MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti)
Russia and U.S. will have to seek 'bypass option' on START-1 / Russia to allow NATO military transits to Afghanistan / Russian-Spanish new strategic partnership backed by energy contracts / Second Khodorkovsky trial will discredit Medvedev /
RBC Daily, Gazeta.ru
Russia and U.S. will have to seek 'bypass option' on START-1
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was opposed to extending the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). But Moscow and Washington have practically no time left to draw up and adopt a new agreement. Perhaps START-1 will be prolonged unofficially, on understandings to be reached between the Russian and U.S. presidents.
"START-1 expires in December. A new treaty, even if adopted, will be unable to get ratified by the U.S. Congress," said Vladimir Yevseyev, an analyst at the International Security Center of the Moscow-based Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
Some serious differences will have to be addressed to reach a new understanding. Russia is insisting that caps be put not only on warheads but also on all types of delivery vehicles. The Bush administration studiously avoided the problem, which led to delays.
Unless delivery vehicles are cut down, a new treaty will make no sense for Russia, Yevseyev said. The Americans can at any time double their nuclear arsenal by equipping their bombers and submarines with nuclear warheads kept in storage under START-1, the analyst said. Russia is deprived of such a chance, above all because its fleet of vehicles is well worn out. The issue will be negotiated the long and hard way, he warned.
"The sides agreed to extend START-1 without formally ratifying it," Yevseyev said, referring to his sources in the diplomatic establishment. "Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama will simply undertake to comply with the treaty provisions." The two presidents can do this at the forthcoming G20 summit in London.
But Russia's General Staff thinks differently. An unnamed source told news agencies that the "START must not exist." In his opinion, "from a military point of view START is a poor option for Russia, because it fails to take modern realities into account, above all the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty." The military establishment is also ready to oppose the idea of a radical reduction of warheads by both countries. "With the U.S. deploying a global missile shield, to consider this option is pretense, pure and simple," the source said.
Vedomosti
Russia to allow NATO military transits to Afghanistan
On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov met with his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung and later said German military personnel and materiel would be allowed to travel to Afghanistan via Russia by rail.
Moscow could also allow U.S. military transits to Afghanistan via Russia.
In late 2008, France and Germany received permission to transport weapons and military equipment via Russia. On Tuesday, President Dmitry Medvedev signed a similar agreement in Madrid.
Since 2004, 170,000 German soldiers have been airlifted via Russia, Serdyukov said.
A source close to the Defense Ministry said the United States was now allowed to deliver non-military consignments to Afghanistan via Russia, that it would soon receive permission to transport military materiel and combat equipment, except ammunition, and that Moscow was close to making the necessary decision on the issue.
This implies cargo transits for U.S. military units serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a NATO-led security and development mission in Afghanistan established by the UN Security Council on 20 December 2001.
Another U.S. contingent operates against Al Qaeda under a separate program.
Deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Information Department Igor Lyakin-Frolov said the first experience of U.S. non-military transits via Russia was a success.
"On Monday, the first train carrying a U.S. non-military consignment left Russia and is now moving through Kazakhstan. Agreements on mutual cooperation on Afghanistan, reached during the April 2008 Russia-NATO summit in Bucharest, are being implemented. This is Russia's contribution to rebuilding Afghanistan," Lyakin-Frolov told the paper.
Anatoly Lokot, a member of the Russian Communist Party's Central Committee, said his party had initially opposed humanitarian aid transits to Afghanistan, and that NATO troop movements would drag Russia, with a large Muslim population, into another conflict.
Kommersant
Russian-Spanish new strategic partnership backed by energy contracts
The strategic partnership declaration Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero signed after talks in Madrid on Tuesday stipulates the two countries' commitment to build relations similar to those Russia has with Germany, France and Italy.
Moscow is planning to seal a political alliance with Gazprom's energy contracts, culminating in an acquisition of a stake in Spanish producer Repsol by one of Russia's state companies.
It has been traditional for a while for European governments to seek strategic partnership with Russia to back the strong ties between major local businesses and Russian state companies, and Spain is no exception. Gazprom has played a key role in building energy ties between Russia and Spain.
The state gas export giant's CEO, Alexei Miller, said Gazprom would begin gas supplies under Spanish contracts soon, in "small volumes" for the time being. However, Spain will later receive LNG from the Shtokman project in the Barents Sea, he added.
Repsol will probably become Gazprom's key partner in Spain. Miller said the company could become a partner in a Yamal LNG project.
LUKoil was eyeing a 29.9% stake in Repsol last year, but Medvedev has now made it clear that the private oil producer shouldn't expect government support. "They should hold their own talks if they want," he said.
However, Russia's interest in Repsol is much higher than the president wanted to admit. According to Kommersant, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin visited Repsol's headquarters on March 1. Sechin is responsible for fuel and energy in the Russian government, and also for energy cooperation with Latin America.
A source in Russia's Foreign Minister told Kommersant that Moscow and Madrid could team up to develop oil and gas fields in the region where Repsol has much influence.
Rosneft is also eyeing a stake in Repsol, and Sechin heads the state oil major's board of directors.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Second Khodorkovsky trial will discredit Medvedev
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of the bankrupted oil producer Yukos, who is currently serving eight years behind bars, has been brought to Moscow for a second trial. The Russian government seems to get masochistic satisfaction from reopening its own wounds.
Was Khodorkovsky more or less guilty than any other of Yeltsin's oligarchs? Did he really intend to seize power in Russia, or are these merely the tall tales spun by the Kremlin's siloviki? Nobody wants to know at this stage, for even school students regard "Khodorkovsky" and "politics" as Siamese twins.
Likewise, nobody knows why the state decided to retry the unlucky man.
His first trial did immense political damage to the country. After he was arrested and sentenced, Russia's international reputation plunged to lower than low, while the Kremlin siloviki became the most influential clan in Russian politics.
Khodorkovsky's enemies seemingly attained their goal, yet they are not satisfied. They want to make him suffer again, as if the first round was not painful enough.
There is nothing accidental in such trials, and so the logical conclusion is that the new tribulations of the disgraced oligarch are a result of deliberate moves made by one of Russia's influential political clans. It could be the clan of siloviki, which has not been removed from power with the election of the new president.
They could need the second trial as additional protection against a very remote possibility of Khodorkovsky's early release. Worse still, the new trial is spearheaded at President Dmitry Medvedev, who proclaimed the goal of building a state ruled by law upon his inauguration.
If the second Khodorkovsky trial proceeds as the first one did, Medvedev's aspirations will be dashed, and he will be made a hostage to the Kremlin siloviki.
From this viewpoint, Khodorkovsky is not the main target, but merely a pawn in the political clan games.
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