Russia 110926
Basic Political Developments
· Daily: Putin to visit Serbia in October - According to the daily’s sources, the most likely date of the visit is October 22-23.
· Norwegian military delegation visits Northern Fleet - The Norwegian delegation will visit the garrison of marines to study the training process and observe live firing exercises. Members of the delegation will also visit the Admiral Levchenko anti-submarine ship and the Severomorsk-3 garrison. “Major-General Morten Lund is a pilot and he shows interest in naval aircraft of the Northern Fleet and service of Russian colleagues,” the press centre said.
· Telephone conversation with Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel - Dmitry Medvedev and Angela Merkel also discussed the schedule for contacts at the highest level and touched on various current bilateral cooperation issues.
· Germany, France patrol skies over Russia and Belarus
· Russian inspectors to make survey flights over US
· ‘Iran, Russia, China mulling joint missile shield’ - The report, which was published in the Iranian daily newspaper Kayhan on Sunday, said that the sources cited two reasons why serious consultations have been held on the initiative.
· Joint power plants with Russia, Turkey - Iran will cooperate with Russia and Turkey to establish power plants geared towards exporting electricity, announced energy minister.
· Katainen to meet Putin in Siberia - Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen says that he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have tentative plans to meet soon after the beginning of next year, probably in Siberia.
· Finnish priest’s anti-terror campaign backfires – again: Pastor Juha Molari has once again been temporarily defrocked for speaking out against an extremist website streaming the rhetoric of Doku Umarov, one of the world's most wanted terrorists.
· Switzerland and Russia Sign Memo on Tax Cooperation at IMF Talks
· EU Foreign Affairs Council to mull Russia's accession to World Trade Organization - A diplomatic source told Interfax that the European Commission will inform the council about the results of contacts with the Russia on the accession process and the possibility of achieving this objective based on bilateral and multilateral efforts.
· Visa-free travel to Kaliningrad soon in effect - Visa-free travel to the Kaliningrad region (western Russia) and the border areas of Poland will be introduced in a few weeks, said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. According to him, the document has already been agreed by the countries, adopted by the European Commission, and is now to be approved by the European Parliament and EU member states.
· Policy of innovation promises prosperity for Russia and Germany - The document contains a proposal to make the forum a "permanent venue for meetings of scientific elite, post-graduates and students of Russia and Germany."
· Singapore's trade with Russia hits record S$5.2b
o RF-Singapore business forum discusses emerging markets
· Russia-N. Korea Trade - By Andrei Lankov
· Ukraine gas deal with Russia imminent - Ukraine deal imminent, better for GAZP than we feared - Citi's Ron Smith likes the Kommersant report from the unnamed sources on gas negotiations.
o European Gas Flows Safe as Russia, Ukraine Haggle, Tigipko Says
o Significant progress reached at talks with Russian leaders, says Yanukovych
o Ukraine sees the third side of a pipeline - In Moscow, Viktor Yanukovich talks about the conditions for creating a gas consortium
· Delegation of RF’s Fed Council attends inauguration in Abkhazia - Russia’s delegation headed by Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko has arrived for inauguration of Abkhazia’s President Alexander Ankvab.
o Ankvab to be sworn in as Abkhazia president
o RME sends humanitarian aid to Abkhazia.
· Three North Korean citizens arrested in Primorsky Territory - Border guards on the "Primorye" patrol ship detained North Korean fishermen who were illegally fishing calamari. While being detained they offered resistance and beat two members of the "Primorye" crew.
· Russian sailors stranded in Somalia appeal to Sailors’ Trade Union
· Citizen of Belarus prosecuted for Moscow clashes complains to ECHR
· Medvedev studies blogger views on Russia’s future
· Kudrin attends modernization meeting after rejecting future state post
· Prokhorov Off Commission
o Medvedev to chair modernization commission meeting without Prokhorov
· Sobyanin appoints Gavriil Popov his aide - Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin appointed on Monday Gavriil Popov, the first mayor of Moscow, his aide, the city’s administration reports.
· Opposition plans to picket Central Elections Commission headquarters - "The organizers notified the Moscow Central Administrative District's prefecture about their plans. If the authorities refuse to permit the action, it will be held in the flash mob format," a source in the Left Front movement told Interfax on Monday.
· Local finance official killed in Moscow Region
· Over thousand hectares of taiga on fire in Buryatia, Transbaikalia
· Over 1,100 ha of forests on fire in Siberia
· Reuters PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Sept 26
o www.vedomosti.ru
o President Dmitry Medvedev has agreed to hand his office to Vladimir Putin and received a virtual guarantee that he will get the prime minister's job afterwards, the daily says, commenting on the congress of the ruling United Russia party.
o President Medvedev has promised to hold a meeting with government and bank officials to discuss the worsening situation on the domestic markets.
o The state agency responsible for restructuring mortgage debts during the 2008 financial crisis has revived its "hot line" in order to gauge borrowers' problems paying off their dollar-denominated loans.
o www.kommersant.ru
o The job swap between Medvedev and Putin cannot fail to lead to widespread personnel changes in both the presidential administration and the government, the daily says.
o Russians have contributed to weakening the rouble by buying hard currency, the daily says, adding that the demand for foreign currency cash has grown threefold in two weeks.
o New St Petersburg head Georgy Poltavchenko is reviewing investment projects approved under his predecessor Valentina Matviyenko, now Russia's upper parliament house speaker.
o www.izvestia.ru
o The messy reform of the system for training military specialists could create a lack of efficient officers in Russia's strategic missile forces, the daily says.
o Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has promised to the increase tax burden on the rich while keeping the current income tax scale in place.
o www.ng.ru
o Medvedev and Putin have killed the intrigue surrounding the next presidential election by making public their agreement on trading jobs, the daily says.
o Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has criticized the Kremlin for approving heavy spending on defence and security instead of saving money for social needs and education, the daily says.
o www.rg.ru
o Belarus is expecting to reach agreement with Russia's Gazprom by the end of November on selling its remaining 50 percent stake in Beltransgaz, the daily says, commenting on the results of the talks between Gazprom chief Alexei Miller and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
o www.rbcdaily.ru
o Most of Russia's politicians were disappointed with the ruling tandem's decision on the future elections, the daily says. The scenario was rather predictable but suited practically nobody, the popular daily says.
o www.mk.ru
o Vladimir Putin has reaffirmed his reputation of a person whose decisions are difficult to predict, the daily says.
o Alexei Kudrin has tried to commit political suicide by saying he could not see himself in the new cabinet headed by Dmitry Medvedev.
o A group of pilots and aviation workers urging Russia's leadership to take measures to improve poor state of aviation has faced harassment and prosecution, the daily reports.
· RIA Russian Press at a Glance, Monday, September 26, 2011
· Monday’s Russian Papers: Kremlin Castles As In Chess - Depending on the slant of the individual newspaper, the Russian press was mixed in its front-page treatment of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s move to seek the presidency next year, although more than one daily managed to compare the news to castling in chess—a mere switch of Putin’s role with that of current President Dmitry Medvedev.
· Official: Wallenberg possibly outlived death date - Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews before vanishing into Soviet captivity, may have been alive after the official 1947 date of his death — but only for a few days, says the chief archivist of Russia's counterintelligence service.
· Russia’s Mighty Varyag: Enemies Defeated, Missiles Intercepted - By Lidia Vasilevskaya
· Cleaning up the police force - The Ministry of Interior wants to change the dismissal policy of discredited employees.
· COMMENTS ON PUTIN’S RETURN TO PRESIDENCY
o Changes in RF’s power not to affect Finland – Finland’s PM
o Czech press survey - September 26: It would be meaningless to debate about whether there is any democracy in Russia at all because to be sincere, Czechs are not in a situation to pose as teachers of this subject, Alexandr Mitrofanov writes in Pravo about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev´s announcement that current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will be the United Russia party´s presidential candidate.
o Putin's presidency may hinder Russia's accession to WTO – analyst: After Vladimir Putin is elected Russian president hindrances may appear in the process of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), political analyst Nikolai Zlobin believes.
o "Mutin" for president - One very senior Russian banker said over the weekend: "The Moscow elite, who almost without exception as far as I can see, have been busy over the past few years creating safe havens for themselves and their families in the western democracies. I have not spoken to a single Russian recently who believes in the future of his country, never mind in Putin's development plan."
o Russia's presidency Medvedev and Putin complete the picture – by Ovanes Oganisian Rencap
o Some Russians wary of Putin's return - By Gennady Novik
o Tandem's decision guarantees stability - heads of Far Eastern regions
o Russian Church: Medvedev-Putin agreement instance of "kindness and integrity"
o Putin move risks public backlash - By Charles Clover and Catherine Belton in Moscow
o Putin Will Run for Russian Presidency, Seeking Longest Tenure Since Stalin - By Ilya Arkhipov and Henry Meyer
o Putin Must Overhaul Economy or Risk Brezhnev-Style Stagnation - By Henry Meyer, Lyubov Pronina and Ilya Arkhipov
o Putin Return Complicates U.S. Policy - By ADAM ENTOUS in Washington and ALAN CULLISON and RICHARD BOUDREAUX in Moscow
o Leader for Life? How Putin Set Up His Kremlin Comeback - By Simon Shuster / Moscow
o Russia skeptics proven right as Putin set to take top spot again - By Fred Weir
o RT: Putin Blues by Western media - While Western officials have cautiously left the final choice of Russia’s leader to the people of Russia, Western media have been speculating what kind of change Vladimir Putin would bring if he indeed wins the upcoming presidential poll.
National Economic Trends
· Situation on Russian markets does not require emergency measures – Kudrin
· State foreign debt falls in M8
o RF external debt decreases by over 7% in Jan-Aug – Finance Ministry
· Rouble at new 2-yr lows after leadership decision
o Ruble Drops to Two-Year Low to Dollar After Putin Announcement
· Russians start actively purchasing dollars and euros
· Russian consumer sector Higher ERP and weaker-rouble impact
· Sberbank CEO: Russian Banks Have Enough Capital
· Russia’s Milling Wheat Dropped 1.6% Last Week, SovEcon Says
· Russia: the Kudrin question - Investors don’t seem to like it. Instead of the calm reception that Putin and Medvedev might have expected, Russian markets are down on Monday – although how much is due to the local politics and how much to the global economic mess is hard to say.
o Don't count out Russia's Kudrin just yet - "Kudrin personifies Russia's macro- and fiscal stability. His departure would be a major blow to the Russian investment case," said Roland Nash, chief strategist at Russia-focused hedge fund Verno Capital.
o The Rebel Within - In Open Defiance of Moscow’s Highly Choreographed Power Shift, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin Said He Would Not Work in a Cabinet Led by Dmitry Medvedev
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
· Putin’s Comeback; Dixy, Mostotrest, PIK: Russian Equity Preview
· Rostelecom applies to offer shares in London
o Rostelecom seeks London listing for 25 pct preferred stock
· Mostotrest posts 1H 2011 net profit of 1.6 billion roubles
· United Heavy Machinery shareholders to elect new board Dec 6
· India’s NMDC looks at Russian coal
· Russia TMK recommends H1 dividend of $27 mln
· Metals sector gets defensive - Rencap
· Russia's Alrosa may invite Evraz to develop deposit
· UPDATE 1-Russia's PIK returns to profit in H1
o PIK Group Reports Profit as Rising Home Prices Add to Developer’s Revenue
· Russian Investor Focuses on Ecommerce - But earlier this year, Russian Forbes listed Mr. Boguslavsky, the man behind Ru-net, as one of the most important players in Russia’s booming Internet scene.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
· Blue Stream tax breaks may end in 2013E - MPT indexation slow down insufficient to compensate for it
· TNK-BP board did not discuss management – statement
o TNK-BP to pay $1.25 billion special dividend
o BP, Russian partners weigh venture's CEO job – WSJ
o TNK-BP Partners Fret Over CEO Spot
· Russia eyes Barents action - Russia aims to kick off exploration next year on its side of the maritime border in the Barents Sea that was recently demarcated in a treaty with Norway, according to a report.
· MOL to invest $87m in Siberia block - Hungarian explorer MOL is to invest $87 million in developing its oil field in Siberia this year, according to reports.
· Arctic ice escort of NOVATEK - The Russian government has allotted NOVATEK, OJSC, four new mine fields not far from Yamal Peninsula where the company is planning to build a liquid natural gas plant (an LNG plant).
Gazprom
· Gazprom, CNPC amend commercial terms for gas shipments to China (Part 2)
· Lukashenko invites Gazprom to buy stakes in other Belarusian companies in addition to Beltransgaz