Russia - WikiLeaks
Russia 100309
Basic Political Developments
• Itar-Tass: King of Jordan to visit Moscow March 10-11
• Itar-Tass: Finland pledges to help ease visa regime between Russia and EU - “An agreement on simplification of visa-issue procedures is indeed the first concrete step towards visa-free travels between the European Union and Russia,” the Finnish foreign minister believes. “Work to look into practical obstacles and measures to remove them within the framework of a visa dialogue between the EU and Russia began in 2007,” he said. This work must become more concrete and must be accelerated, Stubb believes.
• YLE: Stubb Meeting Russian Counterpart in Moscow
• Finnish MFA: Foreign Minister Stubb to go to Moscow - Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will meet on Tuesday, 9 March with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
• RFE/RL: Russia, U.S. To Resume Talks On START Successor
• Barentsnova: Swedish Prime Minister arrives to Moscow
• RIA: Medvedev set to meet with Swedish PM Reinfeldt as ties 'thaw'
• RIA: Russia says ready to establish nuclear fuel bank by yearend - Russia will provide by the end of 2010 the first batch of low-enriched uranium for an international nuclear fuel reserve bank under control of the UN nuclear watchdog, the head of Russia's state-run nuclear power corporation Rosatom said.
• Expatica: Russia proposes nuclear fuel leasing
• Korea Herald: Foreign ministry summons Russian ambassador - "Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul to urge swift investigation into the recent crimes against South Koreans in Russia and efforts to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," a ministry official said.
• The Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Attacks in Russia - the recent series of attacks on Korean students in Russia is particularly alarming because it bears the hallmarks of hate crime, rather than simple robbery.
• Korea Times: Fearful in Moscow - Seoul Ought to Take All Necessary Diplomatic Steps
• The Dong-a Ilbo: Korean Student in Moscow in Critical Condition After Attack
• Korea Herald: Two N. Koreans enter S. Korean consulate in Russia - Two North Korean lumbermen took refuge at the South Korean consulate in Vladivostok in Russia Tuesday with a desire to go to the United States, according to Yonhap news agency.
• RIA: North Koreans working in Russia seek asylum in South
• RIA: Firefighters prevent blast during Urals chemical plant fire
• Itar-Tass: Fire at Perm-based chemical enterprise extinguished
• Brahmand: HAL, Rosoboronexport to supply choppers for IAF
• Interfax: Wahabi militant killed in Kabardino-Balkaria
• Expert Club: Scandal in Ingushetia: policemen appear to be among rebels - Out of the sixteen people who were detained by federal forces in the village of Ekazhevo five were active policemen. People’s Daily: Massive illegal arms captured in Russia's North Caucasus
• The Moscow Times: Rebel Ideologist Killed After Filming Last Sermon
• The Moscow Times: Orthodox Church Creates Department to Oversee Prisons
• Panorama: Moscow “Opera” club in fire: Casualties reported
• RIA: One dead in Moscow nightclub fire - The flames consumed over 1,000 sq. meters of the three-storey nightclub and the roof of the club collapsed.
• Bloomberg: Putin Deputies’ ‘Tug of War’ Threatens Russia Oil Flows to Asia - A feud between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s deputies over how to plug the budget gap may end up curbing growth in oil output, the biggest source of state revenue, and limiting flows to Asia, analysts said.
• Washington Times: Regional governors enjoy more freedom with Medvedev - Russia's Kremlin-appointed regional governors have enjoyed more freedom since President Dmitry Medvedev took office in 2008, though they could flex even more muscle if they were better organized, one of the governors said last week.
• BarentsObserver: Arkhangelsk seeks dialogue with opposition
• Vladivostok Times: Local Airline to be Set up on Sakhalin
• The Moscow Times: Baturina Tops Finans List of Influential Businesswomen
• Time: Russia's Erin Brockovich: Taking On Corporate Greed - A corporate lawyer with a degree in financial markets, Navalny has spent the past three years snapping up small stakes in publicly traded state-owned companies, many of which have senior government officials on their boards.
• RIA: Russian asylum seekers commit suicide in Scotland
• The Times: Suicide refugee, Serge Serykh, ‘was member of Russia secret service’
• Guardian: Alexander Litvinenko's father finds little sanctuary in Italy - 'Business raided and asylum refused'; Berlusconi's friendship with Putin blamed
• VOA: Foreign Workers in Russia Face Sudden Red-Tape Barrier
• Swedish Wire: Nord Stream uncovers shipwrecks in Baltic Sea
• Jamestown: Medvedev Discards the Ambition of “Energy Super-Power” - Medvedev, with his eight years of experience as the chairman of Gazprom’s board, may understand the internal intrigues in this Leviathan company even better than Putin, and he knows who benefits from the deeply corrupt business of pipeline construction. He has to make sure that the decision to cancel the South Stream mega-project is his victory shared with Yanukovych and the EU partners, who could find it opportune to postpone the Nabucco enterprise. Any disagreement with Putin is certain to be sharp, but insightful oligarchs now find it possible to mention casually that the prime minister has incomplete and distorted information (Kommersant, March 2)
• NPR: Russian Village Haunted By A Hidden Holocaust Past - Interfax: Buryatia customs officers arrested for planting drugs on Mongolian woman
• RIA: A million and a half hooked on heroin in Russia – expert
• The Moscow Times: Today in Vedomosti
o Internet Providers Could Be Penalized for Illegal Downloads
o Assessment of Army Structure on the Cards
o Slow Start to Scrappage Scheme - On the first day of the scrappage scheme few owners of old cars have decided to surrender their cars. Dealers hope the public holiday was the culprit and that the scheme will start working for sure on Tuesday
National Economic Trends
• Cbonds: Russia’s foreign trade surplus surges 70% to $15.7 bln in January
• Interfax: Banks have 401.1 bln rbs on CBR correspondent accounts on March 9
• Reuters: Russia cbank shifts rouble boundary again-dealers
• The Moscow Times: Central Bank May Expand Watch List
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
• Bloomberg: Gazprom, MTS, Sberbank, Severstal: Russia Stock Market Preview
• BNE: Fitch takes large-scale positive rating action on Russian banks
• Bloomberg: EDF Studies Nuclear Partnership With Rosatom, Les Echos Says
• Reuters: EDF, Rosatom may extend nuclear partnership-paper
• Steel Guru: Russian SMR Group ink loan agreement to refinance debts
• MarketWatch: Russia's Severstal swings to 2009 net loss
• Reuters: UPDATE 1- Severstal Q4 net loss $162 mln, outlook improved
• RenCap: Severstal faces competition for gold asset in Guinea
• Bloomberg: Rusal Says Unit Will Pay Norden $23 Million to Settle Claim
• Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia Sberbank to seek Turkish bank stake-source
• VTB Capital: Bankruptcy claims against RBC reportedly withdrawn
• RIA: Russia launches car scrapping program
• DuniyaLive: Google set to launch android based handset for India and Russia
• BarentsObserver: Murmansk windmillfarm to have German turbines
• The Moscow Times: Protecting Intellectual Property When Entering the Russian Market
• The Moscow Times: Despite Price Drop, Real Estate Still Preferred Form of Collateral
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
• VTB Capital: Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to limit expansion of oil majors' retail business in a region
• EasyBourse: CORRECT: WorleyParsons: Sakhneftegaz Wins US$400 Million Sakhalin-1 Contract
• UpstreamOnline: Sakhalin gig for Songa Mercur
• UpstreamOnline: NCS bags Nord Stream job
Gazprom
• Trading Markets: Songa Offshore charters rig to Gazprom
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Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Itar-Tass: King of Jordan to visit Moscow March 10-11
09.03.2010, 11.53
MOSCOW, March 9 (Itar-Tass) - King Abdullah of Jordan will make a working visit to Moscow on March 10-11 to hold talks with the Russian leadership, an official from the Jordanian embassy in Russia told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
During the talks the Jordanian side plans to discuss prospects for stronger relations with Russia, the official said.
In the last years, bilateral summit contacts have become regular which contributes to deeper relations between the two countries. Over the last seven years, Abdullah II made nine visits to Russia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with the King of Jordan for the first time in Astana on July 5, 2008, to mark the tenth anniversary of Kazakhstan’s capital. Next time the two leaders met in Sochi in August of the same year.
Russia and Jordan report an onward trend in trade and economic cooperation.
“New areas of cooperation, including that in the nuclear power sector emerged,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said earlier. “Cultural, scientific and sports exchanges increased, the inflow of Russian tourists to Jordan considerably grew.”
At the talks in Moscow much attention will be paid to the situation in the Middle East. Traditionally Jordan takes an active position in the Middle East conflict settlement. The King of Jordan had repeatedly put forward different initiatives aimed at bringing stability to the region. Jordan is concerned over the lack of progress in the peace process following the Israeli authorities’ unwillingness to stop occupation of the Arab territories.
Jordan’s authorities call for deeper political dialogue with Russia, mainly in the interests of promoting the Middle East peace process and for soonest settlement of the situation in Iraq.
Russia and Jordan adopt common positions on the fight against international terrorism and extremism, strategic stability, nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the situation in Afghanistan, human rights, humanitarian and information security. This had been repeatedly confirmed during the UN discussions.
Itar-Tass: Finland pledges to help ease visa regime between Russia and EU
09.03.2010, 11.58
MOSCOW, March 9 (Itar-Tass) - Finland wants the European Union and Russia to achieve visa-free travel, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said in a newspaper interview on Tuesday.
“I promise that we, on our part, will make every effort to reach that goal,” he said in the interview with the Vedomosti newspaper. However, a lot can be done before the introduction of the visa-free travel regime, he believes. “An agreement between the Russian Federation and the European community on simplifying visa-issue process for Russian and EU nationals, which came into effect in the summer of 2007, lets the two sides pursue a flexible visa policy,” Stubb noted.
He believes that in accordance with the agreement, the process of simplifying visa-issuing procedures must continue in the future without getting new obstacles. “Unfortunately, it must be noted that after the agreement came into effect, some decisions made by Russia have even tightened its visa policy. This concerns, for example, aims of business activity in Russia,” the foreign minister said.
He said “Finland has a flexible and maximally simple visa policy, based on the rules of the Schengen agreement”. “Over 80 percent of visas issued by Finland to citizens of the Russian Federation are long-term multiple-entry visas, making it possible for Russians to practically freely cross the border,” he said, adding that last year Finland issues over 700,000 visas to Russian nationals.
“We expect that on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, Russia will follow Finland’s example in issuing a bigger number of long-term multiple-entry visas,” he said.
Besides, bureaucratic procedures in Russia as to registration and migration registration, which refer to tourists as well as to EU nationals working in Russia contradict the aim of establishing visa-free travel, he stressed.
“Tourists arriving in Finland have no such obligations, while Russians working in Finland must only once register at the place of their residence,” he said.
“An agreement on simplification of visa-issue procedures is indeed the first concrete step towards visa-free travels between the European Union and Russia,” the Finnish foreign minister believes. “Work to look into practical obstacles and measures to remove them within the framework of a visa dialogue between the EU and Russia began in 2007,” he said. This work must become more concrete and must be accelerated, Stubb believes.
He said the sides must discuss thorny issues without embellishing them. Russia will have more work to do, and this must be sincerely admitted, the foreign minister said.
YLE: Stubb Meeting Russian Counterpart in Moscow
published today 06:07 AM
Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb is scheduled to meet for talks in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. Discussions are expected to touch upon the development of EU-Russian relations and the situation in Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Stubb also intends to bring up Russian visa policies. Finland has been urguing Russia to ease its complex practices regarding work permits and registration.
Other issues on the planned agenda include the situations in Afghanistan, Iran, and the Middle East, as well as matters related to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
YLE
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
8.3.2010 13.15
Finnish MFA: Foreign Minister Stubb to go to Moscow
Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will meet on Tuesday, 9 March with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
Development of relations between the EU and Russia now that the Lisbon Treaty has come into force will be discussed. The topics of international affairs on the agenda are, among others, the situation in Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East and OSCE issues.
In addition to the official meeting agenda, Foreign Minister Stubb will meet with representatives of citizens’ organisations and the media.
Additional information: Mikko Hautala, Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, mobile tel. +358 40 834 6758, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, mobile tel. +358 40 732 8340, and Maimo Henriksson, Head of the Unit for Russia, mobile tel. +358 40 527 3821
RFE/RL: Russia, U.S. To Resume Talks On START Successor
March 09, 2010
Russian and U.S. negotiators are due to resume talks today in Geneva, Switzerland, on a treaty to replace the START agreement on reducing the nuclear arsenals of the two countries.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week that the two governments are "close to agreement" on nearly all issues and that the "final part" of negotiations has been entered on a follow-up to START, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty agreed between Washington and the Soviet Union in 1991.
The treaty expired last December without a replacement agreed.
The Russian and U.S. presidents last year said they had agreed that the new treaty must cut deployed warheads by both countries to between 1,500 and 1,675 each.
One problem in the negotiations has been reported to be Russian concerns over U.S. plans to install a defensive antimissile shield in Europe.
compiled from agency reports
Barentsnova: Swedish Prime Minister arrives to Moscow
2010-03-09
Moscow: Swedish Prime Minister meets Dmitry Medvedev to negotiate General Prosecutors and cooperation in health, welfare, energy, and space.
The meeting of Fredrik Reinfeldt and Dmitry Medvedev expects signing of an agreement on General Prosecution that would be a first step for visa-free travel between Russia and EU countries, reports ITAR TASS. Besides, the negotiations will focus on health and welfare, space and energy, the Baltic Sea and Arctic cooperation.
Both parties are to discuss the situation for Swedish businesses in Russia that have a long history of collaboration thanks to the official trade cooperation agreement as of 1918. Presently, the biggest Swedish investors in Russia are IKEA, Volvo, Scania, Electrolux, and Tetra Pak. By early 2009, the aggregated investments of Sweden into Russia made up 3,4 billion USD (894 million USD of direct investments).
This is the first official visit of the Swedish Prime Minister to Russia.
RIA: Medvedev set to meet with Swedish PM Reinfeldt as ties 'thaw'
09:0309/03/2010
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss bilateral ties and international issues.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter earlier called Reinfeldt's visit to Russia a diplomatic "thaw." The paper said bilateral relations chilled when Sweden criticized Russia over the August 2008 war with Georgia over South Ossetia.
Russian Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko earlier said Swedish investors were and remain among the most active, despite the economic crisis. He in particular mentioned joint projects being implemented in car manufacturing and trade. Khristenko's Swedish counterpart Ewa Bjorling earlier named energy as a promising sphere of cooperation with Russia.
Agreements on space, energy, healthcare and other spheres of cooperation have been drafted for Reinfeldt's visit. This will be his first visit to Russia in his current post, which he has occupied since 2006. Last November, he met with Medvedev in Stockholm during a Russia-EU meeting.
The Swedish premier intends to discuss with Medvedev climate change, trade and cooperation with the EU, as well as meet with Swedish businessmen working in Russia. Reinfeldt will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
A Kremlin source has said bilateral trade in 2009 was estimated at $5.24 billion and that joint projects are developing in the automobile industry, electronics, space, telecommunications, nanotechnology, metalwork, agriculture, forestry, transportation, construction, oilfield development, as well as in the banking and financial sectors.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
RIA: Russia says ready to establish nuclear fuel bank by yearend
00:3309/03/2010
Russia will provide by the end of 2010 the first batch of low-enriched uranium for an international nuclear fuel reserve bank under control of the UN nuclear watchdog, the head of Russia's state-run nuclear power corporation Rosatom said.
Russia has earlier proposed to establish international reserves of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to ensure stable fuel supplies to IAEA member countries in case of emergency, including "insurmountable political difficulties."
"I believe that the first part of these reserves could be formed by the end of this year," Sergei Kiriyenko said at an international conference on nuclear energy in Paris on Monday.
"We want to initially build LEU reserves that would ensure the operation of at least one 1,000 MW reactor," he said.
Russia proposed in 2007 the creation of a nuclear center with LEU reserves in Angarsk, 5,100 km (3,170 miles) east of Moscow, to enable countries including Iran to develop civilian nuclear power without having to enrich their own uranium.
Russia has pledged to give access to the reserves "to any IAEA member country that honors its non-proliferation commitments."
The IAEA Board of Governors approved the establishment of nuclear fuel reserve bank in November 2009.
Kiriyenko said on Monday a detailed agreement between Russia and the IAEA on the nuclear fuel bank could be signed in April-May.
PARIS, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
Expatica: Russia proposes nuclear fuel leasing
Russia's state nuclear giant Rosatom on Monday proposed leasing nuclear fuel to countries that need it and then taking it back for treatment in order to avoid proliferation.
"If the fuel is of Russian origin, we are ready to propose leasing solutions over the entire lifespan of the nuclear plant," Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said at an international conference in Paris.
"We would take the spent nuclear fuel for treatment... I think many countries will propose leasing solutions. It's essential to ensure non-proliferation and safety," he added.
Russia has proposed setting up a global uranium enrichment network that would allow countries that want nuclear energy to buy fuel from those with already established civilian nuclear programmes.
Korea Herald: Foreign ministry summons Russian ambassador
Tuesday, March 9, 110
Korea's foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul, Konstantin Vnukov, on Tuesday to file an official complaint over recent crimes against South Koreans in Russia, one of the strongest measures a country can take to express its discomfort or anger, according to Yonhap news agency.
"Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul to urge swift investigation into the recent crimes against South Koreans in Russia and efforts to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," a ministry official said.
The move came two days after a 29-year-old Korean student in Moscow was left critically wounded in an attack by two masked people. Last month, a 22-year-old South Korean student in the Siberian city of Barnaul was beaten and stabbed to death in what was believed to be a racially motivated crime.
The ministry official noted the summoning of the Russian envoy here showed how seriously the Seoul government was taking the issue as there has been a steady rise in crimes against foreigners, including South Koreans, in Russia.
"We hope the Russian government, too, will realize the seriousness of these incidents and take complete and swift measures to prevent the recurrence of such crimes," he said.
The Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Attacks in Russia
Tuesday, March 9, 110
Koreans study all over the world on short- and long-term programs to learn languages and attend general and specialized courses. From elementary to college level, these young students visiting or residing in all continents get valuable experiences of overseas life, exposing themselves to various kinds of cultural adventures, which could sometimes accompany physical risks.
There were occasional reports of violent incidents involving Korean students abroad, but their frequency was not of the level that caused too much concern. Yet, the recent series of attacks on Korean students in Russia is particularly alarming because it bears the hallmarks of hate crime, rather than simple robbery.
Last month in the Siberian city of Barnaul, the capital of the Altai region, a group of young Russians beat to death a male Korean student from Gwangju who was on a language program. The Russian police arrested three youths in connection with the attack in which the authorities have found no motivation of stealing money, according to Korean diplomats. On Sunday in a new residential zone in Moscow, a masked man stabbed a Korean student in the neck and fled. The 29-year-old victim remains in critical condition after receiving surgery.
These unprovoked attacks have caused the roughly 2,000 Korean students in Russia to fear further racially-motivated assaults. The Korean Embassy in Moscow asked the Russian authorities to ensure better security for the large number of Korean students, but we cannot expect any extraordinary steps from them, as they are already heavily burdened with a rising crime rate.
Individual caution is the best way to evade mishaps. The Korean Embassy, for its part, should provide up-to-date security information for Korean residents and students so that they can seek personal safety in commuting and engaging in social activities outside schools or homes. The Embassy is at the moment advised against additionally designating any part of the country for travel restriction as such a measure could generally hamper business or other necessary activities by Koreans in Russia.
|Korea Times: Fearful in Moscow |
| |
Seoul Ought to Take All Necessary Diplomatic Steps
03-09-2010 17:47
In just three weeks, one Korean student lost his life and another nearly did so presumably by ultranationalists in Russia. Going further back, almost one Korean has been killed or injured by Russian neo-Nazis and other thugs every year since 2005, showing foreigners' security in the former leader of the socialist bloc has reached a dangerous state.
Diplomats may be tempted to think the six Koreans are just part of the hundreds of victims stabbed, strangled or beaten to death by more than 70,000 skinheads belonging to about 20 ultra-right organizations in the socially and economically unstable country over the years.
Sunday's incident shows, however, it might not be entirely incidental. Various circumstantial evidences indicate that the two assaulters seemed to carefully plan the crime, considering the victim, a 29-year-old cinema student-cum-TV cameraman, had taken part in producing a program on neo-Nazi skinheads not long ago. It also means Koreans have emerged as a group noticeable enough to become targets of premeditated attacks.
This should be a rude awakener to both Korean and Russian diplomats in a country where up to 15 percent of local youths are sympathetic with the xenophobic, racist groups, which believe everything bad in their country is ascribable to foreigners, as they are exploiting Russia's wealth and resources while taking away local people's jobs.
Regretful are the reports that Moscow appears not very eager to crack down on these anti-social, anti-human elements, even if one acknowledges this is neither a problem peculiar to Russia nor an easy one to root out, not least because such xenophobic trends would drive foreign investors and tourists further away, which will in turn lead to even greater economic difficulties and a wider income gap among the Russians in a vicious circle.
None other than Korean residents in Russia are reportedly expressing not just shock and anger but fear, raising questions whether Russia is a law-abiding, civilized state where law enforcement authorities are operating normally. These ethnic Koreans have already been suffering enough from inconveniences with visas and other consular problems there.
The foreign ministry is considering issuing a travel warning for certain regions of Russia, while telling Koreans to avoid pleasure districts especially after dark as well as to travel in groups. This ``take-good-care-of-yourself" advice may be better than nothing, but Koreans in Russia are saying, ``Does it mean we should personally hire bodyguards?"
Seoul must go way further from this and call for Moscow to thoroughly investigate the incident, punish the criminals and promise to do its best to prevent their recurrences ― not just in words but in deeds. If these requirements are unmet, there is no reason President Lee Myung-bak shouldn't make a personal call to either Russian President Dmitri Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and show them what real diplomacy is supposed to be.
Concerns about possible diplomatic frictions must give place to the safety of its own people, which should be the foremost duty of any government.
The Dong-a Ilbo: Korean Student in Moscow in Critical Condition After Attack
|MARCH 09, 2010 09:59 | |
|A Korean student in Moscow is in critical condition after being the victim of an apparent hate crime. |
|He was attacked by a masked assailant in the Russian capital Sunday amid a rise in the number of racially motivated|
|attacks against foreigners in Russia. |
|The Korean Foreign Ministry and the Korean Embassy in Moscow said yesterday that the 29-year-old student was |
|stabbed in the neck at a shopping mall in a new residential area in western Moscow. He was a junior at a state-run |
|film college. |
|The man, identified by his last name Shim, was taken to a city hospital immediately after the attack, and is |
|reportedly in critical condition. |
|“Shim underwent successful blood vessel surgery but remains in critical condition. Relying on a respirator for |
|breathing, he needs to be closely monitored for about three days,” a ministry official said. |
|Shim went to Moscow to study about six years ago after graduating high school and finishing his compulsory military|
|duty in Korea. After attending church Sunday, he headed for a karaoke box to celebrate a friend’s birthday along |
|with four other Koreans and another Korean student there. |
|Eyewitnesses said Shim was stabbed in his neck by an attacker wearing a white mask when he walked about 10 meters |
|after parting with his friends. |
|This is the second attack on an ethnic Korean in Russia this year. An exchange student was beaten to death Feb. 15 |
|in the Siberian city of Barnaul, the capital of the Altai region, by three Russian youths. |
|A Foreign Ministry official said, “Some say the attacks were committed by skinheads but whom and why remain |
|unknown,” adding, “We’ve requested Russian authorities to conduct a prompt probe and redouble efforts to prevent a |
|recurrence.” |
Korea Herald: Two N. Koreans enter S. Korean consulate in Russia
Tuesday, March 9, 110
Two North Korean lumbermen took refuge at the South Korean consulate in Vladivostok in Russia Tuesday with a desire to go to the United States, according to Yonhap news agency.
The two had feared North Korean agents might be seeking to capture them after they fled their logging companies in northeast Russia and converted to Christianity, Peter Chung of the human rights group Justice for North Korea said, citing sources in Russia that he did not identify.
"Two of their compatriots were recently arrested by North Korean agents, and they feared their whereabouts might also be exposed," Chung said.
Before entering the consulate, the North Koreans expressed a desire to go to the United States where they hope to become missionaries and publicly raise the issue of human rights abuses in their communist homeland, Chung said.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry said it cannot confirm the report, citing a policy that bars any release of information on North Korean defectors for safety reasons.
RIA: North Koreans working in Russia seek asylum in South
11:5409/03/2010
Two North Korean nationals working in Russia's Far East applied on Tuesday to South Korea's consulate general in the city of Vladivostok for political asylum, a source told RIA Novosti.
Nationals from the reclusive communist state work at timber logging enterprises in Russia's Far East under contracts between the two countries.
"Two North Koreans got over a wall of the South Korean diplomatic mission and ran past the security guards into the office, where they asked for political asylum," the source said, adding that South Korean diplomats were questioning them.
The South Korean consulate in Vladivostok neither confirmed nor denied the report. "We can say nothing about this," a spokesman said.
In September 2009, twelve North Koreans who worked at a timber logging facility in the Amur Region in line with an agreement between Russia and North Korea asked the Vladivostok consulate for asylum. Their requests were granted.
VLADIVOSTOK, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
RIA: Firefighters prevent blast during Urals chemical plant fire
10:1409/03/2010
Firefighters who are still trying to contain a fire at a chemical plant in the Urals city of Perm prevented an explosion on Tuesday, an emergencies service spokesman said.
A fire broke out early on Tuesday at a plant owned by Russia's largest petrochemicals holding, Sibur, and rapidly spread over 300 square meters.
"There are 30 fire engines and 108 firefighters currently working at the scene. No casualties have been reported," Valery Tiunov told RIA Novosti.
The company's spokeswoman confirmed the reports.
"Firemen are still struggling to bring the blaze under control. The cause is yet unknown. An official comment will be issued later in the day," she said.
PERM, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
Itar-Tass: Fire at Perm-based chemical enterprise extinguished
09.03.2010, 10.22
PERM, March 9 (Itar-Tass) -- A large-scale fire was extinguished at the Perm-based SIBUR-Khimprom chemical enterprise, a spokesman for the regional emergencies administration told Itar-Tass of Tuesday.
According to the spokesman, no casualties were reported. The fire, which occurred in the small hours on Tuesday, consumed some 300 square meters of the oil enterprise’s production premises. This is the largest fire at such enterprises in the past two years, the spokesman said.
Causes of the fire are being investigated into, the spokesman added.
Brahmand: HAL, Rosoboronexport to supply choppers for IAF
Last Updated:Mar 09, 2010
NEW DELHI (BNS): The Defence Ministry has signed contracts with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Russia’s Rosoboronexport and Britain’s Augusta Westland to procure a range of helicopters.
While HAL will provide Advanced Light Helicopters, Rosoboronexport will supply Medium Lift Helicopters. Choppers for VVIP transportation will be procured from Augusta Westland, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Parliament on Monday.
Besides, the Ministry is also considering proposals to acquire additional Medium Lift Helicopters, Attack Helicopters, Light Utility Helicopters, Heavy Lift Helicopters and Recce and Surveillance Helicopters from various vendors, Antony said.
The choppers are being procured as per the requirements of the Indian Air Force under the Defence Procurement Procedure, 2008.
09 March 2010, 12:16
Interfax: Wahabi militant killed in Kabardino-Balkaria
Rostov-on-Don, March 9, Interfax - An active member of a criminal armed group Valery Etezov has been killed in Nalchik, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, a source in Nalchik law enforcement services told Interfax.
"Etezov was placed on an international wanted list in 2005. He was identified by police and fired at them as they were trying to detain him, wounding two of them and a local resident. The militant was killed in the fighting," a source said.
An Austrian-made submachine gun, an improvised grenade and a fake police ID card were found on him.
"Etezov, 28, was a fanatical Wahabi and a close associate to the local warlord Anzor Astemirov, who is on the federal wanted list," the source said.
Etezov is suspected of involvement in a series of high-profile terror acts and attacks on law enforcement officers.
Expert Club: Scandal in Ingushetia: policemen appear to be among rebels
09/03/2010 10:45
Reason for a new scandal was sensational special operation in Ingushetia. Out of the sixteen people who were detained by federal forces in the village of Ekazhevo five were active policemen. In addition, one of those killed was one of the leaders of the insurgency in the North Caucasus Alexander Tikhomirov, known as Said Buryat. But this information has not yet been confirmed, and many experts doubt the death of spiritual leader of the rebels. It is possible that elimination of another leader of the rebel movement will be another performance.
People’s Daily: Massive illegal arms captured in Russia's North Caucasus
08:51, March 09, 2010
A large amount of illegal weapons have been seized in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria over the past week, said a local official on Monday.
More than 300 light weapons of various kinds were seized, including 53 pistols, 209 muskets and 41 rifles. Some 2 kg of drugs were also seized in the operation.
The search involved hundreds of local residencies, private properties and arsenals, the unnamed official from the regional investigation department of the Russian Prosecutor's Investigative Committee told the Itar-Tass news agency.
Meanwhile, Valery Etezov, an armed rebel that is on the international wanted list, has been killed in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, said the official, adding that Etezov was involved in attacks on law enforcement officers.
In January, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev established the country's eighth federal district in the North Caucasus, which groups the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Karachayevo-Cherkessian, North Ossetia-Alania and Chechnya, as well as the Stavropol territory.
The move reflected a shift of the Kremlin's tactics in tackling the economic backwardness, rampant militant violence and clan rivalry in North Caucasus, which Medvedev regards as major security threats to Russia.
Source: Xinhua
The Moscow Times: Rebel Ideologist Killed After Filming Last Sermon
09 March 2010
By Nabi Abdullaev
A Muslim convert accused of organizing the deadly Nevsky Express train bombing in November and a series of other attacks was killed by special forces in Ingushetia shortly after he recorded a farewell online sermon, officials said.
Islamic insurgents confirmed the death of Said Buryatsky, 28, on their web sites Monday and posted a photograph of the bearded Buryatsky's blood-splattered face. The rebels said Buryatsky became a "martyr" on March 2.
Buryatsky, chief ideologist of the North Caucasus rebels, and seven other rebels were killed in an operation led by the Federal Security Service in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo, the Investigative Committee said. Ten suspects were also detained.
FSB director Alexander Bortnikov told President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday that investigators believe that the rebels were behind November's Nevsky Express bombing that killed 28 passengers and injured more than 90 others.
"DNA tests have been made of the bandits to determine whether they were involved in the Nevky Express train bombing in November last year. These materials give us cause to believe that these particular men participated in that attack," Bortnikov said, according to a transcript of the meeting published on the Kremlin's web site.
He added that the FSB found a cache of explosives, arms and bomb-making equipment at the site of the special operation.
According to an FSB statement, commandos surrounded the suspects in two houses in Ekazhevo and killed those who refused to surrender. Two passports — one national and the other for foreign travel — issued in the name of Alexander Tikhomirov were found on the body of one of the gunmen. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed the man's identity as Buryatsky.
Buryatsky was born as Alexander Tikhomirov in the Buddhist republic of Buryatia and converted to Islam as a teenager. Buryatsky was an active religious commentator who studied Islam in different madrassas in Moscow, Tatarstan and then in Egypt from 2002 to 2005 where he studied at Al-Azhar University, the main center of Islamic learning in the world.
Buryatsky, unlike most Muslim leaders in Russia, made his mark on the Internet, posting dozens of videos of his sermons online and thus surging in popularity among young Russian Muslims.
Buryatsky spent the last minutes of his life filming a farewell sermon on his cell phone and saying goodbye to his fellow rebels, according to the rebel web site Hunafa and RIA-Novosti, which cited an unidentified FSB official. The house where the rebels were holed up had been surrounded by the FSB commandos, and the rebels understood that they would not be able to escape, the FSB official said.
The FSB said Buryatsky joined the North Caucasus rebels in mid-2008, and within months a series of suicide bombings ended a four-year break in the rebel tactic, which had last been used at the Beslan school hostage-taking in 2004. Among the largest attacks was a suicide car bombing of Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov's motorcade that badly wounded Yevkurov in June and a suicide car bombing that killed 26 people at a Nazran police station a few days later.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said Buryatsky was the "rebels' No. 1 ideologist" and accused him of being a foreign agent.
"Alexander Tikhomirov was an agent who was very well trained in religion by Western special services. He was also a psychologist, and his task was to influence not only a certain part of the North Caucasus youth but — with the help of the Internet — all of Russia," Kadyrov said Sunday, Interfax reported.
Kadyrov has publicly lashed out at his loyal Muslim clergymen, complaining that they were failing to counter Buryatsky's propaganda among Muslim youth.
In July, Kadyrov accused Buryatsky of trying to kill him after a suicide bomber detonated himself in a Grozny theater where Kadyrov had planned to attend a performance. Seven people died in the explosion.
Buryatsky claimed responsibility for the attack on the Nazran police station in a series of letters describing how he trained the bomber that were published on two rebel web sites, Hunafa and Kavkaz Center.
Hunafa has become a major podium for Buryatsky over the past two years, and each of his online lectures, many about various aspects of jihad, have garnered dozens of supportive comments from viewers.
The FSB said investigators retrieved equipment from the house where the suspects were detained that was identical to that used in a bombing of the Nevsky Express train in 2007. No one died in that attack, and two Ingush natives have been convicted of delivering explosives to the Tver region, where the bombing took place.
The rebels have claimed responsibility for both Nevsky Express bombings, but Buryatsky never acknowledged personal involvement in either attack.
Curiously, it was in Ekazhevo where the FSB tracked down and killed former Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev in July 2006. Basayev had made suicide attacks his trademark strategy.
Yevkurov, the Ingush president who survived the assassination attempt last June, applauded Buryatsky's death but cautioned that the fight against insurgency was far from over.
"He was killed, but his place will be taken by another ideologist," Yevkurov said, RIA-Novosti reported.
The Moscow Times: Orthodox Church Creates Department to Oversee Prisons
09 March 2010
By Alexandra Odynova
The Russian Orthodox Church has introduced a special clergy department to help improve the notoriously oppressive situation in the country's penitentiaries, Patriarch Kirill said.
Kirill announced Saturday that a special department has been created to oversee the implementation of parishes in each penitentiary, the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement.
"It often happens that in prison a man who once lost his footing turns into a recidivist, a person who can't imagine living in society," Kirill said.
About 900,000 prisoners are serving time in the country's notoriously overcrowded prisons.
The new department is to be headed by Bishop Krosnogorsky Irinarkh, 58, who was previously in charge of the Perm and Solikamsk episcopates.
Kirill's announcement, which took place at a meeting of the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg, coincided with a decision by the Prosecutor General’s Office to wrap up a criminal case concerning violence at a St. Petersburg prison.
Seven St. Petersburg prison officials were charged with abuse of office in September for violence against two prisoners who attempted to escape, prosecutors said in a statement Friday.
The prosecutors said the two prisoners, who had been moved to a psychiatric hospital within the prison compound after their attempted escape, were subjected to sexual abuse that was filmed by one of the suspects.
If convicted, the officials face up to 10 years in prison.
Panorama: Moscow “Opera” club in fire: Casualties reported
Three-storey Opera night club in downtown Moscow caught in fire in the morning. Local emergency service spokesman said the flames have consumed over 1,200 sq. meters of the building. About 250 people were evacuated early on Tuesday from a residential building. Over 30 firefighter teams with a variety of special equipment have been involved in efforts to extinguish the blaze.
Earlier no cases of casualties were reported but currently it’s believed that one person was killed in the fire.
A dead body was found by fire fighters when they were clearing the debris after putting out the fire. According to early reports, it was a guard.
RIA: One dead in Moscow nightclub fire
08:3709/03/2010
One person died early on Tuesday when flames engulfed a nightclub in downtown Moscow, emergency services said.
Earlier reports said 250 people had been evacuated from an adjacent residential building, but that there were no casualties in the Opera nightclub.
The body was discovered when firefighters were working at the scene of the blaze, which has now been extinguished.
"Preliminary information indicates he was a security guard," a spokesman for the emergencies ministry told RIA Novosti.
The flames consumed over 1,000 sq. meters of the three-storey nightclub and the roof of the club collapsed.
According to officials, the nightclub was closed for 30 days in December last year due to poor fire safety record.
Nationwide fire safety checks were ordered by President Dmitry Medvedev after a fire late last year killed over 150 people at a nightclub in the west Urals city of Perm.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
Bloomberg: Putin Deputies’ ‘Tug of War’ Threatens Russia Oil Flows to Asia
March 09, 2010, 3:07 AM EST
By Anna Shiryaevskaya and Maria Levitov
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- A feud between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s deputies over how to plug the budget gap may end up curbing growth in oil output, the biggest source of state revenue, and limiting flows to Asia, analysts said.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin wants to claw back some of the Siberian tax breaks granted to oil companies led by OAO Rosneft and increase taxes on gas producers such as OAO Gazprom. Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin, Kudrin’s fellow deputy prime minister, wants to prolong oil export tax exemptions to fund output increases. Gazprom and Rosneft are both state-run.
“The Pandora’s box has been reopened,” Yaroslav Lissovolik, chief strategist of Deutsche Bank AG in Moscow, said in an interview. “The tug of war between the ministries is starting.”
President Dmitry Medvedev, a former Gazprom chairman, has called Russia’s dependency on energy prices “humiliating.” The government is seeking to narrow a budget gap that may reach 7.2 percent of gross domestic product this year, after plunging oil prices and the economy’s worst contraction on record left a deficit of 5.9 percent, or 2.3 trillion rubles ($77 billion), in 2009. The eastern Siberian oil export tax exemptions alone may cost the budget $4 billion this year.
Kudrin wants to boost gas taxes either at the extraction or export stage, a government official said last week. Gazprom, the world’s largest gas producer, defeated a similar proposal last year. Russia hasn’t increased extraction taxes for gas suppliers since 2006.
‘Turf War’
“We see no reason why the outcome should be different this time around,” said Igor Kurinnyy, an analyst with ING Groep NV in London. In the “turf war” between Putin’s deputies, Kudrin has made little progress, so he’s broadening the scope for taxing other commodities, Kurinnyy said.
Rosneft, TNK-BP and OAO Gazprom Neft are among the oil companies that have said tax breaks are essential incentives for developing remote resources in harsh Arctic and eastern Siberia regions. For Gazprom Neft, Gazprom’s oil arm, the issue is key to its expansion strategy.
The St. Petersburg-based company’s plans to acquire assets in eastern Siberia are “under consideration because the Finance Ministry wants to shorten the proposed period” of the tax holiday, said Alexander Pankratov, Gazprom Neft’s head of business development, in an interview in Houston yesterday.
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko last week said a final decision on extending the tax breaks may be taken in March.
Rosneft, TNK-BP
Sechin, who has worked for Putin since their days in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the 1990s, told Medvedev last week that the government can afford to keep the tax breaks because oil prices will probably average more than the $58 a barrel that the budget is based on.
Russia increased oil production 51 percent from 2000, when Putin became president, through 2008, the year he was succeeded by Medvedev. Last year, output rose about 1.4 percent and surpassed 10 million barrels a day in the last quarter, a post- Soviet record.
Shmatko said in October that crude producers would need exemptions of five to seven years to earn back investments in remote projects. Rosneft has spent more than $5 billion developing the Vankor deposit, which began exporting crude to Asia through a pipeline across eastern Siberia in December.
‘Putin’s Brain’
Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Sergei Bogdanchikov said last month that without the tax breaks the company will halt investment at Vankor, Russia’s largest new oil development, and cap output at 13 million metric tons a year (260,000 barrels a day), or about half of the original target, according to the Interfax news service.
“The risk is that there will not be enough oil to fill the capacity of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean Pipeline without an extension of the tax break,” Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp., said in a note.
“We do believe the east Siberian tax break will be extended, and that will inevitably fuel speculation about tax increases elsewhere,” Weafer said.
Russia’s competition watchdog said March 2 that it supported a 15 percent tax on exports of potash, a fertilizer ingredient. A state official said the next day that the government isn’t considering the tax.
“The Finance Ministry will win this battle,” said Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst with the Institute for National Strategy who has advised the Kremlin. “Sechin is good at business but Kudrin is Putin’s brain.”
--With assistance from Katarzyna Klimasinska in Houston. Editors: Torrey Clark, Brad Cook.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@; Maria Levitov in Moscow at mlevitov@
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@; Chris Kirkham at ckirkham@
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Washington Times: Regional governors enjoy more freedom with Medvedev
Nicholas Kralev
Russia's Kremlin-appointed regional governors have enjoyed more freedom since President Dmitry Medvedev took office in 2008, though they could flex even more muscle if they were better organized, one of the governors said last week.
Valery Shantsev, who has led the Nizhny Novgorod region for four years, called during a visit to Washington for the formation of an organization similar to the U.S. National Governors Association.
"No one has proposed it yet, but it would be very useful," he said in an interview. "An association would serve many purposes. For example, newly elected governors could be trained to make sure they understand their responsibilities."
All governors are members of Russia's State Council, an advisory body to the president. However, an association would enable them to cooperate and solve mutual problems without having to go through Moscow, as well as to defend their interests, Mr. Shantsev said.
He said he has felt no significant political pressure from the Kremlin under Mr. Medvedev, who does not try to dictate to governors how to do their job.
"Every one of us is a free agent. No one coordinates or supervises us," Mr. Shantsev said.
The ruling style of Mr. Medvedev's predecessor, Vladimir Putin, was widely criticized in the West as authoritarian, and the George W. Bush administration repeatedly accused him of "backsliding" on democracy. One of the administration's complaints was that he did not give governors enough autonomy.
Mr. Putin is still in the Kremlin as prime minister, and many diplomats and observers say his influence is as strong as it was when he held the presidency. So he could interfere if he wanted to, but there are outside factors that would make that difficult, analysts said.
"Russia's dramatic economic decline in the wake of the global financial crisis places more constraints on Moscow's capacity to buy off political and economic influence in Russia's regions," said Andrew C. Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Nizhny Novgorod is one of 83 regions and other areas known as federal subjects of Russia. With its 3.5 million people and about 158 square miles, it is by no means among the largest. However, it is politically important because of its proximity to Moscow.
In the early 1990s, the governorship of Nizhny Novgorod launched the national career of one of Russia's youngest and most famous politicians, Boris Nemtsov, who later became deputy prime minister in Moscow under former President Boris Yeltsin. Mr. Nemtsov was just 32 when he became governor and won praise from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Mr. Shantsev said that even though he has good relations with the Kremlin, his administration is not afraid to take on federal authorities if it disagrees with their actions in the region.
"Our [regional] laws have the same status as federal laws, and [officials in Moscow] are subject to our laws just like anybody else. Such issues come up often, and we sue them, and we win in court," he said.
"For example, at one point, we worked on a project to provide free distribution of medicines, and a certain company won the tender," he said, though he declined to name the Russian company. "At that point, the federal anti-monopoly agency stepped in, banned them from working and announced the tender was illegal. We sued, went all the way up to the highest court of appeals and won the case."
Direct elections for regional parliaments in Russia are held every five years. The majority-winning party proposes three candidates for governor to the president, and he makes his choice, which then has to be approved formally by the legislature, Mr. Shantsev said.
The main purpose of his trip to the United States was to promote investment in his region and learn from the economic and business experience of U.S. states. He visited Annapolis last week and agreed to cooperate with Maryland in the future.
He said one of the main hurdles to attracting foreign investors to Nizhny Novgorod is the very poor condition of the only international airport in the region — in the city with the same name. Germany's Lufthansa is the only Western airline currently operating flights there.
Mr. Shantsev said he plans to put a significant effort into modernizing the airport and predicted seven times more passengers in 2014 compared to last year's 300,000.
BarentsObserver: Arkhangelsk seeks dialogue with opposition
2010-03-08
In a bid to soften the growing protest movement in Arkhangelsk, regional authorities now seek to include the opposition forces in a newly established cooperation structure.
First Secretary of the regional Communist Party, Aleksandr Novikov, confirms that he has been invited to take part in the new structure, his party’s website informs.
The Council of Political Parties will be established directly under Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk, Severinform.ru reports.
Officially, the new council is to “facilitate efficient and constructive dialogue between the regional executive powers and all political parties registered in the region”. It will also help “consolidate efforts on creating conditions for increased life standards among northerners”, the website informs.
Aleksandr Novikov sees the new council as the regional administration’s response to the recent protest meeting held 21 February. Then, as reported by BarentsObserver, about 3000 people gather in the central city square to protest against the regional administration and its policies.
As reported by newspaper Pravda Severa, Governor Mikhalchuk’s regional administration is now also seeking to include public organizations in discussions on social developments. According to a decree signed on 2 March, a working group with representatives of regional ministries and public organizations will established to find ways to handle the growing social tariffs in the region.
Vladivostok Times: Local Airline to be Set up on Sakhalin
Victor ISHAYEV, the RF President Plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District, gave his support to the initiative of the Sakhalin Region Governor
VLADIVOSTOK, March 9, To improve the air service between Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands the local airline is to be set up. Victor ISHAYEV, the RF President Plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District, gave his support to the initiative of the Sakhalin Region Governor; the press secretary of the Sakhalin Region Governor reports to RIA PrimaMedia.
Alexander KHOROSHAVIN, the Sakhalin Governor, considered the issues concerning the local air carrier with Konstantin SUKHOREBRIK, the Chairman of the Sakhalin Branch of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the General Director of the Sakhalin Airlines Company, that is to become the basis for a new air carrier.
“The Sakhalin Region Government considers that this matter is of great economic and social importance. We must do the air service within the Russian Federation including the air travel to the Far East more available for the Sakhalin residents; besides, it is necessary to improve the air service between Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands,” Alexander KHOROSHAVIN announces.
The Governor entrusted Konstantin SUKHOREBRIK with a task to present the project on setting up of the local air carrier.
The Moscow Times: Baturina Tops Finans List of Influential Businesswomen
09 March 2010
By Maria Antonova
Inteko CEO Yelena Baturina is the most influential businesswoman in the country, according to a ranking released by Finans magazine on Monday, topping a list that features many women known to have powerful husbands.
More than half of the women in this year's top 10, the magazine's second annual ranking, are newcomers from energy giants and large holdings, replacing several representatives of food producers and retailers that were prominent in last year's list.
Baturina, married to Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, topped the list for the second year running, followed closely by newcomer Natalya Kasperskaya, wife of computer guru Yevgeny Kaspersky, and Olga Pleshakova, the Transaero chief who moved up from 16th place last year.
Women hold CEO posts in less than 10 percent of all Russian companies, but they are dominant in top accounting and human resources positions, holding 93 percent and 70 percent of such jobs, respectively, according to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The ranking was compiled taking into account three factors: the size of the business, the woman's rank in the company and the position of the company and its market.
Many have connected the success of Baturina, whose net worth Finans has estimated at $2.2 billion, with her relationship to Luzhkov.
Baturina has denied that she is given preferential treatment by City Hall, and sued opposition politician Boris Nemtsov over a report stating that Inteko has benefited from the mayor's decisions. The Moscow Arbitration Court ruled last month that Nemtsov must pay Baturina 40,000 rubles ($1,300) in compensation and retract one of the claims made about her.
Kasperskaya, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, made her first appearance on the list in second place. With a net worth estimated at $450 million, she was ranked the 177th wealthiest person in the country, while Kaspersky, her husband, was 129th, according to Finans' billionaire list, released last month.
Transaero, headed by Olga Pleshakova, overtook S7 as Russia's second-largest airline in 2009, and Pleshakova took over the third-place spot from Natalya Filyova, CEO of S7 Group, who fell to 11th place on the list.
Two former top managers in Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element took their place in the top 10 after having been ousted in a staff reshuffle in the holding company.
Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who was relieved as BasEl CEO in July, slipped two places to ninth place after taking the head position at ESN Group, controlled by businessman Grigory Beryozkin.
Olga Zinovyeva, former first deputy CEO at BasEl, made her first appearance in the rankings after taking a new position at Vladimir Potanin's Interros, which for two years had been involved in a high-profile feud with BasEl over a stake in Norilsk Nickel.
Nowhere to be found on this year's list, however, are food industry titans Lyudmila Pinkevich, co-owner of agriculture holding Nastyusha, or Galina Ilyashenko, CEO of retailer Sedmoi Kontinent. Last year, the two occupied fifth and eighth place, respectively.
Time: Russia's Erin Brockovich: Taking On Corporate Greed
By Carl Schreck / Moscow Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2010
When the state-friendly Russian oil company Surgutneftegas held its annual shareholders meeting in the Siberian city of Surgut two years ago, the proceedings in the shabby auditorium started off as tightly scripted as a Politburo meeting. That is, until the moderator called for questions and Alexei Navalny took the stage. In front of some 300 stunned shareholders, Navalny, who owned about $2,000 worth of stock in the company, grilled senior management for several minutes about the company's minuscule dividends and opaque ownership. When he finished, there was a brief silence and then an unexpected burst of applause from a small group of shareholders in the back of the hall. The company directors were visibly flustered, said a Russian journalist present at the meeting. "They clearly weren't accustomed to being asked questions like that," the journalist said on condition of anonymity, citing company policy about speaking to other media. "They looked really uncomfortable."
Asking uncomfortable questions is what Navalny does best. An erstwhile activist in Russia's marginalized opposition movement, Navalny, 33, has eschewed electoral politics to focus his formidable energies on investigating companies owned by the Russian government and its minions. And in the two years since he crashed that shareholders meeting in Surgut, he has arguably become Russia's most relevant political renegade. He is demonstrating that there may be a tool more effective than the ballot box in keeping Russia's ruling class in check: stock. (See the top underreported stories of 2009.)
A corporate lawyer with a degree in financial markets, Navalny has spent the past three years snapping up small stakes in publicly traded state-owned companies, many of which have senior government officials on their boards. Public listings provide these firms with crucial capital and international legitimacy, but in exchange, they're forced to adhere to a modicum of transparency that is absent from Russian politics. This is where Navalny comes in. Exploiting his status as a part owner, he harasses senior management with questions about how their actions may be affecting the bottom line. "All you need is one share to get into the room with these guys," Navalny says.
Navalny's transparency drives have earned him legions of admirers in the Russian blogosphere, the country's most freewheeling forum for political discussion, and among the independent-minded media. The respected Russian business daily Vedomosti named Navalny its "Private Individual of the Year" for 2009, saying he sets a "personal example proving it's possible for citizens to defend their rights." "While professional investors solve their problems quietly, this everyman, without status or power, is trying to fight the system," the paper wrote of Navalny. Sergei Guriev, dean of Moscow's New Economic School and an independent board member of Sberbank, a state-owned company in which Navalny has stock, says the lawyer's focus is a logical avenue of dissent for politically minded young people who are unable to crack into Russia's rigidly controlled political landscape. "His generation of opposition politicians has been denied a career in politics," he says. "They may have to wait 20 years. So he has taken what looks like a smart, reasonable path." (See pictures of Russia celebrating Victory Day.)
Navalny's targets have included the oil and gas giant Gazprom, which was previously chaired by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, and the state-owned oil company Rosneft, whose chairman is Igor Sechin, a Deputy Prime Minister widely seen as Russia's most powerful official after his boss, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In 2008, Navalny filed a lawsuit to force Rosneft to reveal information about delivery contracts it had with an obscure Swiss oil trader called Gunvor, whose co-owner is an acquaintance of Putin's. A Moscow arbitration court rejected the suit, saying the company was not obligated by Russian law to reveal its dealings with Gunvor. Navalny says he will now file a suit against Rosneft at the European Court of Human Rights for alleged violation of property rights. Rosneft maintains that it has made available to shareholders all the information that is required under Russian law.
Navalny's most significant investigation to date was into the alleged embezzlement of $150 million by officials at a subsidiary of the state-owned bank VTB following the company's purchase of 30 Chinese oil rigs in 2007. His report electrified Russian Netizens when he published it on his blog in November. Authorities initially declined to open a criminal investigation into the deal, saying there were insufficient grounds to do so, but last month Moscow prosecutors sent the case back to police for further review, which is ongoing. For Navalny, forcing his opponents into a dialogue is often victory enough. "Even a nonsense answer exposes the company somewhat," he says. "At the very least the person responding has to give his name ... They give us something to sink our hooks into." (See the dangers of doing business in Russia.)
In a country where discussing conspiracy theories is a national pastime, there is no shortage of speculation about Navalny's motives. Some bloggers say he collects dirt on companies to demand payouts in exchange for keeping quiet. (He denies the accusation, saying the companies he targets are too powerful to bother with hush money.) Others claim he is secretly funded by powerful businessmen who want to make their competitors nervous. Gazprom even published a two-page article in a corporate publication attacking Navalny for his pursuit of criminal charges in a deal involving a Gazprom subsidiary, accusing him of "terrorizing" state-owned companies in order to build "political capital." The article also ridiculed him as a bumbling version of "the brave housewife Erin Brockovich of the eponymous film."
Navalny dismisses the suggestions that he is a puppet of murky forces and says his income from his corporate-law practice is sufficient to finance his crusades. "Not a single one of these managers in these large companies believes I am doing this just as some sort of battle for justice," Navalny says. "These people can't believe that someone would do something for anything other than money." (See "Russia's YouTube Craze: Exposing Police Corruption.")
Harassing Russia's financial and political élite is hardly a hobby for the fainthearted. Navalny says the most common question he's asked is, "Who's paying you to do this?" followed by, "When are you going to be killed?" He says he has never received any direct threats but that he understands the danger of physical retribution for anticorruption campaigners in Russia. He speaks reverently of other activists who do not enjoy his relative fame but nevertheless follow his lead. "For them it's 10 times more dangerous than it is for me," Navalny says. "But they carry on. To a certain degree my work inspires them, and their work inspires me." Plus, he says, there are visceral rewards in attacking the powerful: "I love watching them squirm."
RIA: Russian asylum seekers commit suicide in Scotland
02:2009/03/2010
Three people who jumped to their deaths from a multi-storey building in Glasgow were identified as a Russian family seeking asylum in the UK, the BBC reported.
"The apparent triple suicide happened on Sunday at the Red Road flats complex in the Springburn area of the city," the BBC said.
According to the BBC, the father, mother and son had been granted asylum in Canada but had to leave the country after a dispute with the local authorities. The family arrived in the UK in 2007 and immediately filed for a new asylum status.
However, their application to remain in the UK had recently been refused and the family had been told that they had to leave their flat on the 15th floor of a 30-storey high-riser.
They were also advised to seek help from the Scottish Refugee Council to find alternative accommodation.
Local police said they had not found any suspicious circumstances surrounding the tragedy and it was most likely a suicide case.
RIA Novosti has not yet been able to obtain any official confirmation of the nationality and identity of the victims from the Russian consulate-general in Edinburgh.
LONDON, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
From The Times
March 9, 2010
The Times: Suicide refugee, Serge Serykh, ‘was member of Russia secret service’
Angus Macleod and Melanie Reid
The mystery of three refugees who jumped to their deaths from a Glasgow tower block took a dramatic turn yesterday when it emerged that one of them had claimed to be a member of the Russian security services and went on to allege that he had uncovered a plot by the Canadian Government to assassinate the Queen.
Serge Serykh, 43, who, along with his wife and stepson, threw himself off a Glasgow tower block, was convinced that if he was not given asylum in Britain his life would be at risk. It is clear, as The Times has learnt, that Mr Serykh was suffering from severe mental health problems.
No deportation order to remove him from the UK had been issued by the authorities at the time he and his family embarked on their macabre triple suicide — although official sources said they had had their benefit payments removed last month and were facing eviction from their YMCA flat in the notorious Red Road complex on the day that they died.
Last night, as Strathclyde Police pieced together the mysterious tale of Mr Serykh, his blonde-haired wife, thought to be called Tatiana, and his 21-year-old stepson, sources told The Times of the bizarre background to a suicide pact that has shocked Scotland.
Mr Serykh had been given refugee status in Canada in 2000 and, in a plot that resembles an airport thriller, had offered his skills as an alleged former member of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to the Canadian Government, saying he had evidence of a foreign spy network across the country.
In November 2007 Canada rejected his application for citizenship and he immediately accused the authorities there of having used mind-altering psychotronic techniques against him.
He left Canada in late 2007 and went to several European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, seeking asylum without success.
Shortly afterwards, he turned up in the UK and, having applied for asylum, he and his family at first stayed in Brent, North London before moving to Glasgow in autumn 2009. His case for asylum in the UK was based on his belief that because of an alleged deal between Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, and former President Putin of Russia, he would be killed by Canadian security agents if he was returned there. He still had a Canadian passport.
Those who had dealings with the Serykh family and have spoken to The Times say he was 90 per cent lucid and 10 per cent “off the wall”.
When the UK authorities rejected his application for asylum last year, on the ground that he still had refugee status in Canada, Mr Serykh approached three Glasgow solicitors, all experts in handling asylum issues, to take up his case, but they said they could not help him. He then sent a letter of appeal to the Queen and used it to repeat his fantasy that her life was at risk from the Canadian Government.
One senior source told The Times: “No removal order had been issued. They were not under imminent threat of deportation but their financial support of £35 a week each had been removed in mid February.
“However, they were going to be evicted from their home in the YMCA block in the Red Road on Sunday and they took their own lives”.
Reports yesterday suggested the family leapt from the balcony of their flat on Sunday morning either holding hands or joined together by a rope. They apparently used a wardrobe to break through the wire security mesh on the balcony. Last night, when police forensic science tents were removed, all that remained of the incident were three deep indentations in the turf where their bodies landed.
Residents said they knew little about the trio, and had barely seen them since they moved in about two months ago. Carol Craig, 51, who lives in the flat next door, said: “The police woke me at 10am to tell me the neighbours had jumped. I had only seen them on Saturday for the first time.”
Ms Craig thought they had been living in the flat for about two months. She described the woman as being Continued on page 8, col 1
Guardian: Alexander Litvinenko's father finds little sanctuary in Italy
• 'Business raided and asylum refused'
• Berlusconi's friendship with Putin blamed
Luke Harding in Senigallia
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 March 2010
For Walter Litvinenko, it was a difficult but necessary step. After his son Alexander was murdered in London in 2006 in the most scandalous political killing since the cold war, Walter fled Russia for sanctuary in western Europe. He chose Italy. It offered a new, anonymous, KGB-free life.
But two years after arriving in the sleepy seaside town of Senigallia on the Adriatic coast, Litvinenko says his family is being persecuted once again, their restaurant raided and closed down, their request for asylum repeatedly refused despite evidence that they would be at risk in Russia. Now, he says, they have run out of money and rely on charity handouts for food. For Litvinenko, there is only one plausible explanation: Silvio Berlusconi's unwillingness to upset the Kremlin or his friend, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.
"We have fallen victim to a political game," Litvinenko said today, speaking from the cramped flat he shares with eight relatives. "Berlusconi is no better than Putin. All European governments have been flirting with Putin. Berlusconi's dependence on him, and on Russian gas, means that we don't get asylum."
Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent turned dissident, was poisoned with a radioactive isotope, sparking theories that the Kremlin ordered the killing. A British police investigation resulted in a failed attempt to extradite another former KGB agent, Andrei Lugovoi.
Walter Litvinenko, 71, arrived in Italy in April 2008 with his wife, Lyuba. Their daughter Tatiana – Alexander Litvinenko's half-sister – and her husband and their two children followed eight months later, joining Walter's son Maxim Litvinenko, his wife and young daughter. At this point the Litvinenkos applied for asylum.
At the same time they opened a restaurant in the tourist resort of Rimini. Maxim Litvinenko, who moved to Italy nine years ago, is a professional chef. But soon after opening their business, and securing local permissions, the police informed them they were operating illegally, with one room lacking planning permission.
On 31 October 2009 police burst into the restaurant at 12.45am, complaining of "loud music". Tatiana says the last guests had left at midnight and the family were quietly clearing up. The police demanded to see the Litvinenkos' papers. When Tatiana told them her documents were in her flat, a short walk away, one policeman grabbed her roughly by the arm, she says. "I struggled free. He then chased after me and pushed me from behind. I smashed my head on the marble floor. I lost consciousness." She says she suffered concussion. "I felt groggy for days. I had to see the doctor."
The restaurant, La Terrazza, was finally shut down in November. The Litvinenkos were forced to move to a cheaper flat down the coast in nearby Senigallia.
The family say they do not know if the harassment has been authorised at the highest levels. "I thought Europe had 100% rule of law. We discovered in Italy this isn't true. It's connections and the mafia. It's as if we never arrived in Europe but ended up in some Russian province," Tatiana says.
Italian immigration officials have interrogated the family twice. According to Tatiana, they expressed little interest in why the Litvinenkos fled their home in the southern Russian town of Nalchik. Instead, they wanted to know how they had come to Italy and whether their visas had been forged.
Britain's own offers of asylum to high-profile Russian exiles including Litvinenko and his patron, Boris Berezovsky, have long infuriated Russia. Berlusconi has chosen to avoid the same mistake, Walter Litvinenko says.
Paolo Guzzanti, a former senator in Berlusconi's Forza Italia party who fell out with the prime minister over his friendship with Putin, said it was likely that Berlusconi had blocked the asylum applications. "I have no confirmation of this, but it seems obvious, given the brotherly relationship between Putin and Berlusconi, that all possible obstacles to granting asylum will be raised in order to slow down the procedure or make it impossible," he said.
A spokesman for Berlusconi insisted the prime minister's relationship with Putin had nothing to do with decisions about the Litvinenko family. He said: "With requests for asylum, including from countries like Russia, there are European procedures that Italy follows. It has nothing to do with personal relationships between leaders and nothing to do with politics."
Two weeks ago Walter Litvinenko published an open letter on a human rights website named after Anna Politkovskaya (), the journalist and Kremlin critic murdered in Moscow in 2006. He said Berlusconi had made the Litvinenkos' situation unbearable. Despite assurances that their case would be swiftly resolved nothing had happened, he said. "It's clear Berlusconi is dragging this process out for as long as possible," he added.
On Sunday the Litvinenkos spent their last euros. They bought 10 eggs. The family – including two adults over 70 and two small children – are currently sharing a tiny three-bedroom flat. There is no hot water and only two hours a day of heating. A local church gives them bread and apples; otherwise they eat pancakes.
The Litvinenkos have to pay ¤540 for next month's rent. Currently, they say, they have no idea how to find it.
Walter Litvinenko blames Putin for the family's misfortune. "He killed my son. He's a sick man," he says. Tatiana, however, refuses to criticise Putin and focuses on Berezovsky. "My brother defended him. But he's clearly not interested in us." She admits, however, that she has not asked Berezovsky for anything.
Walter hardly ever leaves the flat. With its quiet seaside cafes and off-season feel, Senigallia seems a perfect place to escape from the Russian state and its agents.
Yet Walter admits he is worried the same fate that befell his son might await him too. "There is a certain subconscious fear. In Nalchik I wasn't afraid because I knew everybody's faces. Here it's different. At any moment a person could come up to you, and that would be the end."
Additional reporting: Giancarlo Castello and Tom Kington in Rome
Friends in high places
Silvio Berlusconi is Vladimir Putin's most ardent friend in Europe, and sees himself as the man to explain the Russian to an often perplexed west.
Their close association goes back to Berlusconi"s second stint as prime minister, in 2001-06. In April 2008 Berlusconi hosted Putin at his luxurious Sardinian villa, with Berlusconi visiting Putin's residence near St Petersburg last year. Putin also phoned Berlusconi in his hospital bed after he was attacked and lost several teeth last year.
Soon after his release from hospital in December, after being attacked in the street by a disgruntled voter wielding a replica gothic cathedral, Berlusconi appeared sporting a Russian Federation navy jacket. The sweatshirt with its double-headed Russian eagle logo was a gift from Putin.
Ultimately, of course, the relationship is about business. Thirty per cent of Italy's oil and gas imports already come from Russia and commercial ties between the countries have almost tripled since 2000.
Tom Kington
VOA: Foreign Workers in Russia Face Sudden Red-Tape Barrier
Sudden enforcement of four-year-old visa statue may signal new Kremlin effort to discourage foreign presence in Russia
Jessica Golloher | Moscow08 March 2010
Russia has long been known for being the land of bureaucracy, but lately red tape has taken on a whole new meaning for foreign workers. It is all because of a four-year-old law that is suddenly being enforced.
The line at the central migration office in Moscow is nearly out the door. One can see the anxiety on people's faces as they approach the window.
Most foreign workers accept that they have a daunting task to obtain a visa and maintain their legal status in Russia. For example, forms must be filled out in triplicate with the proper signatures, and government forms can change on a weekly basis, without notice. Fill out a wrong form and your visa is denied.
Every foreigner must register with the central migration office within three days of arriving in Russia. If they fail to do so, they are issued an exit visa. Furthermore, foreigners with a work visa have to let the migration office know if they are leaving the city they are authorized to work in, failure to do so could result in a fine, arrest or both.
If that is not enough to worry about, a newly enforced, existing law requires foreign workers to get their college diplomas notarized in the country where they received them, and then get a stamp from that country's foreign ministry.
An official stamp is often used by governments as proof that an important document or a signature is real. It is usual for many countries to require these stamps for things such as medical certificates or legal documents, but not college diplomas.
German Robert Zellner has been working for an international hotel chain in Moscow for nearly three years.
"Now, all of a sudden I have to fly to the United States, where I went to college, and get my diploma stamped and double stamped, in order to keep my own job? Who is gonna pay for this?" Zellner asked.
Moscow-based political analyst Mascha Lipman of the Carnegie Center, says she thinks the recent enforcement of the obscure law is just the government's way of making it difficult for foreign workers to stay in Russia.
"These recent hurdles have to do with historic, traditional Russian xenophobia. Suspicion of people, from abroad, coming to Russia doing something in Russia. This has to do with the Soviet experience. This was a closed country in which people could not leave or come freely," Lipman said.
Zellner agrees and says he feels the government is trying to weed out foreigners.
"I was given very little notice that I needed to get this stupid stamp. I mean, I just cannot leave the country and do a stamp run. But I could lose my job if they do not give me enough time," Zellner said.
And, he could face some trouble meeting the requirement. Stamps often take up to eight weeks to get. Scotland native Euan Crawford says he was only given two weeks notice. He is vice president of an accounting firm in Moscow.
"It got to the point that the office was considering buying me a degree from a university in eastern Russia, because it was going to be cheaper than getting my degree certificate to the notary and then getting it apostulated, and then getting it to Russia," Crawford said.
Human Rights Watch Moscow office director Allison Gill says the law is being enforced now because Russia does not need foreign experience like it used to.
"You know, there was a time in the early '90s when a foreign worker was actually sought out; particularly in business, in consulting and finance. Then as the Russian economy got more on its feet and Russia resurged in all kinds of ways the pendulum swung the other way," Gill said.
Zellner agrees, he says he is regularly reminded his Russian boss prefers to work with her fellow countrymen.
"I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that Russia is for Russians and that we are taking their jobs. They do not really want us," Zellner said.
Russian officials say they are not trying to harass foreign workers. They say the diploma certification requirement is a way for foreign workers to prove they are qualified for the job.
There is some suggestion Russian authorities may be easing up a bit on what many analysts say is their unwelcoming stance. President Dmitry Medvedev recently encouraged authorities to be more hospitable to foreign workers, and hinted at easing visa regulations within the next year.
Swedish Wire: Nord Stream uncovers shipwrecks in Baltic Sea
Published Tuesday, 09 March 2010 08:10 | Author: AFP / The Swedish Wire
| |
A dozen previously unknown shipwrecks, some of them believed to be up to 1,000 years old, were discovered in the Baltic Sea during a probe of the sea bed to prepare for the installation of a large gas pipeline, the Swedish National Heritage Board said Monday.
"We have manage to identify 12 shipwrecks, and nine of them are considered to be fairly old," Peter Norman, a senior advisor with the heritage board, told AFP.
"We think many of the ships are from the 17th and 18th centuries and we think some could even be from the Middle Ages," he said, stressing that "this discovery offers enormous culture-historical value.
The shipwrecks were discovered during a probe by the Russian-led Nord Stream consortium of the sea bed route its planned gas pipeline from Russia to the European Union will take through the Baltic.
"They used sonar equipment first and discovered some unevenness along the sea bottom ... so they filmed some of the uneven areas, and we could see the wrecks," Norman explained.
The discovery was made outside Sweden's territorial waters, but within its economic zone, he said.
None of the wrecks were in the actual path the Nord Stream pineline is set to take, but they were in its so-called anchor corridor, meaning they are in the area where ships laying the pipeline might anchor, Norman said.
"That's one of the reasons this probe was done: to avoid damaging wrecks on the sea bed," he said, adding that the Swedish National Heritage Board had received assurances from Nord Stream that "the positioning of the wrecks will be taken into account when they lay the pipeline".
Due to its low temperatures and oxygen levels, the Baltic Sea is known as an ideal environment for conserving shipwrecks, which can remain virtually unblemished for hundreds and even thousands of year.
According to Norman, some 3,000 shipwrecks have been discovered and mapped in the Baltic, but experts believe more than 100,000 whole and partial wrecks litter the sea bottom.
"What makes this discovery so unique is that these wrecks have their hulls fully intact," Norman said, adding however that there were no plans to raise the wrecks, which lie at a depth of more than 100 metres (328 feet).
Jamestown: Medvedev Discards the Ambition of “Energy Super-Power”
[tt_news]=36126&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=a9135fc7d4
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 45
March 8, 2010 03:48 PM Age: 9 hrs
By: Pavel K. Baev
Upon his return from the trip to Paris last week, President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin, who is supervising the energy sector, and expressed satisfaction about world oil prices that are expected to stay above $80 per barrel (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, March 4). Not that Medvedev needed that information, which is just a wishful estimate, but he obviously wanted to show that he could summon one of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s closest minions and make him say “Yes, Mr. President. We will do this without fail.” Russia’s feeble recovery remains so dependent upon the petro-revenues that for Medvedev it is imperative to demonstrate that he is keeping the oil and gas industries under control.
Addressing French business leaders, Medvedev ventured a proposition that “economic growth fueled by commodities exports, if it has not already exhausted its potential, is no longer so relevant for us whatever the case today.” He maintains the emphasis on “modernization,” but this course is floundering because even the stubbornly optimistic Anatoly Chubais, who now manages the Rosnano high-tech corporation, cannot mobilize sufficient investment power (Vedomosti, March 4). Some adventurous Western money has returned to take its chances on the Russian stock exchange, yet the outflow of direct foreign investments continues (gazeta.ru, March 3). This trend could only be reversed if the Russian energy sector begins to generate massive profits again, though such a perspective remains in the “too-good-to-be-true” category.
The oil industry is actually performing above expectations, but Gazprom is facing serious problems and has not –despite a cold winter– restored its pre-crisis level of production. The company has finally admitted that its position on the pivotal European market is weakening while re-negotiating the long-term deals with its key counterparts, relaxing the “take-or-pay” condition and accepting spot-market prices for a part of the contracted volumes. The German E.ON was the first company to receive this preferential treatment, but now every consumer is demanding better terms (Kommersant, March 1). The inevitable result of this uncharacteristic flexibility is a fall in profits, while the finance ministry (supported by Sechin) demands more taxes from Gazprom (RBC Daily, March 4).
Reluctantly, making one concession after another, Gazprom’s management finds itself in the unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory of a “buyers market,” where its long-cherished principle of “security of supply” becomes nonsensical (Ekspert, March 1). Any other energy giant in such a crunch would have concentrated on investing in core assets and cutting down on operational costs; Gazprom is doing exactly the opposite. An investment decision on the off-shore Shtokman project has been postponed indefinitely, the work on developing the flagship Yamal project on the Bovanenkovskoe gas field is facing delays, yet the luxurious “Millerhof” palace outside Moscow has been decorated (gazeta.ru, March 5). What makes this self-destructive business strategy possible is the significant increase in prices for domestic customers, who are now paying more than US consumers for gas, but this trend cannot be sustained.
The key issue that Gazprom is facing now, however, is not Shtokman or energy efficiency, but the Ukrainian dilemma. Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s newly-elected president is keen to normalize relations with Russia, which for him means first of all to re-negotiate the deal that resolved the gas crisis of January 2009 and secure a significant cut in gas prices, because his budget is in the deficit too deeply even by Greek standards. Paying a visit to Moscow last week, Yanukovych was eager to make every possible reconciliatory gesture, but the only trump card he could play was the control over Ukraine’s gas infrastructure (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 5). Selling the proposition for organizing an international consortium with Gazprom’s participation would not be easy, particularly with Yulia Timoshenko leading the opposition camp, but it does make solid economic sense (, March 6).
What constitutes the second horn of this dilemma for Gazprom is that the modernization of Ukraine’s gas infrastructure would make the South Stream project redundant, because all the additional volumes that Southern Europe needs could be delivered without constructing a hugely expensive pipeline across the Black Sea. Gazprom is committed to the Nord Stream project in the Baltic Sea, which will inevitably require more funding than currently budgeted, so cancelling the hugely expensive South Stream might help to balance its books. The problem is that Putin continues to negotiate arrangements with potential partners, most recently Croatia, as if the South Stream is a done deal (Ekspert, 2 March).
Medvedev, with his eight years of experience as the chairman of Gazprom’s board, may understand the internal intrigues in this Leviathan company even better than Putin, and he knows who benefits from the deeply corrupt business of pipeline construction. He has to make sure that the decision to cancel the South Stream mega-project is his victory shared with Yanukovych and the EU partners, who could find it opportune to postpone the Nabucco enterprise. Any disagreement with Putin is certain to be sharp, but insightful oligarchs now find it possible to mention casually that the prime minister has incomplete and distorted information (Kommersant, March 2).
Putin is certainly a grandmaster of bureaucratic infighting, but he may take his position of power too much for granted. His recent demand to increase pensions by 6.5 percent was too populist even for veteran Finance Minister, Aleksei Kudrin, who duly –and in vain– pointed out that the federal budget went deeper into the red (Vedomosti, March 5). Public support for Putin’s paternalist rent-distribution model remains strong, and the understanding that petro-prosperity is over emerges only slowly, despite Medvedev’s efforts at mobilizing elite groups to become stake-holders in modernization. The only issue that makes Putin nervous is the case “Yukos versus Russia” that finally opened last week in the European Court of Human Rights (gazeta.ru, March 4; Novaya Gazeta, March 5). Unlike the openly farcical process against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev in Moscow, the international proceedings could put Putin on the spot, and he knows that he might be personally incriminated. Medvedev needs a series of strong moves in the not-great but still crucial energy game, however, he has to time it precisely.
NPR: Russian Village Haunted By A Hidden Holocaust Past
by David Greene
March 9, 2010
The Holocaust memorial in the seaside Russian town of Yantarny is out of the way. A bumpy road leads down a hill, toward the chilly waters of the Baltic Sea. Climb over a rope, walk around a restaurant and there are a few stones arranged like a pyramid and, nearby, a long inscription in Russian.
The words recall a massacre on this beach in January 1945, described on the memorial as the last act of the Holocaust.
Some may debate whether it was really the last act, but what happened here did come several days after Auschwitz was liberated. The Nazis still had Jewish prisoners on the move. One death march, which began with 7,000 people, ended here in the town, then known as Palmnicken.
Frail women and children were ordered into the icy water and shot dead.
It's been more than six decades since the end of World War II, but this village in the westernmost part of Russia is still coming to terms with its role in the Holocaust.
A Peculiar Past
Even 65 years later, some in Yantarny are still unaware of what happened — like Vladimir Nikolaevich, who was leaving a fishing hole near the memorial.
"What Holocaust?" he said in Russian, when asked about the beach's past. "It's unlikely there were victims here."
A German who witnessed some of the killings has written a book about the massacre. But the memorial, dedicated in 2000, became the first tangible recognition of the Holocaust anywhere in a Russian province of 1 million people.
One reason is the area's peculiar history: This Baltic coastline was East Prussia. After the war, the victorious Soviets seized the province, renamed it Kaliningrad and repopulated it with Russians. As the Germans died or left, so did their memories.
But Viktor Shapiro, a prominent voice in the Kaliningrad region's small Jewish community, points to something else.
One of the hallmarks of Soviet rule, he says, was to downplay any ethnic or religious differences among Soviet citizens. And so, to single out Jewish people as special victims of fascism, he says, would have contradicted Communist policy.
As for the memorial on the beach, Shapiro visits it often. He says he hopes it begins to teach people that the Holocaust left its mark here.
'Everyone Kept Silent'
The director of a history museum in Yantarny, Lyudmila Kirpinyova, was born in the town in 1958. She remembers her parents telling her to stay away from a beach close to her house. Looking back, she says her parents — and some others in the village — may have known about what happened in 1945.
"In those days, everyone kept silent; they did not reveal anything," she says. "Even now, my husband tells me if I had a shorter tongue, I'd be of greater value. But since I couldn't speak much in the past, now is my time to speak — a lot — at last."
But only to a point. The history of East Prussia is represented in the museum, along with portraits of Vladimir Lenin and Soviet memorabilia. But it's hard to find anything about the Holocaust.
The museum director says she will never force people to confront what happened here.
"There are people who would like to speak about those events and people who don't want to speak or even think about it," Kirpinyova says. "It's not for us to judge."
March 09, 2010 11:45
Interfax: Buryatia customs officers arrested for planting drugs on Mongolian woman
CHITA. March 9 (Interfax) - A court in Russia's republic of Buryatia has issued a warrant for the arrest of two officers of the local customs service's anti-drugs department, who are accused of planting drugs on a woman from Mongolia.
"The customs service's employees are accused of abusing their powers with the aim of reporting better results of their efforts to counter drug smuggling than they really were. They planted a small amount of drugs in a mobile phone charger and, acting through a third person, handed it over to a woman from the Republic of Mongolia who was leaving Russia," the East Siberia Transport Prosecutor's Office said.
Customs service officers found 2.71 grams of hashish in the mobile phone charger they confiscated from the Mongolian citizen, it said.
"One of the circumstances that led to the suspects' arrest was their attempt to obstruct an investigation through threatening witnesses," the Transport Prosecutor's Office said.
tm dp
RIA: A million and a half hooked on heroin in Russia – expert
10:4109/03/2010
Around one and a half million people are addicted to heroin in Russia, a Health Ministry top specialist told RIA Novosti.
"Over 500,000 people are officially registered as being addicted to drugs," Yevgeny Bryun said, adding that the real figure was some three times higher. He noted that most of these people were heroin users.
He also said that while up to three million Russians had tried drugs at some point in their lives, these were not drug addicts.
"This is something the press sometimes gets mixed up," he added.
He also said that 30% of university students took or had taken drugs.
Russia is battling a rise in the flow of heroin from Afghanistan into its North Caucasus region. Afghanistan produces more than 90% of the world's opium, the main raw material for heroin and a major source of revenue for the Taliban-led insurgency in the country.
Afghan opium production increased dramatically after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001, and Russia has been one of the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply.
Russia was the biggest consumer of Afghan heroin in 2008, accounting for 21% of Afghanistan's production according to the UNODC report "Addiction, Crime and Insurgency" released in February
There are around 30,000 deaths annually from heroin in Russia, which also sees around a million deaths each year from alcohol or tobacco-related diseases.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
The Moscow Times: Today in Vedomosti
Issue 4345. Last Updated: 03/09/2010
Internet Providers Could Be Penalized for Illegal Downloads
By Valery Kodachigov and Anastasia Golitsyna
Authorities intend to punish Internet service providers for the transmission of illegal content which is downloaded and distributed by users.
Assessment of Army Structure on the Cards
By Alexei Nikolsky
This year would be a good time for the reformed army to test the viability of the structures created last year.
Slow Start to Scrappage Scheme
By Alexei Nepomnyashchy
On the first day of the scrappage scheme few owners of old cars have decided to surrender their cars. Dealers hope the public holiday was the culprit and that the scheme will start working for sure on Tuesday.
National Economic Trends
09.03.2010 - RIA NOVOSTI via Banki.ru
Cbonds: Russia’s foreign trade surplus surges 70% to $15.7 bln in January
A foreign trade surplus of the Russian Federation in January 2010 amounted to $15.7 bln, leaping 70% y-o-y, Federal Customs Service (FCS) data showed. “The country’s trade balance ran a surplus of $15.7 bln or $6.6 bln more than in January 2009," the customs authority said in a press release.
As FCS data show, Russia’s foreign trade turnover totaled $35 bln in January 2010 (including trade numbers fr om Belarus), soaring 32.2% against the same period a year ago. Trade turnover with non-FSU countries came to $29.8 bln, a 30.1% upsurge, whereas trade volumes with the FSU climbed 45.9% to $5.2 bln.
March 09, 2010 09:10
Interfax: Banks have 401.1 bln rbs on CBR correspondent accounts on March 9
MOSCOW. March 9 (Interfax) - Russian banks have 401.1 billion rubles on correspondent accounts in the Central Bank as of March 9 including 264.1 billion rubles for Moscow banks.
The balance on March 5 was 463.9 billion rublesand 302.4 billion rubles, respectively.
Banks had 620.6 billion rubles on deposit accounts in the Central Bank on March 9 against 625.9 billion rubles on previous day.
Reuters: Russia cbank shifts rouble boundary again-dealers
2:50am EST
MOSCOW, March 9 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank allowed the rouble to scale fresh 14-month highs versus a euro-dollar basket on Tuesday, with dealers saying the regulator had shifted the lower floating trading band again.
Dealers said the band's boundary had been shifted to 34.55 roubles per basket from 34.60 after the central bank bought $700 million on the currency market, following the previous pattern of interventions.
"Yes, we moved one step," said a dealer at a major Russian market, adding that the market was waiting for the central bank to change the parameters of interventions, but that this had not happened yet.
"All commodities are up, oil is up, so our path on the rouble is towards appreciation," the dealer said. (Reporting by Andrei Ostroukh and Toni Vorobyova; Editing by Gleb Bryanski)
The Moscow Times: Central Bank May Expand Watch List
09 March 2010
Bloomberg
Central Bank may start monitoring the practice of bank lending to related parties in an effort to reduce the concentration of risk around a small number of bank assets, according to a draft law.
The Central Bank may be allowed to place a limit on the size or the number of bank loans to affiliated parties, the Finance Ministry said in a document published on its web site Friday.
The draft law, which the ministry plans to introduce for government approval, would also allow the Central Bank to prevent lenders from treating related parties preferentially.
A “concentration of risks” led to a number of banks requiring financial aid from the state, Gennady Melikyan, a first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, said in December. The state-run Deposit Insurance Agency, which last October was given a legal mandate to support failing lenders, has placed 18 banks under temporary administration and helped them find investors, according to its web site.
Banks in Russia and other former Soviet countries have become more reliant on single clients, contributing to their low ratings and posing risks to the lending industry, Moody’s Investors Service said in a Dec. 23 report. Concentration levels in CIS banks are likely to increase by the end of this year, according to Moody’s.
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Bloomberg: Gazprom, MTS, Sberbank, Severstal: Russia Stock Market Preview
By Yuriy Humber
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Russian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close.
Russia’s 30-stock, ruble-based Micex Index rose 2.2 percent to 1,414.37 at the close in Moscow on March 5, the last trading day as March 8 was a national holiday. The dollar-denominated RTS Index added 2.6 percent to 1,508.21.
OAO Gazprom (GAZP RX): PetroChina Co., the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, will sign additional liquefied natural gas supply agreements this year to meet rising demand for the cleaner-burning fuel, Chairman Jiang Jiemin said, adding that it has not decided with which counties the contracts would be signed.
Separately, Chinese China Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said March 7 that Russia’s oil pipeline to China will be completed by the end of the year and go into operation next year.
Russia’s biggest natural gas and oil producer rose 2.8 percent to 176.85 rubles.
OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MTSI RX): Russia’s largest mobile- phone company, may rise 25 percent during the next year as it bundles more telecommunications services for consumers, Barron’s reported, citing Pieter Stalenhoef, an analyst at Evergreen Investment Management in Boston.
MTS rose 1.8 percent to 238.91 rubles.
OAO Sberbank (SBER03 RX): Emerging-market stocks climbed to a six-week high yesterday, during a national holiday in Russia, as Greece and Dubai moved closer to resolving their debt woes and evidence increased that the global economic recovery is accelerating.
Russia’s biggest bank and most-traded stock rose 5 percent to 87.09 rubles.
OAO Severstal (CHMF RX): Russia’s biggest steelmaker is due to report fourth-quarter financial results today.
Severstal rose 4.7 percent to 384.20 rubles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@.
Last Updated: March 8, 2010 20:00 EST
BNE: Fitch takes large-scale positive rating action on Russian banks
On Friday (5 Mar), Fitch placed its ratings on 13 Russian banks on positive rating watch, and its ratings on a further 13 Russian banks (that previously had negative rating outlooks) on evolving rating watch. We regard this as the first action by any of the three agencies to confirm the strong current fundamentals of the Russian banking system and the efficiency of Russian central bank policy through the crisis. Although we expect Fitch's action to have no material consequences for the pricing of banking credit risk, we expect it to contribute to a gradual reversal of the situation in which Russia's have traditionally overpayed for their capital market borrowings vs similarly rated corporates. Fitch based its rating actions on the two key factors:
The infrastructural capacity of the banks to replenish their liquidity using various Central Bank of Russia (CBR) facilities has significantly improved during the crisis. We have repeatedly stated that the liquidity support framework implemented by the CBR at the very beginning of the crisis (including unsecured cash injections and refinancing against non-tradeable assets) has been, perhaps, the most successful part of the Russian authorities' anti-crisis package.
Even more importantly, Fitch said it expects a significant majority of Russian banks to cope with their asset-quality issues without requiring additional capital support from shareholders. We believe this is the first time a rating agency has made such a strong statement about the asset-quality issue in Russia's banking system. In this regard, Fitch's position differs significantly from those of Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Moody's (and particularly from that of S&P), and we think it is better aligned with the current state of things. With provisioning coverage of the total loan book at around 11% and capital adequacy exceeding 15%, we think Russian banks are pretty well protected, even from an unexpected asset-quality blow-up.
We believe aggressive negative comments by the rating agencies have been key in determining negative perceptions of Russian banking credits, therefore we think Fitch's latest, positive comments are very important. Overall, we still regard the premiums at which banking credits trade over similarly rated corporates a major structural imbalance in the Russian bond market, and we expect these premiums to narrow gradually over the medium term.
Bloomberg: EDF Studies Nuclear Partnership With Rosatom, Les Echos Says
By David Whitehouse
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA is studying a possible partnership with Rosatom of Russia to jointly offer nuclear reactors to third countries, Les Echos reported, citing Rosatom’s director of communications Serguei Novikov.
Last Updated: March 9, 2010 00:26 EST
Reuters: EDF, Rosatom may extend nuclear partnership-paper
Tue Mar 9, 2010 7:27am GMT
PARIS, March 9 (Reuters) - French power group EDF (EDF.PA) and Russian rival Rosatom are looking at extending a nuclear partnership to offer new reactors outside their domestic base, Les Echos newspaper said on Tuesday.
The heads of the companies, Henri Proglio and Serguei Kirienko, discussed the possible move on the sidelines of an international conference on civil nuclear energy and more in-depth talks are imminent, the paper said.
"The idea is to transform the existing cooperation between EDF and Rosatom into an international strategic cooperation," Rosatom's head of corporate communication, Serguei Novikov, was quoted as saying in Les Echos.
Under their current cooperation, Rosatom provides EDF with uranium enrichment services while EDF and Inter RAO, a Russian electricity producer which is 60 percent owned by Rosatom, are examining common development projects in Russia and elswhere. (Reporting by Caroline Jacobs; Editing by Hans Peters)
Steel Guru: Russian SMR Group ink loan agreement to refinance debts
Tuesday, 09 Mar 2010
(Free news on steel, iron ore, coal, nickel, copper, metals and mining)
It is reported that Russia largest ferromolybdenum producer SMR Group has announced that it has signed a loan agreement with its creditors BNP Paribas, ING Bank, Raiffeisen, Royal Bank of Scotland and Alfa-Bank to refinance its existing debt in full.
Accordingly, the total amount of the loan is USD 122 million with a four year tenor and a 15 month grace period.
Mr Anton Chertkov SMR Group chairman said "The successful completion of the refinancing process will allow the company to concentrate on further increasing the efficiency of our assets to ensure future development and increase of our share in the world ferromolybdenum market."
March 9, 2010, 2:32 a.m. EST
MarketWatch: Russia's Severstal swings to 2009 net loss
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Russian steel producer Severstal (OTHER:SVJT.F) reported Tuesday a net loss of $1.04 billion in 2009, compared with a net profit of $2.03 billion in 2008. Sales dropped to $13.05 billion from $22.4 billion. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires expected a net loss of $724 million and revenue of $12.9 billion. "Solid economic growth in emerging markets and a gradual recovery of demand in mature markets have improved the outlook for 2010," said Alexey Mordashov, chief executive of Severstal, in a statement. Also, "growing demand from China for raw materials has already led to higher spot prices for iron ore and coking coal in 2010, a trend we believe will be sustained during the year," he said.
Reuters: UPDATE 1- Severstal Q4 net loss $162 mln, outlook improved
Tue Mar 9, 2010 8:34am GMT
* Q4 net loss $162 million, vs forecast $186 mln net profit
* Q4 EBITDA $630 million, vs forecast $561 million
* Says outlook "improved", solid emerging markets growth
* Shares down 1.4 percent
(Adds company comment)
MOSCOW, March 9 (Reuters) - Severstal (CHMF.MM), Russia's largest steelmaker, posted an unexpected fourth-quarter net loss of $162 million, hit by losses at foreign operations, and reported an improved outlook.
"Solid economic growth in emerging markets and a gradual recovery of demand in mature markets have improved the outlook for 2010," chief executive Alexei Mordashov said on Tuesday.
Severstal was expected to post a fourth-quarter net profit of $186 million after a $1.21 billion loss in the 2008 period, a Reuters poll found.
Though it slipped to a loss after a third-quarter profit, Severstal's domestic operations continued to improve thanks to strong export demand for its low-cost steel.
Its Russian operations recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $555 million, up from $434 million in the third quarter.
Overall, group EBITDA totalled $630 million, ahead of the $561 million forecast and also up from $298 million in the 2008 period. Revenue reached $3.92 billion, versus a $3.85 billion forecast and below $4.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Severstal is not paying a dividend and said it was keeping the resumption of dividends under review.
Total debt stood at $7.23 billion at end-2009, down from $8.27 billion a year earlier. (Reporting by Alfred Kueppers; Editing by Dan Lalor)
RenCap: Severstal faces competition for gold asset in Guinea
Rencap
March 9, 2010
Event: According to a Vedomosti article today (9 Mar), Endeavour Financial Luxembourg has increased its stake in Crew Gold to 40.02%, paying approximately $11.3mn for an additional stake. In Feb 2010 Severstal increased its share in Crew Gold by 6.8% to 26.5%, paying NOK1.1/share (approximately $27mn for the stake). Severstal had paid $51.14mn for its original stake (NOK0.9/share). Crew Gold's assets are located in Guinea. FY09 output was 179 koz, and the stated purchase price of the 6.8% stake values the company at $396mn.
Action: The news is neutral to negative for Severstal.
Rationale: Taking into account Endeavour Financial's decision to raise its stake in Crew Gold, Severstal may face serious competition for the asset. According to Vedomosti, Endeavour Financial Fund is managed with the assistance of Fiore Financial Corporation. Vedomosti points out that the President of Fiore Financial Corporation, Frank Giustra, is a good friend of former US President Bill Clinton. Endeavour Financial has experience working with Russian partners. In 2009, the fund acquired a 20% stake in Etruscan Resources (a Canadian mining company involved in exploring for gold and diamonds in Africa) from Maxim Finsky. Endeavour Financial is also the co-owner of Coalcorp (a coal mining and exploration company in Colombia) together with Pala Investments Holdings Limited, which is controlled by Vladimir Iorih (former co-owner of Mechel). Severstal has not provided any official comments on the Crew Gold developments so far. We expect the management to clarify the situation during the FY09 conference call today.
Bloomberg: Rusal Says Unit Will Pay Norden $23 Million to Settle Claim
By Joshua Fellman
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal said today that its unit RTI Ltd. will pay Norden A/S $23 million to settle claims related to seven shipping contracts for bauxite, and will enter a new freight contract for 2 million metric tons of the mineral.
Last Updated: March 9, 2010 00:54 EST
Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia Sberbank to seek Turkish bank stake-source
Tue Mar 9, 2010 1:25am IST
* GE selling 20.85 pct stake in Garanti Bank
* Stake worth $3.7 bln at current market cap
* Source says five or six bidders expected (Adds details, quote, background)
By Conor Sweeney
MOSCOW, March 8 (Reuters) - Sberbank (SBER03.MM) , Russia's biggest lender, is lining up a bid for the 20.85 percent stake in Turkey's Garanti Bank (GARAN.IS) being sold by General Electric Co (GE.N), a source close to the deal said on Monday.
The stake in Garanti, the most actively traded stock on the Istanbul bourse, is worth almost $3.7 billion at current market prices. U.S. conglomerate General Electric is selling the stake as part of its strategy to scale back its finance arm.
"GE is delighted that Sberbank is going to be one of five or six bidders for its stake in Garanti," the source told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. He said bids were due by March 12.
"GE is delighted that, in this environment, there is so much interest in the stake."
Sberbank was not available for comment late on Monday, a public holiday in Russia. Officials at Garanti Bank were also unavailable when contacted by Reuters.
State-controlled Sberbank aims to expand its presence overseas and in 2008 unveiled a five-year strategy to generate between 5 percent and 7 percent of its earnings abroad.
Garanti has boomed in recent years to become one of the Turkish banking sector's greatest successes. Its shares rose 143 percent in 2009, outperforming both the index of banking stocks, which rose 116 percent, and the Istanbul index as a whole, as it reported strong profit growth.
Dogus Group owns a 30.5 percent stake in Garanti and analysts have speculated it could increase its holding.
Turkish media have also reported Spain's Banco Santander (SAN.MC), Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) and a Gulf-based investment fund as among the potential bidders for the stake.
A market source in Turkey told Reuters in February that HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) were also potential bidders. [ID:nLDE61P09H]
General Electric, the world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity-producing turbines, has made trimming back GE Capital a major strategic focus. The finance arm's profit fell 73 percent last year. [ID:nN26210651]
General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt has repeatedly assured investors that GE Capital will be a smaller, but "meaningful" contributor to the conglomerate's earnings. (Additional reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev in Moscow and Thomas Grove in Istanbul, writing by Robin Paxton, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
VTB Capital: Bankruptcy claims against RBC reportedly withdrawn
VTB Capital
March 9, 2010
positive as bodes well for its debt restructuring schedule - management's focus to shift more to operating activity
News: Vedomosti reports today that last Friday a few individuals withdrew the bankruptcy claims that they had filed against RBC. The paper added that Rosbank, one of RBC's major creditors, had also withdrawn its bankruptcy claim.
Our View: Unsuccessful non-operating financial activity in mid-2008 triggered cash liquidity problems for RBC, resulting in the company accumulating USD 230mn of debt by the end of 2009. These problems triggered a number of lawsuits, most of which, according to the paper, have now been resolved.
We note that RBC managed to reach an agreement with Onexim, according to which the latter will be the owner of a controlling 51% stake in the company in exchange for USD 80mn. The deal is likely to be concluded by the end of May.
RIA: Russia launches car scrapping program
10:4809/03/2010
Following the example of many Western countries, Russia has launched a program offering owners of old cars 50,000 rubles ($1,680) each for their vehicles' disposal in a bid to support Russia's ailing car industry, a leading business daily reported on Tuesday.
Kommersant wrote that Russian car dealers started issuing the "disposal premiums" on Monday. The money is provided to those ready to have their 10-year-or-older car scrapped under the new scheme, and buy a new one from an Industry and Trade Ministry-compiled list of over 60 Russian and foreign car brands produced in Russia.
However, Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko earlier said the weak point of the plan, that could theoretically expand to Russia's estimated 18 million 10-year-or-older cars, is the lack of a developed car scrapping infrastructure, with a mere 153 disposal stations having so far been licensed.
Khristenko's ministry even promised to reimburse the dealers for their efforts to deliver old cars to scrapping centers. The scrapping experiment will take place in 49 Russian regions out of more than 80 and will last until November 1, 2010. Khristenko also said a smoothly functioning scrapping scheme should be ready by September.
The government has allocated some 10 billion rubles ($370 mln) to the scheme and projects that some 200,000 new cars, mainly domestically produced Lada, Chevrolet and Opel automobiles, will be sold in 2010 by more than 1,500 authorized dealers in line with the program.
Carmakers and dealers working in Russia told Kommersant that the scrapping premium is the most long-awaited measure to support the crisis-hit Russian car market that halved in 2009.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
DuniyaLive: Google set to launch android based handset for India and Russia
By Agencies
Kolkata: Google India is all set to launch Nexus One in India and Russia. This pocket friendly handset is bound to attract masses and that too without burning a hole in their pocket. This slim phone is equipped with a touch screen display and many other specifications. The specifications include Operating System Android, 512 MB RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, Micro USB port, 3.5mm audio jack.
It also includes other features such as 5.0 MP camera with LED flash, geo tagging, auto focus and 2X digital zoom.
It provides a talk time of 10 hours (2G networks) and 7 hours (3G networks).
BarentsObserver: Murmansk windmillfarm to have German turbines
2010-03-08
The developer of Russia’a first large scale wind park, which is to be located on the Barents Sea coast, has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with the German turbine manufacturing group Avantis Europe GmbH.
Windlife Energy BV and its Russian subsidiary ZAO Windlife Arctic Power have been developing a 200MW wind Park in Murmansk Oblast for the past 3 years, a press release from the company reads. In October 2008 an official commission with members from the Murmansk regional administration approved a Memorandum of Understanding on the development of a major windmill park on the coast of the Kola Peninsula, as BarentsObserver reported.
According to the press release from Windlife Energy, the company has now made the final investment decision and has ordered its subsidiary to work closely with Avantis Europe GmbH in order to reach Financial Close in 2011. Installation of the wind park is foreseen for 2011 and 2012.
The wind park is expected to produce annually approximately 750 GWh in clean energy and will save 456,000 tons of CO2. After completion this new wind park will provide clean energy for some 190.000 households in the Murmansk region.
The Moscow Times: Protecting Intellectual Property When Entering the Russian Market
09 March 2010
Beiten Burkhardt
Succeeding in business means not only having good partners and a solid business plan. It is just as important to arrange for the effective protection of a company’s intellectual property. If the company owns trademarks or inventions, utility models and designs protected by patents, or any other intellectual properties, it is advisable when entering the Russian market or planning to collaborate with partners to ensure that the said intangible assets of the company are duly protected.
First and foremost, it is necessary to ensure that the company’s means of identification (in particular, its trademarks) are protected against misuse by third parties and potential infringement. In this regard, it should be noted that, in the Russian Federation, protection is only afforded to trademarks that have been registered with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) or registered in accordance with Russian international agreements. If a trademark is not registered in Russia and is also not entered in the international register of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with trademark protection extended to Russia, the trademark will not be protected. In this case, the risk arises that any third party may register an identical trademark in Russia. For this reason, prior to entering the Russian market, it is necessary to register the trademark with Rospatent or to submit an application to expand the geographical scope of protection of a trademark entered in the international register. It is also advisable to check whether the trademark is duly registered with respect to all of the goods and services that are manufactured and/or rendered by the company. Furthermore, given that the Cyrillic alphabet is used in the Russian Federation, for the effective protection of a company’s means of identification, it is also recommended to additionally register a Cyrillic version of the trademark. Such registration reduces the risk of bad faith competitors possibly emerging and also makes it possible to avoid the future necessity of proving that the company’s trademark and a Cyrillic trademark used by a third party are confusingly similar and that such use infringes the company’s rights.
Inventions, utility models and designs are also recognized and protected within the Russian Federation if they have been registered with Rospatent or are valid based on international agreements of the Russian Federation. The registration of an invention, utility model or design is confirmed by a patent issued by Rospatent. Therefore, before using the invention, utility model or design of the company within the Russian Federation, it is necessary to ensure that the relevant patents have been received and that previously received patents have not expired.
Finally, the company must not forget about the information comprising its trade secrets. This information should be covered by a trade secret regime as contemplated in the law on trade secrets, with all necessary steps being taken in order to ensure the confidentiality of the information. Otherwise, such trade secrets will not be protected in Russia.
When entering a new market, there are so many steps to be taken and so many financial and legal issues to be weighed that intellectual property is very often an afterthought. At the same time, mistakes made in intellectual property management and protection can be very costly, and it is advisable to arrange for intellectual property protection in advance.
The Moscow Times: Despite Price Drop, Real Estate Still Preferred Form of Collateral
09 March 2010
By Bella Lyauv and Alexei Rozhkov / Vedomosti
Despite a massive fall in real estate prices since the onset of the financial crisis, the most popular form of collateral for bank loans by far is real estate.
More than 70 percent of the property used as collateral in the 20 largest Russian banks falls within the category of real estate, said Svetlana Sagaidak, director of Sberbank's problem assets department.
While 18.5 percent of the collateral on bank loans is housing, 39.3 percent is commercial real estate, Sagaidak said, and if you include all property portfolios, the share reaches 20 percent.
Banks have always considered real estate to be one of the more reliable forms of collateral, said Pavel Gurin, chairman of Raiffeisenbank. The overwhelming majority of UralSib's collateral is in real estate.
As a result of restructuring deals, UralSib companies received as collateral real estate assets equivalent to 5 percent of the bank's assets, said Alexei Chalenko, adviser to the chairman.
"About 70 percent of the collateral we hold is real estate — it used to be that most loans were given out under a real estate backed guarantee," said Andrei Lapko, vice president of Bank of Moscow. "Such a deposit lowers the risk for banks, and even taking into account the current discounted cost, the price of real estate is higher in monetary terms than that of equipment."
Nevertheless, banks' collateral has lost value and liquidity. Because of the crisis, the market has come to a standstill in nearly all segments — land, commercial real estate and housing, experts said.
In Moscow, rental rates for office space have fallen 60 percent from their pre-crisis high. Commercial real estate rental rates have fallen 30 percent to 50 percent, while development has stopped on regional commercial properties, said Andrew Zakrevsky, senior vice president at Knight Frank. But the market has already hit bottom and is even beginning to recover slightly, he said.
There are only a handful of deals for buying and selling land, said Ilya Terentyev, CEO of Zemer Group. He said commercial sales of land in the Moscow region have fallen 12 percent to 15 percent in price. Wholesale land prices have fallen 40 percent and as much as 70 percent in some cases.
The housing market is faring only slightly better. According to the IRN.ru real estate portal, Moscow housing has fallen 37 percent in price to $3,865 per square meter but has rebounded slightly since fall and now runs at about $4,142 per square meter.
The number of apartment sales has picked up as well. But one shouldn't expect a major increase in prices this season, said Oleg Repchenko, head of IRN.ru.
"Delayed demand has been accumulating, and supply in Moscow, as always, is limited. Therefore, having observed the increase in activity, those selling housing are trying to raise prices," he said. "But from the point of view of consumer solvency, current demand for housing leaves much to be desired."
When accounting for their collateral, banks assign a 30 percent to 50 percent discount from the price of the property, Sagaidak said.
In addition, the situation has stabilized. "The fall in rental payments has stopped," she said.
It's not clear that real estate's huge presence in banks' collateral is a risk, as only a fraction of the loans secured by real estate are problematic, Gurin said. "There is a discount system that takes into account liquidity and the possibility of a fall in prices."
There are two kinds of clients: Those with whom banks resolve issues through the courts and those who pay back their loans and work with banks on restructuring their debts, Sagaidak said, adding that the latter are the overwhelming majority. She wouldn't say what percentage of the collateral would have to be taken by the banks.
When loans aren't repaid, the bank takes the deposit as a last resort because converting it into cash always takes time and energy and sometimes results in a loss of funds, Lapko said.
"Our policy is to meet halfway all debtors who want to pay and can," Chalenko said. The market is beginning to recover — the situation with short-term liquidity has returned to normal. We believe that everything will be OK," he said.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
VTB Capital: Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to limit expansion of oil majors' retail business in a region
VTB Capital
March 9, 2010
no limits to current presence - negative for Alliance Oil Company sentiment-wise
News: The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) plans to prohibit oil companies from building and purchasing petroleum stations in a region if they gain a market share of 35% or more in that region. According to FAS representative Anatloy Golomolzin, quoted by Kommersant, FAS would not force those companies which already have a market share of more than 35% in a region to sell their current assets, but would recommend that they swap them for assets in other regions (in order to reduce the market oligopoly).
Our View: The Russian oil market, including the retail segment, is quite oligopolistic, with around 50% of retail capacity in the hands of the oil majors (Rosneft, LUKOIL, Surgutneftegaz, TNK-BP and Gazprom Neft). By introducing the law, FAS intends to decrease the influence of oil majors over price settlements in Russian regions.
We do not think that the new law, were it to be introduced, would influence our valuations of the oil majors as we do not model in an aggressive retail business expansion for them. The law would allow small independent companies to increase their share in the regions. However, one company which might be negatively affected by the law is Alliance Oil Company, as it controls more than 35% of the retail business in the Russian Far East and plans to increase its share. Thus, the news could be negative for the company sentiment-wise, although it does not change anything in our model or valuation.
EasyBourse: CORRECT: WorleyParsons: Sakhneftegaz Wins US$400 Million Sakhalin-1 Contract
("WorleyParsons: Sakhneftegaz Wins US$400M Sakhalin-1 Contract," at 0522 GMT, misstated the engineering company name in the headline and the first paragraph. The correct version follows:)
SYDNEY -(Dow Jones)- WorleyParsons Ltd. (WOR.AU) said Tuesday that Sakhneftegaz Engineering LLC, of which it owns 49%, has been awarded US$400 million worth of services and procurement orders for the massive Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in eastern Russia.
WorleyParsons said the orders, awarded by Exxon Mobil affiliate Exxon Neftegas Ltd. and also applying to the Arkutun-Dagi offshore platform, include engineering, project management and procurement functions.
The new contract includes a US$200 million work order for services and a US$200 million order for procurement.
-By Ross Kelly, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8272-4692; ross.kelly@
UpstreamOnline: Sakhalin gig for Songa Mercur
Norwegian driller Songa Offshore said its semi-submersible rig Songa Mercur has won a a contract with Gazprom unit Gazflot for exploration work off Sakhalin Island later this year.
Upstream staff 08 March 2010 01:09 GMT
Songa said in a statement yesterday that it had signed a 180-day firm contract with Gazflot worth between $55 million and $60 million, excluding any extensions. It said the contract included mobilisation and demobilisation periods, with the vessel set to depart Singapore at the beginning of May.
The Mercur is undergoing routine maintenance in Singapore at present and will return there at the end of the Gazflot work, Songa said today.
Published: 08 March 2010 01:09 GMT | Last updated: 08 March 2010 01:09 GMT
UpstreamOnline: NCS bags Nord Stream job
Aberdeen-based NCS Survey has won a contract from Italy’s Saipem for pipelay support during the inshore phase of the Nord Stream Pipeline Project.
Upstream staff 08 March 2010 10:42 GMT
The pipeline will link Russia with the EU via the Baltic Sea.
The contract is valued at €2 million ($2.7 million) to €3 million and will start in the middle of the year, said NCS in a satatement.
Published: 08 March 2010 10:42 GMT | Last updated: 08 March 2010 10:43 GMT
Gazprom
Trading Markets: Songa Offshore charters rig to Gazprom
Posted on: Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:33:37 EST
Houston, TX, Mar 08, 2010 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) --
8 March 2010 - Norwegian drilling contractor Songa Offshore SE (OSL: SONG) said Sunday it has chartered the Songa Mercur rig to Gazflot LLC, a subsidiary of Russian gas major Gazprom (MCX: GAZP).
The firm part of the contract runs for 180 days and will bring revenue of between USD55m and USD60m, including mobilisation and demobilisation costs.
The rig will be used in Gazflot's upcoming drilling campaign offshore the Sakhalin Island in the 2010 summer season.
Songa Mercur is due to leave Singapore on or around 1 May 2010.
(EUR1 = USD1.4)
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