January 16:
Pakistan’s Daily Times reports that, as part of plans to expand its military presence in the greater Middle East, Russia intends to establish a series of new naval bases in Libya, Yemen and Syria. The paper cites Russian military officials as saying that the Kremlin envisions the establishment of these facilities “within a few years,” and that negotiations are already being conducted with the relevant governments. Syria’s port city of Tartus, which served as a crucial supply depot for Soviet forces during the Cold War, is apparently under consideration to serve as one such facility.
Migrant workers in the Russian Federation are feeling the effects of the global economic downturn, the IPS news agency reports. With Russian businesses tightening their belts and the Kremlin adopting an increasingly protectionist stance on labor and trade, foreign laborers now face dramatic reductions in available work within Russia. Already, the news agency reports, the Russian government’s plans to halve the annual quota of workers from the CIS has thrown as many as two million migrant jobs into jeopardy. And these cuts could lead to other infringements, experts say. "This decision will shift the balance between regular and irregular migration," Elena Tjurukanova, an expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences, tells IPS. "And of course, those who have to stay illegally have no rights."
January 18:
Moscow and Kyiv have officially come to terms in their contractual dispute over natural gas deliveries to Europe, the International Herald Tribune reports. The ten year agreement, struck between Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, will have Ukraine buying gas from Russia at a twenty percent discount from the price offered by Moscow to its European consumers. In effect, the paper reports, this means that Ukraine will pay between $208 and $240 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas – slightly more than the fixed price of $201 offered by Ukraine in late December, before negotiations between it and Russia broke down.
In a sign of Vladimir Putin’s continuing cult-like status among Russians, a painting by the former president and current premier has sold for $1.14 million. Bloomberg reports that the painting, created recently by Putin and local artist Nadezhda Anfalova, was part of an auction in Putin’s native St. Petersburg intended to raise money for a number of local charities. “The painting shows another aspect of a great personality,” the buyer, Natalia Kournikova, told reporters by way of an explanation for her purchase.
January 19:
There is a new player in the Afghan defense game. According to the BBC, Russia has pledged to supply equipment to Afghanistan’s struggling military. The move comes following a request to the Kremlin from Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who is seeking additional equipment and supplies to help his forces fight a resurgent Taliban. Afghan officials have been quick to affirm that, despite Moscow’s assistance, they remain committed to working with Coalition and U.S. forces.
In the coming year, Russia faces a protracted period of “stagflation” – typified by low economic growth and a hike in commodity prices – Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said. “Inflation in Russia in 2009 will be close to 13 percent,” Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports Kudrin as saying, while economic growth will range “from zero to two percent.” This intersection of negative economic trends, however, is on a par with, or better than, the conditions being experienced in “all of the world’s developed countries,” the paper says.
January 21:
In an early diplomatic overture to new president Barack Obama, Russia has granted the U.S. and its coalition partners permission to use its territory to transport certain supplies to Afghanistan. London’s Telegraph reports that the deal – originally agreed to during the NATO summit in April but held in abeyance following Russia-NATO tensions stemming from Russia’s August incursion into Georgia – permits the transshipment of “non-lethal” supplies and aid to Afghanistan via a northern corridor over Russian territory and through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.