Journey by Sea Takes Awkward Turn in Russia

MOSCOW — It is hard to imagine who was more stunned: the team of adventurers who succeeded in crossing more than 50 miles of the Bering Strait’s frigid, treacherous swells to Russia from Alaska last week, or the Russian border patrol agents in an armored tank who watched them appear on shore, seemingly out of nowhere.

On Wednesday, the team of six men — shadowed by a Russian military helicopter — did an about-face and returned to the Alaskan coast after spending four days in detention in Lavrentiya, a remote village in the Chukotka region.

The six, led by Steven Moll, 41, of Folsom, Calif., had hoped that after reaching Chukotka in the Russian Far East, they could continue south for 5,000 more miles to Taiwan.

Each of the six rode a 2008 GTX, 215-horsepower Sea-Doo made by the Canadian company Bombardier that carried enough gasoline for a 250-mile trip. They had planned to buy more fuel at stops along Russia’s vast eastern coast.

But what seemed like a well-scripted stunt hit a snag when the headlights from the watercraft sent Russian border agents into high alert. Much of the Russian coastal region is designated as a prohibited military zone.
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Chukotka has proved a formidable obstacle to would-be world travelers before. In 2006 Karl Bushby, a Briton trying to circumnavigate the globe on foot, walked across the frozen Bering Strait into the region and was arrested for failing to register with the Russian authorities after coming ashore. On Wednesday, after their release from custody but expulsion from Russia, the team made a six-hour cannonball run back across the Strait, whose waves can reach a height of 20 feet or more.

Russian Warships Sent on Maneuvers Near Syria

MOSCOW — Russia, which seems intent on positioning itself as an increasingly decisive broker in the Syrian crisis, announced on Tuesday that a flotilla of navy vessels had sailed to the Mediterranean Sea and some would dock in the Syrian port of Tartus. The naval group includes several landing craft with marines.

The voyage and naval maneuvers seemed designed to convey a message that Russian leaders would protect their interests in Syria, Russia’s most important relationship in the Middle East, even as they restrict new shipments of weapons to President Bashar al-Assad’s government until the conflict subsides, as military export officials had announced on Monday.
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Russian military officials have repeatedly hinted at a possible role in Syria for their naval power, diminished but still floating two decades after the Soviet collapse. The ships have been presented as a means either to evacuate Russian citizens or to secure the naval fueling station at Tartus, on the Syrian coast.

Though little more than a floating pier and small barracks, the site is Russia’s only remaining foreign military base outside the former Soviet Union. Any Russian presence on the coast would serve as a tripwire to prevent Western military intervention.

The statement by the Defense Ministry said ships had steamed from ports of the Northern and Black Sea fleets.

Russia Picks Politics Over Syria Arms Exports

Moscow’s announcement on Monday that it was refusing to make new arms sales to Syria came unexpectedly, after top Russian diplomats previously staunchly defended Russia’s right to supply arms to the embattled Assad regime.

“Until the situation stabilizes we will not deliver any new weapons” to Syria, Dzirkaln said at the Farnborough airshow in Britain. He said this included, in particular, the 36 Yak-130 combat training aircraft that Syria was intending to purchase for a total price of $550 million.

From the onset of the conflict in Syria last spring, Russian Foreign Ministry and political leadership has persistently maintained that Moscow’s arms shipments do not violate any international laws and will be continued.

Putin Says Russia to Prioritize India, China

Russia intends to maintain special cooperation with the emerging powers of China and India, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday at a gathering of Russia's top diplomats and foreign representatives.

"Our cooperation with China has the most important strategic and practical importance," Putin said. "We intend to pay special attention to deepening all forms of cooperation with our Chinese partners including coordination of our actions in the agenda of international affairs," he added.

"This also applies to other rapidly developing and increasingly politically important Asian states, including foremost our traditional partner and friend India," Putin said.
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"The June summit with the EU confirmed the priority character of Russian-European strategic dialog," he said. "At the same time, the level of cooperation with the EU in our view, has not reached its full potential,"he said.

Russia's Putin says the West is on the decline

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the West's influence was waning as its economy declines but warned Russian diplomats to be on their guard against a backlash from Moscow's former Cold War enemies.

In a biennial speech to Russian ambassadors, Putin also took a shot at the West by condemning any unilateral actions to solve international disputes and underlined the importance of resolving such conflicts through the United Nations.
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"Domestic socio-economic problems that have become worse in industrialized countries as a result of the (economic) crisis are weakening the dominant role of the so-called historical West," Putin told a meeting of Russian ambassadors from across the world.
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Putin reiterated accusations that the West is engaging in unilateral diplomacy outside the United Nations to maintain influence in world politics, and implied again that the West was behind the Arab Spring revolutions.

"We are seeing attempts by individual players in the international community to keep the influence they are used to by which our partners often use unilateral actions that contradict international law," he said.

"This can be seen from the so-called humanitarian operations ... and intervention in internal conflicts."

Romania president impeached amid EU, US concern

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian lawmakers impeached President Traian Basescu in an overwhelming vote Friday, paving the way for a national referendum that could see the divisive and increasingly unpopular leader ousted from the powerful position he's held for eight years.

The vote of 256-114 in parliament came as Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta have engaged in a bitter power struggle in the eastern European country of 19 million, which emerged from communism in 1989. The machinations, especially attempts to sideline the judiciary, have led the United States and the European Union to issue statements of concern about Romania's democracy.

Basescu's opponents accused him of overstepping his authority by meddling with the prime minister's office and trying to influence judicial affairs. The 60-year-old former ship captain also was accused of making racist remarks about Gypsies and disabled people.

Senate Speaker Crin Antonescu, who will serve as interim president now that Basescu has been effectively suspended from the role, said a popular referendum on Basescu's fate will be held July 29.

Clinton: "Friends of Syria" must unite to stop Russia, China "blockading" progress

(CBS/AP) PARIS - The United States and its international allies called Friday for new, global sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime, stepping up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a major blow to the Syrian leader.

The question, explains CBS News State Department correspondent Margaret Brennan, is whether Russia and China will finally and completely sever the financial lifeline which is keeping Assad in power. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said they've essentially given Assad a free pass by failing to implement sanctions and continuing to import Syrian oil.
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Clinton joined senior officials from about 100 other countries in Paris to win wider support for a Syrian transition plan unveiled last week by U.N. mediator Kofi Annan. Joined by America's allies, she called for "real and immediate consequences for non-compliance, including sanctions," against the Assad regime.

But with neither Moscow nor Beijing in attendance, much remained dependent on persuading the two reluctant U.N. veto-wielding powers to force Assad into abiding by a cease-fire and the transition strategy. Clinton urged governments around the world to direct their pressure toward Russia and China as well.