RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – April 2, 2009
TODAY: New START treaty by the end of the year; Russia on the global stage; Putin – the new emperor?; journalist dies in mysterious circumstances; no opposition broadcasts before Sochi election; copper-workers feeling the crunch; Lenin too.
President Medvedev and Barack Obama have announced that a treaty to reduce their nuclear arsenal will be agreed by the end of the year, in a major step towards a ‘nuclear-free world‘. A joint statement on the meeting is reprinted in the New York Times, as is a transcript of comments. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov states that there has been a ‘qualitative, not mathematical, reset‘ in US-Russian relations. Russia hopes to assert itself at the G20 summit as crisis-hit developed countries look to emerging markets for cooperation, reports Reuters. Well-respected Kremlin academic Igor Panarin predicts that Vladimir Putin will be the figure behind a new ‘Russian empire‘ and oversee the birth of a ‘Eurasian Alliance‘, the Telegraph reports. Where does Russia fit in the ‘new European security architecture’?