JRL: Beginning Of A [Medvedev] Meeting With President Of The Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin
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posted by eagle on February, 2009 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
www.Kremlin.ru
February 14, 2009
Beginning of a [Medvedev] Meeting with President of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin
Strelna
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Valery Dmitrievich, we have often discussed the important issue of the effectiveness of the Constitutional Court and how its decisions are implemented. I know that this issue is perhaps one of the most topical, because the Constitutional Court must express its position on the most difficult, most complicated situations that exist in the country, on issues associated with the application of constitutional law, and issues concerning civil, administrative and state law more generally. But these decisions are seldom implemented as quickly and as comprehensively as one might assume, considering their importance. In my view this is a major problem. Let us discuss it and then we can talk about other things.
PRESIDENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT VALERY ZORKIN: Dmitry Anatolyevich, it’s certainly true that recently the number of complaints we have had to look at has increased. For some reason this ... >> full
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RFE/RL: At Least Six Killed During Police Raid In Ingushetia
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
At Least Six Killed During Police Raid In Ingushetia
February 12, 2009
NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) -- Four Russian police officers and at least two suspected rebels were killed when a residential building exploded during a police raid in the violence-plagued region of Ingushetia, officials said.
The two-story building in Nazran, around 1,500 kilometers south of Moscow, exploded when special forces officers forced entry to detain a group of suspected rebels, a police officer at the scene told Reuters.
"Three special forces officers died at the scene and another died later in hospital," the officer said.
The bodies of three suspected rebels were later pulled from the rubble, an investigator said on condition of anonymity.
"They were suicide bombers who the police were looking for," he said.
Interfax news agency quoted Ingushetia's Prosecutor-General Yuri Turygin as saying four police and two rebels had been confirmed dead.
Financed From Abroad
Attacks by Islamic rebels against government officials and security forces have plagued Ingushetia, one of Russia's poorest regions, for ... >> full
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JRL: Annual Threat Assessment Of The Intelligence Community For The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Dennis C. Blair Director of National Intelligence 12 February 2009 www.dni.gov/testimonies/20090212_testimony.pdf [excerpts]
Growing Challenges in Russia and Eurasia
Russian challenges to US interests now spring more from Moscow’s perceived strengths than from the state weaknesses characteristic of the 1990s. US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and general anti-Americanism have created openings for Russia to build alternative arrangements to the US-led international political and economic institutional order. Russia is actively cultivating relations with regional powers, including China, Iran, and Venezuela to increase its ability to influence events. Moscow also is trying to maintain control over energy supply and transportation networks to Europe to East Asia, and protect and further enhance its market share in Europe through new bilateral energy partnerships and organizing a gas cartel with other major exporters. Russia appears to believe the continued heavy dependence of European countries and former Soviet states on Russia’s state gas monopoly, Gazprom, ... >> full
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JRL: Corruption A Threat To National Security - Russian Presidential Staff
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Corruption a threat to national security - Russian presidential staff
MOSCOW. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The scope of corruption in Russia undermines the country's international standing and is a threat to national security, the presidential administration stated.
"The level of corruption is causing serious concern in the Russian public. It accounts for Russia's negative image in the world arena and is reasonably seen as a threat to national security," head of the presidential staff's personnel and state awards department Vladimir Osipov said.
The number of crimes against civil service and national interests grew by 13% last year and totaled 41,000, Osipov told senior officials of the federal prosecutor's Investigation Committee in Moscow on Thursday.
Bribe taking among officials grew by 7%, he said.
The Council of Europe's experts in fighting corruption recommended that the professional level of Russian investigators be enhanced, Osipov said. He said a national plan to prevent corruption, confirmed by the president, was adopted in Russia. ... >> full
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JRL: Siberian Dam Threatens To Destroy A Culture
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Moscow Times February 12, 2009 Siberian Dam Threatens to Destroy a Culture By Maria Antonova / The Moscow Times
KRASNOYARSK -- When plans to build the Turukhansk hydropower station fell through in the late 1980s, the indigenous Evenk population breathed a collective sigh of relief. The plant's dam and resulting reservoir would have flooded their villages, forcing them to relocate and abandon their traditional way of life.
Twenty years later, the state has revived the Brezhnev-era plans to construct Russia's largest hydropower plant, much to the horror of the Evenks and environmentalists who say the resulting reservoir would fundamentally alter the region's ecosystem and possibly disturb underground nuclear test sites.
The dam -- now renamed Evenkia -- is part of Russia's plan to double its hydropower production by 2020, and with a projected capacity of 8 gigawatts to 12 gigawatts it would be one of the world's largest hydropower stations. Opponents argue that investment to reduce gas flaring would be more profitable ... >> full
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