Russia 110504

Basic Political Developments Meeting between Russia, NATO chiefs of staff should clarify missile defense

issue - Russian diplomat: "The negotiations on missile defense have two aspects, namely political agreements that the nascent system will not be targeted against Russian interests and military knots that could be tied to increase the interaction capital," he said. [Rogozin]

o Russian General Staff chief to talk missile defense in Brussels - A two-day NATO-Russia Council meeting at the level of chiefs of staff begins in Brussels on Wednesday.

o Russia-NATO Council to meeto RNC in Brussels to discuss RF stand on European ABM - An officer in

the Russian Defence Ministry press-service and information department has told Itar-Tass, "While in Brussels, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, CGS of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF) and First Deputy Minister of Defence, will take part in a regular session of the RNC at CGS level".

o Moscow awaiting safeguards from NATO - Moscow hopes to accelerate the process of obtaining legal safeguards from the US regarding the deployment of elements of the European missile defense system.

At UN, Araud of France Says Russia Has Not Raised Kosovo Organ Trade - A Council debate on Kosovo is slated for May 12.

Official: Russia still opposes partition of Caspian Sea into national sectors - Russia believes that certain types of Caspian resources, for example aquatic resources, are indivisible and require a coordinated policy on conservation by all coastal states.

o Russia opposed to splitting Caspian Sea into national areas - This, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told a meeting of the Marine Board of the Government, would call for a fundamental revision of the sea usage mode.

CIS special services to conduct anti-terror drill in Kyrgyzstan - "Contingents from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will take part in a joint command-post drill under the aegis of the CIS's Anti-Terrorism Center," a spokesman for the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center said.

Russia's Caspian Flotilla to get 16 new warships by 2020 - Navy commander Russia gets ready for Victory Day parade - More than 20,000 troops will march

through Red Square on May 9 to mark the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. For the first time they will be joined by 200 officers from Russia's Space Corps.

South Korea and Russia ink MoU on industrial cooperation - South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced that Mr Viktor Khristenko Russian minister of industry and trade and Mr Choi Joong Kyung South Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy have signed MoU in Seoul for a strategic partnership between the two nations.

Bin Laden, Moscow Patriarchate joins Vatican in denouncing celebrations

o Bin Laden killing reason to step up fight against terrorism, no cause for joy – Russian Church

Russia, Georgia change the WTO for the Borzhomi mineral sparking water Petroleum deficit in South Ossetia Russia is grateful to Finland for “historic decency” - Alexander RUMYANTSEV Senior Interior Ministry officials in several regions removed from office - The

President signed a decree on dismissal of employees of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation.

State program on civic consciousness and legal awareness development approved by Russian President

Russian metallurgists turn to Medvedev to plead for protection against oligarchs - Owners of Russian mining and metallurgical enterprises are willing to introduce a new occupational safety standard, lobbying it in authority offices.

Two Russian space launch vehicles to blast off in May – sourceo Russia poised to complete GLONASS fleeto The next satellite Glonass to be sent into orbit in 3.5 months

Russia military probes faulty Tu-154 takeoff - A video posted on YouTube shows the Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-154B-2 wavering at a very low altitude minutes after taking off from the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow on April 29.

Сheck-points attacked in Russian N. Caucasus, 4 police killed o Road policeman killed in Dagestan shooting attack

Genetic testing of militants killed in Ingushetia not yet complete o Ingush officials deny Umarov's death - "DNA testing has shown that Doku

Umarov's body is not among the corpses of the recently killed militants. That means that there is no evidence of his death," Interfax quotes Yevkurov.

Prosecutors apply for arrest warrant of ex-Bank of Moscow President - Prosecutors have requested a warrant for the arrest in absentia of the former Bank of Moscow president, Andrei Borodin, currently based in London, a court spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Charges pressed against kidnappers of Kaspersky’s son Russian law office admonishes businessman for promising discounts to Muslims Tajik national killed in mass brawl in Moscow

o Two ethnic Tadjiks shot dead in Moscow street brawl Turks Welcomed to Russian Labor Union - The Federation of Independent Trade

Unions agreed to defend the rights of striking Turkish workers involved in a construction project near Vladivostok that is part of the preparations for next year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, in a move that signifies the importance of the event for the Russian government.

Interfax Moscow press review for May 4, 2011 RIA Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Moscow Lowers Expectations on Tactical Nuclear Breakthrough - By: Roger

McDermott A Rare Verdict - The Recent Conviction of Two Nationalists For Murder May Be

the Sign of a Growing Trend

Guilty verdicts boost crackdown on nationalists - A guilty verdict against ultranationalist couple Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis in the murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova two years ago draws a line under a problem that many say has been festering unhindered for years.

Lax law enforcement drives outrage over pedophilia in Russia

National Economic Trends CITI: CBR firm on tightening Insecurity characterises Russia's first-quarter economic performance - Bank of

Finland Russian budget revenues up sharply; slight increase in spending - Bank of Finland Investors, Oil Industry Get Squeezed in Russia’s Inflation Fight - By Jacob

Gronholt-Pedersen

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions PIK, CTC Media, Kuzbass Fuel, AvtoVAZ: Russian Equity Preview Russian Banks Not Prepared for Another Financial Crisis, FT Says FT: Russian lenders fail stress test - By Courtney Weaver in Moscow Sberbank reduces personnel by 3.6% to 240,900 employees in 2010 VTB First Quarter Deposits Grow 30 Percent, Vedomosti Says Bony Mellon back from the brink of in Russia RusHydro May Swap Shares With Inter RAO Ahead of Sale, Kommersant

Reports Russia targets annual coal output of 450 million tonnes by 2030 Kuzbass Fuel’s Coal Sales Decline 12% on Quarter; Prices Advance Chinese Buy First Russian Coal Deposit for $90M India Starts Buying Russian Coal Kinross increases 2011 guidance to 2.67m - 2.7m gold equivalent ounces Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk to buy Outotec POX plant equipment Russian palladium stocks seen 'at or near exhaustion' – Stillwater KAMAZ: Strong operating results for 4M11 Transportation, construction and infrastructure - Trends in January-February 2011

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) Gasoline export duty to be temporary, 2-3 months Schlumberger and Eurasia Activate Alliance RussNeft Profit Down by 43%, Sistema Purchase Price Clarified Rosneft to Buy $708M Drilling Rig

Gazprom Gazprom wants to speed up Sakhalin-3 UPDATE 1-Novatek owners exercise option from Gazprombank Gazprom ready to provide assistance to NOVATEK

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Full Text Articles

Basic Political Developments

Meeting between Russia, NATO chiefs of staff should clarify missile defense issue - Russian diplomatToday at 11:28 | Interfax-Ukraine A meeting of the Russia-NATO Council chiefs of staff planned for Wednesday in Brussels is important because it should clarify what kind of a missile defense system the U.S. and NATO are planning to build, said Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian permanent envoy to NATO and the head of the presidential interagency working group for interaction with NATO on missile defense.

"The negotiations on missile defense have two aspects, namely political agreements that the nascent system will not be targeted against Russian interests and military knots that could be tied to increase the interaction capital," he said.

The negotiations between the chiefs of staff should "clarify the U.S.' and NATO's intentions regarding what they are actually going to build. They either plan to create a machine capable of safeguarding European countries from single launches of short- and medium-range missiles from the south, or their ambitions are so big that the matter implies the building of a global and multi-layered defense system, for which there is no other enemy in the world but the Russian Federation," he said.

"It is necessary once again to clarify the viewpoint of the American and NATO military establishment to see whether they are going, in neutralizing the growing threats, to create additional new threats that are even more challenging to them and to us, or whether the military men, who are closer to military actions and military practices than civilians, will bear their part of great responsibility for looking for a compromise," Rogozin said.

Read more: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/russia/detail/103573/#ixzz1LN5rNTqa

Russian General Staff chief to talk missile defense in Brusselshttp://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20110504/163846519.html07:53 04/05/2011

Russian General Staff Chief, Army General Nikolai Makarov, will discuss Russia-NATO cooperation in missile defense and other international security issues with his NATO counterparts on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

A two-day NATO-Russia Council meeting at the level of chiefs of staff begins in Brussels on Wednesday.

Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on a European missile shield during the NATO-Russia Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010.

NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system with full-scale interoperability.

MOSCOW, May 4 (RIA Novosti)

Russia-NATO Council to meethttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/04/49809552.html

May 4, 2011 08:04 Moscow Time

The Russia-NATO Council will meet today to discuss Russia's position on the construction of the European missile defense system. As reported by the Russian Defense Ministry in Brussels Chief of General Staff of Russian Armed Forces, Army General Nikolai Makarov is to attend the meeting during which they will discuss the status and prospects for Russian-NATO cooperation, Russia's position on European missile defense, and exchange views on topical issues of regional and international security. The head of the Russian general staff will hold bilateral talks with the Chairman ofthe NATO Military Committee Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola reports the Ministry of Defense.

RNC in Brussels to discuss RF stand on European ABMhttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c35/135363.html

01:33 04/05/2011

MOSCOW, May 4 (Itar-Tass) — The Russia-NATO Council (RNC) at the level of the Chiefs of the General Staff (CGS) meets in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss Russia's stand on the building of a European anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defence system.

An officer in the Russian Defence Ministry press-service and information department has told Itar-Tass, "While in Brussels, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov, CGS of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF) and First Deputy Minister of Defence, will take part in a regular session of the RNC at CGS level".

" In accordance with the agenda, participants in the session will discuss the state of and prospects for the development of Russia-NATO cooperation in the light of the decisions of the Lisbon summit of the RNC and Russia's stand, set out at the RNC summit, on the building of a European ABM system, and exchange views on current problems of ensuring regional and international security. It is planned that the Russian CGS will hold

bilateral talks at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance with Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee," the RF Defence Ministry officer said.

Lieutenant General Oleg Ostapenko, Commander of the RF Space Defence Forces (SDF), specified in his remarks made in recent days that in the event of the creation of a common ABM system in conjunction with NATO, Russia could ensure the protection of the eastern part of Europe. He said the essence of the Russian initiative is to divide a EuroABM system into sectors.

"It is suggested that certain sectors of territory be assigned to NATO and Russia. In those sectors, each side would undertake to detect and destroy attacking ballistic missiles". In the process, "a decision about the use of ABM means must be made according to common rules, within the framework of a common information space", Ostapenko said.

"Proceeding from the geographical position of our country, we can ensure anti-missile protection of the eastern part of Europe as well as the areas of the Black, Baltic, and Barents Seas," he added.

Ostapenko's opinion is that the establishment of a joint ABM system is advantageous both to Russia and Europe, for, "first, reasons that cause Russia's concern over the anti-Russia potential of the future ABM system in Europe will be removed, and the ABM means of other countries in the territory where Russian anti-missile protection is ensured will be superfluous".

Besides, the SDF Commander pointed out, "Cooperation in this respect will enable all parties to the project to cut expenditure on ABM purposes, since the deployment of Russian ABM means will substantially reduce the territory which NATO earlier planned to protect on its own".

"Foundation will be also furnished for the development of technological cooperation on both a multilateral basis and with individual countries (on a bilateral one)," Ostapenko said.

Moscow awaiting safeguards from NATOhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/03/49805390.html

May 3, 2011 23:29 Moscow Time

Moscow hopes to accelerate the process of obtaining legal safeguards from the US regarding the deployment of elements of the European missile defense system.

This was stated by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in comments on Washington's plans to place missile interceptors on the territory of Romania.

As reported on Tuesday, Romanian President Trayan Basesu said that in 2015 Bucharest is to host three missile batteries made up of 24 launchers each.

Russia considers such intentions by Romania and NATO a threat to its national security.

As the members of the treaty agreed Moscow is convinced of the need to begin to harmonize the concepts and architecture of European missile defense, including its impact on regional and global security.

At UN, Araud of France Says Russia Has Not Raised Kosovo Organ Trade

http://www.innercitypress.com/sc1fr1may050311.html

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 3 -- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said publicly that Russia will support Serbia's request that the UN Security Council take up the reports of organ trafficking in Kosovo, including by Kosovar prime minister Thaci.

  But the Security Council's president for May, Gerard Araud of France, told the press on Tuesday that when he asked member states during his consultations with them on Monday about the issue, none of them said they would pursue it.

  After Araud's briefing, Inner City Press asked another diplomat from the French mission about Lavrov's statement.

  Yes, he said that, the diplomat acknowledged. But Ambassador Araud “said what he said.” We'll see. A Council debate on Kosovo is slated for May 12.

  Also during his beginning of the month briefing, Araud was asked about the first Council action of May, the presidential statement saying that Osama Bin Laden will not be able to commit or organize acts terrorism anymore.

Araud answered about another proposed phrase, he said about “the death of Gaddafi.” He laughed and called this a Freudian slip.

He also called Council consultations “boring,” saying that member states simply read speeches. He speculated that journalists don't know this, since they are “naive.” Following what he called France's victory during its last presidency in February 2010, the use of Council members' first names, he said he would push for more interactivity.

Araud was not asked -- yet -- about Cote d'Ivoire and the mandate of the UN mission there.

Footnote: Inner City Press asked Araud questions about Sudan and Sri Lanka, which it will separately report on. Watch this site.

Official: Russia still opposes partition of Caspian Sea into national sectorshttp://en.trend.az/news/politics/1870982.html

04.05.2011 12:26

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov confirmed his country’s constant position opposing the partition of the Caspian Sea Basin among its littoral states.

"Russia has always considered the Caspian Sea as a unique landlocked basin and opposes its division into national sectors, as this would require a radical revision of economic regime uses prevailing over the past 70 years," Ivanov said at a meeting of the Maritime Board (Morskaya Kollegiya) of the Russian Government in Astrakhan, ITAR-TASS reported.

Russia believes that certain types of Caspian resources, for example aquatic resources, are indivisible and require a coordinated policy on conservation by all coastal states.

Ivanov named as among the general issues ensuring the safety of navigation, environmental protection and ecology; especially in the prevention of accidental oil spills in the offshore development of the sea.

Russia has already managed to solve the problem of delimitation of the Caspian seabed by signing agreements with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. This work should be continued, he said.

Russia opposed to splitting Caspian Sea into national areashttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/04/49819291.html

May 4, 2011 11:26 Moscow Time

Russia is opposed to splitting the Caspian Sea into national sectors.

This, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told a meeting of the Marine Board of the Government, would call for a fundamental revision of the sea usage mode.

He also said that some types of the Caspian Sea resources, for example, the water bio-resources, are indivisible and call for an agreed policy on their conservation by all littoral states.

There are also common problems of ensuring navigation safety, natural resource management and environmental protection.

CIS special services to conduct anti-terror drill in Kyrgyzstan http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7369164.html

10:29, May 04, 2011  

Law enforcement and special service contingents from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will hold a large-scale exercise in Southern Kyrgyzstan Tuesday to prevent terror attacks against vital energy facilities.

"Contingents from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will take part in a joint command-post drill under the aegis of the CIS's Anti-Terrorism Center," a spokesman for the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center said.

"The main goal of the drill is to learn to carry out coordinated tactical and search operations to prevent subversive acts at vital facilities, including hydropower plants," the spokesman was quoted by Interfax as saying.

"Specialized security, special-service and law enforcement units will practice interoperability in the event of a real terror threat," he said.

"The exercise will be watched by representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan,

Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and of the Bureau for Coordinating the Fight Against Organized Crime, the Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Executive Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure," said the spokesman.

Under the scenario of the drill, a terror organization is planning to carry out a large-scale terror attack, which may lead to a natural disaster of region, including in the Fergana Valley.

As a trick to mislead law enforcement services, the terrorists are planning to stage a series of smaller terror attacks and seize administrative buildings.

Tackling terrorism threats in Central Asia is one of the priorities of the special and law enforcement services in CIS countries.

Source: Xinhua

05/04 12:21   Russia's Caspian Flotilla to get 16 new warships by 2020 - Navy commander

http://www.interfax.com/news.asp

Russia gets ready for Victory Day paradehttp://rt.com/news/russia-victory-day-parade/

Published: 4 May, 2011, 07:55Edited: 4 May, 2011, 08:33

Russia's armed forces are being put through their paces ahead of the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow. Their rehearsals started in Moscow late on Tuesday.

Traffic was stopped in about ten Moscow streets in order to allow troops and armory to roll through in preparation for the big day. Drivers were advised to use alternative routes. 

More than 20,000 troops will march through Red Square on May 9 to mark the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. For the first time they will be joined by 200 officers from Russia's Space Corps.

Thousands of tons of military hardware will trundle across historic Red Square, including some of Russia's latest anti-missile systems.

South Korea and Russia ink MoU on industrial cooperation

http://www.steelguru.com/russian_news/South_Korea_and_Russia_ink_MoU_on_industrial_cooperation/203413.html

Wednesday, 04 May 2011

South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced that Mr Viktor Khristenko Russian minister of industry and trade and Mr Choi Joong Kyung South Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy have signed MoU in Seoul for a strategic partnership between the two nations.

The agreement addresses three main areas industrial technology, technological standards and trade and investment. With the shared goal of attracting private investment in the commercialization of jointly developed technologies, the two countries outlined plans to collaborate on parts and materials, nanotechnology, machinery and aeronautics, information technology, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The agreement also sets the stage for both countries to utilize South Korea's industrial know how in automobiles, shipbuilding, electronic appliances and steel. The two countries will pursue joint marketing activities, hold joint seminars and organize exchange programs for skilled personnel

(Sourced from Steel Orbis)

05/03/2011 15:52RUSSIA - ISLAM Bin Laden, Moscow Patriarchate joins Vatican in denouncing celebrations

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bin-Laden,-Moscow-Patriarchate-joins-Vatican-in-denouncing-celebrations-21460.html

by Nina AchmatovaDeputy Head of Department for Relations between the Church and society: his death does not solve the terrorism problem. And in Russia, Jewish and Muslim leaders praise the just vengeance carried out by the United States.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Moscow Patriarchate has joined the Vatican in warning against rejoicing over the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed on 1 May by the US-led operation. "The Russian Orthodox Church does not share the joy that we have seen in some countries - Archpriest Georgy Roschin, deputy head of the Patriarchate's

department for relations between the Church and society told Interfax - whoever dies,  be he the greatest evil or the greatest terrorist, he will be judged by God alone. "

The priest does not see the killing of the head of al Qaeda as solving the problem of terrorism itself: "The main issue is making the right decisions and celebrating achievements aimed at resolving the problem in general and not removing a member of a group terrorist”.

However the reaction of the supreme mufti, the spiritual authority of the of the Muslims of Central Russia, Talgat Tudzhuddin, has been the opposite.  He says he was delighted at the killing of the sheikh of terror. "This is the only way to deal with international terrorism," said the Muslim leader. 'Probably bin Laden was not the only one to foment extremism among the Wahhabis - added Tudzhuddin - now we must think about how to truly eradicate global terrorism. "

Asked whether there are many followers of Osama in Russia, the mufti replied firmly: "Absolutely not. The majority of Russian Muslims will not accept extremism. " "Our country - he continued - is giving a good example of how Christians and Muslims can live together, thanks to the Russian Orthodox Church. The faithful of Islam and Christianity have long since found a happy medium in Russia, which allows us to be brothers without opposition. "

The chief rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, also spoke with strong words about elimination of the most wanted terrorist in the world, describing the episode as "a triumph of justice." "We fully support the idea that people who despise the value of human life should be destroyed," said the rabbi.

03 May 2011, 15:42

Bin Laden killing reason to step up fight against terrorism, no cause for joy – Russian Churchhttp://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8414

Moscow, May 3, Interfax - The elimination of the 'number one terrorist' does not solve the terror problem, said Archpriest Georgy Roschin, deputy head of the Russian Orthodox Church Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations.

"The Russian Orthodox Church will not welcome the jubilation that we have seen in some countries. Whoever is caught by death, be they the greatest evil or terrorist, they will be judged by God only," Father Georgy told Interfax-Religion.

Instead, he urged believers "to continue to improve themselves so as to make a phenomenon such as terrorism, linked to the name of Osama bin Laden, disappear from our life."

"I think the death of one terrorist, even if he is the number one terrorist, will not solve the entire problem. The problem remains, and the main thing here is to make the right decisions and to celebrate the achievements that will be aimed at solving the problem in general and not at the elimination of one member of a terrorist group," Father Georgy said.

For his part, Supreme Mufti from the Central Spiritual Authority of Russia's Muslims, Talgat Tujuddin, welcomed the killing of bin Laden.

"This is the only way to deal with international terrorism," he told Interfax-Religion, adding that he hoped that international cooperation in fighting terrorism will continue.

He also emphasized the importance of tackling the causes of terrorism, adding that "this is not just about personalities."

"Probably, bin Laden was not the only one to heat up extremist sentiments among Wahabis. Like many other terrorists who are still alive, he was an echo of the earlier standoff between the Soviet Union and the West, and these echoes are still being heard, so we should think of how to exterminate the very roots of international terrorism," Tajuddin said.

Asked whether there are many followers of bin Laden's ideas in Russia, the mufti said: "Absolutely not." The overwhelming majority of Russian Muslims do not accept extremism, he said.

"Our country is demonstrating to others a good example of how Christians and Muslims can live together, with such an example being shown primarily by the Russian Orthodox Church. The followers of Islam and Christianity have long found the golden middle in Russia, which allows us to remain brothers, regardless of any challenges," the supreme mufti said.

Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, has called the killing of bin Laden the 'triumph of justice.'

"Today's news about the killing of the man who had become a symbol of international terrorism of our time proves once again that success is possible in the irreconcilable fight between good and evil, as long as it is consistent and does not retreat from the set goal," he told Interfax-Religion.

"For terrorists, there are no borders, no laws, whether divine or human," he said. This is why the civilized world must respond to their "heinous crimes likewise, without limits," he said.

"Carrying out such a strike against terror will no doubt allow its abettors the world over to fully realize that the monstrous crimes committed by Osama bin Laden did not remain unpunished," Lazar said.

"This act of vengeance can definitely be called a triumph of justice," he said. "We fully support the idea that people who do not value and take other people's lives must be destroyed," the rabbi said.

11:58 04/05/2011RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW

Russia, Georgia change the WTO for the Borzhomi mineral sparking waterhttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/135608.html

MOSCOW, May 4 (Itar-Tass) —The satellites rather than people will control the freight traffic across the Russian-Georgian border. The countries have taken this decision at the talks for Russia’ s accession in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Russian chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko was instructed to permit the imports of Georgian wines and the Borzhomi mineral sparking water to Russia so that the country will have some Georgian supplies to control on the border.

The Russian-Georgian secret talks just ended in Zurich and they were not so abortive as those in Berne, the negotiators told the Izvestia. Probably, the top problem was solved about which country will deploy its border guards on the borders with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This will be the robots rather than people that is to say the computerized satellite control system. Tbilisi did not oppose this step.

VEDOMOSTI

Petroleum deficit in South Ossetiahttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/economy/13521.html

Eduard Kokoity, the President of the South Ossetian Republic, has recognized the republic’s government's responsibility for the petroleum deficit that hit the country, RIA Novosti reports.

Despite the considerable growth in petroleum prices, the administration had to close all filling stations as they had run out of fuel.

Nevertheless, Mr Kokoity claims that South Ossetia possesses strategic reserves of fuel to provide for medical as well as military needs. These reserves can last for 3 or 4 days, and the government hopes to resolve the crisis by the end of this period.

09:44 04/05/2011OUR INTERVIEW

Russia is grateful to Finland for “historic decency” - Alexander RUMYANTSEVhttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c38/135494.html

Russian Ambassador to Finland Alexander Rumyantsev was interviewed by ITAR-TASS correspondent in Finland Yulia Andreeva.  - As the VE-Day is approaching commemorative events are being held in Finland at the graves of Soviet soldiers killed in fighting in the country during World War Two. What is the state of the graves in Finland and what can you say about the attitude of local population and authorities to them?  - There are close to 90 graves of Soviet soldiers in Finland and the biggest are in Mikkeli and Hanko. Most of them are common graves where numerous defenders of the Motherland are buried whose names have not been identified yet. Archive work is ongoing to identify them.  The status of the graves is stipulated by the Intergovernmental Russian-Finnish agreement of 1992 which stated that all the military monuments are under protection in both countries. In Finland the agreement is being implemented by the interior ministry and partially by the education ministry, in Russia the defense ministry and partially the foreign ministry are in charge. Our basic document will be 20 years old next year and I am only positive about bilateral cooperation in the sphere despite certain difficult periods of our common history. We are grateful to Finland for “historic decency” and the Finns are also grateful to us for it.  We extremely positively assess the work of Finnish municipalities in charge of the upkeep and protection of Russian military graves on their respective territories. They also engage in the search for remains which results in new monuments at earlier unknown graves and identifies unknown soldiers.  We are very closely cooperating. In municipalities located close to the Russian-Finnish border, e.g. in Kuhmo, commemorative events are held on the international scale and representatives of Kostomuksha arrive to lay wreaths to the military graves. I personally visited over a dozen of tombs and was everywhere pleased with the understanding and cooperation of Finnish authorities who care for them.  I am delighted by the way the Finns do it and it is spiritually inspiring for me. Russia treats Finnish graves in the same way – protection and upkeep.  Most of the graves are dated back to the time of World War Two however there are also military tombs of the XIX century, of the times of the Crimean War of 1853-56, of the

period of our common history with Finland. For example, there is a cemetery of Russian Cossacks in Mikkeli and military tombs of the times in Mariehamn. Recently a grave of the times was discovered near the town of Somero, a hundred kilometers west of Helsinki. Now it has been fenced off, a cross erected, a plan of the cemetery drawn, and the buildup of the military monument is nearing completion. Everything will be in order this year. The local parish of the Finnish Orthodox Church cares for the cemetery and the priest prays for the rapture of the buried warriors.  - Have there been any cases of vandalism?  - I can recall only one incident in the past five years when they scratched the plaque on a common grave. However it was quickly replaced and the case looked more like hooliganism than political vandalism.  - How do they identify Soviet soldiers killed in Finland? Who is in charge of the work?  - Search and identification efforts are ongoing without interruption. First and foremost, the work is done by the staff of the military attaché and embassy diplomats. They work in the State Archive of Finland and in the defense ministry archive, request data and receive copies of documents for examination. We enjoy complete support in the work which unites the enthusiasm of communities engaged in their own search and our efforts. Our compatriots permanently residing in Finland help a lot. For example, several years ago we received information from the Tampere Club of the Finnish Association of Russian-speaking Communities which pointed at a grave in the region.  Among other post-Soviet countries the Ukrainian embassy is also very active as there are numerous Ukrainian names among the soldiers buried in Finland. In 2010 jointly with the Ukrainian embassy we unveiled an obelisk at the common grave in the town of Karja close to Helsinki and together held a commemorative event on May 9 in Hanko where heroic soldiers of the Soviet naval base who defended it from June to December 1941 are buried. We have agreed to hold such events on a regular basis.  - How does Russia gratify the merits of Finns who render most active support to the work?  -  We regularly nominate for Russian state and ministerial awards the Finns who considerably contribute to the perpetuation of the memory of deceased Russian and Soviet soldiers. In March 2011 three citizens from the Aland Islands, an autonomy in Finland, were awarded with the medal For the Merits in perpetuating the memory of deceased defenders of Motherland. That was the expression of gratitude for their major personal contribution to the establishment of the places of sinking of Baltic fleet submarines S-7, SCH-305, and S-2, the identification of the deceased navymen and the fate of the missing submarine crewmembers. This develops into a certain system of our cooperation. By the way, Aland Islands Governor Peter Lindback was among the awardees.

            - Let’s proceed from history to modern times. How do you assess the results of parliamentary election in Finland on April 17? How can they tell on the Russian-Finnish relationship?  - The choice of the people is the choice of the people. The situation emerged when the voters were more sympathetic with the True Finns who criticize Finland for going in the wake of the European Union. Both Russian and Finnish experts predicted such an outcome of the election, but the real success of the True Finns was astonishing while the defeat of the Center Party was impressing. All experts who predicted the election results agreed that four parties will win practically the same number of votes. However nothing extraordinary happened. No matter which government is formed in Finland it will cooperate with us as efficiently as its predecessor. 1300 kilometers of common border compel us to pragmatism. As the new government is formed bilateral meetings between Russian and Finnish prime ministers will resume. They are held twice a year in each country in turn. President of Finland Tarja Halonen will address the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in June. A regular meeting has been successfully held of late. It can be expected that the change of government in Finland will bring a new Finnish co-chair to the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.  - This spring Russia opens in Finland a network of visa centers that will appear in all cities where Russian consular offices are operating. The first to open on April 28 is the visa center in Helsinki, then Turku, Lappeenranta, and Mariehamn will follow. The services in the centers will be provided by the same VFS Global Company that operates in Finnish visa centers in Russia. We plan to go further in Helsinki to simplify visa issue to the maximum. There are plans to open a special window to receive visa documents at the railway station which will allow people to apply for a visa while buying railways tickets to Russia.  -  Twenty-five years have passed since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Today the world is alarmed by the situation at the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. You are an expert in the sphere, an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences who headed the Rosatom nuclear agency. What do you believe should be the main conclusion today?       - Not all the conclusions of the Chernobyl accident were implemented into real life, not all the lessons were learned. Human factor remains the weakest point in atomic power engineering. Technologies may help to minimize the risk, e.g. there are passive cooling systems that do not depend on electricity supplies. Had Fukushima Daiichi been equipped with such systems there would have been no accident. At the same time Fukushima offers a vivid example that it is not nuclear power engineering which is to blame for the accident. It was a natural calamity that triggered fuel meltdown.  - In 1994-2000 the RASPLAV project of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) was implemented. It was initiated by Russia and involved 14 member-countries. The project aimed at refining accident management strategies during a

reactor core meltdown and at studying physical and chemical processes. In Russia the results were used as a guide to action.  -  Fukushima accident triggered demonstrations in various countries against the nuclear power. Can the reaction to Japanese developments slow down the development of the industry?  - The countries which traditionally and actively generate atomic power have already stated they will continue to do it. Today it has no alternative and there is no other source to replace it. In Russia nuclear power plants generate close to 20 percent of electricity.       - What are the prospects of Russian cooperation with Finland in the nuclear power sphere? Do Russian nuclear engineers plan to bid at tenders to build new NPP in Finland?  - We have an excellent cooperation example as Soviet engineers erected the Loviisa NPP in Finland which is currently one of the best in Europe. If a tender is announced for new NPP Russia will definitely bid.

GOOGLE TRANSLATION

Senior Interior Ministry officials in several regions removed from office

http://kremlin.ru/acts/11142

May 4 2011, 11:00The President signed a decree on dismissal of employees of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation. "Full text of the document:1. Dismissed:Major-General Justice Baranov Viktor Vladimirovich, Deputy Chief of the Interior for the Altai Territory - Chief of Investigation Department;Major-General Sergey Kirichenko A. Police, Chief of Internal Affairs of the Kaliningrad region;Major-General Justice, Panfilov Sergei Vladimirovich, Deputy Chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Northwest Federal District - the chief investigative unit at the General Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Northwest Federal District;Major-General Yuri Vladimirovich police Savchenko, Deputy Chief of Internal Affairs of the Perm region for economic security;Major-General Justice Shashin Alexander Fedorovich, Deputy Chief of the Ministry of

Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Southern federal district - the head of the investigative part of the Directorate General of Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Southern federal district.2. This Decree shall enter into force upon signature.

State program on civic consciousness and legal awareness development approved by Russian Presidenthttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/13520.html

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has approved a project on civic consciousness and legal awareness development among Russian citizens, ITAR-TASS reports.

The document is aimed at boosting the level of legal knowledge and legal culture and thus tolerance in Russia's multi-ethnic and multi-cultural civic society.

Federal and regional state offices as well as syndicates and public organizations will participate in the program.

Russian metallurgists turn to Medvedev to plead for protection against oligarchshttp://www.rusbiznews.com/news/n1038.html

03.05.2011 — Analysis

Owners of Russian mining and metallurgical enterprises are willing to introduce a new occupational safety standard, lobbying it in authority offices. If the standard is approved, thousands of the Russian workers operating in noise, dust and gas polluted workshops and mines are going to lose their allowances for harmful working conditions as well as additional paid vacation. Trade union representatives say that the flagrant violation of miners' and metallurgists' rights is based on the obvious unwillingness of factory and mine owners to be held financially liable for neglectful attitude to the health of their employees. As the "RusBusinessNews" columnist has found it out, the number of jobs aggravated by harmful labor conditions is growing at large enterprises from year to year.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the Russian Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union has forwarded to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev a petition signed by many

thousands of employees working in the industry. Miners and metallurgists ask the head of the state to turn down the new classification of labor conditions, which is peddled by oligarchs. The wage and salary workers are sure that the regulations and standards that are being lobbied through lack any incentive that would motivate owners to upgrade obsolete production facilities.

The confrontation between employers and trade unions was instigated by the Russian government, which in 2008 adopted Ordinance No. 870 that addressed the issue of benefits to be paid to employees working in hazardous environment. If eligible, the employee must be given money compensation (minimum 4% of the salary), additional paid vacation of minimum 7 days a year and reduced workweek. The preparation of the documents specifying the provision of benefits was entrusted to the RF Ministry of Public Health and Social Development. The preparation of regulatory documents stipulating the required assessment of workplaces turned into a stumbling stone.

At present, harmful exposure allowances are paid in accordance with the classification approved in 1974. Thirty seven years ago the labor conditions were subdivided into several categories: optimum, admissible and harmful. The representatives of the occupations included in the third list were qualified for benefits. The Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the Russian Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union came to the conclusion that the industry average amounts to 64% of the employees who work in unfavorable health conditions or in harmful environment. As long as the previous rules were in place, employers accepted the standard, as compensations were significantly lower than those provided for by Ordinance No. 870. The government's new initiative that spurred manufacturers to get rid of working places characterized by harmful labor conditions looked very displeasing: they were not planning for sizeable expenditure on labor safety and compensation payments.

Mine and factory owners did not like the government's idea of launching reforms in the system of insurance against accidents and occupational diseases. Today, deductions to the Russian Social Insurance Fund are based on the uniform rates for industries. The restructuring of the regulatory framework will involve application of specific rates that will be defined on the risk-assessed basis. Consequently, the enterprises with obsolete equipment, poor conditions of labor and high accidental rates will have to pay maximum amounts. Differential rates are intended to motivate the employer to invest funds in improving of labor conditions and decreasing of occupational hazards. The risk evaluation system will be based on the results of workplace assessment. It is this assessment that caught attention of oligarchs who decided to take a firm hold of it to reduce their payments to the Social Insurance Fund.

According to Tatyana Bogodyazh, Deputy Head of the Labor Safety Department at the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union, employers intend to downsize the personnel working in harmful conditions; however, the downsizing will be reached through review of criteria set for health hazards. They have started preparing a new labor safety standard, which benchmarks labor conditions with health regulations. Astute employers revamped the classification; as a result the third

category accounting for 40-50% of jobs in the mining and metallurgical industry stopped being classified as harmful. The reclassification was based on several amendments: the draft was complemented with a reservation specifying that the employee wearing a breathing mask while working in the dust-polluted workshop is deemed as a person working in normal labor conditions.

In the meantime, working conditions at Sverdlovsk factories and other production facilities are steadily deteriorating. Fedor Kravtsov, Head of the State Labor Inspection of the Sverdlovsk Region, is concerned about the following facts: in 2010, more people died at their working places because of the systemic disease that because of occupational injuries (125 and 97 respectively). He thinks that the mortality causes should be looked for in low-quality preventive medical services and poor labor conditions.

Government inspectors try to motivate manufacturers, promising to release them from scheduled inspections, provided that the requirements of the labor law are met. Some enterprises of the Sverdlovsk Region have already received the so-called "confidence certificates". However, metallurgical smelters have not entered this list. F. Kravtsov suggests that their owners are not ready to finance labor safety programs and reduce accidental rates, which is compulsory for being awarded such certificates.

Tatyana Bogodyazh asserts that mining and metallurgical oligarchs are not only reluctant about investment in labor safety, but also tend to pay less and less attention to labor conditions at their enterprises. For example, at the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works OJSC (Evraz Group) 53% employees worked in the hazardous production shops in 2009, whereas in 2010 the number of the jobs that were deemed as hazardous in health terms increased to 58% at the same factory. Almost half of the personnel work under conditions of excessive dust pollution, 12% work in the hazardous gas polluted environment. The major shareholder of Evraz Group, Roman Abramovich, who cares so much about the health of Chelsea football players, is embarrassed neither with these numbers, nor with the situation when gases in the workshops can cause tragedies. For example, in 2008 in one of the departments of the coke-and-by-product facilities of the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works, there was an explosion that caused death of three people. Experts said that the explosion was caused by ammonia vapor and coke gas mixture that was "lit up" by the workers who turned on a welding unit.

Instead of improving health conditions of production facilities, Russian oligarchs use their best efforts to revamp regulations that push them toward modernization of production. It should be noted that in this confrontation between the labor and the capital, top managers of metallurgical factories took the side of employees, as it will be they who tomorrow will have to explain to thousands of workers how it was possible that with the stroke of a pen they were deprived of part of their earnings and paid vacation, while dust and gas concentration levels remain unchanged.

Tatyana Bogodyazh says that the RF Ministry of Public Health and Social Development tends to support oligarchs; therefore, the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union made a decision to forward the petition to President Dmitry Medvedev. The petition was signed

by the overwhelming majority of the employees working at the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works OJSC: twelve thousand out of fifteen thousand.

Vladimir Terletsky

May 04, 2011 09:57

Two Russian space launch vehicles to blast off in May – sourcehttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=241235

MOSCOW. May 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia plans to conduct more than ten space launches within the next three months, a space rocket industry source told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.

"Two launches are expected to take place in May, six in June, and three in July," he said.

Eight spacecraft will blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan, two from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region, and one rocket will take off from a launch pad in the Orenburg region, where the Dombarov missile division of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces is deployed, the source said.

A Proton-M launch vehicle equipped with a Briz-M upper stage is due to place the U.S. Telstar 14R telecommunications satellite into orbit on May 20, he said.

"A Soyuz-FG launch vehicle carrying a Soyuz TMA-02M new-series spaceship with a three-member International Space Station [ISS] crew on board will lift off early on June 8," he said.

A Progress M-11M cargo carrier will lift off for the ISS on June 21, the source said.

"The launch of a Proton-M [rocket] equipped with a Briz-M upper stage and carrying two telecommunications satellites - the U.S. SES-3 and Kazakhstan's KazSat-2 - is expected to take place on June 25," he said.

Six U.S. Globalstar-2 communications satellites will be put into orbit by a Soyuz-2-1A launch vehicle equipped with a Fregat upper stage on July 3, the source said.

"On July 18, a Zenit-2SB rocket fitted with a Fregat-SB upper stage will launch the Spektr-R astrophysical observatory, and a Proton-M launch vehicle equipped with a Briz-M [upper stage] and carrying the U.S. ViaSat-1 telecommunications satellite is expected to take off two days later," the source said.

A Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile, will lift off from the Orenburg region on June 20, carrying eight satellites, including Ukraine's Sich-2, he said.

Russia has conducted six space launches since the beginning of the year - four from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and two from Plesetsk. One launch ended in failure.

tm

Russia poised to complete GLONASS fleethttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/04/49818043.html

May 4, 2011 11:13 Moscow Time

Russia will add four more satellites to its GLONASS fleet this fall to complete the system’s global coverage. One satellite is to be launched from the northern Plesetsk space center and three others from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. 

The 20-satellinte-strong GLONASS already covers the whole of Russia and the majority of other countries worldwide.

GOOGLE TRANSLATION

The next satellite Glonass to be sent into orbit in 3.5 months

http://www.interfax.ru/news.asp?id=188475

May 4 2011 9:50Moscow. May 4. INTERFAX.RU - Navigation spacecraft GLONASS-M will be launched from Plesetsk (Arkhangelsk region) in late summer, told Interfax on Wednesday, a source in the space industry."The launch is scheduled for 25 August" - the spokesman said, recalling that earlier start tentatively scheduled for late July.As reported, the satellite Glonass-M "will lead to orbit launch vehicle Soyuz-2-1B with a Fregat"

Russia military probes faulty Tu-154 takeoffhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110504/163848243.html

10:33 04/05/2011

Russian military prosecutors have launched a probe after a military passenger plane spun out of control shortly after takeoff last week.

A video posted on YouTube shows the Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-154B-2 wavering at a very low altitude minutes after taking off from the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow on April 29.

The pilots managed to land the plane on their second attempt.

"The military prosecutor's office has begun an investigation to establish the cause of the incident that could have led to an air crash," a prosecutor told RIA Novosti.

The source said there had been a failure in the plane's control system. Media reports said the aircraft had not been used for up to 10 years.

The Tu-154B is a Soviet-designed plane that entered service in the 1970s and is now only used for domestic flights by small airlines in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Russia's flagship airline Aeroflot took all of its remaining 23 Tu-154s out of service in January last year.

Russia's transport watchdog ordered domestic airlines to ground their Tu-154Bs after a Kolavia Tu-154B exploded in a fireball before takeoff from Surgut, in Siberia, in January, killing three people.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed along with 95 others in April last year when a Polish Air Force Tu-154 crashed near the western Russian city of Smolensk.

MOSCOW, May 4 (RIA Novosti)

Сheck-points attacked in Russian N. Caucasus, 4 police killed http://rt.com/news/line/

RT News line, May 411:10

Two assaults on police check-points have been carried out in Republic of Dagestan in the Russian Caucasus over the last 24 hours, with four police officers killed and several others wounded. Civilians were also among the injured, reports suggest on Wednesday. A few vehicles came under fire, and the assailants managed to flee, police say. The militants were reportedly wounded, however. Pursuit of the assailants has been organized following the attacks.

09:16 04/05/2011Russia

Road policeman killed in Dagestan shooting attackhttp://www.itar-tass.com/en/c34/135481.html

MAKHACHKALA, May 4 (Itar-Tass) — Unidentified assailants fired on a road police post on Tuesday night, killing one officer. They escaped from the scene as his colleagues returned fire, the press service of the republic's Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass.

The shootout occurred at around 01:30, Moscow time, in the southern outskirts of the city. "Police returned fire, but the criminals managed to escape," the Interior Ministry said.

A criminal case has been opened. Police are taking measures to ascertain the attackers' identity and detain them.

Genetic testing of militants killed in Ingushetia not yet completehttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/society/13516.html

The genetic testing of the remains of militants killed in Ingushetia on March 28 has not yet been completed, RIA Novosti reports, referring to police sources. Therefore, there is no evidence proving that militant leader Doku Umarov was killed.

Seventeen militants were killed on March 28 in a raid on a militant base in the volatile Russian North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia used by Islamist insurgents to train suicide bombers.

Russian officials suggested that Umarov, who has claimed responsibility for two recent deadly terrorist attacks in Moscow, was killed in the operation.

Umarov, who has styled himself as the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate, claimed responsibility for the Domodedovo airport blast in January that killed 37 people, as well as the March 2010 suicide bombings on the Moscow subway, in which 40 people died.

Ingush officials deny Umarov's deathhttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/13499.html

The head of the Ingush Republic, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, has announced that Doku Umarov was not among the militants killed recently during a special operation.

"DNA testing has shown that Doku Umarov's body is not among the corpses of the recently killed militants. That means that there is no evidence of his death," Interfax quotes Yevkurov.

Information that the head of the Chechen separatist movement was killed appeared in the media at the beginning of April.

Prosecutors apply for arrest warrant of ex-Bank of Moscow Presidenthttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110504/163848863.html

11:26 04/05/2011

Prosecutors have requested a warrant for the arrest in absentia of the former Bank of Moscow president, Andrei Borodin, currently based in London, a court spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman said prosecutors were also seeking to sanction the arrest of Borodin's former first deputy, Dmitry Akulinin. She said the court would consider both warrants later on Wednesday.

Borodin, a close ally of former Moscow mayor, Yury Luzhkov, was forced to sell his jointly-owned 20.3% share in the bank in March for a symbolic price.

In mid-April Borodin was suspended from the bank's management due to a criminal probe into a 12.7 billion ruble ($455 million) loan to an obscure real estate company. Police say the money came from the city budget and ended up in the personal account of Luzhkov's wife. Bank of Moscow has said it violated no rules when issuing the credit.

MOSCOW, May 4 (RIA Novosti)

Charges pressed against kidnappers of Kaspersky’s son http://rt.com/news/line/

RT News line, May 4

The Russian Investigative Committee has pressed charges against five people detained in connection with the kidnap of the 20-year-old son of Evgeny Kaspersky, the Russian

software mogul and founder of Kaspersky Laboratory Company, Itar-Tass reports. According to committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin, those detained face charges of kidnap and extortion, with each charge carrying possible prison terms of seven to fifteen years.Ivan Kaspersky was kidnapped on April 19 on his way to work. The kidnappers subsequently demanded a ransom of three million euros from Kaspersky’s family. The suspects were detained on April 24 and Ivan Kaspersky was safely released. The five arrested, some of whom have criminal records, are a 61-year-old pensioner, Nikolay Saveliev, his wife, son and two friends.

04 May 2011, 11:13

Russian law office admonishes businessman for promising discounts to Muslimshttp://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=8415

Kazan, May 4, Interfax - A Russian businessman has been admonished by a senior prosecutor's office for a newspaper ad in which he promised discounts in sales of goods and services to Muslims, something the office declared to be illegal and a form of extremism.

Rafik Kayumov, director of the Faida company in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, appealed the admonishment with a court in the republic's capital, Kazan, but the court turned down the appeal, Ravil Vakhitov, senior aide to Tatarstan's chief prosecutor, told Interfax.

Media reports said Kayumov had promised 5% discounts to Muslims.

The prosecution service said it had found out that Vakhitov had an advertisement published in the newspaper Vostochny Market (Eastern Market) promising that Muslims would receive discounts if they bought car accessories or other goods from Faida or used dentist services provided by the firm.

This ran against the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," the prosecution service argued.

A similar admonishment was issued to Vostochny Market by media regulator Roskomnadzor.

Tajik national killed in mass brawl in Moscowhttp://rt.com/news/line/

RT News line, May 4

One person has been killed and two others injured in a mass brawl in eastern Moscow, a police source told Interfax news agency early on Wednesday. Three people were taken to hospital, but one of them, a citizen of Tajikistan, died soon afterwards. Two others remain in a serious condition. Police are currently looking for three people who took the injured to hospital by car but then fled. Police are also examining the scene of the fight.

Two ethnic Tadjiks shot dead in Moscow street brawlhttp://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1636917.php/Two-ethnic-Tadjiks-shot-dead-in-Moscow-street-brawl

May 4, 2011, 7:54 GMT

Moscow - Two Tadjik nationals were shot dead and two more badly injured in the latest episode of ethnic minority-related violence in the Russian capital, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

Police removed numerous shell casings from the scene of the shooting, which took place late Tuesday in a working-class district in north-west Moscow.

A search was in progress for the people who had brought the two injured to a local hospital and then left, said Viktoria Tsyplenkova, a police spokeswoman.

Police believed the victims were involved in a street brawl that turned deadly when one side resorted to firearms, she said.

Violence against and among ethnic minorities is chronic in Moscow, whose relatively strong economy has attracted tens of thousands of migrant labourers from across the former Soviet Union. They rarely work legally.

More than 5,000 nationalists and football hooligans fought Moscow police in December during an unsanctioned protest over the shooting of a football fan by a migrant labourer. More than 1,700 people, the majority ethnic non-Russians, were later detained by police.

Central Asian workers commonly are employed in the capital's construction industry, often living on the building sites in primitive conditions.

Nationalist groups oppose the migrant labourers' presence in the city, saying the migrants are often violent and take jobs away from ethnic Russians.

Migrant worker activists have alleged they are targeted by police and by racist groups, forcing migrants to carry weapons to defend themselves.

Turks Welcomed to Russian Labor Union http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/turks-welcomed-to-russian-labor-union/436227.html

04 May 2011By Irina Filatova

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions agreed to defend the rights of striking Turkish workers involved in a construction project near Vladivostok that is part of the preparations for next year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, in a move that signifies the importance of the event for the Russian government.

The federation — the country's largest trade union umbrella organization with 25 million members — will support the claims of workers building a campus of the Far Eastern Federal University, if they join the construction trade union and subsequently create their own organization, federation secretary Alexander Shershukov said Tuesday.

The university campus will be the site of the summit, and its construction is part of the 660 billion rubles ($24 billion) being spent to prepare the region for the event.

The announcement came after about 250 workers from Turkey involved in the construction project on Russky Island in the Sea of Japan went on strike, saying that their employers — businessman Aras Agalarov's Crocus Group and subcontractor Regiontekhstroi — have not paid them, local media reported late last week.

The workers also said they were starving because the employers stopped providing them with lunch, one of the reports said.

A spokeswoman for the local branch of Crocus Group told Interfax on Tuesday that the company had transferred the money to pay workers on time. She also said the company was investigating the case.

The workers' representatives were unavailable for comment Tuesday, but a Vladivostok resident familiar with the situation said they were laboring in extremely difficult conditions.

"There are eight people living in 12-square-meter rooms. No conditions for recreation are provided," said the resident, who didn't want her name in the newspaper.

Residents of local villages in the Primorye region "fled after two weeks" of work at the construction site, she said by telephone.

According to current legislation, trade unions must defend the rights of foreign workers legally employed in Russia, but such cases rarely take place because foreign workers are either often employed illegally or are senior executives at big foreign companies and have enough money to hire a lawyer in case of a conflict, said Sergei Yuryev, a partner at law firm CMS Russia.

"The Federation of Independent Trade Unions has likely turned its attention to the issue because of requests from the mass media to comment," he said.

An immediate reaction from the federation indicates significance of the APEC summit for the Russian government, Yuryev said.

Defending foreign workers' rights has always been an issue for the trade unions, as about 2 million legal workers come to Russia from abroad annually, Shershukov said.

"But in order for his rights to be defended a person should undertake some steps himself, at least join a trade organization," he told The Moscow Times, adding that foreign workers are not active in joining trade unions because protection of their rights tends to be less crucial for them than getting paid.

The regional prosecutor's office, the Federal Security Service and the Federal Migration Service started a check at the construction site, a spokeswoman for the Primorye Regional Prosecutor's Office said.

May 04, 2011 10:43

Moscow press review for May 4, 2011http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=241248

MOSCOW. May 4 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on May 4. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.

VEDOMOSTI

A Chinese corporation could gain access to the development of a coal field in Russia for the first time ever, as Itera (RTS: ITER) is selling a controlling stake in its Apsatskoye project to Winsway Coking Coal. The Chinese company announced the deal on Tuesday, saying it agreed to pay Itera $90 million for 60% in the Cyprus-based Divalane, which owns 100% in Arkticheskie Razrabotki, a company holding a license to develop the Apsatsoye field. An Itera spokesperson added that the company will keep the other 40% in the project in its ownership. The completion of the deal depends on its authorization by Russian antimonopoly bodies, Winsway says. The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has received a request for buying 60% in Divalane from Delightful Hill

Enterprise (BVI), a FAS spokesperson said. She declined to disclose this company's beneficiaries but said the request would be considered soon. ('Itera Gives Up Coal', see also Kommersant, page 9, 'Itera Drives Partner To Coal')

Market Council has decided for the first time to fine energy companies for failing to timely launch new facilities being built under contracts for allotment of capacities. Vedomosti sources named three such facilities, i.e. Lukoil's (RTS: LKOH) Astrakhan State District Power Plant (GRES), Mosenergo's (RTS: MSNG) TETs-26, and Enel OGK-5's Middle-Urals State District Power Plant (GRES). All the three facilities, whose aggregate capacity is 930 MWt, were brought into operation up to two months later than planned, and all the three companies will be fined now, but the sanctions will not be very severe and could reach several million rubles, the Vedomosti sources said. The companies will pay the fines until the violations are corrected, sources close to the Market Council said. ('Powermen To Pay For Delays')

Rosneft (RTS: ROSN) will get half of the profits of BP's German subsidiary Aral MineralolVertrieb (AMV), which sells 20% of all oil products in Germany. A Rosneft spokesperson declined to say what sum is involved, and AMV does not disclose its financial indexes. Grigory Birg, an Investcafe analyst, presumed that AMV's proceeds in 2010 could have been $14 billion, considering that the average wholesale price of a basket of oil products in Germany is $600 per tonne. ('Sharing Profits')

The amount of rubles on the Russian market has reached its lowest level this year, which has prompted interbank overnight rates to exceed a record of 4.6% in yearly terms. This situation has been caused by tax payments and the Central Bank's decision to increase the interest rate. ('Chasing The Ruble')

KOMMERSANT

The Russian government is discussing the elimination of cross-ownership of RusHydro's (RTS: HYDR) and Inter RAO's stocks. Both state-owned companies will significantly enlarge their treasury stakes through a swap of shares. Kommersant sources said the plan is especially beneficial to RusHydro, which is expecting privatization, because it would enable it to offer a larger stake to a strategic investor. (Page 9, 'RusHydro Seeking Self-Possession')

The Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX), Russia's largest exchange holding, is lacking money to buy the RTS exchange and has therefore offered its shareholders an 11% stake in RTS so as to be able to repay its debt to Otkritie financial corporation, which had bought this stake for MICEX three months ago. (Page 1, 'MICEX Selling RTS')

Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, May 4, 2011http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110504/163847020.html

08:31 04/05/2011

POLITICS

A former Russian intelligence officer who helped U.S. authorities bust a Russian spy ring last summer has been charged with high treason and desertion

(Moscow Times, Kommersant, Moskovskiye Novosti, Izvestiya)

The United States could accuse Pakistan of assisting Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. operatives in the Asian country on Sunday.

(Kommersant)

Moscow and Tbilisi continue to negotiate the terms of Russia's admission to the WTO

(Kommersant)

A look at what impact Osama bin Laden's death have on U.S. domestic affairs and the global fight against terrorism

(Moskovskiye Novosti)

ECONOMY

Many banks are not prepared for a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis and would lose half their capital if similar events reoccurred, the Central Bank determined after conducted a banking stress test

(Moscow Times, Vedomosti)

The United States is suing Deutsche Bank $1 billion over claims that the bank provided wrong information on the country's mortgage products

(Kommersant)

The government has invented a way to help businesses and improve the investment climate. The Economic Development Ministry will be allowed to examine all laws and resolutions by officials to find out whether they are helpful to entrepreneurs

(Moskovskiye Novosti)

BUSINESS

Yandex, one of Russia's most popular Internet search engines, cautioned potential investors about the possibility of a takeover by oligarchs and potential negative influence by the state in its prospectus for an upcoming initial public offering on Nasdaq.

(Moscow Times)

The Yandex search engine, preparing for an initial public offering on Nasdaq in May, has been preliminarily valued at $6-7 billion

(Kommersant, Izvestiya)

Moscow's Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports could catch up with Domodedovo airport, the capital's largest, in terms of earnings and passenger flow if they agreed to merge

(Vedomosti)

Nasdaq and ICE have decided to launch a hostile takeover of NYSE Euronext, whose board rejected a merger proposal twice

(Vedomosti)

SOCIETY

The European Court of Human Rights handed a landmark victory to a former arms control researcher freed in a U.S. spy swap last year, ruling that he was detained for too long and denied a fair trial in 2004

(Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Moskovskiye Novosti)

Food in Russia could cost 15% less, communications 10% less and real estate 25-30% less if there was less bureaucracy and legalized corruption, experts say

(Vedomosti)

Nine people died in Russia's Urals region because the local cardiology institute lacked funds to give them heart surgery

(Vedomosti)

Moscow Lowers Expectations on Tactical Nuclear Breakthroughhttp://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=37874&tx_ttnews[backPid]=27&cHash=2d86abf7582c47cf00d0c6c9d9f8a389

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 8 Issue: 85May 3, 2011 04:24 PM Age: 23 minCategory: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, Energy, Russia By: Roger McDermott

US proposals to reduce tactical nuclear weapons are being carefully and consistently downplayed by Moscow. Mikhail Margelov, head of the Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee expressed skepticism on the issue following a series of meetings with US defense officials in Washington. Mergelov characterized Moscow’s stance as “guarded” though he also raised the problem of such an ambitious disarmament program receiving support in Russia: “Russia’s reaction on the prospects for discussion about tactical nuclear weapons is, to put it mildly, guarded and careful. I do not think that, at the moment, if I propose debates in the international affairs committee or in the defense and security committee, you will find even a couple of people who will fiercely support the abandoning of our tactical nuclear weapons” (RIA Novosti, April 30).

In Krasnaya Zvezda, Viktor Ruchkin examined recent statements by Colonel-General (retired) Viktor Yesin on the prospects for securing a reduction of tactical nuclear weapons. Yesin, a former chief of the main staff of the Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN), stated that if talks begin without first holding “consultations” this may predetermine their failure. Ruchkin cited Yesin’s statement during an international conference on April 18 (Prospects of Transformation of Nuclear Deterrence, at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences). “Tactical nuclear weapons are a means of regional deterrence, in which general purpose (that is, conventional, non-nuclear) forces also participate. The neighbors of Russia are clearly superior with respect to general purpose forces. In the East, it is primarily China. In the West, it is primarily NATO,” Yesin stated. Although such conflict in the current strategic environment is highly unlikely, Yesin added that situations and intentions can rapidly change (Interfax, April 28, 19; Krasnaya Zvezda, April 29).

Yesin used data on the numbers of Russian tactical nuclear weapons estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). These estimates suggested in 2010 that Russia possessed around 2,050 tactical nuclear weapons. However, unlike the coverage elsewhere by the Russian media, Ruchkin emphasized Yesin’s assertion that if the numbers of such weapons in Russian air defense and missile defense are taken into account, there is already an approximate parity with the US (Krasnaya Zvezda, April 29). However, on the issue of parity, Yesin said this is not possible in principle, advocating a broader disarmament context including “general purpose forces, missile defense systems and long-range high precision weapons” (Interfax, April 19).

US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller’s proposal for Russia and the US to exchange data on the numbers, location and types of their tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe prior to commencing talks was described as illogical and unrealistic, according to Viktor Kazimirov, a Moscow-based expert on political-military issues. “The exchange of data on tactical nuclear weapons before appropriate talks start would simply be pointless because to this day the US has not withdrawn nuclear weapons of this class

from other countries in Europe, while first the Soviet Union and later Russia did that,” Kazimirov said. He noted that such US systems in Europe constitute “forward-deployed nuclear weapons” capable of striking Russian territory (Interfax, April 23).

Kazimirov also complained that Washington intends to upgrade the tactical nuclear warhead designed for the European theater and dismissed Gottemoeller’s proposal for Russian tactical nuclear weapons to be withdrawn from the zone of contact with NATO member states: “It is like Russia demanding that Washington shut down US nuclear bases on US territory, inviting it to put them somewhere further away in the Cordillera.” He expressed surprise that Washington only wants to count tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe, saying that all US tactical nuclear weapons should be included. He concluded: “Negotiations with the US that cover just tactical nuclear weapons would be unproductive when some types of nuclear and missile defense arms complement others, since they are interrelated. For this reason, before negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons start, Moscow has to be convinced of Washington’s constructive implementation of START III, as well as obtain firm guarantees that no weapons of any kind are deployed in space and about the elimination of imbalances in conventional weapons, where NATO’s member states have a considerable advantage in comparison with Russia. US and NATO nuclear strategies of an offensive nature also have to be revised” (Interfax, April 23).

On April 27, Yuri Rubtsov suggested that US proposals to reduce tactical nuclear weapons are not only badly timed, but if implemented would damage strategic stability. Rubtsov criticized Gottemoeller for advocating that “cooperation will be able to provide Russia with the assurance, that the American missile-defense system will not disrupt strategic stability and simultaneously strengthen the ability of both of our countries to be protected from the developing missile threats.” This was interpreted as repeating statements by US officials after unilaterally withdrawing from the 1972 ABM Treaty. He questioned why US officials use the term “non-strategic” in discussing tactical nuclear weapons, arguing that this is a convenient stance for Washington overlooking the fact that US and Russian approaches to these weapons differ. Russian weapons in this category pose no threat to US territory while “forward-based US tactical nuclear weapons” pose a threat to Russia “tantamount to strategic weapons” (http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2011/04/27/ssha-popytka-obescenit-rossijskij-potencial-jadernogo-vozmezdija-pod-vidom-shirokoj-diskussii.html).

Rubtsov repeated Moscow’s pre-condition to such talks: “Russia, responding to proposals, which already had often been expressed, on negotiations on the problem of tactical nuclear weapons, put forward, in our view, a basic condition for their initiation: the withdrawal of US tactical nuclear weapons to their national territory. Although (in justice) our country in due course could demand its inclusion in the limited framework of START III. Since, it bears repeating, tactically in terms of their TTKh (tactical-technical specifications), they, in the event of use, acquire a strategic character in terms of their proximity to Russia’s borders.” Rubtsov recalled the “strong conviction” expressed in November 2010 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that negotiations on strengthening international stability and assuring strategic parity cannot focus exclusively

on one issue. Lavrov linked the issue of tactical nuclear weapons to US plans to develop space-based weapons, missile defense and its development of “non-nuclear strategic weapons” (http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2011/04/27/ssha-popytka-obescenit-rossijskij-potencial-jadernogo-vozmezdija-pod-vidom-shirokoj-diskussii.html).

Moscow will certainly play hard ball on this issue, though it clearly assigns a high military premium to both nuclear deterrence as well as its stockpiles of tactical nuclear weapons. Radical reversals of Russian policy are unlikely prior to the presidential election in 2012 –if at all.

A Rare Verdicthttp://russiaprofile.org/politics/35837.html

The Recent Conviction of Two Nationalists For Murder May Be the Sign of a Growing Trend By Andrew Roth Russia Profile 05/03/2011

The roller-coaster trial of two Russian nationalists, Nikita Tikhonov and his common-law wife Evgenia Khasis, ended with the pair being convicted of the 2009 murder of human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova. The defense attempted to portray the trial as politically motivated and the couple, shortly before receiving the guilty verdict, cut their wrists in an unsuccessful “protest suicide attempt.” While the nationalists’ legal and PR backing group, Russky Verdikt (Russian Verdict), promises to continue the fight, many believe that Markelov’s killers have been rightly condemned in a rare conclusion to one of Moscow’s high-profile killings.

Markelov and Baburova were both shot down in Moscow in January 2009 while leaving a press-conference, just a month before three men accused of playing a role in Anna Politkovskaya’s murder were acquitted by a jury. The lesson was clear at the time: these murders are rarely solved and even rarer are cases when those who order political assassinations are brought to justice.

The prosecution of Tikhonov and Khasis seemed unique in this sense. During the trial the murder weapon, a 1910 Browning pistol, was produced, having been found in Tikhonov’s apartment. A clear motive was established for Tikhonov, as Markelov mentioned his name in a list of possible suspects in another case. The prosecution produced an exhausting cast of witnesses and the couple did not even attempt to disavow their nationalist beliefs.

Yet despite the damning evidence, the case was hardly open-and-shut. There was the testimony against Tikhonov from another ultra-nationalist and friend, Ilya Goryachev, which he later tried to recant (unsuccessfully, due to a technicality), saying that his testimony was procured under duress. There was also the late resignation of Anna Dobrachev, a member of the jury in the trial, who said that individual jurors were being

put under pressure by others to produce a guilty verdict against the pair.

Ultimately, there was plenty of material for Russky Verdict, a self-proclaimed human rights organization with close ties to the ultra-nationalist group Russky Obraz, to launch a campaign in defense of Tikhonov and Khasis. Tikhonov is one of the founders of Russky Obraz, while Khasis is one of the founders of Russky Verdikt itself.

Both the prosecution and defense cloaked themselves in motifs familiar to anyone who follows the news in Russia. The prosecution averred that Tikhonov and Khasis were part of Russia’s ultra-nationalist problem and the human faces behind a high-profile killing. Meanwhile the defense’s PR campaign took a page from Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s book, taking on the mantle of political prisoners, while harping on Russia’s nihilistic legal culture.

The coordinator of Russky Verdikt, Aleksey Baranovsky, told Russia Profile that among the many violations of legal procedure during the trial, “the most revealing issues in the process were how pressure was applied between the jury members and how it seems that the jury deliberations were set up in order to produce a guilty verdict.”

He went on to note that a quick conclusion to the case would help “kill two birds with one stone,” for some in the government. “First, it ends the Markelov affair, which, if it were followed up properly, would lead to some very difficult and shady characters that the investigators are not up to the task of dealing with. The second bird is, of course, continuing to discredit nationalist movements in Russia,” said Baranovsky.

Other Russian rights groups, however, disputed Russky Verdikt’s depiction of a heavily manipulated trial. The authorities have indeed started prosecuting more nationalist groups in a campaign which began even before the riots on Manezh Square last year, said Alexander Verkhovsky, the head of the Moscow-based SOVA center, which monitors extremism and xenophobia in Russia. Yet he noted that the violations in the case were not especially pronounced, and that Russky Verdikt was simply running an effective PR campaign.

“Russky Verdikt is not a human rights organization because they don’t protect people’s human rights. They protect their own people, who have committed crimes and expressed support of hateful speech. In this case their PR service did a good job in giving the impression to many people that these poor, innocent people were being hounded by the terrible Russian authorities.”

Human rights NGO Memorial, which itself suffered a terrible loss when Natalya Estemirova was killed in Chechnya in 2009, also released a statement supporting the court’s guilty verdict and attacking the defense for its usurpation of the term “human rights advocate,” saying that a nationalist and racist ideology was incompatible with the defense of common human rights.

For Verkhovsky, whose organization closely follows extremism in Russia, the verdict is

an important sign that cases of nationalism are being prosecuted more often and more aggressively in Russia now. ”One event can’t change the situation of course,” said Verkhovsky “But it should be understood that these crimes don’t go unpunished. Speaking personally, this trend is really quite important for two reasons – both for the increase in the number and length of sentences over the past couple of years and for the greater number of investigations into these crimes.”

Guilty verdicts boost crackdown on nationalistshttp://themoscownews.com/society/20110503/188636130.html

by Anna Arutunyan at 03/05/2011 22:14

Four months after a violent rally of over 5,000 football fans just steps away from the Kremlin on Manezh Square, the government appears to be taking the first steps in curtailing what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin then called a “bacillus” of nationalism.

“There a lot of mistakes, but the government is moving in the right direction,” Semyon Charny, a head expert at the Moscow Bureau For Human Rights, which monitors hate crime, told The Moscow News.

A guilty verdict against ultranationalist couple Nikita Tikhonov and Yevgeniya Khasis in the murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova two years ago draws a line under a problem that many say has been festering unhindered for years.

And the arrest of five people for their part in a violent gathering that police were initially seen as too hesitant to suppress is signaling that authorities are ready for change.

“The government is really trying to fight this,” Natalia Yudina, chief expert at the SOVA hate crime monitoring agency, says. “In 2010 there was a marked decrease in the number of hate crimes, and we seen an increase in the number of cases tried as hate crimes. This means that the justice system has started working.”

Sympathy and fear

The high-profile trial, which began in January, saw several jurors withdraw – some cited pressure, and some claimed their political beliefs would not allow them to judge objectively.

In the final ruling Thursday, only seven jurors out of 12 found Tikhonov and Khasis guilty of gunning down Markelov and Baburova in January 2009.

And while several publicity stunts – including marriage between the two and a suicide attempt by Khasis – may have affected general sentiment, the ruling suggests a high degree of nationalist sympathy in the population at large.

“A lot of people are either sympathetic or are simply afraid,” Yudina said.

Two birds with one stone

While touted as a move in the right direction, both the guilty verdict and Manezh investigation raised questions about how effective the signals would actually be.

The Investigative Committee’s chief investigator, Vadim Yakovenko, announced last Wednesday that the events unfolding on Manezh Square on the evening of December 11 were organized in revenge for the death of death of Spartak fan Yegor Sviridov, killed in a Dec. 6 brawl. The Manezh investigation focused on five criminal counts – including hooliganism and inciting racial hatred.

The leading suspect was identified as 23-year-old Belorussian national Igor Berezyuk, who rallied fans to Manezh square and even paid 1500 rubles to a minor to shout out nationalist slogans, Kommersant cited Yakovenko’s statement as saying.

But the five suspects arrested in connection with the Manezh unrest were also said to be activists of the banned National Bolshevik Party, whose founder, Eduard Limonov, is also the head of the liberal oppositionist Other Russia movement and an organizers of the liberal Strategy 31 protests.

While experts say that some members of the Other Russia movement were indeed present at the Manezh unrest, those credentials raised questions about who the law enforcement authorities were actually targeting.

“It was a decision to kill two birds with one stone,” Charny said. “To fight nationalism, and to show the National Bolsheviks who’s boss.”

Another problem that both experts and nationalists point to is that the Manezh rally was a spontaneous event – and clear-cut “organizers” are unlikely to be found, let alone brought to justice.

“I don’t believe that there were organizers in the Manezh case,” Charny said. “It was a spontaneous gathering of people.”

Banning DPNI

Among nationalists – many of whom insist that Tikhonov and Khasis are innocent – there is concern that the government’s measures may force the movement underground and radicalize it further.

A Moscow court ruled to ban the ultra-nationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigration on April 18, on grounds that the organization is extremist.

But Vladimir Tor, one of its leaders, believes that may do more harm than good.

“Radical sentiment will increase. If there’s no possibility to conduct legitimate legal nationalist activism, then it will go underground,” he said. “I have been witnessing an increase in violent radicals – and this will continue.”

And Charny, of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau, believes the measure will have little effect.

“Last year, they banned Slavyansky Soyuz. Now they banned DPNI. But they’ll probably rename themselves,” he said. “A ban in itself doesn’t change anything. A prison term of five years or more is more effective.”

Lax law enforcement drives outrage over pedophilia in Russiahttp://rt.com/news/russia-years-castration-re-offend/

Published: 4 May, 2011, 09:17Edited: 4 May, 2011, 10:04

A call is mounting in Russia to introduce chemical castration for pedophiles. Activists say the current laws are slack and allow criminals to re-offend. But there are those who believe castration is far from a quick fix to such a complex problem.

Elvina is a mother of three. Last summer, her four-year-old daughter was raped. Once Elvina learned what happened, she found the man responsible – and beat him to death.

“Now, looking back, I can only say that I just wanted to be sure that this animal was punished and would never again do such a terrible thing as he did to my little girl,” Elvina told RT.

Sadly, Elvina’s case is not an isolated one in Russia. In a country where 70 per cent of pedophiles are paroled, with the opportunity to re-offend, “vigilante justice” is often used as an alternative to a court of law.

“Lynching is impermissible, but it starts where the state fails,” a psychiatrist at Russia’s Investigative Committee, Mikhail Vinogradov, explains. “If poor mothers and fathers knew that offenders would get 15 years in prison or more, would be castrated before being released – and would never be released without a satellite tracking chip, as in the USA, for police to know about every step they make – I am pretty sure they would not execute them.”

There have been numerous attempts to toughen the laws on pedophiles in Russia. In a decade, dozens of bills stipulating chemical castration or life imprisonment have been discussed by the State Duma. But not a single one has passed.

“Pedophiles aren’t without support in Russia. This means some police officers receive money for allowing brothels and dens to operate, members of the court system acquitting criminals,” says Anton Belyakov, a State Duma deputy from the Fair Russia party. “And I am not only talking about the child porn industry – there is so much money and so many people involved in this corruption! This evil is too hard to fight.”

But some do not give up and fight their own war.

Sergey is hiding his face – he says the country’s pedophiles are hunting for him. Gathering information from newspapers and TV, he has created an online pedophile database, Pedofily.ru. Hundreds of offenders, including teachers, musicians and unemployed people have been collected here with short profiles and photos.

“In 98 per cent of cases, child abusers re-offend. People should know who they are,” Sergey says. “They should know what they look like. They should be on alert.”

Sergey says in the 13 years he has been working on this site, not a single official has taken any interest in his plight.

“They do have far greater databases, but just don’t want to open them up. We do what they should have done,” he added.

Sex offenders here are divided into categories – from those serving sentences to those deceased. But there are many who are marked as “at large” or “wanted”. A terrifying thought for parents everywhere.

Every day some 60 children become victims of pedophiles in Russia. That means that in the two weeks we have been working on this report, more than 800 kids have been abused. For years, Russian legislators have been talking about protecting children, but for each day they fail to act, even more innocent lives are being destroyed.

National Economic Trends

CBR firm on tighteninghttp://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15050

CitiMay 4, 2011

CBR raised the policy rate to 8.25% and deposit rate to 3.25% from May. The deposit rate hike is in line with our expectations (see EMMSO, 21 April). The refinancing rate increase came as a bit of surprise given the controversial statement of CB Deputy Chairman Ulyukaev on 25 April. It seems that the decision was made at the board meeting. The policy rate hike indicates the intentions of authorities to bring inflation expectations closer to the target for 2011.

We expect CB policy to support the inflation target of 7.5% and do not rule out further tightening. However, we do not expect further ref rate hikes yet but rather continual increase of reserve requirements and possibly the deposit rate. Authorities are facing a trade-off between growth and inflation. Monetary tightening will prevent the economy from growing faster but could help slow inflation by wiping out excess liquidity from the market and controlling money supply. While we think that the risks are greater on the high inflation side, CB policy is likely to be finetuned since growth remains vulnerable (EconMin revised its forecast on investment downwards; real wage growth close to zero and limited room for further consumer confidence improvement are unlikely to boost consumption). Under the current scenario, we believe that backed by the lagged effect of ruble appreciation, inflation is likely to finish slightly lower than 8% in December 2011. EconMin expects 2Q inflation to be 2.1%, 0.2% in 3Q and 1.2% in 4Q 2011. CBR sees zero inflation in 3Q and 1.5% in 4Q 2011.

The hike in deposit rate comes as a result of fears about capital flight which is still high (-US$21.5bn in 4Q 2010 and -US$21.3bn in 1Q 2011). MinFin supports the tightening policy of the CB and awaits net capital inflows in 2H 2011(Reuters, 26 April). The rate hikes and high oil prices suggest a strong ruble in the short run but we believe the appreciation pressure will ease in 2H 2011 in response to weaker current account surpluses, higher budget spending and seasonal capital outflows in 3Q. Our capital account forecast is zero since we think capital inflows from corporate borrowing, FDI and de-dollarisation will be offset by pre-election ouflows.

Elina Ribakova

Insecurity characterises Russia's first-quarter economic performancehttp://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15050

Bank of Finland April 30, 2011

After a feeble January, the Russian economy bounced back in February and March. Recovery was apparent in retail sales, the main item of domestic demand. The volume of retail sales increased in the first quarter almost 5 % y-o-y and reached the pre-crisis peak of autumn 2008. The volume of food sales, however, was up just 1 % y-o-y, while sales of non-food goods roared ahead. Retail sales of non-foods were up 8 % y-o-y.

High inflation, in particular, may threaten the development of consumption in the near future. It has eroded real household incomes, dragging them down 3 % y-o-y in the first quarter according to statistics. However, the increase in the social tax in January may have caused employers to go "grey" and pay a bigger part of salaries under the table, i.e. without registering them, which might explain part of the decrease in income.

Investment recovered in February-March, but was still down more in 1Q11 than in 1Q09 or 1Q10. Investment is still more than 20 % below the pre-crisis peak.

Industrial output was up nearly 6 % y-o-y in the first quarter, and manufacturing was up over 10 %. Production of mineral extraction industries saw low growth with only tiny increases in crude oil and natural gas output.

The recovery in GDP growth that began in winter, con-tinued relatively brisk. The economy ministry preliminar-ily estimates that GDP increased 4.5 % y-o-y in 1Q11.

The boom in imports continued with the value of im-ports rising about 40 % y-o-y in the first quarter. The sea-sonally adjusted value of imports actually exceeded pre-crisis levels. Preliminary data also suggest the volume of imports reached back to pre-crisis levels.

Russian budget revenues up sharply; slight increase in spendinghttp://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15050

Bank of Finland April 30, 2011

Finance ministry figures show the federal budget is on track to take in 1.46 trillion rubles (€36 billion) in addi-tional revenues above its original forecast. Most of the revenue boost is attributed to higher tax revenues on crude oil due to the surge in world prices.

The higher revenues will be used to reduce the budget deficit, which is now expected to stay below 1.4 % of GDP this year. Part of the unexpected earnings will be transferred to the Reserve Fund to cover future fiscal shortfalls. At the end of 2011, the finance ministry expects the Reserve Fund to reach 1.5 trillion rubles, which corre-sponds to about 3 % of GDP.

At the end of last week, the government approved its first supplemental budget for 2011; federal budget spend-ing will rise about 360 billion rubles (€9 billion) in reflec-tion of higher tax revenues. The spending hike represents a slightly greater than 3 % increase from the original figure.

Most of the extra spending will go to the social sector; some 74 billion rubles will be used to cover the deficit in the Pension Fund in anticipation of a possible extra in-crease

in pensions at the end of the summer. If inflation exceeds 6 % in the first half of this year, pensioners get an additional raise. It is now expected that the index trigger will be activated; consumer prices were up 3.8 % in the first three months of the year.

Some 62 billion rubles (€1.5 billion) of the supplemen-tary budget will be invested by the state as foundation capital in a "Direct Investment Fund" currently being put together. President Medvedev introduced the idea of estab-lishing a national investment fund at the last summer's economic forum in St. Petersburg. The fund's purpose is to participate in important projects that foreign investors carry out in Russia and thereby attract foreign investors. The fund will be administered by Vnesheconombank and its capital will gradually be raised to $10 billion. Project participation of the fund would typically be 10-25 %.

May 3, 2011, 3:17 PM CET

Investors, Oil Industry Get Squeezed in Russia’s Inflation Fighthttp://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2011/05/03/investors-oil-industry-get-squeezed-in-russia%E2%80%99s-inflation-fight/

By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

Russia’s so far unsuccessful efforts to fight inflation, especially of gasoline prices, may turn into a major drag on Russia’s investment case this year, on top of presenting a setback for the ruling tandem, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev.

Russian leaders last week were faced with the embarrassing news of gasoline shortages in the world’s biggest oil-producing country. The supply shortage had been building since February, when Mr. Putin ordered oil companies to keep a lid on gasoline prices, which had soared in the wake of political unrest in the Middle East. This prompted oil producers to cash in on higher prices from exports instead of selling gasoline at artificially low prices at home.

The crisis prompted criticism from investors for trying to interfere with the market.

“The state has no one but itself to blame for the fiasco,” says Oleg Maximov, analyst at Troika Dialog.

Analysts at IHS Global Insight called the crisis “a major embarrassment for a country that takes pride in its status as the world’s top producer of crude oil.”

“Russia’s growing gasoline problem is a function of the government’s interference in the market rather than a natural supply and demand problem,” IHS Global Insight says.

The government’s attempt to control gasoline prices is just one of several measures aimed at curbing inflation — a key political issue with elections less than a year away. Consumer prices in April were almost 10% higher than the same month a year earlier.

In recent months, the government has intervened in the domestic grain market and banned exports of the commodity, pressured producers of coal, steel and fertilizers to rein in prices, and proposed capping monopoly tariff growth in 2012. The central bank also lent a hand, when it last week — against expectations — raised interest rates for the second time this year.

“As the government becomes increasingly forceful in its efforts to fight inflation, (…) there are clear risks that companies and investors will be caught in the crossfire,” says Eurasia Group’s Kim Iskyan.

The measures are likely to have only mixed success, particularly as government spending continues to accelerate in the run-up to elections. The first big setback came last week, when Russian car-owners lined up at empty gasoline stations across the country. Now, investors fear this somewhat erratic policy-making will persist until after the elections.

“It goes without saying, this is not helpful for the Russian equities investment case,” says VTB Capital’s Alexey Zabotkin.

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

PIK, CTC Media, Kuzbass Fuel, AvtoVAZ: Russian Equity Previewhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-03/pik-ctc-media-kuzbass-fuel-avtovaz-russian-equity-preview.html

By Scott Rose - May 3, 2011 10:16 PM GMT+0200

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

The 30-stock Micex Index fell 2.9 percent to 1,691.45. The dollar-denominated RTS Index declined 2.8 percent to 1,976.74.

PIK Group (PIK) : The London-listed Russian real estate developer is expected to release full-year earnings for 2010. The company’s global depositary receipts slid 2 percent to $4.215 in London.

CTC Media Inc. (CTCM) : The U.S.-listed Russian television network will report its first-quarter earnings. The shares fell 3.5 percent to $22.69 yesterday in New York.

Kuzbass Fuel Co. (KBTK RX): The Russian thermal coal producer that sold shares to the public last year will report operating results for the first quarter. The company’s shares fell 1.5 percent to 212 rubles.

OAO AvtoVAZ (AVAZ) : Russia’s largest carmaker boosted sales 8.6 percent in April from a year earlier, the company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. That was the slowest annual increase since the government began its cash-for-clunkers program last year. The Togliatti-based automaker’s shares lost 2.2 percent to 26.6 rubles.

OAO Polymetal (PMTL RX): Silver futures tumbled yesterday, capping the biggest two-day slide since October 2008. Polymetal, Russia’s largest silver producer, fell 2.1 percent to 528.7 rubles.

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

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

Russian Banks Not Prepared for Another Financial Crisis, FT Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/russian-banks-not-prepared-for-another-financial-crisis-ft-says.html

By Blanche Gatt - May 4, 2011 4:10 AM GMT+0200

Almost a third of Russia’s banks are not prepared for a repeat of the global financial crisis and would see their capital requirement dip below the 10 percent minimum if a similar situation were to recur, the Financial Times reported, citing the results of a stress test by the country’s central bank.

To contact the reporter on this story: Blanche Gatt in London at bgatt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net.

Russian lenders fail stress testhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/61e6a1cc-75a6-11e0-80d5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1LMe3Y3Ji

By Courtney Weaver in Moscow

Published: May 3 2011 19:15 | Last updated: May 3 2011 19:15

Nearly a third of Russia’s banks are ill-prepared for a repeat of the global financial crisis, according to a stress test of the industry by its central bank.

Few domestic lenders went bankrupt during the crisis, thanks to nearly $40bn in state support.

However, more than 300 of Russia’s 900-plus banks would see their capital requirement fall below the 10 per cent minimum – and therefore have their licences revoked – if they found themselves in a similar downturn marked by a rapid outflow of deposits and a paralysis in interbank lending.

The 321 banks at risk controlled more than half of the assets in the sector, the central bank said.

Results from the stress test come at a time when Russia’s banking sector is making headway thanks to the Kremlin’s financial help, which came in the form of bail-outs and government bonds.

The government estimates that just 8 per cent of loans in the sector are non-performing. Analysts say the situation has improved but estimate that problem loans could still be much higher than government estimates.

At the height of the crisis problem loans were estimated by some to be as high as 40 per cent.

“Banks have made extra effort to build up their risk-management functions, to build up their capacity in dealing with problem loans,” said Vladimir Savov, an analyst at Otkritie, the Russian investment bank. “Capital [which is what the stress test measures] takes time.”

He and other analysts stressed that the conditions of the test were extreme and assumed that the industry would once again see a 10-20 per cent outflow in retail deposits, a more than 30 per cent reduction in interbank loans and 20 per cent depreciation of the rouble.

However, the stress test raises the issue of the consolidation of the Russian banking sector – a change forecast since the start of the crisis that has yet to come to fruition.

During the crisis, the government chose to implement measures – such as softening the definition of non-performing loans – to stave off bankruptcies, and maintain stability in the banking system as a whole.

Now that banks’ balance sheets are improving, and the central bank is gradually implementing measures to increase capital requirements, the sector will finally start to see some banks acquired, and others shut entirely.

May 04, 2011 12:18

Sberbank reduces personnel by 3.6% to 240,900 employees in 2010http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=241288

MOSCOW. May 4 (Interfax) - Top Russian bank Sberbank (RTS: SBER) reduced its personnel by 3.6% to 240,895 employees in 2010, the bank said in a material for its shareholder meeting.

At the same time, total employees at the bank's central administration (including the center for overseeing client operations) increased by 19.2% last year to 8,681 people while total employees at Sberbank's territorial operations went down by 4.3% to 232,200 persons.

The bank said that it had moved to a new organizational structure for its territorial banks and branches. The main idea behind the change was formalizing division and managerial responsibility for defined business operations. "During the reorganization, the number of personnel was optimized, firstly, in managerial, central administrative and support functions," the materials said.

The bank reduced its working personnel by 8% in 2009 and increased it by 2.6%, the Sberbank said in its materials.

VTB First Quarter Deposits Grow 30 Percent, Vedomosti Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/vtb-first-quarter-deposits-grow-30-percent-vedomosti-says.html

By Stephen Bierman - May 4, 2011 6:11 AM GMT+0200

VTB Bank OJSC (VTBR) deposits in the first quarter grew 30 percent after the bank merged VTB North-West and its VIP St. Petersburg clients into it, Vedomosti said, citing the bank’s press service.

The VTB North-West deposits went to VTB, as the clients have yet to decide on using the VTB-24 consumer unit or another bank, Vedomosti said.

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

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

Bony Mellon back from the brink of in Russiahttp://www.emergingmarkets.me/2011/05/bony-mellon-back-from-the-brink-of-in-russia/

May 4, 2011

By Marcus Williams.

The Bank of New York Mellon is back from the brink of extinction in Russia after landing a deal last week to be depositary for Sberbank's massive DR programme.

Less than two years ago, the US investment servicing giant was still mired in a bizarre racketeering case whereby Russia had sought $22.5bn from the bank.

The Russian government has been seeking compensation from the lender after its former vice president, Lucy Edwards, used shell companies and Bank of New York accounts to move more than $7bn out of Russia in the late 1990s in an infamous case.

The whole legal shenanigans was finally settled in Septembe 2009 with the bank scoring a victory by only paying the government’s legal fees of about $14m.

Separately, the Bank of New York agreed to offer a line of credit to Russian state banks to finance import and export business on "favourable terms."

Those favourable terms may have played a part in Bank of New York beating off compeition from three other players to win the Sberbank mandate.

Sberbank said it intends  to issue depository receipts for existing shares to attract foreign investors and had run the ruler over Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan as potential candidates.

Russia plans to sell 7.6% in Sberbank, with the stake's current market value of $6.2 billion, later this year or next year as a part of a  state sell-off.

RusHydro May Swap Shares With Inter RAO Ahead of Sale, Kommersant Reportshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/rushydro-may-swap-shares-with-inter-rao-ahead-of-sale-kommersant-reports.html

By Stephen Bierman - May 4, 2011 6:24 AM GMT+0200

OAO RusHydro, Russia’s largest producer of renewable energy, may swap stock with OAO Inter RAO UES, another state-owned utility, as it prepares to sell shares to a strategic investor, Kommersant reported.

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

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

Russia targets annual coal output of 450 million tonnes by 2030

http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_news/Russia_targets_annual_coal_output_of_450_million_tonnes_by_2030/203484.html

Wednesday, 04 May 2011

As announced in Russia's program for development of its coal industry up to 2030, annual coal production in Russia is expected to rise from the current level of 323 million tonnes to 450 million tonnes by the year in question.

In 2010 Russia's coal production increased by 5.4 percent year on year to 317 million tonnes. Coal productions in Russia have risen amid increased demand in the domestic and external markets as well as due to improving external economic conditions.

(Sourced from Steel Orbis)

Kuzbass Fuel’s Coal Sales Decline 12% on Quarter; Prices Advancehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/kuzbass-fuel-s-coal-sales-decline-12-on-quarter-prices-advance.html

By Ilya Khrennikov - May 4, 2011 8:00 AM GMT+0200

Kuzbass Fuel Co., a Russian producer of coal for power plants, said first-quarter sales fell 12 percent from the previous three months to 2.43 million metric tons.

Year-on-year, volumes rose 26 percent because of increased export sales, the Kemerovo, Siberia-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.

Sales prices advanced 11 percent from the previous three months to 1,155 rubles ($42.20) a ton, Kuzbass said. Prices grew 32 percent from a year earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at ikhrennikov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amanda Jordan in London at ajordan11@bloomberg.net

Chinese Buy First Russian Coal Deposit for $90M http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/chinese-buy-first-russian-coal-deposit-for-90m/436226.html

04 May 2011Bloomberg

Winsway Coking Coal Holdings, a Chinese importer of Mongolian coal listed in Hong Kong, said its holding company agreed to buy a Russian deposit for $90 million.

The holding company aims to buy 60 percent of the Apsatskoye steelmaking coal deposit in East Siberia's Zabaikalsky region, about 1,000 kilometers from a rail link between Russia and China, Winsway said in a statement Tuesday. The deposit has an estimated 675 million metric tons of resources, it said.

Natural gas trader Itera bought the right to Apsatskoye in 2008, according to the company's web site. The statement didn't give details of the remaining 40 percent, and an official at Itera's press office contacted by Bloomberg News said the company was unable to comment immediately.

"This could become the first purchase of coal assets in Russia by the Chinese," said Dmitry Smolin, a UralSib Financial analyst in Moscow. Russia may approve the deal as, unlike oil, gas and non-ferrous metals, coal isn't strategic, he said.

China is ready to spend as much as $6 billion to double coal purchases from Russia to more than 20 million tons a year by 2016, the Russian Energy Ministry said in September. ArcelorMittal is the only major foreign company that has produced coal in Russia, according to UralSib.

India Starts Buying Russian Coal http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/india-starts-buying-russian-coal/436230.html

04 May 2011

Reuters

India's surging demand for thermal coal will draw in 1 million to 2 million tons of Russian supply for the first time in 2011 to compete with South African and Indonesian coal, Indian importers and Russian exporters said.

Although Russian coal is likely to remain a minor part of India's projected 140 million tons of imports for 2011 and 2012, India has become a key growth market and has started to import Russian material for the first time this year, Russian exporters said.

So far this year, India's biggest trader importer, Adani Group, has bought two Capesize cargoes of Russian coal, a few smaller traders have booked several Panamax cargoes, and others are in talks for 2011 supply with Russian sellers.

"Around 1 [million] to 1.2 million tons of Russian coal could go to India this year," one major Russian exporter said.

Other Asian buyers such as South Korea and Taiwan will currently pay higher prices than India, he said, and China is also likely to pay more when buying resumes.

Kinross increases 2011 guidance to 2.67m - 2.7m gold equivalent ounceshttp://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=126315&sn=Detail&pid=102055

Kinross' 100% ownership of its Kupol mine is anticipated to increase the gold company's 2011 Russian region production to 535,000 to 550,000 GEO.

Author: Dorothy KosichPosted:  Wednesday , 04 May 2011

RENO, NV - 

A robust gold price, new West African production, and strong performance from mining operations contributed to a 42% increase in revenue and an 81% increase in adjusted net earnings for Kinross Gold during the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Kinross has increased 2011 full year-production guidance to 2.67 million - 2.7 million gold equivalent ounces as a result of increasing the company's Kupol interest to 100%.

The revised GEO production forecast is based on planned gold production of 2.4 million - 2.5 million ounces and silver production of 11.8 million - 12.2 million ounces this year.

Production in the first quarter of this year was 642,857 GEO, an 18% increase over the 544,134 GEO produced during the first-quarter 2010. The increase was mainly attributed to the addition of production from West Africa operations.

Kinross now expects to produce 535,000 to 555,000 GEO at its Russian region this year, compared with its prior forecast of 435,000 to 455,000 GEO.

On April 27, 2011, Kinross' 75%-owned subsidiary, Chukota Mining and Geological Company (CMGC) completed the purchase of the 25% of Kupol mine that Kinross did not already own for US$350 million, giving Kinross 100% ownership of the Kupol mine and the Kupol East-West exploration licenses.

Meanwhile Kinross completed the sale of its approximately 8.5% equity interest in Harry Winston Diamond for net proceeds of US$100.6 million.

The company said it growth projects remain on schedule. "At Fruta del Norte, construction of the portal high wall for the underground exploration decline has commenced, and negotiations with the Ecuadorian government on an exploitation agreement are proceeding," Kinross said.

At Paracatu the third ball mill is 98% complete with commissioning continuing through the second quarter, the company said.

"We continue our aggressive campaign to define and advance mineral reserves and resources at Tasiast, with 26 drills turning around the clock," Burt said. "Results at the main deposit continue to fulfill our expectations, while encouraging results at other targets along the trend reinforce our belief that Tasiast has the potential to develop into a major gold producing district."

Adjusted net earnings for the first-quarter 2011 were $180.3 million, an 81% increase over the $97 million reported in the first-quarter 2010. Adjusted net earnings per share were 16-cents in Q1, compared to 14-cents per share for first-quarter 2010.

Reported net earnings were $255.5 million or 23-cents per share for the first quarter of 2011, compared with $181.3 million or 26-cents per share for first-quarter 2010.

Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk to buy Outotec POX plant equipmenthttp://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72558?oid=126325&sn=Detail&pid=102055

Gold miner Petropavlovsk is to buy key equipment and technology for its new Pressure Oxidation plant at its flagship Pokrovskiy gold mine from Finnish specialist, Outotec.

Author: Lawrence WilliamsPosted:  Wednesday , 04 May 2011

LONDON - 

London headquartered Russian mid-tier gold miner, Petropavlovsk has announced that its JSC Pokrovskiy Rudnik operating subsidiary, has signed an agreement with Finnish metallurgical and mineral processing specialist, Outotec, for the delivery of key autoclave equipment for  the  future pressure oxidation (POX plant) at its flagship Pokrovskiy gold mining operation.  The order includes four 60m3 pressure leaching  autoclaves.  In addition, the Group has signed a non-binding  five year strategic co-operation agreement with Outotec  to provide engineering consulting services in Russia, CIS and other countries. 

The contract follows the Group's development plan to install a POX plant at Pokrovskiy to process flotation concentrate from the Malomir and Pioneer mines. The project design was developed by Outotec based on extensive metallurgical studies carried out  by the Group's research and development centres,  Irgiredmet and Gidrometallurgiya, and also at the Group's metallurgical test plant (based in Blagoveschensk). 

The total annual POX plant capacity is estimated at c.600,000 tonnes of concentrate and the contract price is around .€30 million (US$44 million).

A contract for the supply of flotation equipment from Outotec is also expected to be signed in the near future.

 Commenting on the announcement, Peter Hambro, Chairman of Petropavlovsk said: "I am delighted to report that our plans to create a POX processing hub at Pokrovskiy are progressing well.  I believe that  Petropavlovsk, with our own expert research  centres  and PHM Engineering, working together with Outotec will be successful in establishing a world-class POX processing hub,  thus giving the Group a strong competitive advantage in a new and very prospective field."

Pertti Korhonen, Outotec's CEO said:  "We hope to establish a long-term strategic partnership with the Petropavlovsk Group and its specialists. We believe that together with the strong scientific and engineering base developed by Petropavlovsk and by using its unique laboratory and test plant's facilities we  will be able to offer sustainable technology solutions for efficient recovery of gold which will open up new prospects for the development of other gold projects in Russia and elsewhere"

Russian palladium stocks seen 'at or near exhaustion' – Stillwater

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/russian-palladium-stocks-seen-at-or-near-exhaustion---stillwater-2011-05-04

By: Liezel Hill4th May 2011

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Billings, Montana-based Stillwater Mining believes it's likely that Russia's infamous stockpile of palladium metal is either almost or entirely gone, CEO Francis McAllister said on Tuesday.

Any inventories that still remain would probably not have much of an impact on the market if they were sold, especially given the strong industrial demand for the metal, he said at the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Stillwater is one of only two companies that mines palladium as its primary product.

Palladium is mainly used in emissions-reducing autocatalysts, primarily in gasoline engines, but also increasingly in diesel engines, together with platinum.

Rising vehicle production demand, especially from emerging economies, and limited new supply could send platinum prices to $3 000/oz, which could imply a palladium price of $1 500/oz to $2 000/oz, if recent ratios are maintained, McAllister said.

There are "huge deficits looming for both metals", he added.

The price of palladium more than doubled in 2010 and although the metal trended lower in the first quarter it has since recouped some of the losses.

One ounce of palladium, at $755/oz, is currently worth more than 40% of the same amount of platinum, up from 27% at the end of 2009.

And McAllister said he expects the gap will narrow further, potentially even approaching parity, as analysts and investors realise new technologies have made the two metals increasingly interchangeable on a 1:1 basis in catalytic converters.

And the platinum price will be supported by rising production costs in key producer South Africa, together with robust demand for both metals, he said, "so this convergence will result in sustained and higher prices for palladium.”

The palladium price will likely also move up further if and when, at some point, the market gets “concrete evidence” that the Russian stockpiles have been depleted, he said.

Russia has made a State secret of its palladium inventory, but recent comments from officials, together with the dwindling sales over the last couple of years, suggest the stocks are largely depleted, McAllister said.

Stillwater has also conducted studies of its own, interviewing analysts and experts that would have insight into the amount of metal the Russians were able to stockpile in the years before it started selling out of the inventory, and has reached a similar conclusion, he said.

The unquantified stockpiles, which accounted for some 25% of total palladium supply over the last 20 years, have created something of an overhang in the market, so the confirmation that the holdings have been depleted would be further good news for palladium prices.

Consumers will likely need to switch some consumption back to platinum as supplies of palladium become squeezed, McAllister said, which will in turn push prices for both metals upwards.

PROFIT JUMPS

Stillwater reported record first-quarter net income of $36,2-million, a 170% leap from the same period a year earlier, as the company benefitted from surging metals prices and higher than expected mine production.

Stillwater, which produces palladium and platinum from two mines in the Beartooth mountains in Montana, bought Canada's Marathon PGM Corp for around $118-million in cash and shares last year.

First-quarter revenue rose to $170-million, compared with $133,5-million in the first quarter of 2010.

The company is working on permitting the Marathon project in Ontario, and could start production from the new mine in 2014 or 2015, McAllister said.

The project is expected to cost about $450-million.

Stillwater shares fell 6,6% on Tuesday, to $20,92 apiece by 16:02 in New York, amid a broad sell-off in North American mining stocks.

Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter

KAMAZ: Strong operating results for 4M11http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15050

Renaissance CapitalMay 4, 2011

Event: Today (4 May), ITAR-TASS reported that KAMAZ produced 4,040 vehicles in April, bringing the total for 4M11 to almost 14,000 (+45% YoY). Two KAMAZ

subsidiaries, KAMAZ-Diesel and Cummins KAMA, produced and delivered more than 4,500 engines and power units in April and more than 15,000 units in 4M11 (+33% YoY).

Action: Positive for KAMAZ's share price, in our view.

Rationale: The company has shown very solid growth since the beginning of the year, and the rate of growth in 4M11 exceeded management's upgraded FY11 target; the company has already managed to fulfill more than one-third of its new business plan of almost 40,000 vehicles in 2011 (+42% YoY). Production growth, currently ahead of schedule, is reportedly expected to slow in August, a seasonally weak period.Ivan Kim

Transportation, construction and infrastructure - Trends in January-February 2011 http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15050

Renaissance CapitalMay 4, 2011

The economy and domestic industrial consumption remain robustElectricity demand stayed strong going into 2011, growing 4-5% YoY over the past two-to-three months. The January-March data showed a pick-up in domestic consumption of steel, and production of flat steel exceeded pre-crisis levels in January-February 2011. January-March also saw significant increases in the prices of long and flat steel products and basic steelmaking raw materials. We expect the recovery in the construction market that started in summer 2010 to carry over into 2011; increasing prices of construction materials in January-February is an encouraging sign - it is the first time prices have increased for basic materials since the crisis. Taking into account the fall in cargo turnover at Russian ports (dry cargo turnover fell more than liquid cargo) and soft exports in January-February, we believe the above price trends were due to a considerable pick-up in domestic industrial consumption. Note that the completion of residential dwellings remained low in January-February 2011.

Domestic private consumption is on the riseA strong rouble and high oil prices are two good reasons to expect a pick-up in domestic private consumption. Container throughput via Russian ports showed seasonal softness in January-February but was strong YoY, suggesting to us an increased appetite for imports that we believe will only intensify in the coming months. Auto sales have been strong YtD and demand has shifted to mid-range cars, suggesting to us that the population's spending power is strengthening. On the other hand, airlines saw soft demand in January-February as the situation the Middle East/North Africa led to a flat YoY change in passengers travelling to international destinations. With the lifting of travel bans in April, we believe the passenger statistics will improve in the coming months. Aeroflot, which does not operate charter flights, fared better than its peers in this period.

Rail showed the best dynamics...certainly better than portsThere was some seasonal weakness in rail transportation in January-February, but notably good basic material (including cement) transportation volumes. Ports saw just the opposite (again due to the underlying strength of domestic demand) with Novorossyisk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) continuing to display negative dynamics going into 2011. The only positive for ports was the strength of container throughput, which was equally strong for both ports and rail transportation. While stevedoring prices are largely unchanged in 2011, rail transportation tariffs have grown from November 2010 to January-February 2011. New rail car prices continued to rise in January-February, and the total 2011 demand for railcars remains well above 2010 production. Interestingly, the leasing prices for railcars declined somewhat in January-February, probably as a result of seasonality, in our view.

Strong performance of rail stocks to continueRail stocks were the best performers over the past three months, and we believe strong underlying cargo dynamics (both for base materials and containers), a supportive pricing environment, and the privatisation of First Freight Company and sale of a stake in Transcontainer should be enough catalysts to sustain this positive performance. We expect investor interest in Globaltrans and Transcontainer to spill over to FESCO, as a potential buyer of a blocking stake in Transcontainer and a beneficiary of strong container throughput. Aeroflot stock is likely to continue to suffer from high oil prices and the Russian state's indecisiveness concerning the fate of Terminal D and the timing of the acquisition of Rostechnologii airlines. We prefer to play the auto sector via Sollers, which has quickly secured funding for its joint venture with Ford and has seen a strong pick-up in sales YtD.

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

Gasoline export duty to be temporary, 2-3 monthshttp://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15050

CitiMay 4, 2011

On Friday, Deputy Finance Ministry Sergei Shatalov stated that the newly devised export duty on gasoline, set at 90% of the crude export duty, is fully intended to be a temporary measure until the situation on the domestic fuel market stabilizes, and he does not foresee it lasting longer than 2-3 months. This likely improves the chances of the 60/66 tax plan becoming law, once some of the details around companies that would be most negatively affected (Bashneft, in particular), are worked out. That law, if passed, would be revenue neutral for the overall oil industry and for government, but would shift the tax burden from the upstream to the downstream.

Ron Smith

Schlumberger and Eurasia Activate Alliance http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/schlumberger-and-eurasia-activate-alliance/436222.html

04 May 2011Interfax

Eurasia Drilling and Schlumberger have formed a strategic alliance in the CIS and completed the sale and purchase of each other's drilling and service assets, Eurasia Drilling said.

The transaction was in line with the letter of intent announced on Oct. 4, 2010.

Eurasia Drilling purchased Schlumberger drilling and well servicing assets in Russia that include 19 existing drilling rigs with 17 drilling crews, 34 workover rigs with 25 related crews, and 23 sidetracking rigs with 20 related crews, currently operating mainly in West Siberia. Primary clients of those rigs include Rosneft, TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft and LUKoil, and their total drilling output in 2010 was about 700,000 meters.

Schlumberger purchased Eurasia Drilling's drilling services assets, including directional drilling, cementing and drilling fluids engineering and materials supply. These service lines include 24 cementing crews, 57 directional drilling/telemetry crews and 50 crews for drilling fluids.

Schlumberger and Eurasia Drilling will cooperate closely in the supply of oil and gas services to Eurasia Drilling for a five-year period. This will provide both companies opportunities to deploy the latest technologies in complex onshore and offshore markets.

The total value of the transaction is about $260 million, and includes a cash consideration of about $173 million from Eurasia Drilling to Schlumberger.

RussNeft Profit Down by 43%, Sistema Purchase Price Clarified http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russneft-profit-down-by-43-sistema-purchase-price-clarified/436224.html

04 May 2011Interfax

Oil company RussNeft posted a net profit of $453 million in 2010 under Russian accounting standards, a drop of 43.3 percent from 2009, the company reported.

RussNeft blamed the decline on an exchange rate loss due to appreciation of the dollar against the ruble and growth in interest expense on existing debt.

Revenue rose 28.9 percent to $6.87 billion in 2010. Operating income before depreciation and amortization was up 2.3 percent to $1.23 billion on rising production as well as higher prices on output and improved structure of sales.

AFK Sistema paid $20 million in April 2010 for a 49 percent stake in RussNeft from founder Mikhail Gutseriyev, according to a disclosure in Sistema's recently released annual report.

It was reported earlier that Sistema might make additional payments following completion of due diligence of RussNeft. The total value of the deal might rise to as much as $100 million contingent on RussNeft achieving a number of financial and operational targets.

Last December, Leonid Melamed, RussNeft's board chairman and president of Sistema, said due diligence of RussNeft had been completed and that RussNeft's co-owners were agreed on additional payments based on the shareholder agreement.

There is no conflict among RussNeft shareholders, Melamed said. "All of the interested parties have their views on RussNeft and their interests in it. A palette of motivations forms the background for development of our relations. The shareholder agreement will determine whether Sistema will make additional payments for the RussNeft stake," Melamed said.

The section in Sistema's 2010 earnings report on "events after the accounting date" of April 26 contains no information concerning additional payments for the RussNeft stake.

Control of RussNeft passed from Gutseriyev to Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element in 2007, although Basic Element never received permission from regulators to become the actual owner. Control officially reverted to the original owner in 2010.

Sistema announced last April that it had acquired 49 percent of RussNeft shares, leaving Gutseriyev with 49 percent. Sberbank Russia, RussNeft's main creditor, held about 2 percent.

Rosneft to Buy $708M Drilling Rig http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/rosneft-to-buy-708m-drilling-rig/436229.html

04 May 2011Interfax

United Shipbuilding Corporation is contracted to deliver a semi-submersible drilling platform to Rosneft by Dec. 15, 2014, Rosneft said in its annual report for 2010.

The price of the rig is tentatively set at $708 million.

However, Rosneft has yet to provide USC with the technical specifications for the platform, a USC representative told Interfax. "We're ready to build it, but what exactly is needed?" he said.

Construction would be carried out at the Vostok-Raffles shipyard in the Far East, a joint venture between USC and Chinese-Singaporean Yantai-Raffles. However, construction of the shipyard has not begun yet.

In fall 2010 a source at the Industry and Trade Ministry told Interfax that there is still no design plan for the future shipyard, and another source at USC mentioned difficulties in selecting a site for the construction.

However, the USC representative said the site has now been chosen and the company is continuing with the plan to build the semi-submersible at Vostok-Raffles. "We have not examined other options," he said.

So far USC has only invested in the charter capital of the joint venture under its agreement with Yantai-Raffles. It is to finance construction of the shipyard on its own. Rosneft is obligated to pay 100 percent of the cost of the semi-submersible within 10 days of delivery.

Vostok-Raffles also received an order last year to build four tankers for Caspian Gas.

Gazprom

Gazprom wants to speed up Sakhalin-3http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/05/03/Gazprom-wants-to-speed-up-Sakhalin-3/UPI-41221304457570/

Published: May 3, 2011 at 5:19 PM

MOSCOW, May 3 (UPI) -- Russian energy giant Gazprom plans to speed up drilling at the Sakhalin-3 project to move natural gas quicker to Asia, a company official has said.

"We are going to drill the first production well this year in the Kirinsky field and next year we are going to be able to supply the gas into the pipeline system," Vsevolod Cherepanov, Gazprom's head of gas Russia, told the Dow Jones Newswires on Monday.

Sakhalin-3 sits off Russia's Pacific Coast. An estimated 2.25 billion barrels of oil and 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas locked in the Sakhalin region. Most of it is in the Kirinsky that was initially scheduled to start producing gas in 2014.

Operations have been sped up to have the block producing by 2012, in a bid to feed gas into a new pipeline, currently under construction, from Sakhalin via Khabarovsk to Vladivostok, Cherepanov said. That same year, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is held and could open new market possibilities for Russian gas sold to Asia.

A 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami March 11 resulted in a fallout at the crippled the nuclear power infrastructure in northern Japan, creating an energy deficit in the island nation.

With Japan expected to reduce its reliance on nuclear power following the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, the region's demand for natural gas is to increase significantly.

A group of companies led by Gazprom are already selling LNG to Asian-Pacific markets from the Sakhalin-2 project, with talks under way to boost shipments to Japan, a Gazprom official told Britain's Daily Telegraph last month.

Cherepanov told Dow Jones that Japanese companies are in discussions with Gazprom to ship some of the hydrocarbons from Sakhalin-3 via liquefied natural gas tankers to Japan, which already is the world's largest importer of LNG.

China is another potential customer for the Sakhalin-3 project, Gazprom's attempt to diversify its export structure away from Europe as the continent tries to become less dependent on Russia and boosts its domestic renewable energy industry.

At the same time, Europe might want more gas in the mid-term future to make up for reactors that go offline. Germany is considering shutting its plant park down earlier than planned.

The recent developments place Russia in a better negotiating position with Europe.

Ever since a row over gas prices with Ukraine in 2006, the Kremlin has been accused of using its energy reserves as a political pressure tool.

The lack of trust has resulted in energy security conflicts, with Europe voicing its desire to import from alternative suppliers in Central Asia, and Russia threatening to supply Asia's emerging economies instead.

UPDATE 1-Novatek owners exercise option from Gazprombankhttp://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/novatek-idINLDE7420J620110503

Tue, May 3 2011

* Gazprombank had granted option on 9.4 percent

* Main owners had sold part of holdings to Total

* Gazprom retains 10 percent stake in Novatek

(Writes through, adds background)

MOSCOW, May 3 (Reuters) - The Russian energy investors who sold part of their stakes in gas producer Novatek (NOTK.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) to French major Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) have replenished their holdings by exercising an option to buy more shares from Gazprom bank.

Novatek said on Tuesday that Gazprombank has sold its stake in Novatek (NOTK.MM: Quote, Profile, Research). It had held shares Novatek through a subsidiary, Dhignfinolhu Holding. The holding no longer holds its 9.4 percent of Novatek, the gas producer said.

The bank, in which Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) has a 41.7 percent stake, had granted an option to buy the stake to Novatek's two main private shareholders, CEO Leonid Mikhelson and oil and gas investor Gennady Timchenko, founder of energy trading group Gunvor.

Mikhelson and Timchenko recently sold some of their Novatek shares to France's Total in a package deal that made the French major a shareholder in Novatek and a partner in its Yamal LNG Arctic gas venture. [ID:nNWLA6327]

Gazprom itself retains a 10 percent stake.

After the sale of Gazprombank's 9.4 percent stake, an investment vehicle, SWGI Growth Fund, boosted its stake to 15.4 percent from 11.6 percent.

Novatek identifies Timchenko and Mikhelson as its main beneficial owners and SWGI Growth Fund as one of the direct holders of shares.

The company did not disclose the new owner of the remainder of the 9.4 percent. (Editing by Jane Merriman)

Gazprom ready to provide assistance to NOVATEKhttp://www.steelguru.com/russian_news/Gazprom_ready_to_provide_assistance_to_NOVATEK/203415.html

Wednesday, 04 May 2011

NOVATEK holders approved the deal with Gazprom covering the period from December 2012 to 2015.

The deal stipulates gas shipment assistance for NOVATEK. 140 billion cubic meter of gas should be shipped for RUB 227.445 billion in the price.

NOVATEK is ranked as the second producer of natural gas in Russia after Gazprom. The fields are located in Yamalo Nenetsky reg. The stocks are under trading on LSE. It managed to increase the proved reserves by 38.1% to RUB 6.853 billion barrels. The 2010 net profit increased 55.6% to RUB 40.533 billion revenues from sales being up 30.1% to RUB 117.024 billion.

(Sourced from AK&M)