Press review: North Korean denuclearization needs and Iran’s second warning to terrorists

Top stories in the Russian press on Tuesday

Izvestia: North Korean denuclearization needs experts from top global powers, says Russian envoy

North Korea’s denuclearization should proceed exclusively with the participation of experts from five nuclear powers (Britain, China, Russia, the US and France), while the presence of IAEA experts in that country will only be possible after Pyongyang sends a formal invitation to the agency, Russian Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Izvestia.

TENSIONS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA

"Diplomacy implies the flexible use of a wide range of tools, from carrots to sticks, while Western countries have focused solely on pressure and intimidation. Together with our Chinese friends, we countered these attempts quite effectively. As a result, the draft resolution (submitted by a group of Western countries at the recent IAEA General Conference) was amended substantially. The document turned out to be tough but well-balanced," the diplomat explained.

According to Ulyanov, the IAEA Secretariat adheres to a sound approach on the North Korean issue. "It draws on the premise that an agreement on a political settlement must be reached first, with the IAEA’s role enshrined in it. In other words, North Korea should invite the agency’s experts to take part in monitoring nuclear facilities," he said.

Commenting on the Iran nuclear deal and Washington’s withdrawal from it, the Russian envoy noted that the issue had been discussed extensively at the General Conference and at the IAEA Board of Governors session. "Only Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen expressed their support for the US. The rest of the countries either condemned Washington’s exit from the JCPOA or expressed their disappointment. Even Western countries distanced themselves from the US on this matter, insisting that the nuclear deal is a tremendous achievement that needs to be cherished," he stressed.

Kommersant: Iran gives terrorists in Syria second warning

Tehran has carried out a missile strike against the US operational area in Syria targeting facilities on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. According to Tehran, militants who staged the September 22 terrorist attack in Iran’s Ahvaz were hiding in the area. The Iranian authorities described the strike as a message to the terrorists and their sponsors. Iran claims that the US and its regional allies, specifically, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, were behind the terrorist violence.

However, according to Kirill Semyonov, an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), the effectiveness of Iran’s strike is difficult to estimate. "In general, it is hard to imagine that the Iranians know the exact whereabouts of the terrorists. If that information was available, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Western coalition, which is operating in the area, would have delivered a strike on them a long time ago," he told the paper. The expert stressed that the true goal of Iran’s strike must have been to flaunt its capabilities to the US and its regional allies. "The accuracy of Iran’s missiles is highly questionable, but the Iranian authorities can try to scare their opponents who put forward ever increasing harsh demands on Tehran," Semyonov added.

As for the Ahvaz terrorist attack, Kommersant’s interlocutors noted it had stimulated multiple questions. For one, Yulia Sveshnikova, a Research Fellow at the Higher School of Economics, recalled that the mass terror shooting occurred shortly before the opening week of high-level meetings at the UN General Assembly where Iran was a priority on the agenda. "There are quite a few versions among Iranians as to who was behind the terrorist attacks. Some tend to believe that the authorities themselves organized these attacks to show how Iran is suffering at the hands of terrorists, while the United States and its allies accuse Tehran of sponsoring terrorism," she emphasized.

Izvestia: Global economy facing slowdown, predict Russian analysts

The growth rate of the global economy will decelerate from 3.7% last year to 3.2% by 2024, Izvestia writes citing data provided by Russia’s Economic Development Ministry. Its macroeconomic forecast has been submitted to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament). The United States, Britain, China and Japan are expected to make a significant contribution to the decline in global growth. The ongoing trade wars are another negative factor contributing to this looming trend. On the other hand, Russia’s economy will overcome the two-percent growth rate in 2020, showing a 3.3% figure by 2024, exceeding the global development rates.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: China eager to invest in Syria

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said following talks with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that Beijing wanted to support Syria’s socio-economic development. In response, Muallem noted that Damascus was ready to deepen cooperation with Beijing, including within China’s Belt and Road initiative.

China is primarily interested in Syria as a transshipment base, Alexander Lomanov, Chief Research Fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Far Eastern Studies, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Macedonia’s fate depends on majority in parliament

The referendum in Macedonia, which was meant to put an end to the long-standing dispute between Skopje and Athens over the name of the former Yugoslav republic, which coincides with the name of the northern Greek region, has ended in failure. With a minimum threshold of 50%, voter turnout was only 36.9%. It is noteworthy though that 91.5% of the voters came out in favor of renaming their country.

However, the political passivity shown by Macedonian voters poses no threat to the country’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who continues to be committed to his chief political credo, which is, "There is no alternative to the European Union and NATO for Macedonia," Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

Those who called for boycotting the referendum could label this outcome as their victory, because it has been formally declared void, Pavel Kandel, Leading Research Fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for European Studies told the paper. However, they cannot do that, since the referendum’s organizers had declared it non-binding in advance. Referring to the chances of Macedonia’s ruling coalition securing the support of two-thirds of the lawmakers to endorse the necessary constitutional amendments, the expert suggested that it would either try to split or bribe the main opposition party, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).

"If it is unable to do so, it will exert pressure on the IMRO with the help of Brussels, Washington and NATO," Kandel said, adding that Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization is, in actual fact, committed to EU and NATO membership.

Meanwhile, Zaev warned that if he fails to garner the support of the required number of MPs, the country would be in for snap parliamentary elections.