Russia 110714

Basic Political Developments Itar-Tass news outlook for Thursday, July 14.

o KAZAN –It is planned to complete the search through the MS Bulgaria by Thursday noon, after that the ship will be prepared for a rise.

o MOSCOW – The ambassadors from ten countries will present their credentials to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin.

o MOSCOW – The Russian government presidium will have a meeting to specify the procedure to levy an oil export duty from the projects, which are in effect under the agreements on the division of produce; will approve special prescription papers for the doctors to prescribe narcotic and psychotropic substances and will determine a status of servicemen from combined Russian-Abkhazian and Russian-South Ossetian military bases.

o MOSCOW – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold a video conference with Yekaterinburg, which hosts the INNOPROM-2011 forum, and will speak with the winners of the first stage of a contest for new appointments on the posts of the general director and the directors on specific trends of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives.

o BEIRUT – General elections in Egypt are postponed from September to November; the rebels are taking allegiance oaths to the United Command in Libya.

o ANKARA – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will discuss regional issues with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen ahead of a meeting on the Libya Contact Group in Istanbul on July 15.

o THE UNITED NATIONS – The flag of a new country – the Republic of South Sudan – will be raised solemnly in front of the UN headquarters in New York.

o ROME – An enlarged detailed presentation of the project of the Russian innovation center Skolkovo will be held in the Italian capital. The president of the Skolkovo Fund Viktor Vekselberg will meet with the Italian education minister and the chief of the Italian Post Company, which is leading in advanced communications, information and telecommunications technologies. The presentation will be held in the Italian Foreign Ministry attended by top officials of the country.

o YEKATERINBURG – The international exhibition Innoprom-2011 will open. Some 23 Russian and 27 foreign delegations will participate in the exhibition. About 40 agreements to the tune of more than 50 billion roubles will be signed.

o KALUGA – The Etnomir cultural and educational tourist center will begin the Days of CIS Youth in the Borovsk district of the Kaluga Region. The first international youth sport and education camp will last four days.

o LONDON – An unveiling ceremony to the first world spaceman Yuri Gagarin will be held in the center of the British capital. The daughter of the first cosmonaut Yelena Gagarina, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and

Natalia Korolyova, who is the daughter of the famous Soviet chief rocket construction manager and designer Sergei Korolyov, will attend the unveiling ceremony.

o MOSCOW - Director of the Italian National Tourism Agency (ENIT) for tourism in the BRICS countries in 2011-2012 Marco Bruschini will hold a news conference devoted to the project “Italia Comes to You” at the Itar-Tass news agency. The news conference will be held within the framework the Russia-Italy Cross Year. The project to be implemented in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg is designed to intensify tourism cooperation between Russia and Italy.

o MOSCOW - A news conference devoted to the world record in kitesurfing across the Bering Strait set by Russian kiteboarders will be held at the Itar-Tass news agency. Taking part in the news conference will be Russian kiteboarding champion Yevgeny Novozheyev, kitesurfing instructor Konstantin Aksyonov, VIVAX company director general Andrei Sorokin, who is also the expedition sponsor.

Itar-Tass news digest for Thursday, July 14 . o KAZAN — As many as 102 out of 105 dead bodies retrieved from the

sunken cruise ship Bulgaria have been identified, a spokesman for the ministry of health of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan told Itar-Tass on Thursday. As of 08:00 Moscow time, there were 105 dead bodies, including 24 children, at the republican forensic bureau. All the children have been identified. According to the republican emergencies ministry, twenty four persons, including at least six children, are still missing.

o KAZAN — It is expected that the Bulgaria passenger ship will be fully examined by noon on Thursday after which preparations will begin to raise the ship. “One day is needed to make checks at all decks for already the third time,” the head of the Russian State Inspection for Small Size Vessels, Vadim Seryogin, said at a telephone conference late on Wednesday. He said this work could be completed by noon on Thursday.

o KAZAN — Special lifting equipment has arrived from St. Petersburg to Kazan to take the sunken Bulgaria cruise ship from under water, a spokesman for the Russian emergencies ministry’s administration for the republic of Tatarstan told Itar-Tass on Thursday. It is expected that the equipment will be delivered at the wreck site by noon, said Marata Rakhamtullin.

o MOSCOW— The ambassadors of ten countries, including Japan and the Holy See, who begin their diplomatic work in this position in Russia, will present their credentials Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday. The solemn ceremony, already the second this year, is traditionally held in the Kremlin.

o MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday will hold a videoconference with Yekaterinburg, where the INNOPROM 2011 forum is underway. The press service of the Russian government reported that in this regime “he will hold a working meeting with the winners of the

first stage of the competition for the positions of the director general and directors of branches of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).”

o WASHINGTON — Negotiations is the only acceptable option for the settlement of the crisis in Libya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The foreign minister noted that the stances of Russia and the United States on Libya are not exactly the same. According to him, “this first of all concerns the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions”.

o WASHINGTON— Russia and the United States hope to shortly reach mutual understanding on missile defence issues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference on Wednesday after his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

o WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov discussed on Wednesday the situation in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the settlement of the conflict around Nagorno Karabakh, Russia’s WTO entry and other issues, a statement of the White House’s press secretary said.

o TEL AVIV — Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg discussed with Israeli authorities on Wednesday prospects for cooperation in the sphere of innovation development. The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund met with President Shimon Peres as well as held talks with Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Simhon and ministry’s Chief Scientist Avi Hason.

o YEKATERINBURG — The international exhibition Innoprom-2011 opens on Thursday in Yekaterinburg, sources from the information department of the Sverdlovsk region governor told Tass. Twenty-three Russian and 27 foreign delegations from Austria, Algeria, Great Britain, Hungary, Vietnam, Denmark, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Canada, China, the USA, Germany, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and South Africa will take part in the exhibition.

o ROME — Presentation of the Russian Skolkovo project will be held in the Italian capital on Thursday. Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg will meet with Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini and Massimo Sarmi, Managing Director of Poste Italiane. The presentation will be held at the Italian Foreign Ministry in the presence of representatives of the country’s leadership. The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund will present key directions in its activity – energy efficiency, biomedical, space and nuclear technologies. Open University Skolkovo will be presented separately.

o NIZHNY NOVGOROD — Russia’s GAZ carmaker joins the All-Russia People’s Front, the head of the plant’s trade union, Yevgeny Morozov, said on Wednesday.

o MINSK — Several dozen people were detained in cities of Belarus during a next “silent rally” late on Wednesday, local media outlets and human rights activists said. Most people were detained in Minsk and Gomel.

Protesters were also detained in Brest, Vitebsk, Zhodino, Slutsk, Soligorsk and other cities. Several reporters were detained, some reports said.

o WASHINGTON — Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket on July 16 will take to geostationary orbit a satellite of one of the world’s leading telecommunications service providers - SES Corporation, the American company International Launch Services (ILS) the majority stake in which belongs to the Russian Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

o BARNAUL — A tourist from Barnaul City, Alexei Rogachev, who is at an intensive care unit in Turkey, will be brought to Moscow in the near future where he will continue treatment, Itar-Tass learnt on Thursday from Rogachev’s relatives. Particulars of how his evacuation will be paid for, is unclear so far. Rogachev’s relatives flew from Barnaul (south-western Siberia), to Moscow to meet him.

White House does not rule out Obama's visit to Russia this year. - The White House does not rule out that President Barack Obama will visit Russia later this year, White House Press secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday at a regular press briefing. Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was in Washington on July 11-13 for a working visit, held a meeting with Obama in the US capital. Carney promised to disclose the meeting details later.

o Russia, USA look to mutual understanding on missile defence – FM. o Obama, Lavrov discuss Libya, Nagorno Karabakh, Russia’ s WTO bid. o Obama and Lavrov discuss Magnitsky case o U.S. resolutely supports Russia's WTO accession – Clintono Russia Lays Out 'Step-By-Step' Approach On Iran o Problems in Libya can be solved only through talks - Lavrov.

Gaddafi regime threatens rebels with surface-to-surface missiles - Russian envoy o Gaddafi has 'suicide plan' to blow up capital: Russian envoy

Skolkovo project to be presented in Italy. - Presentation of the Russian Skolkovo project will be held in the Italian capital on Thursday. Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg will meet with Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini and Massimo Sarmi, Managing Director of Poste Italiane.

o Skolkovo Fund delegation, Israeli leadership discuss cooperation. Cuba, Russia seek to boost business ties - Eduard Vaino, a Russian representative,

said cooperation in such "promising areas" as energy, oil exploitation, the pharmaceutical sector and tourism was preferred.

Ukraine, Russia discuss setting up joint peacekeeping unit. - Pedchenko said the plan of military cooperation with Russia for 2010 included 40 events, most of which were carried out. There are 81 events in this year’s plan, including 44 in Ukraine and 37 in Russia.

o Russia, Ukraine may set up joint naval force Russian poultry imports could be allowed into EU - According to RBC Daily

yesterday (13 July), the EU has, in general terms, agreed to allow Russian poultry imports.

Russia and Kazakhstan do not export POL in Kyrgyzstan - Initially, the Russian side has suspended deliveries of fuel to Kyrgyzstan in May, after the ban was

decided to extend and in June 2011 too. Kazakhstan banned the export of petroleum products even earlier.

South Ossetia marks Peacekeeper’s Day Russian official eyes leap in trade - China and Russia have the conditions and the

potential to realize their target of boosting bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2020, said Russia's ambassador to China.

Russia expels Dutch military attaché - Russia has expelled the military attaché at the Dutch embassy in Moscow. The move comes in reaction to the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from the Netherlands.

Brother of Peru's president-elect met with Russian arms dealers and defense minister - Reports indicate that Humala met with Russia’s Defense Minister, as well as JSC Rosoboronexport , “the sole state intermediary agency for Russia's exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products,” as stated on their website. Alexis Humala, presuming to represent his brother’s government, also talked with Russian officials on the matter of atomic energy, minerals and petroleum.

London to unveil Yuri Gagarin monument Russian Jailed By Uzbekistan For Treason Released St Pete to build Yerevan hotel, Armenian capital – St Petersburg. Magazine 'pulled' after mocking St. Petersburg governor - The July 4 edition of

the Kommersant Vlast magazine sarcastically commended Matviyenko - widely expected to become the new speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament - for her "services" in dealing with the city's icicle problem.

Terrorism suspect detained in Stavropol Territory - o ‘Russian Wahhabi’ Victor Dvorakovskiy detained in the Stavropol region

- he was on the federal wanted list One Russian policeman dead, seven injured in Caucasus ambush

o Report: 1 Police Officer Killed, 7 Wounded in Chechnya Violence No plans to ban full-face Islamic veils at schools - Dagestani leader Terrorists may seek to abuse Duma polls for evil purposes - Nurgaliyev.

o Extremists may seek to hijack State Duma polls – minister Over 110 million Russians to vote on United Elections Day - view. Ambassadors of 10 countries to present credentials to Medvedev. Putin to select leaders for Agency for Strategic Initiatives. Zubkov may head United Russia’s regional list in Duma election. GAZ carmaker joins All-Russia People’s Front. Examination of sunken ship in Volga expected to be completed on July 14

o Two dozen people from boat wreck still missing Russia suspends airline after crash - Russia's aviation authorities have suspended

the license of the Moscow-based airline Rusair following a plane crash last month that killed 47 people.

Russia Proton rocket to orbit SES satellite. Russia's Soyuz capsule gains space monopoly The Federal Space Agency asks for more money - The Russian Space Agency

(Roscosmos) is asking to increase the budgetary appropriation for 2012 by one

and a half in comparison to the figure approved last December by the “Federal budget law for 2011 and the planning period of 2012 and 2013.”  

Moscow mayor approves Kudeneyev's appointment as city prosecutor Court arrests in absentia former finance minister of Moscow region. Two persons severely injured in gas tank explosion in Rostov region. RIA Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, July 14, 2011 Pravda: Russia to end supremacy of US rating agencies Russia's Post-Shuttle Space Plans - With U.S. winged orbiters out of the picture,

Russia has competitive plans for a new launch vehicle. PERSPECTIVE: EU-Russia relations - the usual suspects. By Nicholas Watson in

Rome Russian Billionaire Backs `Soviets’ at Manhattan’s New Museum - Billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, Russia’s 15th-richest man, has thrown his wealth behind a museum show opening today in New York to mark the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Endangered Russian leopards caught on film

National Economic Trends Government may reduce stakes in banks to zero Inflation continues decelerating - Inflation was at 0% during the week of July 5,

the YTD tally remaining at 5.1%. Although this figure is a bit higher than a year ago (4.6% YTD after the first two weeks of July) it is largely a result of the base effect, as inflation was high in January 2011, for example.

Russia gold, currency reserves down on July 1-8. Russian spend abroad beats pre-crisis records - Aggregate spend made by

Russians abroad in 2011 has reached pre-crisis 2007 levels, according to Citibank's annual research that was published today.

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions Raspadskaya, Severstal, Bank of Moscow: Russia Equity Preview EU anti-dumping duties on potash expire without any extension CEO of General Electric, is expected to be elected in Inter RAO's board of

directors o Inter RAO to Appoint GE’s Immelt to Board, Kommersant Says

Power firm Kvadra posts 2.4 bln rbl 2010 net profit VTB to consolidate 75% stake in Bank of Moscow in next few days - Dubinin

(Part 2) UAC okays innovative development plan

o VEB’s head is elected CEO of United Aircraft Corporation. Coal miner Raspadskaya Q2 output down 5 pct q/q Vnesheconombank not eyeing stake in Raspadskaya

o CEO: VEB has no plans to buy Raspadskaya but may finance purchase Siemens to supply two long product rolling mills to Evraz Germans and Swiss Making Cement - The facility — located in the Tula region,

150 kilometers south of Moscow — will produce 2 million tons of cement a year and reach full capacity by 2013, Knell said.

Rusnano to tap $672m in Sberbank loan facilities

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) Energy Minister Shmatko comments on government's downstream sector

initiatives – RenCap Tax Benefits for Bashneft and Tatneft? - Vedomosti reports this morning (14

July) that Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko supports the idea of providing Bashneft with tax benefits to compensate for losses associated with the introduction of the 60-66 export duty regime.

BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS SHAREHOLDERS VOTE TO CONTINUE PROJECT - The shareholders and supervisory board of Trans Balkan Pipeline B.V. (???), the operator of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, voted to continue work on the project at a meeting in Budapest on July 12.

OPAL gas pipeline completed - The laying of the 480km OPAL gas pipeline has been completed. This pipeline is often referred to as the Nord Stream’s “younger brother” which will link Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Sakhalin-I earns Russia almost $5 bln Dragon Oil Provide Drilling Update - Rig 40 commences drilling on the

Dzheitune (Lam) 13 platform

Gazprom RWE-Gazprom deal could center on Czech pipelines - Rumors of a capital

investment by Russian gas giant Gazprom in Germany’s RWE could focus on the fate of Czech gas pipelines

A height standard deviation - St. Petersburg authorities have agreed to extend the height of Gazprom’s office to 500 meter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Full Text Articles

Basic Political Developments

10:24 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Itar-Tass news outlook for Thursday, July 14.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185527.html

14/7 Tass 72

Telephone: 8 (499) 791-00-18

Fax: 8 (499) 791-00-19

THE SHIP-WRECKAGE

KAZAN –It is planned to complete the search through the MS Bulgaria by Thursday noon, after that the ship will be prepared for a rise.

THE PRESIDENT-AMBASSADORS

MOSCOW – The ambassadors from ten countries will present their credentials to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin.

THE GOVERNMENT

MOSCOW – The Russian government presidium will have a meeting to specify the procedure to levy an oil export duty from the projects, which are in effect under the agreements on the division of produce; will approve special prescription papers for the doctors to prescribe narcotic and psychotropic substances and will determine a status of servicemen from combined Russian-Abkhazian and Russian-South Ossetian military bases.

MOSCOW – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold a video conference with Yekaterinburg, which hosts the INNOPROM-2011 forum, and will speak with the winners of the first stage of a contest for new appointments on the posts of the general director and the directors on specific trends of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives.

THE SITUATION IN ARAB STATES

BEIRUT – General elections in Egypt are postponed from September to November; the rebels are taking allegiance oaths to the United Command in Libya.

THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE NATO GENERAL SECRETARY AND THE TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER

ANKARA – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will discuss regional issues with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen ahead of a meeting on the Libya Contact Group in Istanbul on July 15.

SOUTH SUDAN ACCEDED IN THE UNITED NATIONS

THE UNITED NATIONS – The flag of a new country – the Republic of South Sudan – will be raised solemnly in front of the UN headquarters in New York.

THE PRESENTATION OF THE SKOLKOVO INNOVATION CENTER IN ROME

ROME – An enlarged detailed presentation of the project of the Russian innovation center Skolkovo will be held in the Italian capital. The president of the Skolkovo Fund Viktor Vekselberg will meet with the Italian education minister and the chief of the Italian Post Company, which is leading in advanced communications, information and

telecommunications technologies. The presentation will be held in the Italian Foreign Ministry attended by top officials of the country.

THE EXHIBITION-INNOPROM

YEKATERINBURG – The international exhibition Innoprom-2011 will open. Some 23 Russian and 27 foreign delegations will participate in the exhibition. About 40 agreements to the tune of more than 50 billion roubles will be signed.

YOUNG PEOPLE-CIS

KALUGA – The Etnomir cultural and educational tourist center will begin the Days of CIS Youth in the Borovsk district of the Kaluga Region. The first international youth sport and education camp will last four days.

A MONUMENT TO GAGARIN TO BE UNVEILED IN LONDON

LONDON – An unveiling ceremony to the first world spaceman Yuri Gagarin will be held in the center of the British capital. The daughter of the first cosmonaut Yelena Gagarina, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and Natalia Korolyova, who is the daughter of the famous Soviet chief rocket construction manager and designer Sergei Korolyov, will attend the unveiling ceremony.

IN ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW - Director of the Italian National Tourism Agency (ENIT) for tourism in the BRICS countries in 2011-2012 Marco Bruschini will hold a news conference devoted to the project “Italia Comes to You” at the Itar-Tass news agency. The news conference will be held within the framework the Russia-Italy Cross Year. The project to be implemented in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg is designed to intensify tourism cooperation between Russia and Italy.

MOSCOW - A news conference devoted to the world record in kitesurfing across the Bering Strait set by Russian kiteboarders will be held at the Itar-Tass news agency. Taking part in the news conference will be Russian kiteboarding champion Yevgeny Novozheyev, kitesurfing instructor Konstantin Aksyonov, VIVAX company director general Andrei Sorokin, who is also the expedition sponsor.

11:07 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Itar-Tass news digest for Thursday, July 14 .

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185569.html

14/7 Tass 126

KAZAN — As many as 102 out of 105 dead bodies retrieved from the sunken cruise ship Bulgaria have been identified, a spokesman for the ministry of health of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan told Itar-Tass on Thursday. As of 08:00 Moscow time, there were 105 dead bodies, including 24 children, at the republican forensic bureau. All the children have been identified. According to the republican emergencies ministry, twenty four persons, including at least six children, are still missing.

KAZAN — It is expected that the Bulgaria passenger ship will be fully examined by noon on Thursday after which preparations will begin to raise the ship. “One day is needed to make checks at all decks for already the third time,” the head of the Russian State Inspection for Small Size Vessels, Vadim Seryogin, said at a telephone conference late on Wednesday. He said this work could be completed by noon on Thursday.

KAZAN — Special lifting equipment has arrived from St. Petersburg to Kazan to take the sunken Bulgaria cruise ship from under water, a spokesman for the Russian emergencies ministry’s administration for the republic of Tatarstan told Itar-Tass on Thursday. It is expected that the equipment will be delivered at the wreck site by noon, said Marata Rakhamtullin.

MOSCOW— The ambassadors of ten countries, including Japan and the Holy See, who begin their diplomatic work in this position in Russia, will present their credentials Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday. The solemn ceremony, already the second this year, is traditionally held in the Kremlin.

MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday will hold a videoconference with Yekaterinburg, where the INNOPROM 2011 forum is underway. The press service of the Russian government reported that in this regime “he will hold a working meeting with the winners of the first stage of the competition for the positions of the director general and directors of branches of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).”

WASHINGTON — Negotiations is the only acceptable option for the settlement of the crisis in Libya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The foreign minister noted that the stances of Russia and the United States on Libya are not exactly the same. According to him, “this first of all concerns the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions”.

WASHINGTON— Russia and the United States hope to shortly reach mutual understanding on missile defence issues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference on Wednesday after his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov discussed on Wednesday the situation in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the

Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the settlement of the conflict around Nagorno Karabakh, Russia’s WTO entry and other issues, a statement of the White House’s press secretary said.

TEL AVIV — Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg discussed with Israeli authorities on Wednesday prospects for cooperation in the sphere of innovation development. The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund met with President Shimon Peres as well as held talks with Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Simhon and ministry’s Chief Scientist Avi Hason.

YEKATERINBURG — The international exhibition Innoprom-2011 opens on Thursday in Yekaterinburg, sources from the information department of the Sverdlovsk region governor told Tass. Twenty-three Russian and 27 foreign delegations from Austria, Algeria, Great Britain, Hungary, Vietnam, Denmark, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Canada, China, the USA, Germany, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and South Africa will take part in the exhibition.

ROME — Presentation of the Russian Skolkovo project will be held in the Italian capital on Thursday. Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg will meet with Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini and Massimo Sarmi, Managing Director of Poste Italiane. The presentation will be held at the Italian Foreign Ministry in the presence of representatives of the country’s leadership. The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund will present key directions in its activity – energy efficiency, biomedical, space and nuclear technologies. Open University Skolkovo will be presented separately.

NIZHNY NOVGOROD — Russia’s GAZ carmaker joins the All-Russia People’s Front, the head of the plant’s trade union, Yevgeny Morozov, said on Wednesday.

He said workers of the plant decided that at a general meeting on July 8, and documents on the joining were sent to the Nizhny Novgorod coordinating council of the People’s Front on Wednesday. According to Morozov, workers of the carmaker “believe that as an organisation uniting all active forces of the society, the People’s Front has strong aspirations and possibilities to support initiatives of enterprises”.

MINSK — Several dozen people were detained in cities of Belarus during a next “silent rally” late on Wednesday, local media outlets and human rights activists said. Most people were detained in Minsk and Gomel. Protesters were also detained in Brest, Vitebsk, Zhodino, Slutsk, Soligorsk and other cities. Several reporters were detained, some reports said.

WASHINGTON — Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket on July 16 will take to geostationary orbit a satellite of one of the world’s leading telecommunications service providers - SES Corporation, the American company International Launch Services (ILS) the majority stake in which belongs to the Russian Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

BARNAUL — A tourist from Barnaul City, Alexei Rogachev, who is at an intensive care unit in Turkey, will be brought to Moscow in the near future where he will continue treatment, Itar-Tass learnt on Thursday from Rogachev’s relatives. Particulars of how his evacuation will be paid for, is unclear so far. Rogachev’s relatives flew from Barnaul (south-western Siberia), to Moscow to meet him.

11:13 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

White House does not rule out Obama's visit to Russia this year.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185571.html

14/7 Tass 22

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — The White House does not rule out that President Barack Obama will visit Russia later this year, White House Press secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday at a regular press briefing. Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was in Washington on July 11-13 for a working visit, held a meeting with Obama in the US capital. Carney promised to disclose the meeting details later.

The official representative of the American leader was also asked about whether his boss is going to Russia this year. “I don’t have any scheduling announcements for you,” Carney answered. He was asked if he does not rule out the possibility of such a visit. “Why would I rule it out? Looking forward to returning to Russia as much as I do, I would never rule that out,” the press secretary said jokingly. It should be noted that earlier Jay Carney, who had worked as a reporter for over 20 years, for three years had worked as a correspondent for Time Magazine in Moscow. The White House press secretary has recently several times said at regular press briefing that he wanted to come to Moscow again.

Within the framework of the current visit of the Russian foreign minister to Washington it was also planned to agree on a schedule of the upcoming bilateral summit-level contacts, including a possible visit by Barack Obama in Moscow. Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov told Itar-Tass on June 17 that the president's visit is expected to take place before the end of the year. “Our plan includes Obama’s visit to Moscow, the preparation is in progress,” Denisov said. According to him, it is planned that Obama will come in autumn or at the end of the year. “We have a certain schedule, according to which now it is Obama’s turn to come to us,” Denisov noted.

During the visit Lavrov discussed missile defence, prospects for Russia’s soonest accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as well as the situation in the Middle East and North Africa. As coordinators of the Russian-American presidential commission Lavrov and Clinton studied the activity of 20 working groups and discussed the

implementation of joint projects. Among priorities were transport security, the strengthening of interaction in culture and environmental protection, and the creation of a natural preserve on both sides of the Bering Strait.

The two sides also exchanged notes on the ratification of a protocol on extending agreements on the disposal of surplus plutonium. Lavrov and Clinton signed a protocol extending the Intergovernmental Russian-American Agreement on Cooperation in Research on Radiation Effects.

Russia and the United States also signed an agreement, which regulates international adoption. Last week, Lavrov said an adoption agreement between Russia and the United States included psychological evaluation of adoptive parents and forbade independent adoption.

In an interview with Rossiya 24 Channel on July 7, Lavrov said, “An agreement on international adoption includes several very important and obligatory elements. The first element is essential psychological evaluation of potential adoptive parents due to several episodes such as beating and abuse of Russian adopted children. The American authorities will bear responsibility for this testing.”

“The second element is to forbid the so-called independent adoption. Adoption should be conducted only through a specially accredited agency. The US authorities also bear responsibility for this,” Lavrov stressed. “And the third element is that all Russian children adopted by Americans will not change their citizenship,” he added.

According to official Russian data, last year 1,079 children were adopted from Russia by American parents. To date, according to various estimates, approximately 130,000 children have been included in the data bank of those who are ready for adoption. A few years ago there were 160,000 of such boys and girls.

Earlier, US Ambassador in Moscow John Byerly said the Russian foreign minister and the US Secretary of State would sign an adoption agreement in Washington next week. Byerly said, “My task is to build more constructive and more fruitful relations between our countries. It can be said much: about the START Treaty, Russia’s upcoming to the WTO and ambitious economic deals.” “But the most important thing for me is that… Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton will sign an adoption agreement and an agreement on liberalising the visa regime. All of us should applaud it because this proves the depth of our relationship,” the US diplomat noted.

02:02 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Russia, USA look to mutual understanding on missile defence – FM.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185374.html

4/7 Tass 21

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Russia and the United States hope to shortly reach mutual understanding on missile defence issues, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference on Wednesday after his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

According to Lavrov, the heads of the Russian and American foreign policy agencies noted at talks that “U.S. President Barack Obama unequivocally confirmed an agreement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that it is necessary to reach as soon as possible understanding that will be political and will give an opportunity to create reliable political and other frameworks making it possible to launch practical cooperation” in that sphere.

The Russian foreign minister also reported that the sides had “noted a successful implementation of the START Treaty”. He noted that “mechanisms on that treaty function rather efficiently”. In particular, the top Russian diplomat mentioned the setting up of “a consultative commission, which has already made some practical steps”.

At the news conference, the Russian foreign minister also marked the work of the Russian-American presidential commission for cooperation, which, according to him, is “an efficient mechanism”. He stressed that 18 working groups within the framework of that commission are fully involved in work on cooperation projects.

“Besides, two other groups have been set up – one for innovations, which is important for a positive agenda in our relations, and the second one – for legal issues, which also play a growing role in our bilateral dialogue,” Lavrov emphasized.

04:49 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Obama, Lavrov discuss Libya, Nagorno Karabakh, Russia’ s WTO bid.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185396.html

14/7 Tass 32

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov discussed on Wednesday the situation in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the settlement of the conflict around Nagorno Karabakh, Russia’s WTO entry and other issues, a statement of the White House’s press secretary said.

“The President thanked the Foreign Minister for his efforts to complete a new bilateral agreement on visa liberalization as well as a new agreement on adoptions, both of which will touch many lives in Russia and the United States,” the statement said.

Barack Obama expressed support for Russia’s efforts to mediate a political solution in Libya. The president stressed that the USA was ready “to support negotiations that lead to a democratic transition in Libya as long as Qadhafi steps aside”.

Lavrov and Obama discussed the situation in Sudan and in South Sudan, the nuclear problem of Iran, the role of the international community in preventing new violence in Syria and Yemen, and next steps on Middle East Peace in the wake of the Quartet meetings earlier in the week.

Besides, the president expressed gratitude to the Russian foreign minister for his efforts towards the settlement in the mostly Armenian populated Azerbaijani enclave of Nagorno Karabakh and “underscored the U.S. commitment to achieve a framework agreement,” the statement said.

As for bilateral relations, Barack Obama and Sergei Lavrov discussed possibilities for cooperation on missile defence in Europe, Russia’s WTO entry, democracy and human rights in Russia.

The U.S. president “reaffirmed his strong support for Russia’s efforts to complete its WTO accession process this year, and discussed the necessity of granting Russia Permanent Normalized Trade Relations,” the statement emphasized.

RT News line, July 14

Obama and Lavrov discuss Magnitsky case http://rt.com/news/line/2011-07-14/#id14303

06:37

During their meeting in the White House, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and President Barack Obama have discussed democracy and human rights in Russia. This includes the case of the late Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, according to a press release from the US administration. Barack Obama also praised Sergey Lavrov’s efforts towards easing the visa regime between the countries, as well as a new agreement between the US and Russia on adoption. He also supported Russian efforts in mediating the Libyan settlement process. Other issues discussed included the Iranian nuclear program and the current turmoil in Syria.

July 14, 2011 09:31

U.S. resolutely supports Russia's WTO accession – Clintonhttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=259140

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington supports Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization.

This will help deepen the two countries' economic ties, she said at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Washington on Wednesday.

The issue of Russia's WTO accession is a priority for President Barack Obama, she said.

The press conference was broadcast live by the Rossiya 24 television channel.

Sd

(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)

Russia Lays Out 'Step-By-Step' Approach On Iran http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_lays_out_step_by_step_approach_on_iran/24265132.html

July 14, 2011 Russia says a step-by-step approach should be used to end international doubts over Iran's nuclear program.   Sergei Lavrov said every time Tehran satisfactorily answered a question or concern of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it should be rewarded, including the freezing of some sanctions.

"We propose that for each IAEA concern that Iran must address, starting with the easier issues before ending with those that may take more time, that for each specific step of Iran would be followed by some reciprocal move, like freezing some sanctions and shortening the volume of sanctions," Lavrov said. Lavrov was speaking after talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who did not directly address Lavrov's offer, but said Washington remains committed to a "dual track of pressure and engagement" on Iran.   Tehran says is ready to restart talks with the five permanent Security Council members and Germany but only after its right to enrich uranium is recognized. 

Talks in Geneva in December and Istanbul in December between the six powers and Iran failed to make headway.   Some Western countries fear Iran is using its nuclear program to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran strongly denies.  

compiled from agency reports

01:42 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Problems in Libya can be solved only through talks - Lavrov.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185371.html

14/7 Tass 17

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Negotiations is the only acceptable option for the settlement of the crisis in Libya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The foreign minister noted that the stances of Russia and the United States on Libya are not exactly the same. According to him, “this first of all concerns the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions”.

He said both countries believe “that it is necessary to launch as soon as possible a political process in that direction, using both diplomatic and other channels”.

Lavrov expressed hope that the measures taken by Russia, the USA and the African Union will make it possible to get down to negotiating table. “We see no other way to settle the problem,” the top Russian diplomat stressed.

In reply to a reporter’s query why Moscow does not want to support the U.S.-offered resolution denouncing the Syrian regime, Lavrov said Russia is against “bare condemnation” of Syria. “We will arrive at nothing with bare condemnation without a concrete agenda,” he stressed.

Lavrov said the present situation in Yemen is an example of unanimity with which the world community solves existing problems, as in Yemen “the government and the opposition are at the same negotiating table”. The Russian foreign minister believes an analogous approach is needed to achieve peace in Syria.

Gaddafi regime threatens rebels with surface-to-surface missiles - Russian envoyhttp://en.rian.ru/world/20110714/165185311.html

06:29 14/07/2011

MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti)

The Libyan regime has threatened to attack rebels with surface-to-surface missiles if they manage to take control of Tripoli, Russia's envoy to Africa said in an interview with Russian daily Izvestia.

"The Libyan prime minister in Tripoli told me: 'If the rebels occupy the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up,'" Mikhail Margelov said. "I believe that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan."

Margelov also expressed doubts over U.S. intelligence reports that pro-Gaddafi forces were running out of arms.

"Gaddafi has not yet used a single surface-to-surface missile, while he has more than enough of them," the envoy said. "This raises doubts that the [Gaddafi] regime is running out of arms."

"Theoretically," he said, Gaddafi may be short of tank and gun munitions, "but he has quite enough missiles and explosives."

Fierce battles between Gaddafi supporters and opponents have been raging in Libya since mid-February.

An international military operation against Gaddafi began on March 19, following a UN resolution authorizing countries "to take all necessary measures" to help protect Libyan civilians from attacks by Gaddafi forces, and was extended until late September.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent his envoy Margelov to the North African country to discuss ways out of the crisis with both Gaddafi and representatives of the rebel Transitional National Council.

Gaddafi has 'suicide plan' to blow up capital: Russian envoy

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1140864/1/.html

Posted: 14 July 2011 1516 hrs

MOSCOW: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a "suicidal plan" to blow up the capital Tripoli if it is taken by rebels, the Kremlin's special envoy to Libya told a Russian newspaper Thursday.

"The Libyan premier told me: if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up," Kremlin envoy Mikhail Margelov said in an interview with the the Izvestia daily.

Margelov met Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi last month.

"I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan," he added, saying that Gaddafi still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition.

But Margelov, who has had rare access to senior Libyan officials, questioned reports that Gaddafi could be running out of arms in the drawn-out conflict.

Gaddafi had still not used a single surface-to-surface missile, he argued.

"Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks, cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives."

Margelov met the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month. He has not met Gaddafi himself.

Russia abstained from a vote on a March UN Security Council resolution that opened the way for foreign involvement and has since criticized the campaign -- particularly arms drops by France.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for talks on Libya, where Lavrov sought to play down differences between the countries.

However, the Russian foreign ministry said earlier Wednesday that Moscow would not take part in talks on Libya later this week in Turkey, which has also seen itself as a mediator in the conflict.

- AFP/cc

03:19 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Skolkovo project to be presented in Italy.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185382.html

14/7 Tass 10

ROME, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Presentation of the Russian Skolkovo project will be held in the Italian capital on Thursday. Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg will meet with Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini and Massimo Sarmi, Managing Director of Poste Italiane.

The presentation will be held at the Italian Foreign Ministry in the presence of representatives of the country’ s leadership. The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund will present key directions in its activity – energy efficiency, biomedical, space and nuclear technologies. Open University Skolkovo will be presented separately.

Russian organisers of the presentation said its aim is “to attract attention of potential Italian partners from the scientific and university worlds, as well as from the world of business, which envisages cooperation with leading Italian companies and opens investment opportunities”.

Sources from the Italian Foreign Ministry said Italy is very interested in cooperation with Russia in the sphere of innovation and the development of new technologies, which has been repeatedly stressed at different bilateral meetings, including during the 12th session of the Russian-Italian council for economic, industrial and monetary-financial cooperation with participation of Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

The Italian Foreign Ministry, for its part, undertakes to help spread information about possibilities to participate in the Skolkovo project. It is sure that Italy, which has one of the leading positions in Europe in the sphere of scientific research and engineering, has a lot to offer within the framework of an exchange of experience with Russia.

The Russian delegation arrives in Italy from Israel, where Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg discussed with Israeli authorities on Wednesday prospects for cooperation in the sphere of innovation development.

The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund met with President Shimon Peres as well as held talks with Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Simhon and ministry’s Chief Scientist Avi Hason.

Fund’s Vice President Dmitry Kolosov told Tass that the Israeli president had marked the agro-industrial complex as one of priority directions in cooperation, taking into consideration significant achievements of Israel in that sphere. Besides, a number of other fields for cooperation in the sphere of high technologies and science were named during the meeting.

The sides also discussed cooperation with Open University Skolkovo and Skolkovo Institute of Technology.

00:32 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Skolkovo Fund delegation, Israeli leadership discuss cooperation.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185353.html

14/7 Tass 462a

TEL AVIV, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Skolkovo Fund President Viktor Vekselberg discussed with Israeli authorities on Wednesday prospects for cooperation in the sphere of innovation development.

The delegation of the Skolkovo Fund met with President Shimon Peres as well as held talks with Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour Shalom Simhon and ministry’s Chief Scientist Avi Hason.

Fund’s Vice President Dmitry Kolosov told Tass that the Israeli president had marked the agro-industrial complex as one of priority directions in cooperation, taking into consideration significant achievements of Israel in that sphere. Besides, a number of other fields for cooperation in the sphere of high technologies and science were named during the meeting.

“We are interested in the experience of Israel, which let the country achieve significant success in the sphere of innovation development within a short period of time,” Kolosov said.

“Besides we are interested in establishing contacts with relevant companies, departments, scientific centres and universities both from the point of view of exchanging experience and with a view to their cooperation with participants of our innovation centre and participation in the project,” he said.

The sides discussed cooperation with Open University Skolkovo and Skolkovo Institute of Technology. Sources from the delegation said the visit was held within the framework of “a continuing expansion of contacts with key government agencies and representatives of international innovation companies”.

After ending its Israeli trip the delegation left for Rome.

Cuba, Russia seek to boost business ties http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7440087.html

13:37, July 14, 2011

Business representatives from both Cuba and Russia signed an action plan on Wednesday to strengthen bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

They also inked a number of documents at a joint work session held in the Cuban capital.

Eduard Vaino, a Russian representative, said cooperation in such "promising areas" as energy, oil exploitation, the pharmaceutical sector and tourism was preferred.

Cuban representative Ernesto Lage said he was in favor of working to improve the existing relations and cooperation between Cuba and Russia in business and trade.

Estrella Madrigal, president of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, said Cuba is increasing its management efficiency in foreign trade, and Russia is their priority market.

Russian Ambassador to Cuba Mijail Kaminin said the economic, commercial and investment relations between the two nations are developing with dynamism.

Over 30 companies from Russia and 60 from Cuba attended the work session of the Cuban and Russian business councils.

The Russian-Cuban trade volume topped 283 million U.S. dollars in 2009.

Source: Xinhua

02:30 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Ukraine, Russia discuss setting up joint peacekeeping unit.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185377.html

14/7 Tass 18

KIEV, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Chief of the Ukrainian General Staff Grigory Pedchenko and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Makarov discussed on Wednesday the possibility to set up a joint peacekeeping unit, the press service of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry reports.

Makarov expressed confidence that these plans are feasible. “As an example of such cooperation he named the possibility of a joint duty of Ukrainian marines and Russian servicemen in the area of the Horn of Africa, as well as the setting up of a joint multifunctional Ukrainian-Russian unit up to a brigade including,” its report said.

Pedchenko said the plan of military cooperation with Russia for 2010 included 40 events, most of which were carried out. There are 81 events in this year’s plan, including 44 in Ukraine and 37 in Russia.

Participation of the two countries’ armed forces in joint exercises, joint drill sessions of air defence alert forces, as well as participation in the Black Sea Naval Force (BLACKSEAFOR) are among the most important events in that plan.

Russia, Ukraine may set up joint naval forcehttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/14/53207380.html

Jul 14, 2011 11:08 Moscow Time

Russia and Ukraine may create a joint peacekeeping force. The issue was discussed by Chief of the Russian General Staff Nikolai Makarov and his Ukrainian counterpart Hryhoriy Pedchenko when they met in Kiev on this morning. General Makarov said that these plans were quite realistic and cited joint Russian-Ukrainian Navy patrols of the anti-piracy mission near the Horn of Africa as an example. Russia and Ukrainian marines participate in multilateral naval drills conducted by BLACKSEAFOR, a naval force founded by countries of the Black Sea rim in 2001 to promote regional security.  

Russian poultry imports could be allowed into EU

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

Renaissance CapitalJuly 14, 2011

Event: According to RBC Daily yesterday (13 July), the EU has, in general terms, agreed to allow Russian poultry imports. Several official control groups have visited Russia to ensure its biological compliance system works and that there is suitable quality control of its poultry production. Apparently, their initial reports have been positive.

Action: Positive for Cherkizovo, negative for MHP, in our view.

Rationale: If the EU issues veterinarian certificates to Russian poultry farms (EU officials visited Cherkizovo, and Mosselprom poultry farms that have recently been acquired by Cherkizovo), it would put Russia in a very strong position vs other large international

poultry producers, such as Brazil or Thailand that are only allowed to supply processed poultry meat to the EU, or the US that is banned from supplying any poultry to the EU. Of course, exports to the EU will only be economically viable if the certified Russian poultry producers have comparable production costs, or cost advantages, vs the EU's own production. In 2010, Cherkizovo had cash production costs of $1.6/kg vs $1.0-1.3/kg in Europe and only $0.8-0.9/kg for MHP (due to its vertical integration into corn and sunflower production, and its efficient operations). Considering the several new high-capacity poultry projects being developed in Russia, the addition of the EU as a potential export market would reduce the risk of poultry oversupply in Russia, which could lower domestic poultry prices and producers' margins. Ukraine is yet to report any progress regarding its poultry sales to the EU, which does not bode well for MHP, in our view.

Natasha Zagvozdina

Russia and Kazakhstan do not export POL in Kyrgyzstan http://eng.24.kg/business/2011/07/14/19223.html

14/07-2011 09:47, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Julia MAZYKINA

Russia and Kazakhstan do not export POL in Kyrgyzstan, reported Kursiv.kz.

The publication notes that the supply of fuel and lubricants in Kyrgyzstan decreased by 25.76 percent for five months of 2011. According to customs statistics, in January-June 2011, import of petroleum products in the KR reduced by 118.5 thousand tonnes. Import of jet fuel fell by 11.7 thousand tonnes or 73.94 percent, diesel fuel - by 19.08 thousand tonnes or 17.04 percent.

Initially, the Russian side has suspended deliveries of fuel to Kyrgyzstan in May, after the ban was decided to extend and in June 2011 too. Kazakhstan banned the export of petroleum products even earlier.

Note, as Head of the Oil Traders Association Zhumakadyr Akeneev told 24.kg news agency earlier, sharp increase in fuel prices is not expected in Kyrgyzstan in June 2011,as a monopolist “Gazprom Neft Asia” has agreements on direct supplies of fuel from Russian factories. Meanwhile, according to the State Antitrust Agency, gasoline price in the KR rises by 0.30-0.40 soms weekly.

URL: http://eng.24.kg/business/2011/07/14/19223.html

South Ossetia marks Peacekeeper’s Dayhttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/15806.html

South Ossetia will mark the Peacekeeper’s Day today, Res reports.

Russian peacekeepers have served in South Ossetia for 16 years, supporting peace and stability in the conflict zone.

Tskhinvali will start marking the day from laying of flowers to the place of “blue helmets” at Verkhny village, where peacekeepers died in August 2008. Celebrations include foundation of the Peace Stele for the peacekeepers of the Street of Peacekeepers in South Ossetia. Families of South Ossetian peacekeepers will receive support. The day will be concluded with a special concert on the Teatralnaya Street in Tskhinvali.

Russian official eyes leap in tradehttp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-07/14/content_12898318.htm

Updated: 2011-07-14 07:57

By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)

BEIJING - China and Russia have the conditions and the potential to realize their target of boosting bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2020, said Russia's ambassador to China.

In the first half of this year, Sino-Russian bilateral trade grew at a monthly rate of more than 30 percent, meaning that it could reach a total value of $70 billion by the end of this year, Sergey Razov said.

"By keeping the same growth rate, bilateral trade could reach $100 billion by 2015," said Razov.

During President Hu Jintao's visit to Russia in June, the two neighbors set targets for bilateral trade of $100 billion by 2015 and $200 billion by 2020.

Statistics from Russian Customs show that bilateral trade was worth nearly $60 billion in 2010.

To reach the target set for 2020, "we need to work hard with our Chinese colleagues. After all, we have both the conditions and the potential to reach this target", said Razov.

He said bilateral trade has "great vitality and huge potential to develop", which has been proven by its quick recovery to the level prior to the 2008 global economic crisis.

Looking ahead, Razov said "the main area for China-Russia cooperation is to enlarge two-way investment" in fields such as power station construction, upgrading power supply networks, and major natural gas and coal projects.

The new growth point for bilateral trade should be regional cooperation under the Cooperation between Northeast China and Russian Fast East and Eastern Siberia Program (2009-2018), said Razov.

In addition, there is great potential for cooperation in fields such as aviation, nanotechnology, biotechnology and agriculture, according to Razov.

Groundbreaking achievements in energy cooperation have been made in recent years including an oil pipeline linking Russia's Far East and Northeast China that became operational at the beginning of 2011, and will transport 15 million tons of crude oil annually from Russia to China from 2011 to 2030.

However, the two countries have failed to reach a final agreement on a natural-gas supply deal due to differences over pricing.

Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a framework agreement in 2009 that envisioned shipping 68 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China through the pipelines each year.

The two countries' leaders highly value energy cooperation and have been discussing the deal, which "shows that the countries' top leaders gave political support to this important bilateral project", said Razov.

"Our negotiations are proceeding," he said, adding that "what's more important is that we map out the way ahead for our future natural gas cooperation".

Russia is the world's biggest natural gas producer and China is becoming a major energy consumer.

Caijing, a leading business magazine in China, reported that China will import about 66 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas and 31.8 million tons of LNG by 2015.

China Daily

(China Daily 07/14/2011 page12)

Russia expels Dutch military attachéhttp://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/russia-expels-dutch-military-attach%C3%A9

Published on 13 July 2011 - 10:16pm

Russia has expelled the military attaché at the Dutch embassy in Moscow. The move comes in reaction to the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from the Netherlands.

This series of events was set in motion by a Dutch F-16 fighter pilot who reportedly leaked state secrets to a Russian colonel.

A spokesperson for the Dutch foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the military attaché had left Moscow at Russia’s request. “The Netherlands regrets the incident and attaches great importance to good bilateral relations with Russia.

The Russian move did not come as a complete surprise, as it is usual for countries to retaliate by expelling a diplomat of the country that has expelled one of theirs.

(gsh)

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

International Relations | July 13, 2011 [ 10:13 ]

Brother of Peru's president-elect met with Russian arms dealers and defense ministerhttp://www.livinginperu.com/news-15498-international-relations-brother-perus-president-elect-met-with-russian-arms-dealers-defense-minister

Alexis Humala, the brother of president-elect Ollanta Humala, met with Russian arms dealers last week.

This news, as reported in Peru’s La Republica, points to Alexis Humala being more deeply involved in negotiations between the Russian and Peruvian government than previously claimed. This was despite the fact that he was not asked to go to Russia by his brother or his political party, Gana Peru.

Reports indicate that Humala met with Russia’s Defense Minister, as well as JSC Rosoboronexport , “the sole state intermediary agency for Russia's exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products,” as stated on their website. Alexis Humala, presuming to represent his brother’s government, also talked with Russian officials on the matter of atomic energy, minerals and petroleum.

When La Republica interviewed him over the weekend, he made no mention of these meetings. Peruvian military officials based in the former Soviet Union claimed that in the case of Rosoboronexport, Humala met with Alexander Cheusov, the company’s representative in Lima during the Alejandro Toledo and Alan García administrations. According to sources, he also met with the vice minister of the Russian Federation for Economic Development and also visited the Ukraine.

Gana Peru spokesperson, Freddy Otárola, stated that Ollanta Humala had no knowledge of his brother's meetings either with Russia’s Defense Ministry or Rosoboronexport, nor of any negotiations involving arms purchasing.

London to unveil Yuri Gagarin monumenthttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/14/53205564.html

Jul 14, 2011 10:36 Moscow Time

A monument to Yuri Gagarin is going to be unveiled in London today near the statue of Britain’s famous explorer Captain James Cook on Trafalgar Square.

The 3.5m statue, which is a gift from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, depicts Gagarin wearing a spacesuit standing on a globe with the trajectory of his orbit around him.

The monument will be unveiled by Gagarin`s daughter Yelena.

The ceremony is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Gagarin`s spaceflight, the first ever manned mission to space.

Russian Jailed By Uzbekistan For Treason Releasedhttp://www.rferl.org/content/russian_jailed_by_uzbekistan_for_treason_released/24264674.html

July 13, 2011 TASHKENT --- A Russian citizen jailed for 16 years in Uzbekistan on treason charges as been released, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reports.

Dmitry Korepanov, who lives in Tashkent, told RFE/RL on July 11 that his father, Yury Korepanov, 64, was released from jail on June 29.

Tashkent-based Russian journalist Vladimir Berezovsky, who has followed Korepanov's case, told RFE/RL that Korepanov has not been given any official confirmation of his release, nor has his passport been returned or the charges against him been dropped.

Berezovsky said he thinks Uzbek President Islam Karimov and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev may have discussed Korepanov's case during Medvedev's June visit to Uzbekistan and that could have led to Korepanov's release.

Berezovsky said Korepanov is currently with his son in Tashkent waiting for his documents to arrive from Russia.

Until 2002 Korepanov, a former Soviet Amy colonel, lived in Uzbekistan and taught at the military department of Tashkent University. In 2002 he left for Yekaterinburg, where he received Russian citizenship without having formally relinquished his Uzbek citizenship.

In October 2010, Korepanov was arrested on the Uzbek border while coming to visit his son.

On January 11, 2011, a Tashkent military court found him guilty of treason and illegally crossing the state border. He was then given a 16-year jail sentence.

In February 2011, some media outlets reported that Korepanov was in poor health after suffering a heart attack in prison.

Read more in Uzbek here: http://www.ozodlik.org/content/article/24262390.html

11:46 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

St Pete to build Yerevan hotel, Armenian capital – St Petersburg.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185608.html

14/7 Tass 66

ST PETERSBURG, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — St. Petersburg will build a new hotel, called Yerevan, and Armenia’s capital will build a hotel called St. Petersburg.

The construction at the Neva River is due to be over before 2015, as the two city’s mayors, Karen Karapetyan and Valentina Matviyenko, have agreed, press service of St. Petersburg’s administration said on Thursday.

Besides the cooperation programme includes preparations for organising of the Yerevan trade house in St. Petersburg and organisation of Days of St. Petersburg in Yerevan and opening of business centres there.

Yerevan and St. Petersburg’s trade and cultural relations go back in history. In January of 2007, Yerevan opened St. Petersburg’s business information centre, and in the end of that year Yerevan Mayor’s Office opened a representation in St. Petersburg.

The basis of trade turnover between Armenia and St. Petersburg are alcoholic beverages, milk and agricultural products. St. Petersburg exports to Armenia tobacco products, machinery, various industrial goods and food.

Opening in St. Petersburg of the Yerevan trade house is very important for additional advertising opportunities to promote goods from Armenia in the Russian market, the source said. Yerevan plans to open the St. Petersburg trade house, which will multiply the trade turnover in food products and every-day goods.

Magazine 'pulled' after mocking St. Petersburg governorhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110714/165189331.html

12:11 14/07/2011

MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti)

A major Russian publisher accused the authorities on Thursday of ordering the withdrawal from sale of copies of a business weekly that criticized St. Petersburg's outgoing governor, Valentina Matviyenko.

The July 4 edition of the Kommersant Vlast magazine sarcastically commended Matviyenko - widely expected to become the new speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament - for her "services" in dealing with the city's icicle problem.

Falling icicles have killed dozens of people in St. Petersburg in the last two years, and Matviyenko's administration had been criticized for not doing enough to clear roofs and balconies during spring thaws.

The Kommersant publishing house said that St.Petersburg's major press distributors, Metropress and Neva-press, had withdrawn some "90 percent" of the magazine's print run after a verbal government order.

The authorities and Neva-press denied the allegations.

But Kommersant cited a distribution source as saying that the order to withdraw the magazine had been given by the city's media committee the day after the Matviyenko issue hit the newsstands. Kommersant readers in the city confirmed that Vlast was no impossible to locate. The magazine is however still on sale in Moscow and other cites across Russia.

"If the magazine really was withdrawn, this is insulting for the city's reputation," the head of Russia's Journalist Union, Vsevolod Bogdanov said. "It will not boost Valentina Matviyenko's popularity."

President Dmitry Medvedev asked Matviyenko to become Federation Council speaker, the country's third most important post, after longtime speaker Sergei Mironov was ousted by the ruling United Russia party over criticism of the St. Petersburg governor. She agreed, and will now seek election to a municipal post in order to become eligible for the post.

Terrorism suspect detained in Stavropol Territoryhttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/society/15805.html

Police have detained a local from the Inozemtsevo village of theStavropol on terrorism charges. Victor Dvorakovsky was arrestedearlier this morning, a police officer told ITAR-TASS. He was injuredwhile resisting arrest.

The police stopped Dvorakovsky to check his documents. He threw a bombat them. A warning shot was fired and Dvorakovsky threw another bomb.The suspect has been a terrorist member since 2010. He underwentideological training and may have been planning a suicide attack.

Dvorakovsky blew up a house he rented in Pyatigorsk. He was building abomb that went off while he was away. He was put on the federal wantedlist.

CORRECTED GOOGLE TRANSLATION

http://www.itar-tass.com/c9/185449.html

08:38 14/07/2011‘Russian Wahhabi’ Victor Dvorakovskiy detained in the Stavropol regionEssentuki, July 14. / Itar-TASS Oleg Lyakhov /. In the village Inozemtsevo Stavropol ‘Russian Wahhabi’ Victor Dvorakovskiy was detained. As reported by ITAR-TASS in the duty of the ATS Zheleznovodsk, he was arrested today around 00:20 GMT. "Personality is determined. During the arrest he was trying to resist, he was wounded and now is in hospital. PPS at detention officers seriously injured," - told to the police station.According to witnesses, PPP staff tried to stop Dvorakovskiy to check documents, but he shouted: "Do not come, I am Dvorakovskiy," and threw an explosive device into the PPP workers. The police opened warning fire, but he threw another bomb.Victor Dvorakovskiy came to the attention of security forces in 2010. Law enforcement authorities suspect him of preparing terrorist acts. "Based on available information, Dvorakovskiy is a supporter of the religious currents of radical persuasion, ideological training was held, and presumably can be used as a suicide bomber," - said earlier sources of ITAR-TASS in law enforcement edge.Confirmation of this information has explosions in Pyatigorsk in the spring in a house that rented Dvorakovskiy. Then it turned out that he collected in his home an explosive

device, which worked spontaneously at his absence. After that, he was on the federal wanted list. Dvorakovskiy also credited with the complicity of suicide Razdobudko killed in samopodryve in Makhachkala, the organization of the terrorist attack in Minsk, in a number of other high-profile crimes.

One Russian policeman dead, seven injured in Caucasus ambushhttp://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1651102.php/One-Russian-policeman-dead-seven-injured-in-Caucasus-ambush

Jul 14, 2011, 7:58 GMT

Moscow - One Russian policeman died and seven were injured in an ambush by insurgents fighting Kremlin rule of the Caucasus, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

The firefight took place in forested district of the Republic of Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region long a centre of anti-Russia resistance.

The paramilitary police unit had been conducting a patrol in the mountainous Vedensky district on Wednesday evening when they were fired upon, army spokesmen said.

The insurgents broke contact after a short period of firing. Army troops had surrounded the area and were searching for the anti-Russia fighters.

Russia's government in June announced a three-month campaign aimed at eliminating lingering armed resistance to Moscow control of the Caucasus region, with heavy patrols and police sweeps in Chechnya and the neighbouring province Dagestan.

Police also have stepped up efforts to arrest suspected 'bandits and terrorists' in the region.

A police squad in a early Thursday morning house raid arrested ethnic Russian Viktor Dvorakovsky who, officials said, was a member of an extremist Muslim group and planning to become a suicide bomber.

He was shot and seriously injured during the arrest, Interfax reported.

Moscow's forces control most towns and villages in the Caucasus region, and almost without exception Kremlin loyalists hold local government positions.

The insurgents have fought back with assassinations of local officials, suicide bombings and less frequently in gun battles against Russian patrols.

Report: 1 Police Officer Killed, 7 Wounded in Chechnya Violencehttp://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/07/13/report-1-police-officer-killed-7-wounded-in-chechnya-violence/

Posted 3 hours ago

A Russian news report says a police officer was killed and seven others wounded during a clash Wednesday with an unknown armed group in Russia's restive Chechnya region.

The Interfax news agency quotes a police spokesman as saying police discovered the group in a forest several kilometers from a village and pursued them. One officer was killed and his colleagues wounded in the ensuing shoot-out.

Interfax says the gunmen managed to hide in the mountainous region, and Interior Ministry forces surrounded the area.

Moscow has fought two major wars with Islamist separatists in Chechnya. Although the major fighting ended about a decade ago, attacks on government targets continue almost daily. Some of the violence has spilled into neighboring southern Russian republics.

Russian leaders have pledged to rid the restive North Caucasus of violence and improve its economy. High unemployment and low living standards are considered to be the main reasons driving local residents to join militant groups.

The RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday that authorities in the North Caucasus have pledged to modernize major electric power plants and construct several new facilities in the region within the next four years. The report says a total of 29 large electric power facilities will be built or modernized by 2016 in the restive region.

No plans to ban full-face Islamic veils at schools - Dagestani leaderhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110714/165182660.html

01:58 14/07/2011

YESSENTUKI, July 14 (RIA Novosti)

The wearing of face-covering Islamic garments by female students is not favored in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, but there will be no ban on such veils, Dagestani leader Magomedsalam Magomedov has said.

The statement came after two unknown gunmen killed a Dagestani school principal on July 9, which police said was likely to be revenge for Sadikullah Akhmedov's anti-extremist statements and a ban on face-covering veils introduced at his school.

"We are not introducing any bans [on full-face Islamic veils], but this is not our traditional cloth, and we are not in favor of wearing niqabs at schools and universities," Magomedov said.

Dagestan is one of the most volatile republics of the predominantly Muslim-populated North Caucasus, where militants stage frequent attacks on federal troops, police and civilians.

10:36 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Terrorists may seek to abuse Duma polls for evil purposes - Nurgaliyev.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185539.html

14/7 Tass 100

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev does not rule out that extremists and terrorists may seek to abuse the elections to the State Duma in December 2011 for evil purposes.

Nurgaliyev said at a meeting devoted to upcoming elections with chairman of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov that terrorist threats, young extremist groups and conflicts, including ethnic strife conflicts, may have a major influence on the current situation.

“We cannot rule out that extremist organizations will attempt to abuse the elections for their evil purposes. It is extremely important for us to avert public order violations and other illegal actions during the elections,” Nurgaliyev noted.

For his part, Churov noted that it is planned to open 204 polling stations on the territories, where anti-terrorist operations are held. The control on all the adjoining territories should be made tougher in order to avert any attempts to bribe the voters. Meanwhile, any attempts to disrupt the elections should be paid attention to, including false information about a terrorist threat and the appeals to people to stay at home over gas supply checkups or electricity outages.

“I have absolutely no doubts that the elections will be held in a calm atmosphere at a high organizational level, because joint work with the police showed that we can observe the Russian legislation in the best possible way and provide a good pace of the election campaign,” the CEC chairman concluded.

Extremists may seek to hijack State Duma polls – ministerhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110714/165187959.html

10:48 14/07/2011

MOSCOW, July 14

Extremist youth groups may attempt to exploit Russia’s upcoming parliamentary election campaign, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev warned on Thursday.

He said he could not rule out that extremists would try to use the polls to “achieve their sordid goals.”

Nurgaliyev also warned of possible terrorist attacks and ethnic tensions in the period leading up to the December 4 polls. President Dmitry Medvedev has previously called inter-ethnic violence a threat to Russia’s stability.

The issue of right-wing extremism in Russia was highlighted earlier this week when a group of ultranationalist youths were sentenced to between 10 and 25 years in jail for the brutal murders of at least 27 members of ethnic minorities. The long sentences were welcomed by rights groups, who had previously accused the authorities of not doing enough to tackle race-hate crimes.

Simmering tensions between ethnic Russians and migrants from the country’s mainly Muslim North Caucasus exploded last year after the murder of a football fan in Moscow.

Some 5,000 nationalists and football fans later rioted near Red Square.

The trial of the six North Caucasus youths accused of the murder of Spartak Moscow fan Yegor Sviridov began on July 4 and is expected to last months.

10:44 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Over 110 million Russians to vote on United Elections Day - view.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185547.html

14/7 Tass 99

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Over 110 million Russians in the country’s 83 constituents and abroad will participate in the State Duma elections due in December on the United Elections Day, Head of Russia’s Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov told a meeting at the Ministry of Internal Affairs devoted to security over the elections on Thursday.

“The elections will be organized in Russia’s 83 RF constituents, where 108 million voters are registered, and almost two million are registered as staying abroad,” he said. “Thus the total amount of voters makes 110 million.”

Simultaneously with the State Duma elections, 27 territories will hold elections to local parliaments. Besides, there will be about 3,000 municipal level elections.

“It is for the first time that such a big number of elections concur with the federal level campaign, where the total number of candidates at all levels may exceed 50,000,” Churov said.

Besides, compared to the previous elections, there will be additional polling stations, he added.

“We forecast that their number will grow by four hundred to make almost 97,000 polling stations,” he said.

08:35 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Ambassadors of 10 countries to present credentials to Medvedev.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185448.html

14/7 Tass 3

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — The ambassadors of ten countries, including Japan and the Holy See, who begin their diplomatic work in this position in Russia, will present their credentials Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday. The solemn ceremony, already the second this year, is traditionally held in the Kremlin.

Among the guests invited to the main residence of the Russian head of state are the new heads of diplomatic missions of Ethiopia - Kasahun Dender Melese, Burundi - Guillaume Ruzoviyo, Zimbabwe - Bonifes Guva Britto Chidyausiku, Japan - Chikahito Harada, Argentina - Juan Carlos Kreckler, India - Ajay Malhotra, Equatorial Guinea - Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema, Vietnam - Pham Xuan Son, El Salvador - Anita Christina Asher Echeverria, as well as Nuncio of the Holy See to Russia - Ivan Jurkovic.

The presentation of credentials symbolizes the official launch of work of the new heads of diplomatic missions in the country. The ceremony, by tradition, will begin at 13:00 Moscow time at the St. Alexander Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. At the appointed hour the ambassadors arrive at the Kremlin and proceed to the hall.

According to the Protocol, the Russian president is accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and foreign policy adviser. In turn, according to the beginning of the ambassador’s work in Moscow, the name of the diplomat is announced: each of them comes up to the president and hands him the credentials - a message from the head of state with a request to “trust” his representative.

The Russian leader then addresses the diplomats with a brief greeting, which usually touches upon matters of Russia’s cooperation with the countries the representatives of which are invited to the Kremlin, as well as the most urgent issues of international politics.

After the ceremony champagne and soft drinks are usually served in the hall for the representatives of Muslim countries, and the president talks to the guests, giving everyone a few minutes.

09:45 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Putin to select leaders for Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185493.html

14/7 Tass 4

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday will hold a videoconference with Yekaterinburg, where the INNOPROM 2011 forum is underway. The press service of the Russian government reported that in this regime “he will hold a working meeting with the winners of the first stage of the competition for the positions of the director general and directors of branches of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).”

A government source said that the “the contest committee had reviewed and selected over 1,000 applications, and the ‘long list’ of the winners of the first stage includes about 200

people invited to participate in the Yekaterinburg forum.” “From this list the Expert Council and ASI directorate with the director general in the head will be formed at the second stage of the competition,” he added.

According to the source’s forecasts, “most likely, the names of the winners will be announced in late July, at a meeting with the head of government in Moscow.”

This format is chosen not accidentally: in fact, “the ASI day” will be held at the forum that can be considered the first working day of the Agency in an expanded format. The contestants and experts attracted to the work, divided in sections, will participate in four thematic ‘brainstorming’ roundtables on key aspects of their future activities.

The organisers expect that “as a result, the basic problems and ways to address issues such as selection of projects and mechanisms for their promotion, the problem of communication between medium-sized businesses and the authorities, measures to improve the business environment, career advancement of young people, creating a system of professional certification and promotion of social initiatives are to be formulated.”

In addition, according to the source, “simultaneously with the contest for the post of the director general and directors of branches the Agency was selecting business ideas and projects - a total of about 900 was submitted.” “The ‘exchange of projects’ was organised on the ASI website – any registered user could join a public discussion of the projects submitted for the competition,” he said, adding that “the winning projects will be selected by members of the Expert Council after careful consideration - closer to autumn.”

Vladimir Putin announced the idea of creating the agency on May 6 in Volgograd at an interregional conference of the United Russia party. The prime minister said the new structure should provide additional mechanisms for the “young and promising people” to implement valuable projects and ideas, as well as to open for this population category “social elevators” to senior positions in the government, social, scientific and business structures.

At the initial stage, Putin suggests to organise the Agency work in three directions. Within the first track the selection of new projects and practical initiatives will be carried out. The second track is linked with the establishment in Russia of a working mechanism of qualification and assessment of the personnel. The third track of the agency’s activities will be social projects in the sphere of culture, education and health, including “with the attraction of independent non-profit organisations.”

According to him, the basic principles of the agency will be “openness, involvement of a wide range of independent experts, minimising all sorts of bureaucratic formalities.” “For us it is important to use and widely disseminate the best regional practices and to efficiently manage the administrative resources,” he stressed.

Putin said earlier presenting the ASI initiative, in particular, that “I believe that, in this segment, we can support people who have achieved certain results. In order to move forward, they need support and administrative or, sometimes, financial assistance, and the Agency might serve as a mediator between business representatives and financial organisations, our country’s leading banks and development institutions. It might support projects that are already underway and people who have proved that they are able to do something, as they have already implemented some projects, and propose new areas of activity. And I think it may well be so that people will appear who haven’t done anything special but have absolutely new, fresh, breakthrough ideas. The point is, if the expert council reviews these ideas favourably, it will be necessary to take a closer look at these proposals.”

“As part of work in this “new business” field, it will be important to have the opinions and experience of those who have already contributed to removing administrative barriers, to expanding relations with government and administrative bodies, and promoting new ideas to the municipal, regional or federal levels. Certainly, it will be very important to hear and devise approaches that will create more transparent relations between business (at least in the given segment) and the state in the broad sense of the word,” Putin noted.

The Annual Urals International Exhibition and Forum of Industry and Innovation INNOPROM 2011 is organised with support of the Government of the Russian Federation – it is Russia’s first specialised exhibition for industry, innovation and technology. It offers a unique opportunity to exchange experiences and constructive cooperation of federal and regional authorities, major domestic and foreign companies, small and medium-sized innovative businesses, scientists and experts.

In addition, INNOPROM 2011 is intended to be a discussion platform for those who understand the challenges of the present moment and has a strategic vision for the future of Russia.

06:16 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Zubkov may head United Russia’s regional list in Duma election.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185406.html

14/7 Tass 353a

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said on Wednesday that he would possibly head the regional list of the United Russia Party in the Volgograd region in the December parliamentary elections.

Zubkov said it at a meeting with Volgograd Region Governor Anatoly Brovko, the government web site reported.

He confirmed that a group of Volgograd region residents had asked him to head the regional list of candidates from United Russia.

“Within the next few days I will go to the Volgograd region for additional meetings and consultations with region’s citizens to make a final decision,” Zubkov said.

05:18 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

GAZ carmaker joins All-Russia People’s Front.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185400.html

14/7 Tass 384a

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s GAZ carmaker joins the All-Russia People’s Front, the head of the plant’s trade union, Yevgeny Morozov, said on Wednesday.

He said workers of the plant decided that at a general meeting on July 8, and documents on the joining were sent to the Nizhny Novgorod coordinating council of the People’s Front on Wednesday.

According to Morozov, workers of the carmaker “believe that as an organisation uniting all active forces of the society, the People’s Front has strong aspirations and possibilities to support initiatives of enterprises”.

“The team of GAZ workers is ready to advance initiatives with support of the People’s Front,” he said. These are first of all offers on encouraging modernisation of production, technical updating of enterprises and state participation in design and experimental projects of Russian carmakers, as well as on curbing prices on energy resources and metal.

These offers as well as initiatives to support social, housing, educational and medical programs for workers were sent to the All-Russian People’s Front.

Examination of sunken ship in Volga expected to be completed on July 14Today at 10:16 | Interfax-Ukraine Moscow, July 14 (Interfax) - The examination of the Bulgaria motor ship that sank in the Volga last Sunday is expected to be completed on Thursday after which preparations will

start for lifting the ship, chief of the inspectorate for small vessels of the Emergency Situations Ministry Vadim Seryogin announced at a conference on Wednesday.

"We need one day to make control checks of all the decks for the third time. We plan to complete the full examination of the ship by Thursday noon. After that preparations will begin for raising the motor ship," he said.

Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/108595/#ixzz1S3wXY8mK

Two dozen people from boat wreck still missinghttp://rt.com/news/people-missing-bulgaria-ship/

Published: 14 July, 2011, 09:13

As divers conduct a final search of the sunken pleasure boat Bulgaria on Thursday, the fate of 24 missing persons is still unknown. It is believed that 129 of the 208 people on board drowned, but only 105 bodies have been found.

It is feared that the missing dead may have been carried away by the Volga River, which means they may be as far as 200 kilometer away from the wreck site by now. Some of the bodies recovered earlier were not inside the vessel.

Another possibility is that some of the people were not on the ship at all. The organizer of the trip is suspected of faking the paperwork to boost profits, and it is not clear exactly how many people were on the Bulgaria.

Some 200 rescue and recovery divers are involved in the search operation. The Emergencies Ministry says all parts of the sunken vessel will have been checked by midday Thursday, after which engineers will start preparing the raising of the Bulgaria.

The plan is to use two floating cranes, which are to arrive at the site from the Moscow Region next week. Lifting the Bulgaria will be no easy task due to the soft riverbed and strong current in the area.

Investigators expect that once the ship is afloat, they will find additional evidence in the criminal case over Russia’s worst waterway incident in decades. The ship allegedly was in terrible technical condition and safety rules were violated on it.

Meanwhile two people linked to the disaster have been arrested. They are Svetlana Inyakina, head of the firm which rented the Bulgaria, and Yakov Ivashov, chief expert of a branch of the river transport registrar, who allowed the use of the ship. Both are suspected of violations of safety regulations, resulting in numerous deaths. The offence may result in sentences of up to ten years in prison.

A former captain of the Bulgaria told the media that his superiors in the company forced

him and other crewmembers to man the ship despite its terrible condition, threatening to lay them off if they did not comply. Evgeny Minyaev says the owners saved money by not carrying out necessary maintenance of the vessel and that it should have been banned from sailing at least three years ago.

Earlier, a radio officer from the Bulgaria who survived the wreck said he could not send a distress code when the ship started sinking. One of its diesel engines did not work at all and the whole electric system failed during the disaster.

The Bulgaria sank on Sunday on its way to Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. The ship got into stormy weather, rolled on its starboard side and began to take on water. In a matter of several minutes it went underwater. Out of up to 209 people onboard, 79 survived, most of whom were rescued by the passing passenger ship Arabella.

Russia suspends airline after crashhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110714/165188097.html

10:56 14/07/2011

MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti)

Russia's aviation authorities have suspended the license of the Moscow-based airline Rusair following a plane crash last month that killed 47 people.

A RusAir Tupolev Tu-134 plane, with 43 passengers and nine crew on board, crashed in heavy fog and burst into flames on a motorway near Petrozavodsk, the main city in the Karelia region, on June 21.

"Due to violations revealed during an investigation, the operator's license has been suspended," Russian federal aviation authority Rosaviatsia spokesman Sergei Izvolsky told RIA Novosti.

Investigators believe pilot error was to blame for the crash.

RusAir is a privately-owned airline that also runs charter flights to Europe.

The Tupolev Tu-134, along with its larger sibling the Tupolev Tu-154, has been the backbone of the Russian and Soviet air industry since the 1960s.

07:47 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Russia Proton rocket to orbit SES satellite.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185424.html

14/7 Tass 30

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket on July 16 will take to geostationary orbit a satellite of one of the world’s leading telecommunications service providers - SES Corporation, the American company International Launch Services (ILS) the majority stake in which belongs to the Russian Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

The launch will be carried out from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Earlier, the Proton rocket had orbited 17 satellites on SES order, the orbital cluster of which comprises 44 spacecraft. The corporation registered in Luxembourg.

The next-generation satellite SES, created by Orbital Sciences of the US is designed to broadcast digital television for the United States and Canada. The estimated service life of the satellite that flight mass of which is 3.1 tonnes is 15 years.

ILS is based in Reston (Virginia) and promotes to the international market the services of the Proton rocket carrier and Breeze-M upper stage, which were designed by the Khrunichev Centre. The joint venture was established in 1995 by Lockheed Martin, the Khrunichev Centre and Energia Rocket-Space Corporation. In 2006, Lockheed Martin withdrew from the partnership by selling a majority stake to a German businessman. In May 2008, Khrunichev bought the stake.

Since 1996, ILS has carried out for 65 launches of Proton.

SES is the world’s pre-eminent satellite operator, it is said on the company website. SES satellites are an indispensable link in the global media and communications chain. Whether for television broadcasting or media content distribution, or for global telecommunications services, broadband access and connectivity for government services or enterprises, SES offers regional strength and expertise on a global scale, and reaches 99 percent of the world’s population.

The company operates a satellite fleet with worldwide coverage through its wholly-owned entities SES ASTRA and SES WORLD SKIES. It also holds participations in regional satellite operators, QuetzSat in Mexico, Ciel in Canada, O3b Networks based in Jersey, Channel Islands, YahLive in the Middle East, as well as in a number of satellite service provision companies.

SES is the world's leader in supplying high-quality video broadcasting capacity via satellite. Its spacecraft provide unequalled market penetration for focused regional coverage, or for continental or global distribution of TV and radio programming. SES

companies have established a leadership position in the distribution of HD channels and 3D channels, and they provide the full range of media broadcasting services: direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting, cable distribution, broadcast networks, occasional use and full-time video contribution.

SES ASTRA distributes close to 2,600 TV broadcast and interactive services to 135 million homes in Europe and North Africa and offers unique market penetration in key European markets such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom. SES ASTRA is the leading provider of direct-to-home broadcast services in Europe, has the most extensive line-up of HD channels in Europe and is also introducing 3D channels to Europe’s audiences.

SES ASTRA’s pan-European coverage also positions the satellite system ideally for transmitting content to cable networks across the continent. In addition, SES ASTRA provides the full range of broadcast-related services, from SNG and contribution to ground services.

SES WORLD SKIES’ North American satellite fleet brings media content to hundreds of millions of American homes through cable distribution and direct-to-home reception, touching practically every television household in the USA. Its HD Prime neighbourhood is among the largest HD channel lineups in the US and in the world.

Proton (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2011, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of space flight. All Protons are built at the Khrunichev plant in Moscow, and then transported for launch to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where they are brought to the launch pad horizontally and then raised into vertical position for launch. Like many Soviet boosters, the names of recurring payloads became associated with their launchers. Thusly, the moniker Proton originates from a series of large scientific Proton satellites, which were among the rocket’s first payloads. It is also known as the D-1/D-1e or SL-12/SL-13.

Launch capacity to low Earth orbit is about 22 tonnes (49,000 lb). Geostationary transfer capacity is about 5–6 tonnes (11,000–13,000 lb). Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services. In a typical launch of a commercial communications satellite destined for geostationary orbit, a Proton M/Breeze M can place a spacecraft with mass at separation of 9,127 pounds (4,140 kg) into an orbit with an apogee of 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi), a perigee of 6,257 kilometres (3,888 mi) and an inclination of 19.7°.

Russia's Soyuz capsule gains space monopolyhttp://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1651067.php/Russia-s-Soyuz-capsule-gains-space-monopoly

By Wolfgang Jung Jul 14, 2011, 3:22 GMT

Moscow - As the space shuttle Atlantis spends its last days in orbit, the space flight community is preparing for a shift in the balance of power.

The end of the US space shuttle programme later this month after 30 years will hand Russia's Soyuz spacecraft an unprecedented monopoly in carrying people to the International Space Station (ISS).

The small, sturdy Soyuz capsules have barely changed since they were first deployed in 1966, making them the Volkswagen Beetle of spacecraft.

New Russian manned spacecraft are not expected to be in operation for many years. Meanwhile, US efforts to develop a commercial space industry to fly astronauts into orbit could take at least a few years, and government plans for a long-distance vessel are even farther off.

For now, Russia hopes to make the most of this unprecedented exclusivity to raise the millions of dollars it needs to build a new spaceport to launch its rockets from its own far east. Moscow is currently spending more than 140 million dollars per year for use of the old Soviet cosmodrome on the central Asian steppe in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz will be key, not only for the shuttle-less US space programme, but for the Europeans, as the international partners shift their ISS focus from construction to scientific experiments.

'We Europeans will also need Russian Soyuz spacecraft in the future,' said Johann-Dietrich Woerner, head of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Cologne.

Moscow will be able to demand high, but hardly astronomical, prices for trips to the ISS. The cost for the US space agency NASA works out to more than 55 million dollars per seat through 2014, and 62.7 million dollars after that.

'Contracts establish that Europe can claim in exchange for services like the construction of a laboratory on the ISS, other services, for example flights to the space station,' Woerner said.

Still, he has some concerns.

'If the Soyuz suffers a serious breakdown in the coming years, we would have a problem with the ISS,' he said.

The Soyuz spacecraft is regarded as cost-efficient and rugged, though technologically backward.

For this reason, Russia is modernizing its space vehicles: last year, the Russian space authority Roscosmos changed its analogue control system to a digital equivalent. The switch eliminated some 70 kilogrammes of technical equipment from the craft, freeing that weight for the addition of an extra passenger - a paying customer.

'In order to earn money, Russia will again carry into space wealthy tourists,' says former German astronaut Sigmund Jaehn. 'Capitalism rules in space, too.'

But Russia is not just a 'taxi driver' for US astronauts and adventurous tycoons. It is also a carrier for telecommunications companies, which will bring in further revenues.

Unmanned, expendable Progress spacecraft take up to 3 tonnes of material to the ISS before being destroyed on re-entry to the atmosphere.

Russia's new spaceport in Vostochny, near the Chinese border, is expected to cost more than 850 million dollars, to be paid for from unmanned space launches.

Despite tight budgets, President Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that Russia would not withdraw from space research.

Fifty years after the dawn of manned space flight, mankind remains 'only at the very start of the path,' Medvedev said at an event to celebrate the late Russian legend Yuri Gagarin, the first person to fly into space on April 12, 1961.

Nowadays, Russia has changed the romantic hopes of Gagarin's time for 'more pragmatic' goals, Medvedev admitted. But there is still more to space than that.

'There remains a dream, of course, a dream about conquering other planets, other solar systems,' he said.

Among those dreams are a mission to Mars, which Roscosmos estimates will not be possible before 2030. Six men are currently working in Moscow on the most comprehensive Mars experiment in history, inside a sealed container.

The volunteers involved are only to be let out of their 180-cubic-metre 'spacecraft' in November, after 520 days inside - the estimated duration of a flight to Mars and back.

But Woerner said he believes such a trip would only be feasible as a joint project. The United States and Russia, former rivals, would need to team up. But, he said, they would also need to bring in the new star in the sky of manned space travel: China.

The Federal Space Agency asks for more moneyhttp://rt.com/politics/press/izvestiya/space-agency-russia-financing/en/

Published: 14 July, 2011, 08:19Edited: 14 July, 2011, 08:59

Ivan Cheberko

The Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) is asking to increase the budgetary appropriation for 2012 by one and a half in comparison to the figure approved last December by the “Federal budget law for 2011 and the planning period of 2012 and 2013.”  

“During a meeting with the deputy prime minister, Sergey Ivanov, on spending for 2012 and the planning period of 2013 and 2014, we have asked to be provided 181.353 billion rubles for next year,” a high-ranking Roscosmos official told Izvestia. 

The Russian Space Agency’s projected budget for 2012 amounts to 117.275 billion rubles.

“This is an absolutely normal budgetary process,” deputy head of Roscosmos, Vitaly Davydov, explained to Izvestia. “We are not talking about the allocation of some additional fiscal provision. A three-year plan is established, then the budget is formed each year." 

The biggest boost to last year’s plan is made by the funding for the global navigation system GLONASS. Currently, Roscosmos is working on a new federal target program for the development of GLONASS between 2012 and 2020. Its basic parameters and funding are currently being agreed on by the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development.   

Nevertheless, Roscosmos has already informed the government that, next year, the development of the navigation system will require 42.344 billion rubles.

“In the scheduled budgetary appropriation for 2013, we are asking to include 42.838 billion rubles for the development of GLONASS, and 49.201 billion for 2014,” says a Roscosmos source. In comparison, in 2011, the federal budget provisioned 19.293 billion rubles for the implementation of the federal target program in 2011.   

“In accordance with presidential orders, the new FTP ‘Global navigation system’ must be adopted by the government by the end of this year. Therefore, it is too early to discuss its parameters today,” deputy director of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building and one of the authors of the new FTP, Sergey Revnivykh, told Izvestia. “The

approach to financing the GLONASS project is crucial as it determines whether we want to remain in the current position and simply maintain what we already have, or if we want to maintain parity and come out as leaders in 2020.”  

According to Revnivykh, today China, the US, and the EU’s plans for the development of similar satellite navigation system are quite transparent, and Russian experts have an idea of what to expect from GLONASS’s competitors by 2020.

“If we are striving for the same level then, of course, we need to consider this in our plans. The twofold increase in the program’s cost means that we will be able to lay the foundation, which will allow us not to fall behind by 2020,” he says.

A source in Roscosmos told Izvestia that among the items that have not been included in the earlier budget expenditures there is now an article on “Insuring risks during the launch and test flights of spacecraft.” Roscosmos has requested 5.85 billion rubles for insurance in 2012.  

“After losing three GLONASS satellites in December of last year, the agency was criticized for the fact that their launch was uninsured, despite the fact that the budget did not allocate any money for insurance. Because we are being criticized for the lack of insurance, we are asking to insure all spacecraft launched within the framework of the Federal Space Program,” he said.

July 14, 2011 11:27

Moscow mayor approves Kudeneyev's appointment as city prosecutorhttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=259175

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has approved the appointment of Sergei Kudeneyev as the Moscow Prosecutor, a source at the city administration told Interfax on Thursday.

"Sobyanin signed the ordinance on July 13," the source said.

te jv

(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)

12:11 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Court arrests in absentia former finance minister of Moscow region.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185627.html

14/7 Tass 124

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) —— The Basmanny District Court of Moscow issued an arrest warrant for the former first deputy prime minister of the Moscow Region and the finance minister of the Moscow Region, Alexei Kuznetsov, meeting a request from the investigation, spokesman of the Investigation Committee Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

The senior official was charged in absentia with fraud and money laundering, he said.

He is charged with the formation of a criminal group, which misappropriated 3.8 billion roubles that were allocated for the utilities in the Moscow Region.

12:09 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Two persons severely injured in gas tank explosion in Rostov region.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185626.html

14/7 Tass 144

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Two persons were badly injured in a gas tank explosion in Russia’s southern Rostov Region, a spokesman for the regional emergencies ministry told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

According to the spokesman, the accident occurred at about 10:00 a.m. Moscow time in the region’s Orlovsky district. A tank with gas exploded due to yet unknown reasons. The blast was followed by fire. Two persons received severe burns of up to 100 percent of the body. The fire spread to a neighbouring building housing a gas distribution station.

Fire fighting operations are in progress.

Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, July 14, 2011http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110714/165186714.html

09:09 14/07/2011

POLITICS

The A Just Russia party has moved to restore the option of voting "against all" on ballot papers, but experts say the move is unlikely to succeed. The "against all" option was taken off ballots in 2006, sparking an angry public response.

(Kommersant)

 

Proposals on Russia’s political development put forward by the country’s Institute of Contemporary Development (INSOR) did not draw significant interest from experts. Its authors explain their failure to gain large public support by a low demand for reforms in the country.

(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)

 

The majority of Russians do not know Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s deputies, as well as a number of other Russian ministers, a Russian pollster has discovered. Experts say that the poll delegitimizes the Russian government, as strongman Putin remains the only minister who is recognized by the majority of Russians.

(Moskovsky Komsomolets)

 

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

St. Petersburg residents are outraged by Russia’s energy giant Gazprom renewed attempts to build a skyscraper in St. Petersburg that would ruin the city’s unique low-rise skyline. The move comes after Gazprom was forced to abandon its previous plan to build a complex of office buildings dominated by a needle-like skyscraper next to the 18th century Smolny Cathedral under pressure from UNESCO and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

(Kommersant)

 

Some 250,000 Russian companies evaded paying taxes in 2010, a Russian Central Bank report showed. Expert say budget losses may account for hundreds of billions of rubles.

 

(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)

 

SOCIETY

Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has reshuffled his subordinates in the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office, appointing its former chief Yury Syomin the head of the anti-corruption department at the Prosecutor General’s Office and replacing him with Sergei Kudeneyev, who has been head of the department in charge of supervising Russia’s penitentiary system. The reshuffle took place amid a continuing investigation into a scandal in which two Russian prosecutors were accused of protecting underground casinos.

(Kommersant, Moskovskiye Novosti)

 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed three top police officials, including chief Interior Ministry inspector Musa Medov, as part of his large-scale police reform. Medov had served as interior minister in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia until he had to leave his post following the killing of prominent opposition activist and journalist Magomed Yevloyev.

(Kommersant)

 

Russia’s presidential Human Rights Council has proposed changing the Russian authorities’ strategy in the volatile and unstable North Caucasus. The authorities should revive the justice system and focus on social and cultural projects rather than continue massive anti-terrorism raids in the region, it said.

(Moskovskiye Novosti)

 

Authorities in St.Petersburg have seized at least 90 percent of copies of the Komemrsant Vlast magazine issued of July 4 from shops across the city. The issue offered a critical view of the departure of Valentina Matviyenko, the controversial St. Petersburg governor, from the local political scene and her expected election to the post of the Russian parliament’s upper house speaker.

(Kommersant)

 

SCIENCE

The Russian parliament has moved to amend laws by removing strict norms regulating the purchase of scientific equipment in an attempt to revive paralyzed research programs in the country.

(Moskovskiye Novosti)

Russia to end supremacy of US rating agencieshttp://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/13-07-2011/118469-rating_agencies-0/#

13.07.2011 14:49

Rating agencies have a great power in their hands. Many investors rely on their conclusions when evaluating risks in securities. Attracting money is much more expensive for the borrowers with low ratings. The banks around the world, if the "quality" of bonds in their portfolios is reduced, have to create additional reserves, writes finmarket.ru.

The experts of the international rating agency Fitch threatened the Russian authorities that privatization of the state enterprises in Russia and CIS countries followed by a weakening of state support and declining share of state property to less than 50%, may lead to negative rating actions for approximately 60% of the rated state-owned companies.

This is why the dominance of American rating agencies (Standard & Poors, Moody's, Fitch) is frustrating for many world leaders. In Europe the idea of creating an independent European rating agency is increasingly promoted, and in Russia a proposal to create a rating agency EurAsEC was supported by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The proposal to create a credit rating agency EurAsEC was made by the Director of the Institute of the New Economy of the State Management University, executive secretary of the EurAsEC Customs Union Commission, Sergei Glazyev. "This is absolutely right," said Putin at a meeting with the economists of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Monday, adding that there is a need to implement this proposal, RIA Novosti reported. In addition to creating rating agency EurAsEC, according to Glazyev, it is necessary to stimulate Russian rating agencies. "Not a bad idea," said the prime minister.

In turn, the finance minister Alexei Kudrin explained the use of data from international rating agencies by the Russian banks by the fact that they are often more objective. "The Central Bank, in my opinion, reasonably believes that the rating agencies are more tightly

run, and ours are often pocket ones," he explained. However, Kudrin acknowledged that "this line is now getting increasingly blurred, but in general foreign agencies monitor their image and reputation more diligently".

The first Russian rating agencies in Russia began to appear immediately after the privatization which stimulated the emergence of the financial market. The value of rating activity has been recognized at the state level and the Russian president issued a special decree on the need of rating activities.

It is worth noting that the rating market in Russia is developed quite poorly. In turn, some observers believe that this statement is arguable. The so-called "international" credit rating agencies essentially look at the borrowers and issuers of the North American institutional investors.

In addition, the ratings of global agencies have become increasingly more political. They are a powerful tool to influence the financial system. Several years ago one of the New York Times reporters wrote that there were two famous superpowers in the post-Cold War world: the United States and Moody's. While the U.S. can destroy almost any enemy by military means, Moody's is able to destroy any country through financial means, setting the lowest rating. This, of course, is a joke, but there is a great deal of harsh truth to it. Obviously, none of Russia's credit rating agency can boast such a long history of work as, say, S&P or Moody's.

During the world crisis of 2008 the traditional rating agencies showed their incompetence by assigning high ratings to issuers and securities at a default level. As a result, the U.S. began to change the legislation to reduce the dependence on the ratings when making investment decisions.

In turn, the United States creates difficult obstacles to those trying to get out on its own market. Last year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied a request of China's largest rating agency to become one of the officially recognized statistical organizations in the United States. According to Chinese analysts, by not allowing the Chinese rating agency Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd to enter the international market, the U.S. is trying to deny China the right to vote on global financial markets, writes inosmi.ru.

Anatoly BoltunovBigness

Read the original in Russian

ДмитрийСудаков

Russia's Post-Shuttle Space Plans http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/deltav/26993/?p1=Blogs

With U.S. winged orbiters out of the picture, Russia has competitive plans for a new launch vehicle.

Anatoly Zak 07/13/2011

With the U.S. manned space program grounded following the last mission of the space shuttle, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is the only avenue into space for NASA astronauts. And, in an unprecedented arrangement for NASA, U.S. taxpayers will now provide the Russian government with the extra cash it needs to build a new-generation manned vehicle to replace the 40-year-old Soyuz.

Just as in 1993, when the Russian space agency suddenly found itself in the driver's seat of the stalled U.S.-led space station program by providing crucial elements of the outpost from their own stillborn Mir-2 project, Moscow space officials can again hardly believe their luck. The retirement of the U.S. space shuttle before its replacement is ready means a lucrative deal for Russia to transport all crews to the International Space Station in the next several years.

However, as the Russian space agency's officials are celebrating this windfall, the leaders of the Russian space industry are far from resting on their laurels—they are pushing ahead with plans for a new spacecraft and launcher. However, behind the scenes, RKK Energia, the nation's chief manned spaceflight contractor, has embarked on a collision course with its parent agency—Roskosmos—over the future strategy.

"We've got an unfortunate situation with our next-generation spacecraft," says Aleksandr Derechin, deputy designer general at RKK Energia. "Roskosmos wants a large 23-ton spacecraft [to replace Soyuz], which would also need a new powerful rocket and the new launch site on the far-eastern fringes of the country." But for more than four years, this ambitious plan has become a heavy burden for the Russian space program, Derechin argues.

While the official schedule calls for the first launch of the brand-new Rus-M rocket from the yet-to-be built Vostochny Cosmodrome in 2015, and the first manned mission from this site in 2018, many industry experts consider this timeline wildly unrealistic. In a run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, the country may have to choose between multibillion-dollar investments in Sochi Olympic facilities or in the new space center. These experts believe that the current Russian strategy could push back the birth date of the Soyuz replacement by years, if not a decade. Critics point to the ongoing development of the Angara family of rockets, which was initiated at the beginning of the 1990s and has perpetually remained several years away from its maiden mission.

In the meantime, RKK Energia has watched nervously as several modestly priced commercial ventures for carrying astronauts into space have been fostered by NASA. Seeing the emergence of these "private" spacecraft as competition, RKK Energia has

come up with its own fast-track strategy, one that would bypass the Russian space agency's grand space plan. The company has proposed to fly a streamlined 12-ton version of the new-generation manned spacecraft onboard an off-the-shelf Zenit rocket, from an existing launchpad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Roskosmos has so far rejected this cheaper, faster approach, preferring to stick to the original plan insisted upon by the government. Despite this setback, RKK Energia's alternative launch vehicle based on the Zenit reappeared last month at the Paris Air and Space Show.

The Zenit, first introduced in 1985, is a two-stage rocket that uses liquid oxygen and kerosene and is capable of delivering up to 13 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit. The Zenit still remains a critical part of the Russian space fleet, and RKK Energia based many of its manned spacecraft designs on the capabilities of the Zenit-based rockets.

Anatoly Zak is a freelance writer and illustrator specializing in space exploration. He is the publisher of RussianSpaceWeb.com, a resource on the history of and the latest developments in the former USSR space program.

PERSPECTIVE: EU-Russia relations - the usual suspects http://www.bne.eu/storyf2781/PERSPECTIVE_EURussia_relations__the_usual_suspects

Nicholas Watson in Rome July 14, 2011

Of Russia’s new EU friends, the Germans are the oldest: former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder threw himself into building ties with Vladimir Putin and for his troubles landed a plum job running the Nord Stream gas pipeline project. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has also long cosied up to Moscow – his kids holiday with Putin's daughters in Sardinia and the two alpha males like to hang out. France was later into the game, but before she got her new job as head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde was a constant visitor to Moscow, attending almost all of the high-profile investment conferences over the last two years and overseeing France's rise up the Russian investment league to second spot after Germany.

In fact, the relationship between the EU and Russia has grown and deepened to such a degree it's now considered among most European capitals to be one of the most important – and that's set to continue whatever the outcome of the Russian presidential election in 2012. But energy and defence are the twin issues that continually cast a shadow over those relations.

Take the July 6 conference, "Relations between the EU and Russia after 2012," organised by the Italian Senate. Amid the fading glory of the 16th century rooms in the building of the Senato della Repubblica, speaker after speaker stepped up to heap praise on Putin's Russia and to express the hope the upcoming Duma and presidential elections would represent another step in the country's march toward becoming a liberal democracy.

"The democratic revolution started by Vladimir Putin brought the Russian people to participate in the economic and political modernisation of the Russian system," Senator Laura Bianconi told the assembled politicians, academics and press. "This system will not rely only on oil and gas, but on a modernisation programme which will connect the people to the other European countries."

Or here's Senator Rossana Boldi, who's also chair of the Political Commission of the EU: "Russia is one of the most important partners of the EU… It's inescapable that we need to find and develop new types of relationships."

Or Bernard Kouchner, former foreign minister of France: "Everyone forgets how swiftly Russia has developed – it was an empire and had communism until only a short time ago… There is a will that impels relations between Europe and Russia, a true feeling of brotherhood in personal links."

"However," he adds, "there are specific political problems which don't make it possible for this understanding to always take shape."

And what might those specific problems be? Energy for one – and another dispute over gas looks ready to flare up.

A smell of gas

Alexey Meshkov, Russian ambassador to Italy, hinted as much when he said that Russia must be given more time to prepare itself for the EU's "Third Internal Energy Market Package", which member states are busy adopting into legislation and which is designed to, among other things, make the trading of energy across borders easier. During this period, "any restrictions in our [energy] investment should not be allowed," Meshkov blustered.

What he was alluding to was the vote by the Lithuanian parliament on June 30 to adopt legislation that, in line with this third energy market package, forces the "unbundling," or separation, of the gas supply business from the gas transportation business, if both are concentrated in the same hands. And indeed they are, with Gazprom the supplier of gas to Lietuvos Dujos as well as being a 37% shareholder in that Lithuanian utility (E.On Ruhrgas owns 39%, the Lithuanian state with 18% and minority shareholders the remainder).

What this means is that when the new law takes full effect in 2013, Gazprom will be stripped of its gas pipeline ownership rights, which it paid for when the Lithuanian

government privatised the country's gas network in two steps during 2002 and 2004. Gazprom is, perhaps understandably, a bit miffed, and on the day of the Lithuanian parliament's vote, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller warned that, "this will not go unnoticed." Lithuania has asked the European Commission to investigate Gazprom's apparent abuse of its monopoly position in the country.

If previous experience is anything to go by, price discrimination and supply disruptions from the Russian side will follow, sending EU-Russian energy relations back to the dark days of 2009, when yet another dispute between Moscow and Kyiv caused gas supplies to Europe, which transit Ukraine, to be cut off. For this reason, Petar Dimitrov, a former minister of the economy and energy for Bulgaria, whose country is almost totally dependent on Russian gas and so suffered mightily during the last gas dispute, urged at the conference the EU to formulate a common energy policy and do away with bilateral talks with Moscow in favour of an EU-Russia approach, so that economically disruptive energy disputes will become a thing of the past. "In energy policy it's not acceptable for some member states to have different positions to others, it won't be a united Europe," he said.

Where Europe is more united is over defence, which largely falls under the Nato umbrella. Tensions between Nato and Putin's Russia have simmered since the US in 2002 unveiled plans for a missile defence shield in Central Europe, consisting of 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic. These tensions burst into the open in 2007 when the then-president Putin lambasted the West for reneging on promises made following the collapse of the Soviet Union, specifically that Nato would not put troops on Russia's borders.

Alexander Babakov, vice chairman of the State Duma, told bne on the sidelines of the Rome conference that better defence ties between Russia and Europe were impossible without some permanent solution to the missile defence shield, which has evolved under President Barack Obama's watch to a more flexible arrangement of siting SM-3 ground-based interceptors in Poland by 2015 and in Romania by 2018. However, Michael Ancram (Lord Lothian), a former minister and chairman of the UK Conservative Party, sees an opportunity to improve ties if Nato is prepared to take a long hard look at itself, which he says many current and former members of the UK armed forces are now urging.

Ancram says Nato was conceived as a defence organisation, but through time mission creep has led to what he calls "aggressive" actions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and now Libya that conflict with Article 5, which states, "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all." While Ancram says Bosnia and Kosovo could just about conceivably be justified on the grounds that they are in Europe, Libya is a step too far. "What I'm absolutely certain is that we're involving Nato in a way that Nato was not designed for," he said.

So what is Nato going to be? he asks. A defence organisation or the military arm of the UN? "If the members are willing to reconsider the purpose of Nato – and it is now in a

situation where questions have to be asked about its purpose – I see a real opportunity to recast it in a way that is not going to create that sense of permanent tension with Russia," Ancram says.

Kouchner noted at the Rome conference that, "We have made some progress, but we need to work together to make more progress." Solving the twin issues of defence and energy – now that would be real progress.

Russian Billionaire Backs `Soviets’ at Manhattan’s New Museumhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/russian-billionaire-backs-soviets-at-manhattan-s-new-museum.html

QBy Katya Kazakina - Jul 14, 2011 6:01 AM GMT+0200

Billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, Russia’s 15th-richest man, has thrown his wealth behind a museum show opening today in New York to mark the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mikhelson’s awkwardly named foundation, Victoria the Art of Being Contemporary, is sponsoring an exhibition at Manhattan’s New Museum that examines the disintegration of the Soviet bloc through the work of 56 international artists, including 14 Russians. It is called “Ostalgia.”

“The title is an appropriation of a German word ‘Ostalgie,’ or nostalgia for the time before the fall of the Berlin Wall,” said New Museum curator Massimiliano Gioni, the show’s designer. “It’s about a moment in history and a state of mind.”

Mikhelson, with a fortune estimated at $9.1 billion, has a history of supporting the arts in Russia through his OAO Novatek, the country’s second-largest gas producer. “Ostalgia” is his first private philanthropic venture in the U.S.

Named after his teenage daughter Victoria, Mikhelson’s two- year-old foundation promotes Russian contemporary art abroad and supports it through grants and new commissions.

“Ostalgia was a perfect project to back,” said Teresa Mavica, Italian-born, Russian-speaking director of the foundation, in an interview this week. “We want to take Russian art outside of its ghetto and have the best Western curators tackle it.”

Mikhelson didn’t come to New York for the opening, dispatching Mavica and 18-year-old Victoria, who is listed as a member of the advisory board on the foundation’s website.

‘Building a Bridge’

“Our goal is to be recognized beyond Russia,” she said over a yogurt-and-granola breakfast. “It’s about building a bridge between Russian and Western art and smashing negative stereotypes about contemporary art in Russia.”

Her father was one of the first people whose view on contemporary art she needed to change. Born in 1955 in a town on the Caspian Sea in the Republic of Dagestan, Leonid Mikhelson graduated in 1977 from the Samara State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Before helping to establish Novatek in 1994, he spent most of his career building gas pipelines. As an art collector he initially gravitated toward works from the 19th and early 20th century.

These days, his office is decorated with blue-chip artists Gerhard Richter, Christopher Wool and Olafur Eliasson.

“He is a huge fan of Rudolf Stingel,” said Mavica. “He owns many works,” including the artist’s 11-foot-tall black- and-white self-portrait exhibited earlier this year at Gagosian gallery in New York.

Personal Project

Although Novatek has funded various cultural activities, including the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2009, the Victoria foundation is Mikhelson’s personal project.

By placing the Russian artists alongside their counterparts from Romania, Poland, Hungary, Germany and the Czech Republic, Gioni highlighted their common preoccupations.

Boris Mikhailov’s snapshots of ordinary (often naked and awkwardly framed) Soviet citizens in the 1960s and 1970s capture the vulnerability and drabness of life.

German artist Helga Paris’s 1984 black-and-white photographs of female factory workers, with their stern eyes, pressed lips and drab garb, complete the picture of the struggles behind the Iron Curtain.

Olga Chernysheva’s video looks at the new Russia by juxtaposing young boys in crisp Soviet-era uniforms with scantily clad cheerleaders. In British artist Phil Collins’s film, a former Marxist-theory teacher talks about his shattered identity after the Berlin Wall came down.

Gioni would not disclose the amount of Victoria foundation’s sponsorship, but said it also helped with research, access to the artists and many logistics.

“If you just need a check, don’t come to us,” said Mavica. “We like to be involved in producing the shows we support.”

(Katya Kazakina is a reporter for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the reporter of this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.

Endangered Russian leopards caught on filmhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8635854/Endangered-Russian-leopards-caught-on-film.html

Video of rare Amur leopards in the Russian Far East.

6:46PM BST 13 Jul 2011

“When the last full census was done during the winter of 2010, estimates were that fewer than 40 Amur leopards remained in the wild,” said Diane Walkington, Head of Species at WWF-UK.

New figures suggest a population rise of up to fifty percent and Sergei Aramilev, Species Program Coordinator at WWF Russia’s Amur Branch says this can be attributed to the way reserves are managed and the long term efforts that have gone into leopard conservation.

The habitat of the Amur leopard used to extend throughout China’s Northeastern provinces and into the Korean Peninsula but in Russia eighty percent of its range disappeared between 1970 and 1983.

National Economic Trends

Government may reduce stakes in banks to zero http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

Alfa BankJuly 14, 2011

The Russian government may eventually reduce its stakes in banks to zero, CBR First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists yesterday. In our view, this could have implications for VTB, 75% of which is controlled directly by the government. It is not clear whether Sberbank would be affected, as it is held by the CBR itself rather than by the government.

In a separate statement, Ulyukayev said that he does not expect another situation like BoM to occur, although current Russian banking supervision is insufficient.

Jason Hurwitz

Inflation continues decelerating http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

Troika DialogJuly 14, 2011

Inflation was at 0% during the week of July 5, the YTD tally remaining at 5.1%. Although this figure is a bit higher than a year ago (4.6% YTD after the first two weeks of July) it is largely a result of the base effect, as inflation was high in January 2011, for example.

From February 2011 until end June, the average m-o-m inflation was close to last year's level (even a bit below), while in July, after two weeks, it is half of what it was in the year-ago period, when it reached 0.4%. Unsurprisingly, the y-o-y figure is gradually decelerating (though it remains above 9%) and it has a good chance to slow more in August due to base effects: inflation accelerated sharply in August 2010 amid abundant liquidity created by monetization of the budget deficit, as well as the Central Bank's massive reserve accumulation and intervention on the forex market, while the drought triggered inflation expectations.

These days, the budget remains in much better shape due to the higher oil price, and the Central Bank is massively limiting its forex interventions. Hence, inflation potential remains low and we reiterate our 2011 forecast of around 7.0%.

Evgeny Gavrilenkov

11:38 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

Russia gold, currency reserves down on July 1-8.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185598.html

(adds)

14/7 Tass

MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves plunged by 600 million US dollars from 526.7 billion dollars to 526.1 billion (or by 0.11 per cent) on July 1-8, the business news agency PRIME reported on Thursday with reference to the foreign and public relations department of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).

The country's foreign exchange reserves record registered on August 8, 2008 was 598.1 billion US dollars.

Since January 1, when the gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to 479.379 billion dollars, this index has been raised by 9.75 percent.

Russian spend abroad beats pre-crisis records http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

CitiJuly 13, 2011

Aggregate spend made by Russians abroad in 2011 has reached pre-crisis 2007 levels, according to Citibank's annual research that was published today. Share of international payments has grown to 28% in 2011 as compared to 20.1% in 2010. Citibank's experts estimate that the total amount of purchases made abroad until the end of 2011, including credit card spend, will amount to 3% of the GDP, or USD 40 billion.

During summer months in 2010, August and September were the biggest "spenders". In 2011, the expenditure growth started in spring, and the traveling spree stayed even when the New Year holiday season was over. At the same time, the share of New Year holidays spend grew from 26% to 31.7% of the total spend amount, as compared to 2010.

"Since the beginning of 2011, we have witnessed a substantial growth in consumer activity that is exceeding the pre-crisis period, says Michael Berner, Consumer Lending Head at Citibank. - Our clients are actively using credit cards both in Russia and abroad, as well as in the Internet." As usual, the most popular countries were the US (16% of the total spend volume), Italy (11%), UK (8%), France (9%) and Spain (4%). Turkey and

Thailand left the top ten and passed the baton to Germany (3%) and United Arab Emirates (4%).

This year, travelers stopped saving on hotels and indulged themselves into nice hotel accommodation. According to experts, this is proved by an increased spend volume in the Hotels category (22%). At the same time, Russian consumers cooled down in respect of tourist agencies and air travel as compared to other categories, though in absolute numbers costs associated with air travel have increased. Clothes and shoes are still a key priority for Russians traveling abroad (#1 after hotels with 15% of the total spend volumes), particularly in Italy and the UK. Jewelry and luxurious goods, purchases in stores, supermarkets and Duty Free shops are also on the rise again.

US or Europe? The US are at the top of the list again thanks to the high transportation costs, though in 2011 overall spend volumes for America, as compared to the costs incurred in other countries, were lower than in 2010 (18% in 2010 and 16% in 2011, respectively). Russians started to spend more in Italy and France: 11% (as compared to 9% last year), and 9% (as compared to 7% in 2010) - respectively. However, the aggregate spend in Britain was less impressive. Switzerland (4%) and Finland (4%) grew by spend amounts: these skiing countries are popular in the context of winter holidays. In general, as compared to 2010, the major part of Russian foreign credit card spend fell on the European countries, and a smaller part - on the US.

It should be taken into consideration that the bulk of expenses related to the US, UK and Italy spend are also connected with Internet purchases: for instance, for the US, two-thirds of the total spend volume comes from Internet shops (63% of the total spend in this country). In Luxembourg (3% of the aggregate spend volume), almost 100% of purchases was made in the Internet shops registered in this country.

What do they buy in Mauritius? Mauritius and Malaysia extended the list of most popular countries by the average transaction amount in 2011. Based on the average cost of the most expensive purchases made during the analyzed period, Mauritius tops the cake with an average transaction amount of U.S.$673: this romantic island does have luxurious hotels and jewelry shops. The same categories proved to be in demand in Malaysia (91% for hotels and 2% for jewelry). The average transaction amount in this country has substantially increased compared to 2010 (U.S.$347 and U.S.$67 in 2011 and 2010, respectively). Switzerland also gets to the top through its expensive accommodation (24% of the total spend), while in Portugal and Argentine Russian travelers took to their leather goods (6% of the total spend in these countries). Israel attracted attention, inter alia, through its elite medical centers (3%).

Where do romantic Russians live? Statistics of payments made by residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg show that Muscovites have a soft spot for the US (19% of the total spend amount), Italy (12%) and UK (9%), whereas St. Petersburg inhabitants, apart from trips to the US and Italy (11% and 12%, respectively), often find themselves on the road to the neighboring Finland (12% of the aggregate spend volume), or - even more often - in the romantic France (impressive 14% of the total spend).

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

Raspadskaya, Severstal, Bank of Moscow: Russia Equity Previewhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-13/raspadskaya-severstal-bank-of-moscow-russia-equity-preview.html

QBy Marina Sysoyeva - Jul 13, 2011 10:00 PM GMT+0200

The following companies may be active in Russian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close of trading.

The 30-stock Micex Index rose 0.5 percent to 1,714.19. The dollar-denominated RTS Index gained 1 percent to 1,936.42.

OAO Raspadskaya (RASP) : VEB, Russia’s state development bank, isn’t planning to buy a stake in OAO Raspadskaya, the lender’s chairman, Vladimir Dmitriev, told reporters in Moscow yesterday. Potential buyers of Raspadskaya shares approached VEB for funding, he said. Raspadskaya dropped 4.6 percent to $6.30 in Moscow on July 11.

OAO Severstal (CHMF RM) said the $730 million loan it has received a conditional commitment for from the U.S. Department of Energy is for a period of 18 years at an interest rate of “just below 3 percent.” Russia’s biggest steelmaker added 0.5 percent to 514.50 rubles yesterday.

Bank of Moscow (MMBM RM): VTB Group will increase its stake in Bank of Moscow to 75 percent “within days,” Sergey Dubinin, chairman of VTB’s supervisory board, said in an interview broadcast on state channel Rossiya 24. Bank of Moscow was little changed at 704.40 rubles. VTB added 0.1 percent to 0.08285 rubles.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow msysoyeva@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

EU anti-dumping duties on potash expire without any extension

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

UralSibJuly 14, 2011

EU anti-dumping duties on Russian potash expire. Yesterday, Uralkali (URKA - Buy) reported that the anti-dumping measures that have been applied to the deliveries of Russian-produced potassium chloride to the EU since 1992 expired yesterday. Thus, the quotas on duty-free exports of Uralkali's products to the EU and anti-dumping duty on volumes above these quotas are no longer applicable. Under the expired anti-dumping regulation, Russian potash producers Ural- kali and Silvinit could export duty free volumes to the EU of approxi- mately 1.53 mln tons of KCL: around 0.83 mln tons by Uralkali and 0.70 mln tons by Silvinit. An anti-dumping duty of 12.3% had applied to volumes above quotas for Uralkali and 23% for Silvinit.

New opportunities limited. The duties appear to have been with- drawn thanks to the lobbying of European agricultural producers against high potash prices and limited access to cheaper Russian pot- ash. Europe is mostly self-sufficient with Germany's K+S occupying around 70% of the regional market, and the cancellation of duties will reinforce competition in the region as Uralkali is quite well positioned in terms of production costs, which are around 20% lower than those of K+S, but which are partly off-set by higher transportation fees. The EU is attractive for Uralkali in terms of margins as prices are roughly the same as South-East Asian, whereas transportation costs are twice as low. However, expan- sionary opportunities are limited, due to the European potash market contracting at a CAGR of 2.3%, close to fully loaded capaci- ties of Uralkali (expected to expand around 20% in 2011-2012) and the strong regional positions of K+S, backed up by the EU. Moreover, deliveries to EU made up 1.25 mln tons or around 13% of Uralkali's (including Silvinit) exports, 20% lower than the quoted volumes.

News moderately positive for Uralkali. We see the news as moderately positive for Uralkali. Opportunities are quite uncertain at the moment due to the limited expansion prospects. We do not think that BPC will be overly aggressive in pursuing larger vol- umes in the region, as it might raise certain political issues. We reiterate our Buy recommendation in the name.

CEO of General Electric, is expected to be elected in Inter RAO's board of directors

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

MetropolJuly 14, 2011

GE CEO Jeff Immelt and Oleg Budargin, CEO of the Federal Grid Company, may be elected to Inter RAO's Board by the end of the summer, Kommersant announced. Gregory Kurcer, CEO of the Russian Regional Development Bank, could be elected chairman. Kurcer has served on the board for three years.

Inter RAO's last board election was held on June 24 at the AGM. The board has not yet elected a chairman. Inter RAO will announce a list of candidates by July 31, and the current board must approve the list prior to the EGM to be held on August 31.

In our view, the election of Jeff Immelt as an independent director should trigger positive sentiment in the market and could boost the stock price. Inter RAO collaborates with General Electric on engineering projects. Immelt's election may also be perceived as a step toward attracting a strategic investor.

Konstantin Reyli

Inter RAO to Appoint GE’s Immelt to Board, Kommersant Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/inter-rao-to-appoint-ge-s-immelt-to-board-kommersant-says.html

By Jason Corcoran - Jul 14, 2011 8:08 AM GMT+0200

OAO Inter RAO UES, the Russian state-controlled power exporter, will appoint General Electric Co. (GE) Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt to its board, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified company officials.

Immelt will join the board as an independent director, replacing the head of the Federal Property Agency, Yuri Petrov, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Corcoran at Jcorcoran13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

Power firm Kvadra posts 2.4 bln rbl 2010 net profithttp://en.rian.ru/business/20110714/165188963.html

11:46 14/07/2011

MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti)

Russian power generating company Kvadra, formerly TGK-4, posted a 2.4 billion ruble ($85.71 milllion) 2010 net profit to IFRS, the company said on Thursday.

The firm made a 2.86 billion ruble loss in 2009.

Kvadra's revenue rose 12.4 percent to 35.5 billion rubles, the firm said.

EBITDA in 2010 fell 26 percent year on year. to 3.8 billion rubles.

July 14, 2011 11:07

VTB to consolidate 75% stake in Bank of Moscow in next few days - Dubinin (Part 2)http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=259163

MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - VTB (RTS: VTBR) will consolidate 75% plus one share in Bank of Moscow (RTS: MMBM) in the next few days, VTB supervisory board chairman Sergei Dubinin said.

"I am confident that everything will be concluded successfully in the next few days," Dubinin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television when asked how soon VTB would increase its stake in Bank of Moscow to 75%.

VTB purchased the city of Moscow's 46.48% stake in Bank of Moscow and a blocking stake in Capital Insurance Group (the owner of about 17% of Bank of Moscow shares) in February.

Under the rescue plan agreed with the Central Bank and VTB, the Deposit Insurance Agency (ASV) will provide a 10-year loan of 295 billion rubles to Bank of Moscow at 0.51% interest. VTB will also provide an additional 100 billion rubles in capital for the bank.

VEB's consolidation of a 75% stake will mark the start of the rescue. VEB is in talks with Bank of Moscow minority shareholders, including Vitaly Yusufov and Suleiman Kerimov.

Yusufov owns 19.91% of shares via Cyprus-registered Losanp Trade Ltd. He acquired the stake from Bank of Moscow's former president, Andrei Borodin, and Borodin's advisor, Lev Alaluev.

Two other minority shareholders are Durland Investments (6.86%) and Plenium Invest (4.51%), according to the Bank of Moscow web site. No information on their beneficiaries is available.

Kerimov reportedly owns 3.88% of Bank of Moscow shares.

Bank of Moscow was the 6th biggest Russian bank by assets according to the Interfax-100 list as of the end of the first quarter of 2011. VTB was the 2nd biggest.

RTS$#&: MMBM, VTBR

jh

(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)

UAC okays innovative development plan

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110714111645.shtml

      RBC, 14.07.2011, Moscow 11:16:45.The board of directors of United Aircraft Corporation has approved an innovative development program, the state-owned aircraft building holding said in a statement today.

      The program was drawn up in compliance with a relevant instruction issued by President Dmitry Medvedev on January 4. The implementation of the program is expected to elevate UAC to the world's third largest aircraft producer and make its aircraft competitive.

      The program is also designed to restore the company's competitive edge in aircraft building, train qualified specialists and transfer technologies to related industries. Russia would still be able to produce domestically a full range of aircraft equipment it needs thanks to the implementation of the program.

11:33 14/07/2011ALL NEWS

VEB’s head is elected CEO of United Aircraft Corporation.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/185592.html

14/7 Tass 131

MOSCOW, July 14 (Itar-Tass) —— The board of directors of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) elected its chairman - Head of state-run Vnesheconombank Vladimir Dmitriyev.

Besides, the board of directors approved the programme of the corporation’s innovative development, which had been designed following the presidential order of January 4, 2010. The programme will make the company a third international producer of aviation machinery; it will provide competitive level of design and production. The programme is aimed at formation of a reproduction system of key industrial competences, at training qualified staff and transfer of technologies to neighboring sectors.

The corporation believes that with this work Russia will be able to keep its positions as a state, which satisfies its own demand in all kinds of aviation machinery.

Coal miner Raspadskaya Q2 output down 5 pct q/qhttp://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE75Q0GK20110714

Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:19am GMT

MOSCOW, July 14 (Reuters) - Total raw coal output at Russian miner Raspadskaya (RASP.MM) fell again in the second quarter of the year even though production recovered at its main mine after a May 2010 explosion, it said on Thursday.

For the quarter, output fell 5 percent from the first three months of 2011 to 1.68 million tonnes, even as production at its main mine recovered by 10 percent for the same period to stand at 464,000 tonnes.

"The decrease in production and sales volumes of raw hard coking coal in the second quarter compared to the first quarter was influenced by a suspension of production at Raspadskaya Koksovaya mine," the company said in a statement.

Total raw coal production was down 28 percent year on year at 3.46 million tonnes. (Writing by Melissa Akin; editing by Douglas Busvine)

Vnesheconombank not eyeing stake in Raspadskaya

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110714104507.shtml

      RBC, 14.07.2011, Moscow 10:45:07.Vnesheconombank (VEB) does not plan to purchase Raspadskaya's shares from Evraz Group, the lending institution's CEO Vladimir Dmitriyev told journalists today. "We have had requests for financial aid from potential investors wishing to purchase this asset. VEB itself has no plans to buy out these shares," he stated, but refused to name investors or elaborate further on the matter.

      Earlier today, some media sources reported that VEB was in talks to acquire an 80% stake in Raspadskaya worth about $5.3bn from Evraz Group.

CEO: VEB has no plans to buy Raspadskaya but may finance purchasehttp://www.prime-tass.com/news/_CEO_VEB_has_no_plans_to_buy_Raspadskaya_but_may_finance_purchase/0/%7BC5984619-AB83-46D4-A8E8-06F6E4B0AFF7%7D.uif

MOSCOW, Jul 14 (PRIME) -- Russia’s state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB) does not plan to buy a stake in Russian coking coal producer Raspadskaya, but may provide financing to a potential investor, VEB CEO Vladimir Dmitriyev told reporters late Wednesday.

Dmitriyev said that potential buyers have applied to VEB for financing, without elaborating.

The statement follows media reports on Tuesday that VEB was to buy an 80% stake in Raspadskaya for about U.S. $5.3 billion.

At present, an 80% stake in Raspadskaya is held by Russia’s Evraz Group and Raspadskaya’s management, which decided to sell their stakes earlier this year after a number of deadly methane explosions at the company’s main mine in May 2010.

Raspadskaya is the largest coking coal producer in Russia. The company’s major mine did not operate in May–December 2010 following the explosions.

End

14.07.2011 11:53

Siemens to supply two long product rolling mills to Evraz

http://www.steelguru.com/russian_news/Siemens_to_supply_two_long_product_rolling_mills_to_Evraz/214488.html

Thursday, 14 Jul 2011Siemens VAI Metals Technologies received orders from the Russian Evraz Group to supply two long product rolling mills for two of the company new production facilities.

A Greenfield plant with an annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes of bars, sections and spooled bars will be installed in the southern Russian town of Ust-Donetsk in Rostov Region

Second Greenfield plant to roll rebars with annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes will be built at Kostanay in Kazakhstan.

The combined order value amounts to a mid range double digit million Euro figure.

The two plants are scheduled to be in production in 2013.

For both facilities, Siemens will supply the mechanical process equipment a re heating furnace, a water treatment plant, the fluids systems as well as the electric and automation systems.

The Evraz plant in Ust-Donetsk, Russia, will have a design capacity of 315,000 tonnes of bars and 135,000 tonnes of angles and channels per year. The rolling line will comprise a walking hearth furnace, a continuous rolling mill with 18 Red Ring stands and quick change system in the finishing area a cooling bed, straightening and cutting machines and finishing equipment for bundling, tying and dispatching. Bars are in-line quenched for enhancing the mechanical properties.

The plant will be able to produce reinforced steel in bars of 10mm to 40mm diameter, spooled bars of 10mm to 16mm diameter and sections. Smaller diameters will be produced via a multi slitting process to maximize productivity. The spooled bars will be produced on a spooling line operating at a maximum finishing speed of 23 meters per second with a four stand finishing monoblock, shears, in line cooling, two spooling machines, as well as automatic tying and weighing machines.

The rolling line in Kostanay, Kazakhstan will consist of a walking hearth furnace a continuous rolling mill with 18 Red Ring stands and quick change system in the finishing line, in -line quenching, a cooling bed, cutting machines and finishing equipment for bundling, tying and dispatching. The mill will produce rebar with diameters of 10mm to 40mm in single, two slit or three slit rolling mode and features an in line cooling system.

For both rolling mills, Siemens will also supply the complete electrical and automation equipment based on the Siroll concept for long rolling mills, including main transformers, main and auxiliary drives and motors. An integrated automation system will control the

rolling mill line and the water treatment system. Material flow will be managed by a level 2 control system.

Germans and Swiss Making Cement http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/germans-and-swiss-making-cement/440511.html

14 July 2011By Irina Filatova

NOVOGUROVSKY, TULA REGION — "Work, stay alert!" exclaims a red inscription on a gray-concrete wall at German cement producer HeidelbergCement's new $420 million plant, which opened Wednesday.

Construction workers building the plant made the inscription, but it could serve as a motto for the facility's 400 incoming employees, some of whom are already setting up equipment for the start of production next month.

The company's third local plant, it is reminiscent of a roller coaster with its myriad of conveyor belts moving raw materials throughout the pistachio-colored facilities. Building it required 100,000 cubic meters of concrete, 40,000 tons of steel and 700 kilometers of cable, Christian Knell, chief executive of HeidelbergCement in Russia, said at the opening ceremony.

The facility — located in the Tula region, 150 kilometers south of Moscow — will produce 2 million tons of cement a year and reach full capacity by 2013, Knell said.

But output could subsequently grow to 2.2 million tons, bringing the company's total annual production in Russia to 5 million tons, he said in an interview.

HeidelbergCement, which has invested about $800 million in Russia in the last 10 years, is counting on surging local demand for construction materials.

"Russia is an attractive market for HeidelbergCement. The local cement market demonstrates steady growth, which stood at 24 percent in the first quarter of 2011. We expect that the size of the cement market will increase to 56 million tons this year," Knell said.

It seemed to be a day for cement factory openings. In Kolomna near Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev opened a cement plant in which Swiss Holcim Group invested a total of 500 million euros ($700 million).

Medvedev, accompanied by Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey, praised the new facility, which, he said, "meets all the modern requirements."

"Today we need a lot of cement. We need investment in infrastructure," Medvedev said, Interfax reported.

Cement output in Russia rose 14 percent last year to 50.4 million tons. It is expected to reach the pre-crisis 60 million tons next year and hit 70 million tons by 2015, said Ksenia Arutyunova, an analyst at Rye, Man & Gor Securities.

Driving cement demand in the next several years are big projects like construction for the Sochi Olympics and the Kazan Universiade, as well plans for more economy-class housing, Arutyunova said by phone.

But Knell said his facility wouldn't supply such distant projects because it intends to focus on the needs of the Moscow and Tula regions.

HeidelbergCement, whose other domestic plants are in Ufa and the Leningrad region, plans further expansion. Setting up a second line at the new plant is one possible option, Knell said. The company plans to expand its Leningrad plant's capacity this fall.

The company is also interested in local acquisitions.

"If we have a chance to buy something for a reasonable price, we will do so," Knell said.

HeidelbergCement was one of the companies approached earlier this year by Yelena Baturina's Inteko holding, which was seeking to sell its two cement production facilities in the Krasnodar region.

The company considered the opportunity but decided that "for the time being, it's not for us," Knell said without elaborating.

Baturina bought the Atakaitsement and Verkhnebakansky plants in the Krasnodar region in 2006 soon after selling five other cement-making facilities to Eurocement, which saw its market share increase dramatically.

Later on, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service opened a case into Eurocement accusing it of violating the law on competition and hiking prices.

After conducting a check, the anti-monopoly service fined the company and ordered it not increase prices without informing the watchdog.

Now cement prices are again a major concern for market players.

The first half of 2011 saw cement prices skyrocket, which producers said resulted from a lack of transportation resources.

Cement prices on commodities exchanges jumped 26 percent to about $100 per ton, said Arutyunova of Rye, Man & Gor Securities.

State construction committee head Nikolai Koshman told RIA-Novosti in late June that prices for cement had increased to 6,000 rubles ($215) per ton since March and the figure could exceed 10,000 rubles per ton in August, which might result in increasing imports.

Supply problems arise every year, especially in the summer, due to the shortage of railway capacities, Knell said, adding that HeidelbergCement does not rely on railway logistics and uses trucks to supply its customers directly.

Prices are likely to decrease a bit in the second half of the year, with growth over the second half of 2010 not exceeding 10 percent, Arutyunova said.

Rusnano to tap $672m in Sberbank loan facilities

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110714120347.shtml

      RBC, 14.07.2011, Moscow 12:03:47.Rusnano's board of directors has approved taking out two loans totaling RUB 19bn (approx. USD 672m) and guaranteed by the government from Sberbank, the press office of the nanotechnology company said today.

      Specifically, the company is to contract a 7-year RUB 9bn (approx. USD 318m) loan at an interest rate of 8.67% and an 8-year RUB 10bn (approx. USD 354m) loan at an interest rate of 8.84%.

      In a separate statement, Rusnano said it approved production of innovative medicines to fight cancer, cardiovascular and other deceases in Russia on a parity basis with U.S. venture fund Domain Associates LLC. Details of the project will be disclosed after the parties have signed an investment agreement.

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

Energy Minister Shmatko comments on government's downstream sector initiatives

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

Renaissance Capital

July 14, 2011

Event: Yesterday (13 July), Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko announced a number of government initiatives, following a meeting in Kirishi last Friday (8 July). In particular, he mentioned the following:

1. A 60/66 tax regime should provide enough incentives for oil companies to invest in the modernisation of refineries, allowing for 15% IRR, on average.

2. Most of the oil companies have already signed agreements with the regulator regarding obligatory modernisation programmes. According to Shmatko, LUKOIL and Gazprom neft are the most advanced in this regard, while Rosneft and Salavat (Gazprom) have been the slowest laggards. Shmatko referred to changes in ownership of refineries as one of the factors that is delaying modernisation.

3. Within two weeks, the government is planning to set up a legal base for Rosneftegaz to start purchasing oil reserves of up to 2mnt. Any purchases by Rosneftegaz will be made gradually and on market terms to avoid any fuel deficits.

Action: We welcome greater clarity on the future regulation of the downstream sector, although it remains to be seen whether these regulations will work.

Rationale: Recent changes in the regulation of the Russian downstream sector have been controversial, culminating in gasoline crises in some regions this spring. As a result, oil companies have struggled to implement long-term investment programmes in the downstream segment. This has also complicated the full valuation of refining assets within the portfolios of integrated companies. However, it is still not clear to us if Rosneftegaz's activity will lead to more transparency, rather than further disruption of product prices. Shmatko's comment on LUKOIL's progress on modernising its refineries supports our preference for LUKOIL over Rosneft, as we highlighted in our 28 April report Investment case for Russian oils.

Ildar Davletshin

Tax Benefits for Bashneft and Tatneft? http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text16144

AtonJuly 14, 2011

Vedomosti reports this morning (14 July) that Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko supports the idea of providing Bashneft with tax benefits to compensate for losses associated with the introduction of the 60-66 export duty regime. The company reportedly asked for

removal of the MET on its high-sulphur fields. This would allow Bashneft to balance out about $150mn in annual losses, while tax collections from the company are maintained at the pre-60-66 level.

However, Shmatko reportedly opposed the idea of compensating Tatneft for losses stemming from the planned expansion of its TANECO refinery from the current capacity of 7mnt to 14mnt. Tatneft asked for tax benefits based on estimated losses of RUB34bn over the next five years.

Additionally, Vedomosti said that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged the government to prepare the necessary documentation for 60-66's introduction within the next two weeks. The report suggested that the new export duty regime may be introduced in the next several months.

Bottom lineThe introduction of 60-66 is positive for the sector as a whole, in our view. However, we believe its effect on the upstream segment will be short term and add only about 5% to the value of a Russian barrel. Today's news is positive for Bashneft as Shmatko's support increases the probability of the company receiving tax benefits. If Tatneft fails to receive any tax compensation, it would most likely respond by building a deep conversion plant on the basis of its current 7mnt facility, rather than expanding its simple refining capacity to 14mnt. On our estimates, deep refining rather than expansion would add about $1.0 to Tatneft's ordinary share price.

BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS SHAREHOLDERS VOTE TO CONTINUE PROJECThttp://www.utilityproducts.com/news/2011/07/1455969188/world.html

The shareholders and supervisory board of Trans Balkan Pipeline B.V. (???), the operator of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project, voted to continue work on the project at a meeting in Budapest on July 12.

They also voted to act on comments from Bulgaria's Environment and Water Resources Ministry concerning the project's environmental impact, TBP said in a statement.

TBP CEO Vladislav Yemelyanov briefed the supervisory board and shareholders on the project's status and company finances.

The founders of TBP are: TK-BA (Russia) with 51%, Project Company Burgas-Alexandroupolis BG (Bulgaria) with 24.5%, Helle C.A. - Traki C.A. (Greece) with 23.5%, and the Greek government with 1%. The founders of TK-BA, created on January 18, 2007, were: Transneft with 33.34%, Gazprom Neft with 33.33%, and Rosneft, also with 33.33%.

The planned pipeline will link Bulgaria's Black Sea coast with Greece's Aegean coast, bypassing the crowded Bosporus and Dardanelles. The 300-kilometer pipeline will have capacity for 35 million tonnes of oil a year, with a possible upgrade to 50 million tonnes a year. Construction will cost an estimated 1 billion euro.

Over the past year the Bulgarian side has dragged its feet on the pipeline project and missed a number of required payments, but insists it has not made a final decision to cancel the project. Bulgaria had expected to make a final decision on the project in February 2011, after the environmental impact study was completed. It subsequently moved the deadline back to March 28 and then postponed it for another two months. Bulgaria owed the project 7.3 million euro in required payments as of March 20.

At the beginning of July, Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev said his company was studying the possibility of building the pipeline on a route bypassing Bulgaria.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko previously said he expects no progress on the project so long as the current Bulgarian government is in power. "Today, based on the talks that we have conducted [with the Bulgarian government], there cannot be any progress. Knowing the attitude of the current Bulgarian government, we do not expect any progress," Shmatko told journalists.

Copyright 2011 Interfax News AgencyAll Rights Reserved

OPAL gas pipeline completedhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/13/53184325.html

Jul 13, 2011 17:40 Moscow Time

The laying of the 480km OPAL gas pipeline has been completed. This pipeline is often referred to as the Nord Stream’s “younger brother” which will link Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea.

55 billion cubic metres of gas from the Nord Stream will be passing  into the OPAL pipes to be further transported to the south:  to Pomerania, Brandenburg and Saxonia until the Czech border.

The pipeline is expected to be put into operation in autumn. It is the longest gas pipeline in Germany.

Sakhalin-I earns Russia almost $5 bln http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/14/53207633.html

Jul 14, 2011 11:12 Moscow Time

The Sakhalin-I oil and gas project has proved to be a good example of the Russian-American cooperation as part of the Russian American Pacific Partnership (RAPP) forum.

The project has produced more than 41 million tons of oil since 2005, more than 7.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas were supplied to Russia’s Khabarovsk district.

These figures were unveiled by the head of the Exxon Neftegas Limited company, James Taylor, during the RAPP meeting in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Mr. Taylor praised Russian experts for their contribution to the success of the Sakhalin-I project. He added that the Russian federal budget received over $4.9 billion in royalties and taxes since the Sakhalin-I was launched in 2005.

Dragon Oil Provide Drilling Updatehttp://www.oilvoice.com/n/Dragon_Oil_Provide_Drilling_Update/886f4cdd6.aspx

Wednesday, July 13, 2011Rig 40 commences drilling on the Dzheitune (Lam) 13 platform

Dragon Oil plc, an international oil and gas exploration and production company, announces that the Group has recently refitted the previously stacked Rig 40 and commenced drilling on the Dzheitune (Lam) 13 platform.

The rig has spudded the Dzheitune (Lam) development well 13/160, the first of four wells planned to be drilled from this platform. Two wells and one sidetrack are expected to be completed by the end of 2011 with the remaining two wells and another sidetrack to be completed in 2012. Later, the Rig 40 will be stacked pending consideration of options for its further use.

Gazprom

RWE-Gazprom deal could center on Czech pipelines http://www.ceskapozice.cz/en/business/companies/rwe-gazprom-deal-could-center-czech-pipelines

Rumors of a capital investment by Russian gas giant Gazprom in Germany’s RWE could focus on the fate of Czech gas pipelines

Companies|Energy & Green BizVratislav Ludvík | 13.07.2011 - 17:03

Fragmentary reports of negotiations between German energy giant RWE and Russia’s dominant gas company, Gazprom, had an explosive impact earlier this week. Topics for the two companies are numerous, ranging from the move to shift some of Germany’s gas imports to the new Nord Stream pipeline, RWE (and RWE’s Czech unit, RWE Transgas’) arbitration over prices paid for Gazprom gas supplies, and future plans for delivery routes and timetables for supplies of Russian gas.

But the real news filtering out of Monday’s talks was that they also covered “consideration of a possible capital entry” of Gazprom in RWE. The company’s spokesman was less than forthcoming with details, confirming talks about the price and supply of gas but dismissing everything else as “speculation.”

But the speculation has some basis in the current position of the two energy giants. First of all, it should be remembered that gas  is not RWE’s main business. Electricity is the core concern of RWE, with its gas assets amounting primarily to several German municipal companies and – above all – its ownership of the main Czech gas pipeline network through Czech gas importer and reseller, RWE Transgas.

Secondly, RWE is facing more than a few financial problems at the moment. It looks like taking a big hit from the German government decision to close down all nuclear reactors by 2022. The German economic recovery has not transferred into considerably higher demand for energy, meaning that cash flow is still short of expectations. And, finally, its prize Czech asset is suffering a serious haemorrhage of customers who are deserting to cheaper suppliers. The loss is around 30,000 a month with RWE Transgas’ Czech market predicted to slip to 51 percent this year.

How could Gazprom proceed?

In such circumstances an economically strong partner is exceedingly welcome. All this of course, is not conclusive. Nobody outside of the immediate actors knows what exactly went on between RWE and Gazprom, but there are clearly grounds for a deal.

Gazprom’s acquisition of a direct share stake in RWE would appear to be out of the question. This leaves three other possibilities:

Entry into some German gas distribution companies, which would not be economically attractive and meet with opposition from those towns and cities.

An agreement over gas supplies that would also take into account a capital participation in the construction of gas-fired power plants. This would be an economically attractive option.

And the most likely of all options, sale of part of what was the former Czech state company Transgas, namely the pipeline company Net4gas, which owns and operates all transit gas pipelines in the country and is a strategic and irreplaceable plank of the national gas system.

Gazprom has tried to get its hands on Czech pipeline assets several times in the past over the last decade. The first attempt dated from 1993 when it proposed a joint venture company with the then state gas company. Two years later, there was a more intensive effort, which resulted in a proposal for a Russian share stake reaching the Czech Cabinet. The proposal was, however, withdrawn from discussion.

Trojan horse deals

For the last attempt Gazprom recruited other companies to act as its “Trojan horse” as the Czech government prepared for the privatization of Transgas. The first was the consortium of Ruhrgas-Gaz de France and SNAM and the second that of RWE-Wintershall. Wintershall was closely connected to Gazprom through subsidiaries.

The second consortia featuring Wintershall backed out of bidding shortly before the final privatization decision citing a change in business priorities. The move came in spite of the fact that it was considered the dark horse in the proceedings.

Within European gas circles another version of events circulated. This was that Wintershall’s Russian representative acted in a way that increased his personal wealth at Gazprom’s expense. Later, then-Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned the then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and said that he did not want Wintershall to take part in the Transgas privatization.

All this is impossible to verify. But needless to say that Schroeder later got a very lucrative job from Gazprom after leaving office.

The last, albeit indirect, attempt to get Russian control is the payment by Gazprom of handsome transit payments for the delivery of its gas all the way to the German frontier. The payments count for a substantial part of the Czech company’s profits. It can be doubted whether such generous payments will continue if Gazprom becomes the owner of Net4gas.

So far, Czech foreign policy has prevented Russian ownership of strategic businesses. Real fears stem from the oft-repeated Russian saying that “Oil is for money, gas is for politics.” The EU has reacted to fears by adopting the so-called “anti-Gazprom act,” blocking the Russian state company’s purchase of stakes in gas network companies. But

it remains to be seen if the Czech Republic will not be a sad exception to such protective provisions.

The sale of Transgas to RWE almost a decade ago contained a provision that no further transfers of shares or assets to third parties could be understaken without the permission of the state holding company, the National Property Fund (FNM). But that stipulation, backed up by punative fines, elapsed in January 2010.

The Czech gas pipeline company was one of the leaders in attempts to diversify supplies away from Russia. The Czech Republic gets 25-30 percent of its gas from Norway thanks to pipeline connections built to reduce dependency on Russia.

Other European moves to diversify supplies —such as the ever increasing projects for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals and the Nabucco pipeline aimed at bring gas from the Caspian region — are taking shape. But Gazprom is hardly going to be in pole position to push for such projects which damage its interests.

If Gazprom did express a real interest in RWE assets, then a few questions need to be asked. The first is whether EU authorities will block such a move. If not, what preventive steps are envisaged by the Czech government and other state organs to prevent the transfer of such a strategic asset?

A height standard deviationhttp://rt.com/politics/press/kommersant/gazprom/en/

Published: 14 July, 2011, 08:06Edited: 14 July, 2011, 09:02

Anna Pushkarskaya (St. Petersburg)

St. Petersburg authorities have agreed to extend the height of Gazprom’s office to 500 meter.

Yesterday St. Petersburg authorities allowed the Okhta Cultural and Business Center, which is controlled by Gazprom Neft, to construct the Lakhta-Center office skyscraper, half a kilometer in height, on the delta of the Neva River, which is protected by UNESCO. The unprecedented “deviation” from the legally established maximum limit of 27-meters was permitted by the city’s Commission for Land Use and Development. After the Okhta-Center scandal, the decision was no longer to be approved by the governor, Valentina Matvienko, but a specialized official, who yesterday voted in favor of

Gazprom. Experts consider the procedure, twice lobbied for by the monopoly, to be “a mockery of the law.”        

Yesterday the Commission for Land Use and Development (KZZ includes Smolny officials and members of the city parliament) of St. Petersburg approved the height of 500 meters for Gazprom’s headquarters building, which the investor has decided to transfer from the shores of Okhta to the coast of the Neva Bay by purchasing a piece of land on the city’s outskirts in the village of Konnaya Lakhta. UNESCO and experts with the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments, as well as the city’s conservation activists have already objected to the skyscraper’s construction at this location as well. However, the investor was able to again lobby for the scandalous project within the framework of the procedure for “deviation” from the height regulations, provisioned by the City Planning Code and St. Petersburg’s Rules for Land Use and Development.       

However, disputes whether or not a multifold overextension of the legally established maximum limit (for Lakhta Center, it is 27 meters) can be considered “deviation”, have not stopped since this scheme was first considered for the Okhta Center (read Kommersant’s 09.23.09 issue). Despite the fact that the scandalous Okhta Center decree issued by Valentine Matvienko’s government had to have been annulled by the governor under the pressure of the public, UNESCO, and the Russian president, the St. Petersburg authorities have “stepped on the same rake.”       

At yesterday’s meeting members of the KZZ were expected to analyze the investor’s documents, explaining the need to “deviate” from the City Planning Code and proving that the construction poses no threat to the city’s historical views, as well as to assess the results of the public hearings (Kommersant reported on them on June 27), participants of which had actively opposed to the project. Meanwhile, the final protocol of the hearings included numerous complaints, including about their protocol violation and reports issued against them.        

However, the head of the commission, vice governor Roman Filimonov (he is in charge of Smolny’s construction sector) suggested “starting with pictures.” For the first time ever, a video clip was played (it had not been shown during the hearings), which was prepared based on a digital model of the future skyscraper’s effect on the visibility of the key historic sites. According to the final statement of Smolny’s Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture (KGA), which was signed by its chairperson Yulia Kiseleva, the conclusions of this survey should have been presented by the Town Planning Expert Council, though it was decided not to convene a council before the KGA had made a decision. Member of the commission and the St. Petersburg parliament Sergey Malkov, told Kommersant that the video had displayed an even “more-shocking” interference with the most valued panoramas than did the graphic documents – including the view of the rostral columns at the Spit of Vasilievsky Island.       

However, only three of the 13 members of the commission objected to the construction of the tower. Malkov said that the “unfavorable characteristics” of the piece of land

purchased by the investor, which he cites as the basis for his ambitions are no different from the parameters of similar lots in St. Petersburg, and if deemed to be a sufficient reason to permit deviations, this will mean that most other developers will have the right to “deviate”.  

Chairman of the Committee for Administration of City Property, Sergey Rodionov, also objected by saying that, in order to make a decision, it is necessary to consider whether or not it will lead to an “influx” of tourists to St. Petersburg or, contrarily, their “outflow” due to the violation of the integrity of a unique ensemble and the reduction of its tourist allure.  

The idea was supported by the deputy chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Monuments, Aleksey Komlev, who asserted the need to examine the building’s visual effect on the nearby panoramas (such as the Yelagin Palace ensemble). Under the city’s legal regime on protected areas, the effect on distant views is considered to be diminished at the distance of more than 6 km from St. Isaac’s Cathedral, though the same law calls for an assessment of the real interference of a new construction that is beyond these limits. In particular, the unfinished 110-meter Leader Tower, where the Gazprom structures were planning to relocate after the Okhta Center fiasco, which is located 9 km away, is clearly visible. However, vice governor Filimonov said that “the video footage is the assessment, which each commission member must make on his own.” Other commission members did not say anything, but voted in favor.     

One of the commission members, on the condition of anonymity, told Kommersant that the Lakhta Center does not look as “monstrous” from downtown as the Okhta Center, in favor of which he and his colleagues had also voted two years ago. “Then, I felt incredibly uneasy, but it won’t be as hard to get used to the Lakhta Center as to smoke pipes or a TV tower,” said the official. However, deputy Sergey Malkov said that the city’s conservation activists have already prepared a lawsuit. UNESCO experts have already warned about the project’s dangers, and Russian experts and the community have published open letters of protest against the Lakhta Center to the governor, the prime minister, and the president (Kommersant has the letters at its disposal).      

“If based on the results of the December elections a party other than United Russia makes it to the St. Petersburg parliament, then the Lakhta Center decision will be reconsidered, just as the one on the Okhta Center, and using the institution of ‘deviation from parameters’ will be prohibited,” argues Malkov. Perhaps that is why, this time, the final decision based on yesterday’s recommendation of the KZZ will not be made by the city’s government. Soon after the scandal surrounding Valentina Matvienko’s approval of the Okhta Center’s height (incidentally, it was 100 meters lower than the Lakhta Center and “only” ten times higher the maximum limit), this honorable duty was transferred to the head of the KGA, Yulia Kiseleva, who is expected to issue an exclusive order.      

Kiseleva was unavailable for comment yesterday. But considering her vote in favor of the tower, none of the commission members doubt that the investor will receive official permission in the upcoming days. The head of the Ekom Center for Expertise, Aleksandr

Karpov, said that Gazprom has again blatantly “ignored the historic and cultural treasures of St. Petersburg and, together with the authorities, has overtly demonstrated mockery of the law.”