The EU-Russia Energy Dialogue Travelling Without Moving
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Russia's Foreign Policy Change and Continuity in National Identity
Russia’s Foreign Policy Russia’s Foreign Policy Change and Continuity in National Identity Second Edition Andrei P. Tsygankov ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2010 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tsygankov, Andrei P., 1964- Russia's foreign policy : change and continuity in national identity / Andrei P. Tsygankov. -- 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7425-6752-8 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7425-6753-5 (paper : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7425-6754-2 (electronic) 1. Russia (Federation)--Foreign relations. 2. Soviet Union--Foreign relations. 3. Great powers. 4. Russia (Federation)--Foreign relations--Western countries. 5. Western countries--Foreign relations--Russia (Federation) 6. Nationalism--Russia (Federation) 7. Social change--Russia (Federation) I. Title. DK510.764.T785 2010 327.47--dc22 2009049396 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America It is the eternal dispute between those who imagine the world to suit their policy, and those who arrange their policy to suit the realities of the world. -
Annual-Report-2018 Eng.Pdf
Russian International Affairs Council CONTENTS /01 GENERAL INFORMATION 4 /02 RIAC PROGRAM ACTIVITIES 16 /03 RIAC IN THE MEDIA 58 /04 RIAC WEBSITE 60 /05 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 62 3 Russian International ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Affairs Council The General Meeting of RIAC members is the The main task of the RIAC Scientific Council is to ABOUT THE COUNCIL supreme governing body of the Partnership. The formulate sound recommendations for strategic key function of the General Meeting is to ensure decisions in RIAC expert, research, and publishing The non-profit partnership Russian compliance with the goals of the Partnership. The activities. General Meeting includes 160 members of the International Affairs Council (NP RIAC) is Council. The Vice-Presidency was introduced to achieve 01 the goals of the Partnership in cooperation with a Russian membership-based non-profit The RIAC Board of Trustees is a supervisory body government bodies and local authorities of the organization. The partnership was established of the Partnership that monitors the activities of Russian Federation and foreign states, the Partnership and their compliance with the international organizations, and Russian and by the resolution of its founders pursuant statutory goals. foreign legal entities. The candidate for Vice- President is approved by the RIAC Presidium for a to Decree No. 59-rp of the President of the The Presidium of the Partnership is a permanent one-year term. Russian Federation “On the Establishment collegial governing body of the Partnership that consists of not less than five and no more than RIAC Corporate Members of the Non-Profit Partnership Russian fifteen members, including the President and According to the Charter, legal citizens of the the Director General of the Partnership, who Russian Federation or entities established in International Affairs Council” dated February 2, have a vote in the decision-making process. -
Organized Crime 1.1 Gaizer’S Criminal Group
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER I. ORGANIZED CRIME 1.1 Gaizer’s Criminal Group ..................................................................................6 1.2 Bandits in St. Petersburg ............................................................................ 10 1.3 The Tsapok Gang .......................................................................................... 14 Chapter II.CThe Corrupt Officials 2.1 «I Fell in Love with a Criminal» ................................................................20 2.2 Female Thief with a Birkin Bag ...............................................................24 2.3 «Moscow Crime Boss».................................................................................29 CONTENTS CHAPTER III. THE BRibE-TAKERS 3.1 Governor Khoroshavin’s medal «THE CRIMINAL RUSSIA PARTY», AN INDEPENDENT EXPERT REPORT «For Merit to the Fatherland» ..................................................................32 PUBLISHED IN MOSCOW, AUGUST 2016 3.2 The Astrakhan Brigade ...............................................................................36 AUTHOR: ILYA YASHIN 3.3 A Character from the 1990s ......................................................................39 MATERiaL COMPILING: VERONIKA SHULGINA HAPTER HE ROOKS TRANSLATION: C 4. T C EVGENia KARA-MURZA 4.1 Governor Nicknamed Hans .......................................................................42 GRAPHICS: PavEL YELIZAROV 4.2 The Party -
Russian Federation 2012
RUSSIAN FEDERATION 2012 Short-term prognosis RUSSIAN FEDERATION 2012 Short-term prognosis Editors: Karmo Tüür & Viacheslav Morozov Editors: Karmo Tüür & Viacheslav Morozov Editor of “Politica” series: Rein Toomla Copyright: Individual authors, 2012 ISSN 1736–9312 Tartu University Press www.tyk.ee CONTENT Introduction ..................................................................................... 7 Evaluation of the last prognosis. Erik Terk ...................................... 9 INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS Political system. Viacheslav Morozov .............................................. 21 Legal system. Aleksey Kartsov .......................................................... 26 Economy. Raivo Vare ...................................................................... 30 Energy sector. Andres Mäe .............................................................. 35 The Russian Military. Kaarel Kaas ................................................. 40 The political role of the Russian Orthodox Church. Alar Kilp ...... 45 Mass media development. Olga Chepurnaya ................................. 49 Civil society. Zhanna Chernova ...................................................... 54 Demography of the regions. Aimar Altosaar ................................... 58 Nationalities policy of Russia. Konstantin Zamyatin ...................... 62 Center – Northern Caucasus. Nona Shahnazarian ....................... 67 Foreign relations of Russian regions. Eero Mikenberg .................... 71 EXTERNAL RELATIONS Russia and the WTO. Kristjan -
RUSSIA INTELLIGENCE Politics & Government
N°66 - November 22 2007 Published every two weeks / International Edition CONTENTS KREMLIN P. 1-4 Politics & Government c KREMLIN The highly-orchestrated launching into orbit cThe highly-orchestrated launching into orbit of of the «national leader» the «national leader» Only a few days away from the legislative elections, the political climate in Russia grew particu- STORCHAK AFFAIR larly heavy with the announcement of the arrest of the assistant to the Finance minister Alexey Ku- c Kudrin in the line of fire of drin (read page 2). Sergey Storchak is accused of attempting to divert several dozen million dol- the Patrushev-Sechin clan lars in connection with the settlement of the Algerian debt to Russia. The clan wars in the close DUMA guard of Vladimir Putin which confront the Igor Sechin/Nikolay Patrushev duo against a compet- cUnited Russia, electoral ing «Petersburg» group based around Viktor Cherkesov, overflows the limits of the «power struc- home for Russia’s big ture» where it was contained up until now to affect the entire Russian political power complex. business WAR OF THE SERVICES The electoral campaign itself is unfolding without too much tension, involving men, parties, fac- cThe KGB old guard appeals for calm tions that support President Putin. They are no longer legislative elections but a sort of plebicite campaign, to which the Russian president lends himself without excessive good humour. The objec- PROFILE cValentina Matvienko, the tive is not even to know if the presidential party United Russia will be victorious, but if the final score “czarina” of Saint Petersburg passes the 60% threshhold. -
Eurasian Union: the Real, the Imaginary and the Likely
CHAILLOT PAPER Nº 132 — September 2014 Eurasian Union: the real, the imaginary and the likely BY Nicu Popescu Chaillot Papers European Union Institute for Security Studies EU Institute for Security Studies 100, avenue de Suffren 75015 Paris http://www.iss.europa.eu Director: Antonio Missiroli © EU Institute for Security Studies, 2014. Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, save where otherwise stated. ISBN: 978-92-9198-247-9 ISSN: 1683-4917 QN-AA-14-002-EN-N DOI : 10.2815/42011 Published by the EU Institute for Security Studies and printed in Condé-sur-Noireau (France) by Corlet Imprimeur. Graphic design by Metropolis, Lisbon. EURASIAN UNION: THE REAL, THE IMAGINARY AND THE LIKELY Nicu Popescu CHAILLOT PAPERS September 2014 132 The author Nicu Popescu, Ph.D, is a Senior Analyst at the EUISS where he deals with EU-Russia relations and the post-Soviet space. He is the author of EU Foreign Policy and Post-Soviet Conflicts: Stealth Intervention (Routledge, 2011) and a former advisor to the Moldovan Prime Minister. European Union Institute for Security Studies Paris Director: Antonio Missiroli © EU Institute for Security Studies, 2014. Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, save where otherwise stated. Contents Foreword 5 Antonio Missiroli Introduction 7 The real Eurasia 9 1 Decision-making 11 Economics 11 Political commitment 13 The Russian debate 14 Russkii Mir vs Eurasia? 17 The geopolitical Eurasia 19 2 Deepening vs widening 19 The current members 20 The future members 22 The Chinese neighbour -
Geostrategics
China-Russia Relations: Back to Geostrategics Yu Bin Wittenberg University The Year of the Rooster ushered in a quite different mold of Chinese-Russian interaction. In sharp contrast to the “oil-politicking” of much of the previous year, strategic gaming topped the agenda of bilateral relations for the first quarter of 2005. Several high-profile visits occurred, including the first China-Russia inter-governmental consultation on security issues and three rounds of talks between top military officers to prepare for the first ever joint military exercise in the fall. All this occurred in the midst of a sudden burst of “orange revolutions” in Russia and China’s western peripheries (Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan). To the East, Washington and Tokyo were hardening their alliance with the “2+2” meeting in Washington D.C. in February, in anticipation of China’s anti-secession law that was adopted in March. Security Talks On Feb. 1, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan traveled to Moscow as a guest of Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov, secretary of the Russian Security Council, for four days of inter- governmental talks on security issues. The Tang-Ivanov talks launched the first session of a Russian-Chinese consultation mechanism, focusing on the content and format of the security dialogue. “This will be the first time that China has created with another country an inter-governmental consultation mechanism on security issues,” Tang said. China apparently initiated the security talks. Describing Russia as China’s “principal strategic partner,” the Chinese envoy stated that, “We decided to create such a mechanism with Russia because our positions are close on a wide range of international and regional issues, on our evaluation of the international situation, and also in the task of maintaining peace and cooperation in global development in general,” Tang said. -
RICHARD ALLEN, Et Al., Plaintiffs, V. RUSSIAN FEDERATION, Et Al
Case 1:05-cv-02077-CKK Document 74 Filed 11/26/07 Page 1 of 51 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RICHARD ALLEN, et al., Plaintiffs, Civil Action No. 05–2077 (CKK) v. RUSSIAN FEDERATION, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION (November 26, 2007) Presently before the Court is an action brought by a group of investors who own or used to own an interest in a Russian company called Yukos. The investors claim that the Russian Federation, acting in combination with senior Russian government officials and several Russian energy companies (and several executives of those companies), expropriated Yukos beginning in 2003. The Defendants allegedly levied illegal and confiscatory taxes on Yukos, forced a sham sale of Yukos’s most important asset, seized a majority of Yukos shares, intimidated and harassed Yukos executives, and used bankruptcy proceedings to paralyze Yukos’s non-Russian- based management team. These and other allegations contained throughout Plaintiffs’ 116-page, 424-paragraph Complaint tell a troubling story if proven true. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Court is one of limited jurisdiction. Defendants have brought four Motions to Dismiss arguing, inter alia, that this Court lacks jurisdiction to hear Plaintiffs’ claims. The Motions decry Plaintiffs’ decision to file a Complaint in this Court when the case involves the conduct of the Russian government, senior Russian government officials, Russian companies, and Russian citizens. After a thorough and dedicated review of the Parties’ Case 1:05-cv-02077-CKK Document 74 Filed 11/26/07 Page 2 of 51 lengthy submissions and the exhibits attached thereto, the record as a whole, applicable case law and statutory authority, the Court finds that it cannot reach the merits of Plaintiffs’ claims based on the doctrines of sovereign immunity and personal jurisdiction. -
Russia Selective Capitalism and Kleptocracy
21st Century Authoritarians Freedom House Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Asia JUNE 2009 FFH_UD7.inddH_UD7.indd iiiiii 55/22/09/22/09 111:221:22 AAMM RUSSIA SELECTIVE CAPITALISM AND KLEPTOCRACY Daniel Kimmage The Kremlin deploys the conceptual vocabulary of the new Russia—national renewal, anti-Western xenophobia, sovereign democracy—through a sophis- ticated domestic communications strategy that marshals both the traditional state resources and much-expanded control over virtually all mainstream mass media. This one-two punch, coming amid a period of rising prosperity, has had a signifi cant impact on popular opinion, and the Kremlin’s message has resonated with its intended recipients. introduction When Russian tanks halted their advance a few kilometers from Tbilisi in August 2008, with the Georgian army in full fl ight and Georgia’s allies in Europe and the United States reduced to fulmination, the global consensus on the meaning of the invasion was swift and bracing: Russia was back, a force to be reckoned with, and intent on reclaiming its lost share of import and infl uence among nations. This consensus is as wrongheaded and simplistic as the previous incarnations of con- ventional wisdom it has replaced: fi rst, that Russia was engaged in a rollicking, rollercoaster transition from communist torpor to liberal democracy and a free-market economy, and then, when that fi ne vision foundered in fi nancial crisis and sundry misadventures toward the end of the 1990s, that Russia had become mired in some intermediary phase of its supposed transition and might soon slink off history’s grand stage altogether. -
2010 Annual Reporting by the Company
ANNUAL REPORT 2010 FEDERAL GRID COMPANY OF UNIFIED ENERGY SYSTEM CONTENTS • Operating and Financial Highlights 6 • 2010 Key Events 8 • Statement of the Chairman of the Board of Directors 14 • Interview with the Chairman of the Management Board 16 ABOUT THE COMPANY 22 1 1.1 Organizational Structure 26 1.2 History 28 1.3 Market Overview 29 1.4 Geography 34 1.5 International Operations 35 1.6 Strategic Priorities 38 PRODUCTION OVERVIEW 40 2 2.1 Electricity Transmission 42 2.2 Technological Connection 44 2.3 Reliability Improvement 45 2.4 Improving Energy Effi ciency and Mitigating Losses 54 2.5 Maintenance and Repairs 56 2.6 IT Network Development 57 2.7 Procurement 62 INVESTMENTS AND INNOVATIONS 66 3 3.1 Investment Activities 68 3.2 Key Investment Projects 78 3.3 Innovative Development 84 ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 96 4 4.1 Tariff Regulation 104 4.2 Cost Optimization 108 4.3 Loan Portfolio and Liquidity 109 4.4 Credit Ratings 111 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 112 5 5.1 Corporate Governance Principles 114 5.2 Board of Directors 117 5.3 Committees of the Board of Directors 122 5.4 Management Board 128 5.5 Remuneration to the Management Bodies 135 5.6 Internal Control System 137 5.7 Risk Management System 141 5.8 Share Capital 147 5.9 Stock Market 151 5.10 Dividend Policy 154 5.11 Investor Relations 155 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 156 6 6.1 Social Responsibility Principles 158 6.2 HR Policy 161 6.3 Environment 167 6.4 Production Safety 170 ATTACHMENTS • 2010 RAS Financial Statements and Audit Report 172 • 2009 RAS Financial Statements and Audit Report -
The London School of Economics and Political Science State-Led Coercive Takeovers in Putin's Russia: Explaining the Underlying
The London School of Economics and Political Science State-led coercive takeovers in Putin’s Russia: explaining the underlying motives and ownership outcomes Andrew Yorke A thesis submitted to the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, April 2014 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. Abstract Since Vladimir Putin first became Russia’s President in 2000, the state has played an increasingly active and interventionist role in the economy, including through its involvement in a large number of coercive takeovers of privately-owned businesses. The best known case is the Yukos affair, but there have been many other, less prominent takeovers. These have largely been explained as predatory acts by state officials seeking to enrich themselves or increase their power. This has contributed to the perception that Putin’s Russia is a kleptocracy, with the state given free rein to engage in economically-destructive attacks on property rights. -
China-Russia Relations in World Politics, 1991-2016
SEEKING LEVERAGE: CHINA-RUSSIA RELATIONS IN WORLD POLITICS, 1991-2016 by Brian G. Carlson A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Baltimore, Maryland April, 2018 © Brian G. Carlson 2018 All rights reserved Abstract In the post-Soviet period, U.S. policymakers have viewed China and Russia as the two great powers with the greatest inclination and capacity to challenge the international order. The two countries would pose especially significant challenges to the United States if they were to act in concert. In addition to this clear policy relevance, the China-Russia relationship poses a number of problems for international relations theory. During this period, China and Russia declined to form an alliance against the United States, as balance-of-power theory might have predicted. Over time, however, the two countries engaged in increasingly close cooperation to constrain U.S. power. These efforts fell short of traditional hard balancing, but they still held important implications for international politics. The actual forms of cooperation were therefore worthy of analysis using concepts from international relations theory, a task that this dissertation attempts. An additional problem concerned Russia’s response to China’s rise. Given the potential threat that it faced, Russia might have been expected to improve relations with the West as a hedge against China’s growing power. Instead, Russia increased its level of diplomatic cooperation with China as its relations with the West deteriorated. This dissertation addresses these problems through a detailed empirical study of the evolution of China-Russia relations from 1991 to 2016, using the within-case method of process tracing.