Russia Reform Monitor No. 1540, March 7, 2008
 American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC

Russia and India reaffirm defense ties;
Bush to Medvedev: congratulations, sort of

Editor: Jonas Bernstein
March 3:

Russia has signaled it will continue its “hardline approach” to both domestic opposition and the West under its newly-elected president, Dmitry Medvedev, the Financial Times reports. Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly that Medvedev still chairs, has cut gas deliveries to Ukraine because of unpaid bills, while riot police prevented opposition protesters from holding an unsanctioned rally in the Russian capital and detained up to 50 people, reportedly including Union of Right-Wing Forces leader Nikita Belykh. The moves came as Medvedev said he would take charge of Russian foreign policy after his May 7th inauguration but pledged to continue Vladimir Putin’s course.


March 4:

Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov has announced that with 100 percent of precincts now counted, Dmitry Medvedev won the March 2nd presidential election with 70.28 percent of the vote, while turnout was 69.78 percent, the Associated Press reports. Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov came in second with 17.72 percent, followed by Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky (9.34 percent) and Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov (1.29 percent).

National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe has said that President Bush told Dmitry Medvedev by telephone that he hopes they can “establish a close working relationship,” Reuters reports. “President Bush said that he had read with interest Mr. Medvedev’s recent remarks on personal freedoms, independent media, rule of law and fighting corruption,” Johndroe added. Asked whether congratulations had been offered to Medvedev, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters: “I’m not going to get into the word game about congratulations or not-congratulations. Our position about the Russian elections leading up to it (the phone call) has been well-known and our concerns were expressed from the beginning.”

A court has ordered that Maxim Reznik, the head of the "Yabloko" party’s St. Petersburg branch who was detained on March 2nd after allegedly insulting and physically attacking a policeman, remain in jail until an investigation of the incident is completed, Fontanka.ru reports. Reznik has not yet been charged with any crime. NEWSru.com reported on March 3rd that Reznik’s detention may have been connected to an interview he gave a local television station in which he said that Yabloko activists in St. Petersburg had been able to get ballots without presenting proper identification simply by telling election officials that they wanted to vote for Dmitry Medvedev.


March 5:

Agence France-Presse reports that according to Forbes magazine, Moscow now has 74 billionaires, meaning that the Russian capital has now overtaken New York City as home to the most billionaires. According to Forbes’ annual list, 71 billionaires live in New York while 36 live in London, which is now in third place.

Gazprom has announced that it is ending a reduction in natural gas supplies to Ukraine after the two countries’ presidents and gas company chiefs reached an agreement aimed at ending a dispute involving a $600 million debt, the Associated Press reports. The Russian state gas monopoly earlier claimed Ukraine had threatened to tap pipelines that carry Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine. However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko denied Ukraine was reducing the flow of gas to Europe. Gazrpom cut shipments to Ukraine by 25 percent on March 3rd and announced a further 25 percent cut the following day.


March 7:

Russia and India have signed a billion-dollar deal for the improvement of the Indian Air Force’s 92 MiG-29 fighter planes, United Press International reports. According to the Press Trust of India, the deal requires the planes to be armed with “well-equipped avionics suites” equal to the newest carrier-based MiG-29K/KUB fighters being built for the Indian Navy.

Copyright (c) 2008, American Foreign Policy Council. All Rights Reserved.