The US has its eyes on the Arctic; Russia, Iran set to sign a comprehensive partnership treaty, and Palestinian factions bury the hatchet in Beijing. These stories topped Wednesday's newspaper headlines across Russia, according to TASS News Agency.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Arctic becomes new battleground in US-led hybrid war against Russia, China
The Pentagon has updated its official strategy on the Arctic, a region which is fast turning into a geopolitical battleground. The US Department of Defense decided to develop a new approach due to big changes going on in the region. They include Finland and Sweden joining NATO, bolstered cooperation between China and Russia as well as global warming.
Leading Researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations Ekaterina Labetskaya says that the Pentagon’s new Arctic Strategy didn’t catch anyone off guard. Washington’s 2024 Arctic Strategy, published by the US Department of Defense, replaces a little more than five-year-old document which had been in effect since June 2019.
"The Arctic has long become a northern frontline of a global hybrid war, waged by the collective West led by the US against Russia and its friendly countries with interests in that region. The standoff intensified after Russia declared its special military operation," the expert told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. "The Arctic is being viewed from a new angle by both Russia and China, as well as BRICS, as many members have had their own interests in the polar region for quite a while," she added.
Labetskaya reiterated that last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on developing the main population centers of Russia’s Arctic zone. He stressed that Russia would make the region a priority due to its strategic importance as a global transportation and logistics hub, as well as its huge energy potential. Against this backdrop, the country must reassess its national security and defense principles.
"All Arctic countries are reconsidering their military doctrines, the NATO strategy is changing due to its Arctic component being bolstered with Finland and Sweden. The Arctic Edge 2024 military drills held in Alaska in March are also indicative of this. Actually, precisely during a visit to Elmendorf-Richardson military base during these drills, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience Iris Ferguson announced the Pentagon was working on putting out a new Arctic strategy accounting for the capabilities of NATO’s newest members," the expert concluded.
Vedomosti: Russia, Iran expected to sign strategic cooperation pact in fall
Russia has put the finishing touches on the text of a comprehensive partnership treaty with Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said in an interview with TASS on July 23. He announced that the sides will sign this "historic agreement" in the near future.
The comprehensive strategic partnership agreement is meant to remove any obstacles for the expansion of trade and economic interaction between the two countries, said Vladimir Sazhin, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies. According to him, the previous 2001 treaty on the basics of relations and cooperation principles, regulating the ties between the two countries, has become outdated. "Since then, the domestic situation in both countries and the international background have changed significantly. Therefore, a new framework is needed to jump-start cooperation," he explained.
However, according to the expert, due to the internal political situation in Iran, the signing of the treaty may encounter some pushback. On the one hand, Western sanctions facilitate the close development of relations between the two countries. On the other, the expert noted that some part of the Iranian elite, after the election victory of reformer Masoud Pezeshkian, support the establishment of ties with the West while conservatives stand for cooperation with neighboring countries. "Anyway, most likely, Iran will form a coalition government and the agreement will be signed," the expert thinks.
The new treaty will set the parameters for developing joint infrastructure and logistics projects, including the North-South corridor, said Stanislav Lazovsky, junior researcher at the Center for Middle East Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO RAS). "This will obligate the sides to take practical steps. It will possibly regulate and ease the relocation of labor resources from Iran to Russia, while in the Middle East, it will launch joint projects on rebuilding Syria," the expert added.
According to Sazhin, Moscow and Tehran will emphasize cooperation on fuel and energy and petrochemicals. "The countries can reduce the impact of sanctions and jointly overcome the difficulties in the technical support for the modernization of these industrial branches." Additionally, Iran is interested in purchasing Russian agricultural, engineering, military and transport products.
Vedomosti: Warring Palestinian groups reach agreement in Beijing
Representatives from 14 Palestinian factions concluded three-day talks on reconciliation in China on July 23, having signed the Beijing Declaration on ending internal divisions. The document stipulates creating a provisional unified government under the auspices of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) once the war is over. The signatories include the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and its allied Islamic Jihad group (outlawed in Russia), as well as organizations included in the PLO, such as the secular Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah, controls the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and others.
The Beijing Declaration is a breakthrough, laying out terms to form a collective government and hold elections organized by a national commission, noted Kirill Semenov, an analyst at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). Hamas, Fatah and other groups have managed to put their differences aside, a win for diplomacy. "Basically, this step, mediated by China, resets the situation to 2005, before the onset of the conflict between Fatah and Hamas," the expert thinks.
The only difference between the Beijing meeting and past ones is the formal agreement on a coalition government, a less optimistic Sergey Demidenko, of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), noted. This subject has been discussed by the conflicting sides since 2007. "Hamas and Fatah have too different views of politics, diverging ideologically - Fatah is inclined to talk with Israel," the expert noted.
Despite the Palestinian factions having formally agreed on a single government, they will not be able to stick to the deal, Demidenko insisted, pointing out that the sides do not have a shared economic and political platform, the population is divided, and there are small structures not controlled by anyone. Therefore, even if Hamas and Fatah do agree on a shared general policy course, there will always be someone to violate it, the expert concluded.
Izvestia: Russia, US at diplomatic impasse on seized diplomatic property
Washington has completely halted dialogue on returning Russian diplomatic property, Moscow’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told Izvestia. Two sources close to the matter have confirmed that talks on this issue have not been held for years. In all, in 2016-2017, six Russian property assets were arrested in various US states, even though the inviolability of such property is enshrined in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and a US legal expert on international law confirmed that the White House is violating the documents it signed.
"The issue of returning Russia’s diplomatic property has been central to our work since day one, following the hostile actions of the Americans. The problem is being discussed at all levels. However, Washington does not want to talk to us, simply sending us formal replies in response to Russian demands," Antonov said.
"Diplomatic property and the embassy are essentially the country’s territory, it is inviolable. It is obvious that even back then, long before the special military operation, when Russian-US relations bottomed out completely, the US was trying to weaken Moscow and put diplomatic and sanctions pressure on it. We all also remember the proverbial ‘Skripal case.’ Following the Crimean referendum, the West actively turned to demonizing Russia," Konstantin Blokhin, leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Center for Security Studies, told Izvestia.
"When one side is ready to move forward with negotiations, but the other rejects this option, nothing can be accomplished. Before launching a large-scale dialogue, it is necessary to go back to basics: diplomats must negotiate. Right now, the US is not interested in this," Blokhin noted.
That said, US lawyer specializing in international law Kline Preston told Izvestia that the US undoubtedly violated its obligations. However, he does not think that the diplomatic property will be returned to Russia. According to the lawyer, the US is too invested in its anti-Russian policy, shirking the law to help the interests of a select few.
Izvestia: Russia plans to regulate cryptocurrency mining
Legitimizing crypto mining will allow the government to collect 50 bln rubles (over $572 mln - TASS) annually in taxes, market players told Izvestia. Regulating the industry will also aid in its development and make trans-border transactions more accessible: crypto miners can bring about 240 bln rubles in pure liquidity in cryptocurrencies. The Russian State Duma is planning to consider the first reading of a draft bill on regulating crypto mining in the near future. It was drafted a year and a half ago, then reworked several times but only began to be reviewed following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s instructions last week.
The idea to legalize crypto mining and define the exact rules around it is very pressing, Anderida Financial Group founder Alexey Tarapovsky stressed. According to him, currently, due to the absence of a legal base, taxes are not being declared on the cryptocurrency market. As a result, the government is missing out on at least 50 bln rubles per year in tax revenue.
Bringing the industry into the legal field will positively impact its development, thinks Director of the Industrial Mining Association Sergey Bezdelov. However, the bill also provides the government with the right to ban crypto mining in some Russian regions. This can be used as an instrument of artificial pressure on the industry and some enterprises, he cautioned. According to the expert, the initiatives on banning or restricting energy supplies for legalized industrial crypto mining will also stimulate the growth of the "gray" segment.
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