Vladimir Putin News Archives

“There is a sense that whatever we say it will not make any difference”

The European Union is keeping any doubts over the fairness of Russia's March 2 election to itself to avoid needlessly antagonizing its large neighbor at a delicate time in their ties, analysts and diplomats ... via St.Petersburg Times

“That will make it possible to re-equip Russian enterprises, enhance their production, diversify investment and gain new markets”

MOSCOW : Russian companies should buy more foreign businesses to bolster domestic production and increase the country's clout, President Vladimir Putin's likely successor said Thursday. via International Herald Tribune

“I think that there's no other choice”

In last week's white-knuckle ride for investors, markets plummeted globally and Russia followed suit, testing the bear-market level of 20 percent in losses before bouncing back as traders went shopping for ... via The Moscow Times

“Something is wrong with our elections, and our electoral system needs a major adjustment”

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, the last leader of the Soviet Union, has criticised Russia's electoral process and called for extensive reforms to a system that has secured power for the President, Vladimir Putin, and the ... via The Sydney Morning Herald

“Our dependency on global economic ties, on our exports, is felt so strongly, that in the nearest future we need to adjust our foreign policy goals to guarantee stable investment”

Two of Russia's top economic leaders made a rare public call on Wednesday for Moscow to change its hawkish foreign policy, saying it was affecting foreign investment. via Reuters UK

“I think that the goal ... most likely was to protect Medvedev, to remove an undesirable witness to all the various suspicious operations connected to RosUkrEnergo”

Police charged a reputed international crime boss with tax evasion Wednesday, pursuing prosecution of a man wanted in the U.S. and suspected of playing a key role in Russia 's lucrative natural-gas trade with ... via Examiner.com

“If you meet eventually, the meeting will be important for building up confidence”

TSKHINVALI, January 29 Russia supports the wish of Tskhinvali to sign a non-aggression memorandum for the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, Ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko told South Ossetian leader Eduard ... via ITAR-TASS

News Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Issue 3830. Page 2. Suspected crime boss Semyon Mogilevich will be charged Wednesday with large-scale tax evasion, his lawyer said Monday. via The Moscow Times

“It could be used to deliver about 10 billion cubic meters of gas, beginning in 2013, without additional outlays.”

MOSCOW, January 22 Moldovan president ready to make a deal with Moscow/ Gazprom makes lucrative offer to Azerbaijan/ Russia to build cheap railway in Saudi Arabia/ Gaz de France seeks LUKoil partnership to bid ... via RIA Novosti

“The authorities are afraid of any discussion, any risk”

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has refused to meet his rivals for the presidency in live television debates ahead of the March 2 election.

His opponents denounced his decision as unfair and said it would make it even harder for opposition candidates to gain airtime to get across their views.

"Dmitry Medvedev has informed the Central Election Commission about his decision not to take part in joint events," a member of his campaign staff said. Read more

A Russian delegation has arrived in North Korea to discuss a joint project to rebuild a cross-border rail link. via North Korea News.Net

Russia expects to record a whopping budget surplus of 1.08 trillion rubles reaped from strong oil and gas revenues in 2008 and to weather stormy global markets with aplomb, officials said Monday. via PR-inside.com

The Kremlin is tired of Western criticisms _ that Russia is becoming more authoritarian, that human rights are violated, journalists are at risk and elections are rigged. via PR-inside.com

“We have drafted an intergovernmental agreement and the talks have entered the final stage”

By IGOR TOMBERG UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, Jan. 23 -- Several energy agreements were signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Bulgaria last week, including on the ... via UPI

“I think we will discuss it at the next meeting at ministerial level of the Gas Forum in June this year”

DAVOS, Switzerland: Gas-producing countries will discuss the idea of forming a "gas OPEC" along the lines of the existing oil cartel in June in Moscow, Qatar's energy minister said on Friday. via The Daily Star

“We saw similar actions during the Cold War, but frankly thought they had been put behind us”

At first, it may seem strange that the Russian government has purposely set off a diplomatic row with Britain by ordering the closure of two offices of the British Council, an organization that promotes the ... via Post and Courier

“And in Oleg's case, I think they wanted to take him out of circulation before the presidential elections.”

For two years, Oleg Kozlovsky has been a fixture at anti-Kremlin street demonstrations, confronting riot police and just as often getting arrested. via Houston Chronicle

On 2 March Russians will choose their next president. Surveys show that on average more than 80 percent of Russians support the policies of the departing leader, Vladimir Putin, and 65 percent voted for his ... via BusinessWeek

“Under the plan adopted by the president, land and air military equipment will be involved in the parade on Red Square”

Russia's defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, reviews troops during the military parade on Red Square in Moscow marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. via Guardian Unlimited

Russia's Communist Party leader Saturday blasted his country's media for its favorable coverage of Kremlin-backed Dmitry Medvedev. via Daily India

“I think we will soon begin consultations with the goal of optimizing our relations in the context of the rules, traditions and position of the WTO”

The World Trade Organization agreed Friday to accept Ukraine as a member, giving President Viktor Yushchenko a new sales pitch as he sought out more foreign investment while at the World Economic Forum.

Membership will open new market opportunities for Ukraine's industrial exports, and comes amid growing worries about the world that the current economic uncertainty could lead to increased protectionism.

WTO membership will require the former Soviet republic to continue economic reforms aimed at bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union, which it has aims of ultimately joining. Yushchenko also has hopes of steering the country into the European Union and NATO. Read more

“Any contact between Mr. Deripaska and the senator was social and incidental”

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska has been suspected of having ties to organized crime. via The Washington Post

“I call attention to the unacceptable failure to achieve goals ... the personal responsibility of the directors ... and I do not exclude carrying out organisational and staff changes”

A top Kremlin figure has threatened to sack space agency officials unless they get on with developing a Russian satellite navigation system to rival the US-controlled global positioning system GPS. via The Age

“It is an artificial attempt to resurrect the Soviet myth that if they are scared of us, they respect us”

Tanks and missiles will rumble across Red Square during the May 9 Victory Day parade for the first time in 18 years, as Russia asserts its military might at the close of Vladimir Putin's presidency. via St.Petersburg Times

“All these fears persist today, and we must continue to explain our plans openly and clearly.”

Dmitry Medvedev, seen as the next Russian president, advocated a strong United Nations and a stronger Russia in a nationally televised campaign speech. via Political Gateway

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet with the Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in Moscow on Friday, the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday. via RIA Novosti

NATO has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to join its leaders for part of their April summit meeting in Romania, spokesman James Appathurai said Wednesday. via PR-inside.com

President Vladimir Putin's newly appointed envoy to NATO emphasized Moscow's opposition to Kosovo's independence bid Thursday, but said Russia would not send peacekeepers to the Serbian province. via PR-inside.com

“That means the number of reliable signatures is less than 2 million, which is the basis for the denial of registration”

The only liberal Kremlin critic in Russia's presidential race stands to be kept off the ballot because tens of thousands of signatures on his nominating petitions were forgeries, election officials said Thursday.

The Central Election Commission is expected to make a formal ruling later in the day.

Opinion polls gave former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov little chance of posing a significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in the March 2 vote. Kasyanov, however, could have been an embarrassment for Putin and Medvedev because of his harsh criticism. Read more

“Resolving Kosovo's final status”

The Kosovo War isn't over. At the moment, Serbian ballots take precedence over bullets; democratic electoral politics are a blessing in Serbia and Kosovo, just like they are in Iraq. via Town Hall

President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko and President of Russian federation Vladimir Putin agreed to meet on 12 February of the current year, and fixed this date for the visit of the Ukrainian President to ... via UNIAN

“The air force is taking a very active part in the exercises.”

RAF alert as Russia stages huge naval exercise in Bay of Biscay Tony Halpin in Moscow RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force yesterday as Moscow practised strike ... via The Air Force Pundit

MOSCOW - The head of Russia's biggest opposition party is considering dropping out of the race against Kremlin front-runner Dmitry Medvedev to be the next president, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.Opinion ... via Reuters

“We propose establishing a joint peace and economic committee between South and North Korea and Russia, which could serve as a platform to discuss peace and economic issues in the region”

A special envoy from South Korea suggested on Monday the establishment of a northeast Asian economic bloc along with Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , news agencies reported. via People's Daily Online

Serbia said Tuesday it had agreed to a multibillion dollar gas pipeline project as part of an energy deal with Russia that would boost Moscow's control over supplies to Europe.

A majority stake of the Serbian oil monopoly NIS will be sold to Russian energy company Gazprom. Russia would route part of the gas pipeline through Serbia, as part of the deal announced in a short statement by the Serbian government. Financial terms were not revealed.

Serbia endorsed the deal just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin won Bulgaria's support for the South Stream pipeline project that further dashes the European Union's hopes of reducing its growing energy reliance on Russia. Read more

“The air force is taking a very active part in the exercises of the navy's strike force in the Atlantic”

Russia on Tuesday sent two long-range bombers to the Bay of Biscay, off the French and Spanish Atlantic coasts, to test-fire missiles in what it billed as its biggest navy exercise in the area since Soviet ... via Reuters

“The project is strategic not only for Bulgaria but for the whole EU”

Bulgaria's ex-foreign minister Salomon Passi declared that the Nabbuco gas pipeline project has strategic significance for both Bulgaria and the EU. via Sofia News Agency

“That's why I am convinced the Serbian and Russian governments will reach an agreement on strategic cooperation in the energy sector, and everything is going in the right direction”

Business Monday, January 21, 2008. Page 7. By Ellie Tzortzi Reuters BELGRADE -- Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Friday publicly backed a Russian offer of an energy pact that could see Serbia ... via The Moscow Times

“I will gaze a long way into the future”

By Christian Lowe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his favored successor Dmitry Medvedev could take turns to run Russia for another quarter of a century, a senior Kremlin ally said in an interview published on Monday.

Sergei Mironov, a Kremlin loyalist and the speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house, said Putin could become president again after a Medvedev term, serve two terms himself and then hand over once more to Medvedev.

Neither Putin nor Medvedev have indicated they plan to be in government so far in the future, but the fact Mironov is floating the idea suggests Russia's ruling elite feels firmly entrenched in power and expects to remain there for many years. Read more

Today, Azerbaijan Jan 20 2008 Paul Goble: `The Day the Soviet Union Died' 20 January 2008 [13:28] - Today.Az The exact place and time the Soviet Union died continues to be a matter of debate. via Groong Armenian News Network

“Now we are really experiencing what can be called a crisis”

By NICHOLAS WAPSHOTT Staff Reporter of the Sun January 18, 2008 The use of police-state tactics against a senior British official in St. via New York Sun

Back in 1903 when D. D. Braham the Times correspondent sent back accounts of nefarious doings by the Russian government he was ordered out of the country and the Times was not allowed another correspondent for ... via EU Referendum

SAN'A - Suspected Al Qaeda militants opened fire on a convoy of tourists in a remote desert valley yesterday, killing two Belgian women and their Yemeni driver. via Boston Globe

Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Asen Gagauzov rejected claims that the government was under pressure from the United States and European Union against signing the agreement for the South Stream gas ... via Xinhuanet

Russia's military chief of staff said today that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes in case of a major threat. via CFRB

“We are not a political organization.”

Tense: British relations with Vladimir Putin are strained Britain was embroiled in a new row with Russia today after reopening two government offices closed down by Moscow. via Daily Mail

News Tuesday, January 15, 2008. Issue 3820. Page 3. Combined Reports Sergei Rasulov / Itar-Tass Officers preparing to storm an apartment building Monday in Makhachkala where suspected militants were hiding. via The Moscow Times

“The current regime's craving for international prestige is as high as the insecurity of its rulers.”

Red Square military parade announced By David R. Sands The Washington Times WASHINGTON -- Reviving yet another iconic image from Soviet days, Russia's military announced plans to stage a parade of ballistic ... via World Peace Herald

Russia has warned Kosovo that it will never become a member of the United Nations or any other international organisation if it unilaterally declares independence from Serbia. via Deutsche Welle

“We want to show in public that our statements were not empty talk”

MOSCOW - Mothers of children seized by rebels at a southern Russia school in 2004 threatened on Tuesday to use a legal action brought by authorities against them to expose President Vladimir Putin's role in the ... via Reuters

“Some of the court's earlier decisions were not of legal nature”

MOSCOW : President Vladimir Putin has again refused to commit Russia to a key international protocol aimed at reforming the European Court of Human Rights, a top Council of Europe member said Thursday. via International Herald Tribune

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will open this year's Munich Security Conference, a prestigious gathering where world leaders and top diplomats talk policy in an informal setting, organizers said ... via PR-inside.com

President Vladimir Putin congratulated Georgia's president-elect Wednesday, expressing hope that long-troubled relations between the two ex-Soviet republics can be now be improved. via PR-inside.com

“I want the best possible relations with Russia”

President Lech Kaczynski on Tuesday criticized the government that took over from one led by his brother saying its policy to improve ties with Russia could prove dangerous. via Kyiv Post

“We are deeply concerned by both of these incidents. Our main concern is the safety and security of our Russian and UK staff.”

The British Council has temporarily closed its offices in St Petersburg after its director was detained for an hour by police. via Telegraph.co.uk

“This year's results show a profoundly disturbing deterioration of freedom worldwide”

Political freedom is retreating in large parts of the world including Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, and China, the independent Freedom House human rights organization reported on Wednesday. via WNED.org

French nuclear technology company Areva and Germany's Siemens engineering conglomerate have been sub-contracted by Russia's Atomstroiexport to participate in the construction of a second nuclear power station ... via Earth Times

The Year of Russia in Bulgaria will be conducted in the context of a new interpretation of the past and the opportunities presented to young people, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told a visiting ... via People's Daily Online

“Naturally, it would be senseless to trust him [Saakashvili], because he had a lot of possibilities to improve relations with Russia, but never used them”

Saakashvili May be Serious About Being a Peacemaker By Yelena Biberman Russia Profile After winning the recent snap presidential election in Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili reversed course by pledging to overcome ... via IntelliBriefs

“I closely follow the activities of the Voice of Beslan committee”

A memorial to the victims of Beslan The winter holidays are a difficult time for the many families that lost relatives in the hostage drama that struck the small North Ossetian town of Beslan in September 2004. via Rferl.org News

Moscow, Jan 11 Russia's new envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin warned the 26-member alliance Friday that it cannot build its own security by ignoring other's legitimate concers. via India eNews

Days before the Russian president's visit to Sofia, the US Ambassador to Bulgaria has urged the country to persist with its ownership ambitions for the South Stream gas pipeline. via Budapest Business Journal

“This year a Superjet 100 plane that will be built in cooperation with the biggest foreign aircraft-making companies is planned to be launched”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing Italy's Alenia Aeronautica to acquire 25 percent plus one share in Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company, according to the presidential press service. via ITAR-TASS

“If this approach to the problem of extremism is taken, then every opposition figure in Russia could be charged.”

Women had accused Putin of complicity in deaths Kremlin 'using extremism law to silence critics' Tom Parfitt in Moscow Monday January 14, 2008 The Guardian A group of women whose relatives were killed in the ... via Guardian Unlimited

“Uzbekistan was unlikely to have expected the Russian company to accept the terms. Perhaps the $180 ceiling was established to do some bargaining.”

MOSCOW, January 10 Russia bans official country names from company names/ Uzbekistan to gradually raise gas price/ Presidential elections end "color revolution" in Georgia/ Parliament wants to perpetuate ... via RIA Novosti

“Over the next few weeks we will see many television reports of this type, showing Medvedev patting heads and asking people how they are doing”

First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, anointed by President Vladimir Putin in December as his favored successor, met with the family of the 100,000th child born in Moscow in 2007 in a visit that had all ... via St.Petersburg Times

“Tusk proclaimed improvement of relations with Russia as one of the priorities of his cabinet. The prime minister confirmed his plans to visit Moscow on February 8. When his first visit to Washington is to take place is not yet known.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak and Poland's chief missile-defense negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski exchanged views in Warsaw on January 10 on the proposed U.S. ... via Radio Free Europe

“Such things are a deadly moral poison for children.”

A Moscow judge on Friday acquitted 13 gay activists arrested last month for staging a protest outside a polling station during national elections. via 365Gay.com

Slipping from 96% of the vote in the January 2004 Presidential election to 51.96% four years later, in Saturday's national vote, signifies a dramatic drop for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. via Time

“It is not to be emphasized that Roosevelt's policy is fascist because these comments are immediately cabled to the United States and are used by his foes to attack him.”

Vladimir Putin has had some great publicity lately. Time magazine recently dubbed him the Person of the Year. via KTKZ-AM Sacramento

“This work is taking place, maybe more slowly than we'd like, but it's being done for the first time in 20 years”

MOSCOW : President Vladimir Putin's likely successor said Friday that Russia must restore its sea power, saying the Soviet Union's naval might commanded respect. via International Herald Tribune

“We demand the truth about what happened in Beslan despite its horrors. That's what we're seeking and that's why they are seeking to pressure us”

Russian prosecutors have accused a group of survivors of the 2004 Beslan school seizure of being extremist, one member said Friday, calling the allegation part of a campaign by officials to silence the ... via Las Cruces Sun-News

THE proposition that men and women should have the right to govern themselves will face critical tests in 2008, not only during the US marathon presidential campaign but in venues across the globe. via Trinidad & Tobago Express

“But everything [in the election] will be like this because that is how the [Kremlin] has decided it will be. They do not want to take any risks.”

News Thursday, January 10, 2008. Issue 3817. Page 3. Dmitry Medvedev first tapped the Kremlin's chief of staff to run his national presidential campaign. via The Moscow Times

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday granted 'hero' awards to scientists backing Russia's claim to a mountain range under the Arctic Ocean that is believed to contain huge oil and gas reserves.

The scientists planted a Russian flag under the North Pole ice in August as part of an Arctic expedition that heated up the controversy over an area that a U.S. study suggests may contain as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

Russia is one of several countries that have laid claims to the area. Read more

“Let's clean Moscow of garbage!”

Dmitry Rogozin is Russia's ambassador to NATO President Vladimir Putin on Thursday named a nationalist politician, who drew fire for a 2005 campaign ad that critics said was racist, as Russia's ambassador to ... via Hindustan Times

MOSCOW : Russia's inflation rate rose to 11.9 percent in 2007, in line with recent projections but far above the government's initial forecast, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday, citing the state ... via International Herald Tribune

“It goes without saying that the priority will be on the bills implementing President Vladimir Putin's initiative to raise salaries to workers paid from the federal budget and military men as early as Feb. 1, 2008”

News Wednesday, January 9, 2008. Page 3. The Moscow Times State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said Tuesday that deputies would pass more than 600 bills during the spring session and prioritize legislation on ... via The Moscow Times