Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Former Russian Defense Minister's New Role Defined

Sergei Ivanov (file photo) (epa)

February 22, 2007 -- First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has been granted government oversight of vast sectors of Russia's economy.

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February 22, 2007

Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said today Ivanov will supervise industry, telecommunications, transportation, and science, as well as the nuclear sector and the military-industrial complex.

Some observers have tipped Ivanov as a prospective candidate to succeed Vladimir Putin as president in 2008.

Ivanov was relieved of his post as defense minister and made first deputy prime minister on February 15.

(AFP, Interfax)

Russian Arms Exports

Russia's advanced S-300 air-defense system (epa file photo)

BOOM TIMES: In 2005, Russia sold more than $6 billion in weapons to more than 60 countries around the world. The state arms exporter says it has $17 billion in orders in hand....(more)

Putin Pushes Greater Arms Exports

Energy, Weapons Bring Moscow Closer To Algiers

Will Russia's Oil Windfall Go To Military?

Putin Stresses Need For Strong Military

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Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More