MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti)
Crisis forces Russia, U.S. to curtail their ambitions / EU creating 'stability belt' around Russia / Russia unwilling to meet OPEC halfway / Justice Ministry proposes banning foreign missionaries in Russia
Gazeta.ru
Crisis forces Russia, U.S. to curtail their ambitions
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said at a recent Munich security conference that it is time to "press the reset button" on U.S.-Russia relations. The two countries are now doing this in conditions of a global recession.
Although the problems they are facing are very different, the economic recession is forcing them to curtail ambitions and streamline priorities.
Russia is not a priority for Washington, which nevertheless needs Moscow's assistance, or at least non-resistance, to deal with priority problems such as Iran, Afghanistan and arms reduction. However, to secure Russia's positive attitude, it needs to improve the general atmosphere in bilateral relations.
Progress in Russian-U.S. relations is possible because the two main irritants - NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, and the deployment of missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic - are not as important to Barack Obama as they were to George W. Bush, who considered them a priority, especially at the last stage of his presidency.
The new U.S. administration has a good chance of putting off the two projects and trying to "sell" that goodwill gesture to Moscow as expensively as possible.
Russia's claim to the status of a global superpower has been undermined by declining oil and gas prices. Its priorities are now focused on Europe and Eurasia, and a better political climate would help it attract investment, which it may need soon.
Russia and the U.S. may agree on nuclear disarmament, because they have a wealth of experience in discussing the issue and love doing it. The matter is especially important to Russia, because the nuclear arms are the only sphere where it remains equal to the United States. The opportunity to hold the talks is also psychologically important, especially because President Bush flatly refused to discuss the issue.
On the other hand, there is a chance that Russian-U.S. relations in the nuclear sphere will not be reset but overloaded. An attempt to attain a very challenging goal immediately - the START-1 treaty will expire in December - may produce the opposite effect.
Differences on the issue have been too big, and so it may be more reasonable not to try to coordinate a new long-term parity regime but to advance in stages. A series of small achievements may prove more effective than one major accomplishment in creating a positive atmosphere.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
EU creating 'stability belt' around Russia
Next week the European Commission is expected to approve the final wording of the concept of an Eastern Partnership targeting six of the EU's immediate eastern neighbors - Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and, provisionally, Belarus.
The partners will be offered eventual free trade, visa-free travel and close energy cooperation - assuming they harmonize their laws with those of the EU, reform their economies, and demonstrate democratic progress.
If Brussels wins over their sympathies, Russia will find itself surrounded by a group of not very friendly countries.
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said the European project looked to him like another Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and a "ring around Russia." He also said he saw no reason for creating "one more CIS controlled by the EU."
This expression of skepticism by a national leader who proclaimed the goal of his country's integration into the EU is quite logical, even though it sounds scandalous.
Some time ago in Brussels, representatives of the European Commission told journalists from the above six countries that the EU does not have the potential for continued expansion. Even Ukraine, which enjoys special sympathy in Europe, will have to reconcile itself to the bitter reality. Like Georgia and Moldova, it will not be admitted to the EU.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said this very explicitly.
Therefore, the Eastern Partnership can be seen as the EU's excuse to the countries aspiring to join it. Instead of EU membership, they will be offered a number of preferences, including free trade zones, first with Ukraine, then with Moldova and so on. Belarus is a special issue because it borders on the EU and Russia, which is highly important for Brussels.
The free trade zones are actually a Russian idea, which encouraged the establishment of a Common Economic Space and later a Common Customs Union. Unfortunately, its ideas were not taken up, although the countries involved want to expand the area of "a free movement of people and commodities."
Now the EU will play on this desire.
Vedomosti
Russia unwilling to meet OPEC halfway
On Sunday Vienna will host a regular summit of petroleum exporting countries, which Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin will also attend. OPEC expects Russia to continue cutting production, and faster than it is declining naturally now, a source in the Energy Ministry and a government official told Vedomosti.
Moreover, to effectively push prices down, Russia needs to make a show slash in production, while Russia's decision is only to coordinate policies with OPEC, one of them added. Moscow is not ready to harsh actions.
Although OPEC issued no specific recommendations with numbers, it likened Russia to Saudi Arabia, assuming Russia could make a similar cut in production.
So far, there is a huge difference. Production rate in Russia was 9.78 million barrels per day in 2008 and decreased by a mere 0.3%, to 9.75 million bpd, in January-February 2009. Saudi Arabia, in compliance with the OPEC decisions, slashed production by nearly 16% in one year, to 8 million bpd in February from 9.53 million bpd in August 2008.
Russia is not ready to make a similar decision, the sources said. Sechin said on Thursday that the country had made a vast contribution to stabilizing the oil price at $40 per barrel: "We believe it was the result of our joint efforts [with OPEC]." Russia cut exports by 15 million metric tons in 2008, and production by 3 million tons, or 0.7%, the deputy prime minister said.
OPEC countries slashed production by 9.5% in 2008.
Russia cannot make a rigid commitment to OPEC, as oil and gas fetch the country 25% of GDP and 40% of all taxes, said Valery Nesterov from Troika Dialog. On the other hand, OPEC has no tools to pressure Russia either, he added.
Proposing to sign a basic memorandum in December, Russia did expect to exchange information and technologies with OPEC countries, but the memorandum was never signed, the Energy Ministry source said.
Gazeta
Justice Ministry proposes banning foreign missionaries in Russia
Believers are outraged by the national Justice Ministry's plans to submit a bill on regulating the work of foreign missionaries in Russia to the government by December 2009, saying such activity is not subject to legal regulation.
On Tuesday, Sergei Milushkin, director of the Justice Ministry's nonprofit organizations department, said the federal bill On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations would be amended.
"First of all, we plan to define missionary activity. The document will also stipulate various conditions of missionary activity and the parameters of administrative liability for illegal preaching," Milushkin said.
Milushkin said the bill's main provisions would apply to foreign missionaries. "Under current freedom-of-conscience legislation, foreigners can preach only at the invitation of Russian religious organizations," Milushkin said.
"However, this provision is virtually ineffective. Under the new bill, foreign tourists preaching in Russia will be fined and deported for violating immigration legislation," Milushkin said.
Religious leaders reacted negatively to the Justice Ministry's proposal. Konstantin Bendas, first deputy chairman of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians, said current legislation protected law-abiding citizens from any encroachment on their privacy.
"Failure to punish illegal preaching can be explained by low religious-education standards of Russian law-enforcement and court officials, rather than by legal loopholes," Bendas told the paper.
Bendas said it was impossible to find any legal definition for such concepts as missionary activity, the Eucharist (Holy Communion) and prayers.
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