RFE/RL: Russia Steps Up Cooperation With Breakaway Georgian Regions
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posted by eagle on April, 2009 as Imperialism
April 30, 2009Russia Steps Up Cooperation With Breakaway Georgian Regionsby Robert Coalson
In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted the de facto leaders of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and signed agreements on cooperation in protecting the two regions' border with Georgia.
At a joint press conference following a ceremony to mark intensified cooperation between Moscow and the two regions, Medvedev, Abkhazia's Sergei Bagapsh, and South Ossetia's Eduard Kokoity made it clear the move was aimed against Georgia.
"Any action in Tbilisi that can be considered or interpreted as an expansion of a course of remilitarization of the country, a course of strengthening -- senseless strengthening -- of its military component, will be taken by us as measures that are in conflict with the six principles on regulating the conflicts that were agreed upon last August," Medvedev said.
On April 29, officials in Moscow accused Georgia of concentrating military and police ... >> full
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RFE/RL: NATO Expels Russian Diplomats Over Spy Scandal
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
April 30, 2009NATO Expels Russian Diplomats Over Spy Scandal
NATO has expelled two Russian diplomats in retaliation for a spy scandal earlier this year in which an Estonian diplomat was jailed for passing secrets to Moscow.
Russia called the move an attempt to set back recent efforts to improve relations between Washington and Moscow.
The diplomats were attached to Russia's mission at NATO headquarters. Citing alliance officials, Reuters reports that one of the expelled Russians was Vasily Chizhov, the son of Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's ambassador to the European Union.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to NATO, told Russian television that he was summoned to a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, where he was told that Chizhov and senior counselor Viktor Korchakov were being expelled in response to Russian espionage:
"I consider this decision by NATO as pure provocation aimed at disrupting all of our recent agreements with regard to the resumption of the ... >> full
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RFE/RL: Russia To Control Georgian Rebel Regions' Borders
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
April 30, 2009Russia To Control Georgian Rebel Regions' Borders
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia has taken formal control over the de facto borders of Georgia's rebel regions, a week before NATO military exercises in Georgia that President Dmitry Medvedev said amounted to a challenge from the West.
Medvedev signed pacts giving Russia direct control over the borders of the tiny rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which were both recognized by Moscow as independent states after a brief war between Russia and Georgia last year.
Russia has sharply criticized NATO military exercises that are due to begin on May 6 in Georgia, a crucial transit route for Caspian Sea oil and natural gas to Europe.
"The planned NATO exercises are provocative, no matter how hard our Western partners try to persuade us of the opposite," Medvedev said after signing the security pacts.
"Those who are taking these decisions will carry full responsibility for any negative ... >> full
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RFE/RL: Russia Steps Up Cooperation With Breakaway Georgian Regions
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
April 30, 2009Russia Steps Up Cooperation With Breakaway Georgian Regionsby Robert Coalson
In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted the de facto leaders of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and signed agreements on cooperation in protecting the two regions' border with Georgia.
At a joint press conference following a ceremony to mark intensified cooperation between Moscow and the two regions, Medvedev, Abkhazia's Sergei Bagapsh, and South Ossetia's Eduard Kokoity made it clear the move was aimed against Georgia.
"Any action in Tbilisi that can be considered or interpreted as an expansion of a course of remilitarization of the country, a course of strengthening -- senseless strengthening -- of its military component, will be taken by us as measures that are in conflict with the six principles on regulating the conflicts that were agreed upon last August," Medvedev said.
On April 29, officials in Moscow accused Georgia of concentrating military and police ... >> full
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Window On Eurasia: Moscow Has ‘Cast Aside’ Siberia, Threatening Russia’s Future, Scholar Says
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posted by eagle on as Imperialism
Paul Goble
Vienna, April 30 – For the first time in more than a century, a Moscow-based politician and scholar from the Altai says, Russia’s central government has “cast aside” Siberia, a region that is not only rich in natural resources but whose unique spirit is critical for reform, thus putting the future of Russia as a whole at risk.
In an interview in “Baikalskiye vesti” yesterday, Vladimir Ryzhkov, currently a professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, says that “Siberia, which for the course of a century was celebrated not only for its natural but its human wealth has been converted into an ever poorer kray, forgotten by God and Moscow” (www.politirkutsk.ru/view.php/276/1.php).
The region’s population is not only declining, he says, but its level of education and culture is falling as well, trends that mean “if the ...
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