VPK (Military Industrial Courier) is one of the two key Russian newspapers that cover military issues (the other one being NVO, Independent Military Review). It is a fairly conservative publication, financed by the defense industry. Its bias notwithstanding, it is a very useful source of information about various developments in the Russian military and about the views common in the military and defense industry.

In its June 2nd issue, VPK published an op-ed piece by its editor-in-chief, Igor Korotchenko, (would that make it an editorial?) on the U.S.-Russian arms control negotiations. Nothing really new there - more Topol-M/RS-24, Bulava, and no missile defense. But this paragraph caught my eye:

The danger of the situation is that the head of the U.S. delegation is Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, who until recently was leading the Carnegie Moscow Center. She personally and informally knows almost all key Russian experts on strategic forces, who have been attending numerous events at the Carnegie Moscow Center; she has an "inside" knowledge of Moscow's logic and its approach to the negotiating process. Gottemoeller has been dealing with nuclear issues for quite some time and is known as a brilliant professional. It would be difficult, almost impossible to outplay her. For Russia a draw would be almost like a victory. Will we be able to find a figure of similar caliber?

He does, in fact, have a point - there are not very many people on the Russian side of the negotiations who know the subject as well as Rose and her team.