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Russia 110310Basic Political DevelopmentsPutin to discuss South Stream in Slovenia - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will pay a working visit to Slovenia on March 22-23, the Russian government press office said on Thursday.Weapons not subject to UN sanctions may be delivered to Iran - Rosoboronexport Medvedev signs decree banning arms deliveries to Libya - Kremlin press serviceRussia imposes sanctions on arms sales to Libya - KremlinUPDATE 1-Russia announces ban on arms sales to LibyaPutin, Biden to meet in Moscow on ThursdayPutin, Biden to try to tap potential of Russian-US trade - “We see the vice president's trip,” McFaul said, “as trying to expand into new dimensions of reset, with a particular focus on these nongovernmental pieces -- the business piece in particular, but also the time that he'll be spending with civil society -- to practice what we call, and the president calls, a dual-track engagement.” US vice president in talks with Russia's Putin - Biden started the day by meeting 19 representatives from Russian rights groups and religious movements that included award-winning campaigner Luydmila Alexeyeva and Memorial advocacy centre member Oleg Orlov.Pravda: The long and winding road to Mr. Vice President - On Tuesday, Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in Russia. The main focus of his meetings with Russian leaders will be trade and investment. He will also hold meetings with representatives of the opposition that have become a tradition. Boris Nemtsov will have an honor to meet Biden for the first time.Kremlin to create working group on ABM cooperation with NATO by March 18At UN, A Push To Get More Aggressive Against Piracy - The UN Security Council will take up the issue of piracy on the high seas today, at the urging of China and Russia, two of the council's permanent members Russian-Lithuanian consultations to begin in Vilnius March 10Yanukovych, Medvedev Discuss Plan Of Forthcoming Contacts - On March 9, Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed plans of bilateral contacts in different formats, press service of the Russian President said. Russian delegation visits Afghanistan - A delegation of Russian Security Council officials led by the council’s Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has arrived in Afghanistan.Thirty kgs of heroin seized near Nizhny Novgorod - total of 30 kilograms of pure highly concentrated Afghan heroin have been seized near Nizhny Novgorod overnight to Thursday, Director of the Federal Drug Control Service Victor Ivanov said at a meeting of the department’s collegium. Russia helps Sri Lanka amid floodsBypass road is planned to build near the Roki Tunnel Wine from Moldova and Abkhazia fails the testKyrgyz parliament members criticize Russian State Duma for unjustified accusations of first vice-premierViktor Bout refused full access to case filesViktor Bout says no help from Russian authorities in his U.S. caseThe General Staff of the Russian Navy moved to St. Petersburg Russian govt commission on radio frequencies to meet March 10Duma approves 100-fold fines for large bribesTheft of RUB 6 mln allotted for scrapping nuclear subs exposedOver 400 Russians die in terrorist attacks in 2010410 people die in terrorist acts in Russia in 2010 – NACOne of suspects in Magadan gov murder case apprehendedIngush head dismiss govt due to premier’s transfer to another workNo rail transport problem between Azerbaijan, Russia after blast in DagestanPolice kill three militants near south Russian ski resortThree militants, commandos wounded around Nalchik Police probe possible involvement of extremists in Moscow blastBlast near Moscow's FSB academy detonated by cell phoneBus stop bomb sparks security alert - However, while officially cops were keeping an open mind, a source within the FSB added that the timing of the explosion coincided with the time that students started to leave the building.Russian Security Services Launch Wave of Arrests in Ingushetia After Moscow Airport Bombing - By: Valery DzutsevRussians from USA, UK, Germany return to Lipetsk - Over the past year, the inflow of migrants grew by 67 percent, the regional administration reports. 15 Russians among world's top 100 richest people - ForbesReuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - March 10Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, March 9, 2011Russian Heat Extraordinary But Not Unnatural Russia’s Street Dwellers - While a Top Official Suggests Shooting the Homeless, the Number of People at Risk of Losing Their Homes Is Growing National Economic TrendsMoscow to receive federal loan of RUB 15 bln to cover budget deficitRussian international reserves up $5 bln in weekBusiness, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussionsLukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, is scheduled to release 2010 earnings today. Its shares declined 1.3 percent to 2,039.40 rubles. Magnit, Russia’s second-largest food retailer, is scheduled to release interim sales and revenue figures today.VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP) : The Russian mobile phone operator seeking to merge with Wind Telecom SpA said yesterday that it completed the acquisition of a stake in Laos cellular company Millicom Lao Co.Rusal Returns to Ruble Bonds as Rally Cuts Costs: Russia Credit Potanin Buys Shares in Rival Deripaska’s Rusal, Vedomosti SaysPotanin Says ‘Doesn’t Matter’ Who’s in Kremlin, Vedomosti Says Raspadskaya Owners Said to Seek Buyer for 80% Stake, RIA Says Raspadskaya for sale - but why?Teldafax Bought by Group Including Energo Stream, HB SaysDeere Announces Major New Investments in RussiaSheremetyevo outpaces Domodedovo in terms of passenger traffic Uralkali contests court suspension of merger with SilvinitIce blocks crude, product exports from Russian portsActivity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)Russia May Raise Oil Export Tax by 17% in April on Urals PriceNovatek to Lead Gazprom in Putin’s LNG Push After Total DealTanker Plan Casts Shadow Over South Stream TNK-BP BoD to discuss options over BP-Rosneft tie-up Eurasia Drilling Company: Drilling up 17% YoY in January-February 2011, exceeding our expectations GazpromRussia May Raise Oil Export Tax by 17% in April on Urals PriceNovatek to Lead Gazprom in Putin’s LNG Push After Total DealTanker Plan Casts Shadow Over South Stream TNK-BP BoD to discuss options over BP-Rosneft tie-up Eurasia Drilling Company: Drilling up 17% YoY in January-February 2011, exceeding our expectations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Full Text ArticlesBasic Political DevelopmentsMarch 10, 2011 12:09Putin to discuss South Stream in Slovenia. March 10 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will pay a working visit to Slovenia on March 22-23, the Russian government press office said on Thursday."He will meet with Slovenian President Danilo Turk and Prime Minister Borut Pahor to discuss the current state and prospects for Russia-Slovenia interaction, including the fulfillment of the intergovernmental agreement on Slovenia's participation in the South Stream project," the press office said.A number of bilateral documents will be signed.Weapons not subject to UN sanctions may be delivered to Iran - Rosoboronexport (Part 2) 10, 2011 10:18Medvedev signs decree banning arms deliveries to Libya - Kremlin press service (Part 2). March 10 (Interfax) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree which in fact imposes sanctions on the current Libyan regime.The decree on measures to implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1970 dated February 26, 2011 in particular "bans the export from Russia to Libya, as well as the selling, delivery and transfer to Libya outside the Russian territory by vessels and aircraft flying the Russian flag, of all types of arms and related materiel, including weapons and munitions, combat vehicles and military equipment, as well as spare parts for aforementioned products."According to the decree Russia, including in its ports and airports, in line with Russian and international laws will "examine all cargo to and from Libya, if there is information giving reasons to believe that such cargo may contain banned products."The decree also bans providing technical, financial, educational and any other support related to military activity, as well as the provision, production, maintenance and use of military products regardless of whether they originate from the Russian territory.The ban takes effect as of February 26, 2011 and is effective until special order.The decree does not ban the deliveries of non-lethal military equipment intended solely for humanitarian and protective means given that there is an authorization from the UN Security Council.It does not also cover protective means, including helmets and bulletproof vests, brought to Libya by UN officials, journalists, and employees of humanitarian organizations and intended solely for personal use.The decree does not ban the selling and delivery of weapons and related materiel provided there is a UN Security Council authorization.Russia imposes sanctions on arms sales to Libya - Kremlin 10/03/2011Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree to join UN Security Council sanctions against Libya, the Kremlin said on Thursday.The decree bans the supply of arms, ammunition and military equipment to the North African state.The UN Security Council voted on February 26 to impose an arms embargo on Libya, where clashes between forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi and rebels have claimed thousands of lives.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)UPDATE 1-Russia announces ban on arms sales to Libya ISTMOSCOW, March 10 (Reuters) - Russia will ban all weapons sales to Libya, the Kremlin said in a statement on Thursday, effectively suspending its arms contracts with the government of Muammar Gaddafi.An order signed by President Dmitry Medvedev "bans the export from the Russian Federation to Libya as well as the sale, delivery and transfer... of all types of arms and related materials, including weapons and ammunition, combat vehicles and military hardware", it said.Russia, the world's second-largest arms exporter after the United States, was one of the main suppliers of weapons to Libya.A senior Russian arms official said last week the unrest in Libya had cost Moscow $4 billion in arms deals. [ID:nLDE7221J7]The daily Kommersant cited a source last week as saying Russia had $2 billion worth of arms contracts with Libya and was close to concluding deals to sell military aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles worth another $1.8 billion. (Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; editing by Andrew Dobbie) Putin, Biden to meet in Moscow on Thursday 10/03/2011Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will meet on Thursday in Moscow to discuss Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a variety of bilateral issues.Biden arrived in Russia on Tuesday. His visit is taking place against a backdrop of the second anniversary of the much heralded 'reset' in bilateral relations, notable in particular for the signing of a new arms deal between Russia and the United States.On Wednesday, Biden met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and said that Russia's membership in the WTO was a top priority for the United States.Russia has been in talks on membership in the 153-nation WTO for 17 years. A recent Russia-EU summit assessed its chances to join the organization this year as very high.Later on Thursday, Biden will give a speech at Moscow State University on bilateral relations of the two countries.A Kremlin source earlier said Biden's visit is a run-up to an official visit to Moscow by U.S. President Barack Obama, due later this year.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)Putin, Biden to try to tap potential of Russian-US trade, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will have talks with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden on Thursday, March 10. The talks will focus “primarily on trade and economic cooperation because its potential is not fully tapped yet”, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Itar-Tass. As an example, he cited economic cooperation with the European Union or BRIC countries that by far exceeds that with the United States. According to Peskov, trade and economic cooperation between the two countries has not been fully tapped “largely due to the rudiments of the past, such as the Jackson-Vanik amendment”. Putin and Biden will also discuss prospects for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). “Although all questions from the American side with regard to accession to the WTO have been resolved, attention will be paid to this topic during the talks,” he added. The main obstacle to Russia’s admission to the WTO is unresolved questions with Georgia, which demands that its customs service be allowed to control export/import operations on Russia’s borders with Abkhazia ands South Ossetia. Georgia refers to the agreement of 2004, under which Moscow promised to begin negotiations on this issue. At the same time, if Russia satisfies Georgia’s demand, this will mean recognition of partial sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on customs matters, which is unacceptable for Russia. In addition to the economic agenda, Putin and Biden will also review the global situation, including Libya. On Monday, March 7, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a stop to violence and bloodshed in Libya and stressed the need to settle the situation by political methods. “The situation in Libya is a matter of the most serious concern: people are dying and basically a civil war is going on,” he said. “It is necessary stop violence against civilians and put the situation on a political footing,” he said. “Crimes against civilians certainly must not be left unpunished. We support the efforts of the international community to provide humanitarian aid,” the minister said. Lavrov stressed that foreign, let alone armed, interference could solve the problem. “Libyans should solve their problems themselves, not with the help of arms, but solely by political methods,” he said. Peskov said the issue of Putin’s future “employment” after 2012 would not be discussed. The White House's senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, Michael McFaul, said earlier that the U.S. authorities had no intention to interfere in the upcoming presidential elections in Russia in 2012 and were not considering Biden’s visit as a form of support to any of the candidates. “We see the vice president's trip,” McFaul said, “as trying to expand into new dimensions of reset, with a particular focus on these nongovernmental pieces -- the business piece in particular, but also the time that he'll be spending with civil society -- to practice what we call, and the president calls, a dual-track engagement.” “This is a strategy we have with a lot of countries around the world. We believe in it firmly. And I think the structure of the vice president's schedule demonstrates that we're committed to that,” he said. On Wednesday, March 9, Biden had talks with President Dmitry Medvedev. They were dominated by the “expansion of the reset”, Russia’s accession to the WTO and the search for new areas of cooperation. On Thursday morning, March 10, Biden is scheduled to meet with human rights activists and opposition members. In the afternoon, he will give a lecture at Moscow State University and then attend a conference on investments organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. In his speech, the Vice President will highlight recent areas of accomplishment on shared interests, as well as ways the U.S. and Russia can continue to work together to further the prosperity of our two countries. On Thursday, Dr. Biden will visit the Kulikov Centre for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology where she will tour the facilities and speak with staff and new mothers about the innovations in maternal health at the Centre, including plans for the growth of the Text4Baby programme. Biden's visit to Moscow is designed to expand the results of the resetting of U.S.-Russian relations, the assistant to the White House press secretary, Bob Jensen, told Itar-Tass earlier. While in Moscow, Biden will seek to expand the results of the resetting of relations between the United States and Russia, paying special attention to furthering the well-being of the two countries, he said. Jensen declined to say whether Biden will be travelling to Moscow in order to prepare U.S. President Barack Obama's official visit to Russia. However, a high-ranking diplomat told Itar-Tass that Biden would travel to Russia to prepare Obama's visit to Moscow. According to U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Russell, Biden's visit to Moscow slated for early March is designed to consolidate progress for Russia's accession to the WTO and expand bilateral economic relations. The vice-president has big experience in trade and economic issues, Russell said in Washington in late February. According to the protocol, high-level talks between Russia and the U.S. are held on a rotating basis. Medvedev visited the U.S. in late June 2010. The Russian leader travelled to California and the Silicon Valley. After that he arrived in Washington for talks with his U.S. colleague. Russell said last week that the next personal meeting between the presidents of the two countries would be held at the G8 summit in Deauville, France, in late May 2011. On Friday, March 11, the Bidens will depart Russia en route to Moldova. They are scheduled to arrive in Chisinau at 11:15 a.m. local time. At noon, the vice president will meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Filat and then both men will deliver a joint statement to the press. After that the vice president will deliver a speech in Chisinau's Opera Square, expressing support for the people and government of Moldova, as well as applauding Moldova's ongoing democratic progress and aspirations for European integration 20 years after independence. Dr. Biden will also attend the event. Later in the day, the vice president will meet with Acting President Marian Lupu and then he and Dr. Biden will visit with U.S. Embassy staff. The Bidens will then depart Moldova en route to Washington, DC. US vice president in talks with Russia's Putin(AFP) – 1 hour agoMOSCOW — US Vice President Joe Biden was due Thursday to meet Russia's strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and deliver a key-note address highlighting the accomplishments of the two sides' "reset" in ties.One day after delivering emphatic support for President Dmitry Medvedev's modernisation effort, Biden was due at noon (0900 GMT) to meet his mentor and predecessor Putin, who has enjoyed far less cordial relations with Washington.Biden was due to conclude his two-day visit by delivering a key-note address at Moscow State University that is likely to set the tone of Russia-US relations ahead of 2012 presidential elections in both countries.The White House said Biden's speech "will highlight recent areas of accomplishment on shared interests, as well as ways the US and Russia can continue to work together to further the prosperity of our two countries."Biden started the day by meeting 19 representatives from Russian rights groups and religious movements that included award-winning campaigner Luydmila Alexeyeva and Memorial advocacy centre member Oleg Orlov.Although such meetings have become a tradition among visiting US officials, its timing immediately preceding the Putin talks underscored Biden's desire to demonstrate that Russian rights issues remained a concern in Washington.Rights groups accuse former intelligence agent Putin of orchestrating a clampdown on freedoms during his two terms as president and express fear for Russia's future should he become Kremlin chief again in 2012.Although known for speaking his mind in public, Biden has thus far avoided making any direct mention of politics and focused instead of trade issues, including his backing of Russia's membership in the World Trade Organisation.Yet Biden also openly lavished praise on Medvedev's leadership, his role in the improvement in US-Russia ties over the last two years and his drive to turn Russia into an innovation hub less dependent on energy exports."Your personal leadership and progress has proved the sceptics wrong," Biden told the Russian head of state on Wednesday.Medvedev took over from Putin as Kremlin chief in 2008 and many observers predicted that he would merely be a puppet of the man who has now dominated Russia for over a decade.But Biden said: "In my career when I sat down with a Russian leader I sat with one of the most powerful men in the world. I still feel that way."The long and winding road to Mr. Vice President On Tuesday, Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in Russia. The main focus of his meetings with Russian leaders will be trade and investment. He will also hold meetings with representatives of the opposition that have become a tradition. Boris Nemtsov will have an honor to meet Biden for the first time.Biden, along with his wife and granddaughter, flew into the Russian capital the day earlier. The meetings with the Russian leadership are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. On March 10, Biden is planning to talk with Russian opposition politicians and civil society representatives.Such meetings are conducted by senior U.S. visitors on a regular basis. We are not talking exclusively about politicians of the level of the president, vice-president or secretary of state.For example, think about the founding conference of the "Other Russia" coalition which took place in Moscow in July of 2006, just before the G8 summit that was held in St. Petersburg that year. Naturally, the conference was not attended by the American president or Secretary of State. Yet, the then deputy head of the Department of State Daniel Fried did honor the conference with his presence along with the ambassador of Britain Anthony Brenton, Ambassador of Canada Christopher Westdal, and president of National Endowment for Democracy Carl Gershman. This fund, according to Novaya Gazeta, was one of the sponsors of the conference.There was also last year's meeting between the director of the department of Russia in the National Security Council Secretary Michael McFaul with human rights defenders and representatives of non-system opposition. Proceedings of these meetings were later published on WikiLeaks.Typically, the participants of such meetings are very specific people. In particular, the defenders working with head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva or politicians at the level of Vladimir Ryzhkov who is a regular at the U.S. embassy.According to Russian press reports, this year Boris Nemtsov is among the invitees. Not that he had never visited the building on Novinsky Boulevard. Yet, in order to be among those invited to a meeting with the U.S. Vice-President, he had to conduct a long preparatory work. In particular, he had to become concerned with the issues of restoring the American leadership in the democratic world, become worthy of the attention of the senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, as well as the State Department and U.S. National Security Council.This kind of meetings at the U.S. Embassy became a tradition of sorts. However, it is decidedly unclear what the utility of such meetings is.As for the Americans, they will find out on their own what they need and what they do not need. What is beneficial for the Russian human rights community about the same people talking about the same issues year after year? What is the benefit for the people who consider themselves politicians, and claim that they express the attitude of a certain part of society, to regularly report to the embassy of another country?There is no doubt that there are certain benefits for those people who are invited to the embassy. Their opinion counts, their evaluations are heard, at least seemingly. Yet, they will not be able to win the elections with this baggage.Anton KulikovPravda.Ru Kremlin to create working group on ABM cooperation with NATO by March 18, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian president’s administration will create an interagency working group on cooperation with NATO on missile defence by March 18, Russian permanent representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said. “The presidential administration is building an interagency working group on interaction with NATO in the field of missile defence. I plan to present its composition to the president of Russia by March 18 for approval,” he said on Wednesday, March 9. Rogozin said the first results of Russia-NATO cooperation on missile defence might be announced in June at a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council. “There are several important events coming that will determine the negotiating trend. These are Joe Biden’s talks in Moscow with the president of the Russian Federation and his upcoming meeting with the head of government today,” Rogozin said ahead of a two-day NATO ministerial meeting, to begin in Brussels on Thursday, March 10, where missile defence will be at the top of the agenda. Russia will not attend the meeting, but “we want to understand how much the discussion of missile defence in Europe within NATO goes faster than that in the Russia-NATO Council,” the envoy said. A third key event is the upcoming meeting of the Russia-NATO Council foreign ministers in Berlin on April 15. This will be followed by a meeting of the Russian and American presidents in Deauville, and a meeting of the defence ministers within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council in June, where an initial review of the scope of missile defence cooperation between Russia and NATO ahs to be presented as required by the decisions adopted at the Lisbon summit. Rogozin outlined Russia’s negotiation position as follows: “Russia wishes to participate in the implementation of the call for building a joint European missile defence system. It should an intellectual system, i.e. it should be there where it is really needed [only on the southern borders of Europe], and it should not create new risks for European missile defence members, primarily risks for the strategic capabilities of the Russian Federation.” He said “one should not exaggerate or understate real contradictions within NATO over the architecture of missile defence in Europe”. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed confidence this week that Russia and NATO could come to consensus on missile defence. Commenting on his Deputy James Appathurai’s statement of March 3 that the alliance was not prepared to create a joint sectoral missile defence with Russia, Rasmussen said his statement only confirmed NATO’s position adopted at the Lisbon Summit on November 19-20, 2010. NATO has decided to start exploring possibilities for cooperation in the field of missile defence with Russia and suggested that Russia should protect its territory and NATO should protect its own territory in close cooperation with each other. The matter is still under discussion, and both sides are making proposals. Rasmussen expressed confidence that Moscow and Brussels will be able to come to a compromise that will provide a join response to common challenges. NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai said earlier this month that would be possible to devise a mechanism for cooperation with Russian within the framework of the missile defence system being created in Europe. NATO and Russia have a shared understanding of what this system should look like -- there should be operational compatibility, cooperation, trust, and transparency, Appathurai said at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. An understanding has been reached in some areas, he added. He said Russia wants guarantees that phases 3 and 4 of missile defence deployment will not undermine its strategic deterrence capabilities. Appathurai said that NATO had neither intension nor possibility to create a system that would undermine Russia’s deterrence capabilities. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed sectoral missile defence at the Russia-NATO Summit in Lisbon in November 2010. However Appathurai ruled out a joint sectoral missile defence system with Russia. He said NATO was closely watching Russian leaders’ statements and was aware of its responsibility for protecting its member states and could not transfer this responsibility to anyone. In his opinion, Russia cannot allow itself to be guarded by anyone either and for that reason does not intend to delegate responsibility for its security. According to Appathurai, the dialogue on missile defence involved the construction of completely independent but coordinated missile defence systems, which he said should be transparent and reliable. There should be no doubt that NATO is more interested to ensure the transparency of these systems, he added. In his opinion, Russia’s statements on NATO’s aggressiveness can upset further bilateral cooperation, but described Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s latest remarks on this issue as encouraging and coinciding with NATO’s point of view. He stressed that Russia would have an independent missile defence, but this does not rule out close cooperation and joint work to address technical and organisational issues in the first place. The alliance is considering building a missile defence system for all of its member states.At UN, A Push To Get More Aggressive Against Piracy 10, 2011 By Nikola KrastevUNITED NATIONS -- The UN Security Council will take up the issue of piracy on the high seas today, at the urging of China and Russia, two of the council's permanent members In the special session, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address the latest developments.Moscow has circulated a draft resolution urging the council to begin consultations on creating two new prisons and three separate courts to try pirates. Russia has also called on other UN member states to enact and enforce laws criminalizing piracy.To date, the council has passed several resolutions on Somali-based piracy, including a 2008 authorization for foreign warships to patrol within Somalia's territorial waters -- a zone known for its piracy-related activity.In 2009, the council also created a contact group on piracy to coordinate political, military, and other efforts to stop piracy off the Somali coast.The Costs Of PiracyJack Lang, a former French foreign minister who now advises the UN adviser on piracy, warned in a January report that the problem has spiraled out of control. According to Lang's calculations, Somali-based piracy costs the world $7 billion annually when things like million-dollar ransom payments, skyrocketing insurance rates, ship protection, and lost merchandise are factored in. In 2010, pirates launched 286 reported attacks, hijacked 67 vessels, and took 1,130 hostages -- along the way collecting more than $240 million in ransom payments. This year is already on track to surpass those numbers. The recent murder of four Americans is an ominous sign that the pirates are becoming more violent. Commander James Kraska of the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, tells RFE/RL that the international legal framework on piracy is clearly established but the problem is in its implementation -- specifically, how to prosecute pirates."States from outside the area have not wanted to jump at the ball, have not really cared to do the prosecution, for a variety of reasons," Kraska says.No Will To ProsecuteChina, which is the president of the Security Council this month, firmly supports the Russian initiative and is calling for a coherent international strategy on piracy.Chinese merchant ships have had their own encounters with pirates off the Somali coast and Beijing is resolute on developing and implementing a coordinated multinational antipiracy strategy.Moscow's draft resolution follows UN adviser Lang's report, in which he said nine out of 10 captured pirates are eventually released because there is no capacity or political will to prosecute them. Russia is pushing for the establishment of three courts -- two in Somalia and one in neighboring Tanzania -- to try pirates, and for the construction of two additional prison facilities to incarcerate them. Jon Huggins, who is the Oceans Beyond Piracy project manager at the One Earth Future think tank in Louisville, Colorado, says that if the UN is looking toward the "rule-of-law" solution, it needs to be more than just arresting and prosecuting pirates on the skiffs, who represent the lowest rung of the piracy culture."What is going to be the political will to go ashore and try to stop some of these financial flows, and financiers of piracy, and also the pirate leaders that never get into the skiffs? Because how can you be effective just continuing to arrest the foot soldiers, which are easily replaceable?" Huggins says. "So I think the solution lies in having that political will to prosecute these leaders ashore."In the last two years, some countries have begun more actively to prosecute pirates but many others remain reluctant to do so. The United States is currently prosecuting Somali pirates in four separate cases. France and Denmark, who in the past have released pirates, have now begun to prosecute them. Kenya has prosecuted more pirates than all other countries combined.Clan-Based StructureIf the courts proposed in the Russian draft are eventually established, the Naval War College's Kraska says it is reasonable to expect that they will function with efficiency because they will be provided with solid financial and technical assistance from the Western powers, China, and Japan.The prosecution of pirates is a positive development, he says, but is only a short-term solution."The long-term solution, I think everybody agrees," Kraska says, "is in Somalia, stabilizing the three regions of Somalia, especially Puntland, which is where most of -- actually pretty much all of these pirates -- come from."A fundamental issue, he says, is that the piracy has emerged from Somalia's clan-based structure and that for Somalis, their entire life, family, and loyalty revolves around the clan."The clans are not causing piracy," he says. "Rather, the clans are a potential counterweight to containing and restricting piracy. And so I think that we ought to work more so with the clans -- we've already been doing so -- and co-opt the clans."For that reason, he says, the UN, which would normally take a nation-state approach toward a problem, has a better chance of success if it works directly with the clans.Russian-Lithuanian consultations to begin in Vilnius March 10, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Evaldas Ignatavicius and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Titov will meet in Vilnius on Thursday, March 10, to discuss preparations for signing interstate and inter-governmental agreements. The diplomats will specify the agenda for the upcoming meeting of the Russian-Lithuanian inter-governmental commission to be held in Lithuania this year, and discuss cooperation projects as part of Russia-EU partnership modernisation. “In practical terms, Russia and we have lately been cooperating quite productively. We have come closer to singing agreements that were in limbo for eight or nine years,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis said. The two sides have finalised five interstate agreements and another twelve are still in the works. At their meeting in Vilnius, Ignatavicius and Titov will take practical steps to implement the initiative for establishing a Russian-Lithuanian public forum of trust. It was conceived as a public platform for the development of bilateral relations, exchange of information and broad humanitarian contacts. The forum, roundtable discussions, joint publications and exhibitions will involve Lithuanian and Russian cultural workers, scientists and entrepreneurs. Yanukovych, Medvedev Discuss Plan Of Forthcoming Contacts (09:23, Thursday, March 10, 2011)On March 9, Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed plans of bilateral contacts in different formats, press service of the Russian President said. The Heads of the two countries discussed the issues during a telephone talk. Apart from the plan, the presidents discussed important issues of Russian-Ukrainian co-operation. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yanukovych and Medvedev intend to deepen co-operation in 2011. Russian delegation visits Afghanistan 10, 2011 10:00 Moscow TimeA delegation of Russian Security Council officials led by the council’s Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has arrived in Afghanistan. It will hold talks with President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan leaders on economic, humanitarian, military-technical and other cooperation, a crackdown on drug production and closer ties between the Russian and Afghan special services.Thirty kgs of heroin seized near Nizhny Novgorod, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- A total of 30 kilograms of pure highly concentrated Afghan heroin have been seized near Nizhny Novgorod overnight to Thursday, Director of the Federal Drug Control Service Victor Ivanov said at a meeting of the department’s collegium. Criminal proceedings were instituted. Russia helps Sri Lanka amid floods 10, 2011 09:34 Moscow TimeRussia’s Emergency Situations Ministry is sending a planeload carrying 30 tons of warm clothes, food and electric generators to Sri Lanka to help the country cope with the aftermath of last month’s floods and mudslides. Then about 100,000 people were left homeless. In all, about 1 million people in Sri Lanka were affected by the flooding caused by heavy rains in January.? ??Bypass road is planned to build near the Roki Tunnel 11:36 During reconstruction of the Roki Tunnel builders will build a bypass road that will connect Russia and Georgia. This was reported by Vesti Ru website.The Internet publication writes that during the reconstruction of the tunnel construction of an alternative route is crucial for non-stopping of communication between Russia and occupied Tskhinvali region of Georgia.Vesti Ru writes that after the completion of the bypass road it will be possible to start full-scale reconstruction works of the Roki Tunnel.Wine from Moldova and Abkhazia fails the test 10, 2011 00:26 Moscow TimeImport of wine to Russia from a number of enterprises in Moldova and Abkhazia may be prohibited. The Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights is acting on results of laboratory studies that revealed non-compliance with health standards in 22 batches of wine from Abkhazia and 19 - from Moldova. Since 2006, the supervisory authority has already introduced bans on Moldovan wine imports to Russia. However, a year after the inspection the supplies were resumed.Kyrgyz parliament members criticize Russian State Duma for unjustified accusations of first vice-premier10/03-2011 08:27, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Aizada KUTUEVA Altynai Omurbekova, Respublica faction member, criticized Russian State Duma deputies for unjustified accusations of first vice prime minister of Kyrgyzstan. She stated about it today at a meeting of Zhogorku Kenesh. According to her, yesterday, two members of State Duma held a press conference, where they slandered Omurbek Babanov. “How can citizens of another country criticize the government of a sovereign state and indiscriminately accuse its high-ranking officials? This is a dangerous precedent. Do they have the right to interrogate our financial police? Just imagine that our parliamentarians would do the same in Russia. One could hardly imagine this,” she said. As noted, no one has a right for unfounded accusations without a court order. “Many people may misunderstand the Government's policy because of black PR. I agree with my colleague, who offers to invite Omurbek Babanov in Zhogorku Kenesh so he could report to the deputies,” added Altynai Omurbekova. URL: Bout refused full access to case files 10, 2011 11:37 Moscow TimeRussian businessman Viktor Bout, who is awaiting court hearings in New York, has complained in an interview with the Russian Kommersant newspaper that he cannot properly prepare for the trial because he does not have access to the case files. Up to now, he has only been able to study printed files but not audio or video materials,?the newspaper says. Bout was arrested in Thailand on a warrant issued by Washington and then extradited to the United States on charges of illegal arms sales, supporting terrorism and plotting to kill Americans. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Viktor Bout says no help from Russian authorities in his U.S. case Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout claims that Russian authorities have never responded to his requests for legal assistance in a case that could put him in a U.S. prison for life.Bout, 44, is currently awaiting trial on charges including conspiring to supply arms to a Colombian terrorist group and killing U.S. nationals. He is being kept in solitary confinement in a high-security U.S. pre-trial detention center."I appealed to the Russian consul general in Thailand twice [with request for legal assistance], and, as far as I know, those requests were passed to the Russian Foreign Ministry. My appeals to the Russian president and prime minister were handed over on September 22 last year," Bout said in an interview with the Kommersant business daily published on Thursday."In January, after my extradition [from Thailand] to the United States, I sent the same request again, and in February I asked the Russian consul general in New York to assist me in improving incarceration conditions," Bout said."I have not received answers [to any of these requests] yet," he said, adding that he would be happy to get help from any Russian politician who is sincerely interested in defending the rights of Russian citizens.Bout, an ex-Soviet military officer dubbed the Merchant of Death by western press, was arrested in Thailand in March 2008 during a sting operation led by U.S. agents. He was extradited to the United States in November last year after spending more than two and half years behind bars waiting for a decision on his extradition.Bout denies all charges filed against him. He could face from 25 years to life in prison if found guilty under U.S. laws.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)TRANSLATED FROM RUSSIAN09:49The General Staff of the Russian Navy moved to St. Petersburg 10, 2011 9:35 atm Moscow. March 10. INTERFAX.RU - Management of the Ministry of Defense set the task to the General Staff of the Navy to begin to move to St. Petersburg, a source at the Navy Main Command at told Interfax-AVN on Thursday. "From the Ministry of Defence an order was received in which the General Staff are required to prepare the relocation of the Navy General Staff from Moscow to St. Petersburg" - a spokesman said. According to him, the document does not specify the exact date of the move, but, as expected, the active phase of relocation will begin in July.Russian govt commission on radio frequencies to meet March 10, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The government commission on radio frequencies will meet on Thursday, March 10, to review the results of the conversion of radio frequencies in 2010 and plans for 2011. The commission will also discuss the allocation of frequencies for intellectual systems on transport and for radio frequency identification. The redistribution of radio frequencies in favour of civilian users should facilitate the spread of new technologies, such as high-speed 3G and 4G wireless Internet connections and digital television. Currently, most radio frequencies are controlled by the military. Tenders for 4G frequencies giving broadband access to the Internet may be held in 2011, Minister of Mass Communications Igor Shchegolev said earlier. He said this could be possible if the survey covering the frequencies intended for 4G networks was completed by this summer. “If the results are presented by summer, the tenders can be announced already in 2011,” he said. On December 28, 2010, the government commission on radio frequencies decided that Rostelecom and the three leading telecom operators – MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon – should study the possibility of building 4G networks in GSM bandwidths by July 1, 2011. These bandwidths are currency used for military purposes. The companies have to create a consortium first and team up with research institutes. Schegolev said the frequencies would be auctioned with certain obligations for the winner. “It will have to clear them up together with the Defence Ministry,” he said. According to the minister, this work will require at least 60 billion roubles. The winner will have to pay for the conversion and as soon as that is done, it will be able to start providing services,” he said. Currently, Russia is developing 3G networks. In December 2009, the Federal Service for Supervision in the Field of Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) issued permits to the top three telecom companies for launching high-speed 3G communication networks in Moscow not only indoors and the metro but also in outdoors. “It depends on the operators when this technology becomes actually available,” the Ministry of Mass Communications, which supervises Roskomnadzor, said. Wireless 3G technology, which transmits data at a speed ten times higher than that of GSM networks, has become quite popular in many countries of the world. Russia's first 3G network was created in St. Petersburg in 2007. It then quickly spread to the rest of the country. However in Moscow, its use was restricted by military and other special authorities. In the spring of 2009, the top three telecom companies - MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon - received permits for the use of 3G technology only indoors and on the subway. The introduction of 3G technology was accelerated by President Dmitry Medvedev who had instructed the Ministry of Mass Communications and the Defence Ministry to speed up the conversion of radio frequencies for public use. Medvedev called for intensifying the transfer of radio frequencies from the military to civilian uses. He said the use of new radio frequencies “is undoubtedly a promising area of work, and we should start preparing ourselves already now for the creation of a new generation of domestic spacecraft.” “We still have a rather impressive potential in terms of converting radio frequencies that are now used mainly by the military,” the president said. “Not as much has been done here so far as we would like, and this work should be intensified,” Medvedev said. He heard out a senior official of one of the cellular operators who complained that the companies were ready to start building third and even fourth generation networks, but could not do so because some of the issues remained unresolved at the governmental level, including the distribution of radio frequencies. “This is rather a vivid illustration of where we are,” Medvedev said. “One the one hand, we have 140 subscribers per 100 people, and 16th place in the world. On the other hand, we cannot solve the problem of radio frequency conversion and create a third-generation communication network for years even in big cities where scientific thought develops, where business is well structured and where consumers are quite well-off,” Medvedev said. “If the fourth generation goes the same way, it's bad,” he added. “For comparison, some time ago first generation cellular technologies were introduced here. And we were ten years behind. But GSM was only three years behind Europe, owing to a large extent to the efforts of the businessmen who are present here today,” Medvedev said. “However the situation is beginning to deteriorate with the onset of 3G technology,” he admitted. “All these generations are not available everywhere, and it [3G] is not available in Moscow, but we are already six to eight years behind” or maybe “more”. In Russia, 2 percent of frequencies are used for civilian needs and 27 percent for governmental needs, compared to 30 and 11 percent respectively in the United States and 75 and 8 percent in Europe. The conversion of radio frequencies used by the military and aviation for the third- and fourth-generation high-speed communication technology will cost about two billion roubles in the 2006 prices. Duma approves 100-fold fines for large bribes, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- The State Duma on Wednesday, March 9, passed the first reading of presidential amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offences that should step up the fight against corruption in Russia. The amendments introduce a 100-fold fine for large bribes and divide bribes into four groups: a “regular” bribe of up to 25,000 roubles, a considerable bribe of 25,000 to 150,000 roubles, a large bribe of 150,000 to one million roubles, and a very large bribe of over one million roubles. As the main penalty for bribery, the amendments impose a fine of 12 to 50 times the bribe or imprisonment of up to three years. Penalty for a very large bribe will vary from 80 to 100 times the bribe or imprisonment from 8 to 15 years and a fine of 70 times the bribe. Commercial bribery, bribe giving, bribe taking or mediation in the act of bribery will be punished by a fine of up to 100 times the bribe, but no more than 500 million roubles. A government official who has received a bribe will face a fine f 25 to 50 times the bribe (100,000 to 500,000 roubles now), and if it is a considerable bribe, then the penalty may rise to 30-60 times the bribe. Harsher penalties will also be introduced for bribe giving: 15 to 30 times the bribe and possible imprisonment of up to two years. Maximum penalty for this offence will be 90 times the bribe or imprisonment of 7-12 years, compared to 200,000 roubles now. The chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Development, Vladimir Pligin, said earlier that the State Duma might pass the law introducing multiple fines for bribery by April. The law was submitted to the lower house of parliament by President Dmitry Medvedev. Pligin welcomed the president’s initiative as “an important step against corruption”. “Up till now, members of the white-collar criminal community had the impression that their property cannot be taken away from them for a bribe. A fine of up to 500 million roubles will dismiss this illusion to a large extent,” the lawmaker said. The draft law also punishes persons who mediate in the process of bribing. It amends the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offences “with the view to perfecting state governance in counteracting corruption”. The document amends the Criminal Code to add provisions that hike the fines for commercial bribery, bribe taking, bribe giving and bribery mediation to 100-times of the sum of a bribe, but no more than 500 million roubles. The Russian Code of Administrative Offences will get a new chapter on legal assistance in cases involving administrative offences, if the necessary proceedings have to be carried out in a foreign state, primarily against the legal entities involved in bribery. The Russian government and the Supreme Court have already given positive assessments of the draft law “I think it would be useful to move on to serious fines for those who give bribes or acts as a go-between,” State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said earlier. “This issue of new penalties [for economic crimes] can be considered in a broader context,” he said, suggesting this mechanism should be applied not only to bribery. “If [a person guilty of an economic crime] compensate for the damage and pay a ten-fold fine, this could be an alternative to imprisonment,” the speaker said. Medvedev earlier suggested studying legislation to see if corrections are needed to limit the use of arrests for economic crimes. “This is a rather resounding topic,” he said. The use of new legislation is being discussed rather actively. We also need to synchronise our watches to see how this legislation is applied and whether corrections are needed or Supreme Court directives will be enough,” the president said. Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said,“We should overhaul the criminal and judicial policy in terms of punishment for economic crimes, including by giving courts more rights for using alternative penalties and parole because these mechanisms are not working properly now.” The Russian government proposed a draft law authorising confiscation of property for corruption. The draft law suggests amending Article 104.1 of the Criminal Code to include a provision on confiscation of money, values and other property obtained through money laundering. The main purpose of the draft law is to prevent money laundering and make the right against economic crimes more effective. The Russian Interior Ministry, in turn, suggested enlarging the list of grounds for the confiscation of property from government officials charged with corruption. “As a follow-up to the declaration of incomes, it would be advisable to upgrade Russian legislation by enlarging the list of grounds for the confiscation of illegally-obtained property,” Deputy Interior Minister Yevgeny Shkolov said. “A disproportion between the assets owned by some officials and their official salary raise justifiable indignation in society,” Shkolov said. He stressed that an effective fight against corruption depended directly on the possibility to seize ill-gotten property in favour of the budget. Medvedev stressed in his Address to the Federal Assembly that the fight against corruption remained “a fundamental task”. He also urged the Federal Assembly to consider the possibility of imposing multiple penalties for corruption offences. “Penalties for a corruption offence should match the severity of the offence, and such offences are mainly grave ones and should entail real punishment that will create an appropriate atmosphere and deter from new such offences,” Medvedev said. At the same time, he said, “We do not want to increase the total number of prisoners. It is beyond all reasonable limits as it is.” “So apart from imprisonment, which should be used in certain situations for gross corruption offences, we should go back to the ideas that we discussed some time ago, including at the meetings of the Anti-Corruption Council.” “It was proposed to use so-called multiple penalties for corruption offences. It met a controversial reaction, but I suggest that our parliament - the Federation Council and the State Duma - think about this,” the president said. “The idea is to make a person who has committed an corruption offence pay a fine multiple of the bribe. This may be a very harsh penalty that will run into millions, dozens or hundreds of millions of roubles and that will have to be paid over a long period of time. Even if a person remains at large, he will suffer financially,” Medvedev said. “There are also other forms of punishment that should be used more actively as well, such as corrective labour or a ban on senior positions in various bodies,” he added. Theft of RUB 6 mln allotted for scrapping nuclear subs exposed, March 10 (Itar-Tass) - Embezzlement of 6 million roubles allocated for the disposal of Russian nuclear submarines has been exposed in the Primorsky Territory. Criminal proceedings have been instituted over this fact under the RF Criminal Code article “Large-scale embezzlement,” the press service of the main department of the Russian Interior Ministry in the Far Eastern Federal District told Itar-Tass on Thursday. According to investigators, the suspect is a former director of the Zvezda plant in the Primorsky Territory. The shipyard in Bolshoi Kamen specialises in repairing and scrapping of used submarines and is one of the largest in Russia. In 2007, the plant concluded a contract on scrapping recycle Russia’s nuclear submarines of the Viktor-3 class worth over 780 million roubles. The works were funded by the Japanese government under the Russian-Japanese intergovernmental agreement “On cooperation in the field of disarmament, non-proliferation and dismantlement of nuclear weapons in the Russian Federation.” The funds that were transmitted to the shipyard were received under these international agreements. The former head of the enterprise decided to use part of these funds for his personal purposes. He concluded a contract with one of the Primorsky Territory’s limited liability companies on special services that were not provided, but the shipyard paid for them 6 million US dollars. These funds were then cashed. In 2008, the director of the shipyard was fired – as his labour contract expired. Bolshoi Kamen is a town located in the south of the Primorsky Territory and is the administrative centre of the Shkotovsky district. The town is connected with Vladivostok by road and by railway. It is located on the opposite side of the Ussuri Bay as seen from Shamora (Bukhta Lazurnaya). “Bolshoi Kamen” is translated as “Big Stone,” and is nicknamed “Bigston” in Russian by some locals. Bolshoi Kamen should not be confused with Kamen-Rybolov, another settlement in the Primorsky Territory. Bolshoi Kamen is a mono-city mostly specialised in engineering. Shipbuilding and repair works together with food industry and construction constitutes the basis of its economy. The status of city was awarded to Bolshoi Kamen in 1989. Bolshoi Kamen is a closed city due to its naval base. Bolshoi Kamen began as a naval support base in 1947, receiving urban-type settlement status in 1956, followed by town status on 31 August 1989. During the Soviet era, the town’s nature as a naval base saw it designated a closed city. This was relaxed in 1989, with plans for a civilian harbour in the town, however these plans were later cancelled and the town re-categorised as a closed city in 1996. A large proportion of the town’s population left during the 1990s, as the ship repair facilities operated almost at a standstill after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Most of the town’s population is employed by involved in the repair and construction of atomic submarines. There are three banks and seven joint-venture companies, specialising in ships, shipping, and sea-fishing. Bolshoi Kamen is connected by a goods rail line to the Trans-Siberian Railway. Although the town is only around 40 km in a straight line to Vladivostok, the road connection is around 130 km around the coast. The Far East shipyard Zvezda is a leading facility for overhauls of nuclear submarines pertaining to the Navy’s pacific Fleet and the only facility in the Far East which is a specialist in repairs, upgrades and disposal of nuclear submarines. The facility has repaired nuclear submarines since 1962. Already at that time specialised process sections and divisions were set up at Zvezda. In the hard 1990’s when the governmental defence order was not placed with the shipyard, the facility was managed to keep up only through continuous search of orders from third parties. Besides, the agreement signed by the Defence Industry Committee of Russia and the US Department of Defence concerning the cooperation in reduction of strategic offensive arms in 1993 played an important part. The Zvezda shipyard was awarded a contract for disposal of strategic nuclear submarines retired from the Russian Navy. Under the signed contracts the USA supplied equipment to the shipyard and financed repairs of existing and building of new facilities. By date, a state-of-the-art universal nuclear submarine disposal complex has been set up at Zvezda. More than 40 nuclear submarines have been disposed of there since the complex commissioning. Over 400 Russians die in terrorist attacks in 2010 total of 410 people died as a result of terrorist acts in Russia in 2010, deputy chief of staff of the National Anti-terrorist Committee (NAC) said."I may say that the overall number of terrorism-related crimes is going down. While there were 1,030 of these crimes in 2009, we registered 779 last year," Maj. Gen. Yevgeni Potapov said in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta published on Thursday."At the same time, 410 people died as result of 21 terrorist attacks and 14 bombings which were carried out by suicide bombers. The terrorists targeted children, elderly people, women, policemen, public figures, clerics, and businessmen," he said.There were 119 civilians, 268 military personnel and law enforcement officers, 13 government officials, 10 public figures and clerics among the victims.Potapov also said that as a result of preventive measures, 60 militants surrendered to police, and 93 terrorist acts were thwarted.Police and interior troops found and destroyed 433 militant bases and arms cashes, seized 454 homemade explosive devices, 1,263 firearms and more than 2.5 tons of explosives.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)410 people die in terrorist acts in Russia in 2010 – NAC, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Four hundred and ten people died as a result of terrorist acts in Russia in 2010, deputy chief of staff of the National Anti-terrorist Committee (NAC), Major-General Yevgeny Potapov said. “We can say that on the whole the overall number of terrorist crimes is going down. While there were 1,030 of them in 2009, we registered 779 last year. The situation has stabilised to some extent, and the number of such crimes decreased twofold in the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia,” he said. At the same time, 410 people died as result of 21 sorties, which were classified as terrorist acts, and 14 bombing acts carried out by suicide bombers. The terrorists targeted children, elderly people, women, law enforcers, public figures, clerics, and businessmen. Those killed include 119 civilians, 268 military personnel and law enforcers, 13 government officials, 10 public figures and clerics, the general said in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta to be published on Thursday, March 10. Potapov said practically all high-profile terrorist acts carried out in Russia last year had been solved. In 2010, security forces found and destroyed 433 bases and arms cashes made by the militants, seized 454 homemade explosive devices, 1,263 firearms and more than 2.5 tonnes of explosives. As a result of preventive work, 60 militants turned themselves in to police, and 93 terrorist acts were averted. Sixty-eight counter-terrorist operations and more than 7,000 operational and combat events were carried out in 2010, and 375 gunmen were destroyed for putting up armed resistance to security forces. One of suspects in Magadan gov murder case apprehended, March 10 (Itar-Tass) - One of suspects in connection with the case of assassination of Magadan Region Govetnor Valentin Tsvetkov has been apprehended in the Primorsky (maritime) Territory (PT). An official in the press service of Russia's FSB (Federal Security Service) Directorate for the PT said Thursday that a man, born in 1970, had been in hiding in one of the region's cities and had been on the Federal wanted list for committing a number of other grave crimes. The man has been taken into custody and is now held at the Vladivostok detention center. The question of convoying the detainee to Moscow is under consideration. At the end of February, the Moscow city court sentenced four defendants, charged in connection with the case concerning the assassination of Magadan Region Governor Valentin Tsvetkov in Moscow in 2002, to deprivation of freedom for terms ranging from 13.5 to 19 years. A number of other people involved in the commission of that crime have been put on the wanted list. Ingush head dismiss govt due to premier’s transfer to another work, March 10 (Itar-Tass) - Ingushetia’s head Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said has decided to dismiss the republic’s government due to Prime Minister Alexei Vorobyov’s transfer to another work. Alexei Vorobyov has been appointed chairman of the Moscow Government’s Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, Itar-Tass reported. No rail transport problem between Azerbaijan, Russia after blast in Dagestan 12:35?Azerbaijan, Baku, March 10 / Trend, S. Aliyev /The explosion Thursday morning on the Dagestani railroad has not affected train traffic between Azerbaijan and Russia, Azerbaijan Railways spokesman Nadir Azmammadov said on Thursday.He said only the Baku-Tumen train has left Baku, but has not yet reached the Russian border.The Moscow-Baku train has also departed from Russia, and is scheduled to arrive this evening. Azmammadov said the Russian side has not imposed restrictions on train traffic where the blast occurred.An explosive device went off at around 7:20 a.m. (Moscow time), a Russian official told RIA Novosti.According to preliminary data, there were no victims.As Azerbaijan Railways said earlier, frequent blasts have significantly affected passenger traffic heading toward Russia.It is expected that a new railway timetable will be introduced from March 26 between Azerbaijan and Russia.In connection with the blasts on the railway, Russian Railways has stopped passenger train traffic through Dagestan and Chechnya from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The ban came into force on Feb. 9. These measures were taken to ensure passenger and freight train safety.Police kill three militants near south Russian ski resort 10/03/2011Russian forces on Thursday killed three militants near a ski resort in the southern Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, where three people were killed in a terrorist attack in February.Two Russian special forces officers were injured in a shootout with the militants in the village of Shalushka, officials said.Security has been stepped up in the area after armed men attacked a vehicle carrying five people, including a government official and three tourists, to the Mount Elbrus ski resort on February 18.The day after the attack, a bomb was detonated in the resort itself, causing 40 cable cars to crash to the ground. No one was injured in the attack.Until recently Kabardino-Balkaria was considered one of the calmer republics of the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, where terrorist attacks and shootouts with police are common.Russian federal troops fought two brutal wars against Islamist separatists in neighboring Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s.?MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)Three militants, commandos wounded around Nalchik Updated: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 06:19 GMT 09:19 MCK As the Russian news agency referring to the law enforcement agencies, as a result of the battle in the village on the outskirts of Nalchik Shalushka killed three militants. It is also reported that the injuries received two Special Forces soldiers. In late February, Press the power of Kabardino-Balkaria republic regime introduced in counter-terrorism operations and closed the republic for the tourists.Police probe possible involvement of extremists in Moscow blast 10/03/2011Investigators say they have not ruled out terrorism as the cause of a blast outside a training center for the Federal Security Service in Moscow on Wednesday.The bomb tore through a bus stop at 4.30 pm Moscow Time (13.30 GMT) near the in the south of the city on Wednesday, injuring no one."The possible involvement of illegal armed groups in the explosion is being assessed," a source close to the investigation told RIA Novosti.According to preliminary information, the blast on Michurinsky Prospekt near the Universitet metro station was equivalent to 200-400 grams of TNT and was detonated by a timer device.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)Blast near Moscow's FSB academy detonated by cell phone 10/03/2011A bomb that exploded in Moscow on Wednesday outside a training school for the Federal Security Service (FSB) was detonated using a cell phone, a police source said on Thursday.The explosion ripped through a bus stop at 4.30 pm Moscow Time (13:30 GMT) in southern Moscow, injuring no one."While searching the site of the blast, specialists found parts of a cell phone, which was probably used to detonate the bomb," the source said.A law enforcement source told RIA Novosti earlier on Thursday that the bomb was detonated using a timer device.A source close to the investigation told RIA Novosti that investigators were studying the possible involvement of terrorist groups in the explosion.According to preliminary information, the blast on Michurinsky Prospekt near the Universitet metro station was equivalent to 200-400 grams of TNT.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)Bus stop bomb sparks security alert Andy Potts at 10/03/2011 11:11Security has been stepped up at Moscow’s transport hubs following an explosion at a bus stop near the FSB Academy.A small blast, apparently detonated by a mobile phone, caused minor damage to vehicles parked at the bus stop on Michurinsky Prospekt, near Universitet metro station on Wednesday evening.And police responded by stepping up patrols and reminding people to be vigilant and report any unattended items or suspicious behaviour.Police reported increased patrols and security checks at railway stations and airports in the capital, although officers on the metro said they were not on any special alert.?Open mindsAlthough the blast happened close to a training centre for Russia’s intelligence services, investigators stressed that it was “too early to say” that the would-be spooks were the bombers target.And officers told RIA Novosti they were hopeful that the perpetrators may have been caught on nearby CCTV cameras as they took their bomb to its destination.However, while officially cops were keeping an open mind, a source within the FSB added that the timing of the explosion coincided with the time that students started to leave the building.And among law enforcement officers in Moscow, many suspect that the blast was a warning to the agency, which is responsible for combating terrorism.Extremist youth groups are under suspicion of planting the bomb. If it turns out that if an illegal gang was responsible the active criminal case is likely to be upgraded from the current charge of hooliganism to the more serious allegation of terrorism.?Lucky escapePolice searching the scene found that the improvised device had been stuffed with nails and washers, while a phone was also among the debris.Officers believe the phone was used to activate the bomb, dismissing an earlier theory that it was a timed explosion.Russian Security Services Launch Wave of Arrests in Ingushetia After Moscow Airport Bombing[tt_news]=37616&tx_ttnews[backPid]=27&cHash=08e3b873b5adfc410566409e95e86af7Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 8 Issue: 47March 9, 2011 01:25 PM Age: 7 hrsCategory: Eurasia Daily Monitor, North Caucasus Analysis, Home Page, Domestic/Social, Military/Security, Terrorism, The Caucasus, North Caucasus , Russia By: Valery DzutsevOn March 4, Russia’s security services reported they managed to kill one of the leaders of Ingushetia’s insurgency, 30 year old Khamzat Korigov. Initially, the government sources said Korigov had detonated a bomb when the security agents surrounded him in Ingushetia’s principal town, Nazran. Later, the police altered the statement, saying that the militant was injured in a fight with law enforcement personnel and subsequently died (kavkaz-uzel.ru, March 5). Ingushetia’s opposition website reported Korigov detonated a bomb, killing himself and a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, while the militant’s wife stayed in his vehicle unharmed (, March 5).While the security situation in Ingushetia was by no means stable prior to the attack at the Domodedovo airport in Moscow on January 24, more reports of violent incidents started to arrive from the republic following the suicide bombing there. On March 7, another suspected militant, Bagaudin Bogatyryov, was killed by police in the village of Upper Achaluki (kavkaz-uzel.ru, March 7). On March 4, a counterterrorism operation regime was introduced in the town of Karabulak and was lifted on March 5 (kavkaz-uzel.ru, March 5). Russian investigators announced that a resident of Ingushetia, 20-year-old Magomed Yevloev, was the suicide bomber who perpetrated the attack at Domodedovo airport on January 24, which claimed the lives of 37 people. After a resident of Ingushetia was implicated in the terrorist attack, the Russian security services predictably increased their activities in the republic. Yevloev’s brother and sister, as well as one of his friends, were charged with terrorist activities in Ingushetia and reportedly transferred to the Lefortovo prison in Moscow. The suspects’ lawyers denied the charges (kavkaz-uzel.ru, March 2).In November 2010 Ingushetia’s President, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, boasted of having quelled violence in the republic, which once accounted for a large portion of the reports of armed violence from the North Caucasus despite its small population of 500,000. Yevkurov said the authorities had managed to return 40 rebels back to civilian life in 2010 (). However, the involvement of a resident of Ingushetia in the Domodedovo attack marred Yevkurov’s optimism. Even though the intensity of fighting in Ingushetia decreased significantly after the security services killed several insurgent leaders, and captured one of the principal ones, Ali Taziev (aka Magas), in June 2010, violence in Ingushetia was still very widespread and the insurgency remained quite active.Indeed, 40 law enforcement agents were killed in Ingushetia in 2010, more than the 32 deaths experienced in neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria, which has seen a major upsurge in violence in the last 10 months.? Last year Dagestan took the lead in absolute numbers of law enforcement agents killed in the North Caucasus with a reported 159 deaths. However, given the fact that Dagestan’s population is more than five times that of Ingushetia, in relative terms Ingushetia was still the deadliest republic in the North Caucasus for the law enforcement agencies in 2010.? In 2009, more policemen were killed in Ingushetia (92) than in Dagestan (83) and just one less than in Chechnya (93) ().So there are certainly reasons to believe that President Yevkurov’s successes are quite questionable. On February 21, the leading Ingush opposition figure, Magomed Khazbiev, rebuked Ingush and Russian authorities for deliberately destabilizing the republic. Speaking at a press conference in Moscow, Khazbiev said dozens of people were abducted in Ingushetia in 2010 and that several others have been abducted so far in 2011, while extralegal killings continued and some within the law enforcement agencies continued to violate the law with impunity. The Ingush activist stated that the opposition would resume organizing public protests in both Ingushetia and Moscow in order to force the authorities to abide by the law. Khazbiev said that public protests in 2008 helped to quell the wave of kidnapping and killings in Ingushetia for a while, as well as to replace the then president of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, with Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. Khazbiev stated that Yevkurov did not live up to the public’s expectations, and that the republic had instead “swapped one group of carpetbaggers for another that rips off the federal budget and approves of continuing kidnappings and killings in the republic” ().Meanwhile, on March 3, police detonated explosive devices in two buildings where Ali Taziev’s brother lived with his family and his sister. The police stated that Taziev, who is still in pretrial detention, told them about bombs in his relatives’ homes and since they could not defuse the explosives, they had to evacuate the people and detonate the bombs. The Tazievs, however, accused the police of laying the explosive devices and detonating them. Taziev’s elder brother Askhab said Ali had not visited their home since 1998 and that he did not even have the chance to see Ali after he was captured in June 2010. The Taziev family, which was made homeless by the destruction of their home, says now that it was an act of terror “to scare others” (kavkaz-uzel.ru, March 6). Also on March 1, police in neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria also claimed they had found explosive devices in the home of a rebel and that the bombs had accidentally exploded without injuring anyone (kavkaz-uzel.ru, March 1).At his February 21 press conference, Magomed Khazbiev alleged that Moscow controls which republics of the North Caucasus are violent and which are peaceful. While Moscow may not really have full control over the outbreaks of violence in the North Caucasus, it is possible to see from Ingushetia’s example why such a dependency exists. Following an attack in Moscow or another target that captures the Russian public’s attention, the security services become particularly active in the republic from which the attack came. As the security services seek quick results and lack intelligence information on the ground, they regularly abuse their powers. This combination in the North Caucasus invariably leads to increased levels of violence.Russians from USA, UK, Germany return to Lipetsk, March 9 (Itar-Tass) -- As the federal programme to welcome back Russians was launched in 2007, over 5,000 returned from the CIS and other countries. Over the past year, the inflow of migrants grew by 67 percent, the regional administration reports. “We have welcome those why returned from the CIS countries, from Germany, Portugal, the USA, Israel,” Head of the Regional Administration Oleg Korolev said. “What is especially interesting, that they start building new houses for themselves outside the city, closer to the nature.” For example, a lady who had lived in the United Kingdom for a long time chose to return with her two sons. Over a dozen houses were built in two regions by those who came back from Germany. The region offers special accommodation centres and hotels, and the expenses will make over 50 million roubles. Under the federal programme to welcome former compatriots, the Lipetsk Region in Central Russia, will welcome till 2010 about 10,000 individuals who choose to return home. The newcomers get employed at the Lipetsk federal special economic zone and at regional special economic zones. “Our economy has many jobs to offer,” Korolev said. “Over this year only, in the Lipetsk special economic zone seven new plants will be opened, and six more – in the region.” “About 70 percent of those who return home are able-bodied and most of them have a higher education,” he added. Russia’s state programme to support voluntary return of compatriots is aimed to attract Russian-speaking families of former soviet citizens, who are outside their Fatherland as the Soviet Union disintegrated. 15 Russians among world's top 100 richest people - Forbes Russian tycoons are among world's 100 richest people, while the total number of billionaires in Russia grew to 101 from 62 last year mainly due to a recent boom in prices for commodities, Forbes magazine said.According to the Forbes' annual list of word's richest people published on Wednesday, Russia accounts for a third of Europe's 300 billionaires, and Moscow regained its title as the billionaire capital of the world with 79 Russian oligarchs officially residing in the city.Vladimir Lisin, 54, the owner of the Russian steel giant Novolipetsk Steel, remains Russia's richest person with a fortune of $24 billion, Forbes said. The tycoon occupies the 14th position in the magazine's list of world's richest people.Lisin is followed by another steel magnate, Alexei Mordashov, the major shareholder and chief executive of Russia's biggest steelmaker Severstal.Mordashov, 45, "is $8.6 billion richer this year, thanks largely to rebound in steel prices." He occupies the 29th place on the Forbes list with a total fortune of $18.5 billion.Mikhail Prokhorov, the president of Onexim Group, is the third among richest Russians with an estimated wealth of $18 billion.Prokhorov, 45, "is known for his efforts to build the New Jersey Nets, which he bought in 2009, into an NBA contender."The one-time richest man in Russia and owner of the UK's Chelsea soccer team Roman Abramovich, 44, dropped to the 53rd place on the Forbes list with total wealth of $13.4 billion.Forbes said this year's list of word's richest people broke records in size (1,210 billionaires) and total net worth ($4.5 trillion).NEW YORK, March 10 (RIA Novosti)PRESS DIGEST - Russia - March 10 Mar 10, 2011 8:32am GMTMOSCOW Mar 9 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.KOMMERSANTkommersant.ru- Russian businessman Viktor Bout, now awaiting a U.S. court decision in connection with alleged charges of illegal arms trading, is seeking support from Russia's politicians and lawmakers, according to his interview from U.S. jail.- Russia's government has backed down from earlier plans to invest 6 billion roubles in the construction of a cargo terminal at the Black Sea port of Sochi together with Oleg Deripaska.VEDOMOSTIvedomosti.ru- Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin has become the biggest shareholder in Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM), he told the daily, meaning that his investment company Interros may get more seats on Norilsk's board than rival billionaire shareholder Oleg Deripaska's aluminium giant RUSAL (0486.HK).IZVESTIAizvestia.ru- Russia could lose up to $10 billions in arms trading this year in Middle East and North African markets which were the main buyers of Russian weapons, according to some experts.- Russia could try to exchange Viktor Bout for a former officer Andrei Khlychev, sentenced to 18 years in prison in Russia for spying, the daily says, adding that the move will then imply Bout's connection with Russian special services.NOVYE IZVESTIAnewizv.ru- Russia could allow private security services to use weapons while guarding individuals, the daily says, referring to new amendments to local legislation that is due to be considered by parliamentarians in the near future.ROSSIISKAYA GAZETArg.ru- Russia could raise its ban on fishing sturgeon in Amur river to produce up to 7 tonnes of sturgeon caviar per year, worth 20 million euros.NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETAng.ru- Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed opening liquefied natural gas plant on the Black Sea to ensure transit of Asian natural gas to Europe, the daily reports.Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, March 9, 2011 10/03/2011POLITICSU.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday at the start of his official visit to Russia and oversaw the signing of a deal between U.S. aviation giant Boeing and national carrier Aeroflot worth more than $2 billion. (Kommersant, Vedemosti, Moscow Times)The Kremlin will this year hand out 1 billion rubles ($350 million) to nongovernmental organizations through six NGOs that critics say are too close to the state. (Moscow Times)Russia and Georgia will resume talks on Thursday on Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization. It will be the first direct bilateral contact between the two countries since the break of diplomatic ties after a brief war in August 2008. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)The current visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to Russia is widely considered a preparation to an official visit to Moscow by U.S. President Barack Obama later this year, which could see real progress on the controversial issue of the European missile shield. (Nezavisimaya Gazeta)Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout says the Russian authorities have never responded to his requests for legal assistance in a case that could put him in U.S. prison for life. (Kommersant)ECONOMY & BUSINESSPrime Minister Vladimir Putin floated the idea on Wednesday of using tankers for natural gas deliveries from Russia to Europe across the Black Sea, sparking questions about the plan to lay the South Stream pipeline (Moscow Times)Russia may soon become the only supplier of natural "black caviar" on the global market. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)Russia's state-run arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, expects to make up to $9.5 billion in arms sales in 2011. Last year Russian arms exports totaled $8.6 billion. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Vedomosti)CRIMEA blast tore through a bus stop late on Wednesday near Moscow's training center for the Federal Security Service, injuring no one, police and the National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported. The search for clues and evidence has been suspended until Thursday morning. (Moscow Times)ENERGYRussia may win the race to transport natural gas from Central Asia to Europe with the help of new technologies. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has suggested that the Energy Ministry should consider construction of a new gas liquefying plant on the Black Sea. (Nezavisimaya Gazeta)SOCIETYMoscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin proposed allowing employees of private security firms to search suspicious-looking passengers at airports and railway stations. At present only police officers have the right to do so. (Kommersant)?March 10, 2011, 12:03 am Russian Heat Extraordinary But Not Unnatural ANDREW C. REVKINA peer-reviewed paper bolsters the argument that the extraordinary ? HYPERLINK "" Russian heat wave last summer (see the area of dense red dots below) was almost assuredly the result of unusual, but normal, variations in the atmosphere, with any contribution from accumulating greenhouse gases essentially hidden in the statistical weeds. There ? HYPERLINK "" are other views, and ?attempts to clarify the causes of rare extreme weather patterns are among the toughest tasks in climate science.Reduced Arctic sea ice and unusually warm ocean temperatures earlier in the summer — conditions thought to be related to the long-term warming of the climate from building greenhouse gases — did not appear related to the disaster, which severely blunted wheat harvests and was blamed for more than 50,000 premature deaths, according to the researchers. The paper — “Was There a Basis for Anticipating the 2010 Russian Heat Wave?” has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters. The research was led by Randall Dole, deputy director of research at the Earth System Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There’s more background in a news release from the agency. One conclusion there was that while this event bore no human fingerprint, a human-warmed world will see far higher odds of such extremes: Climate models evaluated for the new study show a rapidly increasing risk of such heat waves in western Russia, from less than one percent in 2010, to 10 percent or more by the end of this century. The Green blog has input from a couple of authors and Ricky Rood of the University of Michigan and Wunderground.Russia’s Street DwellersWhile a Top Official Suggests Shooting the Homeless, the Number of People at Risk of Losing Their Homes Is Growing Svetlana Kononova Special to Russia Profile 03/09/2011 The Mayor of the Siberian city of Chita Anatoly Michalev has suggested shooting the homeless in order to solve problems associated with them. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a license to shoot the homeless, and now there are no other ways to get rid of them,” he said, adding that vagrancy should be made into a criminal offence again, as it was in the Soviet Union. Although the mayor’s press office later apologized for the statement, it nonetheless spurred a heated debate.There are no official statistics as to how many people are homeless in Russia. Experts estimate that this figure is over 4.5 million and growing every year. In Russia a homeless person is called a “BOMZh” – an abbreviation of “without a certain place of residence.” Most homeless people are stereotyped as alcoholics with a criminal past, who chose this marginal lifestyle of their own free will. Ten or 15 years ago, this stereotype may have been true to life, but since then the portrait of the average homeless person has evolved, say independent experts from NGOs which have many years of practical experience in this field. “There are several alarming trends. Firstly, the number of homeless families has grown. Not all of these people already live on the streets, but they and their small children might be evicted at any time. Secondly, the homeless have become younger. The average age of homeless people in Russia is 25 to 40 years old – this means we can say that homeless children have grown up and become homeless adults,” said Victoria Ryzkova, a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg-based NGO Nochlezhka (Night Shelter), which focuses on the social and psychological rehabilitation of the homeless and tries to defend their rights.Nochlezhka’s statistics also show that the number of homeless women is growing. While in the early 2000s only ten percent of the homeless were women, the share of homeless females has risen to 30 percent and continues to grow. Moreover, following the global economic crisis the number of people forced to live on the streets because they lost their jobs has also increased. Most of the homeless in Russia don’t have any income and don’t have any documents that would allow them to get a job. “Every second homeless person lives on the streets because of family problems, including physical and psychological abuse. One in five lost their property because they were defrauded by ‘black realtors’,” Ryzkova said.Elena Kovalenko, a social policy expert at the Institute for Urban Economics, said that there are also many “hidden homeless people” in Russia, meaning people who do not have registration and property rights and might be thrown out of where they live any time. “There are several risk groups: lonely elderly people, women who suffer from domestic violence, teenagers and young people who grew up in orphanages and migrants, both foreigners and Russians who moved to a different region to find a job,” she said. “I believe there are two main reasons why people in Russia become homeless: bad socio-economic conditions in the provinces and a crisis in the family. Homelessness is rooted in the social and economic policies of the state. The situation in Moscow, where 90 percent of the homeless are people who moved there from other Russian regions or from the CIS to find a job, clearly illustrates this.”Elizaveta Glinka, who goes by the name of Doctor Liza, a philanthropist, palliative care doctor and the CEO at the Moscow-based Spravedlivaya Pomosh (Just Help) Foundation, which cares for the homeless, wrote in her blog: “A new category of homeless are people who took out bank loans. They rent their apartments out to repay the loan and move to Moscow to look for jobs. They can’t find a job and spend their nights at railway stations. Even if they don’t get beaten senseless, frostbite gets their hands and legs.”The ranks of the homeless amass new “recruits” every year. Workers of Nochlezhka register up to 1,000 new street dwellers who call for aid every year. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Experts say that the number of homeless in St. Petersburg alone is estimated at dozens or even hundreds of thousands. However, there are only 13 shelters in the city, which can accommodate no more than 281 people in total per night. The situation in Moscow is similar, while most middle-sized and small towns don’t have shelters at all. Some charities focus on helping homeless adults, others work with street children. “There are four groups of street children in Russia. The first are kids from abusive, vulnerable families. Then there are children from orphanages. The third group has homeless parents and has been living on the streets since early childhood. The last are teenagers from ‘more or less normal’ families who leave home because of drug addiction or conflicts with relatives,” Kovalenko said.“The way authorities deal with street children is the following: they are taken to a police station, given a health check at a hospital, and returned to their family or orphanage. Every link in this chain is responsible for passing a child to the next link, but not for providing any help. Nobody is interested in why the child ran away from home or an orphanage. Therefore, these children escape again and avoid any contact with the social services in future. They thus don’t trust any state and social institutions when they become adults. On the other hand, governmental agencies are not interested in homeless adults. So grown street children can’t get a passport or medical help.” Volunteers who work with the homeless in Russia say that grown street children have all the problems associated with homelessness, from alcohol and drug addiction to anti-social behavior. They most often end up in prison.At present only NGOs provide help to the homeless in Russia. But what can they do? They treat the symptoms but not the causes of the illness. They provide people who live on the streets with food, clothes, a night’s shelter, psychological and legal assistance, but they can’t influence the state policy that aggravates the problem of homelessness. “The main problem is that registration in Russia is more important than the human rights warranted by the Constitution. If a person has a registration stamp in their passport, all doors are open. But if a person does not have this stamp, he or she become invisible to society,” said Zoya Solovyeva, the head of Nochlezhka. “Russia doesn’t have any federal policy and national system of helping the homeless. There is no distinct housing policy or regulation of the rental market. But there is discrimination on the job market, the housing market and everyday grassroots discrimination, including a lack of free washhouses and public toilets.”Experts believe that a state policy should focus on measures to prevent homelessness and rehabilitation services, but it’s also important to change public opinion. “As long as society ignores the homeless and believes that they are unworthy of access to medical and social help, the situation will not change. Moreover, every Russian is under threat of being unable to exercise their rights if they lose their registration and home,” Kovalenko said.National Economic TrendsMoscow to receive federal loan of RUB 15 bln to cover budget deficit, March 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin has signed a resolution to borrow 15 billion roubles from the federal budget to cover part of the city’s budgetary deficit, a source in the Moscow city administration told Itar-Tass on Thursday. The loan will be issues at a rate equal to half of the official Central Bank rate as of the date of a relevant loan agreement between the Moscow city government and the Russian Ministry of Finance. “The money will be used to partially repay the Moscow city’s 2011 budgetary deficit,” the source said. March 10, 2011 11:47Russian international reserves up $5 bln in week. March 10 (Interfax) - Russia's international reserves grew $5 billion to $497.2 billion in the week to March 4, the Central Bank said on Thursday.The reserves stood at $492.2 billion on February 25.They consist of highly liquid financial assets at the disposal of the CB and Russian government, including foreign currency, monetary gold, special drawing rights, the reserve position at the IMF and other reserve assets.Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussionsOAO Lukoil (LKOH RX): Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, is scheduled to release 2010 earnings today. Its shares declined 1.3 percent to 2,039.40 rubles. Magnit (MGNT LI): Magnit, Russia’s second-largest food retailer, is scheduled to release interim sales and revenue figures today. The Krasnodar-based company was little changed at $29.22 in London. Ltd. (VIP) : The Russian mobile phone operator seeking to merge with Wind Telecom SpA said yesterday that it completed the acquisition of a stake in Laos cellular company Millicom Lao Co. VimpelCom, Russia’s third-largest wireless carrier, advanced 0.1 percent to $14.65 in New York. contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle in Prague 1 at dlytle@Rusal Returns to Ruble Bonds as Rally Cuts Costs: Russia Credit Co. Rusal is back in the ruble bond market after almost six years as the world’s biggest currency rally reduces borrowing costs relative to dollar debt. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle in Prague 1 at dlytle@Potanin Buys Shares in Rival Deripaska’s Rusal, Vedomosti Says Yulia Fedorinova - Mar 10, 2011 6:38 AM GMT+0100Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin said he bought shares in United Co. Rusal on the market “when they fell,” Vedomosti reported. The investment wasn’t “big,” Potanin told the Moscow- based newspaper in an interview published today. Potanin and billionaire United Co. Rusal Chief Executive Officer Oleg Deripaska are locked in a dispute over the management of OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of the metal. Rusal, which owns 25 percent percent of Norilsk versus Potanin’s 30 percent, rejected a $12.8 billion cash buyout offer from Norilsk for its stake last week. To contact the reporter on this story: Yuliya Fedorinova at yfedorinova@ To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brad Cook at bcook7@ Potanin Says ‘Doesn’t Matter’ Who’s in Kremlin, Vedomosti Says Vladimir Potanin said he doesn’t care whether Vladimir Putin returns to the Kremlin or Dmitry Medvedev stays on as president in elections next year, Vedomosti reported, citing an interview. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle in Prague 1 at dlytle@Raspadskaya Owners Said to Seek Buyer for 80% Stake, RIA Says Raspadskaya’s owners, who hold an 80 percent stake in the Russian coal miner, are seeking a buyer, RIA Novosti reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Lytle in Prague 1 at dlytle@Raspadskaya for sale - but why? CapitalMarch 10, 2011News: Interfax, quoting an unnamed source, reports that 80% of Raspadskaya has been put up for sale by its current owners.Our View: 80% of Raspadskaya is owned by management and Evraz (via Corber Enterprises Limited) on a parity basis. The news does not come as a surprise since rumours about a potential sale have been circulating on the market for some time already (although there was no information about the seller, with all three options on the table: Evraz only, Raspadskaya's management only or Raspadskaya plus Evraz).The 'Raspadskaya management plus Evraz' scenario has negative implications for the stock. First, once Raspadskaya has been bought it could disappear as a market story (see Belon). Second, if both shareholders are selling that could indicate issues with the Raspadskaya mine where the accident occurred (such as recovery potential or capex). And while any potential buyer from the industry is likely to conduct a proper check, this still raises negative sentiment.All in all, the negative issue is that if a strategic buyer comes in, then the price at which the company is sold is likely to be viewed as a cap for the share price. And even if it is at a premium to the current market price, our Target Price (with a 60% premium) is unlikely to materialise. The fact that management wants to exit a company which, according to its own recently published strategy, is to double output over four years, caps the upside anyway (at least in the short term).However, longer term should the deal take time and the recovery go according to plan, the market would still have to recognise the earnings growth, but that is likely to take at least until we see the 2Q11 trading update (due in July).Teldafax Bought by Group Including Energo Stream, HB Says Allison Connolly - Mar 10, 2011 7:37 AM GMT+0100 March 10 (Bloomberg) --Teldafax Holding AG, Germany’s biggest independent electricity retailer, has been bought by a group that includes Russian energy company Energo Stream, Handelsblatt said today, citing people within the company. The new owners, which include financial investors Sigma Citation Strategies, CPA Invest and the German fund Debi Select, agreed to buy the Troisdorf, Germany-based utility for 3.9 million euros ($5.4 million), the newspaper said. They have ousted Teldafax’s Chief Executive Officer Klaus Bath and board member Gernot Koch and will replace them this week, Handelsblatt reported. Teldafax Spokesman Thomas Mueller didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. To contact the reporter on this story: Allison Connolly in Frankfurt at aconnolly4@. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@. Deere Announces Major New Investments in Russia, Ill., March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Deere & Company announced today it plans to double the manufacturing space at its Domodedovo production facility near Moscow and establish its own leasing company in Russia for the sale of agriculture, construction and forestry machinery. The announcement was made in conjunction with a trip to Russia by Deere & Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Samuel R. Allen and other U.S. CEOs who accompanied U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden to the American Chamber of Commerce's 11th annual investment conference in Russia. "Russia can make a significant and sustainable contribution to help meet the world's growing demand for food, energy, and forest products," Allen said. "These investments enhance our ability to serve customers in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and in other nearby markets." The investment at the Domodedovo facility will double John Deere's manufacturing space at that site, allowing the company to expand the products it manufactures in Russia and add new products such as log forwarders, which are widely used in the Russian forestry industry. In addition to the manufacturing investment, Deere also will establish a leasing company through its John Deere Financial Services division to augment current retail financing offered by local banks and leasing companies. James A. Israel, President of John Deere Financial, said, "By establishing a leasing entity in Russia, John Deere will be able to provide retail financing solutions to our customers. Offering financing is an important factor in our service to customers in the agricultural, construction and forestry industries." Deere?&?Company (NYSE: DE) is a world leader in providing advanced products and services and is committed to the success of whose work is linked to the land - those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world's dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure. Since 1837, John?Deere has delivered innovative products of superior quality built on a tradition of integrity. For more information, visit John?Deere at its worldwide website at . SOURCE Deere & CompanySheremetyevo outpaces Domodedovo in terms of passenger traffic , 10.03.2011, Moscow 11:39:13.For the first time since 2005, Domodedovo Airport has surrendered its leadership in the number of passengers serviced to Sheremetyevo Airport, RBC Daily newspaper reported today.??????Domodedovo became the leader in the number of passengers handled after several major air carriers switched from Sheremetyevo to Domodedovo, thus making it the country's primary airport. However, Sheremetyevo was able to bridge the gap by opening a new terminal. As a result, Domodedovo hiked its passenger traffic 19.2 percent to 22.25m people in 2010, while its chief competitor saw a 31-percent rise to 19.33m passengers.??????According to preliminary data, Sheremetyevo handled 1.315m passengers (up 21.8 percent year-on-year) in February, while Domodedovo reported 1.22m passengers handled (down from 1.28m in February 2010).??????Domodedovo's Marketing Director Vladimir Kamynin told the publication that the drop is attributable primarily to the suspension of all flights to Egypt, which accounted for 12 percent of the airport's passenger traffic. Uralkali contests court suspension of merger with Silvinit potash producer Uralkali has appealed a court injunction halting its $24 billion merger with Silvinit in the Perm Region Arbitration Court, Uralkali said in a statement late on Wednesday.In February, the court suspended a merger that would have created the world's second largest potash maker, following a suit from rival fertilizer miner Akron (which owns 8% of Silvinit's voting shares) and three other minority shareholders."Measures taken by the court infringe the shareholder interests of both companies, since an overwhelming majority of shareholders (98.9% of Uralkali shareholders and 90.9% of Silvinit shareholders) voted for a merger of the firms at an extraordinary meeting on February 4, 2011," Uralkali said.Uralkali claimed the merger had been approved by international independent consultant ISS Proxy Advisory Services, which confirmed the deal was advantageous for all shareholders.Last week, Uralkali bought 19.99% of Silvinit for $1.4 billion as part of the first stage of the merger.Under the second stage, it planned to issue shares to swap for Silvinit's ordinary and preferred stock. Silvinit's shareholders were to get 133.4 Uralkali ordinary shares per Silvinit ordinary share and 51.8 Uralkali ordinary shares per Silvinit preferred share.MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti)Ice blocks crude, product exports from Russian ports, Mar 9 2011By Jessica Donati and Denis PinchukLONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Over a hundred vessels including dozens of tankers loaded with crude oil and refined products were stuck in ice at Russian ports on Wednesday, as authorities struggled against the worst conditions since 2003.Delays affecting three ports in the Gulf of Finland were holding up oil shipments, traders and the St Petersburg port authority said.In the Black Sea, tankers loaded with gasoil and other oil products were delayed as a number other ports remained closed due to the adverse weather, a shipping report showed on Wednesday."Around 20-25 tankers with crude and products have been struck today in the Gulf of Finland... This is the worst winter since 2003," said Andrey Markelov, a state authority spokesman for St Petersburg port.There were 109 vessels held up there in total, according to the authority. These included at least five aframax tankers carrying gasoil stuck in Primorsk, a broker said.Traders reported delays hitting cargoes of crude, gasoil and naphtha among other products as vessels waited for ice-breakers and adverse weather conditions forced a number of Russian ports to remain shut on Wednesday."There are 100 vessels stuck at the entrance to the Baltics waiting for ice-breakers," said one gasoil trader with an oil major, who added that icy conditions could last another week if not longer."There have been delays bringing Russian refined products to the market... (which) has added to the prompt naphtha tightness for sure," said a naphtha trader.A shortage of tankers sent shipping rates to their highest level since 2008 according to average daily earnings data from the Baltic exchange on Tuesday, as freezing conditions limited the number of available vessels."In the Baltic Sea, rates have risen above $100,000 a day as bad weather and highly limited access to tonnage with sufficient ice class has combined to create a very tight supply/demand balance," Arctic Securities analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth said in a report.Delays also hit gasoline and fuel oil cargoes headed for Lukoil's Vysotsk, as industry sources reported tankers were waiting for ice-breakers in order to proceed."They are expecting ice-breakers. One vessel should be loaded with Lukoil's gasoline and one with Lukoil's fuel oil," said an industry source.(Additional reporting by Ikuko Kurahone, Emma Farge and Jonathan Saul, editing by Jason Neely)Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)Russia May Raise Oil Export Tax by 17% in April on Urals Price Anna Shiryaevskaya - Mar 10, 2011 9:54 AM GMT+0100 Russia may raise its export duty on most crude shipments by as much as 17 percent on April 1 after Urals prices climbed. The standard tax rate will probably be $424 to $426 a metric ton, up from $365 a ton in March, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data. The discounted rate on oil pumped via Russia’s East Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline to Asia and from the Caspian Sea may reach $191 to $192.50, from $150.40 a ton. Russia sets the duty based on the average Urals price from the 15th day of one month to the 14th day of the next. Urals, Russia’s benchmark export blend, will probably average $108.14 to $108.59 during this monitoring period, Alexander Sakovich, a Finance Ministry adviser, said today by phone. The export tax on light oil products may be increased to $284 to $285 a ton from $244.60 a ton. The duty on heavy products may be $198 to $199 a ton, compared with $170.40 a ton. The government changed the calculation for oil-product taxes to a percentage of the crude levy as it gradually closes the gap between them. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin must sign off on the duties for them to come into effect. To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@ Novatek to Lead Gazprom in Putin’s LNG Push After Total Deal Anna Shiryaevskaya - Mar 9, 2011 10:01 PM GMT+0100 OAO Novatek will challenge OAO Gazprom’s dominance in foreign markets after agreeing with Total SA (FP) to build an Arctic gas-export plant. Novatek’s $20 billion development in the Yamal region is slated to be Russia’s largest plant for shipboard gas within seven years, starting earlier than Gazprom’s flagship Shtokman project. Yamal LNG got a boost last week when France’s Total agreed to take a 20 percent holding as well as to buy a $4 billion stake in Novatek. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who wants Russia to export 10 percent of its gas as LNG by 2020, blessed Novatek’s plans at a ceremony near Moscow last week, calling it a “good and large- scale work.” Gazprom has delayed decisions on expanding Russia’s only LNG facility, the Sakhalin-2 project with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and developing the Shtokman field on the Barents Sea. “Novatek’s project is now Russia’s primary LNG project outside of Sakhalin,” said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp. “Total’s strategic partnership with Novatek is an acknowledgement that Shtokman is on a much slower development path with an unpredictable future.” Total has criticized delays at Shtokman, in which it has a 25 percent stake. In June, Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie urged Putin to keep the project on track and said Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson pledged faster progress on Yamal LNG. Tax Breaks Putin has pledged tax breaks for Novatek’s project. The proposal would exempt the first 250 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 20 million metric tons of condensate from the extraction tax. Gazprom hasn’t yet secured tax holidays for Shtokman. The French explorer sees no conflict between the two projects and is trying to handle them in the best way possible, de Margerie said March 2 after the signing ceremony. All of Yamal LNG’s planned output will “easily” find demand as it targets Europe, Asia and North America, Mikhelson said. Yamal LNG plans to produce 5 million metric tons of fuel a year for export in 2016, ramping up to a total 15 million tons a year by 2018 from three production units, or trains, according to documents distributed to reporters March 2. Novatek has secured an agreement from Gazprom, which holds a 10 percent stake in the smaller gas producer, to export LNG from Yamal and sell the fuel as an agent. ‘Strong Foothold’ “The government has a much better chance of establishing a strong foothold in the global LNG business with Novatek’s LNG project than waiting for Shtokman,” Weafer said. Shtokman is located about 600 kilometers (373 miles) from Russia’s Barents Sea coast in stormy, iceberg-ridden waters. Gazprom is likely to concentrate on pipeline gas to Europe and building a link to China, Weafer said. Novatek used nuclear icebreakers to send a cargo of gas condensate from the Arctic to China last year as it weighs the costs of Asian exports. Novatek plans another trial run this year, Mikhelson said. “There is an emerging possibility that Novatek could become a de facto competitor to Gazprom - if a small one which plays only in LNG,” Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said in a note. Gazprom, Total and their third partner, Statoil ASA, are considering an LNG plant with an annual capacity of 7.5 million tons for the Shtokman field. The start of gas output has been delayed by three years to 2016, with LNG a year later. Russia may push the project back further, to 2018, Pyotr Sadovnik, deputy head of the subsoil resources, said on Feb. 17. Japanese Partners The gas producer is also considering building an LNG plant in Vladivostok with Japanese partners. Shtokman had planned to ship as much as 90 percent of the LNG it would produce to North America, where demand for imported gas fell last year during the financial crisis and as domestic shale-gas output surged. Shtokman may postpone an investment decision on initial gas output beyond a planned March deadline, while seeking tax incentives, Andre Goffart, vice president of Shtokman Development AG, said on Feb. 17. “Gazprom will probably shift its priority to the on-shore Yamal gas deposits,” Weafer said. Gazprom plans to produce at least 310 billion cubic meters a year on the Yamal Peninsula in 2030 and build a pipeline with capacity of more than 300 billion cubic meters a year, according to its website. That compares with Russia’s output of 650 billion cubic meters last year. The largest field, Bovanenkovo, will cost about 600 billion rubles ($21 billion) to develop, the company has said. Gazprom is likely to bring foreign partners, such as Shell, into the Yamal region as Russia makes Arctic resources a priority, Weafer said. To contact the reporters on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@ To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@ Tanker Plan Casts Shadow Over South Stream March 2011By Anatoly MedetskyPrime Minister Vladimir Putin floated the?idea Wednesday of?using tankers for?natural gas deliveries from?Russia to?Europe across the?Black Sea, sparking questions about the?plan to?lay the?South Stream pipeline.Putin ordered Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to?consider building a?plant that would chill natural gas into?a liquid for?transport by?tankers, in?an unexpected move that could impact the?outlook of?the European gas market.He said the?facility on?the Black Sea could come in?addition to?South Stream and?gave the?minister one week to?report the?ministry's findings on?whether Russia, the?world's biggest gas exporter, should change its plans.Gazprom and?Italy's Eni are gearing up to?invest upward of?10 billion euros ($14 billion) — according to?the latest estimate by?South Stream executive director Marcel Kramer in?October — to?lay the?pipeline under the?Black Sea to?Bulgaria and?extend it overland to?Austria and?Italy by?the end of?2015.Shmatko had prompted Putin's order by?telling him that the?European Commission — in?the latest meeting with Russian energy officials — had pointed out several alternatives to?the South Stream pipeline, including opportunities for?shipping liquefied natural gas, or LNG.In a?twist that cast doubt on?the motivation for?the LNG proposal, a?European Commission energy spokeswoman denied on?Wednesday that European officials were any part of?the idea."The European Commission has not proposed an?LNG terminal on?the Black Sea," spokeswoman Marlene Holzner told The?Moscow Times. "This was not discussed during the?meeting between the?Russian government and?the European Commission in?Brussels at?the end of?February."As a?European gas supply alternative, Shmatko may have referred to?the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector, or AGRI, project that would use Azeri gas to?produce LNG on?Georgia's stretch of?the Black Sea coast for?transportation to?a proposed terminal in?Romania, Holzner said.A Gazprom spokesman declined comment, and?a spokesman for?Eni didn't respond to?e-mailed questions. An?Energy Ministry spokesman said only that the?ministry would meet the?one-week deadline for?its verdict on?the Russian LNG plant on?the Black Sea.Russia could approve the?LNG idea as a?way to?back out of?the pipeline project, U.S.-based gas industry analyst Mikhail Korchemkin said."It doesn't make sense" to?pursue both projects, he said, noting that an?LNG plant would likely have much less capacity than the?pipeline.South Stream would carry 63 billion cubic meters of?gas a?year, if built, while the?standard train — or phase — of?an LNG plant produces 11 bcm of?gas annually, said Korchemkin, executive director of?the East European Gas Analysis consultancy.Russia might also want to?build its own LNG plant in?the area to?hamper the?AGRI progress, he said.A pipeline is a?better way to?carry gas over short distances, such as the?one between the?Black Sea coasts, said Vadim Mitroshin, an?industry analyst at?Otkritie.Regasification plants — used to?convert LNG back to?its natural state — that are being built in?Italy and?Spain would be difficult to?target because of?congestion in?the Bosporus, he said.Putin, in?his meeting with Shmatko, also said a?portion of?the gas from?the Yamal LNG plant, which Novatek wants to?build in?conjunction with France's Total, could go to?the European market as well. That would require Russia to?push for?more regasification terminals in?Europe, he said.Shmatko replied that Europe already committed to?seeking more LNG supplies."Construction of?regasification terminals in?Europe and?southern Europe is a?very promising thing," he said.Ironically, the?European Union has made construction of?LNG reception points a?priority of?its energy strategy through 2020 as a?way to?reduce dependence on?imports from?Russia.TNK-BP BoD to discuss options over BP-Rosneft tie-up DialogMarch 9, 2011The BoD of TNK-BP Ltd will meet on March 14 to discuss proposals from the company's management related to TNK-BP's potential participation in the mooted BP- Rosneft tie-up. The meeting has already been rescheduled twice at the request of BP, which has said it requires more time to study the proposals. BP and Rosneft announced in mid-January that they had struck a strategic alliance involving the joint exploration of three oil and gas blocks in the Kara Sea shelf and a share swap whereby Rosneft will acquire a 5% stake in BP for 9.5% of its treasury shares. TNK-BP's Russian shareholders were understandably upset and are looking to cancel the deal or amend the terms. Local media have speculated that under the terms of the non-public shareholder agreement between BP and Alfa-Access/Renova Group (AAR), both partners have the first right of refusal on participation in Russian oil and gas projects. However, AAR's challenge to a project that has been endorsed by Russian politicians at the highest level looks a quite bold move. An article in Vedomosti last week suggested that AAR wants TNK-BP to take BP's place in both parts of the transaction, that is to buy a 5% stake from BP (current market value $7.5 bln) to swap it into 10% of Rosneft and to participate in the Kara Sea project instead of BP. Any business tie-up is a product of mutual consent between the involved parties, and BP can probably refute this defense by asking the BoD (controlled by the Russian shareholders) to ask for formal feedback from Rosneft about this idea. In any case, the news illustrates that the managers and Russian shareholders of TNK-BP could be prepared to use the company's balance sheet to make leveraged asset acquisitions. We think that the balance sheet is strong enough to withstand such a deal, but the large size of the potential refinancing requirements would obviously create additional risk for bondholders. The news illustrates the risks of the conflict between TNK-BP's core shareholders. As we earlier commented in Debt Markets Today (January 17, 18, 28 and 31), given the resumption of the conflict, we think that the TNK-BP Eurobond curve will be more volatile than those of peers for a while. We have no doubts about TNK-BP's solid credit quality, but over the short term, we would prefer to short longer-term issues versus Gazprom, for example. Eurasia Drilling Company: Drilling up 17% YoY in January-February 2011, exceeding our expectations 10, 2011Meters drilled per day up 1% MoM, 12% YoY in February. Eurasia Drilling Company (EDCL LI - Buy) reports that it drilled 301,310 meters in February 2011, which translates into 10,671 meters per day, up 1% MoM and 12% YoY. For the first two months of 2011, meters drilled increased by 17% YoY and were also 6% above the record, pre-crisis level of 2M08. High-base effect downplays the strength of Feb 2011 drilling. In 2007-09, EDC's drilling activity slowed down MoM in February. How- ever, in 2010, EDC had a weak January due to harsh weather conditions and stepped up drilling in February. These one-time low- and high- base effects should explain why meters drilled rose by a striking 24% YoY in January 2011 but by a more modest 12% YoY in February 2011. 2M10 results exceed our full-year estimates. We are looking for EDC to increase drilling by 15% YoY to 4,730 km in 2011 based on both organic growth and additions to its fleet from the Schlumberger deal late in 2010. The 2M11 statistics show growth exceeding our estimate by 2 ppt; however, this growth may still be partly due to the slowdown in activity in early 2010 due to the cold weather. EDC itself is guiding for YoY drilling growth of 17% to 4,800 km in 2011. We reiterate our Buy recommendation for Eurasia Drilling with a target price of $40/share and upside of 19%. Alexei KokinGazpromGazprom Talks With Danes March 2011Gazprom has met with the?Danish transport-focused group Moller-Maersk over a?possible drilling tie-up in?the Arctic, reported, citing Norwegian newsletter Petromedia.Gazprom deputy chief executive and?management board member Alexander Ananenkov held talks last week with representatives from?Moller-Maersk, which includes rig contractor subsidiary Maersk Drilling.Gazprom is believed to?have insisted on?a role for?Russian shipbuilders as a?condition for?the further development of?the enterprise.(MT)Gazprom’s capitalization soars on Libyan unrest ’s Gazprom is among the world’s ten largest oil and gas companies which have benefited from the political turmoil in Libya, according to analysts. Against the backdrop of rallying oil and gas prices and falling oil supplies from Libya, the capitalization of the Russian gas monopoly has climbed 10.8 percent to $180bn since February 15. Libya’s oil exports have dropped in the ballpark of 70-80% to date, according to various industry estimates. In addition, oil production in this North African country has plunged to 700,000-750,000 bpd. This means that consumers face a shortage of about 1m bpd of oil, while global oil and gas companies have jumped at the opportunity.According to Bank of Moscow analyst Denis Borisov, Gazprom ranks third in terms of capitalization among major oil and gas companies that have profited from the Libyan war. Gazprom spokesman Igor Volobuyev told RBC that the spike in the company’s stock prices is attributable to numerous factors, rather than just the crisis in North Africa. Among other factors he pointed to higher gas consumption amid a cold winter and stable financial results.However, according to Borisov, Gazprom’s stocks are unlikely to keep outperforming the market given that the heating season is coming to an end and spot gas prices are likely to decline. The gas giant’s stock will be under pressure from weak operating results in the first two months of this year, Borisov predicts. Gazprom’s gas output fell in early 2011 in year-on-year terms. Analytical department of RIA RosBusinessConsulting ................
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