US - Russia Archives - Comparative Connections

Sept. 29, 2009: President Obama says that it is important to work with Russia on a new generation missile shield.

Sept. 28, 2009: Iran carries out test launches for two different intermediate-range missiles with ranges of 1,200 miles.

Sept. 25, 2009: The U.S., Britain, and France announce that Iran has failed to disclose a secret uranium enrichment plant at Qom, putting pressure on Russia to help impose sanctions on Iran.

Sept. 24, 2009: At an address to the United Nations, President Medvedev says that Russia is ready to slash its nuclear delivery platforms armaments by more than two-thirds.

Sept. 24, 2009: In a meeting with executives from Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Conoco-Phillips, Prime Minister Putin invites foreign investment in Russia’s gas-rich Yamal Peninsula.

Sept. 19, 2009: The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sycamore completes a port visit to Vladivostok.

Sept. 17, 2009: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov states that Russia’s military involvement in Afghanistan is “absolutely ruled out.”

Sept. 17, 2009: The U.S. government announces that it will not be pursuing a missile defense platform in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Sept. 16, 2009: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls for an “open-minded and unprecedented dialogue” with Russia to reduce security tensions in Europe and confront common threats.

Sept. 10, 2009: General Motors changes its position and allows its ailing German subsidiary Opel to be partly bought by a consortium led by the Russian state-owned bank Sberbank.

Sept. 4, 2009: The fifth round of negotiations on the extension or replacement of the START-1 treaty end in Geneva.

Aug. 26, 2009: Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of General Staff, says that Russia has deployed advanced S-400 Triumf air defense systems in the Far East to counter the potential threat posed by North Korea’s missile tests.

Aug. 4, 2009: Medvedev phones Obama to suggest that the two sides make urgent efforts to find a replacement for the START-1 treaty, which is due to expire at the end of 2009.

July 24, 2009: In an interview on his return from Georgia and Ukraine, Biden suggests that an economically and socially weakened Russia will force that country to make accommodations to the West on a wide range of national-security issues, including loosening its grip on former Soviet republics and shrinking its vast nuclear arsenal.

July 22, 2009: A fourth round of U.S.-Russian consultations on a new strategic offensive arms reduction treaty (START) begins in Geneva.

July 20-24, 2009: Vice President Joseph Biden visits Ukraine and Georgia in a show of U.S. solidarity, and warns Russia that the idea of “spheres of influence” is obsolete.

July 16, 2009: In a show of disquiet about the warm tone of U.S.-Russian relations, a group of former leaders and influential intellectuals from Central and Eastern Europe, including Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, sign an open letter to President Obama calling for U.S. re-engagement in the region.

July 14, 2009: The USS Stout, a guided missile destroyer, visits Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi ahead of joint naval exercises seen as a demonstration of U.S. support for Georgia.

July 13-14, 2009: Russia carries out test launches of two Sineva intercontinental ballistic missiles from Delta IV-class nuclear-powered submarines, located near the North Pole.

July 6-8, 2009: President Obama and his family visit Moscow. He attends meetings with President Medvedev, Prime Minister Putin, opposition leaders, business students, and journalists.

July 6-8, 2009: President Barack Obama travels to Moscow for a summit with his counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to discuss nuclear arms control, Iran, Afghanistan, the post-Soviet space, and other issues. Obama also meets Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, opposition leaders, business students, and journalists.

July 3, 2009: Russia announces that it will open an air corridor for U.S. military aircraft to help with logistical support of U.S. and NATO/ISAF forces in Afghanistan. The agreement allows for 4,500 flights a year, supplements a previous agreement on non-military transit, and will save the U.S. more than $130 million per year on fuel and transport.

June 26, 2009: In Moscow, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets the chief of the Russian general staff, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, to discuss bilateral military cooperation and arms control.

June 23, 2009: Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announces that his government reached a new agreement with the U.S. on the status of Manas Air Base in Bishkek. U.S. and ISAF forces will be able to continue using the airbase for non-military supplies for Afghanistan.

June 22-23, 2009: Third round of U.S.-Russian consultations on renewal of START-I in Geneva.

June 16, 2009: Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC countries, meet in Yekaterinburg, Russia to discuss their respective strategies to the world economic crisis. At the meeting President Medvedev criticizes the role of the dollar as international reserve currency.

June 13, 2009: At a meeting of finance ministers from the G8 in Lecce, Italy, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says that Russia has full confidence in the dollar and there are no immediate plans to switch to a new reserve currency.

June 10, 2009: In response to a statement issued the previous day by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman rejects reports that the U.S. is going to deploy elements of a missile defense system on Russian territory.

June 2-3, 2009: Second round of U.S.-Russian consultations on renewal of START-I takes place in Geneva.

May 29, 2009: Russia and the U.S. formally open a plant in Shchuchye, Siberia to destroy a huge stockpile of artillery shells filled with deadly nerve agents.

May 26, 2009: Russia’s Techsnabexport (Tenex), a unit of Russian state-owned nuclear power company Atomenergoprom, signs a $1 billion deal to supply U.S. electric utilities in California and Texas with nuclear fuel for electricity generation in nuclear power plants.

May 25, 2009: The DPRK conducts a nuclear test.

May 19-20, 2009: The first round of U.S.-Russian consultations on the renewal of the START-I treaty takes place in Moscow.

May 11-12, 2009: Prime Minister Putin visits Tokyo.

May 7, 2009: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov travels to Washington and meets counterpart Hillary Clinton, as well as President Obama, to discuss a wide range of security issues.

May 6, 2009: The NATO Partnership for Peace Cooperative Longbow-Cooperative Lancer 2009 peacekeeping exercises begin in Georgia. These involve 1,300 soldiers from 19 member-countries of the alliance. President Medvedev calls them an “open provocation.”

May 1, 2009: The Japanese government announces that it will give $40 million toward an international project to dismantle decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines in the Far East.

April 30, 2009: Two Russian diplomats are expelled from the NATO mission in Brussels over allegations of spying.

April 28, 2009: The Ford Foundation announces that because of the severe decline in its assets, it is closing its office in Moscow.

April 25-26, 2009: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin travels to Washington, DC to attend a meeting of the G7/G20 finance ministers.

April 24, 2009: Introductory consultations on the renewal of the START-I treaty take place in Rome. Representing the U.S. is Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller. Representing Russia is Anatoly Antonov, director of the Foreign Ministry’s department for security and disarmament.

April 15, 2009: Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, holds talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss arms control issues.

April 6, 2009: A Russian tanker delivers the first shipment of LNG from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project to Japan.

April 5, 2009: In a speech in Prague, President Obama promises to move forward with plans for a missile defense system based in the Czech Republic and Poland.

April 3, 2009: NATO holds its 60^th anniversary celebration at a summit in Strasbourg, France.

April 3, 2009: NATO holds its 60^th anniversary celebration at a summit in Strasbourg, France. At the Strasbourg summit, President Obama criticizes the Russian “invasion” of Georgia, and states that “we can’t go back to the old ways of doing business.”

April 1, 2009: In London, President Obama meets President Medvedev for the first time ahead of a G20 summit to address the global economic crisis.

April 1, 2009: Russia starts exporting liquefied natural gas from Sakhalin.

April 1, 2009: In London President Barack Obama meets President Dmitry Medvedev for the first time ahead of a G20 summit to address the global economic crisis.

March 27, 2009: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry delivers a speech entitled, “A New Partnership for a New Moment in U.S.-Russian Relations.”

March 27, 2009: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) convenes in Moscow to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. Both Iran and the U.S. send representation.

March 24, 2009: The Czech government suspends the ratification of its agreement with the U.S. on the deployment of a missile tracking radar.

March 20, 2009: Henry Kissinger leads a delegation of former U.S. officials to Moscow to meet with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. The group includes former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Senator Sam Nunn.

March 19, 2009: In Moscow, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker gives a speech at a conference organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. He says that the “stakes are too high” for U.S.-Russia relations to go adrift.

March 10, 2009: In Moscow, President Medvedev meets members of a U.S. commission on Russia policy, chaired by former Sens. Chuck Hagel and Gary Hart.

March 6, 2009: Secretary of State Clinton meets Foreign Minister Lavrov in Geneva, marking the first high-level talks between the two nations in 2009.

March 6, 2009: The Kyrgyz Parliament officially approves legislation closing Manas Air Base, a major NATO supply base for Afghanistan.

March 3, 2009: The New York Times reports that President Obama sent a secret letter in February to President Medvedev offering to halt the construction of a missile defense system if Moscow helps suppress Iran’s missile threat. The White House denies the offer of such a deal.

March 3, 2009: Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov states Russia will not deploy missiles to Kaliningrad if the U.S. ceases plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

March 2, 2009: Foreign Minister Lavrov says that Russia is more in favor of new arms control agreements than an extension of the START 1 treaty that is due to expire in December 2009.

Feb. 25, 2009: The U.S. State Department issues its annual report on human rights. The report states that in Russia civil liberties are “under siege, reflecting an erosion of the government’s accountability to its citizens.”

Feb. 25, 2009: The agency Rosatom announces that it has completed the construction of Iran’s first nuclear power plant at Bushehr and is launching start-up operations.

Feb. 19-20, 2009: NATO defense ministers meet in Cracow, Poland. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates repeats the U.S. intention to “reset” relations with Moscow.

Feb. 19, 2009: It is reported that two-way trade between Russian and the U.S. grew 35.3 percent in 2008 to $36.11 billion.

Feb. 18, 2009: Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro visits Sakhalin – the first Japanese leader to do so since the end of the Second World War – to participate in a ceremony marking the opening of an LNG plant that will export gas to Japan.

Feb. 13, 2009: ExxonMobil complains that the Russian government is preventing the firm from continuing to develop a multibillion-dollar project off of Sakhalin Island.

Feb. 11, 2009: Undersecretary of State William Burns arrives in Moscow to seek Russian cooperation on nuclear arms reduction and the stabilization of Afghanistan.

Feb. 10, 2009: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announces that Moscow is ready for strategic arms talks with Washington.

Feb. 7, 2009: While attending a security conference in Munich, Vice President Joseph Biden suggests that it is time for Washington to press the “reset” button in relations with Moscow. He also signals that the Obama administration is open to compromises with the Kremlin over issues such as missile defense and Iran.

Feb. 4, 2009: The Kyrgyz government announces that it will be closing the NATO airbase at Manas, a vital supply depot for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Jan. 28, 2009: The Kremlin announces that it is putting on hold plans to deploy medium-range Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, the Baltic enclave located between Poland and Lithuania.

Jan. 26, 2009: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev telephones Barack Obama to congratulate him on his swearing in as president. They agree to meet soon.

Jan. 26, 2009: In an interview, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blames George Bush and the U.S. for the Russo-Ukrainian gas war that threatened supplies to Europe over the New Year.

Jan. 20, 2009: Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44^th president of the United States.

Jan. 13, 2009: Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, President-elect Obama’s choice for secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticizes the outgoing Bush administration for having downgraded the role of arms control in Russia policy.

Jan. 1, 2009: The Russian government-controlled gas giant Gazprom refuses to offer the Ukrainian government a new contract for gas deliveries. This shutting of gas supplies to Ukraine launches the “Gas War” between Moscow and Kyiv.

Dec. 29, 2008: First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov says that the Russian offer for the U.S. military to jointly use the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan is still valid.

Dec. 26, 2008: Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi delivers two multi-role fighter jets to the Indonesian armed forces as part of a $300 million contract.

Dec. 22, 2008: The Russian state-controlled arms firm Rosoboronexport announces that it will be selling S-300 long-range surface-to-air missiles to Iran.

Dec. 16, 2008: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza accuses Russia of failing to abide by an agreement on removing its troops from Georgia.

Dec. 16, 2008: Sen. Richard Lugar arrives in Moscow to begin talks with Russian officials on the expiring START-1 arms control treaty.

Dec. 15, 2008: In talks meant to refocus efforts on getting the START-1 Treaty renegotiated before its 2009 expiry, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov meets Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood in Moscow.

Dec. 7, 2008: In a talk on the weekly television show Meet the Press, President-elect Obama stresses that the U.S. needs to “reset” relations with Russia.

Nov. 28, 2008: After the U.S. government yields to pressure from NATO allies and decides to put a hold on NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, President Medvedev praises the Bush administration.

Nov. 21-27, 2008: President Medvedev tours Latin America, first stopping in Lima, Peru for an APEC Leaders Meeting, and then visiting Brazil, Venezuela, and Cuba. Several Russian warships also make port calls to the latter two countries.

Nov. 20, 2008: Prime Minister Putin announces that he is postponing a planned visit to Japan.

Nov. 19, 2008: On a visit to Washington, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski announces that his government will extend new confidence-building proposals to Russia on the U.S. anti-missile system planned for Eastern Europe.

Nov. 15, 2008: President Medvedev arrives in Washington, DC at the invitation of President George Bush to attend global economic discussions with other world leaders at the G20 meeting.

Nov. 13, 2008: During a visit to Estonia, Secretary of Defense Gates says that Russia’s announcement of its intention to place additional missiles in Kaliningrad one day after Obama’s election was “unnecessary and misguided.”

Nov. 12, 2008: Under Secretary of State William Burns visits Moscow. He is the first high-ranking U.S. official to visit Moscow since the August war with Georgia.

Nov. 8, 2008: President Medvedev telephones Barack Obama to congratulate him on his victory.

Nov. 7, 2008: The State Department admits that the Georgian attack in South Ossetia in August was a grave error, but that it did not justify Russia’s large-scale intervention.

Nov. 7, 2008: GM has a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of an auto plant in St. Petersburg. President Medvedev attends.

Nov. 5, 2008: In a state-of-the-union speech delivered hours after the election of Obama, President Medvedev says Russia might place a short-range Iskander missile system in the Russian city of Kaliningrad, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, in order to “neutralize” a planned U.S. missile-defense system in Eastern Europe.

Nov. 5, 2008: On a visit to Tokyo, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Russia is closely monitoring the development and deployment of missiles in Asia, an apparent reference to joint U.S.-Japan efforts to develop ABM systems.

Nov. 4, 2008: Barack Obama is elected 44^th President of the United States.

Oct. 28, 2008: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says he would advise the next president to seek a new nuclear arms agreement with Russia that provides for further reductions in nuclear warheads.

Oct. 23, 2008: State Department imposes sanctions on Russian arms monopoly Rosoboronexport along with a dozen other firms from China, Sudan, Venezuela, and other countries for their alleged roles in supplying sensitive technology to Iran, North Korean, and Syria.

Oct. 22, 2008: In response to U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Russian Strategic Missile Force Commander Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov announces that the Russian military will commission a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile.

Oct. 21, 2008: In Helsinki, U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets his Russian counterpart General Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian General Staff.

Oct. 17, 2008: During a visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher reiterates Washington’s commitment to preserving Ganci Air Base at Manas.

Oct. 14, 2008: U.S. Congressman Howard L. Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, travels to Moscow and meets his Russian counterpart Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee. The two discuss relations in general, but focus on Georgia and Iran.

Oct. 8, 2008: Russian “peacekeeping” troops are withdrawn from buffer zones near South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These troops had been patrolling the areas since the end of Russian-Georgian hostilities in August and are replaced by European Union observers.

Oct. 8, 2008: Addressing the first annual World Policy Conference in Evian, France, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev blames “paranoia” in the U.S. for undermining global security.

Oct. 8, 2008: Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov states that Russia has no objection to U.S. military bases in Central Asia.

Oct. 8, 2008: Japanese F-15 fighter jets intercept two Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers who come close to Japanese airspace over the Sea of Japan.

Oct. 5, 2008: On a visit to Kazakhstan, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice states that the United States has no intention of undermining Russian interests in Central Asia or drawing Kazakhstan into the U.S. sphere of influence.

Sept. 28-30, 2008: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visits Moscow to discuss economic and energy cooperation with Russia in the Far East.

Sept. 26, 2008: At the UN, the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus that of Germany, agree on a draft resolution on Iran’s nuclear program calling for Iranian compliance with earlier agreements.

Sept. 25, 2008: Daniel Fried, U.S. assistant secretary of state for European Affairs, warns that Moscow will see a “very strong reaction” from Washington and its allies if Russia does not meet an October 10 deadline to withdraw troops from security zones around Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Sept. 24, 2008: Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Lavrov meet in New York to discuss strategic issues. The two focus on Georgia and Iran.

Sept. 22, 2008: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen calls for continued engagement with Russia, in spite of differences in Georgia and elsewhere.

Sept. 18, 2008: Secretary Rice says the U.S. and her allies must stand up to “bullying” by Moscow, and that Russia is becoming “increasingly authoritarian at home and aggressive abroad.”

Sept. 5, 2008: The flagship of the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean fleet, the USS Mount Whitney, arrives at the Georgia port of Poti to deliver more humanitarian aid to the city that was bombed and shelled by Russian forces in August.

Sept. 4, 2008: Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in Tbilisi to demonstrate U.S. support for Georgia and President Saakashvili.

Sept. 3, 2008: The White House announces that it will extend a $1 billion economic aid package to Georgia.

Aug. 28, 2008: Prime Minister Putin gives a lengthy interview on the U.S. network CNN, in which he blames people in the U.S. for creating and fanning the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Aug. 28, 2008: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit opens in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Aug. 26, 2008: Russia recognizes the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

Aug. 25, 2008: President Medvedev warns that Russia would be prepared to sever all ties with NATO in response to that alliances’ suspension of cooperation with Russia.

Aug. 24, 2008: A U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS McFaul, arrives at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi to dispense humanitarian aid to that country. Two more U.S. ships will follow.

Aug. 20, 2008: In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal Foreign Minister Lavrov writes, “the U.S. will have to choose between its virtual Georgia project and its much broader partnership with Russia.”

Aug. 14, 2008: The U.S. and Poland agree to a deal in which Poland would accept 10 missile defense interceptors, part of a wider regionally-based missile defense system.

Aug. 14-15, 2008: Secretary of State Rice travels to France to launch talks aimed at bringing about a cease-fire in Georgia. She then travels to Tbilisi to demonstrate U.S. support for Georgian President Saakashvili.

Aug. 13-14, 2008: President Bush sends a small contingent of U.S. troops to Georgia to oversee a “vigorous and ongoing” humanitarian mission.

Aug. 7-8, 2008: In response to Georgian attacks on Ossetian separatists, Russian troops invade and occupy South Ossetia and from there launch attacks into Georgia proper.

July 23, 2008: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore.

July 22, 2008: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visits Moscow to meet President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. Chavez calls for a “strategic alliance” with Russia aimed at the U.S.

July 15, 2008: The U.S. government criticizes Moscow for having violated Georgian airspace while sending fighter jets over South Ossetia on July 10.

July 8, 2008: The U.S. and the Czech Republic agree on the installation of a radar station in the Czech Republic, linked to a wider missile defense system in Eastern Europe. The next day President Medvedev states that he is “extremely disappointed” with the U.S. decision.

July 7, 2008: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meets President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan.

July 2, 2008: The Russian Duma approves the so-called 123 Agreement, wherein the U.S. provides aid to help Russia dismantle its nuclear, chemical and other weapons.

June 29, 2008: Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson arrives in Moscow to meet Russia’s top leadership and to discuss bilateral investment and trade issues. Paulson meets, among others, both Medvedev and Putin.

June 7, 2008: President Medvedev delivers a critical indictment of U.S. economic and political policies at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in Russia.

May 31, 2008: In a state visit to France, Vladimir Putin, now Russia’s prime minister, compares the U.S. to a “frightening monster” and urges France to conduct an independent foreign policy from its American ally.

May 29, 2008: Republican presidential candidate John McCain suggests that the U.S. engage Russia in strategic arms talks. This is seen as a strategy to distance himself from President Bush.

May 8, 2008: The Russian government orders two U.S. military attaches to leave the country in retaliation for the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from the U.S. in April.

May 7, 2008: Dmitry Medvedev inaugurated as the third president of the Russian Federation. He quickly appoints Vladimir Putin as prime minister.

May 6, 2008: Russian Federal Atomic Agency (RosAtom) chief Sergei Kiriyenko and U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns sign an inter-governmental agreement on the civilian applications of nuclear energy. It is commonly known as the 123 Agreement.

May 5, 2008: The Pentagon begins inter-service military maneuvers in Alaska called the Northern Edge 2008 exercise. The Russian military leadership criticizes the exercises, claiming that they pose a threat to Russian interests in the Northern Pacific and the Arctic.

April 25-26, 2008: Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo visits Moscow and meets Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev.

April 22, 2008: A Russian diplomat is expelled from the U.S. for security reasons.

April 17, 2008: U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain accuses the Russian government of attempting a “de facto annexation” of Georgian territory, and calls on all nations to condemn Moscow’s actions.

April 16, 2008: U.S. Department of Justice approves an $810 million deal allowing Russian steel producer Severstal to purchase the Sparrows Point steel mill in Maryland from ArcelorMittal.

April 5-6, 2008: President Bush travels to Sochi, the Russian resort on the Black Sea, at the invitation of Vladimir Putin. The two discuss strategic issues. This is their last meeting as presidents of their respective countries.

April 5-6, 2008: Putin hosts Bush for their final summit together as presidents at Putin’s vacation home in Sochi along the Black Sea in southern Russia. This is their 28^th meeting together as presidents of their respective nations.

April 4, 2008: President Bush meets outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin at the NATO summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania.

April 3-4, 2008: Bush and Putin attend the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.

April 1, 2008: President George Bush travels to Kyiv, Ukraine for meetings with President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

April 1, 2008: George Bush arrives for a brief visit to Kiev and meets the Ukrainian political leadership, including President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Timoshenko.

March 27, 2008: The Kremlin announces that Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov will be replaced by Alexei Borodavkin as representative to the Six-Party talks in Korea.

March 26, 2008: In a speech delivered in Los Angeles, Republican presidential nominee John McCain argues that Russia should be excluded from G8 membership.

March 20, 2008: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili meets President George Bush in Washington and urges Washington’s support for placing Georgia on a membership track to NATO.

March 20, 2008: Russian law enforcement authorities raid the Moscow offices of BP and TNK-BP.

March 18, 2008: In Moscow, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov and Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov meet with U.S. counterparts Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The four discuss pressing strategic issues such as missile defense, NATO expansion, and the CFE Treaty. Gates and Rice also meet with President Putin and President-elect Medvedev.

March 11, 2008: In its annual report on human rights, the State Department accuses the Russian government of corruption and electoral abuses.

March 2, 2008: Dmitry Medvedev is elected president of the Russian Federation.

Feb. 17, 2008: Kosova officially declares its independence from Serbia. The next day the U.S. recognizes this act despite Russia protestations.

Feb. 12, 2008: With Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at his side, Putin tells a group of journalists in Moscow that if Ukraine joins NATO Russia might be forced to target nuclear missiles on that country.

Feb. 10, 2008: Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov gives a conciliatory speech at a Munich security conference, the same venue where a year before Putin had launched a scathing broadside at Washington.

Feb. 9, 2008: Four Russian Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” bombers pass close by the U.S. carrier Nimitz in international waters off of Japan.

Feb. 5, 2008: In testimony to Congress, National Director of Intelligence Michael McConnell warns of Russia’s growing financial clout and its willingness to use this to leverage political goals.

Feb. 5, 2008: In an interview with a Polish newspaper, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov labels U.S. plans to build a global missile defense shield an example of “imperial thinking.”

Jan. 16, 2008: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko make a public appeal to NATO, declaring Ukraine’s readiness to advance to a Membership Action Plan (MAP) with NATO.

Jan. 10, 2008: Vladimir Putin appoints Duma lawmaker Dmitri Rogozin as Russia’s permanent representative to NATO. A staunch Russian nationalist, Rogozin’s appointment is a harbinger of difficulties in Russia-NATO relations.

Dec. 18, 2007: A shipment of nuclear fuel arrives in Iran from Russia.

Dec. 13, 2007: The U.S. House of Representatives passes a defense policy bill authorizing $178 million for nuclear security in Russia.

Dec. 12, 2007: Russian moratorium on the CFE Treaty officially takes effect.

Dec. 3, 2007: Gen. Yuri Baluyevskiy, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff arrives in Washington to meet his counterpart Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dec. 2, 2007: Duma elections in Russia result in an overwhelming victory (64 percent) for United Russia, the party supportive of Putin.

Nov. 27, 2007: FM Lavrov visits Washington, DC and meets top U.S. officials. While there he criticizes U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Nov. 24-25, 2007: The Russian government arrests and jails opposition leaders who have organized protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg a week in advance of Duma elections.

Nov. 21, 2007: At an election rally in Moscow, Putin criticizes “outsiders” who interfere in Russia’s domestic politics. This is a thinly veiled call out of the U.S. and Western Europe.

Nov. 19, 2007: The U.S. and Russian governments reach a deal on the safe disposal of 34 tons of plutonium.

Nov. 11-12, 2007: Indian Prime Minister Manhoman Singh visits Moscow and meets President Putin. The two governments sign agreements on space cooperation, financial investment, drug trafficking and transnational crime, and a deal on the joint development and production of multi-role transport aircraft.

Nov. 7, 2007: The Russian Duma unanimously votes to suspend the CFE Treaty. The moratorium will take effect Dec. 12.

Oct. 30, 2007: High-ranking U.S. and Russian defense officials begin a two-day war gaming session in Moscow. The focus is on peacekeeping operations.

Oct. 30, 2007: The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Russia announces that only 50 election observers from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) will be allowed to witness elections to the Russian Duma in December. In 2003 450 observers from the OSCE witnessed the Duma elections.

Oct. 26, 2007: At an EU-Russia summit in Portugal, Putin compares the U.S.-led efforts to establish an anti-missile defense system in Eastern Europe to Soviet efforts to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba in the early 1960s.

Oct. 23, 2007: At two different talks on the same day, President Bush (Washington) and Defense Secretary Gates (Prague) give two differing interpretations of the strategy behind the missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Oct. 23, 2007: In a visit to Tokyo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discuses the Korean nuclear issue and the Northern Territories dispute with Japanese government officials. He also takes time to criticize U.S. plans for a missile defense system.

Oct. 22, 2007: George Bush telephones Putin and urges Russia to help persuade the Iranian government to give up its uranium enrichment efforts.

Oct. 19, 2007: Russia repays the remaining $343.25 million of its agriculture debt to the U.S. ahead of schedule. Much of this debt accumulated during the last days of communism and in the early 1990s.

Oct. 15, 2007: Vladimir Putin arrives in Tehran for a summit of Caspian nations. He meets Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Oct. 14, 2007: Russian state television airs a glowing documentary on the life and work of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Oct. 12, 2007: U.S. and Russian defense officials hold talks in Berlin on the status of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.

Oct. 12, 2007: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates meet their Russian counterparts in Moscow to discuss various issues, including U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Sept. 18, 2007: U.S. and Russian defense officials inspect the Azeri/Russian radar facility at Gabala.

Sept. 18, 2007: USS Lassen (destroyer) and Patriot (minesweeper) arrive in Vladivostok to participate in joint exercises with the Russian navy.

Sept. 12, 2007: Putin announces the resignation of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and puts forth Viktor Zubkov as his candidate to replace Fradkov.

Sept. 11, 2007: A team of U.S. and Russian officials jointly remove highly enriched uranium from a research reactor in Vietnam. The 3.9 kg of uranium are returned to a reactor in Russia.

Sept. 10, 2007: Deputy FM Sergei Kislyak and Assistant Secretary of State John Rood meet in Paris to discuss missile defense issues.

Sept. 7, 2007: Presidents Bush and Putin meet at the Sydney APEC summit and discuss missile defense issues, with apparently little progress.

Sept. 6, 2007: Putin stops in Jakarta on his way to the Sydney APEC summit and signs a series of arms deals with the Indonesian government worth more than $1 billion.

Sept. 5, 2007: In a speech in Moscow Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov lays out a series of non-negotiable “red line” issues in U.S.-Russian relations, including Kosovo independence and ABM issues.

Aug. 26, 2007: Sen. Richard Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nunn arrive in Moscow to promote further cooperation in the U.S.-Russian bilateral nonproliferation program that bears their names.

Aug. 21, 2007: Russian Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, warns the Czech government that the establishment of a NATO radar system linked to ABM would be a mistake.

Aug. 16, 2007: Summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) takes place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Immediately following the summit attendees observe the first organizational-wide military exercises on Aug. 17 in Russia.

Aug. 8, 2007: Two Russian Tu-95 bombers fly a sortie near the U.S. territory of Guam in the Central Pacific. The bombers are met by scrambled U.S. navy jets.

Aug. 2, 2007: A Russian mini-submersible with two State Duma deputies on board plants a titanium Russian tricolor flag 4,000 meters beneath the ice on the North Pole.

July 31, 2007: ABM talks between officials from the Russian and U.S. governments are convened in Washington, DC.

July 19, 2007: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urges the Russian government to extradite murder suspect Andrei Lugovoi to the British government, which suspects him of poisoning an ex-KGB agent and anti-Putin émigré in London, Alexander Litvinenko.

July 14, 2007: In a message posted on the Kremlin’s official website, Putin announces that Russia will suspend its obligations under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) after 150 days due to “exceptional circumstances affecting the security of the Russian Federation.”

July 9, 2007: Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Stephen Mull states that the Azeri/Russian radar facility in Gabala being offered to the U.S. is no substitute for the facilities the U.S. plans to install in Poland and the Czech Republic.

July 8, 2007: At a conference in Croatia, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs Daniel Fried hints that independence for Kosovo is still far away, an issue that has divided Moscow and Washington for months. Fried’s comments suggest a softer position for the U.S.

July 4, 2007: Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov warns that Russia might deploy medium-range missiles in Kaliningrad if the U.S. continues with plans to deploy an ABM system with facilities in Eastern Europe.

July 4, 2007: International Olympic Committee awards 2014 Winter Games to Sochi, Russia.

July 3, 2007: Secretary Rice and FM Lavrov sign an accord to establish a new strategic arms framework based on START I.

July 1-2, 2007: President Vladimir Putin visits President George Bush at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine (see last quarter’s CC report for more detail).

July 1-2, 2007: Vladimir Putin visits George Bush at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

June 29, 2007: The U.S. and Russian governments sign a Section 123 Agreement opening the road for further civilian nuclear cooperation.

June 28, 2007: For the second time in a month Russia test-fires a long-range missile, successfully sending the Bulava ICBM from the White Sea to the Kamchatka Peninsula.

June 23, 2007: BP agrees to sell its interest in the Kovykta gas field (worth an estimated $18 billion) in Siberia to the Russian energy giant Gazprom, in the latest state-directed acquisition of energy assets across Russia.

June 23, 2007: Putin attends a Balkan energy summit in Zagreb. The next day he travels to Istanbul to attend the summit of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization.

June 23, 2007: Russian Finance Ministry confirms transfer of funds from the Delta Banco Asia to North Korea was completed via Dalkombank.

June 21, 2007: In a meeting with Russian educators, Putin lashes out at “foreign” critics of the Stalinist purges, saying that Russia never used an atomic weapon against civilians, or sprayed defoliants across a third world nation.

June 15, 2007: Secretary Gates meets Russian DM Serdyukov on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels.

June 7, 2007: At the G-8 summit, Putin proposes that Russia share a radar facility with the U.S. in Azerbaijan (Gabala). Putin hopes the U.S. will abandon plans for establishing a radar facility in the Czech Republic and an interceptor station in Poland.

June 7, 2007: Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and Putin hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G-8 summit.

June 6-8, 2007: The G-8 summit is held in Heiligendamm, Germany.

June 3, 2007: FM Lavrov visits two of the four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan. He then travels to Seoul to meet Korean leaders.

May 31, 2007: President Bush begins European tour to the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Italy, Albania, and Bulgaria. Bush is en route to the G-8 summit on June 6-8.

May 29, 2007: The Russian armed forces test-launch two ballistic missiles, purportedly in response to U.S. plans for the European-based missile defense system.

May 23-24, 2007: Putin visits Austria for an energy summit. Austria signs a long-term contract with Gazprom to meet 80 percent of Austria’s gas needs for the next 20-years.

May 16, 2007: The State Department expresses concern over the prospect of a Russian deal to provide a nuclear research reactor for Burma which has “neither the regulatory nor the legal framework or safeguard provisions” to handle a nuclear program.

May 14, 2007: Rice arrives in Moscow to patch relations between Moscow and Washington on the eve of the G-8 summit. Rice meets Putin and FM Sergei Lavrov.

May 10, 2007: In a meeting with NATO officials, Russian Gen. Yury Baluyevsky, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, states that the CFE Treaty is on the “brink of collapse.”

May 10, 2007: In a talk at the Senate, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that “the concentration of power in the Kremlin has been troubling.”

May 9, 2007: Putin sets off on a six-day trip to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

May 8, 2007: In a speech on V-E Day in Moscow, Putin makes oblique comparisons between the U.S. and Nazi Germany.

May 3, 2007: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso arrives in Moscow for a short visit with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the first visit in three years by a Japanese foreign minister to Moscow.

April 30, 2007: Russia is placed by the U.S. Department of Commerce on a priority watch list for copyright piracy.

April 26, 2007: In a Russian Duma address, President Vladimir Putin says he plans to suspend Russia’s commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty.

April 23, 2007: Russia’s first President Boris Yeltsin passes away.

April 21, 2007: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates meets top Kremlin officials in Moscow – including Russian DM Anatoly Serdyukov – to discuss defense cooperation.

April 18, 2007: Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov says that he does not see any need for Russian-U.S. cooperation in strategic missile defense. The U.S. government has offered to cooperate with Moscow to diffuse tension over this issue.

April 10, 2007: U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab allegedly states that Russia is not ready to join the WTO and that Jackson-Vanik will remain in effect for the time being. Schwab later claims she was not accurately quoted.

April 5, 2007: U.S. Department of State releases annual report on human rights around the world. Russia gets a low grade in press freedom and political suppression.

April 2-3, 2007: U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez visits Moscow and meets Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref to discuss Russia’s WTO accession.

March 28, 2007: President Bush telephones President Putin to explain U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. His attempts to assuage Russian concerns include a pitch for U.S.-Russian cooperation on missile defense. The U.S. explanation is reportedly “received with satisfaction.”

March 27, 2007: The Russian Foreign Ministry publishes a 100-page document entitled A Review of the Russian Federation’s Foreign Policy. The document is critical of U.S. policies seeking “unipolar” domination of the globe.

March 16, 2007: The Senate approves a nonbinding resolution calling for the support and funding of Ukraine and Georgia’s membership to NATO.

March 13, 2007: The GAO issues a report saying that the U.S. Energy Department has not done enough in Russia to secure radioactive material.

March 12, 2007: The Russian government expresses dissatisfaction with Iran over its defiant stance concerning its nuclear program. It informs Tehran that it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran’s nearly completed Bushehr power plant unless Iran meets financial obligations and suspends uranium enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council.

March 11-14, 2007: U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell leads a U.S. delegation to Moscow to participate in discussions with Russian counterparts and U.S. industry executives on energy issues and nuclear nonproliferation.

March 7, 2007: Two U.S. citizens return to Los Angeles after having been hospitalized in Moscow and diagnosed as having been poisoned.

March 6, 2007: U.S. State Department releases its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The report states that human rights abuses are worsening in Russia.

Feb. 27, 2007: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov visits Tokyo to discuss conventional and nuclear energy cooperation between Japan and Russia.

Feb. 25, 2007: In a television interview, FM Lavrov criticizes U.S. discussions with the Czech and Polish governments over the installation of radar stations linked to missile defense systems.

Feb. 21, 2007: Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee Tom Lantos arrives in Moscow for a two-day visit. In Moscow, Lantos pledges to help repeal the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which prevents Russia from attaining permanent normal trading status with the United States.

Feb. 10, 2007: In a key policy speech at an international security conference in Munich, Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly denounces U.S. policy, using – among other terms – the words “pernicious” and “unacceptable.”

Jan. 31, 2007: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in Washington for a three-day visit. He meets with U.S. counterpart Condoleezza Rice and President Bush. The agenda is primarily economic, concerning Russia’s WTO membership.

Jan. 26, 2007: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in India for a two-day visit.

Jan. 23, 2007: The governments of Japan and Russia hold a “strategic dialogue,” as their foreign vice ministers meet in Moscow.

Jan. 22, 2007: Reports from the Russian press (Itar-Tass) announce that Washington has begun negotiations with the Polish and Czech governments about placing radars to accompany anti-missile defense systems in those two countries.

Jan. 16, 2007: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announces that Russia has completed the sale of Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, the latest generation of Russian-produced SAM missiles.

Jan. 11, 2007: U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte reports to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the emerging “rivalry with Russia will complicate cooperation on important foreign policy goals including counter-terror, nonproliferation and democracy promotion in the Middle East.”

Jan. 6, 2007: The Russian Foreign Ministry publicly denounces a U.S. government decision to maintain sanctions against the Russian arms export firm Rosoboroneksport. The decision was made in fall 2006; subsequently the U.S. government lifted sanctions against aircraft maker Sukhoi, while Rosoboroneksport remains blacklisted.

Dec. 23, 2006: UN Security Council unanimously passes Resolution 1737 to impose sanctions on Iran to curtail its nuclear program.

Dec. 22, 2006: Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui & Co., and Mitsubishi Corp. (Mitsubishi) – the managing partners of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project – agree to the transfer of a majority of their shares to Russia’s state-run monopoly Gazprom, at a price of $7.45 billion. The impending deal has attracted international attention for months due to the heavy-handed tactics of the Russian government.

Dec. 20, 2006: In a telephone interview with the Russian daily Izvestia, Congressman Tom Lantos claims that Russia was better off in the Yeltsin era.

Dec. 18-22, 2006: Six-Party Talks held in Beijing.

Dec. 14, 2006: Japanese Foreign Minister Aso Taro floats a proposal for dividing the disputed Northern Territories into two equal parts, giving Japan control of three islands and part of the fourth island. The Russian reaction is expectedly cool. The Japanese press and the government subsequently dismiss his proposal off-hand.

Nov. 28, 2006: Citing Litvinenko’s death, a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes, “It’s time we start thinking of Vladimir Putin’s Russia as an enemy of the United States.”

Nov. 28, 2006: NATO summit convenes in Riga, Latvia. It is the first NATO summit held on the territory of the former Soviet Union. In Riga, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar urges the organization to take up the issue of the energy security of the member states.

Nov. 23, 2006: Former Federal Security Service (FSB) Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Litvinenko dies in London from radiation poisoning. A relative unknown before his death, Litvinenko’s death attracts enormous attention in the international press, as a so-called example of the growing authoritarianism in Putin’s Russia.

Nov. 21, 2006: Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns says President Bush will propose at the upcoming Riga NATO Summit a partnership program for Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

Nov. 18, 2006: Presidents Bush and Putin meet in Vietnam on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi. A deal on Russia’s WTO accession is signed, and the two leaders discuss the nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea. U.S. sanctions against the Russian aircraft maker Sukhoi are lifted.

Nov. 15, 2006: Air Force One makes a stop in Moscow on the way to Vietnam for a brief luncheon tête-à-tête between Bush and Putin. Iran and WTO are the focus of the talks.

Nov. 10, 2006: U.S. and Russian negotiators in Moscow reportedly strike an early deal on Russia’s WTO accession. The details of the agreement are to be announced later in the month in Hanoi at the APEC summit.

Nov. 7, 2006: U.S. midterm elections result in a drubbing of the Bush administration.

Oct. 27, 2006: The leaders of 13 large U.S. firms address a letter to Presidents Bush and Vladimir Putin with the request that Russia’s accession to the WTO be expedited. This is done under the initiative of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.

Oct. 25, 2006: NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visits Moscow to discuss conventional forces levels in Europe.

Oct. 12, 2006: Speaking at the U.S.-Russia Business Council in Washington, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez expresses concern about Russia’s investment climate in the wake of stories about “soft nationalization” in the Russian energy industry.

Oct. 3, 2006: Russia’s Foreign Ministry warns the Polish government about hosting a NATO- or U.S.-administered missile defense system on its territory, saying that it would undermine security and stability in the region.

Oct. 2, 2006: The Georgian government frees four Russian soldiers accused of spying. The Russian government maintains a blockade of Georgia, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blames the U.S. and NATO for inspiring the crisis.

Sept. 27, 2006: A delegation from the Russian government arrives in Washington, D.C. to discuss Russia’s remaining obstacles to joining the WTO.

Sept. 26, 2006: In a speech in Los Angeles, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov tells his audience that the United States will have to get used to a strong Russia.

Sept. 22, 2006: The U.S.-Russian Nuclear Cities Initiative (NCI), part of the Nunn-Lugar nonproliferation program, expires.

Sept. 18, 2006: A Russian high court orders the temporary suspension of operations on the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas development project due to environmental concerns.

Sept. 16, 2006: Vladimir Putin addresses a group of 50 foreign experts (mainly U.S. and European) on Russia’s politics and foreign policy. This meeting – held for the third year in a row – is known as the Valdai Discussion Club.

Sept. 11, 2006: Japan and Russia sign a contract for more than $700 million for the dismantling of several Russian nuclear submarines in the Russian Far East.

Sept. 5, 2006: U.S.-Russia bilateral military exercise is canceled at the last minute due to technicalities concerning the extra-territoriality of U.S. soldiers in Russia.

Sept. 4, 2006: Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Chairman Osamu Watanabe arrives in Moscow for talks with the Russian business community.

Aug. 28, 2006: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov meet in Alaska at a ceremony commemorating the WWII Lend Lease program.

Aug. 28, 2006: Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro arrives in Central Asia for a three-day visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. This is Koizumi’s last official overseas visit as prime minister.

Aug. 16, 2006: Russian coast guard forces fire on a Japanese fishing boat operating in disputed waters, killing one Japanese crewmember. The three other crewmembers are arrested and detained on Sakhalin.

Aug. 4, 2006: Russian Foreign Ministry publishes a statement condemning the decision of the State Department to introduce sanctions against the Russian arms firms Rosoboroneksport and Sukhoi for violating the Iran Nonproliferation Act.

July 25, 2006: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrives in Moscow, meets with Vladimir Putin, and signs a series of weapons deals with the Russian government.

July 15-17, 2006: G-8 Summit convened in Strelna, a restored Petrine palace outside of St. Petersburg, Russia. Discussions focus on the Middle East, nuclear proliferation issues, and democracy.

July 6, 2006: It is announced that Russian government regulators have forced more than 60 regional radio stations to stop broadcasting news reports produced by Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

June 29, 2006: Secretary Rice travels to St. Petersburg to attend preparatory meeting of the foreign ministers of the G-8.

June 27, 2006: Putin urges the U.S. to engage in talks to replace the START nuclear weapons treaty.

June 23, 2006: Summit meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) takes place in Minsk, Belarus.

June 16, 2006: U.S. and Russian officials agree on a seven-year extension of the Nunn-Lugar initiative. The program provides U.S. money and expertise to secure and destroy Soviet-era caches of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

June 15, 2006: Annual summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) takes place in Shanghai.

June 7, 2006: In an interview on Fox News, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says that there is a split within the Russian leadership on how to approach the Iran issue. The Kremlin denies the accusation.

June 6, 2006: Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has private meeting with Russian President Putin. The two agree that the positive aspects of the bilateral relationship are overshadowed by negative events, but the two nations need to continue strategic cooperation whatever the domestic political climate.

May 8, 2006: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meet European diplomats in New York to discuss the Iranian nuclear crisis.

May 5-6, 2006: Vice President Cheney visits Kazakhstan.

May 4, 2006: Vice President Cheney lambastes the Russian government in a widely publicized speech in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. In the speech, Cheney accuses the Russian government – among other things – of using energy to blackmail its neighbors.

April 28, 2006: President Ilham Aliyev visits White House and meets President Bush.

April 19, 2006: Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev threatens to close the U.S. airbase at Manas by June 1 unless Washington agrees to new terms demanded by the Kyrgyz government.

April 17, 2006: The Christian Science Monitor publishes the results of a Russian poll in which almost 60 percent of Russian citizens interviewed called the U.S. a “threat to global security.”

April 12, 2006: Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Stephen Rademaker visits Moscow and tells his hosts that they have failed to fulfill commitments to reduce nonstrategic nuclear weapons in Europe, and that the two nations still have disagreements over dismantling and safeguarding Russian nuclear stockpiles.

April 12, 2006: In a rare public criticism, the Russian Foreign Ministry pointedly tells the Iranian government that it is on the wrong path, in response to the public statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran has successfully enriched uranium for the first time.

April 5, 2006: In its annual report on democracy and human rights, the Department of State notes the beleaguered status of Russian NGOs and increasing presidential control over the government in Russia.

April 1, 2006: U.S. journal Foreign Affairs publishes article that suggests the nuclear superiority of the U.S. is such that Washington could [theoretically] decide to launch massive preemptive strikes on Russia and China without serious risk of retaliation.

March 29, 2006: Putin expresses frustration about the pace of Russia’s accession to WTO membership, citing new demands by the U.S.

March 26, 2006: Ukrainian parliamentary elections fail to designate a clear-cut winner, though they are seen as a blow to President Viktor Yushchenko and his forces.

March 24, 2006: Pentagon issues report stating that Russian diplomats based in Baghdad may have passed information about U.S. war plans to the Iraqi government in 2003.

March 19, 2006: Presidential elections in Belarus give President Alexander Lukashenko 83 percent of the votes.

March 16, 2006: U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman visits Kazakhstan and meets Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The two discuss the trans-Caspian shipment of Kazakh oil to the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.

March 16, 2006: The White House issues its National Security Strategy, which expresses concern about Russia’s democratic development.

March 11-12, 2006: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk visits Washington and discusses NATO membership for his country.

March 8, 2006: The State Department releases its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The report chides Russia on its “backslide” from democracy.

March 5, 2006: Council on Foreign Relations issues a critical report on Russian internal and external affairs.

March 5, 2006: Russian FM Lavrov arrives in Washington for a meeting with U.S. leaders, including Condoleezza Rice. Lavrov also meets briefly with President Bush.

March 3, 2006: Hamas leaders meet with the Russian leadership in Moscow.

Feb. 28, 2006: In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, President Putin states that the “establishment of a reliable and comprehensive system of energy security is one of the strategic goals for the G8.”

Feb. 22, 2006: U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley visits Moscow to reassure Russian leaders of the benign intentions behind the proposed deployment of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Feb. 16, 2006: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov arrives in Vietnam for a two-day visit to warm relations and to increase Russia’s profile in Southeast Asia.

Feb. 11, 2006: G8 finance ministers meet in Moscow to discuss details of the June G8 summit in St. Petersburg. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow attends.

Feb. 7, 2006: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi fails to attend the annual rally on Northern Territories Day in Tokyo. At this rally Japanese gather to demand the return of the four disputed islands with Russia.

Jan. 23, 2006: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with senior officials in Tehran to discuss the Iranian nuclear program. He seeks a softening of the Iranian stance.

Jan. 16, 2006: Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly states that there is little dividing Russia from the EU and the U.S. on Iran’s uranium enrichment activities.

Jan. 11, 2006: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov publish an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “Russia Must Be Strong.”

Jan. 4, 2006: Russia and Ukraine reach 11^th hour deal that assures Ukraine continued supplies of natural gas at a rate below market value. Russia’s heavy-handed tactics cause an uproar in the U.S. press, as well as in the U.S. government.

Dec. 23, 2005: A controversial bill restricting the activities of NGOs in Russia easily passes its third and final reading in the State Duma.

Dec. 14, 2005: Putin visits Malaysia to attend the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur. While there he addresses Asia Pacific leaders at the East Asia Summit.

Dec. 7, 2005: On a visit to Ukraine, Secretary Rice criticizes Russia’s controversial draft law on NGOs.

Dec. 7, 2005: President Putin offers former U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans chairmanship of Rosneft, a Russian state oil company. Evans declines the offer Dec. 19.

Dec. 3, 2005: It is reported in the Russian press that Moscow will supply 32 sophisticated Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Tehran under a contract worth $1 billion.

Dec. 1, 2005: Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of the Russian General Staff, expresses concern about U.S. interference in the political affairs of the former Soviet states.

Dec. 1, 2005: Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns arrives in Moscow to express U.S. concern about proposed legislation in the Russian Duma that would hinder the ability of independent NGOs to work effectively in Russia.

Nov. 28, 2005: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses a roundtable of the Russian-U.S. Business Cooperation Council in Moscow.

Nov. 27, 2005: Former Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov is indicted in a U.S. court on charges of stealing $9 million of U.S. Department of Energy money intended to improve safety at Russian nuclear plants. Swiss high court rules Dec. 22 that Adamov will be extradited to Russia to face abuse of office and $500 million fraud charges.

Nov. 20-21, 2005: President Putin spends two days in Tokyo on an official state visit, his first to Japan in five years. Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro sign a number of agreements on economic and energy cooperation, but the long-standing territorial dispute is largely passed over in discussions.

Nov. 18, 2005: Presidents Bush and Putin meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan, South Korea. At the meeting Bush expresses concern to Putin about a recent Kremlin campaign to tighten control over Russian and foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Russia.

Nov. 4, 2005: U.S. House of Representatives passes a bill on appropriations for Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs. The bill allocates $95 million to the National Endowment for Democracy, of which Russian political parties will receive $4 million in 2006.

Nov. 3, 2005: Gen. John Abizaid, commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visits Kazakhstan.

Oct. 31, 2005: Senior Japanese and Russian government officials agree to speed up talks on cooperation in building an oil pipeline linking Eastern Siberia with the Russian Pacific port Nakhodka.

Oct. 24, 2005: U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley meets in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Russian senior officials to try and gather Russian support for U.S. policy toward Iran.

Oct. 24, 2005: President George Bush greets Russian Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko and leaders of Russia’s petroleum industry in Washington, who are in the U.S. to promote U.S.-Russian energy cooperation.

Oct. 20, 2005: U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns answers questions about U.S. foreign policy in Central Asia to members of the Russian State Duma (the Russian Parliament) in Moscow.

Oct. 19, 2005: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz arrives in Moscow and meets with Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref to discuss financing legal reform in Russia.

Oct. 14-15, 2005: Secretary Rice makes a surprise visit to Moscow and meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to win Russia’s support for referring Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear program.

Oct. 13, 2005: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov announces that his government has approved a blueprint to develop the Kuril Islands through 2015.

Oct. 11-13, 2005: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

Sept. 26-27, 2005: Fourteen kilograms, nearly 31 pounds, of highly enriched uranium are safely returned to the Russian Federation from a research reactor in the Czech Republic. The operation was a joint effort that included IAEA, the U.S., Russia and the Czech Republic, and was part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.

Sept. 26-28, 2005: Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref holds talks with U.S. officials in Washington about Russia’s joining the WTO.

Sept. 21, 2005: In a speech at Stanford University, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issues a veiled warning to Washington to avoid interfering in Russian politics, and to pursue goals in ex-Soviet states exclusively by “understandable and transparent” methods. But Lavrov does recognize U.S. interests in Central Asia.

Sept. 16, 2005: In New York, Putin meets with the leadership of U.S. oil majors Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Texaco.

Sept. 16, 2005: Presidents Bush and Putin hold a meeting at the White House. Topping the discussion agenda are the key nuclear disputes in Iran and North Korea.

Sept. 13, 2005: In a speech at a NATO meeting in Berlin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov warns the U.S. against any change of its nuclear doctrine to allow the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons.

Sept. 10, 2005: A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman accuses the U.S. of exercising “double-standards” in the war on terror.

Aug. 29, 2005: The aircraft of U.S. Senators Richard Lugar and Barack Obama is detained in the Russian city of Perm for several hours for undisclosed reasons. The senators were part of a team inspecting the progress of the joint U.S.-Russian nuclear clean-up program. The aircraft had been cleared prior to the trip.

Aug. 21, 2005: William Joseph Burns replaces Alexander Vershbow as U.S. ambassador to Russia.

Aug. 18-25, 2005: Russia and China hold an unprecedented, weeklong joint military exercise in the Far East.

July 29, 2005: Moscow issues a protest to Washington about the ABC News interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, aired nationally on television in the U.S.

July 25, 2005: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld makes a quick visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan where the Kyrgyz government reaffirms its support for the continued U.S. utilization of the airbase in that country.

July 18, 2005: Russia’s armed forces begin a six-day exercise known as Vostok-2005 in Russia’s Far Eastern districts, including along the Pacific coast near Vladivostok.

July 15, 2005: Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs releases a statement calling for a “rollback” of the “non-regional” military presence in Central Asia, an obvious reference to U.S. forces stationed in the region.

July 7, 2005: Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin meet on the sidelines of the G-8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland.

July 5, 2005: The leaders of China, Russia, and four Central Asian nations ask the U.S. to set a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. bases from the region. The announcement comes at the SCO summit meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan.

July 5, 2005: The U.S. State Department announces that for the FY 2006 it will allocate $85 million for programs of assistance for democratic and economic reforms in Russia.

June 26, 2005: A poll released by the Pew Center shows that more than half of Russian citizens interviewed feel that Americans are a rude, immoral, and greedy, but hard-working people.

June 25, 2005: Putin meets with U.S. and German corporate executives, and assures them of the stability of the investment climate in Russia. Executives include representatives from Alcoa, Citigroup, ConocoPhillips, Intel, and IBM.

June 15, 2005: Putin attends groundbreaking ceremony in St. Petersburg for a Toyota auto plant. Also attending is former Japanese PM Mori Yoshiro. In a private meeting with Mori, Putin affirms that he will visit Japan in November 2005.

June 10, 2005: In an interview, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says that Russia cannot prevent former Soviet republics from joining NATO, but warns that the establishment of NATO bases in any neighboring country would be viewed by Moscow as a threat.

June 5, 2005: U.S. officials complete inspection of a missile base in Bryansk where Russian stockpiles of strategic weapons are dismantled in compliance with the START-1 treaty.

June 2, 2005: FM Lavrov hosts Chinese FM Li Zhaoxing and Indian FM Natwar Singh in Vladivostok for talks on multipolar approaches for global problems.

June 1, 2005: Russian FM Lavrov visits Tokyo, meets counterpart Machimura Nobutaka and discusses political relations and a proposed Putin visit to Japan in late 2005.

May 31, 2005: Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky is sentenced to 9 years in prison by a court in Moscow. George Bush calls the verdict “unfair.”

May 31, 2005: Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez arrives in Moscow to discuss the investment climate in Russia and potential WTO membership for that country. He meets with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

May 30, 2005: Russia agrees to shut two military bases in Georgia and pull out 3,000 troops from that republic by 2008.

May 25, 2005: Energy Secretary Sam Bodman visits Moscow to discuss U.S.-Russian energy ties and to declare U.S. concerns about the recent “upheavals” in the Russian oil sector.

May 25, 2005: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline linking the Caspian Sea oilfields with a Mediterranean port in southern Turkey is officially inaugurated.

May 21, 2005: Senate passes a resolution urging the Russian government to issue “a clear and unambiguous statement” admitting to the illegal occupation until 1991 of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

May 13, 2005: Protestors storm key government buildings and free more than 2,000 prisoners in the eastern Uzbekistan city of Andijan. The Uzbek government quickly and violently suppresses the protestors, killing several hundred people.

May 10, 2005: President Bush travels to Tbilisi, Georgia to meet President Mikheil Saakashvili. Bush expresses support for Georgia’s democratic development.

May 9, 2005: President Putin hosts world leaders in Moscow (including George Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi) to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

May 7, 2005: President Bush meets in Riga, Latvia with the presidents of the three Baltic Republics, and expresses his discontent with the state of democracy and the rule of law in Russia. He also refers on several occasions to the “occupation” of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union after World War II.

May 5, 2005: Former Russian Nuclear Power Minister Yevgenii Adamov is arrested in Switzerland. He is wanted in the U.S. on fraud and money-laundering charges.

April 22, 2005: Japanese METI Minister Nakagawa Shoichi meets with Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko in Tokyo to discuss the Siberian oil pipeline project.

April 19, 2005: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice starts a two-day visit to Moscow. There she meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. From Moscow she travels to Vilnius, Lithuania for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

April 18, 2005: Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin visits Washington to attend a meeting of G8 finance ministers, and to attend sessions of the IMF and the World Bank. Kudrin also has a separate meeting with Treasury Secretary John Snow and Acting Trade Representative Peter Algeier.

April 13, 2005: Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s (Upper House) Foreign Affairs Committee visits Washington and meets with Senate leaders, including Richard Lugar, to discuss economic cooperation.

April 12, 2005: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld departs on an unannounced visit to Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan.

April 7, 2005: A delegation from the Japanese Association for Trade with Russia and Western Europe (ROTOBO) arrives in Vladivostok to discuss the Siberian oil pipeline project. The delegation includes executives from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Itochu Corp., Nippon Steel Corporation, and Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd.

April 4, 2005: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko arrives in the U.S. for a three-day visit. Besides meeting separately with George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld, Yushchenko addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

March 21, 2005: After fraudulent parliamentary elections, a revolt in Kyrgyzstan unseats the government and President Askar Akayev flees to Moscow.

March 17, 2005: George Kennan passes away in Princeton, N.J. at age 101. Kennan, a Russian expert, is considered the father of the containment policy during the Cold War.

Feb. 28, 2005: U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights lists threats to civil society and democracy in Russia.

Feb. 27, 2005: Alexander Rumyantsev, director of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, meets in Iran with Iranian counterpart Gholamreza Aghazadeh, and they sign an $800 million contract on nuclear energy cooperation.

Feb. 24, 2005: Presidents Bush and Putin hold a summit meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia. The atmosphere is decidedly less cordial than earlier meetings.

Feb. 24, 2005: Houston, Texas court throws out case by Yukos, which claims that the proposed sale by the Russian government of a Yukos subsidiary is unlawful. The Houston court claims that it has no jurisdiction.

Feb. 17, 2005: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations holds hearing on “Democracy in Retreat in Russia.” Two of the star witnesses are executives from Yukos, the embattled Russian oil giant that is at odds with the Russian government.

Feb. 13, 2005: Henry Kissinger meets in Moscow with Putin to talk about Russia’s future and U.S.-Russian relations.

Feb. 5, 2005: In a dinner meeting in Ankara with Russian FM Lavrov, Secretary Rice expresses U.S. discontent with the progress of democracy in Russia.

Feb. 1, 2005: In a telephone call, Presidents Bush and Putin discuss post-election Iraq.

Jan. 31, 2005: Standard & Poor’s raises its long-term foreign currency rating for sovereign debt to “BBB-” from “BB+,” giving Russia investment grade status.

Jan. 31, 2005: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Russian Economy Minister German Gref meet in Zurich to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues.

Jan. 25, 2005: Syrian President Bashar Assad meets President Putin in Moscow.

Jan. 23, 2005: Viktor Yushchenko inaugurated as president of the Ukraine.

Jan. 19, 2005: In confirmation hearings before the Senate, Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice voices concern about the growing concentration of power in the Kremlin and democracy in Russia.

Jan. 13, 2005: Japanese FM Machimura Nobutaka travels to Moscow for meetings with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The two discuss plans for a visit by President Vladimir Putin to Japan.

Jan. 11, 2005: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov arrives in Washington for four days of meetings with U.S. officials including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President George Bush. Ivanov discusses with his U.S. colleagues defense technical cooperation and the war against terrorism and in Iraq.

Jan. 4, 2005: Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham meets in London with the Director of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Alexander Rumyantsev.

Jan. 1, 2005: The Texas Longhorns defeat the Michigan Wolverines 38-37 to win the 91^st Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Dec. 26, 2004: Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, seen as pro-West, wins Ukraine’s presidency with over 52 percent of the popular vote, in the second runoff. The U.S. government hails his victory.

Dec. 23, 2004: Speaking at a Kremlin news conference Putin criticizes the West for its “double standards” in speaking about the political situation in Russia and Ukrainian elections, and suggests that the U.S. election system is also flawed.

Dec. 15, 2004: Yukos files for bankruptcy protection in a Houston, Texas court in the hope of preventing the forced sale of its main subsidiary.

Dec. 3, 2004: Putin begins a four-day trip to India and Turkey to discuss energy cooperation and potential arms deals.

Nov. 23, 2004: Russian government accuses the U.S. government of “unprecedented interference” in the domestic affairs of Ukraine after the U.S. protests the results of the second round of the Ukrainian presidential elections.

Nov. 21, 2004: The Russian government agrees to a deal to wipe out up to 80 percent of the debt owed by Iraq to the Paris Club creditor nations, of which Russia is a member.

Nov. 21, 2004: Second round of the presidential election in Ukraine results in a victory for PM Yanukovich, but the results are disputed by international observers and the Ukrainian Supreme Court annuls the elections and calls for a new round.

Nov. 20, 2004: In a 40-minute meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Santiago, Chile, President Bush expresses concern to Vladimir Putin about the progress of democracy in Russia.

Nov. 19, 2004: Martin Malia, brilliant Russian historian at the University of California-Berkeley, dies.

Nov. 7, 2004: In an interview on Moscow television U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow reiterates the concern of the U.S. government about the prosecution of the Russian oil company Yukos and its leadership.

Nov. 2, 2004: George Bush re-elected president.

Oct. 31, 2004: The first round of presidential elections in Ukraine takes place and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko survive to the second round runoff.

Oct. 29, 2004: The Russian government summons the U.S. chargé to protest a Pentagon claim that Russian soldiers spirited away hundreds of tons of explosives from a site in Iraq just before the U.S. invasion.

Oct. 26, 2004: Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage leads a U.S. delegation to Moscow and Kazakhstan to discuss cooperation in the war on terror. In Moscow, Armitage meets with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak.

Oct. 19, 2004: U.S. State Department says that it is concerned about the proposed sale of a unit of the Russian oil company Yukos, saying that it is being done under “coercion.”

Oct. 18, 2004: Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview, admits he would prefer U.S. President George Bush re-elected, rather than having a Democratic administration.

Oct. 11-12, 2004: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Tehran to meet with Iranian leaders.

Oct. 3, 2004: Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin visits Washington, where he meets with U.S. and international business leaders to discuss trade and investment in Russia.

Sept. 28, 2004: A group of 115 American and European foreign policy specialists, including former and current elected leaders, write a letter to President Bush and other government leaders in NATO and the European Union accusing President Putin of undermining democracy in Russia and turning the country back toward authoritarian rule.

Sept. 21, 2004: At a joint U.S.-Russian seminar on oil transportation and oil markets Russian Economy Minister German Gref says that he sees the U.S. as a promising oil export market for Russia.

Sept. 18-19, 2004: U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Russian Atomic Energy head Alexander Rumyantsev convene a two-day conference in Vienna on a global initiative to keep highly radioactive materials out of the reach of terrorists.

Sept. 15, 2004: In response to Powell, FM Lavrov announces that he considers unfounded claims by the U.S. that Russia’s new political measures are a step against democratic development.

Sept. 15, 2004: U.S. Department of State declares that U.S. assistance to Russia in fiscal year 2004 amounted to $880.38 million.

Sept. 14, 2004: Secretary Powell expresses concern that sweeping political changes to fight terrorism proposed by Putin will erode Russia’s democratic reforms.

Sept. 14, 2004: President Putin permits the Gazprom natural gas monopoly to acquire the state-owned oil company Rosneft.

Sept. 13, 2004: Putin orders sweeping changes to Russia’s political system to help combat terrorism, prompting concern that he is moving to further clamp down on domestic dissent and opposition.

Sept. 12, 2004: President Bush makes an unexpected visit to the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC and signs a book of condolences for victims of the school hostage seizure. He expresses outrage at the actions of “evil terrorists.”

Sept. 6, 2004: Meeting Western journalists and academic specialists, President Putin lashes out at U.S. and Europe calls to discuss a settlement with the Chechen insurgents.

Sept. 2, 2004: Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro inspects disputed “Northern Territories” by boat.

Sept. 1, 2004: Chechen terrorists seize a school in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, taking hostage hundreds of children and adults. After a two-day standoff, violence erupts and almost 400 people—mostly children—are killed.

Aug. 31, 2004: Terrorists target Moscow metro station, killing 9 and wounding dozens of others in a suicide explosion.

Aug. 24, 2004: Two passenger airliners leaving the same Moscow airport on domestic flights explode in mid-air at the same moment over south-central Russia, killing 90 people. The Kremlin at first denies a terrorist link, but then later concedes that it is a coordinated terror attack.

Aug. 14, 2004: In a visit to St. Petersburg, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld meets with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov. The two discuss the war on terror and announce impending joint naval maneuvers. They also announce that Moscow and Washington may jointly develop a missile defense system. Ivanov expresses concern about NATO’s expansion into the Baltics.

Aug. 12, 2004: With an eye on rising oil prices, the U.S. State Department publicly calls on the Russian government to put aside internal “political considerations” in order to resolve the Yukos matter.

Aug. 8, 2004: U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice speaks by telephone with Kremlin chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev about the effect the Yukos case is having on the world oil market.

Aug. 7, 2004: The Russian Baltic fleet begins exercises with NATO warships, an historic first.

July 27, 2004: Officials from Japanese Marine Security Department meet with officials from Russia’s Federal Border Guard in Vladivostok to discuss further cooperation.

July 11, 2004: The Japanese government announces that it will give Russia $77.6 million to study the construction of a Siberian oil pipeline to the Pacific port of Nakhodka.

July 9, 2004: Forbes Russia Editor-in-Chief Paul Khlebnikov, a U.S. citizen, is murdered on a Moscow street. The case draws wide attention to Russia’s crime problems.

July 5, 2004: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.

July 2, 2004: Russia and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issue a joint declaration on cooperation in fighting international terrorism in Jakarta and agree to improve the exchange of intelligence information.

July 1, 2004: In a visit to Moscow U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson meets with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov and the two sides announce new American-Russian efforts against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

June 27, 2004: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on a visit to Moldova, on his way to a NATO summit in Istanbul, urges Russia to uphold its obligations and withdraw troops from Moldova to help settle a 13-year-old dispute between the former Soviet state and its breakaway trans-Dnestr region. Rumsfeld is the first high-ranking Cabinet official to visit Moldova.

June 27-29, 2004: NATO heads-of-state summit in Istanbul, Turkey. President George Bush makes an appearance, but President Putin declines to attend. FM Lavrov represents Russia.

June 24, 2004: Japanese FM Kawaguchi travels to Moscow to meet with FM Sergei Lavrov to discuss bilateral matters and a visit by President Putin to Japan in early 2005.

June 21-25, 2004: Russia launches massive Mobility-2004 military exercises across Siberia and the Russian Far East. These are the largest since the Soviet era.

June 18, 2004: While on a visit to Kazakhstan, Putin confirms to reporters that between the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the commencement of military operations in Iraq, Russia’s special services intelligence agencies received information “that official organs of Saddam’s regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory of the U.S. and beyond its borders, at U.S. military and civilian locations.” Putin explains that he passed this information on to President Bush.

June 17, 2004: Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

June 8, 2004: U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Kyle McSlarrow visits Moscow to meet with Russian counterparts and with executives from the Russian oil industry. McSlarrow reemphasizes the U.S. interest in seeing a “Northern Pipeline” to transport crude oil from western Siberia to the port of Murmansk.

June 8-10, 2004: Summit of G8 nations takes place on Sea Island, Georgia.

June 6, 2004: Vladimir Putin becomes the first Russian or Soviet head of state to visit Normandy, on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944.

June 5, 2004: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40^th president of the U.S., passes away at 93.

June 2, 2004: Secretary of State Colin Powell calls for Russia to remove all its military bases from Georgia.

May 31, 2004: Russia officially joins the PSI.

May 27, 2004: Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham visits Moscow and meets with counterpart Alexander Rumantsyev to sign an accord on the retrieval and storage of unsecured Russian nuclear fuel.

May 20, 2004: Under Secretary of State John Bolton visits Moscow to press Russian leaders to join the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

May 20-21, 2004: George H.W. Bush, Sr., the father of President George W. Bush, visits the Ukraine.

May 17, 2004: Russian and U.S. Army officers begin a joint six-day command post exercise that is the first of its kind and aims at ensuring better cooperation in the war on terrorism.

May 17, 2004: U.S. State Department releases annual report on human rights and, as in years past, Russia’s record is deemed suspect.

May 15, 2004: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice meets with Russian President Putin in Moscow to discuss Iraq.

May 10, 2004: Two Russian workers are kidnapped and a third is killed in Iraq. The Russian Duma blames the U.S. for the incident.

May 9, 2004: Grozny bomb blast kills the Russian-installed president of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadryov.

May 6, 2004: U.S. House of Representatives passes resolution condemning Iran’s nuclear program, and calls on Russia to halt its assistance to Teheran.

May 5, 2004: The tense stand-off in southern Georgia ends when the rebel leader of the province of Adzharia flees into exile in Russia. Both Moscow and Washington announce their satisfaction with the peaceful resolution of the situation.

April 13, 2004: Russian government urges all its citizens to leave Iraq after unidentified captors release eight employees of a Russian construction company who had been kidnapped and briefly detained in Baghdad.

April 8, 2004: U.S.-Russia Energy Working Group (EWG) concludes two days of talks in Washington by signing two agreements that enhance U.S.-Russia partnership on energy-related projects.

April 6, 2004: Russian academic researcher Igor Sutyagin is found guilty of spying for U.S. intelligence after a lengthy court trial that attracted international media attention.

April 6-7, 2004: On an official visit to Washington, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says that Russia will not give up its cooperation with the U.S. in the war on terrorism, but warns that deteriorating bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington could bring on a “cold peace.”

April 1, 2004: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations adopts a resolution calling on President Bush to call for the exclusion of Russia from the G8. U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Vershbow scoffs at the resolution and describes Russia as a “vital partner” to the U.S.

March 31, 2004: Russian Duma decides to outlaw public protests in most Russian public places, including outside official buildings.

March 29, 2004: Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are among seven former Soviet bloc countries formally join NATO. The other ex-communist nations joining are Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

March 29, 2004: Russian news agencies quote a senior Russian Defense Ministry official who announces Russia has designed a “revolutionary” weapon that would make the prospective U.S. missile defense useless.

March 29, 2004: Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are among seven former Soviet bloc countries formally join NATO. The other ex-communist nations joining are Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

March 29, 2004: Russian news agencies quote a senior Russian Defense Ministry official who announces Russia has designed a “revolutionary” weapon that would make the prospective U.S. missile defense useless.

March 20, 2004: Sixty-two percent of Russians say the U.S.-led operation in Iraq is a crime against the people of Iraq, according to a VTsIOM survey.

March 18, 2004: U.S.-Russian relations are on the “right track” Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones tells Congress, though the track “is not without its bumps and occasional setbacks.”

March 17, 2004: Newly appointed FM Sergei Lavrov tells journalists that “virtually nothing separates” Russia from the U.S. when it comes to a vision of humanity’s strategic problems in ensuring security.

March 14, 2004: Secretary Powell says he is concerned about the way Russia is conducting its presidential election and urges Putin’s government “to do a better job’” of making democracy work.

March 14, 2004: Putin is announced the winner of the presidential election in Russia with more than 70 percent of the popular vote.

March 14, 2004: Secretary Powell says he is concerned about the way Russia is conducting its presidential election and urges Putin’s government “to do a better job’” of making democracy work.

March 14, 2004: Putin is announced the winner of the presidential election in Russia with more than 70 percent of the popular vote.

March 13, 2004: CIA warns of a “greater assertiveness” on the part of Russia after Putin wins re-election.

March 2, 2004: Putin meets with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Moscow.

March 1, 2004: Putin nominates Mikhail Fradkov, a former tax police chief and Russia’s top diplomat at the European Union, as prime minister.

Feb. 26, 2004: In a phone call President Bush tells President Putin that he hopes Russia will move in a “reformist direction” after the March 14 presidential elections.

Feb. 25, 2004: President Bush meets Mikhail Saakashvili, new president of Georgia at the White House.

Feb. 25, 2004: In its annual human rights report, the State Department accuses Russia of manipulating elections and making threats against opposition parties.

Feb. 25, 2004: President Bush meets Mikhail Saakashvili, new president of Georgia at the White House.

Feb. 25, 2004: In its annual human rights report, the State Department accuses Russia of manipulating elections and making threats against opposition parties.

Feb. 24, 2004: Putin dismisses PM Mikhail Kasyanov and all other Cabinet ministers, saying he is reshuffling the government in preparation for next month’s presidential vote.

Feb. 19, 2004: Three Russians are arrested in Qatar on suspicion of planting a bomb that killed Chechen rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Doha on Feb. 13.

Feb. 17, 2004: Putin observes a large military exercise involving missile launches and strategic bombing flights on board a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea. Several missile launches, however, result in failure and embarrassment for Putin.

Feb. 10, 2004: President Bush meets the head of the Russian presidential administration, Dmitri Medvedev who delivers a message to Bush from Putin that promises Russia will remain a “stable, reliable, and predictable partner.”

Feb. 7, 2004: At a gathering of defense experts in Munich, DM Ivanov urges NATO not to put new military facilities in Poland and the Baltics, and warns that Moscow could take measures if its interests were threatened. At the same conference Sen. John McCain accuses Putin’s regime of a “creeping coup” against democracy.

Feb. 6, 2004: A powerful explosion blasts a packed underground train in Moscow during the morning rush-hour, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 100.

Jan. 29-30, 2004: Under Secretary of State John Bolton visits Moscow to meet with top defense and foreign ministry officials, but he fails to convince them that Russia should join the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

Jan. 26-27, 2004: Powell arrives in Moscow for a two-day visit during which he meets with Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov and President Putin.

Jan. 23-24, 2004: Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Georgia to attend the inauguration of President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Jan. 19-21, 2004: Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov visits India to finalize the $1.5 billion sale of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to India.

Jan. 9, 2004: Russian President Putin visits Kazakhstan and meets with President Nursultan Nazarbayev to discuss strategic cooperation and joint energy development.

Dec. 22, 2003: Putin tells a visiting Iraqi delegation that Moscow is ready to write-off more than half of the $8 billion that Iraq owes Russia.

Dec. 16, 2003: PM Mikhail Kasyanov arrives in Japan for a three-day visit. He meets with PM Koizumi, FM Kawaguchi Yoriko, and top Japanese officials on trade and energy issues.

Dec. 10, 2003: U.S. Embassy officials start fingerprinting Russian citizens hoping to visit the United States, which exacerbates the already tense visa issue in U.S.-Russian relations.

Dec. 9, 2003: U.S. bars French, German, and Russian companies (and other non-supporters of the war) from competing for 18.6 billion in reconstruction contracts in Iraq.

Dec, 8, 2003: In reaction to the elections White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, “The OSCE … expressed concerns about the fairness of the election campaign. We share those concerns.” FM Ivanov later lashes out at the West’s “interference in Russia’s internal affairs.”

Dec. 7, 2003: Russian parliamentary elections yield an overwhelming victory for the pro-Putin political party United Russia. Large gains are also registered by two nationalist parties. The Bush administration joins European human rights officials in expressing concern about the fairness of the elections.

Nov. 20, 2003: After Nov. 2 election results are invalidated, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze leaves office in the face of wide public protests.

Nov. 18, 2003: FM Igor Ivanov criticizes U.S. “excessive” tendency to use force and said the violence raging in Iraq had confirmed that Russia was right in opposing the U.S.-led toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Nov. 8, 2003: U.S. and Russia agree to collaborate in returning weapons-grade uranium to Russia from vulnerable nuclear reactors throughout the former Soviet Union.

Nov. 7, 2003: Moscow and Washington reached an agreement to collaborate in returning weapons-grade uranium to Russia from vulnerable nuclear reactors in the former USSR. In a brief meeting with Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in the White House, President Bush calls for a continuation of U.S.-Russian programs in the sphere of nuclear materials security.

Oct. 27, 2003: In an interview in Moskovskiy Komsomolets Defense Minister Ivanov states that Russia and the U.S. cannot be called allies at this point.

Oct. 27, 2003: State Department spokesman Richard Boucher questions whether Russian laws were being enforced selectively following the arrest of Khodorkovsky.

Oct. 26, 2003: Ambassador to Russia Vershbow says, “We won’t comment on the legal basis for Khodorkovsky’s detention, it would appear though, that the law is being applied selectively at the very least.” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also adds, “We are concerned about the potentially negative implications for the rule of law [in Russia].”

Oct. 25, 2003: Russian special forces arrest the head of Russia’s largest oil producer, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and prosecutors in Moscow charge him with tax evasion and fraud.

Oct. 20, 2003: Putin meets with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi in Bangkok to discuss North Korea and bilateral trade relations.

Oct. 15, 2003: Putin leaves Moscow on a 10-day trip to Malaysia, Thailand, and Kyrgyzstan. During the trip Putin attends the APEC summit in Bangkok and calls on APEC members to invest in the development of oil and gas resources of Russia’s Far East and East Siberia.

Oct. 9, 2003: At a summit between Putin and visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov declares that Russia reserves the right to intervene militarily within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to settle disputes that cannot be solved through negotiation. Ivanov also says that his government expects the American military to withdraw from bases in two former Soviet republics in Central Asia once the mission in Afghanistan was completed.

Oct. 8-9, 2003: Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov attends NATO Ministers of Defence meeting in Colorado. Participants review the Alliance’s transformation in the context of the future security environment at an informal meeting. During Ivanov’s visit, Kremlin unveils new doctrine for Russian military preparedness in the 21^st century.

Oct. 8, 2003: Moody’s Investor’s Service upgrades Russia to “Baa3” from “Ba2,” surprising the market and prompting a rally in Russian bonds and stocks.

Oct. 6, 2003: Putin grants a long interview to The New York Times and speaks of the U.S.-Russian relationship, which he describes as a natural fit and says a “strategic choice” for Russia; he further says Russia does not agree with U.S. policy either in Iran or Iraq.

Oct. 4, 2003: According to a Public Opinion Fund survey only 29 percent of Russians believe President Putin’s September visit to the United States yielded important results.

Sept. 30, 2003: First Lady Laura Bush visits Moscow on a “fence-mending mission.” She discusses with Russian first lady Lyudmila Putin a campaign to promote literature and education.

Sept. 27-28, 2003: At their summit meeting at Camp David, Putin tells Bush that he will not cancel Russia’s lucrative contract to help Iran build a nuclear energy reactor, though he promises to convince Iranian leaders to abide by IAEA inspections and standards.

Sept. 25, 2003: Putin begins his three-day visit to New York and Camp David, Maryland. He gives speeches at the UN General Assembly, the New York Stock Exchange and Columbia University.

Sept. 22-23, 2003: The second annual U.S.-Russia energy summit is held in St. Petersburg and is attended by U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, and 500 leading executives and officials from the oil and gas industry.

Sept. 21, 2003: Putin holds a four-hour round table interview with U.S. journalists in Moscow before his journey to the U.S.

Sept. 17, 2003: Bolton meets with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak to discuss arms control issues primarily concerning Iran and North Korea.

Sept. 17, 2003: State Department announces sanctions on the Russian state-owned arms manufacturer Tula Instrument Design Bureau for alleged sales of hardware to Iran.

Sept. 16, 2003: In a statement to the Helsinki Commission, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Steven Pifer says the situation in Chechnya poses a serious challenge to the U.S.-Russian partnership.

Sept. 12, 2003: Former U.S. President George W.H. Bush meets with Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi during an informal trip to Russia.

Sept. 11, 2003: At a meeting of the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, diplomats from the U.S., France, and Germany press Russia to back a UN nuclear resolution giving Tehran until Oct. 31 to prove it has no secret atomic weapons program.

Aug. 27, 2003: First two of six Russian fighter aircraft arrive in Indonesia. The two Sukhoi Su-27s mark a swing for Indonesia from the U.S. as the country’s main supplier of weaponry.

Aug. 27-29, 2003: Six-nation negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear programs begin in Beijing.

Aug. 26, 2003: A U.S. congressional delegation, led by Curt Weldon (D, PA), visits a production and storage site for Russian weapons-grade plutonium, an unprecedented visit to this top-secret nuclear facility.

Aug. 26, 2003: Under Secretary of State John Bolton meets with Nuclear Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev in Russia. Bolton also meets with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak; reportedly they exchange views about Iran and North Korea.

Aug. 20, 2003: State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, says that Russian support for nuclear activity in Iran has decreased as a result of U.S. diplomatic efforts.

Aug. 19, 2003: U.S. F-15s and F-16s make their first appearances in Russian skies at the Moscow International Air Show. B-52 makes an appearance on the second day.

Aug. 15, 2003: Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visits Moscow to promote the continuation of the Nunn-Lugar program to destroy Soviet-era nuclear weapons.

Aug. 12, 2003: In New Jersey, FBI agents arrest Hemant Lakhani, a U.K. citizen of Indian descent, trying to sell a Russian-made portable anti-aircraft missile, in a sting operation that began in 2001 with a tip that Lakhani was seeking to buy weapons in St. Petersburg. Russian law enforcement authorities cooperate with FBI officials during the operation.

Aug. 8, 2003: Secretary of State Colin Powell announces that the State Department has designated Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev a threat to U.S. security; a move long called for by the Russian government.

Aug. 3, 2003: Chevron-Texaco announces that it is in talks to take a 25 percent stake in Yukos, Russia’s second biggest oil company, in a deal worth up to $6 billion. Speculation in Russia is that the Kremlin will scupper the deal, as it is unhappy with Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky. Eventually Yukos merges with the Russian oil company Sibneft.

July 24, 2003: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Losyukov says that though Russia is not happy about the U.S. military presence in Central Asia, he thinks it is justified.

July 24-25, 2003: Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage meets in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov for talks preceding the September summit of Presidents Bush and Putin at Camp David. Trubnikov announces, “The threat of terrorism is at the center of the Russia-U.S. dialogue.”

July 22, 2003: A high-level U.S. Energy Department delegation, led by Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow, visits Murmansk, the Russian port from which Washington eventually hopes to import Russian crude. Two days earlier McSlarrow signed a protocol with Russian Deputy Energy Minister Oleg Gordeyev aimed at strengthening cooperation in oil field development.

July 12, 2003: Ambassador Vershbow announces that Washington cannot guarantee the safety of Russia’s embassy in Baghdad, prompting an angry response from Moscow. In April, Russian diplomats had allegedly been wounded by U.S. troops during the early days of the war. Vershbow also suggested that Russian diplomats in Baghdad might know the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein.

July 2, 2003: Russian businessman Platon Lebedev is arrested and imprisoned in Moscow on charges of fraud and embezzlement. Lebedev is the deputy and confidante of Yukos (YukosSibneft) CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

June 28-29, 2003: Japanese FM Kawaguchi travels to Vladivostok and meets with Russian Deputy PM Viktor Khristenko. She stresses Japan’s desire for oil pipeline to the Pacific port of Nakhodka.

June 18, 2003: The U.S. firm Exxon-Mobil announces two contracts with a value of $400-600 million are awarded to two Russian firms, which will transport Sakhalin oil and gas to Japan and South Korea.

June 18, 2003: The Indian Navy takes possession of the INS Talwar, a 4,000-metric ton Krivak-class frigate, first of three Russian-built warships that boast “stealth-type” technology.

June 16, 2003: Russian FM Ivanov launches a trip across Asia, including to India, Pakistan, and Cambodia, as part of Moscow’s “Look East” policy.

June 7, 2003: Poll finds that most Russians dislike George Bush. Sixty percent of respondents said they disliked the U.S. president, and only 17 percent held the opposite view.

May 31, 2003: Bush and Putin meet at the St. Petersburg summit to celebrate the 300^th anniversary of the founding of Russia’s “northern capital.” Putin also meets with other world leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro.

May 27, 2003: The U.S. Department of Energy announces a $466 million deal to build two coal-burning power plants for Russia in return for a Russian promise to close three plutonium-producing reactors considered among the most dangerous in the world.

May 22, 2003: President Putin sends a note to President Bush saying that Russia is interested in expanding cooperation with the United States. The note is delivered to Bush in Washington by visiting DM Ivanov, who also holds talks with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and with National Security Adviser Rice. During his meetings Ivanov hints at U.S.-Russian cooperation on an ABM system.

May 14, 2003: The Duma ratifies a landmark nuclear deal with the U.S. that slashes nuclear arsenals by two-thirds. The U.S. Senate approved the accord in March but the Duma postponed its vote amid criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq.

May 14, 2003: To defuse tensions between the U.S. and Russia, Secretary Powell travels to Moscow to meet President Putin.

May 5, 2003: In a bid to increase pressure on Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions, U.S. Under Secretary of State John R. Bolton travels to Moscow to meet with key Russian officials.

May 3, 2003: Russian warships pass through the Suez Canal for the first time in 15 years to take part in exercises with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean. The maneuvers are Russia’s first joint naval exercises with India.

April 30, 2003: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Agricultural Minister Alexei Gordeyev arrives in Washington to meet with U.S. leaders in hopes of ending friction over Moscow’s opposition to the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Besides meeting with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Gordeyev meets with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to discuss U.S. exports of chicken products to Russia.

April 28, 2003: Russia announces that a U.S. “spy” submarine has been detected near the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The headquarters of the Russian Northeastern Forces says that a Los Angeles-class submarine had been following the Northeastern Forces’ exercises when it was detected in Avachinsky Bay.

April 20-23, 2003: During a visit by Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia’s military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto announces that his country is planning to buy 48 Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia. Jakarta promises to purchase an initial batch of two long-range Su-27s and two Su-30s for delivery this year and at least another 44 planes over the next four years.

April 17, 2003: Russia announces that it will back a $4.5 billion oil pipeline project to boost crude oil exports to the U.S. The government orders a feasibility study of the pipeline (from west Siberia to the northern city of Murmansk), which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2007-2009.

April 9, 2003: Russia announces that it is withdrawing peacekeeping contingents from Kosovo and from Bosnia-Hercegovina, citing the end of the mission and a lack of funding.

April 9, 2003: Thousands demonstrate outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow against the war in Iraq. Compared to demonstrations against the war in Yugoslavia in 1999, passions are mostly calm and the crowd, estimated between 30,000 and 50,000, is far smaller than organizers expected.

April 7, 2003: U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice holds talks with Russian President Putin in Moscow. Rice also meets with presidential chief of staff Alexander Voloshin, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

April 6, 2003: A convoy of Russian diplomats and journalists evacuating Baghdad comes under fire from U.S. forces. Several are wounded. Media reports claim that Washington had asked the diplomats to leave on suspicion that they had aided Iraqi forces.

April 3, 2003: Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin of Russia announces that his organization (representing all practicing Muslims in Russia) has declared jihad, against the United States and would raise money to “buy weapons for fighting America and food for the people of Iraq.” Tadzhuddin is warned that his call for a holy war against the U.S. was illegal and he will be prosecuted if he repeats it.

March 26, 2003: Addressing the Duma, Russian FM Ivanov harshly criticizes U.S. actions in Iraq in terms, according to some, “not heard since the end of the Cold War.”

March 24, 2003: President Bush telephones President Putin to strongly condemn the supply by a Russian firm to Iraq of jamming technology, antitank missiles, and night-vision goggles.

March 23, 2003: U.S. accuses Russian technicians in Iraq of attempting to help set up and operate a system that interferes with U.S. global positioning technology used to guide coalition missiles and aircraft.

March 12, 2003: U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow warns that Russian opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq could cause serious damage to U.S.-Russian relations.

March 11, 2003: Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham sign three agreements in Vienna, under which Russia will shut down three of its nuclear reactors. The agreements include a provision on financing Russian projects on building new conventional power facilities in Seversk and Zheleznogorsk, the communities in which nuclear reactors are to be shut down.

March 10, 2003: Sen. Richard Lugar, Indiana Republican, introduces a bill that would repeal the Jackson-Vanik amendment if passed into law, allowing Russia permanent normal trading status with the U.S.

March 7, 2003: In a powerful bipartisan endorsement for improved relations with Russia, the U.S. Senate unanimously approves a treaty that would cut active U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear warheads by two-thirds.

March 7, 2003: On Russian TV, FM Ivanov warns against a “unilateral” U.S. decision to go to war. Ivanov states, “That would be a violation of the United Nations Charter.”

March 5, 2003: Russia joins with France and Germany in pledging to block any UN resolution authorizing war in Iraq.

March 4, 2003: GAO releases report highly critical of the Cooperation Threat Reduction program, also known as the Nunn-Lugar program on U.S.-Russian bilateral nonproliferation efforts.

Feb. 28, 2003: The State Department officially announces that it is imposing sanctions on three rebel groups in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya because of their involvement in terrorism, including participation in an attack on a Moscow theater.

Feb. 24, 2003: U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton meets with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov for talks on global strategic security and nonproliferation.

Feb. 24, 2003: Russian Presidential Chief of Staff Aleksandr Voloshin travels to Washington, D.C. and meets with National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice to discuss the Iraq situation. President Bush steps in for a short visit.

Feb. 21, 2003: In a nationwide television interview President Putin states that he is very concerned about the “breakdown” of the balance of power in the world and the “growing aggressiveness of influential forces in certain countries.”

Feb. 20, 2003: Secretary of State Colin Powell announces U.S. plans to blacklist three Chechen groups suspected of the attack on a Moscow theater in October 2002.

Feb. 9-11, 2003: Russian President Vladimir Putin conducts a three-day state visit to Paris and meets with French President Jacques Chirac. The two announce their opposition to U.S. plans to impose a deadline on Iraq that would lead to military strikes.

Feb. 3, 2003: The Bush administration announces that it will cut the aid Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union will receive under the Freedom Support Act. The allocation for Russia will fall to $73 million from $148 million.

Jan. 28, 2003: In an interview with Itogi magazine Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov says U.S. plans to develop and deploy a national missile defense system should not present an obstacle in bilateral ties between Moscow and Washington, a reversal of the previous Russian position.

Jan. 27, 2003: The New York Times reports that sometime in the early 1990s, Russian SVR agents had installed secret nuclear detection equipment inside the Russian Embassy in the North Korean capital Pyongyang at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency. The equipment was designed to pick up emissions of the isotope krypton, which would signal that North Korea had resumed plutonium reprocessing at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.

Jan. 26, 2003: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans meets with Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref in Davos, Switzerland. Evans promises his personal support to Russia in tackling current bilateral trade problems.

Jan. 23-24, 2003: On a visit to Moscow U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says that Russia should not rule out the possibility of preventive strikes on Chechen terrorists, even those on Georgian territory. “A country that believes in preventive strikes will find it difficult to criticize another country for doing the same.”

Jan. 21, 2003: Russian Defense Minister Ivanov is interviewed on Al-Jazeera TV and concedes that Russia has come under U.S. pressure to abandon nuclear cooperation with Iran. Ivanov says that Russia would continue cooperating with Iran and that two new nuclear reactors would be built in that country.

Jan. 17, 2003: A group of congressional Democrats outline a proposal to eliminate the provisions of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which Congress passed in 1974 preventing Russia from achieving permanent normal trade status.

Jan. 14, 2003: U.S. President George W. Bush signs special orders to release more than $310 million in frozen funds to help Russia secure or eliminate nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The president’s orders free more than $150 million to build a facility to destroy chemical munitions in Shchuch’ye, Russia.

Jan. 14, 2003: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says in an interview that Russia could collaborate with the U.S. in building a missile defense system under certain conditions.

Dec. 27, 2002: Moscow officially informs Washington of its intention to withdraw from the agreement on Peace Corps activities on Russian territory.

Dec. 19, 2002: Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and visiting Russian FM Igor Ivanov agree to sign an action plan featuring broad cooperation measures when Koizumi visits Russia in early 2003.

Dec. 18, 2002: Russia expresses regret over the U.S. decision to begin deploying strategic interceptors to defend the United States from missile attack. An official Russian statement says that the move will destabilize the international security system and lead to a new arms race.

Dec. 17, 2002: Russia’s Atomic Energy Ministry brushes aside Secretary of State Powell’s latest accusations concerning Moscow’s nuclear cooperation with Iran. The statement says that Washington has shown no proof that Russia is assisting Iran’s military program.

Nov. 22, 2002: President George W. Bush meets with Putin in St. Petersburg for a one-day summit. Bush states that “NATO’s expansion is in Russia’s best interest.” Bush says that an expanded NATO will bring a guarantee of stability to Russia’s border. This is the seventh meeting between Bush and Putin.

Nov. 21-22, 2002: At a NATO summit in Prague, the alliance formally extends invitations to three former Soviet Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – and to four former Soviet-bloc countries, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Nov. 9, 2002: In a reversal, Russia says that it supports a second U.S.-draft UN resolution on Iraq after a clause envisaging automatic use of force has been removed. The issue had been a key sticking point between Moscow and Washington. The UN Security Council then unanimously approves the draft resolution giving Iraq a last chance to eliminate weapons of mass destruction or face “serious consequences.”

Nov. 9, 2002: It is announced that during the first nine months of 2002, Russia invested $8.4 billion in the U.S. economy. This is 10 times as much as U.S. investments in Russia over the reported period, which amounted to $841 million.

Nov. 2, 2002: In a dramatic rescue attempt, a large number (over 120) of the hostages held by Chechen separatists at the Moscow theater succumb to a knockout gas pumped into the theater by Russian special forces. All of the separatists are killed.

Oct. 23, 2002: Several hundred hostages are taken at a Moscow theater by Chechen separatists. The separatists demand an immediate end to the hostilities in Chechnya and a withdrawal of Russian forces.

Oct. 22, 2002: Russia rejects the first U.S. draft resolution on Iraq, dealing a sharp blow to U.S. efforts to gain UN backing for the automatic use of force if weapons inspectors are thwarted by Baghdad. In an official statement Russian FM Ivanov says the U.S. document does not meet Russian criteria.

Oct. 19,2002: Fearing disruption to oil supplies in the event of a U.S.-led war on Iraq, Nippon Oil Corp. announces that it will begin importing crude oil from the Russian interior. The move represents the first import of crude oil from Russia’s deep inland by a major Japanese oil firm since 1978.

Oct. 12, 2002: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi Yoriko arrives in Russia for talks with her counterpart, Igor Ivanov, and Russian President Putin in an effort to kick-start stalled negotiations on Tokyo-Moscow relations.

Oct. 10, 2002: Alfa-Eco, a subsidiary of Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest private banks and a regular buyer of Iraqi oil, announces one of the largest oil supply deals in the history of Iraq’s oil-for-food program, as Baghdad moves to reinforce commercial links with Moscow. It is announced that Alfa-Eco clinched a deal for 20 million barrels, one of the largest under the six-year UN-supervised humanitarian scheme.

Oct. 9, 2002: Speaking to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Bolton, under secretary for arms control and international security, warns that Moscow’s continued support of Iran and Syria’s nuclear and missile program and poor coordination within the Russian government worry Washington and may undermine future bilateral cooperation and a global nonproliferation initiative.

Oct. 4, 2002: Russian President Vladimir Putin revokes the special status of U.S.-funded Radio Liberty. Radio Liberty has long been critical of the Kremlin in its reporting of the conflict in Chechnya.

Oct. 4, 2002: Speaking at the annual meeting of the American-Russian Business Council (ARBC) in Washington, Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade German Gref says that Russia regards the United States as its key trade partner.

Oct. 3, 2002: Addressing the U.S.-Russia Business Council in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell outlines the U.S. vision of “a robust commercial relationship between Russia and the United States and a dynamic Russia occupying a leading place in the global economy.”

October 2-3, 2002: U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham leads energy summit in Houston. On day two, Abraham guides Energy Minister Igor Yusufov through a key section of the heavily guarded U.S. strategic petroleum reserve in Freeport, Texas, the first time a Russian official has been given such a tour.

Oct. 1-2, 2002: The U.S.-Russia Commercial Energy Summit, the first of its kind, is held in Houston, Texas. The summit boasted a blue-ribbon guest list, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov and Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, and a plethora of heavy-hitting Russian oil executives, including Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) President Semen Kukes.

Oct. 1, 2002: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky and head of the nuclear munitions department of the Nuclear Energy Ministry Nikolai Voloshin inform deputies at the closed sitting of the Duma Defense and International Affairs Committee that the Russian leadership views the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START II) as “a new treaty of friendship and cooperation between Russia and the USA.”

Sept. 23, 2002: In a half-hour phone conversation President Bush fails to persuade President Putin to agree to U.S. military action against Iraq.

Sept. 18-20, 2002: Russian FM Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in Washington to meet with U.S. counterparts Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They discuss a variety of topics, but foremost on the agenda are discussions about Iraq and Georgia.

Sept. 13, 2002: The U.S. State Department announces a decision to impose sanctions on three Russian enterprises that allegedly sold military equipment to countries the United States says sponsor terrorism.

Sept. 11, 2002: On the anniversary of the terror attack that created the new U.S.-Russian partnership, U.S. Under Secretary of State Bolton arrives in Moscow in an effort to persuade the Kremlin to soften its strong opposition to a proposed U.S. military campaign against Iraq.

Sept. 11, 2002: President Putin issues a threat to take unilateral military action on Georgian soil if Tiblisi does not step up efforts to contain Chechen fighters operating in the Pankisi Gorge.

Sept. 2, 2002: Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi arrives in Moscow for two days of meetings with his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, and other senior officials.

Aug. 29, 2002: U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind) winds up a nine-day visit to Russia, where he toured and inspected nuclear facilities.

Aug. 23, 2002: In operations against Chechen separatists, Russian warplanes reportedly bomb targets 20 miles inside the border of Georgia. In a show of solidarity with the Georgian government, Washington rebukes Russian actions.

Aug. 23, 2002: Russian President Putin meets in Vladivostok with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Aug. 22, 2002: American and Russian technical experts working with Yugoslav scientists and protected by heavily armed Serbian police and Yugoslav troops secretly fly more than 100 pounds of nuclear material considered at risk of being stolen or sold for use in producing nuclear weapons from the Vinca Institute of Belgrade, Serbia to Russia, where it will be processed for use in a commercial power plant.

Aug. 7, 2002: U.S. President George Bush signs a temporary waiver permitting millions of dollars to be released to programs (the so-called Nunn-Lugar programs, or Cooperative Threat Reduction) aimed at reducing the threat posed by Russian nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Aug. 1, 2002: In response to rising tensions between Moscow and Tiblisi over Chechnya, the U.S. State Department issues a strong statement of support for Georgia’s sovereignty and inviolability.

July 30-31, 2002: U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Undersecretary of State John Bolton in Moscow meet with Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov and Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov. They discuss a proposed $20 billion program financed by the Group of Eight nations to protect Russia’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons arsenals.

July 12, 2002: In an unprecedented meeting with 130 Russian ambassadors in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin explains that the close relationship between Russia and the United States was the result of a “new reading of both countries’ interests and a similar perception of the very character of modern global threats.”

July 10, 2002: In an interview in the daily Izvestia, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov emphasizes that Russia’s diplomatic priorities are to maintain a strong connection with the United States and Western Europe.

July 3, 2002: First shipment of Russian oil to the United States arrives in Houston. U.S. officials hail the delivery as a step toward reducing dependence on Middle East oil. Later, this event would be marred by judicial proceedings in Texas brought against the Russian oil company that delivered the oil, Yukos.

June 26-27, 2002: G-8 summit is held at the Kananaskis retreat in the Canadian Rockies; the members agree to hold the 2006 G-8 summit meeting in Russia.

June 14, 2002: In response to the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, the Russian government announces that the START II arms control treaty is no longer valid. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announces that the cancellation of START II “gives Russia much more flexibility in building and planning its strategic nuclear forces.”

June 13, 2002: The ABM Treaty officially expires.

June 11, 2002: U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft meets in Moscow with Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov to discuss U.S.-Russian anticrime and antiterrorism measures.

June 6, 2002: The Bush administration grants Russia status of a “market economy.” U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said the new designation “reflects the tremendous economic changes that Russia has made over the last decade.”

May 28, 2002: Bush and Putin arrive in Italy to sign the NATO protocol on the NATO-Russia Council.

May 23-24, 2002: President Bush in Moscow for four-day visit. On May 24, Bush and Putin sign a “landmark treaty” slashing U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear warheads by two-thirds. Both sides pledge to cut their arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads by the year 2012.

May 14, 2002: At a NATO meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland NATO Secretary General George Robertson announces the establishment of a joint council of the 19 NATO nations and Russia known as the NATO-Russia Council.

May 13, 2002: President Bush announces that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign a treaty to remove two-thirds of long-range nuclear warheads from missiles, bombers, and submarines and “liquidate the legacy of the Cold War.”

May 13-14, 2002: Undersecretary Bolton in Moscow, meets with Deputy FM Mamedov, the U.S. and Russia reach an agreement to cut 1,700 to 2,200 nuclear warheads.

May 8, 2002: In Detroit at the forum of energy ministers from the Group of Eight (G-8), Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov declares “Russia’s readiness to become the guarantor of stability at the world market of energy resources.”

May 5, 2002: Foreign Minister Ivanov meets with Secretary Powell in Washington to discuss the war on terror, arms control, and the upcoming U.S.-Russia summit meeting in Russia.

April 29, 2002: On his way to Central Asia, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meets with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.

April 27, 2002: The seventh session of the Russian-American Group for Afghanistan under the co-chairmanship of Russian First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Trubnikov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage takes place in Moscow.

April 23, 2002: U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton conducts talks on arms control with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov in preparation for U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit to Russia in May.

April 22, 2002: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin in Washington for a meeting of the U.S.-Russia Business Forum.

April 15, 2002: Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade German Gref arrives in Washington for talks on trade issues and Russia’s status as a free market economy.

April 11, 2002: At a Madrid conference on Middle East security, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell meets with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov for nuclear arms talks.

March 21-22, 2002: U.S. and Russian negotiators meet in Geneva. Mamedov and Bolton discuss arms control issues and set the agenda before an April meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

March 18-20, 2002: Gen. Franks meets with senior officials at the Russian Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs.

March 12, 2002: Russian Defense Minister Ivanov, in Washington on an official visit, holds separate meetings with President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Talks center on the war in Afghanistan and strategic arms agreements.

March 9, 2002: The Los Angeles Times reports that the Bush administration has drawn up contingency plans that include targeting nuclear weapons on seven nations, including Russia.

March 5, 2002: President Bush announces the imposition of tariffs from 8 percent to 30 percent on several types of imported steel (including Russian steel) in an effort to aid the ailing U.S. industry. Russia threatens retaliation and soon imposes a ban on U.S. poultry imports.

Feb. 20, 2002: The United States announces that it will send a team of 200 military advisors to Georgia to help train the Georgian Army in combat against terrorists ensconced in the Pankisi Gorge in the eastern part of Georgia near the Chechen border.

Feb. 19, 2002: In Moscow Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov and John Bolton, the U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security, draft an agreement on nuclear disarmament for signature at a May presidential summit.

Feb. 12, 2002: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says that the U.S. should abandon its military presence in former Soviet republics in Central Asia once the war in Afghanistan is over.

Feb. 11, 2002: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Russian President Vladimir Putin praises U.S.-Russian relations, but in a reference to the “axis of evil” speech, he says that Russia opposes “blacklisting” certain countries.

Feb. 6, 2002: In testimony to the Senate, CIA Director George Tenet gives Russia a mixed report card. He lauds improved U.S.-Russian ties since Sept. 11 but warns that Russia has lost the ability to prevent the spread of dangerous technology.

Feb. 2-3, 2002: At a security conference in Munich U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov exchange barbs over President George Bush’s reference to an “axis of evil” in his State of the Union speech. Ivanov defends the record of Iran and accuses the West of “double standards” for failing to condemn the Chechens as “terrorists” with the same vigor they pursue Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.

Jan. 30-Feb. 2, 2002: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov visits Washington and New York to meet with U.S. officials and business groups to promote Russian WTO membership.

Jan. 27, 2002: An op-ed piece written by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is published in The New York Times. It is part of an effort by Moscow to stem the perceived deterioration in relations between the U.S. and Russia.

Jan. 23, 2002: Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, says that the Pentagon is not planning to build permanent military bases in Central Asia. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage backs up Gen. Franks’ statement, announcing that Washington considers the Central Asia region Russia’s sphere of influence.

Jan. 15-16, 2002: Russia-U.S. consultations on strategic offensive arms reductions are held in Washington. The U.S. delegation is headed by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith. The Russian delegation is headed by deputy chief of the General Staff Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky.

Jan. 10, 2002: “The latest information on Russian operations in Chechnya indicates a continuation of human-rights violations,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher tells a news briefing. The official statement marks the end of a post-Sept. 11 period during which the U.S. government avoided criticizing Russia’s campaign in Chechnya.

Jan. 8, 2002: The Washington Post reveals that the Bush administration is planning to retain nuclear warheads that would normally be dismantled under a proposed bilateral arms control agreement with Russia. The article also hints that the U.S. may be preparing to resume nuclear weapons testing. Russia reacts with a terse statement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko that calls for reductions in the Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear arsenals to be “radical,” “verifiable,” and “irreversible.”

Dec. 18, 2001: At a NATO conference in Brussels U.S. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld meets with Russian counterpart Ivanov to discuss the campaign in Afghanistan and Russia’s participation in NATO’s 19+1 plan.

Dec. 13, 2001: U.S. announces its withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.

Dec. 11, 2001: The White House announces that the “time is near” to move beyond the 1972 ABM Treaty amid signs that President Bush would formally announce U.S. withdrawal plans.

Dec. 9, 2001: After visits to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Powell arrives in Moscow for talks with Putin and Igor Ivanov. Powell reportedly leaves Moscow unable to declare victories either on the long-simmering missile defense issue or on a firm commitment from Russia on reducing its nuclear weapon levels.

Dec. 5, 2001: Russia and the U.S. state they will slash their strategic weapons stockpile to the levels required by the START II treaty, signed by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1991. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement announces that the number of vehicles had been reduced to 1,136 and the number of nuclear warheads to 5,518, well below the ceilings of 1,600 and 6,000 established by the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

Nov. 26, 2001: U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham arrives in Russia to represent the U.S. government at a ceremony marking the completion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium route from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. Abraham also meets with his Russian counterpart, Igor Yusufov.

Nov. 26, 2001: Russian troops from the Ministry for Emergency Situations unexpectedly arrive in Kabul with the announced mission of erecting a field hospital and re-establishing a Russian Embassy in the city.

Nov. 15, 2001: Bush and Putin fly to Texas to continue their summit at Bush’s ranch in Crawford. Though the atmosphere and camaraderie are great, there is no announcement on a decision of the status of the ABM Treaty.

Nov. 13, 2001: Putin arrives in Washington for three-day U.S. visit. During the first meeting President Bush proposes reducing U.S. nuclear arsenal to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads. Putin says he will “try to respond in kind” but offered no hard numbers.

Nov. 5, 2001: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov meets with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton in Moscow to discuss strategic offensive weapons and missile defense.

Nov. 3, 2001: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visits Moscow on his way to Central Asia, he visits with Putin and his Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to discuss the military campaign in Afghanistan.

Nov. 1, 2001: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell meet in Washington to work out an agenda for the upcoming presidential summit in Texas.

Oct. 30, 2001: U.S. House lawmakers reject an effort by Representative Chet Edwards, (D-TX), that would have added $131 million to a $173 million program that helps Russia guard its nuclear facilities.

Oct. 26, 2001: The U.S. decides to postpone two missile defense tests ahead of next month’s U.S.-Russia summit; Russian lawmakers praise the decision.

Oct. 19, 2001: U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Putin meet in Shanghai on the occasion of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting. Putin reaffirms his strong support for the U.S. in its war against terrorism. Talks are reportedly held on the status of the ABM Treaty.

Oct. 17, 2001: U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, leading a delegation to Moscow of U.S. corporate leaders on the first high-level trade mission of the Bush administration, praises Russia as a reliable U.S. partner and says both countries will reap economic rewards from fast developing ties.

Oct. 7, 2001: The U.S. and Great Britain begin air strikes in Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately praises the strikes, saying they are a just response to the Sept. 11 tragedy.

Sept. 24, 2001: In a televised speech Putin announces that Russia will increase its assistance to the Northern Alliance operating against the Taliban in Afghanistan to help the world struggle against terrorism. He also says that Russia will allow U.S. overflight of its territory by planes conducting “humanitarian” missions.

Sept. 23, 2001: Putin telephones Bush and promises more support and more intelligence on terrorist networks in Central Asia. He also phones the presidents of the Central Asian republics and gives them the OK to allow the deployment of U.S. forces in their countries.

Sept. 22, 2001: U.S. warplanes are reportedly deployed to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in preparation for potential air strikes on Afghanistan. If these reports are true, the Russian decision to allow overflight appears to be an abrupt distancing from earlier comments by Defense Minister Ivanov that U.S. or NATO troops would not be allowed to deploy in former Soviet Central Asia.

Sept. 19, 2001: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov meets with President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington. Ivanov reiterates President Putin’s promise of Russian support in the war against terrorism. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrives in Moscow to discuss the support Russia is willing to offer.

Sept. 16, 2001: Defense Minister Ivanov rules out “even hypothetical assumptions” that Russia and other former Soviet states would lend troops or bases to any NATO military action.

Sept. 13, 2001: Across Russia, citizens observe a minute of silence in memory of those who perished in the terrorist attacks in the U.S.; more than 90 Russian citizens are missing in New York.

Sept. 12, 2001: President Putin announces that Russia is standing by and ready to help in the rescue efforts in New York, and Russia will share intelligence on terrorist networks and operations around the world.

Sept. 11, 2001: Shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, President Vladimir Putin is the first foreign leader to call President Bush and offer condolences and support.

Sept. 9, 2001: On Sunday morning talk shows Secretary Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Rice state that the U.S. will push on with the deployment of an NMD system and a deal over the ABM Treaty is unlikely.

Aug. 21, 2001: U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton arrives in Moscow to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov and other top officials about missile defense.

Aug. 12, 2001: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visits Moscow to discuss with his counterpart Sergey Ivanov missile defense issues and the ABM Treaty.

Aug. 7, 2001: A Russian defense delegation visits the Pentagon to discuss the ABM Treaty.

Aug. 3, 2001: American Fulbright scholar John Tobin is released from prison after receiving parole for good behavior a full six years before his sentence was due to end. Tobin’s incarceration was seen as part of the crackdown on academics in Russia associated with the “spy mania” that had erupted last winter in both countries.

July 30, 2001: Both the Russian and Western press report that Russia has begun testing and deploying RS-12M Topol (SS-25) ballistic missiles in response to NMD ambitions.

July 25, 2001: National Security Adviser Rice returns to Moscow with a mandate from President Bush to put arms control talks with Russia on a “fast track.” Concurrently, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans arrive in Moscow to discuss attempts to step up economic cooperation.

July 21-22, 2001: U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet at the G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy. It is reported that they worked a deal that ostensibly will iron out differences over the ABM Treaty, linking the construction of an NMD system with cuts in the nuclear arsenal of both countries.

July 15, 2001: U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice visits Moscow to discuss the ABM Treaty and plans for a U.S. deployment of an NMD system.

July 13, 2001: The U.S. Senate confirms the nomination of Alexander Vershbow as the next ambassador to Russia.

July 12, 2001: The U.S. State Department and the Pentagon announce that the United States will soon begin conducting tests to help with the deployment of an NMD system; the tests “will come into conflict with the ABM Treaty in months, not years.”

July 10, 2001: U.S. Ambassador James Collins leaves Russia after serving four years in Moscow.

July 5-6, 2001: A delegation of U.S. Congressmen led by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt visits Moscow and meets with Duma counterparts and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Chronologies

US - Russia

Chronology

Date Range

Relationship