Russia
Russia 090731Basic Political Developments
· Ex-Soviet states meet for 'Russian NATO' summit - The leaders
of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) were set to
discuss the implementation of a deal signed on June 14 of the
group's first joint rapid reaction force, the Kremlin said in a
statement.
· CSTO informal summit of CSTO state leaders to open in
Kyrgyzstan today - As informed earlier, the informal summit of the
CSTO state leaders will be held on July 31 - August 1 in
Cholpon-Ata. According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of
Kazakhstan, during the informal summit, the heads of the CSTO
member states will discuss the questions of international security
and activities of the organization.
· New security stronghold planned in Central Asia - Seven former
Soviet states are set to discuss the creation of a joint security
stronghold in Kyrgyzstan at an informal meeting of the member
states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
· Dushanbe summit vows to curb drug menace - At a four-nation
security summit held here on Thursday, the presidents of Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Russia and Tajikistan agreed to intensify fight
against drug trafficking in the region.
· Fighting terrorism together - Russia also supports NATO’s aim
to defeat militants in Afghanistan, which is why Moscow agreed to
sign the deal with the USA. Both Russia and the US understand
though that Al-Qaeda often hits NATO’s allies, who are much closer
to Afghanistan’s territory. Nonetheless, the Russian president
chose to sign the agreement, giving Moscow an even larger role in
fighting terrorism in the region.
· Russian-owned Tajik hydropower plant officially launched
· RF, Tajik presidents launch Sangtuda HPP-1: The Russian and
Tajikistani Presidents - Dmitry Medvedev and Emomali Rakhmon - in a
festive ceremony on Friday launched the Sangtuda Hydropower Plant-1
built with direct participation of Russian companies.
· Russia has no claims to Tajikistan regarding Russian language
- “We do not need any explanations as the status of the language is
fixed in the Constitution,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Sergei
Prikhodko said on Thursday.
· Medvedev Pushes Energy and Transport - “Energy projects are
what really help governments that need to strengthen their
economy,” he said. “Assistance must not just be a one-off, it
should be aimed toward the future.”
· Russia boosts C.Asia ties, opens plant in Tajikistan - Control
over Central Asia's abundant oil, gas, metals and hydro resources
is at the centre of Russia-U.S. rivalry, particularly at a time
when escalating fighting in nearby Afghanistan in adding to
security concerns in the region.
· Russia pushes for CAsia energy projects
· Russian Premier to visit Turkey August 6 - "Today the head of
government Vladimir Putin and the Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation during which they
agreed on a working visit by the Russian head of government to
Turkey on 6 August," the statement said.
· EU mission issues statement ahead of first anniversary of
August war in Caucasus - At this particularly fragile time, it is
exceedingly important for all parties to show restraint and to
refrain from staging any provocative acts, the EU observer mission
said in its statement, which was circulated on behalf of the
mission's deputy head General Gilles Janvier on Thursday.
· South Ossetia to make territorial claim on Georgian gorge -
South Ossetia intends to demand the return of its former territory,
the Truso Gorge, which is currently a part of Georgia, the former
Georgian republic's president said on Friday.
· U.S. claims about Russia's possible NATO membership nonsense –
Rogozin
· U.S. Takes Steps to Boost Security Cooperation With Russia -
The United States is moving to deepen security cooperation with
Russia as part of the Obama administration's effort to "reset"
relations with Moscow, senior officials told Congress on
Thursday.
· Partnership deal signed with Russia - Russia and India will
look to establish exporting standards for over 45 of India's fish
processing plants.
· Russian energy minister to visit Iraq in early August -
Russia's energy minister Sergei Shmatko said on Friday he would pay
a visit to Iraq in early August to discuss oil and energy
cooperation.
· Putin signs doc on quicker energy facilities building in F
East
· East Russia May Pump 150 Billion Cubic Meters of Gas, Putin
Says
· RF Transport Min asks Far East gvrnrs to subsidise local
airlines
· RF to keep discount rates for flights from F East until late
Oct
· Ukrainian diplomat expelled from Russia named - Berezkin, who
recently took up his post in the political section of the Ukrainian
embassy in Moscow, coordinated all issues on Ukraine-Russian
relations, in particular Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine's
Crimea.
· Sechin Latin America trip opens door for Russian energy
producers
· Chinese merchants to retrieve seized goods in closed Moscow
market
· Moscow Denies Plan For Chinese Market
· Russian Journalist Not Allowed Into Lithuania
· Belarus to reduce transit tariffs to Kaliningrad for Russian
metals
· Russia's Nerpa nuclear sub starts sea trials in Far East -
Russia's Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal
accident during tests in November last year, started on Friday the
second stage of new sea trials, a source involved in the tests
said.
· Russian Sailors Claim Attack - The 15 Russian crew members of
the Arctic Sea say they were tied up and beaten by a group of up to
10 men who boarded the ship July 24 off the Swedish island of
Oland, lead investigator Ingemar Isaksson said. No serious injuries
were reported.
· Russia's Airborne Troops To Use Attack Drones in Near Future -
Russia's airborne troops are about to complete the work on their
new image and structure. Russia’s mobile assault forces will
preserve mobility and increase their combat potential, the
commander of the troops, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said.
· Russian Armed Forces Develop an "Information Pipeline" - Last
week a report in the Moscow Gazeta daily quoted a source in the
General Staff as saying that the main objective of Kavkaz 2009 was
to test a new computerized command and control system.
· Moscow police hunt killer of manager at Russian defense firm -
Moscow police are conducting a manhunt for the killer of a top
manager at one of Russia's largest defense firms, Almaz-Antei, a
law enforcement source told RIA Novosti on Friday.
· Meeting of Armenian Church and Russian Orthodox leaders held
in Moscow - Between July 14 and 16, Karekin II, the Catholicos of
All Armenians, traveled to Moscow to meet with Kirill I, the
Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and the leader
of the Russian Orthodox Church since his installation last
February.
· Russian soldiers instead of cigarettes will get candy -
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Dmitry Bulgakov has
announced that the Defense Ministry will no longer purchase
cigarettes for soldiers.
· A Decade With Putin – By Robert Coalson
National Economic Trends
· Russian monetary base down 0.6% in week to $130 bln
· TABLE-Russia monetary base falls to 4.06 trln rbls
· 2010 Budget Protects Social Outlays
· State Will Wait Until 2010 for Borrowing
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
· Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel, Polyus Gold: Russia Equity
Preview
· RTS Micex merger proposal gains impetus
· RusAl Says Guinean Spill ‘Controlled’ - United Company RusAl
said Thursday that the 500 tons of caustic soda its Guinean alumina
refinery accidentally spilled into the West African country’s
waters have been controlled and haven’t affected the local
area.
· Some Banks Not Sold On RusAl Debt Deal - Many of the 70 banks
involved are not on the committee and saw the draft proposal for
the first time only a day before meeting in Paris on Wednesday
evening, a banking source told Reuters.
· Russia Severstal Q2 steel output down 28 pct y/y
· Russia's Norilsk Nickel posts net profit of $1.7 bln for
Q2
· Norilsk Nickel Will Get New Drilling Rig
· Russia's VTB new share issue opens Aug 4 –source
· Russia's MTS to pay $1.3 bln for Comstar-paper
· Suzuki scrap plans to build plant in Russia
· Russian Truck Maker Kamaz Suspends Production
· Russia's Rosinter like-for-like sales fall in H1
· IKEA Reaches Deal On Samara Outlet
· Hermitage Seeks U.S. Help in Russian Case
· Hermitage Claims Russian Bankers May Have Helped With Fraud -
In a New York court filing, Hermitage alleges that executives of
Moscow investment bank Renaissance Capital Holdings had prior
knowledge of theft and tax fraud
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
· U.S Company expects for next break up of Russian gas supplies
to Europe - U.S analyst company, ESAI (Energy Security Analysis),
expects for breaking up Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine
and Belorussia this winter.
· Yulia Tymoshenko: Ukraine in talks with EU, EBRD, EIB and
Gazprom for gas loan
· Russia's Gunvor to store crude off US Gulf Coast - Russian oil
trader Gunvor has leased a supertanker to store about 2 million
barrels of crude off the U.S. Gulf Coast, helping to partly fill
the shrinking volumes kept at sea worldwide, industry sources said
on Thursday.
· Timan Gets New Owner - Midsized Timan Oil said Thursday that
businessman Vitaly Belik has taken control of the company.
· Volga Gas confirms oil at latest well on Yuzhno-Uzenksaya
field
Gazprom
· Gazprom posts 40.8% net profit drop in 1H09 under RAS
· Gazprom Starts Building Pacific Link, May Hurt Exxon
(Update1)
· Russia's Gazprom says needs to work hard on Exxon
· Exxon Expected to Face Tough Talks on Sakhalin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Text ArticlesBasic Political Developments
Ex-Soviet states meet for 'Russian NATO' summit
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gtBsF1kShiMoccol8RtpjEj_m7AA
(AFP) – 1 hour ago
CHOLPON-ATA, Kyrgyzstan — The presidents of seven ex-Soviet
states were to meet Friday for a summit of a security grouping led
by Russia and touted as an eastern counterweight to NATO.
But the meeting at an idyllic location on the shores of Lake
Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan was set to be marked by differences as
Moscow struggles to keep control over its former Soviet
subjects.
The leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation
(CSTO) were set to discuss the implementation of a deal signed on
June 14 of the group's first joint rapid reaction force, the
Kremlin said in a statement.
The summit, billed as a informal meeting, was due to get
underway after 1000 GMT.
The creation of the force -- officially called the Collective
Operational Reaction Forces (CORF) -- is a clear bid to rival the
Western military alliance's own joint operations.
But the idea had a difficult birth when the authoritarian but
increasingly pro-EU President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
refused to show up at the June 14 meeting in Moscow to sign the
document.
Lukashenko, to the surprise of some, is to attend the Kyrgyzstan
meeting and Kremlin officials had expressed confidence that he will
sign the document at the lakeside resort of Cholpon-Ata.
But Valentin Rybakov, an aide to Lukashenko, told the Kommersant
newspaper: "As a sovereign and independent state, Belarus will
decide itself what CSTO documents to sign and when."
The newspaper commented: "Moscow's plans to strengthen the
CSTO's military components and transform it into the Russian
equivalent of NATO are threatened with collapse."
Russia will also not be able to succeed in persuading Kyrgyzstan
to sign documents on the creation of a base for the force in its
city of Osh at the summit, Kommersant said.
The organization's secretary general, Nikolai Bordyuzha, said
the creation of the base has not even been put on the summit
agenda, the Interfax news agency reported.
The CSTO is made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Kommersant said Uzbekistan's strongman President Islam Karimov
-- currently seeking better ties with the United States -- would
signal his opposition to the base's creation at the summit.
CSTO informal summit of CSTO state leaders to open in Kyrgyzstan
today
http://eng.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=135307
[12:00] 31.07.2009, Kazakhstan Today
The informal summit of the heads of the states of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will open today in Kyrgyzstan,
"Kazakhstan Today" agency reports citing the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs of Kyrgyzstan.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the summit will
start its work in the evening in the state residence №2 in the city
Cholpon-Ata. The President of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, will
personally meet his counterparts.
After the heads of the states and CSTO Secretary General gather
in the cultural-ethnographic centre Ruh Ordo, they will hear the
report on approaches and practical measures of formation of the
coordinated information policy of the CSTO states. The leaders of
the states will discuss the question of construction on the bank of
the lake Issyk Kul of the international youth military-sports
centre of the organization.
The meeting will come to an end with a working dinner on behalf
of the President of Kyrgyzstan in honor of the honored guests.
During the summit, the leaders of the CSTO states will hold a
number of bilateral negotiations.
As informed earlier, the informal summit of the CSTO state
leaders will be held on July 31 - August 1 in Cholpon-Ata.
According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, during
the informal summit, the heads of the CSTO member states will
discuss the questions of international security and activities of
the organization.
New security stronghold planned in Central Asia
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-07-31/new-security-stronghold-kyrgyzstan.html/print
31 July, 2009, 09:35
Seven former Soviet states are set to discuss the creation of a
joint security stronghold in Kyrgyzstan at an informal meeting of
the member states of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization.
The presidents of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are to meet in the Kyrgyz
resort town of Cholpon-Ata on Lake Issyk-Kul.
The creation of a joint-CSTO Rapid Reaction Force military base
in the Central Asian country is on the agenda. Earlier, Russia
suggested deploying its rapid reaction force battalion in the
southern part of Kyrgyzstan.
"The base is necessary in case of certain decisions in the CSTO
framework. It is not intended for any of our issues," said Kremlin
foreign policy aide Sergey Prikhodko.
Kyrgyzstan's newly re-elected president, Kurmanbek Bakiev
suggested it might be a training center for the Russian and Kyrgyz
military, rather than a standard military base.
Kyrgyzstan has become a key location for fighting terrorism in
the region, and an American military base there has already courted
controversy.
It is said that every close relationship has to have spice, and
in the case of Russia and Kyrgyzstan – the Manas air base is
the jalapeno.
“Some members of Russia's political elite think that by using
this base to satisfy its geo-political interests in Afghanistan,
Washington is creating a threat to Russia's national security,”
said Aleksandr Knyazev from the Institute of CIS Studies.
The Manas base has been used by the US and coalition forces
since 2001 to support operations in Afghanistan.
Over the years, it has become a source of controversy with many
locals wanting it closed after an American soldier shot dead a
Kyrgyz citizen on December 6, 2006.
This February, the country's authorities denounced the agreement
for coalition forces to use the base. But a new deal was signed,
under which the US would pay three times more than it did
before – or US$170 million in rent for it to become a transit
point for the US air force.
US military planes can be seen coming and leaving almost every
hour at the Manas base. But after nearly a decade of operations in
Afghanistan, not much progress has been made in terms of either
fighting terror or drug trafficking in the country.
Opinion is split over whether the Manas base is likely to be
removed in the near future.
“I don't think the Americans will leave anytime soon,” said
Tabyldy Orozaliyev, MP and Vice Chairman of the ruling Ak Jol
People’s party. “I think they will stay – it's difficult to
say when this is going to end.”
Moscow has stressed that as long as Manas only remains a transit
point, it has no problem with its activities.
Russia also has military links with Kyrgyzstan both being
members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization – a
security bloc of seven CIS states.
Kant is one air base within the framework of the CSTO, and talks
with Moscow on a second one are underway. Both are meant to host a
joint team of commandos from the member states of the
organization.
Agreements on the new base are planned to be signed in the
nearest future, with Southern Kyrgyzstan chosen as the location for
security reasons.
“Religious extremism is a problem for the whole region,” said
Aleksandr Knyazev. “We see its signs in the neighboring states of
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and I think it's caused by the situation
in Pakistan and Afghanistan and US policies there.”
Kyrgyzstan is a small country in the heart of Central Asia, but
its location makes it attractive for the big players in global
politics.
Dushanbe summit vows to curb drug menace
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/11-pakistan--tajikistan--and-afghanistan-sign-agreement--il--11
Friday, 31 Jul, 2009 | 02:12 AM PST |
DUSHANBE: At a four-nation security summit held here on
Thursday, the presidents of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia and
Tajikistan agreed to intensify fight against drug trafficking in
the region.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, Presidents Asif
Ali Zardari, Hamid Karzai, Dmitry Medvedev and Emomali Rakhmon
expressed concern over an increase in narcotics trade, terming it
one of the main sources of financing for militancy.
It called upon the international community to take ‘additional
steps for a decisive fight against the narco-threat.’
Addressing a news conference after the meeting, President
Zardari said that the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and this
region were looking up to the leadership of the region to help
solve their problems.
Mr Medvedev said the four countries had a shared vision of how
to make the turbulent region, and the world, safer.
‘We want regional and international security to be more
comprehensible, more transparent, more controlled and based on
international law,’ he said.
President Medvedev is also pushing for energy and transportation
projects — in which Russia is likely to lead the way — to boost
economic development in Afghanistan and surrounding countries.
He called building energy infrastructure a vital prerequisite
for prosperity.
‘Energy projects are what really help governments that need to
strengthen their economy. Assistance must not just be a one-off
affair, it should aim towards the future,’ he said. He said the
leaders had discussed trade and cross-border projects at their
meeting.
‘We have a common space which should be filled with all sorts of
projects. ‘We were talking about energy projects, railway
projects,’ he said. He said Russia would lobby for international
financing for the plans.
‘I believe that huge sums allocated by the international
community — altogether making trillions of dollars — should go for
such aims,’ he said.
Afghanistan’s Karzai said: ‘This meeting... is the first
important step in the direction of better understanding.
Afghanistan... welcomes this and will participate in that
wholly.’
Security cooperation was a key issue of separate talks held by
the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan earlier in the
day.
‘The three states have expressed enthusiasm to cooperate in
fighting against all threats and challenges like terrorism and all
its manifestations: separatism, extremism and organised crime,’ the
joint statement said.
‘We attached primary attention to common security issues,’
Tajikistan’s Rakhmon said after the talks with Mr Zardari and Mr
Karzai.
President Zardari also held separate talks with the Russian
leader who said trade between the two countries had been growing
despite the economic crisis. — Agencies
President Zardari returned on Thursday from Dushanbe after a
3-day visit to Tajikistan.
Fighting terrorism together
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-07-30/fighting-terrorism-afghanistan-drugs.html/print
30 July, 2009, 20:49
“A symbol of trust” – that is what Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev dubbed his meeting with the leaders of Tajikistan,
Afghanistan and Pakistan during a visit to the Tajik capital,
Dushanbe.
Fighting terrorism in Afghanistan was the main focus of the
Thursday summit of the four presidents.
The leaders of Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan
first met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
earlier this year in Russia’s Yekaterinburg to discuss terrorism.
This was where they also agreed to again meet to continue their
talks on the issue.
At the present summit, the presidents did not say much about
what they were discussing but did mention that the talks were
productive and they would continue meeting in the future.
Also, the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, thanked the
other presidents on behalf of his people for their efforts in
providing peace in Afghanistan.
Russia’s part
Russia’s involvement in the region, including fighting terrorism
in Afghanistan, is becoming more intense. President Medvedev and
his American counterpart, Barack Obama, signed an agreement in
Moscow in July that opens Russian air space to US military cargo on
its way to Afghanistan.
Despite alternative routes being available, such as through
Pakistan and other countries, Obama was reportedly keen, for safety
reasons, to sign the deal with Moscow.
Russia also supports NATO’s aim to defeat militants in
Afghanistan, which is why Moscow agreed to sign the deal with the
USA. Both Russia and the US understand though that Al-Qaeda often
hits NATO’s allies, who are much closer to Afghanistan’s territory.
Nonetheless, the Russian president chose to sign the agreement,
giving Moscow an even larger role in fighting terrorism in the
region.
Drug trafficking
Drug trafficking from Afghanistan is another problem that is a
major concern for Russia. The income from this illegal industry is
primarily used for financing terrorists. This is another reason why
Russia wants to be more deeply involved in solving the problem.
If the current format of co-operation between Russia,
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan proves to be efficient, Russia
is expected to increase its efforts in the fight against terrorism
and drug trafficking in the region.
Russian military base in Tajikistan
Russia is also ready to discuss its military presence in
Tajikistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on
Thursday. According to media reports, Tajikistan could raise the
issue of seeking payments from Moscow in exchange for it keeping
its military base in the country.
One of the apparent purposes for Russia’s largest foreign ground
base is to help maintain peace in the region and support its Tajik
partners on the border with Afghanistan.
"We are partners, and if one of the partners wants to discuss
something, we are ready. We will discuss this issue when it is
raised with us," Lavrov told Russian journalists in Dushanbe on
Thursday, according to Interfax.
Dmitry Medvedev and his Tajik counterpart have ordered their
Defense and Foreign ministers to discuss the terms for Russia’s
continuing presence in the country.
Russia’s Defense Minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, is accompanying
President Medvedev during his visit to Tajikistan.
Russian-owned Tajik hydropower plant officially launched
http://www.prime-tass.com/news/show.asp?topicid=50&id=461596
MOSCOW, Jul 31 (PRIME-TASS) -- Russian-owned Sangtudinskaya
GES-1 hydropower plant in Tajikistan was officially launched
Friday, ITAR-TASS reported.
The launch ceremony was attended by Tajik President Emomali
Rahmon and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, who is
currently visiting Tajikistan.
The Russian and Tajik governments concluded an agreement to
operate the plant.
Meanwhile, Medvedev said that Russia and Tajikistan planned to
sign several agreements on cooperation in the energy industry and
in the exploration of mineral resources.
Russian state-controlled nuclear conglomerate Rosatom holds
66.39% in the Sangtudinskaya GES-1 plant. Earlier this month the
conglomerate said it would transfer its stake to Russian electric
power importer Inter RAO UES, which is 57.3% controlled by Rosatom.
The Tajik government owns 16.45% in the plant, while Russia's
state-controlled Federal Grid Company (FGC) holds 14.92%.
The plant has a capacity of 670 megawatts.
RF, Tajik presidents launch Sangtuda HPP-1
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14194996
SANGTUDA (Tajikistan), July 31 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian and
Tajikistani Presidents - Dmitry Medvedev and Emomali Rakhmon - in a
festive ceremony on Friday launched the Sangtuda Hydropower Plant-1
built with direct participation of Russian companies.
The two heads of state pressed a symbolical button in the
turbine room of the HPP after which on the map of Tajikistan green
lines showing electrical networks lit up via which electricity will
be supplied from the station.
Ahead of the ceremony, CEO of the Inter RAO UES Company Yevgeny
Dod and Tajikistani First Vice Prime Minister Asadullo Gulomov
signed an act of state acceptance of the plant thus officially
completing the work for the HPP construction launched back in the
Soviet period, about 20 years ago.
After that Director of the Sangtuda HPP OJSC Rakhmetulla
Alzhanov told the presidents about the main parameters of the plant
and demonstrated the equipment installed in the turbine room.
Alzhanov told reporters that the HPP will attain the design
capacity in 2 months when the plant’s dam lake fills with water. It
is planned that the HPP’s share will reach 12 percent of annual
generation of all electricity in Tajikistan. He added that in two
years after the Sangtuda HPP-2 is built by Iranian specialists
downstream the Vakhsh River, the Tajikistan will solve the energy
dependence problem. “Electricity will be supplied to houses round
the clock, even in winter during frosts,” said Alzhanov.
The Sangtuda HPP-1 with the design capacity of 670 megawatts is
one of the largest joint Russian-Tajikistani investment projects in
the CIS space. The completion of the hydropower plant located 160
kilometres south of Dushanbe on the Vakhsh River, was started in
April 2005 with 75-percent Russian capital. In 2008, amid a severe
winter with 20-degree frosts that brought Tajikistan to the brink
of energy collapse, the first unit of the plant was commissioned
ahead of schedule, which considerably improved electricity supply
to the million-populated Tajikistani capital. The last - fourth -
power unit of the HPP was put into operation in the middle of this
May.
Russia has no claims to Tajikistan regarding Russian
language
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14194263&PageNum=0
DUSHANBE, July 31 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia has no claims to
Tajikistan regarding the use of Russian language in the Central
Asian republic, where it is recognized as the language of
inter-ethnic communication.
“We do not need any explanations as the status of the language
is fixed in the Constitution,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Sergei
Prikhodko said on Thursday.
“The use of the Russian language is in the interests of
Tajikistan,” he said, adding “there are no claims” regarding the
use of the Russian language in the republic.
Last week Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon urged to pass a new
language law that will switch state communications exclusively to
the Tajik language, while at present Russian-language information
is also available.
However, Prikhodko praised the Tajik president for his personal
contribution to Russian language education. Programs have been
launched to send Russian-language teachers to Tajikistan, to open
affiliates of Russian institutes and Russian-language classes in
secondary schools.
Numerous Tajiks are labor migrants in Russia, and while
discussing the issue Rakhmon said “the people are also the carriers
of the Russian language and Tajikistan is interested in that they
have a possibility to work in Russia and study the Russian
language.”
Many Tajiks had to return back home from Russia after the
economic crisis erupted.
Medvedev Pushes Energy and Transport
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/380005.htm
31 July 2009 By Peter Leonard / The Associated Press
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday
pushed for energy and transportation projects — in which Russia is
likely to lead the way — to boost economic development in
Afghanistan and surrounding countries.
Meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Tajikistan, Medvedev called building energy infrastructure a vital
prerequisite for prosperity.
“Energy projects are what really help governments that need to
strengthen their economy,” he said. “Assistance must not just be a
one-off, it should be aimed toward the future.”
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari appeared to welcome the
prospect of a greater Russian role in improving stability and
enabling economic development.
“We are a region that is asking for help,” he said. “The people
of Pakistan, the people of Afghanistan are looking forward and
looking up to the leadership in the region to help them come out of
their problems.”
Moscow has already invested heavily in projects in the region.
On Friday, Medvedev is to attend the unveiling of the Sangtuda-1
hydropower plant, in which Russia has a 75 percent stake and has
invested almost $500 million.
While security issues lay at the heart of the meeting in
Dushanbe, much attention was devoted to a project to export surplus
electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan, whose economy was ruined by civil war in the
mid-1990s, has pinned its hopes of resurrecting its economy on new
hydropower plants built with financial and technical assistance
from Russia. The country currently suffers from chronic power
shortages throughout the winter, but new plants could eventually
enable Tajikistan to satisfy its own energy demands and also sell
power to neighboring countries.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali
Rakhmon, joined Zardari in vowing to work more closely in fighting
terrorism amid growing fears that instability could fan across the
region.
Concerns have mounted in recent months that the step-up in
military operations against insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan
may be contributing to worsening security in Tajikistan, which has
struggled to protect its 1,300-kilometer border with
Afghanistan.
In recent weeks, Tajikistan has seen a spate of clashes between
government troops and militants in areas near the Afghan
border.
Zardari indicated that his country was committed to ensuring
stability beyond his country’s borders.
“We stand together to confirm and inform the world that together
we shall face all eventualities, whether they are a threat to our
national interests through terrorism, or whether it is a hope for
the future of the coming generation,” Zardari said.
While not committing any troops to U.S.-led military operations
to quell the insurgency in Afghanistan, Moscow has sought in recent
months to take a more prominent role in regional security.
In July, Russia agreed to allow the United States to ship
Afghanistan-bound weapons across its territory.
The normal supply route to landlocked Afghanistan via Pakistan
has come under repeated Taliban attack, and the United States and
NATO have been eager to have an alternate overland supply route
through Russia and the Central Asian countries.
Moscow hopes to secure a second military base in Kyrgyzstan,
where the United States also has an important air base. Kremlin
officials say the base would be used by a rapid-reaction force
being formed by the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty
Organization. Other organization members are Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The issue is due to be discussed this weekend, when Medvedev
meets other Collective Security Treaty Organization leaders in
Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital.
Russia boosts C.Asia ties, opens plant in Tajikistan
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLV61621720090731
Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:29pm IST
* Russia opens new power plant in Tajikistan
* Seeks to retain regional influence
By Roman Kozhevnikov and Anastasia Onegina
SANGTUDA, Tajikistan, July 31 (Reuters) - Russia opened a large
hydroelectric plant in Tajikistan on Friday as part of its push to
counter growing U.S. clout in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Control over Central Asia's abundant oil, gas, metals and hydro
resources is at the centre of Russia-U.S. rivalry, particularly at
a time when escalating fighting in nearby Afghanistan in adding to
security concerns in the region.
Tajikistan has been particularly courted by Washington in recent
months because of its role as a transit nation for U.S. troops
fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Seeking to boost Moscow's weight in a region Russia sees as part
of its sphere of influence, President Dmitry Medvedev flew to
Tajikistan to open a new $720 million power plant due to account
for 12 percent of Tajikistan's electricity output.
"(Sangtuda-1 plant) is a large project that will link our
countries and peoples for many years," Medvedev said, speaking at
the giant Soviet-style construction perched on a powerful river
gushing down the Pamir mountains.
Security remains a major concern in the region which has been
rocked by a series of violent clashes between state troops and
armed gangs described as Islamist rebels by the authorities.
On the eve of Medvedev's visit to Sangtuda, a bomb blew up a
police car in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, injuring a policeman.
The power plant deal cements Moscow's role as Tajikistan's key
partner at a time when the West is taking steps to forge closer
ties with ex-Soviet republics -- a process Moscow sees as an
attempt to poach its long-standing allies.
The United States last month convinced Kyrgyzstan, another
Central Asian nation, to allow U.S. troops to keep a military air
base in the country.
In another case, Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation
also bordering Afghanistan, has strongly objected to Moscow plans
to set up a new military base in Kyrgyzstan and threatened to block
any such moves, according to Russian media.
Relations with Tajikistan itself have also been rocky. The tiny
nation has irked Russia by drafting a new law limiting the use of
the Russian language and promoting Tajik, a language closely linked
to Farsi. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Maria
Golovnina)
Russia pushes for CAsia energy projects
http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_tajikistan_russia_development.html
Last updated July 30, 2009 10:30 a.m. PT
By PETER LEONARDASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on
Thursday pushed for energy and transportation projects - in which
Russia is likely to lead the way - to boost economic development in
Afghanistan and surrounding countries.
Meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Tajikistan, Medevdev called building energy infrastructure a vital
prerequisite for prosperity.
"Energy projects are what really help governments that need to
strengthen their economy," he said. "Assistance must not just be a
one-off, it should be aimed toward the future."
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari appeared to welcome the
prospect of a greater Russian role in improving stability and
enabling economic development.
"We are a region that is asking for help," he said. "The people
of Pakistan, the people of Afghanistan are looking forward and
looking up to the leadership in the region to help them come out of
their problems."
Russia has already invested heavily in projects in the region.
On Friday, Medvedev is to attend the unveiling of the Sangtuda-1
hydropower plant, in which Russia has a 75 percent stake and has
invested almost $500 million.
While security issues lay at the heart of the meeting in
Dushanbe, much attention was devoted to a project to export surplus
electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan, whose economy was ruined by civil war in the
mid-1990s, has pinned its hopes of resurrecting its economy on new
hydropower plants built with financial and technical assistance
from Russia. The country currently suffers from chronic power
shortages throughout the winter, but new plants could eventually
enable Tajikistan to satisfy its own energy demands and also sell
power to neighboring countries.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali
Rakhmon, joined Zardari in vowing to work more closely in fighting
terrorism amid growing fears that instability could fan across the
region.
Concerns have mounted in recent months that the step-up in
military operations against insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan
may be contributing to worsening security in Tajikistan, a former
Soviet republic that has struggled to protect its 830-mile
(1,300-kilometer) border with Afghanistan.
In recent weeks, Tajikistan has seen a spate of clashes between
government troops and militants in areas near the Afghan
border.
Zardari indicated his country was committed to ensuring
stability beyond his country's borders.
"We stand together to confirm and inform the world that together
we shall face all eventualities, whether they are a threat to our
national interests through terrorism, or whether it is a hope for
the future of the coming generation," Zardari said.
While not committing any troops to U.S.-led military operations
to quell the insurgency in Afghanistan, Moscow has sought in recent
months to take a more prominent role in regional security.
In July, Russia agreed to allow the United States to ship
Afghanistan-bound weapons across its territory.
The normal supply route to landlocked Afghanistan via Pakistan
has come under repeated Taliban attack, and the U.S. and NATO have
been eager to have an alternate overland supply route through
Russia and the Central Asian countries.
Moscow hopes to secure a second military base in the Central
Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, where the United State also has an
important air base. Kremlin officials say the base would be used by
a rapid-reaction force being formed by the Russian-dominated
Collective Security Treaty Organization. Other organization members
are Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The issue is due to be discussed this weekend, when Medvedev
meets other Collective Security Treaty Organization leaders in
Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital.
Russian Premier to visit Turkey August 6
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=102085§ionid=351020204
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:19:05 GMT
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is scheduled to pay a
visit to Turkey on August 6 at the invitation of his Turkish
counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to a statement by the Russian government press
service, the visit was agreed during a phone conversation between
Putin and Erdogan on Thursday.
"Today the head of government Vladimir Putin and the Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation
during which they agreed on a working visit by the Russian head of
government to Turkey on 6 August," the statement said.
The statement further added that several joint economic and
trade projects will be examined during the Russian official's
visit.
According to the Turkish daily Sabah, Turkey and Russia would
sign three protocols on bilateral cooperation - in the oil, gas and
nuclear spheres.
Trade between the two countries totaled around $40 billion in
2008.
EU mission issues statement ahead of first anniversary of August
war in Caucasus
http://www.interfax.com/3/508602/news.aspx
TBILISI. July 31 (Interfax) - The EU observer mission has issued
a
statement in the run-up to the first anniversary of last
August's
conflict in the Caucasus, calling on all sides concerned to
display
restraint and to avoid staging provocations.
At this particularly fragile time, it is exceedingly important
for
all parties to show restraint and to refrain from staging
any
provocative acts, the EU observer mission said in its statement,
which
was circulated on behalf of the mission's deputy head General
Gilles
Janvier on Thursday.
An escalation of tensions today would not meet anyone's
interests,
the mission said.
Several incidents have occurred in the past few days, it
said.
The observer mission continues to follow the situation and to
study
it in the regions in a thorough and impartial manner, it
said.
The mission also continues to cooperate with all sides concerned
in
order to maintain security and stability for the population
living in
the territories near the administrative borders, according to
the
document.
South Ossetia to make territorial claim on Georgian gorge
http://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20090731/155685643.html
MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - South Ossetia intends to demand
the return of its former territory, the Truso Gorge, which is
currently a part of Georgia, the former Georgian republic's
president said on Friday.
"We have serious territorial issues which have to be raised. And
we will raise them. This is about the Truso Gorge, currently a part
of Georgia's Mtskheta-Mtianeti region - this is an indigenously
Ossetian land that for some unclear reason was transferred during
Soviet times to the administrative control of the Georgian Soviet
Republic," Eduard Kokoity told RIA Novosti.
"Today we must raise the issue of returning these lands to
Ossetia," he said.
The president also said that South Ossetia will start
constructing border facilities on the 400-km frontier with Georgia,
despite Tbilisi's refusal to recognize South Ossetia's independence
and participate in the border demarcation.
"At this stage the frontier will be established within the
borders of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast [a region created
within the Georgian Soviet Republic in 1922]," Kokoity said.
The border between Georgia and its former republic of South
Ossetia is currently controlled by Russian and South Ossetian
border guards.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and another former Georgian
republic, Abkhazia, after Russia and Georgia fought a five day war
last August. Georgian forces had attacked South Ossetia in an
attempt to bring it back under central control.
U.S. claims about Russia's possible NATO membership nonsense –
Rogozin
http://www.interfax.com/3/508616/news.aspx
MOSCOW. July 31 (Interfax-AVN) - The statement by a U.S.
administration official that Russian could become a member of
NATO
should not be taken seriously, said Russia's ambassador to NATO
Dmitry
Rogozin.
"All this is nonsense, to be honest. I cannot take it
seriously,"
Rogozin said live on the Russian News Service on Thursday.
U.S. assistant secretary of state Philip Gordon told earlier
the
Congress that Russia could join NATO.
"You should read the text. Gordon said: if there is a
consensus
within NATO - and this consensus will never be there," Rogozin
said.
NATO members such as Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, "which
are
demolishing our monuments, the monuments to the soldiers who
fell during
the Great Patriotic War fighting for the liberation of the world
from
Nazism" will never let Russia become an alliance member, Rogozin
said.
"How can they vote for us joining NATO if they got enrolled
there
to hide from us?" he said.
In the mid-1950s the Soviet leadership seriously considered
joining
NATO, but Moscow's initiative was rejected by Western countries,
Rogozin
recalled. "When the Soviet Union collapsed, there was another
chance to
reformat itself, to become one single pan-European security
system.
Again, they did not want it," the diplomat said.
U.S. Takes Steps to Boost Security Cooperation With Russia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009073004094.html
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 31, 2009
The United States is moving to deepen security cooperation with
Russia as part of the Obama administration's effort to "reset"
relations with Moscow, senior officials told Congress on
Thursday.
This week, a team of military experts went to Moscow for the
first round of discussions on an early warning center that would
assess the threat of ballistic missiles, including any from Iran or
North Korea, the officials said. U.S. and Russian officials are
also planning to hold talks in October to lay the groundwork for
extensive military programs next year.
"Hopefully, through this joint threat assessment, we can begin
to chip away at some of the Russian misperceptions" about U.S.
plans for missile defense elements in Europe, Alexander Vershbow,
assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs,
told members of the House Armed Services Committee.
Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, said Russian
"elites" exhibit "paranoia and worst-case assessments" about the
U.S. plan to put a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptors
in Poland, but he added that dialogue could help soften those
views.
Vershbow said that the highest priority for President Obama in
recent talks with the Russians was Afghanistan, and that securing
Moscow's agreement to allow the transit of U.S. troops and weapons
through Russian air space was an important achievement. "The
Russians, I think, recognize that they, too, have a stake in
defeating the Taliban and establishing a stable, democratic
Afghanistan," Vershbow said.
He added that although Russia does not have a military presence
in Afghanistan, it is participating in that country's
counternarcotics programs, training Afghan police at a center in
Moscow, and repairing Soviet-era bridges and tunnels that are
improving access for commercial goods heading in and out of
Afghanistan.
Officials said U.S. and Russian security interests overlap on
nonproliferation and thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"I think we've seen cooperation with Russia on this issue and
then other areas where they've been less helpful," said Philip
Gordon, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian
affairs.
He said that although some officials in Washington and in other
capitals are concerned about Moscow's relations with Iran, "Russia
has refrained from moving forward with what would be really
considered more destabilizing arms transfers to Iran or steps in
the nuclear area that would be provocative to us and others."
There remain disagreements between Russia and the United States,
such as over U.S. support for Georgia and the enlargement of
NATO.
"The predominant view in Russia is that they're better off
dominating their neighbors, even if that means instability than
accepting the choices of those neighbors -- unfortunately," Gordon
said.
Partnership deal signed with Russia
http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=33276&ndb=1&df=0
Russia and India will look to establish exporting standards for
over 45 of India's fish processing plants.
Friday, July 31, 2009, 15:20 (GMT + 9)
The Russian Federation and India on Wednesday signed a deal
in Moscow outlining an administrative arrangement for the
shipping of fish and seafood between the two nations. Russia’s
intended ban on Indian imports has since been cancelled.
Leena Nair, Chairperson of the Marine Products Export
Development Authority (MPEDA), and N.A. Vlasov, Deputy Head of
Russia’s Federal Service of Veterinary and Phytosanitary
Surveillance (FSVPS) represented their countries in the
signing of the agreement, Business Line reports.
India's representatives at the meeting also included
Director of the Ministry of Commerce Shiv Kumar, Joint Director of
India’s Export Inspection Council (EIC)Anand Kishore and First
Secretary of Economics and Commerce at the Indian Embassy in Moscow
Debajyoti Pal.
Food safety and quality control prior to the shipment of seafood
products will be assured by the arrangement. It will also determine
exporting standards for over 45 of India’s fish processing
plants.
Another function of the document is the outlining of cooperation
modalities regarding the quarantine of export and import products
that do not pass the inspections of processed wild-caught and
farmed seafood.
India’s EIC has acquired greater authority and accountability in
regards to its country’s fish processing units and the
administering of inspection approvals for products to be exported
to Russia, as emphasised in the agreement.
Both EIC and FSVPS have decided that open ongoing communication
between them will heighten their partnership, especially
regarding India’s seafood exports to Russia.
An agreement for the countries to put together a bilateral
working group to focus on marine products safety has also been
reached.
Russian energy minister to visit Iraq in early August
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090731/155684922.html
KHABAROVSK, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's energy minister
Sergei Shmatko said on Friday he would pay a visit to Iraq in early
August to discuss oil and energy cooperation.
"In the first half of August, I will visit Baghdad," he told
journalists.
The main issue on the agenda is likely to be Russia's
participation in the West Qurna-2 project.
LUKoil was involved in the development of the first phase of
West Qurna and signed a contract with the Saddam Hussein regime to
develop the second stage, but the deal was frozen in 2002.
In May Russia wrote off the bulk of Iraq's debts of around $12
billion.
A number of foreign oil companies, including LUKoil, are
expected to take part in bidding to participate in long-term
development projects involving the country's oil fields next
month.
West Qurna-2's proven recoverable reserves have been estimated
at around 6 billion barrels of oil. Investment in the project could
reach $4 billion.
Putin signs doc on quicker energy facilities building in F
East
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14194672&PageNum=0
KHABAROVSK, July 31 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a resolution on the acceleration of
the construction of a number of energy facilities in the East of
the country, he said at a meeting on issues of control over the
fulfilment of the RF president’s and prime minister’s tasks linked
with the development of the Russian Far East.
“Today I signed a government resolution envisaging the
construction of a number of most important energy facilities,”
Putin said, “namely the construction of the power transmission line
of the Neryungri hydropower plant for ensuring the work of the
Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean Oil Pipeline (ESPO) – 1.5 bln
roubles; the construction of the Suntar-Olyokminsk power
transmission line – 2 bln roubles in 2009, as well as the project
for the use of hydro and geothermal resources of the Kamchatka
Territory”.
East Russia May Pump 150 Billion Cubic Meters of Gas, Putin
Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aufZ8AfQ_asc
By Anna Shiryaevskaya
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s east may produce 150 billion
cubic meters of gas by 2020, a figure comparable with the country’s
current total exports, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said
today.
Putin commented in Khabarovsk at a ceremony marking the start of
construction on a gas pipeline linking Sakhalin Island the far
eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in
Moscow at [email protected]
Last Updated: July 30, 2009 20:41 EDT
RF Transport Min asks Far East gvrnrs to subsidise local
airlines
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14195042&PageNum=0
KHABAROVSK, July 31 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Transport Ministry
has requested governors of the Far East to subsidise the local
airlines.
At a conference in Khabarovsk with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
chairing, Transport Minister Igor Levitin said that in the Far
Eastern Federal District 45 airports are financed from the federal
budget, including 21 – in Yakutia, 9 – in Chukotka and 15 – on
Kamchatka. “This is the network that will be financed from the
budget,” said Levitin.
In this connection he made a proposal to the governors to
subsidise local airlines as they would not finance the
airports.
RF to keep discount rates for flights from F East until late
Oct
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14194731&PageNum=0
KHABAROVSK, July 31 (Itar-Tass) - Discount tariffs for plane
tickets from the Russian Far East to the country’s central regions
will be in effect until late October 2009, Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin said on Friday at a meeting on the “control over the
fulfilment by the executive power bodies of the RF president’s and
government’s tasks linked with the development of the Far East of
Russia.”
“We have already introduced a special air transportation
discount tariff for citizens living in the Far East. Such rules are
in effect from May 15 to September 15. I think that we should make
another step and extend the effect of the discount tariff for
transporting the Far East residents until the end of this October,”
Putin said.
The prime minister noted, he has recently signed the
corresponding resolution. According to the RF government, 90
thousand more Far East residents will be able to use this
privilege. “We should also think about increasing the number of
cities to which passengers will be flown at a discount rate,” Putin
said.
He recalled that within the framework of taking anti-crisis
measures the government introduced free transportation of new
Russian-made automobiles to the Far Eastern Federal District. “Such
an easy-term regime will be extended for 2010,” said the RF prime
minister.
Ukrainian diplomat expelled from Russia named
http://en.rian.ru/world/20090731/155684906.html
KIEV, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - One of the Ukrainian diplomats to
be expelled by Russia as part of the tit-for-tat row has been named
as Igor Berezkin, a source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was
cited by the UNIAN news agency as saying on Friday.
Berezkin, who recently took up his post in the political section
of the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow, coordinated all issues on
Ukraine-Russian relations, in particular Russia's Black Sea Fleet
in Ukraine's Crimea.
The expulsions follows a similar move by Kiev, who requested
that Russia's consul general in Odessa, Alexander Grachev and a
senior counselor at the Russian embassy, Vladimir Lysenko, leave
Ukraine over accusations that they had been involved in work in
violation of their diplomatic status.
Ukraine earlier demanded Lysenko quit the country by July 29,
despite the fact that the Russian diplomat had already left Ukraine
after his job came to an end on July 28.
Russia's Foreign Minister responded angrily to the expulsions,
"The Ukrainian authorities have not presented us with any facts of
espionage," Sergei Lavrov told reporters in the Tajik capital of
Dushanbe on Thursday. "They simply do not exist. We know this for
sure."
The minister also said that maintaining contacts with legitimate
political forces, which openly express their ideas and conduct
their activities in accordance with national laws, cannot be deemed
"incompatible with diplomatic status."
Sechin Latin America trip opens door for Russian energy
producers
http://www.russiatoday.com/Business/2009-07-30/sechin-latin-america-trip.html/print
30 July, 2009, 20:53
Russia will start exploring for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, after
signing a deal with Cuba this week. The announcement comes as part
of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin's visit to the region.
Sechin's Latin American tour resulted in new prospects for
Russian energy companies. Venezuela was the first stop of the trip.
The Deputy Prime Minister talked up the longer term prospects of a
joint venture deal the two nations agreed for the oil and gas
sector.
"To create an actual basis for work in the oil and gas industry,
a memorandum has been signed between Gazprom and Petroleum of
Venezuela to form a joint venture for providing services."
Sechin later visited Nicaragua where more agreements were
penned, before contracts in Cuba opened the way for Russian
companies to explore for oil off its coast.
Denis Borisov, Senior Analyst at Solid-Invest says traditional
geopolitical interests in the area are not the only reason for the
visit.
“It's an attempt to enhance the effectiveness of oil extraction
and compensate for problems that in the last few years have held
back Russian companies from entering new regions.”
North America is the traditional and potential customer of oil
extracted from this region. The deals signed this week will
potentially give Russian companies 5 to 10 years of business in a
potentially lucrative market.
Chinese merchants to retrieve seized goods in closed Moscow
market
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/31/content_11801213.htm
2009-07-31 05:55:27
MOSCOW, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese merchants will be allowed to
retrieve their goods in a closed Moscow market, the head of a
Chinese coordination group said on Thursday.
A Chinese coordination group on Thursday
discussed with Moscow's consumer department the clearing up of
Chinese merchants' stalls in the Cherkizovsky market as well as the
transferring of their goods.
The Russian side agreed to take further
steps to safeguard the market's order and to work with the Chinese
side to crack down on the illegal activities, said Cai Guiru, head
of the temporary Chinese coordination group and chairperson of the
Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Russia.
It is agreed that Chinese merchants will
be allowed to clean up their stalls and ship out their merchandise
during a specific period of time every day, Cai said.
The Russian side took "sincere and
earnest" attitudes towards the handling of the market closure, in
the hope that most of the Chinese merchants will be able to
retrieve their goods safely, she said.
This meeting is helpful and the Russian
side heard positive opinions from Chinese vendors, said Georgy
Smoleyevcky, first deputy head of the Moscow Consumer Market and
Services Department.
The Russian side will make conclusions
accordingly and give instructions to relevant departments, he said,
expressing the hope that complaints from Chinese traders will be
less and less in future.
The official also dismissed the
speculation that a Chinese shopping mall will be built in the place
of the closed Cherkizovsky, Russia's biggest wholesale market.
The coordination group, formed under the
auspices of the Chinese embassy in Russia in July, involves heads
of China's provincial chambers of commerce.
Russian police abruptly shut down the
nearly 300-hectare market in northeastern Moscow on June 29, after
the disclosure of various illegal and irregular operations in the
market by the Russian Federal Supervision Service for Consumer
Rights Protection and People Welfare.
A Chinese senior delegation, led by Vice
Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng, reached broad consensus with the
Russian side on the closure issue.
Moscow Denies Plan For Chinese Market
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/380008.htm
31 July 2009By Maria Antonova / The Moscow Times
City Hall on Thursday denied reports that a Chinese trade
complex would be built to replace Cherkizovsky Market, saying any
such center will be located beyond the Moscow Ring Road.
Vladimir Malyshkov, head of Moscow’s consumer markets
department, said Wednesday that the city was ready to provide space
for Chinese investors who would construct a building complex for
Chinese traders who have been displaced from Cherkizovsky. The
market has been closed since June 29 over sanitary and safety
violations.
City Hall has chosen two possible spots for a trading complex
away from residential areas, Malyshkov said.
A spokeswoman for City Hall declined to say where these spots,
sized 140 and 60 hectares, are located, while an official statement
Thursday said any such complex would lie outside the Moscow Ring
Road.
“The Moscow government has not considered any other alternatives
of such a project,” the statement said.
One possible location for Chinese merchants could be a new
building located on the southeastern fringe of Moscow, where
construction has been almost finished, said Sergei Sanakoyev, head
of the Russian-Chinese Center for Trade and Economic
Partnership.
There have been about 500 requests from Chinese companies who
are interested in becoming tenants, but half of them were
immediately rejected because they didn’t have proper documentation,
Sanakoyev said.
A spokeswoman for developer AFI Development, Natalya Ivanova,
confirmed that the company has an office complex in the Kosino area
of Moscow that could be turned into a shopping complex but denied
that specific plans exist. “We have received such a request, but
it’s too early to talk about a Chinese trade center. The official
decision has not been made,” she said.
Sanakoyev said any possible facility would not be a replacement
of Cherkizovsky, where many sellers operated illegally. “A
civilized trade center would bring serious Chinese exporters to
Russia, who were previously unable to compete with cheap
counterfeits,” he said.
Goods worth about $2 billion were confiscated from the market,
while media reports have said 60,000 to 80,000 Chinese lost their
jobs because of the Cherkizovsky’s closure.
The closure prompted a Chinese delegation, led by Chinese Deputy
Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, to fly to Moscow last week and
request that the city do more to accommodate the out-of-work
immigrants. Mayor Yury Luzhkov told the delegation that finding a
place for the workers was not Moscow’s problem.
Russian Journalist Not Allowed Into Lithuania
http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Journalist_Not_Allowed_To_Lithuania/1789154.html
July 30, 2009
VILNIUS -- The editor in chief of Russia's Regnum Information
Agency, Modest Kolerov, has been prevented from entering Lithuania
by train despite having a valid Shengen visa in his passport,
RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
Kolerov was on his way to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to
take part in an international conference on Russian-Lithuanian
relations.
Lithuanian border guards asked Kolerov to step off the
Moscow-Vilnius train and told him that Lithuania's migration
authorities consider him an undesirable alien.
Kolerov said he still intends to take part in the conference via
mobile phone and the Internet.
He accused media in Lithuania of mischaracterizing him as an
adversary of Lithuania.
Belarus to reduce transit tariffs to Kaliningrad for Russian
metals
http://www.steelguru.com/news/index/2009/07/31/MTA0ODcw/Belarus_to_reduce_transit_tariffs_to_Kaliningrad_for_Russian_metals.html
Friday, 31 Jul 2009
It is reported that Belarusian Railways has decided to reduce
from August 1st 2009 the transit tariffs for transporting pig iron
and ferrous metals to Russia Kaliningrad region to the level
adopted in Russia.
As per report, the decision will extend only to the
transportation of products of Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel,
Russian mining and metallurgy company Metalloinvest steel producing
subsidiary Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant and of one of Russia’s
largest producers of merchant pig iron, Tulachermet.
The companies in question have guaranteed to increase the
transportation of their products to Kaliningrad ports by up to 1
million tonnes in 2009.
(Sourced from www.steelorbis.com)
Russia's Nerpa nuclear sub starts sea trials in Far East
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20090731/155684564.html
VLADIVOSTOK, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Nerpa nuclear
attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in
November last year, started on Friday the second stage of new sea
trials, a source involved in the tests said.
The vessel resumed sea trials on July 10 in the Sea of Japan
following extensive repairs. The first stage of new sea trials was
successfully completed on Monday.
"The submarine left dock at the Vostok repair facility in the
town of Bolshoy Kamen in the Primorye Territory and headed for the
Sea of Japan," the source said.
Some special equipment to check the vessel's performance has
been installed on board the submarine and the new trials will last
for at least two weeks, according to the Amur shipyard
officials.
On November 8, 2008, while the Nerpa was undergoing sea trials
in the Sea of Japan, its on-board fire suppression system
activated, releasing a deadly gas into the sleeping quarters. Three
crewmembers and 17 shipyard workers were killed. There were 208
people, 81 of them submariners, on board the vessel at the
time.
Following the repairs, which cost an estimated 1.9 billion
rubles ($60 million), the submarine was cleared for final sea
trials before being commissioned with the Russian Navy, and will be
leased to the Indian Navy by the end of 2009 under the name INS
Chakra.
India reportedly paid $650 million for a 10-year lease of the
12,000-ton K-152 Nerpa, an Akula II class nuclear-powered attack
submarine.
Akula II class vessels are considered the quietest and deadliest
of all Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines.
Russian Sailors Claim Attack
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/380013.htm
Swedish police were investigating a suspected hijacking of a
Finnish-owned cargo ship whose Russian crew claims that the vessel
was seized for 12 hours by masked men who identified themselves as
police officers, officials said Thursday.
The 15 Russian crew members of the Arctic Sea say they were tied
up and beaten by a group of up to 10 men who boarded the ship July
24 off the Swedish island of Oland, lead investigator Ingemar
Isaksson said. No serious injuries were reported.
The intruders purportedly identified themselves as police and
demanded to search the ship for drugs. Isaksson said Swedish police
had not conducted any ship searches in the area.
The crew claims that they were released 12 hours later, as the
men left the ship empty-handed and disappeared in a high-speed
inflatable boat, Isaksson said. (AP)
Russia's Airborne Troops To Use Attack Drones in Near Future
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/30-07-2009/108520-airborne_troops-0
30.07.2009
Russia's airborne troops are about to complete the work on their
new image and structure. Russia’s mobile assault forces will
preserve mobility and increase their combat potential, the
commander of the troops, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said.
For the time being, there are nine battalions of paratroopers in
the structure of the nation’s airborne troops. All of them are
constantly prepared to be deployed in any troubled region. A
contract paratrooper will be paid 30,000 rubles ($1,000) a month
instead of the current 7,500 rubles ($240).
“This is not bragging. We bother each of the battalions every
three months. Their mobility and readiness have been
combat-proven,” the general said.
The work on a new image and structure in the Armed Forces
stipulates a serious staff reduction. However, it has not been the
rule with the airborne troops. Full-fledged surface-to-air missile
regiments are to be established in four divisions, Shamanov
said.
“Commandoes attack aggressively. They should be able to move
very quickly from one location to another. However, the personnel
have been defenseless against air raids and attack helicopters.
Until recently, it has been a weak point in all of such operations.
This drawback will be compensated now,” the official said.
Reconnaissance battalions will be created on the base of ground
cavalry troops too. The new units will use unmanned aircraft in
their activities. The drones will be used to regulate fire
supervising the enemy on a battlefield.
“In two or three years we plan to develop and create attack
drones that will be capable of defeating the enemy on the area of
up to 25 kilometers without the participation of staff,” the
general said.
"At the end of August we will receive a battalion of ten Nona
self-propelled guns and two fire-control vehicles. We will also
increase the number of wheeled armored vehicles in service with the
airborne troops," he said, adding that the modernized or even new
tracked vehicles, including the latest BMD-4 airborne infantry
vehicle, demonstrated limited mobility in the five-day war with
Georgia last year, RIA Novosti reports.
Russian Armed Forces Develop an "Information Pipeline"
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=35337&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=28a94a50c5
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 146
July 30, 2009 11:56 AM Age: 16 hrs
Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, Military/Security,
Foreign Policy, The Caucasus, Georgia, Russia
By: Pavel Felgenhauer
From June 29 to July 6, the Russian military staged massive
Kavkaz 2009 exercises involving air force, army and naval units.
During Kavkaz-2009, forces were deployed on Georgia's borders and
in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The
official aim of Kavkaz 2009 was to prepare to counter terrorism,
but this was clearly not the main objective. Unprecedented in
Russian military tradition, its top military commander, the Chief
of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister General of
the Army Nikolai Makarov was directly in command of Kavkaz 2009 -
officially a routine regional exercise aimed at countering
terrorism (EDM, June 18).
On July 14 in Novorossiysk President Dmitry Medvedev, visited
the Black Sea Fleet flagship cruiser Moskva and inspected troops of
the 7th Airborne (VDV) division that were both involved in Kavkaz
2009. In Novorossiysk Medvedev attended a top brass meeting
together with Makarov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov aimed
at assessing the results of Kavkaz 2009 (EDM, July 16).
Officially, the Kavkaz 2009 "operational-strategic exercises"
were declared to be a success. A spokesman for the press service of
the North Caucasus Military District (MD) Lieutenant-Colonel Andrei
Boburin told reporters: "The goal of the exercise was to examine
the actual battle and mobilization readiness of troops deployed in
the southwestern region of Russia. All objectives were achieved and
targets hit in conditions that were as close to real combat as
possible" (RIA Novosti, July 6). Last week in the Kremlin Medvedev
told top military commanders, "By the way, the recent exercises
Kavkaz 2009 in one of the elements of which I participated,
demonstrated that coordinated action by the armed forces, law
enforcement structures and the Federal Security Service (FSB) can
increase manifold the effectiveness of our actions"
(www.kremlin.ru, July 20).
Kavkaz 2009 was held under a tight cloak of secrecy and the
reports of their successful outcome remain vague. No foreign
observers were invited. There are no official explanations as to
what made Kavkaz-2009 so special that it justified putting Makarov
in command, with Medvedev and Serdyukov participating.
Last week a report in the Moscow Gazeta daily quoted a source in
the General Staff as saying that the main objective of Kavkaz 2009
was to test a new computerized command and control system. An
Akatsia intelligence gathering system was reportedly tested to
supply online-summarized information from the battlefield to
upper-level operational staffs, as well as to the General Staff. A
joint tactical command system Sozvezdie ("Constellation") was
deployed to relay orders to battlefield units directly and online
from the main operational staff. The Akatsia and Sozvezdie systems
were designed to create a summarized situation environment on staff
displays using information inputs from commanders, lookouts, drones
and satellites to allow the commanding generals to make decisions
based on online information and directly relay them to the troops.
During a press conference on June 5, Makarov complained that the
military lacks modern intelligence gathering and command and
control systems, as was demonstrated during the war with Georgia in
August 2008. The army, air force, navy and other armed forces
branches has separate intelligence, command and control networks,
said Makarov, but now a new joint "information pipeline" is being
built to provide staffs and commanders of all services with
information.
According to Gazeta, during Kavkaz 2009 the Akatsia and
Sozvezdie systems did not live up to expectations: Makarov in the
operational headquarters did have displays working, but the
information did not come directly from remote battlefield sensors,
but was punched in by officers sitting in an adjacent room.
Makarov's orders also did not go directly to the battlefield during
Kavkaz 2009, through the digital information pipeline, but were
relayed by staff officers using voice radios and field telephones.
Replying to a Gazeta request for information, the North Caucasus MD
operational staff stated that they did not know about any
communication mishaps during Kavkaz 2009 (www.gzt.ru, July 20).
After the visit to Moscow earlier this month by President Barack
Obama, the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili announced that
the threat of a new war had receded as a direct result of American
pressure on Russia. Speaking at a meeting of the National Security
Council in Tbilisi on July 9, Saakashvili announced: "Russia
planned another war against Georgia, but fortunately due to the
support of our strategic partners and the entire democratic world
they were not allowed to do so" (The Georgian Times, July 14). U.S.
pressure could indeed have played a role, but the reported
underperformance of the Akatsia and Sozvezdie systems during Kavkaz
2009 could have been another serious restricting factor.
The Russian defense ministry is frantically trying to improve
its battlefield intelligence gathering and its command and control
capabilities. The new VDV commander Lieutenant-General Vladimir
Shamanov told reporters this week that to supplement the lack of
sufficient numbers of intelligence gathering drones, "it is
possible to deploy in Abkhazia or South Ossetia light small
propeller-engine manned An-2 or An-3 planes" for intelligence
gathering "if the opposing air defenses are weak" (RIA Novosti,
July 28).
The overall situation remains very tense. There is no letup in
Russian officials making threatening statements, accusing Georgia
of rearming with Western help, and of preparing "provocations" and
planning treacherous new armed attacks against Abkhazia and South
Ossetia (ITAR-TASS, July 23; RIA Novosti, July 29). It is unclear,
whether any possible military action against Georgia will be
postponed until the Akatsia and Sozvezdie systems effectively go
online in the future, or if improvised shortcuts will be swiftly
employed before the good weather season ends this year in the
fall.
Moscow police hunt killer of manager at Russian defense firm
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090731/155685940.html
MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow police are conducting a
manhunt for the killer of a top manager at one of Russia's largest
defense firms, Almaz-Antei, a law enforcement source told RIA
Novosti on Friday.
Andrei Barabenko was gunned down on Thursday evening as he
approached his car in south Moscow. The killer fired several shots
into Barabenko before escaping on foot.
"At the current moment, investigators are looking at two main
motives in the murder of the company employee - professional and
personal motives. However, this does not mean that other versions
are not being examined," the source said.
Police said the gun used in the shooting has not been recovered,
although ballistic experts believe a TT pistol was used by the
killer.
Investigators are continuing to work at the murder scene, the
source said.
This is not the first time that a top manager at Almaz-Antei has
been murdered, in June 2003 the head of the company Igor Klimov was
gunned down outside his home in Moscow.
Klimov's killers were sentenced to up to 25 years in prison in
2006. Yevgeny Mankov, the leader of a six-member gang behind
Klimov's murder was sentenced to life in October of 2005, but a
year later his sentence was reduced to 25 years.
Almaz-Antei is one of Russia's largest air defense
manufacturers, specializing in producing small, medium and
long-range air defense systems, in particular, the S-300 and S-400
Triumpf systems.
Meeting of Armenian Church and Russian Orthodox leaders held in
Moscow
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-07-30-meeting-of-armenian-church-and-russian-orthodox-leaders-held-in-moscow
Published: Thursday July 30, 2009
Moscow - Between July 14 and 16, Karekin II, the Catholicos of
All Armenians, traveled to Moscow to meet with Kirill I, the
Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and the leader
of the Russian Orthodox Church since his installation last
February.
Accompanying the Catholicos was Archbishop Khajag Barsamian,
Primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern);
Archbishop Nourhan Manoogian, locum tenens of the Patriarchate of
Jersualem; Archbishop Aram Ateshian, chair of the Religious Council
of the Patriarchate of Constantinople; Archbishop Barkev
Martirossian, Primate of the Armenian Church of Artsakh; Archbishop
Yeznik Petrosyan, director of ecumenical relations at Holy
Etchmiadzin; Bishop Yezras Nersissian, Primate of the Diocese of
the Armenian Church of Russia and New Nakhichevan; Bishop Movses
Movsesian, Primate of the Armenian Church of Southern Russia; and
leaders of the Russian-Armenian community.
"Your Holiness, we came here to renew the brotherly love that
has existed between our peoples and our churches for
centuries. That love is the basis of our cooperation,"
Catholicos Karekin II said to Patriarch Kirill I. The Catholicos
also expressed his gratitude to the Patriarch for his goodwill
toward the Armenian community in Russia.
The two leaders discussed various issues, including the conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh. It was decided that the Russian Patriarch
would host a meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani religious
leaders some time in the near future, to further examine this
issue.
"I am glad that Vehapar asked me to be a part of this historic
moment," Archbishop Barsamian said. "The occasion allowed for
our church to reaffirm its close relationship with the Russian
Orthodox Church."
Patriarch Kirill I was consecrated as the leader of the Russian
Orthodox Church last February. Prior to that, he served as the
archbishop, and later as the metropolitan, of Smolensk and
Kaliningrad, and as chairperson of the Russian Orthodox Church's
Department for External Church Relations.
The visit this month marked Catholicos Karekin II's
first meeting with Patriarch Kirill since the latter assumed
his new role. The Catholicos had met with Patriarch Kirill in his
previous capacities, and with the late Patriarch Alexy, both in
Russia and Armenia, on several occasions.
Prior to his election as Patriarch, then-Archbishop Kirill
also met on several occasions with Archbishop Barsamian. In
2003, the Primate hosted a luncheon in his honor at the
Diocesan Center in New York City.
Also during the visit to Moscow, Bishop Yezras
Nersissian invited members of Catholicos Karekin's entourage
to visit the construction site of the new diocesan complex in
Moscow. When completed, the complex will be one of the largest
Armenian diocesan centers in the world.
Russian soldiers instead of cigarettes will get candy
http://makfax.com.mk/en-us/Details.aspx?ItemID=7571
Moscow / 31/07/09 / 08:01
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Dmitry Bulgakov
has announced that the Defense Ministry will no longer purchase
cigarettes for soldiers.
In the new food packet for soldiers cigarettes won't be
included. We will stop buying cigarettes for armed forces and
replace them with candy and sugar, Bulgalkov said.
He added that they won't forbid smoking in the army, but the
soldiers will have to buy cigarettes from a canteen.
If you want to smoke, then smoke. If not eat candy, the Deputy
Prime Minister said and added that this reform will come into force
in the first quarter in 2010. /end/tz
A Decade With Putin
http://www.rferl.org/content/blog/1786450.html
July 27, 2009
We are fast coming up on the 10th anniversary of Putinism. On
August 9, 1999, Putin was named first deputy prime minister after
the government of Sergei Stepashin was dismissed. The same day,
President Boris Yeltsin named Putin acting prime minister and
anointed him the presidential successor. On August 16, the Duma
approved Putin as premier, making him Russia’s fifth prime minister
in 18 months. And the rest is history: Yeltsin resigned on New
Year’s Eve, and Putin was elected president on March 26, 2000.
So I suppose we can expect a lot of anniversary reflections over
the next few weeks. The Levada Center got things rolling with a new
poll on opinions about Putin. The interesting thing about the
Levada poll is the stability of the views expressed over the span
of the last five years. Twenty-two percent of respondents now say
that Putin’s greatest achievement has been raising living standards
(including wages and pensions), while 24 percent held that view in
March 2004. In the latest poll, 17 percent responded that his main
achievement was “the economic development of the country,” while 9
percent lauded his role in “raising optimism and hope for
short-term improvements.” Only 8 percent said Putin had no
significant achievements, a figure that was down from 12 percent in
2004, but up from the 5 percent registered in March 2008.
On the other hand, 35 percent of respondents said Putin had
been least effective in combating corruption (President Dmitry
Medvedev’s signature issue!), while 23 percent said he’d done worst
at “subduing the oligarchs.”
Asked about changes in the gap between rich and poor since the
Yeltsin years, 48 percent said the gap had increased, while another
31 percent said it remained the same. Only 15 percent believe the
gap has been narrowed.
And why is Putin so popular? Thirty-five percent said it is
because people believe Putin is capable of coping with the problems
the country faces. However, 31 percent said Putin is supported
because “people don’t see anyone else they can count on,” a
reflection of the Kremlin’s iron-fisted control of the central
media. Nonetheless, 63 percent of respondents said the fact that
“practically all power in the country” is concentrated in Putin’s
hands is “good for the country.” Just 16 percent disagreed with
that view.
Gazeta.ru today published a really interesting commentary by
veteran journalist Boris Tumanov that starts to lay some of the
theoretical groundwork for looking at a decade of Putinism. It
also, by the way, sheds interesting light on the ongoing debate
about interpretations (falsifications) of history generally.
Tumanov writes that “Russia is the only country in the world here
history revels in the subjunctive mood,” and marvels that the
country “still can’t decide whether the hecatomb of Stalinism was a
monstrous crime or a great boon for the country.”
Anyway, Tumanov challenges the notion that if Russia had carried
out a sweeping lustration (a process of exposing and barring from
public life people who had worked in high Soviet posts, in the
security organs, or the military leadership), then Putinism might
not have happened. By the way, he calls what we have seen over the
last decade “the revanche of the sovok” (sovok being a colloquial
word for Soviet-minded people). I am one of those who feels the
lack of lustration in Russia was and is a major obstacle to the
country’s democratic development, so I read Tumanov’s take with
great interest.
Tumanov basically argues that the urge to restore elements of
the Soviet system began not in 1999, but in 1993 or even earlier.
He argues that the results would have been largely the same if
Yeltsin and Boris Berezovsky “had chosen not an ex-chekist from
Petersburg, but a Petersburg lawyer or the head of a furniture
store. Or even someone from Vladivostok or Novocherkassk.” No
choice would have “altered the intractable clan nature of power in
Russia.” Essentially, he says, anyone Yeltsin had chosen would have
divided the spoils among his “own people” – people from his
hometown, or people he’d studied with or people from the government
agencies where he’d made his career.
The return of the sovok is inevitable in a society “where people
silently endure any humiliation on the part of their own government
but are outraged at the very thought that the United States might
not ‘respect’ Russia or, worse ‘isn’t afraid’ of Russia.”
--Robert Coalson
National Economic TrendsRussian monetary base down 0.6% in week
to $130 bln
http://en.rian.ru/business/20090731/155685885.html
MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Central Bank said
Friday the country's narrowly defined money supply (M1) was 4
trillion 59.6 million rubles ($130 billion at the current exchange
rate) as of July 27, down 0.6% in the week since July 20.
According to the Bank, M1 money supply consists of the currency
issued by the bank, including cash in vaults of credit
institutions, and required reserves balances on ruble deposits with
the Central Bank.
TABLE-Russia monetary base falls to 4.06 trln rbls
31-JUL-2009 07:23
July 31 (
) - Russia's monetary base fell to 4,059.6 billion roubles on
July 27 from 4,083.6 billion roubles a week earlier, the central
bank said on Friday. It provided the following details for this
month.
Date monetary base (bln roubles)
2009
July 27 4,059.6 July 20 4,083.6 July 13 4,055.8 July 6 3,986.6
June 29 3,988.4