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On January 29, a closed briefing was held at US Congress, during which US Senators discussed anti-Russian sanctions. Neither US lawmakers, nor representatives of the State Department and other government structures reported any details about the meeting.The so-called "Kremlin Report" or the "Kremlin List" was published soon afterwards. The report includes Russian politicians and businessmen, who, according to Washington, are members of  Russian President Putin's team. As for the new sanctions that were discussed at the above-mentioned briefing, US officials discussed (judging from scanty reports) restrictive measures against enterprises of the Russian defence complex and their foreign counterparts. According to representatives of the State Department, the current restrictive measures have deprived Russia of contracts worth several billions of dollars. Yet, it is difficult to be specific here, as the meeting was held behind closed doors. After the meeting, however, several Democratic Congressmen accused the Trump administration of unwillingness to impose new sanctions against Russia.A little later, State Department spokesman Heather Nauert indirectly confirmed this opinion. As she said, the United States did not see the need to impose new sanctions on the Russian defence industry, because the already effective measures against Russian defence companies have shown their effectiveness.As for the Kremlin List, the document contains the names of 210 people - all, as Washington believes, are part of Putin's milieu. The entire Russian government, including its chairman, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, happens to be part of Putin's milieu, as US Treasury believes. The list includes all Russian wealthiest people according to Forbes Magazine - i.e. all major entrepreneurs  holding fortunes over one billion dollars. It is worthy of note that there is the classified part of the Kremlin List, which includes officials and entrepreneurs with a fortune of less than a billion dollars.Officials with the US Treasury noted that the list did not imply restrictive measures against the persons named. At the same time, the Kremlin List does not include all representatives of the Russian authorities and state corporations. For example, chairwoman of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina and the head of Rosnano Anatoly Chubais do not appear on the list. Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber Tatyana Golikova is not there either. Alexei Kudrin's name does not appear on the list: although he does not hold office in Russian power structures, is hardly a secret who in the Kremlin  listens to his opinions.So there, there is the list and thee are sanctions. What will be the response? Judging by first reactions - Russia is not working on something impressive. "A look at the American list, which  the Treasury sent to Congress yesterday, creates (at least in its political part) a strong feeling that US security services, being so desperate to find the promised and, most importantly, provable compromising information against Russian politicians, have simply rewritten the Kremlin telephone book," Senator Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page.Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said the list looked like the book "Who's Who in Russian Politics." "As a member of the government, I was supposed to be on this list, the whole government is there, and there is nothing surprising in this. This is the list of persons who are obviously leading figures in Russian politics and business. This is not the sanctions list - this is the list that is going to be used for further decisions and assessments. We will keep an eye on the situation and evaluate whether there is a need to respond. For the time being, there are no reasons for action so far," he said.The head of the Human Rights Council, Mikhail Fedotov, who also appears on the list, called his authors lazy. "I understand that it was not politicians but bureaucrats who made the list, and like all bureaucrats, they are lazy, so they just took the list of all presidential advisors from the Kremlin's website and included them on their list. One does not have to take any intellectual effort for this," he said. Alexei Navalny's companion Leonid Volkov was also disappointed:"As expected, this is utter rubbish. US Congress ordered the Treasury to prepare the list of most influential Russian officials and oligarchs within 180 days, and the Treasury has formally executed the formal assignment. They have used exactly 180 days and compiled the list that could be made within a couple of hours:a) all officials, starting from a certain level (primarily from the administration of the president);b) all business people with fortunes worth more than $1 billion."It appears that Moscow will simply shrug the "Kremlin List" off. After all, US Ambassador to Russia John Huntsman urged the Russian authorities several days ago not to show a too emotional relation to the publication of the report. More importantly, Russia does have many reasons to respond to USA's actions, and the number of those reasons is more than enough. Oleg Artyukov Pravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru

The entire Russian government, including its chairman, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, happens to be part of Putin's milieu, as US Treasury believes

Russian opposition activists reproach Russian President Vladimir Putin for not wanting to participate in the debate during the presidential campaign. "This silence is no longer perceived as a sign of force, but as lack of content and program, even as some sort of illegitimacy. The man can keep silence for two reasons: he either has nothing to talk about with us, or he has problems with discourse and he is afraid of any discussions," Dmitry Bykov wrote on Echo of Moscow radio station. According to Bykov, Putin allegedly "has nothing to say, nothing to show, except for the quarrel with the whole world and a huge number of people comfortably stagnating as he remains in power." The administration of the Communist Party in the person of its leader Gennady Zyuganov has been trying to arrange a debate between party candidate Pavel Grudinin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.According to Zyuganov, "the president said that it was very important that candidates coming for the elections should have creative programs. We have such a program, we have nominated a talented candidate, as we insist on a public debate with the main candidate, President Putin," Gennady Zyuganov said. It is worthy of note that candidates Pavel Grudinin, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Ksenia Sobchak, Grigory Yavlinsky, and Boris Titov intend to participate in the debate. Most of them want to debate directly with Putin, rather than with his representatives.Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin has already announced that he will not take part in the process. Other candidates said that they do not want to debate with each other. Opposition also insists on the debate, in fact, trying to superimpose the American reality on the Russian reality. In Western countries, it is allegedly believed that the debate sometimes shows who is going to win the votes of the wavering electorate.Many experts believe that this would be wrong to believe so in Russia, because a presidential campaign in the United States is not limited to the debate only. US candidates travel from coast to coast and meet their electors, sometimes several times in one day. There is also the fund raising activity. In Russia, candidates have their programs, but they do not travel all over the country nor do they try to work with electorate groups selectively - they do not try to meet specifically workers or farmers, for example.Therefore, candidate's unwillingness to participate in debates is a prerogative of a politician who is aware of his advantage over other competitors. "The law gives the right to participate or not to participate in the debate, but what does the opposition do? They do not care about consequences of decisions - they simply appeal to the needs of citizens, telling them that they would do this and that. Yet, talking about the need to make everyone happy, wealthy and healthy overnight is not a conversation on an equal footing," Putin said in 2012.Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian

Russian opposition activists reproach Russian President Vladimir Putin for not wanting to participate in the debate during the presidential campaign

Russia is weakly represented at the 48th World Economic Forum that opened in Davos on 23 January. Why discuss the system, which Russia should abandon? Strange as it may seem, the motto  of the forum - "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World" - reflects the situation at its best. In Davos, Russia will be represented by Vice Prime Minister Vladislav Dvorkovich and "old wave" businessmen of the Yeltsin era. Chairwoman of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina wanted to attend the forum, but subsequently declined for a number of undeclared reasons. Judging by the slogan of the forum, globalists accused Russia of disunity in the world. So why go?Yet, the Russians are no strangers there, because the world cannot live without Russia's oil and gas, Andrei Suzdaltsev, political scientist and deputy head of the Faculty of World Economy and Politics at the Higher School of Economics, told Pravda.Ru. "They will make us believe that Russia should return to the joint economic system, to the world without sanctions, but Russia would need to make concessions for this. They will try to put pressure on Russia in an effort to return the Crimea to Ukraine, etc, promising that everything will get better for Russia and investments will come," the expert said. Davos will show interest in Russia's economic policy after the elections, because some things will change considerably, the expert believes. During the 1990s, an agreement was concluded between Russia and the United States, according to which the West received all assets of the USSR outside the borders of the RSFSR at its disposal. In return, the West guaranteed investment and support of economy within the framework of the so-called "Yeltsin family" economist Mikhail Khazin said in an interview with "Echo of Moscow."Since then, the "family" has been setting Russia's economic policy following instructions from Washington. "Nabiullina is bending over backwards to prevent an increase in the monetisation of the economy, not to let Russian enterprises get access to cheap loans," the economist said. However, the economist believes, the "family" has not been fulfilling its obligations properly for a while already and may therefore retire after the presidential election in Russia in March 2018. Russia is not interested in the Davos forum from the point of view of strategic prospects, because the forum is devoted to outdated economic models, which Russia should leave behind. Trump has "divided" the world too The US also has big problems in Davos. US President Donald Trump has managed to quarrel with all his allies by the first anniversary of his stay in power. According to Andrei Suzdaltsev, Trump does not have a close dialogue either with Europe or with Asia. Trump needs to support the global leadership of the United States, not only in the political, but also in an economic sense, the expert believes. Therefore, Trump will predictably speak about the "rise of the US economy, the minimal level of unemployment, available investments, the growth of the US stock market to let the whole world appreciate all those achievements."According to Mikhail Khazin, Trump represents the real, rather than the financial sector" of the United States. In other words, Trump uses an administrative resource to support the real sector and exports, the expert concluded. The new global leader is China China intercepts the leadership of the United States in the globalisation of the world. Chinese leader Xi Jinping regularly uses phrases like "common future" in his speeches. For example, a year ago he spoke at the UN office in Geneva with a keynote address - "Working together to create common future for humanity."Beijing is watching turbulence in Europe and the United States while implementing its grandiose global project known as One Belt, One Road Initiative. This is a win-win option, because it is based on the construction of infrastructure - the basis of economic growth in any system. The project will cost China about 900 billion dollars and embrace 65 countries throughout Eurasia. Chinese companies will build railways and roads, ports, warehouses. China will benefit greatly from exporting its products.Russia does not have the strength for an independent project like that. At this stage, Beijing acts as an ally in switching the world to a new economic model. One should not forget that the economic union may quickly evolve into dictatorship, including in politics. Lyuba Lulko (Stepushova)Pravda.Ru Read article in the Russian version of Pravda.Ru

Russia is not interested in the Davos forum from the point of view of strategic prospects, because the forum is devoted to outdated economic models

To expand the horizons of its "red lines," Russia should get out of someone else's economic project, political analyst Leonid Krutakov said.In an interview with Kommersant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined Russia's "red lines," which Western "partners" are not recommended to cross. Serious Western politicians should not only understand but also respect this, he added. "Russia has the right to defend the interests of its compatriots, especially when they are persecuted in many countries, when their rights are oppressed, as it happened in Ukraine," Sergei Lavrov said.He referred to Russia's action in the Crimea after the coup in Ukraine. "The first thing that the Ukrainian parliament did after the coup was the law which said that the Russian language should know its place. This place, roughly speaking, was simply under the bench," Lavrov said."Two days later, there were statements made that the Russians would never honour Bandera and Shukhevych, so the Russians should be expelled from the Crimea. After that, the Supreme Council of the republic was in the hands of thugs. Russia could no longer stand by and look at how Russian people would be killed there," the Russian Foreign Minister said.Political analyst Leonid Krutakov told Pravda.Ru that Ukraine has been and still remains Russia's "red line." "NATO's presence is absolutely excluded there - this is an absolutely clear condition that is constantly voiced at all closed and open meetings."As for the Donbass "red line," Russian President Putin clearly stated that Russia would never let anyone to destroy and massacre those people.Russia has "red lines" not only in the "Russian world," the political scientist noted. Russia's "red line" in Syria is the preservation of Syrian statehood. The world has seen what happened to Iraq and Libya, and one can see chaos in the Middle East at the moment, where the state framework and public consensus have been breaking down. This is the reason why Russia vetoed the decision of the UN Security Council to create a no-fly zone over Syria, having thus prevented the development of the "Libyan scenario."To make the West respect Russia's taboos, "it's about time Russia needs to exit someone else's project," said Leonid Krutakov. "Politically, we advocate sovereignty, but economically, we live in the institutional environment created by the Western world - their banking system of dollar settlements, stock markets, and the West will continue putting pressure on Russia through these institutions because Russia is a competitor on the political field," he said."The United States does not have a picture of the strong Russia, and the Americans will never allow us to become strong. The conflict is so obvious that we were shown through sanctions that we do not have the common financial market. Russia is not strong enough to exit the Western system alone, so we need to cooperate with other countries that share the same view of the world's future - China, India, the BRICS, SCO, Eurasian Economic Union - to create a separate monetary system. Otherwise we will lose in the long term," the political scientist summed up.Lyuba LulkoPravda.Ru Read article in Russian

The USA does not have a picture of the strong Russia, and the Americans will never allow Russians become strong. Sanctions show how obvious the conflict is

The media interpretation of the remarks by Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov about the contacts between Russian and Ukrainian presidents was incorrect. The rumours about Putin's secret contacts with Poroshenko appeared after Dmitry Peskov's interview on Rossiya 1 TV channel. In this regard, Peskov stressed that "no one said anything about any meetings." During the interview, a journalist wondered about the time of the most recent meeting between the two presidents recalling such "contacts from last year, when the press was notified about them several months afterwards." According to Peskov, "President Putin has a huge number of meetings and contacts that are not of public nature. "We do not report anything about those meetings, and this is common practice. The president's working day ... is much busier than one can see it on television. Indeed, there are meetings about which we do not inform the press," Peskov said.The Ukrainian side has already announced that President Poroshenko did not hold bilateral meetings with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after the conclusion of the Minsk agreements. However, not so long ago, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, who earlier became the main mediator in Erdoğan's apologies to Putin, said that Poroshenko had asked him [the Kazakh president] for help in finding a compromise with Russia. After attempts to commit subversive activities in the Crimea, Russian President Putin stated that  Ukraine had "crossed the line" and "proceeded to terror" adding that the Norman format meeting in China was not going to take place. Poroshenko was reportedly begged the Chinese side to find an opportunity for his arrival at the G20 summit, although to no avail. It was also reported that Poroshenko and Putin conduct secret telephone conversations. The Security Bureau of Ukraine supposedly classifies those talks not to cast any suspicion on the Ukrainian president. It was in particular said that the two presidents talked to each other on the phone in April. "The presidents would periodically switch to irony not to quarrel with each other," a source from the Ukrainian administration said. Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian

It was in particular said that the two presidents talked to each other on the phone in April. They had to maintain irony during the conversation not to quarrel

World's most powerful nuclear submarines, Arkhangelsk and Severstal, are to be dismantled after 2020. The Russian federal nuclear power watchdog, Rosatom, found their further exploitation unprofitable. The submarines have already been withdrawn from the combat structure of the Russian Navy. Why such a hurry? The work on the submarines started in December 1973. The construction of the first heavy submarine strategic missile cruiser of Project 941 (codenamed "Akula", NATO reporting name SSBN "Typhoon"), the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear cruiser, was launched in 1976. The sub entered the combat strength of the Northern Fleet in 1981. The Dmitry Donskoy was the only submarine that was modernized and re-equipped for Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Dmitry Donskoy will remain the only underwater cruiser of Project 941, which remains part of the Russian Navy. A total of six cruisers had been built afterwards, but three of them (TK-12, TK-202 and TK-13) were withdrawn from the Russian Navy in 1996-1997 due to the lack of funds. It is worthy of note that it was the United States that covered the costs for the dismantlement of those submarines.

World's most powerful nuclear submarines, Arkhangelsk and Severstal, are to be dismantled after 2020 - their further exploitation is unprofitable

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of the covert transfer of money assets to opposition groups in Russia to destabilize the political situation in the country. The announcement from representatives of the foreign ministry came in response to the recent article published on BuzzFeed. The article disclosed confidential information about transactions of Russian diplomatic institutions in the United States. In particular, the article said that the authorities of the United States were studying "suspicious money transfers" of the Russian embassy in Washington. Representatives of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs stressed that such information was "deliberately falsified and maliciously interpreted for the next round of accusations connected with Russia's alleged interference in US elections. It goes about conventional salary transfers, which "they try to make look like conspiracies."

Russia accused the United States of the covert transfer of money assets to opposition groups in Russia to destabilize the political situation in the country

Russia works to neutralise the USA's Prompt Global Strike strategy. The Pentagon has admitted that Russia has an unmanned submarine capable of carrying a powerful nuclear munition.To destroy an enemy in 48 hours, the United States pays first priority to high-precision weapons - hypersonic shells fired from surface vessels. In addition, the strategy involves the use of the nuclear triad shooting non-nuclear projectiles. However, before anything can be made, aircraft will have to take off and gain altitude. There are effective anti-aircraft and air defence complexes against ICBMs, whereas submarines appear to be most invulnerable. A recent report from the Pentagon, published on January 14, says that Russia works to develop its undersea fleet. Advantages of the submarine fleet Submarines can strike targets when approaching enemy's sea borders, and one does not have to maintain costly aircraft carriers and military bases for the purpose. Medium-range sea-based missiles are exempt from the INF Treaty. The launch of Caliber cruise missiles from the water area of the Caspian Sea on terrorists in Syria showed the effectiveness of such weapons to the whole world. To crown it all, Americans and Europeans periodically detect Russian submarines off their coasts, but they are unable to track them.For the time being, the United States has a quantitative and qualitative advantage over Russia in the submarine fleet, but, according to their own forecasts, the Americans will lose it by the end of the 2020s, if they do not take adequate measures.Russia, on the contrary, has been taking great effort to take its submarine fleet to a new level. Russia eyes Project 955 Borei nuclear-powered submarines armed with ballistic missiles. There are three of them in the Russian Navy - Yuri Dolgoruky, Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh. Five more subs are to arrive before 2020. Russia's Borei class submarines are more sophisticated than Ohio subs of the USA. It uses state-of-the-art noise-absorbing coating, more advanced hydroacoustic and navigation equipment, a higher level of automation.Another pinnacle of the Russian submarine fleet is the nuclear-powered Yasen submarines. These subs are superior to USA's Virginia submarines for their low-noise and missiles on board: Caliber missiles are more effective than USA's outdated Tomahawks.By 2020, the number of Yasen submarines (now Severodvinsk and Kazan subs) is expected to be increased to eight. Russia also has 20 diesel-powered submarines (Varshavyanka Project) - a class that the Americans do not have, which minimises the quantitative backlog on nuclear submarines  plus SSBN (38 - 56). Diesel-powered boats are inferior in terms of their atomic capabilities, but they are equipped with formidable Caliber cruise missiles. America needs to hurry up The Navy Times reported a year ago that according to the current US Navy purchase plan for 30 years, the fleet of multipurpose nuclear submarines in 2022 would be less than the permissible minimum of 48 boats, whereas only 41 submarines would remain in another six years. This is 25 subs below the new plan of 51 boats, which is to be implemented by the middle of the century, Real Clear Defense wrote. One needs to produce two multi-purpose submarines a year to make up for the Los Angeles class submarines (36 units) starting from 2027. As for SSBN submarines (ballistic missile boats), one will have to build at least one Columbia type boat annually to replace the ageing Ohio class.The first submarine of this type will reach its service life in 2027. Thus, one needs to start the construction no later than in 2021.

Russia has developed an unmanned submarine capable of carrying a powerful nuclear munition. Two years ago, the Americans could not even think Russia could do it

The Bank of Russia holds a third of its currency assets in the United States. The USA may impose sanctions on the bank. Earlier, the US had frozen the assets of the National Fund of Kazakhstan, which suggests that Russia's reserves may found themselves in a similar situation as well. Given the current state of affairs in the US-Russian relations, investments of the Bank of Russia in dollar assets look risky. However, should the Russian gold and foreign exchange assets be frozen because of sanctions, this will become a declaration of war, President of the Foundation for Economic Research, economist and publicist Mikhail Khazin said in an interview with Pravda.Ru. "About a third of the Bank of Russia's gold and currency assets are in the US. Can they be frozen due to new sanctions?""Technically, they can be, and Kazakhstan is an example. Practically, such a move will be the declaration of war, and the declaration of war will immediately trigger a whole bunch of various problems.""Can the United States do it?" "They've done it to Kazakhstan.""Why doesn't Russia anticipate such a development?""This is a difficult question. One has to understand that the people both in the Russian government and in the Central Bank always choose the IMF between the IMF and Russian interests.""What should we do not to let them freeze our assets?" "This is a very complex system of maneuvers, but it can be possible to overcome this." "Experts say that it is useless for Russia to completely abandon investments in the US, because this may ruin the investment rating.""We need the investment rating to receive foreign investments - this is what matters for the Russian economy. This is a mistake, because it is already clear that foreign investment does not get the Russian economy moving. Therefore, we should switch to domestic investment, where the rating will play an auxiliary role."The system, in which we were purposefully planted, to make us pay first priority to foreign investment is called the Washington Consensus. It was invented especially for former socialist countries. It is about time Russia should pull out of it. However, we have people on key positions in Russia, who put IMF interests above Russia's interests."Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian

The Bank of Russia holds a third of its currency assets in the United States. The USA may impose sanctions on the bank at any moment

Russia has been expanding its presence in the World Ocean. Western officials believe that Russia's increasing activity at sea comes as a proof of the country's "aggressive foreign policy," whereas Russian experts say that Russia takes measures in response to NATO's actions near Russian borders. The press service of the Russian Defense Ministry said on New Year's eve that the crews of 70 warships and support vessels of the Russian Navy would celebrate winter holidays when being on long-distance missions. The Daily Telegraph wrote soon afterwards that Russia's presences in the waters around Britain and in the North Atlantic has increased ten times over the past ten years. Officials with the British General Staff assumed that Russian submarines could cut underwater cables on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to deprive the West of military and financial ties.President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov told Pravda.Ru, that the strength of naval groups of the Russian Navy in the World Ocean has grown considerably since the 1990s indeed. Russian warships, the expert said, conduct naval exercises, make long trips, including, to the American continent."This activity is required to stave off threats from our borders," the expert said. Compared to the 1990s, Russia's military doctrine has also changed, Leonid Ivashov added. In 1993, Russia announced that it had neither external enemies nor external threats. Presently, however, Russia admits the existence of external threats. "That is why Russian warships go on various missions in the World Ocean - to target aviation and naval assets on the territory of our potential adversaries," Ivashov said.Russia's activity near the shores of the British Isles is due to the Syrian campaign: "This is our response to NATO's activity in the Barents Sea and in the Arctic Ocean, where the Americans form Arctic NATO and constantly conduct exercises, test new models of ships and aircraft."Leonid Ivashov believes that there is no need for Russia to build a naval base in Sudan for the time being. "This was a proposal from the Sudanese side, and we said that we would think about it. First off, Russia needs to find an excuse to be there. If there is a threat coming from that direction, then we will think about it," Ivashov said.Political scientist, expert of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Konstantin Blokhin, believes that it is about time Russia should stop reacting to someone else's actions and take measures to prevent threats. "For them, our weakness is an invitation to larger aggression. The entire military-political culture of the United States and the West is based on this assumption," the analyst told Pravda.Ru. From this point of view, the military base of the Russian Navy in the port of Sudan will help "balance the influence of the United States in this region," Blokhin said. The expert noted that China has been acting in this manner in the East China Sea lately. These days, Turkey and Saudi Arabia buy S-400 air defense missile systems from Russia. No one could even think that this could be possible ten years ago. Such a development designates the diminishing supremacy of the USA - not only in the Middle East, but also in other regions of the world. Pravda.Ru Read article in Russian 

Western officials believe that Russia's growing activity at sea comes as a proof of the country's "aggressive foreign policy"