the stage of post-industrial informational development. Primitive market "buy-sell" relationships will be replaced by the demand for high-tech products and services, among which the space industry products will be one of the most sought after. Today, the market amounts to $300-400 billion, and by 2030 it could reach $1.5 trillion. Space development can be much more profitable than increasing the exports of energy resources. Obviously, these considerations were taken into account by the Russian leadership that allocated 181 billion rubles to fund space programs in Russia. This is three times more than in 2008. This allowed getting ahead of the leading space powers by nearly five times in terms of average annual growth in federal funding. Approximately one trillion six hundred million rubles will be allocated for space activities from 2013 to 2020. Where would this money go? First, the orbital parameters should be restored to the size of those supported by the leading space powers, including the United States and China. This will be done at existing Plesetsk and Baikonur cosmodromes, where infrastructure for launching rockets of middle class "Soyuz-2", "Proton-M", "Zenith" and "Rockot" will be developed. The next task is to create and launch a space rocket complex of heavy class "Angara" and rebuild new facilities at cosmodrome Vostochny. We are talking about a radical modernization and renovation of the space technology and the means of delivery. Where would the new missiles fly? First of all, to the near-earth orbit. They will deliver a multi-laboratory module and autonomous free-flying modules to the International Space Station. In parallel, robotic tools for the study of the moon will be developed, and the moon landing runway complex and inter-orbital tug for manned spacecraft will be created. As emphasized by the Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, this will be done to deploy and begin to operate a permanent scientific base on the Moon, and further implement a manned mission to Mars. For these purposes, heavy rockets with carrying capacity of over 50 tons are required. A mission to Mars will require a launch vehicle capable of moving approximately 180 tons in a vacuum, which is equivalent to three fully loaded railroad cars. The program of deep space studies, nearly forgotten in the last 15 years, will be revived. Today, there are two spacecraft "Spektr-R" that allow observing the core of galaxies at a distance of 5 to 7 billion light-years. Next year another such machine will be launched into space that will further expand the range of visibility, allowing studies of the so-called black holes. Another sensation is a breakthrough project to develop transport and energy module based on the nuclear power unit. A nuclear spacecraft was started by Soviet designers and engineers, and their designs are still seven to ten years ahead of similar ones produced by Western scientists. According to the head of Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin, a nuclear missile will provide a very different capacity and travel speed, which would have revolutionary implications in space science. Of course, the specific terrestrial tasks of the space industry will not be forgotten. Satellite group "Glonass" is in great demand by transporters, industrialists, and signalers. "Glonass" is inferior to its Western competitors in terms of accuracy, which necessitated the task to raise this indicator to one - three centimeters. The success of the national system will capture a significant segment of the operator services market, estimated at $200 billion. Another direction is creating bandwidth in the Arctic zone, including the Northern Sea Route and the transpolar route for aircraft. The period of anarchy in the management of the space industry has come to end. The anarchy was caused by the fact that powerful governmental scientific and production associations that solved world-class problem split into dozens of obscure firms with big names, striving for economic independence. A decision was made to preserve and enhance the role of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) as a federal executive authority. The rocket and space industry will be consolidated into a few large specialized scientific and industrial holdings with one hundred percent government participation. These structures will be controlled by Roscosmos. In fact, the Soviet space control scheme is being reconstituted with two competing basic space holdings in Moscow and Krasnoyarsk. Will the Russian space program reach the high level of development it enjoyed during the Soviet times? According to the stated objectives, it is feasible. There is another important factor: a program has been established that is worthy of a great power and scale and innovation potential. The space construction that involves hundreds of thousands of citizens in a large scale project may significantly improve the public perception of the world, give a sense of optimism and prospects to the country oppressed by the ideology of consumerism and social Darwinism.

Putin to meet John Kerry in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday, May 7, when Kerry pays a visit to Russia, president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said. On April 29, in a telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, Putin expressed his willingness to have a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, when he arrives on a visit to Russia. During John Kerry's visit to Moscow, which will is to take place on May 7-8, a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also scheduled. The officials will discuss the situations in Syria and Iran, the upcoming summit of the Group of Eight and the situation around the missile defense system in Europe.