Pentagon Placing Gear in Eastern Europe | OPM Attack Raises Delicate Political Questions | Tribalism, Cronyism Hinder Iraqi Training | Work: Russia Will Not Gain Nuclear Advantage
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
LONDON — Defense spending by NATO countries continues to decline in real terms, according to figures released by the alliance ahead of a meeting of defense ministers starting Wednesday
The Pentagon will place approximately 250 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzers throughout six countries that are close to Russia, the department announced June 23.
DoD soon will launch a joint agency for Pentagon and intelligence community space operations.
France said it would look into building two nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, which is part of some $12 billion (€10.7 billion) in deals announced Wednesday with the conservative kingdom.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon confirmed Wednesday that Israel was the target of cyber attacks by Iran during last summer's Gaza war and by Hezbollah, which reportedly ran an operation going back three years.
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is struggling to apply software patches for known vulnerabilities in a timely way, leaving systems open to hackers, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 2
Russia will not be allowed to gain a military advantage through its nuclear arsenal, the Pentagon's number two official pledged Thursday.
WASHINGTON — US troops training and advising Iraqi forces to combat the Islamic State are finding the Iraqi military leadership is plagued by cronyism and tribalism, according to the US Army's No. 2 general.
Marines are eyeing new alternative shipping platforms to solve an emerging problem: how to bring Marine units in the Pacific together quickly in the event of a crisis.
Russian aggression, shrinking budgets and readiness are among the top priorities for the Army's No. 2 general.
FORT MEADE, Md. — The site of an Army golf course named for US President Dwight Eisenhower, one long drive from the National Security Agency, is an active construction site, the future of US military cyber.
WASHINGTON — In public remarks, US officials appear to be split over whether to blame China over a pair of major breaches that compromised deeply personal data for millions of federal employees, suggesting a potential policy gap and uncertainty about how best to respond.
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
Media Feature
June 26, 2015
Belfer Center Programs or Projects: The US-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism
Russia in Review: a digest of useful news from U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism for June 19-26, 2015
I. U.S. and Russian priorities for the bilateral agenda.
Nuclear security agenda:
- No significant developments.
Iran:
- Russia is set to sign a contract for the delivery of Antey-2500 (S-300V) air defense systems to Iran after Tehran withdraws its lawsuit filed with the Geneva arbitration court over the refusal of Moscow to deliver another type of air defense systems in 2010. (Interfax/Kommersant, 06.22.15).
NATO-Russia relations:
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter confirmed Tuesday that the United States would place heavy military equipment in nations stretching from the Baltics to the Balkans. The equipment will include about 250 tanks, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to support training and other exercises. Carter said: "We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia. We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: We will defend our allies." Carter also said that the United States refuses to let Russia "drag us back to the past" into another Cold War-style conflict (Reuters, 06.23.15, Washington Post, 06.22.15 RFE/RL, 06.23.15).
- NATO member states have agreed to increase the strength and capability of the alliance's rapid-response force from 13,000 to as many as 40,000. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said U.S. will contribute special operations forces, intelligence and other high-end military assets to the new NATO rapid response force. In a separate development Romanian lawmakers have unanimously approved a request to build NATO Force Integration Unit and a Multinational Division South-East Headquarters in Bucharest. (Reuters, 06.23.15, RFE/RL, 06.24.15, AP, 06.23.15).
- Russia will react to an increase of the NATO military infrastructure, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said. “Some former Soviet republics are now NATO members. Did we come near them? It was NATO that came near us. It's very near us now. And we cannot help but react to the threats that are coming [from NATO]," Patrushev said. (Interfax, 06.25.15).
- NATO is preparing to re-evaluate its nuclear weapons strategy in response to growing tension with Russia over Ukraine. Among potential topics is an enhanced role for nuclear weapons in NATO military exercises. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said: "We all understand that Russia is a long established nuclear power. There is no need for Vladimir Putin to make that point." Russia’s “nuclear saber rattling” is undermining stability in a futile effort to intimidate European allies, Robert Work, the No. 2 Pentagon official, said in Washington. “The nuclear messaging of Russia is destabilizing, it’s unjustified, and it’s dangerous,” said Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. (Bloomberg, 06.25.15, CNN, 06.22.15, Wall Street Journal, 06.23.15, The Guardian, 06.24.15).
- Only Poland this year joined the four other countries, out of 28 total NATO members, that are meeting the alliance's goal of spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, according to a report released Monday by the alliance. The other four are the U.S., Great Britain, Greece and Estonia. (Wall Street Journal, 06.22.15).
- Fifty-five percent of the respondents of a May 22-25 poll conducted by the Levada Center in Russia said they are afraid of the possibility of a war between Russia and the West and 25% said they are not very afraid about it. Twelve percent of the respondents said they are not afraid of such a possibility and 8% said they are undecided. (Interfax, 06.23.15).
Missile defense:
- No significant developments.
Nuclear arms control:
- Russia’s ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak said that “there is no discussion in Russia of deploying nuclear weapons in any aggressive fashion,” but “NATO is on the border of violating the NPT treaty by making the non-nuclear-weapon countries of NATO participate in training for nuclear missions, something that is certainly very...troublesome to us.” Kislyak stated that this was now likely the “worst period in our relations after the end of the Cold War.” (National Interest, 06.23.15).
- Russia will not be allowed to gain a military advantage through its nuclear arsenal, Robert Work, deputy U.S. defense secretary, told U.S. lawmakers. "Under any circumstance, however, we will not allow them to gain significant military advantage through INF violations,” he said. Work also said that the US is looking at a major recapitalization of the nuclear force. "It is projected to cost DoD an average of $18 billion a year from 2021 to 2035 in FY16 dollars,” he said. (Wall Street Journal, 06.25.15).
Counter-terrorism agenda:
- On Wednesday, moments before he was sentenced to death, the 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev jolted the federal courtroom by apologizing. (Wall Street Journal, 06.25.15).
Cyber security:
- U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has urged NATO allies to strengthen their cyber defenses, a senior U.S. defense official said, citing an advanced threat from Russia. (Reuters, 06.25.15).
Energy exports from CIS:
- Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s top crude supplier as the fight for market share in the world’s second-largest oil consumer intensifies. (Bloomberg, 06.24.15).
- Gazprom will invest $8.8 billion through 2017 in a giant gas pipeline to China. (Moscow Times, 06.25.15).
- The French energy firm Total says it has pulled out of the Shtokman natural gas project in the Barents Sea. (RFE/RL, 06.24.15).
- Refiners on the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii have stepped up purchases of Russian crude. Up to four tankers were expected to carry nearly 3 million barrels of Russia's ESPO crude from Kozmino near the city of Vladivostok to refineries in the United States this month and next. (Reuters, 06.24.15).
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia could not provide Ukraine with the gas price discount it once had. “It is obvious that given such a serious fall in oil prices and, as a result, gas prices, we cannot provide the same discount as earlier," Putin told a government meeting. (Reuters, 06.24.15).
Bilateral economic ties:
- No significant developments.
Other bilateral issues:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday, their first call since February, to discuss Iran nuclear talks, "the increasingly dangerous situation in Syria" and the need to counter Islamic State militants, the White House said in a statement. The Kremlin said Mr. Putin agreed to have his deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, talk with Victoria J. Nuland, an assistant secretary of state, about the fulfillment of the Minsk accord. (Reuters, New York Times, 06.26.15).
- "Obviously, after all, they [the U.S.] wish now to try to settle this internal Ukrainian crisis in a political way. There was an agreement to set up a special bilateral format, the Russian-U.S. Karasin-Nuland channel [between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland]," Russian presidential chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said. (Interfax, 06.20.15).
- Russian Security Council Chairman Nikolai Patrushev said United States "would very much like Russia not to exist at all -- as a country…. because we possess enormous riches.” (Kommersant, 06.22.15).
- U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the United States hoped Russia would return to a forward- looking course and noted areas of diplomatic cooperation with Moscow. But ongoing changes to NATO's military posture illustrate preparations for longer lasting tensions, he said. Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev has called absurd the statement by Carter about the possibility of a long period of confrontation with Russia. (Reuters, 06.22.15, Interfax, 06.22.15).
- Admiral James Winnefeld, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional committee that the risk of a conflict with Russia in Europe “is certainly not smaller than it used to be, but I do think they understand we’ve got a red line there.” (Bloomberg, 06.25.15).
- Russia is the "one country that clearly poses an existential threat" to the U.S., and it has growing military capabilities, according to chairman of U.S. House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry. (The Hill, 06.23.15).
- The Ukraine conflict has led to a dramatic increase in anti-American sentiments in Russia. Only 15% of Russians have a positive view of the U.S. today, down from 51% two years ago, before the outbreak of violence. (Pew Research Center, 06.23.15).
- Just 34 percent of Russians believe their country has a greater number of friends than enemies, with the United States and President Barack Obama viewed as the nation’s biggest threat, a survey by state-run pollster VTsIOM revealed Thursday. In total, 37 percent of those polled said the United States and Obama posed the greatest threat (Moscow Times, 06.25.15).
- .U.S. authorities are investigating whether an executive in Bremen, Ohio has bribed Russian energy officials to win his company millions of dollars in contracts to supply shipping containers for uranium. People familiar with the investigation identified that company as Westerman Cos. (Wall Street Journal, 06.26.15).
II. Russia news.
Domestic politics, economy and energy:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has hit all-time highs of 89 percent, according to measurements from the Moscow-based Levada Center, the only independent polling organization in Russia. (Washington Post, 06.24.15).
- Yevgeny Primakov, a former Russian prime minister, foreign minister and spymaster, has died, the Kremlin said on Friday. Primakov, whose political career began in the Soviet era, was 85. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences to the family and friends of Primakov (Reuters, 06.26.15, Interfax, 06.26.15).
- Members of State Duma have given tentative approval to a bill that would move up next year's parliamentary elections by three months, a move which critics say is aimed at weakening the opposition. (RFE/RL, 06.19.15).
- According to the central bank, Russia lost around $37 billion in the first three months of the year, with only $13 billion constituting outflow -- the remaining $24 billion being debt reimbursement. (Wall Street Journal, 06.22.15).
- As an average oil price of $60 to $65 per barrel is comfortable enough for Russian oil companies and the budget, the Russian central bank said. (Wall Street Journal, 06.23.15).
- High oil prices were Russia's curse rather than blessing whereas the current level of oil prices and the exchange rate of the national currency, the ruble, are ideal for launching structural reforms, Kremlin administration chief Sergei Ivanov said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper. (Tass, 06.21.15).
- The Russian government ordered 30 billion rubles ($560 million) in cuts in spending on the 2018 World Cup finals. (Moscow Times, 06.22.15).
- President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign-backed organizations of pillaging through Russian schools in search of their most talented pupils and then spiriting them away via educational programs abroad. (Moscow Times, 06.24.15).
Defense and Aerospace:
- Vladimir Dorofeyev, CEO of Russia’s Malakhit Marine Engineering Design Bureau, has told TASS that "the work on the fifth generation of submarines is already underway.” (National Interest, 06.23.15).
- The flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet is heading for the Atlantic Ocean with a group of escort ships as Moscow works to project its military power far beyond the confines of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean and beyond. (Moscow Times, 06.23.15).
Security, law-enforcement and justice:
- Islamic terrorism is “one of the main threats” facing Russia and its former Soviet neighbors, Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said. Patrushev said more than 1,000 Russian citizens are believed to be fighting alongside the Islamic State. He also said he saw “no possibility” of stopping the flow of fighters to the terror group. Patrushev’s deputy Yevgeny Lukyanov said up to 2,000 Russians are fighting for the Islamic State abroad The [future] return to Russia of militants who are nationals of our country will also be a problem," he said. "And they are already returning. (Moscow Times, 06.22.15, 06.24.15).
- The Islamic State has announced the creation of a new ‘governorate’ in the North Caucasus and Rustam Aselderov as its head. Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov dismissed the announcement as “bluffing.” A message posted online claims that Islamist militants in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria have pledged allegiance to IS. (Versia.ru, 06.26.15, RFE/RL, 06.24.15, Institute for the Study of War, 06.23.15).
- Russia arrested a suspected Lithuanian spy on Thursday, a court spokeswoman said. (Reuters, 06.25.15).
- The Russian Investigative Committee has brought official charges against State Duma member Ilya Ponomaryov in the Skolkovo Foundation embezzlement case. (RAPSI, 06.24.15).
Foreign affairs and trade:
- EU foreign ministers have approved the extension of economic sanctions on Russia over its involvement in Ukraine by six months, until the end of January 2016. The decision made at a meeting in Luxembourg comes after EU ambassadors on June 17 agreed to extend the sanctions hitting Russia's energy, financial, and military sector, and prolonged an investment ban on Crimea for another year. In response, Russia has extended a ban on food imports from the West by one year. The ban prohibits most food imports from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada, and Norway. (RFE/RL, 06.22.15, 06.24.15).
- "We have found some balance in terms of sanctions and antisanctions. And this balance will be maintained; it's the consensus," Kremlin aide Andrei Belousov said in an interview. Mr. Belousov's comments suggest the Kremlin isn't interested in exacerbating relations with the West. (Wall Street Journal, 06.22.15).
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believes it’s possible to resolve the Southern Kuril Island territorial dispute with Japan. Putin said it was necessary for him to hold a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the territorial dispute that has held bilateral ties hostage since the end of the Second World War. (RBTH, 06.22.15).
- Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman invited Russian president Vladimir Putin to visit the kingdom and Putin invited the king to Russia. No dates have been set for either visit. Saudi Arabia's government and a Russian state fund have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly invest as much as $10 billion (Brookings, 06.19.15, Reuters, 06.21.15).
- French authorities have frozen millions of euros in bank accounts after launching an investigation into an alleged Russian fraud scheme uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, a Moscow lawyer who died in a Russian jail. (RFE/RL, 06.25.15).
- President Vladimir Putin has blasted moves by France and Belgium to seize Russian assets and asserted that The Hague court whose ruling precipitated the seizures has no jurisdiction over Russia. (RFE/RL, 06.20.15).
- Germany's top human-rights official said Tuesday he had canceled a long-planned trip to Russia this week because of pressure from Moscow. (Wall Street Journal, 06.23.15).
- Overall demand for flights to and from Russia fell as much as 40 percent in late 2014 and early 2015, compared with a year earlier, according to Martin Riecken, Lufthansa’s director of corporate communications for Europe. (RBTH, 06.19.15).
- China has signed up to design a high-speed railway between the Russian cities of Moscow and Kazan. (Wall Street Journal, 06.22.15).
- Troops from Russia and Mongolia will march together with Chinese forces in a parade in Beijing in September to commemorate the end of World War II. (Reuters, 06.25.15).
Russia's neighbors:
- Ukraine could default on its debt obligations as soon as next month, according to Goldman Sachs, leaving international investors holding about $19 billion of the country’s bonds likely facing losses, or “haircuts.” (Wall Street Journal, 06.25.15).
- The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany tried on Tuesday to revive high-end diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said afterward that the four agreed to "not allow a breakdown" of a peace deal reached in February. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone Monday with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the situation in eastern Ukraine. (AP, 06.22.15, RFE/RL, 06.24.15).
- NATO's head warned on Thursday of a risk of a return to heavy fighting in Ukraine but said it would be unwise to declare a ceasefire agreement dead, despite repeated violations, because it remained the best hope for peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not done in eastern Ukraine, U.S. General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander, said. He cautioned that Russia has been building up supplies on its border with Ukraine and keeping its military options open. (Bloomberg, 06.25.15, Reuters, 06.23.15).
- NATO head Jens Stoltenberg has outlined additional support for Kyiv, including aid in defusing roadside bombs. He also said Poland, Norway, and Turkey will be sharing more airport traffic control data with Ukraine (RFE/RL, 06.25.15).
- The Ukrainian military said on June 23 one serviceman had been killed in fighting in the east over the past 24 hours, while separatists accused government forces of killing three civilians in the areas controlled by the pro-Russian rebels. The Ukrainian military said on June 22 two of its servicemen have been killed and three wounded. And on June 21st Kiev said two of its soldiers had been killed and six wounded in fighting. (RFE/RL, 06.23.15,RFE/RL, 06.22.15).
- Recent estimates suggest that between 270 and 400 Ukrainian soldiers remain in captivity, with more than 2,500 Ukrainian POWs already having been released by the separatists. (Carnegie, 06.23.15).
- A cease-fire is likely to collapse in east Ukraine and Russia could be drawn into a "big war" to cleanse the "sore on its borders,” former leader of the region's pro-Russian separatists Alexander Borodai said. (Reuters, 06.25.15).
- "I don't deny my responsibility," Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovych said when asked about the shooting of demonstrators in Kiev's Maidan Square. Russia’s annexation of Crimea was a "tragedy", which would not have happened on his watch, he said. (BBC, 06.22.15).
- Fifty-one percent of the respondents of a May 22-25 poll conducted by the Levada Center in Russia said they are afraid about the possibility of a war between Russia and Ukraine. (Interfax, 06.23.15).
- The five countries investigating last year's shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine are calling for an international tribunal established by the United Nations to prosecute those responsible. (RFE/RL, 06.26.15).
- International Monetary Fund staff formed a preliminary view that $3 billion in bonds sold to Russia by Ukraine should be classified as official rather than private debt. (Bloomberg, 06.22.15).
- Ukraine is preparing the legal document required to cancel its contract with Russia concerning the completion of two units at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant. (World Nuclear News, 06.24.15).
- Demonstrators danced and sang on the Armenian capital's main avenue Friday as a protest against a hike in electricity prices continued for a fifth straight day. (AP, 06.26.15).
- Kazakhstan is to formally become the WTO's 162nd member in December after the nation's accession package won members’ final approval in Geneva on June 22. (RFE/RL, 06.22.15).
- Drug enforcement officers in Uzbekistan burned 1.4 metric tons of drugs on Thursday. (Reuters, 06.25.15).
- In a new report, the U.S. State Department strongly criticizes Islamic State militants -- as well as the Russian, Iranian, and Azerbaijani governments -- for human rights abuses. (RFE/RL, 06.25.15).
Back issues of Russia in Review are available here. If you wish to either unsubscribe from or subscribe to Russia in Review, please e-mail Simon Saradzhyan atsimon_saradzhyan@hks.harvard.edu.
For more information about this publication please contact the The US-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism at 617-496-0518.
For Academic Citation:
"Russia in Review.", June 26, 2015.
Read the whole story
· · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
 ABC News |
Manhunt for David Sweat Continues
ABC News Local, state and federal authorities believe they have the escaped convict inside a tight perimeter. 2:22 | 06/28/15. Share. Title. Description. Share From. Share With. Facebook. Tweet. </> Embed. Email. <br/><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/video">More ABC ... By luck or cunning, remaining escapee evades manhuntCBS News Police use floodlights, checkpoints in hunt for escaped killerUSA TODAY Officials search for escaped prisoner David Sweat in area where partner was killedMSNBC Syracuse.com -Irish Independent -The Guardian all 351 news articles » |
A fire on a music stage, set off by an explosion, spread into a crowd of spectators at a party Saturday night at a Taiwan water park, injuring more than 200 people, authorities said.
The bomber in a deadly attack on a mosque in Kuwait City was a Saudi national, Kuwaiti officials said, curbing concern that the attack was homegrown.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Post a Comment