Moscow, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has congratulated Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin on his return to office and said that he looks forward to continued engagement and constructive dialogue. In a telephone conversation with Putin, Rasmussen "emphasised NATO's commitment, and his own personal commitment, to working with the president-elect to establish a true strategic partnership between NATO and Russia", the organisation said in a statement. Rasmussen noted the successes that the NATO-Russia cooperation has produced over the last decade, especially in Afghanistan, counter-narcotics and counter-piracy. He expressed hope that it would be possible to move forward on cooperation on missile defence, as "such cooperation would benefit both NATO and Russia". "President-elect Putin underlined his commitment to good, stable relations with NATO," the statement said. "The secretary general thanked him (Putin) for his frankness and constructive approach. The secretary general and president-elect agreed to meet bilaterally in the not too distant future," it ...
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Moscow, Vladimir Putin's re-election as Russian president will not affect the country's stance on Syria, analysts say. Russia's foreign minister is preparing to meet Arab League ministers in Cairo March 10 to discuss ways to resolve the crisis in Syria. Sergei Lavrov announced the trip during talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Moscow Monday, a day after Putin claimed victory at the presidential polls. Putin warned the West not to interfere in Syria in the run-up to Sunday's vote and accused the US of "political engineering" in regions that are "traditionally important" to Russia. Russia and China had vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria last month and bowed out of an international conference aimed at applying more pressure on the Damascus government over its crackdown on anti-government protesters. "The meeting on March 10 will be a valuable opportunity to analyze the situation from all sides," Lavrov said. He, however, said there was no need for new action on Syria. Nourhan el-Sheikh, professor of political science at Cairo University, said Putin "had a vision concerning Syria," and that he wanted the world to "react correctly" to ...
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Moscow, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claimed victory after receiving nearly 65 percent of the votes during the presidential election on Sunday, according to preliminary election results. The opposition claims the results were rigged in Putin's favor. According to data from Russia's Central Election Commission, approximately 63.3 percent of registered voters participated in Sunday's presidential election. But even before the election was held, Putin's return to the Kremlin was all but certain although he suffered a nearly 7 percent loss when compared to his previous victory in 2004. As of 4 a.m. local time on Monday, with 87.73 percent of the votes counted, results from the Central Election Commission put Putin far ahead with approximately 64.72 percent of the vote. He is followed by Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and self-nominee businessman Mikhail Prokhorov who won 17.04 and 7.09 percent respectively. "We won! We have won in an open and fair fight," Putin said as he addressed more than 100,000 supporters in Moscow. "This was more than a presidential election. This was a very important test for us all, for all of our people. This was a test to see whether we are ...
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Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has dismissed the idea of a political amnesty because he said there were no political prisoners in the country. "I don't quite understand what is meant by political amnesty. I don't think we have any political prisoners, thank God," Putin said Monday. He said there was talk about political prisoners but no names were provided. "They (the opposition) should have shown at least one person who is in prison for political reasons," Putin said. Opposition activists said at an anti-Putin rally during the weekend that they had prepared a list of around 40 political prisoners and would shortly present it to the ...
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Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has begun courting sports fans as part of his presidential campaign, perhaps seeing them as a political threat, analysts here have said. "Putin is seeking to prevent the organised communities of sports fans from participating in public protests targeting him," said independent political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky. Putin held a lengthy meeting with representatives of several football fan clubs Thursday, fielding an extended question-answer session that was concluded with beer and crawfish. The prime minister promised, among other things, to pressure air carriers for free travel for fans during the 2012 Euro Cup in Ukraine and Poland and to consider reintroducing now-banned beer sales during football matches. He also cracked his trademark laddish jokes, proposing during a discussion on education reform that the fans "give a good thrashing" to Sergei Fursenko, head of the Russian Football Union and brother of Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko, whom Putin addressed as "bro". Earlier in the week, mixed martial arts champion Fedor Emelianenko joined Putin's campaign team in the Belgorod region. Emelianenko, a ...
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Moscow, Russia will become one of the best countries for business within the next 10 years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said. "We need to outline a quite clear goal - to become one of the world's leading countries with the best conditions for entrepreneurial activity within ten years," Putin said Wednesday at a congress of Business Russia, a national association of business groups. "This is a very difficult task, because it is rather hard to eradicate and wipe out corruption, which, unfortunately, is part of the culture, or its absence," the prime minister said. Putin said Russia needs a "real breakthrough in all elements of the national investment climate", adding that on some investment climate criteria, the country is "at the tail-end of global ratings". Russia moved up four positions, to 120th place from 124th, according to Doing Business 2012, an annual report compiled by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, which was published in ...
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Moscow, Seeking to enhance bilateral cooperation in nuclear, energy, defence and economic spheres, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold a summit meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after which both countries are to sign major deals in the fields of defence, health and science and technology. Singh, who arrived here Thursday evening, will visit Kremlin, the seat of power of the Russian Federation, for a meeting with Medvedev and later for delegation level talks, when a host of issues such as the Kundankulam nuclear power plant's units III and IV deal, comprehensive economic cooperation agreement and others are expected to figure and a slew of agreements are to be signed. The summit meeting comes at a time when Russia is witnessing public unrest over what the protesters allege is a fraud in the Duma elections held Dec 4, which left the ruling United Russia Party with a reduced majority in parliament. After the summit meeting, the prime minister will attend a India-Russia meeting of captains of industry, where hurdles relating to growth of bilateral trade, which hovers close to $10 billion, will be debated. The two countries have fixed a target of $20 ...
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Moscow, Russian Prime minister Vladimir Putin''s party has captured less than 50 percent of votes in the country''s parliamentary election. The results, which show a significant drop in the United Russia party’s popularity, indicate that it might lose its current two-third majority. The party had garnered over 64 percent of votes in the 2007 elections. The drop reflects a sense of disillusionment with Putin''s authoritarian stance, rampant corruption and the widening income gap between Russians. The election result is a huge setback for Putin, ahead of his 2012 presidential bid. The Communist Party has won 20 percent of votes, according to two separate exit polls cited by Channel One and Rossiya television. It is, however, unclear how 450 seats in the Duma would be shared out under the complicated calculations. “United Russia has lost touch with reality,” The Daily Mail quoted a St Petersburg -based history teacher, Alexander, as saying. The Opposition parties had alleged election law violations occurring in some parts of Russia, and a Western-financed electoral watchdog and two liberal media outlets said their websites were shut down to suppress ...
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Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today confirmed he would swap posts with outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev, if voters support the pro-Kremlin United Russia party and Mr Putin's candidature in the coming elections. "I would like to once again stress that if the voters trust us with forming the government, that is they vote for United Russia and me as the Russian President, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev would undoubtedly head the government," Mr Putin said at a meeting with voters. He said Russia must pursue modernisation in all areas, "end its dependence on oil and gas and perform a transition to the innovative development model." Mr Medvedev, in his turn, said he and Mr Putin would continue their frequent trips across Russia if elected to the ...
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Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin confirmed to switch posts with outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev if voters supported the pro-Kremlin United Russia party and Putin's candidacy in upcoming elections. "I would like to once again stress that if the voters trust us with forming the government, that is they vote for United Russia and me as the Russian president, Dmitry Anatolyevich would undoubtedly head the government," Putin said at a meeting with voters Thursday. He said that Russia must pursue modernisation in all areas, "end its dependence on oil and gas and perform a transition to the innovative development model". Medvedev, in his turn, said that he and Putin would continue their frequent trips across Russia if elected to the ...
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Moscow, Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin has warned the western powers against meddling in Russia's forthcoming elections after agreeing to stand for president in March 2012. Addressing a glitzy congress of the ruling United Russia party Sunday, Putin said any attempts by "foreign states" to influence Russia's political process would be "futile". Russia will hold a crucial parliamentary vote next week, followed by presidential elections in March next year. "Representatives of some foreign states" were paying politically-active NGOs in Russia to "influence the course of the election campaign in our country," Putin said to a roar of approval and applause. "It would be better if they used this money to pay off their national debt and stop conducting an ineffective and costly foreign policy," he added in a clear reference to the debt-ridden ...
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