Thousands of anti-Putin protesters march in Moscow

June 12, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands of Russian opposition activists marched through Moscow on Wednesday, decrying President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rule and calling for the release of people they consider political prisoners.

The march on Russia Day, a national holiday, was to show support for 27 people arrested after a protest turned violent on the eve of Putin's inauguration more than a year ago. Sixteen of the defendants have remained in jail pending trial on charges that could send them to prison for up to 10 years.

The arrests, especially those of ordinary Russians who had joined the anti-Putin rallies for the first time and who in some cases seemed to have been grabbed at random, appeared to have been part of Kremlin efforts to deter people from joining any future protests.

The estimated 10,000 to 15,000 protesters who turned out Wednesday were far fewer than the 100,000 or more who rallied against Putin before his election to a third term, reflecting a wariness that has taken the steam out of the protest movement. But the turnout was still higher than many had expected.

"You can't sit at home when the government begins repressions against ordinary, decent citizens of our country — people who don't want to live in this swamp, people who want to see their country thrive," civil activist Vitaly Zolomov said. "And I believe, and this is something I tell everyone, that it's criminal to stay on the sidelines in Russia when lawlessness has become the norm."

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife led the marchers behind a banner saying: "Freedom to the May 6 prisoners. For your freedom and ours." Navalny, who first made his name as an anti-corruption campaigner, is on trial in a separate case in which he is accused of embezzlement while serving as an adviser to a provincial governor. He claims the charges are punishment for his exposure of high-level corruption and campaign against Putin and his party.

If found guilty, the inspirational protest leader could be sent to prison for up to 10 years. Speaking at a Kremlin reception for Russia Day, Putin said the Russian people had gone through difficult years after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but had succeeded in putting the country "on a firm path of development that is inseparable from such understandings as democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law," the state ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Putin ended his speech with a toast "to a free and prosperous Russia." Gay rights activists carrying rainbow flags were among the marchers Wednesday. Under a bill passed by the lower house of Russia's parliament Tuesday but not yet signed into law, it will be a crime in Russia to hold gay pride rallies or provide information on homosexuality to children. Russian and international rights activists condemned the bill as a violation of basic rights.

Shortly before the march began, police detained nine members of the Left Front, whose leader is under house arrest.

AP writer Laura Mills contributed to this report.

Russian lawmakers pass anti-gay bill in 436-0 vote

June 11, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — A bill that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality won overwhelming approval Tuesday in Russia's lower house of parliament.

Hours before the State Duma passed the Kremlin-backed law in a 436-0 vote with one abstention, more than two dozen protesters were attacked by hundreds of anti-gay activists and then detained by police.

The bill banning the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" still needs to be passed by the appointed upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, but neither step is in doubt.

The measure is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values instead of Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin's rule.

The only parliament member to abstain Tuesday was Ilya Ponomaryov, who has supported anti-Putin protesters despite belonging to a pro-Kremlin party. A widespread hostility to homosexuality is shared by much of Russia's political and religious elite. Lawmakers have accused gays of decreasing Russia's already low birth rates and said they should be barred from government jobs, undergo forced medical treatment or be exiled.

The State Duma passed another bill on Tuesday that makes offending religious feelings a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. The legislation, which passed 308-2, was introduced last year after three members of the Pussy Riot punk group were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for an impromptu anti-Putin protest inside Moscow's main cathedral and given two-year sentences.

Both bills drew condemnation from Amnesty International. "They represent a sorry attempt by the government to bolster its popularity by pandering to the most reactionary elements of Russian society — at the expense of fundamental rights and the expression of individual identities," John Dalhuisen, the human rights group's Europe and Central Asia program director, said in a statement.

Before the anti-gay vote, rights activists attempted to hold a "kissing rally" outside the State Duma, located across the street from Red Square in central Moscow, but they were attacked by hundreds of Orthodox Christian activists and members of pro-Kremlin youth groups. The mostly burly young men with closely cropped hair pelted the activists with eggs, shouting obscenities and homophobic slurs at them.

Riot police moved in, detaining more than two dozen protesters, almost all of them gay rights activists. Some who were not detained were beaten by masked men on another central street. The legislation will impose hefty fines for providing information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to minors or holding gay pride rallies. Those breaking the law will be fined up to 5,000 rubles ($156) for an individual and up to 1 million rubles ($31,000) for a company, including media organizations.

Foreign citizens arrested under the new law can be deported or jailed for up to 15 days and then deported. European gay rights activists have joined Russians in trying to hold gay pride rallies in Moscow in recent years.

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains high. Russia also is considering banning citizens of countries that allow same-sex marriage from adopting Russian children. Earlier Tuesday, dozens of anti-gay activists picketed the Duma. One of them held a poster that read: "Lawmakers, protect the people from perverts!" while others held Orthodox icons and chanted prayers.

Russian and foreign rights activists have decried the bill as violating basic rights. "Russia is trying very hard to make discrimination look respectable by calling it 'tradition,' but whatever term is used in the bill, it remains discrimination and a violation of the basic human rights of LGBT people," Graeme Reid, the LGBT rights program director at Human Rights Watch, said Tuesday in a statement.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, one of Russia's oldest and most prominent rights activists, called the law "a step toward the Middle Ages." "In normal countries, no one persecutes representatives of sexual minorities," Alexeyeva told the Interfax news agency. "A modern person knows that these people are different from the rest just like a brunette is different from a blonde. They are not guilty of anything."

Russian officials have rejected the criticism. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defended the bill in February, saying that Russia doesn't have any international or European commitment to "allow the propaganda of homosexuality."

An executive with a Russian government-run television network said in a nationally televised talk show that gays should be prohibited from donating blood, sperm or organs for transplants, and after their deaths their hearts should be burned or buried.

The bill's adoption comes 20 years after a Stalinist-era law punishing homosexuality with up to five years in prison was removed from Russia's penal code as part of democratic reforms that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

AP writer Lynn Berry contributed to this report.

Russia media compassionate about Putin's divorce

June 07, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian media have reacted with unusual compassion to Thursday's announcement of President Vladimir Putin's divorce.

Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, rarely seen in public, announced the end of their marriage less than two months shy of their 30th anniversary in an interview with Russian television. His spokesman Dmitry Peskov could not say when they would formally divorce, adding that this did not matter.

Divorce is common in Russia, and nearly 700,000 couples dissolved their marriages in 2009, according to UNICEF. But Russian leaders, unlike their American counterparts, generally keep their domestic lives well out of public view and divorce among top officials in Russia is unprecedented.

Lyudmila Putina, 55, was rarely seen in public during her husband's long tenure at the top of Russian politics, fueling rumors that she and Putin had separated. While break-ups involving prominent politicians are exceptionally rare, some sections of the media often sneer at celebrity splits.

Russian media, however, were unusually compassionate to the Putins' decision. Opposition-leaning Kommersant Radio lauded the couple's announcement for keeping the public informed instead of keeping it secret.

"Perhaps a lot of people feel better now that the president did what he did instead of living a double life for the sake of following some false protocol," prominent columnist Viktor Loshak said on Kommersant FM Friday morning. "The president and his wife acted like real people."

One of Russia's best-selling tabloids, Moskovsky Komsomolets, credited the president with breaking a long-held taboo for talking about their private lives, let alone problems and affairs. "There was hardly any politics-savvy Russian in the country who could not have guessed that the first couple wasn't particularly intimate. Lyudmila Putina's long-time absence at political events was telling," Mikhail Rostovsky said. "Putin has broken a taboo by showing that he is a man like everyone else. Even the president is entitled have a private life — and entitled to have failures in it, too."

The Putins married on July 28, 1983, and have two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina, who haven't been seen in public for years. There have been hints that Lyudmila Putina was unhappy. In a 2005 interview with three Russian newspapers, she complained that her husband worked long hours, forgetting that "one needs not only to work, but also to live."

Putins attend ballet, then announce their divorce

June 07, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin pulled off one of his most audacious pieces of stagecraft, attending a ballet with his rarely seen wife, then emerging smiling and announcing their marriage is over.

The end of the marriage of the Russian president and Lyudmila Putina less than two months shy of their 30th anniversary came on state television after a Thursday evening that started out like a model of domestic contentment — a devoted husband taking his wife out for an artsy interlude.

After the performance of "Esmeralda" at the Great Kremlin Palace, the two came into a luxurious room to speak to a reporter. "Excellent. Great music, excellent production," Putin said and Lyudmila echoed his praise.

After about a minute, the reporter asked about rumors that the two didn't live together. Putin smiled slightly, like a boy caught misbehaving, and turned his head toward Lyudmila. "This is so," he said.

It wasn't immediately clear if that meant just separate domiciles. After a few more comments, the reporter gently prodded: "I am afraid to say this word 'divorce.'" "Yes, this is a civilized divorce," Lyudmila said.

The peculiar format for the announcement appeared aimed at underlining that this wasn't just a powerful man dumping his faithful helpmate. That's a potentially important strategic move for Putin, who has based his public image on rectitude and support of traditional values.

Tabloid reports in 2008 claimed that Putin already had divorced Lyudmila and planned to marry a gymnast less than half his age. The Interfax news agency cited presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the divorce has not been formalized and that the televised comments were only an announcement of the decision to divorce.

Divorce is common in Russia, and nearly 700,000 couples dissolved their marriages in 2009, according to UNICEF. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies Russia's political elite, said the divorce probably won't hurt Putin in the public eye — as long as he doesn't take a trophy wife.

"If a young wife appears, then the reactions in society may be very different," she said in an article published by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on its website. For some of his detractors, the move even seemed to earn some grudging approval.

"For years I've heard that it would be good if Putin told the truth and divorced. And what now? Everyone's criticizing him for the divorce," Ksenia Sobchak, a socialite and supporter of Putin's opposition, wrote on Twitter.

Russian leaders, unlike their American counterparts, generally keep their domestic lives well out of public view. Lyudmila Putina, 55, was rarely seen in public during her husband's long tenure at the top of Russian politics.

"I don't like publicity and flying is difficult for me," said the former Aeroflot flight attendant. The 60-year-old Putin, however, seeks the spotlight. His penchant for macho media events ranging from riding with bearded motorcyclists to petting a polar bear have earned him admiration — or derision — and his televised annual news conferences that stretch beyond four hours are legend.

"All my activities, all my work, is linked with publicity. Absolute publicity. Some people like it, some people don't. But there are people who absolutely can't stand it," Putin said. What he rarely shows in public is any hint of vulnerability and the divorce announcement didn't have the air of a man brooding over the fading of love's bloom. Rather, Lyudmila portrayed him as a man devoted to his country.

"Vladimir Vladimiorvich is absolutely concentrated on his work," she said. Putin in turn aimed for a touch of gallantry, remarking on his wife's forbearance. "Lydumila Alexandrovna has kept the watch for eight years, even nine," he said, apparently referring to his first two terms in the Kremlin and his year-old non-consecutive third term.

The Putins married on July 28, 1983, and have two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina, whose lives get little public view. "We love them very much and we are proud of them," Putin said. There have been hints that Lyudmila Putina was unhappy. In a 2005 interview with three Russian newspapers, she complained that her husband worked long hours, forgetting that "one needs not only to work, but also to live."

Associated Press writer Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

Russia to launch 12 Proton-M rockets in 2013

Moscow (XNA)
May 28, 2013

Russia would launch 12 Proton-M heavy space rockets this year, Khrunichev space industry center said Wednesday.

Three had already been launched and a further nine would be launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Khrunichev CEO Alexander Seliverstov told reporters.

Meanwhile, the new Angara-5 heavy rocket would be launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far Eastern Amur region after its construction was completed, Khrunichev general designer Yuri Bakhvalov said.

Bakhvalov said the first launch of an Angara-5, which is capable of placing manned spacecraft in orbit, was scheduled for late 2014 from the existing Plesetsk space site in Northern Russia.

Besides manned space missions, Russian scientists also plan to conduct daring biological experiments in space, including sending a "crew" of mice 200,000 km from the Earth, chief scholar of the Medico-Biological Institute Eugeny Ilyin told reporters.

"We are working on creating a spacecraft which could be launched to an orbit at 200,000 km distance for cell, gene and molecular experiments on mice following its return to Earth," he said.

However, Russia no longer planned to send large animals on space missions, the scientist said. "There is no need for a dog or a monkey. Whatever we test on them, we can test on humans as well," he said.

Ilyin said, if federal space agency Roscosmos gave the green light to that experiment, it could be conducted within three to five years.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_to_launch_12_Proton_M_rockets_in_2013_999.html.

Russia Plans to Launch First Angara Rocket in 2014

Moscow (RIA Novosti)
Apr 26, 2013

The Russian military expects the first launch of a new Angara carrier rocket to take place in 2014 after the construction of a new launch complex at the Plesetsk space center is completed, Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko said Wednesday.

The Angara rockets, designed to provide lifting capabilities of between 2,000 and 40,500 kilograms into low earth orbit, have been in development since 1995.

"We are hoping for 2014. But it all depends on the industry - how fast they can build the rocket," Ostapenko told reporters in Moscow. The maiden launch of the light-class Angara was previously expected in 2013.

The Angara rockets have a modular design similar to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), based on a common Universal Rocket Module (URM).

The main purpose of the Angara rocket family is to give Russia independent access to space. The rockets will reduce Russia's dependence on the Baikonur space center it leases from Kazakhstan by allowing the launch of heavy payloads from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia and from the new Vostochny space center in Russia's Far East.

Ostapenko also said on Wednesday that the timeframe for the launch of a Soyuz-2.1V lightweight rocket will be determined in May, as the test launch scheduled for 2013 has been postponed due to an accident during the firing tests of the rocket's engines.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Plans_to_Launch_First_Angara_Rocket_in_2014_999.html.

Cosmonaut becomes oldest person to walk in space, Russia ministry says

Korolyov, Russia (UPI)
Apr 20, 2013

A 59-year-old cosmonaut became the oldest person to walk in space when he installed equipment outside the International Space Station, Russian officials said.

Pavel Vinogradov set the age record for spacewalking Friday while outside the ISS with fellow cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, SpaceFlightNow.com reported.

The two flight engineers spent more than 6 1/2 hours outside the space station installing an experiment package, mission control officials said Saturday.

Vinogradov's record-setting spacewalk wasn't flawless, however. He lost control of a 6 1/2-pound panel from one experiment, SpaceFlightNow.com said. The piece floated away and was lost.

Experts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston said the panel's trajectory likely would take it out of the space station's path on future orbits and it eventually would burn up in the atmosphere.

The task was supposed to take 6 hours but ran longer because of an equipment failure, RIA Novosti reported.

The experiment will involve the study of plasma waves and the effect of space weather on Earth's ionosphere.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Cosmonaut_becomes_oldest_person_to_walk_in_space_Russia_ministry_says_999.html.

Jailed protesters cast shadow on anti-Putin rally

May 07, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — About 20,000 protesters thronged Bolotnaya Square across from the Kremlin on Monday, a year after a protest at the same spot turned violent on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's inauguration.

Monday's turnout — far less than the 100,000 or more who marched through Moscow with giddy optimism ahead of Putin's election to a third term — reflected a wariness that has sapped energy from the protest movement.

As a result of last year's protest, 27 people face charges that could send them to prison for up to 10 years. Some are battle-hardened opposition activists, but just as many are ordinary Russians who had joined anti-Putin protests for the first time last year.

Portraits of the prisoners and officials involved in the case lined the stage Monday, while several speakers read letters that the defendants sent from jail. Here is a look at some of the people involved:

ALEXANDRA DUKHANINA The youngest of the defendants at 19, environmental activist Dukhanina has spent the past year under house arrest, allowed visits only from her lawyers and close relatives. Investigators have charged her with throwing rocks and bottles at riot police, although they later found that the policeman listed as the victim in the case was unharmed. She faces up to eight years in prison.

DENIS LUTSKEVICH A first-year student and former marine, 21-year-old Lutskevich was attending his first protest. When riot police seized a female friend of his, Lutskevich said he tried to help her. He was beaten so severely that his body was still covered in red welts when he appeared in court. Investigators accused him of throwing pieces of asphalt at police and ripping off one of their helmets. He has been in jail since June and faces up to eight years in prison.

VLADIMIR AKIMENKOV Arrested at the protest in a black suit jacket and tie, leftist activist Akimenkov, 25, is accused of trying to break through a police barrier and hide in the crowd. While behind bars, a serious eye condition he suffers from has significantly worsened to the point that he is almost blind. Despite notes from doctors that he should not be held in jail, Akimenkov has been denied bail. He faces up to eight years in prison.

OLEG ARKHIPENKOV The commercial director of a tourism firm whose only activism had been to help stray animals, Arkhipenkov was detained while walking out of a metro station near the protest. Despite having had no plans to take part in the protest, Arkhipenkov was held in prison for two months, where his lawyer said he was forcibly injected with unspecified psychiatric medication. He was later released on bail and faces up to eight years in prison.

MAXIM LUZYANIN A gym owner and bodybuilder who has never been part of any political movement, Luzyanin was subdued with a stun gun, arrested and held incommunicado for two days after investigators found photographs of a masked man with Luzyanin's rippling physique fighting policemen. Luzyanin, 36, entered a guilty plea and paid the dental bill of the policeman whose tooth he was accused of chipping. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

KONSTANTIN LEBEDEV Lebedev was arrested in October after state-controlled television ran a documentary-style film purporting that he and two other activists, including leftist protest leader Sergei Udaltsov, had met with Georgian officials to organize terrorist attacks and the violent overthrow of the government with money from rogue oligarchs in London.

Lebedev initially denied the accusations, but pleaded guilty earlier this year, testified against the two other activists, and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Former associates have accused him of serving as a stooge to undermine the protest movement. Udaltsov, who remains under house arrest, faces up to 10 years in prison.

Russia to Explore Moon, Mars by 2030

Blagoveshensk, Russia
(RIA Novosti) Apr 15, 2013

Russia will develop new technology including huge new rockets for manned flights to the Moon and Mars by 2030, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday.

Rogozin, who oversees the space and military industries, said on Friday Russia is going to design a carrier rocket with a payload of 130 to 180 tons as well as powerful interplanetary vehicles.

The new technologies will lay the ground for manned flights to the Mars, Rogozin said.

Rogozin made his remarks while opening a meeting on the space industry in Russia's Far East on Friday, as Russia marks the anniversary of Yury Gagarin's first manned space flight on April 12, 1961.

Russia plans to start test of a new-generation spacecraft in the next two decades which could potentially be used for manned flights to the Moon, Rogozin said.

The Russian space industry is also set to develop a robot system for Moon exploration, as well as construct a permanent research base and a takeoff and landing pad there, he said.

The Soviet Union was developing a large rocket called the N-1 in the late 1960's for a lunar landing, but the project was abandoned after the United States won the race to land on the moon in 1969.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russia_to_Explore_Moon_Mars_by_2030_999.html.

Thousands to demonstrate during Putin's visit to Amsterdam

Monday 08 April 2013

Russian president Vladimir Putin is due in the Netherlands on Monday afternoon, on a whirlwind visit to mark 400 years of friendship between the two countries.

Putin’s visit has angered gay rights activists, and several thousand are planning to protest outside Amsterdam’s Maritime museum, where he will attend a state banquet on Monday evening.

Russia is poised to bring in new legislation which will make it a criminal offence to hold public events or spread information about homosexuality to minors.

Flags

So far over 3,300 people have said they will take part, making it ‘one of the biggest demonstrations’ in the history of gay rights lobby group COC.

During the demonstration Amsterdam drag queen Dolly Bellefleur will perform a version of the Bony M hit Rasputin, re-written to target Putin.

On Sunday, former Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen symbolically lowered a rainbow flag to half-mast outside a famous gay bar on the city’s Zeedijk. Campaigners have called for all rainbow flags – symbols of the gay rights movement - to be flown at half-mast throughout the city during the visit.

Human rights

Amnesty International has also written to Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte urging him to tackle Putin about the deterioration in Russia’s human rights record.

Putin is due in the Netherlands at around 14.00 hours. He will visit the Peter the Great exhibition at the Hermitage museum with queen Beatrix before holding talks with Rutte and various ministers.

The visit ends with dinner at the Maritime museum which will also be attended by Russian and Dutch business representatives.

© DutchNews.nl

Source: DutchNews.nl.
Link: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2013/04/thousands_to_demonstrate_durin.php.

Russians Land Mars Rover

Mon, Apr 01, 2013

Roscosmos Sends Race Challenge To NASA
ANN April 1 Special Coverage

In what may be the ultimate off-road spectacle, Roscosmos has challenged NASA to a Baja-style race between Curiosity and Russia's' Mars rover that it secretly landed on the red planet last week.

"We kept the mission very, very quiet," said Roscosmos spokesman Uri Nuttinksi. "Just in case we had another failure, we needed to keep the launch out of the press. But now that our "Chelyabinsk" rover is on the planet, it's time to see just who's got the faster explorer."

Chelyabinsk is the Russian city over which a meteor exploded last month. The object is thought to have passed near Mars before it encountered the Earth, and a Russian school child thought it would be an appropriate memorial of the event to name Russia's first Martian rover after the city.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden accepted the challenge, saying that the space agency's association with NASCAR gives it an edge in go-fast technology. "We had gotten wind that the Russians were up to something," Bolden said, "and that computer switch we did in March was actually done to activate NASCAR-developed technology on Curiosity. Believe me, if the Russians want to Cha-Cha ... we're ready to put the pedal to the Martian metal." The agency has recruited "Top Gear" host Rutledge Wood, a well-known NASCAR fan, to drive Curiosity for the race.

NASA TV will carry the race live, which is expected to see speeds of up to 7.34 miles per hour. "That may seem slow," Bolden said. "But heck, people watch sailboat races on TV. We figure we'll at least be competitive with that."

The race has generated a friendly wager between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. If Curiosity wins, Putin will send Obama an An-124 loaded with Russian Vodka. Should Chelabinsk prevail, Obama will send Putin a C-5A Galaxy's worth of poi from his native Hawaii.

Source: Aero News Network.
Link: http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=20795e41-75dd-43d5-9737-18dd340bdb1d.

China, Russia embrace militarily

March. 25, 2013

MOSCOW, March 25 (UPI) -- The Chinese government aims to shore up military and political ties with Russia, Chinese President Xi Jinping said.

Xi is on a three-day visit to Moscow, his first since assuming office this month. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan as part of a growing military relationship.

"My visit to the Russian Defense Ministry is intended to confirm that military, political and strategic relations between the two countries will strengthen as will cooperation between the Armed Forces of China and Russia," Xi was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

China last year purchased $2.1 billion in military equipment from Russia, down from the $4 billion in peak trading in 2005.

Both countries have expressed concern about U.S. missile defense plans in Eastern Europe. The U.S. Defense Department shifted missile defense plans to the U.S. West Coast in response to a growing North Korean threat.

The U.S. military is retooling its defensive posture now that the Iraq war is over and the Afghan campaign is winding down. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said last year the Asia-Pacific region was "one of the most prominent and important" issues for the Pentagon.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/03/25/China-Russia-embrace-militarily/UPI-56311364220303/.

The fate of Baikonur: Will Russia's space gates Open?

by Olga Zakutnyaya
Moscow (Voice of Russia)
Jan 31, 2013

The current uncertainty surrounding space activities at Baikonur in 2013 may be eliminated on Wednesday when Kazakh prime minister, Kairat Kelimbetov, visits Russia to discuss several issues, including the famous cosmodrome. Meanwhile, officials are already working hard to assure the media that the situation is still a long way from being a crisis. The apparent scandal around the spaceport had been exaggerated, said Russian officials on Friday.

The fate of Baikonur, which is, without question, uncertain, may in fact, according to Russia's foreign affairs minister, Sergey Lavrov, be far from the disaster that many think.

Last week a new controversy around Russia's main cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, hit the headlines. The Izvestia newspaper published a note from the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry announcing the Kazakh Government's decision to cut the number of Proton launches in 2013 to 12 instead of the 17 requested by Russia. It went on to suggest that the move might threaten other joint Russian-Kazakh projects, such as the Baiterek and Dnepr programs.

Anyone eagerly watching the situation for further developments may now feel a sense of disappointment, as tensions over the issue began to ease towards the end of last week.

Both Russian officials, and their Kazakh counterparts, were quick to point out that the Baikonur controversy would not affect relations the two states. There is also a further Kazakh visit coming up on January 30 which should bring even more clarity to the situation, this time by the vice minister who also co-chairs the Baikonur committee.

This is not the first, and almost certainly not the last, time that Baikonur has been at the heart of apparent, or even actual, disputes between the two Nations.

Previously both sides have always successfully resolved disagreements to their mutual satisfaction; there can be little doubt that this occasion will be any different, because of the underlying truth that Baikonur is essential to both.

On the other hand the status quo cannot be maintained indefinitely. With the construction of Russia's new Vostochny cosmodrome underway, Baikonur will inevitably lose its long held status as the centre of Russia's space program, if indeed it keeps a role at all.

With annual rent for the site topping the $100 million mark, the Kazakh space base represents a significant burden on the state budget, essentially double the future cost of the new cosmodrome.

However forecasts of Baaikonur's demise may be a little premature as no launches from Vostochny have yet been scheduled, and the primary rocket launcher it is intended to host, namely Angara, has yet even to make its maiden flight.

Then there is Proton, the heaviest Russian launcher available, which, despite its toxic components, can only blast off from Baikonur, which is also the primary facility delivering cosmonauts and cargo to the International Space Station. Hence, the Baikonur launch pads remain vital to the majority of Russian activities in space.

An imperfect equation with many unknown quantities, the Baikonur problem is unlikely to be solved by simple solutions. Several coming events will affect it greatly, such as, for example, the South Korean launch scheduled on January 30. That lift-off will essentially be driven by the first stage of Angara, so it will also make an important contribution to Russian space developments.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/The_fate_of_Baikonur_Will_Russias_space_gates_Open_999.html.

Russia moves to enact anti-gay law nationwide

January 21, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — Kissing his boyfriend during a protest in front of Russia's parliament earned Pavel Samburov 30 hours of detention and the equivalent of a $16 fine on a charge of "hooliganism." But if a bill that comes up for a first vote later this month becomes law, such a public kiss could be defined as illegal "homosexual propaganda" and bring a fine of up to $16,000.

The legislation being pushed by the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church would make it illegal nationwide to provide minors with information that is defined as "propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism." It includes a ban on holding public events that promote gay rights. St. Petersburg and a number of other Russian cities already have similar laws on their books.

The bill is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values as opposed to Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and church see as corrupting Russian youth and by extension contributing to a wave of protest against President Vladimir Putin's rule.

Samburov describes the anti-gay bill as part of a Kremlin crackdown on minorities of any kind — political and religious as well as sexual — designed to divert public attention from growing discontent with Putin's rule.

The lanky and longhaired Samburov is the founder of the Rainbow Association, which unites gay activists throughout Russia. The gay rights group has joined anti-Putin marches in Moscow over the past year, its rainbow flag waving along with those of other opposition groups.

Other laws that the Kremlin says are intended to protect young Russians have been hastily adopted in recent months, including some that allow banning and blocking web content and print publications that are deemed "extremist" or unfit for young audiences.

Denis Volkov, a sociologist with the Levada Center, an independent pollster, says the anti-gay bill fits the "general logic" of a government intent on limiting various rights. But in this case, the move has been met mostly with either indifference or open enthusiasm by average Russians. Levada polls conducted last year show that almost two thirds of Russians find homosexuality "morally unacceptable and worth condemning." About half are against gay rallies and same-sex marriage; almost a third think homosexuality is the result of "a sickness or a psychological trauma," the Levada surveys show.

Russia's widespread hostility to homosexuality is shared by the political and religious elite. Lawmakers have accused gays of decreasing Russia's already low birth rates and said they should be barred from government jobs, undergo forced medical treatment or be exiled. Orthodox activists criticized U.S. company PepsiCo for using a "gay" rainbow on cartons of its dairy products. An executive with a government-run television network said in a nationally televised talk show that gays should be prohibited from donating blood, sperm and organs for transplants, while after death their hearts should be burned or buried.

The anti-gay sentiment was seen Sunday in Voronezh, a city south of Moscow, where a handful of gay activists protesting against the parliament bill were attacked by a much larger group of anti-gay activists who hit them with snowballs.

The gay rights protest that won Samburov a fine took place in December. Seconds after Samburov and his boyfriend kissed, militant activists with the Orthodox Church pelted them with eggs. Police intervened, rounding up the gay activists and keeping them for 30 hours first in a frozen van and then in an unheated detention center. The Orthodox activists were also rounded up, but were released much earlier.

Those behind the bill say minors need to be protected from "homosexual propaganda" because they are unable to evaluate the information critically. "This propaganda goes through the mass media and public events that propagate homosexuality as normal behavior," the bill reads.

Cities started adopting anti-gay laws in 2006. Only one person has been prosecuted so far under a law specifically targeted at gays: Nikolai Alexeyev, a gay rights campaigner, was fined the equivalent of $160 after a one-man protest last summer in St. Petersburg.

In November, a St. Petersburg court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trade Union of Russian Citizens, a small group of Orthodox conservatives and Putin loyalists, against pop star Madonna. The group sought $10.7 million in damages for what it says was "propaganda of perversion" when Madonna spoke up for gay rights during a show three months earlier.

The federal bill's expected adoption comes 20 years after a Stalinist-era law punishing homosexuality with up to five years in prison was removed from Russia's penal code as part of the democratic reforms that followed the Soviet Union's collapse.

Most of the other former Soviet republics also decriminalized homosexuality, and attitudes toward gays have become a litmus test of democratic freedoms. While gay pride parades are held in the three former Soviet Baltic states, all today members of the European Union, same-sex love remains a crime in authoritarian Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In Russia, gays have been whipsawed by official pressure and persistent homophobia. There are no reliable estimates of how many gays and lesbians live in Russia, and only a few big cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg have gay nightclubs and gyms. Even there, gays do not feel secure.

When a dozen masked men entered a Moscow night club during a "coming out party" that campaigner Samburov organized in October, he thought they were part of the show. But then one of the masked men yelled, "Have you ordered up a fight? Here you go!" The men overturned tables, smashed dishes and beat, kicked and sprayed mace at the five dozen men and women who had gathered at the gay-friendly Freedays club, Samburov and the club's administration said.

Four club patrons were injured, including a young woman who got broken glass in her eye, police said. Although a police station was nearby, Samburov said, it took police officers half an hour to arrive. The attackers remain unidentified.

On the next day, an Orthodox priest said he regretted that his religious role had not allowed him to participate in the beating. "Until this scum gets off of Russian land, I fully share the views of those who are trying to purge our motherland of it," Rev. Sergiy Rybko was quoted as saying by the Orthodoxy and World online magazine. "We either become a tolerant Western state where everything is allowed — and lose our Christianity and moral foundations — or we will be a Christian people who live in our God-protected land in purity and godliness."

In other parts of Russia, gays feel even less secure. Bagaudin Abduljalilov moved to Moscow from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia where he says some gays have been beaten and had their hands cut off, sometimes by their own relatives, for bringing shame on their families.

"You don't have any human rights down there," he said. "Anything can be done to you with impunity." Shortly before moving to Moscow, Abduljalilov left Islam to become a Protestant Christian, but was expelled from a seminary after telling the dean he was gay. He also has had trouble finding a job as a television journalist because of discrimination against people from Dagestan.

"I love Russia, but I want another Russia," said Abduljalilov, 30, who now works as a clerk. "It's a pity I can't spend my life on creative projects instead of banging my head against the wall and repeating, 'I'm normal, I'm normal.'"

Russia's Big Project is reoccupation of all former countries of the Soviet Union

3 October 2011

Former Guardian Moscow correspondent, Luke Harding, testified in an interview to ABC that the Russia's goal is invasion and reoccupation of all former countries of the Soviet Union. He said in particular:

What I hadn't really expected, when I first arrive in 2007, was that this sort of security state, which as you say has been kind of traditional, in Russia it's gone on for a very long time, but that it would be back, and actually in some ways kind of re-fighting the Cold War. This isn't really about ideology anymore, I mean no-one's interested in global communism, the Soviet Union's gone, but this mechanism, the KGB if you like, carries on.

And it took a bit of knock in the early '90s when the Soviet Union collapsed the KGB, but rather swiftly it reformed and it was rebranded the FSB, the Federal Security Service. And by 1999, who was its boss? Well Vladimir Putin.

Really what he's done, over the last decade, as he's kind of undone various reforms to the security services which Boris Yeltsin carried out in the '90s. And he's turned it into this formidable, prodigious, secret, and really quite terrifying, kind of organization that sees its goal as defending Russia from enemies. Both internal ones - opposition guys, human rights workers, those kind of people - and external ones - Western diplomats and people like me.

Well it's a kind of a KGB state now actually. The Russian government won't thank me for saying that. But if you look at the kind of people who are the top echelons of Russian power, a lot of them are Putin's friends, a lot of them are former KGB operatives from military intelligence, from foreign intelligence and so one. And obviously Putin feels comfortable with these kind of people.

And they share a similar kind of world view, which is essentially xenophobic, it's reflexively anti-Western, and the big project, I mean if Putin does have a big project, the project is to get back the sort of prestige and the international clout that the Soviet Union once enjoyed.

I mean what he really wants to be is to be taken seriously as a sort of, for Russia to be taken seriously as an international player and for people to be a little bit scared of Russia as well.

It's more of a, I mean the more important project of course is to get rich. I mean the ideology is definitely there but the primary goal, I think, for Putin and his team is to make money and to, essentially, to hang onto that money and to off-shore that money.

We're talking billions and billions of dollars. The problem is, as a reporter in Moscow, it's extremely hard to get to the bottom of this. I mean you would need a thousand years and an army of lawyers and you'd need people to leak. But I mean, there have been some leaks, and about three or four years ago one source I spoke to said, I think rather convincingly, that Putin was worth about $ 40 billion. So in other words, one of the richest people in the world.

I mean, bear in mind that this is an extremely corrupt state. It's the world's largest exporter of oil and gas, so there are enormous revenues. But, where do they go? (Laughs). I mean if you wander around any city outside, you know, if you wander around the Russian countryside it's clearly not going there, or look at the infrastructure. A fantastic amount is being stolen via intermediary companies, via off-shore schemes, via sophisticated financial mechanisms.

And the evidence of that you can see in the streets of London. I mean, just walk around West London or Chelsea or Belgravia, very many of these properties are Russian owned; or Biarritz or New York or Spain.

So there's this, some people under Putin have become extremely rich, I mean really wildly rich. Far richer than you possibly imagine really. And far richer than in Soviet times when, if you were at the top of the Kremlin, you could expect a big, swish Zil limousine and maybe a holiday in Bulgaria and a nice dacha or cottage somewhere.

I published this story with some trepidation about a year after I arrived in Moscow. I wasn't, I mean I was careful of the way I wrote the story, I wasn't saying definitely Putin is worth $ 40 billion. I was saying that there were leaks coming from the top of the Kremlin pointing to his secret assets abroad. And this was part of a wider power struggle between different Kremlin factions.

Now, what was interesting was that last year, before I got expelled from Russia, I spent a lot of time going through the WikiLeaks cables, these are secret US diplomatic communiqués that were never meant for public consumption. And what really quite kind of confirming in a way was the fact that the US diplomats, the US ambassador in Moscow, privately makes reference on many occasions to Putin's alleged assets abroad.

This isn't just about venality, I mean it's important to understand Russian politics because there's one, I think quite credible, school of thought which says that, actually, Putin is rather tired, he would like to retire, he would like to go and relax on Sochi on Russia's Black Sea coast, that he doesn't want to be Russia's leader anymore.

But the logic of his system, this corrupt system, is the only way he can guarantee that he and his friends hang on to all of their money, is by carrying on in power. Because the second he steps off the throne he faces the real prospect that there will be law enforcement prosecutions against him and that he could end up in goal.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/content/2011/10/03/15208.shtml.

Putin's KGB ordered to kill 'enemies of Russia' abroad

3 October 2011

Daily Telegraph reported that the Russian terrorist group KGB (FSB) received carte blanche to kill "enemies of Russia" abroad.

The KGB started the "elimination" of individuals living overseas who are considered to be the enemies of the Russian state and created special terrorist units to conduct such operations", according to a document leaked to the newspaper.

The newspaper writes:

"The directive dated March 19, 2003 - four years before the killing of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. It sets a provisional deadline of May 1 2004 for the new units' work to begin.

It is understood the document is also in the possession of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command which is investigating the Litvinenko case.

Labelled "Secret documentation. For internal use only. Do not copy", the leaked document refers to a law on "countering extremist activities" passed eight months earlier, although that law does not refer to the use of force.

The objectives, the directive says, are "observation, identification, possible return to the Russian Federation" of their targets.

But it also allows for "under special directives" the "elimination outside of the Russian Federation in the countries of Near Abroad [former Soviet states] and in the European Union, of the leaders of unlawful terrorist groups and organizations, extremist formations and associations, of individuals who have left Russia illegally [and are] wanted by federal law enforcement".

The directive names the crimes of those sought as terrorism, "extremist activity," murder, kidnapping and "others classified as especially serious crimes against citizens of the Russian Federation and directed against the Russian state and government".

The order sets up the "intensive training of the newly formed groups and units in relation to specific conditions of work in Western Europe and countries of the European Union".

It says there will be "in-depth training of individual agent-analysts for work in the countries of European Union".

It is signed at the bottom by Col General Nechaev, First Deputy Head of the FSB counter-intelligence branch and also bears the organization's stamp.

Colonel General Nechaev is a former civil and military health minister who was invited to London by the then health minister Virginia Bottomley in 1993 to "see the operation of the NHS at first hand.

"Vladimir Putin, then the Russian president and now the prime minister, pushed a law on "counteracting terrorism" through the Russian parliament in March 2006 which gave the FSB the power to kill "terrorists" abroad".

However, the latest document suggests an extensive secret program was already in place and applies not only to "terrorists", but also to the opposition and Russia''s critics.

"A hearing is to be held next week into whether a full inquest should take place into Mr Litvinenko's death, as the Russian government has insisted that Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB bodyguard who is a main suspect in the case, will never be extradited back to Britain", says the newspaper.

"The Russians have conducted controversial assassinations against Chechens in Dubai, Qatar, and Vienna. The latest, in Istanbul, was just last week, when a gunman shot a Chechen rebel leader and his two bodyguards dead in a busy street in Istanbul", The Daily Telegraph writes.

As for Britain, the "targets" of special units fighting the enemies of Russia, in addition to Berezovsky and late Litvinenko, is Zakayev.

"I knew this a long time ago and there were several attempts to kill me. I was lucky, I was warned and I am safe", Boris Berezovsky said to Daily Telegraph.

Zakayev in turn said: "I knew anytime that something like this could happen to me. They want to eliminate me before 2012 when Putin comes back to the Kremlin [as president]. They need to solve these 'problems.' That is what they call us and it doesn't matter where we are".

It is to be recalled from our part that in September 2010, a KGB agent in Finland, Russia Today's columnist Juha Molari who is suspected in Russian terrorism by Estonian police published an online video message calling his KGB Moscow Center to murder journalists and editors of the Kavkaz Center. In mid-September 2011, the terrorist group "Russian attorney general's office" reported it would commission the KGB to eliminate the Kavkaz Center outside Russia.

Such elimination is impossible to carry out by legal means, as numerous failed attempts of the Russians showed.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/content/2011/10/03/15206.shtml.

Skype, Gmail and Hotmail deliver encrypt codes to Russian terrorist network KGB

3 October 2011

Skype, Gmail and Hotmail handed over encryption codes to the Russian security services, according to a report by Georgian news agency InterKavkaz.

An expert of the news agency on information technology Alexis Kestrel says, that in the first place that will give the KGB a chance to "hinder" those to whom "the KGB (FSB) was not indifferent also in the past".

"The news was expected - the FSB forced Skype, Gmail and Hotmail to deliver to it signal encrypt codes. What will it change? Almost nothing because the KGB lost the information arms race long ago.

Now they know whom and where to eavesdrop, the services gave them ciphers as a gift. Direct eavesdropping and search by code words would be easier for the KGB. All that will be surely carried out in the name of fighting the Mujahideen and dissidents whom they now call extremists. But those against whom these measures are primarily aimed will not be covered by the eavesdropping.

They are already using other services. And in order to force Yahoo to hand over the codes to the KGB they need another year and a half of negotiations. By then, the Mujahideen and dissidents will be using a new service. It's just useless in terms of security logic.

But from their our own, purely Russian point of view, everybody in the KGB will be busy with something. They will be able to listen to bankers, politicians and their own wives, children and others. The work in the Department for combating free-thinking and the Jihad using of high technology has always brought advantages to its operatives", said Alexey Kestrel to the Interkavkaz agency.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/content/2011/10/03/15207.shtml.

About 25 arrested in Moscow New Year's Eve protest

December 31, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — About 25 people reportedly have been arrested in Moscow on New Year's Eve for trying to hold an unsanctioned protest.

The gathering at Triumphalnaya Square in central Moscow on Monday attracted 50 to 100 people. Among those arrested was prominent radical writer Eduard Limonov; the Interfax news agency cited activists as saying about 25 people were taken into custody.

For about two years, activists have tried to rally on the 31st of each month with that many days, a reference to Article 31 of the Russian constitution that guarantees free assembly. Authorities routinely deny permission for the demonstrations. Limonov's faction has fallen out with other elements of the wave of opposition to President Vladimir Putin that arose last year.

In his New Year's Eve address, Putin made no reference to the protests of the past year, saying only of 2012 that "it was very important to us," according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "We believe that we can change the life around us and become better ourselves, that we can become more heedful, compassionate, gracious" he was quoted as saying. Russia's fate "depends on our enthusiasm and labor."

Central Asian migrants change the face of Moscow

December 30, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Timur Bulgakov has a black belt in karate, two university degrees, a powerful SUV and a small yet thriving construction company. The 28-year-old's success is impressive for a Muslim migrant from Uzbekistan whose first job in Moscow 10 years ago was as a delivery boy.

But his story is no longer that unusual. The old Moscow, populated largely by Slavs, is rapidly giving way to a multi-ethnic city where Muslims from Central Asia are the fastest growing sector of the population. And they are changing the face of Moscow as their numbers rise and they move up the career ladder, taking on more visible roles in society.

Muslim women wearing hijabs are a growing sight on the capital's shopping streets. Bearded men sport Muslim skullcaps and hang trinkets with Koranic verses in their cars. Many more are non-practicing Muslims who blend in with secular attire, although their darker skin, accented speech and foreign customs often provoke frowns from native Muscovites. Meanwhile, their children — some born and raised in the capital — throng kindergartens and schools.

Russia's Federal Migration Service estimates that about 9.1 million foreigners arrived in Russia to work in 2011. More than a third came from three impoverished Central Asian countries that were once part of the Soviet Union: About 2 million from Uzbekistan, 1 million from Tajikistan and more than 500,000 from Kyrgyzstan. Local experts say the number of Central Asian arrivals is at least twice as high. And hundreds of thousands of Central Asians have already acquired Russian passports and are off the migration services' radar.

The Central Asian migration has been the driving force in boosting Russia's Muslim population to more than 20 million, from some 14 million 10 years ago — a phenomenon experts call one of the most radical demographic makeovers Russia has ever seen.

"Today, we're standing on the verge of a powerful demographic explosion, a great migration period equal to the one that took place in the first centuries A.D.," said Vyacheslav Mikhailov, a former minister for ethnic issues and a presidential adviser on ethnic policies.

Muslims are expected to account for 19 percent of Russia's population by 2030, up from 14 percent of the current population of 142 million, according to the U.S. government's National Intelligence Council report on global trends published this month.

"Russia's greatest demographic challenge could well be integrating its rapidly growing ethnic Muslim population in the face of a shrinking ethnic Russian population," the report said. The changing ethnic mix "already appears to be a source of growing social tensions."

By the most conservative estimates, 2 million Muslims now live in Moscow, a city of nearly 12 million. Polls show that nearly half of Russians dislike migrants from Central Asia and Russia's Caucasus — another source of Muslim migration. They have become the bogeymen of Russian nationalists, accused of stealing jobs, forming ethnic gangs and disrespecting Russian customs.

"If you build a mosque in downtown Moscow, slaughter sheep on your holiday and impose your traditions on us, no one will want you as a neighbor," said Dmitry Demushkin, a veteran Russian neo-Nazi skinhead who heads a nationalist party.

Central Asian labor migrants for years have filled the lowest paying jobs, working as janitors, street cleaners, construction workers, vendors at outdoor markets and unlicensed cab drivers whose run-down cars are popularly known as "jihad taxis." Many live in trailers on construction sites, in squalid basements and overcrowded flophouses or sleep inside their cars. The uncertain legal status of many of the migrant workers has left them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation from employers. They also have fallen victim to xenophobic attacks.

But in recent years, they are increasingly becoming more established members of the work force. And a significant minority, like Bulgakov, now run their own successful businesses. The undisputed star among Russia's Central Asian business figures is ethnic Uzbek Alisher Usmanov: His interests in mining, telecoms and Internet startups have made him one of Russia's richest men, with a fortune estimated at $18.1 billion, and he is the co-owner of British soccer club Arsenal.

Filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, who was born in Kazakhstan and educated in Uzbekistan, has directed some of Russia's most top grossing movies. Recently he moved to Hollywood, directing this year's "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and before that "Wanted," a 2008 action flick with Angelina Jolie.

Uzbek native Mirzakarim Norbekov has penned half a dozen bestsellers based on the medical teachings of Muslim medieval scholar Avicenna, who was born in what is now Uzbekistan. His medical training center in Moscow charges hundreds of dollars for short healing courses.

And while the Central Asian influx has caused frictions, there are also abundant signs of non-Muslim Muscovites embracing things seen as quintessentially Central Asian. Uzbek restaurants, fast-food joints and clay-oven bakeries that churn out round flat-cakes and meat pies have become ubiquitous; fashionistas sport oriental silk scarves and pashminas that resemble hijabs; and many ethnic Russian housewives buy halal meat believing it to be healthy and devoid of chemical preservatives.

The trend may have deep roots in Russian history: Unlike most West European capitals, Moscow has absorbed Muslims into its population for centuries. The principality of Moscow emerged as a regional power some 700 years ago, when the Golden Horde, a state dominated by Mongols and Muslim Tatars, controlled parts of what is now southern Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. As Moscow took over the Horde's territories and invaded lands that once had been conquered by Arabs, Persians and Turks, Muslim nobles became part of the Russian elite and Muslims were free to practice their faith under the czars.

Novelist Vladimir Nabokov proudly wrote that his aristocratic family descended from Nabak, an illegitimate son of Genghis Khan. Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and writer Mikhail Bulgakov were the offspring of Tatar nobles.

"Muslims are not newcomers here, and all the current problems are temporary," said Vladilen Bokov, a devout Muslim and member of the Public Chamber, which advises the Kremlin on social issues. The Central Asians are far from a homogeneous group: Kyrgyz are proud of their militant nomadic heritage, while Uzbeks and Tajiks extol their cultures that produced poets and scholars who contributed to medieval Muslim civilization.

Czarist armies finished the conquest of Central Asia by early 20th century and Stalinist purges decimated their elites. The Soviet era reshaped their economies and agriculture and made "Russification" a key to success for several generations of their best and brightest. In the 1980s, Central Asian conscripts became a majority in the Soviet Army as birth rates among ethnic Russians plummeted.

Communist Moscow tried to win sympathies of Central Asians — and uproot their Muslim traditions — by building schools and universities. Their graduates are still qualified to work as bank clerks, computer engineers, artists and medical doctors in Russia. Employers often praise them for their hard work, career ambitions and indifference to alcohol — Russia's proverbial scourge.

The 1991 Soviet collapse was followed in their overpopulated republics by ineffective economic reforms, political unrest a resurgence of Islamic traditions and a gradual loss of Soviet mentality. But the number of Russian speakers remains high. They visit Russia visa-free and can stay here for up to three months, or longer if they get work or residence permits.

Construction company owner Bulgakov has faced his share of hardships. Square-jawed and burly, he recalled over a cup of steaming tea how he stole some undercooked buckwheat from a dormitory kitchen several days after losing a job. He lost another job after beating up his supervisor for calling him a "churka," a pejorative term for Central Asians. Bulgakov said that during a hospital visit he heard a doctor reproaching his ethnic Russian wife for failing to "find a decent Russian man."

After several years of selling construction paint, Bulgakov started his own company. Now his company renovates apartments of affluent Muscovites and works on occasional contracts with the Defense Ministry. He also has joined Kremlin's United Russia party and wants to run for office in the Moscow suburb of Ivanteevka where he lives with his wife and two children.

Bulgakov, who sports a white-gold ring with a sparkling diamond, has this advice for fellow Central Asians seeking a better life in Moscow. "If you want to work, just work," he said, "If you don't, you'll find a thousand excuses — 'I am being oppressed, abused, beaten.'"

Russia sends navy squadron to Mediterranean

December 18, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian navy squadron has set off for the Mediterranean amid official talk about a possible evacuation of Russians from Syria.

The Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the ships will rotate with those that have been in the area since November. Russian diplomats said last week that Moscow is preparing plans to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The ministry did not say whether the navy ships are intended for an evacuation.

The Interfax news agency, citing unidentified naval sources, reported that the navy command wants the ships to be on hand for the task if needed. It said the mission's duration will depend on the situation in Syria.

Last week, a senior Russian diplomat said for the first time that Syrian President Bashar Assad is losing control and the rebels might win the civil war, a statement that appeared to signal that Moscow has started positioning itself for an endgame in Syria. But the Foreign Ministry disavowed Mikhail Bogdanov's statement the next day, saying his words were misinterpreted and that Moscow's position on the crisis hasn't shifted.

Russia's base in the Syrian port of Tartus is its only naval outpost outside the former Soviet Union. Moscow has been Assad's main ally, shielding him from international sanctions over a brutal crackdown on an uprising that began in March 2011 and turned into the civil war, killing more than 40,000 people.

The squadron of five ships that sailed from the Baltic Sea base of Baltiysk includes a destroyer, a tugboat, a tanker and two large amphibious vessels that could evacuate hundreds of people. Another group of three navy ships departed Tuesday from Severomorsk, the main base of Russia's Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsula. While their official mission is anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden, the ships will sail past the Syrian shores and may linger there if need be.

Earlier this year, Russia sent several ships to Tartus on a mission to evacuate its personnel and equipment, but authorities decided then that the situation in Syria didn't require such a move yet. The latest naval deployment comes as the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that two Russians were kidnapped alongside an Italian in Syria and that their captors have asked for a ransom for their release. The three, who worked at a Syrian steel plant, were kidnapped late Monday on the road between Tartus and Homs.

The ministry identified those kidnapped as V. V. Gorelov, Abdesattar Hassun and Mario Belluomo and said the kidnappers have contacted the Hmisho steel plant by telephone and demanded a ransom for their release. It did not specify the amount.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, said "all necessary steps are being taken in Syria and other countries that may influence the situation," according to Interfax. The kidnapping of foreigners has been rare, but as Syria descends further into chaos the abduction of Syrians has become increasingly common across many parts of the country.

Most of those kidnappings appear to have sectarian motives, part of tit-for-tat attacks between rebels and pro-regime gunmen. But there have been many cases of gunmen capturing wealthy people for ransom or settling personal scores.

Jim Heintz contributed to this report.