Russian counter sanctions

[Vikrant]

It looks like Russia is getting ready to impose counter sanctions on the US.

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Russia said it will no longer export rocket engines to the U.S. to launch military satellites, adding to a dispute in Washington that already pits the two biggest U.S. defense contractors against billionaire Elon Musk.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Moscow today that Russian engines can be used only to launch civilian payloads, amid tensions over Russia’s support for separatists in Ukraine and the U.S. and European economic sanctions that have followed.

The Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines are used by United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture of top contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) and Boeing Co. (BA) that’s the sole supplier of rocket launches for the Pentagon. The engines power Atlas V rockets.

Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has sued the U.S. Air Force, claiming it created an illegal monopoly for the military’s satellite launch business.

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, also contends that the contract with United Launch Alliance funnels money from American taxpayers to Russia’s military industrial complex and potentially to those under U.S. sanctions because of the Ukraine crisis.

Last week, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Susan Braden lifted an order that temporarily blocked the Air Force from buying the Russian engines.

Two-Year Supply

Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters today that United Launch Alliance has a two-year supply of the engines, “so we’ll be able to conduct scheduled launches.”

United Launch Alliance was in the process of taking delivery of five more engines this year, its spokeswoman, Jessica Rye, said May 1.

The two-year inventory of engines enables a “smooth transition to our other rocket, Delta, which has all U.S.- produced rocket engines,” Rye said in an e-mail today.

Referring to Rogozin’s comments, Rye said, “If recent news reports are accurate, it affirms that SpaceX’s irresponsible actions have created unnecessary distractions, threatened U.S. military satellite operations, and undermined our future relationship with the International Space Station.”

Rogozin, himself a target of U.S. sanctions, told reporters that Russia won’t extend its role in the International Space Station beyond 2020. He also said that Russia would close U.S. Global Positioning System satellites’ ground stations in Russia on June 1 unless the U.S. allows access to Russia’s competing Glonass system.

Ian Christopher McCaleb, senior vice president at Levick, a public relations firm representing SpaceX, said he had no immediate comment.

Russia Bans Rocket Engine Sales to U.S. Military - Bloomberg

 

[Vikrant]

In addition to blocking GPS stations and rockets, Russia is gearing up to sanction International Space Station as well. Good news or bad news? You decide.

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MOSCOW, May 13 (Reuters) - Russia cast doubt on the long-term future of the International Space Station, a showcase of post-Cold War cooperation, as it retaliated on Tuesday against U.S. sanctions over Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a U.S. request to prolong the orbiting station's use beyond 2020. It will also bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites.

Moscow took the action, which also included suspending operation of GPS satellite navigation system sites on its territory from June, in response to U.S. plans to deny export licences for high-technology items that could help the Russian military.

"We are very concerned about continuing to develop high-tech projects with such an unreliable partner as the United States, which politicises everything," Rogozin told a news conference.

Washington wants to keep the $100 billion, 15 nation space station project in use until at least 2024, four years beyond the previous target.

Moscow's plan to part ways on a project which was supposed to end the "space race" underlines how relations between the former Cold War rivals have deteriorated since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March.

Since the end of the U.S. Space Shuttle project, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been the only way astronauts can get to the space station, whose crews include mostly Americans and Russians, as well as visitors from other countries.

At a time when Moscow is struggling to reform its accident-plagued space programme, Rogozin said U.S. plans to deny export licences for some high-technology items were a blow to Russian industry. "These sanctions are out of place and inappropriate," Rogozin said. "We have enough of our own problems."

Moscow's response would affect NK-33 and RD-180 engines which Russia supplies to the United States, Rogozin said. "We are ready to deliver these engines but on one condition that they will not be used to launch military satellites," he said.

RD-180 engines are used to boost Atlas 5 rockets manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that holds a virtual monopoly on launching U.S. military satellites.

ULA on Tuesday said it was not yet aware of any restrictions and hopes talks will resolve any issues that do arise. It added that it can use other launch vehicles and has a two-year supply of engines to smooth over any transition.

"ULA and our Department of Defense customers have always prepared contingency plans in the event of a supply disruption," ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye said in a statement.

Rogozin said Moscow was planning "strategic changes" in its space industry after 2020 and aims to use money and "intellectual resources" that now go to the space station for a "a project with more prospects".

He suggested Russia could use the station without the United States, saying: "The Russian segment can exist independently from the American one. The U.S. one cannot."

The U.S. space agency NASA is working with companies to develop space taxis with the goal of restoring U.S. transport to the station by 2017. The United States currently pays Russia more than $60 million per person to fly its astronauts up.

Rogozin said Russia will suspend the operation of 11 GPS sites on its territory from June and seek talks with Washington on opening similar sites in the United States for Russia's own satellite navigation system, Glonass.

He threatened the permanent closure of the GPS sites in Russia if that is not agreed by September. Rogozin said the suspension of the sites would not affect everyday operations of the GPS system in Russia, where it is used by millions of Russians for navigation on their smartphones and in their cars.

The upheaval in Ukraine - where the United States says Russia is backing separatists and the Kremlin accuses Washington of helping protesters to topple a Moscow-friendly president in February, has led to the worst East-West crisis since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In addition to the high-tech sector sanctions, the United States has imposed visa bans and assets freezes on officials and lawmakers and targeted companies with links to President Vladimir Putin. The European Union has also imposed sanctions.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the latest EU measures were an "exhausted, trite approach" that would only deepen discord and hamper efforts to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.

UPDATE 3-Russia targets space station project in retaliation for U.S. sanctions | Reuters

 

[1776]

Russia is a bunch of idiots, since this will finally force the US to start building our own rocket engines like SpaceX is doing now.

ULA is a BS arrangement that needs to be blow up over this Russia mess.

 

[Vikrant]

Donetsk has already gone free. Now it looks like other parts of Ukraine are going to break away as well.

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Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed and seven wounded when they were ambushed by pro-Russian separatists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk, the Ukrainian defence ministry said.

Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russian separatists kill seven government soldiers in ambush - Europe - World - The Independent

 

[Vikrant]

Donetsk self-defense forces set an ultimatum for the Kiev military, warning that if troops do not withdraw from block posts in the Donetsk region within 24 hours, they will be taken by force, RIA Novosti reported.

The pro-autonomy militia of Donbass region in eastern Ukraine made the statement on Wednesday.

"If the armored vehicles are not pulled back, the roadblocks of the so-called legitimate authorities are not removed, I will have enough power and means – the commander supported me today – to destroy and burn everything. Reconnaissance and sabotage groups are ready to move and some are steady,” deputy commander of the pro-autonomy militia of Donbass, Sergey Zdrilyuk, told RIA Novosti.

“I give 24 hours for them to withdraw all troops, all forces,” he added.

The statement follows referendums in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which showed that the majority of voters support self-rule amid an intensified military operation by Kiev.

Almost 90 percent of voters in Donetsk region have endorsed political independence from Kiev, the head of the Central Election Commission of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Roman Lyagin, previously announced.

In Lugansk region, 96.2 percent of voters supported the region’s self-rule, according to final figures announced by the local election commission.

After the referendum, the Donetsk People's Republic proclaimed itself a sovereign state and asked Moscow to consider its accession into Russia.

http://rt.com/news/159048-donetsk-ultimatum-troops-withdraw/

 

[Vikrant]

Vladimir Putin is known for his PR skills but apparently all the Russian President needed to do to improve his popularity was to hold referendum in Crimea.

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The results of the poll, conducted by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) earlier this month, showed that Mr Putin’s approval rating had increased from 82 per cent to 85 per cent since April, and by more than a third since the beginning of the year.

“Thus, this figure is virtually identical to the one recorded six years ago,” the poll said.

His United Russia party also did well, winning 60 per cent approval, up from just 41 per cent in January.

...

Ukraine crisis pushes Putin's popularity among Russians to six-year high - Europe - World - The Independent

 

[1776]

You stupid Russians think we believe your bullshit.

Vladimir Putin is known for his PR skills but apparently all the Russian President needed to do to improve his popularity was to hold referendum in Crimea.

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...

The results of the poll, conducted by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) earlier this month, showed that Mr Putin’s approval rating had increased from 82 per cent to 85 per cent since April, and by more than a third since the beginning of the year.

“Thus, this figure is virtually identical to the one recorded six years ago,” the poll said.

His United Russia party also did well, winning 60 per cent approval, up from just 41 per cent in January.

...

Ukraine crisis pushes Putin's popularity among Russians to six-year high - Europe - World - The Independent

 

[Vikrant]

You stupid Russians think we believe your bullshit.

Vladimir Putin is known for his PR skills but apparently all the Russian President needed to do to improve his popularity was to hold referendum in Crimea.

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...

The results of the poll, conducted by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) earlier this month, showed that Mr Putin’s approval rating had increased from 82 per cent to 85 per cent since April, and by more than a third since the beginning of the year.

“Thus, this figure is virtually identical to the one recorded six years ago,” the poll said.

His United Russia party also did well, winning 60 per cent approval, up from just 41 per cent in January.

...

Ukraine crisis pushes Putin's popularity among Russians to six-year high - Europe - World - The Independent

I am just sharing the news. If a simple news is raising your BP then stay out of the thread. Now stop being an idiot and start posting something intelligent.

 

[Vikrant]

It seems like Germany is having cold feet about the sanctions.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe's showdown with Moscow over Ukraine is already having a major impact on German business in Russia and imposing economic sanctions would cause lasting damage to industry, a confidential paper sent to the German government by a business lobby warns.
The paper from the German-Russian chamber of foreign trade, a group representing 800 companies that provides support to German firms operating in Russia, underscores the extent of concern among German businesses over the Ukraine crisis.
It also suggests industry is stepping up efforts to dissuade Chancellor Angela Merkel's government from pressing ahead with tougher sanctions.
Merkel has warned of more punitive measures against Russia if a presidential election in Ukraine, scheduled for May 25th, is disrupted.
"The growing destabilisation of Ukraine and the diplomatic tug-of-war for a common solution are already having a massive impact on German business in Russia," the two-page "position paper" dated May 7th warns.
"Deeper economic sanctions would lead to a situation where contracts would increasingly be given to domestic firms, projects would be suspended or delayed by the Russian side, and Russian industry and politicians would turn to Asia, in particular China," the paper says.
It says the loss of market share for German and European firms would be "long-term and sustainable", causing "irreparable damage" to Germany's competitive position in Russia.

The paper says this would lead to job losses in Germany and would leave companies vulnerable to "massive compensation" claims if they were forced to break contracts with Russian counterparts.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive...sia-sanctions-143046382--business.html#ioZh2E

 

[1776]

You're posting Russian propaganda.

You stupid Russians think we believe your bullshit.

Vladimir Putin is known for his PR skills but apparently all the Russian President needed to do to improve his popularity was to hold referendum in Crimea.

---

...

The results of the poll, conducted by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) earlier this month, showed that Mr Putin’s approval rating had increased from 82 per cent to 85 per cent since April, and by more than a third since the beginning of the year.

“Thus, this figure is virtually identical to the one recorded six years ago,” the poll said.

His United Russia party also did well, winning 60 per cent approval, up from just 41 per cent in January.

...

Ukraine crisis pushes Putin's popularity among Russians to six-year high - Europe - World - The Independent

I am just sharing the news. If a simple news is raising your BP then stay out of the thread. Now stop being an idiot and start posting something intelligent.

 

[Vikrant]

Except for one news item, the sources for all news items were non Russian. If you want to oppress news then you have to start with shutting down Reuters and The Independent. Good luck with that!

 

[Vikrant]

Russia - China Alliance: Is this the beginning of the post-modern multipolar world order?

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Russia and China have signed a 30-year gas contract that will allow Russia to supply China with gas. The $400 billion contract between Russia's energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation will allow Russia to supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year to its neighbor for 30 years starting in 2018.
This is roughly equivalent to a quarter of Russia’s gas exports to Europe.
On Tuesday, Russia's second biggest financial institution VTB, also signed a deal with the Bank of China to allow the countries bypass the US dollar in their oil and gas transactions.
Russia Today had reported ahead of Putin's visit to Shanghai that he would discuss other aspects of bilateral relations, including payment systems.
Although largely symbolic at its early stage, Putin's latest moves reflect a desire to signal to the West at a time of tensions over the crisis in Ukraine that isolating Russia could provide an impetus hastening the emergence of an alternative Eurasian economic axis with the yuan as an alternative international reserve currency.
The notion of a "post-Western multipolar" global economy is not theoretical: The rising status of China as a global economic power makes it inevitable. The emergence of Eurasian bodies, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization allied with the BRICs group of countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are early signals of the dawn of a Eurasian geopolitical axis.
The challenge the US and its Western allies face is adapting to the inevitable. In a "post-Western multipolar" global economy in which China emerges as an alternative economic superpower and leader of a Eurasian geopolitical axis incorporating Russia and India, the optimal response would be a libertarian political-ideological reorientation that allows the US to plot the path of a tactical retreat from geopolitical commitments that conflict with its economic interests.
That is, the US must enact a shift that allows it to prioritize the interests of its domestic economy and security over foreign policy commitments.
One such foreign policy commitment that has run counter to US national interest is its so-called special relationship with the state of Israel, a commitment that has led the US to make enemies it could have avoided through a more prudent management of foreign policy consistent with the interests of its national economy and security.
The neoconservative, ideology-driven preoccupation with imaginary threats that compel unending regime change machinations as in Ukraine and military intervention in foreign sovereign states has only led the US into geopolitical entanglements that jeopardize its ability to adapt to the challenges of an emerging multipolar world economy.
At a time that the US should be pursuing a policy consistent with the globalization agenda of fostering dense global economic interdependence and positioning its relatively advanced financial services infrastructure as an indispensable part of the global system of payments, it is being distracted by geopolitical engineering projects backed by an imprudent policy of coercion of other nations through economic sanctions.
Such policy is apt to backfire by eroding confidence in the US dollar as the medium for international trade transactions. It is imprudent at a time in which an alternative to the dollar is emerging in the Chinese yuan. The US policy contrasts with the Chinese policy of "prioritizing economic interests and avoiding conflicting geopolitical entanglements even as its economy consolidates its status as world's largest economy," as reported in Part 1 of this series.
The tendency to scoff at the significance of the emerging challenges to the US economy arises from the fact that they are not short but long term. Yet the risks inherent to use of economic sanctions in geopolitical agenda are relevant to strategic considerations of US economic interests.
Strategy is about positioning for long-term advantages in the face of pressing short-term interests.
The first major incident of unintended consequence of economic sanctions against Russia in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis was Russia's "de-dollarized" oil and gas trade deal with Iran.
Reuters reported last month that Russia and Iran were close to completing a deal that will allow Iran to sidestep its exclusion from the petrodollar through an oil-for-goods barter deal worth $20 billion.
The deal allows Iran to sell 500,000 barrels a day in exchange for Russian equipment and goods over a period of two or three years, according to Reuters.
The White House protested the deal, saying it raised "serious concerns"; and indeed it should raise "serious concerns" for Washington because forcing Iran and Russia into non-US dollar-denominated transaction was never the intention the US government when it imposed sanctions on both countries.
Putin's recent push for "de-dollarized" foreign trade is meant to send a signal to US planners about the long-term risk of accelerating the emergence of a Eurasian axis consisting of China, Russia, India and other "rogue" states.
The fact that China drove a hard bargain with Russia in the gas deal ($350 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to RT) underscores the fact that Europe remains Russia's most profitable market, thus Moscow could not be too anxious to lose its European partners.
Putin's move is a diplomatic gesture to drive home the point to the US and the EU that Russia could, in the long run of isolation by the West, cultivate alternative relations that could compromise Western geostrategic interests.

The emerging Russia-China Eurasian axis and dawn of a post-Western, multipolar world (Part 2)