January 16:
U.S.-Russian relations may currently be on the rocks, but at least one area is seeing ongoing collaboration.Sputnik reports that Russia's Energiya, a rocket production firm, recently signed a $1 billion deal with U.S. defense contractor Orbital Sciences. Under the contract, Energiya subsidiary Energomash will produce rocket engines for space launch - as well as provide "a range of services including flight training, installation of the engine on the rocket and engine tests." Cooperation between the two companies is envisioned to extend for the next 15 to 25 years, under the terms of the deal.
Russian authorities are bracing for a bumpy fiscal year ahead. "It's obvious that the banking crisis will be massive," Sberbank chief German Gref told reporters at the recent Gaidar economic forum in comments carried by The Moscow Times. According to the former Economic Minister, the danger ahead for Russia isn't just a depressed economic outlook, but also an ever-greater governmental stake in the country's private sector. "The state will capitalize the banks and increase its stake in them, and the banks will buy industrial enterprises and become financial-industrial groups," with the end result that "All our economy will be state-run," Gref said.
January 18:
The Kremlin, meanwhile, remains defiant - and optimistic - in the face of Western pressure and adverse economic conditions. New Europe reports that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev used his turn at the Gaidar economic forum in Moscow to offer a defense of Russian policy, and to urge continued support of the government of President Vladimir Putin. "We have enough reserves to smoothly adapt the economy to the new conditions," Medvedev told attendees. "Our most important socio-political advantage is the unprecedented consolidation of the society and the high level of civil support for the authorities. This allows us to solve many major tasks."
January 19:
The era of U.S.-Russian nuclear cooperation is officially over, the Boston Globe reports. Collaboration between Moscow and Washington on nuclear security issues - a staple of the bilateral relationship since the 1990s - was officially terminated by the Kremlin late last year amid ongoing disagreements over Russian policy toward Ukraine. The move has raised worries among experts, who fear greater global security risk as a result of the cut-off. "I think it greatly increases the risk of catastrophic terrorism," former Senator Sam Nunn, who spearheaded "cooperative threat reduction" programs during the 1990s, has said. Siegfried S. Hecker, the former head of Los Alamos National Laboratory, concurs. "You cannot afford to isolate your country, your own nuclear complex, from the rest of the world," Hecker has warned.
Russia, however, appears prepared to do just that. Current Kremlin plans include initiatives to secure its own nuclear facilities, relying exclusively on funds from the Russian federal budget. But, with Russia weathering the impact of Western sanctions, it is unclear whether these plans can be realized.
January 20:
Defense News reports that Russia has responded positively to Cameroonian President Paul Biya's appeals for international military aid to combat Boko Haram, with Russian Ambassador to Cameroon Nikolay Ratsiborinski pledging that Moscow will provide a wide array of military aid for the country's counterterrorism fight. The aid reportedly includes heavy artillery, missiles, air defense equipment, anti-aircraft missile systems, canons and armored vehicles, as well as other weapons and equipment. Additionally, Ratsiborinski was quoted as saying that Moscow will provide "specialized military training" to Cameroonian troops.
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