Luke Harding, Miriam Elder & Agencies | Moscow | May 21

The Guardian - Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has unveiled his new government , with a line-up that critics described as uninspiring and which offered no concessions to the opposition demonstrators who have taken to the streets.

In his first major political announcement since returning to the Kremlin, Putin removed several unpopular ministers. The interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev – described in US diplomatic cables as a "pragmatic hardliner" – was replaced by Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the head of the Moscow police, who has orchestrated the often brutal crackdown on protesters in the Russian capital since December. The previous health and education ministers also lost their jobs.

But most other leading cabinet members retained their posts. Sergei Lavrov remains Russia's long-serving foreign minister, while Anatoly Serdyukov stays at defence. Anton Siluanov is still finance minister.

Chicago | May 21

AFP - NATO leaders launched Sunday the first phase of a US-led missile shield for Europe and sought to appease Russian anger over the system by renewing an invitation to cooperate.

President Barack Obama and his allies declared an "interim capability" at a Chicago summit, putting a US warship carrying interceptors in the Mediterranean and a Turkey-based radar system under NATO command in a German base.

The alliance insists that the shield is not aimed at Russia and aims to knock out missiles that could be launched by enemies such as Iran, but Moscow fears the system will also serve to neutralize its nuclear deterrent.

"We have invited Russia to cooperate on missile defense and this invitation still stands," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference.

"We will continue our dialogue with Russia and I hope that at a certain stage Russia will realize that it is in our common interest to cooperate on missile defense," he said.

Besides the ironic title, I guess it explains why Putin refused to go to Chicago.

Frank Dohmen & Alexander Jung | May 19

Speigel Online - With the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline in southern Europe hitting snag after snag, Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is considering the construction of a second Baltic Sea pipeline to go with the just-finished Nord Stream. With unconventional natural gas from the US flooding the market, however, the strategy is not without risk.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has given an ominous warning to the West about military adventurism against Syria and Iran.

"Hasty military operations in foreign states usually bring radicals to power," Medvedev, president for four years until Vladimir Putin's inauguration on May 7, told a conference in St. Petersburg in remarks posted on the government's website.

"At some point such actions which undermine state sovereignty may lead to a full-scale regional war, even, although I do not want to frighten anyone, with the use of nuclear weapons," Medvedev said. "Everyone should bear this in mind."

I suspect he may be talking about Israel's nuclear arsenal there. If Israel became embroilled in an attack on Iran, missiles tipped with chemical weapons might well be a retaliation to which Israel's obvious recourse would be nukes. Or maybe he's talking about some hypothetical way down the road where an arc of failed states comprising US-conquered Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan leads to so much non-state trouble boiling up that it sparks an India-Pakistan war. Maybe he's setting out Russia's stall. Reuter's Gleb Bryanski writes:

Medvedev gave no further explanation. Nuclear-armed Russia has said publicly that it is under no obligation to protect Syria if it is attacked, and analysts and diplomats say Russia would not get involved in military action if Iran were attacked.

Russia has adamantly urged Western nations not to attack Iran to neutralize its nuclear program or intervene against the Syrian government over bloodshed in which the United Nations says its forces have killed more than 9,000 people.

"No obligation" isn't the same as "won't, never-ever" and maybe the conventional wisdom of all those analysts about Russian intentions in the region is plain wrong. It wouldn't be the first time the experts have been flatfooted. One things for sure, the PM of Russia wasn't just flapping his gums.

Moscow | May 10

The Guardian - Russian president, facing protests at home, postpones much-anticipated G8 meeting in Washington with Barack Obama

Vladimir Putin: to miss Group of Eight meeting outside Washington on 18-19 May to finish work forming new government. Photograph: Ria Novosti/Reuters
Vladimir Putin will miss a planned visit to the US this month for a key global summit and a much-anticipated meeting with President Barack Obama, the Kremlin has confirmed, as the Russian president faced pressure from protests and opposition criticism at home.

The White House announced on Wednesday that Putin was unable to join the other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations meeting outside Washington on 18-19 May. The Kremlin said Putin needed to finish work setting up his government.

Instead, Russia will send Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and new prime minister, to the G8 summit.

The Kremlin said Obama expressed "understanding" at Putin's cancellation. The two presidents are due to meet at another global summit in Mexico in mid-June.

May 6

CSM - As the second presidential inauguration of Vladimir Putin approaches, a former correspondent who once worked for him looks at the world view of the Russian iron man. His theory: The president is feeling dissed by the West and believes it conspires to "destroy" Russia.

On eve of Putin's inauguration, protest and reaction bigger than expected
CSM - Police cracked down with tear gas and hundreds of arrests after anti-Putin protesters tried to cross a barricaded bridge.

Putin's BRIC Power Play
Forbes - President Putin is officially back, but this time he has a problem. The Russian masses have started to see through the political mist of the Kremlin; they don’t like what’s on show. Few doubt that serious reform is required for Putin to make it to 2018 (and beyond), but ‘quick fixes’ also tend to help. Although Putin’s ‘Eurasian Union’ has already flopped as an external strategy to garner support, he still has one vehicle available that can seriously enhance Russia’s global economic and political stake: the BRICs bloc.

Dagestan Bombs Shadow Putin's Return to Presidency
AP - The twin thundering car bombs that shook the capital of Dagestan and killed at least 13 people were grisly reminders that Vladimir Putin, who came to power a dozen years ago as a hardliner against Caucasus insurgents, will have to confront more violence as he returns to a third term in the Kremlin.

Kathy Lally | Moscow | May 5

WaPo - Striding through the Kremlin’s gold-encrusted doors and applauded by the modern nobility, Vladimir Putin returns to the Russian presidency Monday in the throne room of the czars, now a dangerously weakened autocrat.

The protests of December have shaken his all-powerful countenance, setting off machinations by the powers behind him who are intent on preserving their authority and privilege despite demands for democracy and reform. That conflict portends difficult and uncertain days for Russia, with Putin pressured to display more muscle than compromise.

“Putin needs to be strong,” said Vladimir Pastukhov, a Russian political scientist and visiting fellow at Oxford, “otherwise there will be 12,000 knives to his back the next day.”

Putin has ruled Russia since 2000, the last four years as prime minister, and until December the nation had traded the unpredictability of democracy for the certainty of a strong hand.

This article seems more like wishful thinking than reporting

Daniel Tovrov | Kiev | May 1

IBT - The United States condemned the alleged mistreatment of jailed politician Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine on Tuesday and called for her release.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Washington was "deeply concerned by the treatment" of Tymoshenko, adding that recent photos of the ex-Ukrainian prime minister and revolutionary leader with bruises on her arms and stomach "further call into question the conditions of her confinement," according to Reuters.

Fredrik Dahl | Vienna | Apr 30

Reuters - China called on the United States and Russia - which hold the vast majority of the world's nuclear warheads - on Monday to make further "drastic" cuts in their atomic arsenals.

A senior Chinese diplomat also told a meeting in Vienna that the development of missile defense systems which "disrupt" the global strategic balance should be abandoned, a possible reference to U.S. plans in Europe that have angered Russia.

A new U.S.-Russian arms reduction treaty will cut long-range, strategic nuclear weapons deployed by the two Cold War-era foes to no more than 1,550 on each side within seven years after it came into force in February 2011.

But they still have by far the most nuclear arms - a fact stressed by the Chinese representative on the opening day of a two-week conference to discuss the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a 1970 pact to prevent the spread of atomic bombs.

China, Britain and France are the other three recognized nuclear weapons states. But the size of their arsenals are in the low hundreds, well below those of the United States and Russia which have thousands of nuclear warheads. read the rest!

It’s hard to break out of a mindset. It’s harder whan you don’t have a simple substitute.

So Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft, who spent the heights of their careers in the Cold War, need some disruptive thinking. Let’s see if I can provide it.

At least six of their eight key facts depend heavily on Cold-War assumptions, the major one being that the United States and the Sov...er...Russia are enemies. Is that true?

Who's a partner?

TBILISI (Reuters) - American property mogul Donald Trump flew into the former Soviet republic of Georgia on Saturday to expand his global real estate empire, lending his name to a glitzy tower on the Black Sea coast there.

Unveiling a $250 million residential high-rise planned for the Georgian coastal resort town of Batumi, Trump said the Caucasus mountain nation had become a prime destination for foreign investment.

"I think you have a lot of investment opportunities in Georgia. It's amazing what's going on. It's one of the really amazing places in the world right now," Trump told Reuters in an interview.

Miriam Elder | Moscow | April 15

The Guardian - Unlike Vladimir Putin, many Russians have taken to the internet with great enthusiasm. Now liberals and gay rights activists are among those feeling the heat from the Kremlin.

Unlike other media, the internet in Russia, has developed largely untouched by the arm of the state. The protests have prompted many to wonder: is that about to change?

"It's too late to change things," said Anton Nossik, an internet guru. "Kids are now born into the internet and grew up in the internet. Like it or not, you have to embrace it."

That is the view of most internet observers in Russia: that it's too late, and too technologically complicated, to institute a China-style firewall. Yet the government is infamous for its attention to propaganda, and for the power of its suspicious spy services, and there are signs that it is seeking to boost its ability to control the internet.

Alastair Beach | Apr 5

The Independent - Russia yesterday claimed the West was undermining the work of international peace envoy Kofi Annan, warning Britain and her allies not to arm Syria's rebels as a deadline for implementing an international peace plan approaches.

Moscow's Foreign Minister claimed that even if Western nations decided to "arm the Syrian opposition to the teeth", rebel fighters would be powerless to vanquish the better armed and still largely loyal national army. "The carnage will go on for many years," warned Sergey Lavrov.

His comments came as yet more civilians were killed by shellfire and gun battles across the country, with President Bashar al-Assad refusing so far to abide by the terms of Mr Annan's peace initiative and withdraw his tanks and troops from besieged towns, despite promising to accede to the terms of a ceasefire proposed by the former UN Secretary General.

Sanjoy Majumder | Vishakhapatnam, India | April 4

BBC - India is to formally commission a nuclear submarine into its navy, joining an elite group of nations with similar capabilities.

The $1bn (£630m) Russian-built Nerpa has been leased by the Indian navy for the next 10 years. It was handed over to India in eastern Russia in January.

India previously had a Soviet submarine but decommissioned it in 1991.

It now rejoins China, Russia, the US, the UK and France as an operator of underwater nuclear vessels.

It's somewhat interesting that campaign rivals are making hay about this "gaffe".

Obama was caught on an open mic assuring Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that after this November's election, he would have more room to manuever, more flexibility to negotiate on the European missile shield.

This is simply realpolitik writ small: Obama has a pretty clear path to re-election, and a fairly strong chance of garnering majorities in both houses of Congress.

That's a plain truth, and no amount of whining by the losers is going to change all that.

If you believed the screeds of rightwing ambulance chasers writing today, Obama just promised to sell the White House to Russia brick by brick, with Lady Liberty thrown in, as soon as he gets re-elected.

An open mike caught an exchange between Obama and Russia's Medvedev in which Obama asked for a message to be passed to Vladimir Putin on missile defense:

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

Now I'm not exactly President Obama's biggest fan but lets face it, the Right's reaction is pearl-clutching at it's finest. Firstly, because every second term president finds it easier to be more flexible and secondly because talking to Putin about missile defense flexibility is one of the most eminently sensible things a U.S. president could possibly do.

One of the things I had wanted to talk to Cheryl Rofer about today was an article I came across a couple of days ago in the Eurasian Review which had some scary facts and figures about the post-Soviet mess of nuclear waste in the North West Region of Russia, which includes the Murmansk and Archangelsk Oblasts (provinces), the Novaya Zemlya Territory (Okrug) and the White, Barents and Kara Seas. The area "contains the largest concentration of fissile, radioactive and nuclear materials for either military or civilian application found anywhere on the planet", says the article by Richard Rousseau - and most of it is badly maintained, in rusting containment and slowly but surely leaking out.

Alexei Anishchuk & Steve Gutterman | Moscow | Mar 23

Reuters - President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday time was running out for the West to come up with new proposals to secure Russia's agreement to a missile defense shield in Europe.

Ahead of talks with U.S. President Barack Obama next week, Medvedev gave a downbeat assessment of global security and international relations at the end of his four-year presidency, saying the "Euro-Atlantic" security community he had hoped to create remained a "myth".

Medvedev, who will be succeeded by Vladimir Putin in May, said Moscow was unconvinced by NATO's argument that the planned missile defense shield was intended as protection against a missile attack by countries such as Iran.

"We have time (for an agreement) but it is running out, and I think that it would be in our mutual benefit to reach mutually acceptable agreements," Medvedev told a security conference.

"The main thing is that we must hear one simple thing - hear it and receive confirmation: 'Respected friends from Russia, our missile defense is not aimed against Russian nuclear forces.' This must be affirmed, not in a friendly chat over a cup of tea or a glass of wine, but in a document."

Vladimir isachenkov | Moscow | Mar 13

AP - Russia and the United States have failed to narrow their differences over a planned U.S. missile shield and stand practically no chance of reaching a compromise at the NATO summit in Chicago in May, a top Russian official said Tuesday.

Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Washington is going ahead with its plans for a missile shield in Europe without considering Russian concerns.

The U.S. says the NATO missile shield is aimed at deflecting potential missile threats from Iran, but Moscow fears that it will eventually grow powerful enough to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent.

"I think it would be very difficult to achieve any success at the summit," Antonov said. "As of today, there is no document for the leaders to approve."

NATO has said it wants to cooperate with Russia on the missile shield. But it has rejected Russia's proposal to run the shield jointly.

Without a NATO-Russia cooperation deal, President Dmitry Medvedev has sought guarantees from the U.S. that any future shield is not aimed at Russia. He has threatened to aim missiles at the U.S. shield if no agreement is reached.

Darin Liston | Mar 11 | DipNote

Last month, I was privileged to be a part of the team for a joint U.S.-Russian Antarctic Treaty inspection in Antarctica. The Russians had four members on the team: two lawyers, a scientist and an environmental expert, while the U.S. also had four members on the team. I was the only one with military experience. At its inception, the Antarctic Treaty was, in part, an arms control treaty. In fact, it was the first multilateral arms control treaty that allowed unannounced on-site inspections. It has been a resounding success in that regard, so the main focus of the Treaty now relates to science. This was also an important milestone for us: it was the first inspection we have ever done jointly with another Antarctic Treaty party.

Darin Liston is a Commander in the United States Navy and Political Military Advisor to the Office of Euro-Atlantic Security Affairs in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance.

As you probably know by now, a resolution condemning the tyranny of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was introduced into the Security Council of the United Nations this weekend. It had the backing of the United States and European Union but more important, the strong endorsement of the Arab League.

It was immediately vetoed by the Russians and Chinese. A curious development to be sure: Syria is not a thriving economy like Iran and does not make large purchases of arms from the Russians and Chinese like Iran.

You'd think Vladimir Putin would have learned a lesson from last year's civil unrest in the Middle East and America.

You'd think Putin would have learned that stealing an election does a President no good, and that it taints not only him but his administration and party orgnization for at least a decade. After all, he was Bush's "Pootie Poot."

And you'd be wrong.

There were "serious problems" in the vote that returned Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency, the head of the major international election observer mission said Monday, adding fuel to an opposition testing its strength with plans for a massive protest rally.

Russia

Putin wins by a landslide, no second round voting required. That voting fraud is alleged is a "dog-bites-man" story. Here's a pretty decent bio of the man who might as well be czar.

Iran

Conservatives win by a landslide - not suprising as moderates and reformists either boycotted the election or weren't allowed to run by the Guardian Council. Despite that, there was a suspiciously high turnout - another "dog-bites-man" story given Iran's 2009 presidentail election fiasco. What's more interesting but also still pretty much expected is that Ayatollah Khamenei's hardline supporters are way ahead of President Ahmadinejad's hardline supporters. The chance of Iran being accomodating on any nuclear deal just slipped some - how much it's still hard to say. The Iranian president is now a lame duck - and the post itself may be eliminated on Khamenei's order next year.

Moscow | Mar 5

AFP - Russian leader Vladimir Putin Sunday declared victory after an "open and honest battle" for the presidential post, as he addressed tens of thousands of supporters outside the Kremlin walls.

"We have won in an open and honest battle," Putin said with tears in his eyes and his voice hoarse with emotion, standing alongside outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev.

"I promised you we would win, we won. Glory to Russia!" he said.

Mar 4

BBC - Polling stations in Russia's far east have opened as the presidential election gets underway.

Sunday's vote sees Vladimir Putin hoping to become president again after four years as prime minister.

Mr Putin was Russia's president from 2000-2008, but was barred by the constitution from standing for a third consecutive term.

He faces four challengers, three of whom he has defeated in previous elections.

The election is being held against a backdrop of popular discontent, sparked by allegations of fraud during December's parliamentary elections.

Polls will be open from 8am to 8pm in each time zone, with the first opening in the Far East of the country at 20:00 GMT on Saturday, and the last in the western Kaliningrad region closing at 17:00 GMT on Sunday.