Russia to veto Syria aid resolution in its current form; Russia offers a new resolution on Syria to UN; Russia accuses US of manipulation over Syrian resolution; Russia laments the unchanged line up of Syrian opposition in Geneva; Russia and Egypt reach a
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    • (FEBRUARY 10-16)

    According to reports, Russian government has said that it will veto a U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid access in Syria in its current form, denouncing the draft as an effort to lay a foundation for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government. 1

    Meanwhile, reports noted that Russia has offered a new draft resolution to the United Nations on the crisis in Syria as a counter-proposal to another resolution it dismissed in the UN. The draft is an alternative to the one jointly submitted by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan and supported by the UK, US and France, which called for imposing sanctions on Syria if it did not comply with certain demands on supplying humanitarian aid within 15 days. 2

    According to reports, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has said that the recent statement by the US President Obama on Russia and Syria, ‘that Russian officials cannot say they are concerned about the well-being of the Syrian people when there are starving civilians,’ are an attempt to manipulate public opinion and force Russia to support a ‘counterproductive’ UN resolution. 3

    According to reports, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation at the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva, Alexei Borodavkin has lamented the fact that Syrian opposition delegation to Geneva had no changes to its line-up. He called upon the opposition’s delegation to include representatives from the National Coordination Committee (NCC), Kurdish Democratic Union Party and Popular Front for Change and Liberation. 4

    According to reports, during the visit of Egypt's defence minister Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to Moscow on February 14, the two countries have signed an initial US$ 3 billion weapons deal which includes negotiations and actual deals for the delivery of Mig 29 jets, air defence missile complexes, Mi-35 helicopters, coastal anti-ship complexes, light weapons and ammunition. The deal is reportedly to be funded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and is aimed at replacing decreased assistance from Washington. Bilateral trade stood at US$ 3 billion in 2013. 5

    According to reports, the Iranian Ambassador to Russia, Mehdi Sanai has said that Iran is prepared to step up mutually beneficial and comprehensive economic cooperation with Russia. The two sides have discussed the prospects of renewing a Memorandum of Economic Cooperation. Some areas of potential cooperation identified include Russian investments in the hydrocarbon sector, electricity, nuclear power for civilian usage, railways and automobile. 6

    According to reports, Russia’s presidential advisor Sergei Glazyev has said that Russia expects Ukraine to return to a process of integration with the Eurasia Union. 7

    Deputy energy minister Kirill Molodtsov has said that Russia will increase oil production in 2014 by 0.3 per cent to 525 million tons and boost its natural gas output by 4.8 per cent to 700 billion cubic meters. The boost in oil output is expected as a result of launching new fields in 2013. 8

    Russia has supplied the first batch of 3 transport Mi-17B-5 helicopters to Afghanistan within the framework of a contract with the US for the supply of 30 helicopters. The remaining helicopters will be delivered within 2014 in several batches. In total, 36 Mi-17B-5 helicopters have been supplied. 9

    Reports noted that Kyrgyzstan and Russia have reached an agreement to develop a joint programme aimed at promoting Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The agreement was reached at a meeting between Russian and Kyrgyz presidents Vladimir Putin and Almazbek Atambayev in Sochi on February 8. This includes setting up a working group chaired by the first deputy prime ministers of the two countries. 10

    Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said that Russia rejects U.S. practice of broadening anti-Iran sanction lists. 11

    During a meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Department for Europe and Eurasia Anna Azari held on February 10 in Moscow, the two sides discussed the situation in the Middle East, Palestinian-Israeli talks and prospects for expanding and diversifying cooperation in different fields. 12

    The Director-general and general designer of Kolomna’s Machine-Building Design Bureau Valery Kashin has said that Russia has delivered Khrizantema-S anti-tank missile systems to the Libyan army. He declined to specify on the number of missiles delivered. 13

    The Foreign Ministers of Russia and Eritrea, Sergei Lavrov and Osman Saleh, during their talks in Moscow on February 17, have discussed key international and regional problems. These include conflict situations in Southern Sudan, Central African Republic, the Sahara-Sahel region, Near and Middle East and in Syria and Afghanistan. Bilateral trade-and-economic cooperation was also part of the agenda. 14

    According to reports, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi has said that Japan is set to expand its companies’ presence in liquefied natural gas projects on Russia’s Far Eastern island of Sakhalin and Vladivostok, a city in the Primorsky Territory and will provide financial assistance to these projects. Japan is in the list of countries that will import the first 5 million tonnes of LNG from Rosneft’s new LNG plant in Sakhalin, to be delivered in 2018-2019. 15

    Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has held talks with his Norwegian counterpart Erna Solberg, in Sochi on February 14. They discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation in the trade and economic, investment, energy and humanitarian fields. 16

    Russian and German foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Frank-Walter Steinmeier have met in Sochi on February 14 wherein they discussed a wide range of issues on bilateral cooperation and international problems including the developments in Syria. 17

    During a meeting between Russian and German foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Sochi on February 14, the two sides called upon Ukrainians to find their own way to settle the political crisis in the country. 18

    Russia has welcomed the high-level talks held between North and South Koreas that ended in Panmunjom on February 14. 19

    According to reports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei has met with his Algerian counterpart Ramtane Lamamr in Moscow on February 11. This was their third meeting in the last six months. They discussed bilateral issues as well as issues of global concern. 20

    Greece’s Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Yannis Maniatis has said that his country will continue the strategic partnership with Russia in the field of energy. This includes Greece’s interest in the construction of the Burgas-Alexandropulis oil pipeline, South Stream and prices for the Russian natural gas for Greece. 21

    Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov has said that an international anti-mine centre will be created in the Moscow region by June 1, 2014. An idea on setting up the international anti-mine centre in Russia was put forth at a session of the Russia-NATO Council in October 2013 and backed by several countries. The centre is being created within strengthening cooperation between the Russian Armed Forces and the armies of foreign countries to counter hand-made explosive devices and ground-mine-clearing. 22

    President Putin has said that hydrocarbons could no longer serve as a driving force of economic growth in Russia. According to the Finance Ministry, oil and gas revenues account for almost 50 per cent of budget income in Russia. The GDP is expected to grow between 1.5-1.8 per cent this year. The federal budget deficit in 2013 was 310.52 billion rubles (0.5 per cent of GDP) and is expected to be 0.6-0.7 per cent of GDP in 2014. 23

    In other developments, according to reports, the State Duma has turned down a proposed amendment to the Law on election which envisages lowering the parliamentary election barrier from 5 to 3 per cent. The ‘Just Russia party’ had insisted on a lower election barrier of 3 per cent, claiming that if passed the amended bill will promote the liberalization of the election system in Russia. 24

    Russia remains one of Belarus’s key trade partners in 2013 with Russia accounting for 49.5 per cent of Belarus’s total foreign trade. Trade turnover stood at US$ 39.7 billion. 25

    Russia’s trade volume with China increased by 17 per cent in 2013 and reached US$ 88.8 billion. This was followed by Netherlands (US$ 76 billion), Germany (US$ 75 billion), Italy (US$ 53.9 billion) and Japan (US$ 33.2 billion). However, the European Union as a bloc remained Russia’s biggest trading partner, accounting for half of Russia’s global trade. 26

    Russia has delivered the first batch of 19 military transport helicopters Mi-17B-5 to India, as part of the contract to supply 59 helicopters of this type. The remaining 40 helicopters will be supplied to the customer by the end of 2015. 27

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