Russia - WikiLeaks
Russia 100521
Basic Political Developments
• Moscow Times: Medvedev, Sarkozy to Attend St. Pete Forum - Sarkozy will attend the second day of the forum, held on June 17-19, while Medvedev will be there for two days, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said, adding that Medvedev would chair a meeting of the presidential commission on modernization and economic cooperation on the eve of the visit.
• Itar-Tass: Russia, Bangladesh to sign framework NPP deal - Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday to discuss cooperation in nuclear power engineering and sign a framework agreement on the Russian construction of the first nuclear power plant in the country.
• B92: FM meets with Russia, Nigerian officials - Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić met on Thursday in Belgrade with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov. They spoke about bilateral relations and the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, said a statement. They also agreed on the need for fostering economic cooperation.
• Sofia Echo: Russia queries Bulgaria’s talks on Nato missile system - In Rome, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow wanted an explanation from Nato about its talks with Bulgaria. Lavrov said that the missile defence system’s architecture should be based on co-ordinated collective principles, and such an understanding had been reached between the United States and Russia, Lavrov said.
• VOR: Putin arrives in St Petersburg for EurAsEc meeting
• Itar-Tass: Prime Minister Putin to prepare Customs Union start-up - The Russian government press service said 18 agreements have to be signed and come into force simultaneously with the Customs Union Code.
• Panarmenian: Armenia’s governmental delegation to leave for Saint Petersburg
• Law.by: Customs Union Commission to adjust use of protection measures - An official delegation of Belarus led by Vice Premier Andrei Kobyakov is taking part in the 16th session of the Customs Union Commission in Saint Petersburg on 20 May, Andrei Savinykh, Head of the Information Office, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, told media on 20 May.
• Trend.az: Turkmenistan and Russia agree to enhance maritime communication in Caspian Sea
• Financial: EBRD invests in a private equity fund-of-funds targeting Russia and CIS - The new fund in which the EBRD will participate as a cornerstone investor, Alpha Russia & CIS Secondary L.P., aims to raise up to $300 million. The fund will be managed by Alpha Associates Group, an independent private equity manager based in Switzerland.
• VOR: Talks on release of Nord Spirit sailors begin Friday
• Interfax: Criminal inquiry started into Russian citizens’ abduction in Cameroon – Investigative Committee
• Russia Today: No breakthrough in fighting Somali pirates
• AFP: Kidnapped Russian sailors in good health, Mend says
• Interfax: Russia hopes for progress on visa issues at Russia-EU summit - "We hope to take concrete steps toward visa-free travel," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Interfax.
• Moscow Times: Russians Put Visas on EU Summit Agenda - Moscow is pushing for a breakthrough on visa-free travel at the upcoming EU-Russia summit, but with 10 days to go, it looks likely that the Russians will once again walk away disappointed.
• RFE/RL: Russia Seeks Equal Partnership With EU - Russia’s EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov told a press briefing in Brussels that visa-free travel for its citizens throughout the EU is at the top of the Russian agenda for its May 31-June 1 summit with the bloc in Rostov-na-Donu. It’s a long-term goal that was first established in 2003.
• Itar-Tass: EU to invest 12 million euros in Crimea in 2010
• RIA: Russia may soon formally end U.S. adoptions - child ombudsman
• Itar-Tass: Ombudsman says foreign adoptions suspended
• Russia Today: Fleeing Georgian journalist runs newspaper from Russia - The owner and founder of one of Georgia’s leading independent newspapers, the Georgian Times, he has been away from Georgia for more than a week.
• Itar-Tass: Russian Duma to denounce ECHR over war crimes ruling
• Moscow Times: Court Rejects Suit Over Gryzlov's Terrorism Remarks
• VOR: No search to resume in Raspadskaya before fire extinguished underground
• RIA: Rescuers recover first body in Siberian mine collapse
• RIA: Rescuers recover first body in Siberian mine collapse
• VOR: Flood in Yakutia: 5,000 people evacuated
• RIA: Russia plans to install explosives detectors in metro
• RIA: Russia to start licensed production of foreign military equipment - A plant in the city of Vologda in central Russia will assemble the Thales-developed Catherine FC thermal imaging cameras for T-90 tanks in service with the Russian army.
• Itar-Tass: New Russian Mi-38 helicopter to make its first flight later this year
• PTI: Mi-17 choppers to arrive in India by year-end
• Russia Today/Vremya Novostei: The optimal model for Karabakh - By Aleksandr Karavayev, deputy director of the Center for CIS Studies at Moscow State University
• By Aleksandr Karavayev, deputy director of the Center for CIS Studies at Moscow State University
• Bloomberg: Russia to Fingerprint Migrants in Squeeze on ‘Shadow Economy’
• Interfax: Faith and Cause forum to be attended by over 5,000 Orthodox followers
• RIA: Skolkovo high-tech research hub 'should link innovation centers'
• Moscow Times: Nokia, Cisco Line Up as 'Silicon Valley' Partners
• Jamestown: Sergei Ivanov Seeks Deals in Washington - The Russian authorities are seeking a major détente with the West. A draft of a revised foreign policy doctrine was leaked and extracts published by Russky Newsweek in Moscow this month.
• Long War Journal: Chechens spotted in Taliban's Nuristan tape
• Vesti.ru: An explosive device found at the railway station in Makhachkala
• VOR: Mufti of North Ossetia resigns
• RFE/RL: North Ossetia's Russian Mufti Under Fire
• Jamestown: Medvedev Meets with Local NGO Leaders in Bid to Stabilize North Caucasus
• USA Today: Russian diplomat's daughter gets top Nets post - Pavlova has extensive experience in business and finance. She earned an MBA from Stanford University, worked as a financial analyst with Prudential Investment Corp. and became Russia's first employee for Google. She lived in Moscow and Washington as a child.
• Reuters: PROFILE - Russian tycoon shoots for skies with lowly Nets
• Russia Profile: If You Google Me, I will Yandex You - Yandex May Have Some Tricks Up Its Sleeve, but These Are Unlikely to Undermine Google’s Hegemony in the Global World of Search Engines
• Moscow News: Luzhkov and Zhirinovsky get their wires crossed
• Moscow News: Alien vs. chess predator - A bitter political fight between the eccentric, alien-spotting president of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilymuzhinov, and legendary champion Anatoly Karpov is splitting the chess world in two.
• Russia Today: LHC’s little brother to beam near Moscow - Russia's very own collider is going to be put together within the next five years. It took decades to launch the gigantic European collider, but Russian scientists say the technology and experience they already have will significantly save them time.
• RFE/RL: Russian Opposition Movement Urges Police Reforms - "The key task of our proposal is to reestablish the public's trust in law-enforcement organs," co-author Ilya Yashin told reporters. "In essence [the pamphlet] says the current structure of the [Interior Ministry] must be dissolved and the law enforcement system constituted from scratch."
• VOR: Press review
o According to the Vremya Novostei daily, the Russian Government will set the budget with a view to long-term state programmes.
o The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports that the President of Namibia has been received in the Moscow Kremlin.
o Rossiiskaya gazeta daily announces St. Petersburg Economic Forum which will open on June 17. I
o In June the Vologda Optical and Mechanical Plant will manufacture French thermal imagers for the Russian armored vehicles, Gazeta daily reports.
National Economic Trends
• Bloomberg: Russian Central Bank May Change Interest Rates May 31 (Update1)
• RBC: Bank of Russia may revise discount rate
• Bloomberg: Russia May Cap Interest Rates on Consumer Loans, Kommersant Says
• Moscow Times: Running Out of Cash, Cabinet Gets Creative
• Bne: Kudrin floats idea of spending cuts as budget remains under pressure
• Alfa Bank: Government approves tax strategy for 2011-13
• Moscow Times: Wage Arrears Drop 18.3%
• Bne: Payback time in Russia - The latest data from the Russian central bank indicate that actual non-performing loans (NPLs) across the sector average just 10% of total lending as Russian borrowers both on a corporate and an individual level have proved to be far more reliable on the debt repayment front than many financial analysts gave them credit for.
• Bne: State may sell some of its shares in Rosneft and Inter RAO
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
• Bloomberg: Lukoil, Mobile TeleSystems, Norilsk: Russian Equity Preview
• Bloomberg: Russia Stocks Snap 2-Day Drop; Gazprom, Norilsk, Sberbank Gain
• Russia Today: Nuclear energy warms up as Russian export earner - Nuclear power currently satisfies 16 % of Russia's energy needs, and the state's goal is to raise that to 25% in 15 years. But domestic construction is just one branch of the industry.
• VTB Capital: Federal Anti-monopoly Service to issue rules on determining limited competition by regions for the capacity market
• Russia Today: Electricity generators look to consolidation
• Reuters: Russia asks coal firms to ensure local supply-source
• RenCap: Outlook for coking coal exports after the fatal accident at Raspadskaya mine
• Reuters: Russia East energy company may sell units to RusHydro
• Moscow Times: SUEK to Sell 10% of Stock
• Dow Jones: Russia's MTS Agrees To Sell Svyazinvest Stake To Rostelecom
• Comstar Announces Signing of an Agreement with Rostelecom Regarding the Sale of Its Stake in Svyazinvest
• Bloomberg: Protek to Spend $200 Million on Russian Drugstore Acquisitions
• Eurasia Review: Nokia To Set Up Research And Development Center In Russia
• Moscow Times: For the Record
o The government is considering lowering rates on subordinated loans to banks, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday. (Bloomberg)
o Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin asked coal producers to temporarily curb exports of the fuel to stabilize the domestic market, Interfax said, citing an unidentified government official. (Bloomberg)
o Russian Technologies plans to buy 12 percent of truck maker KamAZ from a group of investors led by Troika Dialog at a premium, Vedomosti reported Thursday. (Bloomberg)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
• Bloomberg: RosUkrEnergo Seeks $5.4 Billion From Naftogaz, Kommersant Says
• Oil and Gas Eurasia: Russian Minister: Shale Gas Does Not Compete With Natural Gas
• Trend.az: SOCAR continues gas export to Russia - The explosion at the Russian sector of the gas pipeline Mazdok-Kazimagomed did not affect volumes of export of Azerbaijani gas to Russia, SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), engaged in the supply of gas to Russia within the medium-term contract signed with Russia's Gazprom, said.
• Your Industry News: TNK-BP Refinery Chiefs Meet in Saratov
• Moscow Times: OMV to Sell Assets in Russia
• Upstreamonline: OMV looks for Russia exit
• EuroWeek: Tatneft pre-export financing on final stretch
• Bloomberg: Billionaire Yevtushenkov’s Bashneft to Pay $594 Million Dividend
• Aton: Bashneft May Pay Dividends of RUB108 ($3.51) Per Common and Preferred Share
• UralSib: Oil companies post mixed 1Q10 RAS financials
Gazprom
• Vedomosti: The Board of Directors of Gazprom determined the size of dividends for 2009 - The Board of Directors of Gazprom recommended shareholders' meeting to decide on the dividend payment for 2009 of $ 2.39 USD per share.
• Reuters: Gazprom says worried about Belarus gas debt-Ifax: "The debt for gas delivered to Belarus is increasing month-by-month," the agency cited Sergei Kupriyanov as saying. He said that the debt stands as of now at $192 million.
• Energy Intelligence: Gazprom Neft On Course for 2 Million b/d Despite Global Downturn
• Bloomberg: Medvedev Backs UNESCO Bid to Halt Gazprom Tower, Kommersant Says
• ZIK: Ukraine Naftohaz, Russia Gazprom and Germany Ruhrgaz to ink important documents May 21 in Berlin
• Eurasia Review: Gazprom To Form Joint Venture With Vietnam's Petrovietnam In August
• Troika: Gazprom Neft boosts reserve base, considers oil services spin-off
• Bloomberg: Gazprom Neft May Hold IPO for Oilfield Service Units (Update1)
• Murmanks and Shtokman News: Gazprom`s Board of Directors reviews information on Shtokman field development status and tasks
• Moscow Times: Russia, Qatar Come ‘Closer’ - Russia and Qatar are “closer” after gas talks Thursday, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said Thursday. He was meeting in Moscow with Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, energy minister of Qatar, the world’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas.
• Troika: Gazprom interested in TGK-7's generation assets in Orenburg
• Interfax: Gazprom could sell TGK-1 hydro assets to Fortum (Part 2)
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Full Text Articles
Basic Political Developments
Moscow Times: Medvedev, Sarkozy to Attend St. Pete Forum
21 May 2010
The Moscow Times
President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, a Kremlin aide said Thursday, lending some high-profile star power to the event.
Sarkozy will attend the second day of the forum, held on June 17-19, while Medvedev will be there for two days, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said, adding that Medvedev would chair a meeting of the presidential commission on modernization and economic cooperation on the eve of the visit.
Sarkozy and Medvedev will jointly chair a final plenary session of the forum, meet with business circles from the two countries and hold a series of bilateral talks, Dvorkovich said.
Last year, the two heads of state attending the forum were Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Finnish President Tarja Halonen.
This year's forum, coming after the country's economy began to rebound from its deepest recession since 1998, will focus on Russia's modernization, a Kremlin-backed push to wean Russia off its natural resource dependence and develop an innovation economy, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said Thursday.
The forum's agenda will consist of three main topics, Nabiullina said: rebuilding the world economy, development of the Russian economy and the influence of technology on economics, business and lifestyles.
The North Caucasus, Russia's violence-prone southern region, will be discussed in a separate session during the forum, Dvorkovich said.
Itar-Tass: Russia, Bangladesh to sign framework NPP deal
21.05.2010, 07.01
MOSCOW, May 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday to discuss cooperation in nuclear power engineering and sign a framework agreement on the Russian construction of the first nuclear power plant in the country.
The Russian Rosatom State Corporation and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed a memorandum in May 2009 to build two reactors of 1000-megawatt each in northwestern Ruppur area.
Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Majarul Quayes said Moni plans to sign in Moscow a framework agreement on cooperation in the field of peaceful atomic energy.
The framework agreement will be followed by detailed discussion of financial and technical aspects of the construction project.
B92: FM meets with Russia, Nigerian officials
21 May 2010 | 09:43 | Source: Tanjug
BELGRADE -- Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić met on Thursday in Belgrade with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov.
They spoke about bilateral relations and the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, said a statement.
Jeremić and Titov agreed that bilateral relations were very good and that the two countries were ready to foster them further, the Foreign Ministry said.
The two countries share the same views on the problem of the Kosovo and Metohija status, Jeremić and Titov said, expressing their readiness to “continue coordinating joint activities in that regard”.
They also agreed on the need for fostering economic cooperation.
Also in Belgrade on Thursday, Jeremić met with Nigerian Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi.
They “noted with satisfaction the readiness for improvement of friendly relations between the two countries and stressed the need for intensifying cooperation in the fields of industry and economy,” the MFA statement said.
Jeremić thanked Nigeria for the support which the country, as a member of the UN Security Council and one of the most influential states of the African continent, continuously gives to Serbia in its diplomatic fight for the preservation of its territorial integrity.
Sofia Echo: Russia queries Bulgaria’s talks on Nato missile system
Fri, May 21 2010 10:42 CET byClive Leviev-Sawyer
After a barrage of messages in the past week from Bulgarian Government leaders underlining the country’s willingness to be involved in the Nato missile defence system, Moscow has called on Nato for clarification on its talks with Sofia, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The planned missile shield featured prominently in talks in Sofia on May 20 2010 between Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and, respectively, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov and Defence Minister Anyu Angelov.
Ahead of Rasmussen’s visit, Angelov told a news conference in Sofia on May 15 that Bulgaria intended to ask for an acceleration of talks on Nato’s missile defence project, for firm decisions about it and how the collective capabilities of the alliance’s members could be used for the project.
Media reports quoted Angelov as saying that Bulgaria could be at risk from attack by short and medium-range missiles and would during Rasmussen’s visit to Sofia file a request to join the missile defence shield.
In an interview with Bulgarian-language dailies on the eve of his visit, Rasmussen repeated a message that he had expressed in March 2010 at the annual Brussels Forum, that there should be co-operation with Russia on the defence system, "so as to build a secure roof over the whole Euro-Atlantic area".
Moscow frequently has expressed profound misgivings about the Nato missile defence system plan, even though Washington and other Nato leaders have issued a series of reassurances that it is directed at defence from threats emanating from elsewhere than Russia and does not representative an offensive of defensive posture towards Moscow.
In Sofia on May 20, Borissov confirmed that Bulgaria was willing to be part of the missile shield and Rasmussen said that Bulgaria’s commitments to the system would become clear in November 2010 at Nato’s Lisbon summit.
Nato’s new strategic concept was the overarching reason for Rasmussen’s visit to Sofia, as well as the alliance’s "open doors" policy. Speaking after talks with Rasmussen, defence minister Angelov said that he agreed with the main conclusions and recommendations of the group of experts led by Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state.
In Rome, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow wanted an explanation from Nato about its talks with Bulgaria. Lavrov said that the missile defence system’s architecture should be based on co-ordinated collective principles, and such an understanding had been reached between the United States and Russia, Lavrov said.
Lavrov said that Rasmussen had urged Washington to consult with Russia in dealing with the missile shield issue, something that had yet to be achieved.
VOR: Putin arrives in St Petersburg for EurAsEc meeting
|May 21, 2010 01:48 Moscow Time |
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in St Petersburg to attend a gathering of the EurAsEc intergovernmental council and a meeting of CIS heads on Friday. EurAsEc embraces Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, and its current chair, Russia. It is also a supreme authority for the Customs Union.
Itar-Tass: Prime Minister Putin to prepare Customs Union start-up
21.05.2010, 05.30
ST. PETERSBURG, May 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will on Friday prepare the startup of the Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan that is to be launched on July 1.
Putin will chair a meeting of the EurAsEC Interstate Council, which is the supreme body of the Customs Union, and the Council of the heads of government of the CIS.
The Russian government press service said 18 agreements have to be signed and come into force simultaneously with the Customs Union Code.
Another 20 documents are being drafted to create the legal basis for the next stage of integration - Common Economic Space.
Participants are expected to sign a protocol that will lift customs control on the borders between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
Panarmenian: Armenia’s governmental delegation to leave for Saint Petersburg
May 20, 2010 - 20:35 AMT [pic]15:35 GMT
- On May 21, Armenia’s governmental delegation led by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan will leave for Saint Petersburg to participate in the 26th meeting of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community, as well as in a session of the CIS Council of the Heads of Government.
The Armenian delegation will include Chief of Staff of the RA government David Sargsyan, Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan, Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan and other officials, the press service of the RA government reported.
05/20/2010 05:17 PM
|Law.by: Customs Union Commission to adjust use of protection measures |
| |
|MINSK, 20 May (BelTA) – An official delegation of Belarus led by Vice Premier Andrei Kobyakov is taking part in the 16th session|
|of the Customs Union Commission in Saint Petersburg on 20 May, Andrei Savinykh, Head of the Information Office, Press Secretary |
|of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, told media on 20 May. |
|The session is supposed to consider the fulfillment of the action plan designed to form the common economic space of Belarus, |
|Russia and Kazakhstan. Participants of the session will adjust the mechanisms of using special protective antidumping and |
|compensating measures in the Customs Union. |
|The agenda includes the application of sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary measures in the common customs space. Participants|
|of the session will also talk over matters relating to tariff and non-tariff regulation in international trade. |
Trend.az: Turkmenistan and Russia agree to enhance maritime communication in Caspian Sea
21.05.2010 10:57
Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, May 21 / Trend H.Hasanov /
Economic Development Minister of Russia's Astrakhan region Askar Kabikeev and representatives of the Turkmen government have noted "the importance of enhancing communication between the Caspian Sea ports of Turkmenbashi and Olia at the meeting in Ashgabat.
The Turkmen governmental press service reported that establishment of air links between Astrakhan and Turkmenbashi and Astrakhan and Ashgabat, as well as opening of the Turkmen Trade House in Astrakhan, also was mulled.
Astrakhan is ready to import products of agriculture and processing industries, building materials, including gravel and cement, textiles and cotton, to Turkmenistan.
The Astrakhan Region is interested in the development of international shipping in the North-South transport corridor, shipbuilding and repair, as well as the sustainable use of bio-resources of the Caspian Sea.
"The sides confirmed the readiness to place orders for vessels to Turkmenistan at the Astrakhan shipyard," the source reported.
|Financial: EBRD invests in a private equity fund-of-funds targeting Russia and CIS |
| |
|21/05/2010 11:01 (00:13 minutes ago) |
|The FINANCIAL -- The EBRD will commit up to $50 million to a new private equity fund-of-funds which will mainly focus on |
|investing in existing equity funds covering Russia, other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries and Turkey where |
|investors have been affected by the financial crisis. |
The new fund in which the EBRD will participate as a cornerstone investor, Alpha Russia & CIS Secondary L.P., aims to raise up to $300 million. The fund will be managed by Alpha Associates Group, an independent private equity manager based in Switzerland.
According to EBRD, the fund will mainly target the secondary market in private equity funds. However its strategy will also include primary commitments to new private equity funds, as well as direct co-investments in selected companies alongside reputable and experienced lead-investors.
By replacing investors affected by the recent financial turmoil, the fund will play a crucial role in supporting the real economy in these countries through the provision of much needed equity capital to the private sector, thus dove-tailing with the EBRD’s crisis response strategy for the region.
”Developing sustainable private equity markets is a key priority for the Bank. A liquid secondary market will help private equity as an asset class to function as efficiently in the region as it does in the US and European markets” said the EBRD’s First Vice President, Varel Freeman.
”The post-crisis environment presents excellent opportunities to buy solid private equity assets in the region from investors restructuring their portfolios. The opportunity today resembles that after the 1998 crisis when attractive returns were generated by Russian private equity, the difference being that this time the Russian economy is incomparably stronger,” said Petr Rojicek of Alpha Associates.
The EBRD has a long standing relationship with Alpha Associates having participated as a cornerstone investor in Alpha CEE II L.P.
The EBRD manages the largest private equity fund investment programme dedicated to the region. Excluding property funds, the Bank has to date committed EUR 2.7 billion ($3.6 billion) to 125 funds. These have raised capital totalling EUR 13.6 billion ($18 billion).
VOR: Talks on release of Nord Spirit sailors begin Friday
|May 21, 2010 02:02 Moscow Time |
Terms of the release of Russian sailors captured by pirates off Cameroon coast last week will be discussed Friday, Russian Seafarers Union said Thursday. It also said Nord Spirit captain Boris Tersintsev contacted the ship owner, Balthellas Company and said he and the ship mechanic Igor Shumic were in Nigeria safe and sound. The pirates attacked Nord Spirit, robbed the crew, and captured the two sailors on May 16th.
21.05.10 10:25
Interfax: Criminal inquiry started into Russian citizens’ abduction in Cameroon – Investigative Committee
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
May 21. Interfax-Russia.ru - A criminal case as a robbery in Cameroon on the ship "North Spirit" with the Russian-Ukrainian crew of 16 people and kidnapping of two citizens of Russia, told Interfax spokesman Vladimir Markin UPC.
"The main investigation department of the UPC RF on the criminal case under article 126 of the Criminal Code (abduction) and section 162 of the Criminal Code (robbery)," - said Vladimir Markin.
He noted that the criminal case instituted in accordance with the provisions of Part Three of Article 12 of the Criminal Code of an offense against Russian citizens.
V. Markin recalled that the pirates stole ship captain Boris Tersintseva and chief engineer Igor Shumika.
"Currently installed all the circumstances of what happened. The criminal case is continuing," - he added.
Previously it was reported that on May 16 aboard the "North Spirit" group climbed from 20 Cameroonian pirates. Pirates robbed the crew members were seized mobile telephones, laptop computers, money and other valuables. Gunpoint, gangsters put into a boat captain and chief engineer and fled in an unknown direction.
Russia Today: No breakthrough in fighting Somali pirates
21 May, 2010, 08:31
Russia is preparing to start negotiations to free two of its sailors captured by pirates last weekend.
The captain and chief engineer from the ship North Spirit were kidnapped in a port in Cameroon by gunmen.
The vessel's owner says they are now being held in Nigeria. The kidnapping happened about a week after a Russian navy ship freed another vessel, which had been seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
On May 5, the Russian oil tanker Moscow University was captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia. As the crew barricaded themselves in, the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov came to the rescue. Navy commandos engaged the pirates in a gunfight and boarded the ship, defeating the pirates without loss of hostages or navy personnel.
But despite this success, there have been no celebrations aboard the Marshal Shaposhnikov. This Russian warship is one of dozens patrolling the Gulf of Aden.
Over the past two years the firepower, resources and media attention dedicated to fighting piracy in the region has been stepped up. But in individual operations are a drop in the ocean, and on the whole the pirates have not been scared off.
Last year there were fifty hijackings, with the same number predicted for 2010. In order to avoid putting the hostages at risk, governments and companies end up paying multi million-dollar ransoms.
Nearly lawless, Somalia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The success of the pirates is attracting more people into seafaring gangs.
Russian commandos say their enemies have become better trained and equipped.
“The pirates are drugged up and unpredictable. We have found out from them that they used to be offered $50 for each successful expedition. Now they are being offered $300,” says special team commander Lt. Colonel Andrey Ezhov.
Another problem is what to do with the pirates once they are captured. Since there is no chance they can be tried in Somalia, some captors have flown them to their own countries, or sent them to neighboring states.
Marshal Shaposhnikov's captain chose a different solution – he released the captives at sea with a supply of water, but no weapons or navigation equipment.
Commanders say that communication between international naval forces has improved greatly. But the pirates have responded.
“The transport corridor is chock-full of warships. But the pirates have simply moved further to the East, where we cannot monitor them,” said Captain Ildar Akhmerov, a Russian Naval Task Force Commander.
With 25,000 ships coming through the area each year, piracy will remain lucrative and hard to avoid. And in order to safeguard a key economic route, more extensive measures may be required from the world's powers.
AFP: Kidnapped Russian sailors in good health, Mend says
A Russian captain and chief engineer abducted by armed men from a ship moored off Cameroon's coast are in good health, Nigeria's main armed militant group in the Niger Delta said on Thursday.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an e-mail statement that although it was not involved in their kidnap, it had been able to locate them.
"MEND was not involved in the kidnap of the sailors but we have been able to locate them today and I can confirm that they are in good health," the statement said.
It gave no further details on the kidnapped sailors.
The Seafarers' Union of Russia earlier said in a statement published on its website that they were being held in Nigeria.
The union said that gunmen on Sunday raided Russia's North Spirit cargo ship in the Cameroonian port of Douala and kidnapped the vessel's captain Boris Tersintsev and chief engineer Igor Shumik.
"Today (Thursday) Tersintsev made contact with the ship's owner, Balthellas, and said that he and Shumik were in Nigeria, they are well and healthy and even supplied with food," the union said.
"The ship's owner immediately contacted the union and was recommended to speak to the negotiators. The process of discussing ransom for the Russian sailors will begin tomorrow," it added.
The North Spirit was one of two ships raided by gunmen late Sunday.
Lithuanian refrigerator ship Argo had been attacked just before midnight by men who ripped out the safe and kidnapped Captain Dmitrij Baskirov, said the ship's owners Limarko.
MEND, which had in January called off its three-month truce with government, had in the past claimed responsibility for kidnappings of mostly oil workers and carrying out a spate of attacks on oil installations in the region.
In other cases, it had also claimed to have been involved in securing the release of some people kidnapped by other militant groups in the region.
May 21, 2010 10:56
Interfax: Russia hopes for progress on visa issues at Russia-EU summit
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfrax) - Moscow is hoping real progress will be made in the talks on the introduction of visa free-travel between Russia and the European Union at the upcoming Russia-EU summit in Rostov-on-Don.
"We hope to take concrete steps toward visa-free travel," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Interfax.
"We also hope to hear proposals on how this could be done and on what terms," the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
Grushko highly appraised the constructive position on this issue taken by some of European countries.
"We highly value the position assumed by Italy, which supports the switch to Russian and EU citizens traveling without visas," he said.
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Moscow Times: Russians Put Visas on EU Summit Agenda
21 May 2010
By Nikolaus von Twickel
Moscow is pushing for a breakthrough on visa-free travel at the upcoming EU-Russia summit, but with 10 days to go, it looks likely that the Russians will once again walk away disappointed.
Government officials made clear Thursday that they wanted significant progress on talks to lift visa requirements for Russians traveling to
Europe, and they linked it to the summit's other main issue, a so-called modernization partnership.
The summit will be held in Rostov-on-Don on May 31.
"We expect that progress to this end [lifting visa barriers] will pick up speed," Russia's ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said Thursday.
Spain, which currently holds the rotating EU chairmanship, promised in January to give new impetus to the issue by drawing up a road map of reforms for Moscow to implement to qualify for visa-free travel.
Chizhov said visa-free travel was overdue because negotiations had been going nowhere since the idea was first floated at an EU-Russia summit in 2003.
"After seven years it is time to move to more concrete goals," he said, RIA-Novosti reported.
The Kremlin said a road map would not be enough.
"It is important that the process does not end with another road map. We all know about road maps — like for peace in the Middle East — and we all know what this has achieved so far," Kremlin foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko told Kommersant.
"We want to get down to the essentials in the talks. We want to establish concrete time frames and concrete categories," Prikhodko said.
But in interviews for this article, Europeans diplomats cautioned that strong reservations remained in some member states — even about the granting of a road map.
"The union is not yet ready to start a process which would automatically lead to results. It wants to control things and maintain the ability to decelerate," one diplomat said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter.
Officials from the EU delegation to Russia said it was too early to announce whether a road map would be offered.
But Poland has already said it opposed rewarding Russia with visa-free travel ahead of several other post-Soviet countries. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said earlier this month that the six countries that are part of the EU's Eastern Partnership program — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine — deserved visa-free travel as much as Russia.
"The political impulse for intensifying visa dialogue must be the same for all these countries — Russia and the six countries of the Eastern
Partnership — and we will defend this," Sikorski said in remarks published by the web site.
Russian officials have long said they were ready to lift visa restrictions immediately for Europeans — on a reciprocal basis. "We are ready to introduce visa-free travel tomorrow," Chizhov said Thursday.
But Brussels has said Russia first needs to introduce safer passports with biometrical data and to improve porous border controls.
Chizhov acknowledged these reservations and said Moscow backed Poland's desire for eased visa rules for its neighbors as well. "We are not against visa-free regimes with Ukraine and other post-Soviet states," he said.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry linked the visa issue with the summit's other high-flying plan, the opening of a modernization partnership aimed at attracting much-needed Western technology and know-how to Russia.
"[The visa issue] has top priority for us because it concerns the interests of millions of citizens. If this is not solved, the modernization agenda will go nowhere," an unidentified Foreign Ministry official told Kommersant.
The modernization partnership, agreed in principle between President Dmitry Medvedev and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the last summit in Stockholm in November, envisages easier Russian access to Western technology while obliging it to tackle corruption and to implement domestic reforms in areas like the court system.
EU officials confirmed on Thursday that the Kremlin had sent to Brussels a three-page memorandum defining five key areas of cooperation, including trade, science and technology.
The memorandum is currently being discussed among member states, said Denis Daniilidis, a spokesman for the EU delegation to Moscow.
He conceded that the consultations might not be finished in the 10 days remaining before the summit but said summit participants would not be left empty-handed. "There will be something. If we do not sign an agreement, there will be a joint statement," he told The Moscow Times.
But Marko Mikhelson, head of the European affairs committee in Estonia's parliament, said the modernization partnership only made sense if Moscow joined the World Trade Organization. Otherwise, he said by e-mail, the partnership would be "empty and declarative."
Talks with the EU have in the past circled around Moscow's unclear stance about WTO membership. Brussels argues that Russia should become a member before it can finalize a new wide-ranging partnership and cooperation agreement with the 27-member union.
RFE/RL: Russia Seeks Equal Partnership With EU
May 20, 2010
By Ahto Lobjakas
BRUSSELS -- Russia is keen to get the EU to recognize it as one of the bona fide poles in what it sees as a new multipolar world order -- and to leave behind the days when the EU lectured it on issues ranging from rights to reform.
Russia’s EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov told a press briefing in Brussels that visa-free travel for its citizens throughout the EU is at the top of the Russian agenda for its May 31-June 1 summit with the bloc in Rostov-na-Donu. It’s a long-term goal that was first established in 2003.
Chizhov reiterated Moscow's long-standing view that visa-free travel would benefit both sides equally. "Perhaps there may be more Russians traveling to the EU than EU citizens traveling to Russia, but it's a balanced, two-way street," he said.
Chizhov said Russia is ready to reciprocate by dropping visas for EU citizens "tomorrow morning” and said the main obstacle on the EU side are "some member states cherishing phobias [from] the past."
It was a veiled reference to some of the newer EU member states from the former Soviet bloc, which the Russian government appears to believe are trying to humiliate it by blocking progress on visas.
But EU officials point to real concerns among member states over Russia's existing discrimination against EU passport holders, saying at the very least, it’s a violation of the spirit of the visa-facilitation agreement currently in force.
Political Leverage
There are also doubts as to the security of Russian travel documents, the country’s ability to control its borders, and its willingness to root out corruption.
All that does not necessarily mean that some of the skeptics among EU member states might not be politically motivated. But their motivation is not as coarse as suggested by Chizhov.
At an EU foreign ministers' meeting on May 10, a number of participants said Russia must not be allowed to gain an advantage over eastern EU neighborhood countries like Ukraine, which has for years pursued EU-inspired reforms.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also pointed out during the same meeting that visa-free travel provides the EU's most powerful leverage in dealings with Russia -- a "currency" which it must "spend wisely."
Officials say these concerns are unlikely to prevent Russia from receiving some form of a "road map" to visa freedom at the summit. If that happens, diplomats also say Ukraine would also receive a similar road map.
The Russian envoy today also made it clear that Russia no longer accepts any tutelage from the EU. Referring to plans to sign a joint a summit declaration on economic modernization, Chizhov said any cooperation would be a partnership of equals.
"This is not...about the know-it-all European Union playing god, coming down to earth to modernize Russia," Chizhov said.
The EU has been hoping to foster structural, market-oriented reforms in Russia. However, Chizhov said the cooperation would focus on the similar challenges both sides face in a multipolar world. He highlighted space exploration, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, communications technology, and infrastructure projects as Russia's priority interests.
And he said the Energy Charter, an EU-sponsored framework for energy cooperation which Russia has refused to ratify, is no longer "topical." But he did somewhat lift Brussels’ spirits by saying that Russia remains on course for World Trade Organization membership, with "95 percent of the work done."
In his characteristic acerbic style, the Russian ambassador said the EU's economic woes and the future of the euro will be brought up at the summit by President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Middle East, Iran, and Afghanistan are expected to come up at the summit and Chizhov said the "frozen conflicts" in Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniester will also be broached.
Commenting on recent developments in Belarus, Chizhov said Russia hopes it will "escape destabilization the likes of which we have seen in some other countries."
Itar-Tass: EU to invest 12 million euros in Crimea in 2010
20.05.2010, 23.59
KIEV, May 20 (Itar-Tass) – European Union plans investing 12 million euros in the Crimea and in the naval port city of Sevastopol before the end of this year says the program of the EU’s initiative for investing in the Crimea that was presented in Sevastopol Thursday.
It was presented by Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the EU’s representative in Ukraine. Ambassadors of a number of European countries and officials of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea attended the conference.
A total of 1.5 million euros will be spent for creating a regional development program and setting up the Crimean regional development agency.
RIA: Russia may soon formally end U.S. adoptions - child ombudsman
01:5821/05/2010
Russia will formally end adoptions of Russian children by foreigners if the U.S. shelves a bilateral child adoption agreement, a Russian child ombudsman has said.
Russia is one of the largest sources of adoptions for U.S. families, accounting for about 10% of foreign adoptions, but the issue has become controversial in recent years following several incidents involving the mistreatment of Russian children in the United States.
"If the American side delays a decision to sign the [adoption] treaty, then we will probably raise the issue of ending international adoptions," Children's Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov said on Thursday.
Two rounds of Russian-U.S. talks on the inter-governmental adoption agreement were held on April 29 and May 12-14.
The Russian ombudsman said the sides came to an agreement on all principal issues and the new treaty may be signed within a month. The third round of talks, to draft the final version of the deal, is expected in mid-June.
"The timeframe has been set up, if we fail [to prepare and sign] the treaty in two months, then we will consider harsh measures," he said.
Astakhov said that Russia has de facto stopped international adoptions, as all foreign adoption cases have been put on hold in the country's courts.
"Our intentions are very simple - to put everything into the legal framework. Either [there will be] adoptions according to an international treaty, or there will be no adoptions at all," he said.
The issue of international adoptions again came to focus this spring as a 7-year-old boy was put on a plane alone to Moscow by his U.S. adoptive mother, who claimed he was "psychopathic."
Fifteen Russian children have died at the hands of their adoptive parents in the U.S. since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the issue has provoked repeated calls for a ban on foreign adoptions. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia could freeze child adoptions by U.S. citizens until the countries sign a formal agreement to regulate them.
The controversy has also drawn attention to Russia's woeful record on child welfare. Astakhov said that some 2,000 children were killed by adults last year in Russia.
"Last year 2,000 children were killed by adults, the same number died in car accidents. There are 700,000 of children in Russian orphanages, and 4,000 were adopted by foreigners [last year]. I tasked myself with changing this situation," he said.
MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti)
Itar-Tass: Ombudsman says foreign adoptions suspended
21.05.2010, 04.04
NALCHIK, May 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian ombudsman for children’s rights Pavel Astakhov confirmed on Thursday that foreign adoptions had been suspended in the country until bilateral agreements are signed to protect the children.
“Foreign adoption of Russian children has been de-facto suspended,” he told reporters, adding de-jure decision has not been passed so far.
“According to the Family Code, foreign adoption is a temporary and exclusive measure related to children who cannot be adopted in Russia which is allowed only on the basis of bilateral international agreements,” Astakhov said adding such an agreement with the United States would resolve the legal adoption collision.
“Otherwise over 70 thousand earlier adopted children in the United States will be outlawed,” he said.
Russia Today: Fleeing Georgian journalist runs newspaper from Russia
21 May, 2010, 07:40
Malkhaz Gulashvili, a Georgian journalist who fled to Russia, says exercising freedom of speech is too dangerous in his country. He claims his family was receiving threats and his son was abducted but managed to escape.
The owner and founder of one of Georgia’s leading independent newspapers, the Georgian Times, he has been away from Georgia for more than a week.
Malkhaz Gulashvili was forced to leave Georgia for Russia after threats he and his family were receiving took a disturbing and violent turn.
“I left Georgia because they threatened to rape my 17-year-old son,” Malkhaz Gulashvili says. “They tried to arrest me several times. Pretty soon there’ll be no one but the government left in the country because people are running away from Georgia.”
Allegations of corruption, reports of police brutality – these topics are covered by dozens of independent news sources in Georgia.
A most recent issue of the Georgian Times has an article on Georgia’s standing as first in the world in terms of internet piracy, a large story by one of the opposition leaders on political prisoners – a fact that’s still flatly denied by the Georgian government, and a column about misuse of public funds by the government.
And, as Malkhaz Gulashvili’s wife and newspaper publisher Nana Gagua says, the Georgian Times never shied away from covering controversial topics.
“It’s not interesting when the newspaper only prints the good facts. Our readers came to depend on us over the years for publishing the bad facts, too,” she says.
Nana Kakabadze, a lawyer and a human rights activist, says many journalists were forced to flee the country after being threatened.
“Today, freedom of speech is allowed but only within strict boundaries. As soon as someone crosses those boundaries, they create problems for the government – and the government can be very cruel to them,” Nana Kakabadze says.
He may be known as a staunch Christian to some, and as a brave journalist to others, but for his wife Malkhaz is, first and foremost, an ideal Georgian man who keeps the newspaper going even while being away from the country.
“He’s like a rock – for both the newspaper and for me,” says Nana Gagua. “A lot of people say he ran away. I’m sorry, but that’s not the case. He left for a while. He’s getting done a lot more while being away, rather than just sitting here, trying to prove his point.”
Itar-Tass: Russian Duma to denounce ECHR over war crimes ruling
21.05.2010, 07.31
MOSCOW, May 21 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian State Duma plans to denounce on Friday the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) for backing Latvia's decision to charge a Russian World War Two guerrilla with war crimes.
The Strasburg-based court ruled on Monday that Latvia had not broken international law by charging Vasily Kononov, 88, with war crimes over attacks in Nazi-occupied Latvia in 1944. The ruling by the court's Grand Chamber overturned an earlier judgment by the regular court in 2008 that Latvia's decision to try Kononov in 2004 on war crimes charges was illegal.
The draft Duma resolution qualified the Grand Chamber ruling as “a dangerous judicial precedent and a change in legal approaches to the assessment of World War Two and an attempt to initiate a revision of the decisions of the Nuremberg tribunal.”
“The position voiced in the ruling of the Grand Chamber supports the activities of Latvian authorities that carry out a policy of revanchism and chauvinism and encourages state leaders who call to revise the principles and decisions of the Nuremberg tribunal,” it said.
The draft says the ECHR ruling is “purely political and is not based on generally recognized principles and norms of international law.”
Earlier the Russian Foreign Ministry said “the Grand Chamber of the court has practically agreed with those who try to reassess the results of the Second World War and to whitewash the Nazis and their accomplices.”
“The decision of the members of the Court in the case of Mr. Kononov seriously damages the credibility of the Council of Europe in general and may be viewed as an attempt to draw new dividing lines in Europe,” the ministry said.
Moscow Times: Court Rejects Suit Over Gryzlov's Terrorism Remarks
20 May 2010
By Alexandra Odynova
A Moscow court on Thursday threw out a defamation lawsuit against State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov over his accusations that a Moskovsky Komsomolets columnist had sided with terrorists.
Gryzlov told President Dmitry Medvedev and State Duma faction leaders at an April 2 meeting that the article by columnist Alexander Minkin and a Vedomosti news analysis showed that the two newspapers were siding with terrorists after Moscow metro bombings killed 40 people four days earlier.
Both articles said the bombings were part of North Caucasus rebels' announced strategy to bring their war to the Russian heartland.
The Moscow's Presnensky District Court did not explain its decision Thursday, saying only that the lawsuit had been rejected.
Minkin promised to appeal. "I didn't doubt that the court would make such a decision," he said, Interfax reported.
A lawyer for Gryzlov, Yelena Zabralova, declined to comment, the report said.
The same court earlier Thursday held a preliminary hearing on a defamation lawsuit filed against Gryzlov by Vedomosti, whose parent company, Independent Media Sanoma Magazines, also owns The Moscow Times.
Vedomosti lawyer Vladimir Rumyantsev voiced doubt that the newspaper would win the apology that it was seeking from Gryzlov.
"I think there is a 95 percent possibility that the court will rule like it did in Minkin's lawsuit," Rumyantsev told The Moscow Times.
The court is to consider the case Tuesday, he said.
Meanwhile, Ella Pamfilova, head of the president’s human rights council, criticized Gryzlov's accusations at a meeting with Medvedev on Wednesday. "I will never believe that the well-known journalist Alexander Minkin, with all the criticism in his articles about anti-terrorism measures, could be an associate of terrorists," Pamfilova said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
Medvedev did not comment on the issue.
The court refused on Thursday to summon Gryzlov to elaborate on his statement.
Gryzlov was paying a visit to China on Thursday.
VOR: No search to resume in Raspadskaya before fire extinguished underground
May 21, 2010 10:16 Moscow Time
The search effort will not resume at the accident-hit Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region before control is established over the islands of fire in the mine. Galleries continue to be flooded there now, says the coalmine’s chief engineer Vladislav Valts. According to him, the part of the unexplored gallery where the missing miners are believed to be staying is full of thick smoke, and visibility is nil. Methane exploded in the coalmine on the night of May 8th. 66 people died, while another 24 are still unaccounted for. Searching for them would pose a life risk to search-and rescue workers.
RIA: Rescuers recover first body in Siberian mine collapse
07:5121/05/2010
Rescuers recovered the body of one of the miners missing after a shaft collapsed in a West Siberian coalmine, a regional emergencies service spokesman said on Friday.
A shaft collapsed on Wednesday in the Alekseevskaya mine in the town of Leninsk-Kuznetsk in West Siberia's Kemerovo region, leaving two miners missing. This is the second major incident this month in Russia's major coal-producing area where at least 66 people died in two mine blasts on May 8 and 9.
"While clearing the rubble, rescuers found the body of a miner, whose fate was unknown after the accident. A search for the second [missing] miner continues," Valery Korchagin said.
A spokeswoman for the regional investigation department, Nadezhda Ananyeva, did not confirm the information.
"The miner's death can be confirmed as soon as the body is taken to surface and examined by a forensic and an investigator," she said.
MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti)
VOR: Flood in Yakutia: 5,000 people evacuated
May 21, 2010 10:56 Moscow Time
The flood in Russia's republic of Yakutia has left about 20 settlements without electricity. The rescuers have evacuated 5,000 people from the flood area. The emergency situation has been declared in four districts of the republic and in the administrative center of Yakutsk. The experts of the Emergency Ministry are now conduction explosive work down the Lena Rver. This will create an artificial ice drift to prevent jams and to reduce damage caused by high waters.
RIA: Russia plans to install explosives detectors in metro
09:2721/05/2010
MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will install explosives detectors in metros in all major cities as part of security measures aimed at protecting the public from possible terrorist attacks, the emergencies minister said on Friday.
The move follows twin powerful blasts that hit the Moscow metro during the morning rush hour on March 29, killing 40 people and injuring over 100. President Dmitry Medvedev has urged the creation of a complex system of security on public transport.
"At present our scientists are working closely with security services and police to develop explosive detectors. Those that we have are not very effective because they do not detect all explosive compounds. Nevertheless, we will introduce them first, and the scientists will continue working on their improvement," Sergei Shoigu told a news conference in Moscow.
Russia is planning to have a sophisticated security system on public transport by 2014. It will feature security checkpoints at entrances in all transportation hubs, registration of all passengers, and ID-verified sales of tickets on all means of public transport, including inter-city buses.
"We have to sacrifice some of our freedoms to ensure security," Shoigu said.
A number of airports around the world have already installed full body scanners for passengers as part of efforts to improve security.
RIA: Russia to start licensed production of foreign military equipment
11:1021/05/2010
Russia will launch in July the licensed production of thermal imagers developed by a French firm as part of efforts to gain access to advanced foreign technologies, a Russian daily said on Friday.
A plant in the city of Vologda in central Russia will assemble the Thales-developed Catherine FC thermal imaging cameras for T-90 tanks in service with the Russian army.
"It is not a simple knock down assembly. We use Russian-made components to assemble the control system. After 2012 we will start using Russian optics and mechanics on these devices," the Gazeta newspaper quoted the plant's general director Alexander Korshunov as saying.
Localized production will allow Russia to reduce production and maintenance costs by at least 5-10% and manufacture thermal imagers for civilian purposes in the future.
Thermal imagers could be used for monitoring the efficiency of thermal insulation and detection of heat leaks, among other applications.
Russia might only be able to export thermal imagers produced at its plant with the permission of the French authorities. The list of potential customers will exclude so-called rogue states such as Iran.
According to experts, Russia is lagging 20-30 years behind the West in many areas of technological progress and is attempting to close the gap by purchasing production licenses abroad.
Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer contends that the development of Russia's defense industry in the next few years will be based solely on licensed production of foreign military equipment.
"We are so far behind the West that it is cheaper to buy technology [abroad] than to invent our own," Felgenhauer said.
Russia is holding talks on the licensed production of the Italian Beretta handguns, Israeli spy drones and French Mistral helicopter carriers.
Felgenhauer said the turn to licensed production was a logical and necessary move, as Russia had always developed its industry by borrowing technologies from the West.
"The Soviet Union bought tool-making equipment and whole assembly lines in the United States in the 1930s, Peter the Great brought technologies from Holland. Even the Kremlin, as we know, was built by Italians," the expert said.
MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti)
Itar-Tass: New Russian Mi-38 helicopter to make its first flight later this year
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
21.05.2010 13:24 |
MOSCOW, May 21. Itar-Tass. New Russian Mi-38 helicopter made its first flight in 2010. This korr.ARMS-Tass general designer Mil Mil behalf Alexei Samusenko at "Heli-Rush 2010
According to him, at the Kazan Helicopter Plant is already assembled and ready to fly the second prototype machines - with engines PW127T / S production "Pratt & Whitney Canada. In late June it will begin ground testing, and after that - summer.
By the end of the year and will rise into the air the first prototype, equipped with Russian engines-117V TV7 development of the St. Petersburg company "Klimov. "He is now with us and expects the supply of engines," - said the chief constructor.
In production is a third car, said Samusenko, which is also equipped with Russian engines. Civilian model cars with the Russian engine was designated the Mi-382.
According Samusenko "creating a helicopter version with different engines logical, as this will be somewhat cheaper version and ensure delivery in case of problems with foreign engines. As explained by the expert, after the Russian-Georgian military conflict in August 2008, were unreasonably delayed delivery PW127T / S, engines managed to clear only in November 2009. According genkonstruktora, problems with the Canadian supplier delayed program to develop the Mi-38 for the year.
Samusenko convinced that the helicopter will be in demand in both versions. "The machine turns a very modern, 21 st century - he said. - And the market it will be." In this case, said Samusenko, Mi-38 interest, including, and military customers.
PTI: Mi-17 choppers to arrive in India by year-end
Last Updated: May 21, 2010
NEW DELHI
[pic]
(PTI): India will receive the first of 80 Mi-17 transport helicopters from Russia by the end of this year, augmenting Air Force's capability to carry out missions in high-altitude areas and relief operations.
"The first batch of choppers will arrive here from Russia by the end of this year and the remaining are likely to be inducted in phased manner in next four years," IAF officials told PTI here.
In 2008, India had signed a deal with Russia to supply 80 Mi-17s to replace and augment its existing fleet of around 150 Mi-8 and Mi-17 medium-lift choppers, which have over five tonne load carrying capability and are also used to ferry troops and VIPs.
The Air Force had felt the need of inducting more medium-lift choppers after a spate of natural disasters following the tsunami in December, 2004 and the heavy snowfall in Kashmir in 2005.
Along with the induction of the new choppers, the IAF is also planning to upgrade over 50 choppers from its existing fleet of Mi-8s and Mi-17s.
"This will enhance the life of these Russian-origin choppers by at least another ten years," they said.
In the mountainous areas, Mi-17s have been used to ferry troops and carry loads up to heights of 18,000 feet along the Line of Control.
The Mi-17s are deployed for tasks like ferrying troops, airdropping supplies, evacuating casualties, search and rescue, and ferrying VIPs.
It can carry 15 fully equipped troops and some of these choppers have been equipped with 57 mm rocket pods and machine guns.
Russia Today/Vremya Novostei: The optimal model for Karabakh
How to avoid another war in the South Caucasus
By Aleksandr Karavayev, deputy director of the Center for CIS Studies at Moscow State University
Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in Nagorno-Karabakh this Sunday. On the global scale, this event is not very noticeable, considering the status of this distanced from global communications territory. But, it is important enough to draw one’s attention to the possibilities of settling this long-standing and one of the more difficult post-Soviet ethno-territorial disputes, which not only affects the counties of the South Caucasus, but also Russia (some refugees have resided in Russia for over 20 years and are either not planning on returning or are unable to do so).
Read more
One could consider two ways to resolve this conflict, which could develop into various scenarios. The preferable solution for Armenia and the Armenian community of Karabakh would be obtaining a status of independence from Azerbaijan. However, even after the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence, for Karabakh this continues to be nothing more but a theoretical idea. Only a global power or a coalition of countries is capable of ensuring the promotion of sovereignty, as was witnessed in the Kosovo example. Moreover, the result of such a “big game”, as can be seen from the Russian experience, is not always unambiguous – compare the number of countries that have recognized Kosovo and Abkhazia, as well as the resources they were provided for development.
However, Russia was at least able to ensure real independence and partially recognized international sovereignty of Abkhazia. The capabilities of Armenia and Russia in this respect are incomparable. Therefore, Yerevan has not so much as attempted to promote this topic since the beginning of international negotiations. Meanwhile, Moscow would never independently sponsor such an idea, which does not directly affect the interests or security of Russia and could negatively impact economic projects with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
The second settlement option is directly related to Azerbaijan. Let us not forget that Karabakh, in the international legal sense, is under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan and seven of its surrounding regions are occupied by the army of Armenia. Therefore, any decision cannot be made without Baku’s involvement. Creating conditions for a bi-communal system there is the most optimal solution for future peace. So far, this task seems difficult to accomplish.
Today, the work of mediators from Minsk’s Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is limited to the preservation of the visibility of dialogue. Solutions for settlement of the situation remain on paper. They consist of two stages. The first includes a withdrawal of Armenian forces from parts of the occupied districts (possibly two), opening of communication with the Azerbaijani side, promotion of a civil dialogue and the return of refugees. At a certain stage, the involvement of peacekeeping forces from intermediary countries may be necessary to maintain a balance of power and guarantee security to both sides. In the second stage (years after the first is implemented) the status of Karabakh is to be determined through a referendum.
This scheme fully satisfies Azerbaijan, and does not at all suit Armenia. It is partially due to this reason, the principles of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, which were linked to the Karabakh settlement, were set aside. Intermediaries found themselves in a difficult position – their proposals were accepted by one side and only partially by the other. Moving forward means putting pressure on Armenia. But, that is not an easy thing to do. No weighable alternative to the current position toward Karabakh exists in Armenia. This brings up the question of where one could find Armenian leaders who would be willing to leave Karabakh. After all, the Karabakh elite are integrated into Armenia.
It is believed that some of the more significant leverages of influence on Armenia are in Moscow. This raises an impression in Azerbaijan that the preservation of this conflict plays to Russia’s advantage. But the truth is that there are simply no resources for a solution that includes carrying out a peacekeeping plan. The resolution of conflict and peaceful relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan will not push Russia out of the region or call for a withdrawal of Russian forces from Armenia. There needs to be a clear understanding of what type of a “prize” Moscow will have to gain from a positive settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The region’s military-strategic position aside, there are, in essence, very few reasons in favor of a speedy resolution of the conflict. This also concerns other world powers which are involved in promoting peace in the region. Everyone is satisfied with the current situation. On the other hand, there is more to just geopolitical interests, there is a civilized mission. It could, in fact, be the laurels that are worth fighting for.
First, it is necessary to come to an agreement on the status of the two communities, determine their ways of interaction, and facilitate the return of those who want to see this happen. Moreover, the extent of the areas that are to be restored, the cost of work and participation of third countries must be determined. It is time to begin developing a program for Armenian-Azeri cooperation, or to at least push Yerevan and Baku in this direction; because, the only alternative to the current stagnation – is the road to war.
Read the article on the newspaper’s website (in Russian)
Bloomberg: Russia to Fingerprint Migrants in Squeeze on ‘Shadow Economy’
May 21, 2010, 2:07 AM EDT
By Maria Ermakova
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Russia plans to fingerprint, photograph and license migrant workers in a bid to shrink the “shadow economy” and boost tax revenue, the government’s official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper said.
The new rules will apply to about 1.2 million of the estimated 3 million foreigners who work as nannies, builders, drivers, cooks and other jobs classified as “temporary” by the Federal Migration Service, the newspaper said today.
Such workers will have to buy licenses good for between one and three months, while so-called highly skilled workers, mainly those who earn more than 2 million rubles ($64,000) a year, will be excluded from the new requirements.
President Dmitry Medvedev is seeking to turn Russia into a “white-collar” country, Vladislav Surkov, Kremlin first deputy chief of staff, said in March. One million skilled-job vacancies went unfilled in Russia last year because of a lack of qualified workers, the World Bank said in a report in March. At the same time, because of a shrinking labor force, Russia will need 12 million immigrant workers within 20 years, the bank said.
While cracking down on foreign laborers, Russia plans to make life easier for workers who are better educated and skilled to help lure investment from abroad.
The government wants to react quickly to “painful points” flagged by investors, Deputy Economy Minister Stanislav Voskresensky told reporters in Moscow on May 7. One way to do that is to relax visa requirements for “highly skilled” workers, Voskresensky said.
--With assistance from Maria Levitov in Moscow. Editors: Brad Cook, Alexander Nicholson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Ermakova at mermakova@
To contact the editor on this story: Brad Cook in Moscow at Bcook7@
21 May 2010, 10:00
Interfax: Faith and Cause forum to be attended by over 5,000 Orthodox followers
Moscow, May 21, Interfax - More than 5,000 young Orthodox believers will gather at the Kremlin in Izmailovo complex in Moscow on May 22 to attend the fourth Orthodox student forum called Faith and Cause, said Vadim Kvyatkovsky, secretary of the Moscow Diocese Council's youth commission.
"At this year's forum the focus will be on the missionary work, on identifying leaders among young people," he told a press conference at Interfax.
The forum will be opened by the Divine Liturgy, following which the attendees will start work at debate platforms and master classes. The forum attendees will discuss the experience in organizing young people's work at church parishes and universities, missionary and social projects. This year the Faith and Cause will include 20 sections and will last for a week.
The section titled "Is it easy to be an Orthodox believer in the West?" will be attended by a youth delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). The forum will be attended by young parishioners from three foreign dioceses, including the children of the third-generation emigrants and newly-converted Americans who participate in the life of the ROCOR parishes, said Archpriest Andrey Sommer, deputy head of the ROCOR Synodal Youth Department
The first congress of the Orthodox youth was held in Moscow in the early 1990s at the initiative of current Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who at the time led the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations. The second congress was held at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2001, established the Russian nationwide Orthodox Youth Movement.
The Faith and Cause forum has been held annually since 2007.
RIA: Skolkovo high-tech research hub 'should link innovation centers'
10:0721/05/2010
TOMSK, May 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's high-tech research Skolkovo project should link innovation centers instead of competing with them, a presidential aide said on Friday.
In February 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia was planning to establish a modern powerful center for research and development, similar to the U.S. Silicon Valley.
The high-tech research and production hub is being built from scratch in the Moscow Region town of Skolkovo.
"Skolkovo will be able to become some kind of "umbrella", connecting all the innovation centers of the country as well as different companies," Arkady Dvorkovich said during an Innovation forum in the southwest Siberian city of Tomsk.
Dvorkovich added that Russia will also focus on developing other projects, such as the Tomsk research and development center.
"Tomsk needs our assistance and we will offer it," he said.
Tomsk is the host city for the annual International Innovation Forum, which gathers heads of federal bodies, top managers of Russian and foreign companies.
In 2010 the forum is being held under the theme: "Innovational leadership of the regions: competition for the future". The event, which is being attended by more than 1,300 people, ends today [May 21].
Moscow Times: Nokia, Cisco Line Up as 'Silicon Valley' Partners
21 May 2010
By Alex Anishyuk
Russia may partner with foreign high-tech companies, including Finnish communications firm Nokia and U.S. network developer Cisco Systems, in the development of its "innovation city," presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Thursday.
“We are currently in simultaneous talks with several companies, and mostly companies from the U.S. and a number of European countries, as well as [companies from] Asia,” he said at a news conference Thursday.
He said Cisco already had agreed to train engineers in the Russian version of Silicon Valley, located in Skolkovo, outside Moscow, and said negotiations with Nokia would soon be concluded.
“I can confirm that our company is in talks on the Skolkovo project,” said Alexander Palladin, a spokesman for Cisco Systems Russia. “The details are currently being discussed in our head office in the U.S., and we haven't been informed of the decision yet.”
Nokia Eurasia spokeswoman Viktoria Yeremina also confirmed that the company was in negotiations on the project. “Nokia representatives were invited to join the Skolkovo Council, the company is considering the possibility of setting up its own lab, Nokia Research Center, in Skolkovo,” she said in e-mailed comments.
President Dmitry Medvedev in March announced the Kremlin's plans to build a community for innovative development, to be modeled on California's Silicon Valley. He tapped billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, currently chief executive of TNK-BP, to oversee the project. Vekselberg, worth $6.4 billion according to Forbes magazine's estimates, owns Renova Group, a holding that includes Swiss technology conglomerate Oerlikon as well as a stake in United Company RusAl.
The innovation city, as it has come to be called, will focus on Medvedev's five priorities for modernization: energy, information technology, telecommunications, biotechnology and nuclear technology. The project will be financed in part by dipping into the government's 10 billion ruble ($340 million) modernization and innovation budget.
Russia already has gone abroad searching for partners. Last month, Medvedev said former Intel chief Craig Barrett would co-chair the innovation city's supervisory board. Other luminaries heading up the project will be Nobel laureate Roger Kormberg, an American biochemist, and Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, a Russian physicist.
Kremlin first deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov said last month that more foreign names will follow.
Vekselberg told Medvedev last week that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would participate in the innovation city's interuniversity academic center, where about 2,000 students would study. A preliminary agreement has already been reached with MIT, and a final agreement may be signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.
The deal comes after high-ranked Russian officials and businessmen visited the MIT campus in January to see how the university fostered innovation and technological breakthroughs.
Jamestown: Sergei Ivanov Seeks Deals in Washington
May 20, 2010
Pavel Felgenhauer
The Russian authorities are seeking a major détente with the West. A draft of a revised foreign policy doctrine was leaked and extracts published by Russky Newsweek in Moscow this month.
The document was prepared by the foreign ministry and envisages closer political cooperation with the US and the West in exchange for much needed Western capital and technologies to kick-start Russian modernization in all fields, including defense. The document was prepared by the foreign ministry in February and provisionally approved by President, Dmitry Medvedev. Diplomats told Newsweek that since February the draft has been in the hands of the government, where Russia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has his own personal foreign office run by Yuriy Ushakov, the former ambassador to Washington (EDM, May 19).
Medvedev is essentially a figurehead president and Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who supervised the writing of the draft, is equally not a particularly influential figure in Moscow. Ushakov, in turn, is not liked in the foreign ministry. The leak of the draft to Russky Newsweek is the apparent result of Moscow’s inter-departmental rivalry and intrigue. However, it is increasingly clear that a revolutionary change in Russian foreign policy is indeed occurring and the entire leadership, including Putin, is behind the move.
This week, in Washington, during a briefing in the Russian embassy Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov (in charge of defense and defense industry), told Russian reporters that cooperation with the US is improving (Interfax, May 18). Ivanov is close to Putin, in 2007 he was considered a frontrunner to become president before Putin chose Medvedev to be promoted as his official successor. It is known in Moscow that Medvedev and Ivanov do not particularly like each other. Ivanov’s reportedly glowing endorsement of further US-Russian cooperation is a clear sign this is a Putin-approved policy shift.
In Washington, Ivanov met with US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Assistant Secretary of State, William Burns, and National Security Advisor, James Jones. Officially, Ivanov’s visit was primarily to promote space cooperation with NASA, but he told reporters that much more was discussed, including Iran, Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) cooperation, WTO membership and encouraging US investment and technology transfers. Ivanov was upbeat on further cooperation in all fields and announced that Moscow has offered to work with the US on the joint production of the An-124 Ruslan heavy military transport aircraft. Today An-124’s made in Russia and Ukraine in the 1980’s and 1990’s are chartered by the Pentagon and other NATO militaries to carry heavy and bulky cargos to Afghanistan. With the Russian defense industry in deep crisis, Russia and Ukraine have lost the capability to produce new Ruslans and until now all attempts to restart production in Russia or jointly with Ukraine have failed, despite Putin declaring it a national priority. Ivanov announced a joint venture with the US air industry that could share know how and make modernized An-124 planes for the Russian military, the Pentagon and for commercial cargo airlines. According to Ivanov, “the Pentagon is looking into the matter.” Ivanov announced: “We must travel a long way, but I sincerely hope if true business interests unite us, security problems will be seen in a totally different light” (Interfax, May 18; Kommersant, May 19).
In another sign of growing friendship, Russia’s UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, supported a draft UN Security Council resolution proposing new sanctions against Iran despite the last ditch attempt by Tehran to deter the vote by signing an agreement brokered by Turkey and Brazil to send some enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel rods for a medical research reactor (Kommersant, May 20). The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who adamantly opposes new sanctions, is reported to have telephoned Putin to ask for help (RIA Novosti, May 20). The UN draft calls for an embargo on the sale of offensive heavy weapons to Iran such as tanks or fighter jets. The draft apparently avoids restricting the sale of antiaircraft missiles like the S-300 Russia has promised Iran, but withheld until now. Russia is a major arms supplier to Iran and any restrictions would be unpopular in Moscow’s powerful arms trading community. If Putin rebuffs Erdogan and allows new sanctions to pass in the UN, this would be seen in Moscow as a major concession that Washington would be expected to match.
The Russian military, supported by Putin and Medvedev, is ready and eager to buy Western weapons and to create joint ventures to co-produce on Russian soil. Russia is transforming from a global to a regional power with dominating limited regional interests. Moscow wants to dominate the post-Soviet space and use in time of need a sophisticated and disciplined military force that could project power primarily using high quality and better equipped units. Israel and France are important military-technical partners in this transformation, with Italy, Germany and now the US invited to join.
Putin, and Medvedev, seem to be genuinely interested in finding an enduring understanding with the West and settling outstanding differences on the solid basis of carving up Eurasia into clear zones of dominance and a written code of conduct (a proposed revised European security code). The resolution of the long-standing territorial dispute with Norway, the sincere Russian effort to upgrade its relations with Poland and put past differences to rest –all happening last month– are good examples of Moscow’s new strategic thinking. Russia is extending an open hand to the West, offering each side the opportunity to pursue their interests without hindrance in its sphere of interest. A number of major Western nations like France, Germany, Italy and maybe the US are seen in Moscow as sending signals they are tacitly ready to accept Russia’s special regional role.
The security situation in Kyrgyzstan seems to be deteriorating with rebels threatening a civil war that may undermine the Moscow-backed provisional government (Interfax, May 19). In the worst case scenario, Russia may see itself obliged to intervene as an armed peacekeeper. The Western reaction to this, or any other possible future Russian involvement in the post-Soviet space, may determine the success or failure of the new détente and the outcome of Iranian-connected diplomatic maneuvers.
Source:
Long War Journal: Chechens spotted in Taliban's Nuristan tape
By Bill RoggioMay 20, 2010 8:46 PM
Informed observers have pointed out a few other interesting items from the Taliban's recently released videotape that showed a "white Taliban" fighter who is very likely a young Nuristani. In the video, you can see Chechens and what appear to be Arab and Pakistani fighters intermixed with the Taliban [LWJ noted from day one that the Shadow Army was involved in this attack]. Several Taliban commanders are also seen on the video. The following is from an email from a military officer who recently served in Kamdesh, concerning the Chechen factor:
As far as Chechens, its not rare for the Taliban to mass foreign fighters on high level attacks such as the attack on Keating. You can usually tell when they are in the area because accuracy of weapon systems goes up due to their extensive training and combat experience. You can also note almost all of them have a "special" weapon other then the AK-47 and wear a head band, while I have never seen a Nuristani fighter wear a head band... Specifically what got me was the grenade launcher on the AK-47. These are rarely used by Nuristanis due to the extreme lack of ammunition availability. Their kits also seem of higher quality where most of the Nuristani fighters use their pockets or the common green AK-47 front vest.
Some select images from the tape are below; the full video is at the end.
7:36-7:42 Four Chechens with headbands are walking through the column. They can be seen again at 7:57.
21 мая 2010 г. 11:05
Vesti.ru: An explosive device found at the railway station in Makhachkala
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
The bomb was found Friday morning on railroad tracks in the Leninsky district of Makhachkala. In connection with this delayed trains.
Suspicious item found clothes patrol service officer. On-site work engineers FSB. Specially trained dogs have shown the presence of explosives. Now engineers are used for bomb disposal robot manipulator.
In connection with the incident at 1:00 was delayed departure of the passenger train Tyumen-Baku. Currently, he continued the march of free tree. At the railway station of Makhachkala on 30 minutes delayed train departures Kiev-Baku, ITAR-TASS.
VOR: Mufti of North Ossetia resigns
May 20, 2010 21:09 Moscow Time
North Ossetia’s mufti Ali-Hadji Yevteyev resigned Thursday. In his recent interview, the mufti confessed he had radical Islamic views and has studied at an Islamic institute under theologians Anzor Astemirov and Musa Mukozhev who later led the insurgents and were killed. He also criticized the Orthodox priests saying they “have blocked people’s path to God.” The interview was condemned by many Muslim leaders of Russia. Yevteyev is the first mufti of Russian origin who was converted to Islam .
RFE/RL: North Ossetia's Russian Mufti Under Fire
May 20, 2010
On May 2, the news agency Regnum circulated what it billed as an interview with North Ossetia's mufti, Ali-hadji Yevteyev. Yevteyev himself subsequently claimed that it was in fact a "discussion" and not intended for publication.
Some of Yevteyev's statements, in particular his revelations about his contacts with two men who subsequently became leading members of the Islamist underground, have been roundly condemned by Muslim clergy in the North Caucasus and elsewhere in Russia. The North Ossetian prosecutor's office has tasked experts with determining whether any of Yevteyev's statements are "extremist," and whether his disparaging comments about unnamed Orthodox priests who "have blocked people's path to God" fall under the category of "inciting interconfessional enmity."
Yevteyev is a Russian who was baptized a Christian and converted to Islam in late 1996 at the age of 22. He admits to having held "radical" Islamic views and having "dreamed of laying down my life for Allah," but rejects the label "Wahhabi." He says he studied at a radical madrasah in Karachayevo-Cherkessia, and traveled with other students from that Islamic religious school to Chechnya to spend time at the training camp in Serzhen-Yurt run in 1997-99 by Khattab, an Arab who joined the Chechen resistance during the 1994-96 war.
Together with radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev, Khattab led the incursions into Daghestan in August-September 1999 that triggered the renewal of hostilities between Russia and Chechnya.
Yevteyev also admits to having studied at an Islamic institute in Nalchik in the 1990s under young theologians Anzor Astemirov and Musa Mukozhev. He then spent eight years studying abroad, first in Egypt and then in Saudi Arabia. After his return to Russia he was named deputy mufti in North Ossetia in 2007 and mufti one year later.
Yevteyev's professed connection with Astemirov and Mukozhev, both of whom later joined the ranks of the radical armed resistance and were killed by Russian troops, was decried by several commentators as evidence of his unreliability, even though at the time of Yevteyev's contacts with them neither man had broken the law.
Yevteyev later explained that he never got to know Khattab personally, and that he regarded as "a mistake" the subsequent decision by Astemirov and Mukozhev to join the armed resistance. Kabardino-Balkaria's mufti, Anas Pshikhachev, denied that Yevteyev ever studied at the Islamic institute in Nalchik.
Elsewhere in the discussion/interview, Yevteyev expresses admiration for the concepts of an Islamic state and Shari'a law, and says he will do all in his power to ensure that sometime, somewhere, they will become reality. But he acknowledges that this will not happen in Russia: "I live in a country that is not Arab and not Islamic."
Yet despite the negative reactions to some of Yevteyev's statements, he pinpoints several key issues that other members of Russian's senior Muslim clergy are apparently either unwilling or unable to address. He notes, for example, how the younger generation systematically surfs the Internet for information about Islam, specifically about the finer points of theology. Because that older generation of Muslim clergy is not competent to explain and expound upon such points, young believers are increasingly attracted to, and fall under the influence of, Salafi Islam. Yet the older generation, according to Yevteyev, refuses to step aside to enable younger and better educated imams take over.
Yevteyev also implicitly condemns the argument that the Islamic insurgency in the North Caucasus can be countered only by the use of brute force. (The same message was reiterated by most of the NGO leaders and human rights activists who met on May 19 with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the situation in the North Caucasus.)
In that context, Yevteyev admits that he sometimes remains silent when a militant fighter returns "from the forest" and proves to have repented. He argues that putting militants who surrender on trial and condemning them to death is counterproductive and only alienates further both those still "sitting in the forest," and those with whom the "brothers in the forest" maintain contact with via the Internet. Yevteyev explains that "we are as lenient as possible with young people. We have taken upon ourselves the task of trying to prove that this state is not hostile to them, but we need corroboration, we need the state's support."
"We talk to young people not as bureaucrats as some religious leaders do, and not from a position of force as they do in Daghestan. We know how a Muslim should behave and try to convince them of this," he added.
Yevteyev further condemns the tactic routinely resorted to by police and security forces in the North Caucasus of gunning down law-abiding young men and then planting grenades or syringes next to their bodies to "prove" they were degenerates and members of the insurgency.
It is not clear from the very general denunciations of the interview whether it is statements such as this that are considered "extremist." It is noteworthy that very few of the published condemnations focus on pronouncements that reflect a dubious command of Islamic teaching, such as Yevteyev's assertion that there are 14 gradations of jihad.
The chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, said Yevteyev initially made a good impression when proposed as mufti in March 2008, and swiftly won the respect of North Ossetia's Muslims and promoted dialogue among them. But Yevteyev's recent pronouncements were totally at odds with the initial good impression he made, Gainutdin continued, and it was necessary to determine whether his early statements were hypocritical, or whether his statements in the recent interview were distorted or taken out of context.
Coordinating Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus Chairman Ismail Berdiyev was even more categorical. He said Yevteyev "has shown his true face," and that the center will set about replacing him as mufti with "a worthy Muslim."
In light of the lack of clarity about the circumstances in which Yevteyev spoke to Regnum's reporter, the possibility cannot be ruled out that he was set up by persons out to discredit and undermine his moderate and informed approach to countering the insurgency.
Jamestown: Medvedev Meets with Local NGO Leaders in Bid to Stabilize North Caucasus
May 20, 2010
Valery Dzutsev
On May 19, President Dmitry Medvedev had a unique meeting with North Caucasian NGO’s and Russian civil society activists who work on issues involving the region. The closed-door meeting lasted for nearly three hours.
The main outcome for the civil society members appeared to be Medvedev’s promise to create a public chamber in the North Caucasus Federal District, in which all the North Caucasian republics except for Adygea are included. Medvedev said he would look into the problem of numerous police checkpoints in the North Caucasus, which often contribute to the spread of corruption rather than solve security problems. Presidential envoy to the region, Aleksandr Khloponin, who had not been known for engaging the region’s civil society himself in the same way previously, was also present at the meeting (gazeta.ru, May 19).
Medvedev made several statements during the discussion, as the rights activists made a number of sharp invectives against the way that government agencies work in the North Caucasus. A well-known rights activist from Ingushetia, Magomed Mutsolgov, wrote in his blog that those of his colleagues who managed to get hold of the microphone conveyed their reports to Medvedev “honestly, harshly and genuinely.” Mutsolgov positively remarked about Medvedev’s surprising demeanor indicating his willingness to listen to criticism of the government (kavkaz-uzel.ru, May 19).
Svetlana Gannushkina of the Memorial human rights center informed President Medvedev about widespread and manifest abuses of power on the part of the security forces in the North Caucasus, including the practice of equating rights activists to the terrorists in Chechnya. Speaking about the illegal persecution of relatives of suspected insurgents in Chechnya, Gannushkina said: “The Chechen republic’s population lives in a climate of fear that can be compared only to the fear that citizens of the USSR felt during the years of Stalin’s terror. There was nothing equal to it even at the height of war [in Chechnya]” (kavkaz-uzel.ru, May 19).
Memorial’s person on the ground in Ingushetia, Timur Akiev, stated that by their illegal actions, the law enforcement agencies undermine the efforts of the republic’s President, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, to pacify the republic. Oyub Titiev from Chechnya raised the issue of kidnappings and illegal killings, in which the victims’ relatives frequently are unable even to identify the bodies.
Zaur Gaziev from Dagestan bluntly stated: “In Dagestan an environment has formed that will provide an increasingly greater numbers of suicide bombers and shaheeds.” According to Gaziev, the torture of suspects, sometimes leading to their death, has become routine practice among the Dagestani policemen, who, in order to cover up their crimes, say that those murdered this way have been killed in action. Gaziev warned that if Moscow did not talk to moderates and “return people from the forests,” the civil war in Dagestan would carry on and its ripples could reach the Moscow metro (kavkaz-uzel.ru, May 19). Gaziev was implicitly making reference to the shocking attack in the Moscow metro on April 29, which claimed 40 lives and was reportedly carried out by Dagestani insurgents.
The mainstream Russian news agencies practically ignored the unequivocal criticism that came from the North Caucasian activists in the May 19 meeting, focusing instead on the statements of Medvedev and his inner circle.
Perhaps to fend off mounting accusations against the government, Medvedev called on the NGO’s to raise the issue of ethnic Russians leaving the North Caucasus (RIA Novosti, May 19). Few experts see the phenomenon of the shrinking Russian population of the North Caucasus and the rising indigenous populations, which dates back to the 1970’s, as the primary cause of the worsening security situation in the North Caucasus (for example, see EDM November 13, 2009).
Ella Pamfilova, who chairs a Kremlin-backed civil society and human rights commission, stated that in some North Caucasian republics the courts had completely discredited themselves because of being utterly corrupt. Medvedev felt he had to curb this negativism, saying that statements like that were inappropriate and would lead to a “breakdown of the legal system” (RIA Novosti, May 19).
Medvedev admitted once again that Russia was facing very serious problems in the North Caucasus. According to data he provided, there were 544 terror attacks and 750 attacks on security forces in the region in 2009, in which 235 servicemen were killed and 686 wounded and 235 died. Even more stunningly, he admitted that in the period 2008-2010, more than ten well-known journalists and rights activists were killed in the North Caucasus (RIA Novosti, May 19).
The Russian president also reportedly made a harsh statement about the presidents of the North Caucasian republics. According to the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Medvedev said that those who cannot develop working relations with all the forces of the political spectrum must step down. In reality, however, there is little or no opportunity in most of the republics of the North Caucasus to be a politician out of the approved political spectrum. The lack of a democratic process and severe restrictions on freedoms verging on oppression like that of the Stalin era are problems that pop up in every open-ended discussion on the North Caucasus. However, it invariably becomes clear that Moscow does not want and cannot afford political reforms in the North Caucasus. To make decisions for big moves in the North Caucasus, Moscow should also allow more freedoms for Russia proper, and so far the powers-that-be have been fearful of such prospects.
The meeting with the NGO’s, however, indicates that Moscow is exploring other ways of obtaining information from the North Caucasus, given that the Russian, largely government-controlled media cannot be a reliable source of information about this region. Also, it indicates a certain degree of despair: Moscow does not seem to have a clear path of development for the North Caucasus or anyone it can rely on locally to implement those plans that are already in existence.
Source:
USA Today: Russian diplomat's daughter gets top Nets post
Posted 7h 3m ago
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (AP) — The daughter of a Russian diplomat was hired as president of the company that will oversee the New Jersey Nets.
Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group announced on Thursday that Irina Pavlova will be the NBA team owner's representative in the New York area.
Pavlova has extensive experience in business and finance. She earned an MBA from Stanford University, worked as a financial analyst with Prudential Investment Corp. and became Russia's first employee for Google. She lived in Moscow and Washington as a child.
Prokhorov, a billionaire who is Russia's richest man, has promised to revive the last-place Nets. His company described Pavlova as the "perfect bridge between Russia and the United States."
"She will establish the company's office (in New York) and cooperate closely with the Nets management to ensure they have everything they need to build a championship team," Onexim said in a statement.
Pavlova will coordinate the development project in Brooklyn that is to become the Nets' new home. The long-delayed arena is expected to open in 2012. Prokhorov agreed to buy 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of the arena project from developer Bruce Ratner last year.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Reuters: PROFILE - Russian tycoon shoots for skies with lowly Nets
Fri May 21, 2010 4:51am IST
By Gennady Fyodorov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - After making a fortune trading Siberia's metal riches, Russia's tallest tycoon is now focused on trying to transform a lowly National Basketball Association team into champions.
Towering over his colleagues at 6-foot-7 (2.01m), Mikhail Prokhorov brings a fortune estimated at $18 billion to his new role as owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets.
The 45-year-old Russian, who is the league's first majority investor from outside North America, also brings a passion for sport and lofty expectations for a championship team.
"If everything goes as planned, I expect us to be in the playoffs next season and win a championship in one year minimum, and maximum in five years," Prokhorov said during a briefing in New York a week after his bid to purchase the Nets won approval from the league.
But in typical flippant style, the Muscovite declined to say how he would turn a team that set a record for the worst start to an NBA campaign last year into champions overnight.
"If I tell you, I would have to kill you," said Prokhorov.
Russian media have already built up Prokhorov's latest acquisition and compared it to Roman Abramovich's purchase of London soccer club Chelsea in 2003.
"Undoubtedly, it should have a similar impact on American sports as Abramovich had on Britain and the rest of Europe with his purchase of Chelsea," Vladimir Geskin, editor of leading Russian sports daily Sport-Express, told Reuters.
"I think in the long run it would greatly enhance the image of Russian sports and business in the U.S."
SPORTS AND WOMEN
Helped by his height, Prokhorov was a keen basketballer in his youth but his real sports passion now lies with skiing and kickboxing.
Until recently, he owned a number of Russian professional teams, including European basketball powerhouse CSKA Moscow, but sold most of his sports assets a year ago. In 2008, he was elected president of the Russian Biathlon Union.
Prokhorov, whose father headed the international relations department of the Soviet Union's sports committee, has said he cannot function without sports, women and business.
He built a fortune by acquiring some of the juiciest assets of a former superpower on the cheap during chaotic years after the fall of the Soviet Union and selling them at top prices just months before the global financial crisis.
His masterstroke was helping to buy Norilsk Nickel, the world's biggest nickel and palladium producer, from the state in the privatisations of the 1990s.
Prokhorov sold his share in Norilsk and other assets for billions just months before the global crisis hammered the value of Russian assets. He refuses to speak about his wealth.
"It's very rude to ask a girl her age. It's much worse to ask how much cash you have," he told Reuters in 2008.
Ranked by Moscow's Finans magazine as Russia's second richest man, after steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin, Prokhorov has a fortune of $17.85 billion.
(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge)
(Editing by Frank Pingue;
To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@)
May 20, 2010
Russia Profile: If You Google Me, I will Yandex You
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
Yandex May Have Some Tricks Up Its Sleeve, but These Are Unlikely to Undermine Google’s Hegemony in the Global World of Search Engines
As far as Google and Yandex are concerned, the battle for supremacy in Russia’s online advertising market is a grim struggle for the soul of Mother Russia. Or, one can see it as a game of chess – one shrewd move here, another resolute move there – the aim of which is to drive the opponent into a frenzied stalemate. Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine, made one such move on Tuesday.
The company launched a new search site that it claims will give its Russian users the opportunity to search Web sites written in the Latin alphabet, an innocuous move that underscores the company’s eagerness to beat back attempts to assail its position as the local champion by world search giants like Google.
The new offering includes , the alpha version of the English language search engine, and an integrated global search filter on its Yandex.ru site that would allow users in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to search foreign Web sites. User queries in Latin script currently account for about 12 to15 percent (or 1.5 million to 2 million visitors) of all searches on Yandex.
Yandex said it has indexed four billion Web pages - mostly in English - over a two-year period in preparation for the launch. This is a far cry from Google, which reported back in 2008 that its search engine has indexed over one trillion unique Web pages from all over the globe, even after accounting for duplicates. “Our new offering is not in competition with Google,” Yelena Kolmanovskaya, the chief editor of Yandex, said by telephone. “Nevertheless, we enjoy competing with Google. As you can see, we are doing that with great success in Russia. It feels so good to compete with Google because Internet users gain from such competition. It keeps us on our toes.” Kolmanovskaya added that Yandex has built its own algorithmic and pay-per-click search interface and is more than ready to take Google head-on. “The upgrade includes a complete overhaul of our dedicated servers and the deployment of MatrixNet technology,” she said.
Last year, Yandex launched MatrixNet, a machine-learning technology that enables the search engine to control the relevancy of search results by generating a very long and complex ranking formula.
According to ComScore Networks, which tracks Internet traffic, Yandex was the fastest-growing search engine in the world last year, and ranked seventh in the top ten global search engines. LiveInternet.ru, which rates Internet sites in Russia, said Yandex presently commands a 63.6 percent market share compared to the 21.8 percent held by U.S.-based Google.
Can Yandex really rival Google inside and outside of Russia? Analysts and high-tech executives said it is still premature to talk of Yandex building a vastly superior search engine that could beat Google even in Russia. “The search engine war is not only about technology or features, but also about marketing and product positioning,” said Dmitry Malyavkin, the head of Internet research at Arton Consulting. “In many countries, Google remains the market leader and it will take more than one innovative product to unseat it.”
Yandex spokesman Ochir Mandzhikov insisted that competition with Google Russia is beyond the company’s immediate goal. “We do not plan to advertise our search services outside our traditional market. This is just an experimental service to test the pulse of search engine users and improve our services accordingly,” Mandzhikov said. “When search requests are made, we would like to give correct answers not just in Belarusian or Kazakh, but in English as well.”
However, the devil may well lie in the details. “Up until now, Russian Internet users used Yandex when they searched in Russian and turned to Google when they needed to find something in English,” said Konstantin Roshchupkin, an Internet marketing analyst at Ashmanov and Partners. The purpose of Yandex’s new Web site is to ensure that users would no longer need the “use-other-search-engines” option.
Google – founded by Larry Page and Russian-born Sergei Brin – would not comment for this article, but going by its track record, the Mountain View-based company is not taking the Russian challenge lying down. One of its earliest attempts to gain the number one spot in Russia was made in July of 2008, when it concluded a deal with Russia’s Rambler Media to buy ZAO Begun, Rambler’s context-advertising unit for $140 million. However, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service scuttled the deal in October that year, saying that it had not been given adequate information. Rambler’s CEO Olga Turischeva has since said that the company no longer plans to sell the asset, adding that it was one of its most valuable units and accounted for about 30 percent of the company’s contextual advertising revenue in the first half of 2008.
In December of last year, Google partnered with Mail.ru, which controls about ten percent of the country’s market share, in a deal that saw Google replacing Yandex as the default search engine and ad server on the Mail.ru portal starting January 2010. However, it was not a perfect marriage, as Mail.ru said it would not allow Google to brand its search engine with the Google name and logo, as the search giant normally does. Google has enhanced its service in other ways to attract Russian users. The company has localized all its signature products including Google News, Google Mail, Picasa and Google maps. In addition to redesigning its Russian Search page for better usability, the company launched a special Russian Maps service, showing the locations of and providing directions to people looking for places or businesses all across the country.
Last year, Google intensified efforts to win the hearts and minds of Russians with the launch of its Virtual Trip on the Trans-Siberian railroad in cooperation with Russian Railways. The project aims to bring the legendary train ride to within a mouse-click of desk-bound adventurers in any part of the world. By clicking on a spot on the map, virtual passengers can skip ahead to any section of the Trans-Siberian, and watch mountains, steppes and far eastern villages flash by in high definition. “In its own way, the project also mirrors the formidable ambitions of Google, currently in a pitched battle with its top-ranked rival Yandex, to conquer Russia’s lucrative search engine market,” Aaron Mulvihill wrote in The Moscow Times.
But Google may need to redouble efforts and battle aggressive expansion plans from its main competitor in order to keep its loyal users in Russia. “Two years ago, Google made an aggressive push into the Russian search market, forcing Yandex to test different search algorithms in order to maintain market share. Since then, Google’s activity has been more modest and figures from LiveInternet.ru showed that its market share has flattened out,” Roshchupkin said. “While Yandex revels in its newfound confidence, the company understands that it must leave nothing to chance, and that is why they are rolling out new products.”
Even as the online advertising market lost steam through most of 2009, Yandex reported a slight growth, which the company attributed to cheaper broadband connections and higher Internet usage in Russia. “There was an increase in the number of small-budget advertisers during the crisis,” Kolmanovskaya said. “Generally, context adverts for banking services went down, while adverts for cosmetics and beauty supplies went up. From the beginning of this year, we have seen an increase in advertisement for apartment repairs and renovation,” she added.
Yandex’s advertising revenue rose 14 percent last year. Sales climbed to 8.7 billion rubles ($287 million), Bloomberg reported. Yandex’s market share was 63.6 percent in April, leaving Google trailing far behind at 21.8 percent. In March, the local search champion registered 24.5 million hits compared to 19 million visitors recorded in May of 2009, figures released by the company show.
Malyavkin attributed Yandex’s stellar performance during the financial crisis to the fact that, unlike Google, it is much more focused and “has less on its plate.” “Google can hardly give the same attention or dedication to its business in Russia because it has many other interests around the world,” Malyavkin said. “Or perhaps I should simply say that for the average Russian Internet user, Yandex is much more fun.”
Moscow News: Luzhkov and Zhirinovsky get their wires crossed
Source Evgeniya Chaykovskaya at 21/05/2010
The on-going row between Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov and LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky looks set to continue after reports that a telephone interview fail to soothe the situation.
A source told Kommersant that Zhirinovsky attempted to apologise during a telephone conversation, but Luzhkov was having none of it and the short conversation ended in raised voices.
The two have recently clashed in court, with Zhirinovsky ordered to pay 500,000 compensation after accusing Moscow officials of corruption.
Now it seems City Hall is holding out for a public apology to go with the public accusation, as Northern Area prefect Oleg Mitvol told Gazeta.ru
Moscow News: Alien vs. chess predator
by Anna Arutunyan at 20/05/2010 19:13
A bitter political fight between the eccentric, alien-spotting president of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilymuzhinov, and legendary champion Anatoly Karpov is splitting the chess world in two.
The row over who will lead the World Chess Federation is also creating a schism in Russian chess circles, with both men claiming the support of the national federation – and both bringing in some unlikely heavyweight hitters to support their cause.
In Ilyumzhinov’s corner is Kremlin economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich, the chairman of the Russian Chess Federation, while backing Karpov is his longtime rival for the world chess crown, Garry Kasparov – the strongest chess player of all time and now an outspoken opposition politician.
The bizarre alliances on both sides have got observers scratching their heads, and experts warning that politics – not chess – is the bigger game in play.
Ilyumzhinov, who raised eyebrows recently when he claimed on television to have been visited by aliens in 1997, has led the World Chess Federation, known as FIDE by its French acronym, since 1995.
Controversially he has presided over a decade of rival world championships and a succession of scandals.
Ilyumzhinov’s time as FIDE president has run alongside his iron-fisted rule over the impoverished North Caucasus republic of Kalmykia since 1993.
Now Karpov, a mild-mannered champion with hobbies such as stamp collecting, has emerged as a challenger to Ilyumzhinov, who has struggled to shake off an opaque business reputation, a patchy record on sponsorship and ties to controversial figures such as Colonel Gadhaffi and Saddam Hussein.
Rival meetings
The disagreement in the Russian Chess Federation came to a head last week, with rival sessions of its governing council nominating different candidates.
One, of 17 members, including heavyweights Karpov and chess champ-turned political activist Garry Kasparov, unanimously nominated Karpov.
The other, of eight members and headed by the council’s chairman, Dvorkovich, nominated Ilyumzhinov.
The problem was that Dvorkovich, as chairman, had already nominated Ilyumzhinov in late April. Karpov, meanwhile, had been nominated by the French Chess Federation and supported by some 20 other chess nations.
No one at the Russian Chess Federation was immediately available to comment on whether the issue had been resolved, and the question of whose nomination was more legitimate was still up in the air this week.
Dvorkovich’s intervention
Dvorkovich, in an official statement, called Karpov’s nomination “illegitimate”, even though a quorum had been reached, because of his own previous nomination, which had been accepted by FIDE.
In a statement nominating Ilyumzhinov dated April 21, Dvorkovich said that all members of the Federation he had consulted with supported Ilyumzhinov.
One of the changes in FIDE that Dvorkovich was lobbying for was transferring the organisation’s headquarters to Moscow.
But Karpov said that Dvorkovich “was not authorised to take such unilateral decisions”.
“Instead of private telephone conversations [with members of the supervisory council] the chairman’s direct duty is the organisation of sessions involving all 32 members of the council,” Kommersant quoted Karpov as saying.
Dvorkovich has insisted that his initial nomination was legitimate. The two meetings on May 18 were not legitimate, he argued – Karpov’s because the chairman was not present, and his because a quorum was not reached.
Ilyumzhinov stated in an open letter that Karpov’s nomination was “clearly deceitful” and insisted that he would run for president.
International backing
The row is baffling chess experts, who see Russian politics trumping the interests of the game.
“There is apparently much more at stake than a chess tournament. On the one hand there’s Karpov who, as a chess champion, would open doors for chess and bring back some of the splendour of chess as a global game,” said Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, editor-in-chief of the Netherlands-based New in Chess magazine. “On the other, there’s Ilyumzhinov, who doesn’t open doors abroad, and has turned chess into a game played mainly in the Caucasus region.”
The international chess community expects chess to be played in global capitals such as Paris and New York, Ten Geuzendam said. “Practically all the top players support Karpov. There must be a political reason why Ilyumzhinov is getting backing in Moscow. It may be economic, or connected to his leadership in Kalmykia,” he said.
Geuzendam is also puzzled why Dvorkovich, an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev who has voiced a liberal agenda, is backing a member of the old guard. “I have met Dvorkovich several times and it was clear that he loves chess very much. One would expect him to work in the interests of chess, and with his clear backing of Ilyumzhinov it’s hard not to think that there is a political reason.”
Kasparov noted the irony that he is joining hands with his former longtime rival for the world championship, Karpov, against Ilyumzhinov. Speaking at the nominating session, he called the Dvorkovich faction’s attempts to continue Ilyumzhinov’s rule a “disgrace”.
“The other members of the supervisory board (who haven’t joined us) are under the impression that the whole world supports Ilyumzhinov. It’s a lie,” Kasparov said at the meeting, a video of which was posted on the Internet.
‘Old-fashioned power struggle’
Other analysts agreed there was a lot more than chess behind the disagreement.
“It’s a good old-fashioned power struggle between the democratic forces and the old guard,” Malcolm Pein, the chess correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, told The Moscow News. “The chess aspect is that many people are unhappy with what’s been going on in FIDE in the last 10 years.
A lot of players have become unhappy about the speed at which games are played. Although that Kasparov and Karpov are retired, these things trouble them greatly.
“Dvorkovich is very much Ilyumzhinov’s man in the [Russian] chess federation. It’s clear that there’s somebody behind both people.”
Russia Today: LHC’s little brother to beam near Moscow
21 May, 2010, 09:16
Russian scientists now have their very own atom collider just outside Moscow. And although it is much smaller than Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider, the ambitions of those involved are grand.
Russia's very own collider is going to be put together within the next five years. It took decades to launch the gigantic European collider, but Russian scientists say the technology and experience they already have will significantly save them time.
The future collider will involve several accelerating rings which have already been functioning in a lab near Moscow for decades.
The collider itself will be a hundred times smaller than the Large Hadron Collider in Europe, but to reach its goal it does not need the super-high speeds and energy that the LHC does.
The Large European collider is looking for the last undiscovered element of the universe – the Higgs Boson – while the Russian collider is going to be exploring that intermediate state, right after the atoms collide and before smaller particles are formed.
Looking into that transition state right after the collision could lead mankind to an alternative source of energy. Scientists say when new particles are formed a great deal of energy breaks out: if people learn more about the process they can recreate it.
“It's more powerful than all the energy sources now known to man,” says Grigory Trubnikov from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.
Now the share of renewable energy sources in Russia is less than one per cent, but if the scientists succeed, the situation may change.
“The application of the collider experiments is very wide, from medical science to energetics. What is even more interesting about such projects is that scientists often stumble upon discoveries they never expected to find,” explains Professor Aleksey Sissakian from the
Union for the Development of Science.
But it is not just a new energy source Russian scientists are looking for. They say the collider might also give some answers as to how the universe began.
The collider is going to cost around $200 million, many times cheaper than its European brother, but the discoveries it may bring could be of no less value.
RFE/RL: Russian Opposition Movement Urges Police Reforms
May 21, 2010
MOSCOW -- The Russian opposition Solidarity movement has made proposals to the Interior Ministry in an effort to reform the country's police force, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
The Interior Ministry controls Russia's police and various state security forces. The reform program unveiled on May 18 is included in a 15-page pamphlet that Solidarity says will be sent to Russian leaders.
"The key task of our proposal is to reestablish the public's trust in law-enforcement organs," co-author Ilya Yashin told reporters. "In essence [the pamphlet] says the current structure of the [Interior Ministry] must be dissolved and the law enforcement system constituted from scratch."
The reforms include recommendations that Solidarity said should be implemented over the next four years.
Perhaps most importantly the pamphlet recommends cutting the number of police officers in half.
Retired police Major General Vladimir Ovchinsky told RFE/RL that such a measure is premature.
"Although police numbers in our country are higher than in other countries, here the number of murders per 100,000 of the population is 15 times higher than in countries of the EU and three times higher than in the United States," he said.
Ovchinsky says that while there are positive elements in Solidarity's proposals, he opposes calls for big cuts in the number of police.
The pamphlet also calls for renaming the "militsia," the longtime name for Russian police. The term "militsia" comes from "militia," and it came into use to refer to the police during the Bolshevik Revolution.
The name "militsia" now has a negative connotation due to the widespread public perception of police corruption. Solidarity wants the "militsia" renamed "politsia."
President Dmitry Medvedev has recently initiated legislation to reform the law enforcement bodies. Numerous opinion polls indicate that the Russian public has little trust in the police.
VOR: Press review
May 21, 2010 11:59 Moscow Time
According to the Vremya Novostei daily, the Russian Government will set the budget with a view to long-term state programmes. Vladimir Putin has pointed out that the programmes in question should give priority to a settlement of demographic problems, education quality improvement, public health, housing construction, economic growth, the introduction of innovations, boosting labour productivity and energy efficiency in the production sector. The Prime Minister said that the tax policy is a key instrument in achieving long-term goals. The Finance Ministry has already submitted a tax package that is due to spur innovations in the production sector of the national economy.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports that the President of Namibia has been received in the Moscow Kremlin. Five agreements were signed following the talks between Dmitry Medvedev and Hifikepunye Pohamba, with the more important one of those having to do with nuclear energy. Under the agreement Russia will mine uranium and prospect for other ores in Namibia. Moscow is prepared to invest a total of some 1 billion dollars in the development of uranium deposits in Namibia. Russian experts will, besides, help build two hydroelectric power stations in the South African country. Another two joint projects aim at building in Namibia a mineral fertilizer factory and rebuilding a railway line.
Rossiiskaya gazeta daily announces St. Petersburg Economic Forum which will open on June 17. Its sessions will be directly linked with the plans on modernization of the Russian economy and promise to draw attention of both Russian and foreign investors. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will attend the plenary session of the forum. His report is called “We have changed”. The title deliberately carries neither a question mark nor an exclamation mark. Every one is free to assess the situation in Russia independently his own experience, the newspaper concludes.
In June the Vologda Optical and Mechanical Plant will manufacture French thermal imagers for the Russian armored vehicles, Gazeta daily reports. According to the paper this will be the first time when foreign military equipment is assembled in Russia. Until now Russia has imported French thermal imagers for its T-90 tanks. Now the optic unit of the thermal imager will be French and its control system will be Russian.
National Economic Trends
Bloomberg: Russian Central Bank May Change Interest Rates May 31 (Update1)
May 21, 2010, 2:52 AM EDT
(Adds previous interest rate cuts in third paragraph.)
By Artyom Danielyan and Paul Abelsky
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s central bank may consider changing interest rates at a meeting on May 31, said Sergei Shvetsov, head of financial operations at Bank Rossii.
The regulator will “probably” discuss rates at the planned meeting, Shvetsov, a member of the bank’s board of directors, told reporters in Moscow today.
The central bank has cut its main interest rates 13 times since April last year, including three reductions in 2010, to spur credit flows and help Russia recover from its worst economic slump on record. Bank Rossii last reduced the refinancing rate by a quarter point to 8 percent at the end of last month.
--Editor: Chris Kirkham
To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@; Artyom Danielyan in Moscow at adanielyan@.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Willy Morris at wmorris@.
RBC: Bank of Russia may revise discount rate
RBC, 21.05.2010, Moscow 10:32:16.The Bank of Russia is expected to revise the discount rate on May 31, member of the regulator's board of directors Sergei Shevtsov told journalists today. When asked about the possibility of yet another cut in the discount rate, he replied, "There is always a possibility."
The current discount rate, effective since April 30, amounts to 8 percent. The decision about a 0.25-percentage point reduction was made by the Central Bank on April 29, and it was the third cut since the beginning of the year.
Bloomberg: Russia May Cap Interest Rates on Consumer Loans, Kommersant Says
By Maria Ermakova
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s competition watchdog may cap the amount of interest banks can charge for consumer loans, Kommersant reported, citing Anti-Monopoly Service deputy head Andrei Kashevarov.
The regulator wants to link charges for consumer loans to the central bank’s refinancing rate and penalize commercial lenders that exceed the maximum via higher taxes, the Moscow-based newspaper said today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Ermakova at mermakova@
Last Updated: May 21, 2010 00:44 EDT
Moscow Times: Running Out of Cash, Cabinet Gets Creative
21 May 2010
By Anatoly Medetsky
The Cabinet on Thursday backed a plan to pack all federal spending into long-term programs in an effort to drastically cut the costs of running the country after it exhausts cash reserves inherited from years of an oil boom.
Government officials, however, were tight-lipped about exactly how the new way of managing federal outlays would work when it is first applied to the budget in 2012.
“It's about moving to state programs as a key tool of long-term planning,” Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said about the plan after the Cabinet meeting.
“That's how we are moving — in a revolutionary way, in fact — to an analysis of all the options available for the government to achieve specific goals,” he said.
Next year's budget will not consist of only long-term programs because officials have yet to determine what programs the country needs and how to put them together, Kudrin said.
Budget spending for 2012 is expected to slide to 9.7 trillion rubles ($321 billion) from this year's projected 9.9 trillion rubles.
The plan, which has been in the works since at least February, will allow the government to revise its spending commitments, “mercilessly cut out the expenses that are ineffective or of secondary importance” and look for the least expensive options, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last week.
The changes may represent a cover for reducing investment spending in the face of growing social payouts and a gaping budget deficit, said UralSib economist Vladimir Tikhomirov.
Nonbudgetary funds are used to pay compulsory medical insurance and pensions, among other things.
Tikhomirov also noted the vagueness of the plan. “There are many points of view but little clarity about how it will work in practice,” he said.
The cash pot saved from the record intake of oil export revenues, the Reserve Fund, will run out early next year at the latest, Kudrin said recently.
In an earlier effort to set more specific goals for federal spending, the Cabinet began drafting three-year budgets in 2007. That apparently proved insufficient.
“We have a lot of overlapping and parallel spending on the same targets,” Putin said in a speech at the State Duma last month.
What's more, the Education and Science Ministry has no influence over education expenses by the other agencies, while the Health and Social Development Ministry is in the same position in terms of health care, he said.
“Education and health care spending is spread throughout various ministries — quite a bunch of them — but the ministries that are in charge can't influence the policy of allocating and using the money,” Putin said.
By funneling all spending through federal programs, the Cabinet will tighten control over the fiscal flows and have a chance to redirect them where it sees them most needed, he said.
Tikhomirov suggested that the measure would mean that the Finance Ministry would enjoy greater scrutiny over expenses. The government now spends about 10 percent of the federal budget on long-term programs.
Setting off on an austerity campaign, the government may instead want to devote more attention toward developing competition among contractors that bid for various state projects, such as the construction of roads and bridges, said Peter Westin, chief economist at the Aton brokerage. Corruption also deflects revenues from the state coffers, because many businesses can't afford to pay both bribes and taxes, he said.
“There are other things that might be more pressing,” he said. “Bureaucrats tend to spend a lot of money on reforming themselves, which is characteristic not only of developing countries but also of Western economies.”
Bne: Kudrin floats idea of spending cuts as budget remains under pressure
bne
May 21, 2010
Things are starting to get really serious for Deputy Prime Minister and Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. He has already said that budget spending will be frozen for the next four years. Now he is talking about cuts.
Kudrin floated the possibility of cutting government spending on Thursday, May 20 at a Cabinet meeting that set the main parameters for the budget between 2011 and 2013.
Tax policy in 2011-2013 is designed to combat the negative impact of the economic crisis, and to put the conditions in place to restore positive rates of economic growth by stimulating innovation while keeping the budgetary system balanced.
The Russian budget has been doing better than expected this year after oil prices rose to an average of about $76 per barrel against the $58 predicted by this year's budget. The higher oil prices mean the forecast deficit will be a lot lower this year than expected in January: official predictions have fallen from 6.8% for the year to about 4% now and analysts say it could be even lower. This also means that the state will probably not spend all the reserve fund this year on supporting the budget as was thought at the start of the year.
However, as the debt crisis in Europe deepens it seems that Kudrin has become even more cautious than the obvious underestimate for oil prices this year in the budget implies. And caution is Kudrin's hallmark; the only reason the Russian economy only contracted in 2009 and didn't collapse is thanks to the Finance Minster's prudence and ability to build up some $600bn in reserves during the boom years.
Economic growth this year has been propped up by state spending, which has ballooned in the last five years. The budget breaks even now at an oil price of about $110 per barrel - way ahead of the long-term average for oil of about $25 for most of Putin's two terms as president and almost ten times more than the $14 break even the state used to run in the 1990s. In 2007, Russia had a federal budget surplus of 5.1% of GDP with the oil price at $71 per barrel, Kudrin said, but the state has increased spending by about a third since the crisis hit to keep the economy on the rails.
Kudrin has already said that budget spending will be frozen at current levels for the next four years after which the government should go back into the black. However, last week Kudrin hinted that more radical changes are on the way, saying that Russia could reduce the deficit to zero even if oil stays at $70, but then, "it is necessary to reduce budget spending."
More details of this change in plan are now trickling out. At a Cabinet meeting yesterday Kudrin said that the government plans to pack all federal spending into long-term programs form 2012, "in an effort to drastically cut the costs of running the country," after it exhausts cash reserves inherited from years of an oil boom. However, attendees of the meeting were tight lipped on just what this means.
"It's about moving to state programs as a key tool of long-term planning," Kudrin said about the plan after the Cabinet meeting. "That's how we are moving - in a revolutionary way, in fact - to an analysis of all the options available for the government to achieve specific goals," he said.
There will be no long-term programs in next year's budget as the government will take a year to work out what exactly it needs to do (and what will work). Budget spending for 2012 will then probably be cut to RUB9.7 trillion ($321bn) from this year's projected RUB9.9 trillion.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has already promised to, "mercilessly cut out the expenses that are ineffective or of secondary importance" and look for the least expensive options, he said last week.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev will give a big speech on Russia's economics at the St Petersburg forum in June which he is likely to use to announce the grand plan going forward.
Alfa Bank: Government approves tax strategy for 2011-13
Alfa Bank
May 21, 2010
Yesterday, the government approved the Russian Taxation Strategy for 2011- 2013, which envisions further tax breaks for the fuel sector and confirms the planned reduction in payroll taxes for innovative companies from 34% to 14% for five years. The document reiterates the governments previously announced plans and will shift some of the tax burden from fuel to other sectors of the economy.
Because the government expects to run a budget deficit for the next 3-5 years, it will be looking for new sources of income to compensate for lost oil revenue. We believe this means it will increase non-oil taxes, particularly in sectors such as telecoms, chemicals and metals. According to our estimates, this years tax breaks already total RUB400-500 bln - equivalent for the budget to an $8-10/bbl decline in the average oil price, which will dampen the effect of better VAT collection this year, in our view.
We see the planned increase in the payroll tax from the current 26% to 34% starting in 2011 as another way to compensate for the continued decline in oil revenues. This will increase the tax burden on already weak non-fuel sectors, squeezing margins and possibly encouraging tax-evasion, which would lead to lower transparency and tax collection. We also see a risk that the 20 ppt tax break for innovative companies will only be available to large companies, while the lions share of the increased tax burden will fall on SMEs. This would hit the latter hard financially while doing little to boost budget revenues.
Therefore, while the government expects the higher payroll tax to bring in an additional RUB900 bln for 2011 and stimulate economic growth, we believe the actual fiscal and economic benefits will be more modest.
Natalia Orlova
Moscow Times: Wage Arrears Drop 18.3%
21 May 2010
Wage arrears dropped 18.3 percent in April from the previous month after a jump in industrial output, the State Statistics Service said Thursday.
Unpaid wages fell to 3.2 billion rubles ($105.6 million) after declining 3.7 percent in February and remaining unchanged in January, the service said.
(Bloomberg)
Bne: Payback time in Russia
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Guy Norton in Moscow
May 21, 2010
In the course of the market panic that followed the demise of Lehman Brothers in the autumn of 2008, it was widely assumed that bad debts in the Russian banking sector would rise dramatically to levels of 30-40% - effectively wiping out all profits in the sector and causing the financial collapse of a whole raft of lenders. Against almost all expectations, however, the reality has proved to be startlingly different.
The latest data from the Russian central bank indicate that actual non-performing loans (NPLs) across the sector average just 10% of total lending as Russian borrowers both on a corporate and an individual level have proved to be far more reliable on the debt repayment front than many financial analysts gave them credit for.
Despite last year's recession when GDP shrank by almost 8% and unemployment rose sharply, ordinary Russians have conscientiously serviced their debts, which means that consumer finance firms such as Renaissance Credit are now happy to restart lending again. "The willingness to pay has been very good," says Kieran Donnelly, head of funding at consumer finance firm Renaissance Credit, adding that as a result ordinary Russians kept their money on deposit in banks rather than withdrawing it and reverting to the once-traditional method of stashing it under the mattress.
What's more, those depositors at the small number of banks that did go under in the last couple of years have seen their hard-earned cash paid back to them through Russia's deposit insurance scheme in a very short period of time. "People were paid back by the government within 14 days," says Donnelly.
The dawning realization that Russians are not any more likely – in fact arguably less likely - to walk away from paying back loans than their counterparts in Western Europe or the US has had a positive effect on the perception of the entire Russian banking sector, say bankers. "People have finally realized that NPLs will not be the albatross around Russia's neck that was once feared," says Steven Meehan, chief executive for Russia/CIS at Swiss bank UBS in Moscow.
As a result, the country's leading banks have regained access to the international loan and bond markets, which will help them to raise fresh capital to offset the provisions they made against bad debts in the course of 2008-09.
Meanwhile, on the basis that every cloud has a silver lining, even the rise in NPLs has created new investment opportunities. That's why Scandinavian private equity group Mint Capital recently bought into Capital Collection Agency (CCA). As a leading firm in the debt collection industry in Russia, CCA is well positioned to exploit opportunities in an expanding marketplace, says Ulf Persson, managing partner at Mint Capital. "Obviously, the level of NPLs in Russia has increased since the onset of the economic crisis, but debt collection agencies have created a market-based solution to the NPL problem," says Persson.
Bne: State may sell some of its shares in Rosneft and Inter RAO
bne
May 21, 2010
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin says that the state is mulling the idea of selling some of its shares in state-owned energy companies Rosneft and Inter RAO, if market conditions improve, according to reports.
"If we haven't overcome the crisis yet, we should estimate a prospective increase in company capitalizations and work as efficiently as possible," he told RBC.
Rosneft was floated on international exchanges in 2006, raising $10.7bn at a issue price of $7.55 per share. The government's share in the company is now 75.2%.
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the government was toying with the idea of selling another stake in September 2009. He also said some of the state stake in shipping company Sovcomflot could also be sold.
At the same time, Evgeny Dod, Former Head of Inter RAO Board, said the company's stocks might be sold in the long-term. The controlling stake will remain in the hands of the government, while 49% may be sold to strategic investors.
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
Bloomberg: Lukoil, Mobile TeleSystems, Norilsk: Russian Equity Preview
By Ilya Khrennikov
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may be active in Russian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close of trading in Moscow.
The 30-stock Micex Index plunged 4.3 percent to 1,263.99 as Europe’s debt crisis drove investors from riskier assets and commodities. The dollar-denominated RTS Index slid 5.6 percent to 1,303.24.
OAO Lukoil (LKOH RX): Oil fell below $65 a barrel after trading closed in Moscow. Lukoil, Russia’s largest non-state oil company, declined 3.4 percent to 1,476.21 rubles. OAO Rosneft (ROSN RX), the country’s biggest oil producer, fell 4.3 percent to 206.58 rubles.
OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MTSI RX): Russia’s largest mobile- phone company said its board recommended paying a 2009 dividend of 15.40 rubles ($0.49) per share, for a total of $976 million. Mobile TeleSystems fell 3.7 percent to 229.81 rubles in Moscow.
OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel (GMKN RX): Copper dropped to the lowest price since February as the dollar strengthened on the European debt crisis. Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s largest mining company, fell 2.9 percent to 4,895.75 rubles.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at ikhrennikov@;
Last Updated: May 20, 2010 22:00 EDT
Bloomberg: Russia Stocks Snap 2-Day Drop; Gazprom, Norilsk, Sberbank Gain
By Alex Nicholson
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s 30-stock Micex Index gained, advancing for the first day in three. The gauge climbed 1 percent to 1,276.42 at 10:33 a.m. in Moscow as natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom rose. OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel and OAO Sberbank both added more than 1 percent.
Last Updated: May 21, 2010 02:37 EDT
Russia Today: Nuclear energy warms up as Russian export earner
21 May, 2010, 10:30
Gas and oil might be not the only resource Russia will export in coming years, with increasing global interest in nuclear power promising a market opportunity for Russia.
Nuclear power currently satisfies 16 % of Russia's energy needs, and the state's goal is to raise that to 25% in 15 years. But domestic construction is just one branch of the industry.
India, China, Turkey and Iran are just some of the countries where Russia is building nuclear power plants. With Governments around the world eager to diversify away from oil and gas, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has set an ambitious target of capturing a quarter of global nuclear power plant construction market. Deutsche bank utilities analyst Dmitry Bulgakov says there are two key drivers.
“One is energy security, diversification of the fuels. And secondly, and I would say quite importantly is that we are moving towards a carbon free world, right. The nations around the globe are discussing, last year in Copenhagen, discussing the future of the world without carbon, and nuclear generation can provide a solution."
By 2030 Russia wanted to build 26 plants in Russia and 20 abroad. However the financial downturn has cooled the rush. Foreign contracts are essential for loading production capacity – which was built in Soviet times on a grand scale.
Loading the production capacity will raise profitability to about 15% – twice as high as producing for Russia alone, according to Sergey Kondratiev, senior expert at the Energy and Finance Institute
“Without foreign contracts nuclear construction financing falls on government shoulders and it's not very profitable due to the low loading of capacity. Many countries are looking at Russia to satisfy their demand, the exception is China which wants 70 percent of its construction needs met domestically.”
Building a nuclear plant is expensive and the margins are slim. But there is a pay-off later, after a 10 year construction project, there's the possibility of supplying 40 years of uranium.
Every sixth nuclear reactor in the world already runs on Russian nuclear fuel. Supply of Russian uranium is still fairly limited and more investment is needed in mining and extraction to cope with increased demand, but unlike the construction business, it promises high returns.
VTB Capital: Federal Anti-monopoly Service to issue rules on determining limited competition by regions for the capacity market
VTB Capital
21 May 2010
News: The Federal Antimonopoly Service plans to issue rules on determining limited competition by regions for the capacity market by July this year, according to yesterdays Interfax citing the FASs Deputy Chief, Anatoly Golomzin. Later on, in August the FAS plans to provide a list of regions (there are a total of 29 zones of unrestricted capacity flows in Russia) with limited competition, where price caps would be applied (at 118 RUB/kW/month in European Russia and 126 RUB/kW/month in Siberia). He also mentioned that in 2011, there would likely be a limited number of regions with enough competition. He also stated that the current approach implies dividing zones into three types - high, medium and low concentration - not providing details on which, or how many regions would fall into each category, or whether regions with medium concentration would see price caps.
Our View: The timeline fits well into the initial plan of issuing rules in a three month period after the capacity market regulations were signed (in April) and we welcome the fact that the government is sticking to its plan. However, we see a risk for assets if price caps would be widespread. We also estimates that despite a limited number of regions where competition would be enough, of the total capacity installed the share of capacity in those regions might be substantial. For example, we estimate that 4 (out of 29) most likely zones where competition would be enough would cover about 50% of total capacity.
Moreover, beyond 2011 we think that the scope of zones with unrestricted electricity flows might change following the elimination of bottlenecks in grids. Thus, we view the news as neutral at this stage.
Russia Today: Electricity generators look to consolidation
21 May, 2010, 10:42
Energy generation is a major need for Russia with current capacity stretched to the limit. The state is looking for private investors to step up, as industry players look to consolidation.
Russia has passed the most acute phase of the crisis and energy demand is beginning to recover. Now the question is how to make power generation a more profitable business than it was before the downturn. Deputy Energy Minister Andrey Shishkin says the government has played its part and pointed to private investors.
“To encourage investors the Russian government has signed a decree on the development of a long-term capacity market. It’s an important step and now its investors’ turn to fulfill all their obligations on the construction of new capacity.”
Most of power facilities in Russia are outdated. Losses in heating networks total up to 30% annually. But market players are optimistic. Money is coming back to the market as long-term contracts encourage new investment. Denis Fyodorov, General Director of Gazprom Energy Holding is also predicting there will be wholesale changes in the way the sector is structured.
“Consolidation is the main trend in the power market. We are looking at creating joint ventures with other players to develop new capacity. Gazprom is going to consolidate OGK-2 and OGK-6 and Russia’s biggest private generator KES holding is considering the consolidation of three of its generating companies. So in about two years we’ll see a significant change.”
Companies say consolidation will protect them from unnecessary investment risks and expect a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the next few years.
2010-05-20 16:48
Reuters: Russia asks coal firms to ensure local supply-source
MOSCOW, May 20 (Reuters) - Russia's top energy official Igor Sechin has asked coal producers to focus on local coal sales instead of exports after blasts in the Raspadskaya core mine crippled Russian production, an industry source said.
"There was a letter from Sechin, which said that there should be no refusals to supply Russian customers in order to avoid creating an articial shortage," a source who saw the letter told Reuters.
"It was a recommendation. Coal firms have happily agreed to it because local prices are now higher than global," he added.
Raspadskaya declared on Wednesday force-majeure to main customers and said coking coal concentrate sales would plunge after a mine blast killed at least 66 miners earlier this month.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Alfred Kueppers) Keywords: RUSSIA COAL/
(dmitri.zhdannikov@, +7 495 775 12 42, Reuters Messaging: dmitri.zhdannikov.@)
RenCap: Outlook for coking coal exports after the fatal accident at Raspadskaya mine
Renaissance Capital
May 21, 2010
Event: Yesterday (20 May), local and international media organisations (including Reuters and Interfax) published reports regarding possible restrictions on coking coal export sales from Russian mines, citing industry sources. These sources mentioned a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, which said that there should be no refusals to supply Russian customers in order to avoid creating an artificial shortage. Sechin has allegedly proposed that coking coal producers should consider temporary restrictions on coking coal export sales in order to secure the coking coal supply/demand balance in Russia.
Action: We think this news is neutral for Russian coking coal producers.
Rationale: Raspadskaya confirmed in a press release on Wednesday (19 Apr) that all coking coal volumes from the company's operating mines will be supplied to domestic customers. Mechels lean (K-KO-KS) coal grades cant replace Raspadskayas semi-hard bituminous coking coal grades (GZh) in the coke-chemical process. Thus, any export restrictions on Mechels coking coal, particularly from YakutUgol, would not help to resolve the potential domestic shortage of coking coal, in our view. Evraz's YuzhKuzbassUgol is one of largest producers of GZh (semi-hard) coking coal and we expect it to maximise its supply to the NTMK production site. NTMK formerly purchased one-third of its GZhgrade coal from Raspadskaya. We believe Sibuglemet is the only company that may have to redirect some export volumes if the proposal to restrict export sales goes forward. Sibuglemet is a privately owned coal producer based in the Kemerovo region. We think Severstal may add some volumes of Zh (hard) coking coal grades to the domestic supply, but these volumes may be not significant. We do not exclude the possibility of coking coal imports from the US later this year.
Boris Krasnojenov
Reuters: Russia East energy company may sell units to RusHydro
Fri May 21, 2010 11:30am IST
MOSCOW, May 21 (Reuters) -- Russia's energy company RAO Energy System of East (VRAO.MM) may sell five marketing units to state-controlled RusHydro HYRD.MM for 7 billion roubles ($228.3 million), sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.
Representatives of both companies declined to comment.
RAO Energy System of East, in which the state is the majority shareholder with 52.68 percent of the shares, was esstablished in 2008 and operates throughout all the regions of the Far East Federal Region. (Editing by Ed Lane) (Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Lidia Kelly)
Moscow Times: SUEK to Sell 10% of Stock
21 May 2010
Siberian Coal Energy, Russia’s largest producer of coal for power stations, said Thursday that it planned to sell 10 percent of its stock to fund expansion.
Siberian Coal Energy intends to sell 28.6 million new shares, the company said. That’s 10 percent of the increased share capital.
(Bloomberg)
MAY 21, 2010, 3:38 A.M. ET
Dow Jones: Russia's MTS Agrees To Sell Svyazinvest Stake To Rostelecom
MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--Russia's largest mobile operator OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) Friday said it has "concluded agreements" to sell Rostelecom (RTKM.RS) its 25%-plus-one-share stake in state-controlled fixed-line telecommunications holding OAO Svyazinvest.
The terms of the deal were outlined in a memorandum of understanding last year, and most market analysts didn't express doubts that it would close, although some said it was unclear how long it would take for the Russian government to finally sign off on the transaction.
MTS holds that stake through OAO Comstar United TeleSystems (CMST.LN), in which it bought a controlling stake last year.
MTS will use the proceed from the deal to repay a 26 billion rubles ($836 million) loan made by Russian state bank OPO Sberbank (SBER.RS) that was used to pay for the Svyavinvest stake.
-By Will Bland, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232 9198; william.bland@
Comstar Announces Signing of an Agreement with Rostelecom Regarding the Sale of Its Stake in Svyazinvest
May 21, 2010
MOSCOW--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
“COMSTAR – United TeleSystems” OJSC (“Comstar” or “the Group”) (LSE: CMST), a largest integrated telecommunications provider in Moscow and 82 Russian cities, today announced that Comstar, MGTS Finance S.A., a company controlled by Comstar, and OAO Rostelecom (Rostelecom, RTS and MICEX: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY) have concluded agreements involving the sale of the 25%+1 share1 of OAO Svyazinvest to OAO Rostelecom for RUB 26 billion.
The proceeds of the sale will be used by Comstar to pay down its outstanding debt to Sberbank in the amount of RUB 26 billion.
The closing of the transactions is subject to satisfying of a number of conditions including, inter alia, obtaining the necessary corporate approvals by the parties involved, regulatory clearances, including those from the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and entering into the exchange transaction by AFK Sistema and Svyazinvest after completion of which Svyazinvest will control 100% of the share capital in SkyLink CJSC and AFK Sistema will acquire the 23.33% stake in OAO Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS).
The agreements are in line with the previously announced non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concluded by Comstar with Sistema and Svyazinvest on November 23, 2009.
The Comstar group of companies currently owns 25%+1 share of Svyazinvest. Comstar has a 69.93% stake in MGTS. Svyazinvest owns a 23.33% stake in MGTS and a 38% stake in Rostelecom (50.67% of the voting shares).
Bloomberg: Protek to Spend $200 Million on Russian Drugstore Acquisitions
May 20, 2010, 6:52 AM EDT
By Anastasia Ustinova
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Protek, the Russian drug company that raised $400 million in an intitial public offering last month, plans to spend half of that money on acquisitions, including to expand its Rigla chain of stores.
Protek, which has wholesale and retail operations, is looking at acquiring assets in several regions of Russia, Chief Executive Officer Alexei Molchanov said at a conference in St. Petersburg today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anastasia Ustinova in St. Petersburg at austinova@
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brad Cook at bcook7@
Eurasia Review: Nokia To Set Up Research And Development Center In Russia
Friday, May 21, 2010
Finnish mobile giant Nokia plans to expand its activities in Russia and establish a research and development center, a director general of Nokia Siemens Networks Russia said.
Jonathan Sparrow told journalists on Thursday such a center could be located in Sarov, in the Volga region near Nizhny Novgorod, or in Tomsk, a city in southwest Siberia.
He said the company is seeking partners to develop the project.
Tomsk is the host city for the Innovation Forum, which gathers heads of federal bodies, top managers of Russian and foreign companies. The event, which is being attended by more than 1,300 people, will last until May 21.
Nokia is currently holding talks with Russia over its participation in the high-tech research Skolkovo project, outside Moscow, similar to the U.S. Silicon Valley, the world's leading high-tech hub.
Source: RIA Novosti
Moscow Times: For the Record
21 May 2010
• The government is considering lowering rates on subordinated loans to banks, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday. (Bloomberg)
•
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin asked coal producers to temporarily curb exports of the fuel to stabilize the domestic market, Interfax said, citing an unidentified government official. (Bloomberg)
•
Russian Technologies plans to buy 12 percent of truck maker KamAZ from a group of investors led by Troika Dialog at a premium, Vedomosti reported Thursday. (Bloomberg)
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
Bloomberg: RosUkrEnergo Seeks $5.4 Billion From Naftogaz, Kommersant Says
By Daryna Krasnolutska
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- RosUkrEnergo AG, a gas trader partly owned by billionaire Dmitri Firtash, demanded a $5.4 billion payment from Ukraine’s state-run energy company, Kommersant newspaper said, citing the trader’s spokesman, Andrey Knutov.
RosUkrEnergo has sued NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy in Stockholm’s court of arbitration, claiming the government-owned company expropriated 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the beginning of 2009. Knutov said the court will rule by August, according to Kommersant.
Naftogaz declined to comment, Kommersant reported.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@
Last Updated: May 21, 2010 03:18 EDT
21.05.2010
Oil and Gas Eurasia: Russian Minister: Shale Gas Does Not Compete With Natural Gas
Shale gas is not a competitor to natural gas in Russia, Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuriy Trutnev told journalists today.
Trutnev said shale gas could not compete with natural gas in terms of price due to the high capex investment needed to develop shale gas fields.
At the same time, Trutnev noted that the structure of the gas market could change in the future as shale gas is developed, Rosbalt reports, citing RBK.
Copyright 2010, Oil and Gas Information Agency. All rights reserved.
Trend.az: SOCAR continues gas export to Russia
21.05.2010 12:36
Azerbaijan, Baku, May 21 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
The explosion at the Russian sector of the gas pipeline Mazdok-Kazimagomed did not affect volumes of export of Azerbaijani gas to Russia, SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan), engaged in the supply of gas to Russia within the medium-term contract signed with Russia's Gazprom, said.
"The explosion took place in the territory of Dagestan, however, he didn't tell about volumes of the export. The other side continues to receive gas based on the previous volumes," the source said.
The source didn't tell about the daily volume of gas exported to Russia. However, on average about 2.5 - 3 million cubic meters of gas per day were transported to Russia.
According to SOCAR, Azerbaijan exported 261.7 million cubic meters of gas to Russia in January-April. In April this figure amounted to 89.6 million cubic meters.
The Kazimagomed-Mozdok pipeline transports the Azerbaijani gas to Russia. The pipeline's capacity is about five billion cubic meters per year. Till 2007, Azerbaijan imported about 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas via this pipeline. However, further, Azebaijan refused to import the Russian gas. Since January of 2010 Azerbaijan's gas supplies are transported via this pipeline to Russia.
Azerbaijan started gas supplies to Russia from January 1 of 2010.
The medium-term contract on purchase-sale of Azerbaijani gas to Russia (with the possibility of extension) was signed between SOCAR and Gazprom in Baku Oct. 14. It covers 2010-2014. Under the contract, the Azerbaijani side will annually supply gas amounting to no less than 500 million cubic meters to Russia. The contract did not specify a limit to the gas supply volume. SOCAR will notify the opposite side of the amount which the company can deliver for the next six months.
Earlier, Gazprom and SOCAR have agreed that in 2009 Russia will acquire 1 billion cubic meters of the Azerbaijani gas instead of 500 million and in 2011 the volume of supply will be doubled and reach about 2 billion cubic meters.
Your Industry News: TNK-BP Refinery Chiefs Meet in Saratov
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The meeting, which was led by TNK-BP Vice President Refining Operations Leonid Rozenberg, included a discussion of issues relating to increasing refinery throughput, energy saving, loss reduction, health, safety and environmental leadership by line managers, more efficient staff management etc.
There was also a review of the strategic development plans for the Saratov Oil Refinery over the next 10 years. The refinery’s priority tasks remain to improve performance by boosting light product yields, and developing and implementing long-term measures to cut energy consumption and production losses.
As part of the event the general directors of TNK-BP’s refineries held a meeting with young specialists from the Saratov Oil Refinery and with workers who have displayed leadership in the field of health, safety and environment.
The last such off-site meeting of refinery directors was held in Saratov in 2005.
Source: TNK-BP
Moscow Times: OMV to Sell Assets in Russia
21 May 2010
OMV, Central Europe’s biggest oil company, said Thursday that it was in talks to sell exploration assets in Russia as it focuses on the Caspian region and the Middle East.
“In Russia, all we have is exploration, but it isn’t one of our core regions and we are mulling how to pull out,” chief executive Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said, without giving any more details.
(Bloomberg)
Upstreamonline: OMV looks for Russia exit
OMV is in talks to sell exploration assets in Russia as it focuses on the Caspian region and the Middle East.
News wires 20 May 2010 18:33 GMT
“In Russia, all we have is exploration, but it isn’t one of our core regions and we are mulling how to pull out,” OMV boss Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer told journalists in Vienna today, without giving any more details.
OMV entered the Russian exploration market in 2006 through its OMV Petrom unit, which acquired a 74.9% stake of Ring Oil Holding & Trading.
It has been exploring eight exploration blocks in the Saratov Region, about 1000 kilometres (620 miles) south-east of Moscow, and two in the Komi region, approximately 1200 kilometres north-east of Moscow.
Petrom in August announced that it had discovered oil and gas in the Lugovaya-1 exploration well.
Tests showed flow rates of 2500 barrels a day of light sweet oil in one zone and two additional gas bearing formations, it said.
The find may be as much as 80 million tonnes, or 586 million barrels, the Natural Resources Ministry said in October, without further classifying the reserves.
According to Russian resource laws that define strategic deposits, the state has the right to take back licenses on discoveries exceeding 70 million tons of recoverable reserves.
OMV aims to shift its focus in production and exploration to the Caspian region and the Middle East by 2015, the company said during its Capital Markets Day in Vienna today.
Published: 20 May 2010 18:33 GMT | Last updated: 20 May 2010 18:33 GMT
EuroWeek: Tatneft pre-export financing on final stretch
Issue: 1155 - 21 May 2010
Russian oil group Tatneft should sign a long-awaited $2bn pre-export financing loan in the next two weeks, bankers close to the deal said this week. ..
Bloomberg: Billionaire Yevtushenkov’s Bashneft to Pay $594 Million Dividend
By Maria Ermakova
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Bashneft, the oil arm of billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s AFK Sistema’s holding company, plans to pay $593 million in dividends for last year.
Bashneft’s board recommended shareholders approve paying out 109.65 rubles ($3.49) for each common and preferred share, the company said in a regulatory filing today. Bashneft has 170.2 million shares outstanding, according to Bloomberg data.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Ermakova in Moscow at mermakova@
Last Updated: May 21, 2010 00:31 EDT
Aton: Bashneft May Pay Dividends of RUB108 ($3.51) Per Common and Preferred Share
Aton
21 May 2010
According to Kommersant (21 May), Bashneft's board of directors has approved a dividend payment of around RUB22bn, or RUB109.65 ($3.56) per common and preferred share, respectively. This implies a payout ratio of 137% of 2009 RAS net income. The proposed dividend yields are 10% for commons and 14% for prefs, respectively. The record date is 21 May.
Bottom line
We view this as positive news for Bashnefts stock as it implies the highest dividend yield for 2009 in the Russian oil and gas sector.
While these dividends are yet to be confirmed by official sources, we note that a payout of this magnitude should not be a problem for Bashneft as the company had RUB20.5bn in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet at 1Q10, according to the companys RAS results.
UralSib: Oil companies post mixed 1Q10 RAS financials
UralSib
May 21, 2010
Top-line driven by production; bottom-line driven by forex gains. This week oil companies released mixed 1Q10 RAS financials ahead of the release of their IFRS and US GAAP results. Bashnefts (BANE RU - Buy) results were the best, as revenues were up 9% QoQ to RUB72 bln ($2.4 bln) , driven by a 5% QoQ increase in production. Net income grew 6% QoQ to RUB7.4 bln ($248 mln). Slavnefts (SLAV RU - Buy) revenues were up 6% QoQ to RUB2.6 bln ($87 mln) and Russnefts (Not Rated) were flat at RUB33 bln ($1.1 bln), both benefiting from higher oil prices, which compensated for a 2% QoQ decline in production (for both companies). Net income was RUB0.1 bln ($3.4 mln) for Slavneft and RUB3.4 bln ($114 mln) for Russneft, compared to net losses in 4Q09. Gazprom Nefts (SIBN RX - Buy) revenues were flat QoQ (RUB133 bln). This was due to a 4% QoQ decline in production, however, it is important to note that during the quarter daily production increased 3%. Gazprom Nefts net income was up 11% QoQ to RUB14 bln ($469 mln). Alliance Oil Companys (AOIL SS - Hold) revenues were down 7% QoQ to RUB6 bln ($201 mln), due to a 4% QoQ decline in production. Net income was up 4% QoQ to RUB0.1 bln ($3.4 mln).
RAS financials are a proxy; similar drivers for IFRS and US GAAP. The price of Urals blend crude was up 3% QoQ to $75.2/bbl, which supported the companys top lines. Bottom lines were supported by one-off gains on the back of 1.1% QoQ ruble depreciation. RAS accounts provide very limited information about the companies operations. However, similar drivers (i.e. production rates, oil price and ruble depreciation) will affect their IFRS and US GAAP financials, which will be released soon. We believe that EBITDA will come out weak, due to the overall inefficiency of the taxation system, while net income will be strong, supported by one-off Forex gains.
Neutral view reiterated. We see these results as neutral, as there were no surprises in the companies operations. We retain our conservative view on the oil sector as a whole due to the ineffective tax regime, which is not likely to be replaced by a profit-based tax system earlier than 2012.
Victor Mishnyakov
Gazprom
Vedomosti: The Board of Directors of Gazprom determined the size of dividends for 2009
Prime-TASS
GOOGLE TRANSLATION
21/05/2010, 10:35
The Board of Directors of Gazprom recommended shareholders' meeting to decide on the dividend payment for 2009 of $ 2.39 USD. share.
In 2008, dividends were paid in the amount of 0,36 EUR. per share. Their payment was sent to 5% of net profits at the request of the Government of Russia. Dividends for 2009 were calculated under c approach defined dividend policy of the company, and constitute 17.5% of net profit of OAO Gazprom for 2009 net profit on revaluation of investments (mostly shares of OAO Gazprom Neft ") and not secured by real cash flow. Net profit of Gazprom for 2009 under RAS increased in 3.6 times to 624.6 billion rubles.
The general meeting of shareholders of OAO "Gazprom" will be held June 25, 2010 in Moscow, a list of persons eligible to participate in the meeting will be compiled based on the register at the end of the trading day May 7, 2010
Reuters: Gazprom says worried about Belarus gas debt-Ifax
3:01am EDT
MOSCOW, May 21 (Reuters) - Russian gas giant Gazprom is worried about the growing gas debt of Belarus, Interfax news agency cited Gazprom's spokesman as saying on Friday.
"The debt for gas delivered to Belarus is increasing month-by-month," the agency cited Sergei Kupriyanov as saying.
He said that the debt stands as of now at $192 million.
|Energy Intelligence: Gazprom Neft On Course for 2 Million b/d Despite Global Downturn |
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|Copyright © 2010 Energy Intelligence Group, Inc. (click for details) |
|Friday, May 21, 2010 |
Summary
The global economic downturn has not affected Gazprom Neft's ambitious plans of becoming a global player and a 2 million barrel per day producer by 2020, the company's deputy general director for exploration and production, Boris Zilbermints, says. Gazprom's oil arm is counting on organic growth and acquisitions to reach the goal, along with partnership with foreign players.
Bloomberg: Medvedev Backs UNESCO Bid to Halt Gazprom Tower, Kommersant Says
By Maria Ermakova
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- President Dmitry Medvedev’s administration sent a letter to the St. Petersburg city government saying it supports efforts by the United Nations’ cultural arm to block the construction of Russia’s tallest building by OAO Gazprom, Kommersant reported. UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, warned last year that it may remove St. Petersburg’s three-centuries-old historic city center from its World Heritage Site if Gazprom builds the 400-meter (1,300-foot) Okhta Center. Medvedev is a former chairman of Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, and a native of St. Petersburg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Ermakova at mermakova@
Last Updated: May 21, 2010 00:41 EDT
ZIK: Ukraine Naftohaz, Russia Gazprom and Germany Ruhrgaz to ink important documents May 21 in Berlin
High-ranking officials of Naftohaz, Gazprom, Eurogas and Ruhrgaz are to meet in Berlin on May 21 to sign important documents, DeutscheWelle reports May 20.
According to the DW correspondent, the officials are to sign a memorandum on understanding between Eurogas and Naftohaz as well as a deal on cooperation between the Russian Gas Union and the National Gas Union of Ukraine.
Ukraine will be represented by Naftohaz and NGUU head Yevhen Bakulin and Russia by the RGU president Valery Yazev.
Discussing and signing procedures will be held within the framework of the 5th international conference “Energy Dialog. Russia-EU: Gas Aspect.” The conference is expected to examine new rules of gas trade and pumping as well as the creation of a joint European energy and gas market.
The conference is to start with a report by Bakulin about gas-pumping potential of Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine FM spokesperson told journalists about the likely creation of a joint company based on Naftohaz and Gazprom.
Pres Medvedev brought to Kyiv as part of his team Gazprom head Miller. According to comments in the Ukrainian media, an agreement on merging Gazprom and Naftohaz was in the pipeline. However, this time the deal was off in Kyiv.
Eurasia Review: Gazprom To Form Joint Venture With Vietnam's Petrovietnam In August
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Gazprom aims to setup a joint venture in August with the Vietnam oil company Petrovietnam, the Russian energy giant said.
The news was announced on the backdrop of a meeting held earlier this week at Gazprom headquarters between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee and Phung Dinh Thuc, President and CEO of Petrovietnam State Oil and Gas Corporation.
According to Gazprom, the two company chiefs discussed the opportunities of joint oil and gas projects in Russia and third countries within the Gazpromviet joint venture being set up.
In this regard it was noted that all the required approvals had been received at the moment and the joint venture would be established in August 2010
According to Gazprom, the parties discussed the progress with the previously signed agreements on bilateral cooperation.
In particular, the meeting participants positively assessed joint efforts by Gazprom and Petrovietnam on geological exploration of the Vietnamese continental shelf and expressed their confidence that further cooperation between the companies in this field was highly promising.
Troika: Gazprom Neft boosts reserve base, considers oil services spin-off
Troika Dialog
21 May 2010
Gazprom Neft Deputy CEO Boris Zilbermints stated at an international conference that Gazprom had handed over to Gazprom Neft the E&P licenses to the Prirazlomnoye and Dolginskoye Pechora Sea offshore oilfields, RIA Novosti reported. The C1+C2 reserves of the two fields are pegged at 1,590 and 1,730 mln bbl, respectively.
The news implies 14% growth to about 12.75 bln bbl in the companys ABC1 oil reserves, which mainly account for Prirazlomnoye reserves, while Dolginskoye reserves are still in the lower C2 category. Prirazlomnoye, which will produce its first oil next year, is slated to peak at about 160,000 bpd. The less explored Dolginskoye, to be commissioned in 2016, would peak at about 120,000_140,000 bpd.
The news is neutral at this stage, as we do not know the terms of the license transfer and are unsure at present whether the economics at these fields are viable. That said, we think that the license transfer is an important step on the companys path to meeting its strategic reserve and production growth goals. Involvement in offshore oil production will reshape the companys business, making it more skillful, dynamic and modern. According to Zilbermints, Gazprom Neft is ready to give foreign companies access to some of its assets in Russia (for instance in Yamal, Eastern Siberia) in return for their experience and investment in developing offshore fields. We view such cooperation as an important gear to accelerate development of Russias offshore reserves.
On a related note, Gazprom Neft stated yesterday that its management team had considered the total or partial sale of its oil service assets. An IPO of the service units, which are currently consolidated in the subsidiary Gazprom Neft Nefteservice, is another option. In any event, the process must be completed by year end. A result should be the company becoming more focused on its core business and therefore achieving higher operational efficiency.
Oleg Maximov
Bloomberg: Gazprom Neft May Hold IPO for Oilfield Service Units (Update1)
May 20, 2010, 10:44 AM EDT
(Updates with analyst estimate in third, sixth paragraphs.)
By Stephen Bierman
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s state-controlled gas producer, may spin off its oilfield service units or hold initial public offerings of their stock as it focuses on doubling output in the next decade.
Gazprom Neft hired Deutsche Bank AG as an adviser while aiming to decide on selling the units within a year, the company, controlled by Moscow-based OAO Gazprom, said today in an e-mailed statement.
The services units may be worth between $500 million and $600 million based on last year’s revenue, Dmitry Maslov, an oil and gas analyst at IFC Metropol, said by e-mail today.
Gazprom Neft would follow TNK-BP, the Russian venture owned by BP Plc and a group of billionaires, and OAO Lukoil, the country’s second-largest oil producer, which spun off their oilfield services units to focus on production and refining. State-controlled Gazprom and OAO Rosneft, Russia’s largest natural-gas and oil companies, respectively, retain internal services providers as well as using contractors.
Gazprom Neft aims to double production to 100 million tons a year by 2020 through expansion in Russia and abroad.
The Gazprom Neft units might resemble Eurasia Drilling Co., in both its legacy exposure and the emphasis on drilling and workover services, Maslov said. Eurasia continues to focus on Lukoil as a customer after buying its drilling assets for $130 million in 2004.
Combined Revenue
TNK-BP sold off oilfield services, with 180 workover units and 150 cementing and pumping units, to Weatherford International Ltd. for $489 million of shares last year.
Gazprom Neft’s nine oilfield service units had combined revenue of about $646 million last year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from its website. Its drilling unit, with 66 production and exploration rigs, accounted for $188 million of sales last year. The other units provide repairs, cementing, seismic studies and transportation services at Siberian deposits.
“It will make Gazprom Neft more open to use third parties,” Alexander Burgansky, an oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital, said by telephone from Moscow. A decision to spin off the services units shouldn’t hurt share prices for Integra Group, Russia’s first oilfield service company to list shares in London, or Eurasia Drilling, he said.
Alla Sapun, a Gazprom Neft spokeswoman, declined to comment on which assets may be offered in the sale or potential prices.
--Editors: Torrey Clark, Stephen Cunningham
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow at sbierman1@
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@
Murmanks and Shtokman News: Gazprom`s Board of Directors reviews information on Shtokman field development status and tasks
The Gazprom Board of Directors meeting has adjourned at the Company’s headquarters, says a press release on the website of the Russian energy giant.
The Board of Directors reviewed the Shtokman field development status and took notice of the information on two-stage adoption of the final investment decision (FID) on the Shtokman project, Phase 1.
The Gazprom Management Committee was tasked to continue the FID preparation with due regard for the pipeline and liquefied natural gas sales in the current market environment.
The Board of Directors meeting to be held on May 21 will tackle the issues concerned with the conduct of Gazprom’s annual General Shareholders Meeting.
Moscow Times: Russia, Qatar Come ‘Closer’
21 May 2010
Russia and Qatar are “closer” after gas talks Thursday, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said Thursday.
“The results of today’s talks can be characterized briefly and laconically but pithily: We became even closer,” Miller said.
He was meeting in Moscow with Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, energy minister of Qatar, the world’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas.
(Bloomberg)
Troika: Gazprom interested in TGK-7's generation assets in Orenburg
Troika Dialog
21 May 2010
Gazprom is interested in TGK-7s generation assets located in Orenburg region, head of Gazprom Energoholding Denis Fedorov was cited as saying by Interfax yesterday. This relates first of all to Kargala TETS, he said, noting that they could also consider Saratov and are less interested in Togliatti (Samara) and Ulyanovsk. Gazprom is flexible in terms of various options of cooperation with IES in TGK-7, and obtaining a controlling stake in TGK-7 is not principal. IES is considering consolidating its stakes in TGK-5, TGK-6 and TGK-9, without TGK-7 for now, IES head Mikhail Slobodin stated yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Federal Antimonopoly Service issued a new instruction to IES concerning TGK-6 and TGK-7, Interfax reported yesterday. It is almost identical to the one issued in 2008 and is valid for one year. It again requires IES to sell 741 MW of capacity in case it obtains control of TGK-7 while also owning TGK-6.
It is nothing new that Gazprom, which already owns a minority stake in TGK-7, is interested in the genco; what is new is the specification of the assets of interest.
Kargala TETS is relatively small, with 320 MW (4.7% of TGK-7's total installed capacity), while Orenburg genco has installed capacity of 1,029 MW (15% of TGK-7's total). The impact on TGK-7 would depend on the terms of the possible deal (sale or swap), but we generally think that any deal would probably take place at fair terms for TGK-7, in which IES owns a large stake (its core shareholder is Viktor Vekselberg). We thus treat the news as neutral for TGK-7 at this point.
Alexander Kotikov
Interfax: Gazprom could sell TGK-1 hydro assets to Fortum (Part 2)
Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) is talking to Finland's Fortum about selling it some of the hydrogenerating assets of the TGK-1 (RTS: TGKA) territorial generating company, which the Russian gas giant controls, Denis Fyodorov, the chief of LLC Gazprom Energy Holding, told reporters.
Fyodorov said the hydro assets might be spun off from TGK-1 and that Fortum might receive a stake in the new entity.
"So far it is mainly an information exchange," he said, adding that Gazprom is in no hurry to sell since the hydropower segment is quite profitable. But if the price is right, the gas giant is prepared to sell Fortum a stake.
"In principle, if they make an offer on a par with European prices, because much of the hydro assets are located in the border regions and are generally in pretty good technical condition, and if there is a realistic opportunity to sell the electricity to the Nord Pool, then we will consider it," he said.
It would not make sense to sell the hydropower stations singly.
"One option would be to spin off a subsidiary, such as we did with the heat network. Do the same with hydro and then redistribute [the share stakes]," he said.
As for the stake Fortum would take in the hydropower subsidiary, Fyodorov said: "Every option is being examined. They [Fortum] want 75%, 51%. We want them to have a 49% stake."
Gazprom would mainly be interested in a cash consideration, but is willing to consider an asset swap, he said. "They have offered several assets. One of them is of some interest to us, another - not so much. So we are primarily looking at money, but we are paying careful attention to their proposals," he said. The assets Fortum has offered are located in Russia and abroad, Fyodorov said. He did not elaborate.
RusHydro (RTS: HYDR), which has the goal of consolidating all the hydropower assets in Russia, is also interested in the TGK-1 hydro assets, he said.
RusHydro management board member George Rizhinashvili confirmed that interest on Thursday, but said actual talks were not underway.
RTS$#&: TGKA pr jh (Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)
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