MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti) Russia, U.S. set to scrap START-1 Treaty / Poll finds popular discontent in Russia / Dissenting Russians to be jailed as spies / Defense Ministry to cut number of launches but increase number of satellites
Kommersant
Russia, U.S. set to scrap START-1 Treaty
Moscow and Washington are to draft an agreement to replace the July 31, 1991 START-1 Treaty, due to expire on December 5, 2009.
The Russian-U.S. group on strategic dialogue will hold a regular meeting on Monday. The projected agreement could become the first successful project of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
Both sides will have to overcome major differences in the next 12 months. "The main problem is that the United States does not want to limit the number of delivery vehicles," Colonel General Viktor Yesin, former chief of the Russian Strategic Missile Force's main headquarters, told the paper.
"Still we want this to happen because, after December 2009, their [U.S.] strategic offensive forces will retain about 3,000 nuclear warheads, stockpiled by them after the signing of the START-1 Treaty, while we are unable to do the same," Yesin said.
He said the United States would have the potential for a disarming nuclear strike, and that the National Missile Defense (NMD) system, now being created by Washington, would protect it from a retaliatory strike.
It is hardly surprising that Moscow wants to directly link the new START treaty with U.S. plans for deploying a missile-defense system in Europe.
"A missile defense deal will be the most difficult objective. U.S. plans only convince us that such issues must be examined as a single package," Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, co-chairman of the bilateral strategic-dialogue group, told the paper.
Although Moscow hopes that the new U.S. administration will be more willing to compromise on the missile defense issue, it admits that the future secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will be no easier to deal with for Moscow than her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.
Vedomosti
Poll finds popular discontent in Russia
The raging financial crisis has sent Russians' discontent with the government up to 39% on average, and even 54% in industrially advanced regions; similar levels are registered across different groups of the population.
Russia's Public Opinion Foundation, or FOM, an independent non-profit organization, conducted a survey of 34,000 people on November 14-25, canvassing 68 regions that between them are home to 91% of the country's population.
According to the Crisis VS Social Stability survey, 42% of respondents agreed that the economy was in crisis. Some reported aggravation of the local situation (26%) and termination of construction projects (39%). Between 20% and 33% of respondents from different social groups said they feared not being able to find jobs, 25%-33% expected job loss, and 37%-43% problems at work.
Growing protest and disaffection was admitted by 39%. Interestingly, social groups differing in incomes, occupation and education have shown similar levels of discontent, said FOM president Alexander Oslon. It is a general sentiment, he added, but people are mostly dissatisfied with their local governments.
This is the first survey of the kind, so there is no benchmark to measure the level of disaffection, Oslon said. Still, it is obvious that the 1998 crisis affected far fewer people.
Yevgeny Gontmakher, director of the Center for Social Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that 39% on average is an alarming level, meaning it could be 50% or 60% in certain cities. Moscow and St. Petersburg pose less danger, while in smaller cities these sentiments could lead to spontaneous revolts.
Igor Yurgens, vice president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, said a government that does not discuss things with people, does not stand side by side with them to face hardships but deliberately ignores them, is heading for popular unrest.
Kommersant
Dissenting Russians to be jailed as spies
Anyone whose actions are directed against Russia's security, "including its constitutional regime, sovereignty, and territorial and state integrity," will be declared traitors and spies.
The new provision is part of the government's amendments to the Criminal Code submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Friday.
The bill will change the norms of the current Criminal Code, which interprets treason as "hostile actions" hazardous to Russia's "external security."
Human rights groups and lawyers say anyone who dares to criticize the authorities could be declared a spy, just as under Joseph Stalin.
The authorities say the current clauses on treason and espionage complicate the investigation work of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
"Anyone who has talked to a foreigner could be declared a traitor," Boris Nadezhdin, head of the law department at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, said.
He has signed an open letter from a new opposition party, The Right Cause, to the regional legislatures to blackball the constitutional amendments that prolong the presidential powers to six years. He also told the BBC about the letter.
"Had the bill been effective then, I would have been arrested for treason, because I first signed an anti-constitutional letter and then discussed the issue with a foreign organization," Nadezhdin said.
Lev Levinson, a researcher at Russia's Human Rights Institute, said that since the government was ready to interpret "any actions directed against the constitutional regime" as treason, its goal was "to restore the Stalinist norm when anti-Sovietism was a criminal offense."
Gazeta
Defense Ministry to cut number of launches but increase number of satellites
Due to the financial crisis, the Defense Ministry will reduce the number of launches of vehicles carrying military satellites, a high-ranking source from the ministry told Gazeta. But there are no plans to diminish the number of orbited satellites, while those of GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) may even grow thanks to a better planned use of Roscosmos (Russian Space Agency) capacities and sea-based launchers.
"Every launch vehicle is capable of orbiting a platform carrying, before separation, either nine or 11 satellites, depending on the order placed. Orders will now therefore be reviewed upwards, to increase the number of satellites orbited at one time," the source said. "The four satellites previously planned to be launched from the ground will now be lifted by the Navy, which is cheaper than from the ground. True, sea-launch facilities are not yet fully in place, because Perminov's agency (Roscosmos) finds it unprofitable."
The source added that space program spending will be scrutinized more closely by the ministry. According to the source, the General Staff is currently overhauling its armaments program. "The crisis is forcing us to rework the entire program. Even if there is no cut in funds, the program will be curtailed in volume nonetheless. The same money will now buy fewer tanks and aircraft than planned."
According to the source, the General Staff has not yet decided which armaments to give up.
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