Russia - WikiLeaks
Russia 091202
Basic Political Developments
• Reuters: PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Dec 2
• Russia Today: “Moscow will decide what happens to Iran” – Stratfor head
• RIA: Ahmadinejad hits out at Russia for backing IAEA resolution
• Alalam.ir: Russia 'will consider' Iran sanctions
• CNN: Ahmadinejad: Russia 'made a mistake' in IAEA vote
• Reuters: Russia shifts stance on Iran, Ahmadinejad defiant
• The Moscow Times: Between Iran and the West - By Alexander Shumilin - The real question is how Russia will preserve political solidarity with the Group of Six states while simultaneously retaining Tehran’s trust? In all likelihood, Moscow does not have a solution for this conundrum other than to rely on a lot of luck.
• World Nuclear News: Approval for Russia's fuel bank - A stockpile of nuclear fuel is to be set up in Russia under IAEA auspices in an effort to increase security of supply.
• : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Russia on December 6
• IANS: Defence, trade on agenda during Indian PM’s Russia visit
• Interfax: Medvedev made the rotation of the Presidium of RF State Council
• RIA: NATO head, Russian envoy hold 'constructive' talks – source
• RIA: U.S. studying Russia's draft European security treaty – Kelly
• AP: US, Russia urge completion of arms control deal - Hammer said that Obama and Medvedev instructed "negotiators to redouble their efforts to resolve outstanding issues."
• NTI: U.S. Agreed to End Missile-Factory Monitoring in Russia, Official Says
• Itar-Tass: Lavrov to participate in OSCE meeting, have talks with Greek PM
• ISRIA: Russia - MFA - Joint Statement by the Heads of Delegation of the Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries and the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Athens, Greece, December 1, 2009
• Itar-Tass: President, prime minister discuss Russia’s social & economic situation - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday to discuss the country’s social and economic situation, the Kremlin press service said. They also discussed implementation of the instructions given on results of the President’s state-of-the-nation Address to the Federal Assembly, the press service said.
• Itar-Tass: Kiev-Moscow dialogue switched to constructive format -- Ukr FMstry
• Reuters: Ukraine to pay Nov gas bill of $770 mln-acting finmin
• Kyiv Post: Source: Russian counterintelligence officers leaving Black Sea Fleet base in Ukraine
• The Georgian Times: Statement by Russian Foreign Ministry - Russian Foreign Ministry has released a special statement regarding the refusal of entry to Russian scientists and experts to Georgia. `This act of Tbilisi confirms the panic fear of Georgia for open and unbiased discussion of difficult issues. This is a concerning symptom, because the ties between scientific elites of the two countries are being blocked,` the statement says.
• Itar-Tass: CIS legislators to meet in Petersburg to discuss coop, security
• RIA: Russia, Argentina sign customs information swap memorandum
• Turkish Weekly: Russia Ratified Agreement on Foreign Trade of Goods in EurAsEC Uniform Customs Territory
• Gazeta.kz: Kazakhstan ratified agreement on conditions and mechanism of application of tariff quotas
• Interfax: Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill to visit Kazakhstan
• RIA: Russian missile cruiser arrives in Vladivostok
• Lenta.ru: Russia has agreed to exchange the fighters for palm oil
• RIA: India suspends flights of Russian-made fighters over accident
• Domain-: Stealth frigate INS Teg floated–out at Yantar shipyard
• The Jamestown Foundation: Russian Strategic Bomber Flights: Long Range Deception
• Xinhua: Russia to close military depot after consecutive explosions
• Xinhua: Satellite debris misses Int'l Space Station
• AFP: Islamists claim Russian train bombing: rebel website
• RFERL: Islamists Claim Responsibility For Russian Train Bombing
• Reuters: Islamist rebels claim Russian rail bombing
• Itar-Tass: Mourning meeting to be held in Petersbrg in memory of terror victims
• Itar-Tass: 95 injured in train wreck remain in hospitals, 13 in grave conditn
• The Moscow Times: Murder on the Nevsky Express - By Yulia Latynina
• The Jamestown Foundation: Insurgent Violence Reported in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria
• Al Jazeera: North Caucasus sees deadly clashes
• The Moscow Times: Russia’s Renegade Puppet - By Dmitry Shlapentokh - Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov in July proposed to Akhmed Zakayev, a leader of the nationalistic and comparatively moderate Chechen opposition, that he return to Chechnya. Kadyrov promised Zakayev amnesty and various positions ranging from director of the local theater to culture minister.
• Russia Today: Tax plans for SME’s fire politicians up
• CNN Money: What on earth is happening with "Russia's GPS"?
• Executive Intelligence Review: British Oligarchy Targets The Four Powers - The current Moscow-St. Petersburg express trains are scheduled to be replaced on Dec. 18 by Russia's first high-speed train, which will use the Sapsan, designed by Russian and German engineers at Siemens. Yakunin discussed the technology with visiting U.S. Transport Secretary Ray LaHood in Moscow Nov. 20. The Nevsky train bombing not only killed several prominent Russian government officials, including the head of the national highway corporation, but a second bomb, which failed to fully detonate, was activated on Nov. 28, as rescuers, including prominent Russian security and rail officials, were on the scene, supervising the rescue effort and the criminal investigation. Among those on the scene was Russian Railway chief Yakunin, one of the inner circle of Kremlin policymakers, who, along with President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, have engineered a dramatic shift in Russian policy.
National Economic Trends
• The Moscow Times: Revised Oil Prices Drive Up GDP Forecast
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
• Reuters: Russian markets -- Factors to Watch on Dec 2
• Bloomberg: Russian Stocks May Gain 37% as Economy Rebounds, UralSib Says
• Bloomberg: Dixy Group, Razgulay, Polymetal: Russian Stock-Market Preview
• Stock Markets review: Russian stock market daily morning report (December 02, 2009, Wednesday)
• Mineweb: Russia's ARMZ makes all-cash $33m bid for Dornod JV partner Khan Resources
• Reuters: Russia Mechel gains 3-yr extension on 15 bln rbl loan
• RBC: VTB Bank restructures Mechel loans
• Bloomberg: Rusal Lenders Said to Sign Debt Accord, Paving Way for Offering
• Reuters: UPDATE 1-RUSAL agrees $7.4 bln debt restructuring – report
• Bloomberg: Rusal Wins 4-Year Extension on $7.4 Billion Debt, Vedomosti Says
• : Estée Lauder heir to forge Moscow hotel deal - Ronald Lauder, a scion of the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, is to forge a $2bn venture with the Moscow city government to manage and revamp the capital’s hotel business in time for Russia’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in 2014.
• Bloomberg: AvtoVAZ Plans to Sell or Close All ‘Non-Core, Inefficient’ Units
• Bloomberg: AvtoVAZ Asks 15,000 Employees to Resign, Union Says (Update1)
• Reuters: Russian Nov rail freights rise yr/yr, fall mo/mo
• Barentsobserver: Less cargo over Arkhangelsk port
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
• Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia sets new oil output record in Nov
• Oil and gas Eurasia: TNK-BP May Increase Its Oil Export
Gazprom
• : Gazprom may acquire 5.26% stake in Verbundnetz Gas (VNG)
• Reuters: UPDATE 2-Statoil, Gazprom sign LNG, gas deals for U.S.
• Reuters: UPDATE 3-Gazprom Neft eyes a decade of growth, field buys
• Upstreamonline: Gazprom Neft bottom line falls 47%
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Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Reuters: PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Dec 2
Wed Dec 2, 2009 7:50am GMT
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
KOMMERSANT
kommersant.ru
- One of Russia's largest oil producers Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) is buying the production unit of the Sweden's Malka Oil AB (MALK.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) to gain access to three oil fields in Western Siberia.
- Moscow city government wants the U.S.-based Estee Lauder Companies INC (EL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to buy a 51 percent stake in a hotel chain. The US investor would gain shares in 15 hotels including the Moskva hotel next to the Kremlin, the daily reports.
VEDOMOSTI
wvedomosti.ru
- Russia's aluminium giant UC RUSAL has reached a long-awaited restructuring agreement on $7.4 billion of foreign debt, the daily reports.
- AvtoVAZ (AVAZ.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) chief Igor Komarov prefers foreign cars for personal use. He has driven a Mercedes for 15 years, the daily reports, based on an interview with the businessman.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
rg.ru
- Eighty percent of products bought in Moscow and St. Petersburg's food stores do not meet quality requirements, the daily reports.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
ng.ru
- Experts are forecasting a rise in debts and a threat of defaults across Russia's provinces in 2011-2012 as the federal government has refused to subsidise their budgets, the daily says.
((--Writing by Tatyana Ustinova, Reuters Messaging: tatiana.ustinova.@, +7 095 775 1242))
Russia Today: “Moscow will decide what happens to Iran” – Stratfor head
02 December, 2009, 09:12
George Friedman, an American political scientist and founder of the private intelligence corporation Stratfor shared some of his forecasts of how the century will progress.
RIA: Ahmadinejad hits out at Russia for backing IAEA resolution
11:3402/12/2009
MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian President Mahmound Ahmadinejad has said Russia "made a mistake" when it backed the UN nuclear watchdog's recent resolution on Iran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censured Iran for withholding information on its controversial nuclear program in a resolution last week. It also urged Iran to freeze construction of its newly revealed uranium enrichment facility in Qom.
"Russia made a mistake. It made an incorrect analysis of the current international situation," Ahmadinejad told the national TV.
He added that the recently announced plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities in Iran were not a "bluff" and Tehran would go ahead with the program.
"There is no room for bluff in this regard. We are set to achieve everything that was declared," Ahmadinejad said
Iran's government instructed the country's nuclear organization on Sunday to start building five new plants and outline locations for another five within two months. The facilities will be similar to the existing facility in Natanz. The Iranian leader has set a goal to produce about 250-300 metric tons of nuclear fuel annually.
The Iranian president added that his country had no plans to report to the IAEA on its nuclear projects.
"We are not obliged to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency about our nuclear facility construction plans unless the technology is imported," he said.
"Sanctions will have no effect. Aggressors will regret it as soon as they put their finger on trigger," he said.
A diplomatic source said on Tuesday Russia would back sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program if an international consensus is reached.
"If there is a consensus on sanctions, Russia will not remain in isolation," the source said.
Alalam.ir: Russia 'will consider' Iran sanctions
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:44:23 GMT
In a volte-face, Russia has announced it will not stand in the way of a fresh raft of Western-sponsored sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
A Russian diplomatic source said Moscow's stance on Iran has pushed his country to isolation.
The diplomat told reported in The Russian capital: "If there is a consensus on sanctions. We will not remain to one side."
In an anti-Iranian censure motion at the IAEA's Board of Governors, Russia voted for the motion in a move which drew unveiled criticisms from Iranian higher-ups.
The 35-member board called on Iran to stop construction of a nuclear site, which is meant to back up the Natanz enrichment plant.
The motion came after inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency issues a clean bill of health for the Fordo nuclear plant, under construction south of Tehran.
However, Iran announced it will not backpedal on its nuclear rights and as a first reaction, vowed it will build ten more nuclear enrichment plants.
CNN: Ahmadinejad: Russia 'made a mistake' in IAEA vote
December 1, 2009 10:24 p.m. EST
(CNN) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Russia erred last week when it voted for the U.N. nuclear watchdog's resolution rebuking Iran for its nuclear activities.
Ahmadinejad, during a TV interview Tuesday, also criticized the West for double standards and called the contention that Iran is isolating itself "ridiculous."
He repeated Iran's position that the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution has no legal basis and said the issue over Iran's nuclear program has become politicized.
"Some people were deceived. I think Russia made a mistake," he said, asserting it didn't have a proper "analysis" of the issue. He didn't elaborate on that.
International powers fear that Iran is developing nuclear weaponry and want to be sure that will not happen. Iran says it is developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes.
Twenty-five of the 35 countries with representatives on the IAEA board of governors voted for the resolution, which also called for Iran to suspend its construction of the newly disclosed Qom nuclear facility.
Ahmadinejad said Britain and Israel sabotaged the talks in Geneva, Switzerland, that led to the vote.
Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has been involved in the negotiations with Iran over the nuclear issue -- along with Germany and the other permanent members: France, Britain, the United States and China. Russia hasn't always sided with other nations on how to approach the problem.
Three countries opposed the resolution -- Cuba, Malaysia and Venezuela. Six countries abstained and another was absent.
The Iranian president said any sanctions would have minimal effect and said world powers wouldn't think about launching an attack on the country.
Ahmadinejad also indicated he is disappointed with President Barack Obama's performance and he discussed his recent trip to Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Senegal, and Gambia -- a journey he hailed as successful. He didn't make any reference to the case of five British sailors held by Tehran since November 25.
Reuters: Russia shifts stance on Iran, Ahmadinejad defiant
Wed Dec 2, 2009 2:48am IST
By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will join any consensus on more sanctions against Iran, a senior Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday after Tehran declared it would expand nuclear activity in defiance of a U.N. rebuke.
It was a thinly veiled Russian warning to Iran of waning patience with its failure to allay fears it aims to develop atom bombs in secret, and hinted that Iran could no longer rely on Russia to stop tougher world action against it.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance on Tuesday, saying sanctions would have no effect and that no more talks on the nuclear dispute were needed with the West. Speaking on state television, he also criticised Russian action.
Governors of the U.N. nuclear agency passed a resolution on Friday censuring Iran for covertly constructing a second enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom, in addition to its IAEA-monitored one at Natanz, and demanding a construction halt.
Tehran said on Sunday it would build 10 more uranium enrichment sites -- a pledge that Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday was "not a bluff".
Iran's announcement had been in retaliation for the 25-3 vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors, which sailed through with unusual Russian and Chinese support.
"If there is a consensus on Iran sanctions, we will not stand aside," said the Russian diplomatic source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
By referring to "consensus", Russia could be leaving itself an escape hatch since China has been the most resistant to punitive steps against Iran among the six world powers.
The source made clear Moscow would not move so fast to embrace harsher sanctions as the United States and EU powers, who want to act early next year if Tehran has not begun fulfilling IAEA demands for nuclear restraint and transparency by then.
"We will be thinking about sanctions but this is not an issue of the next few hours or weeks," he said.
Russia did not want to complicate the situation with threats against Iran.
"We would rather have Iran cooperating more openly and consistently with the IAEA and showing clear steps to lift concerns -- which are gaining greater foundation -- than introducing sanctions against Iran," the source said.
AHMADINEJAD RESPONSE
In his televised comments, Ahmadinejad dismissed the threat of sanctions and warned any "aggressor" against Iran.
"Sanctions will have no effect. Aggressors will regret their action as soon as they put their finger on the trigger," he said.
Israel has hinted at the possibility of attacking Iranian facilities if it deems diplomacy at a dead end.
Ahmadinejad said Western attempts to isolate Iran were in vain and he criticised Russia.
"Russia made a mistake by backing the anti-Iran resolution and we believe that their analysis in this regard was incorrect," he said.
The Russian source said Iran's plan for 10 more enrichment plants did "not add optimism to talks", in a reference to talks with Tehran revived in October but stalled by disputes.
The United States and its allies fear Iran will divert its declared civilian nuclear energy programme to yielding atomic bombs, not electricity. Tehran says it has no such intention.
Concerns have deepened over Iran's retreat from an October deal in principle that would see its low-enriched uranium -- which is potential fissile material for bombs -- sent abroad for processing into fuel for a nuclear medicine reactor in Tehran.
"The situation surrounding the agency is stormy now. We have a lot of difficult challenges," new IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano told reporters on his first day in office after succeeding Mohamed ElBaradei. Amano declined to elaborate.
IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said Iran had not yet informed the U.N. nuclear inspectorate directly of its new enrichment plans and that it would seek clarification from Tehran.
Western diplomats and analysts believe the new enrichment plan may be largely bluster, possibly a negotiating gambit by Iran, and would take many years if not decades to execute.
But analysts said the risk remained of Iran using an array of above-board civilian enrichment plants to camouflage one or two small covert sites geared to enriching uranium to the high purity suitable for nuclear warheads.
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Tehran; Andrew Hammond in Dubai; Sylvia Westall in Vienna; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Charles Dick)
The Moscow Times: Between Iran and the West
02 December 2009
By Alexander Shumilin
Iran has notched up its level of confrontation in dealing with the outside world over the past weeks — not only with the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, but also with neighboring oil-rich Arab monarchies. In the process, it has created problems for Russian diplomacy as well. The more deadlocked that negotiations become over Tehran’s nuclear program, the greater the likelihood that Israel will ultimately resort to a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
This possibility has put tremendous pressure on Iran’s ruling circle of mullahs. Their natural defensive response has been to make an emphatic appeal to Russia to deliver the S-300 surface-to-air missile system that it promised Iran in an agreement that the two countries signed in December 2005.
But Russia is in no hurry to deliver the S-300, pointing out that the contract does not specify a specific deadline for delivery. Following a hasty visit to the Foreign Ministry, the Iranian ambassador to Russia announced that Moscow would definitely deliver the sought-after missile system within two months, but the Kremlin remains silent.
All along, Moscow was betting that it could use the S-300 as a means of increasing its influence in the region. This was typical of the Kremlin’s active foreign policy in 2005, when the country was “getting up off its knees” amid sky-high oil prices. It was marked by a broad opposition to the United States to settle scores with Washington for its support of color revolutions in other former Soviet republics. Russia chose the Middle East as a fitting arena for that standoff — a region where it would renew special relationships with radical regimes first cultivated by Soviet leaders and later neglected under former President Boris Yeltsin. Recall that in April 2005 then-President Vladimir Putin visited Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He caused a scandal by informing the Israelis of his plan to renew military cooperation with Syria, including the delivery of an air defense missile system. Moreover, Russian offensive missiles ended up in the hands of Lebanese Hezbollah extremists, some of which rained down on Israelis in the war with Hezbollah in summer 2006.
The international political situation has changed ever since the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama “reset” relations with Moscow by canceling plans for deploying elements of its missile batteries in Central Europe. Russia’s response has been to step up its cooperation in the six-party talks, consisting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, over the question of Iran. Judging by the Foreign Ministry’s latest statements that unequivocally condemn Tehran’s rejection of a compromise with the IAEA and the Group of Six nations, Moscow’s political position is now in line with most of the world community. This would explain why Tehran is so upset with Moscow.
In practical terms, however, Moscow is trying to establish an intermediary role between Iran and the West. That was one of the political goals of Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko’s when he visited Tehran recently. Shmatko signed several strategic cooperation projects between Moscow and Tehran, especially in the oil and gas sector. He also clearly went out of his way to avoid the prickly question of the undelivered S-300 system.
But Moscow has not remained completely silent on this issue. One high-ranking official attempted to explain to the Iranian side the reason for the delay in delivery. His rather peculiar reasoning was that by withholding the weapon system, Russia was forestalling Israel’s inevitable strike against facilities in Iran. This shows that Moscow understands the importance of the problem and that its actions can influence whether there will be peace or war in the Persian Gulf. It is anybody’s guess as to how Russia will extricate itself from the trap of its December 2005 agreement with Iran.
The real question is how Russia will preserve political solidarity with the Group of Six states while simultaneously retaining Tehran’s trust? In all likelihood, Moscow does not have a solution for this conundrum other than to rely on a lot of luck.
Alexander Shumilin is the director of Center for the Analysis of Middle East Conflicts with the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
World Nuclear News: Approval for Russia's fuel bank
01 December 2009
A stockpile of nuclear fuel is to be set up in Russia under IAEA auspices in an effort to increase security of supply.
The IAEA has theorised that political problems could unfairly leave a country without reliable access to nuclear fuel, despite honest and peaceful use of nuclear energy.
There have been several suggestions to eliminate this remote possibility, the simplest being a reserve of low-enriched uranium objectively administered by the IAEA. Should a country face denial of supply it could apply for access to the reserve - but only if it was in full compliance with IAEA requirements.
The reserve of 120 tonnes of low-enriched uranium would be enough to supply two complete fuel loads for new reactors, or around six reloads. A typical power reactor operates for 12-18 months between refuelling stops.
In the resolution passed last week, which gave new IAEA director general Yukiya Amano the authority to complete contracts with Russia and future customers, the IAEA noted that "good operation of the market already provides assurances of supply." It continued that the reserve would be "a back-up solution only" which should avoid interfering with the existing market.
The Russian suggestion itself also said, "The main guarantee of reliable nuclear fuel supplies is a properly functioning market where both suppliers and consumers comply with their obligations under commercial contracts." The reserve would only be for countries facing "insuperable difficulties of a political nature" but also in good standing with the IAEA.
However, "No one has persuasively explained, even in theory, what such circumstances might be," said World Nuclear Association director general John Ritch, a former US ambassador to the IAEA. "Any mechanism that truly fortifies the nuclear non-proliferation system warrants support, both from the nuclear industry and from governments worldwide. But just how a fuel bank would do so remains a legitimate question."
Ritch wondered whose behaviour the new facility would change: "Under what scenario would governments around the world deny nuclear fuel to a country which would then turn to those same governments, operating through the IAEA, to supply the fuel they have just denied? Why would a country operating in full compliance with the non-proliferation treaty feel the need for a fuel bank? And why would a government intending to develop a nuclear enrichment capability, whether for legitimate economic commerce or with illicit military aims, change its behaviour because of the existence of a fuel bank?"
Nevertheless, Russia has decided to go ahead, bearing the full costs of producing the low-enriched uranium as well as its storage and maintenance.
: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Russia on December 6
12/2/2009
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will pay a three-day visit to Russia for his regular annual summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
‘Indian PM Singh will make an official visit to Russia on December 6-8,’ the Kremlin press service said.
‘The visit is taking place on the invitation of Dmitry,’ it said. Dr Singh will arrive here in the afternoon.
He will hold official level talks in the Kremlin on December 7. On the same day in the evening, he will attend the closing ceremony of the Year of India in Russia at the Bolshoi Theatre, where a gala concert will be presented.
On December 8, Dr Singh is expected to meet with Russian Indologists and after which he will leave for India.
The Indian Prime Minister will stay at the Blatschug Kempinski Hotel.
IANS: Defence, trade on agenda during Indian PM’s Russia visit
By IANS
December 2nd, 2009
NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for Russia Sunday for the annual summit talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, with expansion of civil nuclear ties, new defence deals and boosting trade high on the agenda.
Manmohan Singh will visit Moscow (for three days) at the invitation of Medvedev for the annual bilateral Indo-Russian summit, a statement from the ministry of external affairs said.
The prime minister will hold talks with Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in addition to having several other engagements, said the statement.
The Dec 6-8 trip will see Manmohan Singh attending the closing ceremony of the Year of India festival in Russia at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Manmohan Singh and Medvedev are likely to expand the civil nuclear cooperation between India and Russia. The agreement to build civilian nuclear reactors in India was signed in December 2008 during a visit by the Russian president to New Delhi.
The two sides are expecting to increase bilateral trade from $7 billion to $20 billion by 2015.
The two countries are expected to sign two major defence-related agreements including a 10-year deal on weapons, aircraft and maintenance contracts estimated at around $5 billion.
But the long-awaited deal for aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov is unlikely to be finalised.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony last week said the Gorshkov deal is not going to be clinched during the prime minister’s visit.
The price negotiations between Russian and Indian officials for Gorshkov have gone on for long, with both sides refusing to budge from their stands.
In November, a 40-member Russian delegation was in India to discuss the price hike for refurbishment of the $ 2.2-billion aircraft carrier. The total demand by the Russians now touches $2.9 billion, instead of $974 million that was originally contracted. India has asked Russia to bring down the price to $2.1 billion.
The volatile situation in Afghanistan and terrorism are likely to figure in the prime minister’s talks with Russian officials.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin was in New Delhi last month and Indian President Pratibha Patil paid a five-day visit to Moscow in September.
02.12.09 09:32
Interfax: Medvedev made the rotation of the Presidium of RF State Council
/Google translation/
December 2. Interfax-Russia.ru - President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree "On the State Council Presidium Russia", under which carried out the rotation of the presidium of the State Council and approved by the presidium of the State Council, said on Wednesday the press office of head of state.
These were the governor of the Kirov region, Nikita White, governor of Stavropol Territory Valery Gajewski, Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Khakassia Viktor Zimin, governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Alexander Misharin, governor of Kostroma region Igor Slyunyayev, the governor of the Pskov region Turchak Andrew, governor of Khabarovsk Krai Vyacheslav Shport.
RIA: NATO head, Russian envoy hold 'constructive' talks – source
00:5802/12/2009
BRUSSELS, December 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian envoy to NATO held a constructive meeting with the alliance's secretary general on Tuesday, a source in Russia's diplomatic mission told RIA Novosti.
Dmitry Rogozin met with Anders Fogh Rasmussen ahead of Friday's meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of foreign ministers.
"The meeting was constructive and allows for the hope that the forthcoming ministerial meeting will be substantive and politically relevant," the source said.
Rogozin said earlier that the Canadian delegation had blocked the adoption of documents at the meeting, and accused NATO of refusing to set up a working group on Afghanistan and barring Moscow from participating in its internal discussions on the situation.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai denied that anything was blocked, saying that discussions continued on several documents ahead of the meeting.
According to Rogozin, Russia insists that the council lead the discussion on the enhancement of European security.
"I believe that since we published the draft treaty on European security, [Foreign] Minister [Sergei Lavrov] will have something to discuss with his colleagues even in the absence of other documents," Russia's permanent representative said after a meeting of ambassadors ahead of the foreign ministers' gathering.
President Dmitry Medvedev proposed drawing up a new European security pact in June 2008, and Russia published a draft of the treaty on Sunday, sending copies to heads of state and international organizations, including NATO.
The meeting of the Russia-NATO Council's foreign ministers is the first since the August 2008 armed conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia, and is aimed at drafting a "roadmap" for improving relations between Russia and the Western military alliance.
Rogozin warned that NATO's links with Russia were one-sided, and said there were factions in NATO that still regard Russia as a "Cold War" rival and oppose any "reset" of relations.
"Feeling the need for assistance from Russia, they [these factions] nevertheless refuse to discuss issues that are vital to Russia's national interest, primarily, improving European security and the creation of a more balanced situation globally and on the European continent," the Russian diplomat said.
He added that the attitude of several NATO members has hampered concrete steps toward the improvement of Russia-NATO relations, as all decision-making processes in the alliance are based on consensus, and even a single member can block progress in dialogue with Moscow.
During an informal ministerial meeting in Greece in June, Russia and NATO agreed to renew cooperation on security issues, which was frozen after Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war in August over the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia, after which Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian republic.
Relations have also been strained by Russia's resistance to Georgia and Ukraine's bids to join NATO.
RIA: U.S. studying Russia's draft European security treaty – Kelly
07:2902/12/2009
WASHINGTON, December 1 (RIA Novosti) - The United States is studying Russia's draft European security treaty, the State Department said Tuesday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed drawing up a new European security pact in June 2008, and Russia published a draft of the treaty on Sunday, sending copies to heads of state and international organizations, including NATO.
"President Obama received a letter from President Medvedev which contained the draft treaty," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
"We're studying the proposal carefully, and we consider it to be an important contribution to the ongoing debate on European security, which has been taking place as part of the Corfu Process," he said.
The 17th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) opened in the Greek capital Athens on Tuesday. Its agenda includes discussions of Russia's draft.
At an informal meeting in June this year, the 56 OSCE member states' foreign ministers agreed to start a discussion on fundamental security issues. The discussions were named the Corfu Process after the Greek island that hosted the meeting.
"We believe any proposal must build on the existing body of commitments we have developed together over three decades, as well as central structures such as the OSCE and NATO. These commitments and structures have helped to ensure security in Europe," Kelly told a daily press briefing.
"We continue to embrace a comprehensive approach to security in Europe, which encompasses the political, military, economic, environmental, and human dimensions, and agree entirely with President Medvedev that we need to continue our efforts to adjust to new and emerging threats to European security," he said.
"We look forward to working with the Russian Federation and our other partners in Europe in the days and months to come to further elaborate an agreed approach on these important issues," the spokesman said.
Russia's draft security pact says, in particular, that "every Party shall be entitled to consider an armed attack against any other Party an armed attack against itself."
"In exercising its right of self-defense under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, it shall be entitled to render the attacked Party, subject to its consent, the necessary assistance, including military," it says.
AP: US, Russia urge completion of arms control deal
(AP) – 9 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. and Russian presidents are urging their nuclear negotiators to step up efforts to complete a new arms control agreement to replace a Cold War-era pact expiring this week.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said Tuesday that President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev raised the issue in a phone call Monday about U.S. plans in Afghanistan.
U.S. and Russian negotiators are trying to finish a replacement agreement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires Dec. 5th.
The agreement would reduce the two countries nuclear arsenals.
Hammer said that Obama and Medvedev instructed "negotiators to redouble their efforts to resolve outstanding issues."
NTI: U.S. Agreed to End Missile-Factory Monitoring in Russia, Official Says
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009
The United States has agreed to end verification operations at Russia's Votkinsk Machine Building Plant under a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 30).
The halt to monitoring operations at the missile-manufacturing site was formalized in an undisclosed agreement reached in October, a State Department official told the newspaper (see GSN, Nov. 20).
"U.S. and Russian officials signed on Oct. 20 a series of documents, which establish the procedures to be followed for the completion of U.S. monitoring activities at the Russian ICBM production facility at Votkinsk," the source said.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to cut their nations' respective deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads, down from the 2,200-weapon limit the states are required to meet by 2012 under another treaty. The leaders also pledged to restrict strategic delivery vehicles on each side to between 500 and 1,100.
In a November 2008 proposal for a START successor agreement, the Bush administration did not call for a continued U.S. presence at the site because Washington had decided "not to limit delivery vehicles," said Paula DeSutter, who served as assistant secretary of state at the time.
When the Obama administration "accepted the START approach to limit both warheads and missiles," a better case emerged for maintaining verification operations at Votkinsk, she said.
"There was nothing in our proposal that precluded the Obama administration from adding Votkinsk or any other verification measure, had they decided to take that approach," DeSutter contended.
Obama administration sources said they are seeking alternative means of confirming Moscow's compliance with the new arms control treaty. Such methods might involve audits, intelligence operations and close scrutiny of Russia's missile exercises, said Arms Control Association head Daryl Kimball.
"How significant [the loss of Votkinsk] is depends on what other monitoring mechanisms will be worked out," Kimball said (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, Dec. 1).
The State Department yesterday reaffirmed its expectation that negotiation of the START successor will continue beyond Saturday, when the 1991 agreement is set to expire, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Our negotiators in Geneva ... are working very hard to try and get a draft agreement," said spokesman Ian Kelly. "What we're saying now is that we're hoping to get this draft agreement by the end of December."
Still, Kelly refused to rule out the possibility of the sides reaching agreement on the pact this week. "I cannot rule that out because I know they're all working overtime to try and iron out the differences that remain," he said (Agence France-Presse/, Nov. 30).
A senior Russian legislator expressed more optimism that the negotiations could wrap up this week, RIA Novosti reported.
"Intensive and substantive work of two delegations is continuing on an almost 24-hour basis. There is a clear resolve to achieve a result within the time frames set by the two presidents and linked to the current START treaty's expiration date," said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the Russian parliament's international committee (RIA Novosti, Nov. 30).
Obama and Medvedev discussed the START talks by telephone yesterday, according to ITAR-Tass (ITAR-Tass, Nov. 30). U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle also addressed the talks at a meeting in Moscow yesterday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Interfax reported (Interfax I, Nov. 30).
Meanwhile, one Russian expert expressed concern that arsenal reductions under the START replacement treaty could undermine Moscow's ability to deter aggression by outside powers.
"The Russian strategic nuclear forces will remain capable of dealing a preemptive strike until 2015-17, beyond which the strategic nuclear forces will degrade and the number of warheads available will drop to 1,500. In the meantime, the capabilities of the American missile defense system will triple after 2015," said Pyotr Belov, an analyst with the Academy of Geopolitical Problems (Interfax II, Nov. 30).
Itar-Tass: Lavrov to participate in OSCE meeting, have talks with Greek PM
02.12.2009, 06.10
ATHENS, December 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday will participate in the OSCE foreign minister council meeting and then begin his brief visit to Greece. The two-day OSCE meeting will conclude the work on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Russian foreign minister noted in his address to representatives of 55 OSCE member countries that Moscow hoped for answers in substance from their partners to the Russian president’s proposal on European security.
In Berlin in June 2008, Dmitry Medvedev proposed to work out a treaty on European security. The initiative on firm security is of a uniting character and is aimed at uniting potentials of states and international organisations to create indivisible space of equal security for all the countries of the Euro-Atlantic region.
The minister expressed appreciation to countries, experts, politologists for the participation in numerous discussions on the Russian initiative.
Russia hopes that the discussions started on Corfu Island in June on European security will help renew the OSCE work. "We support the Corfu process valued for the ability to generate non-blinker-shaded views of things," he stressed.
The continuation of free discussions is expected to help breath new life in the work of OSCE structures and work out ways of comprehensive enhancement of the organisation's efficiency and vitality.
Russia proposes OSCE countries to renew the most important European security treaties, including the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and the Vienna document on confidence-building measures.
ISRIA: Russia - MFA - Joint Statement by the Heads of Delegation of the Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries and the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Athens, Greece, December 1, 2009
The Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of France Bernard Kouchner, and Deputy Secretary of State of the United States James Steinberg met in Athens on December 1 with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian.
The five Heads of Delegation recalled the commitments in the November 2008 Moscow Declaration and the December 2008 Helsinki OSCE Ministerial Statement, They noted the positive dynamic in the talks, demonstrated through six meetings this year between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. They agreed that the increasing frequency of these meetings has significantly contributed to an enhanced dialogue between the parties and forward movement toward finalizing the Basic Principles for the Peaceful Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, proposed in Madrid on November 29, 2007.
Foreign Ministers Lavrov and Kouchner and Deputy Secretary Steinberg reiterated the commitment of their countries, as expressed in the Joint Statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the L'Aquila Summit of the Eight on July 10 issued by their three Presidents, to support the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan as they complete work on the Basic Principles and urged that the parties complete this work as soon as possible. They stressed that agreement on the Basic Principles would provide the framework for a comprehensive settlement to promote a future of peace, stability, and prosperity for the entire region.
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan reported on progress during the course of this year in achieving common understandings on points of the Basic Principles. They stated the willingness of their countries to complete work on the Basic Principles, as stipulated by the Presidents of the Co-Chair countries at L'Aquila. The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to work intensively to resolve the remaining issues, to reach an agreement based, in particular, upon the principles of the Helsinki Final Act of Non-Use of Force or Threat of Force, Territorial Integrity, and the Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peoples.
Itar-Tass: President, prime minister discuss Russia’s social & economic situation
01.12.2009, 23.25
MOSCOW, December 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met on Tuesday to discuss the country’s social and economic situation, the Kremlin press service said.
They also discussed implementation of the instructions given on results of the President’s state-of-the-nation Address to the Federal Assembly, the press service said.
Itar-Tass: Kiev-Moscow dialogue switched to constructive format -- Ukr FMstry
02.12.2009, 00.11
KIEV, December 1 (Itar-Tass) -- The dialogue between Ukraine and Russia has switched to a constructive format, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in its statement after the meeting of Foreign Ministers Petro Poroshenko and Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday during the 17th OSCE foreign minister council meeting in Athens.
The ministers noted that the bilateral dialogue switched to a constructive working format based on developing confidence between the two countries, the document said.
The sides also noted that a new impetus would be given to the progress reached in recent time in economy to remove trade barriers between the countries.
Reuters: Ukraine to pay Nov gas bill of $770 mln-acting finmin
Wed Dec 2, 2009 8:56am GMT
KIEV, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine's gas bill to Russia for November is higher than in previous months at $770 million but it will pay it on time, Acting Finance Minister Ihor Umansky said on Wednesday.
"In any case, we will pay for Russian gas," Umansky told reporters. Ukraine must pay its monthly bill by Dec. 7. ((Kiev bureau; tel: +380 44 244 9150; RM: sabina.zawadzki.@))
Kyiv Post: Source: Russian counterintelligence officers leaving Black Sea Fleet base in Ukraine
Today at 10:08 | Interfax-Ukraine
Sevastopol, December 2 (Interfax) - Counterintelligence officers from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) serving at the Russian Black Sea Fleet bases in Ukraine will leave the Ukrainian territory within the next three to four weeks, with the process already in motion, Sevastopol-based sources told Interfax.
One of the sources suggested that Russia was prompted to take this step after Ukraine demanded in June 2009 that FSB officers be withdrawn from Ukraine and pledged that Ukrainian special services would perform their duties.
All the officers leaving Ukraine will continue their service either at Black Sea Fleet bases located in Russia or at other Russian naval bases, a source said.
However, after the Russian counterintelligence officers leave Ukraine, not a single Ukrainian counterintelligence officer will be admitted to Black Sea Fleet vessels or bases, as the Black Sea Fleet command is determined to ensure its security on its own, the source said.
Interfax could not immediately obtain official confirmation of this information.
The Ukrainian Security Service said earlier that all FSB officers serving in Ukraine would have to leave the country by December 13 and that their duties would be assigned to Ukrainian Security Service counterintelligence departments in Sevastopol and Simferopol.
According to Ukrainian special services, 19 FSB officers are serving at the Black Sea Fleet bases in Ukraine now.
The Jamestown Foundation: Putin, Tymoshenko Agree on Gas and Deride Yushchenko, Saakashvili
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Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 220
December 1, 2009 04:33 PM Age: 8 hrs
Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, Energy, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Featured
By: Pavel Korduban
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko met in Yalta on November 19 and reached a number of agreements, confirming once again that their relationship is of a special character. Putin reiterated that Naftohaz Ukrainy, the debt-ridden state-controlled oil and gas behemoth, will not be fined for its failure to buy as much gas as stipulated by the January 2009 contracts between Naftohaz and Gazprom. The two rejected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s calls for an urgent revision of the contracts and derided Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili who were meeting in Kyiv simultaneously.
Naftohaz will import 24-26 billion rather than 33 billion cubic meters of gas in 2009 as stipulated by contracts, and according to the take-or-pay clause in the contracts it could face multi-billion dollar fines. After his meeting with Tymoshenko, Putin said that Moscow would not penalize Naftohaz “taking into account the special character of relations between Russia and Ukraine” (Ukrainska Pravda, November 19). Putin probably had no choice, as the fines would have bankrupted Naftohaz, further complicating the problem of payments. Also, apparently not only will Naftohaz be “forgiven,” Tymoshenko believes Moscow will not fine any country for buying less gas in 2009 than stipulated by contracts with Gazprom because of the global recession (ICTV, November 22). Russia probably has not had enough gas to adhere to all of its contractual obligations in 2009, since it did not buy sufficient gas from Turkmenistan.
Putin and Tymoshenko confirmed their earlier agreement that Ukraine will not be granted a 20 percent discount from the price of gas in 2010, while it will charge 60 percent more for Russian gas transit to Europe. Throughout 2009 Putin kept warning the European Union as the main consumer that Ukraine would be unable to pay for gas. However, during his meeting with Tymoshenko he praised her cabinet for meeting contractual obligations. “For the first time in many years Ukraine has been fully meeting all of its obligations, which is an important factor for increasing energy stability in Europe,” he said (Ukrainska Pravda, November 19).
Putin and Tymoshenko rejected Yushchenko’s proposal to revise the Naftohaz-Gazprom contracts which he made in a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of the Putin-Tymoshenko meeting. Yushchenko reiterated that the contracts were harmful to Ukraine as the price of gas grew while transit fees were unchanged in 2009, and Naftohaz faced fines for buying less gas than agreed, since Gazprom has no obligations on the volume of transit. Yushchenko suggested that the base price of gas and Ukraine's obligations regarding the volume of gas to buy should be revised and that a “transit or pay” clause must be added to the contracts for Gazprom in 2010, so that it would face penalties for pumping less than a stipulated volume to Europe through Ukraine (.ua, November 19).
Medvedev’s adviser Sergey Prikhodko dismissed Yushchenko’s proposals as a “blackmail” of Russia and Europe (Interfax, November 19). Tymoshenko defended the contracts, saying that they were market-based and transparent while the pre-2009 relations with Gazrpom, according to Tymoshenko, were built on “a mega-corruption model” (Ukrainska Pravda, November 19).
Putin derided Saakashvili and Yushchenko who were meeting in Kyiv, suggesting that the two were discussing their “common defeats.” Earlier, Yushchenko defended his decision to supply arms to Georgia prior to the Russia-Georgia war in 2008, and meeting Saakashvili he reiterated his support for Georgia’s territorial integrity (Interfax-Ukraine, November 17; Channel 5, November 19). This must have angered Putin. He joked in his usual degrading style, warning Yushchenko apparently in a reference to a well-known BBC video showing Saakashvili chewing his tie in August 2008, that Saakashvili might chew Yushchenko’s tie. Tymoshenko played up to him, giggling (Channel 5, November 19).
Saakashvili was outraged, commenting on Putin’s behavior (Ukraina TV, November 19), and Yushchenko’s chief aide Vira Ulyanchenko called Tymoshenko’s reaction inadmissible (Ukrainska Pravda, November 23). Tymoshenko reacted in a similar manner in the fall of 2008 when Putin called Yushchenko a trickster for trying to prevent her visit to Moscow. Earlier this year, Tymoshenko complained in a telephone conversation with Putin that Yushchenko tried to hinder payments for gas. Putin confirmed that his relationship with Tymoshenko is special, summing up their meeting in Yalta. “It has been comfortable for us to work with the Tymoshenko government. I believe that relations between Russia and Ukraine have become more stable and stronger,” he said (Ukrainska Pravda, November 19).
Tymoshenko’s smooth relationship with Putin at a time when relations between Russia and Ukraine are strained and ahead of the crucial January 17 presidential election makes jealous other Ukrainian presidential candidates who also seek Moscow’s backing. Former parliamentary speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the third most popular hopeful according to opinion polls, predicted that Moscow would increase its political pressure on Kyiv in exchange to economic concessions to Tymoshenko (Ukrainska Pravda, November 15). Tymoshenko’s arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych, who leads the presidential race as the main opposition candidate, suggested that it is comfortable for Putin to work with Tymoshenko because she agreed to expensive gas thereby making Ukrainian industry uncompetitive vis-a-vis Russian companies (ICTV, November 23).
The Georgian Times: Statement by Russian Foreign Ministry
Russian Foreign Ministry has released a special statement regarding the refusal of entry to Russian scientists and experts to Georgia. A group of experts arrived in Tbilisi airport from Yerevan to participate in various discussions at scientific and research centres, however, they returned after being refused to travel to Tbilisi.
The statement says that with this decision Georgian government has finally confirmed its intention to cut all kinds of ties with Russia. The Foreign Ministry of Russia expresses its concern regarding the act and adds that humanitarian relations between the two countries should not be cut.
`This act of Tbilisi confirms the panic fear of Georgia for open and unbiased discussion of difficult issues. This is a concerning symptom, because the ties between scientific elites of the two countries are being blocked,` the statement says.
Rustavi2 2009.12.02 10:54
Itar-Tass: CIS legislators to meet in Petersburg to discuss coop, security
02.12.2009, 05.23
ST. PETERSURG, December 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Ahead of the 33rd plenary meeting of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the councils of the Interparliamentary Assembly and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation Parliamentary Assembly will meet in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
The meeting of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly council will consider the Kyrgyzstan and Moldova election results and the forthcoming elections in Ukraine.
A separate theme will be Georgia's participation -- the statement on withdrawal from the organisation will be considered in January.
The council is expected to adopt the supplement to the convention on CIS border cooperation. The convention signed last year has already come into force, but additional documents on agreements between regions must be adopted for its full work.
On the CSTO council agenda are consideration of the course of implementation of the June session decisions, the military and political situation in the east European region of collective security, consideration of the draft conception on legislation brining closer and standardising in the area of collective security and other issues.
RIA: Russia, Argentina sign customs information swap memorandum
02:5902/12/2009
BUENOS AIRES, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Argentina signed a memorandum on customs information exchange, Argentine authorities said Wednesday.
The memorandum, in particular, envisions quarterly exchanges of statistics on mutual trade.
The document is designed to contribute to the further development of bilateral ties in the framework of an existing intergovernmental agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance between the two countries' customs services, dated 1997.
First deputy head of Russia's Federal Customs Service Vladimir Malinin and head of Argentina's Federal Public Revenue Administration, Ricardo Echegaray, signed the memorandum.
The global financial crisis affected bilateral trade and economic ties this year. Trade in 2009 is expected to drop to $1.15 billion from nearly $2 billion last year.
Turkish Weekly: Russia Ratified Agreement on Foreign Trade of Goods in EurAsEC Uniform Customs Territory
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
The President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, signed the Federal Law on ratification of the agreement on order of introduction and application of the measures in foreign trade of goods in the uniform customs territory concerning third countries, Kazakhstan Today agency reports citing the president's press service.
The Federal Law was signed by the State Duma on November 20, 2009 and approved by the Federation Council on November 25, 2009.
The Federal Law assumes ratification of the agreement on order of introduction and application of the measures in foreign trade of goods in the uniform customs territory concerning third countries signed in Moscow on June 9, 2009.
The agreement establishes an order of introduction and application within the limits of the uniform customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Community of interdictions and restrictions on import or export of some kinds of goods by the member states of the Customs Union in trade with the third countries.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Gazeta.kz: Kazakhstan ratified agreement on conditions and mechanism of application of tariff quotas
12:01 02.12.2009
text: "Kazakhstan Today"
The President of Kazakhstan signed the law on ratification of the agreement on conditions and the mechanism of application of tariff quotas, Kazakhstan Today agency reports citing the president's press service.
"The head of state signed law on ratification of the agreement on conditions and the mechanism of application of tariff quotas. The text of the law has been published in press."
The agreement on conditions and the mechanism of application of tariff quotas defines a uniform order of their application in the customs territory of the Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus and regulates import of agricultural products.
Interfax: Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill to visit Kazakhstan
ASTANA. Dec 2 (Interfax) - The leader of the Russian Orthodox
Church, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill is expected to visit
Kazakhstan in early 2010.
The visit by Patriarch Kirill is expected at some time after the
Orthodox Christmas (January 7), the Kazakh edition of the Komsomolskaya
Pravda newspaper said on Wednesday. Patriarch Kirill is expected to
consecrate the new Dormition Cathedral in Astana.
Patriarch Kirill was invited to visit Kazakhstan by Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Father Alexander, press secretary of the
Russian Orthodox Church's diocese in Almaty told the newspaper.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet with the parish,
the newspaper said. "As for the Orthodox believers, for us, of course,
this is a great joy and opportunity to talk to the Patriarch," said
Father Alexander.
Apart from Astana, Patriarch Kirill will also visit Almaty where he
will conduct a service at the Ascension Church and meet with the parish.
The construction of the Dormition Cathedral in Astana which began
in 2004 was completed this year. The domes were put up in August. "This
is the only cathedral built in Central Asia over the past 20 years and
is meant to become the spiritual center of the Russian Church in the
region," Astana's official website said.
RIA: Russian missile cruiser arrives in Vladivostok
09:3802/12/2009
A task force from the Russian Pacific Fleet led by the missile cruiser Varyag has returned to Russia's Far Eastern port of Vladivostok after a visit to Singapore.
The group, which set out from the Russian Far East port on October 27 on a month-long tour-of-duty, also includes the Fotiy Krylov salvage tug and the Pechenga tanker. It arrived in Singapore on November 11 and left a week later.
A Pacific fleet spokesman said no incidents were reported during the journey.
"All the seamen are in good health, the equipment and mechanisms operated smoothly," the source said.
Varyag is a Slava-class missile cruiser, which entered service with the Pacific Fleet in 1990. In April this year the warship led a group of 21 foreign naval vessels participating in a parade to mark the 60th anniversary of China's Navy off the coast of the Chinese city of Qingdao.
VLADIVOSTOK, December 2 (RIA Novosti)
Lenta.ru: Russia has agreed to exchange the fighters for palm oil
/Google translation/
In the military-technical cooperation with foreign partners, Russia uses a flexible system of mutual payments for the delivered goods. This, as reported by Interfax, said the first deputy director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) Aleksandr Fomin, who cited the example of Malaysia. "I am referring to the calculations, including palm oil, rubber, other goods in Malaysia's traditional exports," - explained Fomin.
According to the deputy director FSVTS, this system was used in the supply of MiG aircraft, Malaysia in 1990. This same system can be used in the future. Russia's ambassador to Malaysia Alexander Karchava said that Russia is ready to accept, as the calculation for the supply of arms palm oil, electronics and other products.
Malaysia has bought from Russia 18 MiG-29 in 1994, although earlier the country did not cooperate either with the Soviet Union and with Russia in military-technical sphere. In 2003, Malaysians have concluded a contract with Rosoboronexport for the supply of 18 advanced Su-30MKM. As expected, the Air Force of Malaysia will not be removed from service MiG-29 after the completed delivery of more new aircraft Su-30MKM.
RIA: India suspends flights of Russian-made fighters over accident
11:2902/12/2009
NEW DELHI, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - India has suspended flights by Russian-made SU-30 MKI Flanker-H multirole fighters after a plane crash, the Indian Air Force said on Wednesday.
A Su-30 MKI fighter crashed late on November 30 in western India, but both pilots ejected safely.
An Indian Air Force spokesman said the suspension of flights was a normal procedure until the reasons for the crash were established.
After a Russian-made Su-30MKI crashed in western India in April, killing one pilot, flights by the aircraft were also suspended, the spokesman said.
Experts from the producer and related enterprises in Russia have visited the crash site, but the official results of their probe have not yet been made public.
Domain-: Stealth frigate INS Teg floated–out at Yantar shipyard
news [pic]02 December 2009
Kaliningrad: The first of the three follow-on Talwar-class, or the Krivak IV class, frigates under construction at the Yantar shipyard in the Russian exclave at Kaliningrad has been 'floated-out' at a solemn ceremony, the shipyard said. The stealth frigate has been designated INS Teg.
Its sister ships, INS Tarkash and Trikand, are also under various stages of construction at the shipyard.
Present at the floating out ceremony of the frigate were Mrs Radhika Lal Lokesh, consul general of India at Saint Petersburg, the naval attache in Russia, Felix Lapin, administration chief of Kaliningrad, admiral Chirkov, commander–in-chief of the Baltic fleet as well as representatives of Rosoboronexport.
On the occasion, all speakers emphasised the importance of the order not just for Russian-Indian defence cooperation, but also for Russian shipbuilding, the Kaliningrad region and the Shipyard Yantar in particular.
The director general of the shipyard, Igor Orlov, was very happy with the float-out and said, ''In spite of all difficulties we have done it.''
Apart from shipyard workers, their families too attended the ceremony
The Jamestown Foundation: Russian Strategic Bomber Flights: Long Range Deception
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Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 220
December 1, 2009 04:27 PM Age: 9 hrs
By: Roger McDermott
On November 24 and 25 two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers flew long range patrolling missions above neutral waters in the Arctic to the Atlantic Oceans. Russian Air Force spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Drik said that during the 16 hour missions that featured mid-air refueling from Il-78 tankers, NATO F-15 and RAF Tornado’s followed the Russian bombers. Russian strategic aviation flights, according to Drik, “strictly comply with the international rules of using airspace over neutral waters without violating the borders of foreign countries” (Interfax, November 25). The UK defense ministry and the RAF dispute this, arguing that while these flights pose no direct military threat, and remain in international airspace, the Russian authorities consistently fail to inform the relevant air traffic control bodies of their movements; raising civil aviation flight safety concern since these military patrols transit some of the busiest air routes (Russia: a New Confrontation? House of Commons Report, July, 2009).
Last month, two Tu-160 strategic bombers successfully performed an air patrol mission of “unprecedented complexity.” Taking off from Engels airbase their route followed the country’s northern border into the Pacific, before returning across Russia’s southern borders after twice being refueled in mid-air: the 20 hours flight duration exceeded previous missions during the past twenty years (ITAR-TASS, November 20).
However, Colonel Anatoliy Tsyganok, the head of the Military Forecasting Center at the Institute for Political and Military Analysis in Moscow considers such flights militarily questionable. He referred to the Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers as “morally and technically obsolete,” reflecting the technology of the 1950’s to 1980’s. Their designated missions were to achieve key objectives using nuclear and conventional weapons in distant geographical locations and deep within any theater of operations. The Tu-95 entered service with Long-Range Aviation units in 1956, while production stopped in 1992. It will remain in service into the next decade, currently being refitted with upgraded onboard electronic weaponry and a new generation of “precision strategic missiles.” On the other hand, the Tu-160 was a “survivor” from the contraction in the Soviet defense industry in late 1980’s (Svobodnaya Pressa, October 30).
Indeed, Tsyganok believes the type of air patrolling mission now being conducted by strategic aviation is obsolete, since it has “fallen behind weapons-related development. It is highly vulnerable in the air and on the ground, it is dependent on the availability of refueling aircraft, and using it as a means of weapons delivery to the point of use takes up too much time. In an actual combat situation these aircraft would have been destroyed by enemy missiles long before they were able to deliver their retaliatory strike.” Their dependence on the presence of tanker aviation and advance prepared airfields clearly restricts its potential. In fact, any theoretical military justification only relates to supporting Russia’s presence on the Arctic shelf, after a military satellite tasked with surveillance of this and adjoining areas was accidently brought down two years ago. Tsyganok considers the underlying reasons for the resumption of such flights as purely symbolic: “In my view, moreover, the current patrolling is more of a PR exercise than a demonstration of real capabilities,” he noted (Svobodnaya Pressa, October 30).
The Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of the Russian Air Force (VVS) Colonel-General Aleksandr Zelin has repeatedly promised the modernization of the inventory. From 1994 to 2003 the VVS did not receive a single new combat aircraft. While Zelin was the deputy CINC from August 2002 to May 2007, on numerous occasions he publicly promoted such modernization. Meanwhile, his recent statements have become increasingly pessimistic in relation to procuring new platforms and upgrading existing ones (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, October 31). On August 5, Zelin stated: “In connection with the increased cost of creating and operating new-generation aircraft as well as the cost of their mastery by flight personnel, it can be expected that with the forecasted level of funding the numerical makeup of Air Force aviation may decline substantially by 2025. In this case manned VVS aviation will be incapable of performing the requisite scope of missions in a local war as required by program documents on national security and the military doctrine” (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, August 10).
On November 26, Zelin said that he intends setting a date in December for a delayed maiden flight of the fifth generation fighter jet. He will visit its manufacturer in Komsomolsk-on-Amur to monitor progress. “I shall look into the state of affairs myself, and then it will be clear when the plane will make the first flight,” Zelin told a press conference at the defense ministry. He pointedly refused to specify when the flight might occur, which was previously scheduled before the end of 2009. During the same press conference he was scathing about the defense industry offering the air force inferior quality unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s), saying that he refused to certify them. He highlighted his dissatisfaction with Russian designed UAV’s “either with the speed, or flight altitude or the resolution capacity of their equipment. It is a sheer crime to make operational unmanned aircraft without the required tactical and technical characteristics.” Consequently, Zelin said that the VVS was dependent on Israel, having procured a dozen of their UAV’s, but admitted that the Israelis will not share advanced technology in this area (ITAR-TASS, November 26).
Nonetheless, Zelin stated that by January 1, 2010, the VVS will complete its structural reform from regiments to bases. In its planning stage, the VVS drew heavily on the experience of the Belarusian air force, which was similarly restructured several years ago. The reform itself is focused on consolidating the better trained units to intensify combat training, enhancing the proportion of combat ready aircraft and saving considerable funds (RIA Novosti, November 26).
Meanwhile, the resumption of long range strategic bomber flights was ordered in August 2007 by then President Vladimir Putin and has continued since. The underlying political message was calibrated toward declaring that Russia is “back,” and the country’s security elite appear to regard such flights as symbolically important. Equally, they appear aimed at disguising the difficulties facing the Russian defense industry in arresting the decline of the VVS.
Xinhua: Russia to close military depot after consecutive explosions
2009-12-02 04:33:25
MOSCOW, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The arms depot 31 at Russia's Volga city of Ulyanovsk that has seen two consecutive blasts will be closed by the end of next year, said a spokesman for the governor of the Ulyanovsk region on Tuesday.
There would be not only ammunition removal from the depot, which had been based in the Ulyanovsk city since 1941, but also personnel relocation and new housing provision, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the spokesman.
Two firefighters were killed and many others injured after a series of explosions ripped through the military ammunition depot on Nov. 13. Another eight servicemen died at the depot on Nov. 23 when shells blasted during a clear-up operation.
President Dmitry Medvedev last week sacked several high-ranking military officials over the blasts, which he said were caused by a "lack of control by the Defense Ministry and the criminal negligence by those who were disposing old ammunition at the depot."
The Russian head of state also ordered Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to discharge other military officials directly responsible for the incident, including the head of Depot 31.
Xinhua: Satellite debris misses Int'l Space Station
2009-12-02 13:51:57
BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- A tiny piece of a defunct Russian satellite zipped by the International Space Station Tuesday, but was far enough away that outpost's two-man crew did not have to strap into their lifeboat to wait out the close shave, according to media reports Wednesday.
The debris -- a small piece of a Cosmos satellite less than four inches (10 cm) wide -- zoomed by the station at 1:19 p.m. EST (1819 GMT) and came less than a mile (1 km) of the outpost at its closest point.
"Updates showed that it would not come close enough to the space station to require any change in the processes onboard or require precautionary measures," said NASA spokesperson Kylie Clem.
NASA detected the object too late to move the space station clear of the incoming space trash by firing its thrusters.
The space station is currently staffed by two astronauts, American commander Jeff Williams and Russian flight engineer Maxim Suraev.
The rest of the current ISS crew, known as Expedition 21, returned to Earth early Tuesday. The crew landed their Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 2:15 a.m. EST. NASA said all three returning crew members were in good condition.
AFP: Islamists claim Russian train bombing: rebel website
(AFP) – 31 minutes ago
MOSCOW — Islamists from the North Caucasus have claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of a Russian passenger train, according to a statement posted Wednesday on a website linked to Chechen rebels.
"This operation was prepared and executed along with other acts of sabotage, planned from the start of this year and successfully carried out against a set of strategically important sites in Russia, on the orders of Caucasus Emir Dokku Umarov," said the statement on the website .
Umarov is the self-proclaimed leader of the "Caucasus Emirate," which has sought to unite various Islamist groups in Russia's North Caucasus and establish Islamic Sharia rule in the region.
RFERL: Islamists Claim Responsibility For Russian Train Bombing
December 02, 2009
Islamist militants from the North Caucasus have claimed responsibility for a bomb that derailed a high-speed Russian train, killing 26 people and wounding about 100, according to a statement on an Internet site linked to Chechen rebels.
There is no way to verify the claim of responsibility.
The statement -- on -- said the operation "was prepared and executed" on the orders of Doku Umarov.
Umarov is the self-proclaimed leader of the Caucasus Emirate, which has sought to unite various Islamist groups in Russia's North Caucasus and establish Islamist Shari'a law in the region.
The statement said the operation was one of a number of acts of sabotage "planned from the start of this year and successfully caried out against a set of strategically important sites in Russia."
Russia prosecutors have opened a terrorism probe into the November 27 bombing.
Reuters: Islamist rebels claim Russian rail bombing
Wed Dec 2, 2009 2:33am EST
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Islamist militants on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a bombing that derailed a Russian express train killing 26 people, according to the website .
"This operation was prepared and carried out...pursuant to the orders of the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov," the website said, quoting a letter it said it received from Islamist rebels.
Umarov is Russia's most wanted guerrilla leader and leads an insurgency which aims to free the mainly Muslim North Caucasus from Moscow's rule.
Friday's attack against the luxury Nevsky Express train running between Moscow and St Petersburg was part of a campaign of sabotage against strategic economic targets, the letter added.
"These acts of sabotage will continue for as long as those occupying the Caucasus do not stop their policy of killing ordinary Muslims," the letter added.
Friday's bombing was the worst terror attack in Russia outside the North Caucasus in five years. It raised fears of a new wave of attacks in major Russian cities.
The KavkazCenter website has in the past carried claims of responsibility for rebel attacks which law enforcement officials have subsequently said are not genuine.
(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Michael Stott)
Itar-Tass: Mourning meeting to be held in Petersbrg in memory of terror victims
02.12.2009, 01.41
ST. PETERSBURG, December 2 (Itar-Tass) -- A mourning meeting in memory of terrorism victims will be held on Sennaya Square in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, St. Petersburg’s Governor Valentina Matviyenko and city legislature chairman Vadim Tyulpanov will speak at the meeting, which will honour the memory of victims of all the terrorist attacks committed in Russia in the last ten years, including the victims of the Nevsky Express wreck, and express protest against the new wave of acts of terrorism.
A video linkup will be organised with Moscow where such a mourning meeting will take place at Poklonnaya Hill at the same time. The two cities united with the grief will observe a minute's silence.
The organiser of the rally at Sennaya Square is the United Russia party.
Itar-Tass: 95 injured in train wreck remain in hospitals, 13 in grave conditn
02.12.2009, 03.55
MOSCOW, December 2 (Itar-Tass) -- Ninety five people injured in the Nevsky Express train crash that occurred last Friday remain in hospitals on the sixth day after the disaster. Thirteen of them are in grave condition.
Most of the people -- 77 -- undergo treatment in St .Petersburg, 17 are in Moscow hospitals, and one is in the Novgorod Region.
Some asked for doctors' help only a few days after the disaster, when the state of shock passed, medics said.
All the passengers of St. Petersburg-Moscow Train No. 166 have been found. There are no missing people, according to the preliminary information as of this Wednesday.
The death toll is 26. All of the dead are identified, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The Moscow Times: Murder on the Nevsky Express
02 December 2009
By Yulia Latynina
On Friday, as more than 650 people —including a significant number of government officials — were traveling to St. Petersburg from Moscow, the Nevsky Express luxury train was bombed, killing 26 people and wounding more than 100. Most frightening is that this might not be an isolated terrorist act but the start of a series of attacks.
One of the most striking features of this incident is how Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made no public comments for two days after it happened. Putin — who likes to display his strength by posing shirtless while on vacation — shows a conspicuous lack of strength after terrorist attacks occur in Russia. Usually, he remains silent. Remember how he kept silent during the Dubrovka theater siege and the terrorist attack on Beslan School No. 1.
The Wahhabists are one group suspected in the Nevsky Express bombing. After Yunus-Bek Yevkurov replaced Murat Zyazikov as president of Ingushetia in October 2008, he denied Islamists their safe havens and strongholds in the republic. This sent the insurgents on the offensive, resulting in a string of terrorist attacks in the region: the suicide bombing of police headquarters in Nazran, an assassination attempt against Yevkurov, the murder of Dagestani Interior Minister Adelgirei Mogamedtagirev and the attempted assassination of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
The chaos and lawlessness has led to a sharp increase in the number of insurgents. To make matters worse, federal officials and siloviki who are ostensibly battling extremism are directly subsidizing the terror using money stolen from the national budget to pay for their personal safety. According to Ruslanbek Zyazikov, Murat Zyazikov’s cousin and former head of personal security when he was president, in Ingushetia alone the president’s relatives paid Wahabbists 30 million rubles (roughly $1 million) every month in protection money.
The Wahhabists until recently were only a marginal force in the Caucasus, but they have gained enough power to demand protection money from the federal budget and the business community.
Sooner or later, the extremists were bound to realize that it is far cheaper and simpler to place a bomb on a remote stretch of railway near Tver than to try to kill Yevkurov or Kadyrov with suicide bombers.
The other, but less likely, possible group behind the train bombing are fascists. After Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis were arrested on murder charges in the deaths of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, it turned out that the suspects had close ties to Russian Image and Russian Verdict, two radical nationalist organizations that have been inspired by the conservative Kremlin ideology known as “managed nationalism.” But managed nationalism, the brainchild of Vladislav Surkov, President Dmitry Medvedev’s first deputy chief of staff, turned out to be completely unmanageable. Surkov’s ideological project has inspired radical groups to commit violent acts, the latest incident being the shooting death of anti-fascist activist Ivan Khutorskoi on Nov. 16.
Whether it was the Wahhabists or the fascists who committed the train bombing, this demonstrates a complete loss of control in the country and a collapse of government authority. The collapse in Russia’s law enforcement structure, in particular, has become so bad that it is just as easy for terrorists to commit an attack as it is for a disgruntled police officer to shoot shoppers in a supermarket.
Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.
The Jamestown Foundation: Insurgent Violence Reported in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria
[tt_news]=35783&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=031d3b3cd9
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 220
December 1, 2009 04:29 PM Age: 8 hrs
By: The Jamestown Foundation
A spokesman for the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office, Vladimir Markin, announced today (December 1) that a blast on the Tyumen-Baku railway line in Dagestan yesterday (November 30) was a terrorist act. That blast, which investigators said equaled 300 grams of TNT, slightly damaged a locomotive, but did not derail the eight-car train that was traveling on the rail line at the time of the blast.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, declared that the blast on the Dagestani railway was a terrorist act “similar” to the November 27 bombing of the Nevsky Express luxury train between St. Petersburg and Moscow, which killed 26 people and injured scores of others. A second explosive device partially detonated at the site of the Nevsky Express bombing on November 28 as railway workers were clearing debris. Alexander Bobreshov, a vice president of Russian Railways, said on Ekho Moskvy radio yesterday that the two blasts on the Nevsky Express line was an example of “the so-called double-blast method” used by “North Caucasus sabotage groups” (, Moscow Times, December 1; Associated Press, November 30).
The Dagestani railway blast was just one in a series of apparent insurgent attacks in Dagestan. The republic’s interior ministry reported that a suspected rebel was gunned down yesterday when several people in a car fired at police at a checkpoint. The ministry said two policemen were wounded in the shootout. The incident took place in Dagestan’s Kizlyurt district (Associated Press, RIA Novosti, December 1). Also yesterday, a traffic policeman was hospitalized after being shot in the stomach in the republic’s capital Makhachkala. The policeman was reportedly in critical condition. Earlier yesterday, unidentified gunmen in Makhachkala fired on a car carrying Abrek Gadzhiev, the head of Dagestan’s Magaramkentsky district. Gadzhiev died of his wounds in the hospital. His driver was also wounded in the attack (kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 30).
On November 26, an explosive device detonated in front of a diesel locomotive south of Makhachkala. Earlier that day, an improvised explosive device was discovered on the Mazdok-Kazimagomed gas pipeline in Dagestan’s Kayakentsky district. On November 25, unidentified gunmen fired on a car in which a police official was traveling in Makhachkala, wounding him in the head. That same day, gunmen in masks shot the commander of a Dagestani police Special Forces detachment (SOBR), Shapi Aligadzhiev, in Makhachkala. One of his bodyguards shot and killed one of the attackers but the others managed to escape. Aligadzhiev died later that day in the hospital. Also on November 25, a bomb disposal expert with the interior ministry’s internal troops was wounded when an explosive device detonated during an operation in a wooded area on the outskirts of the village of Gubden in Dagestan’s Karabudakhkentsky district (kavkaz-uzel, , November 26).
Violent incidents have also been reported in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria over the past several days. Chechen interior ministry spokesman Magomed Deniev said today that one suspected militant was killed late yesterday in the village of Samashki and that a police officer was wounded in the shootout (RIA Novosti, December 1). The bodies of two police officers were found with bullet wounds in a car in the town of Gudermes on November 27. The officers were identified as Senior Lieutenant Myakhdi Khizriev and Sergeant Myakhdi Kasumov (RIA Novosti, November 28). The police chief of the Ingush city of Karabulak, Adyl-Kerim Tsechoev, died in the hospital on November 27 after his car was blown up in the town of Ordzhonikidzevskaya. A bomb equivalent to roughly 500 grams of TNT had been fixed to the undercarriage of Tsechoev’s armored car. An Ingush interior ministry source said the explosion injured a bystander (ITAR-TASS, November 27).
On November 26, a warrant officer was killed while another serviceman and a policeman were wounded in a shooting in Kabardino-Balkaria’s capital, Nalchik. Kavkazky Uzel on November 27 quoted a Kabardino-Balkaria law enforcement sources as saying that the incident took place around 4:00 p.m., local time, the previous day when police stopped two men for a document check, one of whom open fire on them with a pistol, wounding one policemen. A warrant officer and another serviceman from a nearby military post who happened to be walking by were also hit by bullets. All three men were taken to the hospital, where the warrant officer died. The shooter and the man who was with him managed to escape. Police said they managed to identify the two, one of whose passports was found at the scene of the shooting. Both were said to be 23-year-old residents of the city of Baksan.
On November 23, authorities in the city of Chegem in Kabardino-Balkaria found the decapitated bodies of Murat Dokshukin, a 27-year-old interrogating officer with the Chegem branch of the federal court bailiff’s service, and Albert Shebzukhov, a 26-year-old Bakasan district police investigator, in the trunk of a Mercedes. Investigators said the two had been tortured before being killed.
The federal Investigative Committee’s local senior investigator in Chegem, Anzor Tlepshev, said that the murder-beheadings may have been an act of revenge by the republic’s armed militant underground for an article local newspaper article trumpeting victory over the insurgents. “Following a news story in one of the republican newspapers about the liquidation of the leaders of the republican ‘Shura’, which had the headline ‘The Shura has been decapitated,’ the extremists announced that they would behead [law-enforcement] employees,” Tlepshev said (gazeta.ru, November 24).
Al Jazeera: North Caucasus sees deadly clashes
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
19:18 Mecca time, 16:18 GMT
Three suspected fighters have been killed and six police officers wounded in three incidents across Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, officials have said.
An attacker was shot dead on Tuesday after firing at a police checkpoint and wounding three officers in Makhachkala, Dagestan's capital.
Mark Tolchinsky, a regional police spokesman, told the AP news agency two other suspected fighters were shot dead in separate incidents in Dagestan and neighbouring Chechnya.
One incident, in the southern Chechen village of Samashki, saw a police officer wounded in a gunbattle late on Monday.
In the other, several people driving a car fired at police by a checkpoint in Dagestan, injuring two officers, Tolchinsky said.
Earlier this year, Russia ended a 10-year "counter-terrorism" operation in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region riven by two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Chechnya, as well as neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia, remain the site of a deadly camppaign led by Muslim fighters against the pro-Kremlin local authorities, who in turn have been accused of human rights abuses.
Rights groups have said that arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings by security forces have fueled violence in the region.
The Moscow Times: Russia’s Renegade Puppet
02 December 2009
By Dmitry Shlapentokh
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov in July proposed to Akhmed Zakayev, a leader of the nationalistic and comparatively moderate Chechen opposition, that he return to Chechnya. Kadyrov promised Zakayev amnesty and various positions ranging from director of the local theater to culture minister.
Zakayev looked ready to accept the proposal. His position in the nationalist opposition was weak. There seem to be few, if any, fighters in Chechnya who recognize him as commander. His recent attempt to send an emissary to create a fighting unit directly under his command was not successful.
At the same time, Zakayev maintained rather friendly relations with Kadyrov. These relations were warmed after Zakayev implicitly acknowledged Kadyrov’s main achievement: making Chechnya “independent,” or at the very least self-ruling within the Russian Federation.
But although Zakayev was one of the most moderate members of the Chechen resistance, an amnesty for him needed the Kremlin’s approval, and he does not seem to have received it. This is probably why he refused Kadyrov’s offer. But the reason that the Kremlin balked at offering Zakayev an amnesty is unlikely to be related to him personally, but rather to Kadyrov.
The return to Chechnya of an amnestied Zakayev would have greatly increased Kadyrov’s prestige. But the Kremlin wanted to avoid this, owing to an unease with Kadyrov’s increased power and a growing Muslim elite that, while formally acknowledging Russian suzerainty, increasingly demands a redistribution of power within Russia.
For most of the past two decades, jihadists in the Caucasus and Central Asia were a major source of concern for the Kremlin. Fear of “Talibanizing” the Caucasus prompted the Kremlin’s recent announcement that the country’s Muslims should be protected from extremist propaganda from abroad and that Muslim education and spiritual life within Russia should be controlled to direct them away from extremism.
It was fear of extremism, as well as a more general increase violence, that led to the rise of the Kadyrov clan in 2004, when the Kremlin decided to engage in a “Chechenization” of the conflict. The plan implied that the Kremlin would provide the Kadyrovs — first, former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and then after his death, his son Ramzan — broad autonomy and huge sums of money.
Moscow closed its eyes to Kadyrov’s amnesty of former guerrillas and their inclusion in his paramilitary units. In exchange, Kadyrov was to wage war against the remaining Islamist resistance and thus relieve Moscow of the burden of shedding Russian blood.
The plan initially worked. Kadyrov was able to create a strong force that could fight the guerrillas, basically on its own. Kadyrov’s efforts can also be credited with ending major terrorist attacks in Russia’s heartland, such as those that occurred in a Moscow theater in 2002 and in Beslan School No. 1 in 2004.
Kadyrov seemed an effective antidote to the jihadists. Still, the logical conclusion of the Kremlin’s Kadyrov policy appears to be precisely what it sought to prevent — Chechen independence — when it engaged in the first Chechen war almost a generation ago.
Receiving from the Kremlin a virtual carte blanche to do whatever he wants in Chechnya, Kadyrov made genuine efforts to transform himself into a popular leader. It is clear that he has not brought down the unemployment rate and has no intention of ending corruption. Still, he can be credited for some tangible results in bringing Chechnya a modicum of normality.
The restoration of the capital, Grozny, was one of his clear achievements. Grozny was totally destroyed during the first Chechen war; both Russian and foreign observers compared it with Stalingrad after World War II and assumed that it would be impossible to restore. It was suggested that a new Chechen capital be built. Yet, having enjoyed a huge subsidy from Moscow, Kadyrov has rebuilt Grozny and provided it with some security.
Kadyrov also catered to the spiritual aspirations of the Chechen majority. He rejected Wahhabism, the ideological framework of the jihadists, but maintained that Islam is an essential part of the Chechen tradition and presented himself as a leader who fully understood this. So he encouraged an Islamic dress code and built a huge mosque — one of the biggest in Europe.
All of this brought Kadyrov wide support among the Chechen population. Even those who dislike him sometimes conclude that he is the best of all the possible options, and he has improved his position by persistently weeding out Chechen military forces that are not directly under his command. His most recent effort was the liquidation of the Vostok battalion, despite its being an integral part of the Russian army.
It was probably inevitable that Kadyrov’s increasing power would worry the Kremlin, especially after the Kremlin itself created a precedent for secession by recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the Russia-Georgia war in 2008. Allowing Zakayev’s return would have worsened matters by increasing Kadyrov’s prestige at home, as well as his international visibility and legitimacy. That would have pushed Kadyrov even further away from Russian control at a time when the Kremlin has become increasingly unable — and now, perhaps reluctant — to purchase his loyalty.
Dmitry Shlapentokh teaches history at the University of Indiana, South Bend. © Project Syndicate
Russia Today: Tax plans for SME’s fire politicians up
01 December, 2009, 21:42
MPs in the ruling United Russia party are up in arms over a government decision to double taxes for small and mid-sized businesses, with a leading MP creating a powerful lobby to scrap the plans.
Small and mid-sized firms currently pay 14% of gross income in tax. From January 1st 2011 that rate will more than double to 34%. Dubbed the ‘pension’ tax, it comes after the government hiked payments to the elderly from next year by almost half.
But with many companies already brought to their knees by the credit crunch, United Russia MPs have broken with party lines to fight the move, according to Ekaterina Semenova, United Russia MP.
“Firms will either have to fire workers or ‘disappear into the shadows’ – that is, stop paying tax altogether.”
Sergey Pepelaev, Managing Director of Russia’s largest law firm, Pepelaev, Goldsblatt & Partners, warns the tax won’t even bring much benefit from the companies it catches.
“The move will require 10,000 new tax collectors. Much of the money they collect will go on their salaries.”
Despite a giant majority in parliament, the government’s shown willingness to listen in the current economic turmoil. Two weeks ago United Russia scrapped plans to double taxes after drivers arranged protests. For her battle against the pension tax, MP Ekaterina Semenova says she’s gathered a supporting cast of top businessmen, politicians and lawyers.
CNN Money: What on earth is happening with "Russia's GPS"?
December 1, 2009 11:08 AM
Much ballyhooed satellite communications system suffers technical setbacks and paucity of devices. Who will guide Father Frost?
By Julia Ioffe, contributor
Late last month Moscow celebrated the birthday of Father Frost, the Russian iteration of Santa Claus, with a new-fangled announcement: Father Frost’s retinue would move through the holiday skies aided by Glonass, the Russian answer to GPS.
Eagerly waiting children could track his movement online, while he could simultaneously improve his gift-giving efficiency. “Now Father Frost can be sure,” his press release said. “He can monitor his helpers through the Internet, even when he himself leaves for another city.”
It is unclear, however, how well Glonass will be able to aid Team Frost. The Glonass network (much like America’s Global Positioning System, a Cold War defense and missile-tracking system that was eventually opened to civilian use) was envisioned as an equal competitor to its U.S. counterpart.
But Glossnass recently has suffered some technical setbacks.
Here’s why: For complete coverage of the earth’s surface, Glonass, which stands for Global Navigation Satellite System, requires 24 satellites evenly distributed among three orbital planes. This includes three in-orbit spares – one per plane – in case anything goes wrong.
Russian "birds" fall flat
Currently, however, there are only 19 in orbit and just 15 of them are operational. (Three broke down just around the time of the war in Ossetia, in 2008, and, last week, the Russian space agency announced it was taking yet another satellite out of commission for technical reasons.) And because 18 operational satellites are needed for 100% coverage of Russian territory, the current Glonass configuration falls just short of that milestone, too, providing spotty coverage even at home. Coverage around the world is still more fractured and unreliable.
This, of course, makes it hard for Glonass to compete with the GPS system, which is fully operational and has nearly spotless coverage almost everywhere in the world.
In the system’s early years — when the Soviet space mission and the Cold War arms race were in full throttle — almost 50 satellites of various quality and life-span were lobbed into space. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, however, there were still only 12 functional satellites in orbit.
The system was briefly operational in the mid-1990s, but quickly fell into disrepair as the Russian economy spun out of control and budget revenues plummeted. Meanwhile, the GPS system, developed for American military use, was made available to the public free of charge in 1993, without any major setbacks.
Then in 2001, a young and energetic new president, Vladimir Putin, sought to revive Glonass.
Putin's pet project?
The project’s rebirth came just as the consumer GPS market was taking off and was tinged with both geopolitical and nationalistic considerations, not all of which made sense. On one hand, it was perfectly rational for Russia to not want to rely on the United States – an wary ally at best — for its military navigation systems.
And Russia was not the only country trying to wean itself off its American satellite dependency. At the time, China and Europe were working on similar GPS analogs. Europe later froze the development of its system, Galileo, because it didn’t seem profitable, but China and Russia, two countries capable of pouring vast sums of money into giant state ventures, plowed ahead.
Putin made Glonass his pet project, insisting that he wanted a system that could compete with GPS on an equal footing. For this he brought out the big guns. Legislative projects were launched that would require all government vehicles to have Glonass compatible systems. Parliament proposed tariffs on imports of GPS devices to encourage Glonass’s development at home.
And, in the oil-boom years, money was no object: The Kremlin allocated almost half a billion dollars to Glonass in 2006-2007, and, in 2008, Putin pledged even more. That year, he alloted an additional $2.6 billion, promising two big three-satellite launches in September and December 2009.
And then reality intervened.
In addition to those dud satellites whirling around space, the three satellites scheduled to be launched in September were found to have an unspecified “malfunction.” Still, Putin, now prime minister, came out on September 28 and publicly charged one of his deputies to make sure all six made it into space “by the end of this year.” But, less than a month later, the three satellites scheduled to be launched in December went back to the manufacturer. It is now December, and not one of the six satellites scheduled to be launched before the new year will make it up there on time.
And so Glonass hobbles on with 15 satellites, a full nine satellites short of the number needed for 100% worldwide coverage. This, of course, has forced a subtle shift in the Kremlin’s rhetoric. While Putin and current President Dmitry Medvedev continue to insist on an impeccable satellite navigation system in the near future, the point now, they say, is to compliment, rather than compete with, the GPS system. Two systems, they argue, are better than one. “Undoubtedly, GPS provides much better service,” says Sergey Filipov, a spokesman for Sitronics, which partners with the government in developing microchips for Glonass-reading devices. “We’re not trying to compete. The thinking is that it should be a double system.”
Experts suggest that this is in fact the case: the more satellites are in view of a navigation device equipped to read both GPS and Glonass signals, the more accurately it can pinpoint location and avoid blocks like trees or skyscrapers.
And Russia’s navigation project received a shot in the arm recently when India joined the project and agreed to pay for one satellite launch.
Where are the cool phones and gadgets?
But Glonass still faces an uphill battle. Not only are there too few satellites to provide reliable service, but Glonass devices are still in the earliest stages of development. In a country full of the most elaborately conspicuous cell phones, there are no mobile devices with Glonass readers.
The Glonass handheld market is equally underdeveloped. They are not user-friendly, and are bulky and far more expensive than their GPS counterparts.
Nor are foreign satellite navigation companies jumping into the Glonass market. Some make specialized agricultural equipment that can read both GPS and Glonass signals, but Garmin, (GRMN) the largest producer of consumer GPS devices, still does not make a dual-signal device. “Since Glonass isn’t fully functional yet, it’s too early to say if our current production handhelds will be compatible,” says a company spokesman. (Garmin controls some 60% of the North American market.)
“Will the system be realized, or not? That’s the big question,” says Anna Lepetukhina, a technology analyst with Troika Dialog. “Sooner or later, we’ll see it used more in the military-industrial sector. Will we see a large consumer market for Glonass? Probably not.”
But this has not stopped Putin from trumpeting whatever small successes Glonass offers. According to one of Putin’s deputies, Glonass has made police work easier and has even helped Russian police departments save on gas because police chiefs can keep a close eye on their ranks. Now, Putin joked, officers “have to visit their girlfriends on the bus now and not in official cars.”
This article will appear in the December 4, 2009 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Executive Intelligence Review: British Oligarchy Targets The Four Powers
by Jeffrey Steinberg
Nov. 30—The City of London-centered financial oligarchy has responded in fury at the recent breakthrough developments in what Lyndon LaRouche has called the Four Powers—the potential alliance of the United States, Russia, China and India, to replace the present, hopelessly bankrupt system of monetarist globalization under private central bank dictatorship, with a credit system. Such a new system, based on the revival of sovereign nation-states, would be guided by the Hamiltonian economics of the American System of political economy, not British free trade and globalization.
The most telling evidence of the London freakout was the bombing, on the night of Nov. 27, of the luxury Nevsky Express train, traveling between Moscow and St. Petersburg, which killed at least 30 people, and injured at least 100 others. Both Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin, and the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, confirmed on Nov. 28, that the train derailment was caused by a bomb.
The targeting was precise. The current Moscow-St. Petersburg express trains are scheduled to be replaced on Dec. 18 by Russia's first high-speed train, which will use the Sapsan, designed by Russian and German engineers at Siemens. Yakunin discussed the technology with visiting U.S. Transport Secretary Ray LaHood in Moscow Nov. 20.
The Nevsky train bombing not only killed several prominent Russian government officials, including the head of the national highway corporation, but a second bomb, which failed to fully detonate, was activated on Nov. 28, as rescuers, including prominent Russian security and rail officials, were on the scene, supervising the rescue effort and the criminal investigation. Among those on the scene was Russian Railway chief Yakunin, one of the inner circle of Kremlin policymakers, who, along with President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, have engineered a dramatic shift in Russian policy.
The shift, away from raw materials export, in favor of a new emphasis on scientific and technological innovation and large-scale infrastructure projects, was at the center of recent Russia-China agreements, to launch a vast program of development of the Russian Far East, an area rich in raw material reserves, but requiring massive high-tech capital investment. This long-term commitment of Russia and China to work together, to develop this Northeast Asia region—consolidated in Putin and Yakunin's mid-October Beijing visit—is exactly what London is desperate to sabotage, by whatever means are required.
Behind the Nevsky Train Bombing
Lyndon LaRouche immediately sized up the Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train attack as a London-directed strategic move against the Russia-China core of his own Four Powers strategy. At this moment of total disintegration of the present world monetary and financial system, it is only such a Four Powers concert that can defeat the London-centered financier oligarchy and avert an otherwise certain plunge into a global Dark Age, in which 80% of the world's population could be wiped out.
LaRouche was not the only voice pointing to a larger geopolitical motive for the attack on the Nevsky Express. The day after the bombing, Alexander Nagorny, deputy editor of the popular newspaper Zavtra, told Russia Today that the terrorists were not Muslim extremists, but other forces hostile to the government of Prime Minister Putin as a whole.
Nagorny said that if the terrorists had been jihadists, "then the Muslim extremists would declare it in some way, in some letter or some statement, because they are interested in creating some kind of national tension between Muslim and non-Muslim parts of the Russian population. That is why I think there are different forces, but the forces which are interested in destabilizing the political situation in Russia, and first and foremost in ousting Prime Minister Putin and the so-called siloviki from the political paradigm of present Russia." (Siloviki is a slang term for members of Russia's defense, security, and law enforcement agencies.)
On Oct. 21, Zavtra had prominently published Nagorny's interview with Lyndon LaRouche, conducted during the World Economic Forum—Dialogue of Civilizations, at Rhodes, Greece, which LaRouche had addressed.
Since the policy shift in Russia, demonstrated by the China agreements, President Medvedev has repeatedly emphasized the importance of development of transport infrastructure to rebuild the Russian economy. He did so most recently at a State Council Presidium meeting on transport held in the Ulyanovsk Region Nov. 24, where he inaugurated an important new bridge over the Volga River, together with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. This bridge is a key link in the transport corridor connecting European Russia with the Urals, Siberia, and the Russian Far East. At the meeting, Yakunin announced that Russian Railways will issue 40 billion roubles ($1.39 billion) of state-backed infrastructure bonds in the coming year.
Investing in the transport sector, Medvedev told the meeting, is one of the most effective remedies for the crisis, and this is borne out by other countries' experience in various situations, including economic depression periods—an obvious reference to the late American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Russia must, Medvedev said, establish research and education centers for innovative transport development at the leading universities and scientific research institutes.
'The Economist' Speaks
As if to fully corroborate the accusations of LaRouche and leading Russian analysts, The Economist, the voice of the City of London's financier oligarchy, published an attack on President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin, just hours before the train bombing. Under the cynical headline, "Dmitry Medvedev's building project," The Economist expressed quiet hysteria at the prospect that Russia's dramatic policy change could catalyse a power bloc to defeat London's drive for a new dark age.
" 'Stability' was once the buzzword in Russia; now it is 'modernization.' In reality," The Economist raged, "there is little of either. Russia's future is less predictable and modernisation more elusive than either was a decade ago. Yet the shift in language creates expectations of change. And in recent months, President Dmitry Medvedev has been talking and writing of little else.... His diagnosis is relentless: a primitive, commodity-based economy that cannot create prosperity; the lack of reforms; and all-pervasive corruption. And his vision of the future is charged with excitement: a Russia bursting with nanotechnology and nuclear-powered spaceships. Yet ultimately his recipe for change is implausible.... Indeed, there is perceived to be a growing gap between Mr Medvedev's words and reality."
Ultimately, The Economist charged that Medvedev's greatest crime is his partnership with Putin, whom London despises for his efforts to restore Russia's position as a world power. They also note, with alarm, the growing prospects of U.S.-Russia collaboration.
As LaRouche notes, in a signed editorial in this issue of EIR, the train bombings coincide with a virtual declaration of war by the British oligarchy against the United States. None other than Queen Elizabeth II, herself, used the occasion of the 60th anniversary meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of State, in Trinidad and Tobago Nov. 27-29, to declare that it was time for Britain, in the name of the Commonwealth, to reclaim global power.
With this arrogant, berserker policy coming out of London, it will take LaRouche's Four Powers alliance to put the Queen and her minions in their proper place—somewhere inside the London Zoo.
National Economic Trends
The Moscow Times: Revised Oil Prices Drive Up GDP Forecast
02 December 2009
By Anatoly Medetsky
Higher oil prices have prompted the Economic Development Ministry to upgrade its forecasts for economic growth while moderating its planned eurobond issue, the ministry said Tuesday.
The economy will likely grow by at least 2.5 percent next year, more than previously expected, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said.
It could grow as much as 3.1 percent at best, he said, bringing the figure in line with the latest estimate by the World Bank.
The ministry’s current forecast is for the economy to expand by 1.6 percent. The World Bank said last month that the growth would reach 3.2 percent.
Klepach didn’t say why prospects for economic expansion improved, but his slides at a banking conference in London showed that oil prices — a key factor in the resource-based economy — would also climb to levels that exceed previous government expectations. A barrel of Urals crude, the country’s main export blend, will average $65 to $71 over the next three years, up from the $58 to $60 in the current scenario.
“The overall forecast for Russia in the next few years looks more optimistic than we assumed,” Klepach said at a banking conference in London, Interfax reported.
The Economic Development Ministry will submit revised forecasts for 2010-2012 to the Cabinet by Dec. 10, he said.
Klepach singled out high interest rates as one of the main threats for the economy, saying they by far exceed the rate of return for most businesses.
“If we don’t remove this gap, we won’t be able to speak of any sustainable growth,” he said.
Central Bank first deputy chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said at the same conference that the average interest rate on loans to nonbank firms stood at 13.9 percent in October. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called for bank loans not to exceed three points higher than the refinancing rate, which is currently 9 percent.
Despite the high rates, Ulyukayev expects lending to grow by 15 percent next year.
As oil prices remain high, Russia may reduce a planned eurobond sale next year by as much as 50 percent, Klepach said, Bloomberg reported.
The government may limit debt sales to $8 billion to $10 billion, compared with an official target of $18 billion, Klepach said. The reduced borrowing need is based on an assumption that oil will average about $60 to $65 a barrel, he said, adding that the figures were based on his own calculations.
Next year’s bond sale will be Russia’s first foreign bond issue since its 1998 default on $40 billion of domestic debt.
The Economic Development Ministry is forecasting a 2010 budget deficit of 6.2 percent to 6.6 percent of gross domestic product.
The forecast for this year’s budget shortfall has improved, however, with the Finance Ministry now predicting a 6.9 percent deficit, down from the 7.5 percent to 7.7 percent that it predicted in October.
Higher oil prices will have buoyed federal budget revenues this year by 300 billion rubles ($10.3 billion) by the end of the year, Federal Tax Service chief Mikhail Mokretsov said Tuesday.
The service collected an additional 60 billion rubles after the economy began showing signs of recovery in the summer and through better administration, Mokretsov said in a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev.
The total tax collection will be 14 percent more than the 2.6 trillion ruble target in the federal budget, he said.
As of Nov. 1, the service collected 95 percent of that amount, he said.
The Federal Customs Service also expects to raise more revenues from import and export duties than planned. Its chief, Andrei Belyaninov, said at the end of October that it would collect 3.4 trillion rubles, up from the target of 3.26 trillion.
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Reuters: Russian markets -- Factors to Watch on Dec 2
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Here are events and news stories that could move Russian markets on Wednesday.
You can reach us on: +7 495 775 1242
STOCKS CALL (Contributions to moscow.newsroom@):
Galleon Capital: The optimism of global bourses should ensure a positive opening of the Russian market today.
Aton: The nearest resistance on the MICEX index is located at 1,380 points.
EVENTS (All times GMT):
MOSCOW- OGK-1 reports 9-month results
MOSCOW- Acron releases 9 month results, 0700 GMT
MOSCOW- Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko due to speak to the Duma lower house of parliament
MOSCOW- The Finance Ministry to offer 20 billion roubles of new 2014 OFZ bonds at an auction
MOSCOW- Federal Statistics Service publishes weekly inflation data, estimate for November inflation also expected
IN THE PAPERS:
Vedomosti runs an interview with Igor Komarov, president of AvtoVAZ, who forecasts that by 2015 the troubled carmaker will be producing 900,000 vehicles, 70 percent of them under the Lada brand. The company will have positive cash flow by mid-2010, he adds.
Vedomosti also reports that UC RUSAL has reached agreement with the last of more than 70 foreign creditors in a deal to restructure $7.4 billion in interntaional debt, paving the way for the aluminium company to float shares.
Kommersant reports that VTB has promised its minority shareholders its shares will be worth 15 kopecks by 2012 -- more than double their current value.
TOP STORIES IN RUSSIA AND THE CIS:
TOP NEWS: RUSAL agrees $7.4 bln debt restructuring -paper Statoil, Gazprom sign LNG, gas deals for U.S. Russia eyes faster growth, higher oil prices
COMPANIES/MARKETS: CenterTelecom posts 1.8 bln rbl Q3 profit Stem Cell firm sees IPO at low end of range YUKOS owners win ruling in $100bn case vs Russia Globaltrans plans $250 million rail acquisition
ECONOMY/POLITICS: Russia to chose Eurobond leads by year-end Russsia to add CAD to reserves in coming months
ENERGY: Gazprom Neft eyes a decade of growth, field buys
COMMODITIES: Russia to extend tariffs on steel, steel pipes Russia, Kazakhstan,Belarus set sugar import duty Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan set 2010 meat quotas
MARKETS CLOSE/LATEST:
RTS 1,427.03 +0.76 pct
MSCI Russia 792.42 +2.90 pct
MSCI Emerging Markets 981.10 +0.80 pct
Russia 30-year Eurobond yield: 5.351/5.305 pct
EMBI+ Russia 240 basis points over
Rouble/dollar 29.0601
Rouble/euro 43.8575
NYMEX crude $78.51 +$0.15
ICE Brent crude $79.62 +$0.27
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Keywords: RUSSIA FACTORS/ (antonina.vorobyova@; Tel: +7495 7751242, Reuters Messaging: antonina.vorobyova.@)
Bloomberg: Russian Stocks May Gain 37% as Economy Rebounds, UralSib Says
By Paul Abelsky
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s RTS stock index may advance 37 percent by the end of next year as the economy rebounds from its biggest contraction on record, UralSib Capital said.
The dollar-denominated index will probably reach 1,950 by the end of 2010, the highest since Russia’s war with Georgia in August 2008, UralSib strategists Chris Weafer and Leonid Slipchenko said in a research note today. The ruble-measured Micex Index may gain 29 percent to 1,700, they said.
Russia’s economy, which shrank a record 10.9 percent in the second quarter, will probably expand 5.5 percent next year as the price of Urals, the country’s export blend of oil, averages $71.50 a barrel, according to the Moscow-based brokerage.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@
Last Updated: December 2, 2009 01:43 EST
Bloomberg: Dixy Group, Razgulay, Polymetal: Russian Stock-Market Preview
By Ilya Khrennikov
Dec. 2 (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.
The 30-stock Micex Index rose 2.7 percent to 1,319.35.
OAO Dixy Group (DIXY RX), Russia’s third-largest publicly traded food retailer, is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings today. Dixy fell 1.1 percent to 219.50 rubles.
OAO Polymetal (PMTL RX): Gold jumped to a record above $1,200 an ounce in New York on the slumping dollar, and silver rose to a 16-month high. Polymetal, the country’s largest silver producer, declined 2.3 percent to 284.49 rubles.
OAO Razgulay Group (GRAZ RX): Russia’s grain and sugar producer reported a first-half net loss of 953 million rubles ($32.8 million) late yesterday after trading closed in Moscow. Razgulay added 0.5 percent to 45.028 rubles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow ikhrennikov@
Last Updated: December 1, 2009 22:00 EST
Stock Markets review: Russian stock market daily morning report (December 02, 2009, Wednesday)
By Veles Capital
Looks like Dubai factor has been almost forgotten by the market – on Tuesday all the global grounds, including the Russian ones, showed significant growth. Along with that the growth in Russia was cautious, which is indicated by not high estimates of the trade volumes. Speaking about the fundamental factors, we should outline significant growth of oil value (the price of Brent oil barrel came close to 80 USD on Tuesday), and also the slight strengthening of ruble. Against that background the oil segment showed relatively high climbing on Tuesday. Besides, the demand was indicated in several shares of Svyazinvest, which was due to the expectations of another session of another governmental committee, where the matter of holding reorganization is to be discussed. The significant negative was on the shares of AvtoVAZ for the third day in a row.
Main news
Gazprom Neft provided the expected financial results for 9 months of 2009.
Net profit of Gazprom Neft within 9 months of 2009 reduced by 54.3% to 2.41 bn USD, profit in 3Q 2009 slipped versus the second quarter by 29.5% and formed 846 mn USD, as it comes from the US GAAP report of the company. The financial results have totally matched the market expectations.
Gazprom Neft is extending via prospective extracting assets.
Gazprom and Swedish Malka Oil signed a binding protocol on Tuesday on the terms and procedure of selling the Russian oil company STS-Service, LLC – the base production unit of Malka Oil, imparts the press-release of Gazprom-Neft.
Other news
Centrtelecom output the IAS results for 9 months of 2009.
Sales of Centrtelecom by IAS within 9 months of 2009 formed 27.4 bn RUR, operating profit – 8.4 bn RUR, and net profit – 4.8 bn RUR. Similar estimates for 3Q of 2009 – 9.2 bn RUR, 2.9 bn RUR and 1.8 bn RUR respectively.
MOESK reported by IAS for 6 months of 2009.
Sales of MOESK by the results of 6 months of 2009 grew by 31% to 41.6 bn RUR, cost of company grew by 19% and formed 30.9 bn RUR.
50% OWNERSHIP OF DORNOD DEPOSIT AT STAKE
Mineweb: Russia's ARMZ makes all-cash $33m bid for Dornod JV partner Khan Resources
To establish the first modern uranium joint venture between Russia and Mongolia, Russia's ARMZ is trying to oust its Dornod uranium project partner Khan Resources through an unsolicited takeover bid.
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Wednesday , 02 Dec 2009
RENO, NV -
State-owned Russian uranium miner AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ) Tuesday announced it was launching a formal all-cash US$33 million bid to acquire Toronto-based junior explorer Khan Resources (TSX: KRI) for Cdn 65-cents (US62-cents) per share.
Both companies are battling over who controls the exploration license for the Dornod uranium deposit. ARMZ is moving to end the conflict over the first joint venture between Russian and Mongolian state uranium companies by making a hostile takeover bid for Khan Resources.
In July the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia suspended the mining license of the joint venture company Central Asia Uranium Corporation United, which was one of two primary licenses for the Dornod uranium deposit. CAUC is a joint venture between a Khan subsidiary (58% ownership), ARMZ subsidiary Priargunsky (21%) and the Mongolian government (21%).
Dornod is also the site a former Russian open-pit uranium mine.
Inspectors from Mongolia's State Inspection Agency claimed a number of violations existed when they visited Dornod in April. By August Khan was pushed aside in order to permit the Mongolian Government to set up a 50-50 joint venture between ARMZ and Mongolia's MonAtom. Dornod was chosen for the first joint venture between the Russian and Mongolian state companies because it has more than 50,000 tons of uranium reserves and resources and could begin mining within a short time.
A study by P&E Mining Consultants for Khan estimated a probable mineral reserve of nearly 53 million pounds of U3O8 at Dornod. At an expected mine life of 15 years, the average annual production rate is estimated at 3 million pounds at an average cost of US$23.22 per pound. The initial project capex is believed to be US$333 million.
In a news release Tuesday, ARMZ said its offer represents a 48% premium over the closing price on the TSX on November 26, 2009. ARMZ is the world's fifth largest uranium producer.
On November 27th, Khan Resources said it was aware of ARMZ's offer but would not comment until it had received the offer and related takeover information.
Reuters: Russia Mechel gains 3-yr extension on 15 bln rbl loan
Wed Dec 2, 2009 7:12am GMT
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Russian steel and coking coal producer Mechel (MTL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it received a three-year extension of a 15 billion rouble ($514.2 million) VTB (VTBR.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) loan received in 2008.
Under the new agreement with the state-owned Russian bank, interest payments are required during the first 2-1/2 years, with further monthly repayment of the principal.
Mechel did not provide any details on the interest rate it must pay VTB.
(Reporting by Alfred Kueppers; editing by Toni Vorobyova) ((alfred.kueppers@; Tel +7 495 775 1242; Reuters Messaging: alfred.kueppers@@)) ($1=29.17 Rouble)
RBC: VTB Bank restructures Mechel loans
RBC, 02.12.2009, Moscow 10:39:26.VTB Bank has restructured the loans taken out by Mechel Group companies worth a total of RUB 15bn (approx. USD 514m). The loans were extended to Yakutugol, Southern Kuzbass and Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant in late 2008 to help them finance their day-to-day operations for the initial period of one year. The terms have now been extended to four years. With the loans now qualifying as long-term financing, Mechel's structure of borrowings and financial stability will improve, the bank said in a statement.
According to earlier reports, Mechel Group provided the production assets of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant and Southern Kuzbass coal mining company as a pledge for the VTB loans of RUB 15bn (approx. USD 514m).
Bloomberg: Rusal Lenders Said to Sign Debt Accord, Paving Way for Offering
By Yuriy Humber
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, signed an accord with lenders to restructure almost $17 billion of debt, said two people familiar with the matter.
More than 70 Russian and foreign banks agreed to allow Rusal to repay the debt over as long as seven years, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks were private. Billionaire shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to swap some of his debt for a larger Rusal stake, the people said.
The accord is the biggest debt restructuring in Russian corporate history. It follows more than a year of talks and removes a barrier to the Moscow-based company’s planned initial public offering in Hong Kong. Rusal, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, aims to sell a 10 percent stake to investors in Hong Kong this month. It may also list the shares in Paris.
Lenders include Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Commerzbank AG and Natixis. Vnesheconombank, or VEB, a Russian state-run bank whose supervisory committee is chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is the biggest creditor.
Rusal will pay interest on part of the repayments due to foreign lenders at 1.75 to 3.5 percentage points above the London interbank offered rate, the company said in July, when it announced the terms of the restructuring.
The rest of the repayments will be added to the company’s outstanding debt. Principal repayments will be made on a pay-if- you-can basis in the first four years after the agreement.
Repayment Freeze
Rusal persuaded banks to freeze repayments in March after aluminum demand and prices slumped. The company last month reached a deal with VEB for a one-year extension on a $4.5 billion loan. Other Russian creditors agreed on debt restructuring terms, Rusal said on Oct. 26.
Prokhorov acquired Rusal shares last year as part of the sale of his 25 percent in OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel to the aluminum company. He agreed to swap $2 billion of the $2.8 billion owed by Rusal for equity, raising his stake in the company to 19.2 percent from 14 percent, two people familiar with the deal said last month. The rest of the debt owed to Prokhorov will be paid by Rusal alongside bank repayments.
Rusal will repay $5 billion to all lenders by the fourth quarter of 2013, allowing the aluminum producer to complete investments in the Boguchansk power plant in Siberia and avoid paying dividends until net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization drops to a ratio of 3.
To contact the reporter on this story: Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@
Last Updated: December 2, 2009 03:32 EST
Reuters: UPDATE 1-RUSAL agrees $7.4 bln debt restructuring – report
12.02.09, 01:46 AM EST
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - UC RUSAL has reached agreement on Russia's biggest ever debt restructuring, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, in a $7.4 billion deal that paves the way for the world's biggest aluminium producer to float shares abroad.
Business daily Vedomosti said British fund Blue Crest, the last creditor yet to agree to the restructuring of UC RUSAL's foreign debt, had given its assent.
The newspaper cited two unnamed sources at creditor banks and a third source close to UC RUSAL as saying Blue Crest had agreed, concluding almost a year of tortuous negotiations between UC RUSAL and over 70 international lenders.
UC RUSAL spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina declined to comment. Calls to Blue Crest in London, outside of office hours, were not answered.
UC RUSAL, controlled by indebted tycoon Oleg Deripaska, is hoping to raise around $2 billion from a stock market flotation in Hong Kong and Paris this year or early next, to help pay down a debt pile that exceeds $16 billion in total.
The initial public offering could not go ahead until the debt deal with international lenders was agreed.
A formal announcement of the transaction is expected later on Wednesday or on Thursday, Vedomosti reported.
UC RUSAL has already secured state backing for the IPO. State bank VEB, to which UC RUSAL owes $4.5 billion, has pledged to buy a 3 percent stake in the company when the listing takes place.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who confirmed VEB's intentions on Nov. 25, said Deripaska could surrender majority ownership of UC RUSAL when the deal goes ahead, although he would retain operational control of the firm.
(Writing by Toni Vorobyova and Robin Paxton; editing by John Stonestreet) Keywords: RUSAL/
(antonina.vorobyova@; Tel: +7495 7751242, Reuters Messaging: antonina.vorobyova.@)
Bloomberg: Rusal Wins 4-Year Extension on $7.4 Billion Debt, Vedomosti Says
By Alex Nicholson
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum maker, agreed with dozens of foreign banks to restructure $7.4 billion of debt over four years, with the possibility of extending payments for another three, the Vedomosti newspaper said.
The “formal closing of the deal” will be announced today or tomorrow, the Moscow-based newspaper said, citing bankers and a person close to the company who weren’t identified.
State-run Russian lenders OAO Sberbank, VTB Group and OAO Gazprombank agreed to extend Rusal payments on another $2 billion of debt, while Rusal billionaire shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to restructure $2.7 billion, Vedomosti said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Nicholson in Moscow at anicholson6@
Last Updated: December 2, 2009 00:58 EST
: Estée Lauder heir to forge Moscow hotel deal
By Catherine Belton in Moscow
Published: December 2 2009 02:12 | Last updated: December 2 2009 02:12
Ronald Lauder, a scion of the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, is to forge a $2bn venture with the Moscow city government to manage and revamp the capital’s hotel business in time for Russia’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in 2014.
The deal, expected to be announced on Wednesday, will see Mr Lauder’s recently created Russia Real Estate Fund take a 51 per cent stake in the venture to manage the city government’s stakes in dozens of hotels across the city, including the Rossiya and Moskva hotels on Red Square, in return for investing 31.7bn roubles ($1.1bn) into the company. The Moscow city government is to take a 49 per cent stake.
As Russia and the US aim to “reset” political ties after years of chilly relations, Mr Lauder said he hoped the deal would pave the way for greater US direct investment in the country. “There have been times when it has been very difficult for US companies to do business in Russia. I want this project to be an example of what can be done,” Mr Lauder told the Financial Times.
The venture aims to bring in the best international management expertise to upgrade the city’s hotels in order to cope with an expected influx of tourists when Russia’s southern city of Sochi hosts the Winter Olympics in 2014. The venture will also seek to upgrade tourist infrastructure and transport across the city.
“At the moment the city is booked up even during a VTB [the trade bank] investment conference, let alone the Olympic games when huge flows of tourists are expected,” said a person familiar with the matter, referring to the state-controlled bank that faced problems when it hosted hundreds of foreign investors at a conference this autumn. “Lauder is being brought in to help a capital of the world look like a capital of the world.”
Moscow is well known for its glitzy luxurious hotels such as the Ritz Carlton on the city main thoroughfare Tverskaya, but suffers from a distinct lack of cheaper budget hotels in the two and three star range, while those that do exist are extremely down at heel. The venture is expected to manage the 13-hectare Rossiya hotel complex, the five star 1500-roomed Moskva, the Renaissance, and the Metropol, all in central Moscow, as well as lower grade institutions.
Mr Lauder, who stepped down from the board of Estée Lauder this summer and is a frequent visitor to Moscow, is understood to have been selected for the project because of his lack of affiliation to the hotel business – and is seek out the best management and infrastructure companies.
The Moscow city government could not be reached for comment late on Tuesday. Mr Lauder’s ultimate holding in the venture will be determined by the number of other investors – US, European and Russian – that could enter his real estate fund.
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Bloomberg: AvtoVAZ Plans to Sell or Close All ‘Non-Core, Inefficient’ Units
By Paul Abelsky
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- OAO AvtoVAZ, the Russian automaker partly owned by Renault SA, said it plans to sell or close all “non-core and inefficient” units to cut costs amid the country’s worst economic contraction in more than a decade.
Other “anti-crisis” measures discussed by the company’s board yesterday include a company-wide overhaul of the way divisions are managed to improve economies of scale, AvtoVAZ said in an e-mailed statement today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@
Last Updated: December 2, 2009 01:15 EST
Bloomberg: AvtoVAZ Asks 15,000 Employees to Resign, Union Says (Update1)
By Anastasia Ustinova and Laurence Frost
Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- OAO AvtoVAZ, Russia’s biggest carmaker, will ask almost 15,000 workers to resign with no job guarantees so that they can be transferred to non- automotive subsidiaries, the company’s labor union said.
The Togliatti-based manufacturer returned its 90,000- strong labor force to full pay today as a necessary prelude to initiating job cuts under Russian law, Andrei Liapin, the union’s chairman, said in a telephone interview.
“People are being asked to sign a resignation letter in order to be transferred, which means they’re giving up their legal right to complain if they don’t get employed,” he said.
AvtoVAZ plans to establish new units as part of a plan to restructure debt, defend a 25 percent share of the Russian car market and raise annual output to 900,000 autos. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week pledged a 50 billion-ruble ($1.7 billion) government cash injection in return for technology from shareholder Renault SA.
Liapin said employees are being asked to put their names forward for transfer without any knowledge of what industries the new units will be engaged in.
An AvtoVAZ spokesman, who declined to be identified, said workers would only be moved on a voluntary basis.
The carmaker returned its workforce to full pay two months earlier than initially planned following the restructuring agreement with the state and Renault, France’s second-biggest carmaker, which owns a 25 percent stake.
Salaries Slashed
AvtoVAZ slashed salaries by 50 percent in September when it reduced the work week to 20 hours as sales fell. Under Russian law, jobs can’t be shed while pay cuts are still in place.
“The return to full capacity will allow us to make our plans more realistic,” AvtoVAZ spokesman Igor Burenkov said today in a telephone interview.
AvtoVAZ, whose plants dominate the Volga river town of Togliatti, is struggling as demand for new cars plummets amid the country’s worst economic crisis in a decade. Renault paid $1 billion for it stake in the carmaker in 2007.
In a Nov. 27 statement announcing the latest bailout, Renault said Russian government agencies agreed to take over social programs currently funded by the carmaker, with the Samara regional authorities also footing the wage bill for 14,600 workers to be transferred to unspecified subsidiaries.
The agreement will dispel “bear-case fears” of a 1 billion-euro cash call on Renault and may persuade investors to regard its AvtoVAZ stake as positively as they view Fiat SpA’s investment in Chrysler Group LLC, London-based Credit Suisse analyst Stuart Pearson said in an e-mailed note.
Russian Investors
State-owned Russian Technologies may increase its 25 percent AvtoVAZ stake as a result of the recapitalization, its Chief Executive Officer Sergei Chemezov said last week, while a holding of the same size controlled by investment bank Troika Dialog may be diluted. Renault’s stake will be unchanged.
Renault and Japanese affiliate Nissan Motor Co. will use AvtoVAZ production capacity to assemble their own models under the agreement, though the Russian carmaker’s Lada brand will account for at least 70 percent of output.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anastasia Ustinova in St. Petersburg at austinova@; Laurence Frost in Paris at lfrost@
Last Updated: December 1, 2009 13:23 EST
Reuters: Russian Nov rail freights rise yr/yr, fall mo/mo
12.01.09, 11:10 AM EST
MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russian railways, the state-run transport monopoly, saw rail freight rising by 5.5 percent in November year-on-year, a spokesman for the company told Reuters on Tuesday.
Rail freights - a key barometer for the general health of the economy - have been improving so far in year-on-year terms, but the November figure was 4.5 percent lower than in October 2009.
The economic crisis hit Russia in the fourth quarter of 2008 and rail freight at the time plummeted by 20 percent in annual terms.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Dmitry Sergeyev) Keywords: RUSSIA FREIGHT/
(dmitry.sergeev@; +7 495 775 1242; Reuters Messaging: dmitry.sergeev.@)
Barentsobserver: Less cargo over Arkhangelsk port
2009-12-02
The cargo turnover for Arkhangelsk port will be down 36 percent in 2009.
The decrease is based on estimates made by the cargo turnover so far this year. Interviewed by PortNews, Arkhangelsk port Captain Nikolay Gurinov, says the volume of cargo transhipment is expected either to remain unchanged in 2010 or show an insignificant increase.
Oil products transhipment volume will go down, but the volumes of other cargoes will increase, according to the PortNews interview.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia sets new oil output record in Nov
Wed Dec 2, 2009 8:01am GMT
* Third consecutive month above 10 mln bpd
* Fourth consecutive monthly record
* Pumping more oil than Saudi Arabia
* Nov natural gas output up 9.7 pct
* Gazprom Nov output up 8.3 pct
(Adds details)
MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Russia produced more than 10 million barrels per day of oil for the third consecutive month in November to retain its position ahead of Saudi Arabia as the world's top producer, Energy Ministry data showed on Wednesday.
Russian output reached 10.07 million bpd last month, setting a new post-Soviet record for the fourth straight month, as state-run sector leader Rosneft's (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) Vankor field ramped up production. Russia had produced 10.04 million bpd in October.
Russia, where oil is the key revenue earner for the budget, has reversed last year's decline in production by introducing a more benign tax regime and launching new fields in remote areas of eastern Siberia and the Arctic.
Saudi Arabia, historically the leading producer, has restricted output in line with OPEC output cuts and pumped around 8.13 million bpd in November.
The Saudi figure excludes a type of light oil known as condensate, which is included in the Russian total.
Russia is also the world's largest natural gas producer and posted a 9.7 percent increase in output last month.
Daily November gas output rose to 1.93 billion cubic metres from 1.76 bcm in October, the ministry data showed.
Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), the country's state-controlled gas export monopoly, produced 1.57 bcm per day in November, an 8.3 percent increase on the 1.45 bcm it produced a month earlier. (Reporting by Robin Paxton; editing by James Jukwey) ((robin.paxton@; +7 495 775 1242; Reuters Messaging: robin.paxton.@))
01.12.2009
Oil and gas Eurasia: TNK-BP May Increase Its Oil Export
n 2010, TNK-BP may increase its oil export by 6% up to 38 million tons, Jonathan Kollek, Vice President, Sales, Trading and Logistics, TNK-BP, said to journalists.
The company is going to export approximately 2 million tons of oil next year from the Verkhnechonskoe field.
Mr. Kollek noted that TNK-BP has signed 5 one-year contracts for export of 30 million tons of oil and got one new partner. The oil export contracts of the company are based on a price formula.
According to Mr. Kollek, the oil export of the company by the end of 2009 will grow by 9% up to 35.82 million tons. The export of oil through the oil pipeline Druzhba will rise by 25% up to 13.351 million tons, railway export of oil will increase by 34% up to 3.494 million tons, and export of oil through seaports will decrease by 3% down to 18.975 million tons.
The oil supply to the domestic market will increase by 7% up to 7.885 million tons.
-TNK-BP
Gazprom
: Gazprom may acquire 5.26% stake in Verbundnetz Gas (VNG)
Wed. December 02, 2009; Posted: 03:13 AM
Dec 02, 2009 (Datamonitor Financial Deals Tracker via COMTEX) -- GDSZF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- According to The Economic Times, OAO Gazprom may acquire a 5.26% stake in Verbundnetz Gas AG (VNG), a Germany-based natural gas wholesaler and energy services provider, from GDF Suez. The transaction is valued at approximately between $224 million and $299 million.
Gazprom is a Russia-based gas producing company. GDF Suez is a natural gas and electricity company. Gazprom currently holds a 5.3% stake in VNG.
Reportedly, Wintershall Holding AG is also in the race to acquire a stake in VNG.
Deal Value (US$ Million) 299
Deal Type Acquisition
Sub-Category Minority Acquisition
Deal Status Rumour: 2009-11-27
Deal Participants
Target (Company) Verbundnetz Gas AG
Acquirer (Company) OAO Gazprom
Vendor (Company) GDF SUEZ
% Acquisition 5.26%
Reuters: UPDATE 2-Statoil, Gazprom sign LNG, gas deals for U.S.
Tue Dec 1, 2009 1:56pm EST
* Preliminary deals include natural gas and LNG transactions
* Gazprom to get regasification capacity at U.S. terminal
* Initial agreement to be finalised in Q1 2010
(Adds details, quotes)
By Wojciech Moskwa
OSLO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Europe's two biggest suppliers of natural gas, Norway's Statoil ASA (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Russia's Gazprom's (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), signed initial deals to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States and trade energy there.
The preliminary deal, whose terms will be negotiated over the coming months, comes at a time when U.S. gas markets are plagued by low prices due to massive expansion of shale production, which has reduced the need for LNG imports.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the companies said the deals include Gazprom gaining regasification capacity at the Cove Point, Maryland, LNG receiving terminal.
Statoil will also sell natural gas to Kremlin-controlled Gazprom at various U.S. locations, while purchasing LNG from the Russian company at Cove Point.
"The regasification agreements... will provide a firm foundation for our long term LNG supply strategy," said John Hattenberger, President of Gazprom Marketing & Trading USA, a downstream arm of the Russian gas giant that signed the deal.
"Our gas purchase agreement enables us to strengthen our North American marketing and trading operation, which we launched on Oct. 1, and provides us with gas supplies in areas of strategic importance," he added.
Gazprom has said it seeks to gain 10 percent of the U.S. natural gas market in the next 10 years, or about 168 million cubic metres per day. Presently, U.S. LNG import terminals are operating at less than 10 percent of capacity. [ID:nGEE5AP1RL]
Under the Statoil deal, Gazprom will receive access to 50 million cubic feet per day, or 0.5 billion cubic metres per year of regasification capacity at Cove Point starting in 2010.
In addition, Gazprom will receive long-term access 2 billion cubic metres per year of Cove Point capacity for 18 to 20 years.
The agreements include the release to Gazprom of take-away Cove Point expansion pipeline capacity.
The deal also envisages Gazprom purchasing 1 bcm per year of natural gas from Statoil at various trading hubs in the United States for "more than five years".
SIGN OF CONFIDENCE?
The deal may be seen as a sign of confidence in the long-term future of the U.S. gas market, which both companies use to diversify away from core European consumers.
Closer downstream cooperation between the two gas giants could also help Statoil's chances of gaining wider access to Gazprom oil and gas exploration projects in Europe's far north.
Statoil already has a 24 percent stake in the development company for Gazprom's giant Shtokman field in the Barents Sea, which has enough gas to meet total world demand for a year.
In a planned 20-year agreement, Statoil will purchase 2 bcm per year of LNG from Gazprom for delivery in international waters to Statoil for regasification at Cove Point, an important terminal for gas imports to the U.S. east coast.
"The agreement is an important step in Statoil's efforts to ensure supply for our LNG-import and regas capacity at Cove Point," said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil's senior vice president for International Gas Development in Natural Gas.
"It further underlines our ability to develop our gas business in the United States where we, over a relatively short time, have built a position in upstream conventional production, shale gas and the LNG-import terminal Cove Point."
She said the deal, which both parties aimed to finalise during the first quarter of 2010, was an "important broadening of the successful" relations between Gazprom and Statoil. (Additional reporting by Edward McAllister in New York, Editing by Anthony Barker and Keiron Henderson) ((wojciech.moskwa@; +47 22 93 69 62; Reuters Messaging: wojciech.moskwa.@))
Reuters: UPDATE 3-Gazprom Neft eyes a decade of growth, field buys
12.01.09, 01:32 PM EST
By Robin Paxton
MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Gazprom Neft said on Tuesday it will join an elite club of oil firms producing over a million barrels per day in 2010 and agreed to buy more fields to maintain growth for the next decade.
Output at Russia's No.5 oil firm has been stagnant since gas monopoly Gazprom bought the firm, previously known as Sibneft, from billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2005 as part of the Kremlin's drive to tighten its grip over key industries.
Analysts have questioned its ability to meet strategy targets and more than double output by 2020 from around 900,000 bpd in 2008 but a flurry of acquisitions this year, including the buyout of Sibir Energy, have restored confidence.
Deputy head Boris Zelberminst told a conference call output would exceed 140,000 tonnes a day next year, translating into 1.02 million bpd, allowing Gazprom Neft to become Russia's fifth firm to have reached the landmark level.
Gazprom Neft has been among the most acquisitive of Russia's main oil companies this year. Its purchase of Sibir gave it control of the Moscow refinery and access to Siberian Salym fields with Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSA - news - people ) on a 50/50 basis.
On Tuesday, it also struck a $118 million deal to buy the main production unit of Sweden's Malka Oil, STS-Service, giving it access to three Siberian oilfields.
'Malka's (unit) output is not very big, just around 100,000 tonnes a year, so it adds less than 1 percent to Gazprom Neft's production,' said Sergei Vakhrameyev from Bank of Moscow.
But the unit, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk, runs three deposits holding a total of 97 million barrels in proven and probable reserves to Russian classification.
VTB Capital oil and gas analyst Svetlana Grizan said the purchase price worked out at $2.7 per barrel of probable reserves, less than the industry average of about $3 per barrel.
CORE EARNINGS RISE
Malka shares fell 10 percent while Gazprom Neft closed 3.77 percent up, outperforming the broader market after it reported a rise in core earnings by a fifth in the latest quarter on higher oil prices and refining margins.
The firm made a third-quarter net profit of $846 million, the first reporting period since it bought Sibir, down 29 percent on the previous quarter and 47 percent less than a year ago.
Second-quarter net profit, however, was re-measured to include a $470 million fair-value gain after the firm obtained control of Moscow Refinery through its acquisition of Sibir. Without this, third-quarter net rose 16.5 percent on the second.
'In October and the first half of November, the macro environment was positive in terms of oil product netbacks. We're likely to see an upward trend in the fourth quarter,' said Grizan.
Third-quarter revenues of $7.09 billion, though down 31 percent year on year, were 35 percent higher than in the second quarter. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were $1.82 billion, up from $1.5 billion in the second. Gazprom Neft also said it had $2.56 billion in short-term loans outstanding as of Sept. 30.
(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Robin Paxton; Editing by Will Waterman and Jon Loades-Carter) Keywords: GAZPROMNEFT/
(robin.paxton@; +7 495 775 1242; Reuters Messaging: robin.paxton.@)
Upstreamonline: Gazprom Neft bottom line falls 47%
Gazprom Neft posted a 47% year-on-year decline in third-quarter net profit today, missing analyst forecasts, as a result of lower oil and petroleum product prices.
News wires Tuesday, 01 December, 2009, 11:42 GMT
Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of state-run gas giant Gazprom, said in a statement net profit for the three months to end-September totalled $846 million.
This was below the $902 million average forecast of 11 analysts polled by Reuters. The company did not provide any forecasts.
Gazprom Neft said its revenues and EBITDA bounced back in the third quarter from the preceding three-month period.
Quarterly revenues of $7.09 billion, though down 31% year-on-year, were 35% higher than in the second quarter.
The company attributed the quarter-on-quarter increase to higher crude oil prices, better refining margins and the consolidation of newly acquired oil company Sibir Energy.
Adjusted EBITDA was $1.82 billion in the third quarter. Quarterly EBITDA was down 34% year-on-year, but rose 21% from the second quarter.
Gazprom Neft shares traded up 1.7% by 1100 GMT, in line with the wider market.
Published: 01 December 2009 | Last updated: 01 December 2009
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