LA Times: Russia sends tanks and troops into Ukraine, seizes a strategic town

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29249642

BBC team under attack in southern Russia

 

A BBC team has been attacked in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.

 

We had gone to investigate reports of Russian servicemen being killed near the border with Ukraine.

 

As we left a cafe and approached our car, we were confronted and attacked by at least three aggressive individuals.

 

Using physical violence the men grabbed our camera, smashed it on the road, and then escaped with it in a getaway car. During the scuffle the BBC cameraman was knocked to the ground and beaten.

 

The team is now safe and back in Moscow.

 

Following the attack, we spent more than four hours being questioned in a local police station.

 

We discovered later that while we were there, back in the car some of our recording equipment had been tampered with.

 

The hard drive of the main computer as well as several memory cards with video material had been wiped clean.

 

 

 

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29249642

BBC team under attack in southern Russia

 

A BBC team has been attacked in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.

 

We had gone to investigate reports of Russian servicemen being killed near the border with Ukraine.

 

As we left a cafe and approached our car, we were confronted and attacked by at least three aggressive individuals.

 

Using physical violence the men grabbed our camera, smashed it on the road, and then escaped with it in a getaway car. During the scuffle the BBC cameraman was knocked to the ground and beaten.

 

The team is now safe and back in Moscow.

 

Following the attack, we spent more than four hours being questioned in a local police station.

 

We discovered later that while we were there, back in the car some of our recording equipment had been tampered with.

 

The hard drive of the main computer as well as several memory cards with video material had been wiped clean.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29249642

BBC team under attack in southern Russia

 

A BBC team has been attacked in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan.

 

We had gone to investigate reports of Russian servicemen being killed near the border with Ukraine.

 

As we left a cafe and approached our car, we were confronted and attacked by at least three aggressive individuals.

 

Using physical violence the men grabbed our camera, smashed it on the road, and then escaped with it in a getaway car. During the scuffle the BBC cameraman was knocked to the ground and beaten.

 

The team is now safe and back in Moscow.

 

Following the attack, we spent more than four hours being questioned in a local police station.

 

We discovered later that while we were there, back in the car some of our recording equipment had been tampered with.

 

The hard drive of the main computer as well as several memory cards with video material had been wiped clean.

 

 

 

[JMS]

38.80 Rubles to $ 1...  and still dropping.
 

Russian ruble drops to historic low amid sanctions

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/16/russian-ruble-low/15705791/

[Larry]

38.80 Rubles to $ 1...  and still dropping.

unfortunately, I bet that Putin and his buddies have very few investments in Rubles.

[JMS]

unfortunately, I bet that Putin and his buddies have very few investments in Rubles.

I think you are right.. But it still puts pressure on the Russian Economy and People. Also every Russian knows it's Putin's fault. That can't be good for Putin.

And I think this is just the beginning. Russia's economy is going to be bad for years and it's hard to see what's going to make it better short of a rapprochement with Western Europe and or the US.

Also I think as US oil and natural gas get's more market share, that's also going to continue to eat away the biggest thing Russia had going for it. oil and natural gas. We sell our natural gas domestically for about 20% of what Russia charges Western Europe. Can you imagine the shockwaves that are going to go through the Russian already contracting market when international natural gas begins to penetrate into the Western European markets. Also it's not even like we've gotten serious with sanctions yet..

More news on the Russian Economy... Russia just arrested one of the richest men in Russia..

 

Oligarch's arrest deepens fears over Russian economy

Vladimir Yevtushenkov under arrest and facing prospect of selling Sistema company in what critics call 'undisguised theft'

...

Analysts said the moves against Vladimir Yevtushenkov this week looked like a raid on his business by Kremlin-connected forces, and were a sign of an intensifying battle for a "shrinking pie" of resources.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/sep/17/oligarch-yevtushenkov-arrest-deepens-fears-russian-economy

Vladimir Putin seeks power to 'unplug' Russia from Internet: Report

AFP Sep 19, 2014, 03.11PM IST

MOSCOW: Moscow is considering measures to disconnect Russian cyberspace, the last forum for free expression in the country, in emergency situations such as military hostilities or major protests, a newspaper reported Friday.

With mainstream media firmly under Kremlin control, social media and Internet news sites have over the past months been critical outlets for reporting the possible involvement of Russian troops in the Ukraine conflict and broader discussions about the crisis.

They are predicting Zero growth this year, and economic contraction next year.

EBRD bank slashes outlook for Russian economy

http://news.yahoo.com/ebrd-bank-slashes-outlook-russian-economy-201417222.html

Cameron: We will permanently damage Russia's economy

PM threatens to "turn the ratchet" on Vladimir Putin, as rouble hits record low

[visionary]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/crimean-tatars-kicked-out-of-their-office/507761.html

Crimean Tatars Kicked Out of Their Office

 

The main self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority in the annexed Crimean peninsula, has been expelled from its office, Ukrainian media reported Tuesday.

 

The Mejlis — an informal executive body representing the interests of the peninsula's Tatars — and an affiliated charity left their offices in the annexed region's capital Simferopol, the charity's director Risa Shevkiyev said.

 

"We've vacated all premises in Simferopol, expelled the tenants and fired the workers," Shevkiyev said, Ukranews.ua reported.

 

"All of our property and assets have been frozen [based on a court order]," Shevkiyev added.

 

The Mejlis came under attack by authorities because its founder, outspoken Kremlin critic Mustafa Dzhemilev, holds foreign — Ukrainian — citizenship, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

 

Police also searched the houses of Tatar leaders last week, reportedly seizing "extremist literature" and firearms in the process.

[visionary]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-speeds-up-law-to-ban-most-foreign-web-services/507820.html

Russia Speeds Up Law to Ban Most Foreign Web Services

 

The State Duma approved a bill to expedite a new set of Internet regulations that, experts say, would provide for the banning of such web services as Facebook, Booking.com and Amazon.

 

A law requiring all online companies to store users' personal data on Russian territory was passed last July and was set to enter into effect in September 2016.

 

Concerned about the need to "ensure faster and more effective protection of Russian citizens' rights to telecommunication privacy and personal data safety," lawmakers submitted a bill to slide the deadline forward by more than a year, according to the Duma's website.

 

The bill to set the deadline to Jan. 1, 2015, passed in the crucial second reading on Wednesday.

 

Lobbying group the Information & Computer Technologies Industry Association said in an open letter on Monday that the rule would cripple Russia's IT industry.

 

Russia simply lacks the technical facilities to host databases with users' personal data, and setting up the infrastructure within the remaining three months is impossible, the letter said.

 

"Most companies will be forced to put their operations on hold, inflicting untold damage on the Russian economy," the group said on its website.

 

But their appeal failed to sway lawmakers, who fast-tracked the bill — a procedure that, most political pundits say, implies endorsement from the Kremlin, which has not commented on the initiative.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-25/exxon-s-sanctions-hall-pass-undermines-anti-putin-push.html

Exxon’s Sanctions Hall Pass Undermines Anti-Putin Push

 

After Exxon (XOM) Mobil Corp. mounted a campaign to warn U.S. officials that prematurely halting work with Russian oil giant Rosneft on an exploratory oil well could foul the Arctic, the Obama administration last week gave the company a two-week reprieve from sanctions on Russia.

 

The temporary retreat has handed Russia’s leaders a golden public relations opportunity, one they plan to exploit. Today in the Kara Sea off Siberia’s northern coast, Igor Sechin, a Putin confidante, ex-Soviet apparatchik and the chief executive officer of Rosneft, the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company by production, will announce an update on the $700 million exploratory well.

 

“Clearly the Russian government, and by extension big state companies like Rosneft, want to show wherever they can that business as usual is possible despite the sanctions regime, knowing full well” that everything will be harder now, said Andrew Weiss, head of the Russia program for the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

 

Exxon persuaded top U.S. Treasury and Energy Department officials that it couldn’t safely obey a White House order to halt the venture with Russia’s national oil company OAO Rosneft by today, according to four people with knowledge of the talks.

[JMS]

Russia is starting to vociferously complain about how unfair life is...  Or to paraphrase.. they don't like the view as one of the second or third tier sled dogs.

Meanwhile..... The Russian Ruble hits a new all time historic low against the dollar... 39.41 rubles for 1 dollar! and continuing to drop like a stone!!!

 

 

Russia at U.N. accuses U.S., allies of bossing world around

https://news.yahoo.com/russia-u-n-accuses-u-allies-bossing-world-193208406.html

 

 

 

Russia's Sergei Lavrov: the US cannot change the cold war in its 'genetic code'

Defending Russia before the United Nations, foreign minister said the US must give up its claims of ‘eternal uniqueness’

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/27/russia-lavrov-us-cold-war-ukraine-unique-united-nations

[visionary]

http://www.interpretermag.com/russia-this-week-moscow-accuses-ukraine-of-atrocities-media-distorts-osce-report/#4460

Russian Ruble Hits All-Time Low

18:15 (GMT)

 

The Russian ruble continues to bleed value this week.

 

Translation: the Russian ruble has fallen to a new record low. How to stop this fall? .0253 rubles per dollar

 

There are reports that Moscow is considering capital control measures, though Moscow is denying this. Nasdaq reports:

 

The Russian ruble hit a fresh record low against the central bank's target basket of U.S. dollars and euros, slipping below the level at which the bank intervenes to support the currency, amid fears that Moscow may consider capital controls to stem the flow of money out of the country.

 

The ruble recovered slightly after the central bank and the Finance Ministry said they aren't considering such restrictions. It had slid to more than 44.40 rubles to the basket after Bloomberg cited two unnamed Russian officials as saying the bank was considering temporary capital controls if capital outflows intensified.

 

The drop Tuesday underscores nervousness around the ruble, which has dropped nearly one-fifth against the U.S. dollar this year, battered by large capital outflows and an economy close to stagnation amid Western sanctions.

 

The ruble closed at 44.25 to the euro-dollar basket after briefly touching 44.52, crossing the threshold at which the central bank starts selling dollars and euros to smooth fluctuations. The ruble also hit an record of 39.89 against the dollar before recovering to 39.57 by the end of the day.

 

Russian officials were quick to deny the report of considering capital controls, which Russia scrapped in 2006. A Finance Ministry official, who asked not to be named, said the ministry would be against such a move, even if the government were considering it. Net outflows are forecast at $100 billion this year.

As we've been reporting since last week, one of the main causes for the sudden fall in the ruble is the confirmation of a lawsuit which will nationalize Bashneft, an oil company which is now a division of the Russian conglomerate Sistema (headed by Vladimir Yevtushenkov). Yevtushenkov, who reportedly has connections to the Ukrainian separatists, was put under house arrest, sparking fear among investors that Russia is once again trying to exert greater control over the energy sector and reminding some of the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky more than ten years ago.

[JMS]

What Putin Wrought Has World Asking What Russia Might Have Been

....

“These sanctions are limiting his ability to implement those projects he needs to imitate normal economic growth in Russia,” said Kasyanov, the onetime prime minister. “Sanctions should speed up the collapse of the whole economic system, which would lead to a deep, systemic crisis.”

.....

Guriev, the former prime ministerial adviser, says plans for a balanced budget also are predicated on economic growth of 2 percent to 3 percent. With that now in jeopardy he predicts Putin will soon have to shrink spending on military and pensions as a falling oil price provides another fiscal challenge.

“This is an entirely new thing and we don’t know what will happen,” said Guriev. “It’s unprecedented for Putin.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-29/the-cost-of-putin-s-economic-u-turn.html

Russia to See Zero Growth and Soaring Inflation as Sanctions Strangle Economy

Russia's economy will fail to grow at all in 2014 and inflation will reach a four-year high, a poll of economists showed Tuesday, as Western sanctions over Ukraine bite.

Economists cut back their growth forecasts for Russia this year as the escalating Ukraine crisis prompted waves of Western sanctions and a massive outflow of capital that are both hurting Russian companies' ability to raise finance.

The latest poll, the first since a cease-fire in Ukraine between government forces and separatist rebels, suggests the economic fall-out from the crisis for Russia is far from over.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/economists-predict-zero-growth-and-four-year-high-inflation-for-russia/508120.html

[JMS]

http://www.interpretermag.com/russia-this-week-moscow-accuses-ukraine-of-atrocities-media-distorts-osce-report/#4460

 

"Capital Control Measures"....  Oh that is awesome...   He's tired of shooting himself in the foot with a hand gun... now he's taking out a bazooka.    He thought investors were cold towards him before... just try to freeze their assets in Russia and see how many investors line up in the future to trust Puton...  ZERO...     That's like a world class bad idea..

 

And he can't defend his own currency now because he's realized it just bleeds his foreign currency reserves... and of coarse he can't pick up the phone and call his friends in the west to help him because you know,  he doesn't have any friends in the west...

 

He's hosed.  Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

[Larry]

OTOH, all of this makes Russian energy exports just that much more attractive, to Europe et al. 

 

(Depending on any contracts.) 

[JMS]

OTOH, all of this makes Russian energy exports just that much more attractive, to Europe et al. 

 

(Depending on any contracts.)

 

Russia experimented in trading oil in Rubes.   But they sell their oil on the world market.   They want to get the best price possible for their oil and that means not tieing it to ruble but to a stable currency... like the $, or Euro..

 

That's one of the thing which is crushing Russia now, and into the forseable future...  Oil prices are low low low and going to stay low.

 

When OPEC raised oil prices to 80-90-100++ $ / barrel;  they made it cost efffective for the United States and Canada to develop our oil shale reserves.   So now all that extra oil capacity is on the market and only going to continue to increase as we develop our transportation lines and make our production more efficient...

 

The only thing that could possible save Russia is if they somehow convinced Saudi and OPEC that it was in their interest to drop the price of oil even further down and thus remove our incentive to produce our relatively expensive oil shale... but that idea is unprecedented on Russia being able to pick up the slack,  and not OPEC...   So it's not clear that would help Putin Out...

 

The other things that are going to really hurt Russia in the near future..  

 

#1  America doing what we did to the oil market to the natural gas market..   Besides swimming in oil,  we are floating in natural gas.   American consumers pay 20% of the cost per cubic meter that Russia charges Europe.   When Europe develops the import facilities, and we develop the export facilities...  Russia's natural gas markets are going to get crushed too.

 

#2  America getting our economic house in some sort of order..  which is already happening.. We've cut the deficit by 75% since Obama took office... The deficit to GDP ratio by 80%...  We stay on this path with adults in the White House and the dollar will strengthen..  And when that happens it will really crush Russia even more..   Right now the ruble is at historic weakens against a moderately strong dollar.. can you imagine how weak it would be if the dollar strengthens?

 

It's Time To Drive Russia Bankrupt -- Again

How should the U.S. deal with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine?  We should do to Russia what Ronald Reagan did to its predecessor, the old Soviet Union.  We should drive them into bankruptcy by stabilizing the U.S. dollar.

A reliable maxim of geopolitics is, “When the treasury is empty, the regime falls.”  This is exactly what happened to the U.S.S.R.  It is also what will happen to Vladimir Putin if we simply stabilize the dollar, something that we should be doing anyway.

It wasn’t Reagan’s massive defense build-up, or his Star Wars program, that drove the Soviet Union to the wall; it was the decline in real oil prices caused by the Reagan/Volcker/Greenspan strengthening of the U.S. dollar.

On an end-of-year basis, real crude oil prices averaged $17.66/bbl (in 4Q2013 dollars) from 1950 to 1972.  By the time that Reagan took office, they had almost quintupled, to $85.98.  It was this oil price windfall that fueled Soviet expansionism in the 1970s.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiswoodhill/2014/03/03/its-time-to-drive-russia-bankrupt-again/

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-ukraine-crisis-merkel-putin-idUSKCN0HQ57R20141002?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Merkel tells Putin Moscow has duty to temper separatists in Ukraine

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Wednesday that Moscow had a duty to temper pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, a spokesman for the German government said.

 

"The German chancellor emphasized the responsibility Russia has to exert a moderating influence on pro-Russian separatists. She said the negotiated ceasefire needs to finally be respected in its entirety," Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

 

He said the leaders had expressed concern that violence was still being used in Ukraine every day.

 

The Kremlin said in a statement that during the call, initiated by the German side, the two leaders talked about the importance of withdrawal of heavy weapons by both fighting sides.

 

"Vladimir Putin stressed the need to prevent further attacks on civilian objects by Ukrainian subdivisions in the southeast of Ukraine," the Kremlin said in its statement.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSKCN0HQ3SM20141002?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

At least 10 killed in shelling of school and mini-van in Ukraine

 

At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a public transit mini-van in a nearby street in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, underscoring the fragility of a ceasefire between separatists and government forces.

 

Teachers managed to lead pupils at school No. 57 into a cellar for safety when shelling started and there were no children among those killed, municipal authorities and witnesses said.

 

The shelling occurred at 10 a.m. on the first day of the new school year after the 50-60 pupils aged from eight to 10 had already entered the school. The dead included a male biology teacher and the father of one of the children at the school, teachers said.

 

Apart from those bodies and that of a third person who was identified as a separatist fighter, Reuters correspondents saw a further six bodies in the burnt-out mini-van and on streets nearby.

 

The regional administration said a total of 10 people had been killed in the shelling in the city, a stronghold of Russian-backed rebels waging a separatist rebellion against the pro-Western government in Kiev. Rebels put the number of dead at 12, saying two victims had been removed from the scene.

 

Nine others were wounded, seven of whom were taken to hospital, the municipality said in a statement on its website.

 

City authorities blamed the shelling on the rebels and the separatists blamed it on government forces. It interrupted a fragile ceasefire in a conflict in which about 3,500 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures.

[JMS]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-ukraine-crisis-merkel-putin-idUSKCN0HQ57R20141002?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSKCN0HQ3SM20141002?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter

 

"Russia has a responsibility to temper Ukrainian Separatists."    Is Merkle the only leader in the world who doesn't realize those "separatists" are russian troops or Russian thugs bussed in to cause trouble..

 

If Merkle doesn't realize Russia is the architect / financier / perpetrator   of these troubles  then she's an idiot.

 

If she does realize this and is just allowing Russia the fig leaf of deniability for political sakes,  that's worse.     She's telegraphing she's afraid of Russia...   

 

Russia is playing hard ball with the west and has caught herself in an economic trap of her own creating... Now she needs the west to untangle herself,    Merkle refusing to force Russia to acknowledge their responsibility for the entire fiasco does Russia and the West no favors.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-ukraine-crisis-redcross-idUSKCN0HR23N20141002?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Mortar bomb hits Red Cross building in Ukraine's Donetsk, one killed: agency

 

A mortar bomb hit a building used by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine's separatist-held city of Donetsk on Thursday, killing a Swiss citizen, Russian news agency Interfax quoted the rebels' defense ministry as saying.

 

A Reuters witness at the scene saw the body of a middle-aged man lying at the entrance to the Red Cross building.

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/world/europe/russia-cancels-exchange-program-after-a-student-seeks-us-asylum.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0

Russia Cancels Exchange Program After a Student Seeks U.S. Asylum

 

 Russia has pulled out of a longstanding American high-school exchange program after a teenage Russian boy who befriended a gay couple sought asylum in the United States on the grounds that he faced persecution at home as a homosexual.

 

Russia officials accused the United States of endangering the welfare of a child, while American officials suggested that the Kremlin was using the case as a pretext to further impair diplomatic relations.

 

Pavel A. Astakhov, Russia’s presidential ombudsman for children’s rights, called it “an outrageous case” in announcing that Russia would no longer allow several hundred high-school students to spend an academic year in United States under the annual Future Leaders Exchange, or FLEX, program.

 

Jen Psaki, the spokeswoman for the State Department, which underwrote the program through a nongovernmental organization, expressed “regret” over the decision.

 

As details surrounding the case emerged all week, it generated indignation in Russia, feeding the government line developed by President Vladimir V. Putin that the country remains the last pillar of moral values in the face of the increasingly decadent West.

[Larry]

I can certainly see Russia's side, in this one.

I mean, I sure know I get outraged when, say, some middle eastern man loses a custody fight to his ex-wife, and then decides to take the kid to his country, and refuse to give him back. I want to know why the US isn't declaring war on the country which knowingly assisted in a kidnapping.

Now, I observe that the article doesn't at all say, or even imply, that the kid's request for asylum is going to succeed.

But I do think that there needs to be a much stronger international framework on who has jurisdiction in these international custody fights. (And I think the cay people are on the wrong side of the line, on this one.)

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/05/us-ukraine-crisis-france-idUSKCN0HU0RI20141005

France expects to monitor Ukraine ceasefire in coming days

 

France expects to launch a joint operation with Germany "in the coming days" to monitor a ceasefire between the Ukrainian army and separatists in the east of the country, the French defense minister said on Sunday.

 

Last month, France and Germany offered to deploy drones as part of efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to reinforce monitoring of the ceasefire in Ukraine, and a German government source said on Saturday that Berlin was considering deploying soldiers.

 

"We are studying with Germany how we can together reinforce monitoring of the ceasefire and the buffer zone," Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview with RTL radio and news channel LCI.

 

He confirmed that France and Germany, which are in discussions with the OSCE, would offer drones but did not mention the deployment of soldiers or give further details.

 

Ukraine's military accused Russian-backed separatists of again violating the month-old ceasefire on Sunday, saying their forces came under attack in several parts of the east including the airport at the big city of Donetsk.

 

Le Drian reiterated that the delivery of the first of two French helicopter carriers sold to Russia would depend on the situation in Ukraine in the coming weeks.\

[visionary]

http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/russia-and-iran-lock-nato-out-of-caspian-sea/?utm_content=bufferb6d84&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Russia and Iran Lock NATO Out of Caspian Sea

 

Iran and Russia have built unanimous consensus among the Caspian states, which also feature Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, over the inadmissibility of a foreign military presence in the Caspian Sea, ruling out any future possible deployment of NATO forces in the basin.

 

A political declaration signed by the presidents of the five Caspian states at the IV Caspian Summit held in Astrakhan, Russia, on September 29, “sets out a fundamental principle for guaranteeing stability and security, namely, that only the Caspian littoral states have the right to have their armed forces present on the Caspian,” according to a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the summit.

 

His Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, added that “there is consensus among all the Caspian Sea littoral states that they are capable of maintaining the security of the Caspian Sea and military forces of no foreign country must enter the sea,” Iran’s state news agency PressTV quoted Rouhani as saying.

 

The move comes as both Russia and Iran are experiencing tense diplomatic relations with Western countries and feel increasingly threatened by a foreign military presence in the Caspian Sea.

 

“Both Iran and Russia have interests in keeping under control a military presence of Western countries in the basin,” Bahman Diba, foreign policy expert and author of The Law and Politics of the Caspian Sea, told The Diplomat.

 

“Because of the ongoing troubles with former Soviet countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, Russia revived a foreign policy that can bring to mind the Cold War era. At the same time, the Iranian regime is concerned that the west may use Caspian countries to put pressure on its nuclear program.”

[visionary]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-07/russia-spent-980-million-in-biggest-intervention-since-march.html?hootPostID=e9dd66edcabbe066b1997367ae62cc92

Russia Spends Up to $1.75 Billion in Two Days to Buoy Ruble

 

Russia’s central bank spent as much as $1.75 billion to prop up the ruble over the last two trading days, its biggest market intervention since President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine in March.

 

Russia’s central bank spent the equivalent of $980 million to shore up the ruble on Oct. 3, the latest data on the authority’s website showed today. The bank also said it shifted the upper boundary of the currency’s trading band by 10 kopeks yesterday, a move that may have involved spending between $420 million and $769 million that day. The exchange rate weakened 0.3 percent to 44.6234 versus the basket by 5:12 p.m. in Moscow, set for a record low for the fourth time this month.

 

Putin is suffering the consequences for shaking up the post-Cold War order in eastern Europe as the U.S. and European Union impose sanctions on his economy and investors pull money out of the country. Demand for dollars and euros is growing among Russian companies locked out of western debt markets as they contend with $54.7 billion of debt repayments in the next three months, according to central bank data.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/09/us-usa-diplomacy-obama-special-report-idUSKCN0HY1QC20141009

Russia's Ukraine Trump Card Is Coming Into Play

 

It’s shaping up to be a cold winter in Europe — or at least in Ukraine.

 

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel spearheads a push for peace in Ukraine, reports of reduced natural gas flows to Central Europe indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to deal, experts say.

 

With storage facilities nearly full across Western Europe, the European Union’s major economies are unlikely to face a serious energy crisis. But Putin’s moves to slash gas exports to countries supplying fuel to Ukraine through so-called reverse flows threaten the war-torn country with a potentially devastating freeze.

 

“For the EU states, this winter looks fine even if there’s a week or two weeks of gas cutoffs,” says Michael Labelle, an energy expert at the Central European University in Budapest.

 

But if the EU can’t broker a deal with Russia and cutoffs block those reverse flows, “it’s really the Ukrainian people who are going to suffer," he adds, "and people are going to die."

 

Moscow cut gas supplies to Ukraine in June following Russia’s annexing of Crimea, arguing that Kyiv showed no signs of paying off a massive debt owed to Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled fuel behemoth. But unlike past cutoffs, gas has continued to flow through Ukraine to Europe.

 

Still, Putin’s latest moves are reminders that he can still turn off the tap.

 

“If the Ukraine crisis is not resolved, the transit route through Ukraine might be distorted so that less gas is delivered to Europe, as happened in 2006 and 2009,” says Claudia Kemfert, an energy expert with the German Institute for Economic Research.

 

Over the past weeks, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and now Romania have reported reductions of as much as 50 percent in the flow of gas they are contracted to receive from Gazprom. The fuel company claims it’s illegal for those countries to re-export gas to Ukraine.

 

https://twitter.com/juliaioffe

Russian parliament approves law allowing govt to seize foreign assets. Remember the days when the Kremlin wanted foreign investment?

5:41 PM 

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/10/us-ukraine-crisis-soccer-belarus-idUSKCN0HZ0VD20141010?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Belarus detains Ukrainian soccer fans for anti-Putin chants

 

Belarus police detained scores of Ukrainian and Belarussian soccer fans who shouted patriotic Ukrainian slogans and chanted abuse against Russian President Vladimir Putin at a match, a rights organization and local media said on Friday.

 

Fans could be heard chanting an abusive anti-Putin refrain on a video clip before the Euro 2016 qualifier started, while witnesses said there were calls during the match of "Glory to the Heroes!" and "Glory to Ukraine!" -- stock Ukrainian rallying cries in Kiev's conflict against Russian-backed separatists.

 

Putin, who was in Minsk on Friday for a summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, is a reviled figure in Kiev since Russia annexed Crimea in March and threw its support behind separatists fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine.

 

The Minsk-based human rights group Vesna-96 said about 40 people had been held. A Belarussian police spokesman, Konstantin Shalkevich, confirmed some supporters had been detained, but he would not say how many.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/12/us-ukraine-crisis-putin-military-idUSKCN0I103V20141012

Putin orders Russian troop withdrawal from Ukrainian border

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw to their permanent bases after military exercises in Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, the Kremlin said, in a sign of some tension easing before a key meeting next week.

 

The troop pullout came before an expected meeting between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Milan next week.

 

The Kremlin said that the Russian president had met his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.

 

"The minister had reported to the Supreme Commander about the completion of summer period of training on shooting ranges of the southern military district," said a statement on the Kremlin's web site.

 

"After the report, Putin ordered to launch the return of the troops to their permanent bases. In total, these are 17,600 military servicemen who were trained on the shooting ranges of Rostov region in summer."

 

Russian RIA Novosti news agency, citing the defense ministry, said that the troops have already started to pull out.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/14/us-serbia-russia-eu-idUSKCN0I30CY20141014?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

With a parade for Putin, Serbia walks a tightrope

 

On Thursday, guns, tanks and planes will be back in the city, now capital of Serbia, for a Liberation Day parade held four days early to accommodate the guest of honor -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, en route to a summit in Milan.

 

It is a gesture with huge symbolism in a Cold-War-style East-West split over Ukraine that has forced Serbia, politically indebted to Russia but seeing its economic future with the European Union, into a delicate balancing act.

 

The United States is uncomfortable about the idea of Putin and his military chief taking the salute at a parade of 4,500 Serbian soldiers while NATO says Russian soldiers are still making war in eastern Ukraine.

 

Not to mention Serbian mercenaries.