Russia 110811
Basic Political Developments
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Medvedev, Yanukovich to meet in Sochi - It is planned at the regular RussianUkrainian summit to discuss a broad range of the most pressing questions of
bilateral and regional agenda. Considerable attention will be given to integration
processes, taking place over the space of the Commonwealth of Independent
States with the participation of Russia and Ukraine.
o Medvedev, Yanukovych to discuss implementation of bilateral economic
agreements
o Moscow and Kiev to talk energy -It is expected that during the informal
talks, particular attention will be given to energy and the Russian Black
Sea Fleet in the Crimea. Other economic areas on the agenda will include
trade, space cooperation, aviation, ship-building, and agriculture. In
addition, the leaders will discuss military partnership between the two
states.
o Ukraine-Russia trade gets boost this year - premier
o Azarov proposes Russia-Ukraine cooperation in grain exports
Europe warns Syria of UN steps, Russia wants reform
Repr of far-abroad countries to watch CIS air defense exercise - Representatives
of Algeria, India and Syria will watch for the first time the Comradeship-in-Arms
2011 exercise of the Air Forces and Air Defense Troops of the CIS member states,
Colonel Vladimir Drik, the spokesman for the Air Force of the Russian Federation,
told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
Defence Ministry restoring missile umbrella - The Russian Space Troops will
receive two sophisticated Voronezh-DM radars in December 2011, to be
incorporated in the system of early warning of missile launches.One of them will
start operating in Armavir, and the other – in Kaliningrad, the Russian
westernmost city. This radar will ensure Russian nuclear parity in case a Euro
ABM is deployed, writes the Izvestia newspaper on Thursday. In 2012 a similar
facility will be put into operation in the Irkutsk Region.
Russian Arms Maker Bypasses State Export Trader, Kommersant Says - NPO may
become the first producer to supply arms directly to a foreign buyer, bypassing
state export trader Rosoboronexport, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s
contemporary Sergei Chemezov, the Moscow-based newspaper said.
Russia Trader Earns 17% on U.S. Helicopter Sale, Kommersant Says Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-run arms trader, earned a 17 percent fee on a
OAO Russian Helicopters contract to supply aircraft to U.S., Kommersant
reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Air Show to See Major Helicopter Sales - The contracts include 80 orders for Mi171 helicopters split evenly between the airlines Gazpromavia and UTair, said
Russian Helicopters chief executive Dmitry Petrov.
MiG and Sukhoi to join forces on Russian UCAV
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Politika, Serbia: Kosovo not a priority for Russia - Kosovo is not a foreign-policy
priority of Russia, writes Serbian Politika daily. According to the newspaper,
Moscow should not be expected to take active part in the events in North
Kosovo.
Nigeria Still Considering Nuclear Power - Speaking to reporters in the capital
Abuja Rosatom Director-General Nikolai Spassy stressed that nuclear power
plants were a safe method of generating electricity, stating that the Russian
Federation had an enviable record in the building of such plants
Iranian foreign minister to visit Moscow August 17-19
o Iran, Russia discuss avenues to bolster ties on nuclear issues - Iran’s
Ambassador to Russia Reza Sajedi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Sergei Ryabkov also exchanged views on prospects for Tehran-Moscow
nuclear cooperation.
o Russia, Iran preparing list of guests for Bushehr launch - “Without
reaching a full agreement on the dates, the list of attendees, and the
program of events which will coincide with the launch - we have nothing
to announce,” Ryabkov said.
EU mulls sanctions against RF officials over Magnitsky case - The European Union
cannot exclude the possible introduction of punitive measures against a number
of Russian citizens in connection with the Magnitsky case, spokesman for the
European External Action Service (EEAS) Michael Mann has said.
U.S. says not notified about Russia's retaliatory blacklist - The U.S. Department of
State said on Thursday it was not notified by Russia about a retaliatory blacklist
compiled in response to Washington's decision to impose travel restrictions on
Russian officials over the Magnitsky case.
o Pravda: US and Russia exchange non-diplomatic actions
U.S. Helsinki Commission calls on Russia to withdraw troops from Abkhazia and
South Ossetia
Increased economic contact between Russia, Georgia
Outcome of the ROK-Russia Foreign Minister’s Meeting - source: MOFAT
Armenian families left for Russia with Compatriots project - Armenian families
who left for Russia will have jobs, compensation and registration in a short while.
Medvedev nominates candidature of governor of Tula Reg-adds
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o Medvedev proposes acting Tula Region governor for permanent post
Russia to allocate $8 billion to build space center in Far East
Four hundred illegal immigrants arrested near Moscow airport - "It was revealed
that Tajik and Uzbek nationals have been living illegally in the area of Bykovo
Airport," an Interior Ministry statement said. "Over 400 people have been
rounded up."
Trial in case of Manege Square mass disorders to begin in Moscow
Russian law enforcers conduct search in police offices over illegal casino case
Counter-terrorist regime eased in Kabardino-Balkaria
Vladikavkaz mayor’s murderer sentenced to 20 years of prison
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o NOssetia Supreme Court to pass sentence to contract killer
Crashed An-12 plane's cockpit voice recorder found
Fair Russia expels MPs for joining Putin’s Popular Front
Mironov promises to break into State Duma
Volgograd region fire area increases to 853 ha
RIA Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, August 11, 2011
Interfax Moscow press review for August 11, 2011
25% of Russians think it normal to report against colleagues - poll
Polar Bear Commission sets annual harvest quota in Moscow - The third meeting
of the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Commission was held the last week of July in
Moscow, according to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Russia youths seek 'social lift' at Kremlin political camp - By Sergei L. Loiko, Los
Angeles Times
Deeper Than Oil: Russia’s reaction to the UK riots - Weekly column by Marc
Bennetts
A Golden Russian Firebird for Foreign Investors - By Elena Kolchina and Viktor
Nossek
Riding the crude roller coaster - With crude price first plummeting and then
rebounding after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s commitment to keep interest rates
near zero for two year, Business RT spoke with Alexander Nazarov, oil and gas
analyst at Gazprombank.
National Economic Trends
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Russian GDP growth slows to 3.4% in Q2 - Rosstat (Part 2)
o GDP up 3.4% in Q2
o Russian GDP Growth Slowed to 3.4% in Second Quarter, Missing
Estimates
Russia May Inject $5.4 Billion to Add Liquidity, Vedomosti Says
RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL RESERVES AT $537.7 BLN IN WEEK TO
AUGUST 5, UP FROM $535.0 BLN ON JULY 29
Govt to discuss debt policy till 2014 & cuts for residents of SEZ
Non-CIS imports slow down to +27% y/y in July
Russia and the crisis: Market sensitivity to global shocks
Volatile Futures - Analysts See Oil Behind Russia’s Recent Market Drop, but the
Country Is Better Prepared to Face a Crisis Than Three Years Ago
Russian Buckwheat Price Falls 26% on Prospect of Doubled Harvest
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
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Russian court to hear consumers’ suit on SMS leak vs MegaFon Sep 5
Firtash’s Ostchem to Export Rossosh Fertilizers, RBC Daily Says
Norilsk Rebounds, Snaps Losing Streak on Possible Buyback
Mechel reports 1H11 operating results
Tyva Coal Projects Require $3.9 Billion Railroad, Vedomosti Says
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o Tuva coal projects under infrastructure pressure; neutral for Severstal and
Evraz at this point
Tatarstan plans $1.6bn fertilizer plant
Bank of Moscow Still Gets City's Cash
Uranium One posts 450% increase
UAC to upsize share capital by additional issue
France’s SNF-Group invests €25m in Russia
Russian Post in blazing row with antitrust chief
Turkish food retail plays catch-up to Russia
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
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Bulgarian court backs LUKoil in dispute with customs
o Court lets LUKOIL Bulgarian refinery operate for now
TNK-BP investors cry BP foul - A group of minority shareholders in TNK-BP
reportedly are claiming damages of 87 billion roubles ($2.96 billion) against BP
for being denied the opportunity to replace the UK supermajor in an Arctic
exploration pact with Rosneft.
Rosneft discovers new oil field in Eastern Siberia
Sovcomflot makes seismic move - A Russian oil tanker-owning giant appears to
be making a splash in the offshore market as it ties up a long-term bareboat
charter deal with Polarcus for a seismic vessel newbuilding.
Central Asian fuel crisis eases - Russian gas deliveries to Kyrgyzstan and a cut in
export duties for Tajikistan are bringing to an end the price hikes and fuel
shortages that have crippled parts of Central Asia over the past few months.
Gazprom
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RWE sends mixed messages on Czech gas network sale - On Wednesday, a
spokesman for RWE Czech Republic said the German parent company RWE has
decided to sell a stake in Net4Gas to Gazprom.
Gazprom finishing Prirazlomnaya platform construction
Kandalaksha hopes for Shtokman contract
Gazprom Neft completes secondary offering of series 04 bonds for RUB6.13bn
Russia Gazprombank secures $1.2 bln syndicated loan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
01:04 11/08/2011Top News
Medvedev, Yanukovich to meet in Sochi
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/201955.html
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will have a
meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in Sochi on Thursday, reports the
presidential press service.
According to the press service, “the talks between the heads of state will be the
continuation of the active political dialogue between Russia and Ukraine”.
It is planned at the regular Russian-Ukrainian summit to discuss a broad range of the
most pressing questions of bilateral and regional agenda. Considerable attention will be
given to integration processes, taking place over the space of the Commonwealth of
Independent States with the participation of Russia and Ukraine.
The sides suppose to touch on the topic of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan and the United Economic Space of the three countries.
The Russian and Ukrainian presidents are expected to examine progress in fulfilling the
present understandings on implementing major projects in various spheres of
cooperation: in energy, including the atomic one, trade, space explorations, aviation,
shipbuilding, transport, agriculture and military-technical cooperation.
Priority attention is supposed to be given to prospects for boosting trade and economic
relations. In January-May, Russian-Ukrainian trade totalled around 20.4 billion US
dollars, jumping up by 57.4 percent. Russian export amounted to 13 billion dollars (60.3percent rise), import – 7.35 billion dollars (52.3-percent rise). Thus, trade may edge up on
50 billion dollars by the year-end.
The issue of creating favourable conditions for business structures of the two countries
and solution of difficult questions of investment cooperation may become an important
item at the talks.
The presidents plan at the meeting to discuss prospects for enlarging inter-regional and
border cooperation and progress in preparing the Second Russian-Ukrainian InterRegional Economic Forum, including the state of implementing joint plans, aimed at
creating more favourable conditions for crossing the border for citizens of the two
countries.
The presidents are also expected to mull over questions of consolidation of legislation for
the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine as well as various aspects of bilateral
cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere.
It is supposed that the Sochi summit will be an important stage for preparing a regular
meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian Interstate Commission.
August 11, 2011 09:16
Medvedev, Yanukovych to discuss implementation of bilateral economic
agreements
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=265101
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The implementation of Russian-Ukrainian bilateral
agreements, particularly in the energy sector, and the legal aspects of the Russian Black
Sea Fleet's presence in Crimea will be on the agenda of negotiations between Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in Sochi on
Thursday.
"The presidents of Russia and Ukraine are expected to discuss the implementation of the
existing agreements on promoting major projects in various areas of interaction, such as
the energy sector, including the atomic industry, trade, space exploration, aviation,
shipbuilding, transportation, agriculture and military-technological cooperation," a
Kremlin source said.
The two leaders are expected to attach priority to prospects for expanding trade and
economic ties. The Kremlin pointed out that trade between the two countries grew by
more than 50% in the first half of 2011 and could reach $50 billion by the end of the year.
"The creation of a favorable environment for the two countries' business organizations
and the resolution of problems of investment cooperation could be an important subject
of the talks," he added.
Medvedev and Yanukovych should also consider various aspects of bilateral cooperation
in the culture and humanities fields, he said.
The presidents also plan to discuss a broad spectrum of the most relevant issues on the
bilateral and regional agenda, including integration processes in the CIS area with
Russia's and Ukraine's involvement. In particular, they should touch upon the BelarusianKazakh-Russian Customs Union and the Common Economic Area.
The two should also consider preparations for the second Russian-Ukrainian interregional
economic forum and plans for creating more comfortable conditions for individuals
crossing the common border.
The Kremlin expects the Sochi summit to become "an important stage in preparations for
the next meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission," the source
said.
va eb
(Our editorial staff can be reached at [email protected])
Moscow and Kiev to talk energy
http://rt.com/politics/moscow-kiev-talk-energy/
Published: 11 August, 2011, 11:36
Edited: 11 August, 2011, 11:36
President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovich
later on Thursday in Sochi to discuss the implementation of several bilateral agreements.
It is expected that during the informal talks, particular attention will be given to energy
and the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea. Other economic areas on the agenda will
include trade, space cooperation, aviation, ship-building, and agriculture. In addition, the
leaders will discuss military partnership between the two states.
Expanding trade and economic ties is one of the top priorities of Russian-Ukrainian
cooperation. In the first half of 2011, the trade turnover between the two countries almost
doubled and, according to the Kremlin, it may reach 50 billion dollars by the end of the
year. Therefore, the creation of a favorable business climate and working out problems
related to investment will be given great consideration during the meeting.
Other important issues on the agenda concern preparations for the second RussiaUkrainian Economic Forum and customs agreements which are supposed to “create more
comfortable conditions for citizens while crossing the border”.
Cultural and humanitarian issues are also likely to be touched upon during the talks.
On top of that, Moscow has informed Kiev of its intention to include the arrest of the
former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on the agenda. Tymoshenko has
been in custody since August 5 in connection with the so-called “gas case”. She is
accused of deliberately signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009 which were unfavorable
to Ukrainian economic interests.
It is the second meeting between the two presidents this year. Dmitry Medvedev visited
Ukraine in April to take part in a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the
Chernobyl disaster. It was earlier reported that a meeting of the inter-state RussianUkrainian commission co- chaired by both leaders was to take place in Moscow this past
July, but then this information was later proved to be false. The event will presumably be
held in September.
11:45 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
Ukraine-Russia trade gets boost this year - premier
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/202174.html
KIEV, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — Ukrainian-Russian trade grew 1.6 times in the first sixth
months of this year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov told reporters on
Wednesday.
“Russian-Ukrainian relations develop dynamically this year. Trade turnover grew 1.6
times in the first half of the year, and I believe we can achieve some 50 billion dollars by
the end of the year. This is the level of trade that our presidents agreed upon,” Azarov
said at a session of the Ukrainian-Russian forum Second Wave of Global Crisis and
Prospects for Ukrainian-Russian Economic Relations.
Thus, the prime minister confirmed the words of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich,
who said earlier that trade between Ukraine and Russia would exceed 50 billion dollars in
2011.
Azarov also emphasized the importance of economic cooperation between Ukraine and
Russia in connection with the threat of a second wave of the global financial crisis. He
said there are optimistic forecasts that the world will not be hit by a new wave of the
crisis. “However there are certain risks and doubts,” he added.
“And in this situation mutual support and mutual assistance of our two major economies
would be extremely important,” the prime minister emphasized.
According to him, Ukraine could closer cooperate with Russia and other countries of the
Customs Union in certain economic sectors within the framework of a common economic
space.
“Our export potential is approximately 24 million tons of grain. As far as I known, it is
some 35 million tons in Russia. Kazakhstan has export possibilities of 15 million tons. If
we sum this up, we will get a major share of the world market. This suggests the
question: how is it easier to get to that market – together or separately,” he stressed.
According to the prime minister, Ukrainian-Russian relations have aggravated a bit over
the recent time, first of all in connection with the setting up of the Customs Union and the
format of Ukraine’s participation in it.
Nevetheless, trade and economic relations between the countries developed rather
positively in the first half of the year, the Ukrainian prime minister emphasized.
Azarov proposes Russia-Ukraine cooperation in grain exports
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
Phoenix Capital
August 11, 2011
Event: Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov said on Aug. 10 that Ukraine can
closely cooperate with the nations of the Single Economic Space in certain economic
sectors, such as grain exports, the Ukrainian News service reported. The prime minister
suggested that Ukraine cooperate with Russia and Kazakhstan when selling grain on the
world market. The Ukrainian government is currently drafting Ukraine's 3+1 agreement
with the Customs Union with concrete economic proposals, Azarov said. The Cabinet of
Ministers reported on its web site that it expects economic cooperation agreements will
be reached on Aug. 11 between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian
President Viktor Yanukovych, who are meeting in Sochi.
Impact: The comments are neutral for the economy.
Rationale: With his comments, Prime Minister Azarov sent the message that the
Ukrainian government will try hard in the next several days to satisfy Russian overtures
for economic cooperation. Azarov also made comments on Aug. 10 revealing that his
government is still struggling to secure a lower natural gas price from Gazprom. In
reviving the discourse on the Single Economic Space, Azarov is indicating some creative
concessions can emerge from the Ukrainian side. Azarov will meet with Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin within the framework of agreements reached between the
nations' respective presidents to discuss in better detail Ukraine's cooperation with the
Moscow-led Customs Union, the Cabinet of Ministers press- service reported.
Zenon Zawada
Europe warns Syria of UN steps, Russia wants reform
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/08/11/idINIndia-58729020110811
6:40am IST
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - European members of the Security Council on
Wednesday threatened Syria that it could face tougher U.N. action if it continued a
bloody crackdown on protesters, while Russia urged Damascus to implement promised
reforms as soon as possible.
But veto powers Russia and China, backed by India, South Africa and Brazil, have
vehemently opposed the idea of slapping U.N. sanctions on Damascus, which Western
diplomats say would be the logical next step for Syria.
Council diplomats said there were no signs that the five so-called "BRICS" nations have
altered their positions despite the five-month-old crackdown by Syrian security forces on
protesters in cities across the country.
Envoys of Britain, France, Germany and Portugal spoke to reporters after a closed-door
session of the 15-nation council convened to assess Syria's compliance with last week's
call by the Security Council for "an immediate end to all violence."
They said Damascus has ignored that demand.
At Wednesday's meeting, U.N. deputy political affairs chief Oscar Fernandez-Taranco
told council members that the violence had continued and the humanitarian situation
remained dire, diplomats who attended the meeting told Reuters.
He said that nearly 2,000 civilians had been killed since March, 188 since July 31 -- and
87 on Aug. 8 alone.
Britain's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Philip Parham suggested to reporters that if Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad continued to ignore calls from the Security Council for an end
to the clampdown, Damascus could face U.N. sanctions.
"If they continue ... along their current path and they fail to heed those calls, then we
believe the council must look at taking further steps to keep up the pressure on the Syrian
regime," Parham said.
U.S. ENVOY RICE: ASSAD SHOULD GO
Parham's counterparts from France, Germany and Portugal echoed his warning that
further steps -- which is often diplomatic code for sanctions -- would have to be
discussed.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters earlier that "it would be much, much better
for the people of Syria, and Syria would be better off, without Assad." She was echoing
comments made last week by White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Rice told the Security Council that the United States "is working together with its
international partners to bring greater pressure to bear on the Syrian regime through
further coordinated diplomatic and financial measures."
"We are also working with our partners to stem the flow of the weapons and ammunition
that Syrian security forces, under Assad's authority, continue to use against peaceful
protesters," she said, according to the text of her remarks.
The Security Council will take up Syria again next week.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow had made clear to Damascus that it
wants Assad's promised reforms implemented as swiftly as possible.
"What we are telling them is that they need to have serious reforms as soon as possible,
even though we do realize that it takes time, especially in a dramatic situation like this,
you simply cannot carry out reforms overnight," he said.
Asked if he thought new U.S. sanctions against Syria announced by Washington on
Wednesday were helpful, Churkin said, "No."
Syrian envoy Bashar Ja'afari blasted the Europeans, accusing them of misleading
reporters about the situation.
"They tried to manipulate the truth and to hide important facts and elements related to the
so-called situation in Syria," he said, adding that the Europeans had deliberately ignored
Assad's promises of reform and national dialogue.
He also took aim at British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"To hear the prime minister of England describing the riots and the rioters in England by
using the term 'gangs', while they don't allow us to use the same term for the armed
groups and the terrorist groups in my country," he said. "This is hypocrisy. This is
arrogance."
Parham dismissed Ja'afari's comparison between the riots in Britain and the violence in
Syria as "absurd."
(Editing by Paul Simao)
Repr of far-abroad countries to watch CIS air defense exercise
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1916893.html
[11.08.2011 10:59]
Representatives of Algeria, India and Syria will watch for the first time the Comradeshipin-Arms 2011 exercise of the Air Forces and Air Defense Troops of the CIS member
states, Colonel Vladimir Drik, the spokesman for the Air Force of the Russian Federation,
told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
"The Comradeship-in-Arms 2011 joint exercise with live firing will be held from August
to September 2011," he said. "Servicemen from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan will participate in the exercise. Representatives of Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, Moldova and Uzbekistan will be present as observers. Representatives of
far-abroad states Algeria, India and Syria will watch the active phase of the exercise," he
said.
"The aim of the upcoming exercise is to prepare and drill the functioning of groups of air
defense forces of CIS member states in collective security areas in anti-terrorist
operations and during armed conflicts," Drik noted.
05:28 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
Defence Ministry restoring missile umbrella
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/201968.html
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian Space Troops will receive two
sophisticated Voronezh-DM radars in December 2011, to be incorporated in the system
of early warning of missile launches.
One of them will start operating in Armavir, and the other – in Kaliningrad, the Russian
westernmost city. This radar will ensure Russian nuclear parity in case a Euro ABM is
deployed, writes the Izvestia newspaper on Thursday. In 2012 a similar facility will be
put into operation in the Irkutsk Region.
The task of the advanced radars will be to detect missiles, blasted off from other
countries. Using these radar stations, Russia will fully restore control over air space
around its borders.
“The commissioning of the Voronezh-DM radars is to restore integrity of radar control
over air space. In some cases, we plug the present gaps, in others, we increase capacities
of old stations,” the newspaper learnt at the Space Troops.
In contrast to “Soviet predecessors” – the radars in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine and
Kazakhstan – the new radars will be stationed in the Russian territory. Besides, they
consume 40 percent less energy and can see what is going on in the skies and outer-space
at a distance of 4,500 kilometres.
The first new-type radar Voronezh-DM was handed over for test operation in 2009 near
St. Petersburg, in the village of Lekhtusi. It will be already combat-ready in December.
Its operation set off the loss of a radar in Latvia. The Space Troops got the chance to see
air space from the Morocco coast to Shpitsbergen as well as the US east coast.
The next year witnesses the commissioning of the second radar in Armavir, “inspecting”
South Europe up to the North Africa coast. Its capacities closed the gap that formed as a
result of Moscow’s refusal to operate a station in Sevastopol.
“The construction of the radar in the Kaliningrad Region, in the village of Pionerskoye
covers the western sector which was guarded by stations in Mukachevo and Belarussian
Baranovichi. The second station under construction in Armavir will supplement
capacities of the Gabalinskaya radar in Azerbaijan.
The next year will see the commissioning of a facility in the Irkutsk Region, which will
“search” the space from China to the US western coast. Following this, “we can say that
we fully restored the radar system of early warning of a missile attack,” the Space Troops
emphasised.
Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov who recently visited the Azerbaijan Gabalinskaya
radar (“Daryal”), said that the military leadership does not intend to abandon the old
Soviet stations, located in neighbour republics. “Everything remains as it is for the time
being. We do not give up a single station and do not plan to,” Serdyukov said.
According to Izvestia, Russia is not likely to stop with construction of the radar near
Irkutsk. The Defence Ministry’s plans provide for complete replacement, under the state
programme of armaments till 2020, of all Soviet long-distance radars with the new
Voronezh-DM and construction of several new ones.
It is planned to spend several billion roubles for their erection. The military say that the
Arctic alone remains inaccessible.
Russian Arms Maker Bypasses State Export Trader, Kommersant Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/russian-arms-maker-bypasses-state-exporttrader-kommersant-says.html
Q
By Ilya Khrennikov - Aug 11, 2011 6:31 AM GMT+0200
NPO Mashinostroyenia, a defense manufacturer based in the Moscow region, secured
President Dmitry Medvedev’s approval to export missile systems directly to Vietnam,
Kommersant reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
NPO may become the first producer to supply arms directly to a foreign buyer, bypassing
state export trader Rosoboronexport, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s
contemporary Sergei Chemezov, the Moscow-based newspaper said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
Russia Trader Earns 17% on U.S. Helicopter Sale, Kommersant Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/russia-trader-earns-17-on-u-s-helicoptersale-kommersant-says.html
Q
By Ilya Khrennikov - Aug 11, 2011 7:58 AM GMT+0200
Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-run arms trader, earned a 17 percent fee on a OAO
Russian Helicopters contract to supply aircraft to U.S., Kommersant reported, citing
people familiar with the matter.
The Russian producer agreed to supply 21 Mi-17 helicopters to the U.S. last year for
$315 million to service the Afghanistan military operation, the newspaper said.
Afterwards, Rosoboronexport joined the talks as a state intermediary and inflated the
price by another $52.5 million, Kommersant said.
The contract, which was one of the practical achievements of the U.S.-Russia “reset”
announced by the two countries’ leaders, was close to collapsing because of this,
according to Kommersant.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
Air Show to See Major Helicopter Sales
11 August 2011
By Anatoly Medetsky
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/air-show-to-see-majorhelicopter-sales/441899.html#ixzz1UhUggLDk
The Moscow Times
Russian Helicopters, the state-owned defense contractor that pulled its share offer
to investors in May, said Wednesday that it has landed several major contracts that it will
announce at the air show outside Moscow next week.
The contracts include 80 orders for Mi-171 helicopters split evenly between the airlines
Gazpromavia and UTair, said Russian Helicopters chief executive Dmitry Petrov.
The deliveries will start next year and run through 2014, he said, adding that the price
will be disclosed at MAKS, the country's premier air show that opens Tuesday at the
Zhukovsky airfield south of Moscow.
In addition, Russian Helicopters will announce deals that it is concluding with
the Defense Ministry as part of the government's 20 trillion ruble ($680 billion) plan
to re-equip the armed services by 2020, Petrov said, without elaborating. Petrov said he
had signed part of the deals earlier this week and would sign more within days.
The Defense Ministry intends to purchase more than 1,100 helicopters by 2020
to upgrade at least 80 percent of the military's helicopter fleet, he said. Deputy Defense
Minister Vladimir Popovkin said earlier this year that the effort would cost $29 billion.
The air show, which takes place every two years, will run from Aug. 16 to 21, bringing
together a record 842 Russian and foreign companies, up from 735 companies at the last
show two years ago. The air show will be open to the public from Aug. 19 to 21.
Attendees last time signed deals worth $10 billion, most of them contracts with
the Defense Ministry, while Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a Cabinet meeting at the
air show. It was not immediately clear whether Putin, who on Wednesday tried his hand
as an archeologist at the excavation site of an ancient Greek port on the Taman Peninsula
in the Krasnodar region, would attend the show next week.
The U.S. Air Force will fly several aircraft to the air show, including two A-10s, a C130J Hercules and a couple of F-16C fighters. The Italian Air Force will perform flyovers
with a C-27J Spartan transport plane.
Turning to the first-ever Russian contract with the U.S. Defense Department to supply 21
Mi-17V5 helicopters to Afghanistan, Petrov said Russian Helicopters would deliver
the first nine aircraft by December and the rest would come off the assembly line next
year. The Kazan Helicopter Plant is producing the helicopters, he said.
The contract, which experts value at $300 million, was signed in May.
As part of another ongoing contract, Petrov said his company has delivered several Mi17V5 helicopters to India. That country agreed to pay $1.345 billion for 80 aircraft
in 2008.
Speaking about the potential for future deals, Petrov said Russian Helicopters and a
Chinese partner are putting together separate investment proposals to jointly produce
a heavy helicopter based on the Russian Mi-26. The partners will then integrate their
proposals and possibly form a joint venture, he said without naming the Chinese
company.
"Progress has been evident here," he said.
The idea is to make the new helicopter less powerful than the Mi-26, which now holds
the title of the world's heaviest lifter among commercially produced helicopters and is
capable of carrying as much as 20 metric tons of cargo.
Another deal could come out of negotiations with a partner in South Africa to design
an "African" helicopter based on the Russian Ansat model and produce it in that country
under license, Petrov said.
Latin America, India and Southeast Asia have been the biggest foreign buyers of Russian
helicopters.
Before it canceled its initial public offering on London and Moscow exchanges, Russian
Helicopters was poised to become the first government-controlled defense contractor
to go public, aiming to raise $500 million.
The IPO could have helped the company — which claims to be the world's No. 1
producer of attack helicopters and medium- and heavy-lift rotorcraft — to upgrade its
Soviet-era factories and increase production.
Russian Helicopters was created by the government in 2007 to bring the country's
helicopter makers into a single vertically integrated holding. It is 100 percent controlled
by Oboronprom, another government-controlled holding unit.
The company, which completed consolidating helicopter makers in December, holds
majority stakes in every major Russian helicopter maker, including Mil, Kamov,
the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant and the Kazan Helicopter Plant.
It produced 214 helicopters last year, up from 183 the year before, accounting for 13.5
percent of worldwide helicopter sales in value terms.
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/air-show-to-see-majorhelicopter-sales/441899.html#ixzz1UhUn1xGy
The Moscow Times
MiG and Sukhoi to join forces on Russian UCAV
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/08/11/360562/mig-and-sukhoi-to-join-forceson-russian-ucav.html
By Vladimir Karnozov
RSK MiG will work together with Sukhoi on a future unmanned combat air vehicle
(UCAV), using experience gained on its Skat programme.
The Skat design was demonstrated to a small group of Russian media at the MAKS air
show in Moscow in 2007, and until recently was thought to have been shelved.
Newly appointed MiG general director Sergey Korotkov said at a recent media briefing
that the two companies would collaborate in the future.
Vladimir Barkovsky, chief of MiG's engineering centre, said he cannot foresee whether a
next-generation MiG would be a manned or unmanned aircraft.
"This depends on maturity of technologies available to us when the decision is made to
launch [a new programme]," he said.
The Skat programme has given the airframer invaluable experience in the UCAV sector,
Barkovsky added.
"This helped us create a technology base for the next phase of our studies, which we
continue to carry out," he added.
Extensive wind tunnel testing on various Skat configurations was performed at Russia's
Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, TsAGI, during which MiG tried to find an optimal
balance between size for a specified payload and combat efficiency.
Politika, Serbia: Kosovo not a priority for Russia
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n256867
11 August 2011 | 10:58 | FOCUS News Agency
Home / Southeast Europe and Balkans
Belgrade. Kosovo is not a foreign-policy priority of Russia, writes Serbian Politika
daily. According to the newspaper, Moscow should not be expected to take active part in
the events in North Kosovo.
The Russian foreign ministry said that it believed the authorities in Pristina could repeat
the scenario from July 25 and take over the administrative borders in North Kosovo.
Russia thinks that the EU, the UN and NATO should warn Pristina that there should not
be a new attempt of forced conquering of territories with predominating Serbian
population.
Nigeria Still Considering Nuclear Power
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Nigeria-Still-Considering-NuclearPower.html
Written by Joao Peixe
Thursday, 11 August 2011 00:44
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, is considering building nuclear power plants to
alleviate the country’s chronic energy shortages, despite the negativity surrounding
nuclear power in the aftermath of Japan’s March Fukushima debacle.
Nigerian Minister of Power Barth Nnaji said, "Nigeria intends to sit down and properly
evaluate what happened in Japan and weigh the risk against national interest," The
Vanguard newspaper reported.
Nnaji made his observation after meeting with nuclear power specialists from Russia’s
Rosatom atomic agency, who are in the country to seek government's assistance to
commence the construction of Nigeria’s first nuclear power plant.
Minister of Science and Technology Ita Oko-Bassey Ewa said that “a draft project
implementation agreement has been prepared and ready for signing,” adding that “follow
up meetings are now being initiated to discuss modalities for its implementation.”
Speaking to reporters in the capital Abuja Rosatom Director-General Nikolai Spassy
stressed that nuclear power plants were a safe method of generating electricity, stating
that the Russian Federation had an enviable record in the building of such plants, saying,
"Russia has a track record in the area of nuclear energy. The peaceful use of nuclear
power is the bedrock of development, and the achievement of the federal government’s
Vision 20-2020 goals would depend heavily on the development of nuclear power plants
in Nigeria."
By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Iranian foreign minister to visit Moscow on August 16-17
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110810/165692363.html
20:17 10/08/2011
MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti)
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will pay a working visit to Moscow on August
16-17, Russian MFA Press and Information Department said on Wednesday.
Salehi has a scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to discuss
various issues, including the country's disputed nuclear program.
The U.S. and other Western countries accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons under
the cover of peaceful nuclear energy program. Tehran denies all the charges, saying that
its nuclear program is focused on the country's electricity needs.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran on June 9, 2010,
after Tehran announced its plans to enrich uranium to 20%. Tehran has also announced
its intentions to build a second uranium enriching plant.
The latest round of Iran-Six talks over its nuclear program, which took place in Istanbul,
yielded no significant results. Both Russia and the EU said they were disappointed with
the talks.
Iran, Russia discuss avenues to bolster ties on nuclear
issues
http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30515830
Moscow, Aug 11, IRNA – Senior officials from Iran and Russia Thursday
discussed ways to promote bilateral ties on peaceful nuclear activities.
Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Reza Sajedi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei
Ryabkov also exchanged views on prospects for Tehran-Moscow nuclear cooperation.
Ryabkov represents Russia in the Group 5+1.
The two also discussed inauguration of Iran’s first nuclear power plant in Bushehr,
southern Iran, based on previously agreed time table.
Ryabkov reiterated Russia’s support for Iran’s right to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Meanwhile, it was reported by Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday that Iran's Foreign
Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi was expected to visit Moscow on May 16-17 to exchange
views with his Russian counterpart on Tehran-Moscow bilateral ties as well as major
regional and international developments.
1394**1422
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30515830
RT News line, August 11
Russia, Iran preparing list of guests for Bushehr launch
http://rt.com/politics/news-line/2011-08-11/#id16073
12:31
Russia and Iran are making up the list of guests to attend the ceremony for the official
launch of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, as well as negotiating the exact program for
the event. “We are waiting for the project to be approved by Iran,” Deputy Foreign
Minister Sergey Ryabkov said. “Without reaching a full agreement on the dates, the list
of attendees, and the program of events which will coincide with the launch - we have
nothing to announce,” Ryabkov said. The long-anticipated launch of the Bushehr nuclear
power plant is expected to take place in late August.
11:57 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
EU mulls sanctions against RF officials over Magnitsky case
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/202183.html
LONDON, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — The European Union cannot exclude the possible
introduction of punitive measures against a number of Russian citizens in connection
with the Magnitsky case, spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS)
Michael Mann has said.
If the Russian authorities fail to conduct an adequate investigation into the causes and
circumstances of the death of Magnitsky, taking steps with regard to Russian officials
cannot be excluded, he noted.
Last month, the US Department of State imposed visa sanctions against Russian citizens
figuring in the so-called “Magnitsky list.” Michael Mann made it clear on Thursday that
it is possible that the European Union can also take several measures in connection with
the case, unless a due investigation of the case is conducted and those responsible for the
law violations punished.
“It is of great importance for Russia’s future that this case is investigated properly by the
Russian judicial authorities, and that those responsible for any wrongdoing are brought to
justice,” EEAS spokesman Michael Mann said in a written statement to EUobserver.
“Should this not take place, we cannot exclude further reactions by the EU or its member
states.”
The statement was sent in answer to questions if the EU will follow the US in imposing a
visa ban on 60 Russian officials believed to have embezzled 160 million euros in tax
money and killed Magnitsky when he exposed the scam.
The US took the step in July despite Russian threats of retaliation - Russian daily
Kommersant on Wednesday (10 August) reported that Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev has ordered his own blacklist of “several dozen” US officials.
The deadline for any EU reaction is late August when the Investigative Committee of the
Russian Federation is expected to complete its probe into the Magnitsky affair. The
committee has so far named two prison doctors for giving him inadequate medical
treatment. Magnitsky's mother and his former employer, UK-based venture capitalist Bill
Browder, see it as a bid to scapegoat junior officials while letting senior suspects, such as
the head of the Moscow tax authority, Olga Stepanova, off the hook. Two recent
developments augur badly for EU requests to see justice, according to EUobserver.
In July the interior ministry voided the findings of Medvedev's Human Rights Council
after it said ministry officials were guilty of stealing money and that Magnitsky was
murdered in prison. Last week the ministry said it will prosecute the deceased lawyer for
alleged tax evasion. The move is widely seen as a smear campaign. “The Russian
government has shown no intention of prosecuting the real culprits at high levels in the
interior ministry who tortured and killed Sergei Magnitsky. As a result, there has been a
distinct shift in the attitude of the EU toward this case,” Browder noted. “Ultimately, the
EU will follow the US in imposing visa sanctions and eventually both will freeze the
assets of those people responsible.”
Magnitsky was a Firestone Duncan attorney representing a UK-based investment
advisory firm Hermitage Capital Management on trumped-up charges of tax evasion and
tax fraud. He was a specialist in civil law. Over the years of its operation, Hermitage had
supplied information to the press on a number of occasions related to corporate and
governmental misconduct in alleged corruption within state-owned Russian enterprises.
Company co-founder Bill Browder was soon expelled from Russia as a national threat,
though Browder himself has indicated that he represented only a threat “to corrupt
politicians and bureaucrats,” believing that the ouster was conducted to leave his
company open for exploitation. In November 2005, Browder arrived in Moscow to be
told his visa had been annulled. He was deported the next day and has not seen his
Moscow home for 10 years.
In June 4, 2007, Hermitage's office was raided by the police. The offices of Firestone
Duncan, Hermitage's law firm, were also raided. In both cases, tax documents were
stolen. In October 2007, Browder received word that one of the firms maintained in
Moscow had a judgement against it for an alleged unpaid debt. This was the first
Browder had heard of it, according to him.
Magnitsky was arrested and imprisoned at the Butyrka prison in Moscow in November
2008 after being accused of colluding with Hermitage. Held for 11 months without trial,
he was, as reported by The Telegraph, “denied visits from his family” and “forced into
increasingly squalid cells.” He developed gall stones, pancreatitis and calculous
cholecystitis, for which he was given inadequate medical treatment during his
incarceration. Surgery was ordered in June, but never performed; detention centre chief
Ivan P. Prokopenko later indicated that he “...did not consider Magnitsky sick...Prisoners
often try to pass themselves off as sick, in order to get better conditions.”
On November 16, eight days before he would have had to have been released if he were
not brought to trial, Magnitsky died for reasons attributed first by prison officials as a
“rupture to the abdominal membrane” and later to heart attack.
U.S. says not notified about Russia's retaliatory blacklist
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110811/165699919.html
04:26 11/08/2011
WASHINGTON, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
The U.S. Department of State said on Thursday it was not notified by Russia about a
retaliatory blacklist compiled in response to Washington's decision to impose travel
restrictions on Russian officials over the Magnitsky case.
Russian business daily Kommersant said on Wednesday Russia prepared its own blacklist
of U.S. officials who will be banned from travelling to Russia in response to a U.S.
blacklist of Russians linked to the controversial death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a
pre-trial detention center in November 2009.
"We are aware of the reports in Russian media about a visa ban Russian authorities have
purportedly put in place," a State Department official told RIA Novosti in a written
response. "We have not heard formally from the Russian government on this issue."
The Russian blacklist consists of several dozen U.S. officials, including those linked to
the trials of Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who is prosecuted in the United States on
charges of arms trafficking, and Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted of
drug dealing in the United States, Kommersant said, quoting unidentified officials.
Russia earlier said the U.S. restrictions, imposed in late July without an official
notification to Moscow, will "become a strong irritant in Russian-U.S. relations." Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Foreign Ministry to respond to the move.
Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Capital investment fund, died in November 2009 after
almost a year in Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention center. He
was detained on tax evasion charges shortly after announcing he had uncovered massive
fraud by police investigators. In July, a Kremlin rights council said his death was likely to
have been the result of a beating and that the charges against him were fraudulent.
US and Russia exchange non-diplomatic actions
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/11-08-2011/118715-usa_russia_lists-0/
11.08.2011
The U.S. State Department and the Foreign Ministry of Russia had to enter into nondiplomatic correspondence because of the actions of the lawyer with the fund Hermitage
Capital. He, with the filing of Senator Benjamin Cardin, dropped the "iron curtain" in
front of a number of Russian officials, who, in the opinion of Americans, are guilty of the
death of Sergei Magnitsky who died on November 16, 2009 at the detention center.
This reaction was in full accordance with the Old Testament principle of eye for an eye,
"a list for the list." From now on, for the U.S. citizens "interfering in US-Russian
relations," Russia will turn into terra incognito. There are a few dozen of those at the
moment, according to "Kommersant."
The Foreign Ministry officially denies the existence of the "anti-list," stating that "the
relevant instruction of the president is still under development." Nevertheless, the process
is in full force, because "in recent years we have repeatedly witnessed gross violations of
human rights of Russians in respect of the citizens of Russia and Russian companies
under the American legislation in the ex-territorial basis. This is unacceptable."
There is a grand myth that for Russian officials the US is the Promised Land. However,
in practice this is by far is not the case. Therefore, it is unlikely that potential persona non
grata will view the denial of the US visas as a tragedy. Prison doctors who were also put
on the list will not be particularly upset either. Even more ridiculous is the promise that
such an insignificant measure would help curb the corruption, as insisted by human rights
activists of all ranks and suits.
In fairness, it must be noted that there are even fewer overseas bureaucrats striving to
come to Russia and keep their money in Sberbank. Hardly any of the "civilians" in the
US would be upset having learnt that they are denied entry to Russia. In this case, does
this matter at all?
Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Baxter Group" Dmitry Gusev is convinced that it
does matter. In an interview with "Pravda.ru" he stated: "This case is one of the key
moments in the campaign of exerting pressure on Russia. After all, what is the
"Magnitsky case"? It was a private dispute between two economic entities that were
fighting over some large transaction. They disagreed on something, and someone killed
someone. Yet, the claim is filed against the country. If we stick to this logic, for example,
we would have to deliver an ultimatum to Oslo tomorrow, saying that the Norwegian
state is not able to keep things in order and therefore we need to pressure them. This is
absurd! America is simply acting on this principle. Our Foreign Ministry uses similar
techniques. There is a "list of Magnitsky," therefore there will be an "anti-list." I do not
see anything wrong here."
Dmitry Gusev was not exaggerating speaking about "pressure." A little earlier President
Dmitry Medvedev stated the same, albeit in a more polite form: "I sometimes get the
feeling that our country has only two issues that should worry those concerned with
human rights -"Magnitsky case "and "Khodorkovsky case." They are significant, serious
cases, but I think that after all we have to look deeper."
Unfortunately, not everyone is capable of looking deeper, choosing to stay on the surface.
For certain individuals it is important to make noise, hence the abundance of "anti-lists."
For example, the European Parliament has three such "documents" - the "Magnitsky list",
"Khodorkovsky list" and "Nemtsov list." The latter was in jail for only 15 days, but
decided to put himself on par with "the Great," and traditionally ask for foreign
assistance. The request was "please punish Vladimir Putin along with 11 other senior
government officials, or at least do not let them in your country. I can vividly imagine
this: the Russian Prime Minister is arriving for some important negotiations, when he is
told: "Turn around, Vladimir, you are denied the entry!"
There is another nuance. In the article published today by The Washington Post, Cogovernmental U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (better known as
the "Helsinki Commission"), a senator from the ruling Democratic Party, the frantic
Cardin affirmed the determination of his fellow senators to pass a special bill " Sergei
Magnitsky. The rule of law and responsibility." Among other things, the new law
assumes the arrest of the perpetrators' assets not only in the US but also abroad. This is an
excellent opportunity to feel other people's pockets. No one argues that the villains (all of
them, not selectively) should be punished. However, it should be up to Russia to decide
who is a villain. In his sermons Uncle Sam can go over all limits. This should be stopped
gently but firmly.
"I think in this case an asymmetric response rather than a symmetric one would have
been more effective," a candidate of Political Science, Deputy Director General of the
CPC Alexander Shatilov shared his views on the situation with Pravda.ru. "If it does not
go beyond letting out the steam, then it would reduce the credibility of the Russian
authorities, including in the international arena. Therefore, any loud statements are
appropriate only when we are really ready for serious enough actions. The "Magnitsky
list" should cause a reaction. However, we should look for other, less formal ways to
demonstrate our indignation."
These ways are not that difficult to find. It would be sufficient to deny the entry not to
abstract "violators of the Russian-American relations," but very specific U.S. troops
bound for Afghanistan in transit through the Russian territory. Incidentally, this should be
done in full compliance with the document signed by Barack Obama talking not only of
suspects in the "case of Magnitsky," but also about those involved in "war crimes" and
"those who allowed violence against civilian population." The Afghans will be able to tell
a great deal on this topic. There always be an appropriate response to every list.
Michael Sinelnikov
Pravda.Ru
U.S. Helsinki Commission calls on Russia to withdraw troops from Abkhazia and
South Ossetia
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1916876.html
[11.08.2011 10:38]
Georgia , Tbilisi, Aug.11 / Trend, N. Kirtskhalia /
The U.S. Helsinki Commission called on Russia to withdraw all its troops from the
occupied Georgian territories entirely. As the U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman,
Senator Chris Smith said, Russia must "cease the illegal occupation of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia."
"Russia must withdraw its troops and allow Georgian refugees and internally displaced
persons to return to their homes ", Senator Smith told"Voice of America."
Senator Ben Cardin further said that Russia should remove its ban and allow the OSCE
Mission to work in conflict zones in Georgia.
Military actions were launched in the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia in August
2008. Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. Later Russian
troops occupied the city, driving the Georgian military back to Georgia. Russia
recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Aug. 26, and established
diplomatic relations with the regions on Sept. 9, 2008.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at [email protected]
Increased economic contact between Russia, Georgia
http://www.news.az/articles/georgia/42278
Thu 11 August 2011 06:35 GMT | 8:35 Local Time
Russian investments are increasing in Georgia, despite the hostile rhetoric from the
countries' leaders and lack of diplomatic relations.
Advocacy organization the International Crisis Group pulled together facts and figures on
cooperation in its report “Georgia-Russia: Starting Near Zero”, released on 8 August to
coincide with the third anniversary of the start of the Russo-Georgian war.
The report noted the steady increase of Russian investment in Georgia.
"Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia fell by 16 per cent in 2010 compared to
2009, due to the war and the global economic slowdown. Russian companies, however,
increased their investments, concentrating on energy, the financial sector, chemicals,
mining, food industries and telecommunications and putting in $51 million,
approximately 9 per cent of the total. Even though this is small change for Russia and far
from the pre-war 2007 peak of $89 million, it was a five-fold jump from 2009 ($10
million)."
Even though relations remain strained between President Mikheil Saakashvili and the
Russian president and prime minister, trade is encouraged.
The International Crisis Group report noted: "Even in the currently difficult political
situation, President Saakashvili insists: 'We’re not going to hinder Russian companies
from coming to Georgia …. The more business interest we get, the less political pressure
there will be.'"
Critics are concerned that Russian businesses in Georgia are linked to Russian stateowned companies and that Moscow is expanding its influence in the region, the report
continues.
"JSC-Telasi, which operates Tbilisi’s power grid, is 75 per cent held by the huge Russian
state-controlled utility firm, Inter RAO UES. Service was not interrupted during the war,"
it notes.
"The two governments also continue to make energy deals. In January 2009, Inter-RАО
UES and the Georgian government
agreed to jointly operate the Inguri hydroelectric power station (most of which is in
Abkhazia)... Inter RAO owns two hydropower plants in Georgia (Khramhesi-1 and
Khramhesi-2) and plans to build three more for $193 million by 2016. Georgia now gets
most of its electricity from hydro power and is a net electricity exporter, including to
Russia."
Transport is another area where ties are growing.
"Russia and Georgia have already also proven they can cooperate on practical transport
issues. Direct air service between Moscow and Tbilisi was relaunched in 2010 after a
two-year hiatus, when the Georgian United Transport Administration
and the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency gave permission to Russian carrier S7 and
Georgian Airways to fly between the two countries. Charter flights between Moscow and
Batumi and Kutaisi (Georgia) also exist. Such steps may appear minor, but they have an
intangible value in helping to chip away at the sense of mutual estrangement of ordinary
citizens, if not their
respective leaderships. Transport links help foster increased trade, which can inevitably
lead to more contact between
people and governments."
News.Az
Outcome of the ROK-Russia Foreign Minister’s Meeting
http://www.koreaittimes.com/story/16233/outcome-rok-russia-foreignminister%E2%80%99s-meeting
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Korea IT Times ([email protected])
Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held a
meeting in Moscow, Russia, in the morning of August 8, for an in-depth consultation on
issues facilitating summit diplomacy and high-level personnel exchange, expansion of
substantive cooperation, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and ways to
cooperate on the international stage.
The two Ministers shared the view that relations between Korea and Russia have steadily
developed in various areas including politics, economy, and culture, befitting their
Strategic Cooperative Partnership. In addition, they noted that increased exchange
between the two nations' leaders of late, as demonstrated by the reciprocal visits by
President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev to each other's country
in 2010, the 20th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations, have
brought the bilateral relations to a new level, resulting in an agreement to make effort to
hold a summit on a regular basis.
Minister Kim and Lavrov welcomed the continuous increases in trade and investment
between the two countries, citing the projection that bilateral trade is expected to grow by
more than 30% compared to the same quarter in the prior year to reach more than USD
20 billion. They agreed to strengthen substantive cooperation in far eastern Siberia and
make continued effort to expand cooperation in areas where Russia is highly interested
for modernizing its economy, including energy efficiency, IT, medical technology and
devices.
The two Ministers assessed the current situations concerning North Korea and its nuclear
issue following the inter-Korean dialogue on denuclearization and US-North Korea talks
in New York, and exchanged views on future responses. The Korean side explained the
need to create conditions conducive to the resumption of the Six-party Talks through
various bilateral and multilateral contacts beginning with inter-Korean talks, as well as its
intention to maintain the inter-Korean dialogue in this context.
In addition, Korea called for Russia's continued effort and role on the issues to induce
North Korea to take concrete actions in show of its commitment to denuclearization. The
Russian side welcomed the recent resumptions of talks with North Korea and said that it
had been making effort to create conditions favorable to the resumption of the Six-party
Talks. On the shared position that future Six-party Talks should be held in a more
substantive and productive manner, both sides agreed to continue close cooperation.
Russia explained the details of its consultation with North Korea on the construction of a
gas pipeline passing through North Korea to supply its gas to South Korea. Minister Kim
appreciated such effort and agreed to hold close consultations with Russia in this
regard.
Korea and Russia, as Strategic Cooperative Partners, agreed to strengthen consultations
on major global issues and to continue their cooperation for successful hosting of major
international events held in the two countries, such as the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit
in Seoul and the APEC Russia 2012 summit in Vladivostok.
source: MOFAT
Armenian families left for Russia with Compatriots project
http://en.trend.az/regions/scaucasus/armenia/1916858.html
[11.08.2011 10:26]
A total of 600 families from Lori and Shirak regions of Armenia left for various regions
of Russia with support of the Compatriots project, which was elaborated by Russian
government, News.am reporeted. The project is over and will not be resumed. Consul
General of Russia to Gyumri Vasily Korchmar disapproved the information that the
project will start again.
"The project intended not to force Armenians to leave the state but to strengthen the
relation between the two states," the Consul General emphasized. "The project was
initiated in 2006, approved in 2010 and completed in 2011."
Armenian families who left for Russia will have jobs, compensation and registration in a
short while.
Another similar project started by the Government of Poland.
10:01 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
Medvedev nominates candidature of governor of Tula Reg-adds
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/202088.html
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has
submitted the candidature of Vladimir Gruzdev for consideration of the Duma of the Tula
Region to invest him with powers of governor of the region, the Kremlin press service
reported on Thursday.
The United Russia party offered three candidatures to the post of Tula governor to the
president on August 5. Vladimir Gruzdev, who was appoint by the president to the post
of active head of the region, was among them. He replaced Vyacheslav Dudka whose
resignation Medvedev accepted on July 29.
Vladimir Gruzdev, 44, is a well-known entrepreneur, one of the owners of the Seventh
Continent network. Since 2006 he is on the list of Russian multimillionaires compiled by
the journal Finance. He was a deputy of the State Duma of the fourth convocation and
since 2007 occupies the post of first deputy chairman of the Committee of Civil,
Criminal, Arbitration and Judicial Procedure Legislation of the State Duma now.
Gruzdev is a member of the General Council and member of the presidium of the
Moscow City Regional Department of the United Russia party.
Medvedev proposes acting Tula Region governor for permanent post
http://www.primetass.com/news/_Medvedev_proposes_acting_Tula_Region_governor_for_permanent_pos
t/0/%7BB48A7869-302F-4E03-AF21-C8C9F8A295E0%7D.uif
MOSCOW, Aug 11 (PRIME) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put forward acting
Governor of the Tula Region Vladimir Gruzdev as a candidate to be nominated as the
permanent regional governor, the Kremlin’s press service said Thursday, RIA Novosti
reported.
The proposal is to be considered by the regional legislative house.
Earlier in August, the United Russia party chose a number of gubernatorial candidates for
the Tula Region, including Gruzdev.
Under current legislation, political parties with a majority in regional legislatures have
the right to propose at least three candidates for the positions of regional heads. The
president then nominates one of the candidates, who the regional legislature can then
approve or reject.
Vyacheslav Dudka, the region’s former governor, resigned on his own accord on July 29.
End
11.08.2011 12:20
Russia to allocate $8 billion to build space center in Far East
http://en.rian.ru/science/20110811/165701405.html
07:04 11/08/2011
MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
Russia will allocate about 250 billion rubles ($8.4 billion) to build the Vostochny space
center in Far East, the head of the country's space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday.
Russia currently uses two launch sites: Baikonur in Kazakhstan, which it has leased since
the end of the Soviet Union, and Plesetsk in northwest Russia.
So far ground infrastructure, as well as technical and launch complexes are being
designed, Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said in an interview with the Kommersant
daily.
"About 250 billion rubles are to be allocated for the construction," he said.
The Russian government earlier said it intended to spend 24.7 billion rubles (around $800
million) during the first three years of the construction of the space center, billed as a
"new stage in the development of Russian cosmonautics."
The construction of Vostochny is scheduled to begin this year and end in 2016, with the
first rocket launch to take place in 2015 and the first manned flight due in 2018.
The vast facility in the Amur Region will eventually include two launch pads, a training
center and oxygen and hydrogen generation plants.
Popovkin also said the agency is currently studying space launch insurance, following the
loss of three Glonass satellites last December. The satellites, meant to conclude the
formation of Russia's Glonass navigation system, were lost when a Proton-M carrier
rocket veered off course and crashed in the Pacific Ocean in December.
"The idea is to include the insurance into the satellite's cost. This is worldwide practice.
But every case will be considered individually," Popovkin said. "We plan to select a
group of insurance companies, from which we would choose a suitable one to insure our
risks."
According to expert estimates, the losses from the failed launch could stand at about 2.5
billion rubles ($840 million).
Four hundred illegal immigrants arrested near Moscow airport
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110811/165705078.html
11:31 11/08/2011
MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
More than 400 illegal immigrants have been arrested near Moscow's Bykovo Airport,
police said on Thursday.
"It was revealed that Tajik and Uzbek nationals have been living illegally in the area of
Bykovo Airport," an Interior Ministry statement said. "Over 400 people have been
rounded up."
Last month, 72 illegal immigrants were arrested in a makeshift camp in western Moscow.
In April, police uncovered an illegal underground city in the same area which even had
its own mosque.
Earlier this week, Russia's Supreme Court upheld a ban on the ultra-right Movement
Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) which calls for curbs on the inflow of migrants.
08:24 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
Trial in case of Manege Square mass disorders to begin in Moscow
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/202022.html
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — Moscow’s Tverskoi Court on Thursday will begin
the trial of a high-profile criminal case of December mass disorders at Manezhnaya
(Manege) Square in the centre of the RF capital.
The court will hold a preliminary hearing on Thursday. It will be held behind closed
doors, according to the law.
The criminal case over the riots at Manege Square was opened on December 17, 2010.
The defendants are Belarusian citizen, an activist of the unregistered non-governmental
organisation The Other Russia, member of the Strategy 31 movement Igor Berezyuk, two
activists of The Other Russia Kirill Unchuk and Ruslan Khubayev, as well as Leonid
Panin and Alexander Kozevin. All of them are in custody.
Berezyuk is charged with inciting mass disorders, hooliganism, inciting hatred or
hostility, acts of violence against a government official and the involvement of an
underage person in a crime. Hubayev, Unchuk, Panin and Kozevin are charged with
making calls for rioting, vandalism and violence against a government official.
The riots took place in Moscow on December 11, 2010. They were caused by the
situation surrounding the murder of a Spartak football club fan Yegor Sviridov during a
scuffle with the natives of the North Caucasus, which occurred several days earlier. After
that, up to 5,000 football fans and members of informal nationalist groups gathered at
Manege Square as they were angered by actions of law enforcers who after initially
detaining six suspects in the murder of Sviridov, later released five of them on
recognizance. The unauthorized rally turned into a clash with security forces.
Criminal cases were opened on the facts of riots at Manege Square, as well as at the
Metro stations Kitai Gorod, Tretyakovskaya, Tverskaya, Filevsky Park and others in
connection with infliction of bodily harm, hooliganism and violence against law
enforcement bodies.
The five defendants were arrested during the period from January to April this year.
“The criminal investigation against other rioters continues,” spokesman for the Russian
Investigative Committee (SK) Vladimir Markin said earlier.
According to earlier reports, investigation into the December 11, 2010 riot on Moscow’s
downtown Manezhnaya Square is over and its main person named in the criminal
charges, Igor Berezyuk, does not recognize his guilt, the man’s lawyer Dmitry
Agranovsky said. “My defendant and I signed a protocol on familiarization with the
materials of the case,” he told Itar-Tass in late June. “Now these materials will be handed
over to the Prosecutor’s Office where the public prosecutor is due to draft an act of
indictment that will be then read out in the courtroom.”
Berezyuk is accused of encroachments on several articles of the Criminal Code at a time,
including the appeals for public disorders. “As for the riot itself, my defendant doesn’t
recognize any guilt on his part in this,” Agranovsky said, adding that Berezyuk refuses to
give any evidence as regards the episode with the policeman. Upon the examination of
CCTV materials at the beginning of January 2011, the investigators drew a conclusion
that Berezyuk had hit an OMON riot police officer on Manezhnaya Square.
Actions of protest were sparked off in a number of Russian cities, including Moscow, by
the killing of the 28-year-old football fan, Yegor Sviridov, in a night-time brawl on the
outskirts of Moscow. He was killed from a non-lethal gun by a man hailing from North
Caucasus.
In Moscow, about 5,000 football fans and nationalistically minded young people filled
Manezhnaya Square in the afternoon December 11, chanting nationalistic slogans and
provoking incidents with the use of brute force against the non-Slavic-looking passers-by.
Clashes between the protesters and the police occurred and 35 persons turned up at
hospitals with various injuries by the end of the day.
Manezhnaya Square is a large pedestrian open space at the heart of Moscow bound by the
Hotel Moskva to the east, the State Historical Museum and the Alexander Garden to the
south, the Moscow Manege to the west, and the 18th-century headquarters of the
Moscow State University to the north.
The square forms a vital part of downtown Moscow, connecting Red Square (which
sprawls behind the Iberian Gate immediately to the south) with a major traffic artery,
Tverskaya Street, which starts here and runs northward in the direction of Saint
Petersburg. It is served by three metro stations: Okhotny Ryad, Ploshchad Revolyutsii,
and Teatralnaya.
During the 1990s, the Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov had the square closed to traffic and
substantially renovated. The centrepiece of the renovated square is a modern trade centre,
with four underground storeys and parking lot capped with a rotating glass cupola, which
forms a world clock of the Northern hemisphere with major cities marked and a scheme
of lights below each panel to show the progression of the hour. Another innovation is the
feign river-bed of the Neglinnaya River, which has become a popular attraction for the
Muscovites and tourists alike, especially on sultry days of summer. The river's course is
imitated by a rivulet dotted with fountains and statues of Russian fairy-tale characters, as
sculpted by Zurab Tsereteli. In 1995, Vyacheslav Klykov's equestrian statue of Marshal
Zhukov was unveiled in front of the State Historical Museum to mark the 50th
anniversary of the Moscow Victory Parade, when the Soviet commander had
spectacularly rode a white stallion through Red Square and Manege Square.
Russian law enforcers conduct search in police offices over illegal casino case
http://en.rian.ru/crime/20110811/165705496.html
11:59 11/08/2011
MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
Russian Investigation Committee and Federal Security Service (FSB) officials are
searching the offices of police officials suspected in a gambling ring court case, a police
source said.
The searches are part of a probe into a gambling ring case that was opened in February
when police uncovered an illegal casino outside Moscow. Casino owner Ivan Nazarov,
his assistants, and three policemen, who were "covering" the illegal business, were
accused of fraud and are in police custody until August 15 during the investigations.
Investigators and security services are searching the offices of police officials in the
Moscow region, the source said without elaborating what they were looking for.
Nine police officers, including two from the so-called K-directorate responsible for IT
crimes, were arrested in February while two top prosecutors involved in the case were put
on a wanted list.
Illegal casinos have mushroomed across Russia since a law came into force in July 2009
banning gambling everywhere except in four remote gaming zones.
RT News line, August 11
Counter-terrorist regime eased in Kabardino-Balkaria
http://rt.com/politics/news-line/2011-08-11/#id16065
11:39
Russia has partially lifted the counter-terrorism regime in Kabardino-Balkaria, where it
was introduced in February after several attacks were carried out against tourists and
local police. The counter-terrorism regime has been lifted in the Nalchik and Chegem
districts of the North Caucasian republic. It is still in force in the Elbrus district, as well
as in parts of the Baksan and Cherek districts. In February, three people were killed in
Kabardino-Balkaria in an attack on a tourist bus that was on its way to Elbrus Mountain.
Another attack saw a ski lift blown up.
Vladikavkaz mayor’s murderer sentenced to 20 years of prison
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/society/16739.html
Alexander Jussoyev, murderer of 8 people, including Vladikavkaz Mayor Vitaly
Karayev and Vice-Premier of the local government Kazbek Pagiyev, has been
sentenced to 19 years and 6 months of prison by the Supreme Court of North
Ossetia today, RIA Novosti reports.
Jussoyev will spend 15 years in prison and the rest at a penal colony. The
imprisonment terms start from April 1, 2009, the arrest day. The assailant was
accused for 17 articles of the Russian Criminal Code, he was to spend 80 days in
prison. Judge Stanislav Balikoyev merged the punishments together.
Jussoyev was pardoned on a set of violations. His case has been considered since
October 2010. Jussoyev admitted guilt. A special processes was organized.
Jussoyev joined an organized criminal group in July 2008. They killed the
Vladikavkaz administration head, former deputy government chairman and his driver
in December 2008. He also attacked police officers, including a criminal police chief,
head of the operative search group. Jussoyev is suspected of banditism, murder of
8.
Vladikavkaz Mayor Vitaly Karayev was killed by a sniper near his house on
November 26, 2008.
Deputy Chairman of the North Ossetian government Kazbek Pagiyev was killed on
December 31, 2009 when driving out of his yard.
Three other assailants involved in the case were sentenced as well. Suepected
organizer of the criminal group Oleg Gagiyev will be on trial. His process will start in
a military court of Rostov-on-Don. His lawyer Alan Bagrayev said he protested
against the military court.
04:06 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
NOssetia Supreme Court to pass sentence to contract killer
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/201963.html
VLADIKAVKAZ, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — The Supreme Court of North Ossetia will
pass on Thursday a sentence on Alexander Dzhussoyev, charged with several resounding
contract murders of ranking officials and police officers.
According to the investigation, he committed, along with his gang, the assassination of
the Vladikavkaz Mayor Vitaly Karayev, former North Ossetian first vice-premier Kazbek
Pagiev and his driver as well as several civilians.
Dzhussoyev is also accused of an attempt on life of head of the criminal search
department of the republican Interior Ministry Vitaly Cheldiev and section head of the
criminal search department Aslan Kachmazov who were investigating the operation of
the above gang.
Court hearings started last November. Dzhussoyev concluded agreement during the
preliminary investigation on a special order of conducting court hearings. However, court
hearings started with an unexpected trick right at the first meeting: the accused refused to
recognise his guilt. And the court hearings were conducted in an ordinary way.
Dzhussoyev is charged under articles of the Russian Criminal Code “Murder”,
“Banditry”, “Attempts on life of officers of law enforcement bodies” and others. He was
detained in April 2009 along with supposed ringleader of the gang Oleg Gagiev in
Moscow.
In July the Russian Supreme Court decided to send the criminal case against Gagiev to a
district military court. Spokesman of the Russian Investigation Committee Vladimir
Markov said that its decision had been taken in connection with the fact that “ the
investigation had data on possible preparation by mobsters who are on international and
federal lists, for attacks on trial participants”.
According to Markin, “the investigation received information during its search activities
of a real threat to life and health of victims and witnesses of the above criminal case,
while they will implement their juridical powers and rights during court hearings of this
criminal case”.
Earlier, the North Ossetian Supreme Court sentenced to long prison terms three other
members of the gang: Inal Ostayev who participated in four murders – to 19 years of
strict regime colony, former police officer Rafael Kallagov who supplied information of
measures conducted by police and “sheltered” his buddy thugs – to 18 years of strict
regime colony and Alan Alborov who participated in preparing assassinations of ranking
officials and police officers – to nine years of strict regime colony.
Crashed An-12 plane's cockpit voice recorder found
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110811/165700771.html
05:53 11/08/2011
KHABAROVSK, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
The cockpit voice recorder of the An-12 plane which crashed in Far East on Tuesday was
found on Thursday, an emergencies ministry spokesman said.
"The cockpit voice recorder was found at 2:45 Moscow time [22:45 GMT Wednesday],"
the source said.
The flight data recorder was recovered late on Wednesday.
The recovery of bodies from the wreckage will begin right after investigators document
the positioning of all plane fragments.
So far, all 11 people who were onboard the plane are presumed dead, but officially listed
as missing.
"The location of every fragment is vital for establishing the cause of the crash and
making a clear picture of what had happened. That's why we do not touch anything at the
crash site. The search for victims will begin only after investigators do their job," a
spokeswoman for the regional transport prosecutors' department, Natalya Salkina, said.
Fragments of the plane are scattered in a radius of 5 km (3 miles).
The investigation team will include about 20 experts from Khabarovsk, Moscow-based
Interstate Aviation Committee and the Far Eastern transport investigation department. It
will arrive to the crash site on Thursday.
The plane, bound from the city of Magadan to the Chukotka Autonomous Area in
Russia's extreme northeast, was carrying 11 people and around 18 metric tons of cargo. It
disappeared from radars some 300 km (186 miles) from its takeoff point shortly after
reporting a fuel leak and fire in an engine. No survivors have been found.
Before the crash, the An-12 was used for 48 years, and investigators say a technical
malfunction and pilot error could be to blame for the accident.
RT News line, August 11
Fair Russia expels MPs for joining Putin’s Popular Front
http://rt.com/politics/news-line/2011-08-11/#id16063
11:03
The Fair Russia opposition party has expelled those members who enrolled in Vladimir
Putin’s Popular Front. “We unanimously agreed to expel vice speaker Aleksandr
Babakov, MPs Mikhail Starshinov and Vasily Shestakov, and also former MP Elena
Vtorygina,” party spokesman Igor Zotov has said. None of the MPs showed up at the
meeting where their expulsions were being considered, the spokesman added. United
Russia’s Popular Front was originally established by party leader Vladimir Putin to unite
members of various public organizations, but later began accepting members of other
political parties as well.
06:46 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
Mironov promises to break into State Duma
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/201987.html
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov “cannot
guarantee that nobody will leave the party anymore”, but promises that the main skeleton,
the face of the party will remain”.
Alexander Babakov, Mikhail Starshinov and Vasily Shestakov who joined the Popular
Front and were expelled from the Just Russia Party, “played no role in the party, and it
turned out that they were just fellow travellers, while Yelena Vtorygina was really a
comrade-in-arms who stood at the formation of the party”, Mironov noted in an interview
with the Izvestia newspaper, published on Thursday.
Mironov explains the mass exodus from Just Russia by the fact that many of its members
turned to be unready to embrace tough and principled stand of the party which “grew
stronger as a political force” and which “has become the real opposition to United
Russia".
Mironov also claimed that the very good rating of his party at the start of the election race
“scared United Russia very much and then luring his colleagues started”.
“The Kremlin is afraid of our ungovernable nature,” the Just Russia leader reckons. “But
nobody have ever governed us. I have not given any promises, and the party has always
been independent. When I was a member of the Russian Security Council, I closed
personally my mouth. But when I left the post of the Federation Council speaker, I untied
my hands,” Mironov continued.
“We are bracing for a tough version at the elections to the State Duma: they will try to
bar us from the elections, and we arrange mechanisms in such a way so that it would not
be possible to do this,” Mironov noted. “We shall break into the State Duma this time
too,” he said with conviction.
07:55 11/08/2011Top News
Volgograd region fire area increases to 853 ha
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/202066.html
VOLGOGRAD, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — Firefighters and foresters in the Volgograd
region continue efforts to put out wildfires. To extinguish a major forest fire it is planned
to use aircraft of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM). In less than a
day the fire area has grown more than 4 times.
Spokeswoman for the regional EMERCOM department Yelena Rodionova told Itar-Tass
that at the present time “the area engulfed by fire is 853 hectares, of which 82 hectares
are pine plantations of the Archedinsky forest service.”
The fire alarm came at 17:10 MSK, Wednesday. A steppe fire at an area of 162 hectares
swept 20 hectares of pine forest of the Archedinsky forestry. The hot and windy weather
contributed to the spread of the fire.
At present a total of 420 people and 96 special equipment units are engaged in the firefighting operation, Rodionova said. She noted that there is no threat to human
settlements, however to improve the efficiency of fire fighting it was decided at dawn to
use special helicopters and airplanes of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
The Volgograd region located in the south-eastern part of the East European Plain is a
connecting link between all Russian regions, the CIS countries, and the whole world. It
shares a border with many neighbours, including Voronezh, Saratov, Astrakhan, and
Rostov regions, the Republic of Kalmykia, and Kazakhstan. The Volga River divides the
region into the high Right Bank (elevations to 358 m) and the low Left Bank (or TransVolga). The Volga and the Don are the region’s main rivers. The Volgograd region has
an area of 113,900 square km (0.67 percent of the Russian Federation).
The region has a continental climate with hot, dry summers and cold winters with little
snow. Annual precipitation varies from about 500 mm in the northeast to 250 mm in the
southeast. The average January temperature ranges from -8 °C to -12 °C, and the average
July temperature is +23 °C. Most of the region is located in the dry steppe and semidesert zones. Soils are divided into five different zones: steppe black earth (chernozem),
dry steppe light chestnut, dry steppe chestnut, semi-desert light chestnut, and VolgaAkhtuba floodplain.
Volgograd Region is participating in an experiment of the RF Ministry of Natural
Resources to introduce environmental insurance for predicting the prevention of
environmental crises and elimination of their consequences. Volgograd has been
designated as an experimental centre for developing new atmospheric quality control
methods.
Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, August 11, 2011
http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110811/165702557.html
08:40 11/08/2011
POLITICS
The Russian government on Wednesday offered the first glimpse of a retaliatory blacklist
compiled in response to Washington's decision to slap travel restrictions on Russian
officials implicated in the 2009 prison death of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The
Foreign Ministry confirmed that it has drawn up a list of U.S. officials who might be
banned, but stressed that no final decision has been made
(The Moscow Times)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor
Yanukovych in Sochi. Sources in Kiev said ahead of the meeting that the ongoing trial of
the country’s ex-prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko will be on the
agenda
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree which obliges several ministries and
departments to provide internet users with regular information about their activities,
including anti-corruption measures and tax declarations of top officials and their family
members
(Kommersant, Vedomosti, Izvestia)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled to the Taman Peninsula on Wednesday to
visit an archeological field camp near the submerged part of the ancient Greek city of
Phanagoria
(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
Shelling was again reported on the border between North and South Korea
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
OIL & GAS
LUKoil's Bulgarian refinery can continue operating until a final ruling is given on a tax
dispute with the customs office, a top Bulgarian court ruled
(The Moscow Times)
TELECOMS & IT
Glonass has secured Nokia’s backing for its satellite navigation system in a major step
toward securing the second spot behind the U.S.-backed GPS in global positioning
technology.
(The Moscow Times)
Apple Inc. has officially become the world's most valuable company, replacing ExxonMobil, which had held that title for the past five years
(Vedomosti, Izvestia)
BANKING & FINANCE
Russia’s largest savings bank, Sberbank, hopes to increase the 31.8% market share of its
overall credit portfolio by using its online banking service to offer preapproved loans to
its regular clients starting in September, the lender said.
(The Moscow Times)
The gap between the black market and official rates for the Belarusian ruble has doubled
this month, pointing to further price and economic headaches for President Alexander
Lukashenko.
(The Moscow Times)
DEFENSE
As Russia prepares to mark 11 years since the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine,
deputy general director of Russia's nuclear corporation Rosatom Ivan Kamenskikh, said
Russia must decide by 2013 what to do with other sunken nuclear subs in order to avoid
potential radioactive pollution of the area
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
China's first aircraft carrier, a refurbished former Soviet vessel, made its maiden voyage
on Wednesday, raising concerns about the country's growing military strength
(The Moscow Times, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
SOCIETY
Debris from a 48-year-old cargo plane that disappeared from radar screens in the
Magadan region has been found strewn across five kilometers of hilly taiga in the area,
emergency officials said
(The Moscow Times, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti)
The president of a prestigious medical school in Moscow was sacked and may face
criminal charges after his school enrolled hundreds of "ghost applicants" instead of real
students this year.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta,
Moskovskie Novosti, Izvestia)
A Moscow prosecutor was hospitalized along with five other people after he drove his
BMW 525 sedan through a trolleybus stop and into a row of parked cars in the city center
early Wednesday, the Investigative Committee said
(The Moscow Times, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
August 11, 2011 10:06
Moscow press review for August 11, 2011
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=265114
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers
published on August 11. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
VEDOMOSTI
Severstal (RTS: CHMF) and Evraz Group cannot start producing coal in Tuva before a
section of the Trans-Siberian Railroad is expanded for transporting coal. The project
would cost 116 billion rubles, but neither Russian Railways (RTS: RZHD) nor the state
have money for this, as Vedomosti has learned from an Economic Development Ministry
official, an employee of a company involved in developing the Ulug-Khemsky field in
Tuva, and a Russian Railways spokesperson. It has turned out that, to implement
Severstal's and Evraz Group's projects, it is not enough just to double the capacity of a
railroad stretch between Kyzyl and Kuragino, which has not yet even been built, but is
also necessary to expand the Mezhdurechensk-Taishet section of the Trans-Siberian
Railroad. ('Billions For Coal')
Vedomosti has learned how Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin
plans to fulfill Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's instruction on ensuring market liquidity.
The Finance Ministry deposited 40 billion rubles on August 9, while it usually offers
from 10 billion to 20 billion rubles and actually deposits even less. The next portions,
which are allocated each Tuesday, will be twice as large: the Finance Ministry will
deposit 80 billion rubles at each of the deposit auctions on August 16 and 23, Kudrin told
Vedomosti. ('Money Served')
NF Trading affiliated with Dmitry Firtash's chemical holding Ostchem and the Russian
mineral fertilizer producer Minudobreniya, which a company belonging to Arkady
Rotenberg recently gained control of, have concluded a cooperation agreement under
which the Ukrainian trader will be selling Minudobreniya's products, Firtash's press
service reported. Rotenberg's press service confirmed this information but declined to
explain why NF Trading has been chosen for the purpose. Nor did the press services
disclose the terms on which the parties will cooperate. Firtash had suggested earlier that
he would like to buy Minudobreniya. Experts believe sales through a sole trader signal
that Firtash and Rotenberg are more partners than competitors. ('From Competitors to
Partners')
KOMMERSANT
The Russian nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly Atomstroyexport,
the main contractor of the Belene nuclear power plant construction in Bulgaria, may buy
old equipment from the National Electricity Company of Bulgaria on condition that Sofia
starts the plant construction. The Bulgarian customer has warned it could sue Rosatom
for 61 million euro, but Atomstroyexport is claiming that Sofia refused to extend the
contract on buying the equipment itself. Nevertheless, the parties started negotiations on
the matter on Wednesday. (Page 9, 'Rosatom Prepared to Make Concessions to Bulgaria')
August 11, 2011 11:34
25% of Russians think it normal to report against colleagues - poll
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - Eighty-four percent of Russians say there are people
snitching on colleagues at their office. The opinion is most frequently expressed by
public officers (96%) and managers (92%), Interfax learned from Joblist.ru portal experts
on Tuesday.
The portal polled 5,000 working Russians in all of the federal districts in early August.
Eighty-six percent of the respondents said they knew who was informing bosses against
others. Seventy-two percent condemned such people, and 25% said they were neutral
about the 'normal' practice.
Three percent said they would accept the offer to snitch on colleagues, and 5% said they
were already doing that. The most frequent explanations are: "That's my character, I can
do nothing about that;" "I hope for a promotion;" "I suck up to my bosses;" "I fight for
justice;" and "It's my revenge or I do that out of spite."
Fifty-three percent of the respondents said there were no companies without snitchers at
all.
te jv
(Our editorial staff can be reached at [email protected])
Polar Bear Commission sets annual harvest quota in Moscow
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/polar-bear-commission-sets-annual-harvest-quotamoscow
Alaska Newspapers | Aug 10, 2011
The third meeting of the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Commission was held the last week of
July in Moscow, according to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The group consists of representatives from the United States and Russian Federation
representing federal, state, and Native interests in polar bear conservation and
management.
The goal of the meeting was to continue implementation of a Bilateral Treaty for the
shared Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population, which inhabits the Bering and Chukchi
seas.
The commission affirmed that a quota of 58 polar bears per year will be shared between
the two countries. This quota, established in June 2010, represents a historic step toward
protecting the ability of the Native peoples of Alaska and Chukotka to take polar bears
for traditional subsistence purposes, and ensuring that polar bear harvest is sustainable.
The commission affirmed the full participation of Native peoples in the conservation of
the Alaska-Chukotka population and recognized the continued importance of Traditional
Ecological Knowledge, the press release said.
The commission announced that a multiyear quota system will be used to manage polar
bear harvest in the U.S., starting in 2013. Subsistence harvest of the Alaska-Chukotka
polar bear population in Chukotka, Russia, was banned in 1956.
A joint communication group was identified to inform the public of the Commission's
progress toward the conservation and management of the Alaska-Chukotka population.
Geoffrey Haskett, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska Region, and
Amirkhan Amirkhanov, Deputy Head of the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources
Management Service, viewed the polar bear meeting as a successful example of scientific
collaboration between the U.S. and Russia on Arctic issues.
This story is posted with permission from Alaska Newspapers Inc., which publishes six
weekly community newspapers, a statewide shopper, a statewide magazine and slate of
special publications that supplement its products year-round.
Russia youths seek 'social lift' at Kremlin political camp
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-russia-youth-camp20110811,0,5884530,full.story
The forum teaches them how to keep secrets from journalists,
raise funds and organize, but most of those at Lake Seliger
seem less interested in the Kremlin than in climbing the social
ladder.
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times
August 11, 2011
Reporting from Nilova Pustyn, Russia—
They wake up to the Russian national anthem and gather near the main stage lined with
huge portraits of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his boss (on paper at least), President
Dmitry Medvedev, where they do their morning exercises to music interrupted
periodically by recorded quotations from both leaders.
As the day goes on, they are taught how to keep secrets from journalists, how to be active
on the Internet, how to set up youth organizations and how to raise funds. They are
trained in martial arts by an expert from the Vladimir Putin Fight Club and instructed to
read books suggested by Putin.
One thing they don't need to be taught is to adore Putin. They already do.
In this sprawling Kremlin-sponsored youth camp 220 miles northwest of Moscow — 99
acres of white sand, tall pines and Lake Seliger, a jewel of Russian nature — thousands
of young men and women are learning how to be supporters of the ruling United Russia
party, future politicians and senior government officials.
The state spends more than $7 million to accommodate about 20,000 18- to 25-year-olds
at the camp, known as Seliger Forum-2011. They come in groups of 7,000 for nine days
in July, most of them from Kremlin-nurtured youth organizations such as Nashi (Ours),
Mestnyie (Locals) and Stal (Steel).
Political youth camps are a fixture of summer the world over. Some activists and
journalists, however, have expressed concern about the role of the Kremlin-backed youth
groups in harassing liberal politicians and journalists and countering opposition rallies in
a country that has seen civil liberties threatened and the rule of law founder.
With the youth organizations and the camp, authorities are trying to recreate the Soviet
Young Communist League, which itself was an abridged replica of the Communist Party,
with a similar structure and control mechanisms, political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said.
"The Kremlin grew concerned with what was going on in the minds of the young people
in mid-2000s amid the succession of orange revolutions in the former Soviet republics,"
said Oreshkin, a senior researcher with the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of
Geography. But "whatever [the campers] may say now, many of them don't really care
about the Kremlin or its leaders but regard their being here as a chance for a career
boost."
Alexander Vasenkov, a 19-year-old student from the city of Yaroslavl, acknowledged
that he hoped to get "a social lift" here and improve his prospects. "I hope that being
maximally active here will help me to climb up the social ladder and reach my goals
faster," he said.
After a breakfast of oatmeal and tea at wooden tables near their tents, the campers
scattered throughout the vast territory for hours of instruction by experts in subjects as
varied as politics and mountain climbing.
Not far from a row of posters named "Losers of the Year," featuring photographs of
imprisoned tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other opposition leaders, an instructor told
one group seated in a circle how Putin disposed of the system of oligarchs that rose after
the fall of the Soviet Union.
"[Boris] Berezovsky and [Vladimir] Gusinsky are abroad and Khodorkovsky is in
prison," the instructor said to approving grunts and giggles. "So the oligarchs no longer
govern the state and no longer influence the decisions taken by the people authorized to
do so."
Journalists may be loyal, but they also may be provocative, another instructor told his
group. "Be careful with seemingly simple questions, because if you chatter a lot you help
your enemy." Nodding their heads, the students took notes.
Not far from some graffiti depicting a kimono-clad Putin holding the globe in his arms,
another group was asked to discuss various concepts. "OK, how about the notion
America"? the instructor asked. "America is to blame for everything," came one student's
quick reply.
"These young people are taught to open up accounts in all social networks, make as many
friends as possible and thus spread information with maximum efficiency," explained
Vasily Yakemenko, founder of the Nashi youth group and head of the Federal Agency for
Youth Affairs that runs the camp. "Our camp will eventually turn into the biggest youth
communication center in the world where young people from other countries can come
and talk about things they can't discuss at home."
Critique is welcome here, Yakemenko said, insisting that the camp was open to all
opinions. He said he wished more lecturers of liberal views would visit. But he quickly
added that opposition leaders such as Garry Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Kasyanov
and others are personae non gratae as they "don't profess true convictions."
Oleg Kashin, a liberal journalist with the Kommersant newspaper who investigated the
activities of the youth groups, was ambushed by two thugs in November. He was beaten
with an iron rod, and a leg, hand and both jaws were broken. Believing that Yakemenko
and youth groups affiliated with him were involved, Kashin publicly expressed his
suspicion.
"I can't tell you more now, but I know that in the course of the investigation of the attack
on me the Russian Investigation Committee found a lot of interesting material about the
activities of these youth groups," Kashin said by telephone.
At lunchtime over cups of hot tea fresh from the campfire, some of the campers talked
about politics and Putin. They were told that a top leader would soon visit. No name was
given, but for them that could be only one person.
"Medvedev is weak in his foreign policy and Russia has lost many positions of influence
abroad, so Putin with his tough approach should come back and lead the country," said
Vasily Meshcherinov, a 20-year-old Moscow student.
"I live well with Putin in power and he should continue to run the country," said Anna
Firsova, 19, a student from St. Petersburg.
The big moment soon arrived. Sporting a tan and smile full of confidence, Putin emerged
from his helicopter to cheers and many a happy tear from a crowd of about three dozen
teenagers apparently chosen for the greeting because they were overweight. They stood
on or near a huge scale erected on the edge of the camp. Their leader told Putin about
their plans to lose weight, and to their delight he promised to try to shed a pound too.
Putin then started for the main tent, where thousands of others were waiting.
On the way through a forest of tall pines, blue and green tents and portraits of himself and
Medvedev, he stopped to talk to groups of campers here and there, climbed an alpine
wall, posed for pictures arm-wrestling with a couple of young men who looked like
professional bodybuilders and gave an interview for a campus documentary about his
father's participation in the war. Finally, he participated in an almost two-hour Q and A
with the big-tent crowd.
In what felt like a campaign stop, Putin firmly spoke out against strong-arm rule in
Russia, recalling the millions who died in Stalin's gulags. "The totalitarian forms of
management completely destroy the man's freedom and creative activity, which no state
can replace," Putin said. "As a result, the economy, social sphere and politics are
rendered inefficient, and such a state is doomed."
When a university student from St. Petersburg told him campers had no doubt that he
would win the 2012 presidential election, there was a storm of applause and shouts of
"Putin is our president." Then the student asked whether Putin would run.
"The future is not far away, and in a short while we will consult with you what to do
next," Putin quipped.
Then he was gone. By the time the dust stirred by his helicopter had settled, the campers
were already preparing for the night's disco party. They seemed excited, just as excited as
they had been for Putin.
"Yes, these kids are brainwashed," journalist Kashin said, "but … they just enjoy coming
here mixing with other boys and girls and having a cool time at the state's expense."
[email protected]
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Deeper Than Oil: Russia’s reaction to the UK riots
http://en.rian.ru/columnists/20110811/165702862.html
Topic: England's summer of discontent
09:40 11/08/2011
Weekly column by Marc Bennetts
“England pays for its tolerance,” ran the headline in one leading Russian daily, as rioting
swept the UK. There was a similar gleefulness to other reports here in Moscow of the
disturbances, many of which focused on “immigrant rioters.” But these articles perhaps
said much more about Russian xenophobia than the real situation in London and other
cities.
When I spoke to family members and friends in the cities hit by rioting, it was notable
that not one of them mentioned the racial make-up of the rampaging mobs. Russians,
however, were obsessed with the theme. “You let these immigrants in and this is what
they do,” one colleague commented.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda paper went even further, putting forward the view that the
disturbances would sweep over “all of England and lead to genuine chaos in the country.”
It even suggested that “radical Islamists” would team up with the looters.
“And then,” the piece went on, positively foaming with the anticipation of more
schadenfreude to come, “the disorder will spread to the continent…”
The reports of “immigrant violence” also saw Russia’s wanna-be Breiviks flock to
internet forums to give vent to their pet racial supremacy theories. Many of them were
undoubtedly among the thousands here who subscribed to a now deleted site formed in
honor of the Norwegian psycho.
But CCTV images released by police and media footage indicated that the looters were a
fairly multi-racial group, united only in their desire to sport a new pair of trainers or a
nifty laptop. Indeed, one report spoke of white children as young as 10 looting shops in
Enfield.
There were, of course, Russian voices of dissent.
“This disorder isn’t connected in any way with skin color!” one reader commented on the
article. “Just look at the photos and videos! There are blacks and whites there.” “England
has a massive underclass – of all colors,” another pointed out.
Whatever the riots are a sign of, it’s probably wrong to say they reflect racial tensions in
the UK. The initial spark may have been the shooting of a young black man by police,
but it’s likely that a fair number of the “feral rats” tearing the country apart were entirely
unaware of the incident that led to Britain’s summer of discontent.
So why did so many Russians get so worked up about the ethnicity of the rioters?
Well, for a start, it was the lazy way to report the story. With a few notable exceptions,
Russian journalists are generally extremely reticent to do any real reporting. The foreign
correspondents for many Russian media organizations generally shy away from actually
going out and talking to people on the streets. The “immigrant angle” is by far the easiest
to write up, and also has the advantage of pandering to widespread racial intolerance at
home.
But there was something else, too. The bizarre and unpleasant subtext seemed to be that
Britain was somehow wrong to be so politically correct, that it would be much better off
following the example of Russia, where people of a “non-Slavic appearance” are
regularly beaten and killed on the country’s streets.
It’s odd to compare all this casual, off-hand racism with the official line during the Soviet
period.
In his 1985 book “Britain Without Fog” (a play on the common Russian belief that the
UK is covered in perpetual fog), Soviet journalist Vladimir Simonov saw race relations in
London and elsewhere in quite a different fashion.
“For the British police, black skin is damning evidence. Are you an immigrant? The
descendent of an immigrant? Then your place is behind bars,” he wrote under a photo of
leering cops detaining a terrified black youth. “There is no limit to the cruelty of the
guardians of law and order when dealing with black citizens.”
Or this, the caption to a photo of inner-city disturbances.
“A house in a region for ‘coloreds’ burns. Or is it British democracy that has driven its
black citizens to desperation?”
Even more poignant – and prophetic – is the caption under the photograph of a scowling
skinhead, his middle finger raised as the cops lead him away.
“‘Made in London’ the tattoo on his forehead says – but more precise would be ‘Made by
unemployment, and an atmosphere of violence and racial hatred.’ We fear for your future
Britain!”
Of course, all this was perhaps more the result of Soviet ideology rather than any real
sympathy with immigrants in the UK. Still, the difference in tone is startling. I can’t help
but wonder what the very same journalists spewing out stories about “immigrants” would
have written had the Soviet Union not collapsed.
But if the disturbances weren’t all the fault of “immigrants,” then what caused them?
There are no easy, glib answers. The fun factor is one that shouldn’t be ruled out, though.
People love a bit of excitement, something to relieve the everyday monotony. And rioting
provides a genuine adrenalin high. For both blacks and whites.
A Golden Russian Firebird for Foreign Investors
11 August 2011
By Elena Kolchina and Viktor Nossek
Similar to the phoenix, the firebird is an icon of resurrection and renewal. But the
Russian fairy-tale bird can be both a blessing and a curse.
One of the most famous firebird stories is Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “Firebird.” Prince Ivan
wanders into the magical kingdom of Kashchei the Immortal, where he captures the
firebird. When the prince meets 13 princesses and falls in love with one, the firebird
agrees to help him and explains that Kashchei keeps his immortality in a giant egg. Once
Ivan smashes the egg, destroying the despot, the magical kingdom disappears and
everyone wakes up to become real people.
Now let’s retell the story, replacing Ivan with the investor; the magical kingdom with the
market; Kashchei with the United States; and the egg with ratings.
With Russia playing the role of the firebird, you have a picture of today’s international
debt markets.
Three years ago, emerging markets were considered the high-risk domain of the
specialist investor, while retail investors were advised to keep most of their money
somewhere safe like U.S. treasury bills. The credit crisis has turned the world on its head.
While foreign investors and economists remain cautious on Russia, the rapid
development of the local ruble bond market belies this stance and highlights the
remarkable transformation the country has made. One of the leading candidates for
default in 2009 is now one of the safest bets in the world.
The volume of Russia’s domestic bond issues almost doubled in size recently and is
headed toward pre-crisis levels. At the same time, credit quality remains high as leverage
is still low both at the sovereign and corporate level. Therefore, there is still upside for
investors as continued corporate deleveraging and improving credit metrics will support
further spread tightening, while declining inflation will drive a broad market rally.
Meanwhile, financial distress in the euro-zone periphery is forcing investors to radically
reassess credit risk. The United States enjoyed a triple-A rating until last week because it
has never missed a payment in the 94 years it has been a sovereign borrower. But that
doesn’t mean it won’t default now. The cheap finance from the decade-long bull run in
bonds in the developed world is coming to an end. With it, the structural deficits caused
by overly generous pay-as-you-go pensions and cheap mortgage finance will only
increase.
That the U.S. debt-ceiling deal was allowed to go to the wire highlights the seismic
changes under way. Developed markets are supposed to be paragons of stability and U.S.
T-bills are supposed to be the gold standard of reliability. Where is that stability and
reliability now? If the emerging markets were marred by political risk in the not-sodistant past, today the global economy is threatened by instability in Washington.
Russia doesn’t have any of these problems. The economy is among the world’s least
leveraged, and with corporate and household debt of 40 percent and 8 percent,
respectively, it is in fact underleveraged.
Like Prince Ivan, investors find themselves in a magical kingdom where the developed
markets have always been the dominant force and Russia the villain. What will smash the
egg are the new macroeconomic realities.
The Kremlin is revving up for an epic investment binge as it prepares to host the 2014
Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in 2018. The expansion and modernization of
the country’s infrastructure, coupled with private capital investment, will become the
main driver for investment spending for decades. The International Monetary Fund has
predicted that investment will jump to at least 25 percent of gross domestic product
between 2012 and 2015.
Russia ran a budget surplus between 2000 and 2008, and the last time the current account
went into the red was 1998. With no need to borrow, the debt-to-GDP ratio sank below
10 percent, so when Russia did return to the bond market in 2010, investors were gagging
for fresh paper. The government has also been able to tap abundant local liquidity as
yields continue to tighten. And thanks to the recovery of oil prices, Russia’s budget
deficit this year is expected to be a modest 1 percent or 1.5 percent of GDP.
Russian corporations have also increased borrowing post-crisis. Most of the funds raised
have been used to improve their debt profiles. The fundamental strength of the country’s
industrial bonds is obvious. Balance sheets are among the least geared in the world,
operating margins among the highest.
The magical kingdom is fading away as investors wake up to a new reality. The yield gap
between Russian and Brazilian bonds has narrowed steadily over the last five years.
Taking into account Brazil’s new tax on foreign inflows, the yield differential has fallen
to about 2.4 percent. Dollar-denominated bonds in Russia are now trading with a spread
over Brazil’s of just 20 basis points.
The risk that remains is the overextended emerging market currencies, particularly the
real. Since 2007, the Brazilian currency has appreciated in real terms by 55 percent, and
the ruble has appreciated by 20 percent. Much of the rally in the real has been driven by
hot money inflows, and if the recent hikes in the tax on foreign exchange transactions
have to be extended to longer-dated paper to stem this then almost all the yield
differential between Brazil and Russia will disappear, exposing the disproportionately
high foreign-exchange risk in Brazil.
Meanwhile in Russia, the Central Bank’s switch from exchange rate targeting to inflation
targeting last year will further reduce inflation and strengthen the ruble.
Russia has been battling double-digit inflation for decades, but saw the rate shrink to
single digits for the first time in modern history in the spring of 2008. With the country’s
engine of growth having switched from oil to domestic consumption over the last decade,
curbing inflation is even more vital.
A combination of interest rate hikes, higher reserve requirements, a stronger ruble and
slowing growth of food prices will all help. The consumer price index has already peaked
and will start falling from the current level of 9.4 percent year on year toward the range
of 7 percent to 8 percent by year-end, before falling further next year.
In other words, in three short years, Russia’s credit cycle has made a fairy-tale
transformation, and today the country’s credit quality is among the highest in the world.
For the West, however, the pain of decline is cumulative, and the longer the developed
world shirks deep structural reforms, the more difficult they will be.
Russia is a firebird rising from the ashes of the global crisis. A rerating of global risk is
under way. Kashchei’s egg of immortality — the ratings and risk assessments based on
credit histories of the last 100 years — is about to be crushed, and investors are waking
up to a new reality.
Viktor Nossek is head of research in London and Elena Kolchina is head of fixed income
in Moscow at Renaissance Asset Management.
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/a-golden-russian-firebirdfor-foreign-investors/441910.html#ixzz1UhLVAN7R
The Moscow Times
Riding the crude roller coaster
http://rt.com/business/news/russia-oil-price-gazprombank/
Published: 11 August, 2011, 11:11
Edited: 11 August, 2011, 11:11
With crude price first plummeting and then rebounding after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s
commitment to keep interest rates near zero for two year, Business RT spoke with
Alexander Nazarov, oil and gas analyst at Gazprombank.
RT: OPEC and the International Energy Agency are cutting their estimates for oil
demand growth. Do you agree with that?
AN:"Not really, I don’t think oil demand will really drop. What I think is that growth
rates for demand will, this year and next year, than analysts of the International Energy
Agency and OPEC thought just a couple of months ago."
RT: So if demand is not falling why is demand falling over the last few sessions?
AN:"Well the simple reality is that currently the oil price doesn’t have much in common
with demand and supply. The point is that crude oil is not a commodity, not a raw
material, any more. It is a financial asset the same as gold or equities or something like
that. So the main reason for the oil price increases or decreases these spikes, lies not in
the supply and demand area."
RT: So I suppose that makes it quite difficult to predict how the price of oil will
progress for the rest of 2011. How do you see it developing? Do you agree with the
IEA assessment?
AN: "Absolutely. It is absolutely hard to predict and basically I don’t think now oil and
gas analysts should be asked for the price forecast – macro analysts could probably know
better what will be seen in liquidity and currency exchange rates and so on. I hope and I
think that we wouldn’t see the Urals oil price lower than $100/bbl this year. But it is just
because it is good for Russia, maybe because I think so."
RT: What will this all mean for the Russian economy with 50% of its budget
income coming from energy at the moment?
AN: "In the last two days you could probably clearly see what will happen to the
Russian rouble as a result of a drop in the oil price. Just 7% down in one day against
Euro/Dollar basket, so basically the same will probably happen to all our economy – at
least to the budget, as we say. So basically I think it will be pretty hard next year if the
oil price goes below $100/bbl, but probably it will get a kick to the development of other
than commodities, other areas of the Russian economy."
National Economic Trends
August 11, 2011 12:19
Russian GDP growth slows to 3.4% in Q2 - Rosstat (Part 2)
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=265168
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - Russian GDP grew an estimated 3.4% year-on-year in
Q2 2011, compared with 4.1% growth in Q1, the Federal State Statistics Service
(Rosstat) said.
This is below the Russian Economic Development Ministry's preliminary forecast of
3.7% growth for Q2.
Rosstat did not say what growth for the first half of 2011 was, but this was an estimated
3.8%, judging by the Q1 and Q2 figures. The Econ Ministry forecast 3.9% growth.
GDP growth slowed in Q2 partly because figures were high a year previously: year-onyear growth was only 3.5% in Q1 2011, rising to 5.0% in Q2 (4.3% in H1 2010). The
economy grew 3.1% in Q3 and 4.5% in Q4 2010, and 4.0% in the year.
Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said in July that GDP could
grow 4.5% this year - above the ministry's official forecast for 4.2% growth.
"In the second half, we expect an acceleration of GDP growth with increased investment
and from the standpoint of demand. Secondly, with growth in agriculture. In the third and
fourth quarters of last year there was drop in agriculture and now there will be substantial
growth in it," Klepach said.
Klepach could not say whether the 4.2% growth forecast would be adjusted. "I'm not
prepared to say if we will get to 4.2% or a little higher or a little lower. There is a varying
range of estimates - from 4% to 4.5%. We will present an adjusted forecast at the end of
August," he said.
Klepach was talking at a time when oil prices were higher and the Econ Ministry even
expected Urals crude would average at more than the officially forecast $105 a barrel in
2011, but the drop in oil prices in recent days has exposed the fragility of such forecasts.
Analysts told Interfax in a consensus forecast at the end of July that they thought GDP
would grow 4.2% in 2011.
Pr
(Our editorial staff can be reached at [email protected])
GDP up 3.4% in Q2
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110811122135.shtml
RBC, 11.08.2011, Moscow 12:21:35.According to preliminary estimates, Russia's
GDP climbed 3.4% in physical terms in the second quarter of 2011 year-on-year, the
Russian Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) said in a statement today.
Earlier, the Economic Development Ministry announced that the country's GDP
rose 4.5% year-on-year in Q1 2011. The ministry expects full-year GDP to reach
4.2%.
Russian GDP Growth Slowed to 3.4% in Second Quarter, Missing Estimates
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/russian-economic-growth-slows-to-3-4-insecond-quarter-missing-forecasts.html
By Scott Rose and Alena Chechel - Aug 11, 2011 10:00 AM GMT+0200
Russia’s economy slowed for a second quarter as industrial growth eased and inflation
eroded consumer buying power, leaving the world’s largest energy exporter lagging
behind emerging-market peers.
Gross domestic product expanded 3.4 percent from a year earlier in the April-June
period, compared with 4.1 percent in the first quarter, the Federal Statistics Service in
Moscow said in an e-mailed statement today. The median forecast of 14 economists in a
Bloomberg survey was 4 percent, with predictions ranging from 3.7 percent to 5.3
percent. The Economy Ministry estimated growth at 3.7 percent last month.
“Important drivers of economic growth such as construction and transportation, as well as
consumer demand and retail trade, were sluggish,” Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief
economist at Moscow- based Otkritie Capital, said by phone before the release. He
estimated growth of 3.8 percent.
Russia is struggling to return to pre-crisis growth rates as a slowing global recovery curbs
demand for its commodity exports. President Dmitry Medvedev is targeting annual
growth of 8 percent within five years to keep pace with so-called BRIC peers Brazil,
India and China. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in May that Russia should almost
double GDP per capita within 10 years to become a top-five global economy.
The statement was the statistics service’s first official reading of second-quarter GDP and
didn’t provide more details.
Industry Slows
Industrial production advanced 4.8 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter,
down from a 5.9 percent gain in the first three months, according to the statistics service.
Natural-resources output fell while manufacturing grew.
Sales at carmakers such as OAO AvtoVAZ, the country’s largest, continued to surge in
the second quarter before the government’s cash-for-clunkers rebate program ended in
July.
Russia’s economy grew at an average annual rate of 7 percent during Putin’s presidency
from 2000 to 2008 before plunging 7.8 percent in 2009. The government forecasts a 4.2
percent expansion this year, slipping to 3.5 percent in 2012, when Russians will elect
their next president. Both Medvedev and Putin have said they may run in the March 4
vote.
Falling Approval
Support for Russia’s top two politicians, known as the ruling tandem since Putin chose
Medvedev to succeed him in 2008, has dipped as inflation during the first half of the year
eroded household spending power.
Consumer-price growth peaked at 9.6 percent in April and May before easing in June.
Real disposable incomes fell 2.5 percent in the second quarter.
The central bank expects inflation within its 7 percent target, the lowest since the Soviet
Union collapsed in 1991.
Bank Rossii left interest rates unchanged for a third month in August, citing a balance
between risks from inflation and a slowing economy. Central banks in China, India and
Brazil tightened monetary policy last month.
Economists cited disappointing investment volumes as a reason for lower-than-expected
first-quarter GDP growth. Net capital outflows from Russia slowed to $9.9 billion in the
second quarter, from $21.3 billion in the first quarter and $34 billion in 2010, according
to preliminary central bank data.
“Despite high oil prices, capital outflows continued, which speaks to the unstable
investment climate and investor caution about Russia,” Yaroslav Lissovolik, chief
economist at Deutsche Bank in Moscow, said yesterday by phone. “To boost economic
growth rates, Russia needs above all to make the economy more attractive for
investment.”
To lure investment, Medvedev has pledged to sell stakes in state companies such as OAO
Rosneft, the country’s largest oil producer, to reduce the state’s sway over the economy.
The economy should pick up in the second half on growth in the agricultural sector,
Lissovolik said. So far, this year’s wheat harvest is 11 percent higher than a year ago,
while yields are 35 percent better, the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. Russia
endured its worst drought in half a century last year.
“The third quarter may be significantly better because of agriculture,” Otkritie’s
Tikhomirov said. “A good harvest may drive the economy to 4.5 percent growth.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Rose in Moscow at [email protected];
Alena Chechel in Moscow at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at [email protected].
Russia May Inject $5.4 Billion to Add Liquidity, Vedomosti Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/russia-may-inject-5-4-billion-to-addliquidity-vedomosti-says.html
Q
By Ilya Khrennikov - Aug 11, 2011 6:04 AM GMT+0200
Russia may inject 160 billion rubles ($5.4 billion) into commercial bank deposits to
increase liquidity and help cope with market volatility, Vedomosti reported, citing
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
08/11 11:25 RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL RESERVES AT $537.7 BLN IN WEEK
TO AUGUST 5, UP FROM $535.0 BLN ON JULY 29
http://www.interfax.com/
02:24 11/08/2011ALL NEWS
Govt to discuss debt policy till 2014 & cuts for residents of SEZ
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/201948.html
MOSCOW, August 11 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian government presidium will map out
the main areas of the debt policy for 2012-2014 at its meeting on Thursday. The report
will be delivered by Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak.
According to the ministry’s plans, Russia may borrow 606.1 billion roubles (203.8 billion
roubles in 2012, 201.8 billion roubles in 2013 and 200.5 billion roubles in 2014). At the
same time, state domestic borrowings in 2012 are expected to be 1,602 billion roubles
and in 2014 – 1, 626 billion roubles.
At the same time, the Finance Ministry calls “for limiting placement of capital of Euro
bonds in roubles in the international market”.
“State borrowings will be the main source of financing the deficit of the federal budget,
which will persist over the entire planned period,” the document stresses. The volume of
the state debt will rise annually over the planned period, reaching 12 trillion roubles by
the end of 2014 or 17 percent of the GDP.
The Finance Ministry noted that it amounts to 4.6 trillion roubles as of July 1, including
the state domestic debt – 3,600 billion roubles and the foreign debt – 36.8 billion US
dollars (or one trillion roubles).
Later in the day, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov will submit draft amendments
to the Tax Code, cutting down the tax load on residents of special technology
development economic zones.
“It is planned to set a tax rate for the tax on profit of resident organisations of special
technology development economic zones, subject for deduction to the federal budget
equal to zero percent,” the document says.
The ministry also suggests “providing for a possibility of establishing by laws of subjects
of the Russian Federation lower tax rates for the tax on profit of organisations, subject to
deduction to budgets of subjects, but no higher than 13.5 percent”.
Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev will describe the meeting draft amendments to the
budget code, permitting the ministry to make expenses more efficiently to protect
participants in criminal judiciary.
“A suggested order of finance, material and technical assistance as well as control over
outlays, appropriated for state protection, will be implemented within funds, provided for
to realise the State Programme for ensuring security of victims, witnesses and other
participants in criminal judiciary,” the ministry specified.
Deputy Transport Minister Sergei Aristov will describe presidium members draft
amendments to the Civil Procedure Code, raising efficiency of juridical protection of
rights of crewmembers of Russian sea-going ships.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered a report on forwarding to the president a
protocol on changes in the Collective Security Treaty for submitting it for ratification.
The presidium will also discuss changes of functions of federal departments. For instance
the Ministry of Health and Social Development will have powers to render assistance to
socially oriented non-commercial organisations, implementing social support and
protection of citizens, activities in public health, preventive measures and protection of
citizens’ health.
It is planned to specify for the State Reserves Agency general principles of forming,
deploying, storing, using and supplementing stocks of the state material reserves.
Non-CIS imports slow down to +27% y/y in July
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
Alfa Bank
August 11, 2011
According to the Federal Customs Service, July non-CIS import growth was only +27%
y/y vs. the 40-50% y/y seen throughout 1H11. The resulting slowdown from +48% y/y in
1H11 to 43% in 7M11 amid the recent ruble weakness increases the likelihood of FY11
import growth staying within our 40% y/y growth forecast.
In July, non-CIS imports, which accounts for around 80% of total imports, posted a 4%
m/m decline, resulting in a slowdown from +48% y/y in 1H11 to +27% y/y in July. The
key contributor to the slowdown was the 23% m/m decline in food products thanks to the
new harvest this year. Such a seasonal decline did not happen last year due to the severe
drought, and thus provided a high statistical base for this year's y/y growth rates. We
believe the base effect will continue in 3Q11, and the recent drop in the ruble will
provide additional pressure on import volumes going forward, making our +40% y/y
import growth forecast for 2011 increasingly likely.
Natalia Orlova
Russia and the crisis: Market sensitivity to global shocks
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
Citi
August 11, 2011
Stress testing the Russian market
We consider how the Russian market would look in the event of lower global growth and
$80 oil, or a global crisis and $50 oil.
The macro drivers
Many macroeconomic factors in Russia depend on the level or direction of oil prices, and
we identify the key links. We argue in broad terms that 10% lower oil prices would lead
to GDP growth 1% lower, a fiscal balance 1% wider, a ruble 4% weaker, and inflation
2% higher.
Profit links to global growth
Our analysts look at the impact of lower global growth in each sector, ranging from
minimal in gold to dramatic in steel. Overall we estimate that RTS index dollar earnings
fall by nearly 10% for every 10% fall in the oil price.
Russia at $80 oil
We believe $80 oil is the new stress point for the Russian market - the level at which
investors will start to worry about the macroeconomic framework. At that point we
estimate that the fiscal deficit would be 4% of GDP, the ruble would fall to 35 to the
dollar, inflation would be over 10%, GDP growth would slow to 2%, and index earnings
would be 20% lower than today. This would imply a 2012 EPS decline of 16% and an
RTS level of 1,500, roughly what the market is pricing in today.
Russia at $50 oil
At $50 oil we expect signs of stress in the markets would be much greater, and that
investors would worry about political consequences as well. We would expect GDP to
decline by 3%, the government to be running a fiscal deficit of 7% of GDP, and the ruble
to fall to 40 to the dollar. Index earnings would drop by 60%, and we would expect the
RTS to fall to 1,000.
High risk stocks
Stocks where earnings look most at risk are those with high cyclicality (Mechel, Evraz,
Rusal) or high debt levels (TMK, CEDC). Within the oil sector Rosneft is most exposed,
and among banks VTB and Vozrozhdenie.
Defensive stocks
A cyclical market like Russia has few truly defensive stocks when oil prices are falling,
with the obvious exception of gold. However, we believe that investors would see
outperformance in a crisis from selected oil and gas stocks, as profits
would fall by around the same level as in other sectors but valuations are lower.
Volatile Futures
Analysts See Oil Behind Russia’s Recent Market Drop, but the Country Is Better
Prepared to Face a Crisis Than Three Years Ago
http://russiaprofile.org/business/42837.html
By Andrew Roth Russia Profile 08/10/2011
Russian stock markets this week saw as a ripple effect from the United State’s rating
devaluation, causing multi-day selloffs on both the RTS and MICEX indices. While
sudden drops in the markets evoke memories of plunging oil prices and a severe
devaluation of the ruble that Russia saw in 2008, a panic scenario seems to have been
averted for the time being, experts from Russia’s leading investment banks note.
Nonetheless, they said, the sudden scare refocused attention on Russia’s dependence on
oil, which leaves the country highly vulnerable as international growth slows.
The Russian stock market indices RTS and MICEX lost 7.9 percent and five percent
respectively in the day and a half of heavy losses that raised the specter of a repeat of the
2008 global recession. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who had outspokenly (and
perhaps presciently) mocked the U. S. credit rating and called the United States itself a
“parasite” on the world economy, tried to slow the hemorrhaging in Russian markets on
Tuesday by promising that the government would inject cash into the markets. “We in
Russia believe that we must keep careful track of liquidity,” Putin announced yesterday
while the market was still falling, reported AFP. “The Finance Ministry and the Central
Bank are monitoring the situation, and if necessary will use various channels to add
liquidity to the market.”
Whether due to Putin’s speech or investors’ appetites, the markets have largely stabilized;
Russian markets rallied Tuesday afternoon, assuaging fears of a possible panic, and on
Wednesday they have continued to rise as a similar return to stability has taken place in
the United States and other global markets. The ruble, which dropped a considerable ten
percent against the dollar over the last two days, nonetheless bounced back slightly today.
Sluggish global growth and a corresponding decrease in demand for oil was a leading
factor behind the volatility, said Peter Szopo, the head of research at Alfa Bank, adding
that a confluence of international factors, including fear of a double-dip recession in the
United States, played off each other to hit the Russian markets. “Russia did not do
anything wrong here, and not much here is specific to Russia, except for the country’s
continuing dependency on oil,” said Szopo.
Russia, had already begun responding to sluggish global growth on Monday, when it
announced that the country was planning to triple the state debt by 2014 to help plug the
country’s budget deficit. Yet with plans for heavy spending coming up, including funding
multiple world-class events such as the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and the World Cup 2018,
as well as widely popular social programs and pre-election promises to increase
spending, the country’s dependence on high oil prices meant that a severe drop could
spell disaster.
As stocks fell in Moscow, fears in particular returned to a possible repeat of the 2008
global recession, which saw oil prices drop from an inflated $150 to $50 and devalued the
ruble by more than 35 percent. For Russia to have a balanced state budget, its Urals crude
should be selling at a price of $120 per barrel, above the current cost of oil.
Despite its heavy reliance on oil, however, Russia is placed in a far better position to deal
with a sudden drop in the price of crude than three years ago, said Citibank’s Russia
analyst Kingsmill Bond, noting that “the degree of leverage in Russian companies is
much lower [than it was in 2008], which is very good.” “The Russian government has
also allowed the ruble to float [as opposed to 2008], which means that it could likely
absorb more of the pressure from a significant change in world oil prices,” said Bond.
The key question for the stability of the Russian market will be how the volatility in oil
prices plays out in the coming days. If the price for WTI Crude, the industry standard,
slips below $80 a barrel, it will provoke “serious problems on the Russian market and
may force a reconsideration of economic policy,” said Szopo. Bond similarly named $80
as the price below which we may start to see “serious concern” in Moscow. But despite
the spate of bad financial news that Russia has seen recently, it may have caught a break
today, as oil prices started to crawl upward on news that suppliers will decrease
production in response to weak global demand.
Russian Buckwheat Price Falls 26% on Prospect of Doubled Harvest
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/russian-buckwheat-price-falls-26-onprospect-of-doubled-harvest.html
Q
By Ilya Khrennikov - Aug 11, 2011 7:22 AM GMT+0200
The retail price of buckwheat in Russia has fallen 26 percent in the past month, to 62
rubles ($2.1) per kilogram, as the harvest is expected to double this year, Rossiyskaya
Gazeta, the official government newspaper, reported.
The buckwheat harvest is likely to be between 650,000 and 750,000 metric tons, up from
340,000 tons last year, the newspaper said, citing agricultural forecasts.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Russian court to hear consumers’ suit on SMS leak vs MegaFon Sep 5
http://www.prime-tass.com/news/0/%7B974E4156-D5BD-4A31-83C5D03D579F311D%7D.uif
MOSCOW, Aug 11 (PRIME) -- Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court has scheduled for
September 5 the main hearings of a lawsuit filed by a consumer union against major
mobile operator MegaFon for a leak of SMS text messages sent from the operator’s Web
site, the court’s representative said, RIA Novosti’s agency for legal and court information
RAPSI reported Thursday.
The consumer union filed the lawsuit against MegaFon after major search engine Yandex
displayed SMS text messages sent from MegaFon’s Web site in its search results due to a
failure on the operator’s Web site in mid-July.
In the lawsuit, the consumer union claimed that MegaFon had violated consumers’
privacy rights by failing to prevent a public leak of SMS messages.
Yandex’ press office said on July 18 that the search engine displayed the messages
because the site did not contain a special file preventing the search engine from indexing
certain Web pages. However, MegaFon’s Deputy CEO Valery Yermakov said later that
the company was not ruling out that Yandex was at fault for the leak, as MegaFon
cooperates with all Web search engines, but that the SMS messages were only displayed
by Yandex. In total, 2,500 messages were displayed in Yandex’ search results, Yermakov
said.
End
11.08.2011 12:21
Firtash’s Ostchem to Export Rossosh Fertilizers, RBC Daily Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/firtash-s-ostchem-to-export-rossoshfertilizers-rbc-daily-says.html
Q
By Ilya Khrennikov - Aug 11, 2011 8:16 AM GMT+0200
Ukrainian billionaire Dmitry Firtash’s Ostchem agreed to be an export trader for
Minudobreniya, based in Rossosh, central Russia, RBC Daily reported, citing his press
office.
Firtash bid for the Russian fertilizer maker located near the Ukrainian border earlier this
year, while the company was acquired by Arkady Rotenberg, Vladimir Putin’s judo
partner, last month, the newspaper said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
Norilsk Rebounds, Snaps Losing Streak on Possible Buyback
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-10/norilsk-rebounds-snaps-losing-streak-onpossible-buyback-1-.html
Q
By Jason Corcoran - Aug 10, 2011 5:34 PM GMT+0200
OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel rebounded, advancing for the first time in seven days after
Russia’s biggest miner said its board will discuss a new share buyback program at a
meeting on Aug. 15.
The shares added 1.6 percent to 6,603 rubles by the 6:45 p.m. close in Moscow.
The buyback price will take into account the last buyout offer to United Co. Rusal,
according to a statement on Norilsk’s website today.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at [email protected]
Mechel reports 1H11 operating results
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
Alfa Bank
August 11, 2011
Mechel reported its 1H11 and 1H10 operating results under new reporting standards for
operating results. The company now discloses sales volumes in contrast to production
volumes of end products as previously disclosed. The disclosure still provides production
volumes for raw coal, pig iron and steel as previously. This change makes it impossible
to compare the company's operating results for this period with previous quarters, which
were released under the old reporting format.
Coking coal concentrate sales in 1H11 increased 28% y/y to 4.5mt while steam coal
remained flat at 3.3mt. Third party iron ore sales declined 28% due to increased usage by
Mechel's steel-producing entities. Sales, including inter-company sales, rose 20% y/y.
Our rough estimate (as it is not clear what volumes Mechel stockpiled/destocked
following the switch to the new reporting method) for 2Q11 coking coal concentrate
production is 3.4mt in comparison with 3.1mt in 1Q11 - a 10% increase q/q. The
estimated 2Q11 coking coal concentrate output figure at 3.4mt is 50% of our belowconsensus FY11 concentrate production forecast. We view this as a positive surprise as
production is typically expected to rise in the second half of the year, but we reiterate that
this value is derived based on the assumptions above.
Steel production in 2Q11 amounted to 1.4mt, a 10% decline q/q. This step down was
expected by the market due to repair works at the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant.
Overall, we consider results NEUTRAL.
Barry Ehrlich
Tyva Coal Projects Require $3.9 Billion Railroad, Vedomosti Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/tyva-coal-projects-require-3-9-billionrailroad-vedomosti-says.html
By Ilya Khrennikov - Aug 11, 2011 6:50 AM GMT+0200
Evraz Group SA and OAO Severstal, Russia’s largest steelmakers, may face difficulties
mining metallurgical coal in the untapped Tyva coal province in East Siberia, Vedomosti
reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
Exporting coal from the province will require 116 billion rubles ($3.9 billion) of
investment in expansion of OAO Russian Railways’ Trans-Siberian railroad, and the state
rail company lacks money for this, the newspaper said, citing an official in the Economy
Ministry.
Yenisei Industrial Co., acquired by Russian Copper Co. shareholders this year, is another
company seeking to develop coal deposits in Tyva, according to Vedomosti.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at [email protected]
Tuva coal projects under infrastructure pressure; neutral for Severstal and Evraz
at this point
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
VTB Capital
August 11, 2011
News: Vedomosti has run an article about the construction of infrastructure for the Tuva
coal projects and, specifically, the expansion of the Trans-Siberian railway, which is to be
financed by the government. The cost of construction has reportedly been assessed at
USD4bn by Russian Railways, up from the USD 900mn voiced up earlier.
Our View: Expanding the Trans-Siberian railway is necessary for the full scale launch of
Tuva coal projects. While developing infrastructure (including the construction of the
27mntpa Kyzyl-Kuragino line, to be launched after 2016) is largely the responsibility of
the parties participating in the development of the coal field, the expansion was supposed
to be financed by the government and Russian Railways. Although we do not expect this
load to be transferred to either Evraz or Severstal, the government will probably be
reluctant to finance the increased bill, and ongoing negotiations could lead to delays in
expanding the Trans-Siberian. Nevertheless, we consider the news to be neutral at this
point given the rather distant time horizon and the possibility of alternative supply routes
during the ramp up period.
Alexander Pukhaev
Tatarstan plans $1.6bn fertilizer plant
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
bne
August 11, 2011
The regional government of Tatarstan plans to invest $1.6bn into building a fertilizers
complex, reports Prime.
Based on regional mineral fertilizer producer Mendeleevskazot, the plant is scheduled to
produce ammonia, methanol, and granulated carbamide by 2015 said Irek Faizullin,
construction, architecture, public utilities minister for the region. The regional
government is joined by the federal development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) as the
cornerstone investors.
The complex is planned to produce 717,000 tonnes of ammonia, 717,000 tonnes of
carbamide, 380,000 tonnes of ammonia nitrate, and 230,000 tonnes of methanol per year.
The payback period of the project is estimated at six to seven years.
Bank of Moscow Still Gets City's Cash
11 August 2011
By Tatyana Voronova / Vedomosti
Even though it no longer owns Bank of Moscow, the city is continuing to deposit money
in it — placing 46 billion rubles in accounts at the bank in July.
The bank was one of the winners of a tender to hold deposits of temporarily unallocated
budget funds, a city official confirmed to Vedomosti.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin earlier announced that the city would continue collaboration with
Bank of Moscow even after its sale.
The city has about 500 billion rubles in budget funds deposited in four banks — Bank
of Moscow, VTB, Sberbank and Rosselkhozbank, one official said.
An official told Vedomosti that the deposits contained the money that the city got
from selling its stakes in Bank of Moscow (46.48 percent of shares) and Stolichnaya
Strakhovaya Gruppa (25 percent plus one share), a total of 103 billion rubles.
The bank's financial reporting shows that the new management team is continuing
to work with the corporate credit portfolio, but its quality is waning: The volume
of overdue loans has grown from 56 billion rubles to 75 billion — 10.8 percent to 14.7
percent of the portfolio. Loan loss reserves have remained unchanged, though, at 132.6
billion rubles.
Read the original Vedomosti article here.
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/bank-of-moscow-still-getscitys-cash/441894.html#ixzz1UhbkBRIU
The Moscow Times
Uranium One posts 450% increase
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=150365
Shares jump on Wednesday after positive results issued by the company in Canada late
on Monday, local shareholders not able to trade Tuesday
ALLAN SECCOMBE
Published: 2011/08/11 07:10:58 AM
URANIUM One shares recorded a sharp jump yesterday as investors caught up with
positive results issued by the company in Canada earlier this week.
The results were released in Canada late on Monday, missing the JSE’s trading session,
and local shareholders could only trade on the data yesterday because of the public
holiday on Tuesday.
Uranium One, which has mines in Kazakhstan, Australia and the US but none in SA and
is majority controlled by Russian state-owned nuclear group ARMZ, was up as much as
34% on the JSE yesterday and closed 17% higher at R22,75.
Bloomberg described the share’s performance on the JSE as its best in nearly three years.
Uranium One posted a 450% jump in net earnings for the second quarter to end-June of
$29,7m as production grew by a third to 2,4-million pounds of uranium.
Revenue was 71% higher at $113m and it sold 2-million pounds of uranium at an average
of $58/lb. It had a total cash cost of $15/lb.
"This quarter saw a continued low cash cost with a higher than expected market average
sales price," said CEO Chris Sattler.
Uranium One expects demand for uranium to come down by between 8% and 10% for
the remainder of this decade, said Scott Melbye, the company’s executive vice-president
of marketing.
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March, which damaged the Fukushima nuclear
reactor and drove uranium prices down to $49/lb, resulted in safety reviews and stiffer
regulations around the world. The price has since stabilised at about $50/lb.
"Projected future demand should still result in a favourable environment for low-cost
producers such as Uranium One," Mr Melbye said in a presentation on Monday.
China, India and Russia have not changed their plans to build nuclear reactors, and there
has been growth in other areas such as Saudi Arabia, which has said it plans to build 16
nuclear power plants by 2030.
[email protected]
UAC to upsize share capital by additional issue
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110811105619.shtml
RBC, 11.08.2011, Moscow 10:56:19.The board of directors of United Aircraft
Corporation (UAC) has passed a resolution on increasing the company's share capital
by placing additional ordinary registered bookentry shares by public subscription. The
issue is expected to consist of 2.7bn shares with a par value of RUB 1 (approx. USD
0.03). The board of directors has already approved the securities prospectus for the
issue, the aircraft producer said in a statement today.
France’s SNF-Group invests €25m in Russia
http://www.europeanplasticsnews.com/subscriber/headlines2.html?cat=1&id=131305037
7
By Eugene Gerden
Posted 11 August 2011 8:12 am GMT
France-based SNF-Group, one of the world’s leading producers of polyacrylamide, is
investing RUB1bn (€25m) in its Russian company – Saratovorgsintez – which is part of
Lukoil.
Saratovorgsintez is based in the Saratov region, currently the only place in Russia which
produces acrylonitrile, a raw material used to produce polyacrylamide.
At present the share of SNF-Group in the world market of polyacrylamide is estimated at
35%.
Russian Post in blazing row with antitrust chief
http://postandparcel.info/41344/news/russian-post-in-blazing-row-with-federal-antitrustchief/
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
A major row has erupted over the last week between Russian Post and Russia’s antitrust
regulator, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), after new proposals were put
forward to liberalise the postal market.
The FAS filed a new version of its previous liberalisation proposals last Thursday. The
bill – titled “On Postal Communication” – seeks to update legislation that has been in
place since 1999, and would seek to open up the postal market to private competition.
Similar proposals have been in discussion for a while, but could now be considered by
the federal government as early as September.
But Russian Post said this week that the FAS proposals could threaten the very existence
of postal services for the 37m Russians living in remote areas.
Particularly in the far north of Russia, the Post said it was the only company providing
any deliveries, with transport difficult, and where 3,500 post offices are located in places
where no other organisation exists.
Alexander Kiselev, Russian Post’s Director General, said the mail service was serving an
important social mission above and beyond the need to make profit.
“In the most remote corners of our country, we deliver mail, periodicals, products, and
accept payments and money transfers – not because it is profitable, but because it is
necessary for people,” he said.
“Competitors to the mail service are only interested in the big cities – there are not
interested, for example, in the far north because our work in those regions is not
profitable.”
“Slow dive into a swamp”
The row that has splashed through the Russian press over the past week has seen the FAS
chief, Igor Artemyev, accusing Russian Post of resisting attempts at market reform
because of its own inefficiency, and suggesting the Post had been seeking to interfere
with healthy competition.
Artemyev said unless other companies were allowed to deliver letters in competition with
Russian Post, there would be a “slow dive into a swamp” for the postal sector.
In reply, Russian Post suggested the FAS chief was lobbying for private companies – to
the detriment of the public interest.
The Post argued that not only had it been a part of the government work group that
drafted market reforms ten years ago, but in terms of its service efficiency, it is currently
engaged in a major modernisation and improvement programme.
However, Russian Post pointed out that the FAS proposals would allow private
competitors to cherry-pick the most profitable routes, which were needed by Russian Post
to subsidise deliveries in remote areas, since postal rates are set below-cost by the federal
government.
Russia’s Communications Ministry backs Russian Post’s position, believing that bringing
competition into the universal service obligation would mean higher postal rates for
customers.
The Post also pointed out that its unique position as provider of universal postal services
had been tested in court last year, when challenged by private postal company Janzen.
“Strange”
Describing Artemyev’s comments as “strange”, Russian Post said the head of the FAS
could not be aware of its major postal modernisation plan, judging by his comments
about service efficiency. it explained that the plan involves the systematic upgrade of its
entire infrastructure paid for out of Russian Post’s own funds.
The row with the FAS comes just a few weeks after Russian Post was fined 6m Rubles
(about $220,000 USD) at the end of July, for abusing its dominant position as a
monopoly in the mail market.
That case involved the offer of registered mail services for businesses in one Russian area
at a discount to registered mail services offered in other Russian areas. The FAS said of
the case that Russian Post should have kept to the published registered mail price as
approved by the Federal Tariff Service.
Turkish food retail plays catch-up to Russia
http://www.bne.eu/storyf2834/Turkish_food_retail_plays_catchup_to_Russia
Justin Vela in Istanbul
August 11, 2011
Both Russian and Turkish food retailers have strong growth potential, according to a new
study released by Renaissance Capital. While the two countries in many ways have
similar markets, structural and cultural practices make Russian retailers stronger, but the
Turks are catching up.
Russia and Turkey have strong domestic retailers at the forefront of their markets. These
are the X5 Retail Group and Magnit in Russia, and Migros and BIM in Turkey. The X5
Retail Group and Migros are higher-end retailers, while Magnit and BIM are considered
discount chains. Spending on food is also similar: 34% of household income in Russia
and 33% in Turkey.
In both countries, 2010 saw per-capita consumer incomes in the range of $6,500-7,500.
Going forward, real disposal incomes are expected to grow at 4-5% per year. Even
though consumers are price conscious following the economic crisis, there is a growing
demand for modern retailers, fed by an obsession with status. "Consumers in both
countries appear to be in good shape and with a low debt burden," Renaissance notes.
However, the differences between the countries put Russia out on top.
Shopping habits
To start with, Russia simply has a larger population, 142m versus 75m in Turkey. The
Russian food retail market is valued higher, at $263bn compared with $175bn in Turkey,
and is expected to grow faster as well. Russia's population is also more urban, with 74%
living in cities compared with 69% in Turkey. The level of car penetration is higher in
Russia than in Turkey, with 204 cars per 1,000 compared with 109 in Turkey. "The sheer
size of the Russian food retail market and its growth potential is superior to Turkey's,
although the latter has neighbouring [Middle Eastern and North African] and ex-Soviet
southern countries as potential expansion markets," says Renaissance Capital.
The differences are also cultural: fewer women drive in Turkey, although women do most
of the shopping, making it difficult for them to get to modern retailers that might be
further away. Instead, Turks enjoy shopping daily at smaller corner shops in their
neighbourhoods, an example of traditional retailing. By contrast, in Russia hypermarkets
are already popular, and accounted for 32% of modern retail in 2010. In Turkey,
hypermarkets account for only 12% and their development is uncertain.
Euromonitor estimates that the share of modern food retail in Turkey is 41%.
Renaissance Capital forecasts this figure to reach 50% in 2015. "Traditional retail in
Turkey is and will remain popular due to tradition and cultural preferences. The share of
traditional retail in Turkey is unlikely to subside much lower than the current 53%."
Catch-up
Even if the Russian market is ahead in terms of modern retail, Turkey is expected to
catch up in the coming years (though its smaller population will make it unable to surpass
the Russians), as there is a lot of room for growth
The Turkish food retail market is under penetrated, as are many other sectors in the
country. There is no sure consolidation by major players in modern retail in Turkey. This
gives strong opportunities for organic growth and development for both already
established retailers and newcomers. Renaissance Capital predicts that the Turkish food
retail market will reach TRY392bn by 2015, driven "by 7.4% per annum increase in percapita spending on food and 0.9% per annum population growth."
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Bulgarian court backs LUKoil in dispute with customs
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110810/165695336.html
22:56 10/08/2011
ATHENS, August 10 (RIA Novosti)
A higher administrative court in Bulgaria upheld on Wednesday a lower court's decision
to annul the ban on an oil refinery belonging to Russian oil giant LUKoil, the
Novinite.com agency said.
The Bulgarian customs earlier withdrew a license from the LUKoil Neftochim Burgas,
the largest oil refinery in southeastern Europe, for allegedly failing to properly monitor
the movement of oil products, which helps prevent any possible tax evasion.
A court later ruled that Bulgaria's largest enterprise could resume work, but customs
appealed the decision.
The higher court upheld the ruling, saying a halt in the oil refinery's operations would
cause serious economic damage. The oil refinery has contracts with local transportation
companies and is the sole producer of aviation fuel on the Balkans.
The Bulgarian authorities were forced to unlock their strategic reserves of aviation fuel
when the plant suspended its operations.
This court decision will allow the oil refinery to run until the end of the year, when
LUKoil has promised to install the required equipment, according to Bulgarian Prime
Minister Boyko Borisov, who has also criticized the company for alleged violations.
Court lets LUKOIL Bulgarian refinery operate for now
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL6E7JA0CH20110810
Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:43pm GMT
SOFIA Aug 10 (Reuters) - Russian oil company LUKOIL's Bulgarian refinery can
continue operating until a final ruling is given on a tax dispute with the customs office, a
top Bulgarian court ruled on Wednesday.
Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court upheld a previous court ruling that allowed the
142,000 barrels-per-day refinery to restart work after the customs office stripped it of key
licences blocking its processing and sales at the end of July.
A court session on the tax dispute is scheduled for Aug. 31.
The revocation of the licences, followed by a probe into allegations of abuse of a
dominant market position, is part of the Bulgarian government's efforts to boost
transparency in the fuel market. It also indicates a deepening rift with Russia over energy.
The actions aimed at LUKOIL, which many in the poorest European Union state blame
for high fuel prices, is likely to boost support for the centre-right government ahead of
October local and presidential polls.
They are also meant to show Brussels that the cabinet of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov,
urged to work harder to fight high-level corruption, is willing to impose strict rules.
Sofia and LUKOIL have indicated a solution is likely to be found as the Russian oil
major is the Balkan country's key fuel provider and taxpayer and has invested over $1.7
billion in its operations there since 1999.
The Burgas refinery provides about 70 percent of the fuels on the local market, secures
jobs for about 6,000 people and its payments to the state budget for the first six months
make 13 percent of all tax revenues.
It is the only jet fuel supplier for Bulgaria's airports and its temporary shutdown forced
the government to release jet fuel stocks from state reserves.
The customs office stripped the refinery of its tax fuel depot licences after it failed to
install on time product metering designed to let customs officers monitor its output and
calculate taxes and excise duties precisely.
The oil plant has pledged to have the meters installed by December and argued the
government's deadline was unrealistic, given the complexity of its facilities. It appealed
against the revocation of the licences. (Reported by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by
Anthony Barker)
TNK-BP investors cry BP foul
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article271505.ece
A group of minority shareholders in TNK-BP reportedly are claiming damages of 87
billion roubles ($2.96 billion) against BP for being denied the opportunity to replace the
UK supermajor in an Arctic exploration pact with Rosneft.
News wires 10 August 2011 12:12 GMT
TNK-BP, owned 50:50 by BP and Russian consortium AAR, had earlier this year sought
to replace the UK supermajor in a planned tie-up with the Russian state oil company,
which included developing three Arctic offshore blocks and a $16 billion share swap.
However, BP directors on the TNK-BP board voted against the proposal.
Now the minority investors in TNK-BP Holding, the listed unit of TNK-BP Ltd, claim
BP executives who previously served on the Russian joint venture’s board were
responsible for losses caused by thwarting its bid to participate in the Rosneft deal, Dow
Jones reported.
An arbitration court in Tyumen, where TNK-BP is registered, will file a claim against BP
and BP Russian Investments Limited - a shareholder in TNK-BP - on 21 September, the
shareholders said in a statement. Another hearing against the TNK-BP Holding board
members will take place on 12 October.
The claims, which resemble actions brought by TNK-BP minority owners during a highprofile shareholder battle at TNK-BP in 2008, follow threats by TNK-BP earlier this year
to seek damages from the UK giant.
The planned deal between BP and Rosneft collapsed in May after being blocked in court
by BP's partners in TNK-BP.
The shareholders’ claim is the latest move in an apparent behind-the-scenes spat between
the co-venturers, after BP filed arbitration proceedings in a Swedish court against
Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, a partner in TNK-BP, for allegedly violating the
terms of shareholder agreements related to the joint venture.
Published: 10 August 2011 12:12 GMT | Last updated: 10 August 2011 12:24 GMT
Rosneft discovers new oil field in Eastern Siberia
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
VTB Capital
August 11, 2011
News: According to Interfax, Rosneft has discovered a new oil field with approximate
recoverable resources of 15mmtn in Eastern Siberia. This is the fourth oil field
discovered by Rosneft in the region over the last few years, with cumulative C1+C2
resources amounting to 370mmtn. A decision on whether to explore the oil field is to be
taken at a later date.
Our View: The news is positive for the company, as even an incremental addition to its
East Siberia portfolio provides an additional justification for the company's rush into
buying East Siberian licences in 2004-08. However, from the portfolio point of view, we
believe that the company has an extensive bluefield base, while the greenfield part of its
portfolio could be better. As result, we do not expect any stock reaction.
Sovcomflot makes seismic move
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article271561.ece
A Russian oil tanker-owning giant appears to be making a splash in the offshore market
as it ties up a long-term bareboat charter deal with Polarcus for a seismic vessel
newbuilding.
Eoin O'Cinneide 11 August 2011 08:02 GMT
State-controlled Sovcomflot has taken the freshly-delivered Polarcus Selma for five years
for survey work in the Arctic, Polarcus revealed in a statement on Thursday.
The deal at a dayrate of $69,500 starts this month and also leaves Moscow-headquartered
Sovcomflot with a purchase option on the vessel after three years.
Polarcus described the charter deal as “the first step towards a larger strategic business
alliance to serve the growing Russian seismic market”.
A spokesperson at Sovcomflot was unwilling to discuss details of the contract saying the
company would make a statement in a matter of weeks. He did, however, confirm that
this was the Russian’s maiden splash in the seismic market.
The Polarcus Selma is an Ulstein SX133-design, Arctic-ready vessel which was just
delivered to the owner by Dubai-based shipbuilder Drydocks World on Monday. It comes
equipped with an eight-streamer seismic equipment package.
Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest tanker owner, currently has nothing approaching a seismic
vessel in its fleet which is made up predominantly of oil, products and chemical tankers
with some bulk carriers, LNG and LPG vessels, tugs and ice-breakers.
The purchase option suggests that the company could be considering a long-term play on
the seismic and perhaps offshore markets.
On Wednesday Statoil announced it had started a charter deal with Norwegian oil giant
Statoil for the transport of crude from the Peregrino field off Brazil. The deal will run for
three to five years with Statoil using the Russian’s aframax tankers.
Published: 11 August 2011 08:02 GMT | Last updated: 7 minutes ago
1 06:47 CET
Polarcus signs strategic agreement with Russian OAO Sovcomflot
http://www.cisionwire.com/polarcus-limited-ob/r/polarcus-signs-strategic-agreementwith-russian-oao-sovcomflot,e251194
Polarcus Limited (OAX: PLCS) is pleased to announce
that the Company has signed a five year Bareboat
Charter Party Agreement (BBCP) with OAO Sovcomflot
(SCF) of Russia. Under the terms of the BBCP
Sovcomflot will charter POLARCUS SELMA, inclusive of
an 8 streamer seismic equipment package, from
Polarcus at a rate of USD 69,500 per day. The BBCP,
viewed by both parties as the first step towards a
larger strategic business alliance to serve the
growing Russian seismic market, will commence in
August 2011. The BBCP terms include a purchase option
of the vessel commencing after the third anniversary
of the BBCP.
In conjunction with the BBCP, Polarcus has signed a
Letter of Intent (LOI) with SCF for the provision of
certain specialist onboard crew and shore-based
services and systems support. The provision of the
services, to be charged in addition to the BBCP, is
subject to a final agreement between the parties
expected to be signed in the latter part of August
2011.
Peter Zickerman, EVP Polarcus, commented: "This
important agreement will afford Polarcus and
Sovcomflot unparalleled access to the Russian market
and most significantly to possibly the world's last
and largest oil frontier, the Arctic. There is very
good synergy between our companies, with our own
strategic focus on the Arctic frontier and investment
into Arctic-ready technologies, and Sovcomflot's
leadership in key Russian oil and gas development
projects in harsh ice environments. We believe the
BBCP and the LOI for support services will be just
the beginning of a long and successful relationship
with Russia's largest shipping company as they aspire
to broaden their focus from energy transportation to
energy supply."
POLARCUS SELMA is a sister ship to POLARCUS SAMUR, an
ultra-modern and Arctic-ready 3D seismic vessel of
the ULSTEIN SX133 X-BOW design capable of towing both
conventional and wide tow spreads. The vessel has an
overall length of 84.2m and a beam of 17m. POLARCUS
SELMA has a maximum speed of 17 knots and will be
capable of deploying up to 8 streamers each of 6,000m
length, or 6 streamers each of 8,000m length, with
lateral streamer separations of between 25 and 200
meters.
Contacts
Rolf Ronningen, CEO Polarcus
+971 4 436 0800 / +971 50 459 6982
Peter Zickerman, EVP Polarcus
+971 4 436 0800 / +971 50 551 9160
About Polarcus
Polarcus (OAX: PLCS) is a pure play marine
geophysical company with a pioneering environmental
agenda, specializing in high-end towed streamer data
acquisition from Pole to Pole. Polarcus operates a
fleet of high performance 3D seismic vessels
incorporating an innovative design and advanced
maritime technologies for improved safety and
efficiency. Polarcus offers contract seismic surveys
and multi-client projects worldwide and employs over
500 professionals. The Company's principal office is
in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For more information,
visit www.polarcus.com
About SCF Group (Sovcomflot)
Sovcomflot is one of the world's leading shipping
companies, specializing in petroleum products and
liquefied gas transportation. The fleet includes 156
vessels with a total deadweight of 11.8 million
tonnes. The company is registered in St. Petersburg
with offices in Moscow, Novorossiysk, Murmansk,
Vladivostok, London, Limassol, Madrid and Singapore.
The Group offers a wide range of vessels and a
powerful grouping of vessels, in the market segments
most demanded by major Russian oil and gas companies.
With its own technical development and unique
approach to advanced technologies, Sovcomflot has the
ability to meet the most demanding customer
requirements, providing effective transportation for
oil & gas companies. For more information, visit
www.scf-group.ru
This information is subject of the disclosure
requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities
Trading Act
Central Asian fuel crisis eases
http://www.bne.eu/storyf2838/Central_Asian_fuel_crisis_eases
Clare Nuttall in Almaty
August 11, 2011
Russian gas deliveries to Kyrgyzstan and a cut in export duties for Tajikistan are bringing
to an end the price hikes and fuel shortages that have crippled parts of Central Asia over
the past few months.
Deliveries of fuel from Russia to Kyrgyzstan are scheduled to continue in August after
Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev returned from Moscow on July 22
having secured an agreement that brought the country's two-month fuel crisis to an end.
Under the agreement with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, gasoline deliveries to
Kyrgyzstan have resumed, allowing rationing to be lifted. As of July 25, 4,000 tonnes of
Al-92 and Al-95 grade fuel had already arrived from refineries in Bashkortostan and
Tatarstan.
Kyrgyzstan's fuel shortages began in late May when Kazakhstan, which was concerned
over its own supplies, cut exports of refined petroleum products. The crisis deepened in
July when Gazprom Neft-Aziya's Omsk refinery stopped supplying fuel to countries
outside the three Customs Union countries – Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. This was a
shock for Kyrgyzstan since Gazprom Neft-Aziya accounts for around 70% of the
country's gasoline imports, although shipments from refineries in Astrakhan, Kazan, and
Salavat continued.
By late July, many petrol stations in the country were deserted, while drivers queued at
Gazprom stations that sell their petrol on average 4-5 som ($0.09-11) per litre cheaper
than other companies. Drivers in the Batken region in Kyrgyzstan's remote south-western
tip told bne they had seen queues of up to 200 motorists at Gazprom stations. In the face
of dwindling stocks of petrol, Gazprom started rationing its customers to just 10 litres
each.
While oil prices most likely played a part in Russia's cut in exports, there is speculation
that Moscow was also trying to put pressure on a wavering Kyrgyzstan to join the
Customs Union. Cutting off energy supplies through state-owned Gazprom has been one
of Russia's favourite ways of persuading its neighbours to fall in with its plans.
The other trigger for the cuts is understood to be the need to punish Kyrgyz traders for
illegally selling on Russian imported fuel to Tajikistan. Smuggling through the porous
Kyrgyz-Tajik border increased when Russia upped its fuel excise duties for Tajikistan in
March.
Economic shock
The hike in excise duties was a shock for the Tajik economy, which in the last year had
been recovering rapidly from the crisis. Combined with rising global food prices, the
increase in fuel costs pushed food prices within Tajikistan up to record levels, says a
report from the World Food Programme (WFP). In June, retail food prices reached their
highest level since the WFP started monitoring in 2002. "High fuel prices were one of the
main influences on inflation, with an especially strong impact on the services, industrial
production and agricultural sectors," Jamshed Yusufiyon, first deputy chairman of the
National Bank of Tajikistan, says in an interview with bne.
People have cut back as much as possible on fuel use, and petrol stations are virtually
empty – it's more common to see the owner and his friends lounging on a tapchan
(traditional Tajik bed) under the shade of the forecourt than any customers. In rural areas,
the few cars on the roads are outnumbered by donkey carts. "This isn't Dushanbe. People
here are poor, they don't have the money to be driving around all day," explains Rustam,
resident of a village outside the southern town of Qurgonteppa.
Prices vary widely within the country, and are considerably lower in the north near the
Kyrgyz border than in the south. In the capital Dushanbe prices for higher grade gasoline
were pushing 6.5 somoni ($1.38) a litre.
There is an active black market on the main roads out of Dushanbe, where police turn a
blind eye to the tankers lined up along the roadside, traders poised with hoses and funnels
to supply passing motorists. Other Tajiks have in recent years converted their cars to use
highly flammable but much cheaper gas rather than petrol. The airline industry is also
suffering; Tajik Air recently announced it would be refuelling Russia-bound planes in
Kazakhstan rather than at home since the costs of jet fuel in Tajikistan were prohibitively
high.
Prices reached their peak in June following Russia's decision to increase export duties for
petrol by 1.8% as of June 1. However, the situation has since been alleviated, as Moscow
reduced export tariffs by 3.7% on July 1. And on August 1, duties on gasoline were
lowered from $400.50 to $394.40 per tonne.
Kazakh cap
Unlike its southern neighbours, Kazakhstan has its own reserves of oil and gas. But
Kazakhstan too has been struggling with high fuel prices. Throughout July, petrol station
operators complained to the government that they were making losses due to high
wholesale prices. Helios executives told an Almaty press conference that they were being
forced to temporarily close down some petrol stations to avoid losing money.
On July 27, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Oil and Gas announced it had increased the
maximum retail prices for fuel, which were set in July. They have upped the cap on AI92 and AI-93 gasoline from 102 ($0.69) to 106 tenge ($0.72) per one litre, lower grade
AI 80 petrol from 84 to 86 tenge, and diesel fuel from 87 to 90 tenge. Oil and Gas
Minister Sauat Mynbayev also assured journalists that there would be no fuel shortage in
Kazakhstan, and stressed that infringements of the price ceilings would be punished.
Mynbayev attributed the high prices to the rising cost of oil and an increase in the price
of Brent crude oil in Russia. Although Kazakhstan is a producer of oil, the country does
not yet have sufficient processing capacity so it has to export crude oil to Russia and reimport gasoline, aviation fuel and other fuels. Kazakhstan has launched a multi-billion
dollar overhaul of its processing industry and is rebuilding the three main refineries at
Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar to increase quality, quantity and range of fuels, but these
have not yet been completed.
Gazprom
RWE sends mixed messages on Czech gas network sale
http://www.ceskapozice.cz/en/business/companies/rwe-sends-mixed-messages-czechgas-network-sale
On Wednesday, a spokesman for RWE Czech Republic said the German parent company
RWE has decided to sell a stake in Net4Gas to Gazprom.
Tom Jones | 10.08.2011 - 20:42
RWE Czech Republic announced on Wednesday that due to the German government’s
resolution to phase out nuclear power, EU unbundling legislation, and challenging
economic conditions, the German energy giant had decided to sell off more assets than
previously planned including daughter company Net4Gas, which owns and operates the
Czech gas pipeline network. A spokesman for RWE Group, however, said the sale was
only being considered and no definite decision had been made.
Option or plan?
“The decision by the German government to speed up the phase out of nuclear power
plants has completely changed the economic ‘To be more precise, the decision was taken
to look into the possibilities for the sale of the Net4Gas’conditions for RWE’s business.
This political decision, together with the difficult conditions in the European energy
market and EU pressure for ownership unbundling, are the main reasons why RWE is
preparing to sell off several of the concerns assets, including its stake in Net4Gas,”
RWE’s spokesman in the Czech Republic, Martin Chalupský, was cited as saying by the
Czech news agency ČTK on Wednesday.
However, RWE’s head of group communications, Volker Heck, told Czech Position that
Net4Gas, previously named RWE Transgas, is among assets the energy group is
considering selling. “No definite decision has been made,” Heck stressed.
Chalupský later confirmed his earlier statement that RWE had indeed decided to sell
Net4Gas. However, when informed about the response to the same question from the
group’s headquarters in Germany, he revised the wording.
“To be more precise, the decision was taken to look into the possibilities for the sale of
the Net4Gas,” he said, adding that the sale would probably not take place before 2013
after the completion of the transformation of Net4Gas into an independent transmission
operator (ITO) in line with EU energy regulations.
Pressure to unbundle
As part of the EU’s initiative to liberalize the European energy market, energy producers
are obliged to relinquish their majority stakes in the distribution networks they currently
own so as to allow multiple producers to use the same networks — a process known as
unbundling.
Both RWE spokesmen refused to say what percentage of its 100 percent stake in Net4Gas
RWE is considering on selling. Chalupský said that as far as he is aware, the EU energy
regulator has not set any deadlines for RWE to relinquish its majority stakes in European
energy distribution networks, including Net4Gas.
On Tuesday, RWE reported that its trading and gas midstream division recorded an
operating loss of €598 million in the first half of 2011, compared with a profit of €278
million a year earlier. The company says the disadvantageous long-term fixed-price
contracts for gas deliveries from Gazprom were a major reason behind the loss. The
company announced in April that it intends to launch arbitration proceedings against the
Russian state-controlled gas giant over the pricing issue, but at the same time stressed
negotiations were continuing.
The RWE Group reported total revenue for the first half of 2011 revenue at €27 billion,
almost the same level as in H1 2010, but EBITDA fell by 25 percent to €4.6 billion. The
company says this was caused by almost €900 million expenses incurred as a result of
inspections of all German nuclear facilities ordered by the government following the
Fukishima disaster in Japan.
In addition to the potential sale of Net4Gas, the company said this week that it is
considering the sale or partial sale of its gas and oil exploration operation RWE Dea, and
stakes in water company Berlinwasser and several coal and gas-fired power plants.
Gazprom?
On July 14, RWE and Gazprom’s CEOs, Jürgen Großmann and Alexei Miller, signed a
memorandum of understanding on a RWE Group spokesman categorically dismissed the
suggestion that the two companies may be discussing the sale of Net4Gas to
Gazprom.partnership to develop joint coal and gas fired electricity generation in Western
Europe, suggesting that an agreement on gas prices may be in sight.
RWE spokesman Volker Heck categorically dismissed the suggestion that the two
companies may be discussing the sale of Net4Gas to Gazprom. “This is definitely not a
subject of the negotiations with Gazprom,” Heck told Czech Position.
Net4Gas owns and operates 2,640 kilometers of trunk and branch gas pipelines in the
Czech Republic, which are also major routes for transit shipments of gas from the CIS to
Western Europe. The company is also building the Gazela pipeline from Hora Svaté
Kateřiny in the Czech Republic to join up with the OPAL pipeline in Germany to connect
the Czech gas network with supplies from Russia delivered by the partially completed
submarine Nord Stream pipeline.
One of the major contractors constructing the Gazela pipeline is the Russian firm
Stroytransgaz, which is 80 percent owned by Gennady Timchenko, a close and long-time
associate of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Timchenko, who made his fortune in
oil trading, co-founded the company Gunvor, which is now the fourth-largest crude oil
trading company in the world. Rumors persist that Putin and top officials in his
government have stakes in the private company.
Gazprom finishing Prirazlomnaya platform construction
http://finchannel.com/news_flash/Oil_%26_Auto/92652_Gazprom_finishing_Prirazlomn
aya_platform_construction/
10/08/2011 09:48 (16:02 minutes ago)
The FINANCIAL -- Today in Murmansk a group of Gazprom's experts led by Alexander
Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Company's Management Committee visited an
affiliate of the Zvezdochka Shiprepairing Center to inspect the Prirazlomnaya offshore
ice-resistant stationary platform.
The delegation was joined by Roman Trotsenko, President of the United Shipbuilding
Company, Nikolai Kalistratov, Director General of the Sevmash Production Association
as well as representatives from design and contracting companies.
It was emphasized at the meeting moderated by Alexander Ananenkov that the platform
was almost ready. The main and auxiliary power generators providing the platform with
electricity have been installed, the startup operations are underway. The electric work is
nearing completion at the drilling equipment. Final assembling and testing of the oil spill
response system are underway.
Startup operations are being carried out at the personnel life support system. The
evacuation and fire fighting systems are ready for service.
The meeting paid special attention to the platform delivery to the Prirazlomnoye field.
Based on the meeting results, Gazprom's structural units and contracting companies were
given the tasks aimed at prompt completion of the platform and its preparation for
towing.
Kandalaksha hopes for Shtokman contract
http://www.barentsobserver.com/kandalaksha-hopes-for-shtokman-contract.4946798116321.html
2011-08-10
Gazpromshelf is considering the town of Kandalaksha as location for a plant for concrete
coating of pipes to the Shtokman project.
Gazpromshelf is looking for a 50 hectare large area to build a plant for concrete coating
of the large amounts of pipes that will be need for the giant Shtokman gas project in the
Barents Sea.
Recently a group of officials led by General Director Alexander Mandel visited
Kandalaksha on the Kola Peninsula to consider the possibilities for building the plant
there, B-port writes, citing the newspaper Niva.
Among the competitors for the location are Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and several places
in Norway. Kandalaksha has a good chance of winning, as the region already has a welldeveloped infrastructure like harbors, railway and machine building capacities. In
addition, Gazpromshelf is ”categorically against the location of this kind of plant outside
of Russia”, the web-site writes.
Text: Trude Pettersen
Gazprom Neft completes secondary offering of series 04 bonds for RUB6.13bn
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16336
Alfa Bank
August 10, 2011
During bookbuilding the demand volume was ~RUB14bn. The offer price was in the
range of 102.0-102.5% of face value, which corresponds to a yield of 7.86-7.96% p.a.
until the put option in April 2018.
Ekaterina Leonova
Russia Gazprombank secures $1.2 bln syndicated loan
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/11/russia-gazprombank-loanidUSLDE77A05120110811
2:24am EDT
MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Gazprombank, Russia's third biggest lender by assets, has
secured a $1.2 billion three-year syndicated loan from a group of international banks, the
lender said on Thursday.
The loan is secured under LIBOR plus 1.5 percent rate and will be used to repay a $900
million syndicated loan, raised in September 2010 under LIBOR plus 2.5 percent,
Gazprombank said in a statement.
Part of the funds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Gazprombank, in which the world's biggest gas producer Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote,
Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) holds a 41.7 percent stake, plans to borrow up to $2
billion on external markets in 2011, its deputy chief executive said in March.
[ID:nLDE72O10B]
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Lidia Kelly)