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Azerbaijani Defense Minister General-Colonel Safar Abiyev visited Iran and met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian president called ties with Azerbaijan “deep and brotherly”, noting that they would never be affected by short-lived events. He also stressed Iran’s support for Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, grandeur, progress and territorial unity.
US Senator from Indiana Richard Lugar (Republican) introduced a bill on NATO expansion to Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Barack Obama is to present a road map to accept the states at the NATO summit in Chicago in late May.
President Medvedev has appointed Konstantin Kosachev the new head of "Rossotrudnichestvo." Kosachev served as the head of the Duma International Affairs Committee in the last Duma.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen confirmed that the Alliance does not plan intervention in Syria. He warned against comparing the situation in Syria and Libya, where NATO bombed government forces.
Vestnik Kavkaza reported that the special services of Ukraine and Russia prevented terrorists’ plans to assassinate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Odessa. Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov has confirmed the fact.Rumours have started on the internet. People believe that the incident was a PR-initiative of the prime minister, the favourite in the presidential polls.
Commenting on Vladimir Putin's initiative to establish a Eurasian Union, the speaker of the State Duma, Sergey Narushkin, said that a joint Eurasian Parliament should be established.Talking to VK about the idea, Russian political analyst Vladimir Yevseyev said that Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan should enhance ties in the framework of the body.
An event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Khojaly tragedy has been held at Trend Agency. Azerbaijani and Russian scholars and political scientists participated in the event.
Trend, an international information agency, has hosted a round-table conference for Azerbaijani and Russian scientists and political analysts to mark the Year of Russian History.The conference was initiated by the History Department of the Moscow State University, Heydar Aliyev Fund, Vestnik Kavkaza and the North-South Politology Center.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there is no dispute between Russia and Azerbaijan on the Qabala radar. The topic of negotiations is the price for lease of the radar, he clarified.
Against the background of the heightened tension in the situation around Iran, the threat of new sanctions against the country by the West, and the subsequent prevention of a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which would greatly hinder exports of oil to world markets, a Russian expert takes a closer look at the Islamic state from the inside.In mid-December, the director of the Center for Public Policy Research, Vladimir Yevseyev, visited Iran and met with representatives of the country, journalists and social activists. The expert shared his impressions with Vestnik Kavakza:
says Ismail Agakishiyev, head of the Center for Caucasus Studies of the Russian State University for the Humanities
says Vladimir Yevseyev, leading expert of the International Security Center
Vestnik Kavkaza is hosting an expert council to sum up the events of 2011. Experts are discussing topical tendencies in the regional development of security, trade-economic cooperation, integration trends.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation, Rose Gottemoeller, said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta that Russia should start negotiations with the US instead of waiting for legal guarantees that the European missile shield would not be used against it. Russian concerns with the fourth stage of development of the anti-missile systems are understandable, she added.
Progress in talks with Washington on missile defense does not directly dependon the upcoming U.S. presidential election,said in an interview to" Interfax"Russian Foreign Minister Sergein Lavrov.He said the situation around the American military programwill continue to significantly depend on the domestic politicallandscape in the United States. "At the same time in our opinion theimpact of the ongoing dialogue with Washington on missile defensecannot be directly linked with the outcome of upcoming elections inthis country, because the American position is defined by a wide rangeof factors not limited to the views and attitudes of parties andindividual politicians, " said Lavrov.
2012 will start from discussions of old topical issues. French co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier said that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. Vestnik Kavkaza has clarified that Baku, Yerevan and Moscow have the same expectations from the meeting.
A summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was held today in the Russian capital Moscow.
Russia will try to stop any military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as any threat to the Islamic Republic is a problem for Moscow, a Russian military expert tells Press TV.Vladimir Yevseyev, the director of the Russian Center for Socio-Political Studies, told Press TV on Saturday that “a military attack against Tehran will be a serious problem for Russia, because Caucasus and Central Asia are strategic regions for Russia.”
Iran lacks the technological or industrial potential for ballistic missile production, General-Lieutenant Sergey Karakayev, Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, said on Friday.
The Russian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers are discussing the fate of the Qabala radar station. Vladimir Savchenko, Director General of the Radio Technical Institute named after Academician A.L. Mints, said that Russia plans to build a new radar similar to the Voronezh-VP by 2019.
