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.

Russian Navy to receive 2 Borei and 1 Yasen nuclear subs in 2013

This year, the Russian Navy is to receive two submarine cruisers created under project 955 ("Borei") and a multipurpose nuclear submarine of project 885 ("Yasen"), Andrei Vernigora, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, and Yuri Borisov, Deputy Defense Minister, told reporters. Borisov confirmed that two serial missile strategic submarines "Alexander Nevsky" and "Vladimir Monomakh" as well as multipurpose nuclear submarine "Severodvinsk" will enter service in the Russian Navy in 2013. In addition, Vernigora added that upon the completion of tests, the Navy of Russia would receive another nuclear cruiser -

Putin: 'There's no Stalinism in Russia and never will be'

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a regular televised Q&A conference with Russian citizens on April 25th. For Putin, it was the eleventh conference like that, but such a form of communication between the president and the people is still highly actual. Putin set a new record for himself: he was answering questions for 4 hours 47 minutes. More than three million questions were received in total; Putin answered 85. "This format is a well known one. Of course, it can be formal, but still it's very useful. This is absolutely correct and obvious. Such direct contacts with citizens give a very true slice of what is most important in the present-day society. Therefore, such a direct exchange of views, direct information, getting feedback from regions is extremely important and extremely useful," Putin said. As in the previous times, there were plenty of issues to discuss. Traditionally, Putin paid a lot of attention to issues of economic and social development. In addition, the participants of the conference (including the expert part of it) were highly interested in the political component of the conversation. It has been less than a year since Vladimir Putin's inauguration. However, these months were extremely important in he political sense of the word. It was about disturbances and changes in the area of ​​political rights and freedoms, the electoral law, and, of course, about questions to the government formed by Putin, at least about several members of the government. "It is necessary all leaders of any rank - both in presidential structures, and in the government - should feel and understand that ordinary citizens are closely monitoring our work and give their assessment to it," - he said. As for requirements to sack one, two, or all ministers at once, Putin explained that the government had been working for less than a year, "so one must give people an opportunity to realize themselves or come to understanding that someone is not in a position to do it. " "I repeat, claims may be plentiful, but whether a reshuffling is required, I do not know. Most likely, it will do more harm than good," said the president. Speaking of ministers, Putin mentioned ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. According to the President, the ex-Minister of Finance received requests to return of the bodies of state power, but Kudrin declined. As for the Russian opposition, Putin said that the opposition refuses to conduct a dialogue with the authorities. "As for the so-called non-systemic opposition, we offer this dialogue to them, but some opposition leaders shy away from this dialogue," said Putin. "Maybe something that they offer and say will become more understandable to our society, maybe we need some of their offers. Maybe they would be able to push the government to not very popular, but necessary things in the economy," said Putin. "The concept of non-systemic opposition, as it seems to me, should gradually lose its relevance," the president said, recalling that the law provides the right to form political parties with minimal bureaucratic costs. "Screaming help is one thing, but offering a positive agenda is another one. And this can only be done in a legal form, using the power given by the law. You're welcome to take action, fight, get into the parliament and prove your rightness," Putin said. Actually, this can be considered a response to the Kremlin's opponents when they say that the Russian parliament is entirely controlled by the state. "This is a mistake, I think, to believe that in some other country, in the U.S., for example, the Congress and the upper house are not controlled by the state at all. Nothing of the sort is consistent with the practice of our political life," he explained. According to Putin, Russia has the ruling party, which represents the majority in power. But as practice shows, even in the ruling party, people share different views. In general, over the last few years, the State Duma has showed that, it serves as a real battlefield of opinions, ideas and characters. The name of late Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky emerged during the conference too. To be more precise, it was his "letters of repentance" Putin, the news of which appeared only after his death. The President confirmed that he indeed received two letters from the fugitive oligarch. The first one arrived in February of this year, and the second letter came after his death. "One letter was handwritten in full, the second one - in part: first handwritten, then typed text, then handwritten again," said the president. However, Putin did not unveil any details about the content of the letters. He only said that Berezovsky wrote that he had made a lot of mistakes and caused damage. He asked for forgiveness and for an opportunity to return to his homeland." Putin emphasized that he had never been in close relationship with Berezovsky. "We were acquaintances. He was writing with a request. Some of my colleagues immediately asked to publicize the contents of the letters. I am very grateful to the Lord that He has saved me from that," Putin said, adding that that he did not respond to letters. As for other problems related to politics, one can mention the scandal with Oboronservis company that, without a doubt, gained political colors. "The case (of Oboronservis) will be brought to an end. But that does not mean that we should, for political reasons, in order to look good in front of outraged citizens, put them (the suspects) in jail, at any cost. We do not need to go back to that dark period - to 1937," said Putin. The question about the fate of Russian blogger Alexei Navalny, who acts as a defendant in the criminal case on grand embezzlement in the Kirov region, may also refer to this category. "I am confident that the proceedings on this and other cases will be extremely objective. By the way, I drew the attention of Prosecutor General's Office and other law enforcement agencies to this issue," said the president. But at the same time, Putin emphasized that "the people who fight against corruption, must themselves be crystal clear, otherwise all this takes the form of self-PR and political advertising. All must be equal before the law. And no one should have any illusions. If someone screams "stop the thief," it does not mean that he himself is allowed to steal," said the head of Russia. Vladimir Putin explained his position about another issue that caused a strong reaction in the society. It goes about the prohibition to officials to have foreign bank accounts and property abroad. According to the President, there is no obstacle - either moral or legal - for people to be free to choose where to deposit their money or buy apartments. "But there is a special category of people who consciously choose public service for themselves, and let them decide for themselves what is more important: to keep their money abroad or serve for the citizens of the Russian Federation on these high positions to which they have grown in their service," Putin said, adding that such an official "is always in a state of dependence on the system of the state in which he or she keeps their money." This problem may seem far-fetched to some. However, one can not deny the fact that some foreign governments use every opportunity to put pressure on the Russian authorities. This, in particular, goes about the so-called Magnitsky list, the adoption of which in the USA was a manifestation of imperial aggression, as Putin said. According to Putin, the U.S. authorities were forced to cancel the Jackson-Vanik amendment, as in the current situation it was detrimental to American businessmen. "They (the United States) had to cancel it (the Jackson-Vanik amendment). And it would have been a good reason to do it, forget it all that we had in the days of the Cold War and move on. No, they had to come up with another anti-Russian necessarily act (the Magnitsky list). Why was it done? Simply to show that they are the coolest guys. Why? This is the imperial behavior in the foreign policy field," said the president of Russia. In general, evaluating the style of his policy, Putin said that it was impossible to compare the current model of governance with that of Stalin's era. "I do not think there are any elements of Stalinism here. Stalinism is associated with the cult of personality and mass violations of the law, repressions and camps. There is nothing like that in Russia, and hopefully never will be," said Putin stressing that Russia should have "order and discipline." "All citizens of the Russian Federation, regardless of their official position, shall be equal before the law," the president said, adding that the girls from Pussy Riot and young people who commit acts of vandalism on the graves of soldiers should be held accountable before the law.

Vitali Klitschko: Can Boxing's 'Dr Ironfist' Become The Next President Of Ukraine?

KIEV, Ukraine -- At the end of a hotel bar in central London is an object that, momentarily, resists identification. It could be the back of a gigantic beshadowed human being. Or it could be a freezer with a melon on top of it. Only when the object moves do I realise that, despite the apparently impossible proportions, it’s him: the Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko, the 6ft 7.5in world heavyweight boxing champion-turned-politician now aiming to become president of one of the most hostile and treacherous political systems on the planet. Klitschko’s only visiting London briefly and I’m one of a few journalists to have been granted a brief audience. I’m early, and the reporter who had the slot before me is still buttoning up her coat. She seems rather flustered and is grinning at him dreamily. To be honest, it’s hard to blame her. Klitschko is intensely handsome, his face all deep angles and epic bones. But there’s also a surprising softness to him, a velvety quality to his smile and a luxuriant slowness in the way he moves his limbs. When I eventually sit in front of him, there is a sense of great power in repose. It’s like watching a panther snoozing in the sun. Klitschko has had an amazing life; two amazing lives, in fact. His first incarnation, alongside his equally fearsome brother, Wladimir, is that of sporting megastar. The first siblings ever to have held world boxing titles at the same time, both are considered to be among the greatest heavyweights of the modern age. Vitali has won 45 of his 47 bouts, 41 by a knock out. Klitschko officially retired on November 9 2005, before un-retiring himself again two years later. Although he’s still officially the WBC world heavyweight champion (while Wladimir holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts) he hasn’t fought for six months – a situation which British fighter David Haye, who’s been baiting the Klitschko brothers for years, would apparently like to change. After losing to Wladimir on points in 2011, Haye claims to be desperate to step into the ring with the elder sibling, telling sports writers that, “I’m too fast, too sexy and too talented to be blown away by a large, slow robot from Ukraine.” But, while insisting that he remains “the best in the world”, Vitali is now 41 and equivocates when asked whether he intends to keep fighting. He has, however, ruled out the possibility of fighting 32-year-old Haye. For one thing, he says that, when offered the chance of a bout in 2011, Haye failed to sign the contract. And he’s certainly not going to be doing any favours for the Briton: in the run up to his encounter with Wladimir, Haye wore a T-shirt that bore an image of him holding both Klitschkos’ severed heads. Wladimir called him an “embarrassment to boxing”, a remark that served to underscore the differences between the pugnacious Haye and the cerebral Klitschkos. Vitali, nicknamed “Dr Ironfist”, has a PhD, and both men speak a multitude of languages. Similarly, Vitali also rejects the possibility of ever taking part in what would surely be one of the most emotionally dramatic and compelling bouts ever staged: a fight between the brothers. Such an event, he has said, would “break the heart of my mother”. It might also break his own. The siblings are famously close. Their father was an officer in the Soviet air force, and raised them, with his wife, Nadia, at an airbase in Kiev. At home, where all four Klitschkos shared a single room and kitchen, Wladimir Snr imposed strict discipline and punished his sons regularly with the belt. Vitali was tall and skinny at school, and the target of bullies. Shortly before his death from cancer in 2011, Vitali’s father told a documentary crew, “I drummed it into him that he had to fight. Losing was not an option.” Growing up, the pair worshipped Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger. They attended kick-boxing classes which, as it was seen as a Western pollution of martial arts, was forbidden. They would spar with each other and, being five years Wladimir’s senior, Vitali would usually win, although both would end up bloodied. Today, Vitali regards those days as a “sign from God” that the two should never fight. It was Vitali’s fighting, and the opportunity it presented him to travel outside the Soviet Union, that ultimately led him to the life he wants to talk about today. His new fight is on behalf of Ukraine, his stated mission: to take one of the world’s most corrupt countries, known best for its fixed elections and parliament punch ups, and turn it into a modern, functioning, democratic member of the EU. “Many times, I had the chance to see many different countries,” he says. “And always when I come back to Ukraine I ask why is it that very simple things that work around the world don’t work in my home country? And slowly I started to understand. Many politicians are not interested to make a change in our country. That’s why I came to this idea. We need to create a European country.” As a youngster, Vitali was convinced that Ukraine was already the world’s greatest nation. His parents would tell him how the capitalist leaders used their citizens as slaves while, at school, the pupils would spend time every morning writing lists of all the bad things they could think of about the United States. But after he was actually offered the chance to visit the US, the lie could no longer bear scrutiny. In the 2011 documentary, Klitschko, directed by the German film-maker Sebastian Dehnhardt, Vitali memorably recounted his first enraptured impressions of America. “How can there be 100 types of cheese?” he recalled thinking. “That’s madness. There’s only one type of cheese. It’s called cheese.” He wanted to drink an entire bucket of Coca-Cola; to stand in the middle of a shopping mall and just smell it. It was, he says, like “going to the moon”. When he returned home, he informed his father that everything they’d been told about capitalism was untrue. His dad rejected the view. “He said, ‘it’s a show put on especially for you," Vitali tells me now. "They show you some nice places and, after that, use you as propaganda." When communism dribbled to a halt, in 1991, Klitschko expected Ukraine to become an ordinary capitalist country. But a healthy free market economy, with public employees on one side and private business owners on the other, wasn’t properly established. Hence today, powerful politicians and glitteringly wealthy profit-makers tend to be the same people. In Ukraine, as in many former Soviet states, public resources are routinely used for private gain. “If you look at [the anti-corruption organisation] Transparency International, Ukraine comes out as the most corrupt country in Europe,” says Dr Sarah Whitmore, senior lecturer in politics at Oxford Brookes University. “And the state is the main source of that corruption because it’s the main source of wealth. There are very few people with clean hands in places of power in Ukraine. Very few.” Klitschko formed his party, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (the acronym of which, UDAR, means “punch” in Ukrainian) to solve these chronic and institutional problems. And, as the third largest faction in parliament, the party provides its leader with a good base to become president in the 2015 general election. “It’s corruption that destroys our economy,” Klitschko tells me. “Many investors are afraid to come into it. Secondly, there’s no competition. "Thirdly, in most countries, more than 60 per cent of the budget comes from taxes from small and middle businesses. In Ukraine, it’s less than 10 per cent. That’s why our economy doesn’t work. We have to change that. The first step will be to destroy corruption.” It might not be so easy. The last man who promised to drag Ukraine westward, and to exorcise corruption, was Viktor Yushchenko. He ended up on the losing end of a fixed election, on the verge of death, with a catheter in his spine, his face blackened and pocked by the poison dioxin. Does Klitschko worry that he’ll end up dead or, like Yushchenko’s equally ambitious prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, imprisoned on spurious charges? “It’s true that politics is a dirty game, especially in Ukraine,” he says. “They play with no rules. And we want to make rules. But my main interest has to be the millions of Ukranians and the interest of the country.” Such idealism, however, might count for nothing if he attempts to reform the wrong sort of people. It’s still not known who was behind the attempted assassination of Yushchenko, although historian and Vladimir Putin biographer Yuri Felshtinsky believes it was organised by the Russian security service, the FSB. “It’s difficult to prove, but the person who was accused, the Ukrainian secret service officer Volodymyr Satsyuk, has received political asylum in Russia,” he says. Suspicions of Russian involvement are not soothed by the fact that Putin himself went to extraordinary lengths to secure the election of his rival, the eastwards-looking Viktor Yanukovych. While in London, is Klitschko not scared he could be assassinated by the shadowy Russian figures that flit around the city? Klitschko grins and lifts the cup he’s been drinking from. “Tea!” he says. “You’ve been thinking about Litvinenko!” His two assistants giggle at the reference to the former FSB agent, Alexander Litvinenko, who was murdered by radioactive tea in 2006 at the Millennium Hotel, just one mile from where we are sitting. “I have a feeling you’re…” he confers with his neighbour, checking the right word. “Paranoid!” But surely Putin doesn’t want a westward-leaning Ukraine? “Russia is not our enemy. Russia is a different country. You overestimate the power of Putin in Ukraine,” he says. Practicalities, then. How will this anti-corruption drive actually work? Let’s start with the state services – the police and security agencies. How do you clean decades of human muck from those vast, intricate hierarchies? “You reload the system,” he says. “I understand this will not be a popular decision, but I can’t see another way. We investigate, fire the old people, bring in new staff and pay good wages. And we have one law for everybody.” This sounds simplistic. After so many years of rot, how many incorruptible police officers can there possibly be? How do you find the good ones? “It will be by personal selection,” he says. “Like in Georgia. Maybe it’s a bad example, but in one day, in Georgia, the whole police force was fired.” So he’d sack the whole of the police? “Yeah,” he says. Klitschko pauses. “Well,” he says, apparently thinking again, “I don’t think the example of Georgia would work in Ukraine. But it’s working in Georgia! It’s working!” It’s hard to know if Klitschko is really as oblivious as he seems to the dangers of his plan. Clearly, he’s taking his fight to ruthless people, with riches to protect. Perhaps the self-confidence he’s gathered as a boxer has given him an exaggerated sense of his own invulnerability? “I can’t be alone,” he says. “That’s why I do it with a team. Alone, it’s not important how strong you are – if you’re alone, you’re weak. I am not alone.” Yushchenko wasn’t alone, I point out, and he was nearly killed. There’s a silence. His eyes bear down at me. “Thousands, millions of Ukrainians support us,” he says. “And I’m not afraid to fight.” Which is exactly why the corrupt agencies that he’s seeking to “reload” must be concerned. I ask Klitschko if his phones are tapped. He nods at the mobile in front of him. “I know that,” he says. When I ask him if his family is afraid, he smiles. (Klitschko is married to Natalia Egorova, a former athlete and model, and has three children.) “It’s better not to explain to my family,” he says. “My children don’t realise what I’m doing.” Up until now, Klitschko has been sitting back in his chair, his left arm on the table, his body facing slightly away from me. When I press him, for one final time, to acknowledge the perils that he’s inviting into his life, he turns, leans forward and faces me squarely, his brow lowering, his jaw squeezing. “In professional boxing,” he says, “if you go inside the ring and you’re not ready to give your life, you will never be the best. But you have to be prepared. You need good defence. "You have to know your skills. And must never give your opponent a chance to attack you. It’s exactly the same in politics. "If you prepare well, have a good team around you and know the idea you’re fighting for, you will be successful. But a very important point: you always have to be ready to give everything to achieve your goal.” Including your life? He nods. “Including your life.”

EU Puts Fresh Pressure On Ukraine Over Tymoshenko, Reforms

KIEV, Ukraine -- Foreign ministers of several EU countries gave Ukraine a discouraging report on Thursday on its efforts to deepen ties with the bloc and suggested the jailing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko remained a serious obstacle. They said agreements on free trade and political association with the European Union were being stymied in particular by cases of "selective justice", a term used by the West to describe the prosecution of rival politicians, including former prime minister Tymoshenko, under President Viktor Yanukovich. Ukraine hopes to sign the deals at a summit in Vilnius in November. But Brussels has made it conditional on Kiev passing a number of legal reforms and addressing Western criticism of its justice and electoral systems. "The stakes are very high and time is very short," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in Kiev on Thursday after meeting Yanukovich together with his colleagues from Lithuania, Denmark and the Netherlands. "If the decision was to be taken now, I'm afraid, the answer on the signing would be 'no'," he said. Yanukovich this month pardoned two former members of Tymoshenko's government who had been jailed on abuse-of-office charges, a move welcomed by Brussels. But diplomats and analysts say he might be reluctant to do the same with regards to Tymoshenko, his fiercest political foe who led the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, derailing his first bid for presidency. Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2011 on charges related to a 2009 gas deal with Russia which Yanukovich says has saddled Ukraine with an exorbitant energy prices. Since last May, Tymoshenko, who has served twice as prime minister before narrowly losing the 2010 presidential run-off to Yanukovich, has been receiving treatment for back trouble in a state-run hospital in the city of Kharkiv. Yanukovich himself says he cannot order her release because Tymoshenko is also due to be tried on tax evasion and embezzlement charges and is being investigated in a murder case. She has denied all charges against her. The EU shelved the deals with Ukraine over Tymoshenko in 2011, when they were initially due to be signed. "You (Ukraine) have to dismiss all doubts about selective justice," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters when asked about Tymoshenko. The EU says a deal needs to be sealed this year before the bloc turns its focus to European Parliament elections in 2014 and Ukraine itself holds a presidential election in 2015. Poland's Sikorski urged Ukraine to act quickly. "Ukraine has three critical months to do what is necessary... if we fail, we can spend decades, maybe generations arguing what went wrong," he said.

Ukraine Marks Chornobyl Anniversary

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainians have held a memorial ceremony in a downtown Kyiv church to honor the victims of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear-power plant disaster. At the ceremony, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul paid homage to the "hundreds of thousands" of people who sacrificed their health or their lives to cope with the crisis. Other top Ukrainian officials, including President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, are participating in events to mark the 27th anniversary of the accident, which released radiation equivalent to 500 Hiroshima atomic bombs. Yanukovych said the total cost of the incident for his country over the last 27 years has been almost $180 billion. Anniversary Also Marked In Central Asia Elsewhere, several Central Asian cities have been marking the 27th anniversary of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear-plant disaster. In a ceremony in Kyrgyzstan's capital on April 26, Bishkek, Mayor Isa Omurkulov and diplomats from the Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian Embassies laid flowers at a monument commemorating the disaster's victims. A similar ceremony was held in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Jalal-Abad. In several cities in neighboring Kazakhstan, local citizens and Chornobyl veterans also honored the victims. Dozens of Chornobyl veterans and their supporters rallied in Kazakhstan's western city of Oral demanding benefits and financial support from the government. More than 50,000 of some 600,000 so-called Chornobyl liquidators, who participated in the effort to contain the disaster, were from five Central Asian republics.

NJ Train Explosive Plot Thwarted: Ukraine Man Caught With Bombs

HOBOKEN, USA -- A Ukrainian man was arrested in New Jersey after he brought two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on a New Jersey Transit train just days before the Boston marathon bombings, a new report details. Reports indicate that 27-year-old Mykyta Panasenko had the explosive devices eight days before the Boston Marathon explosions, which killed three people and injured over 200, according to The Jersey Journal. Officials revealed that Panasenko boarded a train in Hoboken that was destined for Suffern, New York on April 7 while carrying the explosive devices. Police noticed his unusual activities and arrested the man at the scene. The investigation into Panasenko's intentions has been conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Port Authority Police Department. Authorities indicated that the suspect built "two destructive devices, specifically improvised explosive devices (IEDs) constructed from a cylinder containing Pyrodex (black powder)." The report has yet to be made public, but will be made so after public until his court hearing on April 31, according to the Huffington Post. Initial reports indicate that Panasenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine and has lived in Jersey City for the last several years. Records also show that he attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick and has been working with gaming company High 5 Games. Panasenko was "recklessly creating widespread risk of injury or damage to a building which normally contains 25 or more persons by constructing the explosive devices," a source told The Jersey Journal. Officers from the Jersey City Police Department Bomb Squad raided the house and found more evidence of suspicious activity. Jersey City Police Deputy Chief Peter Nalbach explained that an anonymous tip led them to Panasenko and a search of his house uncovered more items that could have been used to build more bombs. "Materials that may have been used to make an explosive device" were recovered at the residence, a law enforcement source added.

Ukraine’s Commission Advises Against Tymoshenko Pardon

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s presidential commission on pardons has advised President Viktor Yanukovych not to pardon jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, the deputy Prosecutor General said on Saturday. “The commission has recommended [the Ukrainian president] not to grant a request. Under the law, there are no grounds for the pardon,” Mikhail Gavrilyuk told RIA Novosti. More than 20 female MPs sent a petition to Yanukovych to pardon Tymoshenko on April 18. The president sent the request for the consideration of the presidential commission on pardons on April 19. Tymoshenko remains in prison after being sentenced to seven years in October 2011 for exceeding her authority by signing a gas supply deal with Russia in 2009. EU and other leaders have expressed their concern over her conviction, which they see as being handed out in response to her political opposition to Yanukovych, head of the Party of Regions, which is mostly supported by inhabitants of Ukraine's Russian-speaking north and eastern districts.

EU, Ukraine Warm To Each Other After Former Minister’s Release From Prison

KIEV, Ukraine -- The European Union has visibly warmed to Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych freed from prison the former Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko, a victim of selective justice. 
Judging by recent statements from EU and Ukrainian officials, they now see a real chance to sign an association and free trade deal.

The main stumbling blocks are Kiev’s delays in adoption of the legislation needed to qualify and reluctance to free former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

However, apparently not all in the EU continue to insist on her release from prison, which may make it easier for Kiev to qualify for the deal.

The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement were technically ready for signing months ago, but the EU insisted that Ukraine first release Tymoshenko and Lutsenko and upgrade its legislation.

Brussels agreed at the Ukraine-EU summit in February that the deal would be signed in November if Ukraine met its conditions by May.

Even a month ago, it seemed that Kiev was hopelessly behind schedule.

However, at that point Yanukovych may have made a geopolitical choice between rapprochement with the EU and joining the Customs Union with Russia — in favor of the EU.

On April 7, Yanukovych pardoned Lutsenko, who in February 2012 was sentenced to four years in jail for granting privileges to his former driver.

Yanukovych’s advisor Andry Honcharuk did not conceal that Yanukovych did so to appease the EU, noting that an “appropriate atmosphere” was being created for the signing of the association deal.
Lutsenko’s release was by far not the most important of the EU’s 11, 19 or 71 conditions (according to different counts), but it was a powerful signal from Yanukovych that he was ready to set aside personal enmity for the sake of rapprochement with the EU.

The opposition has also looked increasingly prone to set aside its differences with Yanukovych.

Although the three opposition factions, Fatherland, Punch (Udar) and Freedom, continued their blockade of parliament on issues unrelated to the EU through April, they helped the ruling Party of Regions to pass the anti-corruption amendments requested by the EU.

This gave Kiev grounds for optimism.

Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Andry Klyuyev said after meeting top EU officials in Brussels on April 23–24 that Ukraine would meet all conditions for the signing of the association and free trade agreement on time.

He said that of the ten laws required by the EU, Ukraine’s parliament has thus far given preliminary approval to two, passed another two, and should pass the rest by June.

The EU has also made several important steps toward Ukraine.

On April 18, the European Parliament (EP) recommended that the EU Council of Ministers sign a new visa facilitation agreement with Ukraine, which should make it easier for journalists, politicians, and relatives of EU citizens to obtain EU visas.

On the same day, the EP endorsed the prolongation, until October, of its monitoring mission to Ukraine, which is headed by former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former EP President Pat Cox.

Poles, who have always been enthusiastic about Ukraine’s integration into the EU, were especially active this April.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski stated that the atmosphere in Ukraine-EU relations improved after Lutsenko’s release, and Kwasniewski told Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov that many in Europe have stopped seeing events in Ukraine only in black and white.

He also predicted that the EU in ten years would ask Ukraine and Turkey to join.  

Sikorski was also among the four EU foreign ministers who arrived in Kiev on April 25 to check Ukraine’s progress.

At the start of the meeting with Yanukovych, Sikorski flattered him by saying that the association deal would be the Ukrainian president’s personal historic achievement.

After the meeting, Sikorski said he was more optimistic than before, although time was running out for Ukraine to meet EU conditions.

At the same time, the visitors were evasive on Tymoshenko.

The daily Kommersant-Ukraine noted on April 26 that they did not even mention her during two press briefings.

Earlier this month, the prime minister of another EU country, Andrus Ansip of Estonia, told Azarov that it would be wrong if the future of Ukraine-EU relations depended on “one card or rather one queen,” obviously referring to Tymoshenko.  

The EU, especially those of its members that used to be in the Soviet camp, seems more ready for concessions than a year or even a month ago.

Judging by their reactions to Lutsenko’s release from prison, a pardoning of Tymoshenko would make the signing of the association deal almost certain even if Ukraine failed to meet other conditions.

However, the situation with Tymoshenko is more complicated.

Apart from serving a seven-year sentence for gas contracts with Russia, she is also suspected of involvement in the murder of a people’s deputy in 1996.

Yanukovych said recently that it would be impossible to pardon her now as all the court hearings have not been completed.

Russian postal service chief sacked

Pochta Rossii Chief Executive Alexander Kiselyov has been sacked, Russia’s Communications Ministry said Friday, in an apparent response to mounting accusations of inefficiency as Russia’s postal service struggled to deal with hundreds of tons of backlogged international packages. On Thursday Kiselyov, who had headed the Russian postal service since February 2009, suggested that the government create a special commission to deal with a backlog of international packages that reached 500 tons last week. A moratorium on international mail at Sheremetyevo Aiport was announced Wednesday by the local mail processing company Airport Moscow, who said it would not be unloading any mail until the backlog of packages at Pochta Rossii’s airport department at Sheremetyevo was reduced to 40 tons. Kiselyov has been replaced by Dmitry Strashnov, former CEO of telecoms operator Tele2 Russia, who quit the job on the eve of the purchase of the former subsidiary of the Swedish Tele2 by the VTB Bank. He is the fifth person to head Pochta Rossii since 2007. But the problems at the postal service go deeper than its leadership, an expert said. “Unfortunately, this won’t help,” Kirill Kabanov, head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee told The Moscow New. “There is still lack of a development strategy, it’s connected to corruption.” Pochta Rossii sounded an alarm last week over some 500 tons of backlogged packages, most of them online shopping orders that have not passed through customs due to staffing issues. Since then, the backlog has been reduced to 150 tons. “Today’s situation would not be happening if we had just been heard,” Pochta Rossii said in an official statement on Thursday, citing plans to open additional sorting departments at airports that were not agreed with the authorities in time. It has blamed the problems on staffing issues at the Customs Service. Russia’s postal service has increasingly been under fire for delays and inefficiency, with up to 20 percent of correspondences not reaching their addressees on time, according to figures from the Communications Ministry. But problems are exacerbated by a worn-out Soviet-era infrastructure. Out of 42,000 postal departments, 70 percent are operating at a loss. Meanwhile, 65 percent of correspondence is still sorted by hand, according to RIA Novosti. Last week, the government ordered Pochta Rossii to be transferred under the direct control of the Communications Ministry in an attempt to improve efficiency, according to an official statement posted on the government’s site. Days later, Kiselyov sent a letter to Customs Service chief Andrei Belyaninov asking him to look into the problem, after complaints from Deutsche Post earlier last month that postal packages sent to Russia were not reaching their destinations. Postal traffic is expected to continue growing as an increasing number of people order products online. If the Russia’s postal service delivered 2.3 million packages ordered online in 2009, by 2012 that number had grown to 17 million.

Russian connection in Boston Marathon bombings

Russian connection in Boston Marathon bombings The two suspects in the deadly bombing of this week’s Boston marathon hailed from a Russian region near Chechnya.

Ukraine Continues To Play With The Rules, Not By The Rules

KIEV, Ukraine -- In October 2002, President Leonid Kuchma visited Warsaw where North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Javier Solana told him, “Sometimes Ukraine seems to be playing with, not by, the rules”. A most recent case in point is the April 7 “pardon” of former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko in an attempt to appease the Aleksander Kwasniewski–Pat Cox commission (composed of the former presidents of Poland and the European Parliament, respectively). The commission is due to provide an interim report to the European Parliament on April 18, 2013, regarding 11 benchmarks on reform and selective use of justice in Ukraine. Although released, Lutsenko’s criminal record remains, and he cannot stand for office or enter government until 2023 (eight years after his prison term was to end). The release was carefully staged by Ukrainian authorities, with Valeria Lutkovska, Parliamentary Human Rights Ombudsperson requesting two days earlier for Lutsenko’s “pardon” on health grounds because all legal avenues in Ukraine were now closed. The European Union, the United States and the US Helsinki Commission responded with a renewed demand for the release of Yulia Tymoshenko. All legal avenues have been exhausted in the Tymoshenko case as well, with the last appeal rejected in August 2012. The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group wrote, “There is nothing to stop Ms [sic] Lutkovska from seeking a pardon, nor is the President granting it” as “[t]he precedent has, after all, been set with Lutsenko’s pardon being issued on the basis of an appeal from the Ombudsperson and not on his personal request”. The decision to release or keep Tymoshenko imprisoned is in the hands of President Viktor Yanukovych. Playing with the rules means that Lutsenko can be released because he is not a serious threat to the president’s strategy while a freed Tymoshenko would be a double threat to Yanukovych’s re-election in 2015 and, failing that, as a mobilizer of a second “Orange Revolution.” Tymoshenko will, therefore, not be released — especially following the launching in February of criminal murder charges against her. Political and economic reforms, another aspect of the Kwasniewski-Cox commission, are unlikely to resume ahead of the 2015 elections; an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation left Kiev last week (April 10) without a new agreement because of Ukraine’s failure to accept stringent economic restructuring. Since 2010, playing with the rules has become central to the authorities’ “Yanukovych Forever!” and “Stop Orange Revolution-2” strategy. The strategy has six policies and outcomes. • In 2010, Ukraine’s parliamentary rules were changed to permit individual deputies (as opposed to factions) to join parliamentary coalitions, leading to widespread political corruption. In the same year, the Constitutional Court annulled the 2004 constitutional changes, thus returning Ukraine to the 1996 presidential constitution. • The ruling Party of Regions has changed election dates three times — local elections from May to October 2010, parliamentary from 2011 to 2012 (the 1996 constitution allows for four-year parliamentary terms) and Kiev city council and mayoral election from 2012 to 2015. • The parliamentary election law was changed from a proportional system (used in 2006 and 2007) to a mixed proportional-majoritarian one for the 2012 elections. A referendum is to be held this year to change the law to a fully majoritarian system, used only once in 1994. Democratic Initiatives Foundation sociologist Iryna Bekeshkina warned that the referendum, if it passes, will mark “the end of democracy in Ukraine”. The law on referendums itself, which was adopted last year, plays with the rules by permitting the authorities to control the results. Yanukovych is politically vested in the results of this referendum, which will be a vote of confidence on his rule. If it passes, Bekeshkina argues, the election law changes will allow “Yanukovych [to] remain forever” by providing him with a means to achieve “an absolute parliamentary majority and to change the constitution as [he] wishes”. • The referendum will change presidential elections, which were held with two voting rounds on five occasions since 1991, to a single round. The aim is to ensure Yanukovych wins immediately in 2015 without having to face a single opponent in a second round of voting. Eastern Ukrainian political forces will unite around one candidate and can buy off the Communists. Western Ukrainians (like the opposition throughout Eurasia) are divided among a number of candidates and would collectively, therefore, lose in the first election round (the exception was Ukraine in 2004). • The authorities have shown a willingness to adopt legislation behind closed doors without the opposition in attendance. Such a closed-door session on April 4, described as a “putsch” by opposition media, allegedly included 244 lawmakers while excluding all opposition deputies. The parliament has refused to provide a copy of the signatures of the 244 supposedly in attendance (as required under new regulations) and no lists of deputies who voted have bNevertheless, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine ruled that the April 4 session was legitimate. • If the referendum passes, the president will likely disband the parliament, claiming it is not working, and schedule pre-term elections under the new majoritarian election law, consequently leading to the marginalization of the opposition, as in Russia. A rubber stamp parliament could then change the constitution along the lines of the flawed and not internationally recognized April 2000 referendum, which, if adopted, would have expanded presidential powers and created a bicameral legislature. In addition to a single-round presidential election, Yanukovych’s administration will seek to reduce the number of deputies from 450 to 300, turn the parliament bicameral with an appointed Senate, and remove legislative deputies’ immunity from prosecution. Without immunity, parliamentarians will be totally subservient to the executive. Playing with the rules through these six policies reveals a lack of commitment to European values. Releasing Lutsenko will in all probability be insufficient for the Kawsniewski-Cox commission to recommend that the EU sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine at the Eastern Partnership summit in November. And without a clear path toward European integration, Ukraine may be left to drift closer into Russia’s orbit.een posted on the parliamentary web site.

EU Countries Show Interest In Ukraine's Gas Transportation System

KIEV, Ukraine -- Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany and other European states are currently negotiating the use of Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities. This was announced by Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal Eduard Stavytskyi at a press conference in Kiev. According to the minister, Poland, for instance, considers using gas storage facilities to be able to control the prices on the domestic natural gas market. EU member-states first showed their interest in Ukrainian gas storages in February 2013, for its gas transportation system (GTS) boasts the extensive underground storage facilities - 13 units with the total capacity of more than 31 billion cubic meters. Such capacity allows for stocking sufficient volume of gas during summer months, so that it can be utilized during peak situations in winter time in Europe. Importantly, on May 3, 2013, in Brussels Ukraine and the EU will hold a roundtable regarding further development of the Ukrainian gas market. The roundtable will be chaired by EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Ukraine's Energy Minister Stavytsyi. The invitation to discuss the modernization of the Ukrainian GTS and the establishment of the Eastern European gas hub in Ukraine was sent to most of the leading gas companies, including Russia's Gazprom. In addition to EU's support for Ukrainian GTS modernization, the 27-nation bloc helps Ukraine diversify its gas supplies. Thus, starting November 2012, Ukraine has been receiving German gas through Polish pipelines. The amount of gas imported through Polish territory in November 2012 - April 2013 reached 171 million cubic meters. Furthermore, in 2013, Ukraine intends to sign agreements regarding reverse gas supply from Germany through Hungarian and Slovakian territories. The expected volume of gas Ukraine will receive under such arrangement can reach 7 billion cubic meters. According to Minister Stavytskyi, this should influence the current price Ukraine is paying for Russian gas (over $400 per thousand cubic meters of gas). Notably, in March 2013, many private companies along with Ukraine's public company Naftogaz started supplying natural gas both from Europe and Russia to Ukraine. Currently, the Eastern European country is purchasing most of its imported gas from Russia (the projected 20 billion cubic meters in 2013).

President Seeking To Dump Prime Minister?

KIEV, Ukraine -- A senior ruling party lawmaker on Wednesday denied speculation that President Viktor Yanukovych is secretly seeking to replace Prime Minister Mykola Azarov with First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov. Azarov will face a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Friday. The motion, initiated by opposition groups, needs to be supported by the Communist Party and by independent lawmakers to be successful. Opposition leaders said there were signs indicating the Communist Party, which on several occasions sided with the ruling party, has been secretly asked to back the motion. If Azarov loses the vote, he would be automatically dismissed along with the entire government. Yanukovych has been long seeking to promote Arbuzov, who is believed to be very close to Yanukovych’s son, Oleksandr, according to people with knowledge. This would fit the pattern of all high profile appointments in the country, from the Finance Minister, the Revenue and Fees Minister, the Interior Minister to the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. All of these officials are close allies of Oleksandr Yanukovych, whose wealth has been growing exponentially since his father has become the president in February 2010. But the ruling Regions Party was split with a half of their lawmakers backing Azarov and vehemently refusing to support the promotion of Arbuzov. Hryhoriy Smitiukh, a senior member of the Regions Party, on Wednesday dismissed speculations and said there were no plans to replace Azarov with Arbuzov. “I am convinced the Mykola Yanovych [Azarov] will keep working,” Smitiukh said in an interview with Radio Liberty. “Nothing is eternal, but we will work through the year 2015, until after the presidential election. This is guaranteed.” Smitiuk also dismissed speculations that the Communist Party may turn against Azarov. “The Communists will not vote for the dismissal of the government,” Smitiukh said. “If you look at the track record of the Communists in Parliament, they always have their pragmatic long-term plans. They are guided by these plans.” “Don’t even hope that the Communist will vote,” Smitiukh said. “They can declare slogans, demand some actions, but as far as the government’s dismissal is concerned – they will not go for it. I am convinced.” A spokesman for the Communist Party declined to comment on whether the party would back the motion. Neither the Regions Party nor the three opposition groups control majority of seats in Parliament. This makes the Communist Party’s position key to whether the motion is rejected or approved. Parliament, which was blocked by the opposition groups since April 3, resumed its normal sessions on Tuesday, following a compromise between the groups and the Regions Party. The compromise includes scheduling the no-confidence motion, and also vote on legislation that may lead to the release of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. The compromise also includes efforts to schedule the next Kiev mayoral election and a vote to cancel the government’s controversial pension reform. The Regions Party, which has weak political support in Kiev, defeated the plan for the Kiev mayoral election, leaving a Yanukovych appointee in charge of the Kiev government indefinitely.

Extension of European Parliament's Ukraine Mission: A Triumph Of Dialogue Over Isolation

STRASBOURG, France -- The European Parliament has acknowledged the success of the Cox-Kwasniewski monitoring mission to Ukraine, extending its remit until September. There had been speculation that the mission, headed by former European Parliament (EP) President Pat Cox and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, could end April 18th in Strasbourg, but in the past few weeks there was positive news from Kiev with the decision by Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych to pardon jailed former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and five others. Lutsenko, an ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, had been convicted of crimes ranging from embezzlement to abuse of office. Tymoshenko was not considered for a pardon, as she has not yet exhausted all her appeals and legal steps, according to Ukrainian authorities. The mission's extension was supported by all political parties in the European Parliament, showing the success of engagement and dialogue rather than isolation tactics. Polish MEP Pawel Kowal, head of the Parliamentary Delegation on Cooperation with Ukraine, underlined the importance of an active dialogue as a tool for deeper European integration of Ukraine. "The principle of the mission's work is based on a dialogue and it works better than boycott threats and other political tools," he said. Kwasniewski said the extension is an acknowledgement that his mission is a work in progress. "We see that many steps forward have already been made. But still a lot needs to be done. And we, through our mission in Ukraine, are supporting the process of meeting the association criteria," he said, referring to the terms of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, which is set to be signed in November. The European Parliament also approved visa-free travel for Ukraine, a key measure included in the Association Agreement. Kwasniewski said Kiev has played an important part in getting his mission extended. He praised the efforts to unblock the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), which had held up legislation vital to Ukraine's European integration. And he said the softening of the hard-line position by Opposition parties, including Tymoshenko's Fatherland, to support bills vital to EU integration "opens the way" for further progress.

Ukraine Government Beats Off No Confidence Vote

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on Friday despite its unpopularity over pension reform and charges of corruption - an outcome that reaffirmed President Viktor Yanukovich's grip as he eyes a second term in office. Opposition politician Arseny Yatsenyuk, a former foreign minister and ex-minister of economy, pushed the opposition motion, charging Prime Minister Mykola Azarov's government with pursuing policies that only enriched those in power. "The people of Ukraine have been deceived by these authorities, this president, prime minister and government," he told parliament. "You changed a lot, but changed things only for yourselves, for your own pockets, and not for Ukrainians." Azarov, a long-time ally of Yanukovich, dismissed Yatsenyuk's criticism on Facebook, saying the opposition had shown a lamentably "low level of professional discussion". "Lies, demagoguery, populism, insults and unfounded allegations - all unacceptable in civilized discussion - continue to be used," he said. Even with support from some communists, traditional allies of Yanukovich's ruling Party of the Regions, the opposition could muster only 190 votes to support the move to bring down Azarov's government, well short of the required 226 votes. Azarov, 65, has led the government in the former Soviet republic since Yanukovich won election as president in February 2010. But rampant corruption among officials, pension reform in 2011 which raised the retirement age for women from 55 to 60, as well as tax reform which has squeezed small business concerns has made his government highly unpopular. With the 62-year-old Yanukovich gearing up to launch a second bid for the presidency in 2015, there has been speculation that he might drop Azarov to improve his own image. But Friday's vote appeared to cement the Azarov government, which is negotiating a $15 billion stand-by loan from the International Monetary Fund, firmly in place for the next few months. It also underscored the limitations of the united opposition parties despite their ability to bring thousands out on to the streets in weekend demonstrations across the country. The united opposition includes the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which was buoyed by the release from prison last Sunday of her former interior minister, Yury Lutsenko, under a presidential pardon. She is serving a seven-year jail sentence for abuse-of-power while in office and her continued imprisonment is threatening the signing of landmark agreements on political association and free trade with the European Union in November. Friday's vote underscored the fact that the balance of power in parliament remains with Yanukovich's Regions which can still count on the support of communists and most non-affiliated deputies for crucial votes. The Regions reasserted its control over the legislature this month, ending the opposition's blockade of parliamentary proceedings by decamping and holding a session in a different building. They have also defeated an opposition move to call a mayoral election in the capital city of Kiev - which the opposition had hoped to win - and allowed a non-elected appointee of Yanukovich to continue running the city.

President Putin visits Buddhist centre in Buryatia

President Putin visits Buddhist centre in Buryatia The Ivolginsky Datsan Buddhist Centre in Buryatia, southern Siberia, received the Russian President as guest. Vladimir Putin noted during his vist that Buddhism plays an important role in Russian Federation. He called it "a kind, humanistic teaching, which is based on love for one another and love for one's country." The President promised that his government will always support Buddhism in Russia. Lama Damba Ayushev, Russia's leader of traditional Sangha, thanked the President for his visit and kind words. "From the Buddhist point of view, nothing is accidental. You will always be there in history for us," the Lama said. Buddhism spread in Buryatia as early as the 2nd century BCE. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Buryatia witnessed a revival of Buddhism and has had great impact on the development of culture among the Buryats, regarding art, cooking, literature, medicine and philosophy.

Spring grass burning is troubling Russia

Despite the fact that the snow has not melted everywhere in Russia and the ground is still wet, thick, black smoke from the fires can already be seen over Russia. This means the start of spring burning of dry grass - a disease with which forest and fire departments have been struggling unsuccessfully for years. Why do these fires occur and how can we deal with this phenomenon? Unlike forest fires, some of which may be due to natural causes (e.g., lightning), grass burns are manmade nearly 90 percent of the time. Some fail to put out the fire, some are bored, and others decide to take revenge on a forester. All this causes fires on vast areas so that fire brigades can hardly stop uncontrolled fire walls. Interestingly, many arsonists try to justify their actions with a certain ideology. For example, some argue that fires are good because they kill harmful insects, such as fleas and ticks. We can only regret that such "science-savvy" citizens were asleep during their biology classes in school or skipped them altogether, otherwise they would have remembered that until the soil warms up in May, these pests are sitting deep underground, and, therefore, cannot be harmed by fire. It is also completely pointless to fight rodents with fire as their holes are rather deep and the animals always have time to hide in secure underground pathways when they smell the smoke. Others argue that this is a great measure of preventing forest fires. Supposedly they've seen a thousand times that forest rangers do the same. Yes, indeed, foresters do this, but they, unlike these voluntary but unwanted "helpers," know what and where to burn. This is why there are no fires caused by the foresters' burns, while the burns made by the self-proclaimed "forest guards" destroy everything that can burn. Spring grass burns happened before, but not at today's scale. Why grass burns occur more often these days? Did people become more careless and inattentive or does the grass now grow thicker than before? Likely, both reasons are true. The grass is indeed thicker, deputy head of the company "Avialesookhrana" Vladimir Grishin believes. In an interview with Pravda.Ru he shared his thoughts: "As sad as it may be, today a vast amount of agricultural land has no owners. Of course, formally, these lands belong to someone, but in fact they are derelict. They are not used in any way other than perhaps for haymaking. As a result, these lands are overgrown with weeds that are remarkably flammable. It is precisely in those places where burns lead to disasters, because there is no one to monitor arsons and drive arsonists away. Of course, foresters burn guard bands between these lands and forests, and only because of their work Russia does not turn into a huge bonfire every spring. But their opportunities are limited in many places. For example, if the burns are in the steppe region and lead to a fire, as it happened, for example, last year in the Trans-Baikal region, there is nothing they can do, and the employees of "Avialesookhrana" cannot do anything either as the steppes are outside of our control. " One of the reasons that contribute to the fact that spring burns are at the level of a national disaster is an abundance of derelict lands. However, people have also changed recently. Volunteer "Greenpeace" firefighter Ivan Burov, who along with his friends worked in Astrakhan Nature Reserve in March of this year, shared his thoughts on the reasons of dry reeds fires in the Volga delta: "The main reason of fires is arson. Why do people burn grass? It's not just a simple local clinical stupidity, though such cases do exist. Often there is a reason - for example, fishermen may be cleaning up area for fishing. At times people set grass on fire on their agricultural plots and just do not watch where the fire spreads. Sometimes local people arrange arsons in order to avenge the employees of the reserve for some past offenses. Or they distract their attention because once the reserve employees have to deal with a fire, people can go hunting or fishing with impunity. Incidentally, hunters, like in ancient times, drive the animals out of the woods with fire - that's another reason of arsons. " Obviously, there are many reasons for grass burns. The result, unfortunately, is almost always the same - forest fires and burnt villages. Grass fires are not harmless little trickles of fire dangerous only to insects. Valery Lobanov, an instructor of a parachute brigade at "Avialesookhrana" said that fires caused by grass burns could be worse than forest fires: "For some reason people think that when the spring grass is burning, it is not serious. I remember one such grass fire in Buryatia, where the flame height was about ten meters because the grass was shoulders-high and completely dry. I can say that it was burning much more intensely than a forest fire. Those who find themselves in the center of the fire have no chance for salvation. " If a village or town is in the path of such a fire, it simply ceases to exist, quickly absorbed by a fiery wave. Ivan Burov said that reed fire looks about the same - it is no less dangerous than a steppe one: "If reeds reach a height of up to two meters, the fire flames soar up to ten meters or more. And if the wind is blowing, this wall of fire is moving very quickly and the fire covers a huge area. In addition, burning dry reed breaks, and its parts fly from one place to another, creating pockets of new fires. It turns out that one area was set on fire and after a short time another ten get burnt." It is clear that, whatever the reasons for burning dry spring grass, this simply cannot be done because grass fires quickly become a threat to human life. Therefore, unauthorized spring grass burn should be prevented by all means, otherwise Russia will turn into ashes before the onset of heat. For example, now, "Greenpeace" is collecting signatures in support of the law banning grass burns, and the campaign is close to success. However, one law, even if it is adopted, is not enough because it is physically impossible to put a solid fence of security officers and foresters between the dry grass and the Russians. This means that educational and outreach activities are needed, and people should be taught about harmful effects of spring burning of dry grass. In Astrakhan "Greenpeace" volunteers have successfully conducted several such campaigns (they are held not only in Astrakhan but all over the country). In addition, each resident of Russia should stop pretending that burning is not their problem, and start to more actively resist all attempts of arsonists. Of course, we all need to be more careful and immediately report grass burns to those whose job it is to extinguish t

Offshore bashing - a warning for the Russian elite?

The memory of Cyprus and its offshore banks scandal is still fresh, and new information about thousands of suspicious accounts in financial institutions in the British Virgin Islands has emerged. The source of this information is the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) from Washington. The investigation involved 88 journalists from 46 countries. We will discuss the peculiarities of the said journalistic consortium later, but for now let us turn to the information that for several days have been discussed by leading newspapers in Britain and the U.S., as well as the Russian liberal print trio - Vedomosti, Novaya Gazeta, and New Times. Among hundreds of names and accounts of western schemers of average scale and high-ranking officials from the countries of the Third World (including a dollar millionaire from Mongolia), only three Russian holders of offshore accounts were mentioned. The total volume of information on the British Virgin Islands is about 260 gigabytes, which is ten times the size of the largest leak of WikiLeaks in 2010. This collection contains data from 2.5 million documents and names of 130,000 people from 170 countries, including Russia. The list includes all sorts of people, from presidents to plutocrats, the daughter of Philippine dictator Marcos and a British millionaire accused of concealing assets from the former spouse. The President of Azerbaijan, the former Minister of Finance of Mongolia, the treasurer of Hollande's presidential election, a Spanish baroness, friend and partner of the late Berezovsky and a couple dozen of characters, holders of secret accounts who are not inferior to the Russian entrepreneurial and shameless privatizers and reformers of the 1990s . And here is why it all started - the names of Russian offshore account holders are Olga Shuvalova, the wife of the first Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Gazprom officials Golubev and Paikin, and a former senior civil servant of Reus Vladimir Margelov, the brother of Senator Margelov. "And this is just the beginning," promised David Lee, a British journalist. This implicit threat of further publication of the names of the holders of accounts with illegal money is obviously the entire point of this informational operation. Without doubt, the information about money laundering and its origin among high-ranking officials and their relatives is very interesting and useful for the restoration of social justice. And, while nothing new was published on the accounts of Shuvalova, as the information has been available for a couple of years along with the charges against Igor Shuvalov for using insider information for personal gain, it does not hurt to remind the law enforcement authorities about the incident once again. However, there are many international acts, including the famous American FATC, designed to legally fight money laundering, including offshore. Why not take advantage of these opportunities, especially as the U.S. has done it, for example, with regard to Swiss accounts without much fuss? The answer is simple - not the financial and legal result is needed, but rather, ideological information against the Russian government. This conclusion is evidenced by the analysis of the founders of the ICIJ consortium that, until recently, was not known to the journalistic community. Its website states that the organization is a project of another, larger American NGO - CPI, Center for Public Integrity. The list of financiers and sponsors includes well-known organizations such as the Ford Foundation, the Soros Foundation, the Goldman Fund, the Fund for Support of Jewish Communities, the foundation of the Rockefeller family, and the foundation of Google. A great deal of interesting material can be written on each of these organizations, and in Russia they are not known as good, unbiased Samaritans. The main thing is all these funds, especially Google Fund and the Fund for Support of the Jewish Community have long worked closely with the CIA, actively developing budgets, implementing U.S. policy that in recent years has been using private and public structures to achieve its reprehensible goals. In the event of publicity the American government will not be to blame, and there is no reason for diplomatic complications. Now it becomes clear why the three Russian newspapers were selected for the distribution of information in Russia. Vedomosti is published and controlled by the U.S. publishing house. The New Times is headed by Yevgenia Albats, member of the Russian Jewish Congress, who had long lived in the United States. The relations of Mikhail Gorbachev, a co-owner of Novaya Gazeta, with the West do not require mentioning. The ICIJ consortium does not make a secret of its journalists, virtually foreign agents, through which it operates in Russia. Its website displays the names under the heading "Our journalists." Albats is heading the list, followed by Roman Anin and Roman Shleinov, both of Novaya Gazeta. But all these are technical details that reveal the methods of the new grand psychological operations conducted by the CIA and the U.S. State Department through a network of NGOs with the support of Russian home-grown collaborationists. In fact, all previous attacks were poorly calculated and have failed. "Bolotnaya" protests have died down, the Russian opposition is stuck in scandals and criminal cases, the Magnitsky list did not yield results. Now it is time to excite the public mind with billions taken out of the country, and send a warning to the dishonest officials that their names may be made public if they do not take the correct political position, whether covertly or overtly. Undoubtedly, the best way to prevent this kind of situation is for the Russian law enforcement agencies to start working on high-ranking corrupt officials. It would make sense to consider the peculiarities of the U.S. unfriendly policies. A law on the foreign agents in the media, similar to the approved law on foreign agents in NGOs, would also be timely.

White House rounds off rough corners for 'those Russians'

The Obama Administration sent for the approval of the U.S. Congress the "Magnitsky list" that includes 18 people. 16 of them are directly linked with the case of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Another two were included on certain humanitarian grounds. All of them, in case of approval by the Congress, will not be able to visit the United States, and their assets, first of all, bank accounts, will be frozen. The list includes a former investigator of the Investigation Department Pavel Karpov, Senior Counselor of Justice Oleg Logunov, former head of Butyrka prison Dmitry Komnov; judges of Tver Court of Moscow Alexei Krivoruchko, Sergei Podoprigorov, Elena Stashina, and Svetlana Ukhnaleva; heads of the Moscow tax inspectorates Olga Stepanova and Elena Khimina; deputy head of the Department for Combating Tax Crimes Artem Kuznetsov, deputy head of the deparment investigation of high profile cases of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Andrei Pechegin, prison administrator of "Matrosskaya Tishina" Ivan Prokopenko, investigator Oleg Sil'chenko, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Tolchinsky and Alex Drogan; deputy chief of the Committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Natalia Vinogradova, a member of the regiment of the private security department of the Chechen Interior Ministry Lecha Bogatyrev, and Russian businessman Kazbek Dukuzov. ITAR-TASS news agency noted that the published list contains the names of a number of government officials who resigned long time ago. It is worth noting that the founder of Hermitage Capital, William Browder is trying to avoid litigation with ex-investigator Pavel Karpov included in the U.S. list. The exact number of people on the list was intriguing. The Obama administration advocated for making it as short as possible to minimize the negative consequences of its approval. The Congress, by contrast, was not averse to expanding it to include politicians and officials allegedly involved in human rights violations. The apotheosis was the list proposed to the White House by Congressman James McGovern's that included 280 people. McGovern said that if the administration tried to shorten it, the Congress would adopt an even tougher version. It is hardly an accident that "the list of McGovern's" is almost entirely copied from the letter compiled by the so-called "Coordinating Council of the Opposition." Some of its members not only make no secret of their ties with Washington, but strongly emphasize them. However, as it turned out, the opinion of the Russian opposition is not considered very important in the U.S. Of course, the list of the Congressman is too much, and the White House could not support it because of the unpredictability of the consequences of such a step. On the other hand, there is little reason to believe that the list of 18 names is a step towards Russia. The absence of such the list could be considered as such. Besides, as it became known later, there is an additional, secret list. The names of the officials included in that list have not been disclosed. In this case, however, it has to do only with visa restrictions. The assets are not discussed, because such sanctions have to be declared publicly in accordance with a legal requirement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on Friday on the situation with the "Magnitsky list", said that the time for the publication chosen by Washington was not "entirely successful". "U.S. president's aid on national security is coming to Moscow on Monday to discuss the message of President Obama with detailed ideas of prospects for Russian-American cooperation," said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Political analyst Alexei Mukhin drew attention to the fact that the publication of the list coincided with the audits of non-profit organizations on the territory of Russia. "Even quite understandable legal attempts to bring these NGOs out of the shadow are perceived very anxiously by the non-profit organizations and their probable sponsors," he said. "The United States, on the one hand, fears worsening of the relations with Russia, because too many American companies are operating on the territory of our country and are interested in collaboration. On the other hand, there is political establishment not bound by any economic obligations or without any economic interest on the territory of Russia. It is solving the internal issues by showing voters the fight with "those Russians," said Alexei Mukhin. "The list itself is not justified, because, for example, the criteria for inclusion of people there are not clear. Therefore it should be treated as a political document, and not be perceived as guidance for action," stressed the analyst. As for the Russian response, according to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Ryabkov, Moscow is not going to have a competition in this regard. "We will not compete in the bad sense of this word, we will not run ahead of the Americans in terms of the number of persons to be included in our list, but we will respond," the diplomat said.

European officials realize how much they need Russia

State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin may take part in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the fall of 2013. Last year, the chairman of the lower house of the Russian parliament refused to participate in the event due to the position taken by some leaders of the PACE and a number of "Russophobian delegations." Sergei Naryshkin, in September of last year, was going to talk about the problems of parliamentary development and the formation of Europe without borders. "But as the opening of the session was going closer, we thought that it was very unlikely that my strategic proposals would be heard by a number of leaders of the Parliamentary Assembly and a number of Russophobe delegations," the official said back then. "They seem to evince interest in other things," added Naryshkin. "Other things" stands for the report on Russia's obligations as a member of the Council of Europe. The report was made in sharply critical tones. There was even a chance that the Russian delegation would not go to the Assembly. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky even suggested Russia should pull out from PACE. Russian delegates eventually went to Strasbourg. Six months later, passions noticeably subsided. On Tuesday, the speaker of the State Duma met with PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon in Moscow. "Russia highly appreciates the potential of the Council of Europe. We want to raise the effectiveness of teamwork. We know how much interest you show in Russia and in its role in the Council of Europe, although we may not always agree with you. Such a debate is a normal situation between partners, " the Speaker of the State Duma told ITAR-TASS news agency. In response, Jean-Claude Mignon promised to do everything possible during the remaining part of his stay in office (expires in January 2014) to make Russia's relations with the Assembly develop at a higher level. According to Alexey Pushkov, who attended the meeting, the head of the PACE invited Sergei Naryshkin again to take part in the session of the Assembly in the autumn of this year. "The response was positive," said the head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs. Meanwhile, his first deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov does not conceal his skepticism about the organization. "In general, nothing depends on PACE," he said. "This is a collection of European parliamentarians, who always have a long list of complaints against Russia. PACE's existence is a known fact to Russia and a couple of other countries, but I have never read anything about PACE in newspapers of Strasbourg, where the Assembly meets," said the MP to Pravda.Ru. In turn, political scientist Leonid Polyakov believes that "Naryshkin's last-year decision produced a sobering effect on European politicians, who gradually start to believe that they should behave appropriately with Russia and its political representatives." "Russia is now quite a serious partner for the EU as a whole. The situation with Cyprus shows that from the point of view of economic interests of the EU, it is highly wrongful to push Russia towards political confrontation," the analyst

Iraq interested in military-technical cooperation with Russia

Iraq interested in military-technical cooperation with Russia Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said in Baghdad that his government is interested in strengthened military and technical cooperation with the Russian Federation. Sergei Chemezov, Head of the Russian Technologies Corporation, met the Iraqi Prime Minister to discuss the implementation of contracts worth $4.2 billion, especially the purchase of Russian helicopters and Russian Kamaz trucks. Constructing the secong part of the Yusifia thermal power station in Iraq was another topic on the Iraqui-Russian agenda.

Experts: Boston attack caused by US-led policies in Russia's Caucasus

All of America is holding its breath watching the investigation of the terrorist attack in Boston on April 15, which killed three and injured more than 180 people. According to recent reports, brothers Tamerlane and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, natives of the countries of the CIS, are the prime suspects. According to Western publication, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was born in Kyrgyzstan, and Tamerlane - in Russia. The two boys used to live with their families in Dagestan. The Tsarnaevs moved to America in 2002-2003. Another version of investigation says that Tsarnaev brothers moved to the U.S. from Kazakhstan, where they had previously fled from Chechnya. Supposedly, the suspects entered the United States holding the Turkish citizenship. In any case, most Western journalists call the terrorists "Russian", without going into details. Well-known political analyst Sergei Mikheyev said in a comment with Pravda.Ru how the tragedy may affect the already difficult relations between Russia and the United States. "First of all, I think we must wait for the final results of the investigation. If the Americans still insist on the current version, then this one thing. But in principle, something else may reveal in the course of the investigation. "Secondly, the question is whether it can complicate the Russian-American relations. Perhaps, the attack could create a small problem that, but in fact, I believe that this is an argument in favor of the Russian position. Russia has long warned the Americans that flirting with various separatist and terrorist organizations of the North Caucasus would not lead to anything good. I'd like to remind here that the famous website "Kavkaz-Center" has a huge number of servers in the United States. At one time they were based in Europe, but then relocated to America. The Americans turn a blind eye on that and pretend that the situation is quite normal. "Above all, we must recognize that people from the North Caucasus have become participants of events in hot spots around the globe. They work in Afghanistan, Tajikistan Syria, and other hot spots. This is a consequence of the instability that existed in Russia in the 90s, and the two Chechen campaigns. It is an open secret that separatists enjoyed the support from external forces for quite a long period of time, including the Americans and their allies from other countries. That is, if they had not done that during the 1990s, the situation would have been much calmer."

Offshore bashing - a warning for the Russian elite?

The memory of Cyprus and its offshore banks scandal is still fresh, and new information about thousands of suspicious accounts in financial institutions in the British Virgin Islands has emerged. The source of this information is the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) from Washington. The investigation involved 88 journalists from 46 countries. We will discuss the peculiarities of the said journalistic consortium later, but for now let us turn to the information that for several days have been discussed by leading newspapers in Britain and the U.S., as well as the Russian liberal print trio - Vedomosti, Novaya Gazeta, and New Times. Among hundreds of names and accounts of western schemers of average scale and high-ranking officials from the countries of the Third World (including a dollar millionaire from Mongolia), only three Russian holders of offshore accounts were mentioned. The total volume of information on the British Virgin Islands is about 260 gigabytes, which is ten times the size of the largest leak of WikiLeaks in 2010. This collection contains data from 2.5 million documents and names of 130,000 people from 170 countries, including Russia. The list includes all sorts of people, from presidents to plutocrats, the daughter of Philippine dictator Marcos and a British millionaire accused of concealing assets from the former spouse. The President of Azerbaijan, the former Minister of Finance of Mongolia, the treasurer of Hollande's presidential election, a Spanish baroness, friend and partner of the late Berezovsky and a couple dozen of characters, holders of secret accounts who are not inferior to the Russian entrepreneurial and shameless privatizers and reformers of the 1990s . And here is why it all started - the names of Russian offshore account holders are Olga Shuvalova, the wife of the first Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Gazprom officials Golubev and Paikin, and a former senior civil servant of Reus Vladimir Margelov, the brother of Senator Margelov. "And this is just the beginning," promised David Lee, a British journalist. This implicit threat of further publication of the names of the holders of accounts with illegal money is obviously the entire point of this informational operation. Without doubt, the information about money laundering and its origin among high-ranking officials and their relatives is very interesting and useful for the restoration of social justice. And, while nothing new was published on the accounts of Shuvalova, as the information has been available for a couple of years along with the charges against Igor Shuvalov for using insider information for personal gain, it does not hurt to remind the law enforcement authorities about the incident once again. However, there are many international acts, including the famous American FATC, designed to legally fight money laundering, including offshore. Why not take advantage of these opportunities, especially as the U.S. has done it, for example, with regard to Swiss accounts without much fuss? The answer is simple - not the financial and legal result is needed, but rather, ideological information against the Russian government. This conclusion is evidenced by the analysis of the founders of the ICIJ consortium that, until recently, was not known to the journalistic community. Its website states that the organization is a project of another, larger American NGO - CPI, Center for Public Integrity. The list of financiers and sponsors includes well-known organizations such as the Ford Foundation, the Soros Foundation, the Goldman Fund, the Fund for Support of Jewish Communities, the foundation of the Rockefeller family, and the foundation of Google. A great deal of interesting material can be written on each of these organizations, and in Russia they are not known as good, unbiased Samaritans. The main thing is all these funds, especially Google Fund and the Fund for Support of the Jewish Community have long worked closely with the CIA, actively developing budgets, implementing U.S. policy that in recent years has been using private and public structures to achieve its reprehensible goals. In the event of publicity the American government will not be to blame, and there is no reason for diplomatic complications. Now it becomes clear why the three Russian newspapers were selected for the distribution of information in Russia. Vedomosti is published and controlled by the U.S. publishing house. The New Times is headed by Yevgenia Albats, member of the Russian Jewish Congress, who had long lived in the United States. The relations of Mikhail Gorbachev, a co-owner of Novaya Gazeta, with the West do not require mentioning. The ICIJ consortium does not make a secret of its journalists, virtually foreign agents, through which it operates in Russia. Its website displays the names under the heading "Our journalists." Albats is heading the list, followed by Roman Anin and Roman Shleinov, both of Novaya Gazeta. But all these are technical details that reveal the methods of the new grand psychological operations conducted by the CIA and the U.S. State Department through a network of NGOs with the support of Russian home-grown collaborationists. In fact, all previous attacks were poorly calculated and have failed. "Bolotnaya" protests have died down, the Russian opposition is stuck in scandals and criminal cases, the Magnitsky list did not yield results. Now it is time to excite the public mind with billions taken out of the country, and send a warning to the dishonest officials that their names may be made public if they do not take the correct political position, whether covertly or overtly. Undoubtedly, the best way to prevent this kind of situation is for the Russian law enforcement agencies to start working on high-ranking corrupt officials. It would make sense to consider the peculiarities of the U.S. unfriendly policies. A law on the foreign agents in the media, similar to the approved law on foreign agents in NGOs, would also be timely.