Russia 110518

Basic Political Developments News conference by the President of Russia be held today - The news conference

by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will begin at 13:00 at the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.

o Dmitry Medvedev to hold press conference in Skolkovoo Russian president holds media conference in Skolkovo - According to the

president’s press secretary Natalya Timakova, Dmitry Medvedev made a decision to hold a Q and A session due to the large amount of requests for interviews he has been receiving.

o Russia: President Dmitry Medvedev to face media - "Medvedev will try to show he is not simply a 'yes man' but that he is almost an equal to Putin," one unnamed trader working at a Western investment bank in Moscow told the Reuters news agency.

o Russia awaits presidential hint from Medvedev - The timing of the event appears significant, with Russia in full pre-election speculation mode amid a fog of uncertainty over who out of Medvedev and Putin, now prime minister, will run in 2012 presidential elections.

o Will Medvedev calm investors' jitters today? - That priority of Medvedev's administration is an umbrella term that stars an innovative economy - but which necessarily therefore also seeks to tackle corruption and the legal system. Medvedev claims that this also posits genuine political competition as a central tenet.

Russian foreign intelligence chief holds talks with Kim Jong-il - A delegation of Russian diplomats led by Foreign Intelligence Service head Mikhail Fradkov held talks on Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency said.

o Top Russian intelligence brass hold talks with Kim Jong-il Friendship and cooperation between North Korea and Russia keep growing -

Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun Russia China's 'main strategic partner' – ambassador: The Chinese ambassador in

Moscow on Tuesday said China "sees Russia as its main strategic partner," that "the extent our cooperation has reached an unprecedentedly high mark," and that "our contacts continue to become stronger and expand in many directions."

Churkin: Russia will support the Serbian initiative - Russia will support the Serbian initiative of an investigation into illegal trafficking in human organs under the UN umbrella, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told a Moscow-New York video press conference on Tuesday.

Russia and Belarus agree on loan conditionso Talks on Belarus bailout could end Thursday - The talks on floating

Belarus a $3bn loan from the Eurasian Economic Community's bailout fund could be wrapped up during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Minsk on Thursday, Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin told reporters late Tuesday.

o Belarus: USD 3bn aid could be agreed on within days o Belarus turns to Russia for bailout - “A few assets will be privatized to

maintain the balance of payments. Belarus will decide itself which assets and when,” Kudrin said. It remains unclear whether Beltransgaz, which owns Belarus's Europe-bound pipelines, will be among these assets.

Russian Railways to simplify passport control procedures on Kyiv-Moscow train: "All border crossing and customs procedures in train No. 1 on the Moscow-Kyiv route will start in wagons and the platform of Kyivsky station in Moscow one hour before departure. All of the procedures in train No. 2 on the Kyiv-Moscow route will be performed en route from the Lesnoy Gorodok station starting from 0619 to the Moscow station," according to a press release of Ukrzaliznytsia.

Putin for cooperation with Brazilo Vladimir Putin and Michel Temer address journalists following the

meeting of the Russian-Brazilian high-level commission on cooperation Austrian president to discuss economic cooperation in Russia - The visit of the

Austrian president, accompanied by a delegation of some 100 businessmen from his country, will take place on May 18-21 upon an invitation from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Five Chechen bombers killed in Quetta Russia marks Baltic Fleet Day today Mosque cleric’s house comes under gunfire in Dagestan Russia's Far East to aid quake-hit Japan with 50 tons of mineral water Greek-Russian conference on European Security - A Greek-Russian conference

on "The Politico-Military dimension of European Security: Proposals and Perspectives" opened in Athens on Tuesday with the participation of diplomats, military officers, analysts and researchers from Greece and Russia.

Russian President appeals to second Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum participants

o First ladies of Azerbaijan and Russia hold talks (PHOTO) Akhmatbek Keldibekov regrets Kyrgyz migrants in Russia cannot buy property in

Kyrgyzstan Bloody scuffle between Azerbaijanis, Armenians in Moscow, 1 killed St. Pete legislators gear up to vote on upper house speaker’s recall

o Mironov's political fate to be decided in Petersburg legislatureo St. Pete lawmakers put Mironov's recall from Federation Council on

Wednesday agenda (Part 2) Moscow youth to dance like Medvedev Secret Weather Weapons can kill millions, warns top Russian politician Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Kyrgyzstan Looks to Moscow for Rescue from Uzbekistan Gas Row Russians learn the art of online shopping Russia details plan to buy 1,000 military helicopters Invincible - Commander of the RSVN talks about the advantages of the new

missile system Yury Gavrilov Political Limbo Over 2012 Election - Moscow on the Verge of a Nervous

Breakdown. By Benjamin Bidder in Moscow

MOSCOW BLOG - Putin for president? – bne Russians worry Siberians could follow the path of Ukrainians

National Economic Trends PRESS: Russian govt to curb power price growth at 8%–9% in 2011

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions Eurasia Drilling, Uralkali, Sberbank: Russian Equity Preview Inter RAO UES wraps up additional share offering Rostelecom May Buy Sky Link From Svyazinvest, Vedomosti Says Russian delegations to visit Pakistan in July for PSM Leviev Sells 18% Stake in Angola Diamond Mine, Kommersant Says Nordgold's 2011 investment program comes to $304 mln Investments into Arkhangelsk mining industry to boost by 2,5 times Norilsk board recomends 180 roubles dividend GE gas turbines to provide power for Sochi, Russia VTB eyes "sizeable" stake in Generali VTB may buy a stake in Generali RenCap: FSU Banks Quarterly Czech investors to build new poultry complex in Russia

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) Rosneft to seek new Arctic partners after BP deal flop - Russia's top oil producer

Rosneft will look for new partners after its proposed $16 billion Arctic shelf development deal with BP fell through on Tuesday, Kommersant business daily quoted a Rosneft source as saying on Wednesday.

Yamal-LNG project could be alternative to South Stream - Russian energy minister

Oil price boom lifts Eurasia - Soaring oil prices and favourable weather conditions boosted revenues at Russia’s Eurasia Drilling in the first quarter.

Finance Ministry: differentiate gas MET based on pipeline ownership NOVATEK Conference Call Provides Positive Outlook Heritage Oil Says Q1 Production In Russia Averaged 431 Bopd - Quick Facts

Gazprom Finance Ministry proposes doubling Gazprom's gas royalties Total and Gazprom join forces to exploit 2 natural gas fields in Bolivia Bovanenko-Yamal Pipeline To Cost NEarly One Trillion Roubles

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Full Text Articles

Basic Political Developments

News conference by the President of Russia be held todayhttp://eng.kremlin.ru/news/2223

May 18, 2011, 09:45 Moscow

The news conference by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will begin at 13:00 at the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.

The news conference will be broadcast live by television channels Channel One, Rossiya, Rossiya-24, Russia Today, and Eurovision, as well as by Radio Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda. Live video stream of the news conference will be available online on the following websites: www.1tv.ru, www.vesti.ru, RIA Novosti website and Komsomolskaya Pravda television channel. Broadcast in English will be available on www.RT.com.

Over 800 journalists have been accredited to cover the news conference. Of these, 300 will represent television channels, 45 will represent radio stations, and 240 journalists will be from print and online media outlets; more than 40 photographers will be present. About 300 accredited journalists will represent foreign media outlets, nearly 500 will be from the Russian media, including 208 journalists from regional organisations.

More than 200 professionals and six mobile satellite TV stations will provide technical support.

Simultaneous translation will be available in four languages: English, German, French and Japanese.

May 18, 2011, 09:45Moscow

Dmitry Medvedev to hold press conference in Skolkovohttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/18/50443695.html

May 18, 2011 06:30 Moscow Time

On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev, will give a press conference in Skolkovo, he announced on his Twitter page.

"Whoever is interested have a look. It starts at one” said the leader of the country.

He will talk with reporters in the unique campus of the school management of the high-tech center.

Covering the event will be more than 800 journalists from different countries.

Russian president holds media conference in Skolkovohttp://rt.com/news/medvedev-skolkovo/

Published: 18 May, 2011, 08:48Edited: 18 May, 2011, 09:25

The very heart of Russia's ambitions for a high-tech future will host hundreds journalists today. President Dmitry Medvedev has chosen the Skolkovo innovation hub as the venue for his biggest news conference since taking office three years ago.

The event is expected to be attended by about 800 journalists, around 500 from Russia and over 300 from other countries. It is due to be held on the unique campus of the Skolkovo-based management school.

According to the president’s press secretary Natalya Timakova, Dmitry Medvedev made a decision to hold a Q and A session due to the large amount of requests for interviews he has been receiving.

Timakova added that the president has chosen Skolkovo as a venue for the event so that local and foreign journalists “could see for themselves how the project is being implemented.”  

Skolkovo has all the technical capabilities for the news conference, she added. Several TV channels, including Russia Today, will broadcast the news conference live. It will also be simultaneously translated into four languages – English, German, French and Japanese.

18 May 2011 Last updated at 04:52 GMT

Russia: President Dmitry Medvedev to face mediahttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13435407

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is due to hold his first large news conference since taking office.

Former President Vladimir Putin began the tradition of holding annual conferences, but this lapsed when Mr Medvedev took power three years ago.

He will appear before hundreds of reporters and numerous TV crews.

The move has furthered speculation that Mr Medvedev plans to run in the 2012 presidential elections, the BBC's Moscow correspondent says.

Mr Medvedev has taken part in press briefings before, but has never held a full-scale question-and-answer session with the press in the manner of Mr Putin, who is currently Russia's prime minister.

More than 800 journalists are reported to have been accredited for Wednesday's news conference.

A keen advocate of technology, Mr Medvedev confirmed he would appear at the news conference by posting on social network Twitter.

The more liberal-minded Dmitry Medvedev has spent most of his years in office in the shadow of Mr Putin, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford.

Many had expected him to return his title to the former President Putin at elections next year.

But it is now unclear whether the president and prime minister will run head-to-head in the 2012 elections.

Suggestions of a power struggle have been fuelled by recent public disputes between the two men - most notably over Libya, our correspondent says.

"Medvedev will try to show he is not simply a 'yes man' but that he is almost an equal to Putin," one unnamed trader working at a Western investment bank in Moscow told the Reuters news agency.

The Skolkovo School of Management, where the conference will be held, is described as a key institute in Mr Medvedev's plans to modernise Russia.

Russian presidential terms are now six years, and remaining in power for two consecutive terms is allowed.

Russia awaits presidential hint from Medvedevhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jtd7yFjeu6X4oN8JVgIYG1DwpjeQ?docId=CNG.c1150b53ef4e99bdeefe9842468e42eb.c1

By Stuart Williams (AFP) – 3 hours ago

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday is expected to shed some light on his political ambitions in a rare news conference at the innovation centre that is the hub of his dream to modernise Russia.

Astonishingly, the event at the Skolkovo centre outside Moscow at 0900 GMT is being billed as the first news conference of the entire Medvedev presidency, over three years since he took over the Kremlin from Vladimir Putin in 2008.

Medvedev has never held a full-scale question-and-answer session with the press as Putin did annually in the last years of his presidency, only giving statements in briefings and appearances with foreign leaders.

The timing of the event appears significant, with Russia in full pre-election speculation mode amid a fog of uncertainty over who out of Medvedev and Putin, now prime minister, will run in 2012 presidential elections.

Every word of the ruling duo's comments is now scrutinised by post-Soviet Kremlinologists for signs of differences in strategy or a hint of a clear ambition to stand as the establishment candidate in 2012.

Some analysts have detected lately an increasing confidence in Medvedev, once dismissed as a mere puppet of the man who has dominated Russia since the resignation of Boris Yeltsin.

He broke the pattern of the two men never disagreeing in public by bluntly contradicting Putin's statements on Libya and last week even expressing concern that the over-concentration of power was dangerous for the state.

The location of the news conference also appears symbolic, with Skolkovo the cornerstone of Medvedev's drive to turn Russia into a modern and innovation-based economy that has been the mantra of his presidency.

Medvedev raised eyebrows this year by comparing his own reform drive to the historic decision 150 years ago by Tsar Alexander II to emancipate the serfs, a sign for some that Medvedev would not be content with one Kremlin mandate.

Meanwhile Putin, who immediately became Russia's most powerful post-Soviet prime minister after leaving the Kremlin, has shown no sign of wishing to surrender the reins of power despite some sniping from pro-business lobbies.

Putin outlined a long-term plan for Russia's development in an address to parliament in April -- hardly the behaviour of a man on his way out -- and this month announced the creation of a popular front to unite his supporters.

Polls still show widespread support for the ruling United Russia party and Putin, which has little chance of cracking ahead of December legislative elections and the presidential polls.

But under Medvedev there has also been an increase in criticism of the authorities, mainly through the Internet which is finally taking off in Russia as broadband access spreads.

Russia's leaders now find themselves routinely mocked on blogs while the Internet is used to show up the excesses of the authorities from corruption to the disdainful driving of siren-screaming official motorcades.

Medvedev is a keen blogger and proudly brandishes his iPad at official meetings, unlike Putin who once famously snorted that half of what is on the Internet is porn.

However it is not known what Medvedev thinks of Russia's most famous blogger Alexei Navalny, who routinely exposes corruption on his blog and is seen by his supporters as a possible political alternative to the ruling duo.

Will Medvedev calm investors' jitters today?

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15375

bneMay 18, 2011

Observers will be ready with scalpel in hand this afternoon, ready to dissect each and every syllable uttered by President Dmitry Medvedev in his first country-wide press conference this lunchtime for clues on the state of the ruling tandem and the likely scenarios going into the 2012 presidential election.

Medvedev has shirked Putin's habit when he sat in the Kremlin to conduct regular shows with the press and public, but will sit in front of an array of TV crews and other media at 13:00 today. Not coincidentally, the press conference will be held at the Skolkovo innovation centre - which is a symbol of the president's modernization drive.

That priority of Medvedev's administration is an umbrella term that stars an innovative economy - but which necessarily therefore also seeks to tackle corruption and the legal system. Medvedev claims that this also posits genuine political competition as a central tenet.

It's that final point that lies at the root of the media frenzy over a split in the power tandem that Medvedev shares with mentor and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The latter's announcement of a 'people's front' this month has many commentators apparently convinced that Putin intends to run for another term in the Kremlin, rather than putting Medvedev forward for another five years.

Assuming you believe the growing reports of a split between the pair, then it is possible that Medvedev might make some announcement today, but that seems very unlikely indeed. The smart money appears to suggest that the tension is the product of maneuvering amongst the two camps behind the tandem - a typical scenario in any hierarchy ahead of change, and also a sign that if a decision has been made, then it is yet to be broadcast far.

Whilst Putin says an announcement should wait until after the Duma elections in 2011 to avoid the potential for a lame duck president or PM, the economy could really do with some certainty. Without knowing which way the wind blows, investors are left guessing with whom they should maintain contacts and work with inside a variety of institutions. Not only is that keeping a tight lid on FDI - which is already poor - but it's also encouraging huge volumes of capital flight as businesses and individuals play it safe. A total of $35.3bn left the country in 2010, with around $22bn of that exiting in the last three months of the year. That was followed by another $21.3bn in the first quarter of this year.

Russian foreign intelligence chief holds talks with Kim Jong-ilhttp://en.rian.ru/world/20110518/164084939.html

09:45 18/05/2011

MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - A delegation of Russian diplomats led by Foreign Intelligence Service head Mikhail Fradkov held talks on Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency said.

The talks in the capital of the reclusive communist state had a "warm and friendly atmosphere" and ended in a dinner at which Fradkov presented gifts to Kim and his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, the agency said.

Officials from the North Korean Foreign Ministry and Workers' Party were also present at the meeting.

Russia, the United States, China, Japan and South Korea have been trying for the past two years to resume stalled talks with North Korea over its nuclear program.

The talks came to a halt in April 2009 when North Korea walked out of negotiations in protest against the United Nations' condemnation of its missile tests. The country is

banned from conducting nuclear or ballistic missile tests under UN Resolution 1718, adopted after Pyongyang's first nuclear test on October 9, 2006.

North Korea carried out a second nuclear test on May 25, 2009, followed by a series of short-range missile launches, and has threatened to build up its nuclear arsenal to counter what it calls hostile U.S. policies.

Top Russian intelligence brass hold talks with Kim Jong-ilhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/18/50452671.html

May 18, 2011 10:57 Moscow Time

A Russian delegation led by the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Mikhail Fradkov has held talks with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.

The delegation is visiting North Korea amid attempts to resume the six-way talks on the North Korean nuclear programme involving Russia, the United States, China, Japan and the two Koreas.

The last round of the talks ended in a deadlock, but the North Korean mass media reported in mid-March that if talks resumed, Pyongyang would be prepared to discuss its nuclear programme without preconditions.

09:52 18/05/2011OUR INTERVIEW

Friendship and cooperation between North Korea and Russia keep growing - Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chunhttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c38/144689.html

PYONGYANG, May 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Relations of friendship and cooperation between North Korea and Russia are positive and continue to grow, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun said in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Russia share a border, and peoples of the two countries have a long history and tradition of friendship and cooperation. Our countries have displayed the noble spirit of cooperation, they have always helped each other under complicated conditions and they have a huge potential for further broadening and development of bilateral relations. The Korean-Russian relations of friendship and cooperation have been positive and continue to grow," he said.

"In the year of the tenth anniversary of the historic Moscow Declaration of the DPRK and Russia, our government is ready for the most active implementation of bilateral agreements and for raising to a new level of the Korean-Russian relations of friendship and cooperation in all spheres: political, economic and cultural," he said.

The Moscow Declaration was signed on August 4, 2001, in the Kremlin between then President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The sides pledged "to promote the formation of a new fair world order based on the priority of law, the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of preservation of global stability and reliable security of every member of the international community in political, economic, social, cultural, information and other spheres."

North Korea said in the same document that its "missile program is peaceful and does not present a threat to any country, which has respect for the North Korean sovereignty," and Russia welcomed that position.

North Korea is seeking to make new achievements next year, when the country will celebrate the birthday centenary of a great North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, North Korean Foreign Minister pointed out.

"Currently our people are waging a vigorous forward-looking struggle to open the gates to the building of a powerful prosperous power in 2012 timed to the birthday centenary of a great North Korean President Kim Il Sung," he noted.

"The main goals in this struggle are the economic construction and the improvement of the well-being of people. We will use all the resources for the development of the light industry and agriculture this year, setting a higher life quality of people as the top priority," the minister went on to say.

However, the North Korean foreign minister regretted that "the United States and its accomplices keep fanning up the tensions in order to hamper us to focus on economic construction and simultaneously to pursue a continuous treacherous propaganda campaign seeking for all the responsibility to be shouldered on us."

The North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, who has ruled the republic for 46 years, died in July 1994 and was declared as an eternal great leader and an eternal president of the country. His son Kim Jong Il inherited the presidency in the republic and currently occupies the posts of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the General Secretary of the ruling Korean Labour Party and the Chairman of the National Defence Commission.

Russia China's 'main strategic partner' - ambassadorYesterday at 23:07 | Interfax-Ukraine

Moscow, May 17 (Interfax) - The Chinese ambassador in Moscow on Tuesday said China "sees Russia as its main strategic partner," that "the extent our cooperation has reached an unprecedentedly high mark," and that "our contacts continue to become stronger and expand in many directions."

The ambassador, Li Hui, was speaking at a meeting at the State Duma with Russian lawmakers who are members of a group for cooperation with the Chinese parliament.

He said 2011 is a special year as marks the 10th anniversary of a treaty on strategic partnership between the two countries.

"This document holds a unique place in the foreign policy of our two countries. In other words, it is gold of the highest purity, 99.9%," Li said.

He said the turnover of Chinese goods in Russia was $59 billion a year.

"In international affairs we stand shoulder to shoulder, as the saying goes, and we hold similar positions on many key issues, whether it is the situation in North Africa, in the Middle East or in some other countries," the ambassador said.

"By achieving definitive and complete solutions to border disputes, our countries eliminated the latent danger for the further positive development of their cooperation," he said.

In comments on prospects for Chinese-Russian relations, the diplomat said: "There are various opinions, including the opinion that China and Russia will inevitably end up in a mutual confrontation." He firmly denied this, saying the two countries would forever remain friends.

Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/104620/#ixzz1MgZo4LZo

Churkin: Russia will support the Serbian initiative http://www.emg.rs/en/news/serbia/155353.html

18. May 2011. | 10:16

Source: Tanjug

Russia will support the Serbian initiative of an investigation into illegal trafficking in human organs under the UN umbrella, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told a Moscow-New York video press conference on Tuesday.

Russia will support the Serbian initiative of an investigation into illegal trafficking in human organs under the UN umbrella, Russian Permanent Representative to the United

Nations Vitaly Churkin told a Moscow-New York video press conference on Tuesday.

EULEX mission in Kosovo is unable to handle the situation alone and Russia will support the Serbian initiative for an investigation under the UN umbrella, he said.

The UN Security Council recently listened to a report about the Kosovo situation and an impasse prevailed, Churkin said, Itar-Tass reports.

Russia calls for further international presence in Kosovo and its stand is that no decisions or steps can be taken without the consent of the Serbs, he said.

Russia and Belarus agree on loan conditionshttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/18/50443536.html

May 18, 2011 03:29 Moscow Time

Russia and Belarus have reached an agreement to grant Minsk a three billion dollars loan from the Eurasian Economic Union fund said Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.

He said that during a telephone conversation between the two presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Alexander Lukashenko, the issue was discussed and the basic conditions were agreed upon.

The final decision will be made on Thursday when Prime Minister Putin arrives in Belarus.

Kudrin expressed confidence that Moscow’s Eurasian Economic Union partners will have no objection to loaning the stated sum to Minsk.

Talks on Belarus bailout could end Thursday

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110518104711.shtml

      RBC, 18.05.2011, Moscow 10:47:11.The talks on floating Belarus a $3bn loan from the Eurasian Economic Community's bailout fund could be wrapped up during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Minsk on Thursday, Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin told reporters late Tuesday.

      The loan could be disbursed in $1bn annual installments over three years. The terms of the loan are standard for loans provided to cover a balance of payments deficit, he added.

Belarus: USD 3bn aid could be agreed on within days http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15375

VTB CapitalMay 18, 2011

News: According to the Russian Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, citing a phone conversation between Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus has largely accepted the Russian terms and conditions attached to a USD 3bn loan. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is to travel to Minsk on Thursday to finalise negotiations. However, Kudrin stressed that since this is a multilateral EurAsEC loan, it would require the prior approval not only of Russia, but also of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia. Kudrin stressed that Belarus had committed to privatising USD 3bn worth of assets in 2011.

Our View: A USD 3bn loan will not resolve Belarus' problems, as the current account gap there is around USD 10bn, but clearly it would stabilise the situation for some while. The question really is, how are the authorities going to use it: to pay for imports or to stabilise the exchange rate by selling this money to banks? We think that the former is more likely, and so are not convinced that this loan will dramatically impact the BYR exchange rate. Furthermore, this money will soon end, so the most positive part of the announcement is the commitment to start large-scale privatisation. This would be a huge move towards resolving the country's structural problems and, ultimately, stabilising the macroeconomic environment and restarting the economy.

Alexey Moiseev

Belarus turns to Russia for bailouthttp://www.themoscownews.com/international/20110518/188674523.html

by Tom Washington at 18/05/2011 12:15

Alexander Lukashenko, the long standing president of Belarus and dubbed ‘Europe’s last dictator’, is in talks with Russia to save his country’s plummeting economy.

Russia is ready to grant Belarus a credit support of more than $6 billion, Lukashenko said at a meeting with his Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich on Tuesday.

“I have just spoken with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. We are negotiating with Russia on a stabilization loan to support the Belarusian rouble. Russia is ready to react if we need the loan. And that’s about 3.1 billion dollars, if we, of course, will sign an agreement with them,” he said, the Xinhua news agency reported.

But the line coming from Russia is different.

 

Russia considers

After suffering earlier slights from Lukashenko Russia is playing hard to get. A Kremlin source told RIA Novosti that Moscow was only prepared to give a $1 billion loan and added that Russian energy giant Gazprom remained highly interested in gaining control over Belarus’s transit pipelines leading to Europe, one of Belarus’s few bargaining chips.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin had said earlier on that Russia would not provide the loan from its own coffers, adding that it would be up to the anti-crisis fund of the Eurasian Economic Community countries (Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan), Eurasec.

Belarus had applied for a $1 billion loan from Russia and a $2-billion loan from Eurasec to stabilise the currency market suffering from acute foreign currency deficit.

“In total, this will make at least $6 billion, which will be enough this year not only to stabilize but also to gain substantial gold and currency reserves,” he said, RIA Novosti reported.

 

Desperation

Lukashenko’s economic model and social contract with the Belarusian people is based on handouts, mostly from Europe and Russia, Tomas Valasek from the Centre for European Reform told The Moscow News, after election violence and brutal police crack downs on opposition protestors put a new crack in Lukashenko’s relations with the European Union.

After growing defiance to Moscow until the Belarusian elections, Lukashenko has since encountered an increasingly cold shoulder from Europe and has had to hastily repair his bridges with the Kremlin.

 

In trouble

In the first quarter of this year, Belarus’s gold and currency reserves shrank by 25 per cent after rumors about the possible devaluation of the Belarusian rouble, which caused acute demand for foreign currency.

The black currency market now has the dollar rate at 5,500 Belarusian rubles while the official National Bank rate is about 3,100 Belarusian rubles.

The ongoing currency crisis undermines the country’s ability to import foreign goods and has caused Belarusians to hoard basic food stuffs, Terradaily reported.

 

It’s a deal

Kudrin said negotiations on the $3 billion Eurasec loan to Belarus would be completed in the next few days. Lukashenko and President Dmitry Medvedev had a telephone conversation on Tuesday and agreed that Belarus was ready to receive the loan and that terms and conditions had been agreed on, meaning negotiations would be completed in the next few days.

He also said Belarus would sell a number of state companies worth a total of $3 billion.

“A few assets will be privatized to maintain the balance of payments. Belarus will decide itself which assets and when,” Kudrin said.

It remains unclear whether Beltransgaz, which owns Belarus's Europe-bound pipelines, will be among these assets.

Russian Railways to simplify passport control procedures on Kyiv-Moscow trainhttp://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/eco/68845/

11:03

OAO Russian Railways (RZD) is intending to simplify border control procedures on train No. 1/2 on the Kyiv-Moscow route at the request of Ukrainian State Railways Administration Ukrzaliznytsia.

"All border crossing and customs procedures in train No. 1 on the Moscow-Kyiv route will start in wagons and the platform of Kyivsky station in Moscow one hour before departure. All of the procedures in train No. 2 on the Kyiv-Moscow route will be performed en route from the Lesnoy Gorodok station starting from 0619 to the Moscow station," according to a press release of Ukrzaliznytsia.

According to the report, corresponding changes have been included in the train traffic schedule.

As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia declared its readiness by the end of 2011 to cancel the nighttime customs and border controls in trains running between Kyiv and Moscow.

In particular, it is planned to carry out passport and customs controls at Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station when boarding the train instead of at border stations, where the procedures are usually carried out at night, which is inconvenient for passengers.

Putin for cooperation with Brazilhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/18/50442473.html

May 18, 2011 00:31 Moscow Time

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin believes in cooperation between Russia and Brazil in the field of metallurgy and energy.

He stated this at a joint press conference with the Vice-President of Brazil, Michel Thémereau in Moscow.

The Head of Government stated that Russia's leading steel companies, Mechel and Severstal became co-owners of large Brazilian companies.

The Prime Minister noted that such projects have not only economic but also social significance, as they allow the creation of new businesses and new jobs.

17 may 17:34

Vladimir Putin and Michel Temer address journalists following the meeting of the Russian-Brazilian high-level commission on cooperation

http://premier.gov.ru/eng/events/news/15216/

Vladimir Putin's address:

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have just held the meeting of the Russian-Brazilian high-level commission on cooperation. It took place in a businesslike and friendly atmosphere.

I'd like to emphasise that Brazil is a strategic partner for Russia, and we have maintained a traditionally friendly dialogue. We actively cooperate in politics – in the UN, the G20 and BRICS.

Economic ties are steadily developing. Last year our trade increased by 28% reaching almost $6 billion and our next goal is to increase it to $10 billion.

We are actively cooperating in fields such as energy (including nuclear power), space exploration, metallurgy, biotechnology and telecommunications.

Joint work in space exploration is also very promising. Specialists from both countries are working to upgrade the Brazilian launch vehicle VLS-1, modernise the Brazilian space port and cooperate on a telecommunication satellite. We are interested in Brazil's active involvement in the Russian navigation system GLONASS.

Great opportunities are opening up in the metallurgical industry, where our companies Mechel and Severstal have become the co-owners of large stocks of shares and whole companies. Such projects have not only economic but also social significance. I'm referring to the construction of new enterprises and the development of the existing ones. This makes it possible to create new jobs and increase tax revenues to the different levels of the Brazilian tax system.

Gazprom's cooperation with the leading Brazilian energy company Petrobras may also be promising. We have paid much attention to financial cooperation, including the use of national currencies in reciprocal payments.

Last year we agreed on visa-free travel for our citizens. The Russian airline Transaero began direct flights from Moscow to Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil and Russia will hold major international sports competitions in the next few years. In 2014, we will host the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and Brazil will host the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and Russia in 2018. We have agreed to exchange information and help each other in organising these major international competitions.

In 2012-2013, we will hold the Days of Brazilian Culture in Russia and the Days of Russian Culture will be held in Brazil.

We think that the development of our cooperation in education is also very important. We will look for opportunities to mutually recognise diplomas of higher education. I'd like to thank the vice president for the productive discussion of all the aforementioned issues and express the hope that Brazil and Russia will develop their relations as intensively and steadily as we did in the past few years.

Thank you.

Austrian president to discuss economic cooperation in Russiahttp://en.rian.ru/world/20110518/164082236.html

02:49 18/05/2011

Austrian President Heinz Fischer, who arrives in Russia on Wednesday, says his country can help Russia with modern technologies and both countries are capable of expanding economic development cooperation.

The visit of the Austrian president, accompanied by a delegation of some 100 businessmen from his country, will take place on May 18-21 upon an invitation from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"I believe there is ample space for economic cooperation in relations between Austria and Russia. We [Austria] may help Russia with modern technologies and infrastructure, environment protection technologies and share experience in the development of international tourism," Fischer said in an interview with the Voice of Russia radio station.

He also said Russia and Austria may expand mutual cultural cooperation and interaction in other spheres as well.

"We must also achieve freedom of movement and cancellation of visas. We support Russia's drive to join the World Trade Organization. There is also a lot to do to enhance an optimal and reliable cooperation in energy partnership, which is also an important issue," Fischer said.

The president added that during his visit he also intends to discuss Russia's interaction with the European Union as well as the current situation in the Middle East and Iran's controversial nuclear program.

MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti)

Five Chechen bombers killed in Quettahttp://twocircles.net/2011may17/five_chechen_bombers_killed_quetta.html

Submitted by admin4 on 17 May 2011 - 6:40pm

By IANS,

Islamabad : Five Chechen militants, including three women, were Tuesday killed in a gunfight with security forces after they attacked a security check post near Quetta city, the capital of Balochistan province in Pakistan, Geo News reported."All five attackers have been killed," said Quetta city police chief Daud Junejo.

The militants, who were killed in the firefight, were armed with guns and bombs.

According to the sources, one of them blew himself up near the post in Kharootabad area.

Police officials told media that the militants had explosives tied to their bodies.

Russia marks Baltic Fleet Day todayhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/18/50449847.html

May 18, 2011 10:11 Moscow Time

Today Russia marks Baltic Fleet Day.

The holiday dates back to May 18th 1703, when a flotilla of 30 boats with the troops of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky Regiments, led by Peter the Great, won their first victory in a battle against Swedes, and captured two Swedish naval ships, Gedan and Astrild.

During the Great Northern War of 1700 to 1721 the Baltic Fleet defeated the Swedish Navy, leaving Russia as the new major power in the Baltic Sea.  

08:55 18/05/2011Top News

Mosque cleric’s house comes under gunfire in Dagestanhttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/144648.html

MAKHACHKALA, May 18 (Itar-Tass) — The house of a mosque cleric came under gunfire in Russia’s Caucasus republic of Dagestan. The cleric’s 14-year old daughter was wounded in the leg, local police told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

According to police, the incident occurred in the settlement of Sultan-Yangiyurt in the Kirilyurt district at 23:25 Moscow time on Tuesday.

The attackers have been identified, police said. Two local residents are suspected in committing the crime, they are being searched.

Russia's Far East to aid quake-hit Japan with 50 tons of mineral waterhttp://en.rian.ru/world/20110518/164083934.html07:32 18/05/2011

A vessel from Russia's Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) carrying 50 metric tons of bottled mineral water as humanitarian aid for Japan will set off on Wednesday from the port of Vladivostok, a spokeswoman for the company said.

A 9.0-magnitude quake struck off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, triggering a tsunami and explosions in the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Almost 15,000 people died in the disaster and 9,893 people remain unaccounted for. The Japanese government has said the damage from the disaster could total $310 billion.

"It turned out during consultations with the Japanese Consulate General in Vladivostok that territories in Japan, which suffered from the earthquake, are in need of mineral water, primarily for nourishment of children up to one year of age," Tatyana Kulikova said.

One of the large companies in the Primorye Territory in Russia's Far East provided over 32,000 bottles of mineral water in humanitarian aid, which will be delivered on board of the FESCO Nikolay vessel. The ship is expected to dock at the port of Hamada in Japan on May 25.

VLADIVOSTOK, May 18 (RIA Novosti)

Greek-Russian conference on European Security http://www.emg.rs/en/news/region/155340.html

18. May 2011. | 08:08

Source: ANA

A Greek-Russian conference on "The Politico-Military dimension of European Security: Proposals and Perspectives" opened in Athens on Tuesday with the participation of diplomats, military officers, analysts and researchers from Greece and Russia.

A Greek-Russian conference on "The Politico-Military dimension of European Security: Proposals and Perspectives" opened in Athens on Tuesday with the participation of diplomats, military officers, analysts and researchers from Greece and Russia.

Greek foreign minister noted that the conference was taking place in a particularly critical period for security at international level, adding that Greece places particular importance on the humanitarian dimension of every crisis.

The conference, he said, gave continuity to an initiative that began in the context of the OSCE for a new security system in Europe and was a follow-up to the so-called Corfu Process.

The fact that such a sensitive and important issue is jointly presented by Greece and Russia reflects the close ties of confidence between the two countries and also highlights Greece's role in international relations, Droutsas said.

In the opening address to the conference, Droutsas said that the conference was taking place in a particularly critical period for security at international level, noting the recent events in North Africa, and stressed that Greece places particular importance on the humanitarian dimension of each crisis, noting the country's stance during the Libya crisis.

The efforts for enhancing security in Europe need to be intensified, Droutsas said, adding that political volition was also needed in that direction, which Greece has already proved in action via the Corfu Process, which opened up a process of dialogue for security in Europe aiming at restoring confidence, while he also urged that the stereotypes of the past in the political-military sector be abolished.

On the structure and themes of the conference, Droutsas noted that the speakers come from a variety of fields, such as politics, diplomacy and research and are acknowledged for their experience in matters of European security which, he said, will contribute to a wider discussion on the role played by Greece and Russia in the formulation of the new European security architecture.

Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko stressed that the "discriminations and ghosts of the past" need to be dealt with jointly through a "true partner relationship" that will give "greater added value to our effort" to deal with the web of "multi-dimensional dangers" of our era.

Grushko said that, in the transitional era we are going through, the world is no longer predictable given that multi-dimensional threats arise without the required response, while regional clashes, drug trafficking, weapons of mass destruction, piracy, natural disasters and the economic crisis comprise a threatening framework for our countries.

The existing architecture of European security needs modernisation, Grushko said, and noted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's proposal in 2008 for a modern strategy founded on the principle of the indivisibility of security, which at the time had been criticised as "revolutionary". He recalled, however, that at the Corfu conference under the Greek OSCE presidency in 2009, at the NATO-Russia summit in Lisbon in November 2010 but also in Astana in December 2010 the need had been underlined for giving momentum to the creative approach to regional cooperation and synergy for an "indivisible security community" and a "common space of peace and security".

On Russia-EU relations, Grushko stressed the need for a "healthy interaction in confronting crises", and expressed hope that the EU will acquire a strategic perception of cooperation with Russia.

Russian President appeals to second Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum participantshttp://en.trend.az/news/politics/1877884.html

18.05.2011 12:28

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 18 / Trend, M.Aliyev /

Russian President appealed to participants of the second Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum "Russia - Azerbaijan: towards new horizons of interregional cooperation".

"I welcome you in Astrakhan at the interregional forum, which brings together representatives of state authorities, business and public circles of Russia and Azerbaijan for the second time," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s address posted on the Kremlin’s official website says."You are to discuss current issues related to reinforcing bilateral cooperation, consider perspective projects in the sphere of border trade, energy and transport, as well as information and communications sphere. It is important that the agenda focuses on further deepening of the Russian-Azerbaijani educational, scientific and cultural relations," the address says.

I hope that the forum will serve to strengthening economic and cultural partnership between the two countries, and your meetings will become traditional and serve to developing new needed initiatives," the address says.

The second Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum "Russia - Azerbaijan: towards new horizons of interregional cooperation" kicks off in Astrakhan today. Plenary meetings and four roundtables will be held within the forum.

First ladies of Azerbaijan and Russia hold talks (PHOTO)http://en.trend.az/news/politics/1877705.html

18.05.2011 12:34

The First Lady of Russia Svetlana Medvedeva congratulated Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva on the victory of Azerbaijan at Eurovision-2011 song contest at a meeting hosted in the Kremlin on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported.

The Azerbaijani duo’s victory demonstrates the high level of musical culture in this country and the growing international interest towards Azerbaijan, she said.

Eurovision-2011 song contest took place in Germany last week. The Azerbaijani duo Nikki (Nigar Jamal) and Ell (Eldar Gasimov) with the song "Running Scared" won the contest.

First Lady of Azerbaijan arrived in Moscow to attend Azerbaijani evening conducted at the State Kremlin Palace.

During the conversation, Svetlana Medvedeva also mentioned the efforts of the Azerbaijani leadership to create favorable conditions for Russian compatriots living in the country, whose number totals about 130,000 in Azerbaijan.

Medvedeva thanked Azerbaijan for creating an opportunity to get education in Russian in the country. Spouses of presidents also discussed the education of the Azerbaijani students in Russia.

During the meeting, Medvedeva mentioned the favorable situation in Azerbaijan for peaceful and respectful coexistence of major religions, and particularly, the worthy conditions, under which, the Russian Orthodox Church operates in the country.

Medvedeva invited the Azerbaijani First Lady to visit Moscow again to attend the 3rd International festival of young performers of classical music "Rising stars in the Kremlin". She expressed hope that the Azerbaijani performers would attend the contest.

Medvedeva invited the spouse of the Azerbaijan President to the Assumption Belfry of the Kremlin, where "Carl Faberge and stone-cutting master. Gemstone Treasures of Russia" Exhibition is being conducted. Accompanied by Director General of the Moscow Kremlin State Museum-Reserve, Elena Gagarina, spouses of presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan visited the exhibition, which includes masterpieces by the great Russian jeweler Carl Faberge, his eminent contemporaries, supplying his products to the Imperial Yard, the works by Ural handicraftsmen, the works created at the Emperor, Yekaterinburg, Peterhof and Kolyvan lapidary factories.

In her turn, Mehriban Aliyeva invited the Russian President’s spouse to see the photo-exhibition in the Grand Kremlin Palace, devoted to Azerbaijan, and demonstrated the collection of unique Azerbaijani carpets.

Akhmatbek Keldibekov regrets Kyrgyz migrants in Russia cannot buy property in Kyrgyzstan 18/05-2011 10:09, Kazan – 24.kg news agency , by Julia MAZYKINA

“It is bad we are not able to open up opportunity for own citizens to buy property in Kyrgyzstan,” the Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament Akhmatbek Keldibekov told reporters following results of the visit to Saint Petersburg, Russia.

“The issue of the dual citizenship is a big problem. With Kyrgyzstan's 5 million population to have 280,000 with Russian citizenship is a very large figure. We have to arrange all issues with Russia as they are our citizens and they have received papers there according to the agreement with the Russian Federation. Parents and relatives of migrants stayed here in motherland. Now they want to buy property or transport in the Kyrgyz Republic but we are not able to open up such opportunity for them,” he noted.

URL: http://eng.24.kg/cis/2011/05/18/18155.html

Bloody scuffle between Azerbaijanis, Armenians in Moscow, 1 killedhttp://news.am/eng/news/59721.html

May 18, 2011 | 09:59

One person was killed, seven others injured in a scuffle between natives from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Lyuberetsky district of Moscow, Interfax reports referring to the local law enforcement agencies. “Natives of Armenia and Azerbaijan were engaged in a scuffle, using traumatic and cold weapons,” the source said.

As a result, a 24-year-old man was stabbed and died at the scene. Seven others were hospitalized with gunshot wounds and knife injuries. Police found 12 shells from a traumatic weapon at the scene.

St. Pete legislators gear up to vote on upper house speaker’s recallhttp://rt.com/politics/news-line/

RT News line, May 18

The legislative assembly of St. Petersburg may on Wednesday decide to recall its representative at the Federation Council, Sergey Mironov. Mironov, a prominent opposition activist and vocal critic of the authorities, is seen as an inadequate representative of the assembly, where the majority of seats belong to the pro-governmental United Russia party. The issue has been put up for voting, and if more than

half (at least 26 of 50) legislators support the idea, Mironov will be recalled from the Federation Council, and may also lose his position as the upper house’s speaker.

10:48 18/05/2011Top News

Mironov's political fate to be decided in Petersburg legislaturehttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/144725.html

ST. PETERSBURG, May 18 (Itar-Tass) — The political fate of the Federation Council (FC) Chairman Sergei Mironov will be decided at a meeting of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg that has opened on Wednesday. The MPs of Russia’ s ‘Northern Capital’, whose interests Mironov represents is in the upper house of the RF parliament, plan to consider his withdrawal from the Federation Council.

Officially, the draft resolution on termination of Mironov’s powers as a representative of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly is not put on the meeting’s agenda. However, chairman of the committee on legislation of the St. Petersburg parliament Vitaly Mironov told Itar-Tass that this issue will be put forward for discussion to the parliamentarians by the author of the document - Chairman of the city’s Legislative Assembly Vadim Tyulpanov “orally” immediately before the meeting. This requires a simple majority of the MPs votes (26 out of 50).

The legislature representative’s recall procedure is similar to his nomination: to divest an FC member of authority a simple majority of MPs - 26 out of 50 – is also required to vote for the related resolution. However, to settle this issue the United Russia party, which has 23 mandates from the Legislative Assembly’s total 50 seats, need to secure the support of other parties. Representatives of the Communist Party (CPRF) faction (9 deputies) and Liberal Democratic Party- LDPR (5 deputies), have already declared support to United Russia’s initiative to recall Mironov from the Federation Council.

On the eve of the fateful for the FC speaker day of the St. Petersburg parliament meeting, political actions were held in the city for his recall and against it. On May 12 and 13, St. Petersburg members of the Just Russia (Fair Russia) party held an impromptu voting to find out the city residents’ attitude to party’s initiative to recall Sergei Mironov from the upper house of RF parliament. According to the survey, in which, according to the regional branch of the party, 20,000 people took part, more than 80 percent of St. Petersburg residents voted against Mironov’s recall. In turn, the regional branch of the Liberal Democratic Party in the period from May 13 to 16 conducted its own polling of St. Petersburg residents, which allegedly involved 15,000 citizens. The results of this survey of the party have shown that more than 60 percent of respondents admitted that they do not know who Sergei Mironov is.

The demand of the St. Petersburg members of United Russia to recall Mironov had been announced on May 1 at the joint meeting of the United Russia party and the Federation of

Independent Trade Unions of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region held in Palace Square. “We are tired of our representative sitting in the Federation Council and we do not see any sense of his stay there,” head of the regional branch of the party Vadim Tyulpanov noted then.

Mironov himself has expressed disagreement with this position. “There is not a single fact to support accusations of United Russia that I have badly worked as a senator representing St. Petersburg in the Federation Council,” he said. Mironov also noted that he was preparing a certificate of his work in the FC, which includes, inter alia, information on legislative initiatives, which he has put forward during the work in the upper house.

Sergei Mironov is from Saint Petersburg and is considered to be a close ally of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In the 1970s, Sergey Mironov served in the airborne troops in the Soviet Army. Later, he graduated from the Leningrad Mining Institute and worked as an engineer-geophysicist. After a brief time of working as an entrepreneur, he entered politics and, in 1994, was elected deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. In June 2000, he was elected vice-Chairman of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and, in 2001, entered the Federation Council of Russia as a representative of St. Petersburg. In December 2001, Sergei Mironov was elected to be a Speaker of the Federation Council. Since February 2003, Sergei Mironov has been the Chairman of the Council of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of States – members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and since April 2003 - Chairman of the Russian Party of Life.

Mironov was a candidate in the 2004 presidential election. He was not considered to be a serious candidate and was quoted as saying: “We all want Vladimir Putin to be the next president.” He polled less than one percent of the vote. In October 2006, he became the leader of the new centre-left opposition party Fair Russia, which was formed by uniting Rodina, Mironov's Russian Party of Life, and the Russian Pensioners' Party. This effectively makes him the leader of the opposition as the three parties together would be stronger than the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Mironov has several times proposed an amendment to the Russian constitution that would allow the President to be elected for 3 consecutive 5 or 7-year terms. In 2007, Boris Gryzlov, leader of the rival United Russia party, said that changing the constitution would be unacceptable. Mironov is considered to be more socialistic oriented, as he pushes for setting up special agricultural exchanges for state purchases of agricultural goods and for more state intervention in regulating prices of basic food stuff. Sergei Mironov is married to Lyubov Ivanovna. They have a son and a daughter.

In 2008, President Vladimir Putin awarded Mironov the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd degree.

May 18, 2011 12:08

St. Pete lawmakers put Mironov's recall from Federation Council on Wednesday agenda (Part 2)http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=244393

ST. PETERSBURG. May 18 (Interfax) - The St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly has put a proposal on recalling Sergei Mironov from the Federation Council as its representative on its Wednesday agenda.

The proposal has been submitted by St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov at Chairman Vadim Tyulpanov's suggestion.

Most of the St. Petersburg lawmakers (37 out of the 45 present at the session) agreed with the proposal and amended the Wednesday agenda.

Speaker Tyulpanov blocked the voting keys belonging to the absent lawmakers, Yevgeny Plyushchenko (A Just Russia), Olga Litvinenko (A Just Russia) and Alexander Gorlov (the Communist Party).

The St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly includes four factions - United Russia (23 mandates), A Just Russia (13), the Communist Party (9) and the Liberal Democratic Party (5). The assembly consists of 50 members, and 26 votes would be enough to recall Mironov from the Federation Council.

The St. Petersburg branch of United Russia forwarded a letter to the party leadership on May 6 outlining the reasons that prompted its members to initiate Mironov's recall from the upper chamber of the Russian parliament.

A member of the United Russia leadership had told Interfax at the time that no special sessions would be necessary to consider Mironov's dislodgement, as the issue was fully within the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly purview.

State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov, the head of United Russia's Supreme Council, said the reasons for his St. Petersburg colleagues' move were obvious to him. "He keeps saying that the St. Petersburg leadership is working poorly, and he is resorting to even harsher remarks. But if you are unhappy with this government, give up your mandate and run in elections to elect a new government," Gryzlov said.

Mironov has also criticized a number of decisions by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his government. In particular, Mironov openly disagreed with the government's budget and anti-crisis measures.

United Russia earlier threatened Mironov with dismissing him as the Federation Council chairman. It turned out, however, that the existing laws made this plan virtually impracticable.

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Moscow youth to dance like Medvedevhttp://rt.com/news/line/

RT News line, May 18Several young people are planning to repeat the dance of Dmitry Medvedev that has become a recent internet hit. The dance will be performed on Wednesday afternoon right beneath the Kremlin walls. The organizers, members of the internet group “Medvedev is our President”, say their aim is to prove to the country’s leader that they dance better than him. Every participant of the event will be given a T-shirt with a portrait of Medvedev. The video that shows the Russian president “cutting loose” to the song "American Boy", a hit by Russian female pop band Kombinatsiya and popular in the 1990s, grooved the internet, mustering thousands of views in less than 24 hours.

Secret Weather Weapons can kill millions, warns top Russian politicianhttp://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/18-May-2011/Secret-Weather-Weapons-can-kill-millions-warns-top-Russian-politician

Submitted 48 mins ago

A top Duma political leader caused shock waves in a recent television interview when he warned that Russia could deploy an arsenal of new technology to “destroy any part of the planet” and kill over a hundred million people using secret weather weapons if the United States, the UN or Georgia tried to stop Russia’s entry into the WTO.Vladimir Zhirinovsky is Vice-Chairman of the Russian State Duma and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the first officially sanctioned opposition party after the fall of communism. The LDPR has deep links with the former KGB and Communist Party and has become a significant force in Russian politics, despite Zhirinovsky himself being branded as a militant neo-fascist.According to a translation provided by a Russian speaker, during the interview Zhirinovsky went off on a bizarre tangent after he was asked how Russia should treat countries like Georgia and the United States who try and block Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization.Saying that the American government in Washington DC had “no future” and would “collapse,” Zhirinovsky cited Russia’s supremacy in space and stated that the country had, “Lots of money, resources, and new weapons that no one knows about.”“With them we will destroy any part of the planet within 15 minutes,” he sensationally

warned.“Not an explosion, not a ray burst, not some kind of laser, not lightning, but a quiet and peaceful weapon,” added Zhirinovsky, warning that “whole continents will be put to sleep forever” and that “120 million will die” if anyone interfered with Russia’s claim on the Kuril Islands, which are the subject of a territorial dispute with Japan.The female presenter of the news program smirked as he made the comments, but Zhirinovsky’s manner was far from jovial.Zhirinovsky made reference to the recent tsunami in Japan, suggesting that the “new weapons” to which he refers are related to weather control technology, which has been intensely studied by both the U.S. and Russia since the 1950′s and is commonly used today.

Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, May 18, 2011http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110518/164084475.html

08:49 18/05/2011

POLITICS

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will hold a major news conference on May 18 at Russia's Skolkovo research hub. The president's first Q&A session since he took office in 2008 will be broadcast live on federal TV channels at 1pm Moscow Time (09:00 GMT.)

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

The Congress of Russian Commons, a right-wing political and human rights movement, has agreed to cooperate with the All-Russia People's Front, a project of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

(Kommersant)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that an envoy to Muammar Gaddafi told Russian diplomats that the embattled Libyan leader would consider obeying the terms of UN resolutions on the North African country

(The Moscow Times)

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

In 2010, Russian state watchdogs spent 91.2 billion rubles on inspections, but received only 12.5 billion rubles in fines

(Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

The cost of advertising on the Russian Internet will double starting June 1

(Vedomosti)

The Russian Finance Ministry proposed that the government form a list of Federal State Unitary Enterprises that perform "important social and economic functions"

(Kommersant)

Belarus hopes Russia will provide a $3 billion loan in exchange for goods to avert a looming currency crisis, President Alexander Lukashenko said

(Kommersant, The Moscow Times)

OIL & GAS

The $16 billion tie-up between BP and Russia's largest oil firm Rosneft collapsed after the AAR consortium, which represents the owners of half of BP's Russian venture TNK-BP, failed to reach an agreement with BP

(Vedomosti, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Gazprom's board of directors has recommended that the Russian oil giant pay shareholders one fourth of its 2010 income, or 91 billion rubles ($3.2 billion), in dividends. The rate of 3.85 rubles a share (14 cents) is 150 percent more than the company's management had planned

(Vedomosti)

COURTS

Jailed former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev sent a demand to the Russian Investigative Committee on Tuesday to launch a criminal case against Judge Viktor Danilkin, who sentenced them to 14 years imprisonment

(Kommersant)

The deadline of an investigation into the death in custody of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has been extended until August 24, the Russian Investigative Committee said

(Kommersant)

WORLD

International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be held in custody in New York's notorious Rikers Island jail after a U.S. judge denied him bail.

(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

More than 50,000 potential customers submitted advanced orders for Mikhail Prokhorov's Yo-Mobile hybrid in the first 24 hours after Yo-Auto, the joint venture developing the car, started accepting requests on its web site

(The Moscow Times)

SCIENCE

The Russian Academy of Sciences reported on the results of its work in 2010. Yury Osipov, the president of the academy, says scientists carried out international-level research in various spheres

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

DEFENSE

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov reported to President Dmitry Medvedev on recent dismissals and reprimands among directors and officials working in the Russian defense sector

(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

SPORTS

Alexei Nemov, a vice president of the Russian Gymnastics Federation, tells the paper about the problems faced by Russian men's gymnastics ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London

(Rossiisakaya Gazeta)

Kyrgyzstan Looks to Moscow for Rescue from Uzbekistan Gas Rowhttp://www.eurasianet.org/node/63505

May 18, 2011 - 3:36am, by David Trilling

Sometimes the quarrelsome Central Asian republics need a father figure. Lucky for them, Moscow is more than happy to play surrogate. 

Officials in Kyrgyzstan are complaining that Uzbekistan has been illegally stealing gas in a disputed border region since the two countries became independent. 

"The gas issue has been Kyrgyzstan's main headache for 20 years. Today they [Uzbekistan] owe us some $5 million. We should consider this issue and adopt relevant provisions," a parliamentarian from the ruling Social Democratic Party said on May 13, CA-News.org reported. Kyrgyzstan should seek “the return of the underground gas storage facility Severniy Sokh and the Congara-Galcha gas and oil fields located in Batken Region which are being used by the national [oil and gas] holding company, Uzbekneftegaz," deputy Egemberdi Ermatov said. 

Kyrgyzstan has few gas fields and limited technical expertise. So at the same time, officials are lining up an eager partner: Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom.

Also on May 13, Deputy Prime Minister Shamil Atakhanov announced talks with Gazprom to form a new joint venture to supply gas to Kyrgyzstan. The deal will “break our dependence on Uzbek gas,” he said in comments carried by the KyrTAG news agency, and, he hopes, will win Kyrgyzstan back the disputed fields.

"This issue is political to a great extent. We cannot solve it aggressively but patiently within the law. But first, we should not depend on Uzbek gas. Only when there is an alternative, that is a joint venture with Gazprom, can we confidently start talks on the return of these fields," Atakhanov added.

It seems reasonable for Kyrgyzstan to claim its rightful property. The gas in those fields, if the officials are correct, could provide a sizable resource for the poor country. Besides, regional bully Uzbekistan is not a reliable supplier, often using gas as a political lever (random examples here and here) over its poorer neighbors. 

But Kyrgyz officials may wish to consider if Russia, also known for using control over energy supplies to beat former satellites into submission, is winning too much leverage from the deal. Just look at how often Moscow threatens Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with increased oil tariffs. 

Then again, when a country’s remote and resource-poor, it doesn’t have much choice but to rely on someone bigger and stronger. So, for now, Bishkek may have to play stepchild to the Kremlin -- at least, until a sweeter daddy comes along.

18 May 2011 Last updated at 02:12 GMT

Russians learn the art of online shoppinghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13379917

By Konstantin Rozhnov Business reporter, BBC News

For a Western person, the default meaning of "online shopping" includes paying for goods or services via the internet, but in Russia this is far from being the case.

For example, some 80% of transactions at Ozon.ru, a leading Russian online megastore, are in cash, says its director general Maelle Gavet.

"The Russian customers don't feel very comfortable with online transactions," she explains.

They prefer to place an order online, then go to a pick-up point, touch the good, make sure everything is in order and then pay, says Ms Gavet.

Another extremely popular way of shopping online in Russia is to find a website, give them a phone call, have the goods you need (including fridges) delivered by a courier and then pay in cash.

"This is also linked to the fact that credit [and debit] card penetration is much lower in Russia than in the West, and they tend to naturally prefer to pay by cash," says Ms Gavet.

So, how do you teach a nation to shop online properly and without fear

Bad memories

Data Insight, a Russian research agency, estimates that the size of Russia's e-commerce market reached 240bn roubles ($8.5bn, £5.2bn) in 2010, or 1.6% of the country's gross domestic product.

According to the researchers, up to seven million Russians were ordering something via the internet at least once a month last year.

Ms Gavet says that while there are 50 million internet users in Russia, with the number growing by 15-20% every year, only some 20% of them have shopped online at least once.

"It takes years [after you start using the internet] before you start shopping online," she explains.

Data Insight researchers agree: the longer you have been an internet user, the more you earn and the bigger the city you live in (preferably Moscow or St Petersburg), the higher chances are that you will opt for online shopping.

Apart from low penetration of credit and debit cards in Russia, there are other factors that put many Russians off shopping via internet: one of them being bad memories.

When online retail started in Russia several years ago, there were a lot of companies appearing and disappearing overnight, says Ms Gavet.

As a result, "first courageous customers", as she calls them, did not always receive their orders, or the goods were broken, or they were sent the wrong ones.

Incentives

That is why Ozon.ru - ranked second biggest online shop in Russia after food retailer Utkonos.ru by Russian internet company InSales - and others have been working hard to make potential customers believe that they can be trusted.

Among other things, Ozon.ru set up 24/7 call centres "to make people understand that we are real people", says Ms Gavet.

Some companies also resorted to offering discounts to those brave enough to try paying for goods and services via the internet.

For example, to make Russians buy e-tickets, national carrier Aeroflot offered a 3% discount, compared with a several per cent surcharge for those buying tickets in person.

M-Video, a huge high street electronics retailer, went for a 5% discount for people paying for their online orders by card.

Ms Gavet says that Ozon.ru welcomes offline retailer's attempts to establish their solid online presence.

"Competition is good, because we need to educate customers, and Ozon.ru itself will not be able to do it," she says.

Delivery network

While Ozon.ru introduces itself as "The Amazon of Russia", the company admits that there are some huge differences between the two due to the specifics of the Russian market.

For example, the Russian online megastore has been busy setting up its own delivery network - "unlike Amazon who had an amazing chance to have UPS when they started, and the American post", explains Ms Gavet.

Currently, Ozon.ru covers 84 cities directly, and the rest through the Russian Post (Pochta Rossii).

"We are thinking about pushing it further and increasing our own network to be able to reach those regions directly," says Ms Gavet.

No surprise that the move to create the delivery network "was hugely capital intensive".

The company reported that its turnover increased by 34% to $150m (£93m) in 2010, but Ms Gavet says she cannot comment on whether Ozon.com is making any money.

Despite a number of obstacles, the future seems bright for the Russian online retail market.

According to Data Insight's forecast, the number of online shoppers in Russia will increase by 120% over the next five years, with the size of the market jumping 145%.

The researchers add that if some steps are taken to boost the market, rather than it being left to expand on its own, the growth figures will be even higher.

Russia details plan to buy 1,000 military helicopters http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/05/18/356827/russia-details-plan-to-buy-1000-military-helicopters.html

By Vladimir KarnozovDATE:18/05/11SOURCE:Flight International

Russia's defence ministry will buy more than 1,000 new military rotorcraft by the end of this decade, according to Dmitry Petrov, general director of the Russian Helicopters industry group.

While he declined to give an exact number, Petrov says a production plan for the "immediate future" has been accepted by the customer in accordance with Moscow's State Armament Programme 2020.

The agreement calls for "a little over" 100 military helicopter deliveries this year, with the rate to proceed at between 120 and 160 aircraft annually in the coming years, Petrov says. While not all of the expected sales have been turned into firm contracts yet, the defence ministry is expected to finalise several more "quasi-firm" orders later this year.

Following calls from its suppliers, the ministry has moved away from its standard practice of awarding one-year contracts. Instead, it will make long-term agreements with five final assembly plants, in Arseniev, Kazan, Kumertau, Rostov-on-Don and Ulan-Ude.

The first such deal, made with the Rostvertol plant in Rostov-on-Don, was recently signed linked to the Mi-26, Mi-28N and Mi-35M.

According to Petrov, a new helicopter will be available for the Russian navy in 2017-18, with Kamov having already received the required specifications. The same design house will produce "navalised" versions of its Ka-52 reconnaissance and attack and Ka-226 utility helicopters for the service as an interim measure.

Moscow has also allocated funding to develop a Mi-171A2 transport, which Petrov says should obtain certification in 2014. It will also support the use of the Mi-34S1 to support the development of technologies for unmanned helicopters.

Invinciblehttp://rt.com/politics/press/rossijskaya-gazeta/new-missile-system-yars/en/

Published: 18 May, 2011, 02:47Edited: 18 May, 2011, 03:00

Commander of the RSVN talks about the advantages of the new missile system Yury Gavrilov

This announcement was made yesterday by the RSVN Commander, Sergey Karakayev. The formation of the promising forces is taking place along two trajectories. First and foremost, the operational life of the missile systems, which are currently on duty in silos and in the field, is being extended. At the same time, certain units and commands of the RVSN are being re-equipped with more powerful and updated equipment.

First, this applies to the stationary and mobile Topol-M missiles. General Karakayev announced that before the end of this year four more silo-based launch pads will be put on combat duty at the Tatishchevskaya rocket division near Saratov. And the Teikovsky command (Ivanovsk region) is currently receiving the advanced Yars missile system, equipped with RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles. This missile, unlike the Topol, is famous for being able to carry multiple warheads. In March of this year, two Yars divisions were for the first time put on combat duty. They are hoping to get a full regimental set in time for the New Year.

“It is necessary to note the ability of the new missiles to be invincible before the launch due to their mobility, as well as their ability to meet the challenge of breaking through any anti-missile system in the next 15-20 years,” stressed the commander.

Sergey Karakayev went into detail about the technical advantages of the new nuclear weapons complex. Designers have incorporated the types of characteristics into the

rocket that make it invulnerable at all stages of flight – from the launch to the target strike.

In the first phase, which professionals call “active”, the rocket increases speed, which allows the warheads to reach targets located several thousand kilometers away from the launch pad. According to the commander, it is beneficial for the enemy to strike the missile precisely at this phase, while the warhead has not yet separated because, later, each warhead will need to be located and destroyed separately. Moreover, the enemy will need to identify the warheads among an entire cloud of false targets while, at the same time, overcoming the work of active jamming stations, which complicate the search for radar-guided missile defense. The acceleration phase of the RS-24 takes a minimal amount of time; thus the opponent has practically no chance to shoot down the missile within the first few minutes after the launch.

“In this short phase, it vigorously maneuvers, changing altitude and direction and making it impossible for the interceptor to predict the point of contact,” specified Karakayev. “Providing the missile with these features was not an easy task for the designers. It was necessary to create a durable, light-weight construction, powerful engines, and control devices that can accurately function during significant overload. The flight tests, which have been held in the recent years, have confirmed that this problem has been solved.”

The next phase is the exo-atmospheric flight of the warheads. The missile has several warheads, and each one is covered by false targets and active jammers. Moreover, the warheads give off minimal radiation at all wavelengths. Poor radar visibility is guaranteed by special shapes and a coating that absorbs heat rays and radar beams of ground-based search-and-discover stations.

And finally, in the final phase of the trajectory, the atmospheric flight segment, special heavy false targets come into play. They so closely resemble the warheads that not a single missile defense system is able to differentiate them from the real warheads, even when the dummy is only tens of meters from the ground.

It should be noted that the creation of Yars does not contradict Russia’s international obligations and is in line with the restrictions provisioned by the START-3 treaty.

05/17/2011 11:58 AM

Political Limbo Over 2012 Electionhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,762897,00.html

Moscow on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

By Benjamin Bidder in Moscow

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are confusing friends and foes alike with their determined silence on which of them intends to stand as presidential candidate in the 2012 Russian election. Lawmakers, civil servants and business leaders are tearing their hair out over the political limbo.

For years, Gleb Pavlovsky was a common sight in the power corridors of the Kremlin. Some Moscow media referred to him as the "grey cardinal." He pulled strings behind the scenes and was regarded as one of the most influential "political technologists" -- that's what advisors and spin doctors are called in Russia, people who set up political parties and movements on behalf of their masters. They're the mechanics of power and propaganda in the new Russia. Pavlovsky's rise was closely linked to the career of Vladimir Putin. In 1999, the political scientist was one of the intellectual forces behind the foundation of the party Unity from which the Putin Party United Russia later emerged.

But that's over for the time being. Russia's leadership has shown him the door. Pavlovsky's Kremlin pass has been cancelled. He thinks he knows the reason for this: He speculated too publicly about whether Prime Minister Putin or President Dmitry Medvedev would stand in the presidential election in 2012. "I broke the tandem's code of silence: Never say anything about a candidate until they've taken a decision, which is being postponed day by day and month by month," he says.

When Russia commemorated its victory over Nazi Germany on May 9, Medvedev and Putin sat together on the rostrum to watch 20,000 soldiers march past the Kremlin walls. There was no hint of any rivalry, let alone a rift, between the two men. Medvdev even occasionally leaned over to whisper something into Prime Minister's ear. Putin smiled.

A Pact of Silence

Russia's duumvirate has evidently agreed to a pact of silence on the candidacy. Anyone who breaks it faces demotion, like Pavlovsky. The two leaders want to decide on the candidacy themselves -- and to postpone a decision until the end of the year. Kremlin watchers in Moscow can't tell whether the issue has upset the relationship between the two men. But parts of the administration and the political elite are being driven close to a "permanent nervous breakdown," says Vladislav Inozemtsev, director of the Moscow Center for Post-Industrial Studies.

Bureaucrats and political functionaries are confused about whom they should be loyal to: the president, who has been trying to establish a distinctive profile by emphasizing differences with Putin? Or the prime minister, who appeared to be attacking Medvedev when he warned in parliament against "indiscriminate experiments based on an unjustified liberalism."

The uncertainty of the political elite is having bizarre effects. The Duma, the Russian parliament, passed a resolution on the Libyan conflict that somehow managed to encompass the divergent opinions of the prime minister and the president. While Putin had labelled NATO's air attacks as a "crusade" against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Medvedev contradicted his prime minister and defended the United Nations resolution setting up a no-fly zone. The head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee remarked that the parliamentary resolution "will enter the textbooks of diplomacy."

Lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin had the audacity to complain publicly that Medvedev had not aided Libya by vetoing the UN resolution. Shortly after that he was punished, like Pavlovsky: He lost his position as deputy head of a foreign policy parliamentary committee, ostensibly due to a rotation of party posts. Shortly after that an interview Zatulin had given disappeared from a website aligned with the Kremlin. In it, Zatulin had warned that if Putin didn't stand for the presidency, "it would be a disaster for the country," and "treachery."

A Culture of Last-Minute Decisions

In the last 12 years, last-minute traditions have become a political tradition in Russia. On New Year's Eve 1999, then-President Boris Yeltsin suddenly promoted the pale and relatively unknown Putin to become president. At the end of 2007, Putin surprisingly anointed the liberal Medvedev as his successor rather than Sergey Ivanov, who had been the hawks' favorite.

Today, Russia's leadership is cultivating this unpredictability in order to secure the loyalty of a variety of groups for as long as possible. The liberals can still hope that Medvedev will emancipate himself from his political patron Putin. And patriots and Siloviki, as the current and former members of the security services are known, can hope that Putin will put the liberals in their place. But it's impossible to determine whether all this has caused a rift between the prime minister and president.

Meanwhile the Russian economy is suffering from the political limbo. "For us, predictability and political certainty are important," complains Alexander Shokhin, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. For months, Russia has been suffering a massive outflow of capital. In the first quarter of 2011, a total of $21.3 billion left the country, up by a third from the year-earlier period. That is partly due to uncertainty over Russia's future government, and its policies.

Decision Likely After December Duma Elections

At stake is who from 2012 will run the world's biggest country by size, and the second-biggest nuclear power. Will Putin return to the Kremlin, the former KGB officer who has been in government for over a decade now? Under his presidency, Russia regained its confidence and sense of strength, but he also presided over a rise in corruption and nepotism and he failed to lessen Russia's dependence on raw materials exports.

Or will Medvedev go for a second term as president, a man of the liberal wing, who in a SPIEGEL interview described the oil and gas trade as Russia's "drug." Who has been vehemently calling for a modernization of Russia, but has so far made little progress in that regard.

A decision on who will stand for the presidency is likely after the parliamentary elections in December. If Putin's party, United Russia, does well and Putin secures a comfortable majority in the Duma, he could remain on as a powerful prime minister, and Medvedev could stay on as president. Putin has already hinted that he isn't especially interested in foreign policy anymore, traditionally one of the most important functions of the Russian president.

The party came under pressure in the last regional elections. According to an opinion poll by the respected Lewada Center, 31 percent of the population sees United Russia as a "party of thieves and crooks."

If the party fails to get an absolute majority in the election, Putin might want to return to the Kremlin to consolidate his power base.

The upcoming elections are important for Putin, Pavlovsky believes, because they could be the last elections for him and his aides who came to power with him in 2000. "In the coming six years the team will have to prepare its withdrawal," says Pavlovsky.

Putin recently declared: "The country needs a decade of stable and calm development." He has been scoring points with the stability motto for the past 10 years, not least because many Russians suffered steep declines in their standard of living during the 1990s. After the turmoil of that decade, they yearned not for reforms or a greater political say, but for quiet and modest prosperity.

Regardless of who will be Russia's next president, there are signs that, in the future, people will expect more from their leaders than mere promises of stability. In early May, the entertainment magazine Afisha published the results of a poll of Moscow pupils about to finish high school. The students are 16 and 17 years old and grew up in Putin's Russia. The survey may not be representative, but it should still give Russian leaders pause for thought. A total of 52 percent of pupils believe Russia's situation will worsen in the future. More alarming yet for Putin and Medvedev: 54 percent would prefer to emigrate.

MOSCOW BLOG - Putin for president?http://www.bne.eu/storyf2685/MOSCOW_BLOG__Putin_for_president

bne May 18, 2011

Vladimir Putin is coming back as president in the March 2012 elections – or so everyone is saying after he announced in May that he was forming a new electoral bloc, the All-Russian National Front. But I don't get it. While it's clear this bloc is desperately needed if the Kremlin is to stand any chance of winning even half the vote in the Duma elections in December, I don’t see why this necessarily means Putin will end up as president in the March 2012 elections. That is one of the options open to him, but it's not a given nor even likely.

Putin gave two important speeches that set off a cacophony of comment that he has “shown his hand” and will “definitely” come back as president next year. The first was his annual report, as prime minister, to the Duma on April 20. He used this occasion as an excuse to showcase the many (real) achievements that the government has overseen in the last decade and present his vision for a strong, resistant country that is not beholden to any "unjustified liberalism". A stab at President Dmitry Medvedev? More on this below.

The second speech was at the regional conference of the ruling United Russia on May 6 (which Putin heads, despite not being a member) where he presented the idea of floating a new All-Russian National Front election platform, which would be an alliance of a range of trade unions, women's groups, social organisations and other semi-political organisations (that have all shown themselves to be pro-Kremlin in the past.) It was this idea that really convinced the pundirazzi that Putin has presidential ambitions.

The first thing to understand is that, despite all the criticism, Russia is half way towards becoming a democracy: party politics really matter, even if they are not as important as in the West where they are the only thing that matters.

Put it this way: even the Kremlin knows the ruling party can't claim to win 90% of the vote as happened in Kazakhstan and Belarus recently – the people wouldn't stand for it. If the Kremlin organised this sort of result (which it is completely capable of doing), you would quickly have at the least mass demonstrations – doubly so these days, as the dissatisfaction with the government is palpable. Moreover, the Kremlin has made it abundantly clear on several occasions it dare not stoke the popular dissent fire – remember how fast it back-peddled when it tried to make OAPs pay for their bus passes a few years ago?

Instead, in Russia's "managed democracy" citizens don't have a free choice, but they have some choice and the Kremlin needs to convince a large amount of them to vote for the government (it removed the "against all" option off ballot papers at the last general election). And after a decade of economic recovery and rising living standards, a significant number of people are actually willing to vote for the powers that be. All said and done, both Putin and Medvedev are genuinely popular.

The rub is exactly how many people you can fool all of the time, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, and that is what is behind Putin's speeches: the number of people willing to be fooled is falling fast.

Follow the money

In business you can judge the success of corporate strategy by looking at the numbers; success is finely judged in terms of dollars, nickels and dimes, and as market forces mean that costs and demand are relatively stable and quantifiable, you can usually make extremely accurate forecasts of how a strategy will do.

Politics is a different matter. As the fundamental unit is not a dollar, but the whim of the voter on election day, the business of forecasting elections is a lot harder. Voters' decisions are one part rational (hiking pensions will win votes and so is predictable), and one part sentiment (climbing about in Siberia with your T-shirt off may win votes, but not necessarily). Politicians have to play on both these forces to get the job of their dreams.

And so do political commentators: a good op-ed will cover the rational aspects, but mix them up with the irrational elements and sprinkle in a good dose of old-fashioned rhetoric, wander off into ideology, paint character portraits and indulge in some mud raking. Politicians understand this and the great ones are masters of manipulating journalists' appetites to create an image they think they can sell to the public. That's why opinion polls and focus groups are so important in modern politics.

With its super majority in the Duma, the Kremlin has full control of the rational part of politics (pensions were hiked by 50% at the start of this year and teachers were the latest group to enjoy voting winnings pay rises). Moreover, with oil at over $100 a barrel, the government has plenty of money to buy lots of popularity. The difficulty is that it has lost the sentimental part of the vote so completely that the government can't even ensure it will win a simple majority in December.

United Russia as a party is bankrupt. Widely known as "the party of crooks and thieves", it no longer has any legitimacy with the masses. Indeed, according to bne sources in Nizhny Novgorod, United Russia came third in regional elections this March – not first as announced – and the election was actually won by the Communists. And this was after the ruling powers used every dirty trick in the book to push their cause. If the regional elections in March were a curtain raiser for December's poll, United Russia wouldn't even get a simple majority. In other words, the Kremlin is facing a political crisis of the first order.

The introduction of the All-Russian National Front is Putin's rescue plan. The timing looks about right too: six months is enough time to build up a campaign based on hype into a crescendo, but not so long that you have to build anything of substance.

Depending on the Duma

How important is it to the government to win not just a majority of seats in the Duma in December, but a constitutional majority – over 60% – that would allow the prime minister to change the constitution at whim? Based on the last Duma elections in 2007, it is of paramount importance.

United Russia easily won a large majority last time round (of course, by making full use of the gamut of administrative resources). However, it fell short of winning a constitutional majority by a few percentage points and statisticians convincingly showed that some 14m votes were stuffed into ballot boxes to take the party over the magic threshold. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the elections were not up to international standards. Still, the fix was relatively small and so the elections passed off without incident.

That won't be the case this time round. United Russia is a political zombie and the fix will have to be on a massive scale if it is to win the constitutional majority again on its own (the regional elections in March were clearly a travesty). And if the Kremlin attempts to pretend that United Russia has won a landslide, it will be taking a very big risk.

The Front is an aggressive move to fix this political problem. Everything will depend on the plan's success and there are several possible outcomes at voting time:

1. Kremlin's party proxies win a clear constitutional majority and ZAO Kremlin continues business as usual.

2. Kremlin's party proxies almost win a clear constitutional majority and there is some fixing, but it is small enough that no-one gets too upset.

3. Kremlin's party proxies win a simple majority and there is massive vote rigging to give them a constitutional majority. This may or may not end up in popular protests, but will certainly bring down more international condemnation and also raise political tensions.

4. Kremlin's party proxies win a simple majority and the Kremlin accepts it. In this case, Russia takes a giant step towards real democracy and President Medvedev's vision of a modern Russia.

What will Putin do in each of these cases? In the first scenario, there is no reason why Putin should not stay on as PM. He has control of the levers of real power in Russia and also of the day-to-day running of government. And same is true in the second case for the same reasons.

His choice is more difficult in the third case, as while he still controls all the reins of power, he will head essentially an illegitimate government. If the people rebel against the election, then Putin will be held personally responsible. This would destroy his personal popularity, which is the cornerstone of his hold on power, and hence he will also become vulnerable to attacks by the oligarchs and other Kremlin factions. The temptation to leave

the PM's job and take back his old job as president would be high.

The dream scenario would be where the Kremlin accepts a simple majority and Putin stays on as PM, relying on his popular mandate to keep him in his job, rather than the constitution where he has the ability to strip the president of his powers if Medvedev tries to sack him. Then the rest of the world should shout "Hosanna!", as Russia would have taken a giant step towards true democracy.

But the dream scenario is unlikely. The Kremlin has made it clear it will allow more political pluralism (that was the whole point of hiring Medvedev as president rather than Sergei Ivanov in 2008), but only when Russia becomes more prosperous. The Kremlin has also made it abundantly clear that it wants to make this transition slowly.

Both Medvedev and Putin have explicitly said they are afraid of repeating the mistake of perestroika , where Mikhail Gorbachev enacted political reform before economic reform, and when his mild economic reforms failed, the whole loosening process spun out of control. Putin's plan is to do the economic reforms first and when Russia is prosperous, then to start on the political changes.

The other half

And what of Medvedev? The press is leaping on any contradictory comment the president makes as evidence of a "split" between the two men, speculating that Medvedev might mount a "real" challenge to Putin in the 2012 presidential race.

Commenting on Russian politics over most of the last two decades has all been about understanding the personalities. However, while the 1990s were all about raw power, the naughties were about policy; a lot more people are involved in running Russia these days and the debate they are having matters. As party politics develop, pundits are having a difficult time of kicking old habits and seeing Russian politics as anything but a scrap between "bulldogs under the carpet."

It is not impossible that Medvedev has developed a taste for power, but it seems more likely that he has been carefully chosen to bolster the Kremlin's appeal to the electorate. Russian society is rapidly dividing into the those that yearn for the certainties of the past – the old and state employees – and those with their eyes on the future – the young, the entrepreneurs and the emerging middle class, some 100m people by some counts. Putin cannot appeal to both groups at once, but by setting up Medvedev as the modernist reformer, he gives the broadest sections of society a candidate they can believe in, while keeping the actual power within confines of the Kremlin's control.

However, it is possible that Medvedev could be ousted. Over the last four years, a liberal camp of businessmen and government officials has grown up around the president who want to go faster. With per-capita GDP at $15,900 at the end of 2010, according to the CIA Factbook, Russia is prosperous and the Kremlin could start easing its control now, but it appears Putin is not ready yet (and this may turn out to be his greatest political

misjudgement).

In order to defang this alternative power centre, there are persistent rumours in Moscow that Putin will stay on as PM, but put someone else in as president – new Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has been mentioned as a candidate. But is this group a real threat? The liberal businessmen have by definition made their fortunes by not playing the government game. Given that Putin has successfully contained massive state interests like Rosneft and Gazprom, surely a collective of supermarket owners is not going to pose a threat? Moreover, their main ability to make mischief would be to persuade Medvedev to sack Putin, but it is widely assumed that Medvedev himself remains a member of Putin's group, not his own.

Nevertheless, Russia's elite is clearly extremely nervous and the capital flight of 1990s has returned in the last six months. There was $9bn of real inbound foreign direct investment in (FDI) the first quarter of this year, but $19bn of outbound FDI – double the amount a year earlier – which strongly suggests Russia's top dogs are putting something aside just in case. Bottom line is that like the last election cycle, the Duma elections, not the presidential elections, will be the crucial event and everything hangs on how successful Putin is in persuading enough Russians to vote for this All-Russian National Front coalition to give it a fig leaf of legitimacy.

Russians worry Siberians could follow the path of UkrainiansToday at 11:02 | Paul Goble Siberians may follow the path of the Ukrainians and seek independent statehood, some Moscow commentators believe, but whether they do is still an open question, the answer to which depends as much as on the Russians themselves as on those who are now identifying themselves as “Sibiryaki.”

In the latest broadcast of the “Nationality Question” program of “Komsomolskaya Pravda,” the two hosts, Elena Khanga and Dmitry Steshin note that according to some in Siberia, as many as a third of the residents of that region now identify as Siberians and see their future as separate from or even independent of Russia’s.

The two then discuss with their guest, Egor Kholmogorov, the editor of the “Russky obozrevatel” internet journal, whether the growth in Siberian identity represents a threat to the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and who is to blame for the apparent increase in such an identity over the last few years.

As Khanga points out, “a segment of the Siberians assert that they are distinctive people and, by distinguishing themselves from other nations, can resolve many social, ecological and other problems. And they themselves can define the future of their region and over time cease to be [only] a source of raw materials for Russia.”

Steshin adds that “Siberia always was set apart from the rest of Russia,” at least at the level of “social consciousness.” Because of the way the region was settled, a unique “Siberian mentality” has emerged -- to which Khanga adds that almost 14 percent of the population of the country could identify as Siberians, “an enormous figure.”

Kholmogorov concedes that there is such a possibility, but he says that he “hope that the greater part of them will never write down this nationality or even find out about such an idea,” lest having taken this first step in nation building they take others much as some of the nations of the former Soviet Union did.

To Khanga’s objection that “nationality is not citizenship” and that if people identify in one way rather than another, there is no harm in that, the “Russky obozrevatel” editor replies that everyone must understand that “in today’s world, there is no other territory” which outsiders view with such greedy aspirations.

He then recalls the statement of one former US secretary of state that “Siberia is too large a country to belong to a single state,” a clear indication in his mind of what the West intends and of the West’s role in promoting this particular national “identity” as a first step to taking Siberia away from Russia.

Steshin then suggests another approach to the problem of Siberian identity. In his view, Russians themselves are to blame both by forcing Siberians to pay excessive prices for tickets to travel to European Russia and by depriving them of the assistance they need both in normal times and during natural disasters like the forest fires of last year.

He adds that the appearance of a Siberian language is “a very serious provocation which touches the depths of the sub-consciousness,” although appended to the article is a comment by the language’s developer that he came up with the idea of such a language as a lark and has been surprised by the interest in it.

According to Kholmogorov, Ukrainian was once invented in much the same way by Mihailo Hurushevsky, and consequently, the Russian commentator argues, the appearance of such a language, however artificial, has the potential to create real problems for the state down the road.

That is especially likely in the Siberian case, Kholmogorov suggests, because Russian identity is no longer highly values and the asymmetric nature of Russian Federalism means that non-Russians have many benefits and powers that ethnic Russians do not, even in places where they are the overwhelming majority.

Consequently, he concludes, what some may now dismiss as a bad joke may prove to be something more and more disturbing if Russians do not wake up to the danger that such an identity represents for their country and for their nation, one that could cost their country even more than did the departure of Ukraine.

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia, he can be contacted directly at paul.goble@gmail.com. You can read all his blog entries at http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/

Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/104647/#ixzz1Mgpu4jKF

National Economic Trends

PRESS: Russian govt to curb power price growth at 8%–9% in 2011http://www.prime-tass.com/news/_PRESS_Russian_govt_to_curb_power_price_growth_at_89_in_2011/0/%7B34F6E77C-2135-43D5-81F0-2E60D0FE883E%7D.uif

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

Eurasia Drilling, Uralkali, Sberbank: Russian Equity Previewhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-17/eurasia-drilling-uralkali-sberbank-russian-equity-preview.html

By Marina Sysoyeva - May 17, 2011 10:02 PM GMT+0200

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

Russia’s 30-stock Micex Index (INDEXCF) fell 0.9 percent to 1,608.66 yesterday. The dollar-denominated RTS Index dropped 0.9 percent to 1,828.89.

Eurasia Drilling Co. (EDCL LI): The oilfield services company is expected to issue an update on first quarter revenue. The company added 0.8 percent to $30.15 in London.

OAO Uralkali (URKA) : Uralkali’s board is set to make a decision on dividends. The Russia’s largest potash producer by market value fell 2 percent to $38 in London.

OAO Sberbank (SBER03 RX): The deputy chairman of Russia’s biggest lender, Stanislav Kuznetsov, will speak on the bank’s strategic and priority projects at a briefing in Moscow, according to an e-mailed statement. The shares declined 1.7 percent to 96.38 rubles.

OAO Gazprom (GAZP RX): Russia’s Finance Ministry is proposing a higher gas extraction tax for companies that own gas pipelines than those that don’t have access,

Interfax said, citing Deputy Minister Sergei Shatalov. Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly, added 0.2 percent to 198.91 rubles. OAO Novatek, Russia’s biggest independent gas producer, dropped 1.9 percent to 339.05 rubles.

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

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

Inter RAO UES wraps up additional share offering

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110518112837.shtml

      RBC, 18.05.2011, Moscow 11:28:37.Russia's monopoly electric power export and import operator Inter RAO UES said in a statement today it has completed placement of 49.44% of its additional share issue. All in all, 6.82 trillion ordinary shares of a total of 13.8 trillion shares were placed at a price of RUB 5.35 per share (approx. USD 0.19). Therefore, the company placed shares worth a total of RUB 365bn (approx. USD 12.98bn).

      Of the total shares placed, 1.53 trillion were paid for in cash and 5.29 trillion were paid using assets. The purpose of the additional share offering was to consolidate into Inter RAO UES the government's stakes in power generating companies which were not divested after the electric power monopoly Unified Energy System (RAO UES of Russia) was wound up in 2008.

Rostelecom May Buy Sky Link From Svyazinvest, Vedomosti Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-18/rostelecom-may-buy-sky-link-from-svyazinvest-vedomosti-says.html

By Anna Shiryaevskaya - May 18, 2011 7:03 AM GMT+0200

OAO Rostelecom, Russia’s dominant long-distance phone company, may buy Sky Link, a wireless business, from OAO Svyazinvest, Vedomosti reported today, citing Rostelecom Chief Executive Officer Alexander Provotorov.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@bloomberg.net

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

Russian delegations to visit Pakistan in July for PSMhttp://www.steelguru.com/middle_east_news/Russian_delegations_to_visit_Pakistan_in_July_for_PSM/205638.html

Wednesday, 18 May 2011Mr Saleem H Mandviwala chairman Board of Investment as saying that a Russian firm Russian Technologies will visit in July this year to discuss modalities in connection with the expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills. This expansion project involves an investment of USD 540 million to expand the production of steel by PSM.

He said that another Russian company will visit Pakistan in next two months to suggest on the revival of Pakistan Railways. Similarly, Russian gas giant Gazprom will also visit Pakistan in next three months to negotiate for expanding drilling for oil and gas and for laying gas pipelines particularly, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan Pakistan gas pipeline and Iran and Pakistan gas pipeline.

He said these decisions have been made during the visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to Russia where he invited Russian businessmen and large companies to invest in Pakistan.

Mr Mandviwala said that this is the first ever visit of any elected President to Russian in the last 37 years. Lots of Russian delegations will come to Pakistan as Russian leadership including Mr Dmitry Medvedev president of Russia have asked Russian conglomerates to invest in steel, energy, oil and gas sector in Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan has signed four memorandum of understanding with Russians for cooperation in energy, dams and railway projects. BoI has also inked MoU with its Russian counterpart National Investment Company for cooperation to attract investment in Pakistan.

Mr Mandviwala said that BoI will extend all support to Pakistani IT sector for collaboration with Indian IT companies. A delegation of PASHA has held a meeting with him to discuss the possibilities for cooperation with Indian companies.

(Sourced from Associated Press of Pakistan)

Leviev Sells 18% Stake in Angola Diamond Mine, Kommersant Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-18/leviev-sells-18-stake-in-angola-diamond-mine-kommersant-says.html

By Anna Shiryaevskaya - May 18, 2011 7:09 AM GMT+0200

Lev Leviev sold his 18 percent stake in Alrosa Co. Ltd.’s Catoca diamond mine in Angola to China Sonangol International Ltd., Kommersant reported, citing a letter by

Fyodor Andreyev, chief executive officer of the Russian diamond producer to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.

Leviev sold his stake for about $400 million, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified person.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@bloomberg.net

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

May 18, 2011 11:38

Nordgold's 2011 investment program comes to $304 mlnhttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=244381

MOSCOW. May 18 (Interfax) - OJSC Severstal's (RTS: CHMF) gold production division, Nordgold N.V., plans to expand its investment program for this year to $304 million in comparison with the program for 2010, the company said in a presentation.

A total of $129 million from this amount will go to geological survey operations.

The company also confirmed its gold production forecast for this year at up to 840,000 ounces.

The average production cost per ounce of gold came to $603 in the first quarter (down 5% year-on-year).

The company's net profit for the first quarter came to $95.6 million.

Nordgold closed the quarter with $244 million in sales revenue. In addition, Nordgold's EBITDA came to $135 million while the EBITDA margin reached 55.3%

Severstal has steel, coal, iron ore and gold assets in Russia, North America, Europe and Ukraine. It holds licenses to brownfield and greenfield iron ore projects in Karelia and Krasnoyarsk in Russia, and in Liberia, Congo and Gabon.

Severstal's main beneficiary is its general director, Alexei Mordashov, with more than 82% of shares. About 17.1% are in free float.

Ih

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

Investments into Arkhangelsk mining industry to boost by 2,5 timeshttp://barentsnova.com/node/1091

May 18 2011

The future of mining industry in Arkhangelsk stands for diamonds and deep processing of basalt and peat, says the Arkhangelsk Ministry on Natural Resources and considers tax benefits for the local manufacturers. The investments into the industry branch are to reach 5 bln Rub in 2011.

The Ministry's report reads that in 2010, the production growth exceeded 20% within the branch, while the regional budget enjoyed over 108 mln RUB of tax revenues.

In 2010, there were 1,9 bln RUB invested into local mining manufacturing facilities, whereas 2011 expects investments of over 5 bln RUB thanks to diamond-producing companies.

Arkhangelsk region is the richest in deposits of basalt in the North-West Russia, reports dvinaland.ru. In the areas of Plesetsky and Onezhsky, there have been proven to contain over 600 mln cu.m. (over 2 bln tons) of basalt deposits. It is believed however that that the deposits may exceed 1 bln cu.m. Basalt is known to be the material for ultra-thin fiber used as insulant.

Peat deposits exceed 1 bln tons in the Arkhangelsk region; the prediction calculations claim the resources to reach over 11 bln tons (5% of all Russia-wide deposits volumes). Nonetheless, the only local peat producer is Solvichegodsky peat briquette plant that fails to find a stable market for its production thus operating once in a while. Meanwhile the peat can serve as alternative fuel and contribute to the regional programme on modernisation of energy industry, reports the website of the Arkhangelsk regional Government. The peat may come as an alternative to imported coal and residual oil.

Arkhangelsk diamonds are hard to reach. The diamond fields are located in swampy areas; flows of mud are washed down into bores drilled in the deposit area. The expensive field development and crisis-stricken drop in diamond prices pushed De Beers to backtrack from the 49,9% deal on Verkhotinskoye field with Arkhangelsk Geological Enterprise in early 2009. However, a field of Lomonosovskoye attracted attention of another miner - Rio Tinto. According to Financial Times, Rio Tinto is understood to be the be a final contender to tie up partnership with a state-owned Alrosa. The preliminary calculations claim that Lomonosvskoye contains about 130 mln of carats.

Norilsk board recomends 180 roubles dividendhttp://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFLDE74H06P20110518

Wed May 18, 2011 6:13am GMT

MOSCOW May 18 (Reuters) - The board of Russian group Norilsk Nickel GKMN.MM, the world's biggest nickel and palladium producer, has recommended a dividend of 180 roubles per share.

The move supported a proposal by the company's management last week.

Norilsk launched a $4.5 billion share buyback programme at the end of last year as tycoon Vladimir Potanin sought to marginalise rival Oleg Deripaska in a long-running boardroom battle. [ID:nLDE6BS0AA]

Deripaska has clashed frequently with Potanin over Norilsk's strategy and, in particular, over the return of cash to shareholders through buybacks rather than dividends.

Deripaska's aluminium company UC RUSAL O486.HK has a 25 percent stake in Norilsk. In December, it turned down a $13 billion offer from Norilsk to buy out the stake and another in March to buy 20 percent for $12.8 billion [ID:nN28259601] [ID:nLDE7222AH].

Sources have said the cash-rich miner might scrap its 2010 dividend to fund the share buyback. This was seen as a potential blow to Deripaska, as he would not have received funds to help cut debt at RUSAL.

Last year Deripaska wanted Norilsk to pay 110 percent of its net profit, or $3 billion, in dividends for 2009. But Norilsk paid 50 percent of net profit. (Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys; Editing by Dan Lalor)

GE gas turbines to provide power for Sochi, Russiahttp://www.yourrenewablenews.com/ge+gas+turbines+to+provide+power+for+sochi,+russia_63483.html

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

GE (NYSE: GE) today announced it will supply two advanced technology aeroderivative gas turbines that will help to power the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The latest in a series of gas turbine orders received by GE in recent months, the project underscores a strong global demand for flexible, cost-effective and efficient electricity generation.

“As more gas discoveries are announced, and gas prices remain favorable, customers in many key areas of the world, such as Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Japan, are turning to gas-fired power plants to address their immediate and longer-term needs for cleaner, reliable power generation”

GE will supply two LMS100 PB aeroderivative units, featuring GE’s latest emissions technology, to provide both base load and peak load power for the Olympics. A key benefit of the new technology: the units can start up in less than 10 minutes, about the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee.

This latest announcement showcases GE’s leadership position in the global heavy-duty and aeroderivative gas turbine industry. GE currently has nearly 10,000 gas turbines in operation, and they recently surpassed a combined 300 million hours of global operation. GE’s ability to rapidly deploy turbines in response to customer needs in key areas including China, Russia, Japan, Brazil, India and Africa is fueling demand.

Gas turbine plants can produce power ranging from 16-480 megawatts and run on a portfolio of flexible fuels, including natural gas, flare gas, mine gas and even landfill gas. GE is bringing this flexible, efficient technology to a range of clients, from hospitals to the Olympics, resulting in higher thermal efficiency and lower emissions compared to earlier technologies.

“As more gas discoveries are announced, and gas prices remain favorable, customers in many key areas of the world, such as Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Japan, are turning to gas-fired power plants to address their immediate and longer-term needs for cleaner, reliable power generation,” said Steve Bolze, CEO of GE Power & Water. “With a legacy of more than half a century of gas turbine experience and technology development, GE remains committed to supplying high-technology solutions for our customers.”

Year-to-Date Highlights

GE has announced several significant 2011 gas turbine projects, including:

Secured contracts totaling more than $500 million, supplying 21 gas turbines and equipment for the expansions of four power plants in Saudi Arabia

Supplying four gas turbines (generating approximately 450 megawatts) to Sravanthi Energy, a private power developer in India, for a new power plant in the Northern Indian city of Kashipur

GE provided Aero TM2500 mobile generating units to help customers in Oman, Bangladesh and Japan meet emergency power needs

Providing six heavy-duty gas turbines to help Japan meet its future power needs

Supplying an Aero gas turbine-generator and steam turbine for Palmet Enerji’s plant in

Turkey

Three Aero gas turbines are being supplied for a new plant in China, operating on industrial waste gas, turning a previously harmful gas into energy

GE and China Huadian Corporation signed a joint collaboration agreement for distributed energy combined heat and power projects in China, supporting rapid growth across the country

Aero reached milestone with the 1,000th GE LM6000 gas turbine shipped to Black Hills Corp.

Source: Business Wire

VTB eyes "sizeable" stake in Generalihttp://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/17/idINLDE74G1LZ20110517

Tue, May 17 2011

* Generali was cornerstone investor in VTB share sale

* VTB mulls insurance JV with Generali in Russia

(Adds details, quotes, background)

By Darcy Lambton

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Russia's second-biggest lender VTB (VTBR.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) wants a "sizeable" stake in Italy's Generali (GASI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) following the insurer's investment in VTB earlier this year, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Generali, Europe's third-largest insurer, bought nearly 1 precent of VTB, putting $300 million into the lender's $3.3 billion secondary share placement in February and helping it to kick off Russia's latest privatisation drive. [ID:nLDE71D07N]

"Generali was one of the largest investors during our SPO and VTB... might look at Generali as well. It is too early to comment further but it definitely should be some sizeable amount," Andrei Kostin told Reuters Insider TV on Tuesday.

Kostin added that VTB is also in talks with Generali on a possible insurance joint venture in Russia, where VTB operates through an insurance unit that ranks in country's top 30 by assets.

"It depends on specific terms but I would put more than 50 percent on the success of these discussions," Kostin said.

Generali, with a market value slightly exceeding VTB's, has with operations in France, Germany, east Europe and Asia and competes with France's Axa (AXAF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Germany's Allianz (ALVG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research).

DIGESTING ACQUIRED ASSETS

VTB, which recently paid around $4 billion for stakes in domestic rivals TransCreditBank (TCB) and Bank of Moscow (MMBM.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), plans to develop both organically and through acquisitions but is not planning any major deals at the moment.

"I think it is time for us to digest these two acquisitions and to streamline the process to make these two acquisitions a success, and then think about the next steps," Kostin said.

Kostin reiterated that VTB plans to increase its holdings in both banks to 100 percent but gave no timeframe.

VTB bought 43.2 percent of TCB last year, which helped the state-owned lender to increase its gross loan portfolio by 20.2 percent. Excluding TCB, VTB's loan book grew by 12.2 percent in last year. [ID:nLDE73Q08T]

VTB's subsequent bid to take over Bank of Moscow turned into a tough battle for control with the former management of Russia's No.5 bank which had close ties with the capital's ousted mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

"We are in negotiations with the previous management who control some non-core assets, which were financed by Bank of Moscow," Kostin said without elaborating.

"As a part of the transaction we might get as much as 22 percent of shares of Bank of Moscow against the loans already provided. That means that we will effectively have a large majority stake controlling the bank."

(Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Erica Billingham)

((ekaterina.golubkova@reuters.com, +7 495 775 1242)) Keywords: VTB/

(C) Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.

VTB may buy a stake in Generali

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15375

Renaissance CapitalMay 18, 2011

Event: Yesterday (17 May), Reuters published an interview with VTB CEO Andrei Kostin, in which he makes the following statements:

* Kostin did not exclude the possibility of VTB acquiring a stake in Generali. To recap, the Italian insurer recently took an approximately 1% stake in VTB during the latter's SPO in February. According to Kostin, VTB's investment should be "some sizeable amount." VTB may also create a JV with Generali, to develop its Russian insurance business.

* An update on domestic acquisitions: Kostin reiterated that VTB plans to increase its stakes in TransCreditBank and Bank of Moscow (BoM) to 100%, but gave no time frame. He added that VTB is in negotiations with former members of BoM's management team who control some non-core assets that were financed by BoM. According to Kostin, VTB might get as much as a 22% stake in BoM against the loans already provided.

Action: The Generali news is moderately negative for VTB, in our view. Acquiring a 22% of BoM against loans would be a positive scenario for VTB, in our view, but execution will be key.

Rationale: Although we believe it is too early to evaluate the likelihood and impact of a potential deal with Generali, we generally would view a sizeable equity holding in a non-core foreign asset on VTB's balance sheet as negative. Regarding the plans to increase the stake in BoM by means of repossessing assets against previously provided loans: this would be a positive outcome, in our view, but there is no guarantee that it will be delivered as planned.

Svetlana Kovalskaya

FSU Banks Quarterly

http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15375

Renaissance CapitalMay 18, 2011

* Loan growth: Moderate in 1Q11, in line with the seasonal pattern. At a sector level, QoQ loan growth ranged from +0.7% (Kazakhstan) to +2.7% (Ukraine). Vozrozhdenie

was the regional growth champion in 1Q11 (+9.3% QoQ), while Kazakh banks continued lagging behind and Bank of Georgia had a rather muted 1Q11 in terms of loan growth (+0.6% QoQ on a standalone basis). In Russia, the retail segment was driving growth (+2.6% vs +2.2% QoQ in the corporate segment). In contrast with continued deposit inflows, lending growth in Kazakhstan remained sluggish.

* Asset quality: Russia's Sberbank saw a net write-back of reserves in 1Q11 (under RAS), while asset quality issues still linger in Kazakhstan. Russian sector non-performing loans (NPL) are declining: from a recent peak of 6.7% NPLs were down to 5.5% in 1Q11 (Central Bank of Russia definition). In Kazakhstan, 1Q11 total loans overdue on the sector level increased from 30.1% to 32.9%, even as the NPL-proxy remained steady at 32.8% (22.8% excluding the restructured banks). No major write-offs occurred during 1Q11 as banks are waiting to sell-off bad loans through the distressed assets fund (DAF). In Georgia, NPLs appear to have largely stabilised at the sector level, and Bank of Georgia's management sees upside risk to its earnings guidance for 2011 from potentially lower provisions.

* NIM: Mixed trends. 1Q11 in Russia saw the ongoing rollover of expensive term deposits for cheaper ones (this started in late 2010), while lending rates trended further down vs 4Q10. Following two consecutive interest rate hikes by the Central Bank of Russia YtD, we expect the negative trend in lending rates to reverse in 2011, to the benefit of NIMs. In Kazakhstan, the dynamic is also mixed: KKB expects margin compression of around 80 bpts (on an adjusted basis). At the same time, we expect further improvement in Halyk's NIM in 2011, after it increased by 20 bpts in 4Q10 to 6.1%, on our estimates. After BCC saw a major shrinkage of the NIM to a mere 1.3% in 4Q10, our main concern remains on the side of margin erosion and whether the bank can recover to more sustainable rate levels. Bank of Georgia saw its NIM decline by 80 bpts QoQ in 1Q11 to a still very respectable 7.1%, with the drop attributed to growing excess liquidity at the bank.

* Results: Russian banks to start reporting 1Q11 IFRS results this week. Vozrozhdenie will be the first to report (19 May), followed by Sberbank (23-31 May); NOMOS is tentatively scheduled for 6 June, while VTB and BSPB are expected to report in early June as well. We think Sberbank's results will be expectedly strong, with earnings close enough to RAS (RUB83.9bn) and we hope to get an update on the bank's DR plans (the launch is planned for June). Vozrozhdenie's numbers may disappoint the market since, despite strong loan growth, we do not expect Vozrozhdenie to deliver the long-awaited NIM recovery. At NOMOS, we expect 1Q11 results (the first set of numbers post-IPO) to be solid, with a management roadshow set to follow the release of its results - this should further support the stock, in our view. In Kazakhstan, banks are expected to report their 1Q11 results in late May-June.

Czech investors to build new poultry complex in Russiahttp://www.worldpoultry.net/news/czech-investors-to-build-new-poultry-complex-in-russia-8885.html

//18 May 2011 Czech investors are planning to take part in a new large-scale construction project of a poultry complex in the Saratov region of Russia.

The initiative will be implemented by the Russian company Agrotechnologies. The general contractor of construction works is a Czech company, Vitkovice Revmont. The project was approved by the Board of Investments under the governor of the region.

The total output of the new poultry complex with a full production cycle will be about 31.5 thousand tonnes of poultry. The expected volume of investments is more than 10.7 billion rubles ($380 mln.) Annual tax payments to budgets of all levels will be more than 700 million rubles ($24.8 mln.) The project will be implemented until 2015.

"This complex will produce more poultry meat than is currently produced in the Saratov region. It should be said that nowadays we are working on another competing project – the construction of “Michailovski” poultry farm, which should triple the production volume and bring it up to 29 tons until 2014. This two projects will allow regional producers to fully meet the poultry needs of the region," said Pavel Ipatov, governor of Saratov region.

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

Rosneft to seek new Arctic partners after BP deal flophttp://en.rian.ru/business/20110518/164086273.html

12:13 18/05/2011

MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's top oil producer Rosneft will look for new partners after its proposed $16 billion Arctic shelf development deal with BP fell through on Tuesday, Kommersant business daily quoted a Rosneft source as saying on Wednesday.

The source said the state-run firm "was exiting the BP deal because of the unacceptable terms put forward by AAR", the consortium representing BP's partners in its local venture TNK-BP.

BP and Rosneft wanted to buy AAR's share in TNK-BP for $32 billion but had failed to do so before the deadline to finalize the BP-Rosneft deal expired on Tuesday, Kommersant quoted the source as saying.

Rosneft has already received proposals on Arctic development from Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Indian and Chinese companies, Vedomosti business daily said.

In January, Rosneft and BP agreed on a share swap in which Rosneft was to exchange 9.5 percent of its stock for 5 percent in BP. The deal, supported by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, also included plans to jointly develop oil production in the Russian Arctic.

The deal was blocked by a court injunction following legal action by AAR, which said the BP-AAR shareholder agreement obliged BP to ask for TNK-BP's approval before BP could get involved in any Russian project.

Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko also said late on Tuesday that Rosneft would be looking for a new partner and that the failed deal did not harm Rosneft or Russia.

"It is very important for us that we get access to most modern technologies for shelf development," he told a news conference. He also said Rosneft would soon publish its Arctic development program.

Shmatko said cooperation between Rosneft and BP could continue, however.

May 17, 2011 21:36

Yamal-LNG project could be alternative to South Stream - Russian energy ministerhttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=244336

MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - Russia is considering the possibility of using the Yamal-LNG project as an alternative way of supplying natural gas to Europe, as Turkey has still not given the go-ahead to building the South Stream gas pipeline across the Black Sea, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said at a news briefing in Moscow on Tuesday.

"We have still not received final permission for the construction, but, as a matter of fact, we are not going to sit twiddling our thumbs. As you know, we are working out options, such as alternative ways to ship gas to Europe, including through the Yamal-LNG project," Shmatko said.

va

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

Oil price boom lifts Eurasiahttp://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article256814.ece

Soaring oil prices and favourable weather conditions boosted revenues at Russia’s Eurasia Drilling in the first quarter.

Eoin O'Cinneide  18 May 2011 07:08 GMT

The London-listed company also boosted drilling output in the three months to the end of March but stopped short of providing a net profit figure.

Revenues soared 28% from $388 million in the first quarter last year to $498 million this time around. The EBITDA margin slipped, however, from 22.8% to 22.1%.

Moscow-based Eurasia also spent much more heavily on property, plant and equipment, running up a bill of $51 million as against $21 million a year ago.

Drilling output for the quarter shot up over 15% from 854,718 metres to 985,137 metres.

Chief executive Alexander Djaparidze wrote in today’s interim management statement: “We achieved strong growth in our drilling activity of 15.3% during the first quarter of 2011 compared to the corresponding period of 2010 supported by improved oil prices, favorable weather conditions, and our solid customer base”.

Published: 18 May 2011 07:08 GMT  | Last updated: 35 minutes ago

Finance Ministry: differentiate gas MET based on pipeline ownership http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15375

Troika DialogMay 18, 2011

Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said yesterday that his ministry has proposed that gas MET be differentiated from next year between companies that own trunk pipelines and those that do not. Interfax quoted him as saying that companies with access to export markets and pipeline ownership could pay double the MET that independent gas producers pay. This suggests that the ministry still wants to double the MET for Gazprom, while independents would pay MET in line with the inflation rate approved by the Duma last year.

Troika's view: Shatalov's statement suggests that Gazprom's EBITDA would be negatively impacted by about $4.8 bln next year, or 8%, while NOVATEK may come out fully unharmed. While one can easily justify the economics behind the move, and we would be very pleased for NOVATEK should it materialize, we think that there are other ways to extract money from Gazprom. One way could be to make the company cut its bloated capex, reduce unproductive capacity, let all independents in who are eager to

produce much cheaper gas and pay much higher dividends. This appears to be pure fantasy at this stage, though it would clearly be positive for NOVATEK and its associate companies.

On a more positive note, Gazprom announced yesterday that its BoD has recommended a 2010 dividend of R3.85 per share, compared with the management's proposal of just R2.70 per share. The latest proposal would be in line with the 17.5% minimum RAS payout - once stripped of a large non•cash reevaluation loss - that we and most of the market had been expecting, and shows that Gazprom may sometimes heed investor sentiment. The record date was May 12. The dividend yield is 2.0% and the payout is just under 10% of IFRS net income for 2010.

Oleg Maximov

NOVATEK Conference Call Provides Positive Outlook http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15375

AtonMay 18, 2011

* MET increase: Management commented that NOVATEK is involved in all discussions on changing the MET rate and is actively lobbying its interests. The company supports the proposal on a differential MET, which implies that wet gas (which comes from the deeper Valanginian layers and is more expensive to produce) would be taxed at the old rates, rising with inflation. Given that 80% of NOVATEK's gas is wet, the company would only be marginally affected by any MET increases. These comments were partially supported by a report in today's Vedomosti (18 May), which said the Ministry of Finance has proposed introducing a MET increase from 2012 only for companies which own gas pipelines and earn export revenues (i.e. Gazprom).

* No slowdown in gas market liberalisation: NOVATEK believes the government has no plans to change the proposed 15% tariff increase or delay the liberalisation programme. In February, the government extended the gas liberalisation programme by one year to 2015, but reconfirmed the expected price increase. We believe that if the government approves a higher MET rate for gas producers, any slowing of tariff growth is unlikely.

* Yamal LNG project: NOVATEK said that it plans to drill three exploration wells this year to complete the project's geological model. It also intends to start construction on various infrastructure projects this year, including a base camp at the site. We note that yesterday, Bloomberg reported that gas used for the production of LNG will be exempt from MET starting on 1 Jan 2012. We view this as strongly supportive of the Yamal project.

Bottom line

Overall, our views match those of the company and we believe management's comments should be highly supportive of NOVATEK's stock.

Heritage Oil Says Q1 Production In Russia Averaged 431 Bopd - Quick Facts http://www.rttnews.com/Content/QuickFacts.aspx?Id=1626675&SM=1

5/18/2011 2:51 AM ET(RTTNews) - Heritage Oil Plc (HOIL.L: News ) said its production in the first quarter of 2011 in Russia averaged 431 bopd, down 12% from the previous quarter. A temporary problem with power generation, that has since been rectified, caused the decrease in production.

Further development work is being undertaken in 2011 and drilling operations have now commenced on a horizontal well in Zapadno Chumpasskoye Field, Russia. This is the first horizontal well to be drilled in the licence and is expected to achieve a material increase in production. Drilling and completion activities are scheduled to take 60 days.

The company noted that the Miran West-3 well is scheduled to spud in July and will take an estimated 160 days to drill and test. The well is targeting flanks of the Jurassic structure, with the benefit of the current 3D seismic survey. Heritage currently plans to have two rigs drilling in Kurdistan before the end of the year.

Gazprom

Finance Ministry proposes doubling Gazprom's gas royalties

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110518102654.shtml

      RBC, 18.05.2011, Moscow 10:26:54.Russia's Finance Ministry has proposed doubling the royalty tax on natural gas production for Gazprom starting 2012, Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Shatalov told reporters late Tuesday.

      Gazprom holds a monopoly on the country's gas pipeline system, whereas other gas producers have to conclude gas transportation contracts with Gazprom. Therefore, the ministry proposes differentiating the rate of gas royalties for companies that have and do not have access to the pipeline system, according to Shatalov.

Updated Wednesday, May 18, 2011 9:12 pm TWN, AFP

Total and Gazprom join forces to exploit 2 natural gas fields in Boliviahttp://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/global-markets/2011/05/18/302734/Total-and.htm

LA PAZ -- France's Total and Russia's Gazprom are joining forces to exploit two field areas in Bolivia, the head of Bolivia's state oil and gas firm YPFB said Monday.YPFB chief Carlos Villegas said Total and Gazprom would join a consortium set to exploit oilfields in Aquio, in the southeast and Ipati in the east.

Total will have a 50-percent stake in the operation; Gazprom 20 percent; YPFB 10 percent; and an Italo-Argentine group Tecpetrol will have 20 percent, Villegas said.

Bolivia is a leading natural gas supplier to neighboring Brazil and Argentina.

18.05.2011

Bovanenko-Yamal Pipeline To Cost NEarly One Trillion Roubleshttp://www.oilandgaseurasia.com/news/p/0/news/11401

The west-bound pipeline which will link the Bovanenkovo gas field in Yamal with the Russian pipeline grid has a price tag of close to one trillion roubles.

According to information revealed by the company, the 2200 km long pipeline has a total cost of 989,8 billion RUB (25 billion EUR). In 2010, the company invested 110 billion RUB in the project, while a total of 141 billion RUB will be invested in 2011, newspaper Kommersant reports. The pipeline stretches westwards to Ukhta in the Komi Republic, where it connects with the rest of the Russian pipeline grid.

The Bovanenkovo field, the biggest in the gas-rich Yamal Peninsula, is planned put into production late 2012.

Although the Yamal investments are put on top of Gazprom’s priority list, the company has still chosen to channel parts of its Yamal money to another grand infrastructure project. According to Kommersant, Gazprom has from 2009 given even bigger priority to the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline project, which from 2012 will supply gas to China. The Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline has a project cost of 467 billion RUB (11,7 billion EUR).

In Yamal, Gazprom has invested major money also in other regional infrastructure projects. A new railway is linking the Bovanekovo field with other rail infrastructure, and the first part of a new local airport for helicopter traffic was recently opened, the company informed.

Gazprom is also in the start process of developing several other fields in the gas-rich region, among them the Kharasaveyskoye and Kruzenshternskoye projects.

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