RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – September 28, 2009

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TODAY:  Clinton pleased with Russia cooperation; Lavrov suggests caution on Iran’s second nuclear site; put out by West’s withholding of intelligence reports. Medvedev clarifies Iskander position.  Violence continues to boil in North Caucasus.  Ex-PM suggests Putin’s return to the Presidency ineluctable.  Mothers of murdered girls go to European human rights court claiming justice; Memorial chief sticks to his guns. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has apparently lauded Russia’s willingness to share information in the past week.  President Dmitry Medvedev has asserted that if Iran does not cooperate on its nuclear program by October 1, alternative methods will have to be used.  The Moscow Times reports that Medvedev has also urged the country to prove that it is not attempting to make a nuclear bomb.  Reports about a new nuclear site in Iran have prompted Sergei Lavrov to plea for caution.  Lavrov has also expressed disappointment that Russia’s ‘Western partners’ seemingly withheld intelligence information relating to the discovery.  An article in the Guardian explains why Russia has so much leverage regarding the US-Iran axis.  The New York Times suggests that for the Kremlin, Iran is too good a bargaining chip to be used indiscriminately.  Medvedev has announced officially that Iskander missiles will not be deployed in Kaliningrad. 


RFE/RL has an interview with former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar, one of the signatories of the ‘Europe Must Stand Up For Georgia’ letter.  Prime Minister Putin has met with President Mukhu Aliyev of Dagestan to commemorate the 10th anniversary of militant attacks.  Violence raged in the troubled region on the weekend.   The Washington Post has an overview of the disputes in the North Caucasus.  Memorial rights group head Oleg Orlov is sticking to his claims regarding Ramzan Kadyrov and Natalya Estemirova.

Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has said he believes that only a dramatic drop in oil prices could prevent Putin from returning to the Presidency.  President Medvedev has revealed that it is lonely at the (nominal) top.
 
Racially motivated attacks work both ways, says the Moscow Times.  The mothers of two teenage girls who they say were murdered by men linked to authorities have lodged appeals with Europe’s human rights court.  Moscow’s new top law enforcement officer has said that organized crime is allowed to flourish by crooked cops.  The wife of a human rights activist has said that her husband has been harassed by Nashi activists after he complained about the Antisovietskaya restaurant case.

California will not close historic Fort Ross.

PHOTO: Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev stands between Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, and Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, during a group photo opportunity at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)