Russia

May 30, 2007 -- President Bush will welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin to former President George H. W. Bush's home in Kennebunkport, Maine on July 1 and 2, 2007.

The President looks forward to the visit as part of the intensive bilateral dialogue with President Putin.

Cooperation between the United States and Russia is important in solving regional conflicts, stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and combating terrorism and extremism.

The Presidents will discuss a wide range of issues, including Iran, civil nuclear cooperation, and missile defense.    » read more »

30 May 2007 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has renewed his country's charge that the United States is launching a new arms race with its plans for deploying a missile defense system in Europe.

The Russian official's comments came as foreign ministers of the Group of Eight (G-8) nations met in Potsdam, Germany, to prepare for next week's summit in the northeastern resort of Heiligendamm.    » read more »

30 May 2007 -- Russia's top prosecutor has dismissed a lawmaker's suggestion that the country engage in an extradition swap with Britain.

The lawmaker had proposed extraditing former intelligence agent Andrei Lugovoi, a suspect in the poisoning of a former Russian intelligence agent, in exchange for Boris Berezovsky, a business tycoon wanted by Moscow who has been living in exile in Britain.    » read more »

29 May 2007 -- Russia has successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile and a tactical shorter range cruise missile.

The Russian Defense Ministry says the RS-24 intercontinental missile is capable of carrying multiple, independently targeted warheads. It was launched Tuesday from a site in northwestern Russia, and successfully hit its target on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

Russian military officials also say a new Iskander cruise missile was successfully tested in the Astrakhan region.    » read more »

14 May 2007 -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to arrive in Moscow Monday for two days of talks with Russian leaders on issues including Kosovo and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Moscow and Washington are behind two competing proposals before the United Nations Security Council for the future of Kosovo.

The United States backs plans for internationally supervised independence for the ethnic Albanian majority province of Serbia, while Moscow is calling for more talks.    » read more »

10 May 2007 -- The presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement to create a joint uranium enrichment center.

The accord was among several signed Thursday during talks between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his visiting Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Kazakh capital, Astana. Officials say products from the center will be available to other nations for use in generating energy.

Mr. Putin described the center, to be located in Siberia, as the first step in creating a "global nuclear energy infrastructure."    » read more »

08 May 2007 -- Rights group Amnesty International has accused China and Russia of breaching a United Nations arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan that were then used in the Darfur region.

An Amnesty report published Tuesday expresses dismay that two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council were allowing weapons to flow into Sudan.

Russia and China have dismissed the allegation.

Amnesty International urged the U.N. to strengthen the existing arms embargo on Darfur.    » read more »

07 May 2007 -- Specialists from the International Energy Agency and Oxford University Monday told a Washington forum that despite European Union efforts to diversify sources, Russia's Gazprom is likely to retain its dominant position in supplying gas to Western Europe. VOA's Barry Wood reports.

Nicholas Van Agt from the Paris-based IEA says Gazprom is opposed to a European Union backed plan to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea that would bring Turkman and Kazakh gas to Turkey and Western Europe.    » read more »

07 May 2007 -- The U.S. State Department said Monday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Moscow next week for talks on problem issues including Kosovo and U.S. missile defense plans for central Europe. She will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and perhaps also President Vladimir Putin. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Rice's visit comes amid conflict between the two powers on several issues, though U.S. officials say tensions are by no means comparable to those of the Cold War era.    » read more »

Ethiopia, Cuba, Gambia, Morocco, Russia, Thailand, Egypt among nations criticized in report

02 May 2007 -- New York -- To mark World Press Freedom Day 2007, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) cites 10 nations where conditions for journalists have deteriorated significantly over the past five years.

World Press Freedom Day, which is observed on May 3 each year, serves as an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or prison to report the news accurately.    » read more »

BERLIN, April 25, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today said he is not surprised that some Russian officials have different points of view on the U.S. plan to base missile defense assets in Eastern Europe.

“We’ve made some very far-reaching proposals, and I have no doubt that there’s debate in Moscow about how to respond under the circumstances,” the secretary said at a news conference here with German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung.    » read more »

April 23, 2007 -- "Boris Yeltsin was a Russian patriot who believed that democracy was the only way to restore Russia's position of greatness in the 21st Century. Throughout his presidency he worked tirelessly toward that goal, to the detriment of his health, but to the great benefit of his nation. He risked his life to prevent a coup, then pushed Russia forward through economic hardship and political turmoil to partnerships with Cold War adversaries and membership in the G-8.    » read more »

MOSCOW, April 23, 2007 – The United States intends to be prepared for future threats and is inviting Russia to become a partner in a defensive endeavor, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today.

“We now face new threats that require new strategy for both deterrence and defense,” Gates told U.S. and Russian reporters. “Moreover, the ever-increasing pace of technological innovation, combined with the proliferation of mass destruction and delivery systems, means the threats we face now may be much more ominous in 10 to 20 years.    » read more »

MOSCOW, April 23, 2007 – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, here for meetings with Russian leaders, expressed his sympathies on today’s death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

“He was an important man in Russian history,” Gates told U.S. and Russian reporters here.

Gates is in Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian leaders to discuss U.S. plans to deploy missile defense assets in Eastern Europe. From here, the secretary is slated to travel to Poland and Germany to meet with senior leaders on the topic.    » read more »

MOSCOW, April 23, 2007 – The United States and Russia will form a working group of experts to discuss the proposed U.S. plan to base missile defenses in Eastern Europe, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced here today.

“The key to this is cooperation,” the secretary said. “We would like to have the Russians as partners in this process. We would like to share information with them. We’re prepared to collocate radars with them. We think there are some real opportunities here for both sides.”    » read more »