Russia - WikiLeaks 091218.doc · Web viewBasic Political Developments. Kyodo News: Okada to visit Russia from Dec. 27 to discuss territorial issue . Interfax: Putin, Tymoshenko

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Russia 091218Basic Political Developments

Kyodo News: Okada to visit Russia from Dec. 27 to discuss territorial issue

Interfax: Putin, Tymoshenko discuss situation in Russian-Ukrainian trade, economic relations

Russia Today: Putin calls for aviation boost - Vladimir Putin has ordered an extra $700 million to be pumped into the countrys aircraft manufacturers.

Itar-Tass: Putin to discuss Russian navy development - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will travel to St. Petersburg on Friday to chair a meeting devoted to navy upgrading and development.

Itar-Tass: Medvedev, Obama may reach START agt in Copenhagen-source

Itar-Tass: Medvedev, Obama to discuss arms deal in Copenhagen

China Daily: Obama, Medvedev to meet on nuclear weapons talks

Timesonline: Obama and Medvedev set to meet over nuclear treaty in Copenhagen

Reuters: Obama, Medvedev may get arms deal "in principle"

Russia Info centre: No Russian Plutonium for NASA - Russia wont supply any non-weapon-grade plutonium-238 for power sources of NASAs space ships, 5 kilos of which were expected to arrive to the US in 2010.

Eurasianet: AFGHANISTAN: RUSSIA EXPRESSES DESIRE TO RAISE ITS PROFILE IN KABUL by AunohitaMojumdar

Voxy.co.nz: Joint New Zealand-russia Statement

Itar-Tass: RF, New Zealand agree to develop economic cooperation

RIA: Medvedev meets with Lebanese PM in Copenhagen

The Moscow Times: Russia to Offer $200M to UN Climate Fund

RIA: WWF welcomes signing of Russian climate doctrine

RIA: Ecologists to survey Amur tiger numbers in Russia's Far East

RIA: Russian energy institute says climate change due to Earth's spin

Investors.com: Russian Temps Turn Up Heat On Warmers - The Institute of Economic Analysis, an independent Moscow-based organization, issued the report Tuesday. It was titled, "How Warming Is Being Made: The Case of Russia."

Russia Today: Renewable push looks for alternative environment - Alternative energy currently provides less than 1% of Russias energy but the government is planning to boost that to 4.5% by 2020. The country has huge potential to develop solar, nuclear, hydro and wind resources, and the business community is keen to innovate. But Robert Nigmatulin, Director of the Institute of Oceanology says the burden is too heavy without state support.

Today.az: Russian expert: Russia to back supply of Azerbaijani gas to Iran

Abc.az: Azerbaijan and Russia to resume Baku-Olya ferry line for next two months

Abc.az: Russia expects signing of agreements on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict settlement in 2010

Today.az: Armenia, Russia sign partnership deal on export of military goods

News.az: CIS countries agree to create nanotechnologies center - The founding documents of the CIS international innovation center were signed in Dubna (Moscow).

EurActiv.com: Georgia destroys Soviet monument, offends Russia

ISRIA: Russia - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Head of the Federal Space Agency Anatoly Perminov

Reuters: Sochi 2014 chief promises all venues will be ready

RIA: Over 100 spies uncovered in Russia's Novosibirsk Region in 2009

RIA: Russia's fastest train gets from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 3h 45m

Reuters: Russia's fastest train makes maiden journey

Business Week: High-speed train makes maiden Moscow-St Pete trip

Bloomberg: Russian Lawmakers Submit Proposal to Ban Beer Sales at Kiosks

Telegraph.co.uk: Russia 'to ban swearing' - A group of Russian senators is backing new legislation to ban swearing in public as part of a Kremlin-backed drive to clean up Russia's morals.

Telegraph.co.uk: UFO pyramid reported over Kremlin

The Moscow Times: Kadyrov Wont Testify - A Dubai court on Thursday turned down an appeal by defense lawyers to summon Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov to testify in a trial of two suspects in the March killing of former Chechen commander Sulim Yamadayev, RIA-Novosti reported.

Itar-Tass: 3 suspects in murder of Islamic Institute rector Bostanov detained

The Other Russia: Aushevs Widow Hospitalized After Assassination Attempt

The Jamestown Foundation: Circassian Opposition to the Kremlin Mounts in the Northwest Caucasus

FT.com: Russia sets the terms for coming in from the cold - Russia aims to modernise without compromise

Reuters: Russian tycoon closes in on Independent FT

NYTimes: Russian Passes Background Check, and Vote Looms on His Bid for Nets

Time.com: New Job for Ex-Soviet Pilots: Arms Trafficking

RIA: Peaceful atom: providing safe nuclear energy development in the Middle East

The Moscow Times: Khodorkovsky a Grandpa

The Guardian: Gordon Brown calls for full investigation into Magnitsky death

OfficialWire: Russia Defence And Security Report Q1 2010 - New Report Published - New report provides detailed analysis of the Defence market

Interfax: Poll: Majority of Russians support Medvedev

Itar-Tass: All hostages taken by deserter released in Omsk

RIA: Russian cadet briefly takes 4 hostage after row with girlfriend

National Economic Trends

RIA: Russian monetary base up $3 bln in week to $137.639 bln

Interfax: VTB forecasts reserves at 9% at year-end 2009; 10% in 2010

Prime-Tass: Bailed-out banks return funds worth 74 bln rbl to Russia's DIA

RF finance ministry ordered to earmark Rub 1.55 tln to plug gap in budget deficit

Russias foreign trade turnover sinks 40.9% in January-October 2009

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

Reuters: Russia eyes postal bank to rival Sberbank

Bloomberg: Russian Rosavia Prolongs Airbus, Boeing Bidding, Interfax Says

Reuters: Russia's Rosavia delays $2.5 bln plane deal

Bloomberg: Magnitogorsk Says Profit Doubled on Steel Production, Prices

Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia's MMK misses Q3 forecasts due to write-offs

Bloomberg: Rusal Said to Get Approval From Hong Kong Exchange for IPO

Bloomberg: Rusal Said to Face Proposal to Limit Offering to Institutions

The Moscow Times: Potash Trader May Sign Benchmark China Deal

Reuters: McDonald's to target stay-at-home Russians

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

Ukrainian Journal: Russia to boost European gas exports via Ukraine 20% in 2010, Naftogaz says

RBC: ESPO pipeline to be launched soon - The official ceremony of launching the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline system will take place in a special seaport - Kozmino - on December 25-27, 2009.

Oil and Gas Eurasia: Russian Crude Oil Exports to the Far East ESPO Starts Flowing - By Platts' analysis

The Moscow Times: Barsky Says Tycoons Good for Business

Reuters: UPDATE 1-TNK-BP to boost 2010 crude output nearly 3 pct

Globest.com: Lukoil Moves Operations to Midtown - Lukoil Pan Americas is consolidating its crude oil and refined products trading operations, taking an 11-year lease for 20,433 square feet at the Blackstone Groups 1095 Ave. of the Americas

Irishtimes.com: Petroneft wins new Russia licence - The Dublin-listed, Siberian-focused oil exploration company Petroneft Resources has won a state auction for a 100 per cent stake in the Ledovy Licence 67 in Russia.

Gazprom

Euroweek: BarCap closes syndication of Gazprom M&T L/C

RBC: Gazprom Neft's 2009 investment program to double

BarentsObserver: Gazprom discussed design of Teriberka

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Full Text ArticlesBasic Political Developments

Kyodo News: Okada to visit Russia from Dec. 27 to discuss territorial issue

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=476566

TOKYO, Dec. 18KYODO

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada will make a two-day visit to Russia from Dec. 27 for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov over a long-standing territorial dispute and other issues, Okada told a regular press conference Friday.

Interfax: Putin, Tymoshenko discuss situation in Russian-Ukrainian trade, economic relations

http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=136809

MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Russian and Ukrainian Prime Ministers Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko discussed trade and economic cooperation between the two countries during a telephone conversation, Russian Prime Ministers Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"The parties discussed the current aspects of the trade and economic relations between Russia and Ukraine," Peskov said.

The telephone conversation was initiated by Ukraine, he said.

Russia Today: Putin calls for aviation boost

http://rt.com/Business/2009-12-18/putin-aircraft-capital-investment.html/print

18 December, 2009, 11:24

Vladimir Putin has ordered an extra $700 million to be pumped into the countrys aircraft manufacturers.

The money will be channeled to aviation holding United Aircraft-Building Corporation through the state-owned VEB Bank.

A decision is to be made to contribute 21 billion rubles to the UAC charter capital," he said, adding that the measure had taken several months to draft. It was studied very carefully and must be adopted today.

These funds were earmarked for the company's financial rehabilitation, and for settlements with creditors and providers, Putin said. He said that the UAC early next year would receive an extra 10.7 billion rubles from the federal budget.

The UAC incorporates 18 enterprises, such as the holding company Sukhoi, foreign economic association Aviaexport, leasing company Ilyushin Finance, research and industrial association NPK Irkut, inter-state aircraft-building company Ilyushin, aeronautics company Tupolev and the Financial Leasing Company.

"This money will be spent not to plug holes, but to build new civil planes," the prime minister said.

Next year will see the first deliveries of the SuperJet- Russia's first new passenger plane since the Soviet Union as well as a new version of the worlds largest aircraft the An-124.

Itar-Tass: Putin to discuss Russian navy development

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14653050&PageNum=0

18.12.2009,05.34

MOSCOW, December 18 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will travel to St. Petersburg on Friday to chair a meeting devoted to navy upgrading and development.

The government press service said Deputy Prime Ministers Sergei Ivanov and Igor Sechin, as well as Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov will participate.

Putin will also attend the floating ceremony of Kirill Lavrov tanker adapted for Artic navigation and intended to deliver oil round-the-year from Prirazlomnoe field. The tanker needs no ice-breakers when ice is up to 1.2 meters thick.

Itar-Tass: Medvedev, Obama may reach START agt in Copenhagen-source


18.12.2009,09.04

WASHINGTON, December 18 (Itar-Tass) - The Presidents of Russia and the United States, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama may agree in principle on a new agreement to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) during a meeting they will hold in Copenhagen on Friday, an official of the American administration said on condition of anonymity here on Thursday.

He said if the presidents manage to reach accord on the remaining issues of control over arms, it will be possible to reach an agreement in principle that nevertheless will require finalisation by negotiating groups.

Reuters reported that Obama and Medvedev could reach an agreement in principle on nuclear arms reduction in Copenhagen on Friday, leaving it to negotiators to finalize a deal in coming days, a senior US official said. With Washington and Moscow still grappling over a few key differences, the official insisted there was little chance the leaders would be ready to sign a finished accord when they meet on the sidelines of a global climate change conference.

But if the presidents are able to come to terms on the remaining verification issues, it might be possible to reach an agreement in principle, which will still require the negotiating teams to finalize, the official said in Washington.

According to the agency, there were no guarantees, however, that the Copenhagen talks would yield a provisional accord, given the latest signs of tension in US-Russian negotiations in Geneva despite the White House's insistence that good progress was being made.

Itar-Tass: Medvedev, Obama to discuss arms deal in Copenhagen


18.12.2009,04.34

COPENHAGEN, December 18 (Itar-Tass) -- The Presidents of Russia and the United States, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, will meet on the sidelines of the climate summit in Copenhagen on Friday to discuss a new strategic arms reduction treaty that is to replace START that expired on December 5.

But no new deal will be signed in Copenhagen, Moscow and Washington said.

The presidents plan to meet after the end of the summit. They will discuss actual bilateral relations, including preparations of a new treaty that is to replace expired START, a Kremlin official said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said no new deal is expected to be signed. That will hardly happen in Copenhagen, he said adding a lot of technical work remains to be done.

The negotiations are progressing, we are advancing to the goal, Lavrov said.

Earlier, Medvedevs foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko told Tass the content of the new treaty is much more important than the signing date.

The signing date is certainly important, but thorough work on the treaty contents is much more important, Prikhodko said.

China Daily: Obama, Medvedev to meet on nuclear weapons talks

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-12/18/content_9199995.htm

(Agencies)Updated: 2009-12-18 14:04

WASHINGTON: Negotiations with Russia to replace an expired Cold War-era arms control treaty have bogged down and appear unlikely to be concluded by the end of the year as the White House had hoped.

As the two sides seek a breakthrough, US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, plan to discuss the nuclear negotiations in a meeting Friday on the sidelines of United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two leaders are not expected to seal a deal.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, say negotiations with Russia to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty have become hung up on a disagreement about how to monitor the development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Obama and Medvedev initially had instructed negotiators to seek a fully ratified deal by the December 5 expiration of START. Recently Obama had expressed hopes that a deal could be completed by the end of this year.

The Obama administration has sought to make the negotiations a vehicle for demonstrating improved relations with Russia. They hope that greater cooperation on arms control can lead to Russian help on stickier issues including efforts to rein in Iran's suspected nuclear ambitions.

Officials said US negotiators would continue working with their Russian counterparts on the treaty through the weekend in Geneva after the meeting of the two presidents. Top negotiators may pause for the Christmas holidays, however.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed disagreements standing in the way of a deal.

Lavrov blamed the US delegation for slowing negotiations in the past few days. He told reporters in Moscow that the talks have now resumed their pace, but a deal is unlikely to be reached in time for Obama and Medvedev to sign it when they attend the climate summit in Copenhagen on Friday. He urged the United States to accept deeper cuts and less intrusive verification measures.

US officials said Russian negotiators were seeking changes from the original treaty on the encryption of missile flight data. The now-expired treaty banned such encryption so that each side could monitor missile tests from a distance. Using such data, monitors could determine whether the other side was developing missiles restricted by the treaty.

According to Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, Russia has less of an interest in monitoring such data because it is seeking to upgrade its missile arsenal while the United States has not been testing new missiles.

"The missiles the US have are the most accurate, deadly ones in existence," he said.

Despite the disagreements, US and Russian officials continue to express optimism that the treaty can be concluded soon. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that the United States will not bend for a quick deal.

"It doesn't make sense to get something just for the sake of getting it, if it doesn't work for both sides," he said.

The expired START pact, signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H.W. Bush, required each country to cut its nuclear warheads by at least one-fourth, to about 6,000, and to implement procedures for verifying that each side was sticking to the agreement.

Obama and Medvedev agreed at a Moscow summit in July to cut the number of nuclear warheads that each possesses to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years as part of a broad new treaty.

December 18, 2009

Timesonline: Obama and Medvedev set to meet over nuclear treaty in Copenhagen

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6961327.ece

The US and Russia are on the brink of a new arms control treaty that would reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one quarter.

A senior US official in Washington said US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev would meet on the sidelines of the Copenhagen climate summit today to discuss the delayed accord.

US and Russian officials have been holding intense talks in Geneva on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) which led to deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals, but expired on December 5 without a replacement.

Mr Medvedev and Mr Obama had first pledged to sign the successor treaty by the time the original agreement expired. Then officials on both sides said the deal would be signed by the end of the year, possibly in a European capital.

The new version of Start would require each side to reduce deployed strategic nuclear warheads to roughly 1600, down from 2200, according to senior American officials. It would also force each side to reduce its strategic bombers and land- and sea-based missiles to below 800, down from the old limit of 1600.

But reports said that after the new pact was signed both presidents plan to send negotiators back to the table next year to pursue a far more ambitious agreement tackling whole categories of nuclear weapons never before subject to international limits.

The talks envisioned for 2010 would continue to advance Mr Obama's disarmament agenda and attempt what no US president has managed since the Cold War, The New York Times reported. In addition to further reducing deployed strategic warheads, the negotiations would try to empty at least some vaults now storing warheads in reserve. And the two sides would take aim at thousands of tactical nuclear bombs most vulnerable to theft or proliferation, some still located in Europe 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the paper said.

The effort was part of a broader initiative by Mr Obama to start down the road toward eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons and to transform the American military for a new era, the report said. A nuclear posture review due next month in Washington will propose an overhaul of the nation's strategic doctrine and force consideration of the question of how many weapons the US really needs without a superpower rival, including whether to eliminate one leg of the traditional ``triad'' of submarines, missiles and bombers, it said.

The Obama administration has sought to make the negotiations a vehicle for demonstrating improved relations with Russia. They hope that greater cooperation on arms control can lead to Russian help on stickier issues including efforts to rein in Iran's suspected nuclear ambitions.

Officials said US negotiators would continue working with their Russian counterparts on the treaty through the weekend in Geneva after the meeting of the two presidents. Top negotiators may pause for the Christmas holidays, however.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed disagreements standing in the way of a deal.

Mr Lavrov blamed the US delegation for slowing negotiations in the past few days.

"It is highly unlikely to happen in Copenhagen," Mr Lavrov said yesterday in Moscow. "The work is continuing. A lot of key issues have already been agreed upon but some things remain to be solved."

But the White House responded by saying that progress was being made and that a deal could be signed by the new year.

"Our goal remains to conclude a good and verifiable agreement by the end of the year," said National Security Council spokesman Michael Hammer.

Reuters: Obama, Medvedev may get arms deal "in principle"

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BH08V20091218

Thu, Dec 17 2009

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev could reach an agreement in principle on nuclear arms reduction in Copenhagen on Friday, leaving it to negotiators to finalize a deal in coming days, a senior U.S. official said.

With Washington and Moscow still grappling over a few key differences, the official insisted there was little chance the leaders would be ready to sign a finished accord when they meet on the sidelines of a global climate change conference.

"But if the presidents are able to come to terms on the remaining verification issues, it might be possible to reach an agreement in principle which will still require the negotiating teams to finalize," the official said in Washington.

There were no guarantees, however, that the Copenhagen talks would yield a provisional accord, given the latest signs of tension in U.S.-Russian negotiations in Geneva despite the White House's insistence that "good progress" was being made.

The talks in the Danish capital follow Russia's call on Thursday for simpler verification procedures for planned cuts in nuclear weapons arsenals, while Washington insisted it wanted a deal that worked for both former Cold War foes.

"It's high time to get rid of excessive suspiciousness," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow earlier in the day.

Talks between the world's two largest nuclear powers to find a replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START-1, have stumbled in recent weeks, although both sides have said they expect an agreement to be reached in the near future. START-1 was the biggest pact to cut nuclear weapons in history.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said earlier the discussions were making good headway but that the United States was not interested in doing a deal for its own sake.

"We want something that works for both sides. We're going to work on this agreement until we get it right ... it doesn't make sense to get something just for the sake of getting it if it doesn't work for both sides," he said in Washington.

Obama and Medvedev had sought a new treaty by December 5, but that deadline passed and the old accord was extended indefinitely while negotiators in Geneva try to forge a new pact. An Obama administration official said on Wednesday arms negotiations were likely to extend into 2010.

On Thursday, another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive state of discussions, raised the prospect Obama and Medvedev might set parameters to guide negotiators in working out final details and set a deadline for them to do so. The official declined to elaborate.

TENSIONS SURFACE

Tensions came to the surface on Thursday.

"In the last couple of days we have noticed some slowing down in the position of U.S. negotiators in Geneva," Lavrov said earlier. "They explain this by the need to receive additional instructions. But our team is ready for work."

Gibbs denied Washington was dragging its feet.

Lavrov, whose ministry is leading the negotiations together with the U.S. State Department, said a deal was unlikely to be signed this weekend in Copenhagen.

Both sides say finding a replacement to the START-1 treaty would help "reset" relations between Moscow and Washington that had sunk to a post-Cold War low in recent years.

Negotiations in Switzerland have been proceeding under unusually tight secrecy and neither side has given a clear explanation for the delay in finding a deal.

The START-1 treaty, signed in July 1991 by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, took nearly a decade to achieve but under the deal both Russia and the United States more than halved their nuclear arsenals.

Obama and Medvedev said at a Moscow summit in July they wanted a new treaty that would reduce operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,500 to 1,675, a cut of about a third from current levels.

They also agreed that strategic delivery systems -- the missiles, bombers and submarines that launch nuclear warheads -- should be limited to between 500 and 1,100 units.

Lavrov said he hoped the cuts in the new treaty would be as drastic as possible but added that verification procedures, which were extremely strict under START-1, should be made "less complicated and less costly."

Precise figures on deployed nuclear weapons are secret, but the U.S.-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimated at the start of 2009 that the United States had about 2,200 operationally deployed nuclear warheads and Russia about 2,790.

(Additional reporting by Conor Sweeney in Moscow and Alister Bull in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Russia Info centre: No Russian Plutonium for NASA

http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/9391/

18.12.2009

Russia wont supply any non-weapon-grade plutonium-238 for power sources of NASAs space ships, 5 kilos of which were expected to arrive to the US in 2010.Order for the same amount of plutonium for 2011 also wont be fulfilled. Russia and NASA are working on new conditions for signing a plutonium contract. If Russia wont supply any plutonium after 2011, then the United States would have to reconsider launch programme for automatic space stations, NASA officials say. NASA recently announced its need for 30 kg of plutonium for three orbital missions, scheduled to start for 2020.USA doesnt produce this element since late eighties of the previous century, preferring to use Russian plutonium, which is known to be of better quality.

Eurasianet: AFGHANISTAN: RUSSIA EXPRESSES DESIRE TO RAISE ITS PROFILE IN KABUL

http://eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav121609a.shtml

AunohitaMojumdar 12/16/09

A derelict building stands on the broad Darul Aman Avenue leading to Afghanistans parliament. In the 1990s, gunfire, shelling and rocket attacks caused its roof to cave in, and these days the air inside is foul. Abandoned, the structure is now primarily a haven for drug addicts.

But the building may not be neglected for much longer. The Russian government has expressed a desire to renovate the former Russian Cultural Center as part of its plan to restore up to 150 industrial, commercial and cultural sites that Moscow had sponsored during its 10-year occupation of Afghanistan, says Russian Ambassador Andrey Avetisyan.

Since Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, Moscow has been extremely wary of involving itself in Kabuls affairs. But these days, the Kremlins cautious outlook appears to be changing. Not only have Russian officials begun cooperating with NATO and the United States on ferrying military supplies to Afghanistan, Moscow looks likely to step up humanitarian aid, trade, and military assistance. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"We have been playing it kind of low-profile for the past eight years possibly because Russia was looking for its place in the modern Afghan situation," Avetisyan told EurasiaNet. "We have been waiting for a moment. [...] This moment seems to have come because in Afghanistan we see at last not only fighting but some efforts to revive this country, to build again its economy, to do something for education."

"It is very good because we have been telling our Western friends that by fighting only terrorism you cant win here," Avetisyan added.

While Russia has had an uneasy relationship with the presence of nearby US military bases in Central Asia and Afghanistan, Russian diplomats say they value cooperation. Moscow views instability in Afghanistan as a greater threat than the proximity of western forces, Avetisyan indicated. "We support the international forces here. We are not interested in their defeat because otherwise we will have to deal with this problem in the future and I think it is in our common interest to join forces to stop it," the ambassador said.

Afghan analysts appear to welcome Russias assistance, while agreeing that instability there is also a grave problem for Russia.

"It is important for Russia to have peace and stability here," says Shahmahmood Miakhel, a former deputy interior minister and current head of the United States Institute of Peaces Kabul office. "Most of the [Afghanistan-grown] narcotics go through Russia, and they are also worried about the extension of extremism to Central Asia, Chechnya and Russia."

"If there is terrorism in Afghanistan, it will affect the entire world," added Abdul Rahim Oruz, a senior Foreign Ministry official tasked with working on Russia.

The difficulty that the West has had in fostering sustainable economic development in Afghanistan over the past eight years has caused some Afghans to develop a sense of appreciation for bygone Soviet-built infrastructure projects. "Russia has expertise in building infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. Some of these projects were destroyed and others need rehabilitation," said Oruz, expressing optimism about Russian plans to invest. "If we want to rebuild the Salang [tunnel connecting northern and southern Afghanistan], for example, another country would need to start from the beginning. But Russian experts who worked on it are still there and they can do it."

The tunnel, opened by the Soviets in 1964, is indeed something Russia is interested in rehabilitating. However, in its new role, Moscow hopes to collaborate with Western states for whom the tunnel serves as a vital transport link. "We are discussing with the Americans the possibility of trilateral cooperation," said Avetisyan. "We still have expertise in that and certain Russian companies have already done the feasibility study. We are now trying to agree upon investments for this, and if we come to an agreement, then the Salang tunnel can be restored quickly because it is the most important part of the [resupply] route."

Russian businesses - which have been mostly absent since the fall of Kabuls Communist government in 1992 - are now hoping to get a share of the lucrative Afghan market. Insecurity and the high costs of operating in Afghanistan ensure that donor funded projects are given high overhead costs, making investment a profitable prospect for businessmen willing to take risks. "Here in Kabul I am receiving Russian businessmen who want to start their business even with minimal levels" of protection, says Avetisyan. "The special feature of Russian business is that they do not demand such high levels of security as Westerners or the Japanese."

The Afghan government is keen to cultivate the renewed Russian interest.

"Russia can and should play a more active role in Afghanistan," said Davood Moradian, Director General of the Center for Strategic Studies in Afghanistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Avetisyan contended that Russian-Afghan relations no longer carry a heavy burden of history. "As far as feelings in Afghanistan towards Russian are concerned, it is absolutely friendly. All my colleagues who meet Afghans everyday [...] tell me there is absolutely friendly feelings towards Russians," he said, denying past baggage related to the Soviet occupation. "I cant feel it and all Afghans - ministers, MPs, prominent members of Afghan society - tell me the same thing: That chapter is now closed."

Moradian, however, offers a very different assessment of the recent past: "We have neither forgotten, not forgiven. We have postponed [the question of] how to deal with the past."

Editor's Note: Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian freelance journalist based in Kabul.

Voxy.co.nz: Joint New Zealand-russia Statement

http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/joint-new-zealand-russia-statement/5/33733

Friday, 18 December, 2009 - 11:05

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully Russian Federation Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

At the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Murray McCully visited the Russian Federation on a working visit on 16-17 December 2009.

The Ministers conducted talks in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and friendship, characteristic of the Russia-New Zealand relationship, and discussed a wide range of bilateral and international issues.

Having noted that 2009 marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and New Zealand, Sergey Lavrov and Murray McCully expressed satisfaction with the positive nature of practical bilateral cooperation and the recent strengthening of political dialogue.

The ministers agreed to effectively exploit the potential of trade and economic, scientific and technical, cultural and educational cooperation in the interests of two countries. In particular, it was noted that the increasing exchanges of students and tourists were signs of the diversifying bilateral relationship.

The ministers emphasised the special importance of increasing trade and economic ties between Russia and New Zealand. Murray McCully stated that New Zealand fully supports Russia's accession to the WTO.

Russia and New Zealand underlined a shared commitment to strengthen Asia-Pacific regional integration and deepening cooperation in regional organisations, including APEC.

It was confirmed that Russia and New Zealand intended to continue the constructive cooperation in the area of Antarctic research within the framework of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty.

Sergey Lavrov and Murray McCully reviewed nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament issues in detail, and emphasised the importance of achieving positive results at the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

There was a detailed discussion of other current international problems, including the situation in Afghanistan, prospects for addressing issues in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear programme and the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula.

Murray McCully conveyed a request to Sergey Lavrov for Russia to support New Zealand's candidature for election to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for 2015-2016. The Russian side stated that New Zealand's request would be given thorough attention with account of the traditionally friendly nature of the bilateral relationship.

The ministers expressed hope that positive results would be achieved at the 15th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change / 5th Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen.

Murray McCully extended an invitation to Sergey Lavrov to visit New Zealand. The invitation was accepted with appreciation.

Itar-Tass: RF, New Zealand agree to develop economic cooperation


17.12.2009,18.39

MOSCOW, December 17 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and New Zealand have agreed to develop economic cooperation.

An agreement to this effect was reached after the talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries, Sergei Lavrov and Murray McCully, on Thursday. The ministers also agreed that New Zealand Trade and Conservation Tim Groser would visit Moscow in the beginning of 2010.

We discussed cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region. We seek to take an active part in integration processes in the region and in discussions on security in the Asia Pacific Region, Lavrov said.

In his words, during the talks, the parties noted a big role played by ASEAN and the Regional Security Forum. We intend to strengthen security regimes within ASEAN. However this should be done in a transparent manner, without creating private clubs, the Russian minister said.

Moscow praises New Zealands role in ensuring economic stability in the region. In international affairs we call for complying with the norms of international law and strengthening the U.N. role. We develop close cooperation in the field of disarmament and the WMD non-proliferation, Lavrov said.

We are satisfied with todays talks. There is a broad area for continuing cooperation, the Russian minister added.

McCully said the New Zealand government intended to establish closer relations with Russia. Russia is a global player making an important contribution to solving pressing problems. We welcome Russias constructive work in the region, he said.

At the same time, McCully stressed that both parties have chances to expand trade and economic cooperation. In this context, the New Zealand Trade and Conversation Minister, Tim Groser, would visit Russia in the beginning of 2010.

Russia and New Zealand established diplomatic relations more than 50 years ago, on April 13, 1944 when both countries jointly struggled within the anti-Hitler coalition.

Our diplomatic contacts help step up a constructive political dialogue and create favourable conditions for the ongoing development of bilateral cooperation in many fields, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

He recalled that the foreign ministers had regular meetings on the sidelines of different international events. In June Lavrov and McCully met in Thailand within the ASEAN Regional Forum. The ministries of the countries held talks in Wellington in March 2009.

Nesterenko considered the development of inter-parliamentary relations rather successful. In January 2007 New Zealand parliament speaker Margaret Wilson made an official visit to Russia to take part in the 15 session of the Asia Pacific parliamentary forum. Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov paid a return visit to New Zealand in January 2008. Parliamentary groups maintain regular contacts.

New Zealand became the first developed country with which Russia ended successful talks on the accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The corresponding protocols were signed in 2003 and 2004, Nesterenko said. From 2004 Wellington takes part in financing a programme of chemical disarmament in Russia within the G-9 Global Partnership, the diplomat added.

We are convinced that the upcoming visit to Moscow by the New Zealand minister will be a considerable contribution to the development of Russian-New Zealand cooperation in different spheres, Nesterenko stressed.

RIA: Medvedev meets with Lebanese PM in Copenhagen

http://en.rian.ru/Environment/20091218/157279780.html

03:4818/12/2009

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Copenhagen, where he arrived on Thursday in order to take part in the UN climate change conference.

The Russian president told Saad Hariri he hoped they could discuss "not only climate-related issues, but also issues of... bilateral relations" during their stay in the Danish capital.

Saad Hariri said in his turn that Dmitry Medvedev's decision to meet with the Lebanese delegation showed Russia's interest in developing bilateral cooperation with his country.

After the meeting with Hariri, Medvedev headed to an unplanned meeting of heads of state and delegations of countries - participants of the Copenhagen climate talks.

The 15th UN climate change conference, the result of two years of international talks on a binding treaty to cut global carbon emissions, began in the Danish capital on December 7.

Friday is the final day of the talks, which bring together about 15,000 participants from 192 countries. However, negotiators have so far failed to reach an agreement on how to fight climate change.

U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton told participants of the Copenhagen talks on Thursday that time is running out for the international community to address the issue of global warming.

On Monday, Medvedev announced that Russia would restrict its greenhouse gas emissions to 25% of 1990 levels by 2020.

The president wrote on his blog that Russia could reduce the release of 30 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year by enhancing its energy and environmental efficiency through economic modernization based on energy-saving technology and the development of renewable energy sources.

COPENHAGEN, December 18 (RIA Novosti)

The Moscow Times: Russia to Offer $200M to UN Climate Fund

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-to-offer-200m-to-un-climate-fund/396394.html

18 December 2009

By Irina Filatova

Russia is ready to contribute $200 million to a multibillion-dollar fund to support poor nations, but it wont sign a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to cut pollution unless other major carbon dioxide emitters also agree to cuts, Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Thursday.

President Dmitry Medvedev flew to Copenhagen to deliver a short speech Friday at the end of a chaotic two-week United Nations climate change summit, where negotiators were scrambling to write an intelligible draft to present to world leaders.

Russias contribution to the summit is minimal, with the major problem being a deadlock between United States and China on carbon cuts. But Russia is also the worlds third-largest emitter, after the United States and China.

Hopes for a strong UN climate pact appeared slim until U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Thursday that Washington supported the creation of a $100 billion fund by 2020, adding political drive to negotiations also aimed at reaching agreement on many other measures, including saving rainforests, boosting carbon markets and stiffening global carbon emissions cuts.

Dvorkovich said Russia would consider the summit, the climax of two years of talks, a success if major emitters from both developed and developing countries agreed on their own emissions cuts.

We realize that signing a global agreement in Copenhagen is virtually impossible. Nevertheless, this conference is one of the stages toward the signing of such an agreement, he said.

He said Russia was ready to cut emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, but only if the United States, China and other emitters agreed to fair reductions as well.

Medvedev said earlier this week that a new climate pact would only work if all countries cooperated on cuts. Our piecemeal efforts will be ineffective and senseless, he said in his videoblog Monday.

Nevertheless, Russia is not insisting that all countries cut emissions as they tackle global warming because there are other measures that can be taken as well, Dvorkovich said.

But all countries have to adopt some kind of measures, he said. This is a key principle for us, and an agreement will not be reached without it, he said.

The new treaty must also provide convenient conditions for the transfer of technology, recognition of a countrys forests as gas absorbents and financial support for developing countries, Dvorkovich said.

Dvorkovich said poor nations needed assistance relinquishing fossil fuels and Russia was prepared to contribute $200 million in climate aid. Before Clinton declared the United States support for a $100 billion fund, the European Union had proposed a fund of $150 billion to help poor countries go green.

The Copenhagen summit is meant to reach a global climate deal that would serve as the foundation for a legally binding treaty next year to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The measures aim to avoid dangerous climate change and promote a greener global economy less dependent on fossil fuels.

Russias emissions fell by about 30 percent from 1990 and 2000, leaving it with a surplus of carbon credits. Under the Kyoto Protocol, a country with a surplus of emissions quotas may sell them to other countries.

Russia is ready to consider selling its quotas to other countries if it helps negotiators reach a new agreement, Dvorkovich said. But he added that he doubted that Russia would sell its quotas this way.

I think Dvorkovich was ironic while talking about quotas, said World Wildlife Fund climate expert

Alexei Kokorin. He meant that Russia was not going to sell its quotas in big chunks, but if any country needed our help, we would help it.

He said Russia might sell quotas to Japan or Canada, which fail to fulfill the conditions of Kyoto Protocol.

Its more of an issue of saving political face for Japan and Canada. Its a political problem rather than an economic one, Kokorin said.

Russia could also sell smaller slices of quotas to Italy and Spain, Kokorin said.

Oleg Pluzhnikov, a senior official from the Economic Development Ministry, said earlier this week in Copenhagen that Sberbank was negotiating a possible sale of quotas. He said some sales might take place before the Kyoto Protocol expires.

Meanwhile, Dvorovich said Medvedev on Wednesday had signed a climate doctrine that analyzes the possible consequences of climate change on Russia and how Russias energy market would be affected by new climate measures.

The main part of the doctrine is devoted to the measures we should take in order to increase the energy efficiency of Russias economy, Dvorkovich said.

Russia plans to increase the energy efficiency of its economy by as much as 40 percent by 2020, Medvedev said on the videoblog.

Dvorkovich said Russia would increase the energy efficiency of its economy whether or not the global climate agreement was signed.

This is beneficial for us. It will make Russias economy more competitive, he said.

RIA: WWF welcomes signing of Russian climate doctrine


21:5317/12/2009

The World Wildlife Foundation has welcomed a Russian climate doctrine signed by the president earlier on Thursday.

WWF Russia noted the document's importance in light of the ongoing UN climate change conference in Denmark.

Russian Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev earlier said the doctrine on government measures focuses on energy efficiency.

Alexei Kokorin, the head of WWF Russia's climate program, said: "the educational measures in the doctrine need to be immediately implemented."

"It is extremely difficult for people to understand the real state of affairs, to distinguish between short-term man-induced effects and long-term natural effects. It is sad that the media organizes totally unfounded discussions on the causes of climate change, when we are already at the next stage - formulating measures," he said.

On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia would restrict its greenhouse gas emissions to 25% of 1990 levels by 2020.

The president wrote on his blog that Russia could prevent the release of 30 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year by enhancing its energy and environmental efficiency through economic modernization, based on energy-saving technology and the development of renewable energy sources.

Medvedev will attend a meeting of heads of state and government on Thursday in Copenhagen, where the UN climate change conference has been underway since December 7.

MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti)

RIA: Ecologists to survey Amur tiger numbers in Russia's Far East


11:4918/12/2009

Russian ecologists will carry out a census of the Amur tiger population in the Primorye and the Khabarovsk territories, a World Wildlife Fund spokesman said on Friday.

"This year Amur tiger population monitoring is especially important, as before the global summit on tiger preservation that will bring heads of states to Vladivostok in September 2010, the research should confirm or refute data on the tigers' population obtained last year," the spokesman said, adding that the exact data will be revealed in March.

According to Russian representative of WWF biodiversity preservation Sergei Aramilev, if there is evidence that the tiger population is on the decline then additional monitoring will be carried out across their entire range.

Experts say poaching is the number one cause of declining populations in the region.

The last Amur tiger population census carried out in 2005 showed there were 428-502 adult individuals in the Primorye and the Khabarovsk territories, the only parts of Russia inhabit by the tigers. In 1995, there were 415-467 adult Amur tigers living in the area.

Monitoring of the tiger population in carried out annually in separate areas.

In June, the Russia and China agreed to start preparations to create a cross-border nature reserve to protect endangered Amur tigers and Far East leopards.

Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, are the largest subspecies of tigers, growing to over 3 meters in length and weighing up to 300 kilograms. They are on the World Conservation Union's critically endangered status list, and there are only about 500 of them left in the wild. Since 2006, poachers are known to have killed around 10 in Russia's Far East.

VLADIVOSTOK, December 18 (RIA Novosti)

RIA: Russian energy institute says climate change due to Earth's spin


22:4217/12/2009

The head of a Russian energy strategy institute has claimed that fears over planet-warming emissions are exaggerated, and that observed climate change is in fact due to the slowing of the Earth's rotation.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will enter its final day on Friday, with world leaders trying to agree on global measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012. Scientists have warned that the emissions cuts so far offered at the summit would fail to prevent a catastrophic rise in temperatures.

However, Vitaly Bushuyev, general director of the Energy Strategy Institute set up by Russia's Fuel and Energy Ministry, insists that the main reasons for climate change are being ignored.

"Cyclical changes, including climate change, have always existed and will continue to exist," Bushuyev told RIA Novosti.

"Climatologists tend to limit their research to the planet's thermal balance. In effect, they merely study the influence of solar radiation or its lack as caused by the greenhouse effect. In reality, a powerful energy force is linked with changes in the Earth's rotation speed, which is now slowing down.

"Even if the planet's rotation speed slows down insignificantly, at a rate of one second every few years, this process still generates a tremendous amount of energy, which would exceed the amount of electricity generated by all power plants around the world.

"This is why we believe that current climate change is not linked with any man-made factors or emissions from burning fuels, but is primarily determined by energy emissions into the Earth's atmosphere. Such emissions are determined by changes in the Earth's rotation speed," he said.

However, Bushuyev did not deny the danger of greenhouse gas emissions, saying any small changes can trigger larger ones.

"I have always believed and still think that it would be incorrect to go from one extreme to another and to claim that there is no impact and that the environment is something irrelevant, or to say that everything depends entirely on environmental factors.

"Humans increase or reduce this influence. We can even express this influence in percentage terms. Even a small increase in some critical change can become a decisive factor and trigger some process," he said.

He called for countries to join efforts to find the best way of deal with the looming environmental dangers.

"We must now work out a common approach, one based on the environment, energy and the economy. A common approach is the only way that would enable us to make the right decision regarding the development of our civilization," he said.

Bushuyev, 70, was deputy fuel and energy minister from 1992 to 1998.

MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti)

Investors.com: Russian Temps Turn Up Heat On Warmers

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515652

By SEAN HIGGINS, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 07:26 PM ET

A Russian think tank alleges that climate-change data obtained from that country have been cherry-picked to overstate a rise in temperatures. With Russia accounting for a large portion of the world's land mass, incorrect data there could affect the analysis of global temperatures.

The Institute of Economic Analysis, an independent Moscow-based organization, issued the report Tuesday. It was titled, "How Warming Is Being Made: The Case of Russia."

It alleged that England's Hadley Centre for Climate Change and the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, the U.K.'s two top climate research outfits, had improperly selected climate data from Russia.

The Hadley Centre has issued a statement saying it was impossible for them to have tampered with the data. The same statement conceded possible flaws, but these were due to "the limited availability of Northern Hemisphere high latitude observations." It further claimed that its data may actually have underestimated the warming trend in Russia.

Climate Fallout

The Russian study is part of the "climategate" fallout regarding the e-mails and other data leaked from the CRU last month. Some of the information appeared to show top climate scientists expressing private doubts about their data and in other cases tweaking them to bolster warming claims.

The leaked data reignited debate over global warming science. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has demanded a hearing into the leaked data.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, during a press conference to announce that the agency now had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases on its own, disputed that the leaks showed any need to reexamine the underlying science.

In the wake of the controversy the CRU and Hadley Centre placed some of their previously private climate data in the public domain. The IEA study examines the data as they pertain to warming in Russia.

The entire study has not been officially translated into English but institute president Andrei Illario-nov discussed the findings with IBD. He also wrote a summary of them for the free market Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow.

According to Illarionov, an analysis of the climate data shows that the data in Russia came from just 25% of the country's meteorological stations and missed about 40% of the country's land mass.

The chosen stations tended to be the ones closer to large population centers, which tend to be warmer.

"(The report) is an analysis of what stations have been used, what stations have not been used and, based on this analysis, it looks like the real actual temperature dynamics ... in Russia, that is the increase in warming, have been artificially increased by 0.64 degrees Celsius," Illarionov told IBD.

Russia accounts for 12.5% of the world's total land mass, he notes, and argues that this calls for a reevaluation of United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change's finding that the global temperature rose 0.76 degrees Celsius over the last century.

"The IEA report concludes that it is necessary to recalculate all global temperature data in order to assess the real rate of temperature change during the last century. Global temperature data will have to be modified because the calculations used by Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change analysts are based on (Hadley-CRU) research," Illarionov wrote in his Cato posting.

William Yeatman, climate policy analyst for the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, notes that outside examination of the CRU and Hadley Centre data has only just begun.

"If (the Russians) have isolated some sketchy scientific practices, chances are they going to isolate some more," he said.

Hadley Defends Data

In a statement e-mailed to IBD, the Hadley Centre disputed claims that there had been any data manipulation.

"The World Meteorological Organisation (sic) chooses the set of stations designated as essential climate stations that have been released by the Met Office," the statement read.

It further stated: "These are evenly distributed across the globe and provide a fair representation of changes in global average temperature over land. We do not choose these stations and therefore it is impossible for the Met Office to fix the data."

The same statement also said the overall data were limited by the lack of the high latitude observations. Dave Britton, spokesman for the Met Office, the U.K.'s top climate organization, which includes the Hadley Centre, said that despite these limitations they had "every confidence" in the data. The IEA's claim that they only use a percentage of the Russian climate data available misses the point, he says.

"If we use every single piece of temperature data that is available then we would probably suggest that the (Russian) warming would actually be greater," Britton said. They don't use all data, he explains, because they must be quality-controlled, taken from reliable sources and "consistent with other temperature data sets."

He added that the Met Office would publish all underpinning station data as soon as it can. That may take a while though because those data come from climate centers in many different countries, some of which may not be willing to give up their intellectual property.

The IEA's Illarionov has had a colorful, high profile career in Russia. A former top economic adviser to former President Vladimir Putin, he quit in late 2005, criticizing the government for backsliding on democracy.

He subsequently founded the IEA and is now identified with Russia's political opposition. He is also a longtime critic of global warming claims.

"Illarionov is a notorious climate change skeptic," said Samuel Charap, Russia scholar at the liberal Center for American Progress. "He is a serious economist, but he has some very strong opinions."

Russia Today: Renewable push looks for alternative environment

http://rt.com/Business/2009-12-17/renewable-push-looks-alternative.html/print

17 December, 2009, 20:10

Russia should shift its focus from oil and gas and begin developing alternative energy. But members of the International Energy forum say innovations will require state investment and social and economic policy changes.

Alternative energy currently provides less than 1% of Russias energy but the government is planning to boost that to 4.5% by 2020. The country has huge potential to develop solar, nuclear, hydro and wind resources, and the business community is keen to innovate. But Robert Nigmatulin, Director of the Institute of Oceanology says the burden is too heavy without state support.

Governments in all the developed countries contribute a lot from their budgets. To make innovation a reality, Russia needs to change its social and economic course. We need to redistribute incomes, adjust the tax system and change budget policy.

Russia recently adopted new legislation on energy efficiency, but the law doesnt outline how the state can facilitate alternative projects. Businessmen complain that the energy reform aimed at attracting investment, creating a free market and updating old capacity has failed to meet expectations. Nadezhda Gerasimova, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma says there is too much red tape.

Theres still too much bureaucracy in our legislation, especially for start-up projects. That hinders small business engagement in the innovation sector. We are expecting changes. The government should also work harder to encourage scientists.

But following a massive brain drain in the 1990s innovative science in the country is lagging the rest of the world. Russia now has to turn to foreign expertise. Experts say the clock is ticking as Russia's hydrocarbon resources shrink and their exploration demands more and more money.

Today.az: Russian expert: Russia to back supply of Azerbaijani gas to Iran

http://www.today.az/news/business/58319.html

18 December 2009 [12:32] - Today.Az

Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations Igor Tomberg says Azerbaijan and Iran may maintain long-term cooperation in gas sphere.

Why it not to be long-term? As the prices suit both sides, Azerbaijan will be able to implement gas production plans in new fields and diversification is only positive. Russia will surely back gas supply to Iran, but not to Europe via Russias alternative gas pipelines, said Igor Tomberg, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oriental Studies Institute Center for Energy and Transport Studies.

I do not rule out joint supplies through the South Stream and Blue Stream-2 with Russia in future. The transit issue is very important. Gazprom will either transit supplies or will be second-hand dealer as in case with Turkey, the expert said.

Tomberg believes that increase in Azerbaijans gas supplies may impede implementation of the Nabucco project.

"Depending on Azerbaijans export potential, in two to three years increased number of non-European importers of Azerbaijani gas may hinder construction of Nabucco. It seems that so large number of gas pipelines in the direction of southern Europe is not necessary. One can expect that next year there will be talks about a symbiosis of the South Stream, Nabucco, Blue Stream, and possibly other projects in a new joint project, more cost-effective and resource-backed, the professor added.

Abc.az: Azerbaijan and Russia to resume Baku-Olya ferry line for next two months

http://abc.az/eng/news_18_12_2009_41149.html

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The delegation of the government of Astrakhan Oblast (a federal subject of Russia) visiting Baku currently has had meetings in the Ministry of Transport and Azerbaijan State Caspian Company (Kaspar).

At todays Baku session of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC) Astrakhan Oblasts vice governor Konstantin Markelov informed that during negotiations it was voiced support to resumption of ferry carriages between port of Baku and Astrakhan port Olya halted as the sides failed to load them with cargo.

Ater solution fm logical schemes the sides are to resume ferry traffic for the next two months. We have also plans on organization of transportation by railroad ferry ships, Markelov said.

He said that with potential capacity of 4 million tons Olya port is handling 1 million tons of cargo a year.

It was decided to transfer port organizations from Astrakhan centre to Olya port. I think that we will be able to increase ports turnover up to 8 million tons and plan to bring it up to 30 million tons, he said.

A range of new terminals will also be constructed in the port.

Abc.az: Russia expects signing of agreements on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict settlement in 2010

http://abc.az/eng/news/main/41148.html

Baku, Fineko/abc.az.

Russia expects breakthrough in negotiations on peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Garabagh conflict.

Today in Baku Vladimir Dorokhin, the Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan, has stated that if (accent was made on word if) the negotiation process goes as fast and good as in 2009, then there are chances to hope for any concrete results.

Following the Garabagh conflict Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijani territory and evicted 1 million people from places of permanent residence. Since May 1994 Armenia and Azerbaijan have been applying ceasefire regime.

Today.az: Armenia, Russia sign partnership deal on export of military goods

http://www.today.az/news/armenia/58311.html

18 December 2009 [10:53] - Today.Az

Yerevan hosted the 4th session of Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee on Military-technical Cooperation on Dec. 14-17.

Discussion was chaired by Armenias Deputy Defense Minister Alik Mirzabekyan and Deputy Head of Russian Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service Constantine Biryulin.

On Dec. 16, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Co-Chair of Armenian Armenian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee on Military-technical Cooperation Constantine Biryulin signed an agreement on export of military-technical products to third Countries.

In his Speech, Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan noted the agreements key role in deepening Armenian Russian military cooperation and strengthening military efficiency of both countries armed forces.

News.az: CIS countries agree to create nanotechnologies center

http://www.news.az/articles/4940

Fri 18 December 2009 | 07:26 GMT

The founding documents of the CIS international innovation center were signed in Dubna (Moscow).

The documents were signed by representatives of the ministries, national academies of science, trade and industrial chambers, scientific and educational centers, state and private companies in the sphere of high technologies from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine, says a news release of interstate humanitarian cooperation foundation of the CIS member-states,."The center aims at creating new instruments of the scientific and innovative cooperation, joint access to the world competitive markets, gaining superiority in the innovative development of the CIS countries and organization of joint actions in the sphere of innovations", said Alexander Sisakyan, director of the Associated Institute of Nuclear Studies.

He noted that as the year of 2010 is declared the year of science and innovations in the CIS states, the creation of the center will become one of the key events of the next year in the CIS area."There are high quality research and educational facilities in the CIS countries but they are often isolated by the business world and they do not create a "critical mass" necessary for innovations. The Center will become a mechanism that combine three sides of the "triangle of knowledge" (education-research-innovations) and will raise the capacity of the countries to transform the results of studies and innovations into commercial innovations", Sisakyan said.

The CIS Center is being created in Dubna as a center whose activity is aimed at forming the highly technological CIS market of nanoindustry with international competitiveness. The Center will become a tool of integration of the CIS innovative, research and educational area.

The initiative to create the center belongs to the Associated Institute of Nuclear Studies, it is supported by the interstate foundation of humanitarian cooperation between the CIS countries.

EurActiv.com: Georgia destroys Soviet monument, offends Russia

http://www.euractiv.com/en/east-mediterranean/georgia-destroys-soviet-monument-offends-russia/article-188464

Published: Friday 18 December 2009

Diggers tore into a Soviet World War Two memorial in Georgia on 17 December to make way for a new parliament in the former Soviet republic, angering Russia and opponents of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Saakashvili wants parliament sessions to be relocated to Georgia's second city of Kutaisi under an initiative to revitalise the former industrial hub.

But the demolition of a 46-metre-high concrete and bronze war memorial at the proposed construction site has been criticised by Georgia's opposition and Russia, which fought a brief war with US ally Georgia last year.

The Russian Defence Ministry issued a statement saying it was "concerned", and Duma deputy and former prime minister Sergei Stepashin said it was "sacrilege".

Critics said the move reflected an indifference to public opinion by authorities under Saakashvili, whose rejection of Georgia's Soviet past has been his signature policy since taking power on the back of the 2003 'Rose Revolution'.

Some 300,000 Georgians died fighting for the Soviet army during World War Two. "The decision to dismantle this memorial without asking the people and without asking the author of this memorial is a very good example of how our leadership ignores public opinion," said Georgy Akhvlediani of the opposition Christian Democrats.

Naked horseman

One part of the monument, a statue of a naked Georgian horseman in front of the main concrete structure, has already been removed. Authorities said it would be relocated within Kutaisi, 236 km (147 miles) west of the capital Tbilisi.

Municipal construction official Jemal Tsuladze told Reuters the bronze sections of the monument, built in 1982, would be kept in storage, but the main structure was too big to move.

"It was a government decision and we are just implementing it," he said. Kutaisi city officials could not confirm Russian media reports that the main structure - designed by Georgian sculptor Merab Berdzenishvili - would be blown up on 21 December, the birthday of Saakashvili which he shares with Josef Stalin.

A spokeswoman for Saakashvili declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Russian officials said it was a crime. "The [...] criminal nature of such evil acts must be raised at all international events," Alexei Ostrovsky, a committee chairman in the Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, told RIA Novosti.

Relations between Russia and Georgia show no sign of improving since they fought a five-day war in August last year, when Russia crushed an assault by US ally Georgia on the breakaway pro-Russian region of South Ossetia.

The monument dispute has echoes of Estonia in 2007, when Russia reacted furiously to the removal of a statue of a Soviet Red Army soldier in the capital Tallinn.

(EurActiv with Reuters.)

ISRIA: Russia - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Head of the Federal Space Agency Anatoly Perminov

http://www.isria.com/pages/17_December_2009_160.php

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good evening. Yesterday, three GLONASS navigation satellites were launched from the Baikonur space centre. How did the launch go?

Anatoly Perminov: The launch went as planned. Three GLONASS navigation satellites were launched by the Proton carrier rocket. We plan another three launches in 2010, which will bring nine satellites into orbit and thus fulfil President Dmitry Medvedev's objective of completing the GLONASS satellite grouping of 24 satellites by the end of 2010.

Vladimir Putin: Currently there are 19 satellites in orbit, aren't there?

Anatoly Perminov: Correct. These three satellites have to be introduced into the grouping to ensure their effectiveness and bring them into operation. Then we must...

Vladimir Putin: Wait a second. How many satellites will be in orbit by the end of this year?

Anatoly Perminov: By the end of next year there will be...

Vladimir Putin: No, I mean this year.

Anatoly Perminov: We will have 19 operational satellites.

Vladimir Putin: And by the end of 2010?

Anatoly Perminov: If everything goes according to plan we should launch another six satellites.

Vladimir Putin: And one will be taken out of service?

Anatoly Perminov: Possibly. But I think that we will be able to launch three satellites in February, another three in August, and the remaining three in November, thus adding a total of nine satellites to the GLONASS satellite grouping.

If one, or even two of the currently operational satellites are taken out of service, even in this case the objective set by the President will be accomplished.

Vladimir Putin: And the system will have a global reach?

Anatoly Perminov: Yes, with 24 satellites in place the system will have a global reach.

Vladimir Putin: Will the remaining satellites serve as backups?

Anatoly Perminov: Yes, the remaining devices will be operational but will serve as backups. The Americans do the same: 27 of their 30 space vehicles are operational. Of this number two satellites are currently being serviced.

Vladimir Putin: What about the ground-based facilities?

Anatoly Perminov: We are currently focusing our attention on a special programme that services our users' ground-based facilities. We have accomplished a lot this year, with over 50% of the various air, ground, sea and river-based transport facilities put into operation. We have also been implementing pilot projects in 51 regions.

Vladimir Putin: How are you getting along with users?

Anatoly Perminov: We are arranging our contacts on the nationwide scale, and our users' ground facilities will be able to receive a signal for free. As for the project's commercial aspect, we have established a national operator that is now active and has formed a board of directors. The first meeting of the board was chaired by Sergei Shoigu at the National Emergency Management Centre, where the activities will be planned both for Moscow and nationwide.

Vladimir Putin: What about international cooperation within the GLONASS project?

Anatoly Perminov: International cooperation is based on mutually beneficial terms. According to the agreements we have signed with several countries, we provide commercial signals through the main operator.

Vladimir Putin: What countries are your main partners?

Anatoly Perminov: We have signed agreements with a large number of countries, including India, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Nicaragua. An agreement with Belarus in progress.

Reuters: Sochi 2014 chief promises all venues will be ready

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldOfSport/idINIndia-44814320091217

Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:08am IST

By Gennady Fyodorov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko has dismissed any concerns about the city's ability to host the Winter Olympics and promised that all the venues will be built on time.

A senior Moscow regional official had suggested that his area could host the 2014 Olympic bobsleigh and luge events if Sochi could not build its track on time.

"If the situation with Sochi becomes difficult we can help," the head of the Dmitrov region, Valery Gavrilov, told reporters last weekend at the site of Russia's first bobsleigh and luge track in the village of Paramonovo, just north of Moscow.

Chernyshenko dismissed Gavrilov's suggestion, saying: "I'm sure Paramonovo will host many wonderful international competitions but the 2014 Olympic bobsleigh and luge events will be held in Sochi.

"I guarantee that all Olympic venues will be built on time," he told Reuters.

Sochi needs to build most of the venues and infrastructure from scratch and, despite Chernyshenko's assurances, the construction of the bobsleigh and luge track has given local organisers a headache.

In July, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered organisers to move the track to a new location after the original site was criticised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as "environmentally unfriendly".

Putin said the move had been agreed with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

This week, a powerful winter storm swept through Sochi, causing major damage to the Black Sea port and creating havoc at some of the Olympic venues.

(Editing by Clare Fallon;

To query or comment on this story email [email protected])

RIA: Over 100 spies uncovered in Russia's Novosibirsk Region in 2009

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091218/157282083.html

09:0118/12/2009

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) indentified more than 100 foreign agents operating in the Novosibirsk Region in 2009, the regional department said on Friday.

The southwestern Siberian region's research institutions and technical enterprises are the focus of foreign special services' interest.

"This year, more than 100 foreigners were revealed who were employed by or belonged to the intelligence apparatus of foreign secret services," the regional branch of the FSB said in a statement on the year's work.

An official said that in some cases, members of foreign special services are expelled from the country, but many are simply kept "under control" by counterintelligence officers.

In summing up the year, the FSB also said it had filed 68 criminal cases for corruption, with nine high-ranking officials being convicted, broke up 11 international smuggling operations and 10 drug-trafficking rings.

NOVOSIBIRSK, December 18 (RIA Novosti)

RIA: Russia's fastest train gets from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 3h 45m

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091218/157280399.html

05:0218/12/2009

Sapsan, Russia's first train capable of travelling at a speed of 250 kmph (155 mph), made its first commercial run between Russia's two largest cities in a record time of 3 hours and 45 minutes.

The train departed from the Russian capital at 07:00 p.m. local time [16:00 GMT] and arrived in the Russian second city of Saint Petersburg at 10.45 p.m. local time [19:45 GMT], at precisely the scheduled time.

It takes approximately eight hours for most Russian trains to cover 650 km (about 400 miles) that separate Moscow from Saint Petersburg. Nevsky Express, which had been considered Russia's fastest train, is able to cover the distance in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

The train, of the Velaro RUS series, is a joint project between Russia's railway monopoly RZD and Germany's Siemens. It has 10 cars, of which two are first class and eight are second class, and can carry 604 passengers. The track gauge is 33 cm wider than in Germany to ensure it is appropriate for Russia's railroad tracks.

Tickets to Sapsan cost 5,300 rubles ($175) for the first-class coaches and 3,300 rubles ($110) for the second-class coaches. During the first week of the service, tickets will be sold at a discount.

Sapsan made its first unofficial journey in late November, when it evacuated passengers from the Nevsky Express train, which derailed as a result of a bomb attack, killing 26 people and injuring over 90.

Two Sapsan trains will make three runs daily - at 06:45 (arrival time 10:30), at 13:00 (arrival time 17:15) and 19:00 (arrival time 22:45).

The two Nevsky Express trains are due to be removed from the route as Sapsan comes into operation.

RZD signed a deal to buy eight Sapsan trains from Siemens in 2006, followed by a maintenance contract in April 2007.

SAINT PETERSBURG, December 18 (RIA Novosti)

Reuters: Russia's fastest train makes maiden journey

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-44816520091217

Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:17am IST

By John Bowker

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's first high speed train left Moscow for St Petersburg on Thursday, weeks after a bomb killed 26 on the same busy route.

A rousing burst of recorded brass music accompanied the departure from Moscow of the "Sapsan", which means peregrine falcon in Russian, the planet's fastest bird.

Travelling at up to 250 km (155 miles) an hour, the Sapsan will cut the journey time between Russia's two main cities to three hours 45 minutes from at least four and a half hours, delighting business travellers.

Tickets for the maiden journey of the sleek train which sports a red, aerodynamic-styled nose quickly sold out.

"This is fantastic news for Russia. I changed my plans to take this train. The government should have done this long ago, especially on such a busy route," said Konstantin, one of the passengers.

Sapsan's launch comes as a high profile show of government support for Russia's state-owned railways following the attack on the luxury Nevsky Express train on the same route on the night of November 28.

Islamist militants later claimed responsibility for the bombing, the worst in Russia outside the mainly Muslim North Caucasus region since 2004.

"Of course I am worried about bombs given what happened recently," said passenger and energy ministry official Alexander Savyelev, who snapped pictures of the train's distinctive nose on his mobile phone before embarking from Moscow's Leningradsky station.

"I didn't actually know I was on this train until five minutes ago as my manager booked it. I thought, why is the journey time so short?" he added.

GERMAN-BUILT

The Sapsan was built by German industrial group Siemens, which won a 30-year, 630 million euro ($907.5 million) deal to supply and service eight of the trains in 2006/07.

State-controlled Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin also took the maiden passage.

"I have my ticket and I will take this train," he told a throng of reporters and television crews before heading out onto the freezing platform.

High speed rail tops many government agendas as a more environmentally friendly alternative to short haul flights.

The Sapsan train claims to be quicker than flying when journeys to and from airports are taken into account, though it is much slower than trains in China and South Korea that can top 300 km (185 miles) an hour.

It will run three times a day each way, can carry more than 550 passengers, and will cost $175 for first class and $115 for economy class.

(Additional reporting by Yuri Pushkin and Gleb Stolyrov)

Business Week: High-speed train makes maiden Moscow-St Pete trip

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9CL9JV00.htm

MOSCOW

December 17, 2009, 3:52PM ET

A new high-speed train in Russia has arrived in St. Petersburg from Moscow in its maiden voyage, less than three weeks after the bombing of an express train on the same line killed 27 people.

Russian news agencies said the Sapsan, which means peregrine falcon, completed its three-hour, 45-minute journey Thursday night with a full compliment of more than 600 passengers. It can reach a top speed of 155 mph (250 kph) on Russia's rail infrastructure.

The minimum rail journey time between Russia's two capitals had been using the Nevsky Express, which took 45 minutes longer to complete the roughly 435-mile (700-kilometer) journey. A terror attack Nov. 27 caused a Nevsky Express train to derail.

Bloomberg: Russian Lawmakers Submit Proposal to Ban Beer Sales at Kiosks

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZRtTJAJEeDk

By Maria Ermakova

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Russian lawmakers have proposed banning beer sales by kiosks to curb alcohol consumption.

The proposals were submitted to Russias lower house of parliament, known as the Duma, the legislatures committee on economic policy and entrepreneurship said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The proposed law would also ban sales of low-alcohol drinks at kiosks.

The accelerating and endangering growth of beer and low- alcohol cocktails consumption, especially by young people, made the ban necessary, Viktor Zvagelskiy, a lawmaker and a member of the committee, said in the statement.

In June, President Dmitry Medvedev asked the government to find ways to fight excessive drinking. Annual alcohol consumption in Russia averages about 18 liters (38 pints) per person, according to Russias Alcohol Market Regulation Federal Service. The World Health Organization estimates 8 liters as an acceptable volume of consumption, the service said in a report in November.

To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Ermakova in Moscow at [email protected]

Last Updated: December 18, 2009 01:01 EST

Telegraph.co.uk: Russia 'to ban swearing'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/6837004/Russia-to-ban-swearing.html

A group of Russian senators is backing new legislation to ban swearing in public as part of a Kremlin-backed drive to clean up Russia's morals.

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow Published: 8:00AM GMT 18 Dec 2009

The law would be based on an existing scheme in the Russian region of Belgorod where police hand out on-the-spot fines for anyone overheard using foul language in public.

The fines there range from 500 roubles (10) to 1,500 roubles (30). People heard cursing in front of children are fined the most.

Mikhail Nikolayev, deputy chairman of Russia's upper house of parliament, or Federation Council, is pushing the improbable initiative.

"Swearing should cease to be part of our everyday life," he says, adding that the scheme in Belgorod, started in 2005, has produced encouraging results.

A clutch of fellow senators is supporting Mr Nikolayev's plan.

The move comes as the Kremlin seeks to tackle rampant alcoholism, a culture of heavy smoking, and a steady stream of hardcore violence and erotica on TV and in adverts.

The assault on swearing appears to have been motivated in part by a series of foul-mouthed tirades against Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev on a popular blog run by a famous designer.

A number of pro-Kremlin politicians have tried to get the designer prosecuted but without success. He has merely told them in the strongest possible terms to leave him alone.

Analysts say it is too early to say whether this latest anti-swearing campaign will become law. Part of the problem, say detractors, is that the people who are meant to enforce it the police swear like troopers themselves.

Telegraph.co.uk: UFO pyramid reported over Kremlin

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/6837200/UFO-pyramid-reported-over-Kremlin.html

A giant pyramid which appears to be a UFO hovering over the Kremlin has caused frenzied speculation in Russia that it is an alien spacecraft.

Published: 6:47AM GMT 18 Dec 2009

The object has been compared to an Imperial Cruiser in the Star Wars films and witnesses estimated it could be up to a mile wide.

Two film clips exist which appear to show the same object and footage has been repeatedly playing on Russian television news channels.

The shots, one taken at night from a car and one during the day, were both filmed by amateurs.

The 'craft' was said to have hovered for hours over Red Square in the Russian capital.

The clips of the 'invasion' have gone to the top of the country's version of YouTube.

The identity of the shape has not been confirmed. Russian reports ruled out a UFO but police refused to comment.

Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defence UFO analyst, said it was "one of the most extraordinary UFO clips I've ever seen".

"At first I thought this was a reflection but it appears to move behind a power line, ruling out this theory."

A spokesman for aerospace journal Jane's News said: "We have no idea what it is."

The Moscow Times: Kadyrov Wont Testify

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kadyrov-wont-testify/396390.html

18 December 2009

A Dubai court on Thursday turned down an appeal by defense lawyers to summon Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov to testify in a trial of two suspects in the M

Russia - WikiLeaks 091218.doc · Web viewBasic Political Developments. Kyodo News: Okada to visit Russia from Dec. 27 to discuss territorial issue . Interfax: Putin, Tymoshenko

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