Forums: Belarus

Vladimir Putin has revealed he met and even sang patriotic Soviet songs with a group of Russian spies deported from America. Mr Putin: 'We talked about life.' Russia's prime minister, who served as a KGB agent, said the group included the young spy Anna Chapman and predicted they would have an "interesting, bright" future. "I met with them. We talked about life. We sang. It was not karaoke but live music," Mr Putin told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. "We sang From Where the Motherland Begins," a Soviet song made famous in the 1968 USSR film The Sword and...

The 11 arrests so far are the tip of iceberg. Many more to follow, many in South Florida.” “The “South American country” where Vicky Pelaez picked up her payments from Russia’s SVR was Venezuela.” “Russia’s SVR, Castro’s DGI (Directorio General de Inteligencia) and Chavez’ SEBIN, (Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia) are all linked. They all share agents and information. Castro-Cubans run Chavez’ intelligence agency practically lock, stock and barrel.” “Vicky Pelaez was frequent traveler to Cuba where she met with Castro’s DGI. Pictures exist of those meetings.”

The FBI has arrested nearly a dozen Russian spies, with more arrests to come. Echoing the spirit of today's media, the headline of the Christian Science Monitor asked the following question: "The cold war is over, so why the fascination with Russian spies?" But the Cold War is not over. The Communists merely told us it was over, and we believed them. As for our supposed fascination with Russian spies, the subject is merely an entertaining human interest story. It is a story that almost nobody understands. That is to say, we have been conditioned, over many years, to dismiss...

By Peter Zeihan STRATFOR often discusses how Russia is on a bit of a roll. The U.S. distraction in the Middle East has offered Russia a golden opportunity to re-establish its spheres of influence in the region, steadily expanding the Russian zone of control into a shape that is eerily reminiscent of the old Soviet Union. Since 2005, when this process began, Russia has clearly reasserted itself as the dominant power in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine, and has intimidated places like Georgia and Turkmenistan into a sort of silent acquiescence. But we have not spent a...

Kazakhstan's leading opposition party has warned that the customs union with Russia could be the first step in a project to re-instate the Soviet Union. Bulat Abilov, co-Chairman of the National Social Democratic Party, said: "Our concern is that this economical Union can develop into a political one. We also know about some plans to revive the Soviet Union, maybe in another form, in 2017 on the anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution of 1917." The party has written an open letter to Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, demanding a national referendum on the customs union, which is set to come...

In the final season of the TV show “24,” an idealistic president finds herself sacrificing her principles one by one in an attempt to preserve a “peace process.” She eventually manages to hammer out a flawed treaty, but can’t bring herself to sign it. In the real world, the Obama administration’s overly idealistic pursuit of a reduction in American and Russian stockpiles of nuclear arms has led it to actually sign a woefully flawed treaty. The goal may be worthy. The pact is not. The first major problem with the treaty: It would definitely reduce the number of American weapons,...

China Thwarts Russian Goal 2010-04-05 Beijing's investment in Belarus marks move into Russia's "sphere of influence." Belarus employees work at a gas transfer station near Nesvizh, some 130 kms (80 miles) west of Minsk, Jan. 9, 2009. By Michael Lelyveld BOSTON—China is making major investments that will strain ties with Russia as it exercises its new economic power, analysts say. During a visit to Belarus on March 25, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping approved support for projects worth up to U.S. $10 billion in the former Soviet republic on Russia's western border, a Belarusian government spokesman told reporters. China's involvement...

A preliminary report into the Smolensk tragedy may become available Tuesday, or shortly following the Polish Prosecutor General's visit to Moscow on Wednesday. The visit will also reveal if analysis of the final black box on board the doomed Tupolev Tu-154 is complete. The General Prosecutor, Andrzej Seremet, will travel to Russia to familiarize himself with the Russian report on readings from the black boxes, while findings from an in-flight recorder tested in Poland will be turned over to Russian investigators.Mr Seremet will not return to Poland with evidence relating to the Smolensk catastrophe. But his visit in Moscow is...