On May 16, Valdai International Discussion Club held a round-table discussion «Russia and the West: new stage of relationship». The framework of the round table also included a presentation of the Russian edition of Alexander Rahr’s book Where Will Putin Go? Russia Between China and Europe (original title Der kalte Freund. Warum wir Russland brauchen: Die Insider-Analyse).
Following up on the Moscow conference on missile defense and ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago the Valdai Discussion Club convened foreign and Russian experts to discuss the future of Russia-NATO relations.
The fifth conference of the Working Group on the future of Russian-U.S. relations is to be held on May 17 - 20 in Moscow.
The theses contained in the report “Russia should not miss its chance: Development scenarios” were prepared by the working group comprising Russian and international experts ahead of the VIII annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting, themed “2011-2012 Elections and the Future of Russia. Development Scenarios for the Next 5-8 Years”.
The Valdai Index represents the combined opinion of leading world experts that participated in Valdai Club conferences with respect to Russia’s development in the political, economic, social, cultural and international spheres. Download Russia Development Index 2010-2011 in Russian (PDF)
The report examines how the Russia’s and United States` ties with the countries in post-Soviet Eurasia affect the bilateral relationship. The authors argue that despite the initial successes of the “reset” in Russia-U.S. relations, disputes relating to post-Soviet Eurasia represent “a ‘landmine’ in Russia -U.S. relations that could ‘detonate’ at any time and seriously complicate cooperation on other issues.
Russia is one of the world’s largest energy suppliers and players on the energy market. It produces 9.6% of the world’s primary energy and annually invests about 4.5% of its GDP in the energy sector. Therefore, it needs to make regular and thorough analyses of global energy markets for purposes of national strategic planning and corporate investment.
Given the crisis and the plummeting demand, Gazprom agreed to index 15% of the supplied amounts to spot prices, which at the time were significantly below the prices pegged to petrochemicals. It also introduced additional conditions in connection to the unique situation on the global gas market.
Nabucco and South Stream are very different in both concept and structure, and this is important for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each project. Nabucco is a mercantile pipeline. It is being developed and financed by gas companies with backing from the European Union.
Collective research "Russian Energy Security and Foreign Policy" , edited by Adrian Dellecker and the Valdai Club member Thomas Gomart was simultaneously published in the USA and Canada. This book provides an original and thoroughly academic analysis of the link between Russian energy and foreign policies in Eurasia, as well as offering an interpretation of Russia's coherence on the international stage, seeking to understand Russia and explain its behavior.
In recent years one of the main aims of the EU energy policy was to reduce dependence on Russian energy. However, the start of 2011 has prompted to take a different view on the security of energy supply to Europe, especially given an unprecedented increase in gas demand observed in the European market in 2010.
EU's energy strategy envisages, among other things, relieving the Union's dependence on Russian gas. Everybody admits that this is going to require some huge spending. At the same time, moving away from Russia's gas directly contradicts the intention of many EU states to wind down atomic energy production.
According to one likely scenario for the period up to 2035, European economies will continue to experience moderate growth. Because energy intensity will decrease, overall energy demand will more or less stagnate. But gas demand will grow because gas will come to substitute coal and nuclear energy in electricity production. By 2035, European gas demand is likely to have increased by about 100 bcm.
On May 7, a few hours after his presidential inauguration, Vladimir Putin signed a decree for a strategic program on the development of Russian education. One of its chief aims is to ensure that a number of Russian universities enter the ranking of the world’s top 100 universities.
The aim of the protests was quite simple. The political process behind the demonstrations against Vladimir Putin and for fair elections has now become irreversibly transformed into a technological one.
For Washington, Putin’s doubts about the G-8’s capacity to accomplish anything significant and his close relations with China should turn on the red light with regards to the hallowed U.S.-Russian “reset” policy.
In the Muslim community in Russia actual religious and spiritual problems are fading into the background, while the clergy are focused on fighting for leadership and their own financial wellbeing.
