Russia 110216

Basic Political Developments Smolensk widow challenges crash committee - The widow of the late General

Andrzej Blasik is pushing for Russia's investigative committee into the air disaster last April which killed her husband to remove sensitive material from its website.

Russian, Cuban Presidents congratulate NKorea’s Kim Jong-il on 69th birthday Russia, Venezuela to set up joint bank - The future bank will fund joint projects,

including oil development projects in Venezuela. Medvedev embarks on two-day visit to Italy

o Russia head of state to stop at Grand Hotel on Rome visito Medvedev and Benedict XVI will compare notes on foreign political

problemso Russia, Italy FMs to discuss int’l agenda items Wed -"Our common

interests include matters relating to European security, cooperation in Afghanistan where a no easy transitional process is evolving, the process of settling the situation in the Middle East where Russia and Italy also share common interests and, therefore, can play an important role for the establishment of stability," Massari said in conclusion.

Putin to meet economic expertso PM to discuss economic development strategy with experts -       The

meeting will also be attended by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Deputy Prime Ministers Vyacheslav Volodin and Alexander Zhukov, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin, and Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina.

Medvedev files bill subjecting bribers to large-scale fines - the offering or acceptance of a bribe or mediation in bribery would be subject to fines 100 times larger in size than the bribe itself, although it cannot be larger than 500 million rubles.

Public Chamber opens hot line to report incidents of corruption Maj-Gen Vladimir Vinevsky appointed Krasnodar region police chief Kremlin appoints caretaker for Moscow votes ahead of December elections - For

now, the appointment of Sobyanin - who is a member of United Russia's supreme council - to head the dominant parliamentary party appears simply a step intended to keep support for the authorities high overall. As head of the Moscow branch, he'll be responsible for bringing in as many of the city's 7m votes as possible - as Moscow mayor he'll have the levers to achieve it.

Expat businessmen complain to Medvedev about new immigration rules Maehara rebuffs Russia's warning over isle row Russian coast guards deny shooting at Japanese fishermen Co-chairmen of Geneva talks to inspect situation in South Ossetia - Co-chairmen

of the Geneva talks on security in the South Caucasus will visit the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia on Wednesday to inspect the current situation in the region, a spokesman for the republic's president said.

Guardian: Russian foreign minister says almost nothing - Sergey Lavrov proved the old adage that an envoy's job is to say almost nothing

Lebedev cancels London visit because he fears exile from Russia - Lebedev explained to organisers of the Russian business week forum at the London School of Economics that he risked exile if he were to leave Moscow at present.

The Kaliningrad strategic base - The Baltic states and Germany impede Russia’s rapprochement with Europe By Andrey Terekhov

Russian military friendship boosted - Lieutenant General Truong Quang Khanh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, made the statement while receiving VK Dzirkaln, Deputy Director of the Federal Service of Technical Military Co-operation of Russia (FSTMC) and chairman of the Russian sub-committee of the Russia-Viet Nam Intergovernmental Commitee on Technical Military Co-operation (RVIC) in Ha Noi yesterday.

Russia displays advanced weaponry in Abu Dhabi US opens Twitter blog in Russian - The US State Department is opening a Twitter

micro blog in Russian. Bout complains about jail conditions

o Viktor Bout complains of poor incarceration conditions in U.S. Russian pilot among two killed in DR. Congo crash Emilbek Kaptagaev: There are no anti-Russian sentiments in Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz drug trafficker sent to trial for attempted smuggle of 400 grams of hashish

in Russia Alarming scram statistics a recent plague at Russian nuclear power plants - The

first days of February set a record for the number of emergency shutdowns and unscheduled repairs at Russia’s commercial nuclear reactors: five scrams and load reduction incidents in just eleven days.

Four suspected terrorists detained in Moscow - Taking part in the operation to apprehend them were criminal investigation department agents and transport police personnel. "Khasan Nazhayev, Ruslan Yusupov, Ramzan Khaliyev and Anzhela Batalova [believed to be a militant's widow] purchased tickets for a train to Chisinau," a law-enforcement officer told Itar-Tass.

o Suspected terrorists caught in Moscowo Four residents of Chechnya suspected of preparing terrorist attack

detained at the Kievskaya railway station in Moscow - One of the detainees is on the federal wanted list as an active member of illegal armed group

Monday's blast in Russia's Dagestan equal to 50kg TNT - police o Wahabi Razdobudko's wife suspected as Dagestan suicide bomber

(updated) The delegation of Austrian investment companies arrives in Dagestan for a

working visit - On February, 14, the delegation of the Austrian companies "Wintertechnik Engineering GmbH" and “Gorbach Consulting” arrived in the Republic of Dagestan.

Daghestanis in One Region Resign En Masse from Ruling United Russia Party Unemployment in Russia Caucasus areas hits 48.8% Responsibility for the Domodedovo Blast Has Been Claimed, but Questions

Remain About the Nature of Russia’s Insurgency

A hard-hitting response - Deputies could not dare to introduce penalties for the usage of “terms that degrade nationalities” By Aleksandr Voronov

This year's first forest fires spotted in S Primorye Nearly 300 kg of hashish seized in Kuzbass Russian police station at center of illegal gambling investigation - Officers from

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) raided a police station in the Moscow region on Wednesday over alleged links to illegal gambling.

2 Russian cosmonauts to walk out into open space Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Feb 16 RIA Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Wikileaks: Gas Pipeline Permit Was Too Easy in US View Russia's Kasparov "wins Georgian TV quiz show" Kremlin restorer to become Kosovo's president - His name became known in

Russia due to the scandal surrounding the restoration of the Kremlin in the 1990s. Abramovich Owns 7 U.K. Homes, 3 French, 2 U.S., Filing Shows No Russian Journalists Killed in 2010. For the First Time in Years!

National Economic Trends Russia Plans Food Fund to Regulate Prices, Kommersant Reports Industrial production strengthens in January - but is it enough to trigger a rate

hike? RenCap: Domestic debt strategy - Rouble rally loses steam

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions VTB Group, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft: Russia Equity Preview “Supergiant” gold deposit discovered in Russia’s east - The governor of

Chukotka, Roman Kopin, has reported to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about a giant gold deposit discovered in his region in Russia’s Far East.

Mechel to place bonds next week RUSAL opens $512 mln rouble bond issue S&P may downgrade Norilsk Nickel after new offer to RusAl Deripaska against deal on currently offered terms China Wealth Fund, Harvard Buy Shares in VTB, Vedomosti Reports Barclays exits Russian retail banking Barclays Russian chief to quit in shake-up ? SocGen Fourth-Quarter Net Quadruples on Russia, Investment Bank Carlson to build top-class hotels in Russia Railway disappointment: no more 50% discounts for upper Tele2 Russia added 153,000 new customers in January KamAZ might acquire MAZ; impossible within discussed parameters Storm Properties to enter economy class residential segment Russian fur trade declines HONG KONG — China Yangtze Power will invest $168 million

in EuroSibEnergo's IPO and joint venture projects, Hong Kong Economic Times reported Tuesday. (Bloomberg)

Power Machines boosted its order portfolio 15 percent to $4.19 billion in 2010, while revenue on those contracts was $1.74 billion, the company said in its fourth-quarter accounts. (Interfax)

Output at factories, mines and utilities rose an annual 6.7 percent in January after a 6.3 percent advance in December, the State Statistics Service said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) France's Total in talks with Rosneft on shelf projects Russia to pull out of Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project Russia to Quit Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline, Vedomosti Says Russia intends to withdraw from Burgas-Alexandroupolis project Vedomosti: Tankers are cheaper than Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline Lukoil sets end of March deadline for West Qurna-2 commercials Surgutneftegas Plans to Increase Oil Production This Year

Gazprom Gazprom negotiating lower purchase price for Central Asian gas Gazprom General Director: Shtokman to Include LNG Growing optimism about Shtokman LNG UPDATE 1-Gazprom eyes record 2011 exports, Shtokman decision Gazprom Neft to Pay Full RUB4.7bn Fine for Antitrust Violations Russia's Gazprom Neft becomes sole owner of Sibir Energy Armenian Energy Minister says negotiations with Gazprom in progress Gazprom to join Libya’s Elephant oilfield on Wednesday Gazprom May Sell Eurobonds in Rubles in 2011, CFO Says (Update1)

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Full Text Articles

Basic Political Developments

Smolensk widow challenges crash committeehttp://www.thenews.pl/national/artykul149440_smolensk-widow-challenges-crash-committee.html

16.02.2011 07:58The widow of the late General Andrzej Blasik is pushing for Russia's investigative committee into the air disaster last April which killed her husband to remove sensitive material from its website.

Ewa Blasik's lawyer Bartosz Kownacki has postulated that the organisation has defied the Chicago convention in its actions.

The controversy hinges on the publication of sensitive details regarding the state of victims in the wake of the catastrophe in western Russia last April. Not only are details of the autopsy available, but also the precise state of the general's body at the moment it was located near the airport.

“There was not and is not any factual or legal basis for the disclosure of such detailed information concerning the autopsy,” Kownacki argues.

“It is solely fodder for the Polish and international media and a cause of pain and suffering to those close to the general.”

Kownacki states that the General's family tried to deal with the matter through Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who allegedly did not act on the matter, hence the family's current campaign via the media.

General Blasik was himself a focus of emotive debate in the aftermath of crash. MAK noted that the soldier had entered the cockpit during the flight, and that he had a blood alcohol level of 0.06 percent. (nh)

Russian, Cuban Presidents congratulate NKorea’s Kim Jong-il on 69th birthdayhttp://wireupdate.com/wires/15157/russian-cuban-presidents-congratulate-nkoreas-kim-jong-il-on-69th-birthday/

By BNO News

PYONGYANG (BNO NEWS) -- The Presidents of Russia and Cuba on Wednesday congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on his 69th birthday, state-run media reported.

Kim Jong-il turned 69 on Wednesday amid ongoing speculation about Kim's falling health and rumors about a soon-to-come change in power. Heir-apparent Kim Jong Eun's birthday, last month, did not see any public celebrations.

For Kim Jong-il, however, the streets of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang have been decorated to mark the day. But it is not known if there are celebrations in other parts of the country, which is facing severe food shortages and is in the midst of a severe foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the Presidents of Russia and Cuba had both sent congratulatory messages to mark Kim's birthday. "Respected Your Excellency Kim Jong Il, I congratulate you on your birthday," said Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in his message to Kim.

He added: "I believe that you would make contribution to strengthening and developing the traditional Russia-DPRK good-neighborly relations at the responsible post of chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission in the future, too. I wish you good health and success in your important and responsible work."

KCNA did not release the message sent by Cuban President Raul Castro but reported that he had wished Kim Jong-il "good health and success in his work of leading the fraternal Korean people."

(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

Russia, Venezuela to set up joint bank http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44571189.html

Feb 16, 2011 10:31 Moscow Time

Russia and Venezuela are setting up a joint bank. According to the Moscow-based Kommersant daily, the two sides have just agreed the authorized capital.

The future bank will fund joint projects, including oil development projects in Venezuela.

The biggest such project is Junin-6, in the Orinoco River basin. 

Medvedev embarks on two-day visit to Italyhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44559649.html

Feb 16, 2011 09:19 Moscow Time

President Medvedev is expected to arrive with an official visit in Rome on Wednesday.

   Medvedev is to attend a ceremony to open the Year of Russia in Italy which will feature more than 500 events in both countries, presidential aid Sergei Prikhodko said.

   President Medvedev is also due to hold talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on European security, missile defense, visas, and economic and energy cooperation.

   On Thursday, Medvedev is visiting the Vatican where he will meet with Pope Benedict XVI.

    His visit to the Vatican will be the first by a Russian leader after the two sides established diplomatic relations in 2009.

Russia head of state to stop at Grand Hotel on Rome visit

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15958455&PageNum=0

16.02.2011, 07.59

ROME, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who on Wednesday is arriving in the Italian capital on an official visit, will stop at the famous Roman St. Regis Grand Hotel, located in the heart of the Eternal City, according to sources at the State Protocol of Italy.

Built in 1894 as the first luxury hotel in the Kingdom of Italy, the hotel immediately became a popular centre for many important international forums, the seat of the honoured guests of the capital: government officials, prominent writers and artists from different countries. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin have stopped here in the modern times.

Grand Hotel is marked by five stars in all directories and catalogues. In February 1995, the building was affected by a strong fire. The walls in the basement of an old building where saunas and gyms are located, caught fire. The fire spread to other floors quickly. Firefighters managed to timely evacuate all hotel guests and quickly extinguish the blaze. There were no fatalities or injured, but the hotel facilities suffered significant damage. In December 1999, the Grand Hotel, restored and renovated inside and out, re-opened its doors to visiting dignitaries, regaining its status as the capital’s most prestigious hotel.

Observers note that despite the fact that President Medvedev is already for the fourth time visiting the Apennines, it will be the first time when he spends the night in Rome. Early spring has come in the city, mimosa is already blossoming there, the air temperature rises to 12-15 degrees in the afternoon, however, it becomes colder in the evening. Weather forecasters are predicting preservation of the rather warm weather, but with increasingly clouded sky and rains.

Russia enjoys close relations with Italy. In 2006, Russia and Italy have signed a protocol of cooperation for fighting crime and defending civil liberties. There are close commercial ties between the two countries. Italy is Russia’s second important commercial partner in the EU, after Germany, and its state-owned energy company, ENI, has recently signed a very important long-term contract with Gazprom, to import Russian gas into Italy. The relationship between Russia and Italy goes back a long way. Already in the 1960s, Italy's FIAT built a car-assembling plant in the Soviet city of Togliatti (a city named after the Italian Communist Party’s secretary Palmiro Togliatti). Russians have always visited Italy in great numbers. Many Russian students come to Italy each year to study arts and music. Unlike many other Western European countries, Italy has traditionally always maintained good relationships with Russia, even during the Soviet era. In particular, the Berlusconi Government (2001–2006) strengthened Italy's ties with

Russia, due to his personal friendship with President Putin. Cooperation extends also to the aviation sector, between Italy's Alenia and Russia’s Sukhoi, who are jointly developing a new aircraft. Finally, for a long time Italy had the largest communist party in the Western world, with over 2 million members.

16 February 2011, 10:02

Medvedev and Benedict XVI will compare notes on foreign political problemshttp://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8201

Moscow, February 16, Interfax - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will pay a working visit to Vatican City on February 17, where he will meet with Pope Benedict XVI and Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

"This will be the first visit of a Russian chief of state to Vatican City after our countries established full-format diplomatic relations," Russian presidential aide Sergey Prikhodko told Interfax.

Russia and the Vatican City established diplomatic relations in December 2009, after Medvedev decided to upgrade the status of the Russian mission in the Vatican City to an embassy.

Medvedev and Benedict XVI will compare notes on foreign political problems, will discuss the architecture of European security, and interaction between Russia and the Holy See within international organizations, such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, he said.

"Russia and the Holy See share close positions on many foreign political problems based on priority of international law and moral principles in communication between countries," he said.

The Russian president and the pope will also address the development of inter-denominational dialogue.

Interaction between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Curia could also be touched upon at the meeting, he said.

Russia, Italy FMs to discuss int’l agenda items Wed

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15958449&PageNum=0

16.02.2011, 02.11

ROME, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Italy, Sergei Lavrov and Franco Frattini, are to hold talks here on Wednesday to discuss

international agenda items of current importance, including the situation in the Middle East. Lavrov is a member of the Russian delegation, headed by RF President Dmitry Medvedev, who will officially declare at a ceremony the commencement of a Year of the Russian Language and Culture in Italy.

Frattini's press secretary Mauricio Massari, when presenting a list of subjects for discussion at the upcoming talks, said, "We share a wide range of interests, from political dialogue to industry and energy".

"The present Year of Culture, which envisages hundreds of cultural events in both countries, gives an additional important impetus to and emphasizes the importance and intensity of bilateral relations," Massari said.

"Our common interests include matters relating to European security, cooperation in Afghanistan where a no easy transitional process is evolving, the process of settling the situation in the Middle East where Russia and Italy also share common interests and, therefore, can play an important role for the establishment of stability," Massari said in conclusion.

Putin to meet economic expertshttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44555112.html

Feb 16, 2011 03:09 Moscow Time

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is meeting today with experts developing the strategy of this country’s socioeconomic development.

According to the government press service, “Russia is still facing a number of serious problems, above all worn out infrastructure, low labor productivity and lack of competitiveness on the world markets." 

The government will be meeting once every three months to analyze the work done by the  expert group, which consists of leading scholars and officials.

PM to discuss economic development strategy with experts

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110216105508.shtml

      RBC, 16.02.2011, Moscow 10:55:08.Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is set to hold the first meeting today with experts working on the country's economic development strategy through 2020, the government's press service announced.

      The meeting will also be attended by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Deputy Prime Ministers Vyacheslav Volodin and Alexander Zhukov, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin, and Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina. They plan to discuss a broad range of issues, including economic modernization, enhancement of the social sector's efficiency, and the governance system through 2020.

February 16, 2011 09:52

Medvedev files bill subjecting bribers to large-scale fineshttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=222639

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has forwarded a federal bill on imposing large-scale fines on those found guilty of bribery and corrupt business practices to the State Duma, the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.

The bill amends the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offences. If it is made into law, the offering or acceptance of a bribe or mediation in bribery would be subject to fines 100 times larger in size than the bribe itself, although it cannot be larger than 500 million rubles.

va

Public Chamber opens hot line to report incidents of corruption

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15959080&PageNum=0

16.02.2011, 11.44

MOSCOW, February 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Public Chamber is opening a help hot line for citizens to report presumed incidents of corruption. The number of the hot line opening at 12.00 MT Wednesday for free calls from all over Russia is 8-800-

A monitoring of citizens’ complaints, which will be registered and analyzed, will constitute a basis of a report on the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures the state will take in 2011. The document will be submitted to the general public and the country’s leadership, the press service said.

Prominent lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, who chairs the Public Chamber Commission on public control over activity of law enforcement bodies, power agencies and reform of the judicial-legal system, will open the hot line, the press service said. Kucherena was appointed deputy chief of a working group which is to make this report, it said.

Maj-Gen Vladimir Vinevsky appointed Krasnodar region police chief

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15958828&PageNum=0

16.02.2011, 10.30

MOSCOW, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed police Major-General Vladimir Vinevsky as Krasnodar Territory police chief. Vinevsky replaces Vasily Likhachyov, the Kremlin press service reported on Wednesday.

Kremlin appoints caretaker for Moscow votes ahead of December elections

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

bneFebruary 16, 2011

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin is clearly a man that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin feels he can trust. The PM yesterday asked the new head of Moscow, live on TV, to lead the regional branch of the ruling Untied Russia party into December's parliamentary elections, reports Reuters.

"It seems to me that a leader of the Moscow organisation of United Russia has not yet been chosen. It would be right for you to head it," Putin told Sobyanin in televised comments. Sobyanin accepted the job.

The Kremlin and United Russia installed Sobyanin as Moscow mayor after President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed Yuri Luzhkov in September. Whilst some tried to suggest that the move illustrated the president's independence from the PM, Putin was clearly fully informed, and kept his own council.

In the longer run, ousting Luzhkov allowed the Kremlin to consolidate its power over the capital - with the country's political and economic centre becoming only more strategic in the face of Medvedev's drive to attract investment to help modernize Russia.

Many observers at the time also suggested that the choice of new mayor would offer an insight into next year's presidential elections - with few signs available to hungry Kremlinologists over which of Putin or Medvedev will run.

Sobyanin is very much Putin's man - he became Kremlin chief of staff in 2005, when

Putin was president, and followed when Putin became PM to take on the role of government chief of staff in 2008. However, frequent sightings of a split between the PM and president look more like hopeful thrusts from Putin's critics.

For now, the appointment of Sobyanin - who is a member of United Russia's supreme council - to head the dominant parliamentary party appears simply a step intended to keep support for the authorities high overall. As head of the Moscow branch, he'll be responsible for bringing in as many of the city's 7m votes as possible - as Moscow mayor he'll have the levers to achieve it.

Expat businessmen complain to Medvedev about new immigration ruleshttp://rt.com/news/line/2011-02-16/#id3403

RT News line, February 1607:44

A group of European businessmen have written a letter to President Dmitry Medvedev expressing their worries about a new immigration law introduced on Tuesday and asking that he cancel it. The authors claim the law seriously complicates the registration procedure, which is now to be executed through a landlord and not through an employer who invites foreigners to work in Russia. The businessmen write that landlords may be unwilling or incapable of handling registration, and that the changes will lead to difficulties with finding a place to live or to rising rent. However, the Federal Migration Service say the changes were introduced to improve the conditions of foreigners in Russia, giving them an opportunity to get a 3-year working visa and a residence permit for their entire stay in Russia.

Maehara rebuffs Russia's warning over isle rowhttp://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110216p2g00m0dm019000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara rebuffed Tuesday a warning by a high-ranking Russian official that it would become "pointless" to continue bilateral talks over disputed islands off Hokkaido if Tokyo maintains a hard-line approach.

Maehara told a news conference that he agreed with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday that the two countries will continue negotiating on the territorial dispute "based on past agreements and documents, as well as law and justice."

"Whatever remarks are made, that stance will be upheld by the two countries," he said.

Sergei Naryshkin, chief of staff of the Russian Presidential Executive Office, told Maehara on Saturday in the Russian capital that "anti-Russia statements" by senior Japanese officials would make it meaningless for the two countries to continue dialogue on the territorial issue, according to Japanese officials.

Naryshkin was apparently referring to Prime Minister Naoto Kan's remarks last week that described Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to one of the four disputed islands last November as "an unforgivable outrage."

Lavrov also put pressure on Japan on Tuesday, saying unless Tokyo recognizes the outcome of World War II, bilateral negotiations on the territorial dispute would lose their meaning, according to the Interfax news agency.

Maehara said at the press conference he had conveyed to Naryshkin Japan's "extreme regret" over visits by Medvedev and other senior Russian officials to the disputed islands and remarks by high-ranking officials that Russia will continue to control the area as part of its territory.

The Japanese foreign minister also said Kan represented "the feelings of many Japanese people" on the territorial row, noting that many Japanese have been "indignant at" the visits by Russian officials.

Maehara reiterated that the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan as well as the Habomai islet group are an "integral part of Japan in terms of history and international law."

The islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and as the Southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in World War II on Aug. 15, 1945. The territorial dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a postwar peace treaty.

Medvedev visited Kunashiri last November, becoming the first leader of Russia or the Soviet Union to travel to the disputed territory.

(Mainichi Japan) February 16, 2011

Russian coast guards deny shooting at Japanese fishermenhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44559654.html

Feb 16, 2011 09:20 Moscow Time

The Russian Coast Guard Service in Sakhalin has denied Japanese media reports that guards opened fire on a Japanese fishing vessel off the disputed South Kuril islands.

   Russian coast guards didn’t open fire, even preemptive, a Federal Security representative said. 

   Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday that Russian coast guards opened fire with illumination shells on a Japanese fishing vessel off Habomai Island.

Russian coast guard deny shooting at Japanese fishing ship near Kuril Islandshttp://en.rian.ru/world/20110216/162625102.html

The Russian Coast Guard denied on Wednesday Japanese media reports that guards opened fire on a Japanese fishing vessel off the disputed South Kuril islands.

Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday that Russian coast guards opened fire with illumination shells on a Japanese fishing vessel near Habomai Island.

"There was no shooting at Japanese fishing vessels," a spokesman for the Coast Guard department in Russia's Far East said. "There were not even any warning shots fired."

Last year on January 29, two Japanese fishing vessels entered Russia's territorial waters off Kunashir Island and ignored warning shots from a Russian coast guard helicopter. As a result, the guards had to open direct fire at the vessels. The fishing boats returned to their port of Rausu with numerous bullet holes on their hulls.

Tokyo's continued claim over four South Kuril Islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai) has so far prevented Russia and Japan from signing a formal peace treaty to end World War II hostilities.

The four southern islands of the chain to the northeast of Japan were annexed by the Soviet Union after World War II.

 YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, February 16 (RIA Novosti)

Co-chairmen of Geneva talks to inspect situation in South Ossetiahttp://en.rian.ru/world/20110216/162624076.html

02:01 16/02/2011

Co-chairmen of the Geneva talks on security in the South Caucasus will visit the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia on Wednesday to inspect the current situation in the region, a spokesman for the republic's president said.

"The visit also includes a meeting with President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity," Vyacheslav Sedov said.

The Geneva talks on security in the South Caucasus are backed by the UN, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and involve Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The talks were launched in October 2008 following a five-day war between Russia and Georgia, which began after Georgia attacked its breakaway republic of South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.

Russia recognized South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, shortly after ceasefire.

The participants in the Geneva talks have so far failed to adopt a legally binding non-aggression treaty that would assure security in the region. The next round of talks is scheduled for March 1.

MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti)

Russian foreign minister says almost nothinghttp://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/16/russian-foreign-minister-simon-hoggart

Sergey Lavrov proved the old adage that an envoy's job is to say almost nothing

Simon Hoggart

The Guardian, Wednesday 16 February 201

The big event in the world of diplomacy yesterday was the arrival of the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. Once again, he proved the old adage that an envoy's job is to say almost nothing on behalf of his country. Lavrov is, we're told, a chain smoker who can hardly go for 10 minutes without a fag. No wonder the press conference came to a sudden end. He must have been gasping for a gasper.

It was not, apart from that, a gruelling session for the apparatchik. Nobody challenged him about being in the government of a tyranny mitigated by organised crime. Instead the session went on an entirely predictable way.

William Hague paid tribute to his opposite number. He was especially grateful for the generous hospitality which had been offered to him in Moscow four months ago. I wanted to interrupt and shout: "He didn't pay for it himself, for goodness sake! Any more than you're paying for the vintage claret at lunch!"

Hague picked his words with the care of a man crossing a flooded river on stepping stones. There had been differences between the two countries. There were differences

today. But the improvement in relations would be "patient and steady". It would take time; there would be no giant leaps, but "measured, practical steps". Heavens, things really were bad.

Then the big news. The hotline was going to be updated! This did not mean, he hurried to say, returning to the old cold war mentality. It was a matter of having a modern phone link. (Possibly with Angry Birds and Pizza Express apps). My mind drifted to thoughts of how a conversation might go: Brungg, brungg! (Sorry, this is a modern phone link. It would be more likely to have a few bars from Lady Gaga.) William Hague, here, Sergey. Just to let you know that our missiles will be launched in 10 minutes! Lavrov: Ho, ho, your famous English sense of humour! Now, you must let me have the recipe for that toad-in-the-hole you served me!

Assembled journalists tried to get them to comment on Silvio Berlusconi being charged. Hague said that neither he nor Lavrov had any responsibility for the Italian legal system. Then someone said something. Hague declared that for the Iranians to approve the protests in Egypt but not in Iran was "shameless hypocrisy".

Dear me, he won't get very far in the diplomatic world by saying what he means. Lavrov took up the topic. At length. Then longer. He felt it might be counter-productive to try to impose democracy on some kind of specific pattern. We saw this as a ferocious attack on the US government, or at least as ferocious as anyone gets in this shadowy world. Instead he wanted for Iran "an action plan, action in exchange for action". No doubt this was freighted with meaning, to some at least. Suddenly (the nicotine patches must have worn off) the two men marched smartly away, chatting as they departed. "Bunga, bunga, eh Sergey? You've got to envy the old goat ..."

Lebedev cancels London visit because he fears exile from Russiahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/feb/16/alexander-lebedev-russia

Alexander Lebedev, the owner of The Independent and the London Evening Standard, refused to attend a London conference yesterday because he feared that, if he were to leave Russia, he would not be able to return.

Lebedev explained to organisers of the Russian business week forum at the London School of Economics that he risked exile if he were to leave Moscow at present.

In his letter, which is posted on his website, Lebedev wrote:

"I am extremely sorry for not being able to attend your forum.

Lamentable reason is, of course, the decline of business climate in Russia as attempts of the corrupt law enforcement officers to raid my businesses (National Reserve Bank, airline and potato farming) intensify...

"These circumstances do not allow me currently to leave Moscow - they may provide for me not being let in back. I wish you enlightening discussions and productive exchanges of opinion!"

He concluded with "regards to Mr Lavrov - his is a tough job." This was a reference to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who opened yesterday's conference in Lebedev's absence.

Last November, Lebedev was present when up to 30 masked and armed police burst into the NRB headquarters in Moscow to confiscate documents.

The bank later complained to prosecutors that the raid had been a show of power designed to stop Mr Lebedev complaining about corruption.

Lebedev helps to fund the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta in Moscow, and he has been critical of Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov was heckled after his speech at the opening of the business forum by a protester who demanded the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oil tycoon who is serving 14 years in jail.

Sources: Lebedev blog/The Times

The Kaliningrad strategic basehttp://rt.com/politics/press/nezavisimaya/eu-visas-baltic-germany/en/

Published: 16 February, 2011, 05:42Edited: 16 February, 2011, 05:42

The Baltic states and Germany impede Russia’s rapprochement with Europe By Andrey Terekhov

Next week, 10 Russian ministers headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will travel to Brussels for a meeting with European Commission officials. According to NG’s European diplomatic sources, the visa issue will be raised in Brussels. Good news awaits the residents of Kaliningrad, for whom the EU may soon become more accessible, while for the remaining Russian citizens, a visa-free regime remains something for the distant future. However, if you are to believe the diplomats, a positive result from the removal of barriers in the Kaliningrad region could strengthen the arguments of those seeking free movement throughout Europe for all Russians.   

This will be the fifth Russia-EU meeting in this format. Earlier, officials from the

European Commission – the executive body of the European Union – and Russian ministers met in 2009, 2005, 2004 and 1999. The Russian delegation, headed by Putin, will arrive in Brussels immediately after the Defenders of the Fatherland Day, on February 24. The mood should be celebratory, especially because it seems that the parties will be able to announce specific achievements.   

In any event, the European diplomats are referring to the forthcoming rendezvous in glowing terms. According to NG’s source, the topics of discussion will include energy cooperation and plans to perfect the so-called early-warning mechanism. It was created after the New Year’s disruptions in the Russian gas supply due to a conflict with transit countries in order to give the Europeans a timely warning about an upcoming shutdown in gas supplies.   

Moreover, Brussels officials believe it will be possible to reach some “concrete agreements” on the rules of travel for Kaliningrad residents. Recall that this is a Russian exclave with a population of about 1 million people, surrounded by EU-member states Lithuania and Poland, as well as the Baltic Sea. In accordance with the internal norms of the European Union, its members are allowed to enter into agreements on travel within the immediate border area with neighboring states that are not members of the EU. These documents basically lift the curtain for residents living within 30 kilometers of the border on travel to the neighboring countries of the Schengen zone for a maximum term of three months without the need to obtain a visa.

So far, four similar agreements have been enacted between Hungary and Ukraine, Slovakia and Ukraine, Poland and Ukraine, and finally Romania and Moldova. According to the European Commission reports, they are working quite well.   

According to NG’s source in Brussels, a positive experience in Kaliningrad is important for further simplification of the visa regime for citizens living on the remaining territory of Russia.

“There is a connection, though no one will openly mention it,” said the source. According to him, Russia and the EU will reaffirm the intention to move toward a visa-free regime. But this continues being a plan for the distant future.   

According to our European source, further removal of barriers between the Russian Federation and the EU is slowed by the Baltic states, as well as by Germany.

“Germany will soon hold an election,” he said. “Today, it is not to the leadership’s advantage to open a new visa front while it is being subject to criticism about rescuing debtors in the Eurozone.”

In the near term, meanwhile, we should expect to see amendments to the acting Russia-EU agreement on the simplification of the visa regime. Recall that the document provisions a more flexible approach to the issuance of visas to a number of categories of Russians and Europeans – members of official delegations, their relatives, businessmen,

journalists, sporting event participants, etc. Expansion of these categories is being considered. Also, it is expected that an applicant who already has two to three Schengen (or Russian) visas in his passport will, provided he used them in accordance with existing regulations, next time automatically be approved for an extended visa.

Russian military friendship boosted

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Politics-Laws/208465/Russian-military-friendship-boosted.html

HA NOI — Viet Nam always treasures the fine traditional friendship with the Russian army and people.

Lieutenant General Truong Quang Khanh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, made the statement while receiving VK Dzirkaln, Deputy Director of the Federal Service of Technical Military Co-operation of Russia (FSTMC) and chairman of the Russian sub-committee of the Russia-Viet Nam Intergovernmental Commitee on Technical Military Co-operation (RVIC) in Ha Noi yesterday.

Lieutenant General Khanh said that in recent years, through RVIC, bilateral technical military co-operation has been carried out effectively, contributing to strengthening and developing friendly relations between the two peoples and armies.

Dzirkaln said he highly valued the outcomes of technical military co-operation between the two armies following the 12th annual RVIC meeting, adding that the current visit was a good chance for the two sides to put forward solutions to develop bilateral co-operative ties in the near future. — VNS

Russia displays advanced weaponry in Abu Dhabihttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44610579.html

Feb 16, 2011 12:36 Moscow Time

Russia is using innovation technology to present the latest models of weaponry at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi.

  According to Rosoboronexport, Russia’s exhibits will be demonstrated in a 3D format.

   Thanks to a wide screen, all willing will be able to experience being a participant of war battles.

   The Russian exposition features automatic grenade launchers, sniper weapons and surveillance equipment.

US opens Twitter blog in Russianhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44559659.html

Tags: News

Feb 16, 2011 09:21 Moscow Time

The US State Department is opening a Twitter micro blog in Russian.

    According to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Washington values networking as an effective way to disseminate democracy.

    The US State Department is also planning to open pages in Hindi, Chinese, Arabic and Persian.

Bout complains about jail conditionshttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44556902.html

Feb 16, 2011 06:59 Moscow Time

Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has asked the Russian Consulate in New York to help improve conditions of his  incarceration.

His wife, Alla Bout, said on Tuesday that her husband is getting poor food that does not comply with prescribed medicine that he has been taking for the past two months.

In the US Viktor Bout is facing charges of arms smuggling and supporting terrorists.

Viktor Bout complains of poor incarceration conditions in U.S.http://en.rian.ru/world/20110216/162624727.html

Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout asked the Russian Consulate in New York to help improve his incarceration conditions, his wife Alla said.

Bout, 44, is being held in a high security bloc of a New York prison while he awaits trial on charges including conspiring to supply arms to a Colombian terrorist group and kill U.S. nationals. He denies all the charges against him.

Alla Bout says her husband's main complaint is that he is getting poor food that does not comply with prescribed medicine that he has been taking for the last two months. Bout, a vegetarian, has been diagnosed with Koch's bacillus.

"Viktor does not get any vitamins or fruits, even those that are included in his menu. It is also prohibited to send him parcels," she said after visiting him in prison.

Former Soviet military officer Bout was arrested in Thailand in March 2008 during a sting operation led by U.S. agents. He was extradited to the United States in November last year after spending more than two and half years behind bars.

The alleged arms dealer, dubbed "The Merchant of Death," could face anything from 25 years to life in prison if found guilty.

NEW YORK, February 16 (RIA Novosti) Russian pilot among two killed in DR. Congo crash

Russian pilot among two killed in DR. Congo crash

(AFP) – 17 hours ago

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7k7-eivLDkCHom_nG0sD6CFoo8A?docId=CNG.d64e4c27551f1bc86b2fb9a1ba43eb2c.631

(AFP) – 17 hours ago

KINSHASA — A small plane used to deliver World Food Programme aid crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing its Russian pilot and his Congolese co-pilot, the airport said Tuesday.

The twin-engine Czech-made Let-410 crashed minutes before it was due to land in the city of Bukavu on Monday after it struck a hill in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, an airport official said on condition of anonymity.

The pilots were the only people onboard the plane, owned by private Congolese company African Air Services, which was returning from a mission to deliver seeds on behalf of the World Food Programme, the official said.

Plane crashes are frequent in the vast central African country and all of the Democratic Republic of Congo's about 50 aviation companies are on a blacklist of the European Union, which bans them from its air space.

Emilbek Kaptagaev: There are no anti-Russian sentiments in Kyrgyzstan 16/02-2011 11:57, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Aizada KUTUEVA

“There are no anti-Russian sentiments in Kyrgyzstan,” chief of staff Emilbek Kaptagaev said at today’s press-conference.

According to him, in Kyrgyzstan, like in any other country, there are definite statements. “But it does not mean that in society somebody is against Russian people. I can say for sure that there is no any political power or movement in the country which makes anti-Russian appeals,” said Emilbek Kaptagaev.

As mentioned the Chief of presidential administration, one had not to look for any policy in recent change of frequencies of OTRK and First channel of Russian Federation. “It was connected with technical situation only. Nowadays, negotiations with Embassy of Russia in Kyrgyzstan have already been conducted. The problem is solved,” added Emilbek Kaptagaev.

URL: http://eng.24.kg/politic/2011/02/16/16325.html

Kyrgyz drug trafficker sent to trial for attempted smuggle of 400 grams of hashish in Russia 16/02-2011 12:02, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Anton LYMAR

A drug trafficker from Kyrgyzstan was sent to trial for an attempted smuggle of 400 grams of hashish in Russia, as the agency EAN informs.

Reportedly, Kurgan transport prosecutor confirmed the indictment in a criminal case against a 25-year old citizen of Kyrgyzstan on articles “Illegal acquisition, storage, transportation, manufacturing, processing, without intent to sell narcotics, psychotropic substances or their analogues” and “Contraband” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The investigation revealed that in November 2010, the defendant following by a passenger train Almaty - Yekaterinburg from Kyrgyzstan, transported to the territory of Russia almost 400 grams of hashish.

Upon arrival, transport militia officers detected drug courier and seized the drugs.

Currently, the criminal case has been referred to Kurgan municipal court.

URL: http://eng.24.kg/cis/2011/02/16/16326.html

Alarming scram statistics a recent plague at Russian nuclear power plantshttp://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2011/scram_stats

MOSCOW – The first days of February set a record for the number of emergency shutdowns and unscheduled repairs at Russia’s commercial nuclear reactors: five scrams and load reduction incidents in just eleven days. The Russian nuclear energy industry is showing a remarkable unreliability in doing what it is expected to – providing a steady supply of energy. The nuclear authorities, meanwhile, keep pretending that nothing of significance is going on. Andrei Ozharovsky, 15/02-2011 - Translated by Maria Kaminskaya

A disturbing chronicle

Unscheduled reactor shutdowns, power reductions, and reactor and generator trips rippled through Russia’s Balakovo, Smolensk, Kursk, Beloyarsk, and Kola Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) throughout the first eleven days of February. The Russian nuclear power plant operator, Concern Rosenergoatom, refers to each incident as having taken place “in accordance with a request forwarded” by the operating staff – rather than shutdowns executed automatically by the reactors’ emergency protection systems. That, however, should not mislead anyone: Russian reactors, as this and earlier statistics show, seem incapable of reliable operation; incidents when nuclear reactors get disconnected from the grid, thus losing capacity to the energy system, have become a regular occurrence.

February’s shutdowns, according to the information available, were caused by glitches in steam generators and turbogenerators – that is, not in the nuclear-related equipment. Yet, any shifts or changes in the regular operation of a nuclear power reactor – be it a case of load reduction done by the operators according to regulations or an emergency shutdown by the automatic protection system – mean an increased burden on the equipment in use in the aging reactors, where something at some point is simply going to give…

 

Balakovo NPP: A noisy scram

Balakovo NPP, Reactor Unit 4 (a VVER-1000 series reactor, commissioned in December 1985): Shutdown occurred on February 7. Unscheduled repair works initiated. (At the time the original Russian version of this report was being prepared, maintenance was still in progress at the  reactor unit).

The Russian State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom had the following information on the incident: “At 06:57 pm, personnel operating the reactor of Reactor Unit 4 brought it to a subcritical state following a spontaneous snap and failure to reseat of a pilot-operated relief valve in Steam Generator PG-1. Unscheduled repairs initiated at the unit.”

Balakovo’s public information centre, however, offered a different account on its new website (the page, managed by Rosenergoatom, so far provides a report on the event in Russian only): “On February 7, 2011, at 06:57 pm, Reactor Unit 4 was shut down in accordance with a forwarded request in order to initiate preventative maintenance of the heat machinery of the steam piping system of the secondary circuit.”

There is, indeed, a difference: A shutdown caused by the need for urgent repairs is not quite the same as one initiated for preventative maintenance. True, there are no formal reasons to claim a an attempt at an outright lie here: The reactor was stopped by the personnel, not by the automatic protection system. The shutdown request may, too, have well been forwarded – a few minutes before the shutdown sequence…

The incident – or accident? – is reported to have been heard in the environs, too. The local publication Upryamiye Fakty (Hard Facts) describes these impressions Balakovo residents had as they witnessed, if remotely, what was going on at the plant: “On the evening of February 7, the residents of the village Natalyino were listening, wary, to the rumbling noises coming from Balakovo NPP. Even they, who were accustomed to the racket that sounded from the nuclear power plant from time to time as its reactors were being shut down, felt ill at ease hearing the unbelievable din that penetrated even the soundproof PVC window panes in their apartments. The cloud soaring high right above the plant conjured up disturbing thoughts of an accident.”

Balakovo’s head of the public information centre Natalya Bondarenko, by contrast, denies the event was an accident or even an incident. In a correspondence with Anna Vinogradova, who heads the Balakovo branch of the All-Russian Environmental Protection Society, Bondarenko insists: “The shutdown was not an incident. Reactor Unit 4 was shut down in accordance with a forwarded request to conduct preventative maintenance of the heat machinery of the steam piping system of the secondary circuit.”

Not for nothing, the authors of the article in Upryamiye Fakty couldn’t help evoking an angry paradigm: They lied, they’re lying, they’ll be lying more? in the headline to their story.  

Smolensk NPP: Power output remaining halved for 24 hours

Smolensk NPP, Reactor Unit 2 (an RBMK-1000 reactor, commissioned in December 1982; engineered lifespan due to expire in 2012): Turbogenerator switched off the grid on February 9, 2011; load reduced to 50 percent. On February 10, the turbogenerator that caused the load reduction was plugged back in following unplanned repairs.

Rosatom’s Crisis Management Centre reports that on February 8, at 11:40 pm, a defect was discovered in the gas cooling system of Turbogenerator TG-4. The reactor was proceeding at a capacity of 1,000 megawatts at the time. At 02:03 am on February 9, the reactor was plugged off the grid and, following a forwarded request, put under emergency maintenance until 02:00 am the following day, Rosatom said.

Just like in the case of Balakovo, Smolensk NPP’s public information service – run, as with all Russian NPPs, by Rosenergoatom’s information department (which, again, does not provide a translated English version of its report on the organisation’s new website) – attempted to whitewash the fact that the load reduction incident was an unforeseen one, stressing, instead, the fact that there was a request for the procedure: “On February 9, in accordance with a forwarded request, power load of Reactor Unit 2 of Smolensk NPP

was reduced by 50 percent due to preventative maintenance on Turbogenerator 4 (TG-4).” The report ends with a standard Rosenergoatom statement that “no violations of limits and conditions of safe operation of Kursk NPP power units have been registered.”

Once again, an attempt can be traced to conceal the fact that both the load reduction incident and the repairs of the faulty turbogenerator were unplanned contingencies.

Kursk NPP: A week-long outage to replace a seal

Kursk NPP, Reactor Block 1 (an RBMK-1000 reactor, commissioned in December 1976, engineered lifespan expired in 2006): Reactor put under urgent maintenance on February 9, 2011.

Kursk NPP’s public information department, run by Rosenergoatom, says the following on the incident (in Russian only): “On February 9, 2011, at 08:07 am, Reactor Unit 1 of Kursk NPP was shut down in accordance with a forwarded request in order to conduct maintenance works to replace a seal in equipment operated in a non-occupied area.”

“The reactor was shut down by personnel using a fast load reduction switch. The unit was put under urgent repairs until 08:00 am of February 16, 2011,” Rosatom’s Crisis Centre added in a statement of its own.

Notably, it is the same reactor unit that is slated, by way of an experiment, to soon be operated above nominal capacity, which may lead to further failures in the aged equipment.

Beloyarsk NPP: Six days at reduced capacity

Beloyarsk NPP, Reactor Unit BN-600 (commissioned in April 1980, engineered lifespan expired in 2010). Reactor proceeded at a 380-megawatt capacity between February 5 and 11 owing to “repairs on the electrical equipment.”

Beloyarsk NPP’s public information office reports (in Russian): “On February 9, 2011, Reactor Unit BN-600 of Beloyarsk NPP was brought to a nominal capacity of 600 megawatts after maintenance works were completed on the unit’s electrical machinery.” The report offered no information on the causes of the repairs.

Kola NPP: Turbogenerator trip

Kola NPP, Reactor Unit 4 (a VVER-440 reactor, commissioned in October 1984): Emergency turbogenerator trip on February 11, 2011; reactor load reduced by 50 percent.

Kola NPP’s public information office reports (in Russian): “On February 11, at 10:19 am, Turbogenerator TG-7 of the reactor unit was shut down by the automatic emergency protection system. Operating capacity was reduced by 50 percent.”

Again, the report offers no details on the incident or expected duration of the maintenance works.

It is worth noting that the same reactor unit was in downtime for six days last January owing to an another unplanned shutdown caused by a short circuit in the cable tunnel. Around 63 million kilowatt-hours was lost to the energy system between January 17 and 23.

In all, owing to outages caused by emergency trips at Reactor Units 3 and 4 of Kola NPP, as well as periods when the reactors operated at reduced capacity, the plant’s output in January 2011 was 217 million kilowatt-hours below expected levels. If all the four reactor units of the plant operated uninterrupted at normal 440-megawatt capacity, January’s energy production – combined output for 31 days – would have reached 1,309.4 million kilowatt-hours. The plant’s public information service reports 1,092.2 kilowatt-hours were generated in January.

The press service also makes a point of saying – given the underwhelming performance of last January – that the output for that month was “more than the figure for the same period of 2010.”

Ever since Chernobyl, the propaganda machine has been fine-tuned just so to be able to put a brave face on the sorriest of news.

The bottom line: Five shutdowns in eleven days

That five out of Russia’s 32 reactors get shut down for emergency repairs in eleven days is sad testimony that the Russian nuclear energy industry is simply unfit for reliable performance. As reactor equipment gets older, more and more incidents will result in unscheduled maintenance. This does not only spell additional expenditures and unstable supplies of energy. If repairs are done in a haste in order to resume power generation and due quality of works is not provided under the pressure, more glitches will occur – and with increased frequency and elevated risks for further safe and steady operation.

Four suspected terrorists detained in Moscow

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15958904&PageNum=0

16.02.2011, 10.50

MOSCOW, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - Transport police in Moscow detained four people suspected of preparing an act of terror.

Taking part in the operation to apprehend them were criminal investigation department agents and transport police personnel. "Khasan Nazhayev, Ruslan Yusupov, Ramzan Khaliyev and Anzhela Batalova [believed to be a militant's widow] purchased tickets for a train to Chisinau," a law-enforcement officer told Itar-Tass.

"They were detained on a platform of the Kievsky railway station.

According to the investigator's information, Yusupov is "a field commander." Batalova's assignment was to carry out an act of terror in a public place.

All the four have already been brought to Chechnya for questioning.

Law-enforcement officials have not commented on the report yet.

Suspected terrorists caught in Moscowhttp://rt.com/news/suspected-caught-moscow-four/print/

Published: 16 February, 2011, 10:31Edited: 16 February, 2011, 10:41

Four people suspected of planning a terror attack were detained at a Moscow railway station on Tuesday evening.

The four men and one woman are Chechen nationals. One of them is believed to be a militant wanted for serious crimes and had fake ID with him, reports Interax news agency citing a law enforcement source.

The group was detained while boarding a train going to the Moldovan capital Chisinau. The woman may have been conditioned to become a suicide bomber, some reports suggest.

The four detainees will be taken to the Chechen Republic for prosecution.

CORRECTED GOOGLE TRANSLATION

February 16, 2011 9:48 Four residents of Chechnya suspected of preparing terrorist attack detained at the Kievskaya railway station in Moscow

http://www.interfax.ru/news.asp?id=177694

Moscow. February 16. INTERFAX.RU - Four natives of Chechnya suspected of preparing terrorist attacks, were detained yesterday in Moscow at the Kievskaya station, a law enforcement source told Interfax. "Yesterday when boarding a train Moscow-Chisinau, four natives of Chechnya, were detained, including one woman wanted on suspicion of preparing terrorist attack in Russia," - a spokesman said. According to him, a detailed description of the orientation of the suspects admitted to all parts of the metropolitan police on Monday. "One of the detainees is on the federal wanted list as an active member of illegal armed group, he removed the fake documents," - said the source. He did not mention the names of detainees, noting that they are being handed over to the FSB - the initiator of the search.

Monday's blast in Russia's Dagestan equal to 50kg TNT - policehttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110216/162627613.html

09:49 16/02/2011

MAKHACHKALA, February 16 (RIA Novosti) - The second of the two blasts that struck Russia's southern republic of Dagestan on Tuesday was equal to 50 kg of TNT, a local police representative said.

Three police officers were killed and at least 25 people were wounded in two explosions that ripped through the village of Gubden in the volatile North Caucasus republic.

The first explosion was caused by a female suicide bomber, who blew herself up near the village police station.

Shortly afterwards, a Lada Priora car was blown up after it was stopped by police near the scene of the first explosion.

Terrorist attacks and shootouts with police are common in Russia's troubled North Caucasus republics, especially Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia.

15 February 2011, 17:09

Wahabi Razdobudko's wife suspected as Dagestan suicide bomber (updated)http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8200

Moscow, February 15, Interfax - The woman who carried out a suicide bombing in the village of Gubden in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Monday evening

has been preliminarily identified as the wife of Vitaly Razdobudko, one of the leaders of the so-called Nogai Jamaat, a source in the Dagestani Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

The bomber was identified as Razdobudko's wife, Marina Khorosheva, by two of her acquaintances but forensic experts have yet to definitively identify the attacker, the source told Interfax.

The Dagestani branch of Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed that Khorosheva was the suspected bomber. A branch spokesman told Interfax that preserved fragments of the attacker's face and evidence from soldiers who survived the attack had led forensic experts to preliminarily identify the bomber as Khorosheva.

"Definitive clarity will come from a genetic test," the spokesman said.

Vitaly Razdobudko was suspected of perpetrating another suicide attack in Gubden the same evening, one in which a man blew himself up inside a car.

The ministry spokesman said several fragments of his body had been gathered. "This is enough for a genetic test, which will show whether Vitaly Razdobudko was the other suicide attacker," the spokesman said.

The delegation of Austrian investment companies arrives in Dagestan for a working visit http://www.riadagestan.com/news/2011/02/15/6001/

15.02.2011 , 11:30Text: Andrey Bondarev

Makhachkala, February 15, 2011. On February, 14, the delegation of the Austrian companies "Wintertechnik Engineering GmbH" and “Gorbach Consulting” arrived in the Republic of Dagestan.

On February, 15, the delegation of the Austrian companies will examine a building of the ski resort "Matlas" in Hunzahsky district of Dagestan. The meeting of the Austrian delegation with students of the Dagestan State Technical University is also planned. On February, 16, they will visit the citadel Naryn-kala and the mosque in Derbent.

We would remind you that on January, 15, the President of the Republic of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov visited the Republic of Austria. Dagestani Head was accompanied by the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the republic Rizvan Kurbanov and the Head of Agency for Tourism of Dagestan Anatoly Karibov.

During informal two-day working visit negotiations with the director general of the company "Wintertechnik Engineering GmbH" Mr. Jurs Thomas took place. Questions of development of a mountain-skiing infrastructure in the republic were discussed.

Negotiations were held with the technical director of the company “Vado Engineering GmbH” Mr. Adolf Vitner. Creation of modern technology parks in the sphere of agriculture and small power stations in Dagestan were discussed.

The President of the Republic of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov also made the decision with assistance of the Austrian partners to hold Dagestan Days in the Republic of Austria.

Daghestanis in One Region Resign En Masse from Ruling United Russia Partyhttp://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21064&Itemid=72

February 16, 2011

Paul Goble

Vienna, February 15 – More than 250 Daghestanis have resigned from the United Russia Party and an equal number of the residents of that North Caucasus republic say they are preparing to do so, a possible indication that the ruling party in the Russian Federation may face more serious challenges in non-Russian portions of the country during the upcoming elections.

The Kavkaz-Uzel.ru news portal yesterday reported that Magomed magomedov, a resident of Shodrod had told its journalists that 254 people had quit United Russia and that an equal number were ready to do so in the near future, remarkably large numbers given the size of that district (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/181036/).

Magomedov said that he was among those who had already left the ranks of the party, a step that he said he had taken because the United Russia-backed leadership of Daghestan “does not take into account the opinion of ordinary members of the party” as evidenced by Makhachkala’s refusal to meet the requests of local people about candidates for office.

“We asked the head of Daghestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov and other leaders of the republic and the party. that they include in the list of candidates for deputies to the parliament of Daghestan current legislator Ali Shakhbanov, but,” he said, “no one listened to our opinion.” Instead, Makhachkala selected an “unpopular” figure who has often faced criminal charges.

Ullubiy Erbolatov, the press secretary of the Daghestani branch of United Russia told Kavkaz-Uzel that he was aware of what had occurred. “What has taken place in Botlikh district, the leadership of the party knows. I also know Ali Shakhbanov. He is a very

good man, but who will run for the future parliament is a decision of the leadership of the party and the republic.”

“A more detailed response,” he suggested, “could be obtained in the main office of the party.” But when the Kavkaz-Uzel journalists inquired there, they were told that the Daghestani section of United Russia had no comment. The parliamentary elections in that North Caucasus republic will take place on March 13.

The action of the up to 500 United Russia members in the Botlikkh district of Daghestan is intriguing for three reasons. First, it comes in a place which more than most in the Russian Federation not only has been deferential to whatever those above it want but has delivered super majorities for United Russia in the past.

That suggests that this action in Daghestan may be followed by similar moves elsewhere, an indication of growing popular anger at the isolation and high-handedness of United Russia and of the possibility that one or another party may in fact be able to challenge the ruling party successfully in one or more districts.

Second, it suggests that the new leadership of Daghestan may be just as out of touch with public opinion there as was its predecessor, a gap that could provoke new challenges by the population like those which rocked the southern Daghestani city of Derbent a year ago and that forced Makhachkala and Moscow to look for new leaders there.

And third, if Daghestanis feel that they are being shut out of the public political process, it is entirely likely that they will look with more sympathy on those who choose to go into the forests to fight the regime, thereby making a republic which is currently marred by violence near every day even more unsettled.

At the very least, resignations of this kind, more than the high profile departure of prominent actresses in Moscow, are an indication that the governing party and thus the government of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev likely face a more difficult future than many in Russia or elsewhere now assume.

Updated Wednesday, February 16, 2011 11:05 am TWN, AFP

Unemployment in Russia Caucasus areas hits 48.8%http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/europe/2011/02/16/291282/Unemployment-in.htm

MOSCOW -- Parts of Russia's turbulent Caucasus region have the country's highest unemployment rate, and impoverished Ingushetiya tops the list with 48.8 percent, a report said Monday.

Russia's overall unemployment rate was 7.2 percent at the beginning of the year, a total of 5.4 million people, the Kremlin said on its website Monday. A year ago the figure was just 6.2 million, the statement said.

The two regions most plagued by unemployment are Ingushetiya and Chechnya, neighboring regions of the Russian Caucasus area, with 48.8 percent and 43.3 percent jobless respectively, RIA Novosti agency said quoting a report distributed at a Kremlin meeting on the issue.

Unemployment is considered by observers as one of key problems in the North Caucasus, along with corruption and poverty, which contributes to the continuing deadly insurgency in the area.

Responsibility for the Domodedovo Blast Has Been Claimed, but Questions Remain About the Nature of Russia’s Insurgency

http://russiaprofile.org/comments/32715.html

Comment by Sergei Markedonov Special to Russia Profile 02/15/2011

There was a new twist in the tale of the Domodedovo metro bombings last week, when Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the blast. In a video message screened on an extremist Web site, the leader of the so-called “Caucasus Emirate” announced that he personally ordered the attack on the airport. The “emir” promised to continue attacks within Russia, saying that 2011 will become a “year of blood and tears” for Russia. In Umarov’s words, the campaign will continue until the Caucasus region is “free and Islamic.”   

On the one hand it is hard to see Umarov’s latest performance as sensational. Back in February of last year the leader of the North Caucasus Jihadists threatened to bring the subversive terrorist war to the central regions of Russia. At the time he said: “The borders of military activity will be broadened, with Allah’s will, to the whole territory of Russia, and great successes await us this year.” Since then there have been three occasions when Umarov has claimed responsibility for terrorist acts in Moscow Region, claiming a total of 102 lives.   

On the other hand, Umarov’s real place in the subversive-terrorist war has raised arguments and doubts. The leader has even claimed responsibility for attacks that had nothing to do with this asymmetrical conflict, including the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant. Analysts from the private American analytical company Stratfor (which journalist Jonathan Laing called the Shadow CIA in 2001), who specialize in problems of security and reconnaissance, expressed skepticism about the personal role of Umarov in the Domodedovo bombing. In their view, the “Caucasian emir” is simply “the first among equals” of leaders organizing militant groups.       

But does this mean that the real danger stemming from the North Caucasus is not so

great? Answering this question requires an appreciation of what is happening in the subversive terrorist underground in Russia’s most problematic region. We can start with the fact that today the fight against the Russian state is not being carried out under slogans of ethnic self-determination, and thus not one North Caucasus republic is universally recognized as the center of terrorism. Today Umarov is habitually referred to as a “separatist” or the leader of “Chechen fighters” both in Russia and in the West. This creates continuity between Umarov and the Dudayev-Maskhadov Ichkeria of the 1990s. Miriam Lanskoy, the director of the Russian and Eurasian program at Washington’s National Endowment for Democracy, thinks that people become fighters “for reasons which are very local, they are not linked with ideas of a global Jihad.” 

But whatever the reasons may be in each individual case, the language of extremist groups today is not dictated by national-separatism, but radical Islamism. It is enough to look at the many Web sites of radicals from the Caucasus to see that they are trying to embed their battle in the global Islamic project. Meanwhile, Chechnya is only fourth in this unique terrorist “contest” today, having given way to Dagestan (which doesn’t have a titular ethnicity), Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

In reality “The Caucasus Emirate” is not a centralized structure. In this regard analysts from “the shadow CIA” are not that far from the truth. However, this community is united by common ideological aims and a certain kind of life experience. Consequently, it is possible for separate cells of the terrorist network to carry out attacks autonomously, without any order from their “emir.” Furthermore, the removal of “emirs” of a certain magnitude does not represent an irrevocable catastrophe for the network (as events in recent years have demonstrated.) Otherwise it would be harder to sustain the subversive-terrorist war. Although the region’s militant groups are uncoordinated and few in number, this is precisely what makes combating them more complicated. It is much easier to influence and corrupt the infrastructure of an unacknowledged republic from the outside. 

Thus the Russian authorities and society as a whole have to acknowledge a few unpleasant truths. Firstly, the authorities’ opponents, fighting for the “Emirate,” are strongly politically motivated. In contrast to the separatists of the past they will be harder to convince or outbid. Therefore, propaganda should be aimed not so much at these fighters, as at the doubtful or wavering population. And the population is wavering for one simple reason, because of a lack of positive policies from the authorities, who see in violence a universal mechanism for resolving a wide spectrum of social problems.

Russian authorities, both in Moscow and in the regions, are also characterized by a lack of distinct ideological motivation. Emergency trips to Kievsky Train Station or Vnukovo Airport, punishing scapegoats and the battle to install new metal detectors looks more like Soviet management than clear political positioning.     

All of this bureaucratic rigidity cannot replace an ideology. In the 1920s and 1930s the Islamists and nationalists in the Caucasus and Central Asia were conquered not only by the Cheka, but also by the lofty ideological strength of the Bolsheviks. Although I do not

share Communist values, I have to say that today’s builders of Russia’s civil nation do not have an ounce of that belief in their own righteousness, unselfishness, openness and enthusiasm. If we want to overcome the temptation of radical Islam, then we have to fight it not only with policemen and bureaucrats, but also with ideologists of this “EuroIslam” (especially since in Russia Rafael Khakimov has written a brilliant work on this subject) and advocates of the “Russian nation.” Ideology can only be fought with ideology, just as the effectiveness of one engineering invention can only be surpassed by that of another engineering (but not linguistic) discovery.

Sergei Markedonov, Ph.D., is a political analyst and a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Russia and Eurasia Program, Washington, DC.

A hard-hitting responsehttp://rt.com/politics/press/kommersant/nationality-degrading-terms-duma/en/print/

Published: 16 February, 2011, 07:03Edited: 16 February, 2011, 07:03

Deputies could not dare to introduce penalties for the usage of “terms that degrade nationalities” By Aleksandr Voronov

Moscow Duma deputies issued an unfavorable response to a draft law that has been introduced in the State Duma and imposes sanctions for the usage of “terms that degrade the Russian peoples.” After the violent clashes on Manezh Square, State Duma deputies suggested imposing fines on the media, websites and state agencies that have allowed for statements to be made that “clearly degrade the dignity” of certain nationalities. Moscow Duma officials, however, failed to understand what nationalities and what insults the bill refers to. Meanwhile, the draft law has only a single reference, which is to “individuals of Caucasian nationalities.”     

The draft amendments to the Code on Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, which was introduced in the State Duma by Deputy Ivan Savvidi, were reviewed yesterday at the joint meeting of the Moscow Duma commissions on culture, public associations and religious organizations. It is being proposed to augment the code with Article 20.30 “Usage of terms that degrade the dignity of the peoples of the RF.”

Mr. Savvidi suggests imposing a fine of 500-2,000 rubles on people publishing and using such terms in official documents, media reports and online sites. The fine imposed on officials who commit the violation should amount to 5,000-10,000 rubles, and on legal entities, 10,000-50,000 rubles. The executive summary talks about the rising number of cases in which media and officials “use terms that are clearly degrading to the dignity of representatives of various nationalities.”

“This affects practically all of the nationalities,” argued Savvidi. “When discussing topics that are sensitive for a multi-ethnic country…any careless usage of incorrect terms serves

as a catalyst for conflicts and promotes the rise of xenophobia and nationalism.” However, he names only one specific example of a degrading term: “an individual of Caucasian appearance,” “mainly in connection to some negative, criminal action.”

Savvidi examined “in what circumstances this term is used,” and came to the conclusion that “it is a negative reference” toward Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Georgians, Avars, Chechens, Ossetians and “close to 100 other nationalities.” In other cases, the deputy leaves it to the police to determine if a used term is degrading; though, in his opinion, there should not be any problems with this – “these problems have been examined and given an assessment by the law enforcement agencies.”

Earlier Savvidi introduced draft amendments in the State Duma that called for imposing fines on building and fence owners on which extremist slogans were been painted (if they fail to take measures to “eliminate the images” in a timely manner, Kommersant reported on January 24). The head of the Moscow Duma Commission on Public Associations and Religious Organizations, Anton Paleyev, links Savvidi’s amendments to the nationalists’ December riots on Manezh Square (they were provoked by the death of Spartak fan Yegor Sviridov, and violations by investigators, who released the suspects).

Meanwhile, metropolitan parliamentary officials did not quite understand how the State Duma deputy plans to filter statements that are degrading to various nationalities.

“The wording in the draft is abstract,” said Paleyev. “There are no criteria for what should be regarded as degradation. There is only one example, though online, for example, there are hundreds of them.”

The head of the Moscow Duma Culture Commission, Yevgeny Gerasimov, called the topic of degrading terms “speculative” and found the document to be raw. In the end, the parliament decided to issue a negative assessment of the bill, though Gerasimov was initially careful, suggesting “not giving any type of response, as this is too serious of a subject.”

This year's first forest fires spotted in S Primorye

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15958340&PageNum=0

16.02.2011, 06.03

VLADIVOSTOK, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - This year's first forest fires have been recorded in the south of the Primorsky (maritime) Territory, or Primorye, for short. Several foci of fire have been spotted in Khasan Nature Park in sectors adjacent to Posyet Gulf and to the Federal wildlife sanctuary Leopardovy (leopard land).

Yelena Starostina, press secretary of the Amur branch of the World Wildlife Fund, has told Itar-Tass that efforts to grapple with the fires are being made by the personnel of hunting sector and farming enterprises. An uncontrolled burning out of dry grass ahead of spring-time fieldwork is referred to as the main cause of the emergence of forest fires.

Specialists note the incidence of forest fires too early in the year. As a rule, first forest fires in the Territory are usually recorded early in April. However, this year the snow cover in Primorye's south-west has practically melted following succession of warm days.

Nearly 300 kg of hashish seized in Kuzbass

http://www.interfax-russia.ru/Siberia/main.asp?id=210853

February 16. Interfax-Russia.ru - In Novokuznetsk (Kemerovo Region) seizure of hashish weighing 263 kg and is blocked by a major international channel of delivery of drugs from Afghanistan, said the head of narcotics control in the Kemerovo region Sergey Bezryadin. "Employees of Drug Control, in conjunction with the police area, and other structures was an unprecedented operation. As a result, the operation seized 263 kg of hashish, which is equivalent to 527 thousand single doses. The market value of the drug is estimated at 200 million rubles," - said S. Bezryadin. According to him, the seizure was preceded by a long operational and investigative work, as a result of which could block the channel smuggling of drugs coming from Afghanistan via Iran. Total in Russia, according to S. Berzyadina, a joint with the offices of Azerbaijan International raid seized more than 400 kilograms of hashish, drug trafficking damage estimated at $ 15 million The first and biggest of his party was seized in Novokuznetsk, January 18, where it arrived by rail. Other major parties were withdrawn within a month. In particular, Moscow was the seizure of hashish weighing 73 kg, in Yekaterinburg - 53 kg. Define what will be hidden where the drug was quite difficult, considering that the criminal gang he carefully camouflage - then the figs, then the potatoes. In the Kuzbass, they fell from the port of Astrakhan, where the drug arrived cargo ship across the Caspian Sea, and was hidden in boxes for flat glass ", - said S. Bezryadin.

Russian police station at center of illegal gambling investigationhttp://en.rian.ru/crime/20110216/162629429.html

12:06 16/02/2011

Officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) raided a police station in the Moscow region on Wednesday over alleged links to illegal gambling.

On Tuesday, two police officers were arrested in connection with an illegal gambling business, an FSB source told RIA Novosti.

"A group of security officers entered the building of the Moscow region police on Wednesday morning and started to confiscate documents," the source said.

Illegal casinos have spread like wildfire across Russia since a law came into force in July 2009 banning gambling everywhere except in four remote zones.

MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti)

2 Russian cosmonauts to walk out into open space http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44571321.html

Feb 16, 2011 10:34 Moscow Time

Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka are due to walk out into open space from the International Space Station to fix equipment to the outside of the station to carry out a number of experiments.

This came in a statement for the Interfax news agency by the chief of the Mission Control Centre press service Valery Lyndin.

He said the first hatch is due to be opened at 4:15 p.m. Moscow time.

The walkout is due to last for 6 hours and 3 minutes.

PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Feb 16http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/press-digest-russia-feb-idUSLDE71F02K20110216

MOSCOW | Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:12am EST

MOSCOW Feb 16 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- The exit of foreign banks from Russia continues, the daily says in connection with Barclays' (BARC.L) announcement to sell its business in Russia.

- Oil firm Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) will have to pay 4.7 billion roubles ($168 million) in fines for high petrol prices in 2009.

- The Russian military has dismissed speculations that the S-400 Triumph air defence systems will be deployed on the Kuril islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories.

- Of the 9,000 people sentenced for corruption in 2010, a quarter were doctors or medical officials, the paper writes, citing judges.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- Russia will drop out of a project to launch an oil pipeline from Bulgaria to Greece, the daily says, adding that President Dmitry Medvedev will announce it during his visit to Italy which begins on Wednesday.

- China Investment Corp was one of the buyers of VTB's (VTBR.MM) 10 percent stake sale earlier this month, which was worth a total $3.3 billion. It is now investing some $100 million in its first major foray into Russia, the daily says.

RBK DAILY

www.rbcdaily.ru

- Tycoon Oleg Deripaska's developer Glavmosstroi is refusing to build elite housing in Moscow as the project has become too expensive for the company after the crisis, the daily says.

- The Ginza Project restaurant firm seems to be looking for a new owner for its near-40 restaurants of Japanese food, the daily reports citing sources.

ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA

www.rg.ru

- Russia will lift its ban on grain exports when the prospects for this year's grain harvest become clear, the paper says, citing Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik.

KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA

www.kp.ru

- Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, who owns British papers The Independent as well as the Evening Standard, has said he could lose his business if he leaves the country.

- Head of Russia's Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, has supported a suggestion to delve into high-profile cases such as that of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison in Nov. 2009, as well as ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose sentence was extended in December.

Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, February 16, 2011http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110216/162626823.html

08:33 16/02/2011

POLITICS

At the start of an official two-day visit to Britain, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a hotline would be installed between London and the Kremlin to improve strained relations between the two countries

(The Moscow Times, Kommersant)

 

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Russia's largest lender, Sberbank, doubled its bonuses for 14 senior executives to $34 million a head after profits increased eightfold

(The Moscow Times)

British banking giant Barclays announced plans to sell its Russian subsidiary, Barclays Bank, and focus on investment business in Russia through Barclays Capital, the bank's investment arm in the country

(Vedomosti, Kommersant)

 

OIL & GAS

Russia has withdrawn from the trans-Balkan Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project

(Vedomosti)

Gazprom Neft has bought a 22.39% stake in Sibir Energy, which develops oil and gas fields in Siberia, for $740 million from Central Fuel Company, controlled by the Moscow government

(Vedomosti, Kommersant)

 

DEFENSE

Moscow might deploy reinforcements to include short- and long-range air defense missile systems, including a S-400 Triumf system in the southern Kuril Islands to protect Russia's sovereignty in the Far East

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

 

TERRORISM

Warnings about continuing attacks similar to last month's Domodedovo Airport blast came true this week as a wave of suicide bombings swept through the North Caucasus, even as police reported the situation was "under control"

(The Moscow Times)

Two police officers were killed and about 20 wounded in two explosions in the Russian North Caucasus republic of Dagestan

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

 

MOSCOW

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rebuked officials over poor conditions in Moscow's hospitals. Recent figures suggest more than 50 percent of Muscovites are not satisfied with the medical care they receive

(Kommersant)

The World Wildlife Fund is to turn its central Moscow headquarters into a showcase for "green construction" in a bid to spark interest in green building. The revamped house is designed to be 11 times more energy efficient than a typical office building

(The Moscow Times)

 

SPORTS

Russian auto racing legend, Vladimir "The Tsar" Chagin, announced his retirement from the sport

(Kommersant)

Brazilian footballers Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka are to play in a friendly match in the Chechen capital of Grozny against a side captained by the republic's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov

(Kommersant)

Wikileaks: Gas Pipeline Permit Was Too Easy in US Viewhttp://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2011/02/wikileaks_gas_pipeline_permit_was_too_easy_in_us_view_2367694.html

published today 08:37 AM, updated today 08:38 AM

US diplomatic cables acquired by YLE from Wikileaks show that American Embassy officials in Helsinki were surprised by the ease with which the Finnish government granted a permit for the construction of a Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline through Finnish territorial waters. The matter was handled as an environmental, not a security policy issue.

The gas pipeline project has moved forward smoothly from the start. The Wikileaks documents acquired by YLE show that within the US Embassy, the lack of political controversy over the project in Finland was a surprise.

Only a few days before the Finnish government issued a permit for the construction of a section of the pipeline to run through Finnish waters, US Embassy officials were consternated that Finland was dealing with the issue solely as an environmental question without regard for its security policy dimensions.

Lipponen: Sweden was two-faced

Former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, became a consultant for the pipeline company. In an interview with YLE's Swedish-language TV, Lipponen praised the way the Finnish government handled the matter.

In contrast, he was critical of how it was approached in Sweden.

"Sweden has followed the same line as Finland in the Nord Stream question. It was discussed here, too, but we didn't play two cards at once, as was done in Sweden," said Lipponen.

Russia feared politicization

Unlike, for example in Estonia, the application for a pipeline construction permit was considered an entirely non-political issue in Finland. That was what Russia wanted.

According to US information, more than six months before the government's decision to approve the permit, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb assured his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the pipeline had not become a political issue in Finland. Construction work was subsequently in full swing even before the government gave its final stamp of approval.

About 1000 kilometres of the natural gas pipeline between Russia and German have been completed, with only around 200 more to be finished.

See the original diplomatic cables (pdf files):

Russia's Kasparov "wins Georgian TV quiz show"

http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21059&Itemid=72

February 16, 2011

Former chess champion turned Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov has won a big-money charity television quiz in neighbouring Georgia, the programme's producer said on Tuesday.

Kasparov managed to answer all the questions correctly on the quiz programme "Who Wants to Win 20,000?", a Georgian equivalent of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" television game show.

His entire winnings of 20,000 Georgian lari (11,265 US dollars, 8,325 euros), a large prize in the ex-Soviet republic, will go to fund medical care for local children.

Kasparov, a Soviet-era world chess champion, has become one of the Kremlin's most outspoken critics -- a stance that is admired in pro-Western Georgia, which fought a war with Russia in 2008.

Programme producer Giorgi Khaburdzania described Kasparov as a "living genius" and said that he expected a huge audience for the show, which is due to be broadcast by Georgia's Rustavi 2 television station next week.

During his visit to Tbilisi, Kasparov also lectured at a local university, where he said that he believed that Russian-Georgian relations would not improve while the current authorities remain in the Kremlin.

"Georgia has gone a long way with democratic reforms and its economy has achieved progress, but Russia has missed all the opportunities to become a democratic country," he said in comments reported by Rustavi 2.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Kremlin restorer to become Kosovo's presidenthttp://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/16-02-2011/116916-kosovo-0/

16.02.2011

Head of the Mabetex Group Behgjet Pacolli may become the new President of the Albanian Kosovo. His name became known in Russia due to the scandal surrounding the restoration of the Kremlin in the 1990s. It is not ruled out that he was involved in other dubious deals concerning international politics at large.

Late in the evening on Monday Kosovo Albanian media reported that the head of the party "Alliance for a New Kosovo" Pacolli agreed to join the coalition with the Democratic Party of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. In exchange for the formation of the parliamentary majority and the preservation of his post of the Prime Minister, Thaci offered Pacolli the presidency.

This measure was largely forced. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) prepared a report on the involvement of Thaci in the trade of body organs of the Serbs captured by Albanian militants. After that Kosovo parties, one after another, refused to form a coalition with the Democratic Party. The only party that agreed to do it was the Alliance for a New Kosovo that took fifth place in the recent elections.

"The coalition agreement will be formalized shortly. KDP leadership has announced that it has renounced claims to the presidency of Kosovo, paving the way for Behgjet Pacolli to take this position," said one of Thaci's supporters to Kosovo- Albanian television. Most likely, there will be no problems with the election of Pacolli. The President of Kosovo is elected by the parliament, and the two parties of the future ruling coalition have 65 out of 120 seats.

If the information about the agreement between the two politicians is confirmed, the authorities in Kosovo will form one of the most scandalous tandems in history. Former prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte wrote about the "exploits" of the former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Thaci. This included his involvement in drug trafficking and organs trafficking. Incidentally, she most likely has the same amount of information on Pacolli. He is not as odious as Thaci, but he was also involved in a fair amount of scandals.

Behgjet Pacolli was born in 1953 in Kosovo, but in early childhood he moved to Switzerland with his parents. He started his business in 1986, and along with his companion registered his firm Interplastica in Lugano. Even back then Pacolli made a bet on the development of relations with Russia. His company was responsible for the supply of goods to the USSR, and had several Russian construction contracts.

The candidate for the presidency of Kosovo has repeatedly acknowledged that he held all his funds in Banca di Gottardo. This credit institution was involved in multiple scandals. In the1980s Switzerland and Italy conducted an investigation of the involvement of the bank in money laundering for the Italian Mafia. Nevertheless, in 1989 Pacolli went to this bank for a loan to purchase goods for subsequent delivery to the USSR.

What happened next is still the subject of an investigation by Swiss and Russian law enforcement agencies. Interplastica filed for bankruptcy, but Pacolli did not become less wealthy. In the early 1990's he founded Mabetex Group and became a co-owner of a dozen of companies. The main focus of his work became cooperation with Russia. The entrepreneur even mastered the Russian language.

In 1993 Mabetex signed an agreement with Russia first for the repairs of the White House that suffered from tank shelling, and then the reconstruction of the first building of the Kremlin, the building of the State Duma and Federation Council. Law enforcement agencies of Russia and Switzerland suspect that he obtained the lucrative contracts in Russia through bribes at the astronomical amount of $450 million. He denies all charges, but does not deny the fact that he helped the family of Boris Yeltsin to obtain credit cards of Banca di Gottardo.

In the past ten years Pacolli has not been working in Russia, but the investigation of his activities related to the restoration of the Kremlin in the 1990s is still ongoing. Through this case Russia has learned another name - Carla Del Ponte. When Pacolli was making deals in Russia, she served as a federal prosecutor in Switzerland. Then she became the prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal. It is possible that she could have seen his name in certain documents.

In 2007, a number of European media outlets, with reference to the German intelligence service BND, said that Pacolli may be associated with the Kosovo-Albanian mafia. According to some reports, he transferred 40 million euros to the accounts of the former UN special envoy for the Balkans Martti Ahtisaari. It is not ruled out that on the

instructions of the Albanian mafia (possibly Hashim Thaci) Pacolli, in addition to lobbying for the independence of Kosovo also supplied prostitutes to Ahtisaari.

What else is Behgjet Pacolli known for? Why has Thaci chosen him? Artem Ulunyan, head of the Balkan, Caucasian and Central Asian Studies of the Institute of the World History shared his thoughts in an interview with Pravda.ru:

"The situation in Kosovo is very complicated and confusing. Recently, the focus is riveted to the events questionable from the standpoint of the law. Yet, this situation should be discussed beyond the context of the Penal Code. This also concerns Behgjet Pacolli who will unlikely be charged with any crimes.

The political life in Kosovo is turbulent these days. Previously, local Albanian leaders had the united front, striving to ensure the recognition of Kosovo's independence. Today, when Kosovo is recognized by over 70 countries (and almost the entire West), the issue is already different. The leaders have different parties, different agendas, and different goals. Thaci was unable to negotiate with other politicians and appealed to Pacolli.

The candidate for the presidency in Kosovo is a very complicated person, and his appearance on Kosovo's political horizon is not related to the scandals his name is associated with. Pacolli, who has lived almost his entire life in Switzerland, has extensive contacts with the Albanian emigration, its different areas and sectors. He knows Albanians businessmen and public figures who play certain roles in the policy of the EU and U.S.

It is fundamentally important that Pacolli has good connections in Russia and Eastern Europe. The calculation of Thaci is based on the fact that Moscow, which is not going to recognize Kosovo's independence, will still maintain a dialogue with such a well-known person. So, offering Pacolli for the president, Prime Minister Thaci has assumed more political commitment."

Vadim TrukhachevPravda.Ru

Abramovich Owns 7 U.K. Homes, 3 French, 2 U.S., Filing Shows http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=avB6FM8pwJ4o

By Henry Meyer

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who fell two places to No. 5 on Finans magazine’s annual rich list, owns seven homes in the U.K., three in France and two in the U.S., he has disclosed.

The Chelsea Football Club owner has 16 houses and apartments in all, as well as seven cars and shares in seven companies, according to the billionaire’s income declaration for regional elections in the Chukotka region across the Bering Strait from Alaska.

Abramovich’s fortune was little changed last year at about $17.1 billion, Finans reported this week.

Abramovich, 44, owns six apartments in the U.K. ranging in size from 35 square meters (377 square feet) to 481 square meters as well as a 200-square-meter house. In France, his three properties cover an area of almost 1,900 square meters and in the U.S., he has homes of 520 square meters and 1,330 square meters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brad Cook at bcook7@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 16, 2011 03:00 EST

February 16, 2011

No Russian Journalists Killed in 2010.For the First Time in Years!http://www.russiablog.org/2011/02/no_russian_journalists_killed_.php

Yuri Mamchur

One of Russia's leading journalists, Oleg Kashin of Kommersant was beaten violently on November 6, 2010 near his home in Moscow. After spending months in a hospital in induced coma and recovering in Israel's medical centers, he returned back home and back to work a week ago, on February 6, 2011. Russian president and chief prosecutor personally supervised the investigation, and found... kind of nothing. Regardless of their findings, our sympathies (for the beating) and congratulations (for the successful recovery) go to Oleg, who became the only real journalistic victim of year 2010 in Russia. Usually, Russian nationalists, government officials, Chechen terrorists, and even President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin are blamed for beating, murdering, and threatening journalists. While the murders and beatings inflicted by Putin remain urban legends, the real accomplishment to celebrate is the fact that--for the first time in years--no journalists were killed in Russia!

The year was less "successful" for a large list of other countries where 79 journalists were killed, 70 of them while on duty. The countries are: Thailand, Somali, Nigeria, Angola, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Phillipines, Belarus, India, Yemen, Uganda, Greece, Brasil, Lebanon, and Rwanda. The Committee to Protect Journalists has the report. YouTube has Oleg's beating (captured on security cameras):

National Economic Trends

Russia Plans Food Fund to Regulate Prices, Kommersant Reports http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aO8cAjsBK5ak

By Marina Sysoyeva

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Russia may create a fund to buy and sell food to help regulate prices as inflation accelerates, Kommersant reported, citing government documents.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov ordered the Agriculture, Finance and Economy ministries to formulate mechanisms to regulate food prices, the Moscow-based newspaper reported today. The government may start with buying and selling potatoes, which have jumped 25 percent in price since the start of the year, Kommersant reported.

The government may fund the program from money received from selling stockpiled grain, the newspaper said.

Click here for web link

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

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brad Cook at bcook7@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 16, 2011 01:46 EST

Industrial production strengthens in January - but is it enough to trigger a rate hike?http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

VTB Capital/Renaissance CapitalFebruary 16, 2011

News: According to Rosstat, industrial production growth accelerated to 6.7%YoY in January, from 6.3%YoY in December 2010, beating both the Bloomberg (6.0%YoY) and Interfax (5.5%YoY) consensuses. Seasonally adjusted, industrial output added a healthy 0.4%MoM, marking the sixth consecutive month of uninterrupted growth (0.6% MoM SA in December 2010).

The detailed breakdown reveals that growth in January was mainly driven by manufacturing, which rose 13.5% YoY (up from 9.7% YoY in December 2010) on the back of solid growth in construction-related industries, as well as in passenger car and truck manufacturing. Activity in mining grew 3.5% YoY (up from 2.5% YoY). However, the growth in utilities (electricity, water and gas distribution) turned negative, recording a drop of 3.4% YoY (from 1.2% YoY growth).

Our View: The recent industrial production data suggests that economic growth accelerated in January. This might alleviate the government's concerns about the sustainability of the economic recovery and increase the chances of the CBR tightening its monetary policy.

We expect the CBR to increase interest rates 50bp this quarter. Rouble liquidity remains ample (close to the January highs), most likely on the back of the CBR's FX interventions against rouble strength. In our view, this increases the chances of further hikes in the reserve requirements.

Rencap writes: The output figures demonstrate continued strong growth, but the pace of recovery is likely to be slower in the near future due to a higher base. The released data support our view that a change in monetary conditions will not disturb growth, and the Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) view that the risks of a slowdown in the economic recovery are minimal. Thus, the CBR could increase rates without any significant effect on the real economy. Nevertheless, we are not yet certain that the CBR is ready to fight inflation with interest rate hikes.

Domestic debt strategy http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

Renaissance CapitalFebruary 16, 2011

Rouble rally loses steamYesterday (15 February), the rally in the rouble halted for a while. In line with euro exchange rate dynamics, the rouble weakened against the dual-currency basket to 33.94 from 33.88 by the end of trading. At the same time, the outright $/RUB exchange rate was unchanged at 29.27. As daily turnover was $2.5bn, lower than in previous days, we think that natural sellers took a timeout, as the largest taxes are to be paid next week and the outright $/RUB exchange rate should appreciate to 29.10-29.15, in our view. Therefore, the rouble-basket exchange rate will be to a large extent determined by euro exchange rate movements for some time, we believe.

Ministry of Finance to test demand in long-term segment Yesterday the OFZ market attracted significant demand, despite the upcoming auction, with yields declining 3-8 bpts across the curve, except for OFZ 25077, which will be offered today (16 February). The three-year OFZ 25072 closed at 6.3%, down 0.08 ppt. The five-year OFZ 26203 closed at 7.51% (which is expensive compared with OFZ 25077).

Today the Ministry of Finance will offer five-year paper (OFZ 25077), having decided not to substitute a shorter issue for this long-term issue, as it has done before. This auction will test the demand in the long-term segment. The yield guidance is set at 7.50-7.60%, offering a small premium to the secondary market. After the announcement, we saw deals in OFZ 25077 at 99.80, or 7.54%. We believe the Ministry of Finance has a

good chance of relative success in the auction for the long-duration bond, for the following reasons:

1. The Ministry of Finance placed RUB30bn until December in commercial bank deposits on Monday (14 February), which may be invested in the long-term segment.

2. Liquidity remains favourable after pension tax payments, as approximately RUB1.3trn is held in correspondent accounts and bank deposits with the Central Bank of Russia.

3. On the back of a decline in long-term XCCY rates, the spread to swaps increased to 102 bpts, which is the maximum since the OFZ 25077 placement.

Anton Nikitin

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

VTB Group, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft: Russia Equity Preview http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aH5URa1gaOwg

By Scott Rose

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may be active in Russian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close.

The 30-stock Micex Index fell 0.7 percent to 1,695.98. The dollar-denominated RTS Index declined 0.7 percent to 1,865.99.

VTB Group (VTBR RX): VTB Group’s weighting in MSCI Global Indices will be raised to 0.25 from 0.15 after the government sold a 10 percent stake to investors, MSCI said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Russia’s second-largest bank gained 0.2 percent to 9.52 kopeks.

OAO Gazprom (GAZP RX): Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly, expects export revenue to pass its 2008 record because of higher prices and demand from Europe, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev said yesterday in London. Gazprom’s shares declined 2.1 percent to 199.60 rubles.

OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN RX): Russia’s Supreme Arbitration Court agreed yesterday with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service’s decision to fine Gazprom Neft 4.7 billion rubles ($160 million), overturning a lower court’s ruling. Gazprom Neft fell 0.4 percent to 137.37 rubles.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Rose in London at rrose10@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 15, 2011 22:00 EST

“Supergiant” gold deposit discovered in Russia’s easthttp://rt.com/news/giant-gold-deposit-chukotka/

Published: 16 February, 2011, 03:33Edited: 16 February, 2011, 07:41

The governor of Chukotka, Roman Kopin, has reported to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about a giant gold deposit discovered in his region in Russia’s Far East.

For two years investors have been carrying out geological exploration of the Peschanka deposit in the Baim ore field, and according to their estimates, the reserves of gold there may exceed 1,500 tons, making it one of the five largest deposits in the world.

The governor believes that with such reserves, the “supergiant” deposit will become important not only on a national level, but worldwide. He also added the mining is supposed to begin this year.

Kopin said that at the moment more deposits are being explored in the region, and more investors are getting involved.

In 2009 a record 30 tons of gold was extracted in Chukotka, where the annual average is 25 tons.

Mechel to place bonds next week

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110216113551.shtml

      RBC, 16.02.2011, Moscow 11:35:51.Russian mining and metals company Mechel plans to place two bond issues totaling RUB 10bn (approx. USD 341m) on February 22, the company said in a statement today. The bonds are to be placed at face value, which is RUB 1,000 (approx. USD 34.15) per bond.

      Mechel opened the bid book for the bonds on February 3 and plans to close it on February 18, according to earlier reports.

RUSAL opens $512 mln rouble bond issuehttp://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFHKF00001620110216

Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:21am GMT

HONG KONG Feb 16 (Reuters) - Russia's United Company RUSAL Plc (0486.HK) (RUAL.PA), the world's largest aluminium producer, said on Wednesday that it aims to raise about $512 million from a rouble-denominated bond issue in Russia.

The company said it had opened the book for the first tranche of the bond issue totalling 15 billion roubles, with an initial coupon range of 9-9.5 percent, in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The book would close by March 1, 2011, it said.

RUSAL said earlier this month that it planned to issue up to 3 billion roubles worth of bonds. ($+29.3 ruble) (Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Chris Lewis)

S&P may downgrade Norilsk Nickel after new offer to RusAl

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

RIA NovostiFebruary 16, 2011

Standard & Poor's international rating agency left Norilsk Nickel's long-term BBB-rating and ruAA+ rating on a national scale on the CreditWatch list with a Negative outlook following its offer to aluminum giant RusAl to buy 20% of its shares for $12.8 billion, the agency said on Tuesday.

The agency put Norilsk's ratings on the CreditWatch list last December, when Norilsk made its first offer to buy RusAl's 25% stake in the mining company for $12 billion. The current offer is valid until March 4.

"The rating action reflects our view that if the offer is accepted, Norilsk Nickel's financials will not correspond to the BBB- rating any more. In addition, the acquisition can also influence the company's liquidity because sources of financing are unclear now," S&P credit analyst Yelena Anankina said.

RusAl, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and Interros, an investment arm of another Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, have long been at odds over control of Norilsk Nickel. RusAl says the Norilsk board is dominated by officials linked with Interros after an AGM last summer, where RusAl lost one board seat, while Interros increased its representation.

Deripaska against deal on currently offered terms

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

Alfa BankFebruary 16, 2011

In an interview with CNBC last night, Oleg Deripaska indicated that he is against accepting the Norilsk offer stating, "There is a price, but not the price established now." This is a strong indication that he is against the deal and, most likely, he will be able to convince Rusal's board to reject the deal, we believe. He refused to comment on what terms he would agree to sell the stake.

This is NEGATIVE for Rusal, as it reduces the likelihood of the deal going ahead and POSITIVE for Norilsk because it reduces the likelihood of what we view as a value-destructive transaction.

In other news, Rusal announced it will place RUB15bn in bonds. The book will close on March 1.

In addition, Fitch and S&P, respectively, placed and kept Norilsk on Rating Watch Negative. This was to be expected given the large outflow that would occur if the transaction goes ahead. We estimate Norilsk's Net Debt/EBITDA will rise to close to 1x, and to nearly 1.4x on average 2006-11E EBITDA.

Barry Ehrlich

China Wealth Fund, Harvard Buy Shares in VTB, Vedomosti Reports http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ay4mrYYxL60E

By Henry Meyer

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- - China Investment Corp. and Harvard University were among investors that bought shares in VTB Group, Russia’s second-largest lender, Vedomosti reported, citing Herbert Moos, the bank’s deputy chairman.

The Chinese sovereign wealth fund bought $100 million of VTB stock, in its first big investment in Russia, the newspaper said. The largest buyer in the placement of 10 percent of the state-run bank’s shares was Assicurazioni Generali SpA, which invested $300 million, and private-equity fund TPG Capital LP bought shares worth $100 million, Vedomosti reported.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Willy Morris at wmorris@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 16, 2011 01:06 EST

Barclays exits Russian retail bankinghttp://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/02/15/barclays-exits-russian-retail-banking/

February 15, 2011 8:57 pm by Alexandra Stevenson

Barclays’ decision to sell its Russian retail and commercial lending arm after failing to meet return on investment objectives may raise some alarms. The bank announced in its 2010 full-year financial statement released on Tuesday that it has written off the cost of its Barclays Bank Russia, claiming a £243m goodwill write-down.

But Barclays’ failure in Russia’s retail banking market didn’t come as a surprise and it shouldn’t scare investors, says a senior analyst at Troika Dialogue: “For every foreign bank that exits, there is another waiting to enter”.

Barclays said it would focus on its corporate, financial institution and government clients through Barclays Capital, its investment arm. Bob Foresman, head of Barclays Capital Russia, said:

The strongest opportunity for Barclays in Russia lies in expanding our investment banking business focusing on corporate clients, financial institutions and government entities from our operations in Moscow. Last year we helped our Russian clients raise over $14bn of capital, making us the leading bookrunner for domestic issuers of international bonds, as well as advising clients on M&A and equity capital markets.

Barclays bought Expobank in 2008 for $745m just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. At the time the bank said in a statement that it anticipated the asset, which would be renamed Barclays Bank Russia, would not only generate a profit but also achieve a return on investment “significantly above the cost of equity” by 2011.

On Tuesday a spokesman for the bank said that the decision to sell Barclays Bank Russia was made because Barclays Plc needs to make a higher return on equity and the bank didn’t think its Russian arm would help it meet Barclays’ long-term objectives.

Andrew Keeley, the analyst at Troika Dialog, told beyondbrics that retail banks in Russia had a difficult time during the financial crisis but in general retail lending in the country has significant growth opportunities.

Retail lending is still a fledgling sector, Keeley said.

Generally you have an underleveraged consumer that is becoming more finanically literate and wants better quality products and services. The Russian mortgage market and products such as credit cards are still very much in their infancy.

The question now is whether Barclays will have any interested buyers. If things are as they appear, that the bank wants to get out of Russia as quickly as possible, the price that it is willing to accept for its Russian retail arm could look attractive to another foreign bank waiting to enter the market.

Barclays Russian chief to quit in shake-up ?http://www.emergingmarkets.me/2011/02/barclays-russian-chief-to-quit-in-shake-up/

February 16, 2011

By Andrei Skvarsky.

A decision by Barclays to quit commercial and retail banking in Russia has raised question marks about the future  role of its head Nikolai Tsekhomsky.

Less than three years after buying a retail presence in Russia, Barclays is pulling the plug in a bid to focus on investment banking instead.

Tsekhomsky was hired from VTB Bank to run Barclays network of retail branches in Western Russia shortly after the deal was announced in 2008.

The London-based giant, which several months ago said it remained committed to expanding its retail as well as investment business in Russia, has now put  the entire retail unit in the shop window.

Having acquired Russian lender Expobank in March 2008 for a top-of-the-market price of $745m in a bid to build a retail platform, Barclays sold 14 Russian retail outlets, including two in Moscow and St. Petersburg, to Renaissance Credit last year.

The bank’s investment banking arm, Barclays Capital, is believed to be on the cusp of making hires to build out an equity presence in Moscow. Its debt capital markets business has long been a leading player in the eurobond space.

SocGen Fourth-Quarter Net Quadruples on Russia, Investment Bank http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aNu04T2daHiU

By Fabio Benedetti-Valentini

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Societe Generale SA, France’s second-largest lender, said fourth-quarter profit quadrupled, helped by a turnaround at its Russian unit and on fewer writedowns at the corporate and investment bank.

Net income climbed to 874 million euros ($1.18 billion) from 221 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based bank said in an e-mailed statement today. That beat the 865 million-euro average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea is counting on the revival of earnings at the Russian retail unit, which has been unprofitable since at least 2009, to help the bank reach a goal of 6 billion euros of annual profit by 2012. That plan is being buoyed as the company posts lower writedowns after recording losses of more than 11 billion euros during the credit crisis.

The bank in 2010 “embarked on a far-reaching transformation of the group,” Oudea, 47, said in the statement. “We are determined to continue” with the plan and meet next year’s profit target, he said. Full-year earnings surged almost sixfold to 3.92 billion euros.

The lender had gross losses of 164 million euros in the quarter from risky assets including asset-backed securities and debt backed by U.S. bond insurers, down from about 1.6 billion euros a year earlier, according to company data. For the full year, the bank booked 625 million euros in writedowns and provisions for risky assets, less than its forecast of as little as 700 million euros.

Russian Rebound

The Russian consumer-banking business had a 13 million-euro profit in the quarter, the company said, without providing the year-earlier result. Russia, the lender’s second-largest market by employees, should become the biggest contributor to international-retail earnings in 2015, it said on June 15.

Societe Generale plans to pay a 2010 dividend of 1.75 euros a share compared with 25 cents a year earlier. The company reiterated it doesn’t need to sell new shares to comply with new capital requirements as the bank can reach a core Tier 1 ratio, a key measure of financial strength, of about 8.5 percent at the end of 2013.

The Russian turnaround and the drop in writedowns are helping the company, which had a record trading loss in 2008 from unauthorized bets by Jerome Kerviel, regain favor with investors as it narrows the earnings gap with larger French competitor BNP Paribas SA.

Share Rally

Societe Generale, whose shares trailed those of BNP Paribas every year from the start of the credit crisis in 2007 through 2010, has gained 39 percent since June 15, when Oudea announced the 2012 profit target. That’s more than the 21 percent advance of BNP Paribas, which is slated to report earnings tomorrow.

BNP Paribas’s market value, at 68.7 billion euros, is 88 percent larger than Societe Generale’s. In May 2007, before the financial crisis took hold, the gap was as small as 12 percent.

That comes as investors bet Oudea’s plan to balance earnings from corporate- and investment-banking with higher revenue from consumer lending in countries such as Russia will pay off.

The corporate- and investment-banking unit had a 311 million-euro fourth-quarter profit compared with a 562 million- euro deficit last year as Societe Generale trimmed losses from risky assets it’s winding down.

French Gains

Corporate- and investment-banking revenue more than doubled to 2 billion euros, beating analysts’ estimates of 1.84 billion euros. Societe Generale had said it expected the unit to have about 2 billion euros of quarterly revenue last year.

Sales at the capital-markets division rose 20 percent to 1.14 billion euros in the fourth quarter.

Profit at the French retail networks rose 53 percent to 302 million euros, in line with analysts’ estimates for 306 million euros. Societe Generale posted a profit of 94 million euros from its insurance and financial-services division from a loss of 37 million euros a year earlier.

Overall earnings at the bank’s international-retail networks gained 4 percent to 104 million euros, helped by the Russian business returning to profit, while the Romanian and Greek subsidiaries “suffered the effects of the recession,” Societe Generale said.

The company last year probably made more than a quarter of its total revenue from emerging countries, mostly in central and eastern Europe, where economic growth is higher than in France, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Ltd. analyst Jean Pierre Lambert said in a note to investors last month. That compares with 15 percent at BNP Paribas and 9 percent at Credit Agricole SA, France’s third- biggest lender, according to KBW.

The French lender, owner of Egypt’s second-largest listed bank, has probably the most at risk among European banks in the Arab world’s most populous country, analysts and economists have said. The Egyptian army said this week it will rule for six months or until general elections are held after a popular uprising led to the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30- year-old-long regime.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fabiobv@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 16, 2011 01:00 EST

Carlson to build top-class hotels in Russiahttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44571104.html

Feb 16, 2011 10:29 Moscow Time

The US-based Carlson Company, a global leader in hotel and travel business, will build five top-class hotels in Russia this year.

   The company’s CEO Hubert Jolie says that Carlson plans to open Radisson and Park Inn hotels in 50 Russian cities, including Moscow, Sochi and Astrakhan, and intends to expand restaurant business in Russia.

Railway disappointment: no more 50% discounts for upper

http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/11604/

16.02.2011

Russian Railways seems to cancel a 50% discount for top-shelf tickets from April, 2011. This discount has already been recognized the best marketing offer of Russian Railways.            Discount was offered last autumn and caused growing of ticket sales in compartment coaches, which are rather expensive compared with third-class sleeper cars. Passengers, who preferred planes and buses because of high fares in compartment coaches and lack of comfort in third class, returned to trains.

Tele2 Russia added 153,000 new customers in Januaryhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/idUS61903+16-Feb-2011+HUG20110216

* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.

Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:01am EST

Stockholm - Tele2 AB (Tele2), (NASDAQ OMX Stockholm: TEL2 A and TEL2 B) today announced that its Russian operations added 153,000 new customers in January 2011. Tele2 Russia has 18.6 million customers in total.

Contacts

Lars Torstensson, Investor Inquiries, Telephone: +46 702 73 48 79Pernilla Oldmark, Press Inquiries, Telephone: +46 704 26 45 45

TELE2 IS ONE OF EUROPE'S LEADING TELECOM OPERATORS, ALWAYS PROVIDING THE BEST DEAL. We have 31 million customers in 11 countries. Tele2 offers mobile services, fixed broadband and telephony, data network services, cable TV and content services. Ever since Jan Stenbeck founded the company in 1993, it has been a tough challenger to the former government monopolies and other established providers. Tele2 has been listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm since 1996. In 2010, we had net sales of SEK 40.2 billion and reported an operating profit (EBITDA) of SEK 10.3 billion.

Press release

This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients.

The owner of this announcement warrants that:(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of theinformation contained therein.

Source: Tele2 AB via Thomson Reuters ONE

KamAZ might acquire MAZ; impossible within discussed parameters

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

VTB CapitalFebruary 16, 2011

News: Sergey Chemezov, the Head of Rostekhnologii (which owns 49.9% of KamAZ), said that KamAZ might acquire Minsky Avtomobilny Zavod (MAZ) in exchange for a stake in the united company. According to Kommersant, Chemezov said that in such a case, KamAZ would have to do a 'small' share issue. In his view, the consideration for MAZ is 25% of the shares of KamAZ. In the meantime, a Belorussian official said yesterday that MAZ was valued at no less than USD 2.5bn, which is 21% higher than the market capitalisation of KamAZ.

Our View: The deal is impossible under the conditions mentioned for several reasons. First, the wide difference in views on the valuation of MAZ, which is smaller than KamAZ. Second, Daimler has blocking rights and would, in our view, vote against a

share issue for an unattractive deal. Third, we note that the Belorussian side would probably prefer cash to a smaller share in a larger truck producer. However, as Chemezov admitted, that would be hard to raise. Renegotiating the terms might be possible, but it would be a long time before Belarus agreed to an attractive valuation.

So, the news is neutral at this stage and does not affect our Buy recommendation for the stock which, as a play on the truck market recovery, currently offers 40% upside potential.

Storm Properties to enter economy class residential segment http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

Renaissance CapitalFebruary 16, 2011

Event: According to RBC Daily, Storm Properties will start developing economy class residential real estate, having already bought two land plots in Moscow, where it plans to build 400k m2 of residential space. Storm Properties is 54% owned by Kirill Pisarev, a co-founder of PIK. In our view, this is another example of growing investor interest in the real estate market. Since the new Moscow mayor's appointment, regulations on construction in the centre of Moscow have become more stringent and some developers, like Glavstroy, are exiting their elite residential projects, while the mass market segment is becoming more attractive. That said, the level of supply is still relatively low, which means that prices should increase further as demand grows, in our view. Real estate prices on the secondary market already added around 11% in 2010. LSR is trading at 12.2x and 9.6x 2011E and 2012E EV/EBITDA, respectively, while PIK is trading at 12.1x and 9.8x 2011E and 2012E EV/EBITDA, respectively.

David Ferguson

Russian fur trade declineshttp://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=578405&vId=2186812&cId=Top%20Stories

Updated: 19:44, Wednesday February 16, 2011

Russia was once one of the world's biggest exporters of fur. Now, despite increasing demand, its own industry is in decline and so is the welfare of the animals.

On the streets of Moscow you stand out if you're not wearing a fur coat. It's never been out of fashion here - demand has actually increased by 50% in the past year.

But most of it is imported fur. Lack of investment means the once world dominant Russian industry is deteriorating.

This is not good news for the animals.

Posing as clothing designers, we gained access to a fur farm just outside of Moscow. It's a depressing sight. Lined up in outdoor cages, there are 15,000 animals here - mainly minks, sables and foxes.

Each spends its entire life in a small wire-bottomed cage. Most farms can't afford the correct food. This one can't seem to afford any at all.

The smell is overwhelming. Any water they've been given is frozen. They are clearly terrified and stressed. One has bitten its own tail - it's covered in blood and slowly dying from the injury.

The farm managers recognise the appalling conditions - they say it's due to a lack of money.

There is no specific animal welfare law in Russia. Vita is one of the few charities actively campaigning for one.

Spokesperson Konstantin Sobinin says things will only get worse for the animals.

'The animals suffer, they are often wounded and receive no care - especially now when farm owners care more about financial problems.

'These people are monsters. They consider the animals to be soulless objects, figures in their financial plans.'

We follow Vita as it campaigns on the streets of Moscow, trying to raise awareness among those adorned in fur. Most people greet them with looks of incomprehension.

There is a sense that the public pressure needed to really push for legislation is unlikely.

For the Record http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/for-the-record/431104.html

16 February 2011

HONG KONG — China Yangtze Power will invest $168 million in EuroSibEnergo's IPO and joint venture projects, Hong Kong Economic Times reported Tuesday. (Bloomberg)

Power Machines boosted its order portfolio 15 percent to $4.19 billion in 2010, while revenue on those contracts was $1.74 billion, the company said in its fourth-quarter

accounts. (Interfax)

Output at factories, mines and utilities rose an annual 6.7 percent in January after a 6.3 percent advance in December, the State Statistics Service said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

France's Total in talks with Rosneft on shelf projectshttp://en.rian.ru/business/20110216/162629488.html

12:10 16/02/2011

MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti) - France's Total oil major and Russia's top oil producer Rosneft are negotiating possible cooperation in projects on the shelves of the Barents and Black Seas, General Director of Total in Russia Pierre Nergararyan said on Wednesday.

Nergararyan said that Total was also interested in cooperation on continental shelf projects in Russia.

Russia to pull out of Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline projecthttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/16/44556838.html

Feb 16, 2011 06:56 Moscow Time

Russia intends to pull out of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project over fears that it is unprofitable and environmentally unfriendly.

Acording to Vedomosti newspaper, Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom companies will announce today their decision to end financing for the strategic pipe, which was supposed to go online this year but has repeatedly been delayed after Bulgaria and Greece declared its environmental impact assessment unsatisfactory.

The Burgas-Alexandroupolis  pipeline was originally meant to ensure cheaper transit of Russian oil to consumers in the Mediterranean.

Russia to Quit Burgas-Alexandroupolis Pipeline, Vedomosti Says http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ahKD4su6ADgI

By Henry Meyer

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Russia is abandoning a plan to build a Balkan pipeline that bypasses Turkey’s crowded Bosporus Strait, Vedomosti reported, citing unnamed officials from the pipeline joint venture and its shareholders.

The Russian partners in the operator Trans Balkan Pipeline B.V., OAO Transneft, OAO Rosneft and OAO Gazprom Neft, will officially end their financing of the project at a shareholders’ meeting in Rome tomorrow, Vedomosti cited the officials as saying. This effectively buries the pipeline plan, the Moscow- based newspaper said.

Russia, Bulgaria and Greece agreed in 2007 to build the 285-kilometer (177 mile) oil pipeline from the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea. The 1 billion-euro ($1.4 billion) link, with a capacity of 35 million metric tons of oil a year, would bypass the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, saving shipping costs.

The project competes with a similar $2.5 billion pipeline agreed between Russia, Italy and Turkey last year to carry oil from the Turkish Black Sea port of Samsun to the Mediterranean port at Ceyhan.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Willy Morris at wmorris@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 16, 2011 00:59 EST

Russia intends to withdraw from Burgas-Alexandroupolis project

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15958680

16.02.2011, 09.57

MOSCOW, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russia intends to withdraw from the project for the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, bypassing the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits.

The Russian participants in the project - Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft – are expected to announced the termination of its funding in Rome on Wednesday at a

meeting of the supervisory board and shareholders of the Trans-Balkan Pipeline project company, the Vedomosti newspaper reports.

It was planned to launch the pipeline in 2011, but the start of the construction has been postponed over and over again. The authorities of Bulgaria through the territory of which the pipeline was to run, have not coordinated the project up to this point. It is unknown when this will be done. In addition, oil companies have not provided guarantees for the raw material pumping.

The new government of Bulgaria, formed in 2009, resisted the project implementation. It disputed the environmental safety of the oil pipeline and actually stopped funding the project.

Earlier, Vice President of Transneft Mikhail Barkov said that in Rome, the shareholders of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project would discuss the possibility of further existence of the company - owner of the future pipeline. “They will discuss the situation with the position of the Bulgarian side, the financial condition of the project company and the possibility of its further existence in the current financial situation,” he said.

Barkov also noted that Russia is not a supporter of the termination of the project, believing it is necessary to continue to work on it. However, the Russian side is currently the only one that continues to finance the project, as Greece has also stopped paying after Bulgaria in late 2010 did not pay the outstanding debt worth 6 million euros on current payments.

Negotiations on the construction of the pipeline that would ensure the pumping of bypassing the congested Turkish straits of Bosporus and Dardanelles, have been conducted since 1994, the agreement on the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline was signed in March 2007. The international project company for the construction and operation of the pipeline was established in January 2008. The project of the pipeline via the territory of Bulgaria is estimated at approximately 1 billion euros and would allow the transit of Russian oil through the Black Sea basin to the Mediterranean terminals and reduce the cost of supplies. The design length of the pipeline is about 300 kilometres, capacity - 35 to 50 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

Construction of the pipeline was scheduled to start in October 2009, and was estimated to be completed by 2011. However, the project was delayed as the new Bulgarian government coming to power in July 2009 started to re-consider its participation in the project. On 19 October 2009, Italy, Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement agreeing the participation of Russian oil companies in the competing Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline project. On 11 June 2010, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boiko Borisov announced that Bulgaria will not participate in the project to due strong opposition of local population of Burgas. Some years later Hours later, it was said that the government would await an environmental impact assessment before making a final decision about termination of the project.

The main pipeline with a diameter of 36 inches (900 mm) will be 279 kilometres (173 mi) long, and it would transport 15-23 million tonnes of oil per year during the first phase, as well as 35 million during the second. The pipeline would have three oil refilling stations, two of which in Bulgaria (the first one at Neftochim close to Burgas) and one at Alexandroupolis. The project includes reconstruction of Burgas and Alexandroupolis terminals, including oil tanks with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes in Burgas, and 1,200,000 tonnes in Alexandroupolis. The pipeline is expected to cost up to 1 billion euros. The investment scheme is not agreed yet, and it is not decided from which sources the pipeline will be filled.

The pipeline will be constructed and owned by the Dutch-registered Trans-Balkan Pipeline B.V. In this company, a stake of 51 percent of shares belongs to the Burgas–Alexandroupolis Pipeline Consortium, a joint venture of Russian Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft. Bulgarian Burgas– Alexandroupolis Project Company-BG, a subsidiary of Technoexportstroy, owns 24.5 percent of shares. Greece consortium HELPE S.A. - THRAKI S.A., a joint venture between Hellenic Petroleum and Thraki, which is owned by Prometheus Gas and the Latsis Group, owns 23.5 percent, while the Government of Greece has 1 percent.

There are speculations that the part of Bulgarian and Hellenic stakes could be sold to other oil companies as Chevron, TNK-BP and KazMunayGas. Also Andrei Dementyev, a deputy industry and energy minister of Russia, has proposed that Kazakhstani KazMunayGas and other shareholders of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium could be get a stake in the pipeline project. Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov has said that Kazakhstan wants to buy a stake in the pipeline consortium. The ownership of the Burgas oil terminal remains unclear. Bulgarian opposition has demanded to scrap the deal if Russian companies are granted control over the terminal.

Vedomosti: Tankers are cheaper than Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n242350

16 February 2011 | 08:22 | FOCUS News AgencyHome / BusinessMoscow. The supervisory council and shareholders in Trans Balkan Pipeline, an operator of the construction of Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, will hold a meeting in Rome on Thursday. The Russian participants in the project – Transneft, Rosneft, and Gazprom Neft – will announce an end to its financing, three sources close to the management of Trans Balkan Pipeline and shareholders told Vedomosti newspaper writes.The authorities in Bulgaria, where the pipeline is supposed to go through, have not yet coordinated the project and it is not clear when they will.In addition, the oil companies have not given guarantees for the oil supplies. Transneft, Rosneft, and Gazprom Neft officials refused to comment.

Lukoil sets end of March deadline for West Qurna-2 commercials

http://www.steelguru.com/middle_east_news/Lukoil_sets_end_of_March_deadline_for_West_Qurna-2_commercials/191201.html

Wednesday, 16 Feb 2011

MEED reported that Russia’s Lukoil, the developer of Iraq’s West Qurna phase 2 oil field has ser March 30th 2011 deadline for bidding firms to submit commercial proposals for early production facilities.Lukoil issued four tenders for engineering, procurement and construction deals in September as part of its development of the 12.9 billion barrel field, covering oil gathering systems, processing facilities and water supply system along with an oil export pipeline, storage facilities, a power station and associated gas processing plant.

According to a source close to the project, technical bids for the associated gas process plant and power station were submitted on January 30 after technical proposals were handed in on December 4. Italy’s Saipem, the UK’s Petrofac, France’s Technip and Japan’s JGC are among the firms invited to submit bids.

Lukoil and its partner, Norway’s Statoil, were awarded 20 year technical service contract for the field in Iraq’s second oil field licensing round in December 2009. Lukoil holds 56.25% operator stake in the contract which could be extended for another 5 years. Norway’s Statoil takes 18.75% stake while two state owned companies, South Oil Company and North Oil Company share the remaining 25%.

The consortium agreed in February 2010 to a plateau production target of 1.8 million barrels a day and a remuneration fee of USD 1.15 per barrel for each additional barrel from initial production. Lukoil is expected to start drilling operations during 2011 and aims to produce 120,000 barrel per day by the end of 2012 and 500,000 barrel per day by 2014.

The company has already awarded a seismic survey deal to Dubai based Terraseis and a land mine clearing contract the UK’s to G4S Risk Management.

Surgutneftegas Plans to Increase Oil Production This Year http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aVWapgDhYFfs

By Stephen Bierman

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Surgutneftegas, Russia’s fourth largest oil producer, plans to increase output by about 1.9 percent this year to 60.7 million metric tons of oil (1.22 million barrels a day).

Projects in East Siberia will produce 5.4 million tons, the Surgut-based company said today in a statement on its website.

Surgutneftegas’s production fell 0.1 percent last year to 59.55 million tons, according to the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK data unit. That matches previous company guidance.

The company plans to refine 21.3 million tons this year, according to today’s statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow sbierman1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 15, 2011 08:05 EST

Gazprom

Gazprom negotiating lower purchase price for Central Asian gas http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

Alfa BankFebruary 16, 2011

In response to pricing pressure from its European customers, Gazprom is looking to reduce the price it pays for natural gas purchased from Central Asian suppliers. Today's Vedomosti reports that the company has managed to reduce the price of gas bought from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, while negotiations have begun with the other large suppliers: Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. While the outcome of talks with the latter two is difficult to predict at the moment, we welcome any attempts to reduce prices and/or volumes of gas purchases, as we believe Gazprom itself has plenty of spare production capacity to meet existing demand, both domestically and internationally.

In other news, yesterday Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said the company is 0.9 bcm ahead of its YTD production plan on the back of strong European demand. Though it is not clear whether this trend is sustainable, we believe it is a positive sign. If it continues, Gazprom could come closer to its annual target of 152 bcm of gas deliveries to Europe.

15.02.2011

Gazprom General Director: Shtokman to Include LNGhttp://www.oilandgaseurasia.com/news/p/0/news/10599

"I can't even imagine in the scariest dream that Shtokman will be built without LNG", Gazprom’s head of export Aleksandr Medvedev told journalists in London today.

With today’s statement, Aleksandr Medvedev dismiss all earlier speculations that

Gazprom might go for a first phase development of the huge gas field in the Barents Sea including only pipe-gas.

Last February, the partners in Shtokman Development had a meeting in Switzerland where the future plans for the LNG part of Shtokman was discussed. The background for the meeting was the last year’s dramatic changes in the gas prices and the shift in the US gas marked from import of LNG to more development of domestic shale gas.

Aleksandr Medvedev visited London simultaneously as Russia’s Foreign Minister Serge Lavrov had bi-lateral talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Qouted by Reuters from the press conference in London, Gazprom’s head of export replied to the question on the possibilities to the LNG part of Shtokman with much self confidence: - I can't even imagine in the scariest dream that Shtokman will be built without LNG.

Medvedev re-assured that a decision on go-ahead with the Shtokman project will be taken later this year. Gazprom, and its partners Total and Statoil, are currently drawing the plans and cost-calculations for the project.

Shtokman will – if developed – be the single largest field for fuelling the North Stream pipeline currently under construction from Russia to Europe.

Gazprom says on their project portal for Shtokman that the field also will be of strategic importance for LNG shipments to the markets in the Atlantic basin.

Shtokman gas field is located some 600 kilometres north of the Kola Peninsula in the Barents Sea. The onshore facilities for pipe-gas and LNG will be built in Teriberka, north of Murmansk.

Just before Christmas, BarentsObserver reported that Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin assured the European market that Shtokman will be developed despite the current turbulence in global economy and diving gas prices.

Copyright 2010, Barents Observer. All rights reserved.

Growing optimism about Shtokman LNGhttp://barentsnova.com/node/887

Feb 16 2011

Deputy chairman of Gazprom assuages doubts on LNG part of the Shtokman project.

Both investment decisions on Shtokman (i.e. pipeline and LNG) will be taken this year, confirms Alexander Medvedev at the meeting in London. Asked about the plans for LNG plant construction, Medvedev says that "I can't even imagine in the most scary dream that Shtokman will be built without LNG", quotes Reuters.

Apparently, Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Gazprom and the CEO of Gazprom Export, is sure that the investment decision on LNG is viewed now in a favourable light. Earlier in February 2010, the project partners delayed the Shtokman development as prompted by a plummet of gas prices and growing popularity of shale gas alternatives, besides the project was divided into two parts - pipeline gas and LNG - breeding pessimistic speculations about the latter one.

The investment decision on pipeline gas from Shtokman is expected to be taken in March 2011 (gas supplies by 2016); LNG part of the project is to be finally considered in Q4 2011 (production is planned for 2017).

Away from London, the pipeline phase of the project was discussed yesterday in Teriberka, the Shtokman hub for construction of onshore gas infrastructure. Teriberka held public hearings to consider the design documentation for an onshore launch complex and the assessment of environmental impact. The project was generally approved. Photo: Teriberka

UPDATE 1-Gazprom eyes record 2011 exports, Shtokman decisionhttp://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE71E2B020110215

Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:35pm GMT

* Sees boost from start of gas deliveries via Nord Stream

* Says no chance of Shtokman project without LNG part

* Gas could start flowing to China by 2015

(Updates throughout)

By Daniel Fineren and Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM) expects total export revenues to rise to $72.4 billion this year, exceeding the 2008 record, Gazprom executives said on Tuesday.

They said the company also planned to make a final investment decision on its Shtokman project in 2011.

After a recession-led dip in demand, gas export chief Alexander Medvedev told journalists in London he expected the company's sales to be higher than ever in 2011, boosted by the start of commericial deliveries to Europe through the Nord Stream pipeline in the fourth quarter. Test flows of gas through the Baltic Sea pipeline to Germany are to start in summer.

He said the final decision on whether to go ahead with both the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline parts of the Shtokman gas export project in the Barents Sea would be taken this year, dismissing the possibility of the LNG part of the project possibly being shelved.

"I can't even imagine in the most scary dream that Shtokman will be built without LNG," Medvedev said when asked whether the plan to liquefy gas for export by tanker might be dropped in favour of a pipeline only plant.

Russia said in February 2010 it had delayed the start of its giant Arctic Shtokman gas field project -- with partners Total (TOTF.PA) and Statoil (STL.OL) -- after a dip in European demand and a surge in North American shale gas output dampened its export prospects. [ID:nLDE6141ZH]

CHINA PIPELINE

Medvedev said he expected to hold the next big round of talks over supplying China in March and that gas could start flowing to China by 2015.

"If we agree on the deal parameters this year the first gas will start flowing in 2015," he said, adding the basic price formula had already been agreed.

Gazprom executives also said they got a fair price when the company sold 9.4 percent in Novatek (NOTK.MM), Russia's largest non-state gas producer, for less than the market price at the time.

Gazprom disclosed the details of the deal on Feb. 11 in its financial report. The price it got for the sale was equal to about $1.96 billion, compared to a market close price on Dec. 20, when the sale to Gazprombank was announced, which valued the stake at around $2.84 billion. [ID:nLDE7191CZ]

Gazprom executives at the news conference said the sale price was based on an annual average share price for Novatek.

For a graphic of Europe imports of Russian gas, click on: here

(Writing by Daniel Fineren; editing by James Jukwey)

Gazprom Neft to Pay Full RUB4.7bn Fine for Antitrust Violations

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text14242

AtonFebruary 16, 2011

Today (16 Feb), Vedomosti reports that Gazprom Neft could not come to an amicable agreement with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and will have to pay the full RUB4.7bn ($157mn) fine for antitrust law violations. Gazprom Neft thus becomes the only penalised oil company that could not reduce its fine with the FAS.

Bottom line We believe the news is only marginally negative for Gazprom Neft, because it has already reserved $107mn for the fine, which had a negative impact on 2010 net income. The remaining sum ($50mn) is not particularly significant for the company, in our view. At the same time, we note that the case may negatively affect any future Gazprom Neft disputes with the FAS.

Russia's Gazprom Neft becomes sole owner of Sibir Energyhttp://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE71E1CZ20110215

Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:11pm GMT

MOSCOW Feb 15 (Reuters) - Russia's oil producer Gazprom Neft SIB.MM said on Tuesday it has become the only shareholder in Sibir Energy after the withdrawal of the Moscow government-controlled Central Fuel Company.

"The Central Fuel Company will receive compensation for the previously held block of shares in Sibir Energy in the amount of $740 million," the company said in a statement.

Sibir Energy's board of directors reduced the company's share capital by 22.39 percent or 86.25 million shares after the Central Fuel Company's withdrawl.

(Writing by Jessica Bachman; Editing by Toni Vorobyova)

Armenian Energy Minister says negotiations with Gazprom in progresshttp://news.am/eng/news/47997.html

February 15, 2011 | 16:11

Negotiations on gas price held with Gazprom are in progress, said Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan, adding talks are held in a friendly atmosphere.

He refuted reports saying Gazprom sets hard-to-meet terms for gas price to remain unchanged. “They want money,” said Movsisyan.

The Minister reiterated that gas price will be set in late February.  

Gazprom to join Libya’s Elephant oilfield on Wednesdayhttp://en.rian.ru/business/20110215/162621369.html

Russian energy giant Gazprom will join the Elephant oilfield in Libya in an asset-swap deal with Italian energy company Eni on Wednesday, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said on Tuesday.

Under the deal, Gazprom is to take half of Eni's stake in the deposit or a total of 33%  in the project. In exchange, Eni will be allowed to take part in projects to develop northwest Siberian assets owned by the Arctic Gas company.

Prikhodko said the document will be signed in Rome during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The Elephant oilfield, which has recoverable reserves of around 700 million barrels, is located in Murzuq Basin in the southwestern Libyan desert, about 800 km (465 miles) south of Tripoli. The deposit, also known as the El Feel oilfield, was discovered in 1997.

MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti)

Gazprom May Sell Eurobonds in Rubles in 2011, CFO Says (Update1) http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMPv9BS7q.vI

By Eduard Gismatullin

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom may sell eurobonds in rubles this year, said Chief Financial Officer Andrei Kruglov.

Moscow-based Gazprom plans to borrow an equivalent of 90 billion rubles ($3.1 billion) in various facilities this year in line with last year, Kruglov said today in London.

“We are already present at the bond market and will try to maintain our (borrowing) curve and will probably sell bonds,” he said. “At the same time syndicated loans sometimes are cheaper for the borrower than bonds.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 15, 2011 13:01 EST