Russia says BRICS eye joint anti-crisis fund

(Reuters) - Major emerging economies may set up a joint anti-crisis fund if they do not receive enough say in decision making at the International Monetary Fund under proposed voting reforms, a senior Russian official said.

The leaders of BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - pledged at the Group of Twenty summit in Mexico to chip in $75 billion to boost the IMF's lending power but had sought to tie the loans to voting reforms.

At the same time BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors were instructed to study possible currency swaps arrangements and report to next year's BRICS leaders' summit in South Africa.

"It is clear that BRICS countries have entered the stage when they can demand to be reckoned with (in the course of the IMF reform)," Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told reporters.
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The five BRICS nations represent 43 percent of the world's population and about 18 percent of global economic output. They have about $4 trillion in combined reserves, with the lion's share held by export powerhouse China.

St Petersburg university professors found guilty of handing missile secrets to China

Two Russian university professors were today found guilty of handing over missile secrets to China, the latest in a string of espionage cases that reflected underlying tensions between Moscow and Beijing despite declarations of cooperation and friendship.

The St.Petersburg City Court convicted Yevgeny Afanasyev and Svyatoslav Bobyshev of treason and sentenced them to 12-and-a-half and 12 years in prison respectively.

The two professors of St.Petersburg's Baltic State Technological University were accused of selling confidential information related to Russia's latest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Bulava, to representatives of China's military intelligence.
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After decades of Cold War-era rivalry, Moscow and Beijing have developed what they call a strategic partnership after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

China also has become a major customer for Russian weapons industries, although Russian arms exports have drained in recent years as China has sought to produce unlicensed copycat versions of Russian weapons.

Russia also has refrained from providing China with some of the latest military technologies, and a number of Russian scientists have been convicted of spying for China in recent years.

HERE COMES TROUBLE

BELGRADE -- Belgrade-based daily Politika is writing that the EU has given Serbia three new conditions in order for the country to begin accession talks.

The newspaper is basing its report on "unofficial sources in Belgrade", and says those conditions were recently delivered by EU official Miroslav Lajčak.

They include the dismantling of Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo - "but not schools, heath centers and hospitals", notes Politika - the opening of representative offices in Belgrade and Priština, and "a meeting at the highest level" between Belgrade and Priština. 

Furthermore, according to this, the European Union also demands that Serbia "shut down the court in Kosovska Mitrovica", and for a separate calling code for Kosovo to be introduced.

Leaders Call for End to Armenia-Azerbaijan War

The presidents of the United States, Russia and France issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a peaceful settlement to the more than 20-year war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Clashes along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border have intensified in recent weeks, with soldiers killed on each side. The renewed fighting, in violation of prior ceasefire agreements, has stirred fears of wider bloodshed and drawn international condemnation.

The statement issued by the three presidents, Barack Obama, Vladimir V. Putin and François Hollande, at the Group of 20 meeting in Mexico, faulted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for not following steps toward an agreement urged last year. The statement called on them to move swiftly to make “the important decisions necessary to reach a lasting and peaceful settlement.”
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The unity on addressing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict provided a glimmer of consensus between Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin whose face-to-face meeting on Monday was largely characterized by their disagreement over how to handle the conflict in Syria.

In a World of Complications, Obama Faces a Re-election Test

Mr. Obama’s trip to Mexico for a gathering of the Group of 20leaders is his third international summit meeting in a month, reflecting the pull of priorities for any incumbent. While he confers in Los Cabos, his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, will tour swing states. “I’ve still got my day job,” as Mr. Obama put it at a California fund-raiser last month.

The president will talk with European leaders about pulling out of the financial spiral after Sunday’s election in Greece, which gave the pro-bailout party a slim victory and the right to form a coalition government. He will also meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russiajust days after the Obama administration accused Moscow of supplying arms to Syria in its bloody crackdown on the uprising there.

Just as Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin meet for the first time as presidents, their underlings will sit down in Moscow for the latest round of talks with Iranthat are intended to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. The optimism over these talks this spring seems to have faded into fears of a further impasse that would play into Iran’s hands.

Russia sending navy ships to Syria amid uprising

(CBS/AP) MOSCOW - The Interfax news agency said Monday that two Russian navy ships are to sail to Syria to protect Russian citizens and its naval base there. This would mark the first time since the uprising in Syria started that Russia is sending extra troops to its base in Syria.

Interfax quoted an unidentified Russian navy official as saying that the Nikolai Filchenkov and Caesar Kunikov amphibious assault vessels will be heading to the Syrian port of Tartus, but didn't give a precise date. The official said the ships will carry an unspecified number of marines to protect Russians in Syria and evacuate materials from Tartus if necessary.

CBS News confirmed with the Russian navy that the two ships were ordered to go to Syria to protect its assets and was working to confirm whether the ships would be carrying additional military personnel.

The Defense Ministry had no immediate comment, and an official at the Russian Black Sea fleet declined to comment. Tartus is Russia's only naval base outside the former Soviet Union with Russian personnel of an unspecified size. The bulk of Russian military men in Syria are military advisers teaching Syrians how to use Russian weapons.

Putin, Obama to Talk Missile Defense, Syria Settlement in Mexico

MOSCOW, June 17 (RIA Novosti)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama will on June 18 discuss projected deployment of missile shield in Europe, prospects of peace settlement in Syria and bilateral ties at the sidelines of G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said.

The G20 summit will be held on June 18-19. Obama and Putin will meet ahead of it. Following the negotiations, the presidents will issue a joint statement, which will enshrine the partners’ will to develop diplomatic ties and expand trade contacts.