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Today, the lame-duck Senate is considering the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal Act of 2012. The bill’s language contains the language known as the Magnitsky Act, which for the first time punishes Russian officials implicated in serious human rights abuses.
The Heritage Foundation, December 5, 2012
Following his reelection, U.S. President Barack Obama now faces the task of revitalizing U.S.-Russian relations. Ties between Washington and Moscow have seemed to stagnate somewhat following the reset of 2009-2010 and the return to the Kremlin of Vladimir Putin.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
November 25, 2012
As members of the Russian punk-rock band Pussy Riot appeal their two-year prison sentence for a political protest in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, a pale of repression is settling over their country. This crackdown is wrapped in legislative garb, but the iron grip of authoritarianism is unmistakable.
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
The New York Times, November 19, 2012
If last week’s corruption scandal involving the former Russian defense minister was not embarrassing enough for Moscow, the plot now thickens. A police investigation is targeting one of the Russian high-tech modernization projects, a type of GPS called GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
By Dr. Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
November 15, 2012
On November 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked Defense Minister Anatoly E. Serdyukov, who has held the post since 2007.Serdyukov had overseen the largest and most radical military reform of the Russian armed forces since the creation of the Red Army in 1918.Under Serdyukov, a former furniture businessman and senior tax collection official.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
November 6, 2012
As election eve in the United States approaches, Moscow is hoping for a return of the incumbent.During a recent meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, a forum for exchanging views on Russia, at least three senior Russian officials announced that the U.S. president’s reelection would be good for Russia. This is hardly surprising. Russians respect and get along with power.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
November 5, 2012
On October 16–28, the world is marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a standoff between the United States and the former Soviet Union that nearly ended in a nuclear war between the two superpowers.
The confrontation of the Cold War still affects the relationship between the U.S. and Russia to this day and is a cautionary tale in a world where nuclear proliferation is rampant.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, October 18, 2012
On October 3, the FBI reported [1] it had charged 11 people with running a military technology procurement network based in the United States and Russia that was allegedly illegally procuring [2] and exporting high-tech microelectronics to the Russian military and intelligence services. Alexander Fishenko, the owner of the Houston-based Arc Electronics Inc., was charged with operating as an unregistered foreign agent.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, October 5, 2012
Hours before Mikheil Saakashvili admitted defeat, a senior Azerbaijani official told me that the Georgian president had nothing to worry about. He wasn’t the only one miscalling the result: from Tbilisi to Washington, few expected the stunning victory by the opposition Georgian Dream movement, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who claimed victory in the country’s parliamentary elections.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
October 4, 2012
By Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. September 20, 2012
On Wednesday, Under Secretary of Defense Jim Miller argued that the Obama Administration’s “reset” policy with Russia had succeeded.
According to Miller, rapproachment with Russia has enabled the U.S. to diversify supply routes into Afghanistan and implement tough sanctions against Iran.
Miller’s claim does not pass the reality test on several levels.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, September 20, 2012
Last week, General Sergei Karakayev, Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, announced [2] plans for a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to go into production as soon as 2018. He emphasized that the new missile would be capable of penetrating the NATO missile shield Russia dislikes so much.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
September 13, 2012
Russia hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum this past weekend in its Pacific port of Vladivostok. It was a clear signal that Moscow’s interest in Asia is rising as the traditional market for its energy and raw materials—the euro zone—wallows in crisis and stagnation. And After America’s much-ballyhooed “pivot to Asia,” it is now Russia’s turn.
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest, September 11, 2012
Vladimir Putin donned a white cloak, helmet and a crane’s beak and climbed into an ultra-light plane to lead a flock of endangered red cranes in the Arctic Yamal peninsula in their maiden flight south. The cranes, raised in captivity, were supposed to get imprinted by Putin as their flock leader and follow him in their migratory travel to Iran.
The Heritage Foundation, September 7, 2012
The attack in Ingushetia, Russia, is believed to have been organized by Doku Umarov, a Chechen Islamist leader.
The suicide bombing [2] on August 19 in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia in Russia is a tragic reminder of increasing extremist violence in this troubled region.
The suicide bomber targeted participants in the funeral of the police officer killed in a shooting incident the day before.
By Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation, August 21, 2012
Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 6156, the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act of 2012, by voice vote with only one “nay.” This is a step in the right direction, given that Russia will join the World Trade Organization (WTO) on August 22.The 1974 Jackson–Vanik amendment denies Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status...
By Ariel Cohen, Michaela Bendikova, and Bryan Riley
July 27, 2012
American Leadership, The Heritage Foundation
Journalist Michael Totten recently described Georgia as being at “the edge of the West” and recalled that U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union George F. Kennan famously said that “Russia can have at its borders only enemies or vassals.”[1] Were he alive today, Kennan would have agreed that this is Georgia’s current predicament.In spite of sharp economic contraction after the 2008 Russian invasion and global recession.
By James M. Roberts and Ariel Cohen
The Heritage Foundation
July 27, 2012
Why the Syrian leader's most important international backer might start looking for a way out.
The Interfax news agency reported Tuesday that a Russian naval squadron, including an antisubmarine ship and three marine-landing craft, left Severomorsk in the Arctic for the Mediterranean. Several more ships will join it en route. Together, they will pay a call to Tartus, Syria, Russia's only naval facility outside of the old Soviet Union.
By Ariel Cohen
The Atlantic, July 15, 2012
Last Friday, Russia’s Kommersant, a leading newspaper, reported that United Russia, the ruling political party, is about to submit a bill in the Duma that would tighten the activity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) financed by foreign funds. This step is likely to severely curb freedom of speech in Russia.
By Ariel Cohen and Dmitri Titoff
July 2, 2012 American Leadership, The Heritage Foundation
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relation Committee unanimously passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which would ban Russian officials involved in Magnitsky’s death from entering the U.S. and using U.S. financial institutions. The bill was cleared earlier this month by a House committee.
By Ariel Cohen
June 29, 2012
American Leadership, The Heritage Foundation
INTERVIEW - Ariel Cohen, directeur de recherche en charge de la Russie à la Heritage Foundation, analyse la signification des récents mouvements d'opposition en Russie à la lumière du printemps arabe.
By Ariel Cohen
Le Figaro, June 26, 2012
Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan—rich in oil and gas, and the world’s largest landlocked country—is the focus of many Fortune 500 companies seeking new business development and market penetration in emerging economies. In the 2012 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom, Kazakhstan’s economy ranks as the 65th-freest in the world.
By Ariel Cohen and James M. Roberts
The Heritage Foundation
June 26, 2012
Competing aggressively with the United States for the “hearts and minds” of people around the world, many state and non-state actors are funneling significant resources into their public diplomacy strategies. The Chinese government announced in 2009 that it would spend almost $7 billion on a “global media drive” to improve its image. The Russian government allocated $1.4 billion for international propaganda in 2010.
The Heritage Foundation, June 21, 2012
President Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin met at the G-20 summit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The meeting’s results disappointed realists and international interventionists alike.
The two leaders failed to reach agreements on core geopolitical issues. But the body language said it all: after the two hour meeting the two barely looked at each other, and Reuters reported their demeanor as “cool and detached.”
By Ariel Cohen
The National Interest
June 20, 2012
