Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1607

November 23:

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has met with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in a one-on-one meeting intended to more closely coordinate policy between Russia and China. During their consultations, held in Washington on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru, the two leaders agreed to adopt a four year "strategic action plan" to expand and enhance the evolving strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing. The Hu-Medvedev summit covered a wide range of topics, from new pressure on North Korea to denuclearize to closer Sino-Russian energy cooperation. But perhaps the main topic discussed by the two leaders was the global economic meltdown, and how the two countries can cooperate to better weather it. "The two sides need to work together to be able to reduce the risks from the financial crisis and safeguard economic growth," Singapore's Straits Times reports a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry as saying. "At the same time they agreed to push forward reform of the world financial system."

As part of its expanding interest in Latin America, Russia is interested in searching for oil off the coast of Cuba. The Associated Press reports Mikhail Kamynin, Russia's envoy to Havana, as saying that a number of Russian oil companies already have "concrete projects" for undersea drilling in Cuba's section of the Gulf of Mexico, and that bilateral trade between the two countries is expected to top $400 million this year. Cuban scientists believe that the island nation's share of the oil-rich Gulf could contain reserves of as much as 20 billion barrels of oil, making it a significant - and lucrative - energy find for Moscow.


November 24:

According to London's Telegraph newspaper, hard economic times have led to a major decline in the demand for Russia's most famous drink. November inventories of unsold vodka in distilleries across the country were some 600 percent higher than during the same period last year, while local producers of the spirit have begun scaling back production. Observers, however, are quick to point out that this does not mean that Russians are changing their alcohol consumption habits, per se. "People are spending less money on alcohol and other products because of the financial crisis," the paper cites Pavel Shapkin, executive secretary of Russia's National Alcohol Association, as saying. Rather, it is simply that, "[a]s people try to save money, they are turning to cheaper brands." Ironically, the Telegraph notes, "[t]he global financial crisis is succeeding where many a Kremlin campaign has failed" to curb domestic consumption of vodka.

Russia's threats of an imminent gas cut-off to neighboring Ukraine has sparked a political panic in Kyiv, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko dispatching a delegation to Moscow to seek a deferment of the country's debt to the Kremlin. The Moscow Times cites a Ukrainian government statement as confirming that the delegation from the Naftogaz state natural gas firm will arrive in Moscow shortly for negotiations intended on ensuring that "by the end of the year all these issues will be settled."


November 25:

The RIA Novosti news agency reports that Russian warships have arrived at the Venezuelan port of La Guaira as part of planned live-fire drills between the navies of the two countries. The deployment of the four-vessel squadron, announced by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in early October, is the first of its kind since the Cold War. News of the maneuvers has elicited a muted response from Washington, where State Department officials have told reporters that the joint maneuvers, though not alarming in and of themselves, will be watched "very closely."


November 26:

The International Herald Tribune reports that, after a period of relative transparency and openness to both international and domestic researchers, Russia's intelligence archives are now systematically closing, with officials rejecting requests for access to materials dealing with some of the bloodier periods of the country's Soviet past. The new resistance to lustration, historians say, is part of a broader resurgence of nationalist sentiment. "They say Russia has gotten up off its knees, and this is why we should be proud of our past," says Boris Trenin, whose request to examine KGB archives to confirm whether the Siberian city of Tomsk was one of the sites in Stalin's infamous purges was recently denied. "The theme of Stalin's repressions is harsh and gloomy and far from heroic. So they say that this is why it should be gradually pushed aside. They say the less we know about it, the better we will live."