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NCSEJ WEEKLY NEWS BRIEF
Washington, D.C. April 1, 2016
President Ilham Aliyev met with heads of American Jewish organizations
31 March 2016
http://azertag.az/en/xeber/President_Ilham_Aliyev_met_with_heads_of_American_Jewish_organizations-
938732
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with heads of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry and the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations.
The sides noted that such meetings had already become traditional, opened good opportunities for conducting a
mutual exchange of views and contributed to the strengthening of cooperation.
Heads of the American Jewish organizations hailed Azerbaijan`s growing successes, adding that they witness this
during their visits to the country. They said they were deeply impressed by the beauty of Baku. They said such
meetings contributed to the development of both Azerbaijan-US and Azerbaijan-Israel cooperation. They hailed
Azerbaijan-US relations, noting that Jewish organizations contribute to these ties.
The sides expressed mutual interest in developing cooperation.
Making Merry With Kharkiv Jewish Community
Chabad Lubavich, March 29, 2016
http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2057381/Making-Merry-With-Kharkiv-Jewish-Community.html
Despite all its difficulties in recent years, or perhaps in spite of them, the Kharkiv Jewish community celebrated
with abandon on Purim. Two thousand came out to the Circus on Ice show, and hundreds wrapped tefillin.
Chabad of Kharkiv distributed 2000 mishloach manot and 1,000 Shabbat candles.
Still in the throes of struggle, the spirit of triumph reigned supreme as the community marked 25 years since
Rabbi Moshe and Miriam Moskovitz arrived here in 1990 to rebuild Jewish life following the fall of communism.
The community made merry with Megillah readings, cantorial performances and a Hakhel dance by the Or
Avner Day School celebrating the year of unity.
As L’chaims made the rounds and the community joined the Purim feast in the synagogue decked out to look
like a Shtetl, the Jews of Kharkiv took strength and confidence that better days are coming.
2016 Purim in Lithuania
Jewish Lithuania, March, 2016
http://jewishlita.com/activities/holidays/purim-2016/
First ever themed Purim celebration attracts hundreds!
The Israeli Style Purim Extravaganza on Purim in Vilna was a huge hit with all ages, who took in the full Israel
experience in the “Jerusalem of Lithuania”!
The participants thoroughly enjoyed the Israeli food, varied interactive activities and games related to the main
sites of significance in the Holy Land! In all, it was a memorable Purim celebration that brought joy and uplifted
all!
Director Of Ukrainian Library In Moscow To Face Fresh Charges
RFE/RL, March 31, 2016
http://www.rferl.org/content/moscow-director-ukrainian-library-fresh-charges/27646377.html
The director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, who has already been accused of inciting
extremism and ethnic hatred, is facing fresh charges.
The lawyer for Natalya Sharina said on March 31 that his client will be formally charged by Russian
investigators on April 5 with two counts of misallocating library funds.
The lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, said the authorities had "trumped up" new charges after realizing their initial case
against Sharina was too weak.
Sharina, 58, was detained in October and charged with inciting extremism and ethnic hatred by carrying books
by the Ukrainian ultranationalist author Dmytro Korchynskiy, whose works are banned in Russia.
Sharina, now under house arrest, rejects the charges, saying the books were planted in the Library of
Ukrainian Literature by police.
Kremlin: Foreign Governments, Media Trying To Disrupt Upcoming Elections
RFE/RL, March 28, 2016
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-kremlin-elections-foreign-media-interference/27640391.html
The Kremlin has accused unnamed foreign governments and media organizations of seeking to disrupt
Russia's upcoming parliamentary elections.
In unusually pointed remarks to reporters in Moscow on March 28, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also
asserted that the unnamed organizations were trying to discredit President Vladimir Putin.
"They continue to actively try to influence our country. They continue to rock the boat in our country," he was
quoted as saying.
Peskov specifically named the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, saying it was looking into
Putin's family and friends.
The consortium -- a Washington-based network of reporters in more than 65 countries-- did not immediately
respond to a voicemail message and email seeking comment.
Peskov's remarks were the latest in a growing number from top Russian officials alleging that the September
parliamentary vote may be disrupted by outside forces.
Putin himself last month warned Russian security services to be on guard for such efforts.
Some Russia analysts have pointed to signs that Putin's popularity may be slipping as Russia’s economy
contracts amid low world oil prices and Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s annexation of the Ukraine's
Crimea Peninsula.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia celebrate 12th anniversary of NATO membership
Baltic Times, March 30, 2016
http://www.baltictimes.com/lithuania_celebrates_12_anniversary_of_being_nato_member/
March 29, 2016, will mark the 12th anniversary since Lithuania joined NATO in 2004.
Fellow Baltic States, Latvia and Estonia, joined NATO on the same date of the same year.
Events at various army units across the country will be held to mark the occasion.
“NATO membership is the foundation of Lithuania's security policy,” the Lithuanian Ministry of National
Defence said in a statement. “As a NATO member, we are part of the collective security system defining allies'
solidarity, collective defence guarantees and commitments to each other.”
Kerry calls for 'ultimate resolution' of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Reuters, March 30, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-azerbaijan-conflict-idUSKCN0WW2QB
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Wednesday for "an ultimate resolution" of the two-decade-old
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia during talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev at
the State Department.
Aliyev is in Washington for a two-day nuclear security summit hosted by President Barack Obama on Thursday
and Friday.
"We want to see an ultimate resolution of the frozen conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh that needs to be a
negotiated settlement and something that has to be worked on over time," Kerry said during a brief photo
opportunity with Aliyev.
The conflict broke out in the dying years of the Soviet Union but efforts to reach a permanent settlement have
failed despite mediation led by France, Russia and the United States.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians.
Aliyev thanked the United States for trying to end the conflict but said it could only be resolved through a
United Nations Security Council resolution calling for the "immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian
troops" from Azerbaijan.
"The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, all the conflicts in post-Soviet area and in the world, must be
resolved based on territorial integrity of the countries," he said.
Oil producing Azerbaijan frequently threatens to take the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region back by
force. Clashes around the region have fueled worries of a wider conflict breaking out in the South Caucasus,
which is crossed by oil and gas pipelines.
Late justice for Serbia's Jewish Holocaust victims
Arutz Sheva, March 30, 2016
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210085#.Vv1W7-bzM6E
In 1945, Aleksandar Lebl returned to Serbia after escaping the attempted genocide of all Jews in World War II
and reclaimed his family's confiscated house.
But the 93-year-old is one of the very few of Serbia's Holocaust survivors who came back to recover their
homes.
Many thousands of others were murdered or left no heir and their property, seized by the Nazis or the puppet
government in Belgrade, was incorporated into the Communist state after the war.
Today, more than seven decades later, Serbia has passed a law offering some belated redress to its now tiny
Jewish community.
One of the first of its kind in eastern Europe, the "heirless property restitution law" passed in February will see
thousands of previously Jewish-owned buildings handed to the country's Association of Jewish Communities.
The association plans to rent out most of the properties, and from 2017 Serbia will also pay an annual 950,000
euros ($1.1 million) for 25 years in financial support to the community.
The funds will be spent on education, fighting prejudice and preserving the memory of Holocaust victims, along
with supporting survivors, said its president, Ruben Fuks.
Lebl is one of the last of Serbia's Jews who remembers the war.
By the spring of 1942, more than 80% of the 33,000 Jews living in Serbia before the war had been killed, and
the Nazis declared the country "free of Jews." Even today, there are fewer than a thousand Jews in Serbia.
"After the war the authorities decided to return the property, but as so many people were killed, there was no
one left to take back most of it," said Lebl.
"The Jewish community has never recovered, because the loss (of human life) was so high."
"Moral obligation"
Presenting the new law in parliament, Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said Serbia had a "moral obligation"
towards Jews who "dedicated their lives and work to our Serbia."
He said the move would also "contribute to a greater understanding of human rights, which is crucial for
fighting and preventing racial and religious discrimination."
Jewish history can be traced back to Roman times in the territory of present-day Serbia, with the community
growing under the Ottoman Empire where they found refuge from the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions.
Jews supported Serbs in their 19th century independence struggle against the Ottomans and fought alongside
them in World War I, peaking in number just before World War II.
Lebl was one of the few Jews who avoided the wartime mass shootings and death camps by slipping out of
Serbia on a false pass, and he later joined the Yugoslav Partisans' fight against the Nazis.
"I only realized the extent of the killings when I came back from the war... The list is pretty long, between 20
and 30 people from my family were killed," Lebl told AFP in his Belgrade home.
Jewish groups have repeatedly urged Europe's ex-communist states to return, or provide compensation for,
assets seized from Holocaust victims estimated to be worth billions of dollars, but few have fully tackled the
issue of returning unclaimed property.
In 2009, 46 countries signed the Terezin Declaration, named after a Czechoslovak wartime ghetto, urging the
restitution of stolen Jewish assets and social aid for impoverished Holocaust survivors.
The United States said Serbia was the first country to pass such a law on heirless property since then, calling
on other governments to take similar action "where justice has long been denied."
Poland, which had Europe's largest pre-war Jewish community, in 2011 suspended work on compensation
legislation for property seized by Nazis and post-war Polish communists, intended to apply to both Jewish and
non-Jewish victims of expropriation.
Warsaw argued the law would swell the nation's debt to the point where it would breach a European Union
(EU) debt ceiling.
"Fewer worries"
In Serbia, some buildings will not be given back because they have been privatized or now house public
institutions such as schools or hospitals - hence the state's extra financial support to the Jewish community.
"We have identified more than 3,000 buildings seized during World War II by Germans," said Fuks, adding that
the properties listed so far were in Belgrade, central Serbia and a small part of northern Vojvodina province.
In other parts of Vojvodina which were occupied by Nazi-allied Hungarians or Croatians, seized Jewish
property is yet to be tracked down and listed.
One of these areas, Backa, was once home to half of all the Jews in Serbia, Fuks said, hinting that the final
amount of property due to be returned is likely to be much higher.
Fuks said the new law offered a chance to commemorate properly those who were killed and to fight against
the intolerance that almost destroyed the community.
It also means Holocaust survivors can "live with fewer worries in the last years of their lives, after the horrible
personal experiences they have been through," he said.
AFP contributed to this report.
Ukraine’s Unyielding Corruption
Editorial
New York Times, March 31, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/opinion/ukraines-unyielding-
corruption.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160331&nlid=47693320&tntemail0=y&_r=0
The Ukrainian Parliament finally voted to oust Ukraine’s odious prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, on Tuesday.
The United States and European countries that have provided aid to Ukraine had long pressed for his
dismissal; in his year in office, Mr. Shokin became a symbol of Ukraine’s deeply ingrained culture of corruption,
failing to prosecute a single member of the deposed Yanukovych regime or of the current government while
blocking the efforts of reform-minded deputies. Alas, nothing is likely to change unless President Petro
Poroshenko and Parliament agree to install some real corruption fighters and approve serious judicial reform.
Corruption has been pervasive in Ukraine since independence, fed by close-knit ties between politicians and
oligarchs and a weak justice system. The protests in 2014 that led to the removal of President Viktor
Yanukovych were largely fueled by popular fury at his monumental corruption and abuse of power. Yet his
overthrow has yet to show results.
In a speech in Odessa last September, the United States ambassador, Geoffrey Pyatt, said corruption was as
dangerous for Ukraine as was the Russian support for a military insurgency in eastern Ukraine. And on a visit
last December, Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. said corruption was eating Ukraine “like a cancer.” Among the
examples Mr. Pyatt cited was the seizure in Britain of $23 million in illicit assets from the former Ukrainian
ecology minister, Mykola Zlochevsky; Mr. Shokin’s office, however, declared that there was no case against
the minister, and the money was released.
In his last hours in office, Mr. Shokin dismissed the deputy prosecutor general, David Sakvarelidze, a former
prosecutor in Georgia brought in by President Poroshenko to fight corruption. And before that, Mr. Shokin had
systematically cleansed his office of reform-minded prosecutors. The acting prosecutor general now is Yuriy
Sevruk, a crony who can be trusted to continue Mr. Shokin’s practices.
Mr. Poroshenko, himself a product of the old system, has had his hands full with the Moscow-backed
separatists in the east and unceasing political turmoil in Kiev, where Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s
government is hanging by a thread.
In these circumstances, Mr. Poroshenko seems to have accepted continuing corruption as the price to pay for
a modicum of maneuvering room. But the president, the prime minister and the Parliament must be made to
understand that the International Monetary Fund and donor nations, including the United States, cannot
continue to shovel money into a corrupt swamp unless the government starts shaping the democratic rule that
Ukrainians demanded in their protests.
Mr. Poroshenko cannot simply allow one of Mr. Shokin’s cronies to slide into the ousted official’s tainted seat.
He should immediately reinstate Mr. Sakvarelidze and begin a broad public discussion on the choice for the
next prosecutor general, making clear that his mandate will be a thorough reform, and that the government will
be fully behind it.
Ukraine's independent MPs boost chances of ending deadlock
Reuters, March 30, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-coalition-idUSKCN0WW180
KIEV - Several non-aligned Ukrainian lawmakers have agreed to join Ukraine's biggest faction to help end a
political crisis that is stalling Western-backed reforms and vital international financial aid, deputies said on
Wednesday.
Lawmakers are under pressure to end a deadlock that threatens snap parliamentary elections and has delayed
disbursement of $1.7 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund to help the war-torn economy.
Since mid-February, attempts to form a multi-party coalition with smaller populist or reformist factions have
gone nowhere, prompting President Petro Poroshenko's 'BPP' political bloc to appeal to independent MPs.
"Talks are going on at the moment with several non-faction deputies - we've invited them to join our faction," ,
BPP's Oleksiy Goncharenko told journalists. "There are several applications (to sign up) already."
"There are lots of deputies who don't want snap elections, because they know nothing good would come of it,
because it would risk their seat and therefore they're prepared to help," he said.
According to the parliamentary website, the BPP and the People's Front of Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk
together have 219 lawmakers, only seven fewer than the number needed to form a coalition and appoint a new
government.
Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groysman, a 38-year-old former mayor and ally of Poroshenko, has been
put forward as a replacement prime minister, but Yatseniuk has refused to step down until a new coalition
agreement is signed.
"We need to recruit only a few of the 50 independent deputies. The formal creation of a coalition would allow
Groysman to be approved, but after that we would need to focus on building up the coalition further," BPP
lawmaker Andriy Vadatursky told Reuters.
Groysman has said as prime minister he would want Ukraine to stick to its reform promises under a $40 billion
bailout program backed by the International Monetary Fund, but his government would need the support of
parliament to pass laws.
Lawmaker Irina Suslova said she had agreed to join BPP for the sake of forming a coalition but would not
necessarily vote along party lines in parliament.
"My conditions were the following: if I have my own opinion, I will vote as I see fit," she told journalists.
Timothy Ash: Where's the IMF money for Ukraine?
Kyiv Post, March 31, 2016
http://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-ed/timothy-ash-wheres-the-imf-money-for-ukraine-
411044.html
Ukraine has had no IMF cash since August 2015, and Ukraine has only actually finished one review thus far
under the $17.6 billion program agreed last April – close to one year on.
Roughly $6.6 billion in IMF money was released in the first two tranches last year $5 billion plus $1.6/$1.7
billion), while a further $3.9 billion in disbursements scheduled through to March this year have been stalled,
and a further $1.8 billion had been due to be disbursed from April to the end of 2016.
Actually a lot has been achieved over the past year in terms of reform implementation – fiscal adjustment,
energy sector reform, PSI, banking sector reform, monetary/exchange rate/NBU reform, et al…but cash is
being stalled because of creditor concerns over “rule of law” related issues and concern over political stability
and how this will play to continued adherence to IMF conditionality.
It is a bit hard for the IMF to lend big sums of money to a country that has not got a ruling coalition, and where
politicians have spent the last two months squabbling over how to reform the government.
Politicians seem to be putting their own political/business interests above those of the country - but I guess,
what is new, that kind of happens everywhere these days.
The delays in utility price hikes and then ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's call for utility price cuts raises
serious questions now over the durability of the programme that is, if these latter policies are implemented.
I guess the IMF comments are meant to reassure the markets that the fund is still engaged and that if Ukraine
actually gets a new govt in place quickly that IMF funds can quickly begin to be released again. This is kind of
a "holding pattern" line from the fund.
That said, the longer this political impasse goes on, the greater risks to macrostability, the sustainability of the
IMF programme itself through the foreign exchange reserves and hryvnia channel - remember the IMF
programme was always built on very optimistic assumptions for the hryvnia.
Revealing Europe’s Best-Kept Secret
By Peter Dickinson and Vladislav Davidzon
Atlantic Council, March 30, 2015
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/revealing-europe-s-best-kept-secret
Early April will see the closure of Ukraine Today, which had been the only full-time English language TV news
service offering Ukrainian perspectives to international audiences. The channel will reportedly continue online,
but the end of its broadcasting is a sobering development hinting at the difficulties of finding sufficient funding
for major Ukrainian English-language media projects. (Editor’s note: both authors worked for Ukraine Today.)
Ukraine’s threadbare English-language coverage just got even thinner.
Nevertheless, efforts to introduce Ukraine to international audiences continue, with the latest arrival seeking to
put the spotlight on the country's most cosmopolitan city.
April is traditionally an optimistic time of year in Odesa. It is the month when the Black Sea port lazily shakes
off its prolonged seasonal slumber. The city’s elegant Tsarist-era boulevards once again fill up with swaggering
and stylish strollers, while its rich cultural life gently moves into top gear. For the first time ever, the start of
spring will be trumpeted in English, thanks to the arrival of the city’s first English-language lifestyle monthly.
The Odessa Review, which launches this month, is an English-language magazine designed to make Odesa
more accessible to international audiences. It joins a small band of English-language media outlets charged
with trying to bridge the international information deficit of all things Ukrainian. The task facing these English-
language outliers is a Herculean one. Despite being the largest country in Europe, Ukraine remains terra
incognita. This lack of visibility has been a major factor behind the success of Russia’s information war,
creating a security headache for the entire continent.
Ukraine has long suffered from a low international profile. It is difficult to pinpoint why. The country’s historical
lack of sovereignty is certainly a factor, as is the relative cultural closeness of the Russian colossus. Chronic
political ambiguity has not helped, with post-Soviet Ukraine consistently falling between the two stools of
Eurasian authoritarianism and the fledgling democracies of Central Europe. For many veterans of the Cold
War, the idea of a fully independent and separate Ukrainian state has simply proven too great a leap of the
geopolitical imagination. Instead, since 1991 Ukraine has found itself relegated to a kind of pseudo-statehood.
This ignorance of Ukraine has always been aggravating, but no one regarded it as a national security threat
until the start of the Kremlin’s hybrid war against Ukraine. All that changed when “little green men” began
appearing in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It soon became clear that disinformation would play a key role in the
Kremlin’s hybrid war, with Russia’s information offensive relying heavily on outside ignorance of Ukraine.
Ukrainians watched in horror as the country’s complex relationship with its Tsarist and Soviet past was
reduced to the tribal binary of Russian-speakers versus Ukrainian-speakers. Ukraine was depicted as a fascist
junta, a Nazi dictatorship, and a failed state. These nightmarish visions gained remarkable levels of traction in
the international media, largely because Ukraine was such an unknown quantity.
Over the intervening two years, the situation has gradually improved. Ukraine’s longest-running English-
language outlet, the Kyiv Post, continues to produce excellent news coverage. In the field of monthly
magazines, The Odessa Review joins a handful of existing titles including Business Ukraine and Lviv Today.
Kharkiv has recently unveiled an English-language online news portal. There are plans to launch Ukraine
Business Journal. The popular Euromaidan startup channel Hromadske TV produces a weekly English-
language show. A number of public and private Ukrainian channels have also dabbled with English-language
content. Initiatives such as “Stop Fake” have entered the English-language arena, producing weekly bulletins
exposing the latest Kremlin disinformation. These efforts are important, but they find themselves completely
dwarfed by the massive budgets and lavish production standards of Russia’s Kremlin-funded English-language
mouthpieces. As a result, Kremlin content continues to dominate Google searches for Ukraine stories, while
Russian fakes drown out Ukrainian debunkers.
Nor is the international media necessarily helping. Coverage of Ukraine has improved enormously since the
naïve early days of the Crimean invasion, when hapless Western correspondents struggled to deal with the
disorientating absence of Russian army flags and lapel badges. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Ukraine
coverage still comes through Moscow bureaus that are, at best, ill equipped for the task. Almost all the major
international media outlets receive their Ukraine coverage from correspondents who live and work in the
Russian capital. The lack of flights between Russia and Ukraine has made reporting trips to Kyiv, Lviv, and
Odesa difficult. While they generally claim to be appalled by the politics of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
most Moscow correspondents have a heavily Russocentric view of the region. Perhaps inevitably, they are
prone to viewing Ukraine through a Russian prism and giving undue weight to Russian narratives in their
reporting.
There is no quick fix to this situation. Even in a calm environment, it would have taken years to raise Ukraine’s
international profile to an acceptable level. The necessity of siphoning out Russia’s ideological poison will
doubtless make this process longer and more arduous. Nevertheless, it has never been more important to
introduce the real Ukraine to the international community. More coverage is desperately required highlighting
positive aspects of contemporary Ukraine such as the ultra-hip Ukrainian fashion industry and the country’s
endless tourism opportunities. The country’s booming agriculture and IT sectors should be featured on
business digests and in weekend supplements.
There are plenty of positive Ukraine stories waiting for journalists prepared to look beyond the same tired
headlines of war and corruption. While the media has provided endless coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis,
Ukraine’s infinitely more successful handling of a similarly large refugee influx has received scant attention.
This needs to change. The media must also do more to challenge Kremlin myths about fascist atrocities and
oppressed Russian-speakers. How many people in Europe or North America know that Kyiv is the largest
Russian-speaking city in the world outside of Russia? How many are aware that Ukraine has been one of
Europe’s most multicultural communities for centuries?
Until international audiences become better informed about the realities of modern Ukraine, they will remain
vulnerable to further information attacks. The initial success of Russia’s hybrid war has shown how effective
disinformation campaigns can be in shaping modern conflicts.
The task now is to craft a comprehensive counterattack. Content is not the problem. Unlike the Kremlin,
Ukraine has truth on its side. The real challenge is reaching as wide an audience as possible with attention
grabbing content. This is where Ukraine must call on the support of its international partners. The Odessa
Review will focus on covering the country’s culture. Initiatives like The Odessa Review are welcome additions
to Ukraine’s English-language ensemble, but it is vital that mainstream media also cover the multiple facets of
the real Ukraine. The best way to disarm the Kremlin is through the deployment of an overwhelming
information arsenal.
The difficulties that Ukraine Today has faced highlight how challenging it is to stay solvent in the underfunded
Ukrainian English-language media market. The end of Ukraine Today’s international broadcasting illustrates
the need for major support for this fledgling industry from international donors and Western organizations.
Peter Dickinson is the publisher of Business Ukraine magazine and Lviv Today, and editor-at-large at The
Odessa Review. He was previously chief editor of Ukraine Today and What’s On Kyiv. Vladislav Davidzon is
chief editor of The Odessa Review and Tablet Magazine’s European culture critic. He has reported widely from
Eastern Europe, France, and Ukraine, and was previously Ukraine Today’s Paris correspondent.
Latvia Blocks Russian Sputnik Site As Kremlin 'Propaganda Tool'
RFE/RL, March 30, 2016
http://www.rferl.org/content/latvia-blocks-russian-news-site-sputnik-calling-kremlin-propaganda-
tool/27643252.html
Latvian authorities shut down Russia's pro-Kremlin news site Sputnik on March 29, calling it a "propaganda
tool" and drawing an immediate rebuke from Moscow.
Latvia's local domain registry suspended Sputnik's right to hold the news site Sputniknews.lv, which was
established only a few weeks ago to reach out to Latvia's large Russian-speaking minority with articles in
Russian and Latvian.
"We don't regard Sputnik as a credible media source but as something else: a propaganda tool," Latvian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Raimonds Jansons told AFP.
Russia's Foreign Ministry called the decision "blatant censorship" and insisted "the Russian mass media
adheres to the highest standards of professionalism and ethics."
Riga "once again, with the tacit inaction of leading human rights organizations, is ignoring its convention
obligations to ensure media pluralism and freedom of speech as it continues to target Russian mass media in
Latvia," the ministry said.
Latvia has banned Russian media before, having shut down Russian state television broadcasts for several
months in 2014.
The Russian Embassy in Latvia called the move against Sputnik "groundless" and said that Latvia had started
"an information war."
Latvia's domain registry decided to shut the site after receiving a letter of concern from the Latvian Foreign
Ministry, which drew attention to Sputnik's coverage of Ukraine and routine denial of the embattled nation's
territorial integrity.
The ministry questioned whether the coverage might constitute a breach of European Union sanctions on
Russia, which were imposed over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"We wrote pointing out our opinion that the fact that the head of Sputnik, Mr. [Dmitry] Kiselyov is on the
sanctions list of the European Union was something that needed to be taken into account" in deciding whether
to register the site, Jansons told AFP.
Three Ukrainian families eagerly wait to arrive in Israel
By Benjamin Glatt
Jerusalem Post, March 31, 2016
http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/Three-Ukrainian-families-eagerly-wait-to-arrive-in-Israel-449848
Oleksandr Zaslavskyi didn’t have the opportunity to learn much about his Jewish faith and heritage. But one
thing he is sure of is that Israel is the place for every Jew, and he has been dreaming of living there for many
years.
“We followed Jewish traditions while we were in Ukraine”, says the 56-year-old father from Kiev. “The family
always honored Yom Kippur and we celebrated Rosh Hashana and Shabbat. We used to visit the Israeli
Culture Center in Kiev and we even started learning Hebrew before our aliya.”
But, unfortunately, he says, the family didn’t know much more than that. “We’re the kind of Jewish people who
didn’t have the opportunity to learn enough about the traditions of our own nation. A long time ago my
grandmother used to talk with us about Judaism, but I was a little boy and I don’t remember much.”
But with the war in Ukraine, the increase in the cost of living and the family moving forward, they got the push
they needed to make the decision to come to the land of their people, the Land of Israel.
“My mother had a serious disease and died. Eduard, our oldest son was finishing school. Ivan, our younger
son, was getting older and he began to feel more and more Jewish. Sometimes he would ask us why the other
kids called him offensive names because he was Jewish. All of this together pushed us in the direction of
moving to Israel,” he says. “It’s thanks to The Fellowship that we’re going to learn more about ourselves and
our people. The Fellowship has helped us find a place to live and is going to continue helping us during our
transition period in Israel.”
The Zaslavskyis – Roman, the 78-year-old grandfather, parents Oleksandr and Tetiana, 41, and children
Eduard, 17, and Ivan, 10 – have many relatives in Israel, but they don’t speak Russian so there wasn’t contact
between them for a while. However, the family is eager to learn Hebrew as fast as possible and have an
opportunity to restore connections with their family.
That’s why Oleksandr’s main concern about aliya is the language. “When we were trying to learn it by
ourselves I had difficulties with it. I hope that my youngest son Ivan who will learn Hebrew in school will also
help me learn the language.”
Despite the conflict in Ukraine, the Zaslavskyis’ financial situation wasn’t dire living in Kiev, which makes their
pending immigration to Israel all the more patriotic. “Finances weren’t the main reason for our decision to make
aliya,” Oleksandr says.
“Our financial situation somehow made us more confident in our decision. We even understand that we’ll
probably be in a worse financial situation in Israel than we were in Ukraine. But we wanted to go to Israel long
ago. And now we made the decision. The reason is probably because we want to return to the place where we
belong.”
And no terrorism is going to scare them. “We understand, that’s there’s a war going on”, says Oleksandr, “but
my older son wants to join the army. He wants to be a soldier in Israel. He’s ready to join the Mossad tomorrow
if they make him an offer.”
The Bairash family from Kharkov, feels the same connection to the Holy Land. The father, Volodymyr, 56,
worked in the Kharkov subway for 35 years. After he had cerebral hemorrhaging, neither his employer nor the
government cared and he lost his job. His wife, Oleksandra, 45, quit her job as a government worker in order to
take care of him.
But they’re not going to just be a burden to the Jewish state. In Israel they plan to look for temporary jobs in
public service. They’re also ready to work in cleaning until they learn Hebrew well enough.
“I’d be happy to find the kind of job where I can help people”, says Oleksandra. “I hope Israel will open its
doors to us. We’re ready to help Israel society in any way possible.”
“Our son has been studying in a Jewish school. He has become very interested in who he is and the Jewish
religion. He was eager to move to Israel as soon as possible. He said, ‘Mom, life there is much better and
father will be cured there.’ I totally agree. We read Torah together. Everything about Jewish culture attracts me,
starting with the language. I’m sure my son will find his place in Israel, as will my husband and I.”
Oleksandra also says she’s a traveler at heart, but she never had the financial opportunity to travel.
“I also want to explore Israel in that way. From pictures I’ve seen, the country has stunning landscapes and an
interesting culture.” She even has started learning Hebrew in Ukraine. “I can read and write, but I can’t speak. I
hope in Israel I’ll learn to speak quickly.”
Tymur and Nina their three children, ages 13, 11 and six, are also getting ready to move to Israel. The family is
making aliya to a northern kibbutz, where they believe they can acclimate as best as possible and learn
Hebrew.
“We decided to leave Ukraine more than a year ago”, says Tymur. “The situation in our country was getting
worse and worse. I was dismissed from my job. Looking ahead, we understood the situation will not get better.
We feel that now is the time to leave. We have relatives who have lived in Israel for a while.”
Since the end of 2014, when Tymur was fired as a financial worker, the family has barely managed with their
savings. They are also making aliya to get out of the war zone of eastern Ukraine.
“I don’t actually understand what the aim of the war is. Why should we stay there in a flashpoint, getting shot at
in a place where the lives of those who died don’t mean anything? I don’t have much desire to fight under
those conditions. However, the Israeli army is a different story. It’s one of the best armies in the world. It’s an
honor to serve there. In Ukraine you’re only cannon fodder,” says Tymur.
The couple is already motivating their children to serve in Israel’s armed forces. “I want my children to grow up
in a country where laws function in a proper way, where you always have a sense of self-dignity, where you
and your children feel safe,” Nina says. “Our children were enthusiastic when they heard they’re going to live in
a new country. Our six-year-old Yehor was extremely happy about the fact they we’re going to eat oranges
straight from the trees in the winter – although I have no idea how this information ever came to his mind.”
The family has chosen to live on kibbutz for the first few months. “We want to expend as much energy as
possible learning Hebrew,” says Nina. “Besides, we’ll feel more comfortable knowing our children will be close
by. Parents in Ukraine have concerns about the safety of their children. In Ukraine there’s always the danger
that something bad can happen, starting with an automobile accident. We believe the situation in Israel is
much better in that matter than it is in Ukraine.”
Tymur says they plan to travel around while living on the kibbutz to see what opportunities there are for them.
“We want to see how things are doing in Haifa, for instance. We want to look around the country to see where
we can work. We have experience in the restaurant business – from the very beginning to the top-
management.
“I’m a financier, but I learned an additional skill – I learned how to set up air-conditioners. I know that’s in high
demand in Israel.”
The Pochynoks told the encouraging story of their 80-year-old grandmother who has already made aliya.
“While she lived in Ukraine she was ready to die. But after she made aliya she found out that there are many
activities for the elderly. She began to live a full life. Recently she even traveled to Prague and is now going to
Australia,” says Nina.
The family is ready to start over from scratch. They are extremely grateful to The Fellowship for this
opportunity. “We want to live a calm and happy life and help Israeli society,” says Tymor.
Pentagon Readies More Robust U.S. Military Presence in Eastern Europe
By Gordon Lubold and Julian E. Barnes
Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2016
http://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-readies-more-robust-u-s-military-presence-in-eastern-europe-
1459324801
The Pentagon has drawn up plans to position American troops, tanks and other armored vehicles full time
along NATO’s eastern borders to deter Russian aggression, in what would be the first such deployment since
the end of the Cold War.
The Pentagon intends the plans as an escalation of a proposal it announced last year, when it said it was
looking at ways to increase U.S. military deterrence in Eastern Europe, such as prepositioning older materiel in
the region.
Some countries on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern flank have expressed concern about the
depth of the U.S. commitment to their defense—especially in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
intervention in Ukraine.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said the new plan should allay such worries because it would
position more of the U.S. Army’s best and most-modern equipment in the area, while rotating in a brigade’s
worth of U.S. Army troops.
The new gear includes 250 tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Paladin self-propelled howitzers as well as
more than 1,700 additional wheeled vehicles and trucks.
Combined with equipment already in Europe, “there will be a division’s worth of stuff to fight if something
happens,” Mr. Work told The Wall Street Journal. “If push came to shove, they’d be able to come together as a
cohesive unit that has trained together, with all their organic equipment, and fight. That’s a lot better than what
we have right now.”
The White House approved the broad contours of the plan, designed to start in February 2017, when it signed
off on the $3.4 billion European Reassurance Initiative budget last month, leaving the specifics to the
Pentagon.
Congress still has to sign off on the request, however.
While boosting military spending to counter Russia has bipartisan support, the overall budget is proving
contentious in an election year. The money would quadruple the amount of U.S. funding for European defense
projects, including troop deployments and exercises.
The U.S. has been intermittently rotating about 4,200 troops in and out of Europe since 2014, on top of the
roughly 62,000 U.S. military personnel assigned permanently on the continent.
The Pentagon now aims to rotate in an Army armored brigade each year and divide the rotational force of
4,200 among six eastern members—Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
Like the new equipment, the rotational troops would be concentrated on the eastern flank but would move
around as needed among other NATO members for exercises and other training.
Still, it would go beyond the current approach, where U.S. forces rotate into Europe for training and other
exercises and rely on older military equipment that is stored in the six countries.
Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of U.S. Army Europe, said the plan would create a constant presence of
U.S. forces along NATO’s eastern border.
He said the forces in each country would exercise with host-nation forces and periodically come together to
train as a larger force.
“There will be American equipment and people in each of these countries,” Gen. Hodges said. “We will have
the flexibility to converge the entire brigade for exercises and that is an important part of the deterrence, to
show a warfighting capability.”
A Russian official said Tuesday that Moscow would look carefully at the U.S. plan as well as decisions by
NATO to have troops constantly in Eastern Europe. But the official reiterated Russia’s position that the U.S.
and its allies were using false pretexts to continue a military buildup on Russia’s border.
Russian officials argue the decision violates the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act, a document that says the
alliance won’t position substantial, permanent combat forces on Russia’s borders.
While substantial hasn't been defined, alliance officials say the size of the forces being considered is in
keeping with the agreement.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, Alexander Grushko, the Russian ambassador to
NATO, denounced the American plan to build up forces in Eastern Europe.
“Russia is not moving,” he said. “This is NATO that is moving its territory, as a result of enlargement, closer to
Russia. And now it is using this territory to project military power in the direction of Russia.”
In recent weeks, allies were leaked a preliminary version of the plan that suggested there might be fewer U.S.
troops, if any, stationed in Eastern Europe for a period of up to six months, starting in September. That raised
anxiety levels among some nations that the American commitment in Europe was shaky. In fact, under the new
plan, there will be no gap of U.S. forces in Europe, Mr. Work said.
U.S. officials in Europe say they hope the plan will spur allies to make their own substantial contributions to a
new deterrence force approved by NATO in February. The NATO military command is currently working out
the overall size of that force, expected to be approved in June.
Under the new plan, the older gear that was going to be pre-positioned in Eastern Europe will instead be
moved to a U.S. depot in Germany for refurbishing, then be spread around bases in Germany, Netherlands
and Belgium.
As a result, officials in Poland and the Baltic states are concerned the U.S. is providing a full brigade to
Germany while there is only a small amount of equipment headed to the eastern allies, according to U.S. and
European officials.
“It only cements the two-tier alliance, old Europe and new Europe,” said one Eastern European diplomat.
“Forces are going back to old Europe and there is nothing new for new Europe and we are the ones who are
most exposed.”
U.S. officials said that under this new plan, some nations might have more or less equipment at any one time
because the U.S. military forces rotating there will be constantly moving it across Europe. Defense officials
note, however, that in the end Europe will have a brigade’s worth more of America’s best and most-modern
military equipment on hand.
U.S. Honors Nemtsov's Daughter For ‘Unwavering Courage'
RFE/RL, March 29, 2016
http://www.rferl.org/content/us-honors-nemtsov-daughter-for-unwavering-courage/27642543.html
The eldest daughter of slain Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been honored by the U.S. State
Department for championing "democracy, education, and freedom of information" in her homeland.
Zhanna Nemtsova was among 14 recipients of the State Department's International Women of Courage Award
presented by Secretary of State John Kerry at a March 29 ceremony in Washington.
Kerry praised Nemtsova for speaking out against Russia's "officially sanctioned propaganda that spreads lies"
and "for unwavering courage and tireless work to expose corruption and defend the legal rights of Russian
citizens."
Nemtsova, 32, left Russia several months after her father was shot dead near the Kremlin on February 27,
2015, saying she had received death threats as she pressed for further investigation into the slaying.
In July, she announced she was leaving her job as a journalist at the Russian news outlet RBK in order to join
Deutsche Welle's Bonn office as a reporter in their Russian department.
Russia's top investigative body in December brought final murder charges against four men for Nemtsov's
murder and accused a low-level figure from the southern Chechnya region of masterminding the killing,
drawing accusations of a cover-up.
Nemtsova has rejected investigators' conclusions, accusing them of not being "interested in fully solving" the
case.
Nemtsov's relatives and lawyers have expressed skepticism about the probe, insisting the killing must have
been ordered by high-ranking Russian officials.
People with ties to the Kremlin's strongman leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, have been implicated in the
killing. While Kadyrov denies any involvement, he has described one of the accused, Chechen police official
Zaur Dadayev, as "a true patriot."
John Tefft, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, congratulated Nemtsova on her award in a March 29 statement.
Tefft cited her "courageous activism demanding a thorough and transparent investigation into the murder of
her father" and "her outspoken determination to expose the dangerous and irresponsible use of propaganda."
In August, Nemtsova received the $1.1 million Lech Walesa Solidarity Prize, established by Poland's Foreign
Ministry, from then Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and from Walesa, a former Polish president who
chairs the prize committee.
The State Department established the annual International Women Of Courage Award in 2007 to honor
"women around the globe who have exemplified exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for human
rights, women's equality, and social progress, often at great personal risk."
Elena Milashina, a Russian human rights activist and investigative journalist with the independent newspaper
Novaya Gazeta, received the award in 2013.
Explainer: Why Nuclear Smuggling Looms Over Washington Summit
By Mike Eckel
RFE/RL, March 30, 2016
http://www.rferl.org/content/nuclear-smuggling-summit/27644900.html
The arrest of seven members of an organized crime gang in Moldova in late 2014 was unremarkable for a part
of the world where such underworld networks run rampant, except for what authorities said they were
trafficking in: uranium-238.
Like its chemical cousin, uranium-235, uranium-238 is radioactive. The difference between the two is that
uranium-235 is the central ingredient in building a nuclear weapon, a task that requires technical sophistication
and specialized equipment.
Uranium-238, many law enforcement and nuclear experts fear, could be the central ingredient in building a
dirty bomb, which would cause few immediate casualties but spread cancer-causing radioactive material over
a wide area.
The danger that a terrorist group could acquire some sort of radiological material and use it to wreak havoc is
central to the Nuclear Security Summit that opens in Washington on March 31. Dozens of leaders and
delegations around the world will be discussing ways to keep potentially dangerous substances out of
terrorists' hands.
By all accounts, that effort is an uphill battle.
Radiological substances lurk not only in nuclear power plants and military bases, but also in hospital diagnostic
equipment, cancer treatments, mining machinery, household smoke detectors, and at one time, even
lighthouses. Incidents like what happened in Moldova have occurred with unsettling regularity.
According to data compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear
watchdog, there were nearly 1,150 incidents involving theft, criminal possession, or loss of radiological material
reported between 1993 and 2014. The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California recorded
325 incidents alone between 2013 and 2014 in 38 different countries where nuclear or radioactive material was
stolen, lost, or outside of regulatory control.
Here's a look at just a few incidents involving theft or mishandling of radioactive materials that have raised
alarm bells.
The Georgian Connection
Georgian police in 2012 arrested three men in the Black Sea port of Batumi who were negotiating over the sale
of cesium -- a radioactive substance used in drilling oil and gas wells, among other things. One of the would-be
buyers also reportedly indicated he was interested in buying uranium.
The investigation found the seller possessed two substances -- cesium-137 and strontium-90 -- but not enough
to be useful in building a dirty bomb. Strontium-90 has been used as a heat and power source for things like
satellites, and also, in the Soviet era, lighthouses that were too remote to be manned or maintained regularly.
The arrest came in the same month that Georgian authorities arrested smugglers from the breakaway region of
Abkhazia who were carrying about a kilogram of yellowcake uranium, a lightly processed substance typically
made up of uranium-238. Though it has low radioactivity, yellowcake can be enriched to a higher level of
radioactivity with enough technical know-how.
Georgia has seen an alarming number of investigations into alleged nuclear smuggling in the past decade
following the creation of a special police unit in 2005.
Central Asian Cesium
Kazakh police in 2013 arrested a mining company engineer and three others for allegedly trying to sell a
substance containing cesium-137. The engineer reportedly stole the substance from a warehouse at a mine
company's enrichment plant in 1991, and stored it until deciding to give it to the three other accomplices to sell.
The group had sought $250,000 for the materials. After being caught in a sting operation, the group claimed it
did not know there was any danger from the cesium.
Kazakhstan is also among the world's largest producers of uranium ore, and is looking to build enrichment
plants in the coming years to manufacture fuel for nuclear power plants around the world.
The German Sting
Two Spaniards and a Colombian man flying from Moscow were arrested in 1994 by German authorities at
Munich airport while carrying 560 grams of mixed oxide reactor fuel, about two-thirds of which was another key
ingredient to making an atomic bomb: plutonium-239.
The actual source of the material in Russia was never definitively identified, but the arrests, coming as Russia
was still reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union, stoked fears that the vast nuclear complex that Moscow
inherited was riddled with security problems -- and that global underground markets would be flooded with
dangerous materials.
The incident later became a major political scandal in Germany after lawmakers discovered the arrests were a
sting operation organized by the lead German security agency to entrap would-be nuclear smugglers.
The Drunken Sailor And The Uranium
In 1993, a Russian navy officer and another man employed at a submarine base cut a hole in a perimeter
fence at a fuel storage depot at the Sevmorput shipyard near the Arctic port of Murmansk. They proceeded to
steal three fuel rods containing highly enriched uranium and stored the rods in the man's garage for seven
months, intending to sell the material for $50,000. Later, however, the navy officer boasted about the theft to
other officers while intoxicated, and authorities arrested both men.
The ease with which the men entered the facility highlighted glaring weaknesses in security for Russian
radiological materials. The U.S.-government funded Cooperative Threat Reduction Program spent billions to
help Russia pay for surveillance cameras, hi-tech sensors, and security guard salaries, as well the dismantling
of missile warheads, submarines, and other weaponry that could potentially be stolen or smuggled.
Deadly Scrap
After a medical research laboratory in the central Brazilian city of Goiania moved to a new facility, some
equipment was inadvertently left behind, including machinery used for medical radiation therapy. Scavengers
in 1987 took some of the equipment's parts to sell for scrap, but discovered that the contents of one part
glowed in the dark. Not realizing the substance contained cesium-137, they shared it with others in their
neighborhood.
In the end, four people died of radiation poisoning and thousands others were contaminated. Brazilian officials
removed vast quantities of top soil, and destroying several buildings and detected contamination in dozens of
others.
In a comprehensive report, the IAEA called the Goiania contamination the "most serious radiological incident to
have ever occurred to date."
U.S. and Russia Must Cooperate to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism
By Josh Cohen
Moscow Times, March 31, 2016
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/u-s-and-russia-must-cooperate-to-prevent-nuclear-
terrorism/564126.html
A recent report from NATO asks a frightening question "Could the Islamic State go nuclear"? It's not an idle
question, as U.S. President Barack Obama described nuclear terrorism as "the single biggest threat to U.S.
security."
To address this risk, the U.S. is hosting a major nuclear security summit from March 31 to April 1 in
Washington, D.C. There is one major shortcoming with the summit though: Russia — one of the world's two
dominant nuclear powers — plans to boycott it. This decision represents the collapse of the once-thriving
nuclear security cooperation between Washington and Moscow — one which both sides bear responsibility for.
In the early 1990s Washington discovered that poverty and chaos caused frightening security defects
throughout the vast Russian nuclear complex. Unpaid guards at nuclear sites were frequently absent. Insiders
at Russian nuclear weapons plants tried to steal and sell nuclear materials on the black market. A senior White
House science adviser even discovered enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for several nuclear bombs
sitting unguarded in a Moscow Institute.
The U.S. countered this threat by spending billions of dollars under the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR)
program helping Russia secure its nuclear materials and facilities. From the building of a massive storage
facility for 25,000 kilograms of fissile materials in Chelyabinsk, Russia to the transfer of 58,000 former Soviet
nuclear weapon scientists to civilian programs, CTR was arguably the most successful American foreign aid
program since the Marshall Plan.
Following the conclusion of the CTR program, in September 2013 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and
Russia's state-owned nuclear company Rosatom signed a comprehensive nuclear cooperation agreement.
This agreement provided for projects in areas ranging from nuclear non-proliferation and the peaceful
international use of nuclear power to extensive access for scientists to each side's most sensitive facilities and
nuclear laboratories — a critical trust-building initiative.
In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea however, DOE banned Russian scientists from visiting any of its
nuclear labs while simultaneously banning U.S. scientists from visiting Russia. The 2015 budget also banned
most funding for nuclear nonproliferation activities and assistance in Russia and remains in effect.
Russia then retaliated by announcing it would no longer accept American aid to secure its weapons-grade
nuclear materials. As a result, such work as joint security projects at 18 civilian facilities housing weapons
material to security upgrades at Russia's seven nuclear "closed cities" were cancelled. Bi-lateral Russian-
American nuclear security cooperation is now dead.
As a recent study from the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard notes, Russian has made great progress
in improving its nuclear security over the last 20 years. The physical security around its facilities are largely
modernized; Russian nuclear personnel are paid on time; new nuclear safety regulations exist; and the vast
number of Russian nuclear sites have been trimmed.
Nevertheless, real problems remain. For example, no requirement exists for Russian nuclear facilities to
compare the amount of nuclear materials produced with the materials currently in existence to ensure the
numbers match up. Indeed, some facilities possess thousands of canisters of HEU or plutonium with paper
records going back decades, but no one has ever went back to measure each canister to be sure the material
is still there.
Insider threats due to Russia's endemic corruption continue to exist as well. The director of one of Russia's
largest plutonium and HEU processing facilities and two of his deputies were arrested or corruption in a multi-
million scheme, while a Russian general in command of a nuclear weapon storage site was fired due to
massive corruption. A colonel in the Russian Interior Ministry in charge of nuclear security inspections was also
arrested for soliciting bribes to overlook security violations.
Most recently, an Associated Press investigation reported four separate incidents where Moldovan police
broke up smuggling attempts involving nuclear materials linked to Russian organized crime — one of which
involved an attempt by a Russian gang to sell nuclear material to the Islamic State. Furthermore, forensic
analysis revealed the materials seized were produced in the early 1990s in a Russian nuclear facility in the
Ural Mountains. This raises a frightening question: What else has gone missing from Russian nuclear facilities
since the break-up of the Soviet Union that we are unaware of?
The extremist connection is noteworthy. Osama bin Laden considered nuclear terrorism targeting American
civilians to be a legitimate action, and the Islamic State has seized enough nuclear materials from research
centers, hospitals and an oil facility in Iraq to construct a dirty bomb. Recent reports indicate that Islamic
extremism has spread to the Urals, where a number of Russian nuclear facilities are located. With President
Vladimir Putin acknowledging that at least 5,000-7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet states
joined the Islamic State, it's not impossible to imagine Islamic State sympathizers getting their hands on
Russian nuclear materials.
To limit the threat of nuclear terrorism, the U.S. must take three steps to jumpstart U.S.-Russian nuclear
security cooperation. While the U.S. should keep its Russian sanctions in place until Russia withdraws its
troops from Ukraine and implements the Minsk Agreement, American national interests require that we
separate nuclear security and the crisis in Ukraine.
First, DOE should propose to its counterparts within Rosatom that the September 2013 agreement between
the two sides be reactivated, resuming the extensive scientist-to-scientist collaboration envisioned in the
original agreement.
While this would require a U.S. "climb down" from its April freeze of the DOE-Rosatom agreement, as former
Los Alamos director Siegfried Hecker noted, nuclear security ultimately depends on personal relationships
between Russian and American scientists.
A two year information gap about Russian nuclear security now exists. With sanctions and collapsing oil prices
squeezing Russian government budgets, analysts now question Russia's ability to maintain security systems
previously funded by the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s. Given that a 2013 Department of Defense report to
Congress noted that the "issue of how to sustain nuclear security upgrades at Russian nuclear sites has not
yet been resolved" these concerns are legitimate.
Second, the U.S. should understand that the narrative from the 1990s whereby the U.S. is a donor and Russia
is an aid recipient is no longer acceptable in Moscow. U.S. Russian nuclear cooperation must therefore be
reframed as a partnership of equals, with both sides contributing to the conversation. Some ways to do this
include:
• Workshops on best practices in fissile materials accounting;
• Comprehensive site visits to each side's key laboratories and enrichment sites to compare security strategies;
• Joint work in other countries — Moscow, for example, is a key partner in removing HEU from Russian-
supplied reactors in third countries. This might also involve joint U.S.-Russian technical assistance projects to
assist other countries to improve their nuclear security;
• Mutual vulnerability assessments with each side providing critical reviews to the other;
• Establish a joint intelligence task force on centered around preventing nuclear smuggling and terrorism.
These activities require providing the Russians greater access to American nuclear facilities, but with the
reciprocal benefit that American experts would gain access to Russian facilities.
Third, the Obama administration demand Congress fully fund U.S.-Russian nuclear security cooperation. The
administration is proposing to spend $348 billion upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal over the next ten years —
isn't it worth it spending a tiny fraction of that money to prevent nuclear terrorism? While Russia hawks may
wonder why the U.S. would spend money to assist an adversary, Washington does not help Russia as a favor
to Moscow, but because preventing nuclear terrorism remains a core American national security interest.
All of these steps have one thing in common: they require that we delink nuclear security cooperation with
Moscow from U.S.-Russian geopolitical tensions. The consequences from nuclear terrorism are so dire that to
do otherwise is foolhardy.
Josh Cohen is a former USAID project officer involved in managing economic reform projects in the former
Soviet Union.
How to Be the Next Central Asian Leader
By Bruce Pannier
RFE/RL, March 28. 2016
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/77981
When 2016 started there were no national elections scheduled in any of the five Central Asian countries. By
the end of January, Kazakhstan had called snap parliamentary elections and Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were
planning referendums to change their constitutions and allow the current leaders to remain in power
indefinitely.
To some it was another reminder that changes in leadership are coming closer in Central Asia, where two of
the presidents are already well into their 70s. Speculation has been rife for many years about who might come
to power next in the individual states but, in at least four of the five countries -- Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan -- the systems are so opaque that even guesswork is difficult.
For example, no one outside of Turkmenistan (and probably only a very few inside Turkmenistan) would have
thought prior to first President Saparmurat Niyazov's death in late 2006 that Health Minister Gurbanguly
Berdymukhammedov would have succeeded him to become Turkmenistan's second president.
This week, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, assembled a Majlis, a panel discussion, to
look not at who specifically might succeed to the top posts in the Central Asian countries, but rather what path
they would need to take to get there, whom they would need for allies, and what policies they would have
adopt to gain legitimacy and support.
Azatlyk Director Muhammad Tahir moderated the panel. Julie Fisher Melton, author of "Importing Democracy:
The Role of NGOs in South Africa, Tajikistan & Argentina," joined the talk from Washington DC. Also
participating from Washington was Reid Standish, a journalist with Foreign Policy and author of the recently
published article After Predictable Elections, Kazakhstan's Autocrat Ponders Successor. Taking part from
Bishkek was Edil Baisalov, a former presidential adviser, currently one of the leading political analysts in
Kyrgyzstan. And, since the succession question in Central Asia has been one of my obsessions for quite some
time, I also chimed in with a few comments of my own.
No Universal Road Map
Nearly 25 years after they became independent, the five Central Asian states are now very distinct countries,
so there is no road map to the top that would apply to all. The succession process will be different in each
country.
In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the two largest countries in the region in terms of population, the presidents are
the same people who were first secretaries of the Communist Party of their respective Soviet socialist republics
when the U.S.S.R. disintegrated in late 1991. For citizens of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who will be 76
in July, has been the only president they've known. The same is true in Uzbekistan where Islam Karimov, who
turned 78 at the end of January, has been the leader since the very beginning.
Being the second president will be difficult in these countries. But to get even that far, such a person will need
help.
Standish suggested, for example, that, in oil-exporter Kazakhstan, the business elites would be a desirable,
possibly indispensable, ally in becoming the president. But, Standish noted, "If you look at Uzbekistan, a lot of
that wealth and power is generated domestically, so… the security services will probably play a much larger
role in Uzbekistan in a succession scenario [and] could even be the ones who take the reins of power."
As it stands now, the elites are almost certain to be the powerbrokers when it comes to installing the next
Central Asian leaders. But this is an unwieldy basis for legitimacy in Central Asia as Melton pointed out. "I don't
think… elite arrangements have anything more than a very temporary effect on legitimacy," she said, adding
that, "in the long run, civil society is the hope for institutionalization from below and without institutionalization
from below you'll continue to have change at the top that really leads to no change at all."
The Islam Factor
The leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan enjoy a legitimacy that derives in large part from their
long tenures in power. Karimov and Nazarbaev can style themselves as "fathers of their nations," Standish
said, while Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, in power since 1992, is playing on his image as the "originator of
the peace," for his role in ending the 1992-1997 Tajik civil war. Such legitimacy, obviously, will not transfer to
whomever comes immediately after them.
New leaders could find themselves in need of a new support base. If they choose, like the current leaders, to
shun cooperation with civil society, where else could they turn?
Baisalov said the generational shift is already being felt in Kyrgyzstan and that "the new mass of [the]
predominantly young population… is completely different." Baisalov explained, "Currently the most popular
person in Kyrgyzstan is one of the preachers, he calls himself 'sheikh' but you cannot imagine one political or
any other personality who is collecting so much of an audience… whose weekly videos are being watched by
hundreds of thousands in Kyrgyzstan."
Islam has been a part of Central Asian politics for centuries. Despite the efforts of the region's distrustful
presidents to mute its influence, Islam will increasingly be a factor in politics in Central Asia once again.
Courting support among the faithful could help propel someone to the top position but it has always been a
risky game in Central Asia, particularly for leaders who are not genuinely pious.
Russian Interests
Baisalov mentioned another key to succession in Central Asia -- the Kremlin.
"Russia will make sure that they play a role," he said. "They can deny recognition, they can try and interfere,
they can try to provide some guarantees against, for example, if there is some security situation. The most
important source of recognition and support and legitimacy will come from Moscow."
Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the Kremlin would refrain from interfering if a leader emerged in one of the
Central Asian countries who was overly pro-Western, or pro-Chinese, or pro-Islamic. Recognition of Russia's
interests in Central Asia is almost a prerequisite to gaining power.
The panelists recalled the starkly different transitions of power already seen in Central Asia. Turkmenistan's
transfer of power in December 2006 after the death of first President Niyazov was smooth but completely
opaque.
Kyrgyzstan, in contrast, saw two revolutions (2005 and 2010) that ousted presidents and violence
accompanied each. (The country is now governed as a parliamentary republic with the president serving as
head of state.)
The first two presidents of Tajikistan (Rahmon Nabiev and Akbarsho Iskandarov) were both essentially driven
from power in 1992 as the Tajik civil war started.
The panelists went into greater detail, reviewing the path to succession and discussing what a successor might
do to stay in power.
