Russia 111010
Basic Political Developments
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Russia ready in principle to buy Spanish debt - Dvorkovich, attending a
conference in Moscow with Spanish Economy Minister Elena Salgado, said
Salgado had met Russia's former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov. Salgado left the event without taking questions from
reporters.
Syrian opposition members to visit Russia Tuesday: official - The delegation,
which will meet Russian diplomats on an unofficial basis, will consist of "five or
six representatives of various opposition parties," Bogdanov said, speaking on the
sidelines of a forum in Rhodes, Greece.
- Bogdanov: Dialogue is Sole Exit from Current Crisis in Syria
- Russia’s Syria game - Seeking advantage after Assad
Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov’s Consultations at the Turkish Foreign
Ministry - The parties examined the range of issues relating to the development of
Russian-Turkish relations, and expressed mutual satisfaction with the
considerable momentum gained in bilateral political dialogue. They devoted
special attention to economic and trade cooperation, with emphasis on the
implementation of joint large-scale energy projects. The parties discussed the
progress made in preparing for the meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning Group
chaired by the ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries, scheduled in
Moscow for early 2012.
FM: Iran to follow issue of S-300 missiles - Russia must fulfill its contractual
commitment and deliver the S-300 missile system to Iran as the system is not
subject to UN Security Council sanctions, reported Press TV with reference to
IRNA quoting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.
Iran Says May Accept Russian Deal To End Nuclear Standoff With West
- Iranian, Russian Experts to Study Moscow's Proposal for Tehran's N.
Issue - Speaking in a joint press conference with his visiting Kazakh
counterpart Yerzhan Kazykhanov here in Tehran last night, Salehi said
Tehran accepts and welcomes the Russian offer "in principle".
Russian Astronaut Assured of Iran's Rapid Progress in Space Technology "Today I saw the footages of the launch of Iran's first satellite to the space and I
felt that I am in space once again," Victor Garbatcov said in Iran's central
province of Isfahan on Sunday.
LAVROV INTERVIEW TO PROFILE.RU
- http://www.profile.ru/items/?item=33075
- Russia, China ready to submit balanced resolution on Syria
- UN SC Res on Syria creates conditions for external interference
- RF wants legal guarantees that European missile shield is not aimed
against it-Lavrov
- Russia relaxed about its security despite missile defense odds with NATO
- Lavrov
- Russia ready for Euro ABM – Lavrov
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- Lavrov slams US’ unwillingness to destroy Afghan poppy fields
- Russia concerned about possible use of Libyan model in the future
Putin's China visit eyes further bilateral cooperation
- Beijing, Moscow to sign deal to increase Russian hi-tech exports
- 2012 to be declared Russia-China Tourism Cross Year - Zhukov
- Putin's visit to strengthen bilateral ties
- Putin's visit to enhance China-Russia cooperation: expert
- Putin's China visit watched for strategic signals
- Public component of Russia-China Energy dialogue - This story by Igor
Tomberg, Director of Energy and Transit Studies Center of the Institute
for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, professor at the
Moscow State Foreign Relations Institute of the Russian Foreign Ministry,
Strategic Culture Foundation expert, was published in International
Affairs magazine.
Senior NATO commander to talk Euro missile shield in Moscow - NATO
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis and
Russia's Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov will make another attempt to
overcome the deadlock in Russia-NATO talks on European missile defense
during their meeting in Moscow on Monday.
Russia, US to simplify visa formalities - The agreement sets out the conditions for
issuing visas for short-term official trips, as well as the conditions for issuance of
Russian business, private, humanitarian and tourist visas and U.S. B1/B2 visas,
the approved draft note said.
Long pursued, arms suspect faces trial in NY court - U.S. prosecutors will face
defense questions about the sting's validity and his treatment by federal agents.
His attorneys had also claimed Bout was targeted because the U.S. was
embarrassed by its use of his air companies in Iraq — but they agreed last week to
avoid that argument unless prosecutors allude to it during questioning. Jury
selection starts Tuesday.
Russia-EU PPC to discuss easier visa rules, migration, crime fight - The RussiaEU Permanent Partnership Council will discuss the development of cooperation
between the EU and Russia in freedom, security and justice and will set
guidelines to broaden and develop this cooperation, Polish organizers said in a
statement.
Tanzania: Gvt: ‘Uranium project is rewarding’ - Russian government owned, the
'ROSATOM' Corporation is undertaking the project, according to Mr Maketa…
'ROSATOM' Corporation is going to improve the project, including the training
of local staff so that later on the Tanzanian government can produce its own local
experts.
RF Sea Master-1 crew sails with relief for Kenya under NATO convoy
Russia and Georgia hit another dead end in WTO talks - Several officials have
said that Russia could be formally admitted to the WTO in December if accession
talks remain on track, and it's likely that the US and EU - which are reported to
have agreed all major issues on Russian membership - will be in contact with
Tiblisi to urge it to ease its objections. However, Kapanadze claimed Georgia has
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felt no heat from the West, saying there was "no pressure on Georgia on this
issue."
Kazakhstan, Russia mull grain swap to cut transport costs - Under the plan,
southern Kazakhstan could import grain from Russia’s agricultural south, while
grain-rich northern Kazakhstan could export excess grain to eastern Russia, which
is closer.
Russia delivers 2 missile boats for Turkmenistan Navy - The missile boats are
built at the Sredne-Nevsky shipbuilding plant within Russian-Turkmen militarytechnical cooperation.
Ingushetia ready to provide Azerbaijan with state guarantees - Ingushetia is ready
to provide Azerbaijan with state guarantees to implement major projects,
Ingushetia's President Yunus-bek Yevkurov said. His statement was posted on the
presidential official website on Saturday.
Humanitarian cooperation contributes to sustainable development – Medvedev Dmitriy Medvedev said in his message to the Baku International Humanitarian
Forum read out by Chief of Staff of Presidential Administration of Russia Sergey
Narishkin.
Russia patriarch, Moldova agree to build cathedral in Chisinau
Fire onboard Russian research vessel off Norway put out
Guiana Space Centre starts preparing for Soyuz-ST-B launch
Russia to send 700-tonne ship to Mars moon in November
Tatar Mufti Upset That 'Immoral' Actresses Attend Muslim Film Festival
Russia: Suspected anarchist guerilla released for now
Boeing 737 fails to take off from Tomsk because of hydraulic system failure
Baikal region launches investigation in Mi-8 emergency landing
Quake rocks Kamchatka’s eastern coast, no victims reported
PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 10
- www.vedomosti.ru
- Russia's federal budget surplus in January-September of 2011 reached
1.09 trillion roubles ($34 billion), the daily says.
- Russia's federal anti-monopoly service has opened investigations into oil
companies TNK-BP and Bashneft over high petrol prices, the paper
reports.
- The number of Russians choosing Greece as a beach vacation destination
grew 65 percent this January-September year-on-year, the paper writes.
- www.kommersant.ru
- Russia and China will sign a memorandum on cooperation in
modernization during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing this
week, the paper writes.
- Fifty-five percent of Russians expected Vladimir Putin to run for president
next March, the daily quotes recent VTsIOM poll.
- Police detained around 100 activists from far-right groups who tried to
hold a rally on Saturday over the death of a Russian allegedly killed by an
Azeri citizen, the paper writes.
- www.ng.ru
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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has become the leader of the United
Russia party's list for the December parliamentary elections, the paper
writes.
Russian Press at a Glance, Monday, October 10, 2011
Wildly ambitious plans for Vladivostok - Vladivostok, the mythical terminus of
the Trans-Siberian railway, is being turned upside down in a huge rebuilding
project that aims to turn the city into the Russian Far East's answer to Istanbul or
San Francisco.
Future-oriented aim - About three trillion rubles will be invested in the defense
industry over the next 10 years.
Chavez’s cocuy advance - Venezuela will either pay Russia back with local
moonshine or not pay back at all
Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Reactions to Putin’s and Medvedev’s
Decision to Rule Russia
Back to the U.S.S.R. - Vladimir Putin’s intention to return to the Kremlin has
opposition critics warning that the country is reverting to Soviet times. But is that
what Russia secretly wants? by Owen Matthews
Russian political life far from Putin and Kremlin - In far-off Moscow, the
authorities are fond of suggesting that only a spoiled elite in the capital carp about
eroding freedoms, controlled elections and a gloom they compare to the later days
of the Soviet Union.By Kathy Lally
National Economic Trends
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Russia ups Jan-Aug trade surplus 18.6% to $137.2 bln - customs (Part 2)
Debt levels spiraling - Russia's public debt rose by 71.6% between January 2009
and July 1, 2011 to reach RUB4.6 trillion, whilst domestic debt increased 2.4
times, the Chamber of Accounts revealed on October 4, reports Moskovskiye
Novosti.
Kommersant: Private banks’ loans grow more expensive, state not concerned
Russian Railways keeps insisting on privatising a 25% stake in TransContainer
Bankers Without Borders - Russian Lenders Hope to Take Advantage of Global
Economic Woes to Expand Overseas
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
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Novatek, X5 Retail, Sberbank May Move: Russian Equity Preview
Russian companies top US$550 bn in foreign mining interests
Raspadskaya to miss 2011 coking coal output target by 24pct – Report
Adidas eyes double-digit growth in Russia
Ovoca Gold gets key certificate for Olcha deposit in Russia
Italian bankers are invited to Russia to place railway tracks
Russia's X5 Retail cuts full-year sales outlook
Russia's Kamaz turns profit in first half 2011
Reasons Why Foreign Firms Are Forsaking Franchises - "Foreigners are cautious
about the political and economic situation in Russia. The franchising scheme
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requires stability and predictability of the economy," said Alexei Mogila, head
of the trade real estate department at Penny Lane Realty.
In Russia, It's a Start - The merger of two Moscow exchanges is a first step to
becoming a financial hub. But there's plenty more to do. By POLYA LESOVA
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
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Russia May Require Bourse Oil Trading, Kommersant Says
Lukoil signs $500m loan deal for Kazakh project
Lukoil to Spend More Than $10 Billion Next Year, Interfax Says
Rosneft pays for Carabobo access: Reports
Gazprom
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Gazprom guarantees proper load of Beltransgaz
Iran rejects Gazprom Neft as partner in Azar field
Russia's Gazprom interested in energy assets in Bulgaria – report
Gazprom Seeks Power Assets From Japan to U.K. to Fill Atomic Gap
Gazprom Neft: 1.8 bln boe of C1+C2 reserves added, equal to 10% of 3P reserves
Gazprom may find oil for PhosAgro gas chemicals complex in Cherepovets
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Russia ready in principle to buy Spanish debt
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/russia-spain-debt-idUSR4E7JQ01Q20111010
4:04am EDT
MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russia is ready in principle to buy Spanish government
debt once the euro zone's member states have put in place a strategy to overcome the
currency bloc's debt crisis, Arkady Dvorkovich, economic adviser to President Dmitry
Medvedev, said on Monday.
"When the European countries announce a concrete and clear strategy to exit the crisis,
and if in the framework of this strategy support from Russia and other BRIC countries is
necessary, then we would provide such support," Dvorkovich said.
Dvorkovich, attending a conference in Moscow with Spanish Economy Minister Elena
Salgado, said Salgado had met Russia's former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Salgado left the event without taking questions from
reporters.
The so-called BRIC quartet, comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, is a loose
coalition of large emerging countries that together hold the bulk of the world's foreign
exchange reserves.
Syrian opposition members to visit Russia Tuesday: official
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Oct-08/150797-syrian-oppositionmembers-to-visit-russia-tuesday-official.ashx
October 08, 2011 09:55 AM
MOSCOW: Russia expects a delegation of Syrian opposition politicians to visit Tuesday,
a senior foreign ministry official said on Saturday.
"We are ready to meet them at the foreign ministry. This could happen on October 11 if
they manage to arrive in time," deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the
ITAR-TASS news agency.
Russia on Tuesday sparked outrage from the Western powers on Tuesday when, along
with China, it used its right of veto against a Western-backed UN resolution condemning
Bashar al-Assad's use of deadly force.
The delegation, which will meet Russian diplomats on an unofficial basis, will consist of
"five or six representatives of various opposition parties," Bogdanov said, speaking on
the sidelines of a forum in Rhodes, Greece.
"We are ready to listen to the arguments of the opposition of the Damascus regime and
on the other hand to lay out our assessments and forecasts directly without middlemen."
Russia first announced the forthcoming visit on Wednesday, without giving an exact date.
A second delegation from the opposition Syrian National Council formed in Istanbul was
expected to visit this month, Bogdanov confirmed the earlier announcement, without
giving a date.
Moscow has already hosted several Syrian opposition members while achieving few
concrete results, with the latest delegation in September including the head of National
Organisation for Human Rights in Syria Ammar Qurabi.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday called on Assad either to reform or resign,
saying he wanted to see an end to the brutal crackdown on protesters, but reaffirmed
Russia's stance against foreign intervention.
am/ss
Bogdanov: Dialogue is Sole Exit from Current Crisis in Syria
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2011/10/08/374276.htm
Oct 08, 2011
MOSCOW, (SANA)_Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Syria is
the ''cornerstone'' of the political structure in the Middle East, adding that the situation in
Syria has a strong effect on many regional aspects.
In a statement to the Russian Itar-Tas News Agency on Saturday, Bogdanov underlined
the importance of the national dialogue in Syria to prevent escalation of the situation.
He said that the Russian policy aims to solve problems in Syria through dialogue,
provided that violence is not used by either side.
Dzasokhov: Russia Veto of UNSC Draft Resolution on Syria Took into Consideration
Historical Relations
Chairman of the Russian-Syrian Friendship Association Alexander Dzasokhov said
Russia took a correct strategic stance by vetoing a Western draft resolution on Syria at
the UN Security Council.
In a statement to SANA reporter in Moscow, Dzasokhov said that the Russian stance
against the draft resolution took into account Syria's important role in the region and the
historical relations binding the peoples of the two countries.
He said he is proud of the Russian stance which is consistent with Russia's foreign
policies.
''Had it been passed, the resolution would have constituted a precedent and turned the
international community into a source of danger and threat to other countries,'' said
Dzasokhov.
Dzasokhov hailed the reform program in Syria, adding he was informed that local
elections in Syria are slated for December 12, expressing trust that the political, social
and economic reforms will be carried out one after another.
He hoped Syria would succeed in carrying out reforms, which cannot be achieved
through killings and destruction, but through synchronizing efforts to protect the Syrian
interests.
M. Ismael
Russia’s Syria game
Seeking advantage after Assad
Last Updated: 1:24 AM, October 10, 2011
Posted: 10:11 PM, October 9, 2011
Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/russia_syria_game_voe96d5Wk
Bego04e6l1NRP#ixzz1aMMyfTbo
A few weeks ago, a senior Russian official assured me that his government wouldn’t
block “a strong resolution” in support of the uprising in Syria. Yet Russia this month
vetoed a fairly mild UN Security Council resolution.
But then Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov invited the Syrian opposition to
Moscow, implying that President Bashar al-Assad was no longer an exclusive
interlocutor. And just 48 hours after the veto, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called
on Assad to either reform or step aside.
Why is Russia behaving like an erratic banana republic rather than a mature power
dealing with a threat to regional peace?
Start with the back story. Just 15 years after it was put on the map as an independent
country, Syria chose the Soviet Union -- Russia -- as its principal protector. Over the
years, that dependence developed into the backbone of Syrian national strategy. Even in
the 1970s, when then-President Hafez al-Assad served US interests by crushing the left
both within Syria and in Lebanon and making sure that Israel was no longer threatened,
Damascus maintained close ties with Moscow.
With the end of the Cold War, Russia lost interest in Syria and other Arab military
regimes. But events may be resurrecting some of that interest.
Vladimir Putin’s return as president signals Russia’s return to a more aggressive antiWest posture, scraping off the veneer of diplomatic politesse provided by Medvedev.
Putin thinks that America is in decline and that Russia can make a comeback as a
“superpower,” at least in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
And in the Middle East, Russia has no friend except Syria. Iranian mullahs may be
tactical allies when it comes to thumbing noses at America, but they won’t play second
fiddle to Putin -- they fancy their own regime as the Middle East’s “superpower.”
Putin knows that Assad is doomed. But he wants to ensure that Russia has a say in
choosing his successor. The emergence of a string of pro-West regimes from the Atlantic
to the Indian Ocean could shut Russia out of what Putin regards as part of its rightful
zone of influence.
Another factor: The Russian lease on the Crimean port of Sevastopol runs out in 2017
and can’t be extended without Ukraine’s accord. Sevastopol is Russia’s largest naval base
and its lifeline to maintaining a blue-water navy via the Black Sea, the Dardanelles and
the Mediterranean. Losing the base would leave Russia a virtually landlocked country. Its
enclave of Kaliningrad can never be developed into a major naval asset, while the
Siberian coast in the far east is hard to resupply.
By 2017, Ukraine may well be a member of both the European Union and NATO -- and
it would be odd indeed for a NATO member to host Russia’s biggest military bases.
So Moscow has been seeking an alternative to Sevastapol for the last decade. Russian
strategists believe they’ve found it on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
In 2002, Moscow and Damascus held preliminary talks on the subject. Initially, the idea
was to transform the Syrian port of Tartus into an all-purpose aerial/naval base for both
nations’ use. But European investment in the years since has turned Tartus into Syria’s
major commercial port, ahead of Latakia. Then, too, the area’s population is largely
“mainline” Muslims, who might resent the decision by a minority Alawite regime to offer
bases to foreign powers.
There is also the Iran factor. As the chief supporter of the Assad regime, the Islamic
Republic demands facilities for its own navy. In February, an Iranian flotilla visited Syria
for the first time ever, amid reports that “mooring facilities” would be built to host a
permanent presence.
Russia knows enough about the region to know that the Assad regime won’t stand much
longer. This is why Putin is looking for a “median” solution: a new Syrian regime in
which Moscow’s friends, meaning elements of the Assad regime, would have a place
strong enough to offer the Russian navy an outlet when, and if, Ukraine throws it out.
Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/russia_syria_game_voe96d5Wk
Bego04e6l1NRP#ixzz1aMN6FehP
PRESS RELEASE
Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov’s Consultations at the Turkish
Foreign Ministry
http://www.isria.com/pages/10_October_2011_77.php
1512-06-10-2011
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Titov
held meetings in Ankara with Feridun Sinirlioglu, Undersecretary at the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Fatih Ceylan and Ayse Sezgin,
Deputy Undersecretaries, on October 5-6.
The parties examined the range of issues relating to the development of
Russian-Turkish relations, and expressed mutual satisfaction with the
considerable momentum gained in bilateral political dialogue. They devoted
special attention to economic and trade cooperation, with emphasis on the
implementation of joint large-scale energy projects. The parties discussed the
progress made in preparing for the meeting of the Joint Strategic Planning
Group chaired by the ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries,
scheduled in Moscow for early 2012.
A thorough exchange of views took place on topical international issues,
including the pan-European security question and the developments in the
Middle East, the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.
October 6, 2011
FM: Iran to follow issue of S-300 missiles
http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1942480.html
10 October 2011, 10:40 (GMT+05:00)
Azerbaijan , Baku, Oct. 10 / Trend
Russia must fulfill its contractual commitment and deliver the S-300 missile system to
Iran as the system is not subject to UN Security Council sanctions, reported Press TV
with reference to IRNA quoting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.
Asked about the non-delivery of the Russian missiles by a lawmaker in the Iranian Majlis
(Parliament) on Sunday, Salehi said that the issue was being pursued through diplomatic
channels.
"The Foreign Ministry has taken political and legal steps in parallel," he said.
Referring to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decree prohibiting the delivery of the
missile system to Iran, Salehi said, "Summoning the Russian envoy to the Foreign
Ministry...and urging Iran's diplomats to discuss the issue with Russian counterparts were
examples of those steps."
"This issue will be followed until achieving a result and serving the country's interests.
Foreign Ministry has also taken steps to use the capacity of Paris International Court [of
Arbitration]," he said.
Salehi said that the Russians have tried to change Iran's mind about filing a lawsuit but
Iran's Foreign Ministry will seriously pursue the matter with the help of other relevant
bodies to reach a final result.
"The Russians thought that through the non-delivery of these missiles to Iran after
President Barack Obama was elected...they could solve problems related to the [US]
missile shield and also expand trade and nuclear ties [with Washington]," he said.
Under a USD 800-million contract signed in 2007, Russia was required to provide Iran
with at least five S-300 air defense systems.
Russia has returned Iran's $167 million prepayment recently.
However, the delivery was repeatedly delayed until the UN Security Council adopted
US-engineered sanctions Resolution 1929 against Iran in June last year.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree in September to prohibit the
delivery of the defensive system to Iran.
In August, Seyyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi, Iran's ambassador to Russia, said Tehran had
filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice over Moscow's refusal
to deliver the air defense systems.
This is while Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General
Farzad Esmaili told Fars News Agency on September 20 that Iran was building a more
sophisticated version of Russia's S-300 missile defense system at home.
"The flaws and defects of the (Russian) S-300 system have been corrected in the
indigenous version of the system and its conceptual designing has been finished," he
added.
The S-300, a series of Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems, were developed
to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles. Subsequent variations were developed to
intercept ballistic missiles.
Iran Says May Accept Russian Deal To End Nuclear Standoff With West
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/105506/Iran-Says-May-AcceptRussian-Deal-To-End-Nuclear-Standoff-With-West.html
(Sunday, October 9th, 2011)
Iran tentatively accepts a Russian “step-by-step” deal to end Tehran’s nuclear standoff
with the West, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday, reiterating
what he called Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.
In July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. President Barack Obama of
Moscow’s “step-by-step” approach, under which Iran could address questions about its
nuclear program and be rewarded with a gradual easing of sanctions imposed by
countries that fear Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons, a charge it denies.
Speaking in a joint press conference with Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov,
Salehi was quoted by the semi-official FARS news agency as saying that Tehran accepts
the Russian offer “in principle,” adding that the “proposal displays Russians’ goodwill
for ending this superficial nuclear case of Iran.”
“We emphasize our right to use the peaceful nuclear energy as much as we are loyal and
committed to the [International Atomic Energy] Agency’s statute,” the Iranian foreign
minister told FARS.
With Israel and Washington both keeping the possibility open of launching pre-emptive
strikes on Iran to stop it getting nuclear weapons, the negotiations are a possible way to
avoid what analysts say would be highly risky military action.
But after the failure of the last talks, between Iran and the five permanent members of the
UN Security Council, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, plus Germany
(known as the EU3+3 or P5+1), in Istanbul in January, few analysts expect a
breakthrough.
Russia backed a fourth round of UN sanctions against Tehran in June 2010 but has
criticized tighter measures imposed unilaterally by the United States and the European
Union and emphasized its opposition to military action.
Therefore, Tehran might be more receptive to an approach from Moscow than one from
the West — the E3+3’s delegation is led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
READ MORE: HAARETZ
Iranian, Russian Experts to Study Moscow's Proposal
for Tehran's N. Issue
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007160182
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian and Russian experts are due to convene in a series of
meetings in the near future to study and discuss details of a step-by-step proposal
offered by Moscow to end the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West,
Tehran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced Saturday night.
Speaking in a joint press conference with his visiting Kazakh counterpart Yerzhan
Kazykhanov here in Tehran last night, Salehi said Tehran accepts and welcomes the
Russian offer "in principle".
"This proposal displays Russians' goodwill for ending this superficial nuclear case of
Iran," Salehi stated.
He said the Russian proposal has many details, and the two countries have decided to put
it to further discussions.
The foreign minister underlined that Tehran would accept and welcome any kind of
proposal with a fair approach and respect for Iran's rights.
"We emphasize our right to use the peaceful nuclear energy as much as we are loyal and
committed to the (International Atomic Energy) Agency's statute," the Iranian foreign
minister reiterated.
On July 13, the Russian foreign minister proposed a new 'step-by-step' approach toward
Iran's nuclear program that would enable the Islamic Republic to take steps to address the
questions raised by the IAEA.
According to the proposed plan, Iran can revive negotiations to alleviate individual
concerns of the IAEA about its nuclear activities and be rewarded along the way by the
partial removal of sanctions.
The approach would start out with the easiest questions and move on to more
complicated ones that would require a longer time for a response.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that according to the modality plan agreed by the Islamic
Republic and the IAEA in 2007, the agency should close Iran's nuclear dossier since
Tehran has addressed and resolved all issues of contention.
News number: 9007160258
15:32 | 2011-10-09
Russian Astronaut Assured of Iran's Rapid Progress in
Space Technology
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007160258
TEHRAN (FNA)- A former Russian astronaut who is on a visit to Iran said he is
confident that Iran will make eye-catching progress in space technology in the near
future.
"Today I saw the footages of the launch of Iran's first satellite to the space and I felt that I
am in space once again," Victor Garbatcov said in Iran's central province of Isfahan on
Sunday.
"I am sure that Iran will achieve much progress in area of space sciences in the near
future," he said.
Iran's space industries are very young. Iranian researchers and scientists started their first
steps on this path less than a decade ago and now the country has built its own satellite,
satellite carrier, launch pad, land stations for satellite data transfer and communication
and even started laboratory tests for sending man into space; and it has done all these
while it has been under the toughest possible sanctions of the US-led West.
On Tuesday, Head of Iran's Space Agency Hamid Fazeli renewed his earlier promise that
Iran would send a live monkey into space, but did not give any specific date for action.
Fazeli had said in mid-June that Iran plans to launch a Kavoshgar-5 rocket with a 285kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometers (74 miles)."
"Our scientists are exerting continuous efforts on this project... our colleagues are busy
with empirical studies and sub-system testing of this project so it is a success," he said on
Tuesday.
In mid-March, Iran's space organization announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 rocket
carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey.
The capsule had been unveiled in February by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along
with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before
March 2012.
At the time, Fazeli called the launch of a large animal into space as the first step towards
sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2020.
Iran has already sent small animals into space - a rat, turtles and worms - aboard a
capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010.
The Islamic republic, which first put a satellite into orbit in 2009, has outlined an
ambitious space program and has, thus far, made giant progress in the field despite
western sanctions and pressures against its advancement.
Iran announced in February that it planned to unveil and send two recently-built satellites
into space in the near future.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced in 2010 that Iran plans to send
astronauts into space in 2024. But, later he said that the issue had gone under a second
study at a cabinet meeting and that the cabinet had decided to implement the plan in
2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan.
Omid (hope) was Iran's first research satellite that was designed for gathering information
and testing equipment. After orbiting for three months, Omid successfully completed its
mission without any problem. It completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks and
reentered the Earth's atmosphere on April 25, 2009.
After launching Omid, Tehran unveiled three new satellites called Tolou, Mesbah II and
Navid, respectively. Iran has also unveiled its latest achievements in designing and
producing satellite carriers very recently.
A new generation of home-made satellites and a new satellite carrier called Simorgh
(Phoenix) were among the latest achievements unveiled by Iran's aerospace industries.
The milk-bottle shaped rocket is equipped to carry a 60-kilogram (132-pound) satellite
500 kilometers (310 miles) into orbit.
The 27-meter (90 foot) tall multi-stage rocket weighs 85 tons and its liquid fuel
propulsion system has a thrust of up to 143 tons.
Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), which was set up in 1959.
Russia, China ready to submit balanced resolution on Syria
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/10/10/58447855.html
Oct 10, 2011 11:42 Moscow Time
Russia and China are prepared to submit to the UN Security Council a balanced
resolution on Syria, one that condemns violence and urges the warring factions to sit
down at the negotiating table. This came in a statement for the Profile magazine by the
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia’s topmost diplomat levelled scathing
criticism at the West’s draft resolution that Russia and China voted down on the 4th of
this month. Lavrov said that the draft in question suggests using the Libyan scenario for
Syria and will not prevent the West from interfering again in the course of events in
Syria. Lavrov added that Russia seeks to ensure that conflicts are resolved on the basis of
international law providing for a negotiated settlement. IF.
12:21 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
UN SC Res on Syria creates conditions for external interference
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243707.html
MOSCOW, October 10 (Itar-Tass) — The U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria
creates conditions for the external interference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said.
In an interview with the Profile weekly published on Monday, Lavrov said the U.N.
Security Council resolution on Syria created conditions for the external interference and
Russia came against this.
“The resolution put forth by our Western partners causes damage to several provisions
and we come against it,” he stressed.
In particular, instead of “weapons embargo” the resolution calls for “displaying
vigilance” related to all arms supplies to Syria, the minister noted. “By taking into
account our partners’ capabilities we can be sure that if this resolution is adopted, they
will turn “this vigilance” into the real embargo. We remember how they complied with
the embargo imposed on Libya. Despite the embargo, our partners’ capabilities are wellknown for us. They seek to arm one of the parties involved in the conflict.”
“In addition, the resolution contains an ultimatum, and only to the government of Bashar
al-Assad: if we are not satisfied with your behaviour in a month, we will impose
sanctions. Thus, we can say if the resolution is adopted, it will be refuted by its addressee.
We come against this and we wouldn’t want to create conditions for the inevitable
external interference,” Lavrov pointed out.
“We are concerned over the fact that when during discussions on the resolution, we
proposed to include a point on the impossibility of the external interference under any
circumstances, the co-authors of the resolution – Western countries – flatly refused. In
our view, the West’s statement saying Syria is ‘another thing’ and ‘the Libyan scenario’
cannot be used are seriously overvalued,” the minister said.
“We call for adopting a balanced resolution, which will condemn violence of any side. In
addition, we want to demand al-Assad continue reforms, it is necessary to convince the
Syrian opposition to start talks and come to an agreement. We are ready to propose such
resolution jointly with our Chinese partners,” Lavrov said.
Last week, the Foreign Ministry reported that Russia was ready for further work with the
U.N. Security Council due to a new draft resolution on Syria that was prepared jointly
with China.
The resolution, which was blocked earlier, “was based on means of easing tension and
differed by the ultimatum against Damascus, and threatened to use sanctions on the
Syrian authorities”, the ministry said.
“Such approach runs counter the peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of allSyrian national dialogue and could incite a large-scale conflict and destabilisation in the
region as a whole,” the ministry said.
On October 4, Russia and China blocked efforts of other major powers to pass a U.N.
Security Council resolution on Syria, with a dramatic dual veto thwarting a call for an
immediate halt to the crackdown in Syria against opponents of President Bashar alAssad. Nine of the 15-member council countries, including the United States, voted in
favour of adopting the resolution.
“From the very beginning the Russian Federation took intensive constructive efforts to
work out an effective reaction from the U.N. Security Council to the dramatic events in
Syria. Over a month ago Russian and Chinese partners prepared a draft resolution, which
was amended later due to the concerns of other Security Council members. It was based
on the respect of national sovereignty, Syria’s territorial integrity and the noninterference into its affairs, the repudiation of confrontation and an equal and substantial
dialogue in order to ensure civil peace and national accord by carrying out social,
economic and political reforms in the country,” the ministry said.
“Our proposals on the need for the Syrian opposition to dissociate itself from extremists
and on the inadmissibility to interfere into internal affairs by military means were
ignored. And due to the sad ‘Libyan lesson’ this cannot not disquiet, especially in light of
the statements saying the implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions on
Libya by the North Atlantic Alliance is a ‘model’ that means the gross abuse of U.N.
Security Council resolutions in order to carry out unilateral plans on neutralising
unwanted regimes,” the ministry said.
“We warned several times that we would counter the attempts to turn the Libyan scenario
into a norm because this can cause damage to the authority and the reputation of the U.N.
Security Council. We believe it important that all members of the world community
respected the principle of supremacy of international law in full, without exemptions and
double standards,” the ministry said.
“We do not advocate Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. We believe that it is unacceptable to
continue violence. We condemn the suppression of peaceful demonstrations. But we
cannot close eyes to speculations by the radical opposition to protest actions of the part of
the Syrian population. It does not hide its extremist plans by using open terror tactics,”
the ministry said.
“Russia continues the exacting work with Damascus. We call the Syrian leadership to
carry out reforms as soon as possible, free all detainees, promote a dialogue with the
political opposition, make wide access to the country by international mass media, and
step up interaction with the LAS. This has yielded results: the reforms, even late, have
started to be realised,” the ministry said.
12:06 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
RF wants legal guarantees that European missile shield is not aimed against itLavrov
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243696.html
MOSCOW, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia needs legal guarantees that the European
missile defence systems will not be aimed at its strategic nuclear deterrence forces,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Profil weekly that
came out of Monday.
At the same time, the foreign minister admitted the lack of progress in talks with the
United State on the European missile shield.
“There is no progress. The only positive thing worth to be mentioned is the fact that in
the course of bilateral contacts with our American colleagues and multilateral RussiaNATO contacts we have hardened to the view that our approach is the only right one, that
the European missile defence shield must be shaped in somewhat another manner than
the one proposed by the United States and approved by the North Atlantic Alliance,” he
said.
According to Lavrov, the U.S. plans provide for the deployment, at the third and fourth
phases, of defence shield elements in Europe that might pose risks to Russia’s ballistic
missiles and submarine-based missiles. “They say it is not aimed against us, but on the
other hand, they refuse to write it down as their liability. But we need at least legally
binding guarantees that this system is not aimed against us. Now they are unwilling to
give us such guarantees. It means that we shall have to look for other ways to ensure our
security,” he stressed.
Russia’s Western partners are “stretching the truth” when they say that is a bid to
compensate risks linked with the European missile defence system, Russia is creating
conditions for arms race, the Russian foreign minister noted. Instead, the arms race, he
said, “stems from the American missile defence system.”
“But shall not response to it: our development plans provide for possibilities without
extra spending to secure out territory and our positions in the sphere of strategic
stability,” he stressed.
Russia has “projects that may help not to be worried about its security regardless of how
the situation develops further,” Lavrov added.
Russia relaxed about its security despite missile defense odds with NATO Lavrov
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20111009/167517992.html
23:11 09/10/2011
MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti)
Russia has its own defense projects that leave the country relaxed about its security
despite the controversy with NATO over the European missile defense shield, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday.
In an interview with Russia’s Profil political weekly Lavrov said that Russia had enough
defense projects that “allow not to worry about our security under any circumstances”
and do not need “additional serious expenses.”
The minister however did not elaborate on the projects.
“Some of our Western partners ask: "Why do you threaten…to engage the world in the
arms race?" It’s an ambiguous approach, because it’s the U.S.-designed missile defense
scheme that implies an arms race,” Lavrov said, referring to the NATO’s reluctance to
provide legally binding guarantees that its missiles would not be directed against Russia.
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on European missile defense system at the Lisbon
Summit in November 2010. President Dmitry Medvedev proposed a joint system with
full-scale interoperability to ensure that NATO's system will not be directed against
Moscow. The alliance, however, favors two independent systems which exchange
information.
Last week Moscow warned it may stop cooperation with Washington on a missile shield
in Europe after the United States and Spain announced an agreement to deploy a number
of U.S. Navy cruisers in Spain as part of the nascent missile defense program.
Russia ready for Euro ABM – Lavrov
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/10/10/58435401.html
Oct 10, 2011 02:32 Moscow Time
In Russia there are projects currently underway, which will not require large expenditure,
but which will allow the Russian Federation not to worry about the security of the
country no matter what configuration is taken by the European ABM system, stated
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with the Russian magazine
"Profil".
He stressed that Moscow does not intend to start an arms race.
At the Russia-NATO summit in Lisbon in November of last year, the parties agreed to
cooperate on missile defense in Europe.
Moscow insists on full participation in the project, as well as on written assurances that
missile defense will not be directed against it.
NATO and the U.S. offer to trust them at their word and do not want to fix any
guarantees in documents or binding instruments.
(RIAN)
11:59 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Lavrov slams US’ unwillingness to destroy Afghan poppy fields
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243683.html
MOSCOW, October 10 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov has
strongly criticized the U.S. authorities’ unwillingness to destroy poppy fields in
Afghanistan.
“It’s difficult to perceive why our American partners do not want the International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to engage in this (in destroying poppy fields),”
he told the MDG-6 Forum that opened in Moscow on Monday.
“This issue has already been remaining unresolved for several years, while this is the key
issue in the fight against drug trafficking and as a result against the spread of
HIV/AIDS,” he said.
“The tragedy of this situation is that in Europe young people from a well-to-do social
environment become victims of the disease (AIDS) as a result of the spread of drug
addiction,” Lavrov said expressing confidence that “it is necessary to counteract not only
drug abuse but also the spread.”
“We attach special importance to strong and radical increase in the efficiency of efforts of
the international community in the fight against drug threat emanating from
Afghanistan,” he said.
“Over the past ten years the production and export of drugs from Afghanistan increased
several times over to all possible markets – Central Asia, the CIS, Europe and something
is trafficked to the United States as well,” the diplomat said referring to the U.S.
arguments saying that destruction of Afghanistan’s poppy fields would not resolve the
problem as would create difficulties for agricultural producers.
Russia concerned about possible use of Libyan model in the future
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n261375
10 October 2011 | 11:06 | FOCUS News Agency
Home / World
Moscow. The scenario applied by the West in Libya should not be turned into a model for
solution to analogical internal political conflicts, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov, ITAR-TASS reports.
“We were concerned by the statements of the NATO leaders that the Libyan model could
be used again in the future. It is very bad that our colleagues think this way, because the
Libyan model is a sever violation of the decision of the UN Security Council and of the
international law,” Lavrov remarked.
Putin's China visit eyes further bilateral cooperation
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-10/10/c_131181758.htm
2011-10-10 08:49:11
MOSCOW, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's upcoming
official visit to China this week is expected to push the cooperation between the two
countries to a new high.
Prior to his two-day trip to China starting on Tuesday, Putin said the two countries "have
enjoyed an unparalleled partnership" and that he believed the upcoming meetings with
the Chinese leaders will see "a positive development" in bilateral relations.
In recent years, the two countries have made remarkable achievements in bilateral ties.
Political mutual trust between China and Russia has been growing steadily, as the two
countries have witnessed frequent contacts between their top leaders.
Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to Russia in June and marked together with
Russian leaders the 10th anniversary of the China-Russia Treaty on GoodNeighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.
During the visit, Hu and his Russian colleagues reached consensus on the future
development of bilateral ties in the next decade and signed a joint statement on the
current international situation and on major international issues, which would also help
the international community to meet global challenges.
According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, the two sides have
supported each other in the international arena, as the two have carried out close
coordination and jointly coped with new changes in the international situation to
safeguard their common interests and promote the democratization of international
relations.
Leaders of the two countries have also concerted their efforts on promoting bilateral
cooperation, as a number of large projects in energy, science and military technology are
being conducted.
Trade between the two countries has recovered from the global financial crisis and
rebounded to a pre-crisis level. Bilateral trade volume in the first half of this year stood at
35.9 billion U.S. dollars, a 39.6-percent hike compared with last year.
According to a forecast from China's Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade volume is
expected to exceed 70 billion dollars in 2011, setting a new record.
Both China and Russia have also agreed to make efforts to meet the target of bilateral
trade volume reaching 100 billion dollars by 2015, and to 200 billion by 2020.
Along with the developments in political and economic and trade spheres, cultural
cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have also
maintained a sound momentum.
According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong, people-to-people
communication and non-governmental activities have developed robustly in recent years.
"The concept of friendship for generations to come has been deeply rooted in the hearts
of the two peoples, laying a more solid social foundation for China-Russia ties," he said.
Last year, more than 2.37 million Russians toured China, up 36 percent compared with
2009. Russia is currently the third largest tourist source country of China.
The reciprocal "Tourism Year" to be respectively held in Russia in 2012 and in China in
2013 will also help the two peoples understand each other better.
Leaders of both countries have stressed that the relations between China and Russia are
becoming a model on bilateral relationship of the world's big powers. And local analysts
believed that further development of the Sino-Russian ties would also promote the
development of the world's peace and stability.
Beijing, Moscow to sign deal to increase Russian hi-tech exports
http://en.rian.ru/business/20111010/167527116.html
10:55 10/10/2011
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti)
Beijing and Moscow will sign an agreement to increase Russian hi-tech exports during
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to China, Kommersant business daily quoted
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov as saying on Monday.
Zhukov said that the memorandum which Putin planned to sign during his visit on
October 11-12 "covered innovation cooperation in industry, nanotechnologies, space
research, biotechnologies, information industry and others."
"All this must produce the effect of increasing the share of hi-tech machines in Russian
exports to China," Zhukov said.
The two sides plan to sign deals on 20 projects worth $7 billion, he added.
10:53 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Russia, China on home stretch in talks on long-range plane project
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243624.html
BEIJING, October 10 (Itar-Tass) — Russia and China have entered the final phase in the
negotiations on the crationt of long-range plane project, RF Deputy Prime Minister
Alexander Zhukov told journalists on the results of the 15th meeting of the RussianChinese commission for the preparation of regular meetings between the two countries’
governments.
“We’ve come to grips with discussing the project to create a long-haul wide-body plane,”
said Zhukov. “Our Chinese partners have taken a long time to consider if they should
engage in cooperation with us, and now we are closely dealing with this.”
The RF deputy prime minister also said that another project on the creations of a heavy
helicopter is being actively discussed at present.
According to Zhukov, the issues of energy resources supply to China were not discussed
on Monday. A special venue – the energy dialogue forum have been created to address
these issues, he said.
“Today, we have not discussed these issues at the meeting of the commission for the
preparation of the meetings of the prime ministers. They will be discussed within the
prime ministers’ dialogue and at their meeting,” the RF deputy prime minister said.
RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will pay a working visit to Beijing on October 11-12 at
the invitation of Premier of the Chinese State Council Wen Jiabao. During the visit, Putin
will take part in the 16th regular meeting of the heads of government of Russia and China
in Beijing and have a conversation with Chinese President Hu Jintao, the RF
government’s press service reported earlier. “During Russian-Chinese talks, the sides
plan to discuss a wide range of issues of economic, scientific, technical and humanitarian
cooperation. Special attention will be paid to the improvement of the mutual trade
infrastructure, expansion of investment interaction and cooperation in highly
technological fields, and implementation of long-term projects in the field of energy. The
sides will also exchange opinions on topical international and regional problems,” it said.
10:15 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
2012 to be declared Russia-China Tourism Cross Year - Zhukov
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243600.html
BEIJING, October 10 (Itar-Tass) — Events of a cross year devoted to the development of
tourism between Russia and China will be held in 2012, RF Deputy Prime Minister
Alexander Zhukov told journalists on the results of the 15th meeting of the Russia-China
commission for the preparation of regular meetings of the two countries’ governments.
“You know, we have had the Years of Russia in China and of China in Russia, then the
Years of the Russian Language in China and the Chinese Language in Russia. Next,
2012, will be the Cross Tourism Year,” Zhukov said.
According to him, many events linked with the development of the tourism exchanges
between the two countries are to be held.
“China currently is becoming more and more popular tourism destination for Russians,”
the deputy prime minister noted. “We hope that the Chinese tourists, and there are many
of them, will be travelling to Russia with pleasure. Actually, thus is the goal of these
cross years.”
Putin's visit to strengthen bilateral ties
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-10/10/content_13858140.htm
Updated: 2011-10-10 06:42
(Xinhua)
MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to China will
facilitate the comprehensive development of the China-Russia strategic cooperative
partnership, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said on Sunday.
Thanks to the efforts from both sides, recent years have seen China-Russia relations reach
unprecedentedly high levels, Li said, adding that the relationship between the two world
giants has set a good example for international relations, especially relations between big
powers.
Putin's upcoming visit will be another significant event in the development of bilateral
relations following the exchange of visits between Chinese President Hu Jintao and
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Li said.
Looking into the future, the ambassador proposed that each of the two sides continue
supporting the other's choice of development mode based on its own realities and backing
the other's efforts in defending its core interests.
While exploring new fields of cooperation, the two countries should further expand their
current mutually beneficial cooperation programs, Li said, expressing the hope that
bilateral trade will reach $100 billion by 2015 and 200 billion dollars by 2020.
In addition, China and Russia need to step up cooperation in energy, investment and
scientific research among many other areas, the ambassador said.
With regards to international issues, Li said that as permanent members of the UN
Security Council, both China and Russia shoulder special responsibilities in maintaining
world peace and security.
Meanwhile, as key members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and leading
emerging economies, the two countries play an important role in shaping a multi-polar
world and enhancing democracy in international relations, he added.
China and Russia have a wide range of common interests in pushing forward the reform
of the international financial system by increasing the representation of developing
countries, Li said.
He added that an increasingly closer China-Russia strategic coordination in international
issues will not only serve their fundamental interests, but contribute to the formation of a
more equitable world order.
The ambassador also called for closer cultural exchanges between China and Russia,
saying the reciprocal "Tourism Year" activities, to be held in Russia in 2012 and in China
in 2013, will further deepen the understanding and trust between the two peoples.
Despite changes in the international arena, consolidating the China-Russia strategic
cooperative partnership remains a priority in China's foreign policy, said the ambassador.
Recalling that Hu's historic visit to Russia in June charted the course for the future
development of bilateral ties, Li said he is confident that Putin's visit will inject new
vigor into the process.
Putin is due to visit China on Tuesday and Wednesday. He will attend the 16th regular
meeting between the two country's premiers.
Putin's visit to enhance China-Russia cooperation: expert
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-10/10/c_131181757.htm
2011-10-10 08:48:05
MOSCOW, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to China
would further boost the two countries' cooperation in both bilateral and global issues, a
Russian expert has said.
At the invitation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Putin will pay an official visit to China
on Tuesday and Wednesday and attend the 16th regular meeting between the two
countries' premiers.
President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders will meet Putin to discuss bilateral
relations and international and regional issues of common concern.
Sergei Luzyanin, deputy director of the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of
Science, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Putin's visit would first of all enhance the
two nations' interaction in world issues.
"They would discuss global issues, including the situation in the Middle East. Moscow
and Beijing have a similar approach to the situation in Syria," Luzyanin said.
"They secured the stabilization there by vetoing UN resolutions on Syria and preventing
NATO from intervening," Luzyanin said.
Besides cooperation in the UN Security Council, Russia and China have developed
important interactions within BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the G20, the expert said.
"Russia and China are equally concerned about the threats from Afghanistan such as drug
trafficking and the possible overflowing of instability to Central Asian countries," he
said.
The scholar also said both Moscow and Beijing are preparing for a possible second wave
of the financial crisis that looms over Europe.
"The first strike of the crisis in 2009 left Russia and China with different experience," he
said.
Russia and China have learnt from that experience how important the flexibility of
financial regulations was and both began experiments to avoid depending too much on
the volatile U.S. dollar.
"These let us believe Russia and China won't be the passive observers of the second wave
of the financial crisis should it really come," Luzyanin said.
As for bilateral ties, Luzyanin said the China-Russia comprehensive strategic cooperative
partnership has been currently at its best time ever, which allows the two countries to
conduct various joint projects ranging from technical to cultural areas.
Luzyanin said the reciprocal years of tourism between Russia and China in 2012 and
2013 will also help strengthen bilateral ties, as tourism plays not only a cultural but an
ever increasing economic role.
"In the last three years, as the number of Russian visitors to China has amounted to over
2 million, a new economic phenomenon has appeared -- some Russian business started to
mushroom in China in the form of joint ventures or independent small-sized companies. I
think tourism inevitably contributes to the other areas of economy," the Russian pundit
said.
Luzyanin said Putin will also touch upon Russia-China trade during his visit.
Bilateral trade has been growing. The two countries have planned to further expand
annual bilateral trade to 100 billion dollars in the next three years from 60 billion U.S.
dollars in 2011. For Russia, it has also been trying to diversity its exports to China.
Besides trade, Putin is expected to use the visit to woo more Chinese investment.
"Putin might discuss with his Chinese hosts about cooperation on gas and oil projects,
aviation, space exploration, hi-tech industry, as well as the program of co-development of
Russia's Far East and China's northeast regions," the expert predicts.
Putin's China visit watched for strategic signals
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/10/09/idINIndia-59786020111009
Sun, Oct 9 2011
By Gleb Bryanski
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin visits China on Tuesday in his first foreign trip
since revealing plans to reclaim Russia's presidency, addressing a challenging
relationship with a giant neighbour whose growth is both an opportunity and a potential
threat for Moscow.
For Putin, whose main focus has been domestic in nearly four years as prime minister,
the trip sets in motion a return to forefront of Russian foreign policy ahead of a March
election in which he is expected to win a six-year term as president.
Beneath talk of strategic relations and shared stances on world affairs, wrangling over a
gas pact worth a potential $1 trillion points up the tough issues he will confront in dealing
with Russia's far more populous, faster growing neighbour.
China, facing its own leadership transition next year, may try to gauge Putin's plans for
what could be 12 years at the helm of a country whose natural resources and nuclear arms
make it a factor in Beijing's economic and geopolitical strategies.
"The significance of this trip exceeds that of a normal prime minister-level visit," said
Zhao Huasheng, director at the Center for Russia and Central Asia Studies at Shanghai's
Fudan University.
Putin will bring an army of executives including the CEOs of state-controlled energy
firms Gazprom and Rosneft and aluminium producer UC RUSAL, all eager to exchange
their wares for Chinese cash.
His meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will
feature warm affirmations of friendship and solidarity on big global issues between two
countries that often move in lockstep to counter the United States and Europe.
VETO
Their double veto last week of a European-drafted, U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council
resolution to condemn Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters was a warning
against Western meddling in their own countries and others worldwide.
Putin may use the trip to show the West an emphasis on China as Russia's geopolitical
partner and a customer for its energy.
He did just that in a televised meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller on Oct. 3,
pointedly ordering him to prepare proposals on expansion into Asian markets, seen as a
way to diversify Russian energy exports away from stagnant Europe.
President Dmitry Medvedev has not been cool to China since Putin steered him into the
Kremlin after his own 2000-2008 presidency, but his emphasis has been on presenting a
friendlier face to the West and improving ties with the United States.
Putin's meeting with Miller followed European Commission raids on offices of Gazprom
subsidiaries in Europe that underscored persistent tensions over the continent's heavy
reliance on Russian gas, which EU members want to reduce.
But China's friendly political ties with Russia, and their partnership in the loose BRIC
grouping that also includes India and Brazil, do not make Beijing less of a tough
customer when it comes to energy deals.
GAS DEAL
Putin will likely seek to resolve the price disagreements that have prevented Russia
nailing down a 30-year deal to supply China with up to 68 billion cubic metres of gas per
year.
But Gazprom's export chief told Reuters last month that the five-year-old negotiations
might not end this year, pushing back initial deliveries beyond the latest target of 2016.
Meanwhile, China is cultivating other sources of energy supplies, particularly in exSoviet Central Asia.
A report this month by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said
China was gaining the upper hand in the relationship as it becomes less reliant on Russia
for advanced weapons and looks elsewhere for some of its energy.
It said Russia's significance to China would continue to diminish in the coming years, and
that "there are strategic planners in Beijing and Moscow who view the other side as the
ultimate strategic threat in the long term".
While Putin may use China as a foil against the West, the pragmatic former KGB officer
is well aware of such concerns.
As he prepares for what could be two six-year terms as president, "the risks from China's
growth will be watched more closely than the opportunities", said Fyodor Lukyanov,
editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.
At an investor conference on Thursday, Putin used a joke to play down the challenge
posed by China's faster growth after TPG Capital co-founder David Bonderman outlined
China's path to becoming the world's largest economy.
"He got me worried. He said that the United States is so far the world's biggest economy
but China will undoubtedly take over. So we now need to keep our foreign currency
reserves in yuan while the Chinese will keep them in dollars," Putin said.
"That will be an interesting Russian doll."
(Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Steve Gutterman and
Kevin Liffey)
Public component of Russia-China Energy dialogue
http://en.rian.ru/international_affairs/20111006/167434630.html
12:59 06/10/2011
This story by Igor Tomberg, Director of Energy and Transit Studies Center of the
Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Science, professor at the Moscow
State Foreign Relations Institute of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Strategic Culture
Foundation expert, was published in International Affairs magazine.
The coming visit of Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to China on October 11-12
will be aimed at giving stability to the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership in the
economy. Energy industry traditionally tops the list of complicated and sometimes
pressing issues of the Russian-Chinese partnership…
Cooperation in energy sector is an important component of Russia-China strategic
partnership. The new format of bilateral cooperation - Russia-China Energy Dialogue
co-chaired by the chairman of the Russian government Igor Sechin and Vice Prime
Minister of the State Council of China Wang Qishan - has made it possible to bring the
discussion of pressing issues of the Russian-Chinese energy cooperation to a qualitatively
new level. Nevertheless, recently there have been problems and even certain recession in
oil and gas cooperation between two countries. Risks of non-payments for Russian oil are
getting higher. Coordination of terms of the final agreement on Russian gas supplies is
going slowly though there have been some promising moves recently. Despite efforts on
the level of the leaders of two countries the prospects of cooperation in oil and gas
industry Russia continues to play a purely raw-material exports role. Russian energy
companies are entering the Chinese national market very slowly and episodically.
Speaking everywhere about Russia-China strategic partnership in energy sector we forget
that selling raw materials has nothing to do with strategic partnership. There are different
ways to enter the Chinese market. Like Turkmenistan - by selling raw materials on its
border (that is what have we have chosen so far). But we can also follow the Russian
government’s doctrine on ensuring energy security of the supplier. It is like adding third
dimension to a two-dimension trade - supplier is present on the market of consumer as a
rightful market participant. In case with Gazprom, for example, this intensive
participation implies not only supplies of resources but also technological and financial
participation in the formation of the national market. That means not only gas supplies
but also participation gas distribution networks (buying assets and constricting new
facilities), trying to get control over least operational management of the interior gas
distribution networks. The inlet gas price becomes and important but not a defining
component because the profit making center moves from the border deeper into the
country. This is a colossal task not only politically but also technically. To remove accent
in energy of a big country from coal to gas especially in energy production, to switch
almost 1.5 billion population to gas networks is a really strategic task which requires
serious preparations.
It is clear that certain details of partnership of the two countries, its medium and long
term perspectives require preliminary scientific analysis. Harmonization of interests of
two countries in energy security and objectively contradictory interests of the authorized
companies (Gazprom, Rosneft, CNPC, Sinopec) can be also included into this group of
problems. No doubt that long term state interests of two countries are much wider and
more diverse and the priority among them is mutual rapprochement of Russia and China.
In full these interests can be voiced only in the framework of a wide public dialogue.
It is obvious that it is time to include in Russia-China Energy Dialogue one more nongovernmental and social component – the dialogue of Russian and Chinese experts in oil
and gas industry. A positive example here is cooperation of experts within Russia-EU
Energy Dialogue, which made it possible not only to find solutions for wide range of
problems but what is crucially important – to bring a creative atmosphere into working on
serious inter-governmental documents. It has become necessary to provide expert
supervision of bilateral contacts in energy sector both to analyze strategic tasks of the
Russian-Chinese partnership and settlement of different technical questions, search of
mutually acceptable solutions of the contradictions.
The activities of energy dialogue of experts should cover all main fields of energy
cooperation: oil, gas, coal, electricity, transportation component.
Russian and Chinese experts could work together in the following directions:
coordination of energy strategies of two countries, forecast and scenarios; market and
infrastructure development; energy efficiency and alternative energy sources. In case
with China the creation of atmosphere of mutual consideration of interests of each party,
wide public explanation of positions on a certain problem hampering cooperation, finally
more complete and profound study of the Chinese fuel and energy complex and its
mechanisms by Russian experts are regarded as exceptionally important .
Moscow sees significant interest on behalf of its Chinese partners and experts in wider
interaction. Though Russian agencies are taking certain steps to expand cooperation so
far these steps were spontaneous and not very efficient.
Senior NATO commander to talk Euro missile shield in Moscow
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20111010/167520238.html
01:40 10/10/2011
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti)
NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis and
Russia's Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov will make another attempt to
overcome the deadlock in Russia-NATO talks on European missile defense during their
meeting in Moscow on Monday.
Makarov and Stavridis are expected to discuss "the current state and prospects of RussiaNATO cooperation in the military sphere," including the creation of the European missile
shield, and address "relevant regional and international security issues," the Russian
Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Monday the talks between Moscow
and the alliance on European missile defense have yielded "zero results."
“Our partners are not going to make any serious advances during the talks,” he said,
adding that NATO leadership was interested in “lowering the profile” of media coverage
of the talks “in order to hide its principal refusal to… consider Russia’s objective
demands from the public.”
He reiterated that NATO should provide Moscow with legal guarantees that its projected
European missile defense shield will not be directed at Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed concerns on Sunday that Moscow's
disagreements with NATO over the issue could lead to a new arms race. In an interview
with Russia's Profil political weekly, the minister said Russia had its own defense
projects allowing Moscow "not to worry about our security under any circumstance"
while avoiding "additional serious expenses."
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on European missile defense system at the Lisbon
Summit in November 2010. President Dmitry Medvedev proposed a joint system with
full-scale interoperability to ensure that NATO's system will not be directed against
Moscow. The alliance, however, favors two independent systems which exchange
information.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned last week that by refusing to provide legal
guarantees on its missile shield, NATO could miss the chance to "turn anti-missile
defense from an area of confrontation into an area of cooperation."
Anti-piracy cooperation
During his stay in the Russian capital, the U.S. official will also meet with Russian Navy
Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky to discuss cooperation between Russia and
NATO in fighting sea piracy, including the prospects of Russia's participation in the
NATO-led counter-terrorism Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean Sea.
Russian joined the operation, which was launched after the 9/11 attacks, in February
2006, but temporarily withdrew from the project in the summer of 2010.
On Tuesday, Stavridis will also visit the Volga city of Volgograd, where he will meet
with Russia's Southern Military District commanders.
Russia, US to simplify visa formalities
Today at 09:33 | Interfax-Ukraine
Moscow - The Russian government has approved a draft agreement with the United
States, which makes it simpler for the two countries' citizens to obtain visas.
It is proposed that the agreement be concluded through the exchange of notes, according
to a document posted in the databank of government acts. The same document approves
the draft of a Russian note.
The agreement sets out the conditions for issuing visas for short-term official trips, as
well as the conditions for issuance of Russian business, private, humanitarian and tourist
visas and U.S. B1/B2 visas, the approved draft note said.
The countries' diplomatic missions and consular departments will normally make the
decision about a visa within 15 calendar days from the start of processing, the note said.
The period for making a decision on a visa application can be extended in certain cases.
At the same time, this period can be reduced to three business days or less in urgent
cases.
The parties shall agree to issue normally multiple-entry visas for a stay of no more than
six months from the date of each entry and valid for 36 months from the issue date, the
draft agreement said. This agreement shall be valid, provided the parties observe the
principles of reciprocity.
For short-term official trips, the parties agree to issue mainly multiple-entry visas for a
stay of up to three months from the date of each entry and valid for 12 months from the
issue date.
When considering a visa application, diplomatic missions may request additional
information to confirm the stated purpose of the trip and available funding, the draft
document said. A joint recommended list of documents for submitting such information
will be agreed by the parties through diplomatic channels, the draft agreement said.
"The provisions of the note do not aim to limit the powers of the competent authorities of
either party to refuse a visa, to cancel a visa, to refuse entry or exit to another country's
citizens, or to limit their stay in accordance with the national laws," the note said.
In the event that this proposal is acceptable for the U.S., the said Russian note and the
note sent by the U.S. Embassy in response shall be deemed to constitute an agreement
simplifying visa formalities, which will become effective within 30 days from the date of
receipt through diplomatic channels of the last written notice about completion of internal
procedures, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/114439/#ixzz1aMLM1ZRi
Long pursued, arms suspect faces trial in NY court
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44840903/ns/politics/#
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, STEPHEN BRAUN
updated 39 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — For nearly two decades, Viktor Bout ruled an empire of the air. He
dispatched a private fleet of long-haul cargo planes that spanned the globe, shipping
heavy machinery, frozen chickens and more. The Russian businessman is grounded now,
facing trial this week in a New York federal courtroom for what Western governments
insist was his real specialty — arranging delivery of tons of weapons that inflamed
violence across the world's war zones.
A former Soviet military officer with command of four languages, Bout is known as the
"Merchant of Death," the nickname long used by American and international officials to
describe his suspected prominence in the illicit arms trade. He has been banned from
international travel for violating United Nations arms embargos, targeted by a U.S. asset
freeze and he inspired the role of the fictitious arms trafficker played by Nicholas Cage in
the 2005 action film, "Lord of War."
He is believed to have amassed a fortune estimated as high as $6 billion. His clients,
according to official investigations, included African dictators Moammar Gadhafi,
Charles Taylor and the Taliban mullahs who once ran Afghanistan. Planes linked to his
network even flew supplies to Iraq for the U.S. armed forces.
Bout, 44, eluded arrest until U.S. narcotics agents lured him to Thailand in a 2008 sting
operation, charging him with conspiring to sell anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons to
undercover informants posing as South American terrorists. Protesting his innocence,
Bout was extradited to New York in November after enduring a grueling, two-year limbo
in a Bangkok prison while the U.S. and Russia squared off in a diplomatic tug-of-war.
His arrest was a high point in efforts to stem the flow of black market arms, but the case
has set off Cold War echoes. For Russia, Bout's prosecution is seen as American
overreach, stoking fears he will be pressed to open up about his ties to Russia's military
and intelligence circles.
U.S. prosecutors will face defense questions about the sting's validity and his treatment
by federal agents. His attorneys had also claimed Bout was targeted because the U.S. was
embarrassed by its use of his air companies in Iraq — but they agreed last week to avoid
that argument unless prosecutors allude to it during questioning. Jury selection starts
Tuesday.
"There are powerful people in Russia who are quite frankly worried that he might spill
his guts," said Michael Braun, a former Drug Enforcement Administration chief of
operations who led the Bout investigation.
Sergei Markov, a Russian lawmaker and member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's
ruling United Russia party, agreed: "They want to extract information from him."
Bout's attorney, Albert Y. Dayan, said his client "never had any intention of transferring
arms to anyone" in the sting. He added last week that "we believe that most of the
reputation he has developed is imposed rather than actual."
Trying to mute the prejudicial effects of Bout's notoriety, U.S. District Judge Shira
Scheindlin said last week she will try a tactic new to federal trials, requiring jurors to sign
a pledge not to research Bout on the Internet or other media.
It will not be easy. The Web is flooded with photographs of a haggard Bout in his Thai
jail cell, as well as news stories, websites and Facebook pages. There have been
documentaries, books and a suspense novel based on the Russian businessman. Bout
dismissed the "Lord of War" film as "a bad movie." A rock group, DePotorland, recently
released a new video for a song about Bout, "We Deliver."
Bout's transport network got its start in the early 1990s, soon after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. Leasing and then buying old Russian-made cargo planes known for their
durability and lumbering size, Bout amassed an air armada that grew to more than 60
aircraft by the late 1990s, according to U.S. officials. The planes were constantly on the
move, flying from Africa to Afghanistan and hopscotching to bases in Belgium, South
Africa, Swaziland, the United Arab Emirates and across Eastern Europe.
The planes brimmed with loads ranging from diamonds to gladiolas. But by the late
1990s, U.S. and UN officials and anti-arms-trade activists had pinpointed the flights as a
key source of assault rifles and more sophisticated weapons systems turning up in the
violence-plagued African nations of Liberia, Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. U.S. officials later said Bout's air operations also earned $50
million aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"It was his air fleet, his easy access to arms and his ability to reach the most violent parts
of the world that made Viktor Bout so much more than the run of the mill arms dealer,"
said Juan Zarate, a top counterterrorism official for the Bush administration and now a
senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Describing Bout as a transnational threat capable of aiding terrorists and other violent
groups, the U.S. targeted him with financial sanctions for alleged arms work in Liberia
and the Congo. Belgium indicted him on money laundering charges in 2002 and Interpol
issued an international warrant, but Bout retreated to Moscow, where Russian officials
spurned the inquiries.
When Bout was arrested in Bangkok in March 2008 by the DEA and Thai police, Russian
diplomats were quick to defend him. The case has become a Russian cause celebre in the
months since his extradition. Bout's wife, Alla, and his mother and daughter have come to
pre-trial hearings and are expected to attend the trial in New York.
If Bout were convicted, Markov said, "Russia will protest. Bout is a Russian citizen, and
it's the Russian authorities' duty to protect his rights." Sergei Prikhodko, the senior
foreign policy aide to President Dmitry Medvedev, said in November that there are no
secrets, military or otherwise, that Bout could pass to the Americans. Still, some Russian
parliament members have raised the possibility of a swap similar to last year's trade of
Russian sleeper agents arrested in the U.S. for prisoners held in Russia.
U.S. authorities have not speculated publicly on any deal, but such a move would be
opposed by the DEA and prosecutors. "I don't see that in the cards," said Braun, the
former DEA official who now is managing partner of the Virginia-based Spectre Group
International security firm.
Bout faces a possible life sentence if convicted. He is charged with conspiring to sell
millions of dollars in weapons to DEA informants acting as officials of the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucianarios de Colombia, or FARC, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist
organization operating in Colombia. He is also accused of conspiring to kill Americans.
Prosecutors said he offered to sell 700 to 800 surface-to-air missiles, 5,000 AK-47
firearms, millions of rounds of ammunition, land mines, night-vision equipment and
ultra-light airplanes that could carry missiles to the undercover informants.
Bout has won some legal challenges. The judge ruled that the government could not use
statements that Bout made to federal agents after his 2008 arrest. Scheindlin also
suggested DEA agents had testified falsely in claiming they had not pressed Bout to
cooperate with them, but she later withdrew that accusation after prosecutors protested.
Even without the ability to use Bout's statements, prosecutors have Bout's wiretapped
conversations and documents and emails lifted from his seized laptop. The undercover
informants are expected to testify along with Andrew Smulian, a veteran pilot arrested
with Bout who had worked with the Russian dating back to 1996.
Bout has not talked publicly in the courtroom, but defense lawyer Kenneth Kaplan said
Bout has been helping his attorneys prepare for trial while he studies a new language,
Hindu.
"He's been anxiously awaiting his day in court," Kaplan said.
___
Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov also contributed to this report from
Moscow. Braun and a co-author wrote the 2007 book, "Merchant of Death," about Bout.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
02:33 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Russia-EU PPC to discuss easier visa rules, migration, crime fight
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243457.html
WARSAW, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russia-EU Permanent Partnership Council
(PPC) on Freedom, Security and Justice will open its 15th session here on Monday.
Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov, who is the presidential special envoy for
cooperation with the European Union in freedom, security and justice, will head the
Russian delegation at the forum. Officials from the Russian Interior Ministry, the Federal
Security Service and the Federal Migration Service will also participate in the PPC
session. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom will represent the
European Commission. Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski and Interior Minister
Jerzy Miller will represent Poland, which is presiding in the EU Council.
The Russia-EU Permanent Partnership Council will discuss the development of
cooperation between the EU and Russia in freedom, security and justice and will set
guidelines to broaden and develop this cooperation, Polish organizers said in a statement.
The PPC session will focus on “visa-free travel talks, including easier visa rules,
migration and the struggle against transnational organized crime and drug trafficking,”
the Russian Justice Ministry reported. “The interlocutors are to approve a working
schedule of the Russian-EU migration dialogue for 2011-2012, consider the negotiated
list of joint steps towards a visa-free regime of short-term trips for the citizens from
Russia and the EU states and are to sum up the results, which the experts achieved on the
guidelines of cooperation,” the Justice Ministry said. The PPC session “will set priorities
in building a common Russia-EU space in freedom, security and justice,” the Russian
Justice Ministry reported.
An official opening ceremony is scheduled for Monday evening, but a working meeting
and its result summarizing is scheduled for Tuesday on the agenda of the PPC session.
The Russia-EU Permanent Partnership Council held the previous 14th session in St.
Petersburg last May. High on the agenda of the previous PPC session was visa-free travel
talks between Russia and the EU. The PPC members decided to continue these talks and
to take gradual steps on the issue through easier visa rules.
Gvt: ‘Uranium project is rewarding’
http://thecitizen.co.tz/business/-/15955-gvt-uranium-project-is-rewarding
Monday, 10 October 2011 09:45
By The Citizen Correspondent
Namtumbo. Mantra Resources uranium project in Namtumbo District of Ruvuma region
has started benefiting residents and large part of population in the area.
District Commissioner, Mr Saveri Maketa, said, the project has already begun to yield
fruits, as the environment has already changed to new characteristics feature.
The project in the Seleous Game Reserve estimated at Sh600 billion, and is awaiting for
an approval by the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) soon, according to Mr Maketa.
“Employment is there, that over 1500 residents in the district and others in the region are
assured of their daily bread,” he expresses.
He said the construction of permanent township roads to and from the site is underway to
connect the area with the major highway.
Agricultural infrastructure in villages is about to improve as farmers are set to form
groups to enable the district provide them technical and material support to enable them
grow crops, vegetables and fruits in large quantity so as to feed workers at the mining
site.
According to him the district council will provide loans to the farmers for an intended
farming project.
Russian government owned, the 'ROSATOM' Corporation is undertaking the project,
according to Mr Maketa.
He says the firm has several branches including ARMZ which operates in a number of
countries including China, Turkey, Belarus, Vietnam, Ukraine, Armenia, Jordan and
Kazakhstan.
The Prime Minister Mr Mizengo Pinda supported the project during a recent Bunge
session saying it was vital to the national development.
Assuring Tanzanians, Mr Pinda said that the case of game reserve’s conservation laws
was considered and that the United Nations Educational Science and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) is working on it for an approval of the project as soon the
arrangements are over.
The Legislator Magdalena Sakaya (CUF) wanted assurance of the safety of heritage and
life of animals in Selous Games Reserve.
The Selous Games Reserve is Africa's home of variety of birds, crocodile, elephant, lion,
leopards, cheetahs, and black rhino, the animals who constitute attraction of tourism
industry.
According to reports the mining companies would generate about Sh400bn annually from
which the treasury would get about Sh7.5bn only.
'ROSATOM' Corporation is going to improve the project, including the training of local
staff so that later on the Tanzanian government can produce its own local experts.
Senior geologist, also spokesman for the ministry of Energy and Minerals , Aloyce Tesha
underlined benefits expected from the project, being employment, technology, training
as well as increasing national income in both local and foreign currencies.
Study shows deposit estimated at over 25.1 million tonnes and that production of over 3.7
million pounds of yellow cake and that the deposit is to last for over 12 years.
The production cost for a single yellow cake is estimated at $ 25.05 which has been
already included into working capital estimation for the project reported to be $298
million.
The deposit in an area of about 100 square kilometres is expected to produce of 88.3
million pounds, according to government figures.The uranium undertaking is reported to
have involved the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC), the National
Environment Management Council (NEMC), key institutions on the matter.
06:47 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
RF Sea Master-1 crew sails with relief for Kenya under NATO convoy
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243516.html
VLADIVOSTOK, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian crew of the freighter Sea
Master-1 realizes the danger of Somali pirates, but keeps sailing with the relief supplies
from the Port Sudan (Sudan) to the Kenyan port Mombasa on Monday. The Sea Master-1
freighter has four security guards onboard and a NATO warship is convoying the bulk
carrier, the Russian sailors told the Far Eastern regional branch of the Russian Trade
Union of Sailors by phone on Monday.
The freighter is to arrive in Mombasa with the relief supplies (about 5,000 tonnes of
wheat) on October 15-16. The Sea Master-1 crew is made of 20 sailors from the Far
Eastern port of Nakhodka. Seven sailors demand replacement from the shipowner in the
port of Mombasa and the delivery to the homeland, the rest of them did not make the
foresaid demands.
Under the rules of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), in which the
Russian Trade Union of Sailors is incorporated, the sailing in the piracy-hazardous zone
envisages a double salary for the sailors, the chairman of the Far Eastern regional branch
of the Russian Trade Union of Sailors, Nikolai Sukhanov, told Itar-Tass by phone. The
Sea Master-1 crew did not receive the double salary. The Sea Master-1 crew is entitled to
other major payments in case of heavy aftermaths of the clash with pirates, but the
Russian sailors did not receive any compensations. The sailors, who insist on the
replacement from the ship, demand the full remuneration for them on the ITF rates and
the Russian trade union supports these demands.
Sukhanov noted that an official of the Sea Master-1 shipowner was to arrive in Nakhodka
from Sudan in order to solve the crew’s problems in the country up to probable changes
in the Sea Master-1 sailing routes. The Sea Master-1 freighter is sailing in the Gulf of
Aden, where the pirates are rampaging. The pirates are keeping 15 ships, 277 sailors in
captivity. The pirates killed 15 sailors in the attacks on the ships.
Russia and Georgia hit another dead end in WTO talks
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16802
bne
October 10, 2011
Despite pressure from the US on Tiblisi, talks to break the Georgian log-jam on Russian
membership of the WTO broke down on Saturday. Georgia says that there is no point in
holding further talks unless Russia changes its position on how to deal with South
Ossetian and Abkhazian trade, whilst Moscow claims another effort to hammer out a deal
is due in mid-Ocober, reports Reuters.
The Russian application to join the global trade club was first lodged in 1993. Whilst
Moscow's enthusiasm to join has regularly wavered during that drawn out process,
encouraged by resumed pressure from Washington and Brussels, officials have begun
jostling once again to claim that this is the year.
However, Georgia remains the last major stumbling block, according to reports, having
halted WTO talks during the five-days war with Russia in 2008 as Tiblisi attempted to
retake the breakaway regions. The Caucus nation now demands some measure of control
over South Ossetia and Abkhazia's trade borders before it will drop its veto against
Russian membership, despite reports that it is under pressure from the West to allow
Russia's progress to proceed.
Swiss-mediated talks at the weekend were designed to turn that pressure into an
agreement, but Georgian officials say the meeting broke down quickly. "The negotiations
are over and we can say that they collapsed, ended with no result at all," Georgian
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergi Kapanadze reported. He said the sticking point was
Russia's refusal to let Georgia have access to information about trade in the two
breakaway regions. "Georgia cannot give its consent to Russia's entry to the WTO until
Russia changes its position on trade within the occupied territories," he reiterated.
A Swiss proposal involving "monitoring of trade corridors by international observers"
had been agreed by Georgia but rejected by Russia, he claimed, reports AFP, adding that
the talks were the last agreed round of negotiations "and we do not see any sense in
continuing talks just for the sake of talks." However, a Russian source suggested another
round of talks is due on October 17.
Several officials have said that Russia could be formally admitted to the WTO in
December if accession talks remain on track, and it's likely that the US and EU - which
are reported to have agreed all major issues on Russian membership - will be in contact
with Tiblisi to urge it to ease its objections. However, Kapanadze claimed Georgia has
felt no heat from the West, saying there was "no pressure on Georgia on this issue."
Kazakhstan, Russia mull grain swap to cut transport costs
http://en.rian.ru/business/20111010/167528465.html
11:48 10/10/2011
ASTANA, October 10 (RIA Novosti)
Kazakhstan and Russia are discussing grain swap operations to cut transportation costs,
the Kazakh agriculture minister said on Monday.
Under the plan, southern Kazakhstan could import grain from Russia’s agricultural south,
while grain-rich northern Kazakhstan could export excess grain to eastern Russia, which
is closer.
“We are proactively cooperating with the Russian Grain Union and are considering grain
swap operations with Russia, because they also have transport problems there as they
grow grain mainly in the south and the consumers are in the north and Far East,”
Agriculture Minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov said.
Speaking in the lower house, Mamytbekov said the swaps would be mutually
advantageous, and it would also resolve the problem of storing excess grain in northern
Kazakhstan.
This year Kazakhstan is expecting a net harvest of 22-23 million tons of grain, the largest
in the past 60 years. It plans to export 10 million tons.
00:27 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Russia delivers 2 missile boats for Turkmenistan Navy
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243445.html
ASHGABAT, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— Turkmen President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhamedov visited a mooring of a Turkmen naval unit, where two newly built
missile boats had recently anchored. The missile boats are built at the Sredne-Nevsky
shipbuilding plant within Russian-Turkmen military-technical cooperation. The president
visited the missile boats. The visit was broadcast on the national television.
“Turkmenistan as any country with the entry to the sea needs the warships for patrolling
its maritime border, ensuring security and combating terrorism, poaching and drug
trafficking,” the president told naval sailors. “The Caspian Sea will always be the sea of
friendship and accord, which Turkmenistan’s policy of neutrality, openness and good
neighborliness pursues for,” Berdymukhamedov pointed out.
President Berdymukhamedov stated about his decision to build a modern naval fleet on
the Caspian Sea in August 2009 at a meeting of the Turkmen Security Council. The
Naval Institute of the Turkmen Defence Ministry was founded already in 2010. The
program to develop the Navy for the period until 2015 was developed and approved
under the main provisions of the Military Doctrine of Turkmenistan.
“The approval of this document heralds the beginning of important and responsible work
to form domestic naval forces in the Defence Ministry that should protect the interests of
our country in the Caspian Sea,” the president remarked on Sunday.
The Sunday event “points to the permanent upgrading of the domestic fleet, which is
systematically replenished with advanced military hardware,” the president underlined.
Ingushetia ready to provide Azerbaijan with state guarantees
http://en.trend.az/capital/business/1942201.html
9 October 2011, 14:35 (GMT+05:00)
Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 9 / Trend /
Ingushetia is ready to provide Azerbaijan with state guarantees to implement major
projects, Ingushetia's President Yunus-bek Yevkurov said. His statement was posted on
the presidential official website on Saturday.
"I have high hopes for both sides' cooperation," Yevkurov said.
Ingushetia has made several lucrative proposals to Azerbaijan to develop tourism, the
agroindustrial complex and hydro-power engineering this week.
Azerbaijan and Ingushetia signed a strategic agreement on economic cooperation last
Tuesday. The signing ceremony took place during Russian Deputy Prime Minister, the
Russian President's Plenipotentiary Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District
Alexander Khloponin's official visit to Azerbaijan. He was accompanied by officials and
business representatives.
Ingushetia's delegation was headed by President Yunus-bek Yevkurov.
Khloponin said during the visit that the mutual exchange in cultural and economic
spheres within the intergovernmental agreements will positively affect the turnover and
the extent of cooperation between the two countries.
"The agreement is the beginning of our fruitful relations," he said. "I would like to reach
another, higher level of cooperation."
About 71 subjects of the Russian Federation are involved in foreign trade with
Azerbaijan. About 15 Russian regions signed an agreement on trade-economic, scientifictechnical and cultural cooperation.
In 2011, Azerbaijan and Russia plan to reach a record index $2.8-3 billion in trade
turnover. A $2.4-billion record index in trade turnover was reached between Azerbaijan
and Russia in 2008.
Humanitarian cooperation contributes to sustainable development – Medvedev
http://news.az/articles/society/46306
Mon 10 October 2011 07:25 GMT | 9:25 Local Time
Humanitarian cooperation plays an important stabilizing role in present-day world,
President Dmitriy Medvedev has announced.
'It (humanitarian cooperation) contributes to sustainable development, positively impacts
the relationship between two countries, and permeates almost every sphere of human
activity from economics, science and culture, to legal policy and security issues,' Dmitriy
Medvedev said in his message to the Baku International Humanitarian Forum read out by
Chief of Staff of Presidential Administration of Russia Sergey Narishkin.
The International Humanitarian Forum titled “XXI century: Hopes and Challenges”
opened in Gulustan Palace in Baku on Monday.
The Russian President notes that "humanitarian cooperation is rightly called soft power,
as it helps to remove barriers in a dialogue of civilizations, uniting nations and peoples
based on values of fairness and tolerance, solidarity and mutual respect."
Medvedev adds that the need for humanitarian touch in international relations is
becoming more visible in recent years.
"New inter-state mechanisms, which are example of effective cooperation of creative
elites, are being created and of course, community initiatives and movements that have
made significant contributions to formation of a new humanitarian space play a special
role. I am sure that the Baku Forum will take its rightful place among them," Medvedev
noted in his message.
Interfax-Azerbaijan
01:18 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Russia patriarch, Moldova agree to build cathedral in Chisinau
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243453.html
CHISINAU, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— Visiting Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Kirill and the Moldovan leadership agreed at a meeting on Sunday to build a cathedral of
the Moldovan Orthodox Church in Chisinau.
“We agreed to begin the construction of a cathedral, which should be the symbol of the
unity of our society,” Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat said at the meeting with the
supreme hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“We will begin to put into practice this idea next spring,” he added.
The prime minister also pledged that the republic will continue to provide the Christian
education, particularly “religion basics lessons at school” and “the publishing of the
books so that our children will study and grow up with the love for the God.”
Vlad Filat thanked Patriarch Kirill for his visit to Moldova. “We were waiting for you.
We were preparing for your visit with all our heart. You should know that we – the
citizens of the republic, we – believers, we love you and you are always with us,” the
Moldovan premier noted.
“I would like to express gratitude to you on behalf of our citizens for the rain, which you
brought together with you and which we were longing for,” he pointed out.
Moldova did not see the rain for three months and on Sunday, when the patriarch served
the divine liturgy, a heavy rain has been going on since early morning to gladden
Moldovan citizens.
Patriarch Kirill admitted that he likes Moldova very much since his visit to the country as
the metropolitan. “I am feeling here always at home among hospitable, soft-hearted and
fair-minded people,” he said. “Today I had an opportunity to make sure of this looking at
shining faces of people. I could not look into all the faces from under the umbrellas, but
when I managed to look into the face I saw shining eyes filled with kindness and love,”
the patriarch noted. “I heard welcoming words addressed to me. Therefore, my visit to
Moldova is filled with this optimistic mood,” Patriarch Kirill underlined.
04:16 10/10/2011Top News
Fire onboard Russian research vessel off Norway put out
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/243474.html
OSLO, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— The fire, which broke out onboard the Russian
research vessel Academician Lazarev, was put out, several crewmen from a 30-strong
crew were evacuated, the chief of the Norwegian rescue team Asbjorn Viste said on
Monday.
The Russian research vessel gave the SOS signals on Sunday, 70 nautical miles northwest
of Sor-Trondelag on the Atlantic coast.
The Norwegian emergency authority dispatched the helicopters and several vessels,
including the ship Ocean Sky from the Draugen oil platform and the firefighting vessel
Far Seeker. High waves and strong winds hampered the rescue operation, the local
authorities reported.
The Academician Lazarev belongs to the joint stock company Sevmorneftegeophysics
with the head office in Murmansk.
18:29 09/10/2011ALL NEWS
Guiana Space Centre starts preparing for Soyuz-ST-B launch
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243366.html
MOSCOW, October 9 (Itar-Tass) —— The Guiana Space Centre has began preparing
Russian Soyuz-ST-B launch vehicle for its first launch scheduled for October 20. The
missile should put into the orbit two Galileo navigational satellites, Arianespace, France’s
operator of Soyuz-ST told ARMS-TASS on Sunday.
"Our work continues according to schedule," head of operations at the Soyuz launch
complex Jean-Claude Garreau said.
Soyuz-ST-V rocket is completely assembled in horizontal position ahead of schedule in
testing facility of Baikonur.
Now the rocket may be taken to the launch pad and brought to the vertical position. In
this position, Fregat-MT upper stage, two Galileo satellites and protective cover of the
payload fairing will be docked to the rocket.
Fregat-MT upper stage will be fuelled, and then engineers will begin installation of
Galileo satellites.
Russia to send 700-tonne ship to Mars moon in November
Today at 09:47 | Interfax-Ukraine
Moscow - Space research is one of the key priorities of the Russian Space Agency, head
of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Vladimir Popovkin said.
"The first priority is to study the Solar System planets - Mars, Moon and others,"
Popovkin said during the governmental hour at the State Duma on Friday.
The Phobos-Grunt space station is due to be launched to Phobos, one of the moons of
Mars, in November, he said.
"The spacecraft will lift off from the Earth with 700 tonnes and go back to the Earth with
50 grams of useful soil. Can you imagine the difficulty of sending a human there,"
Popovkin said.
The second important problem Roscosmos has been working on is studying remote
galaxies, he said. Launches in 2013 will be performed in the X-ray spectrum, in 2015 in
ultraviolet, and in 2017 in millimeters, Popovkin said.
As regards the GLONASS program, the creation of ground infrastructure is currently the
most important task, Popovkin said.
"Whereas today the accuracy is 5.6 meters, by 2015 we must reach a meter with the help
of various additions," he said.
Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/114440/#ixzz1aMMECS9m
Tatar Mufti Upset That 'Immoral' Actresses Attend Muslim Film Festival
http://www.rferl.org/content/muslim_film_festival_mufti_tatarstan/24354387.html
October 10, 2011
KAZAN, Tatarstan -- Tatarstan's chief mufti says he sent a protest letter to the Russian
republic's Culture Ministry about the "immoral background" of some actresses who
attended the Muslim Film Festival held last month in Kazan, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir
Service reports.
Mufti Ildus Faiz wrote in a letter to Culture Minister Airat Sibagatullin, which was also
posted on the Russian Islamic University website, that Tatar religious officials did not
take part in selecting the festival's films, as the ministry has claimed.
Faiz also wrote that he objected to the fact that the winner for best actress at the festival,
Sibel Kekilli from Germany, had previously had roles in X-rated films.
The mufti also expressed displeasure with the choice of honored guests at the festival,
saying that Russian actress Olga Kabo was one of the first movie stars to be filmed naked
in Russia and therefore should not have been part of a festival that has "Muslim" as part
of its official name.
Faiz wrote that "either invite religious authorities to take part in the process of selecting
the movies for the festival or exclude the word 'Muslim' from the event's name."
Faiz declined to comment to RFE/RL regarding his letter, saying he is does not want to
bring public attention to the matter.
Tatar Deputy Culture Minister Guzal Nigmatullina was not available for comment
regarding the ministry's statement that religious authorities took part in the selection of
the films for the festival.
Her representative told RFE/RL on October 7 that she was feeling sick and had gone to
see a doctor.
Read more in Tatar here
Russia: Suspected anarchist guerilla released for now
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20111010004105591
Monday, October 10 2011 @ 12:41 AM CDT
Contributed by: Admin
On the 28th and 29th of September, 2011, four persons (two young men and two young
women) were detained in Moscow, suspected of crimes under statute 213 part 2
(“hooliganism”) and statute 167 part 2 (“property destruction with arson”) of Russian
criminal codex. They are suspected of having committed a bomb attack against traffic
police station in 22th kilometre of Moscow ringroad 7th of June 2011, and arson against
an excavator in construction site of Volokamski motorway 5th of June 2011.
Russia: Suspected anarchist guerilla released for now
A statement by Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow:
Suspected “anarchist guerilla” of Moscow released, but investigations are going on
(Russia)
On the 28th and 29th of September, 2011, four persons (two young men and two young
women) were detained in Moscow, suspected of crimes under statute 213 part 2
(“hooliganism”) and statute 167 part 2 (“property destruction with arson”) of Russian
criminal codex. They are suspected of having committed a bomb attack against traffic
police station in 22th kilometre of Moscow ringroad 7th of June 2011, and arson against
an excavator in construction site of Volokamski motorway 5th of June 2011. Police did
not have any proof about participation of the arrested in these actions, and on the 3th of
October all of them were released. Goal of the arrests was solely to pressure anarchists to
give testimony with means of psychological and physical torture.
Arrests, searches and interrogations were done as a common operation of UGRO
(Criminal Investigation Department), FSB (ex-KGB / intelligence service) and Center E
(Center for Counteraction Against Extremism). Also fifth search was committed, at home
of anarchist K – his home was searched already second time this year Apparently K was
not arrested as he managed to contact his lawyer, who was immediately available for
interrogations.
During arrests, mobile phones, computers (including those of relatives), digital medium,
crossbow, kitchen knives, gasoline container (belonging to father of one of the arrested)
were confiscated. Literature and leaflets were confiscated from K. Police claimed in their
website, that a molotov cocktail was confiscated as well, but this was misinformation.
A was arrested 28th of September, late in the evening. As he was returning home, three
undercover officers who had been hiding in car disguised as paramedics, attacked him.
He was taken to a forest by masked officers, who held him at a gunpoint and demanded
him to give testimony against himself, and later on he was beaten up. Papers on his arrest
were filled only the next day, and officially he was arrested only 29th of September.
29th of September around 9:30 AM, B was arrested. Three undercover cops, who were
also hiding in a car disguised as paramedics, jumped her from behind, without presenting
any documents. B managed to wound two of them with a knife, but as wounds of the
officers were not serious and legality of the arrest method was dubious at least, no
charges were pressed against her. B turned 18 years old only few days before the arrests,
and police was not hiding the fact that they consciously decided to move forward with the
arrests only when B was not underage anymore.
29th of September around 8 PM C was arrested at his home. FSB broke in to his house
with help of local police. After arrest, C was also beaten up by the police. Conditions of
the arrest of the fourth person are unknown.
According to laws of the Russian federation, maximum period of arrest without a court
decision is 48 hours. However, police bypassed these laws illegally by arresting
suspected immediately after 48 hours by pressing other charges against them. Even
original arrests were filled with false dates. Thus B spent in arrest all together 103 hours,
without any court decisions.
Right now, arrested are suspected of two criminal cases, but no charges have been
pressed against them. Almost all of them have now lawyers, but funds are much needed
for legal costs.
If you want to donate for the lawyer costs, please visit
http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate
Besides interrogations on arson and bomb attack, police has launched a wide effort to
track down anarchist infrastructure and circle of friends of the arrested. As nobody was
officially charged, it is much possible that new arrestes and searches will follow.
Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow
http://325.nostate.net/?p=3221
11:22 10/10/2011Top News
Boeing 737 fails to take off from Tomsk because of hydraulic system failure
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/243670.html
BARNAUL, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— A Boeing 737 operated by UTair airlines on
Monday failed to take off from the Tomsk airport because of a malfunction of the
hydraulic system, a source in the West Siberian transport prosecutor’s office told ItarTass.
The plane was scheduled to take off from Tomsk for Moscow at 04:40 a.m. Moscow
time, but a blinker signalled the failure of the hydraulic system, the source said.
Passengers will be taken to Moscow by another plane.
The transport prosecutor’s office has launched a check.
05:52 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Baikal region launches investigation in Mi-8 emergency landing
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243519.html
ULAN-UDE, October 10 (Itar-Tass) —— The Baikal Region launched an investigation
into an emergency landing, which a helicopter Mi-8 had made in the Kyra district on
Sunday. A committee of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations headed by the
commander of the Russian emergency aviation Sergei Fyodorov arrived in Chita for the
investigation.
“The helicopter was damaged in a tough landing in the woody highlands about 100
kilometers away from Kyra,” Fyodorov told a press briefing in Chita. However, he noted
“the qualified actions,” which the helicopter crew and the rescue team had taken. “There
are several theories of the emergency landing, the final theory will be made public after
the investigation,” he said.
“The helicopter, which crash landed, is lying on its side,” said a helicopter commander
Alexander Andronov, who evacuated the crew from the crashed helicopter. He also noted
a difficult nighttime landing on a little plain in the rugged terrain. To help the crew from
the crashed helicopter Andronov’s crew examined the landing site thrice and landed the
helicopter only after that.
The regional emergency situation service confirmed at a press briefing that the crew and
passengers from the crash landed Mi-8 helicopter got no severe wounds.
The emergency helicopter Mi-8 has made an emergency landing in the Baikal Region on
October 9. The helicopter was carrying three crewmen and four staffers of the aerial
forest protection service. Mi-8, which was patrolling and extinguishing the fires in the
region, where the emergency is in effect since October 3, failed to get on the line at the
scheduled time on Sunday. The helicopter was reported missing in the Kyra district in the
Baikal Region. Then the helicopter’s location was detected near the town of Altan not far
from the Mongolian border thanks to the emergency position-indicating radio beacon,
which set off several times.
Despite the nighttime another helicopter Mi-8 was dispatched to search for the missing
helicopter and the ground search was launched. The search operation involved 15
machines and 113 people, including firemen, policemen, staffers from the aerial forest
protection service, officials from the Kyra district authorities and other agencies. The
search operation was complicated by the fact that the helicopter disappeared from the
radar screens in the hard-to-reach taiga. The helicopter Mi-8 was found from the air at
5.09 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday. The Mi-8 crew and passengers were already brought
at about 6.30 p.m. Moscow time to Chita.
08:46 10/10/2011ALL NEWS
Quake rocks Kamchatka’s eastern coast, no victims reported
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243541.html
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, October 10 (Itar-Tass) — An earthquake
measuring 4.9 points on the Richter scale rocked the Avacha Bay, Kamchatka’s eastern
coast.
No victims or destructions were reported. No tsunami warning was issued, the
Kamchatka office of the geophysical service of the Russia Academy of Sciences told ItarTass on Monday.
The earth tremor was registered at 13:16 local time (05:16 Moscow time). The quake’s
epicentre was located 142 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. The focus was
located at the depth of up to 70 kilometers.
Tremors measuring 3-4 points were felt in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski.
PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 10
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/press-digest-russia-octidUSL5E7LA0HH20111010
3:16am EDT
MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's
newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for
their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Russia's federal budget surplus in January-September of 2011 reached 1.09 trillion
roubles ($34 billion), the daily says.
- Russia's federal anti-monopoly service has opened investigations into oil companies
TNK-BP and Bashneft over high petrol prices, the paper reports.
- The number of Russians choosing Greece as a beach vacation destination grew 65
percent this January-September year-on-year, the paper writes.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Russia and China will sign a memorandum on cooperation in modernization during
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing this week, the paper writes.
- Fifty-five percent of Russians expected Vladimir Putin to run for president next March,
the daily quotes recent VTsIOM poll.
- Police detained around 100 activists from far-right groups who tried to hold a rally on
Saturday over the death of a Russian allegedly killed by an Azeri citizen, the paper
writes.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
www.ng.ru
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has become the leader of the United Russia party's
list for the December parliamentary elections, the paper writes.
($1 = 32.050 Russian Roubles) (Writing by Ludmila Danilova)
Russian Press at a Glance, Monday, October 10, 2011
http://en.rian.ru/papers/20111010/167526239.html
10:04 10/10/2011
POLITICS
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with representatives of the United Russia party
for the first time since he and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced their plans to
exchange jobs after the 2012 presidential elections. Medvedev, who will lead the party in
the December 4 parliamentary polls, said “real action” was needed to improve Russians’
lives, and called on his party members to avoid being “heady with success.”
(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
Veteran journalist Larry King met with Russian journalists and representatives of
political and business elites during his visit to Moscow last week.
(Kommersant, Moskovskiye Novosti)
Russian billionaire Boris Ivanishvili has vowed to sell his assets in Russia in order to
challenge Georgia’s governing party in the 2012 parliamentary polls. Where do
Ivanishvili’s billions originate from? What are his Russian assets and how much do they
cost?
(Vedomosti)
A Ukrainian court will begin announcing its verdict in the trial of former Ukrainian Prime
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday. The trial has posed a serious threat to Ukraine’s
integration with Europe.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
Russia and Venezuela have signed an agreement on a $4 billion loan for the oil-rich Latin
American country to buy Russian weapons. Experts say the loan is politically, not
economically motivated.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
BUSINESS
A lack of liquidity facing the Russian banking sector forces banks to increase their retail
credit interest rates.
(Kommersant)
The Russian parliament’s lower house passed a bill on Friday allowing loan debtors to
clear all due payments earlier than is stipulated by the contract without any sanctions.
(Vedomosti)
The unfavorable market situation is driving more and more Russian publicly traded
companies to reacquire their own shares. Russian leading potash producer Uralkali has
announced plans to spend up to $2.5 billion to require its stock.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
Some 100 people were detained in downtown Moscow on Saturday during an
unauthorized protest against the killing of a Russian football fan in early October.
Protesters accused police of trying to cover up the crime, raising fears of a repetition of
last year’s race-hate riots in Moscow. The suspected criminal, an Azeri national, has been
put on the federal and Interpol wanted lists.
(Kommersant)
The government has introduced a bill in the Russian parliament’s lower house allowing
people without passports to be expelled from Russia.
(Moskovskiye Novosti)
OIL&GAZ
The Russian Energy Ministry has introduced a bill to the government obliging oil
companies to place at least 3 percent of crude oil and 15 percent of oil products on the
commodity markets. Those violating the law would face restrictions on oil exports via
Russian pipelines.
(Kommersant)
CRIME
Anarchists in the Moscow region set fire to more than a dozen cars in the past few days.
Videos of the burning cars have been posted on the internet.
(Moskovsky Komsomolets)
For more details on all the news in Russia today, visit our website at http://en.rian.ru
Wildly ambitious plans for Vladivostok
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/travel/a/-/travel/10437111/wildly-ambitious-plans-forvladivostok/
Eleonore Dermy, AFP October 10, 2011, 1:32 pm
Vladivostok, the mythical terminus of the Trans-Siberian railway, is being turned upside
down in a huge rebuilding project that aims to turn the city into the Russian Far East's
answer to Istanbul or San Francisco.
A city closed to foreigners under the Soviet Union due to its hosting of the Pacific Fleet,
Vladivostok suffered after the USSR collapse as inhabitants left, buildings crumbled and
it acquired a seedy reputation for mafia crime.
But in one of the Kremlin's most wildly ambitious construction projects, the city
currently resembles a vast building site as massive new hotel complexes, highways and
two bridges are built to host a major summit in 2012.
And as if welcoming leaders including the US president at the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit was not enough, the meeting is due to be held on an island
outside Vladivostok that has never been connected to the mainland.
Russki Ostrov (Russian Island) has until now been a sleepy verdant area popular largely
with daytrippers and nature lovers who make the journey by ferry.
All that will change with the construction of the APEC conference facilities on the island
and - the crowning glory of the entire project - a gigantic 1.9-kilometre bridge to connect
it to the mainland.
The authorities hope the bridge will become a symbol of the city and the Russian Far
East.
"This will be our Golden Gate Bridge, like in San Francisco!" enthused Alexander
Machevsky, the spokesman of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov who is the
government's pointman for the project.
Just one month after the summit is over, the new complex on the island will host Russia's
Federal Far Eastern University and its 25,000 students.
In the medium term, the university wants to attract some 35,000 students not just from all
around Russia but also abroad, according to local Vladivostok official Alexei
Moisseyenko.
The project goes far beyond the works on Russki Ostrov. Some 43 kilometres of new
highway are being built, currently causing horrific traffic jams, as well as a new airport
terminal.
A barely less ambitious bridge of 1.4 kilometres is also being built across Vladivostok's
Golden Horn inlet which should relieve the city of the traffic congestion that has become
a daily trauma for residents.
Officials are proud to boast the city will be the Istanbul of the Far East, a regional hub
replete with magnificent suspension bridges.
The cost, naturally, is astronomical. The federal program sets out $US20 billion ($A20.5
billion) in spending but according to Moisseyenko even this is going to be overshot.
Some 23,000 workers are now working round the clock to ensure that the facilities are
finished on time, though strikes over unpaid wages have caused some delays.
And in one bizarre incident this summer, Muslim migrant workers from ex-Soviet
Central Asia downed tools in protest at not being allowed to bring alcohol onto the site to
celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
But the stakes are high. The ultimate aim of the project is to reverse a major population
decline that risks harming Russia's hold on a region next door to a resurgent China.
The project is championed by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, keenly aware of the
need to show the strength of Russia's Far East to its Asian neighbours.
According to Machevsky, the authorities want to make the city a metropolis of one
million people. Currently the population is 600,000.
To reach this aim, massive investment is going to be needed. "We are hoping to attract
300 billion rubles ($A9.5 billion)) annually compared with 120 billion ($A3.8 billion)) at
the moment," Sergei Darkin, the governor of the Primorye region of which Vladivostok is
part, told AFP.
The construction has caused inevitable controversy in the city but many residents are
happy to acknowledge that Vladivostok's ramshackle infrastructure was in dire need of
change.
"It's great for the development of the city," said one local, Larissa Kovalenko, 40. Viktor
Chernikov, a pensioner, was also happy, even if he believed there was still a lot to be
done.
"Now residential buildings need to be built," he said.
Most controversial is the hosting of the APEC summit itself in September 2012, an event
that will only last a few days yet is the main focus of the construction efforts.
"A huge sum has gone into the building on Russki Ostrov and the building of bridges that
are going to be of little use except for the summit," said Natalya Zubarevich, expert at the
Independent Institute of Social Policy.
"This money could have been spent in the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the city
itself or in the service sector. Then Vladivostok would have had a chance to integrate
itself within the Asia Pacific region."
Future-oriented aim
http://rt.com/politics/press/rossijskaya-gazeta/putin-military-budget/en/
Published: 10 October, 2011, 07:02
Edited: 10 October, 2011, 07:17
Kira Latukhina
About three trillion rubles will be invested in the defense industry over the next 10 years.
Russia will have an entirely new army and navy as they will be radically modernized.
Complete re-armament will be carried out over the next 10 years.
Last Friday Vladimir Putin turned 59 years old. He celebrated his birthday with family
and friends. The guests from abroad included Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi,
and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. “These were absolutely private
visits,” Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told Interfax.
The head of government’s birthday was not free of his tight schedule – before celebrating
the event with relatives, he held a meeting dedicated to the defense industry. Last year,
Vladimir Putin spent October 7th at his “small motherland” in St. Petersburg – also
working.
It will be impossible to re-arm the military with existing resources. The defense industry
complex is in need of extensive modernization. What this process requires was discussed
at the meeting led by Putin. “If we want to have weapons that meet the needs of modern
warfare and keep up with the challenges of the future, we need to address the question of
updating the defense industry complex itself,” said Putin. “We have a solid foundation
and a good workforce. The armament systems which we will be producing must not only
be up-to-date, they need to be future-oriented,” he said.
A lot of money has been invested in the domestic defense industry, and it is capable of
producing advanced technologies, argues the prime minister. Last year, 75% of
investments in defense enterprises went toward purchasing new equipment and a training
program for young specialists had been created. “This is a good indicator that company
and industry directors understand what’s at stake and are headed in the right direction,”
said Putin. These are only the first steps he stressed. The fundamental modernization of
1,700 enterprises still lies ahead. Vladimir Putin recalled that profitability should be no
less than 15%.
“In other words, it is necessary to prepare the industry for large-scale mass production
of advanced technologies and armament samples and military specifications which fully
meet the needs of the Armed Forces in terms of quality and, just as importantly, price,”
said Putin. The main tool used should be the federal target program “Development of the
defense industry complex of the Russian Federation until 2020.”
“Naturally, during the re-armament of the army and the navy, the focus will be mainly on
the domestic defense industry,” said the prime minister. “Over the next decade, we will
need to invest about 3 trillion rubles in the defense industry complex – which is a colossal
amount,” he said. Funds for technical re-equipment of defense industry enterprises have
already been appropriated in the draft federal budget for 2012-2014. They amount to a
total of 440 billion rubles.
Vladimir Putin is confident that these investments will contribute to the modernization of
the country as this has been the case at all times and in all countries: “As soon as large
investments are made in the defense industry then, one way or another, they are
indirectly reflected in the general technological level of the entire economy, stimulating
the development of high-tech industries, including research and development work”.
About 20% of funds will go toward R&D. A lot of money will also be allocated for the
production of control and communication systems and creation of an electrical
component base, without which creating modern weapons is impossible. “Moreover, we
will support enterprises that are attracting funds and investments for industry renewal,”
promised the chairman of the government. Starting from 2015, the government will
subsidize interest on loans from Russian banks for projects associated with the
development of the military industry complex.
The program needs to be adopted as soon as possible. “To my knowledge, the basic
parameters have been coordinated between the state departments. All that remains are
some technical details – they are also important, but these technical details need to be
quickly resolved so we can put the end point,” concluded Vladimir Putin.
Chavez’s cocuy advance
http://rt.com/politics/press/nezavisimaya/russia-loan-venezuela/en/
Published: 10 October, 2011, 00:21
Edited: 10 October, 2011, 07:20
Anastasia Bashkatova
Venezuela will either pay Russia back with local moonshine or not pay back at all
Russia has helped Venezuela with a loan $4 billion. Caracas will use the money to
purchase Russian arms. In response, President Hugo Chavez promised Russia bananas
and agave vodka. Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s (NG) experts believe that the Russian loan is
political and not economic. Experts don’t deny that there is always, if not economic, then
a political risk that Venezuela won’t return the money. The RF has an unfortunate
experience. Since the 1990s, the country has written off nearly $100 billion for its
borrowers. However, the current leadership considers Venezuela a useful friend, say
experts. Therefore, the RF is a lot more willing to issue credit to Caracas than, for
example, Minsk. Last week, Russia fueled its friendship with Venezuela with an
additional loan.
On Friday news agencies reported that Moscow had issued a $4 billion loan for “military
and technical cooperation.” In 2012, the first half of the loan will be transferred to the
Venezuelan budget, and in 2013 the second. According to President Hugo Chavez, the
credit will provide an opportunity to re-arm the military, work on strengthening defense,
and protect the country’s natural resources. Thus, the arms embargo which was imposed
on Venezuela by the US in 2006 will not be an obstacle.
The credit will be granted through the joint Russian-Venezuelan Bank. It was created
several years ago in order to facilitate transactions with, Russia’s key partner in Latin
America. Gazprom and VTB Bank hold 25% plus one share in the bank. The National
Development Fund of Venezuela has 50% minus two shares.
The $4 billion currently being allocated is not the only loan issued to Venezuela by
Russia. In 2010 the RF helped Caracas with $2.2 billion. The money was issued for the
purchase of Russian T-72S tanks and air defense artillery. Between 2005 and 2007
Venezuela purchased at least $4 billion worth of military equipment from Russia. It
included Sukhoi Su-30MK multi-functional fighter aircraft, military helicopters and small
arms. Now, the shopping list includes ZSU 23x4 anti-aircraft guns, portable mortars and
armored personnel carriers.
The Russian-Venezuelan Bank not only specializes in issuing loans to Caracas, but also
in funding joint projects. In future, China is likely to get involved in this process. The
parties plan to open a representative branch in Beijing.
In the meantime, Caracas is discussing plans to create a joint banana growing venture
with Moscow. In addition to a banana paradise, Chavez promised Russia an alternative to
vodka – a national alcoholic drink from agave cocuy. He asked Russian deputy prime
minister, Igor Sechin, to consider the possibility of accepting Venezuela’s firewater
export.
Chavez is also developing the idea of creating a new oil cartel, similar to OPEC. The
“new OPEC” will be open exclusively to oil giants, and not more than four to five
countries. Chavez expressed this idea on Thursday, during the Russian delegation’s visit
to Venezuela, which was headed by Igor Sechin and energy minister Sergey Shmatko.
Russia’s reaction to Chavez’s proposal has not been reported.
Experts interviewed by NG are confident that the reason for Russia’s loan allocation to
Venezuela is not economic, but political.
“Money, in this case, is not being allocated out of commercial, but political, interests. It
is to support the Venezuelan regime, which is friendly to Russia in general, as well as a
number of Russian companies close to the Russian government,”says Sergey Karaganov,
chairman of the Presidium of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council.
At the same time, the president of the Politika Fund, Vyacheslav Nikonov, says that
Russia has not been repaid all the loans it allocated to developing countries. Since the
1990s, Russia has been forced to write off $100 billion in loans. According to press
reports, the written-off debt includes nearly $5 billion for Ethiopia, $5 billion for Algeria,
$10 billion for Vietnam, almost the same amount for Syria, and slightly more for
Mongolia, as well as more than $11 billion for Afghanistan. In 2008, Russia wrote off
about $12 billion of Iraq’s debt as well as nearly $5 billion of Libyan debt. Debt relief for
North Korea, to the amount of $11 billion, was considered. Most often the reason for debt
cancellation was either regime change or the economic collapse of the regime, sometimes
due to outside intervention. Against this background, the loan to Venezuela seems to be
too risky for some observers.
“Venezuela’s financial solvency is undeniable. This year, based on the new statistics of
proven world oil reserves, Venezuela came in first – surpassing Saudi Arabia and
Russia,” says Nikonov. “In this country, however, which is under US pressure, various
political upheavals are of course possible. And this loan does have an element of political
risk.”
“There is a risk that Russia’s money will disappear or will not be fully repaid in the event
of Venezuela’s economic collapse or sudden regime change,” agrees Karaganov.
However, he adds that the loan is being allocated for Venezuela’s subsequent arms
purchases and not the country’s budget; therefore, ideally, there will not be any major
problems.
In addition to Venezuela, Russian loans are sought by the neighboring countries, towards
which Russia has a discriminate approach. In the summer of 2011, an agreement was
signed with Belarus for the allocation of $3 billion over four years from the EurAsEC
Anti-Crisis Fund. Most of the money was to be provided by the RF. Minsk is expected to
receive the first tranche, to the amount of $1.2 million, before the end of this year.
But after Belarus’s introduction of import restrictions, the future of the second tranche
came under question. First, Russia’s Finance Ministry indicated that Minsk could be
deprived of the promised loan before promising that this would not happen. However,
nothing is standing in Russia’s way of again lashing out against Belarus.
The problems is, say experts, the fact that the Belarusian economy can no longer exist
without external borrowing, and there are no attempts to change the situation. In addition
to that, economic issues are mixed with the political. Belarusian President Aleksandr
Lukashenko’s constant verbal attacks on Russia do not go unnoticed. “It is in Russia’s
interests to see regime change in Belarus as it often conducts an anti-Russian policy,”
says Karaganov. “And we can have any approach to the Chavez regime, but as far as I
understand, Russia’s current leadership believes Chavez is more useful for us.”
Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Reactions to Putin’s and
Medvedev’s Decision to Rule Russia
http://russiaprofile.org/experts_panel/46837.html
Introduced by Vladimir Frolov Russia Profile 10/07/2011
Contributors: Patrick Armstrong, Vladimir Belaeff, Alexandre Strokanov
Although it is not the custom of the Experts Panel to dwell on the same subject as the
week before, Vladimir Putin’s and Dmitry Medvedev’s decision to trade places and
continue to rule Russia for the next decade or two remains the hottest political subject in
the country, and, as the events of the past week have demonstrated, requires additional
analysis. How severe is the legitimacy crisis that the Kremlin has unleashed with the
tandem’s decision to trade places? Does it threaten the political stability in Russia? Could
it lead to mass street protests, as Russians feel betrayed and duped by their leaders?
It appears that the tandem’s decision to rule this land did not go down well, and even
encountered ridicule and open resistance. It has been criticized and laughed at in the
media, including on federal television channels. It has unleashed a wave of pessimism
among the educated and well-off urban middle class. And, most importantly, it has
encountered open resistance within Russia’s ruling elites, with former Finance Minister
and one of Putin’s closest associates, Alexei Kudrin, openly questioning Medvedev’s
authority and signaling that he did not wish to be part of the new regime. Both Putin and
Medvedev have been savaged in the Russian blogosphere and in Western media. The
tandem has obviously been stunned by such a negative public reaction.
On Friday night, Medvedev had to give a hastily prepared interview to major Russian
news channels, in which he sought to explain his decision to step down as president and
promised major reforms and a completely new line up of government were he to become
prime minister next year. But he sounded lame and defensive, arguing implausibly that
the tandem’s decision did not deprive Russians of their democratic choice and that the
2011 and 2012 election results were not preordained. This only aggravated the bad
feelings that Russians have begun to harbor toward their rulers.
It appears now that the Kremlin has a full-blown legitimacy crisis on its hands that could
seriously undermine the authority of the new president (Putin) and the new prime
minister (Medvedev).
Two things have particularly incensed the Russian public. One was Putin’s decision to
return as president for life in a system of unchecked, highly personalized power (putting
Russia instantly in the ranks of such “ancient” regimes as Alexander Lukashenko’s
Belarus, Nursultan Nazarbaev’s Kazakhstan, or Islam Karimov’s Uzbekistan). This has
been perceived as a signal that under Putin, Russia would not be modernizing, but rather
de-modernizing, with no meaningful political and market reforms. Many have compared
Putin to late Soviet rulers, like Stalin and Brezhnev. A widely circulated photoshop
portrait of a graying Putin in Brezhnev’s military uniform, ablaze with decorations, neatly
summed up the expectations many Russians have toward 12 more years of Putin’s rule.
The second grievance deals with Medvedev and Putin misleading the public about the
deal to keep trading places which they made in 2007 when they created the tandem. It
appears that Medvedev, even more than Putin, has been exposed as a cynical liar who has
never been a real president and never intended to become one, content with temporarily
warming the seat for the real owner of the franchise. Some critics in the blogosphere have
even contended that Medvedev may have violated the Constitution when he took the oath
of office, knowing full well that he was just faking the presidency. Indeed, the term
“fake” has become a widely accepted characterization of Medvedev, signaling the
dramatic loss in his political credibility and popular opprobrium due to his weakness as a
dependent ruler.
Medvedev’s most ardent critics are his recent supporters among the liberal intelligentsia,
political pundits and even some business leaders. They have experienced a sense of
betrayal in Medvedev’s decision to step down without competing with Putin, and
criticized Medvedev for faking the liberal democratic impulses he has sought to promote
during his presidency. To them, Medvedev appeared as insincere, deceptive, weak and
selfish.
Another credibility crisis seems to have engulfed United Russia, which learned only a
week before that it has a new electoral leader and possibly a new leader of the party itself
– Medvedev – while Putin managed to distance himself from United Russia, which he
still formally leads. All of this happened without any internal party debate or even
informal consultations with the party elders. It showed the Russian public that United
Russia had nothing to do with the actual governing or influencing key decisions in state
policy. United Russia was exposed as another major fake (something many in Russia
suspected long before, but which has never been put on such public display).
The Kremlin now faces a situation where Russia’s key institutions – the presidency, the
government and the majority party – have been exposed as subterfuges to the highly
personalized power of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s national leader. Only Putin has authority
and only Putin has real power. Everything else seems to be a legalistic and PR
smokescreen.
How severe is the legitimacy crisis that the Kremlin has unleashed with the tandem’s
decision to trade places? Does it threaten the political stability in Russia? Could it lead to
mass street protests, as Russians feel betrayed and duped by their leaders? How will it
impact the results of the parliamentary elections of 2011 and the presidential election of
2012? Could United Russia lose its constitutional majority in the Duma or even the
simple majority of 226 seats? Has Medvedev’s reputation been irreparably damaged, or
does he have a shot at redemption? How will the plunge in his political credibility affect
his chances of being appointed Russia’s prime minister or his capability to run a
government of modernizers, as he has promised to do?
Patrick Armstrong , Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Ottawa, Canada
To my mind, the shock and disappointment was not that Putin would run for president,
but Medvedev’s admission that this had always been the plan. Was Medvedev ever truly
president, or was he only a seat-warmer? At the least, Putin and Medvedev could have
run against each other, giving Russians a more serious choice than they had between the
establishment and Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Zhirinovskiy. But instead, we have
this hole-in-the-corner decision that makes a mockery of Medvedev’s oath of office. Will
any president of Russia be taken seriously by anyone while Putin lives?
The next shock is the damage Putin has done to his own cause. Remember his famous
statement that Russia should be a “dictatorship of the law?” I read this at the time as an
intention to build a rule-of-law state. Or at least a rule-of-rules state: clear rules for all to
understand and clear and fair punishment for those who break them. But hasn’t he just
shown that while there may be a written set of rules, they aren’t the real rules? His return
shows that not even he believes the political structure he erected on the ruins of the
Soviet Union and the 1990s can work without his hand on the tiller. And to say nothing
of making Russia look like another president-for-life-istan, I thought Putin was more
patriotic. It’s almost an admission of failure.
I know many Russians welcome the decision and some argue that, in the potentially
difficult times coming both in Russia and outside, it is better that Putin’s proven hand be
on the tiller. Others argue that this will allow a new and more effective stab at the
modernization that Russia needs. Maybe. History does show very few examples of
leaders who never lost their creativity and authority, and it seems that Putin thinks he’s
one of them. But most presidents-for-life are a drag on their country: eventually they clog
up with sycophants and complacency.
He will be elected – there’s little doubt of that. And it will be a popular choice requiring
no fixing by the Kremlin. He is still extremely popular, and for good reason. There will
be no rioting in the streets and only protests by the people who protest anyway. Stories of
mass emigration are fantasies. But what about six years later? Or twelve?
And the outside world will do business with him; some are even relieved that they know
who the real boss is. But the anti-Russia crowd, already strangely obsessed with Putin,
will be given a fresh wind and will go on shouting that Russia is just a dictatorship:
always was and always will be. Will we see more NATO expansion? More “colored
revolutions?” More hysteria over the “energy weapon?” Missiles in the neighborhood?
Putin could truly have been the George Washington of his country. Establishing it,
settling it, guiding it and then setting the precedent that two terms are enough for any
mortal. That would have been a true service to a country that has seen too much one-man
rule. His successors, like Washington’s, would have respected the example for decades.
Instead, we have the rule that the leader is the leader until death carries him off.
It’s a disappointing and shabby decision.
Alexandre Strokanov, Professor of History, Director of Institute of Russian
Language, History and Culture, Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT
I would not necessarily agree that the general public’s reaction to this announcement was
negative. I will say that it was a rather expected decision, and people in the country
accepted it as the right choice which was finally made.
It is absolutely correct that Medvedev’s most ardent critics today were his supporters a
few days ago, who have now run away and abandoned him as soon as it became clear that
he will vacate the Kremlin next year. Actually, the same happened with the liberal
supporters of their previous role model, Boris Yeltsin, when it became obvious that his
days were numbered.
Indeed, this is a perfect reflection of the fact that the so-called liberals were those people
who wished to split up the tandem, and obviously failed. It is also interesting that while
Medvedev reacted to a statement made by Aleksei Kudrin, he absolutely ignored a tweet
from his own adviser, Arkady Dvorkovich. Why do we see such selective discipline
enforcement on the president’s behalf?
What is obvious in this story is that the presidential administration failed miserably in
dealing with the transition. Of course, it would have looked much better if the decision to
trade places came from the United Russia and was not presented as a long-time done deal
between these two leaders, who act without even consulting the country’s dominant
party. The fact that words about a “deal” slipped Medvedev’s tongue suggests how
inexperienced he still is in real politics; it is obviously a serious political mistake.
Dmitry Medvedev was absolutely honest in the television interview and it is absolutely
correct that Putin is more popular among Russian people and within United Russia. This
is exactly what should have been said at the congress, and not words about the “deal.” It
would have been much better if the question about who will be the candidate from United
Russia was discussed at the congress and a democratic vote took place. Meanwhile, I
think if delegates of the congress were allowed to speak freely, the overwhelming
majority would have probably expressed their support for Putin. Of course, it would have
made Medvedev feel bad, but this is a real democracy and this is exactly what happened
between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at the primaries: Obama won because he was
more popular than Clinton. Such primaries could have taken place at the United Russia
congress.
Medvedev’s interview with three major television channels was good in one more
respect. He is absolutely right to say that the results of the State Duma elections in
December are not pre-ordained. His political future will depend on these results, at least
with respect to his ability to occupy the position of Russia’s prime minister in 2012.
However, his more distant career, of course, depends more on his compatibility with
Putin.
Vladimir Belaeff, Global Society Institute, San Francisco, CA
What we have is a community of people who are a priori against Putin, who are now
angry and declaring in many diverse ways that they are against Putin. It is indicative that
they assume Putin will be elected president in 2012, i.e. they recognize that Putin is
highly popular with the majority of the Russian electorate.
Now the old hatred against Putin has been joined by newer anger with Medvedev. It
seems that an imaginary President Medvedev disappointed the Putin-hating community,
and then a real Medvedev appeared, who (surprise?) worked with Putin for nearly two
decades before the presidency and reiterated, once again, the strategic and tactical
harmony of the two gentlemen. The Putin-Medvedev collaboration had been public for
years and was demonstrated many times by the principals themselves. How the Putinhaters managed to invent and believe in a Medvedev – a secret adversary of Putin –
remains a topic for study by social psychologists. There may be evidence of significant
mental disarray in this delusion.
The Putin- and Medvedev-haters are an articulate and very vocal community, with easy
access to diverse media and sources of expression inside Russia. They will also get very
friendly platforms among the Western media, which share their beliefs. Whether these
protestors will have a real political impact on Russian elections remains very
questionable. United Russia nominated Putin for the presidency in the 2012 elections for
one important reason: he is truly popular, electable, and likely to win. One would be very
surprised if the party would not have nominated him. Imagine the U.S. Democratic Party
not nominating Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy, or the Republican Party not
nominating Dwight Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan. Every political party nominates those
candidates who are most likely to win – this is basic.
The real problem that Putin-haters have is that they just cannot generate alternative
candidates and programs that are sufficiently competitive for voters in Russia. This
objective reality must be faced soberly and rationally – without emotion. We have
commented about this many times in recent months.
Just like Washington D.C. has its Beltway, Moscow has its Garden Ring (Sadovoye
Koltso, of much smaller circumference than the Beltway). Much of the anti-PutinMedvedev extravaganza happens within the Garden Ring. What may seem like a
sweeping wave of protests is a storm in a teacup when taken in relation to Russia as a
whole. Of course, those who like to believe in the mass appeal of ideas to which they
themselves adhere would happily exaggerate the impact of the declarations with which
they agree in principle.
Finally, in the spirit of mental hygiene and inner peace, one would like to remind Putinhaters that hate, especially of the unrequited kind (Putin seems supremely indifferent to
the abuse directed at him), harms the haters’ minds and corrodes their souls. In the words
of the immortal Voltaire, one would recommend that, instead of hating Putin and
Medvedev, they follow Candide’s final advice and “cultivate their own gardens” – or
simply mind their own business.
Back to the U.S.S.R.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/09/is-vladimir-putin-s-russiareverting-to-soviet-times.html
Vladimir Putin’s intention to return to the Kremlin has opposition
critics warning that the country is reverting to Soviet times. But
is that what Russia secretly wants?
by Owen Matthews | October 10, 2011 1:00 AM EDT
When the history of Russia’s next revolution is written, Vladimir Putin’s decision last
month to return to the Kremlin will surely mark the point where it all began. Before the
prime minister’s announcement of his 2012 presidential bid, Russia had a chance—a slim
one—of eventually becoming a functional democracy where regimes change through the
ballot box. With Putin’s return, Russia tips inexorably toward becoming just another
petro-dictatorship whose regime is propped up by oil money and repression. This is a
fateful moment in Russian history, because suddenly it’s more likely that change, when it
does come, will arrive from outside, not inside, the system. “Revolution is now
inevitable,” says blogger and anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny. “Maybe in
five months, maybe in two years, maybe in seven years.”
After the Putin news broke, Photoshop jokers posted images of Putin in 2024—the date
when his likely two next presidential terms will come to an end—as a jowly, Brezhnevlike figure in a uniform studded with self-awarded medals. “The return of Putin means
long years of Brezhnev-style stagnation,” says Eduard Boyakov, director of Moscow’s
avant-garde Praktika Theater. The parallel is an apt one. After the oil crisis of 1973, the
Soviet Union, then as now the world’s biggest oil producer, was flush with cash that
covered up the catastrophic dysfunction of the Soviet economy and allowed the
Communist Party elite to enrich itself. Apparatchiks pretended to believe in the lofty
principles of communism as they built themselves villas and rode luxury yachts.
Meanwhile, the KGB ruthlessly squashed any signs of opposition and rewarded
conformist writers and filmmakers with places at the trough. Substitute “democracy” for
“communism” and “FSB” for “KGB,” and you’re back to the future.
Pity the outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev and those who believed in his reformist
message. Like the tragic hero from a Russian novel, Medvedev saw his country’s doom
all too clearly—but was unable, or unwilling, to do anything about it. “Should Russia
continue to drag into the future our primitive raw-materials economy, endemic
corruption, and inveterate habit of relying on the state, foreign countries or some allpowerful doctrine to solve our problems?” Medvedev wrote on the Kremlin’s blog in the
early days of his presidential career. Yet instead of fixing the problem by jailing corrupt
officials and stimulating real economic growth, Medvedev just talked. During his four
years in power, corruption grew to a staggering one third of Russia’s GDP, or $300
billion a year, according to Russia’s Anti-Corruption Committee, an NGO. At the same
time, resentment of thieving bureaucrats and dysfunctional government has only grown.
Polls show that Russians harbor a deep distrust of just about every state institution, from
the police (distrusted by 78 percent of the population) to bureaucrats (a whopping 99
percent of respondents said they didn’t believe officials’ income declarations).
“There is a huge negative energy among the public ready to explode any moment,” says
Gennady Gudkov, a former KGB colonel and Duma deputy from the opposition Fair
Russia party. “To relieve this increasing aggression Russia urgently needs free debate—
but that will weaken the Kremlin.” In other words, Putin and his circle have “eaten so
much power and money” that they can’t afford to allow real democracy or dissent for fear
of being brought to account—and losing their money and freedom. “Reform is dangerous
for Putin,” says Gudkov. “Because he is the creator of the system and he is now its
hostage.”
Medvedev, in a particularly cruel piece of political theater, announced the end of his
career in front of orchestrated crowds at the annual conference of United Russia, Putin’s
pet party. But even more cruel was Medvedev’s admission that he and Putin had agreed
as early as 2007 that the older man would return in 2012 (the Russian Constitution bans
more than two consecutive presidential terms, so Putin stood down in 2008). Putin
loyalists like Nikita Borovikov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth movement, are
delighted at the return of a “super-effective manager who is focused on the needs of
society”—and at the end of Medvedev’s experiment with liberalism. Nashi also seems to
welcome a return to the cult of personality. To celebrate Putin’s 59th birthday last week,
1,500 Nashi members lined up and sang a birthday song to please him.
It’s likely that Putin 2.0 will be, if anything, more repressive that the first version.
“Nobody changes at the age of 60; Putin will eventually develop into a tougher dictator
and run Russia the way [Hosni] Mubarak ran Egypt or [Muammar] Gaddafi Libya,” says
former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, now an opposition leader. “Russia is
entering a destructive stage of its history that will cause the country to fall apart.” Last
week, in what looked very much like a manifesto for his third and fourth terms, Putin
published an article calling for a “Eurasian Union” based on Russia’s fledgling customs
union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. Medvedev tried to talk up democracy and reform—
but polls show that the general public would prefer to go back to the U.S.S.R. Russians
overwhelmingly favor “order” over democracy by nearly five to one. And the corrupt
practices of Duma parties in the 1990s—high jinks like selling parliamentary seats to
mafia bosses, for instance, or voting to give themselves apartments, cars, and sinecures—
gave democracy itself a bad name. An attempt by Medvedev’s team to create a
pseudoliberal party headed by oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov this summer was summarily
stamped out by Putin loyalists. It was a clear signal that more dissent would not be
tolerated.
“We are going to see a different Putin from the Putin we saw in 2000 or 2008,” says
Alexei Venediktov, the director of the radio program Echo of Moscow, who interacts with
Putin personally on a regular basis. “I can see that an authoritarian style of rule is closer
to him than any other.” He also remains, very firmly, a Homo Sovieticus. Putin famously
doesn’t use a computer and, says Venediktov, “despises” the Internet because it “enlarges
the zone of free thought for Russian society and changes people.” As for the media, Putin
sees it as “an instrument of a dictator’s communication with the public.”
Why, if his instincts are so authoritarian, does Putin bother with maintaining the charade
of democracy at all? Those who know him well say that one reason he remains attached
to the forms—though obviously not the practice—of democracy is sentimental. It’s easy
to forget that for all his later crackdowns on liberty, Putin was originally the protégé of
two great Russian democrats, St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and President Boris
Yeltsin, and remains a close personal friend of the Yeltsin family. Paying lip service to
democracy is part of Putin’s “personal moral debt” to the men who put him in power,
according to one former member of the Yeltsin inner circle who remains close to Putin.
As for the practicalities of Russia’s fake democracy, look no further than East Germany,
where Putin spent the formative years of his KGB career in the 1980s. The Democratic
Republic of Germany had political parties, contested elections, and a Parliament—all
under the watchful eye of the Communist Party, who approved all “parties” and
candidates. As the German Communist leader Walter Ulbricht put it, “Everything has to
look democratic, but it should be under our control.” Putin took that principle very much
to heart. Vanity, too, plays a part. Being a member of the world’s top democratic club is a
key part of the self-image of Russia’s leaders. To keep Russia’s place at the top table of
the G8, Russia needs to preserve at least a semblance of democracy.
What Putin doesn’t rate is the real utility of democracy—a safety valve for social tension
and a mechanism for essential feedback on government policy. As Medvedev put it,
“Democracy is not an abstract value, it’s an effective management system.” Putin
apparently disagrees. Real democracy—along with a free press and independent courts—
would allow corrupt and incompetent officials to potentially be brought to account. That
would clearly undermine the very basis of Putin’s power, built on a vertically integrated
pyramid of bureaucrats who pass money up the chain and receive protection in return.
Hence the “managed” democracy cooked up by Kremlin ideologues early in the Putin
era, guided by the words of Ulbricht.
A real opposition that refuses to cooperate with the Kremlin still exists but is tiny and
marginal and hasn’t had any seats in the Duma for years. Figures like former world chess
champion Garry Kasparov, former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, and former deputy
prime minister Boris Nemtsov are banned from state-owned TV channels, their parties
poll in single digits, and their meetings are regularly busted up by overwhelming police
force. More effective dissent has been achieved by people with no explicit political
agenda—ecological activist Yevgenia Chirikova, for instance, who successfully led a
rebellion of Muscovites against the clear-cutting of a greenbelt forest to make way for a
new road. Or the blogger Navalny, who began publishing documents and details of
outrageous government corruption, and whose site now attracts leaks, information, and
donations from hundreds of thousands of citizens disgusted by the thieving of
government employees.
Meanwhile, the authorities’ attempts to bump up United Russia’s poll numbers in the runup to Duma elections in December range from the farcical to the grotesque. Cheesy
publicity stunts have been cooked up: a “Congress of Blondes,” for instance, is to be held
in the Kremlin’s favorite resort city of Sochi in support of Putin. Support has been
drummed up in true Soviet style: last month 200 students of Moscow’s Maimonides State
Jewish Academy found themselves lined up in a concert hall. The rector asked all those
“brave enough” to refuse joining Putin’s All-Russia People’s Front to step forward and
explain their reasons to the whole university. Only 15 did.
Many members of the elite—including senior members of the government—realize that
crushing dissent is foolish and self-defeating. “A crackdown will sooner or later make
people want to revolt,” says Sen. Alexander Pochinok. “To avoid that it would be logical
to have normal democratic elections—everybody in the Kremlin understands that.”
But what’s really shocking is how many Russians—even smart, educated ones—
welcome the idea of Putin’s return. Indeed, the key disconnect between Russians and
foreigners lies in this: seen from the West, Russia could be so much better. Seen from
Russia, through the wreckage of empire and totalitarianism, it could be so much worse.
“Probably we do not have perfect democracy, but we do have a kind of democracy, albeit
with our own national characteristics,” says United Russia Duma deputy Robert Schlegel,
the youngest Duma member and a former Nashi commissar. “Only 20 years ago we had a
totalitarian regime in Russia. If we let people decide who they want to rule them, the
majority would choose Stalin.”
The depressing thing is that Schlegel is probably right. In 2009, during an infamous TV
phone-in to select the Hero of Russia, Stalin was chosen by a wide margin (the true
results were suppressed on Kremlin orders). Debating why the Russian people are so
allegedly backward, masochistic, and reactionary has been a favorite dinner-table
conversation topic among Russia’s intelligentsia for a couple of centuries now, with no
definitive answer in sight. Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent analyst, puts Russia’s
political development “somewhere between a stone age of slaves and the developed
feudalism with weak signs of the first bourgeoisie.” But the point is that it remains an
article of faith among today’s elite that Russia’s people are, in the words of one minister
close to Putin, “not ready” to be given real power. “Look what happened in 1993 and
1995,” he says: two years when Russian voters elected rabid ultranationalists and then
Communists into Parliament.
Above all, Putin’s return is an admission that post-Soviet Russia has failed to create
functional state institutions. It’s also the sign of a failure of nerve—when confronted with
even as small a challenge as Prokhorov’s tame liberals, Putin’s circle panicked. Clearly,
the system Putin created is incapable of bearing even a few pounds per square inch of real
dissent. Putin’s return changes nothing about the way Russia is run today. But the return
of Russia’s once and future tsar changes everything about Russia’s future—which now
bears a chilling resemblance to its past, repression and revolution included.
Russian political life far from Putin and Kremlin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-political-life-far-from-putin-andkremlin/2011/10/05/gIQAuLhhYL_story.html
By Kathy Lally, Monday, October 10, 2:20 AM
NIZHNY TAGIL, Russia — In far-off Moscow, the authorities are fond of suggesting
that only a spoiled elite in the capital carp about eroding freedoms, controlled elections
and a gloom they compare to the later days of the Soviet Union.
“There are people who think that the atmosphere in the country is suffocating,” Dmitry
Peskov, spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, told television interviewers last
week, “while others want three percentage points off their taxes to get their farm going.”
Those others presumably toil in places such as Nizhny Tagil, an industrial city of about
360,000 on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains. Here, people have been rallying
against high gas prices, not the political maneuvering in Moscow.
They are indeed practical, but they have their dreams.
Over the summer, a 24-year-old high-school dropout and former convict named Yegor
Bychkov began living his.
In July, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, invited
Bychkov to Moscow. They sat in an office near the helicopter pad where Prokhorov was
about to whirl off, drinking coffee and talking politics.
With the Kremlin’s blessing, Prokhorov was attempting to build an inert party called
Right Cause and provide a political home for disenchanted liberal voters. He quickly,
however, ventured beyond the slogans and sound bites the Kremlin — which espouses
managed democracy — had imagined by spending time sizing up local heroes such as
Bychkov, who had run a detox center.
In August, Prokhorov asked the young man to run on his ticket for the State Duma, the
lower house of parliament, in December. Bychkov was inspired. He saw a way for an
ordinary person to start changing this huge country.
Prokhorov is “a patriot,” Bychkov said. “He lives in Russia and he wants to do something
to make it better. There aren’t many oligarchs like him left.”
A month later, the political career that Prokhorov began in June was over, upended by
Kremlin machinations. He went back to his business amid public observations that the
episode was a powerful reminder of the authorities’ refusal to brook any political
independence.
But Bychkov remains, now filled with new aspirations.
Heavy hand of police
When he was 15, Bychkov dropped out of school and headed to the oil and gas city of
Surgut, more than 500 miles away in Siberia. He worked at odd jobs there for two years.
After returning home, he ended up running a branch of the City Without Drugs
foundation established by Yevgeny Roizman, who became a Prokhorov political ally.
Last October, Bychkov was sentenced to 31 / 2 years in prison on charges of kidnapping
drug addicts. The news provoked powerful — and rare — public outrage. At his barebones detox center, addicts were often restrained as they dried out, and treated with
prayer and fasting. Maybe he was misguided, people said, but since when did the police
care about heroin addicts? There had to be another reason.
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an examination of the case. Even the nation’s tough
drug czar, former KGB man Viktor Ivanov, sympathized. Bychkov’s sentence was soon
suspended, and he emerged from prison a different person.
“I realized I had no future, no education, no car, no apartment,” he said, “only a criminal
record and a $10,000 debt.”
A year after his release,he is close to getting his high school degree and wants to enter the
university and study law. He has a job writing a column for an independent newspaper,
the Tagil Variant. In politics, he said, he could get the government to do the work it
should be doing, such as treating drug addicts.
Bychkov said his prison record wouldn’t hurt him, considering the constituency here.
“We have more prisons here than theaters,” he said, “two movie theaters, two dramatic
theaters — and six prisons.”
Eyeing the future
Like many Russian cities, Nizhny Tagil is trying to push toward the future while being
pulled back by the past. Streams of yellow and gray smoke swirl over the city from
Soviet-era metal factories, still the heart of the local economy.
It’s no Moscow, where, Peskov said, people sit in expensive restaurants, eating $35-aplate Italian meals and fretting about the fate of the country.
On Newspaper Street, the staff of Tagil Variant tries to put out an unvarnished paper,
tactfully. “The head of the press service of the city administration visited,” said Valery
Klimtsev, the director, “and said, ‘Please, no surrealism. No freedom of speech.’ ”
Around the corner on Karl Marx Street, elderly women stand, selling fur hats and woolen
mittens.
Outside town, Yelena Barabadze, 50, is walking to the store for bread. She’s dismayed by
the way the authorities are controlling the election process.
Eventually things will change, she said, but probably not for her generation.
Bychkov can wait. The next State Duma elections are in five years. By then, he’ll have a
college degree. And he’ll only be 29 years old.
National Economic Trends
October 10, 2011 11:36
Russia ups Jan-Aug trade surplus 18.6% to $137.2 bln - customs (Part 2)
http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=278939
MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Russia ended August with an eight-month foreign trade
surplus of $137.2 billion, up 18.6% over Jan-Aug of last year, according to Federal
Customs Service (FCS) figures.
Russia did $526.4 billion worth of trade during those eight months, a 35.5% year-on-year
increase. Trade turnover with countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States
increased 34.6% to $447 billion, and trade with CIS countries was up 40.8% at $79.4
billion.
The country's balance of trade with non-CIS countries was $116.1 billion (up $17.3
billion) and with CIS countries - $21.1 billion (up $4.2 billion.
Russia's exports were worth $331.8 billion in Jan-Aug, up 31.6% year-on-year. That
included $281.5 billion in exports to non-CIS countries (up 30.6%) and to CIS countries $50.3 billion (up 47.5%).
Russia's imports amounted to $194.6 billion in Jan-Aug, 42.6% more year-on-year. The
country imported $165.5 billion worth of goods from non-CIS states (up 41.8%) and
$29.1 billion worth from the CIS (up 47.5%).
Cf
(Our editorial staff can be reached at [email protected])
Debt levels spiraling
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16802
bne
October 9, 2011
Russia's public debt rose by 71.6% between January 2009 and July 1, 2011 to reach
RUB4.6 trillion, whilst domestic debt increased 2.4 times, the Chamber of Accounts
revealed on October 4, reports Moskovskiye Novosti.
Those levels of debt are only likely to increase in the near term however. The draft
budget for 2012-2014 provides for doubling public debt.
At the same time, Russia's domestic debt as of September 1, 2011 equalled RUB3.7
trillion and may increase to RUB9.2 trillion by 2015, according to the Finance Ministry.
Currently Russia's foreign debt equals $36.9bn and the government plan is to limit the
increase to $69bn by 2015.
However, the debt/GDP ratio are still, "far from the ceiling values", says the Chamber of
Accounts, which has been set at a very modest - by international standards - 25%. The
current public debt equals about 9% of GDP. In 2012, it will not exceed 16%.
The ratio of annual expenses for the repayment and servicing of public debt to revenues
of the federal budget is currently running at a modest 6.2%, although this is expected to
rise to 10.5% next year and then to 12.3% in 2014, the chamber said.
The share of debt in the form of securities has increased from 72.8% to 80.7% in 20092011. The remainder is direct debt to other countries and financial institutions.
Kommersant: Private banks’ loans grow more expensive, state not concerned
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n261359
10 October 2011 | 08:14 | FOCUS News Agency
Home / World
Moscow. Threats about lack of liquidity, which is hanging over the Russian banking
sector after the closure of the foreign capital markets, forces the banks to hike the interest
rates on the loans for the small enterprises. Eight out of the twenty biggest banks
increased the interests or are getting ready to do it in case the situation continues
aggravating, Russian Kommersant daily writes.
After the corporate loans started growing more expensive, now it’s turn for those aimed
for smaller companies. Several big banks announced interest hike almost simultaneously.
Russian Railways keeps insisting on privatising a 25% stake in TransContainer
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16802
VTB Capital
October 10, 2011
News: Vedomosti has quoted a letter from President of Russian Railways Vladimir
Yakunin to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov (dated 4 October), asking to sell
25% stake in TransContainer during the upcoming auction
Our View: Russian Railways has been insisting on the sale of 25% for quite a while. In
turn, the Ministry for Economic Development and Ministry of Transport have said that it
would be more rational to sell 50% in the company. Last week, the Ministry for
Economic Development once again reiterated its position to sell 50% + 2 shares after
discussion with potential bidders in the Ministry at the end of September. Participating in
the discussion were FESCO, UCL Holding, Globaltrans and Summa.
In our view, selling a 50% stake would be more rational to attract bidders, since
perspective owners would be interested in control. Selling 25% would only benefit
FESCO, because it already has 12.5% acquired during the IPO. Moreover, 11RUSSIAN
FEDERATION/CIS 10 October 2011 Morning Comment for TransContainer
shareholders, the sale of 50% is more important since this would trigger a mandatory
offer by a new owner (were 25% to be sold, only FESCO would have to make an offer,
having crossed the 30% ownership threshold).
Still, this discussion is not the final step and we expect more clarity in the coming months
when the government is to decide on the key parameters of the TransContainer
privatisation (including the timing and size of the stake). The privatisation, which might
happen in 1H12, remains the key driver for TransContainer. We do not cover the stock.
Elena Sakhnova
Bankers Without Borders
http://russiaprofile.org/business/46857.html
Russian Lenders Hope to Take Advantage of Global Economic Woes to Expand
Overseas
By Tai Adelaja Russia Profile 10/10/2011
Even as Russia's largest banks remain under the insidious grip of politicians, many have
continued to look beyond national borders to boost their investment-banking operations.
Russia’s top lender Sberbank has reportedly set its eyes on Turkish lender DenizBank, in
its latest effort to expand its presence overseas. Details about negotiations, not just costs,
remain murky, but Sberbank has mandated two investment banks – the Russian affiliate
of Deutsche Bank and Troika Dialog Investment Company – to negotiate the purchase,
Kommersant Daily reported on Saturday citing unnamed sources inside the bank.
Sberbank’s CEO German Gref said in September that Sberbank was considering
acquisitions in Turkey and Poland to help transform Russia’s largest and oldest bank
from a large domestic financial institution into a leading international bank. "We have
worked out a clear strategy for our presence in Europe," Gref said. "As a mid-term goal,
we marked two countries for our presence – Turkey and Poland. These markets are very
interesting to us." In 2008, the state-controlled bank unveiled a five-year strategy –
Sberbank’s 2014 strategy – to generate between five and seven percent of its earnings
abroad.
Other state-controlled banks are following Sberbank’s lead into overseas expansion.
Sberbank’s main competitor, VTB Capital, the investment-banking arm of Russia's
second-largest lender, said it plans to hire about 100 bankers abroad and open offices in
Turkey and Bulgaria to compete in emerging markets with the likes of JPMorgan Chase
and Deutsche Bank.
VTB Capital hopes to increase its international staff by about 25 percent over the next
year to 18 months, Atanas Bostandjiev, who runs VTB Capital’s operations outside of
Russia, told Bloomberg in an interview. “We are the Russian investment banking
champion and we have the goal of being recognized as the global emerging-market
investment bank,” Bostandjiev said at VTB’s annual investment conference in Moscow
on Friday.
Yury Solovyev, the first deputy president of VTB Group and board chairman at VTB
Capital, was also quoted by the agency as saying that VTB is using its leading position in
Russia as a “platform” for global expansion to “capitalize on the problems of the global
banks.” The current global banking woes, he said, create "an opportunity and an empty
space we would like to fill.” Russian experts agreed, saying that the euro zone crisis in
particular has opened a rare window of opportunity for Russian banks to target
acquisitions beyond the country's borders. "There can be no talk of putting DenizBank on
sale, for instance, were it not for the Dexia problems," said Andrei Chernyavsky, a due
diligence consultant at 2K Audit Business Consulting.
Dexia, the French-Belgian bank, which received a government bailout in 2008, was
forced to seek government help again last week because of its heavy exposure to Greek
debt and problems accessing wholesale funds. The governments of France and Belgium,
which are shareholders in Dexia, on Sunday agreed to nationalize the bank, which helps
finance hundreds of towns in both countries but has become the first European bank to
fall victim to the euro zone crisis. Government officials had raced to prop up Dexia by
pumping in billions of euros in taxpayer money before global financial markets opened
on Monday, The New York Times reported. The struggling French-Belgium Financial
group owns 99.79 percent in DenizBank, which has an estimated $21 billion in assets and
is a significant player in the Turkish market.
The French daily Les Echos first reported on Friday that Russia’s Sberbank, along with
several other investors, has expressed interest in acquiring DenizBank assets. "There is
interest. The price is the decisive issue," Interfax cited an unnamed source inside the bank
as saying on Friday. Sberbank's press service could not immediately confirm the deal, but
said that “the bank’s development strategy until 2014 does not exclude the acquisition or
participation in the banking institutions of Central and Eastern Europe.” Sberbank’s Chief
Financial Officer Anton Karamzin declined to comment on the deal, but confirmed that
the top lender was aware that Dexia has been reviewing its options for potential asset
sales in a number of regional markets, including in Turkey.
If successful, DenizBank will not be the first foreign acquisition by Sberbank. Last
month, the bank bought 100 percent stake in Volksbank International AG, which operates
a banking network in many countries including Austria, Germany, France, Italy and
Ukraine. It is also in an alliance with BNP Pariba's Cetelem to develop Point-of-Sale
(POS) crediting. Before shifting its focus to international expansion, however, the bank
acquired Russia’s privately owned Troika Dialog bank in March, a deal experts say
extended the government’s reach into the country’s investment banking business.
Vladimir Svinarenko, the director of Solid Financial Services, said a possible DenizBank
deal could catapult Sberbank into the top-ten bracket of Turkish banks. However, the deal
could still face some hurdles, including the high cost of Turkish assets and the threat of a
possible nationalization of Dexia, Svinarenko said. "Since Turkish lender DenizBank is
seen as Dexia's most saleable asset, there's no question of selling it at a discount,"
Svinarenko said. "It is also a known fact that Sberbank does not like to buy at a
premium."
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Novatek, X5 Retail, Sberbank May Move: Russian Equity Preview
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-10/novatek-x5-retail-sberbank-may-moverussian-equity-preview.html
October 10, 2011, 12:22 AM EDT
By Henry Meyer
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may be active in Russian trading. Stock
symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close, unless noted
otherwise.
The 30-stock Micex Index advanced 2.5 percent to 1,351.42.
OAO Novatek (NOTK RM): Russia’s second-biggest gas producer may report thirdquarter operating results. Novatek gained 2.7 percent to 371.22 rubles in Moscow.
X5 Retail Group NV (FIVE LI): Russia’s largest retailer by sales may issue a thirdquarter trading update. Its London- listed shares increased 2.7 percent to $26.96.
OAO Sberbank (SBER03 RX): Russia’s largest lender engaged Deutsche Bank AG and
Troika Dialog to advise it on the possible acquisition of Dexia SA’s Turkish subsidiary
Denizbank, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified people close to Sberbank. The
stock rose 3.7 percent to 68.18 rubles.
--Editor: David Risser
To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at
[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at [email protected]
Russian companies top US$550 bn in foreign mining interests
http://www.commodities-now.com/news/metals-and-mining/8222-russian-companiestop-us550-bn-in-foreign-mining-interests.html
London, 10 October 2011
As a key speaker at the recent Mining and Exploration Forum and Expo (MINEX) in
Moscow, Intierra Resource Intelligence, the world’s leading supplier of business
intelligence to the mineral resources sector, revealed that Russian companies have
reached US$550 billion in foreign mining interests held.
During a detailed presentation, Director of Mapping and Tenements, Peter Godwin,
further stated that Intierra’s research showed Russian-held resources at operating mines
were now in the vicinity of US$325 billion, whilst new deposits were worth US$225
billion.
Mr. Godwin’s presentation, titled Russian Mining – Domestic and Foreign Activity /
Global Funding, gave the audience a deep analysis of the key metrics and factors in play
for the expanding Russian mining sector both globally and domestically.
MINEX Russia is a key mining sector and business event in Russia; bringing together
more than 500 international resource sector professionals. This year the main theme of
the forum was “Russia – Open for business”, highlighting key positive developments and
emerging business opportunities for new ventures in the mineral exploration and mining
sector in Russia.
Ends --
Raspadskaya to miss 2011 coking coal output target by 24pct – Report
http://www.steelguru.com/russian_news/Raspadskaya_to_miss_2011_coking_coal_outpu
t_target_by_24pct_Report/229056.html
Monday, 10 Oct 2011
Russian producer of coking coal OAO Raspadskaya may produce less than 6.5 million
tonnes this year, missing its output target by 24% percent, Kommersant reported, citing
analysts’ estimates.
Raspadskaya produced 400,000 tonnes of coal a month in July and August versus average
576,000 tonnes a month in the first half, the Moscow-based newspaper said, citing MetalCourier data.
The company will probably miss its full-year output target of 8.5 million tonnes,
according to the newspaper.
Raspadskaya had a market value of about USD 2.2 billion yesterday, while steelmaker
Evraz Group SA and Raspadskaya management have been seeking to sell the company
for more than $5 billion in the first half of the year, Kommersant said.
(Sourced from Bloomberg)
Adidas eyes double-digit growth in Russia
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/adidas-idINL5E7L90KB20111010
10:30am IST
MOSCOW/FRANKFURT, Oct 10 (Reuters) - German sporting goods company Adidas
(ADSGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) expects investment in its own stores and rising
consumer spending in Russia to propel the region into becoming one of its top three
markets behind the United States and China, it said on Monday.
Adidas expects its sales in the Russia/CIS region, which includes former Soviet satellite
states such as Ukraine and Kazakhstan, to surpass 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) by 2013
and to grow by a double-digit percentage annually until 2015, Chief Executive Herbert
Hainer said at an investor day in Moscow.
Adidas, the world's second-largest sports apparel company after Nike , did not give
current sales for the region, which is currently its fourth-largest market in terms of sales
after the United States, China and Japan.
The group says it is the market leader in Russia/CIS, where soccer, running and outdoor
items are among its key products.
It will also step up its store opening programme, increasing its network of own stores to
800 by the end of this year, and then to more than 1,200 by 2015. ($1 = 0.741 Euros)
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer and Victoria Bryan; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)
Ovoca Gold gets key certificate for Olcha deposit in Russia
http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/34132/ovoca-gold-gets-keycertificate-for-olcha-deposit-in-russia-34132.html
7:23 am by Andre Lamberti
Russia-focused Ovoca Gold (LON:OVG) has received a key permit which allows the
group to apply for a mining licence on the presently drilled reserves of the Olcha deposit,
part of the Rassoshinskaya licence.
The Russian State regulatory body concerning the certification of state resources has
granted to the company a Certificate of Discovery regarding Olcha, the company
announced.
With this certificate in hand, Ovoca’s Russian subsidiary ZAO Bulun can apply for a
mining permit on the presently drilled reserves.
Such licenses are typically issued for 25 years, with a target work program leading up to
production at some point within the license term. The certified reserves equal 279,000
ounces of gold at a grade of 13.4 grammes per tonne and 655,000 ounces silver at a grade
of 31.6 g/t in the Russian reserve category C1 + C2 - which is not JORC compliant.
Russian legislation does not consider the Olcha deposit strategic as it is below the
established strategic threshold of 1.6 million ounces gold in the Russian reserve C1 + C2
category.
Chief executive Tim McCutcheon said: "We are all extremely pleased with the issue of
the Certificate of Discovery for Olcha. As I have mentioned before, Ovoca has a long and
successful track record of working in Russia to get things done and add shareholder
value. Now that we have the Certificate, we will immediately complete and file the
formal application to receive the full exploitation license, which we expect to receive
sometime early 2012."
The company’s two main projects are located in the Magadan region: Stakhanovsky and
Rassoshinskaya, which together contain an inferred resource of 1 million ounces of gold.
Olcha accounts for 650,000 ounces of the total resource.
Ovoca expects first gold production at Stakhanovsky at the beginning of 2014.
Italian bankers are invited to Russia to place railway tracks
http://www.rusbiznews.com/news/n1147.html
10.10.2011 — Analysis
Italian capital seeks application in Russia. The chairman of the Board of Directors
at Banca Intesa Antonio Fallico said that Russia is safe from economic turmoil for
the next few years, which enhances its appeal to investors. The banker is willing to
participate in financing of a number of major projects in the Urals. The high-speed
Ekaterinburg-Moscow railway might be one of them. Experts, however, do not
believe that the Italians have serious intentions regarding their participation in the
project: The investment feasibility study for the railway has not been prepared and
no approval of its construction has been received. The RusBusinessNews columnist
has found it out that the Intesa Sanpaolo Group is not involved in financing of
projects in Russia, though manufacturers have already noticed its presence on the
market, as the Italians have become serious competition to Russian banks.
The construction of the high-speed Ekaterinburg-Moscow railway of 1,600 kilometers
long, totaling 1.5 trillion rubles, was offered by the Sverdlovsk regional governor,
Alexander Misharin. The project will be developed in two stages: The first stage is
scheduled for completion by the 2018 FIFA World Cup when the railroad connects
Ekaterinburg and Kazan; then the line will be extended further to Moscow to facilitate
commuting for participants of the EXPO-2020 Exhibition (if it takes place in
Ekaterinburg) from the Russian capital to the Urals. The issue of the construction tender
is expected by the end of 2012. However, it is going to happen only after the approval of
the RF government, which has not been issued yet. Therefore, at the moment, Skorostnye
Magistrali OJSC is focused on promoting the project and preparing a favorable political
decision.
Oleg Dunayev, the head of the expert group at the RF Federation Council, states that
the Sverdlovsk regional government has to solve a difficult problem: It should reconcile
interests of elite groups, garner support of the top-tier people of the country and find a
non-standard solution for the project implementation. The financing system offered today
is not realistic: The region counts on federal funds that are not available. The hopes
pinned on Russian Railways are also groundless, as the corporation has a lot of other
problems.
The Italian bankers arrived in the Urals at the right moment. Antonio Fallico said that in
addition to lending money to small and medium-sized business, he would like to
participate in projects of large companies. Though Intesa Sanpaolo has no experience in
project financing in Russia, the banker promised to look into the possibility of investing
in the high-speed railroad from Ekaterinburg to Moscow. He reminded that he is involved
in the Russian Railways' project aimed at development of high-speed rail traffic in
Russia.
However, A. Fallico's words did not spark any enthusiasm of Russian experts. According
to Yevgeni Bolotin, the deputy chairperson of the Ural Bank Union, the banker's phrase
was very typical of such cases: "Yes, we are ready to look into the project". However, it
is very different from saying: "We have looked into your proposal and are willing to
invest 1.5 billion euro". It can take a lot of time until the agreement with the Russian
party is signed, but the originators of the high-speed rail idea do not have such time.
Pavel Kurchanov, the head of the unit at the Investment Department of Russian
Railways, OJSC, thinks that it is too early to give any comment on A. Fallico's words: "I
do not know whether Intesa participates in construction of high-speed railroads.
Furthermore, there is still no investment rationale for the project of the EkaterinburgMoscow high-speed railway; therefore, there is nothing to talk about".
Vladimir Semyonov, the chairman of the Board of Directors at Uraltransbank, OJSC,
is sure that the Italians came to the Urals only to "gain" money. In his opinion, Intesa
offers the same products as Russian banks do. Industry needs not only low-interest loans
but also technologies. According to V. Semyonov, no one has seen the Italians among the
investors in the new Russian industrialization.
Alexander Trakhtenberg, the deputy general director of Lorri, OJSC, does not agree
with Russian bankers. In his opinion, Intesa Sanpaolo not only "gains" money in Russia,
but also participates in upgrading of the economy in the Lipetsk Region: It finances
infrastructure development and finances construction of industrial facilities.
Besides, foreign lenders operate differently from their Russian colleagues. For example,
it took only one hour for the BSGV Bank, one day - for the Raiffeisen Bank, and two
weeks - for Sberbank to reply the letter from Lorri. Russian banks have a long way to go
to become customer-focused - not to mention partnership with industrial companies.
Therefore, during the crisis of 2008 their behavior was different from that of the foreign
banks. The latter called manufacturers and asked why they did not come for funds.
Russian lenders preferred to sit on money bags not to give them away. Manufacturers
value that foreign loans are given for eight years and at a lower interest rate, thus helping
manufacturers to save millions of dollars. The only issue where representatives of the real
sector cannot reach agreement with foreign lenders is assessment of country risks. A.
Trakhtenberg asserts that foreign analysis tend to overstate risks related to lending of
Russian manufacturing companies, as they are still in thrall to outdated stereotypes.
Due to their lack of confidence in Russia, the Italians may refuse from financing the highspeed Ekaterinburg-Moscow railroad. The project is highly unlikely to come off without
foreign capital. Yevgeni Bolotin thinks that it will be difficult to find investment
resources in Russia: "We are not able to create inexpensive and sought-after financial
capitals. In my opinion, it is the key problem that causes all the other problems: lack of
long-term money in the country, citizens' distrust in the banking system, imperfect
legislation, etc."
Oleg Dunayev also thinks that the high-speed railway cannot be built without foreign
participation: "It should be an international project, because costs are very high. It is
obvious that the region should focus all the efforts on solving this particular issue.
However, I was in Ekaterinburg not long ago and came to conclusion that there are
programs and there are talks, without any actual movement".
Vladimir Terletsky
Russia's X5 Retail cuts full-year sales outlook
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/x5-sales-idUSR4E7K600620111010
2:05am EDT
MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russian food retailer X5 cut its full-year 2011 sales
growth outlook on Monday, citing worsening economic conditions, and warned its
margins could take a hit from a price-cutting campaign aimed at keeping customers.
X5 now expects full-year rouble gross retail sales growth to be closer to 35 percent,
compared to an earlier target of 40 percent, the company said in a statement.
"The continuing deterioration of the macro-economic environment could further deepen
our customers' trading down in Q4 2011 and beyond," the company said in a statement .
Its third-quarter sales grew 32 percent in rouble terms, down from a 41 percent increase
in the previous quarter.
Like-for-like sales increased 4 percent in rouble terms compared to a 10 percent rise in
the second quarter.
Russia's Kamaz turns profit in first half 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/kamaz-idUSL5E7LA0I920111010
3:15am EDT
MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russian truck maker Kamaz said on Monday it moved
into the black during the first half of 2011, posting a net profit of 87 million roubles ($2,7
million) compared to a 397 million rouble loss during the same period of 2010.
The company, 11 percent owned by Germany's Daimler (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile,
Research, Stock Buzz), said revenues for the period rose by 39 percent to 44.2 billion
roubles. ($1 = 32.050 Russian Roubles) (Reporting By John Bowker; Editing by
Vladimir Soldatikin)
Reasons Why Foreign Firms Are Forsaking Franchises
10 October 2011
By Irina Filatova
Every morning Christopher Wynne, an American living in Moscow for the last 10 years,
is off to a battlefield, armed not with an assault rifle but a rolling pin and pizza cutter.
Wynne, who is chief executive of Papa John's Russia, a local franchisee of the U.S. pizza
delivery chain, said his company faces many problems, including bureaucracy and high
interest rates.
"Doing business in Russia is somewhere between sport and war every day. You have
to face a lot of challenges," he said.
These problems, however, are typical for most franchises operating in Russia and result
in some foreign companies giving up franchising in order to run their operations directly.
"Foreigners are cautious about the political and economic situation in Russia.
The franchising scheme requires stability and predictability of the economy," said Alexei
Mogila, head of the trade real estate department at Penny Lane Realty.
It is also not that easy to get a loan to open a new chain because interest rates are high
compared with other countries, Penny Lane Realty said in a statement.
Annual interest rates for a franchisee seeking a loan in France and Britain are 4 percent
and 7 percent, respectively, while the rate in Russia reaches 18 percent a year, Penny
Lane Realty said.
"One of the best ways for small businesses to grow in the West is with debt. You can get
long-term cheap financing for small businesses in Europe or America, but here it's very
difficult," Wynne said by telephone.
But while Wynne's firm is doing well, with 20 restaurants operating in Moscow and two
in Siberia, Mogila said about 15 foreign companies have refused to prolong their
agreements with local partners over the last couple of years and have started to manage
their outlets by themselves.
"A stable trend has appeared in the retail real estate market as many companies are
considering the opportunity of working independently today," he said.
Growing sales in the local market result in foreign companies seeking to work
independently in order to retain control over the brand, Mogila said.
Such firms include German denim brand Mustang, which opened a subsidiary in Moscow
in 2009 after its contract expired with local distributor Jeans Symphony. The company
was in charge of Mustang's local supplies and developing the brand's franchising program
locally.
Although Mustang, which currently has 19 stores in Russia, was satisfied with its local
partner's work, the jeans maker decided "to take our business to the next level," said
Robert Scanlon, chief executive of Mustang Russia.
"We actually repeated the experience of many Western brands in Russia who initially test
the water by working with a local distributor and subsequently move on to open their
own companies in Russia," he said in e-mailed comments.
Scanlon said having wholly owned stores "provides greater control over the brand,
customer service, product flow, [and] merchandising."
At the same time, other foreign fashion retailers like Mango, Promod and New Yorker
prefer to develop corporate stores along with the franchising program, said the head of a
Russian franchisee of a European fashion brand.
"To cancel an agreement with a franchisee means to lose everything. No one rejects his
partners," he said, adding that it is much easier to work with a local partner, which has
market knowledge.
Companies that cancel franchising agreements have to either buy out their stores from a
local partner and then deliver on all the obligations with shopping centers, or close them,
he said.
According to Fashion Consulting Group, a market researcher, working independently
provides a number of advantages for foreign companies that are not involved in the
distributors' competition and can implement brand development strategies and reduce
expenses that inevitably arise from working with an agent.
On the other hand, the "unpredictability of the market" and need to make operative
decisions without having the opportunity to rely on a local partner with market
knowledge involve certain risks, Fashion Consulting Group said in e-mailed comments.
Although launching a franchising program is more convenient because a franchisee bears
the major expenses, directly managing stores ensures that advertising budgets are spent
properly and foreign firms' corporate standards met, said Mogila, of Penny Lane Realty.
Some local franchisees fail to meet corporate standards, which results in foreign firms
canceling franchising agreements, said Yury Mikhailichenko, executive director of the
Russian Franchising Association.
"Foreign firms are used to working in line with high standards, while a store in some
regional town doesn't always meet these standards due to the poor infrastructure and low
cultural level," he said by telephone, adding, however, that this is rather the exception
than the rule.
Wynne, of Papa John's Russia, said executives from the U.S. headquarters come
to Russia every month to check whether the franchisee is meeting corporate standards,
which range from the ingredients used to prepare pizza to the way the staff dresses
and the restaurants are designed.
Another possible reason for giving up the franchising scheme is that some franchisees
violate agreements. Some local partners "start taking the business as their own and cease
to pay royalties," Mikhailichenko said.
One recent example is Israel's fashion retailer Castro Model, which canceled its
agreement with Russian franchisee Plaza Group earlier this year, saying the firm had
repeatedly violated the conditions of the agreement.
Both Castro Model and Plaza Group declined to comment on the issue last week, but
Castro told online industry newspaper Retailer.ru in February that the company had made
a decision to cancel the agreement because the franchisee owed it a total of $1 million
and "never paid its debt on schedule."
The Israeli company also demanded that the franchisee close the three local stores
operating under the Castro brand, Retailer.ru reported, citing Castro.
However, the Castro stores in Mega Belaya Dacha shopping center in Moscow, as well as
two others — in Volgograd and Yekaterinburg — appeared to be working when
contacted last week.
The store managers declined to comment on the issue.
According to Penny Lane Realty, only 40 percent of the domestic franchise market
belongs to U.S. and European brands, while the rest are domestic chains.
Among recent entrants that have come to Russia's franchise market over the last two
years are Dunkin' Donuts, Cinnabon, GAP, Wendy's and Victoria's Secret.
Despite the challenges, many companies — foreign and domestic — are opening
franchising chains in Russia, with the number of local franchisees having increased 30
percent over the last year, said Mikhailichenko.
It is rather difficult for a foreign company to manage its stores remotely and handle
logistics without a local partner, he said.
"As a rule, managing a few stores is not a problem, but if a well-known brand is
expanding its business in Russia, it's very difficult to cover the country's territory with its
remote cities like Vladivostok or Khabarovsk without a franchising program," he said.
Wendy's, one of the world's largest fast-food chains, which opened its first restaurant
in Moscow earlier this year and plans to launch at least 180 locations across the country,
said the franchising model "has proven effective" for the company.
"We are predominately using a franchise business model as we expand the Wendy's
brand in key markets around the world," Wendy's spokesman Bob Bertini said.
The company's Russian franchisee, Wenrus Restaurant Group, has good restaurant
experience and market knowledge, he said in e-mailed comments.
However, Wendy's biggest rival McDonald's, which is represented by franchisees
at about 80 percent of its outlets around the world, still owns and directly manages
the nearly 300 restaurants it has set up across the country in the 20 years it has been
operating in Russia.
"It's important to create a strong operational base and effective logistics before we start
developing franchising in Russia," the company said in e-mailed comments.
Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/reasons-why-foreign-firmsare-forsaking-franchises/445044.html#ixzz1aMTV1lEq
The Moscow Times
OCTOBER 10, 2011
In Russia, It's a Start
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576580233700587792.html?
mod=googlenews_wsj
The merger of two Moscow exchanges is a first step to
becoming a financial hub. But there's plenty more to do.
By POLYA LESOVA
Moscow has a lot riding on a new exchange.
The city's RTS and Micex exchanges recently announced they will merge, in hopes of
simplifying the investment process, boosting liquidity and attracting more investors. The
consolidated group would rank ninth world-wide in market capitalization and somewhere
below 15th in revenue as of 2010—and officials hope to reach the top 10 in both within
five years.
Russian officials see the marriage as the first step in a much broader effort: turning the
capital into a financial hub that draws businesses and investors from abroad. But the
quest is likely to be long and arduous.
Moscow—and Russia—must overcome a reputation for widespread corruption, poor
infrastructure and a murky legal system. And that will mean implementing institutional
reforms and improving the business environment—measures the government has long
discussed but never carried out.
"The single trading platform is very good," says Lilit Gevorgyan, country analyst at IHS
Global Insight. "On the other hand, you cannot have this infrastructure isolated from the
general business environment in Russia, which has been deteriorating."
Moving Toward Stability
Some experts think Russia has little choice but to take the reform agenda seriously, since
it sorely needs foreign investment. Though the country has a fast-growing economy and
lots of natural resources, it suffers big swings in its equity markets, and investors rush for
the exits during crises. That happened after the 2008 financial crash, and the economy
contracted violently.
Already, says Ivan Tchakarov, chief economist at Renaissance Capital in Moscow,
Russia is running a fiscal deficit, and in three years' time will run a current-account
deficit. The 2008 crisis "was a wake-up call," Mr. Tchakarov says. "The Russian
authorities were really humbled by this crisis.… Russia will need foreign money to
finance this deficit. It's a totally new macroeconomic paradigm for this government."
Russia created the exchanges in the wake of another crisis: the collapse of the Soviet
Union. The Micex, which stands for Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, was founded
in 1992 by Russia's central bank and leading commercial banks and became a leader in
stocks, bonds and foreign exchange. Its smaller rival, RTS, or Russian Trading System,
came along three years later and took the lead in derivatives.
The two exchange groups have their own clearinghouses and depositories, so investors
have had to open separate accounts to do business with each exchange. The merger will
create one large trading platform and will smooth the way toward settling big-picture
issues, like establishing a central depository.
Micex will hold around 75% of the combined exchange, with RTS taking 25%. The
initial public offering of the joint exchange is planned for 2013.
"There is a lot of complementarity between our groups," says Micex President Ruben
Aganbegyan, who will be CEO of the combined exchange. "With combining, we can
provide many more services and effectively reduce costs."
Many industry experts also have high hopes for the deal. "Russia is a big equity market,
but I don't think it needs two exchanges," says Roland Nash, senior partner at Verno
Capital in Moscow. "The merger moves toward creating a world-class exchange, and that
is a necessary condition if Moscow is ever going to become a financial center."
A Long Road Ahead
Still, there's a lot more work to be done. Investors have a laundry list of concerns about
the Russian market—among them corruption, red tape, a weak judicial system and lack
of protection for the rights of minority shareholders.
Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks 178
countries according to perception of corruption in the public sector, had Russia at 154th
place, at the same level as Papua New Guinea and Tajikistan. Its score: 2.1 on a scale
from zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean).
Russia has guarded jealously the state's role in industries considered strategically
important. Its business sector is dominated by large state-controlled companies such as
banking group Sberbank, oil producer Rosneft and gas giant Gazprom. In recent years, a
series of high-profile cases—from the challenges faced by BP PLC and Royal Dutch
Shell PLC to the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of oil
company Yukos—have underscored that in Russia political power often trumps the rule
of law.
"The plan of turning Moscow into a financial center will remain a dream unless the
fundamental issues are addressed," says Ms. Gevorgyan of IHS. "Russia has to work on
its image. This is being reinforced by the scandals. Over the last decade, that's the image
that has developed—of the strong state that comes in and crushes business when it is in
its interest."
Moscow itself needs a lot of work, too. Analysts say the city needs to upgrade its
infrastructure—from roads to apartments and offices—and become a more attractive
place to live and work if it hopes to attract star traders and bankers. Moscow ranked 61st
out of 75 cities on the Global Financial Centers Index produced by the London-based
Z/Yen think tank in September this year; that marked an improvement from its No. 68
ranking in the March survey.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who has said that creating a financial center is a
critical task, has proposed numerous economic reforms, including decentralizing power,
reducing the state's role in the country's biggest companies, fighting corruption and
strengthening the rule of law. Working groups within the government are hammering out
plans and working with international consultants to figure out what Moscow needs to
become a successful hub.
"Just the fact that they are taking it seriously is a major step forward," says Mark Yeandle
from Z/Yen, who is working with the Russian government on the effort. "They are
spending a considerable amount of money to find out what makes a center more
successful."
Some think all the clean-up efforts are worthwhile even if Russia doesn't reach its goal.
"The aim of becoming a financial center, even if Moscow never makes it, allows the
reformers in Russia to do a lot of the necessary reforms anyway," Mr. Nash says. "It is a
nice, easily communicable, proud Russia aim. To create a financial center, you need to
bring down inflation. You need to improve the number of investors in Russia. That's
great anyway."
Ms. Lesova is London bureau chief for MarketWatch. She can be reached at
[email protected].
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Russia May Require Bourse Oil Trading, Kommersant Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-10/russia-may-make-oil-firms-trade-oil-onbourses-vedomosti-says.html
Q
By Jason Corcoran - Oct 10, 2011 6:37 AM GMT+0200
(Corrects attribution in headline.)
Russia’s Energy Ministry plans to require oil companies to sell at least 3 percent of their
crude oil and 15 percent of petroleum products on the stock market, Kommersant
reported, citing the latest version of a bill.
If companies don’t comply, they will be limited in their ability to export using
Transneft’s pipelines, the newspaper said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Corcoran at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at [email protected]
Lukoil signs $500m loan deal for Kazakh project
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20111010111427.shtml
RBC, 10.10.2011, Moscow 11:14:27.Lukoil has secured a 5-year $500m loan to
finance the investment program and working capital of its Kazakhstan-based
subsidiary Turgai-Petroleum, the Russian oil major said in a statement.
The London branch of the Bank of China is the lead arranger with contributions
from a syndicate of banks, including BNP Paribas, Citibank Kazakhstan, Deutsche
Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International, in two tranches. Under the terms of the loan,
Lukoil is supposed to get the first $300m tranche once the credit agreement is signed,
while the second tranche will be provided within the following 18 months. Both
tranches carry an interest rate of LIBOR + 2.85%.
Lukoil to Spend More Than $10 Billion Next Year, Interfax Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-10/lukoil-to-spend-more-than-10-billion-nextyear-interfax-says.html
By Stephen Bierman - Oct 10, 2011 9:09 AM GMT+0200
OAO Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, plans to invest about $10 billion in its
business this year and more than that next year, Interfax reported, citing Chief Executive
Officer Vagit Alekperov.
Lukoil will start projects in Iraq and the Caspian Sea in the “near future,” Alekperov said
in Krasnodar, Russia, according to Interfax.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow at
[email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at
[email protected].
Rosneft pays for Carabobo access: Reports
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article282740.ece
Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft will pay $1 billion for access to Venezuela's
Carabobo 2 block and may tie-up with a partner to develop the project, Russian business
daily Kommersant reported on Saturday.
News wires 10 October 2011 05:29 GMT
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA said on Friday it would partner with Rosneft,
Russia's top oil producer, to work in the Carabobo 2 block in the southern Orinoco extra
heavy crude belt, Reuters reported.
The parties did not disclose details of the deal, which was clinched during a visit by
Russia's top oil official, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
Rosneft will pay an initial $600 million for the right to develop the oil field, with a $400
million payment to follow after the final investment decision is taken, Kommersant
quoted sources close to the deal as saying.
The paper also said that PDVSA will have 60% of the venture, while Rosneft, with a 40%
stake, may seek a partner to help it develop the project.
"It may well be our strategic partner -- ExxonMobil. This step is seen logical," the
newspaper quoted a Rosneft source as saying.
In August, Exxon Mobil and Rosneft signed an agreement to extract oil and gas from the
Russian Arctic, in the most significant US-Russian corporate deal since US President
Barack Obama began a push to improve ties, Reuters reported.
Rosneft's press office declined to comment on details of the deal to Kommersant while a
source close to Exxon told the newspaper there were no discussions with Rosneft on the
possible tie-up in Venezuela.
Rosneft is also one of five Russian companies in a consortium working with PDVSA to
develop the Junin block 6 of the Orinoco belt.
Carabobo 2 had been one of the last major ventures to be awarded in the Orinoco, where
the South American OPEC member is pinning hopes for future production increases.
Exxon is currently involved in a multibillion-dollar arbitration against PDVSA, seeking
compensation for the nationalisation of its assets in 2007 when Venezuela's President
Hugo Chavez pushed foreign oil companies into minority partnerships at projects in the
Orinoco Belt, Reuters reported.
Published: 10 October 2011 05:29 GMT | Last updated: 40 minutes ago
Gazprom
Gazprom guarantees proper load of Beltransgaz
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16802
VTB Capital
October 10, 2011
News: According to Interfax, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed
that Gazprom agreed to the conditions of gas transit through Beltransgaz's pipelines and
the privatisation of the national pipeline system. Lukashenko underlined that the
Beltransgaz deal would only go through once Gazprom had signed an agreement
guaranteeing the transit volumes. The president also said that the government was not yet
ready to privatise refineries under the conditions offered.
Our View: As we have already mentioned, the main risk stemming from these
negotiations is that Gazprom might be used as a vehicle to reach political goals.
However, as there is still no clarity over the conditions of either the Beltransgaz deal or
the guarantee agreement between Gazprom and Belarus, we do not expect the stock to
react to the news.
22:11 09/10/2011ALL NEWS
Iran rejects Gazprom Neft as partner in Azar field
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/243413.html
TEHRAN, October 9 (Itar-Tass) —— Iran refuses from cooperation with Russia’s
Gazprom Neft Company in development of the Azar oil field, Head of the National
Iranian Oil Company Ahmad Ghalebani told the Fars news agency on Sunday.
“We have come to the final decision to stop cooperation with that company at the Azar
field and to have an agreement on its development with an Iranian contractor,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the Russian company dragged out its obligations despite several
warnings from the National Iranian Oil Company, which were not heard.”
The Azar oil field was opened in 2005. According to Russia’s LUKOIL, Azar contains
two billion barrels of oil. In November of 2009, Gazprom Neft and the National Iranian
Oil Company signed a memorandum on mutual understanding on the field as well as on
the Shangule field.
In late August of the current year, Iran announced suspension of Gazprom Neft’s
participation in development of Azar, which was caused by “protracted implementation
of the project,” as Iranian sources said then. However, on September 12, Russia’s
Minister of Energy Sergei Shmatko told a news conference following launch of the
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant that he had agreed with Iran’s Minister of Oil Rostam
Ghasemi to make a final decision on the matter within a month.
“We should offer solutions to provide further work of the Russian company at that field,”
he said.
Russia's Gazprom interested in energy assets in Bulgaria –
report
http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/10/09/1172727_russias-gazprom-interested-in-energyassets-in-bulgaria-report
Sun, Oct 09 2011 20:54 CET
byDnevnik.bg
Russia's gas giant Gazprom is interested in energy assets in Bulgaria, UK, Germany and
the Benelux countries, Denis Fyodorov, chief executive of the group's power unit
GazpromEnergoHolding, said as quoted by Reuters on October 7 2011.
"We plan to present three or four projects (in Europe) to the board of directors to the
board (of Gazprom) by the end of the year. We have a short list (of European assets)
which contains about 10 projects," Fyodorov told reporters.
According to Fyodorov, Gazprom was seeking to fully control the assets where it decided
to participate and was ready to pay for them in cash. Joint ventures are being negotiated
only with German utility RWE, he said.
Meanwhile, mass-circulation daily Trud quoted a source as saying that Gazprom was
looking at Bulgaria's coal-fired power plant in Varna, owned by Czech energy group
CEZ, which has been on the lookout for a strategic partner for two years.
Gazprom and RWE launched three-month exclusive talks about setting up a gas and coal
power joint venture in Germany, Britain and the Benelux countries in July. On October 6,
the companies said they would extend talks to the end of the year.
Fyodorov said that Gazprom was keen on entering the electricity markets of Japan, South
Korea and China, as well as Turkey.
Gazprom Seeks Power Assets From Japan to U.K. to Fill Atomic Gap
http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LSNC5T0D9L37014DBRRHK5JN527TAAOD97FJP0ON
Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, the world's biggest gas producer, is seeking
electricity generating assets from Japan to the U.K. as the closure of nuclear reactors
raises demand for gas-fired power stations.
Gazprom may pick three to four projects in Europe to submit for board approval by yearend and will hire an adviser on entering Asian power generation, said Denis Fedorov,
head of the OOO Gazprom Energoholding electricity unit. The Moscow-based company
wants controlling stakes.
“‘We shouldn't be feared but looked at as a partner,” Fedorov said. “Nothing will happen
other than an increase in competition in the power market, there will be no monopoly.”
European Union antitrust regulators raided Gazprom's gas trading ventures last month as
part of a competition probe. The 27-nation bloc is backing a gas link bypassing Russia,
and some members had considered expanding nuclear power, to weaken dependence on
Gazprom after winter gas flows across Ukraine were disrupted at least twice since 2006.
The Europe Union, Gazprom's biggest gas market by revenue, is now revising plans for
nuclear power after the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan lead to a reactor
meltdown. Germany, the biggest economy in the bloc, has decided to shut its atomic
plants by 2022.
‘Intensive' Talks
Alexei Miller, the Russian gas exporter's chief executive officer, has made electricity a
priority to bolster corporate cash flows and expand internationally to compete with
companies such as EON AG, Electricite de France SA and Endesa SA.
About 10 potential assets in Europe have been identified, Fedorov told reporters in his
Moscow office late on Oct. 5, without naming any projects.
Gazprom and RWE AG are holding exclusive talks on forming a power-generation joint
venture with new or existing, gas or coal-fired plants in Germany, the U.K., and the
Benelux countries. The work will continue “intensively” until the end of the year, the two
companies said yesterday.
Any acquisitions will be financed with cash, Fedorov said, declining to elaborate on the
accord.
The Russian producer is also considering several projects in Bulgaria and is looking at
Turkey and Romania, Fedorov said. With no budget or capacity targets, the division is
open for any interesting projects, he said.
‘Undesirable' Concentration
At home, Gazprom Energoholding controls four generators with a combined capacity of
37 gigawatts, which is about 17 percent of Russia's total. The utility agreed to buy
billionaire Viktor Vekselberg's electricity assets in July in a deal that may boost its
market share to 25 percent. That has met resistance from the antitrust watchdog, which
has called it “undesirable.”
The board may vote on the deal by the end of the year, Fedorov said. Vekselberg's
Renova Group, one of the biggest investors in Russia's power market through its IES
Holding unit, will have at least 25 percent plus one share in the combined utility, and
Gazprom will hold no more than 75 percent, according to the July accord.
Gazprom is ready to meet requirements set by the antitrust regulator, including selling
assets in some regions, Fedorov said. The Federal Anti-Monopoly Agency is reviewing
the deal.
The utility, which is merging its OGK-2 and OGK-6 wholesale generators, targets an
initial public offering in 2014 or 2015, Fedorov said, without giving details. Management
may consider Asian exchanges, visiting them this year or next.
‘Colossal Investments'
“There will be colossal investments,'” Fedorov said, referring to investor interest in
Gazprom Energoholding. “No one in Russia has raised such major foreign investment in
recent years.”
Banks have approached Fedorov over the past three months with unidentified
international investors expressing interest in controlling stakes in Gazprom
Energoholding's generators even before an IPO, the executive said.
As Gazprom seeks to diversify its supply markets, Gazprom may build Asian gas-fired
power plants, Fedorov said. The company is starting talks and may identify the first
projects in no less than a year, he said.
“Japan, South Korea and China are the three countries where we will focus the most
attention,” Fedorov said. “If we supply gas to China, we are interested in building a
vertical chain to the consumer.”
Gazprom is negotiating a gas sales contract with China, the world's biggest energy
consumer, and aims to build a pipeline across Siberia to carry the fuel. Plans to build
another link across the Korean peninsula advanced after Russia helped broker between
the North and South.
Asian demand for gas may increase as the economy grows and Japan's nuclear disaster in
March shut down reactors. China plans to move to gas, which burns cleaner than
traditional coal- fired plants, while Korea, which buys liquefied natural gas, seeks to cut
import costs.
Gazprom wants to supply as much gas to Asia as it does to Europe, Miller has said.
Talks with Asian partners may be “no less difficult than with European partners,”
Fedorov said.
--Editors: Torrey Clark, Stephen Cunningham
Gazprom Neft: 1.8 bln boe of C1+C2 reserves added, equal to 10% of 3P reserves
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16802
UralSib
October 10, 2011
C1+C2 reserves increased by 1.8 bln boe. Russia's state commis- sion for geological
reserves has accepted Gazprom Neft's (SIBN RX - Hold) updated estimate for reserves at
its Chona group in Eastern Siberia. The company has added more than 100 mln tons (730
mln bbl) of C1+C2 oil reserves under the Russian classification, raising Chona's total
C1+C2 oil reserves to 125 mln tons (920 mln bbl). Gas reserves under these categories
were also revised upwards by 175 bcm (6.1 tcf) to 225 bcm (7.9 tcf). Total upward
revisions were 1.8 bln boe, bringing the total C1+C2 reserves to 2.3 bln.
Additional reserves equal to 10% of 3P. Russian recoverable C1+C2 reserves are not
directly comparable with PRMS or SEC re- serves. The Russian estimate is generally
broader than 3P reserves and includes prospective resources. However, we note that
Gazprom Neft's new C1+C2 oil and gas reserves added the equivalent of 14% to 2P and
10% to 3P reserves, a sizeable increase in our view.
Gazprom Neft Hold Proximity to ESPO to enable production in the medium term. The
Chona group of fields is located in Eastern Siberia, on the borders of Irkutsk Region and
Yakutia, about 80 km from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline. Gazprom
Neft obtained the licenses for the fields in 2005-7. With this major increase in reserves,
we believe the group may reach peak production within 5-7 years from now, representing
close to 6-8% of Gazprom Neft's current oil production. We have a Hold
recommendation on Gazprom Neft with a target price of $5.5/share.
Gazprom may find oil for PhosAgro gas chemicals complex in Cherepovets
http://www.steelguru.com/russian_news/Gazprom_may_find_oil_for_PhosAgro_gas_che
micals_complex_in_Cherepovets/228847.html
Saturday, 08 Oct 2011
Interfax citing Mr Valery Golubev deputy chief of Gazprom as saying that Russian gas
giant Gazprom may find gas for the PhosAgro gas chemicals complex in Cherepovets.
Mr Golubev said Per PhosAgro plans the complex might be built by 2015. He said that
"We will by that time have put the Bovanenkovskoye deposit into operation and the
Bovanenkovo-Ukhta-Torzhok trunk gas pipeline to work. Gazprom and PhosAgro
interests coincide both as to timing and possibility. It is totally possible that they and we
will decide to do such a project."
As reported, the gas chemicals complex would be set up around the infrastructure of
PhosAgro Cherepovets companies OJSC Ammophos, OJSC Cherepovets Azot and CJSC
Agro-Cherepovets. At present PhosAgro outfits in Cherepovets are processing 2 billion
cubic meters of gas per year. Total investment in creating the gas chemicals complex
would be RUB 53 billion spread over ten years. The future facility processing volume
should reach 1.65 million tonnes of ethylene per year.
In creating the complex plans call for setting up the production of ammonia, melamine,
and a future increase in own electrical power generation. The complex will also produce
polymer product and plastics. The project should lead to increased output of hightechnology products of the deep and comprehensive processing of raw hydrocarbons from mineral fertilizers to fine chemicals. Primarily, that would be the production of
polymer and composite materials used in the automotive, aviation and defense industries
and medicine - and the replacement of like imported products.
The number of employees at the complex is expected to exceed 2,000. It would
contribute additional tax revenues to budgets of all levels that could run to over RUB 4
billion.
(Sourced from Interfax)