Posts Tagged ‘Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty’

09
May 2012

Putin Signs Decree Seeking Closer U.S. Ties, ‘Firm Guarantees’ On Missile Shield

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

May 07, 2012

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree stating that Moscow will seek closer ties with Washington, but will not tolerate interference in its affairs.

The document, signed on May 7, hours after Putin was sworn in for a third term as president, also says that Moscow wants “firm guarantees” that a planned U.S.-led NATO missile shield is not aimed against Russia.

It says Moscow aims to bring cooperation with Washington “to a truly strategic level” but relations must be based on equality and mutual respect.

The decree serves to send a message to U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of a meeting between the leaders later this month at G8 and NATO summits in the United States.

Washington maintains that the missile shield, which is due to be completed by about 2020, is meant to counter a potential threat from rogue states, including Iran. Russia says the system could gain the capability to intercept Russian missiles by about 2018. 

Russia’s Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov on May 3 repeated warnings that Russia might opt to station short-range missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave to counter the shield.

He was also quoted as saying that Russia may consider a preemptive strike on the system in Europe if the project continues as planned.

U.S. State Department  responded by insisting that the shield would not alter the strategic balance between the countries.

Read More →

Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • NewsVine
  • Digg
20
April 2012

Cardin Expects ‘Macho’ Russian Response To Magnitsky Bill

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Richard Solash
April 19, 2012
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (Democrat-Maryland) says he expects a “macho” response from Moscow should Congress pass legislation punishing Russian officials implicated in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

“We fully expect that there will be some reactions that are going to try to show [Russian] macho-ness rather than dealing with [human rights],” the senator said on April 19 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think-tank.

Cardin last year introduced legislation that would ban visas for and freeze the assets of some 60 Russians connected with the Magnitsky case, which has become an international symbol of Russia’s human rights failings.

The lawyer died in jail in 2009 at the age of 37 after implicating top Russian officials in a complex scheme to defraud the government.

Independent investigations have found that Magnitsky was repeatedly denied medical care and beaten before his death.

Moscow is currently prosecuting only one low-level prison official in the case, amid allegations of a cover-up.

Independent of the legislation, the U.S. State Department last year imposed visa bans on implicated Russian officials.

In response, Moscow compiled a blacklist of U.S. officials it says violated the rights of two Russian citizens, a suspected international arms trafficker and a convicted drug smuggler.

Read More →

Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Buzz
  • LinkedIn
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Tumblr
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • NewsVine
  • Digg