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"Chechnya Peace Forum"
February, 11th 2009
According to the Washington Post this is a critical year for US-Russian relations. Issues cited by the article as potential stumbling blocks for negotiations include US plans to base interceptor missiles in Europe and Russian plans for the creation of two military bases in the separatist provinces of Georgia. The article says that even on issues where the two states have converging interests “such as in limiting Iran's nuclear ambitions and in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan” the “going will still be tough.”
The Moscow Times today reports that the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia “would not allow United Nations cease-fire monitors to continue working on its territory unless their mandate was changed.” Abkhazia’s foreign minister, Sergei Shamba is reported as saying that “the mission’s name must change to reflect the seperatists’ assertion that Abkhazia is an independent state.”
The Independent carries a large feature on the current state of the Russian Orthodox Church in Britain. The article analyses the politics of the Church and its relations with the Kremlin. It also assesses the ongoing reforms in the Church through the prism of Russian foreign policy, looking at the level of influence the Russian government has over it in Britain.
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