Moskovsky Komsomolets
Oscar-winning director rejects road privilege
Oscar-winning film director Nikita Mikhalkov, known for his love of privileges on the road, will soon hand over his car’s blue flashing light provided by the Defense Ministry.
Mikhalkov announced he was resigning as chairman of the ministry’s public council, a position that earned him a flashing blue light that entitles cars to ignore traffic rules.
“I'm giving up this post with regret, along with the blue light and credentials,” Mikhalkov said in a letter that was widely quoted by the media.
The film director has often come under severe criticism for using the device usually limited to civil servants. The ministry even said in February 2011 they were considering stripping Mikhalkov’s car of the blue light, but these plans never came to pass.
Mikhalkov said he was resigning following his great disappointment with the way the Great Patriotic War’s 66th anniversary parade was organized. He said it did not convey the event’s significance and that Russians, and especially WWII veterans, were astonished and offended by the fact that NATO troops marched in the parade instead of Russian military school cadets – a tradition that should have been honored. According to Mikhalkov, that demonstrated the Russian military’s weakness, especially of the officers’ corps.
It appears that the famous film director was just as outraged about this year’s parade. “It was impossible to distinguish the faceless rows marching to the legendary military music and wearing identical shapeless robes except by listening to the commentator. And the five helicopters that participated in the parade demonstrated the entire might of the Russian Air Force,” he wrote.
On Monday, Mikhalkov confirmed that he had submitted his resignation to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, adding it was a private letter and that he did not know how the news was leaked to the media.
“I won’t comment on this letter. I would like to find out the ministry’s reaction first,” he said.
Observers have already interpreted this statement as Mikhalkov’s attempt to backtrack on the blue light issue.
Izvestia
Russian military unveil unique reconnaissance aircraft
The A-50 Mainstay early warning reconnaissance aircraft features a mushroom-shaped antenna on top of its fuselage and is packed with electronic equipment for scanning several thousand kilometers of airspace.
This plane, a converted Ilyushin Il-76-MD Candid strategic airlifter, is similar to U.S. Air Force Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.
The Russian Air Force, which did not receive an upgraded A-50 aircraft with state-of-the-art digital equipment, showed an older version containing huge transistor computers to the public in Ivanovo, Central Russia.
The A-50 detects and tracks aerial targets and warships, and informs armed service command centers of aerial and water surface situations. It can guide fighters and strike aircraft to their targets and can serve as an airborne command center.
The plane’s acting commander, Col. Igor Plokhikh, said its microwave radar can scan air space over an 800-km radius, detect and track 150 targets and allot them to fighters and strike aircraft.
Maj. Vladimir Lyubimtsev, an engineer in charge of the A-50’s radio equipment, said the plane has four computer networks for assessing and planning dogfights because Russian fighters have weaker computers than their U.S. equivalents. This will prevent any mid-air melees.
Unlike the roomy and comfortable AWACS planes, the A-50 is more ascetic. It has no sleeping or bathroom facilities, so its ten operators have to stay at their workstations at all times.
One of the plane’s advantages is that it can operate from unimproved airfields. The crew can conduct maintenance and pre-flight checks using equipment delivered by standard transport planes.
Its compartment must be heated or cooled, depending on the ambient temperature. The computers can only be switched on at temperatures over 15 degrees Celsius.
The A-50 has an extra aircraft engine in its tail section, which acts as an electric generator. It activates the ten-ton antenna spinning at 12 revolutions per minute and detecting up to 150 targets.
Col. Plokhikh said U.S. AWACS planes can detect up to 600 targets, which is excessive by any standards. The A-50 makes it possible to watch the entire air space and separate sectors containing enemy targets.
The A-50 is the only plane that can detect small ground targets, including helicopters revving up their engines and mountain targets.
The plane’s antenna can detect ballistic missile launches at a distance of 800 km, B-52 Stratofortress bombers flying 650 km away, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters flying 450 km away and cruise missiles at a distance of 250 km.
Col. Plokhikh said his crew was patrolling the Black Sea during the 1990-1991 Operation Desert Storm, watching for stray Tomahawk cruise missiles launched against Baghdad.
The A-50 also proved its worth during the 1995-1996 war in Chechnya, once detecting a helicopter hijacked by terrorists. It is also involved in all Russian military exercises. One A-50 supports Russian strategic bombers operating over the Pacific Ocean.
In all, 22 A-50s are deployed in Ivanovo, including nine operational planes.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Russia’s FSB ready to purge its ranks
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, plans to tighten its HR policy and give its director broader executive authority.
The State Duma will soon consider the bill on the service’s reform submitted by Mikhail Grishankov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Security Committee, and Nikolai Kovalyov, chairman of the State Duma Committee for Veterans’ Affairs, who headed the FSB in late 1990s. The lawmakers admit, however, that the end result has already been agreed with the service itself.
An amendment is to be introduced to the law On the Federal Security Service entailing greater authority for the service’s director. Information about the FSB and its employees, even those who have resigned, will only be disclosed with the director’s permission and will be classified if the director deems it necessary. Moreover, the FSB director will make the decision in regard to tests for candidates for FSB posts.
Another amendment will set out who may be considered an FSB staff member. Currently the security service includes military service members, civilian officials and personnel responsible for non-security tasks, such as plumbers, electricians and drivers. The law on the FSB will hold that the service’s staff members are “all military service members and civilians whose duties are directly linked to the main areas of FSB work and supporting such work.”
A ban on political activity will be introduced for all staff members. It is already in place for military service members and civilian officials. However, Vadim Solovyov, head of the Russian Communist Party’s legal department, was surprised by the ban’s wording. Staff members will not be allowed to join political parties, make financial contributions to such or take part in their work. The expert admitted that the nature of the service’s work can account for such strict wording. Moreover, FSB employees will not be allowed to disclose any details about the service or their colleagues online.
Some of the new regulations pertain to FSB’s HR policy. For example, the law will stipulate that all new employees will have to pass a lie detector test. This regulation existed before but was not fixed in the law. The same is true for drug testing, which will become obligatory.
Just as in Soviet times, FSB employees will not be allowed to leave the country for the period defined in their employment contract. In addition, security officers will not be allowed to own real estate abroad. Possession of such property, a second citizenship or residence permit in a foreign country will be considered sufficient grounds for termination.
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