Gesamtzahl der Seitenaufrufe

Montag, 31. März 2014

Dabei würden selbst mögliche Regressforderungen an Hengeler Mueller wegen der Strategie der Juristen in dem Schadenersatz-Streit mit den Erben des verstorbenen Medienunternehmers Leo Kirch nicht ausgeschlossen,

Im Fall KirchDeutsche Bank prüft Rolle ihrer Hauskanzlei

  ·  Auch nach der Einigung im Fall Kirch wird weiter gegen Top-Manager der Deutschen Bank ermittelt. Nach einem Medienbericht schließt das Geldhaus deshalb nun selbst Regressforderungen an die Hauskanzlei nicht aus.
© DPAVergrößernDer Schadenersatz-Streit mit den Erben des verstorbenen Medienunternehmers Leo Kirch endete in einem Vergleich.
Nach der Ausweitung der Ermittlungen auf Top-Manager der Deutschen Bank zum Kirch-Verfahren prüft das Geldhaus nun die Rolle seiner Hauskanzlei. Dabei würden selbst mögliche Regressforderungen an Hengeler Mueller wegen der Strategie der Juristen in dem Schadenersatz-Streit mit den Erben des verstorbenen Medienunternehmers Leo Kirch nicht ausgeschlossen, schreibt der „Spiegel“. Ein Sprecher der Deutschen Bank wollte den Bericht am Sonntag auf dpa-Anfrage nicht kommentieren.
Die Auseinandersetzung war mit einem 925 Millionen Euro schweren Vergleich beendet worden. Die Staatsanwaltschaft München ermittelt jedoch gegen den Ko-Chef der Deutschen Bank, Jürgen Fitschen, und vier Ex-Vorstände wegen versuchten Prozessbetrugs. In der vergangenen Woche war das Verfahren auf Rechtsvorstand Stephan Leithner sowie Anwälte der Bank und externe Rechtsberater ausgedehnt worden. Zuvor hatten Ermittler auch bereits Bürosvon Hengeler Mueller durchsucht.
Im Bankumfeld wird laut „Spiegel“ den Kanzleien Hengeler Mueller und Gleiss Lutz, die den Schadenersatz-Prozess begleitet hatten, vorgeworfen, stets von einem Vergleich abgeraten zu haben. Bei den externen Anwälten heiße es dagegen, der Vorstand habe eine Einigung mit Kirch abgelehnt. Hintergrund ist die Dauerfehde um eine Verantwortung der Bank für die Pleite des Kirch-Medienimperiums 2002.

Argentina to receive $1 billion loan from Goldman Sachs: paper

Argentina to receive $1 billion loan from Goldman Sachs: paper

BUENOS AIRES Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:59pm EDT
A Goldman Sachs sign is seen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in the Manhattan borough of New York January 24, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
A Goldman Sachs sign is seen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in the Manhattan borough of New York January 24, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/LUCAS JACKSON
(Reuters) - Argentina is closing in on a deal to receive around $1 billion in loans from investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and is in talks with other international banks about similar deals, local newspaper Pagina/12 reported on Sunday.
The paper, which has close ties with the government of President Cristina Fernandez, said the two-year loan would be announced in the next few days and carry an annual interest rate of 6.5 percent.
It would be the first time Argentina has received a substantial loan from international creditors since a massive default in 2002.
The Economy Ministry did not provide immediate comment on the report.
Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
The loan would come as the government seeks cash to avoid a further devaluation of the peso.
The government wants the new funds to boost its depleted foreign exchange reserves, the paper said, citing an unnamed government source. The reserves will see a further improvement in April with the export of the country's grain harvest.
Dollars have been scarce in Argentina due to capital flight, weak exports, and low competitiveness because of high inflation.
The government also hoped securing the Goldman Sachs loan would demonstrate that its strategy of thawing relations with international creditors was starting to take effect, said the paper.
Argentina has offered to repay a debt of around $9.5 billion to the Paris Club of creditor nations stemming from the 2002 default.
The club had accepted Argentina's initial proposal to pay back the funds without recourse to the International Monetary Fund and to request credit lines from the countries it owed money to, Pagina/12 said in a separate report on Sunday.
Talks were continuing over the repayment terms, it added.
(Reporting by Maximiliano Rizzi, additional reporting by Lauren LaCapra; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Sophie Hares and Sandra Maler)


Sonntag, 30. März 2014

Marc-Phillippe Weller // Die Grenze der Vertragstreue von (Krisen-)Staaten s-1-2 // Ein kleiner Überblick wie man wo versucht (hat) zahlungsunwillige Staaten zum zahlen zu bewegen.....aber nicht zu früh gefreut....im weiteren Verlauf versucht Weller eine juristische Konstruktion zu entwickeln wie sich Sovereigns abschirmen können.....

A. Einführung

I. Beispiele: Argentinien und Griechenland

Ghana 2012. Vor der Westküste Afrikas spielt sich ein kleines Drama ab1: Die
„Libertad“, Flaggschiff der argentinischen Marine mit über 200 Matrosen an
Bord und Freiheitssymbol des stolzen Staates am Rio de la Plata, wird per einstweiliger
Verfügung beschlagnahmt.2 Vollstreckender Gläubiger ist der USHedgefonds
Elliott Associates; Argentinien hatte eine Staatsanleihe in Höhe
von 1,6 Milliarden US-Dollar nicht zurückbezahlt.3 Hintergrund ist der größte
Staatsbankrott der Weltgeschichte in den Jahren 2001/2002, ausgerechnet im
„Land des Silbers“.4 Millionen Argentinier verloren ihr Erspartes; es kam zu
Demonstrationen, Plünderungen und Straßenschlachten, viele verarmten.5
Gläubiger sind nicht zimperlich, wenn es um die Durchsetzung ihrer Zahlungsforderungen
gegen Staaten geht.6 So wurde im Juli 2011 die Boeing 737 des
thailändischen Kronprinzen gepfändet, als dieser auf Deutschlandbesuch war.7


1 „This really seems like the ultimate 21st century finance story“, Weisenthal, A Hedge
Fund Has Physically Taken Control Of A Ship Belonging To Argentina’s Navy, 4.10. 2012,
abrufbar unter http://read.bi/T4qazT (zuletzt abgerufen am 2.8. 2013).
2 Spiegel-online v. 4.10.212. Das Schiff wurde im Hafen von Tema bei Accra festgesetzt.
Ein New Yorker Richter verfügte auf Antrag des Elliott-Investors Paul Singer, dass Argentinien
1,3 Milliarden U S-Dollar Altschulden bis zum 15.12. 2012 auf ein Treuhandkonto deponieren
müsse und bis dahin keine Zahlungen auf die übrigen Staatsanleihen vornehmen dürfe.
Die argentinische Regierung hat derweil das Hamburger UN-Seegericht angerufen, Burghardt,
SZ v. 29.11. 2012, S. 27. Inzwischen hat der Internationale Seegerichtshof verfügt, das
Schiff wieder freizugeben, U N International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, 15.12. 2012,
„ARA-Libertad-Case“ (Argentina v. Ghana), p. 21 f. No. 108: „Ghana shall forthwith and unconditionally
release the frigate ARA Libertad, shall ensure that the frigate ARA Libertad, its
Commander and crew are able to leave the port of Tema and the maritime areas under the jurisdiction
of Ghana, and shall ensure that the frigate ARA Libertad is resupplied to that end.“
3 Spiegel-online v. 4.10. 2012.
4 Näher Tietje, Die Argentinien-Krise, 2005; Baars/Böckel, ZBB 2004, 445, 447f.; Cranshaw,
DZWiR 2007,133,134ff.
5 Burghardt, SZ v. 29.11. 2012, S. 27.
6 Beispiele bei Baars/Böckel, ZBB 2004, 445, 446; Sandrock, RIW 2012, 429, 453, Fn. 222;
Tietje/Szodruch, ZBB 2007, 498, 503; vgl. zur Pfändung von Währungsreserven eines ausländischen
Staates bei der Deutschen Bundesbank BGH, Beschluss v. 4.7. 2013, VII ZB 63/12
(Zentralbank der Mongolei als Schuldnerin).
7 Der Insolvenzverwalter der Walter Bau vollstreckte eine ausstehende Vergütungsforde2


A. Einführung

Andere wollten auf Botschaftsgrundstücke in Bonn8 und diplomatische Konten
bei der Deutschen Bank9 zugreifen. Eine patagonische Dinosaurier-Ausstellung
in Bayern und das argentinische Präsidentenflugzeug Tango 01 sollten ebenfalls
verwertet werden.10
Droht demnächst die Pfändung der Akropolis?" Immerhin ermuntert die
Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW)12 zu Zahlungsklagen
gegen die Republik Griechenland.13 Rund 1000 geschädigte Kapitalanleger mit
einem Volumen von insgesamt 50 Millionen Euro haben sich bisher zu Klagegemeinschaften
in größeren Städten wie Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg,
Köln, München und Stuttgart unter Koordination der DSW zusammengeschlossen.
14 „Wer sich noch nicht entschieden hat, kann sich jetzt noch anschließen.
Sozusagen kurz vor Toresschluss“, wirbt DSW-Geschäftsführer Thomas
Hechtfischer.15 Zypern16 und Island17 stehen ebenfalls im Fokus der „Anlegerschützer“.
rung gegen das Königreich Thailand für den Bau einer 26 km langen Autobahn zum Flughafen
Bangkok, BGH, Beschl. v. 30.1. 2013, III ZB40/12, SchiedsVZ 2013, 110.


8 LG Bonn, Beschl. v. 4.11. 2003, 4 T 47/03, BeckRS 2003, 17228.
9 AG Berlin-Mitte, Vorlagebeschluss v. 10.9. 2003, 32 M 4833/03, NJW-RR 2003, 1713.
10 Burghardt, SZ v. 29.11. 2012, S. 27. Historisch gesehen ist die Pfändung ausgestopfter
Dinosaurier freilich ein Fortschritt: Noch im 19. Jahrhundert wurden Forderungen gegen
Staaten im Wege der „Selbstvollstreckung“ oder gar „Kanonenbootpolitik“ via Hafenblockaden,
Invasionen und Koloniebesetzungen durchgesetzt, v. Lewinsky, Staatsbankrott, 2011,
S. 519ff.; P. Kirchhof\ Deutschland im Schuldensog, 2012, S. 60f., 151.
11 Vgl. zu dieser pointierten Frage bereits Thole, WM 2012, 1793, 1797.
12 Vgl. DSW, http://www.dsw-info.de/Klagen-gegen-Griechenland.1885.0.html: „Heute
wollen wir Ihnen die Klagemöglichkeiten vorstellen, mit denen sich Anleger gegen die Folgen
des Zwangsumtauschs ihrer griechischen Staatsanleihen wehren können (...).“ (zuletzt abgerufen
am 26.5. 2013).
13 Vgl. Sandrock, RIW 2012, 429ff.; Thole, WM 2012, 1793ff.; zur Problematik der Umstellung
von Zahlungsansprüchen infolge Spaltung des Währungsgebietes im Fall eines Austritts
eines EU-Mitgliedstaats aus dem Euroraum Reichert-Facilides, WM 2012, 1657ff.
14 Stand 22.2.2013, vgl. DSW, http://www.dsw-info.de/Klagen-gegen-Griechenland.
1885.0.html (zuletzt abgerufen am 26.5.2013). Vgl. zur internationalen Zuständigkeit
v. Hein, Finanzkrise und Internationales Privatrecht, 2012, S. 369, 373ff., 385ff.; Thole, WM
2012, 1793 ff.
15 Vgl. DSW, http://www.dsw-info.de/Klagen-gegen-Griechenland.1885.0.html (zuletzt
abgerufen am 26.5. 2013).
16 Zum Schutz von Auslandsinvestoren auf Zypern, Nacimiento/Lange, FAZ v. 10.4. 2013,
S. 19.
17 Vgl. FAZ v. 27.4. 2013, S. 14.

hy are people so blind that they do not see Obama driving the world to its final war?

Paul Craig Roberts: Pushing Toward The Final War

Tyler Durden's picture





 
Does Obama realize that he is leading the US and its puppet states to war with Russia and China, or is Obama being manipulated into this disaster by his neoconservative speech writers and government officials? World War 1 (and World War 2) was the result of the ambitions and mistakes of a very small number of people. Only one head of state was actually involved–the President of France.
In The genesis Of The World War, Harry Elmer Barnes shows that World War 1 was the product of 4 or 5 people. Three stand out: Raymond Poincare`, President of France, Sergei Sazonov, Russian Foreign Minister, and Alexander Izvolski, Russian Ambassador to France. Poincare` wanted Alsace-Lorraine from Germany, and the Russians wanted Istanbul and the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. They realized that their ambitions required a general European war and worked to produce the desired war.
A Franco-Russian Alliance was formed. This alliance became the vehicle for orchestrating the war. The British government, thanks to the incompetence, stupidity, or whatever of its Foreign Minister, Sir Edward Grey, was pulled into the Franco-Russian Alliance. The war was started by Russia’s mobilization. The German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, was blamed for the war despite the fact that he did everything possible to avoid it.
Barnes’ book was published in 1926. His reward for confronting the corrupt court historians with the truth was to be accused of being paid by Germany to write his history. Eighty-six years later historian Christopher Clark in his book, The Sleepwalkers, comes to essentially the same conclusion as Barnes.
In the history I was taught the war was blamed on Germany for challenging British naval supremacy by building too many battleships. The court historians who gave us this tale helped to set up World War 2.
We are again on the road to World War. One hundred years ago the creation of a world war by a few had to be done under the cover of deception. Germany had to be caught off guard. The British had to be manipulated and, of course, people in all the countries involved had to be propagandized and brainwashed.
Today the drive to war is blatantly obvious. The lies are obvious, and the entire West is participating, both media and governments.
The American puppet, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, openly lied on Canadian TV that Russian President Putin had invaded Crimea, threatened Ukraine, and was restarting the Cold War. The host of the TV program sat and nodded his head in agreement with these bald-faced lies.http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Stephen+Harper+accuses+Vladimir+Putin+being+stuck+back+USSR/9663692/story.html
The script that Washington handed to its Canadian puppet has been handed to all of Washington’s puppets, and everywhere in the West the message is the same. “Putin invaded and annexed Crimea, Putin is determined to rebuild the Soviet Empire, Putin must be stopped.”
I hear from many Canadians who are outraged that their elected government represents Washington and not Canadians, but as bad as Harper is, Obama and Fox “News” are worse.
On March 26 I managed to catch a bit of Fox “news.” Murdoch’s propaganda organ was reporting that Putin was restoring the Soviet era practice of exercise. Fox “news” made this report into a threatening and dangerous gesture toward the West. Fox produced an “expert,” whose name I caught as Eric Steckelbeck or something like that. The “expert” declared that Putin was creating “the Hitler youth,” with a view toward rebuilding the Soviet empire.
The extraordinary transparent lie that Russia sent an army into Ukraine and annexed Crimea is now accepted as fact everywhere in the West, even among critics of US policy toward Russia.
Obama, whose government overthrew the democratically elected government in Ukraine and appointed a stooge government that has threatened the Russian provinces of Ukraine, falsely accuses Putin of “invading and annexing” Crimea.
Obama, or his handlers and programers, are relying on the total historical ignorance of Western peoples. The ignorance and gullibility of Western peoples allows the American neoconservatives to fashion “news” that controls their minds.
Obama recently declared that Washington’s destruction of Iraq–up to one million killed, four million displaced, infrastructure in ruins, sectarian violence exploding, a country in total ruins–is nowhere near as bad as Russia’s acceptance of Crimean self-determination. US Secretary of State John Kerry actually ordered Putin to prevent the referendum and stop Crimeans from exercising self-determination.
Obama’s speech on March 26 at the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels is surreal. It is beyond hypocrisy. Obama says that Western ideals are challenged by self-determination in Crimea. Russia, Obama says, must be punished by the West for permitting Crimeans to exercise self-determination. The return of a Russian province on its own volition to its mother country where it existed for 200 years is presented by Obama as a dictatorial, anti-democratic act of tyranny.http://on.rt.com/sbzj4o
Here was Obama, whose government has just overthrown the elected, democratic government of Ukraine and substituted stooges chosen by Washington in the place of the elected government, speaking of the hallowed ideal that “people in nations can make their own decisions about their future.” That is exactly what Crimea did, and that is exactly what the US coup in Kiev contravened. In the twisted mind of Obama, self-determination consists of governments imposed by Washington.
Here was Obama, who has shredded the US Constitution, speaking of “individual rights and rule of law.” Where is this rule of law? It is certainly not in Kiev where an elected government was overthrown with force. It is certainly not in the United States where the executive branch has spent the entirety of the new 21st century establishing government above the law. Habeas corpus, due process, the right to open trials and determination of guilt by independent jurors prior to imprisonment and execution, the right to privacy have all been overturned by the Bush/Obama regimes. Torture is against US and international law; yet Washington set up torture prisons all over the globe.
How is it possible that the representative of the war criminal US government can stand before an European audience and speak of “rule of law,” “individual rights,” “human dignity,” “self-determination,” “freedom,” without the audience breaking out in laughter?
Washington is the government that invaded and destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq on the basis of lies. Washington is the government that financed and organized the overthrow of the Libyan and Honduran governments and that is currently attempting to do the same thing to Syria and Venezuela. Washington is the government that attacks with drones and bombs populations in the sovereign countries of Pakistan and Yemen. Washington is the government that has troops all over Africa. Washington is the government that has surrounded Russia, China, and Iran with military bases. It is this warmongering collection of Washington war criminals that now asserts that it is standing up for international ideals against Russia.
No one applauded Obama’s nonsensical speech. But for Europe to accept such blatant lies from a liar without protest empowers the momentum toward war that Washington is pushing.
Obama demands more NATO troops to be stationed in Eastern Europe to “contain Russia.” http://news.antiwar.com/2014/03/26/obama-wants-more-nato-troops-in-eastern-europe/ Obama said that a buildup of military forces on Russia’s borders would reassure Poland and the Baltic states that, as NATO members, they will be protected from Russian aggression. This nonsense is voiced by Obama despite the fact that no one expects Russia to invade Poland or the Baltic countries.
Obama doesn’t say what effect the US/NATO military buildup and numerous war games on Russia’s border will have on Russia. Will the Russian government conclude that Russia is about to be attacked and strike first? The reckless carelessness of Obama is the way wars start.
Declaring that “freedom isn’t free,” Obama is putting pressure on Western Europe to pony up more money for a military buildup to confront Russia.http://news.antiwar.com/2014/03/26/us-presses-eu-nations-to-hike-military-spending-to-confront-russia/
The position of the government in Washington and its puppet states (Eastern and Western Europe, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Georgia, Japan) and other allies purchased with bagfuls of money is that Washington’s violation of international law by torturing people, by invading sovereign countries on totally false pretenses, by routinely overthrowing democratically elected governments that do not toe the Washington line is nothing but the “indispensable and exceptional country” bringing “freedom and democracy to the world.” But Russia’s acceptance of the self-determination of Crimean people to return to their home country is “a violation of international law.”
Just what international law has Washington and its puppets not violated?
Obama, whose government in the past few years has bullied Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Lebanon, Iran, Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Venezuela and is now trying to bully Russia, actually declared that “bigger nations can not simply bully smaller ones.” What does Obama and his speech writers think Washington has been doing for the entirety of the 21st century?
Who can possibly believe that Obama, whose government is responsible for the deaths of people every day in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria, cares a whit about democracy in Ukraine. Obama overthrew the Ukrainian government in order to be able to stuff the country into NATO, throw Russia out of its Black Sea naval base, and put US missile bases in Ukraine on Russia’s border. Obama is angry that his plan didn’t pan out as intended, and he is taking his anger and frustration out on Russia.
As the delusion takes hold in Washington that the US represents idealism standing firmly against Russian aggression, delusion enabled by the presstitute media, the UN General Assembly vote, and Washington’s string of puppet states, self-righteousness rises in Washington’s breast.
With rising self-righteousness will come more demands for punishing Russia, more demonization of Russia and Putin, more lies echoed by the presstitutes and puppets. Ukrainian violence against Russian residents is likely to intensify with the anti-Russian propaganda. Putin could be forced to send in Russian troops to defend Russians.
Why are people so blind that they do not see Obama driving the world to its final war?
Just as Obama dresses up his aggression toward Russia as idealism resisting selfish territorial ambitions, the English, French, and Americans presented their World War 1 “victory” as the triumph of idealism over German and Austrian imperialism and territorial ambitions. But at the Versailles Conference the Bolsheviks (the Tsar’s government failed to gain the Straits and instead lost the country to Lenin) “revealed the existence of the notorious Secret Treaties embodying as sordid a program of territorial pilfering as can be found in the history of diplomacy. It appears that the chief actual motives of the Entente in the World War were the seizure of Constantinople and the Straits for Russia; not only the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, but the securing of the west bank of the Rhine, which would have involved the seizure of territory historically far longer connected with Germany than Alsace-Lorraine had ever been with France; the rewarding of Italian entry into the War by extensive territory grabbed away from Austria and the Jugo-Slavs; and the sequestering of the German imperial possessions, the acquisition of the German merchant marine and the destruction of the German navy in the interest of increasing the strength of the British Empire” (Barnes, pp. 691-692). The American share of the loot was seized German and Austrian investments in the US.
The secret British, Russian, and French aims of the war were hidden from the public, which was whipped up with fabricated propaganda to support a war whose outcomes were far different from the intentions of those who caused the war. People seem unable to learn from history. We are now witnessing the world again being led down the garden path by lies and propaganda, this time in behalf of American world hegemony.

Russia's Military Begins Nuclear War Drill

Russia's Military Begins Nuclear War Drill

Tyler Durden's picture





 
Submitted by Zachary Zeck of The Diplomat,
While much Western attention has been bestowed on Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine, Moscow also began a massive nuclear offensive exercise on Thursday.
According to the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazetaon Thursday Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces began a massive three-day exercise involving 10,000 soldiers and 1,000 pieces of equipment from more than 30 units. The major purpose of the drill, according to the report—which cites multiple senior Russian military officers—is to ensure Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have sufficient readiness to conduct offensive operations involving the massive and simultaneous use of nuclear missiles.
Global Security Newswire previously carried a story on the nuclear exercise, also citing the Nezavisimaya Gazeta article. GSN described the exercise as “as practice for a large-scale nuclear offensive.” It added: “Exercise participants were set to position and prepare missile-firing units for launch, and to practice various administrative and support functions for the operation
As Russia’s conventional military capabilities have deteriorated following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has become increasingly reliant on operationalizing its nuclear arsenal. This has been reflected in successive Russian security documents. For example, Russia’s 1997 national security concept stated that Russia would use its nuclear arsenal “in case of a threat to the existence of the Russian Federation,” whether that threat came in the form of nuclear weapons or from a conventionally superior military power.
This threshold was further lowered in Russia’s 2000 military doctrine, which was the first released during Vladimir Putin’s presidency. This document said that Russia would use nuclear weapons “in response to large-scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation.” This held out the possibility that Russia would use nuclear weapons even if Russia proper hadn’t been attacked. The same doctrine further noted that Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of any kind of weapons of mass destruction against it.
Shortly before reassuming the Russian presidency for a third term, Putin reaffirmed the importance he placed on Russia’s nuclear forces in a number of articles and speeches. For example, in an op-ed article in Foreign Policy magazine, Putin wrote: “We will, under no circumstances, surrender our strategic deterrent capability. Indeed, we will strengthen it.”
Thus, this week’s massive offensive nuclear drill is in line with the goals that Russia and Putin have been articulating for well over a decade. It is also consistent with Putin’s recent emphasis on conducting more frequent and sophisticated military drills to improve the combat readiness of Russian military forces. Indeed, Russia conducted a much smaller surprise nuclear drill in October of last year.
Still, the timing of the drill is likely to cause great concern in Western capitals, particularly in Washington. The drill could very well be intended to signal Russia’s resolve over events in Ukraine where Russia has been at loggerheads with the West and the government in Kiev over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. A very visible reminder of Russia’s substantial nuclear capabilities would make sense for Moscow in a number of different contingencies, including if Russia is intending to move forces deeper into eastern Ukraine, as many currently fear.
For what it’s worth, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta article said there was no connection between the current nuclear exercise and the crisis in Ukraine. As evidence of this, it pointed out that in December of last year the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces had said that his forces would conduct a large and complicated exercise sometime during 2014. From this, the Russian daily concluded that the drill had been planned for weeks and was completely unrelated to the tensions of Ukraine.
At the same time, it ended the article by noting that testing the readiness of Russia’s strategic forces was especially important in light of the “current reality of the world situation.”

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