Advanced Research and Assessment Group Chron ology Series 09/01 Defence Academy of the United Kingdom Russian Domestic Policy: A Chronology October – December 2008 1 October 2008 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addresses a government meeting which examines the concept of long-term development of the country until the year 2020. He says events on the world's financial markets have demonstrated that Russia cannot rely on its existing insurance policies alone and should develop a robust national economy. He states: In the next few years, Russia should achieve a significant improvement in the quality of work of the main, backbone industries, such as transport, the fuel and energy complex, the banking sector and agriculture…It is necessary to make serious progress in the construction of a national innovation system and the development of competition, to set up more reliable guarantees of protection of property rights. Putin also lists the priorities of Russia's long-term development programme: I will list just the most important tasks set by the concept for the long-term development of the country. They are an increase in life expectancy in Russia to 72-75 years, stabilization of the size of the population, [and] a decrease in mortality, above all among working-age people. By 2020, the real incomes of citizens should increase by 100-150 per cent. There should be a manifold increase in productivity in the key sectors. One would wish it to be a three-, four- and, in some sectors, perhaps a five-fold increase. The energy efficiency of the economy should increase by at least 40 per cent. 1 October 2008 The Presidium of the Supreme Court adopts a ruling to rehabilitate Tsar Nicholas II and members of the tsar's family. The court rules that the Russian Emperor and his family were "unlawfully repressed". 1 October 2008 A RS-20B intercontinental ballistic missile is test launched from Orenburg. An MOD source informs Interfax-AVN that the MOD plans to set up a rapid reaction force made up of airborne troops, marine and special operation units within a short period of time. The rapid reaction force will have a total of 200-300 aircraft and helicopters which organizationally will be part of the Air Force's tactical operational group. Prime Minister Putin says that the government will allocate an additional R80 billion (over $3 billion) to buy new military hardware and armaments. 1 October 2008 Border Service deputy chief Lt-Gen Nikolay Rybalkin says the Border Service of the FSB (Federal Security Service) will be staffed only with professional soldiers by the end of 2008. 2 October 2008 Acting head of the Union of Right Forces (known by its Russian 1 A Russian Chronology: October – December 2008 Advanced Research and Assessment Group ISBN 978-1-905962-61-7 January 2009 acronym SPS – Soyuz Pravykh Sil) Leonid Gozman says that the federal political council of the SPS has passed a resolution on the dissolution of the party and creation of a new right-wing party together with two other political forces (these are the Civil Force and the Democratic Party, believed to be close to the Kremlin). The SPS, the Democratic Party and Civil Force decide to merge. The legal decision should be made official on 16 November when the unifying party conference will take place. Yabloko says that the prospects for the merger of the SPS, Civil Force and the Democratic Party of Russia "are putting an end" to long-standing discussions on the possibility for the SPS and Yabloko to unite as one opposition democratic party. 2 October 2008 Prime Minister Putin discusses the construction of the strategic oil pipeline Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean, the ESPO. Its first 1,000-km-section, from Talakan to Tayshet, will be launched on 3 October, and it will start taking oil to the Angarsk oil refinery. 2 October 2008 An article by Vladimir Ivanov: "Rapid-Response MoD" appears in Nezavisimaya Gazeta on the development of rapid reaction forces. The navy deputy commander-in-chief, Admiral Aleksandr Tatarinov, says that Russia plans to build eight nuclear submarines by 2015, armed with Bulava strategic missiles, under a new armaments programme. 2 October 2008 The head of armaments of the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy Defence Minister Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin is interviewed in Krasnaya Zvezda. He says the MOD is planning to put into service the Bulava-30 intercontinental ballistic missile in 2009 after testing. 3 October 2008 Yegor Gaydar resigns from the SPS. 3 October 2008 The shareholders of TNK-BP settle the conflict inside the company and intend to legally formalize all agreements by December. A co-owner of the TNK- BP, the chairman of the board of directors of the Renova group of companies, Viktor Vekselberg, told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about this. 3 October 2008 President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov says that Chechnya can only realize its full economic and cultural potential if it remains part of the Russian Federation: The Chechen people have never raised the question of living separately from Russia. What would that independence have given us? We as a people see our future only in Russia. We are firmly convinced that the economic, political and cultural prosperity of the Chechen Republic and Chechen people is tied with Russia. 3 October 2008 Viktor Myasnikov writes an article in Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye that criticizes Dmitry Medvedev’s speech of 26 September on military reform. 4 October 2008 The reverse section of the ESPO oil pipeline from the Talakansk oil field in Yakutia to the town of Tayshet in Irkutsk Region is put into operation. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin opens the valve of the pipeline. 5 October 2008 The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights states that from January to September 2008, at least 238 racially motivated attacks were registered that left 108 people dead and at least 235 injured. 2 09/01 A Russian Chronology: October – December 2008 6 October 2008 An article by Yury Gavrilov under rubric "Commentary: Defence": "Assault Force on Demand: Rapid Reaction Forces May Appear in the RF Armed Forces in the Near Future" in Rossiskaya Gazeta analyses the development of Rapid Reaction Forces. Rosoboronexport says that specialists from the Russian defence-industrial complex are ready to modify the specimens of weapons upgraded in accordance with NATO standards to the North Atlantic Alliance's control system. 6 October 2008 Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin criticizes the investigation into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. He describes it as "strange and controversial". 7 October 2008 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposes introducing a system of state orders for TV and universities. He says: "We cannot start controlling the media again, be it electronic or printed media. There should be a state order for TV, for theatres, universities. That could become a powerful state influence in that sphere." 7 October 2008 Vladimir Markin, official representative of the Investigations Committee under the Prosecutor's Office, says three persons have been charged with the murder of Anna Politkovskaya - Sergey Khadzikurbanov, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov. A criminal case against the person who directly committed the murder, Rustam Makhmudov, as well as a number of other persons, has been made into a separate criminal case. Makhmudov is on the international wanted list and the investigation of this criminal case will continue until all the participants in the crime are established and criminal charges are brought against them. 7 October 2008 Dmitry Medvedev demands that the government react as quickly as possible to the situation that is developing on the financial markets. Key banks will receive a multibillion rouble loan from the state to replenish their capital. Medvedev states: Where, I think, we can take a decision today is: first, in granting subordinated loans to banks of up to R950 billion ($38 billion) for a term of at least five years. This total amount can be broken down - given our agreements - into the following positions: to Sberbank, up R500 billion; to Vneshtorgbank, up to R200 billion; to Rosselkhozbank, up to R25 billion; and to other banks, up to R225 billion. 7 October 2008 Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin says: "Most likely, in the year 2008 the oil and gas production will peak in our country. There will be no more revenues like these. In this sense we are crossing a historical boundary." Kudrin says that at present the revenue from oil and gas account for 50 per cent of the budget. In future a constant reduction of the share of this revenue in the federal budget will start, irrespective of the price of oil. He says future economic growth should be achieved through increased labour productivity. The workforce will also shrink after 2008 due to demographic trends. 7 October 2008 The government increases 1.9-fold the quota for labour migrants for 2008 up to 3.4 million people. 8 October 2008 The Chita Region court satisfies the motion by the Investigations Committee under the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office to extend former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky's period of custody in the Chita remand centre until 2 February 2009. Khodorkovsky's stay in prison has already been extended seven 3 times, according to his lawyer Semen Rozenberg. 8 October 2008 Transbaykal governor Ravil Geniatulin says the Transbaykal region is destined to have to draw in foreign labour because of a shortage of its own workforce. He denies that there is a threat of Chinese expansion. 8 October 2008 Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov says the Armed Forces will be reduced to one million by 2012, including 150,000 officers. Serdyukov says: "As far as the rapid reaction forces, they already exist in the form of airborne troops.