RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – August 4, 2009
TODAY: New NATO chief asserts Russia needs to acknowledge sovereignty; nuclear chief fired; Uzbekistan wary of Kremlin’s Kyrgyzstan plans. Moscow-appointed judge in Yukos case to step down. Anniversary of Solzhenitsyn’s death.
The new head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has said that the alliance will attempt to pursue a ‘strategic partnership’ with Russia, whilst ‘insisting on Russian compliance with her international obligations including respect of the sovereignty and integrity of her neighbors’. The Commander of the strategic nuclear missile forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, has been fired after the repeated failures of the Baluva missile. He will be replaced by General Andrei Shvaichenko. Russia has renewed its backing for UN sanctions against North Korea, initiated to deter it from a nuclear program. ‘Unnecessarily antagonistic actions’ characterize the Kremlin’s policy in its own backyard, suggests an op-ed piece in the Moscow Times. Uzbekistan has bemoaned Russia’s decision to up its troop presence in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, fearing it could increase instability in the volatile region.
The new head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has said that the alliance will attempt to pursue a ‘strategic partnership’ with Russia, whilst ‘insisting on Russian compliance with her international obligations including respect of the sovereignty and integrity of her neighbors’. The Commander of the strategic nuclear missile forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, has been fired after the repeated failures of the Baluva missile. He will be replaced by General Andrei Shvaichenko. Russia has renewed its backing for UN sanctions against North Korea, initiated to deter it from a nuclear program. ‘Unnecessarily antagonistic actions’ characterize the Kremlin’s policy in its own backyard, suggests an op-ed piece in the Moscow Times. Uzbekistan has bemoaned Russia’s decision to up its troop presence in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, fearing it could increase instability in the volatile region.