BUREAUCRAT-LAND!
Russia has 102 bureaucrats for every 10,000 citizens - making Russia the 5th most bureaucrat-heavy countries in the world. And their salaries are increasing at a much higher rate than for those in the private sector - a trend that has accelerated since Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012. And guess which state employees have seen the largest salary increases? That would be the security services, of course.
Check out RBK's excellent analysis here.
AFTERNOON NEWS ROUNDUP
Some items from RFE/RL's News Desk:
UKRAINE TO DOMINATE PUTIN'S TALKS WITH EU LEADERS
The Ukraine crisis is expected to be the focus of meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and European leaders this week.
An October 16-17 Europe-Asia summit in Milan is the first chance for Putin and European leaders to discuss Ukraine face-to-face since D-Day aniversary ceremonies in in France in June.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin will meet on October 16 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and attend a dinner involving other leaders.
Ushakov said the "accent " would be on Ukraine at an October 17 breakfast meeting that the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and the European Union are expected to attend, along with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
A bilateral Putin-Poroshenko meeting is also possible, as is a four-way meeting with Poroshenko, Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
The White House said U.S. President Brack Obama would discuss the Ukraine crisis, among other pressing issues, in a videoconference with Cameron, Hollande, Merkel and the Iralian leader later in the day.
The Kremlin said earlier on October 15 that Putin and Poroshenko had discussed possible measures restore peace to eastern Ukraine during a telephone call.
A brief Kremlin statement said the two leaders had also expressed readiness to meet on the sidelines of the Milan summit and discuss issues including natural gas.
State-controlled Russian exporter Gazprom cut gas supplies meant for internal consumption in Ukraine in June after Kyiv failed to pay its gas debts following acrimonious disputes and politically charged Russian price hikes.
The gas disputes and the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have caused concern about supplies to the European Union, which gets one-third of the gas it needs from Russia.
About half of that is pumped across Ukraine.
The Kremlin statement gave no details about the telephone talks.
A previous Putin-Poroshenko phone call preceded a September 5 cease-fire agreement between Kyiv and the separatists that has raised hopes for peace despite near-daily violations and the death of more than 330 people in eastern Ukraine during the truce.
Ukraine and NATO accuse Russia of sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine to support the rebels during the conflict, which has killed more than 3,660 people and driven Moscow's ties with the West to post-Cold War lows.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks published on October 15 that a new "reset" in Russian-U.S. ties was "absolutely impossible" as long as sanctions the United States has imposed on Moscow over its role in the Ukraine crisis remain in place.
Medvedev said Putin's recent order to move troops that have been deployed near Russia's border with the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine was a purely domestic matter and should not be interpreted as a signal to Washington.
Analysts say Russia supported the Ukraine cease-fire because it followed after rebel gains that left the separatists in control over large portions of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, giving Moscow a platform to influence Ukraine and keep it destabilized - and out of NATO - for years to come.
In an interview posted on the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda's website on October 15, Putin's chief of staff repeated the Kremlin's denials of involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying Russia provides only moral support to government opponents in eastern Ukraine.
Sergei Ivanov said it was up to Kyiv to ensure there is no "resumption of war" but that Russia could be a "guarantor" of a final peace deal.
"If final agreements are reached, Russia could be a guarantor in some form. There is such a practice in international affairs," Ivanov said.
(With reporting by Reuters, AP, TASS, Interfax, and RIA Novosti)
MEDVEDEV SAYS NEW RESET WITH U.S. IS 'ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE'
By RFE/RL
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has told an American television channel that a new "reset" in U.S.-Russian relations is "absolutely impossible" while sanctions against his country are in effect.
"Of course not. It is absolutely impossible," Medvedev said when asked during an interview with CNBC whether a reset was possible with U.S. sanctions in place.
In a transcript posted on the Russian government website on October 15, Medvedev said the U.S. sanctions were "destructive."
The United States has imposed several rounds of sanctions to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea in March and its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv and NATO says Moscow has sent troops and weapons to help pro-Russian separatists fight government forces.
Russia denies involvement in the conflict.
The original "reset" was U.S. President Barack Obama's first-term drive to improve relations with Russia, which had been badly strained by Moscow's war with ex-Soviet Georgia in 2008.
Obama and Medvedev, the Russian president at the time, signed a landmark nuclear arms control treaty in 2010, but the "reset" unraveled amid disputes about human rights, security and other issues once Putin made clear he would return to the presidency in 2012.
Ties have been driven to post-Cold War lows by the conflict in Ukraine.
Medvedev, who had warm ties with Obama during his presidency, criticized the U.S. president in the CNBC interview over his address at the UN General Assembly last month.
According to Medvedev, Obama placed Russia second on a list of three major threats or challenges to humanity, after the Ebola virus and before the Islamic State militant group.
However, he said that Russia was not "closing the door" on anyone, suggesting that ties could improve but that the onus was opn the United States to make it happen.
In his September 24 speech, Obama said Russia’s annexation of Crimea recalled an era "when large nations trampled small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition,” and vowed that the United States would "impose a cost on Russia for aggression."
Obama also expressed hope the cease-fire could lead to a lasting peace and said the United States would lift its sanctions if Russia changed its behavior.
Medvedev said in the interview that Putin's recent order to move troops that have been deployed near Russia's border with the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine was a purely domestic matter and should not be interpreted as a signal to Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on October 14, said that Russian "troops are pulling back" but that "heavy (military) equipment still has to be pulled back and the border is yet to be properly monitored and secured."
(With reporting by AFP)
PUTIN SIGNS LEGISLATION CURBING FOREIGN MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law that limits foreign ownership in Russian media to 20 percent.
Media reports in Russia on October 15 said the law signed by Putin also prohibits media outlets from being funded or run by foreign groups or individuals, including Russians with dual nationality.
The law requires owners of media companies with foreign-owned stakes of more than 20 percent to lower these stakes by February 2017.
Duma deputy Vadim Dengin, one of the authors of the bill, said last month that some 30 media outlets operating in Russia, including "Vedomosti," "Kommersant," and "Forbes," will be affected by the law.
Some media investors have criticized the bill as the Kremlin's latest attempt to stifle media freedom.
(Based on reporting by rapsinews.ru and Interfax)
KREMLIN SAYS PUTIN AND POROSHENKO DISCUSS PEACE MEASURES
The Kremlin says that the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, have discussed possible measures to restore peace to eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin said in a statement that the two leaders had also expressed readiness to meet on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit in Milan on October 16-17 and discuss issues including natural gas.
State-controlled Russian exporter Gazprom cut gas supplies meant for internal consumption in Ukraine in June after Kyiv failed to pay its gas debts following acrimonious disputes and politically charged Russian price hikes.
The gas disputes and the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have caused concern about supplies to the European Union, which gets one-third of the gas it needs from Russia.
About half of that is pumped across Ukraine.
The Kremlin statement gave no details about the telephone talks.
A previous Putin-Poroshenko phone call preceded a September 5 cease-fire agreement between Kyiv and the separatists that has raised hopes for peace despite near-daily violations and the death of more than 330 people in eastern Ukraine during the truce.
Ukraine and NATO accuse Russia of sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine to support the rebels during the conflict, which has killed more than 3,660 people and driven Moscow's ties with the West to post-Cold War lows.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks published on October 15 that a new "reset" in Russian-U.S. ties was "absolutely impossible" as long as sanctions the United States has imposed on Moscow over its role in the Ukraine crisis remain in place.
Medvedev said Putin's recent order to move troops that have been deployed near Russia's border with the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine was a purely domestic matter and should not be interpreted as a signal to Washington.
Analysts say Russia supported the Ukraine cease-fire because it followed after rebel gains that left the separatists in control over large portions of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, giving Moscow a platform to influence Ukraine and keep it destabilized - and out of NATO - for years to come.
In an interview posted on the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda's website on October 15, Putin's chief of staff repeated the Kremlin's denials of involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying Russia provides only moral support to government opponents in eastern Ukraine.
Sergei Ivanov said it was up to Kyiv to ensure there is no "resumption of war" but that Russia could be a "guarantor" of a final peace deal.
"If final agreements are reached, Russia could be a guarantor in some form. There is such a practice in international affairs," Ivanov said.
(With reporting by Reuters and RIA Novosti)
HEY! WHO'S THIS GUY?
One of my colleagues has some fun at my expense:
HOW LOW CAN IT GO? PART II
MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP
Some items from RFE/RL's News Desk:
CRIMEA'S MOSCOW-BACKED LEADER ADMITS SOME TATARS MISSING
Crimea’s Moscow-backed leader Sergei Aksyonov has admitted that four Crimean Tatars are missing on the annexed peninsula.
Aksyonov said on October 16 that the missing Crimean Tatars had not been abducted, adding that some of them "had fought in Syria."
Aksyonov's statement comes amid media reports saying that several Crimean Tatars disappeared in recent days, some of them allegedly kidnapped by unknown men in military uniform.
At least three Crimean Tatar men have been found dead since Moscow's annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in March.
Pressure on Crimean Tatars, the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority group that largely opposed the annexation, has increased in recent weeks.
In mid-September, Russian authorities seized the Crimean Tatar assembly, the Mejlis, and searched homes of leading members of the Tatar community.
(Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax)
IN PERM, RUSSIA TRIES MEMBER OF BANNED ISLAMIC GROUP
Six suspected members of a banned Islamic movement went on trial in the Russian city of Perm on October 16.
Local authorities say the defendants are members of an organization called Nurcular. The seventh member of the group has received a suspended one-year term in June.
In May last year several alleged members of Nurcular were arrested in Perm, near the Ural mountains east of Moscow; St. Petersburg; and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
Nurcular was founded by Turkish Islamic cleric Said Nursi, who died in 1960.
It has been banned in Russia since 2008.
Authorities say it propagates the idea of creating an Islamic state on lands where indigenous peoples speak Turkic languages.
(Based on reporting by rapsinews.ru and Interfax)
RUSSIA TO SPEND RECORD AMOUNT ON DEFENSE IN 2015
Russia will allot some 3.3 trillion rubles (about $80 billion) from the state budget for defense spending in 2015, according to the chairman of the defense committee in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.
Vladimir Komoyedov told Russian news agency Interfax on October 16 defense spending for next year would be some $20 billion more than this year, but he added that his committee foresees slight reductions in spending for 2016 and 2017.
Komoyedov said the amount to be spent on defense in 2015 was some 4.2% of Russia's GDP.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on October 7 that Russia's defense spending plans needed to be "more realistic" in light of international sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
A three-year draft budget reportedly calls for a 5.3 percent cut in defence spending in 2016, the first reduction since 1998.
(Based on reporting by Interfax and FT)
PUTIN PRAISES SERBIA, LAMBASTES WEST AHEAD OF BELGRADE VISIT
By RFE/RL
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Moscow's "Serbian friends" and lashed out at the West in remarks published ahead of a state visit to Belgrade on October 16.
Criticizing sanctions the United States and European Union have imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, Putin told the Serbian daily "Politika" that isolating Russia was an "absurd, illusory goal" and that attempts to do so could severely damage Europe's economy.
In a pointed reminder of Russia's nuclear might, Putin said: "We hope our partners will realize the futility of attempts to blackmail Russia and remember what consequences discord between major nuclear powers could bring for strategic stability."
Putin is to attend Serbia's first military parade in some 30 years as Belgrade marks the anniversary of its liberation from the Nazis in 1944, a celebration Serbia moved forward four days to accommodate Putin's schedule.
"Seventy years ago, our peoples together crushed the criminal ideology of misanthropy that threatened civilization," said Putin.
In a veiled swipe at the United States, he said "it is important today that people in various countries, on various continents remember what terrible consequences certainty in one's own exceptionalism can bring."
Putin did not mention the United States, but a speech in May in which President Barack Obama said he believes in "American exceptionalism" raised hackles in Russia.
The Belgrade visit is likely to shower Putin with positive attention before he faces Western leaders angry over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis at an October 16-17 Europe-Asia summit in Milan.
Soviet Army troops helped Yugoslav partisans liberate Belgrade and Serbian officials have welcomed Putin's decision to attend the parade.
More recently, Russia gave Serbia moral support by angrily criticizing the NATO bombing of the rump Yugoslavia in 1999 and backed Belgrade's opposition to independence for mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovo, which has been recognized by the United States but not by Moscow and has been unable to get a seat at the United Nations.
The two mostly Slavic nations are linked by the Orthodox Christian faith and Russia has championed the rights of Serbs in ethnically mixed Bosnia.
"We have joint roots, language, faith, customs and culture," Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic told Russian television before the visit. "In all wars we were always on the same side."
Despite Serbia's desire to become a member of the European Union, ties between Belgrade and Moscow have become stronger since the EU started imposing sanctions on Russia for the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Putin is due to meet with Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandr Vucic for talks on military cooperation and economic ties, including Serbia's participation in Russia's South Stream gas pipeline project, which the EU has suspended in member states.
The European Commission released a report on candidate countries earlier this month that warned Belgrade's plans to build a portion of the South Stream pipeline and its refusal to follow the EU's lead on sanctions against Russia could jeopardize Serbia's bid for EU membership.
In the "Politika" interview, Putin promoted the South Stream project, saying its implementation would bring Serbia more than 2 million euros in new investment and "substantially strengthen the country's energy security."
"It is necessary to unblock the situation with South Stream," Putin said. "I am convinced that this project will make a palpable contribution to Europe's overall energy security. Everyone wins from this: Both Russia and European consumers, including Serbia."
Putin said the volume of trade between Russia and Serbia had risen by 15 percent last year, to nearly $2 billion, and that he expects it to reach that mark this year.
In comments to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Vucic pointed to the complications his country is facing as it balances its foreign policy between the EU and Russia.
"We are not part of the EU and nobody asked us about sanctions against Russia so why should we have to accept them now?" Vucic asked.
Vucic said Serbia respects what EU stands for and what EU membership offers but rejects Brussels' recent habit of telling Belgrade about changes it must make to be admitted.
Vucic pointed out that within the EU there are five countries that have not recognized the independence of Serbia's former republic of Kosovo.
However, he told reporters last week that "Putin will hear that Serbia is on the European path. We have other relations we are developing with the Russian Federation, but the strategic goal is not in question – Serbia is on the EU path."
That may not always be evident to the naked eye.
In anticipation of the Russian leader's visit, shops around Belgrade have been selling T-shirts with Putin's face printed on them.
People around the city pointed to the long friendship between Serbs and Russians as reason to welcome Russia's leader.
Belgrade resident Vukan Baricanin, a retired economist, welcomed Putin's visit.
"Nothing better could happen to us. Putin is a famous personality. He turned a country that was on the verge of bankruptcy into a world power."
But Dragan Sutanovac, who was Serbia’s defense minister between 2007 and 2012, denounced “a desire for idolatry in regard to Putin.”
Construction engineer Predrag Markovic saw it as natural that Putin would attend a celebration marking the liberation of Belgrade.
"We wouldn't mind if other leaders came too, but I think that Russia and the former Soviet Union were the most important in the liberation of Belgrade."
Slobodan Knezevic said Putin's attendance at the anniversary was appropriate.
"It is really a good that they invited the Russians and Putin. Serbia should thank them for many things. They were always helping us, but it doesn’t mean that we have to stand only by their side. But it is great that they invited them."
(With reporting by TASS, Reuters, AFP, and AP)
NATO COMMANDER SEES NO 'MAJOR' RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL NEAR UKRAINE
NATO's top military commander says the alliance has not seen "major movement" so far of Russian troops from a region bordering eastern Ukraine.
On October 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered about 17,600 Russian troops to return to their bases after what Moscow described as training drills in the southern Rostov region.
U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told AP news agency on October 15, “Now we will watch to see if there is delivery on the promise."
NATO has refuted previous Russian claims of troop withdrawals from the regions bordering eastern Ukraine, where separatists have been battling government troops since April.
Moscow has consistently denied Ukrainian and Western allegations that it has deployed Russian troops and heavy military equipment in eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists there.
(Based on reporting by AP and Reuters)
NAVALNY ASSOCIATE'S HOUSE ARREST EXTENDED
By RFE/RL's Russian Service
The house arrest of an associate of outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has been extended.
A court in Moscow ruled on October 15 that Konstantin Yankauskas's house arrest must be prolonged until December 10.
Yankauskas was placed under house arrest on June 11. The previous term was to expire on October 17.
Yankauskas and two other Navalny associates, Nikolai Lyaskin and Vladimir Ashurkov, are accused of election-law violations and fraud related to funding of Navalny's campaign for Moscow mayor last year.
Yankauskas calls the case politically motivated.
Navalny and his brother Oleg have been accused of stealing and laundering $756,500 from the French cosmetics company Yves Rocher.
Navalny, a leader of anti-government protests in 2011-2012, is also serving a five-year suspended sentence on a $500,000 theft conviction.
He calls all the cases against him politically motivated.
CRIMEA'S LGBT COMMUNITY FLEES IN FEAR
Simon Shuster has a dispatch in Time Magazine about the plight of the gay and lesbian community in Crimea after the Russian annexation.
For the gay community in Crimea, the most worrying piece of legislation was the Russian ban on “homosexual propaganda,” which Putin signed in 2012. Although the law is billed as an effort to protect Russian children from learning about “non-traditional sexual relationships,” its critics say the law encourages homophobia, signaling to Russians that gays are somehow inferior and should not be allowed to insist on their equality in public.
Since March, the new leaders of Crimea have embraced these principles with gusto.
Read it all here.
TARGET: VEDOMOSTI
According to a report in Bloomberg, Kremlin-connected oligarchs are plotting to take over "Vedomosti," one of Russia's few remaining independent newspapers -- one that has been a pathbreaker in the field of economic journalism and data-driven investigative reporting.
Businessmen close to President Vladimir Putin are preparing to acquire Vedomosti, the largest Russian newspaper outside the Kremlin’s control, three people familiar with the matter said.
Putin signed a law yesterday capping foreign holdings in media at 20 percent, meaning the owners of the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, co-founders of the newspaper, must cut or sell their 33 percent stakes by the end of 2016. The third owner, Sanoma Oyj (SAA1V), is in talks to sell its Russian assets.
Under a plan backed by the presidential administration, an intermediary may be used to acquire all three stakes to make the deal more palatable politically before a group loyal to Putin buys the whole newspaper, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The eventual owner will probably be either Gazprom-Media, an affiliate of the state-run gas exporter, or companies linked to longtime Putin ally Yury Kovalchuk, they said.
“The Kremlin sees Vedomosti’s shareholders as foreign governments,” the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Tatiana Lysova, said in an interview. “The WSJ equals the U.S. and the FT the U.K. They want a Russian owner so they have someone to call.”
Read the whole piece here.
UKRAINE CALLS ON ITS CITIZENS TO DITCH VKONTAKTE
VIa slon.ru:
Ukraine's Security Service has urged Ukrainians not to use Russian social networks.
Markiian Lubkovsky, an adviser to the Interior Minister told the television channel "112 Ukraine" that the site "VKontakte" is an "element of pressure and influence."
"We urge all Ukrainians, all of our citizens to be careful not to use these networks, because they are now part of the information war against Ukraine," he said.
Read it all here. And a big h/t to Kevin Rothrock for flagging.
EVENING NEWS ROUNDUP
Some items from RFE/RL's Newes Desk:
PUTIN WARNS EUROPE OF GAS CRISIS THIS WINTER
President Vladimir Putin has warned that Europe faces "major transit risks" to natural gas supplies from Russia this winter.
Putin told reporters in Belgrade on October 16 that if Ukraine siphons off natural gas without permission from transit pipelines to the European Union, Russia “will consecutively reduce the stolen volume at the cost of supplies."
Putin made the remarks ahead of talks in Milan on October 16 and 17 with EU leaders and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Russia raised the price it charges Kyiv for natural gas after Ukraine's pro-Russia Preident Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February, then halted gas supplies to Ukraine in June when Kyiv failed to pay the higher price.
The price standoff is the third between Moscow and Kyiv since 2006.
Russia is the EU's biggest gas supplier, providing about a third of the gas consumed there.
(Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP)
U.S. HELSINKI COMMITTEE DECRIES RUSSIAN ATTEMPT TO CLOSE MEMORIAL RIGHTS GROUP
By RFE/RL
The U.S. Helsinki Commission says Russia’s attempt to liquidate Memorial, the country's oldest and best-known human rights organization, is “an obvious attempt to silence the voice of its own conscience.”
“It is very troubling that an organization founded by [Soviet dissident] Andrei Sakharov to address the crimes of the Stalinist era now has become the target of a new wave of repression,” the commission’s chairman, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, said in an October 16 statement.
Russia's Justice Ministry on October 10 appealed to the country’s Supreme Court to close Memorial, which comprises more than 50 bodies nationwide. The reasons for the request were not made public.
Created in the 1980s by Soviet-era dissidents, Memorial has served as a tireless rights watchdog and important source of Soviet-era records for a quarter century.
PUTIN VOWS TO SUPPORT SERBS ON KOSOVO
Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged continued support for Serbia on the divisive issue of Kosovo during a state visit that mixed meetings with officials with attendance at a military parade.
Putin is the guest of honor at Serbia's first military parade in some 30 years as Belgrade marks the anniversary of its liberation from the Nazis by partisans and Soviet Army troops in 1944, a celebration Serbia moved forward four days to accommodate Putin's schedule.
The visit highlights Serbia's delicate balance between the European Union, which it is seeking to join, and relations with Russia that are rooted in history and religion but encompass economic and geopolitical interests.
Russia angrily criticized the NATO bombing of the rump Yugoslavia in 1999 and has backed Belgrade's opposition to independence for mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovo, defying the United States and preventing Kosovo from getting a seat at the United Nations.
Putin promised Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic that Russia would stand firm over Kosovo, saying the Kremlin's stance was "a position of principle that is not to be subjected to any adjustments."
"We supported Serbia in the past and we intend to continue supporting it in the future. In Russia friendship is not an object of trade-offs," Putin said.
Nikolic said Serbia "sees in Russia a great ally and a partner and Serbia won't compromise its morals with any kind of bad behavior towards Russia."
Despite Serbia's desire to become a member of the European Union, ties between Belgrade and Moscow have become stronger since the EU started imposing sanctions on Russia for the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Criticizing sanctions the United States and European Union have imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine in an interview on the eve of his visit, Putin told the Serbian daily "Politika" that isolating Russia was an "absurd, illusory goal" and attempts to do so would hurt Europe's economy.
In a pointed reminder of Russia's nuclear might, Putin said: "We hope our partners will realize the futility of attempts to blackmail Russia and remember what consequences discord between major nuclear powers could bring for strategic stability."
Putin used the visit to promote South Stream, a Russian gas pipeline project that that the EU has suspended in member states.
Serbia has recently indicated it will not start building South Stream. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said last week "it makes no sense" to start without an agreement on the pipeline's legality between the EU and Moscow.
"It is necessary to unblock the situation with South Stream," Putin said. "I am convinced that this project will make a palpable contribution to Europe's overall energy security. Everyone wins from this: Both Russia and European consumers, including Serbia."
The European Commission released a report on candidate countries earlier this month that warned Belgrade's plans to build a portion of the pipeline and its refusal to follow the EU's lead on sanctions against Russia could jeopardize Serbia's bid for EU membership.
Serbia has recently indicated it will not start building South Stream. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said last week "it makes no sense" to start without an agreement on the pipeline's legality between the EU and Moscow.Serbia has recently indicated it will not start building South Stream.
Putin told "Politika" the pipeline project would bring Serbia more than 2 million euros in new investment and "substantially strengthen the country's energy security."
Putin's warm Serbian welcome may contrast with greeting he faces hours later at an October 16-17 Europe-Asia summit in Milan, where he will meet Western leaders angry over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.
NATO says Russian has sent troops and weapons to help pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces in a conflict that has killed more than 3,660 people in eastern Ukraine since April, including 298 passengers and crew abroad a Malaysian jet shot down there in July.
Putin said the importance of the liberation anniversary events could not be overestimated.
"Seventy years ago, our peoples together crushed the criminal ideology of misanthropy that threatened civilization," he said in the interview.
In a veiled swipe at the United States, he said "it is important today that people in various countries, on various continents remember what terrible consequences certainty in one's own exceptionalism can bring."
Putin said he hopes for peace in Ukraine but suggested Ukrainians whose protests toppled a president sympathetic to Moscow in February presented a Nazi-like threat.
"Unfortunately the vaccine against the Nazi virus ... is losing its potency in some European states.," he told "Politika," adding: "particular concern on this score is prompted by the situation in Ukraine, where there was an anticonstitutional coup d'etat in February whose driving forces were nationalists and other radical groups."
In comments to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Vucic pointed to the complications his country is facing as it balances its foreign policy between the EU and Russia.
"We are not part of the EU and nobody asked us about sanctions against Russia so why should we have to accept them now?" Vucic asked.
Vucic said Serbia respects what EU stands for and what EU membership offers but rejects Brussels' recent habit of telling Belgrade about changes it must make to be admitted.
However, he told reporters last week that Serbia's "strategic goal is not in question – Serbia is on the EU path."
That may not always be evident to the naked eye.
In anticipation of Putin's visit, shops around Belgrade have been selling T-shirts with Putin's face printed on them.
"Nothing better could happen to us," Belgrade resident Vukan Baricanin, a retired economist, said of Putin's visit. "Putin is a famous personality. He turned a country that was on the verge of bankruptcy into a world power."
But Dragan Sutanovac, Serbia’s defense minister between 2007 and 2012, denounced “a desire for idolatry in regard to Putin.”
(With reporting by TASS, Reuters, AFP, AP, and Interfax)
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR AGAINST 'PUTIN PUB' IN BISHKEK
By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service
Russian Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Andrei Krutko, has protested the new "Putin Pub" restaurant in Bishkek.
Krutko said late October 15 that naming "a dubious drinking site" after "our president" is "unethical" and therefore he asked Bishkek authorities to remove the commercial banners and billboards advertising the pub.
Krutko added that he would do everything possible "either to shut down the place or to make it change its name."
Last month, Bishkek authorities removed all billboards and banners in the city that advertised the "Putin Pub."
The billboards carried a black screen with white and black silhouetted portrait of the Russian President Vladimir Putin in a circle with the name of the restaurant -- "Putin Pub," below.
(With reporting by "Vecherny Bishkek")
Apologies for the light posting today. I'm writing a piece for the Power Vertical Blog and prepping for today's Podcast.