Russia 101108

Basic Political Developments South Korea and Russia will actively develop political, economic and cultural

relations - South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan said about it in an exclusive interview with ITAR-TASS and the central newspaper of South Korea the Chung’ang Ilbo. The foreign minister, who earlier worked at the South Korean embassy in Moscow and recently assumed new office, stressed that ITAR-TASS correspondents were the first among foreign journalists who he received.

ITAR-TASS chief becomes Seoul's honorary citizen Iran to host Caspian Sea ministerial meeting on Tuesday - Russia Insists on

Global Coordination of Quantitative Easing. Also Caspian Sea summit is to be held in Baku on November 18 in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad represents Iran.

Russia Insists on Global Coordination of Quantitative Easing - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will “insist” on global coordination of any so-called quantitative easing measures by government when he meets with counterparts from the Group of 20 nations this week.

MEDVEDEV'S VISIT TO KURIL ISLANDS WILL NOT REFLECT ON APEC SUMMIT AGENDA, TERRITORIAL ISSUE WILL BE DISCUSSED IN MEETING WITH JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER – DVORKOVICH

Dvorkovich expects Medvedev, Obama to give signal to businesses to cooperate Massive progress made in Russia-U.S. talks on WTO accession - Medvedev aide APEC senior officials coordinate summit agenda - The Russian delegation was

led by Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Minister Valery Sorokin. “We as well as other forum participants supported a new growth strategy of the APEC that will be adopted for the first time and incorporates our proposals. Some of the strategy’s provisions coincide with Russia’s course for modernization,” he said.

Japan set on regaining four disputed islands from Russia - prime minister : "This is not a problem that may be solved in one round of talks or in one meeting. I intend to draw up a strategy and make a fierce effort to get [the islands] back," the Kyodo news agency quoted the prime minister as telling the parliament.

South Kuriles problem cannot be settled quickly – Japan PM No prospects for quick settlement of Kurils issue – Kan Medvedev, Halonen to discuss Russia-EU partnership -"The presidents will

exchange opinions on forming a renewed architecture of European security and developing Russia-EU strategic partnership, including Russia's prospects to join the WTO," the Kremlin said.

o Russia, Finland presidents to meet in Moscow - Speaking on economic cooperation the Kremlin source noted among the priorities the cooperation in such high-tech industries as shipbuilding, energy, forestry and transport. He recalled that the May 2010 interstate agreement on Finland’s lease of the Russian part of the Saima Canal and the adjoining territory and on the navigation through the Saima Canal is passing the ratification procedure.

“In December 2010 Halonen and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are expected to attend the opening of a St. Petersburg-Helsinki high-speed passenger railway line,” the source pointed out.

CIS top security officials to meet in Tajik capital - The heads of security bodies and special services of the CIS member states will meet in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on November 8-9, the Central Asian country's national security committee said.

Russian official: Preparatory activities for Azerbaijani elections 'highly professional' - The voter turnout during the Azerbaijani parliamentary elections on Nov.7 was as "high" as the level of professionalism of the electoral process, Russian Federal Assembly Federation Council Deputy Speaker Svetlana Orlova said at a press conference today in Baku. Orlova coordinated a CIS Interparliamentary Assembly election observer group.

Mironov to attend 20th anniversary of Israel-RF diplomatic ties - Mironov will hold several official meetings, particularly with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a source in the Russian delegation told Itar-Tass. Alongside, the Federation Council speaker will deliver a speech at a conference, which will be held at the Jewish University of Jerusalem on Monday.

ICTY chief prosecutor to attend Nuremberg Trials conf in Moscow - Brammertz will meet with the top officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday, Brammertz’s Special Adviser Frederick Swinnen said. The chief prosecutor will dwell on the ICTY current work and the strategy to complete its activities, as well as on the level of cooperation between the Hague Tribunal and the former Yugoslavian countries, Swinnen said.

Armenian President to leave for Moscow - On November 17, a gala event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Union of Armenians of Russia will be held in State Kremlin Palace, Moscow.

Foreign Minister of Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan met in Moscow - The Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, Edward Nalbandian, Sergey Lavrov and Elmar Mammadyarov held a working meeting in Moscow on November 6, Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported. Russian investors soon to visit Karachi, Islamabad - A Russian investment delegation will soon visit Karachi and Islamabad to review and explore investment opportunities in Pakistan.

Georgian parliament seeks to ban Soviet symbols Pressure mounts on Kremlin to solve latest media attack - Russia's top reporters

increased pressure on President Dmitry Medvedev Monday to break the cycle of unresolved crimes against the media by solving the latest attack on a leading journalist. A 90-second clip of what appeared to be the beating of Kommersant business daily reporter Oleg Kashin swept through the Russian Internet and unconventionally dominated the early morning news on state-run television.

o RIA Novosti editor-in-chief calls for close eye on investigations into journalist attacks

o Beaten up reporter undergoes new surgeryo Attack on Russian Reporter May Be Linked to Putin-Backed Highway o Assault on Kashin prompts appeal to Russian president

o Russian outrage over new attack on journalisto Journalist Beating Pressures Kremlin - "Oleg is a general political news

reporter, a successful one and a role model for many," said Dmitry Butrin, another Kommersant reporter. "The fact that mere reporting is no longer safe is a shock."

o Journalist brutally beaten in central Moscowo Russian journalists - and newspaper owners - face death and intimidationo Nezavisimaya/Russia Today: Deadly job - To be or not to be a political

journalist in Russia. Rallying Russian vets say defense minister must go - More than 1,000 Russian

military veterans and active servicemen have rallied in Moscow to demand the ouster of the defense minister, a civilian who is carrying out a radical reform of Russia's armed forces. Speaker after speaker accused Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov of selling out the army, betraying Russia's interests and acting in the interests of Zionists.

New tests for Yury Dolgoruky - Russia’s newest strategic submarine “Yury Dolgoruky” is currently undergoing state tests in the White Sea. Afterwards the submarine will get ready to launch its first Bulava ballistic missile.

Izavestiya/Russia Today: Veto demonstration - Dmitry Medvedev has vetoed the Duma bill with amendments restricting freedom of assembly, intended by parliamentarians to toughen requirements for organizing mass street rallies. Prominent public figures, among them members of the Presidential Council for Assisting the Development of Civic Society and Human Rights, spoke out against the bill. Their opinion has been heeded.

Medvedev orders staggered working day to ease Moscow traffic jams Moscow mayor more than doubles city's road construction budget

o Mayor Sobyanin makes new appointments at Moscow government - A resolution issued by the Moscow mayor says that Sergei Cheremin has been appointed minister of the Moscow government and head of its department for foreign economic and international contacts as of November 8, 2010 for a term while the Moscow city mayor remains in office, the resolution said. Prior to his appointment to the new post in the Moscow government Sergei Cheremin had been deputy chairman of the "AFK-Systema" Board.

o New staff transfers in metropolitan government Luzhkov sends his daughters to London - "It was a shock for the children that we

took them out of their studies here," Luzhkov said. "For me and my wife it was a very difficult decision to take." Luzhkov received a three million ruble ($100,000) severance package following his dismissal.

Patriarch Kirill proposes forming board in charge of Lithuanian poet Donelaitis grave

Kadyrov calls for decisive struggle against Wahhabism in Chechnya Children Of Daghestani Militia Officers Joining Islamist Militants Half of Russian sailors from Canada-detained ship already home Ferry link closed in Vladivostok over heavy cyclone

Cargo train with fuel derails in Russia - Seven carriages of a cargo train derailed in Russia's Smolensk region on Monday, the Emergencies Ministry's local department said.

Russian Press at a Glance, Monday, November 8, 2010 o In a new sign of the Kremlin's changing stance on the opposition,

President Dmitry Medvedev unexpectedly vetoed on Saturday a bill cracking down on rallies that had sailed through both chambers of parliament.(Moscow Times, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Vedomosti, Vremya Novostei, Kommersant)

o Officials must quit smoking and learn to be polite, according to an ethics code for state employees developed by the Health and Social Development Ministry.(Kommersant)

o Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin makes new reshuffles in City Hall. Experts say he is trying to build a system similar to the inner cabinet, where all officials bear personal responsibility.(Kommersant)

o The lower house of the Russian parliament adopted on the first reading a bill banning the heads of Russian regions from referring to themselves as "presidents." The move was initiated by Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov in August.(Kommersant)

o Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has recommenced his information attack on the Kremlin. He accused Russia of backtracking on the Union State agreement with Belarus and doubted that Dmitry Medvedev has real presidential power. Belarusian analysts say the weakening of Moscow's pressure on Minsk and Western countries' activities in the region made Lukashenko bold.(Kommersant)

o Capital outflow from Russia through the use of illegal schemes is growing rapidly, said financial watchdog Rosfinnadzor.(Vedomosti)

o Over 60% of insurance companies will fail to survive after mid-2012, when they are obliged to increase their authorized capital fourfold, said the head of insurance watchdog Rosstrakhnadzor.(Vedomosti)

o State banks to remain under state control.(Vedomosti)o Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to double expenditures on road

construction in the Russian capital.(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)o The Central Election Commission published data on revenue and

expenditures of political parties for the third quarter of 2010.(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

o One of Russia's best-known reporters, Oleg Kashin, remains hospitalized in critical condition as journalists and activists increase pressure on authorities to investigate the savage weekend beating that broke his jaw, fingers and a leg.(Moscow Times, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Vremya Novostei)

o About 4,000 Communist supporters commemorated the 1917 Revolution at a gathering tarnished by scuffles Sunday, while 1,300 former paratroopers demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.(Moscow Times, Vremya Novostei, Kommersant)

o Russia bids farewell to Viktor Chernomyrdin.(Vremya Novostei, Ogonyok, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

o Russia's state-owned Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano) head Anatoly Chubais promised a technological revolution in retail sales.(Vedomosti)

o Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said innovative products should be in demand on Russia's domestic market.(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

o A total of 12 people, including four children, were murdered in a private house in south Russia's Krasnodar Territory on November 5. The house was then set on fire.(Kommersant, Vremya Novostei)

o The results of the recent all-Russia census showed that the country's population exceeds 141 million people. Russian statistics service head Alexander Surinov said in regard to the census.(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Nezavisimaya/Russia Today: No way back - Russia has no free choice regarding the special operations in Afghanistan

How did the AK-47 become the most abundant weapon on earth? - It's the most abundant gun on earth, used by national armies, guerrillas and gangsters. How did this simple firearm, created by committee in Soviet Russia, come to monopolise violence? Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter CJ Chivers dismantles the myth and symbolism of the AK-47

National Economic Trends Russia’s Population Declines 4.8% Since Collapse of Soviet Union October inflation reported at 0.5% m/m MinEconomy submits privatisation plan to the government - MinEconomy has

submitted the 2011-13 privatisation plan to the government for consideration. According to Vedomosti, stakes in 854 companies and 117 state-owned/privately operated companies (FGUPs) will be privatised, while on some of the largest assets there is the option of being sold by 2015.

Russian Government Funds Won't Hold Spain, Ireland Debt - The Finance Ministry has excluded Ireland and Spain from a list of countries approved for bond investment by the country's two sovereign wealth funds, Bloomberg reports quoting the ministry's website.

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions VimpelCom, Gazprom, Rosneft and Polyus: Russia Equity Preview MICEX stock market makes offer for 20 pct of rival RTS for $150 mln Transportation Ministry urges airlines to form 'relief fund' United Rusal Climbs to Highest Since Hong Kong Debut (Update1) Pipeline to Baltic Heralds $2.5 Billion Market: Russia Credit DJ Deripaska Repurchases 17% Stake In Strabag At EUR19.25 A Share UPDATE 1-Deripaska to buy back 17 pct of Strabag Russian company to invest $63 million in Armenian smelter Russia's carbon trading market finally starts to move Mobile payments open up the Russian consumer

Russian poulterers ask government not to ban frozen chicken - Kommersant World expertise at Cobb Russian poultry seminar

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory) Lukoil places further $200 mln in 10-yr notes at 5.8% CUSTOMS UNION COMMITTEE APPROVES INCLUSION OF 2 LUKOIL

FIELDS IN LIST OF PROJECTS SUBJECT TO TAX BREAKS Tatneft Produces Over 2 Million Tons of Crude In October Russia Energy Profile: Surpassed Saudi Arabia In 2009

Gazprom UPDATE 1-Gazprom Q2 net falls 11pct, takes Europe price hit Gazprom's Q2 IFRS earnings fall 12% to 170 bln rubles, above forecast Gazprom reveals drop in Q2 net profit Gazprom first half net profit up 67 pct to 480 bln rbls, above forecast Gazprom 1H Net Profit Up 66% On Higher Domestic Prices Gazprom reports its consolidated interim condensed financial results under

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the six months ended 30 June 2010 

Gazprom, Bulgaria announce South Stream feasibility study tender

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Full Text Articles

Basic Political Developments

South Korea and Russia will actively develop political, economic and cultural relations

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15660483&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 11.50

SEOUL, November 8 (Itar-Tass) -- After the conclusion of the treaty of friendship in 1990, South Korea and Russia have been actively developing political, economic and cultural relations and carrying out exchanges between different groups of the two countries’ population.

South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan said about it in an exclusive interview with ITAR-TASS and the central newspaper of South Korea the Chung’ang Ilbo. The foreign minister, who earlier worked at the South Korean embassy in Moscow and recently assumed new office, stressed that ITAR-TASS correspondents were the first among foreign journalists who he received.

The joint project of the news agency ITAR-TASS and the newspaper Chunag’ang Ilbo is being implemented within the framework of the “Korean- Russian dialogue” which is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and South Korea and the forthcoming visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Seoul.

“After the visit of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to Russia in September 2008, the two countries’ relations have risen to a higher level developed into strategic partnership. They touch upon such serious problems as financial security, environment, terrorism,” the minister noted.

The main issues of cooperation, according to him, “are concentrated in the field of economy.” “If in 1990 the volume of trade between the two countries amounted to 1.9 billion dollars, then in 2008 it reached 18.1 billion dollars which gives a growth of almost ten times. There is a constant growth of South Korean investments in Russia’s economy. For example, the major corporation Hyundai on September 20 of this year finished the construction a car factory near St. Petersburg, built the hotel Lotte in Moscow and on September 13 completed the construction of the plant Lotte in the Kaluga Region. Thus Korean companies are actively engaged in investing in Russia.”

Kim Sung-hwan considers it very important to “implement the project of a new Silk Way from the Korean Peninsula to Russia in three directions - - metallurgy, energy and agriculture” to further develop and expand relations between the two countries. “Seoul believes that cooperation of Moscow and Seoul in the fields of information technologies, nanotechnologies, space technologies and medical technologies will bring benefit to both sides,” the minister stressed.

ITAR-TASS chief becomes Seoul's honorary citizen http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/11/08/32379828.html

Nov 8, 2010 10:27 Moscow Time

Vitaly Ignatenko, director general of Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency, has become an honorary citizen of Seoul, media reports said.

The award ceremony took place at the Seoul City Hall on Sunday, with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon being in attendance, among other officials.

The event came ahead of an upcoming visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to South Korea, scheduled for November 10.

Iran to host Caspian Sea ministerial meeting on Tuesday

http://www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1650527&Lang=E

ISNA - Tehran

End Item Service: Foreign Policy

TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is to open ministerial meeting of Caspian Sea littoral states on Tuesday aiming to arrange convention of the sea's legal regime.

Representative of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia are present in the 27th working group meeting of the sea which is held on Monday.

Russian special envoy for Caspian Sea affairs Alexander Golovin is to discuss related issues to the sea in the 27th working group meeting of the Caspian Sea, said Iranian ambassador to Russia Reza Sajjadi.

The working group meeting is to pave the way for ministerial meeting on Tuesday.

The security of the sea is the most important matter to be discussed, Sajjadi said.

The meeting is held in framework of regular sessions hosted by the five countries.

Also Caspian Sea summit is to be held in Baku on November 18 in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad represents Iran.

The previous summits had discussed non-militarization of the sea, share of economic activities of littoral states, avoidance of using the sea to threat other countries and non-presence of other states in military drills.

Russia Insists on Global Coordination of Quantitative Easing http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aglcFZcxNjAU

By Paul Abelsky

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will “insist” on global coordination of any so-called quantitative easing measures by government when he meets with counterparts from the Group of 20 nations this week.

Such actions will need to be planned in advance in order to avoid creating risks for other markets and economies, senior Kremlin economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters in Moscow today.

Russia will also argue against instituting targets on current account surplusses or deficits, Dvorkovich said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@bloomberg.net

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

Last Updated: November 8, 2010 03:52 EST

11/08 11:53   MEDVEDEV'S VISIT TO KURIL ISLANDS WILL NOT REFLECT ON APEC SUMMIT AGENDA, TERRITORIAL ISSUE WILL BE DISCUSSED IN MEETING WITH JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER – DVORKOVICHhttp://www.interfax.com/

11/08 12:41   Dvorkovich expects Medvedev, Obama to give signal to businesses to cooperate

http://www.interfax.com/

11/08 12:27   Massive progress made in Russia-U.S. talks on WTO accession - Medvedev aide (Part)http://www.interfax.com/

APEC senior officials coordinate summit agenda

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15660062&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 10.01

YOKOHAMA, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - Senior officials have completed final preparatory talks on shaping the region’s future vision for sustainable growth and economic integration in a series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum gatherings.

Yokohama will host the APEC summit on November 13-14.

The Russian delegation was led by Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Minister Valery Sorokin.

“We as well as other forum participants supported a new growth strategy of the APEC that will be adopted for the first time and incorporates our proposals. Some of the strategy’s provisions coincide with Russia’s course for modernization,” he said.

“Delegates coordinated the plans for creating a common regional free trade zone realizing the importance of promoting this process,” Sorokin said.

“The discussions in Yokohama on all issues of the agenda took place in a calm atmosphere and were very constructive,” he said.

Since the beginning of the year delegates had already met three times in Hiroshima, Sapporo and Sendai.

Delegates’ proposals, including a new growth strategy, will be reflected in the final statement of the ministerial meeting on November 10-11.

The APEC includes 21 countries, including Russia, China, the United States, South Korea and Japan. In general, APEC member-states account for more than half of the global GDP and 44 percent of the global trade. Russia has been taking part in the APEC summits since 1997 and will for the first time host the APEC summit in Vladivostok in 2012.

Japan set on regaining four disputed islands from Russia - prime ministerhttp://en.rian.ru/world/20101108/161244572.html

10:32 08/11/2010

Talks with Russia over the four disputed islands to the northeast of Hokkaido will be difficult, but Japan is set to take all efforts to regain them, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Monday.

"This is not a problem that may be solved in one round of talks or in one meeting. I intend to draw up a strategy and make a fierce effort to get [the islands] back," the Kyodo news agency quoted the prime minister as telling the parliament.

A long-standing territorial dispute between Moscow and Tokyo over the Kuril Islands, called the Northern Territories by Japan, was aggravated by a recent visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to one of the islands. Tokyo has described the visit, the first trip by a Russian president to the disputed islands, as "regrettable," while Moscow argued it is up to the Russian authorities to decide on their trips inside the country.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told the parliament on Monday that Russia's prompt activities aimed at developing the islands have weakened Japan's position in the talks.

Following the row sparked by Medvedev's visit, Japan temporarily recalled its ambassador from Russia. The ambassador was to return to Moscow on Sunday as the Japanese government decided to refrain from further actions of protest.

Medvedev and Kan are expected to meet during an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit due on November 13-14 in the Japanese city of Yokohama.

Both Moscow and Tokyo have laid claim to the Kuril Islands since they were occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. The dispute over the islands has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities.

TOKYO, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

South Kuriles problem cannot be settled quickly – Japan PM

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15659806&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 07.34

TOKYO, November 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated on Monday that he does not see any prospects for a quick solution to the problem of the South Kuriles and called for changing the tactics in the negotiations with Russia on the territorial dispute. “This cannot be settled at one round of negotiations, one meeting,” he said in reply to a question of a deputy from the budget committee of the lower house of Japanese parliament. “It is necessary to change the strategy and focus all the efforts on bringing back the islands,” the premier noted. However, the prime minister did not elaborate how he intends to change the approach to the negotiations with Russia.

During the debates in the same parliamentary committee Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara put it clearly that Russia’s successes in the economic development of the South Kuriles make the country’s position at the negotiations stronger. “Russia is building up investments on four northern islands and is promoting their integration in Russia. We are facing a difficult situation. We should change the policy drastically,” the minister said.

The foreign minister recalled that the massively-funded special program for the socio-economic development of the South Kuriles has been implemented since 2007. “Russia became richer in financial terms, the country has found the funds for the development of these islands. The second stage of the program for the development of the islands will be launched next year, the allocations are made in the infrastructure, fisheries and tourism development. We are concerned that this fact will affect the negotiations with Russia,” the foreign minister said.

No prospects for quick settlement of Kurils issue – Kanhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2010/11/08/32362773.html

Nov 8, 2010 09:37 Moscow Time

Prime Minister Naoto Kan of Japan says he sees no prospects for a speedy settlement of the problem of the Southern Kuril Islands.

When addressing the lower house of parliament earlier today, Naoto Kan came out for changing the current dialogue with Moscow on the issue. Simultaneously Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara gave to understand that Moscow’s economic achievement in developing the Southern Kuril Islands makes stronger its negotiating position.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s recent visit to the islands triggered Tokyo’s decision to briefly recall Japan’s ambassador to Moscow.

Russia was given sovereignty over the four southernmost island of the Greater Kuril Ridge as a result of the Second World War. 

Medvedev, Halonen to discuss Russia-EU partnershiphttp://en.rian.ru/world/20101108/161242045.html

02:32 08/11/2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen will discuss strategic partnership between Russia and the European Union, as well as international problems, including nuclear nonproliferation.

Halonen will pay an official visit to Russia on November 8-11. Talks between the two heads of state will be held on Tuesday.

"The presidents will exchange opinions on forming a renewed architecture of European security and developing Russia-EU strategic partnership, including Russia's prospects to join the WTO," the Kremlin said.

Medvedev visited Finland in July and he invited Halonen to Russia "to discuss not only global issues, but also practical matters."

"The situations around Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Middle East settlement and nuclear nonproliferation issues are also planned for discussion," the Kremlin said.

Halonen also plans to visit Kazan, the capital of Russia's republic of Tatarstan on the Volga.

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

Russia, Finland presidents to meet in Moscow

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15659803

08.11.2010, 03.48

MOSCOW, November 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev intends to discuss a broad range of issues from European security to concrete bilateral projects with his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen, who will arrive on a state visit in Russia on Monday. The negotiations between the leaders of the countries are to be held on Tuesday, November 9, a source in the Kremlin administration told Itar-Tass.

“During Tarja Halonen’s visit to Russia the presidents will exchange views on shaping a renewed European security architecture, development of strategic partnership between Russia and the European Union, including the promotion of the initiatives, which Russia put forward at the Russia-EU summit in Rostov-on-Don on May 31-June 1, 2010 (a draft agreement on a visa-free regime between Russia and the EU and easier visa regimes with other countries), a stronger innovative component of our economies – cooperation within the Partnership for Modernization initiative, the state and development of European

cooperation in the energy sector and the prospects for Russia’s entry in the World Trade Organization,” the source of the Russian presidential executive office said.

“Along with these issues the presidents will discuss several topical international issues, including the situation around Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Middle East settlement, the problems over making the nuclear nonproliferation regime stronger,” he added.

Speaking on economic cooperation the Kremlin source noted among the priorities the cooperation in such high-tech industries as shipbuilding, energy, forestry and transport. He recalled that the May 2010 interstate agreement on Finland’s lease of the Russian part of the Saima Canal and the adjoining territory and on the navigation through the Saima Canal is passing the ratification procedure. “In December 2010 Halonen and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are expected to attend the opening of a St. Petersburg-Helsinki high-speed passenger railway line,” the source pointed out.

The Kremlin believes that active trade and economic relations lay down a solid basis for Russian-Finnish cooperation. For the last decade the bilateral trade went up more than five times. The overall direct Finnish investments in Russian economy also grew with the major part of the investments made in the production sector. Despite the falling trade in the 2009 crisis year to 13.1 billion dollars against 22.4 billion dollars in 2008 Russia is still leading among Finland’s trade partners. For the first half of this year the bilateral trade has increased by more than 20%.

“Russia and Finland are cooperating constructively in Russia-EU dialogue, the U.N., international regional structures in the Baltic Sea region, Northern Europe and in the Arctic Region, particularly the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Barents/Euro-Arctic Council, the Arctic Council and Northern Dimension,” the Kremlin source said. Among concrete results of the cooperation in environmental protection he called the commissioning in 2005 of the St. Petersburg South West Waste Water Treatment Plant, the most large-scale Baltic ecological project implemented with the active assistance of Finnish partners. “The project to upgrade the water supply and environmental protection system in Kaliningrad is being implemented, the construction of the St. Petersburg Northern Waste Water Treatment Plant is to be completed by the end of 2011 that will raise the purified waste water share to 95% from the waste waters, which St. Petersburg dumps in the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland,” the source remarked.

The state visit of the Finnish president in Russia will last until November 11. Apart from Moscow Halonen will also visit Kazan.

CIS top security officials to meet in Tajik capitalhttp://en.rian.ru/exsoviet/20101108/161242456.html

04:04 08/11/2010

The heads of security bodies and special services of the CIS member states will meet in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on November 8-9, the Central Asian country's national security committee said.

The 29th meeting convenes to discuss improving mutually beneficial cooperation in fighting international terrorism and extremism, arms smuggling and drug trafficking.

Observers from Germany, Italy and France are expected to attend the security meeting.

The CIS, or Commonwealth of Independent States, is a loose association of former Soviet republics. It consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.

Seven member states are part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security bloc.

DUSHANBE, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

Russian official: Preparatory activities for Azerbaijani elections 'highly professional'

http://en.trend.az/news/elections2010/1779026.html

08.11.2010 11:37 

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.8 / Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva /

The voter turnout during the Azerbaijani parliamentary elections on Nov.7 was as "high" as the level of professionalism of the electoral process, Russian Federal Assembly Federation Council Deputy Speaker Svetlana Orlova said at a press conference today in Baku. Orlova coordinated a CIS Interparliamentary Assembly election observer group.

"We have visited 114 polling stations and the level of professionalism of the electoral process was very high," she said. "The election commissions worked actively, and the exit poll was also a strong factor in the elections."

Orlova said even the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has noted the top working conditions of the polling station technical equipment.

"The elections, which were held on the majority system, are already a sign of democracy," she said. "The elections were held and the people expressed their will."

Azerbaijan held parliamentary elections on Nov. 7. The voter turnout was 50.14 percent (roughly 2.48 million voters), the Azerbaijani Central Election Commission's (CEC) Elections Information Center told Trend.

The CEC reported that 690 candidates ran in the elections.

Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan are held by the majority system in 125 constituencies. Previous parliamentary elections were held in November 2005.

Mironov to attend 20th anniversary of Israel-RF diplomatic ties

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15659785&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 02.33

JERUSALEM, November 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov will arrive here on Monday to attend the events on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Russian-Israeli diplomatic relations.

Mironov will hold several official meetings, particularly with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a source in the Russian delegation told Itar-Tass. Alongside, the Federation Council speaker will deliver a speech at a conference, which will be held at the Jewish University of Jerusalem on Monday.

At the forum dedicated to Alexander Bovin, the first Russian ambassador in Tel-Aviv, Mironov will meet with Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau, the former director of the Mossad intelligence service Ephraim Halevy, Russian Ambassador in Israel Pyotr Stegny, Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon, Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs Reserves Maj.-Gen. Amos Gilad and others. Mironov will deliver a report at the seminar.

Though this forum will be devoted to the 20th anniversary of Israeli-Russian diplomatic relations, which were restored back between Israel and the Soviet Union. The diplomatic relations between the countries were severed in 1967 as a result of the Six-Day War. Only in December 1990 the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union Communist Party issued a resolution to intensify the relations with Israel, particularly, “Consider it expedient to transform the current consular groups in the Soviet Union and Israel, respectively in Tel-Aviv and Moscow, in the official consulates.”

On October 18, 1991, Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union Boris Pankin visited Israel, where he declared about the restoration of the diplomatic relations. Then Mikhail Gorbachev met with Shimon Peres (a Knesset deputy then) in Moscow. In December 1991 Soviet Union’s ambassador Alexander Bovin presented his credentials to the then Israeli president Chaim Herzog.

ICTY chief prosecutor to attend Nuremberg Trials conf in Moscow

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15659805&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 06.56

THE HAGUE, November 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Serge Brammertz will arrive on a three-day visit in Russia on Monday.

Brammertz will meet with the top officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday, Brammertz’s Special Adviser Frederick Swinnen said. The chief prosecutor will dwell on the ICTY current work and the strategy to complete its activities, as well as on the level of cooperation between the Hague Tribunal and the former Yugoslavian countries, Swinnen said.

Brammertz will deliver a report at the conference “The Nuremberg War Crime Trials: Historical and Legal Aspects” that will open in the Russian capital. The RAS General History Institute, the RAS Institute of State and Law and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) under the Russian Foreign Ministry organized the conference.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was established under UN Security Council Resolution № 827 of May 25, 1993, for the persecution of the criminals responsible for blatant violations of the international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia since 1991. The Hague Tribunal held a constituent session on November 17, 1993. The Hague Tribunal tries the crimes committed in Croatia (1991-1995), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), Kosovo (1998-1999), Macedonia (2001). The Hague Tribunal also tries such crimes as the breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions (violations of the laws and customs of war, genocide and crimes against humanity).

The Hague Tribunal consists of three Trial Chambers and one Appeals Chamber. There are 16 permanent judges and 12 ad litem judges who serve on the tribunal. They are elected for a four-year term by the UN General Assembly. The chief prosecutor is Serge Brammertz (Belgium, since January 1, 2008). The ICTY headquarters are situated in The Hague.

Armenian President to leave for Moscow

http://news.am/eng/news/37356.html

November 08, 2010 | 11:07

On November 17, a gala event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Union of Armenians of Russia will be held in State Kremlin Palace, Moscow.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medevdev are expected to attend the event, “Union of Armenians of Russia” informed NEWS.am.

“Those wishing to get cards of admission may turn to the head office of Unions of Armenians of Russia on November 11-14, from 12:00 to 8:00 p.m. Moscow time. Adress: Moscow, Soviet Army Street, 8, Tel. (8-495) 744-08-17,” the statement reads.

Foreign Minister of Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan met in Moscow http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=off&id=18565

08.11.2010 10:29

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, Edward Nalbandian, Sergey Lavrov and Elmar Mammadyarov held a working meeting in Moscow on November 6, Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.

In compliance with the agreements reached during the meeting between the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan in Astrakhan on October 27, the Ministers held talks on a number of issues related to the settlement of the Karabakh issue.

Russian investors soon to visit Karachi, Islamabad

http://public.dawn.com/2010/11/08/russian-investors-soon-to-visit-karachi-islamabad.html

Monday 8th November 2010 | Zilhaj 1, 1431

APP (3 hours ago) Today

KARACHI: A Russian investment delegation will soon visit Karachi and Islamabad to review and explore investment opportunities in Pakistan.

This was stated here by Chief Executive Officer of Russian National Investment Agency, Mr Oleg Gorbulin, during a meeting with the officials of Sindh Board of Investment (SBI).

According to a statement of SBI issued on Sunday, the meeting was held at the Board’s office on Saturday afternoon and was chaired by Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Investment, Zubair Motiwala.

The Russian delegates expressed its interest to explore opportunities of investment, particularly in Sindh, in various sectors including gas mining, agriculture, livestock, engineering, and medicine.

They also sought special block for Russian investors in the Exclusive Economic Zones set up by the government in various parts of the country which provide special incentives to the investors.

Advisor Motiwala said that the provincial government could send a representative of SBI on temporary basis to Russia to give guidelines to the Russian investors about the investment opportunities in Pakistan.

In addition, he said that the office of SBI in Karachi could also play a good role to liaison with the Russians businessmen.

On the occasion, a brief documentary was also shown to the Russian team about prospectus of investment in various sectors of economy.

Georgian parliament seeks to ban Soviet symbolshttp://rt.com/Top_News/2010-11-08/georgia-soviet-symbols-ban.html/print

08 November, 2010, 08:54

The Georgian parliament has approved a first hearing of what it calls a “Freedom Charter”. The new law is seeking to wipe out all Soviet symbols.

The author of the bill, Georgian Member of Parliament Giya Tortladze believes it is a necessary step to help Georgia make a break from its past.

”There are two main parts to it: fighting terrorism and getting rid of the country’s communist legacy,” he said. “Georgia cannot develop in a democratic manner if we allow people with a communist background and mindset to keep important posts.”

Tortladze says many progressive EU members, like Poland and Latvia, have successfully adopted such a law. He thinks Georgia should follow suit.

However, not everyone agrees. Many want the authorities to focus on the present, rather than the past.

”It shows that the Georgian government right now has nothing more serious to think about and nothing to say to society,” said president of Independent Experts Club Soso Tsiskarishvili.

Other critics say that if Tbilisi wants to outlaw all things Soviet, then it means outlawing the communist party as well. That prospect does not go down well with party members.

“This is yet another step in the anti-people policy which our government is conducting,” said communist party member Temur Pipia. “This is an attempt to re-write history.”

“The situation in the country is critical, people are already saying openly that it was better to live under socialism than in the current system” he added. “The government is just trying to show the West that they belong there.”

Aside from making everything hammer-and-sickle-related illegal, the plans would also tighten control over money transfers. Anyone receiving more than US$13,000 must name the source of that income.

“Placing total control over money transfers from overseas, predominantly from Russia where many Georgians earn that money through hard work, is not a path towards democracy, it is a straight road towards a totalitarian regime,” said Georgia parliament member Dzhondi Baghaturia.

It is almost a year since World War II monument was controversially destroyed in a controlled explosion in Georgian city of Kutaisi.

From some perspectives, Georgia’s government is set not just on re-writing history but on wiping it out all together.

Pressure mounts on Kremlin to solve latest media attackhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hr0TJ4v0r-W8pWL3pXZo50S2armg?docId=CNG.1ec17e6b417fa531977cea8fc63ac880.8e1

(AFP) – 17 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Russia's top reporters increased pressure on President Dmitry Medvedev Monday to break the cycle of unresolved crimes against the media by solving the latest attack on a leading journalist.

A 90-second clip of what appeared to be the beating of Kommersant business daily reporter Oleg Kashin swept through the Russian Internet and unconventionally dominated the early morning news on state-run television.

The Russian reporters told Medvedev in an open letter -- which appeared on the front page of Kommersant -- that more than a journalist's safety was at issue as these crimes piled up.

"By demanding the protection of reports, what we are talking about is not only our own trade," the letter said. "One must also protect the rights of our readers.

"The rights of reporters to fulfill their obligation in a normal fashion and not worry about their lives -- this is the right of society to speak and be heard."

The Internet video showed two assailants surrounding a man as he approached a gate to a residential building in the night hours and felling him to the ground.

One then held him by the upper body while the other beat him with what television said was a lead pipe.

Kashin, 30, underwent a second operation overnight and his doctors reported his condition as serious but stable. A newspaper representative said late Sunday that the reporter's life was no longer under threat.

The early Saturday incident has become major news in a country that struggles with a poor media freedom record that has been criticized heavily by both the European Union and Washington.

The letter was signed by 26 reporters and editors from media outlets as varied as Moscow Echo radio and the Russian edition of Rolling Stone. Hundreds more have subsequently added their names.

They include such familiar names in Western rights circles as corruption investigator Yulia Latynina and long-time Moscow Echo editor Alexei Venediktov.

Medvedev has responded to the media uproar by putting the investigation under the supervision of the general prosecutor's office.

No leads have been reported in the case and police have so far refused to confirm the authenticity of the footage or whether it has been added to the file.

RIA Novosti editor-in-chief calls for close eye on investigations into journalist attackshttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20101108/161245494.html

11:53 08/11/2010

The Russian journalistic community should keep a close eye on investigations into attacks against journalists and not let these cases drag on, RIA Novosti's Editor-in-Chief and President of the Moscow Police Public Council Svetlana Mironyuk said on Monday.

Mironyuk's statement followed in the wake of a recent attack on a political correspondent from the Russian business daily Kommersant, Oleg Kashin.

The journalist was severely beaten by unidentified assailants near his house in Moscow early on Saturday. He suffered jaw and leg fractures as well as injuries to his fingers.

"What shocked me personally is the total insolence and the public character of this attack. It is addressed not only to Oleg, it is addressed to the entire journalistic community, it's like saying 'if you stand firmly on your position, you will be treated the same," Mironyuk said.

Mironyuk also mentioned recent cases of violent attacks on journalists of the Khimkinskaya Pravda newspaper, Mikhail Beketov, who had his fingers and leg amputated, as well as a Russia Today TV channel editor, Natalya Arkhiptseva, who was shot in the foot with a rubber bullet on October 9 in a cafe.

"We screamed about Arkhiptseva being shot in the foot and then forgot about it. It should not be this way. Public control, the media's attention should be constant not sporadic," Mironyuk said.

In a response to the attack on Kashin, Russia's Union of Journalists proposed the media publish a square white box on Friday in the first column reading: "Here could be the names of our colleagues' murderers and those who ordered the crimes."

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

Beaten up reporter undergoes new surgeryhttp://english.ruvr.ru/2010/11/08/32353945.html

Nov 8, 2010 00:45 Moscow Time

Kommersant Daily correspondent Oleg Kashin underwent a second surgery in Moscow on Sunday.

Kashin was severely beaten by unknown people near his house in Moscow early on Saturday. According to a witness, the journalist was attacked by two people who were waiting for him with a bunch of flowers near his house. The attack on Kommersant's political correspondent is widely believed to have been linked to his work.

President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the law enforcers to bend every effort to bring the attackers to justice.

Attack on Russian Reporter May Be Linked to Putin-Backed Highway http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aqN6Wm6_gsTo

By Henry Meyer

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A Russian reporter is in a coma after an assault that may have been linked to his coverage of a highway project supported by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Oleg Kashin, a political correspondent for Kommersant daily, was assaulted outside his central Moscow apartment building early yesterday by unknown individuals in an attack the newspaper’s editor in chief said was connected to his work. Kashin, 30, received fractures to his jaw, while his skull and fingers were broken, forcing doctors to put him in an artificial coma, Moscow-based Kommersant said in a statement yesterday.

His writing covers Russian politics, including opposition protests and activities of youth movements. Kashin wrote regularly about the campaign against the highway, including an Aug. 31 article in which he cited ecologists as accusing local authorities of pressuring residents to back construction.

“It’s quite possible that Kashin was attacked because of the Khimki project,” Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of Russia’s environmental watchdog until last year, said in a phone interview from Moscow. “The aim is to make people frightened and stop them from fighting for civil rights.”

The attack on Kashin follows a series of assaults and murders of journalists in Russia in recent years. Most of the cases remain unsolved, including the 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the U.S. editor of Forbes Inc.’s Russian edition, and the 2006 killing of opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Toll Road

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suspended in August Putin’s plan to build a toll road between the capital and St. Petersburg via a forest and ordered further studies and public hearings. The route came under fire from environmental activists who claim the project will damage the Khimki forest near Moscow.

The assault comes two years after the near-fatal beating of a journalist who campaigned against the government plans to build a highway to St. Petersburg through the forest. Mikhail Beketov, the editor of a newspaper based in Khimki, had a leg amputated as a

result of the attack. Another activist, Konstantin Fetisov, was assaulted with a baseball bat near his house on Nov. 4 and is in serious condition in hospital.

Vinci SA, the world’s biggest construction company, on Sept. 18 defended the chosen route for Russia’s first major toll road from Moscow to St. Petersburg, saying the government had provided no alternative proposal.

The Rueil-Malmaison, France-based company, which signed a 60 billion-ruble ($1.9 billion) concession in 2009 to build and operate the initial stretch of the highway, had yet to receive any indication from the state on plans to change the proposed route, Vinci Concessions Chief Executive Officer Louis-Roch Burghard said.

‘Special Control’

Medvedev ordered Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to take the case of the assault on Kashin under their “special control,” according to a statement posted on the Kremlin’s website yesterday.

The proposed highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg would cut a swathe through the Khimki forest and allow lucrative construction projects, according to Mitvol.

Valentina Skobileva, a spokeswoman at the Khimki district administration, couldn’t be reached for comment today, the end of a four-day public holiday weekend in Russia. Nor could Marina Gridneva, the chief spokeswoman for the prosecutor-general’s office, be reached.

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

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

Last Updated: November 7, 2010 11:55 EST

Assault on Kashin prompts appeal to Russian presidenthttp://themoscownews.com/local/20101108/188182215.html?referfrommn

by Tom Washington at 08/11/2010 11:20

 

Outspoken journalist and Oleg Kashin has become the latest victim of the battle over Khimki forest after he was violently attacked by unknown thugs early on Saturday morning.

Kashin, who worked as a political correspondent for the daily newspaper Kommersant, was probably attacked because of his work, editor-in-chief Mikhail Mikhailin said.

Many of his recent stories had been critical of the authorities in the row over plans to build a highway through Khimki forest.

 

Latest victim

Campaigners have been quick to draw parallels with the attack which left a local newspaper editor, Mikhail Beketov, in Khimki disabled two years earlier.

And there were warnings that the latest assault is steering the country down a dangerous path.

“Reprisals against journalists are a step in the direction towards the situation that exists in Rwanda, where any evil can smite off your head,” Yevgeniya Chirikova, leader of the defenders of Khimki forest, told gzt.ru. She promised to not keep quiet and talked of plans to hold a rally on Nov. 14 to “attract more people.”

An open letter from environmentalists, human rights activists and members of the public chamber called on President Dmitry Medvedev to ensure the crime is properly investigated and the culprits brought to justice.

The authors of the letter maintain that the Kashin and Beketov cases “are two of a kind,” and that Kashin was “one of the first to respond to crimes against civil activists in Khimki”.

 

Out of danger

Although still in a coma, Kashin’s condition is said to be stabilising. His wife, Yevgeniya Milova, told RIA Novosti: “Oleg underwent more surgery. Now he is under anaesthesia. Doctors said the surgery was successful.”

Milova said on her Facebook page that the surgery took about three hours. “Now Oleg’s brain is safe. His father and I were even allowed to see him. He is sleeping.” He is in an induced coma to avoid shock from the pain.

 

Bouquets and bars

Reports say Kashin was assaulted on Pyatnitskaya Ulitsa in central Moscow by a pair who approached him carrying flowers.

But within the bouquet an iron bar was concealed, and they beat him with it for about two minutes, a police source told Lifenews.

Russian outrage over new attack on journalisthttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-outrage-over-new-attack-on-journalist-2128042.html

By Shaun Walker in Moscow

Monday, 8 November 2010

The Russian authorities yesterday faced demands to prosecute the attackers of a journalist branded a "traitor" by a youth organisation linked to the country's ruling party.

Oleg Kashin, 30, a reporter for the Kommersant daily, was set upon by two unknown assailants late on Friday. They apparently waited for him with a bunch of flowers outside the doorway of his apartment block in Moscow.

Mr Kashin, who covered youth political movements for the newspaper and was one of its best-known reporters, was beaten, leaving him with a broken leg and jaw and a fractured skull. He remained in an induced coma in a hospital in Moscow yesterday.

In the most chilling part of the attack, Mr Kashin had all his fingers broken, with part of one finger being detached – a message that gave extra suspicion that the attack was linked to his journalism.

"It's obvious that the people who did this did not like what he was saying and what he was writing," said Kommersant's editor, Mikhail Mikhailin. He added: "To make their pointthey broke the fingers of a journalist."

Dozens of journalists and activists gathered yesterday outside Moscow's police headquarters, collecting signatures for a petition to be delivered to President Dmitry Medvedev, and calling on authorities to solve the crime.

Mr Medvedev wrote in a message on his Twitter feed that the perpetrators of this attack should be "found and punished", though similar entreaties in previous cases have come to nothing. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 18 murders of journalists have gone unsolved since 2000, including that of Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.

The Russian blogosphere has been alive with speculation as to what might have been behind the attack. Unlike Ms Politkovskaya, who uncovered rights abuses and torture in Chechnya, or other murdered journalists who probed murky business dealings, Mr Kashin was not an obvious target for such an attack. Originating from the Baltic port city of Kaliningrad, he has written for a number of Russian newspapers, and was also an active blogger.

Young Guard, the youth wing of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, was outraged over an interview with an opposition activist by Mr Kashin in August. It ran a comment on its website naming Mr Kashin as a traitor to his country, and published a photograph of him with the words "Will be punished!" stamped over it.

After this weekend's attack, Young Guard distanced itself from the comments; the photograph was removed from the site and a preamble was added to the article that read as though the group might be worried it had provoked extreme elements into the attack: "There is civilised political battle, and there is cold-blooded criminality ... We call on everyone to understand that."

The apparent professionalism of the attack suggests it was not simply the work of hot-headed youth activists who had got out of control. Many speculated that the attack might be linked to Mr Kashin's articles about a toxic dispute that has played out over the past months in Russia, over the construction of a new road through a forest in Khimki, north of Moscow.

Earlier this year, famous musicians joined the protest and in a victory for public activism, President Medvedev halted construction of the road, which had been backed by Moscow's mayor, Yury Luzhkov, who was later fired.

Evgeniya Chirikova, leader of the Khimki protest movement, said she had no hope that the crime would be solved, pointing to an attack two years ago on Mikhail Beketov, editor of a newspaper in Khimki. Mr Beketov spent months in hospital and had one of his legs amputated. Nobody has been brought to trial for the attack.

Another Khimki activist, Konstantin Fetisov, was also being treated in hospital on Friday after being attacked with a baseball bat.

"These attacks are now seen as something normal," said Ms Chirikova. "But it's not normal when attacks on activists and journalists aren't investigated, and when they remain unpunished."

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Journalist Beating Pressures Kremlin http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703665904575600550221689016.html

By GREGORY L. WHITE And ALEXANDER KOLYANDR

MOSCOW—Media groups from inside and outside Russia called on the Kremlin to investigate the brutal attack early Saturday on a prominent reporter from the Kommersant daily newspaper, the latest in string of beatings and murders of journalists in recent years.

Dozens of reporters and others gathered outside police headquarters in Moscow Sunday afternoon, signing a petition to be delivered to President Dmitry Medvedev demanding protection for journalists—of whom it said eight have been murdered and 40 injured so far this year. Dozens of demonstrators also gathered in St. Petersburg over the weekend.

Though attacks on the media have become so commonplace that Russia ranks as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a reporter, according to international media groups, Saturday's assault on Oleg Kashin struck a chord in the Russian media. Mr. Kashin, 30 years old, is a prominent political reporter and columnist at one of Russia's largest national newspapers, not the war correspondents or investigative reporters who are often the victims of attacks.

"Oleg is a general political news reporter, a successful one and a role model for many," said Dmitry Butrin, another Kommersant reporter. "The fact that mere reporting is no longer safe is a shock."

Mr. Medvedev ordered Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to personally supervise the investigation. In a Twitter message, Mr. Medvedev said the criminals must be apprehended and brought to justice. State television, which has rarely reported on attacks in the past, covered Mr. Kashin's case prominently over the weekend.

Mr. Kashin was ambushed by two attackers outside his apartment building in downtown Moscow early Saturday as he returned home. The beating broke his hands, jaw and legs and severed a finger. Doctors kept him in a medically induced coma and performed several operations over the weekend. Sunday evening, he remained in serious condition in intensive care at Moscow's Hospital No. 36.

Police said they set up a special investigative group for the case, but had no suspects as yet.

Colleagues said the attack was clearly linked to Mr. Kashin's work, especially since his hands were targeted by those who beat him.

The Kremlin has rarely delivered on past promises to bring those who attacked journalists to justice. Major cases remain unsolved.

Vladimir Lukin, the government's ombudsman for human rights, said Saturday that attacks on journalists had become "systematic" because the guilty were so rarely punished, the Interfax news agency reported.

"By failing to prosecute those who have carried out crimes against journalists in the past—including 19 murders committed in the [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin era—the Russian government has created a climate of impunity," said Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "Government statements and expressions of sympathy are simply not sufficient."

Colleagues said Mr. Kashin had received threats in the past. Over the summer, a pro-Kremlin youth group had identified him on its website as a "journalist-traitor" and marked his picture with the words "will be punished" after he published an interview with a person who had attacked a government building in a town outside Moscow that has been the scene of a conflict between activists and the government over plans to build a new highway.

Over the weekend, the picture and the comments had been removed from the site and the group called the attack "a barbaric crime."

Write to Gregory L. White at greg.white@wsj.com and Alexander Kolyandr at Alexander.Kolyandr@dowjones.com

Journalist brutally beaten in central Moscowhttp://rt.com/Top_News/2010-11-08/journalist-kashin-beaten-moscow.html/print

08 November, 2010, 08:58

A journalist writing for the Russian Kommersant newspaper has been brutally beaten in the center of the Russian capital.

According to Kommersant editor-in-chief Mikhail Mikhailin, Moscow’s best doctors decided on the second surgery for Oleg Kashin on Sunday.

Mikhailin added that the journalist's state is assessed as serious but stable. Oleg Kashin is still in an induced coma in order to avoid shock from the pain.

The journalist was attacked on Friday night near his home. Witnesses said two men were beating the man with a heavy object. Oleg Kashin suffered severe injuries and has been taken to hospital.

A criminal case has been launched on charges of murder attempt. President Dmitry Medvedev has instructed Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Interior Minister Rashiod Nurgaliev to take the case under his special control, Interfax reports.

Later, Dmitry Medvedev wrote also in his Twitter, “I have ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Interior Ministry to take the journalist Kashin’s attempted murder case under special control. The criminals should be found and punished.”

“The investigation is considering various motives behind the assassination attempt, including his work, of course. Currently, the investigators are studying the CCTV footage. It's clear that there were two attackers”, the agency quoted Investigation Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin as saying.

Mikhail Mikhailin believes that the assault was connected with Kashin's publications.

”During the attack they broke his fingers. When he was found, he had his telephone, money and documents,” Mikhailin said. “Apparently, those who did this do not like what he says and writes.”

Former chief editor of Kommersant, Andrey Vasiliev, noted that Oleg Kashin was also an outspoken blogger –so his views could provoke such a response..

“Of course, the reason for this attack is Kashin's professional activity. He was a popular blogger, and he was more open and outspoken online than in the paper. Kommersant has a more reserved style,” said Vasiliev. “This beating is very similar to the attack on journalist Michail Beketov which took place a couple of years ago. The smashing of his fingers, for example, so that he couldn't write any more. There is an element of a horror show here.”

The journalist specializes in political and social news. He has been covering a number of controversial issues, including the situation surrounding Khimki Forest.

Several activists protesting the road development through the Khimki Forest, which requires extensive logging, have also been attacked in recent months.

Russian journalists - and newspaper owners - face death and intimidationhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/nov/08/press-freedom-russia

Yet another Russian reporter suffered from a potentially lethal assault at the weekend. Oleg Kashin, a reporter with the daily newspaper Kommersant, was attacked by two men near his Moscow home, leaving him with a fractured skull, a shattered jaw and a broken leg.

That news broke soon after a raid by armed police on a bank owned by Alexander Lebedev, one of the owners of the Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta (and, in Britain, The Independent and the London Evening Standard).

A second raid soon followed on another part of Lebedev's business empire when tax officials burst into his Crimean hotel resort in Ukraine.

All three events are (probably) unconnected. But there is an undeniable pressure on independent media owners and workers within Russia, and the events should be viewed in that context.

Following the first raid, Novaya Gazeta's editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, said: "There's no other way to look at this other than as an attempt to intimidate Lebedev. He is completely independent and promotes civil society and a free press. This doesn't please the security men in power."

I hope Lebedev raises questions about the Russian government's tenuous understanding of press freedom when he gives the opening lecture next Sunday at the Society of Editors' conference in Glasgow.

There is much to say. Consider the recent history. It was in June 2006 that Gavin O'Reilly, the president of the World Association of Newspapers, made a speech in Moscow in which he called on Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to do more to protect press freedom in his country.

O'Reilly, in explaining WAN's decision to hold its conference in Russia that year, said it had made the choice "precisely because of the concerns of our community about the press freedom situation here and the apparent lack of progress towards the establishment of strong, independent media that can fulfil their proper role in democratic debate."

With Putin present, O'Reilly spoke of "widespread scepticism... about whether there exists any real willingness to see the media become a financially-strong, influential and independent participant in Russian society today."

Putin was quick to deny that there was a problem and did not given an inch. His line was that, with 53,000 periodicals in Russia, "it would be absolutely impossible to control them, even if the state had any interest in doing so."

In the four years since O'Reilly's excellent address and Putin's disingenuous response, the press freedom situation in Russia has grown steadily worse.

Within months, the award-winning investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered. Three men were acquitted after an unsatisfactory trial in 2009.

Politkovskaya worked for Novaya Gazeta, the paper co-owned by Lebedev, the former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev and an editorial collective.

Three other members of the paper's staff have been murdered: Igor Domnikov was beaten to death in 2000; Yuri Shchekochikhin was poisoned in 2003; and Anastasia Baburova was shot dead in 2009.

Many other journalists on other newspapers and broadcasting outlets have been killed, threatened and intimidated in the past 10 years since Putin came to power.

One of the most recent mysterious deaths involved Olga Kotovskaya, who plunged to her death from a 14th-storey window in Kaliningrad in November last year.

Officials initially claimed she had committed suicide, but that made no sense in view of her having, just the day before, secured a court victory by regaining control of a TV channel that had been seized by bureaucrats.

In September last year, the New York-based press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists, issued a report Anatomy of injustice: the unsolved killings of journalists in Russia that named 17 journalists killed in retaliation for their work.

The following month, the International Federation of Journalists published an online database, Journalists in Russia: deaths and disappearances.

There is a Wikipedia entry specifically devoted to listing the deaths of Russian journalists.

According to the annual press freedom indexes produced by Reporters Without Borders, in the past seven years Russia has never risen above 140th place in its rankings.

What is striking, and most worrying of all, is the fact that the people who murder, maim and threaten journalists in Russia do so with impunity.

Nezavisimaya/Russia Today: Deadly jobhttp://rt.com/Top_News/Press/eng.html

To be or not to be a political journalist in Russia.

by Stanislav Minin

Our colleague, Oleg Kashin from the Kommersant newspaper, one of Russia’s best political journalists and writers, has been brutally beaten.

The investigators view his professional activities as a possible motive behind the incident. But friends and witnesses report that the attackers were waiting for Kashin near his home, and took none of the valuables he had on him. This makes us think that the attack was a planned one.

Journalists have their own versions of what happened to Oleg Kashin. It seems doubtful that the police will investigate any of them, however logical they may be, in spite of the “special control” from the Prosecutor General’s Office and the president’s special orders.

Any attack against a journalist as a professional is akin to terror; that is, to intimidate. A journalist is a public profession with its own principles. When our colleagues are being shot at, when they are threatened, when they are beaten up and taken to emergency care, each of us secretly imagines he’s in their shoes. Each of us, whether he is talented and

well-known or not. Each faces the temptation of self-restriction, of keeping silent about what he really sees, really feels, really knows.

OK, pardon me: almost each of us. But this is already a lot, isn’t it?

The war has not been proclaimed, such wars are never proclaimed. But it has been made clear that following your professional principles is often equal to taking personal risks. The taste for political journalism is being eliminated. A warning sign that says “Danger! Keep out!” should be put up in all areas where there may be a conflict of interests. The last decade has shown that even being a sports journalist in Russia is unsafe.

Is this risk universal? May be it is. It is the state’s task is to minimize this risk, and Russia is failing at this.

The “professional” motive of the attack against a journalist (any journalist, not just Kashin), seems most probable, because in Russia there is a general air of hatred towards the dissentient and towards journalists. In part, this atmosphere is created by government officials who call on the public to destroy all the non-conformists, and by members of state-funded organizations. Writing lists of “enemies of the state” used to be something only the marginalist neo-Nazis would do. Now it’s a fashionable trend.

Respect for independent journalism in the country is rare, and I don’t mean respect from the authorities: the authorities always view the press as an obstacle. Independent journalism makes people think and change their minds. Instead, there is great demand for a different kind of journalism – the servicing kind, the one that voices the opinion that has already been shaped.

When a murder or an attack against a journalist is proved to have had professional motives, the state and the law-enforcement structures fail to draw any systematic conclusions from that. And we know that trying to prevent a particular attack in this case is impossible.

Each time a political journalist is attacked, we realize that our chances to know the truth about the accident are relative, and do not depend on the quality of the investigation.

President Medvedev was quick to react to the accident with Oleg Kashin. This inspires some optimism, as the Russian authorities have not always reacted like this. But the president should not only consider the case of Oleg Kashin to be outrageous and demand a thorough investigation. He should also consider the context which makes such attacks possible.

Read the article on the newspaper's website (in Russian)

Rallying Russian vets say defense minister must gohttp://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JB9OM80.htmThe Associated Press November 7, 2010, 7:32AM ET

MOSCOW

More than 1,000 Russian military veterans and active servicemen have rallied in Moscow to demand the ouster of the defense minister, a civilian who is carrying out a radical reform of Russia's armed forces.

The rally was organized by veterans from the Airborne Forces, but members of other branches also took part as well as monarchists, nationalists and hardline Orthodox Christians.

Speaker after speaker accused Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov of selling out the army, betraying Russia's interests and acting in the interests of Zionists.

Serdyukov's reforms have cut six out of every 10 officers and disbanded nine of every 10 army units.

The reforms aim to turn Russia's bloated and inefficient military into a modern force.

New tests for Yury Dolgorukyhttp://www.barentsobserver.com/new-tests-for-yury-dolgoruky.4839687-58932.html

2010-11-05 Russia’s newest strategic submarine “Yury Dolgoruky” is currently undergoing state tests in the White Sea. Afterwards the submarine will get ready to launch its first Bulava ballistic missile.

The submarine left the Sevmash shipyard outside Arkhangelsk on November 2, and will be undergoing state tests until November 10-12, Vesti.ru reports.

After the tests, the submarine will return to the shipyard for preparations for its first launch of a Bulava missile.

Russia had two successful test launches of its newest submarine-launched ballistic missile in October, both conducted from the White Sea by the nuclear-powered rebuilt Typhoon class submarine “Dmitry Donskoy”.

In October, “Yury Dolgoruky” conducted its first ever torpedo firing, as BarentsObserver reported.

Izavestiya/Russia Today: Veto demonstrationhttp://rt.com/Top_News/Press/eng.html

Dmitry Medvedev has vetoed the Duma bill with amendments restricting freedom of assembly, intended by parliamentarians to toughen requirements for organizing mass street rallies. Prominent public figures, among them members of the Presidential Council for Assisting the Development of Civic Society and Human Rights, spoke out against the bill. Their opinion has been heeded.Aleksandra Beluza

The amendments to the law “On Assembly, Rallies, Demonstrations, Processions and Picketing” were passed by the State Duma and approved by the Federation Council, but were rejected by the president, who not only vetoed them, but sent a letter to the speakers of the lower and upper chambers of the parliament, Boris Gryzlov and Sergey Mironov, with his comments as to why he would not sign the document. President Medvedev wrote that he had opposed the planned law because it “contained provisions hampering free exercising of the citizens’ constitutional right for assembly, rallies, demonstrations, processions and picketing.”

Among other things, the bill planned to extend the list of grounds on which citizens would be deprived of the right to organize a rally. “The most extreme would be when applicants who have been reprimanded by the authorities over rallies at least once would be deprived of the right to apply for a year,” head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, told Izvestia. Many opposition activists would be barred by this. “Obviously, someone else would apply instead of them, but all of those who attend the rallies, would be gradually prohibited.”

The president was right to note that the Constitution prohibits passing laws that would undermine rights and liberties of citizens, Alekseyeva said.

“The bill was meant to do exactly this,” Alekseyeva continued. “I am pleased with the fact that the president based his decision to refuse signing the bill on this legal basis. The bill had many unpleasant things like equating car owners’ rallies to ordinary demonstrations, with all the restrictions applied to rally participants, which would mean that the car owners had double liabilities - as drivers and as campaigners. This is not appropriate from a legal point of view.”

The president is certain that there should be rules covering the organization and holding of rallies on transport infrastructure (roads, tunnels, flyovers, bridges etc), kremlin.ru says. The question is how to do so without violating citizens’ rights to free assembly.

United Russia has already declared that the document will be amended based on the president’s remarks, by the end of the year.

“It is a rather rare occasion when the president exercises a veto,” Mikhail Barshchevsky, the Russian government’s representative to the higher and Supreme

Courts told Izvestia. “The case may have been related to public representations asking that the document should not be signed into law.”

“It appears that Medvedev’s detailed approach has been applied here. This has been seen before too on some criminal cases and legislative processes. This case demonstrates clearly there is reaction to submissions,” Barshchevsky said.

Medvedev orders staggered working day to ease Moscow traffic jamshttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20101108/161246010.html

12:24 08/11/2010

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the federal government to stagger working hours for state and government agencies to ease Moscow's traffic problems, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Before December 10 the government is to submit proposals on working hours for state and municipal agencies and organizations "to reduce the load on the [city's] transport system."

Medvedev also told the Moscow city government to develop and approve a large-scale parking construction program for the capital.

The number of pedestrian crossings and underpasses should be increased, he said.

Medvedev said in late October the elimination of Moscow's notorious traffic jams was a "viability test" for the federal government and a key to making the capital a world financial hub.

"Our ability to solve this problem is not just a challenge for Sergei Sobyanin, who is the mayor, but for the whole country," Medvedev said. "This is a test of the authorities' viability."

Moscow should also set an example to other Russian cities in dealing with traffic problems, the president said, adding that this applied even to cities with populations of less than 1 million.

A special coordination council headed by Transport Minister Igor Levitin will be set up to develop and improve road infrastructure in Moscow and the surrounding region.

Sobyanin has put forward three strategies for solving Moscow's traffic problems: increasing the number of parking places, developing public transport, and road construction.

The chronic lack of parking places in Moscow means drivers are often forced to park on the edges and sidewalks of the already busy downtown roads, adding to the traffic chaos. A new 1,410-place car park is being built next to the capital's Belorussky railway station, where traffic problems are particularly bad.

Moscow mayor more than doubles city's road construction budgethttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20101108/161243132.html

06:49 08/11/2010

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin's pledge to increase the Russian capital's road construction budget is close to being fulfilled, a government daily reported Monday.

Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote that Moscow's draft 2011 budget envisions 101 billion rubles ($3.3bn) for road building, instead of the previous 40 billion rubles ($1.3bn), an increase of over 150%.

Sobyanin replaced long-serving Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, fired in late September by President Dmitry Medvedev over a "loss of confidence."

In a speech prior to his inauguration, Sobyanin identified solving the city's transport problems as a key issue on his agenda. In his first week in the mayor's post, he pledged to take "extraordinary measures" to eliminate traffic jams. Medvedev has said he will personally oversee the effort.

The chronic lack of parking places in Moscow means drivers are often forced to park on the edges and sidewalks of the already busy downtown roads, adding to the traffic chaos.

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

Mayor Sobyanin makes new appointments at Moscow government

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15660246&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 11.20

MOSCOW, November 8 (Itar-Tass) --Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has appointed a new head of the department for foreign economic international contacts of the Moscow government, a source from the administration of the Moscow government told Itar-Tass on Monday.

A resolution issued by the Moscow mayor says that Sergei Cheremin has been appointed minister of the Moscow government and head of its department for foreign economic and international contacts as of November 8, 2010 for a term while the Moscow city mayor remains in office, the resolution said. Prior to his appointment to the new post in the Moscow government Sergei Cheremin had been deputy chairman of the "AFK-Systema" Board.

Ex-chief of the foreign economic and international department of the Moscow government Georgy Muradov has been appointed first deputy of the newly appointed department chief.

In a separate resolution Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has appointed Vera Chistova to the post of Head of the Finance department of the Moscow government.

The resolution issued by Sergei Sobyanin says that Vera Chistova has been appointed minister of the Moscow government and head of its finance department as of November 8, 2010 for a term while the Moscow city mayor remains in office. Prior to her appointment to the new post Vera Chistova had been deputy defense minister for financial and economic activities.

Sergei Sobyanin has appointed former head of the Finance department of the Moscow government Yuri Korostylev aide and adviser to the Moscow mayor.

New staff transfers in metropolitan government

http://www.newsbcm.com/doc/41508.11.2010 11:45

The heads of two Moscow Government departments – Finance and International Relations – were replaced today by order of Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin. Former Head of the Department of Foreign Trade and International Relations of Moscow, Georgy Muradov will now assume the position of first deputy head: the service contract with him has been signed for a year. He is to be replaced by Sergei Cheremin as the Department manager. Vera Chistova has been appointed to head the Department of Finance in Moscow. Earlier Chistova served as deputy defense minister for financial and economic work. Yuri Korostelev, who earlier headed the Financial Department, today was appointed an advisor and mentor of the Mayor with a monthly salary of 14,000 rubles. Earlier, it became known that the post of Mayor's Press Secretary had passed to Gulnara Penkova, who had come over from the presidential administration. Her predecessor, Sergei Tsoi used to work with the media on behalf of the Moscow Mayor under the former Mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov.

Luzhkov sends his daughters to London

http://www.businessneweurope.eu/dispatch_text13493

RIA NovostiNovember 8, 2010

Ex-Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov said he sent his daughters to London, The Telegraph reported.

Long-serving Luzhkov, 74, was fired by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's decree on September 28 after weeks of speculation about his worsening relations with the Kremlin and his imminent resignation or dismissal. New mayor Sergei Sobyanin took office October 21.

Luzhkov gave an interview to the newspaper, where he expressed concerns about his daughters' safety in Russia.

"We have grounds, very serious grounds to worry about their safety," he told the paper. "There is hatred out there. And if that hatred is all-consuming and the aim is to get at the family then the weakest link in the family is the children. We are afraid to leave them here in Russia." Luzhkov and his wife Yelena Baturina decided to send their daughters

Elena, 18, and Olga, 16, to London "for four to six years," the paper said. The girls will first study English and then to enroll in a university, the former mayor did not name.

Luzhkov said his daughters will live in a house that the family rents in West London.

"It was a shock for the children that we took them out of their studies here," Luzhkov said. "For me and my wife it was a very difficult decision to take." Luzhkov received a three million ruble ($100,000) severance package following his dismissal. Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper recently unveiled that Luzhkov had been receiving a monthly salary of around $10,000 when he left the mayoral post, although his 2009 registered annual income was $260,000.

Soon after his dismissal Luzhkov took a job as dean of the large cities management department at the Russian State University of Trade and Economy with the token salary of 1 ruble-a-month.

After the Luzhkov was sacked in an interview to CNN he linked his dismissal to the 2012 presidential election.

Before he was given the ax, Luzhkov had been the target of widespread media accusations that he helped his wife, property developer Yelena Baturina, win construction contracts in the Russian capital.

A documentary aired by the NTV channel accused Luzhkov's wife, rated the world's third richest woman by Forbes, of using her husband's position to amass her alleged $2.9 billion wealth. Both Luzhkov and Baturina deny all the accusations.

08 November 2010, 11:09

Patriarch Kirill proposes forming board in charge of Lithuanian poet Donelaitis gravehttp://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7877

Moscow, November 8, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has proposed establishing a board of guardians responsible for looking after the burial site of Lithuanian poet and pastor Kristijonas Donelaitis located inside a former Lutheran church in Chistiye Prudy, Kaliningrad Region.

"Regardless of who owns this church legally, it is important to make sure that management functions are concentrated in the hands of people who are not indifferent to the fate of this place," Patriarch Kirill said.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kaliningrad Region bishop responded to the Lithuanian authorities' request not to hand over the building currently housing the Donelaitis museum in Chistiye Prudy to the Moscow Patriarchate.

A few days ago, the Kaliningrad Region legislature postponed its debate on plans to

transfer the aforementioned church to the Moscow Patriarchate.

It would be right to form "a board of guardians involving the Orthodox Church and our colleagues from Lithuanian - both Protestants and Catholics," Patriarch Kirill said.

"Possible, this place and the board itself could become a platform for serious inter-ethnic and inter-cultural dialogue. It is not uncommon that a site that initially is the center of disputes becomes a place of reconciliation, cooperation and search for common positions," he said.

Patriarch Kirill expressed his gratitude to Kaliningrad Region Governor Nikolay Tsukanov and the local legislature for their decision to hand over 19 religious buildings to the Russian Orthodox Church.

"The Church has never built its well-being or tackled its tasks at the price of someone else's well-being," but has always tried to find solutions that would suit everyone best, he said.

The museum of Lithuanian poet Donelaitis (1714-1780), who wrote the first classic Lithuanian language poem The Seasons, opened at a rebuilt Lutheran church in Chistiye Prudy in 1979. In the spring of 1998, the Donelaitis museum was removed from the list of Russia's key cultural monuments.

After graduating from the University of Koenigsberg in 1740, Donelaitis was appointed a cantor in Stallupoenen (now Nesterov, Kaliningrad Region), where he worked for three years.

Donelaitis lived and served as a pastor in Tollmingkehmen (now Chistiye Prudy) from 1743 to his death in 1780.

08 November 2010, 10:01

Kadyrov calls for decisive struggle against Wahhabism in Chechnyahttp://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7876

Grozny, November 8, Interfax - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said that Wahhabism cannot be eradicated with half-measures.

"Wahabis did not come along today or yesterday. They have been around for a long time. And prominent Islamic religious figures noted that they bring woes, sufferings, destruction and shed blood," Kadyrov said after a prayer service at a mosque, according to the Chechen government's website.

"There are people who are trying to present this movement as an innocent phenomenon, as some doctrine, and who characterize Wahabis as almost the most gentle people," he

said.

"This is self-deception. This is deception of thousands of people who might think that this is how things are. In reality, their [Wahabis'] key goal is to cause chaos, to kill primarily those are really Muslim, who truly believe in Allah and revere the Prophet," Kadyrov said.

He cited multiple examples of "atrocities" by Wahabis, having recalled how "they shot dead a well-known North Caucasus religious figure in the Vedeno District, how they broke into a house in Geldagan and killed a 72-year-old imam when he was reading Quran, although all he asked for was not mercy but to let him finish reading the Surah," Kadyrov said.

"There is nothing saint for them. A son can kill his father if he criticizes him. He can kill his brother. By acting like this they are seeking to denigrate Muslims, to set them against millions of people who do not understand the difference between Wahabis and true believers," the Chechen leader said.

As a Chechen mufti and later the first Chechen president, Ahmad Kadyrov "emphasized the need to wage an offensive against Wahabis, while admitting that this evil can spread across many regions if it is not nipped in the bud," he said.

"However, in the 1990s and even in the early years of this decade the majority of regional leaders did not see the whole depth of the problem and denied the existence of such a threat. Wahhabism was brought to Chechnya by Bagautdin Kizilyurtovsky. There (in Dagestan) he was not dealt with on time, so the 'infection' spread, and today we are harvesting the consequences of irresponsibility shown by the authorities and public in those years," Kadyrov added.

Chechnya "needs neither good, nor bad Wahabis," he said. "Such an approach must be applied everywhere. Otherwise, they will again start moving at the slightest relaxation on the part of the authorities. But, I give my word, not in Chechnya," the Chechen leader said.

"No criminal will remain unpunished for attempting on the life of law enforcement officers or ordinary citizens or organizing such crimes," Kadyrov said.

Children Of Daghestani Militia Officers Joining Islamist Militants http://www.eurasiareview.com/201011069517/children-of-daghestani-militia-officers-joining-islamist-militants.html

Sunday, 07 November 2010 00:57 Written by Paul Goble

A measure of Moscow’s failure in Daghestan is that even children of Daghestani militiamen are now joining the anti-Russian Islamist militants, an indication that further

militant operations, at least of the kind Russian forces seem to be preparing for will backfire and reduce rather than increase security in that republic.

As a result, Denis Kolchin, who writes frequently about the military situation in the Caucasus, argues, Moscow needs to come up with a “creative” new strategy, one that he suggests will have to involve some form of negotiations with the forces of the Caucasus Emirate, if it is to have any chance of coming out on top (www.apn.ru/publications/article23307.htm).

And he argues that if the Russian forces simply launch more offensives in that mountainous and ethnically diverse republic, the outcome will not be the restoration of peace and stability but rather an angrier and more alienated local population and a dramatic increase in the number of Daghestanis who will join the Islamist opposition.

“Officially in the North Caucasus, there is no war,” the Moscow analyst continues, but on October 23rd, for the third time this year, Islamist militants in the North Caucasus came close to destroying an entire unit of Russian siloviki, an outcome that was avoided only by good luck. Indeed, it appears Russian forces learned nothing from the earlier attacks.

To try to cope with the growing strength of the Caucasus Emirate in Daghestan, Kolchin says, Moscow recently has expanded the number of its military and internal security troops there – the analyst gives an order of battle -- and organized, on the Chechen model, three battalions composed of representatives of local nationalities.

This expansion in the size of the pro-Moscow forces suggests that at least some among their commanders are thinking about launching a new offensive, a step that Kolchin says would be disastrous. Unlike in 1996 and 1999, when the Daghestani population supported Moscow against the Chechen rebels, however, “today the situation is different.”

Any military operation, “in whatever form it might take,” would not be capable of “increasing the level of sympathy among the current population.”

Younger people are already going into the mountains to fight the Russians, including “even children of militiamen.” Indeed, in September, one of the rebels killed proved to be the son of the Derbent criminal police.

Because of this trend, one that Russian commanders on the ground are very much aware of whatever their superiors say, officials are casting about for some new strategy. One of these is “the Daghestanization of the conflict” through the formation of more local military units along the model of what has been done in Chechnya.

But this is hardly likely to be “a panacea,” Chalpin says. Not only is “a partisan war” continuing in that republic, but there are two other factors limiting the chance this shift would bring success. On the one hand, for the Islamist militants, there is no difference between Russian soldiers and Kadyrov forces – “the mujahidin will kill either” without distinction.

And on the other hand, Daghestan’s ethnic diversity dooms such a strategy to failure. While Chechnya is 93 percent ethnic Chechen, Daghestan has “no core nationality.” Instead, its largest group forms only 29 percent of the population. Hence, “the application of Daghestanization (in practice, fratricidal war) is stupid” and “threatens chaos.

“In short,” Chaplin says, “the situation in the republic will only deteriorate.” And that in turn means that “Moscow must think up something new for the Caucasus” in general and Daghestan in particular. Military actions of whatever kind are not going to be capable of “ending the partisan war” being carried out by the Islamist militants.

And such “creativity,” not much in evidence among Russian officials now, “probably” will have to involve “dialogue” with the militants, something that the current Moscow line precludes. But unless such conversations begin – and the parallel with the US battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan suggests itself – the war will only continue and may get worse.

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at paul.goble@gmail.com .

Half of Russian sailors from Canada-detained ship already homehttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20101108/161243360.html

07:41 08/11/2010

More than half of sailors from a Russian vessel detained in Canada over debts are already home, a consular official said.

"Most part of the crew, 27 people, are already in Moscow," Andrei Varlamov, the head of the Russian embassy's consular department in Ottawa told RIA Novosti by phone.

The Lyubov Orlova expedition vessel, crewed by 51 Russian nationals and one Ukrainian, was seized in the Newfoundland port of St. John's in late September following a suit by a haulage contractor over a $251,000 debt.

The repatriation of the Russians was postponed at least twice.

The remaining sailors were not repatriated together with the others, but remained on board the ship to assure its security.

According to the crew, the ship owner owes them over $270,000 in wage arrears.

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

Ferry link closed in Vladivostok over heavy cyclone

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15659808&PageNum=0

08.11.2010, 08.31

VLADIVOSTOK, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - Ferry link between Vladivostok and the islands of Russky and Popov was cancelled over heavy cyclone that moves across the Sea of Japan, the press service of the Vladivostok city administration told Itar-Tass on Monday.

The cyclone will be coming through the Primorsky territory for over 24 hours brining first snowfalls and heavy wind gusts. It will mainly hit the southern and south-eastern regions of the Primorsky territory.

Electric power transmission lines can be affected by wet snow and wind gusts will reach 20 meters per second.

The region’s public utilities services take efforts to prevent power cuts and road accidents.

Cargo train with fuel derails in Russia http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-11/08/c_13596584.htm

2010-11-08 15:57:50

MOSCOW, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Seven carriages of a cargo train derailed in Russia's Smolensk region on Monday, the Emergencies Ministry's local department said.

The carriages carrying diesel fuel derailed in early morning, and the fuel spill stretched over 70 square km, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

No death nor injuries were reported so far, and the investigation over the cause was underway.

Russian Press at a Glance, Monday, November 8, 2010http://en.rian.ru/papers/20101108/161243793.html

08:28 08/11/2010

POLITICS

In a new sign of the Kremlin's changing stance on the opposition, President Dmitry Medvedev unexpectedly vetoed on Saturday a bill cracking down on rallies that had sailed through both chambers of parliament.

(Moscow Times, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Vedomosti, Vremya Novostei, Kommersant)

Officials must quit smoking and learn to be polite, according to an ethics code for state employees developed by the Health and Social Development Ministry.

(Kommersant)

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin makes new reshuffles in City Hall. Experts say he is trying to build a system similar to the inner cabinet, where all officials bear personal responsibility.

(Kommersant)

The lower house of the Russian parliament adopted on the first reading a bill banning the heads of Russian regions from referring to themselves as "presidents." The move was initiated by Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov in August.

(Kommersant)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has recommenced his information attack on the Kremlin. He accused Russia of backtracking on the Union State agreement with Belarus and doubted that Dmitry Medvedev has real presidential power. Belarusian analysts say the weakening of Moscow's pressure on Minsk and Western countries' activities in the region made Lukashenko bold.

(Kommersant)

BUSINESS

Capital outflow from Russia through the use of illegal schemes is growing rapidly, said financial watchdog Rosfinnadzor.

(Vedomosti)

Over 60% of insurance companies will fail to survive after mid-2012, when they are obliged to increase their authorized capital fourfold, said the head of insurance watchdog Rosstrakhnadzor.

(Vedomosti)

State banks to remain under state control.

(Vedomosti)

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to double expenditures on road construction in the Russian capital.

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

The Central Election Commission published data on revenue and expenditures of political parties for the third quarter of 2010.

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

SOCIETY

One of Russia's best-known reporters, Oleg Kashin, remains hospitalized in critical condition as journalists and activists increase pressure on authorities to investigate the savage weekend beating that broke his jaw, fingers and a leg.

(Moscow Times, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Vremya Novostei)

About 4,000 Communist supporters commemorated the 1917 Revolution at a gathering tarnished by scuffles Sunday, while 1,300 former paratroopers demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

(Moscow Times, Vremya Novostei, Kommersant)

Russia bids farewell to Viktor Chernomyrdin.

(Vremya Novostei, Ogonyok, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

TECHNOLOGY

Russia's state-owned Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano) head Anatoly Chubais promised a technological revolution in retail sales.

(Vedomosti)

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said innovative products should be in demand on Russia's domestic market.

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

CRIME

A total of 12 people, including four children, were murdered in a private house in south Russia's Krasnodar Territory on November 5. The house was then set on fire.

(Kommersant, Vremya Novostei)

STATISTICS

The results of the recent all-Russia census showed that the country's population exceeds 141 million people. Russian statistics service head Alexander Surinov said in regard to the census.

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Nezavisimaya/Russia Today: No way backhttp://rt.com/Top_News/Press/eng.html

Russia has no free choice regarding the special operations in Afghanistan

Ahead of the NATO-Russia summit that will take place in Lisbon in late November, the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told BBC that Russian servicemen are going to take part in the anti-drug operations in Afghanistan is spite of protests from Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai. However, after the first joint Russia-US-Afghanistan anti-drug operation, which took place in late October, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev talked on the phone to the Afghan leader, and they agreed on increasing joint efforts to fight drugs.

Back in October 2009, Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service and Afghanistan’s Anti-Drug Ministry signed an agreement in Moscow entitled “On cooperation in fighting against the illegal trafficking of narcotic substances, psychotropic substances and their precursors.” This agreement was the second document confirming the countries’ cooperation in fighting the drug threat. The first official document between Kabul and Moscow – an intergovernmental agreement to fight drug trafficking – was signed in March 2009 during Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Kabul.

The October anti-drug operation was received by the Russian media with ambiguity. Most comments said that NATO was dragging Russia into the war in Afghanistan. But we should admit that, even after the pullout of the limited Soviet contingent from Afghanistan, the USSR, and afterwards Russia and other post-Soviet countries, continued to supply weapons and funds to certain Afghan commanders to secure their borders.

In this case, the priority for Russia is fighting the drug flow from Afghanistan. Russian drug addicts annually use 70 tons of Afghanistan heroin, worth $14 billion, said Antonio Costa, head of UN’s Drugs and Crime Office, speaking in Moscow at a conference entitled “Afghanistan drug production: a challenge for the international community.” According to Costa, the production of opium poppy and other raw materials for drug manufacturing in Afghanistan has grown by 30 per cent in the past two years. The UN reports that Russia is the world’s top consumer of heroin, using 21 per cent of the world’s heroin production, and 5 per cent of all opium-containing drugs. According to the UN Drug and Crime Office’s report on the “Drug addiction, crime and insurgency: the threat of opium transit from Afghanistan,” by the latest data, Russia is becoming the world’s second-largest – the first is the European Union - market for opium drugs, including heroin. It is also the largest market for opiates among separate countries.

It’s no secret that Afghan drug money helps fund international Islamic terrorists, some of which are active in the North Caucasus of Russia. American troops and its allies in Afghanistan face another problem: growing poppies supports many farmers in Afghanistan and destroying the crops, theoretically possible, will in practice force current farmers to join the Taliban. This is what makes the Americans reluctant to destroy the crops of poppies, a position criticized by Russia. But destroying heroin-producing labs is a different story. This slowly decreases demand for poppies and might help Afghan farmers switch to other agricultural products.

Either way, Russia has no choice but to take an active part in the anti-drug operations in Afghanistan; but it’s the job of the special forces, not the army.

Read the article on the newspaper's website (in Russian)

How did the AK-47 become the most abundant weapon on earth?http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/how-did-the-ak47-become-the-most-abundant-weapon-on-earth-2124407.html

It's the most abundant gun on earth, used by national armies, guerrillas and gangsters. How did this simple firearm, created by committee in Soviet Russia, come to monopolise violence? Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter CJ Chivers dismantles the myth and symbolism of the AK-47

Saturday, 6 November 2010

The atomic bomb rested on a tower 100 feet above the ground. Known as RDS-1, it was shaped like a huge metal teardrop with rivets and bolts along its sides. Everything had been prepared. Inside its shell was a uranium and plutonium charge equal to about 20 kilotons of TNT, making it a rough equivalent to the weapon the United States had used to destroy Nagasaki four years before. It was 1949, and the Soviet Union was moments from entering the atomic age – ending the American monopoly in atomic arms, securing the Kremlin's status atop a global superpower, and giving the Cold War its sense of doomsday menace.

As diplomatic cables about the atomic explosion moved from embassies in Moscow to Western capitals, about 1,100 miles to the west of the test site, in a Russian industrial city in the Ural range, another of Stalin's secret military projects was gaining momentum. Within the dark brick walls of a set of immense factories, a product was being prepared for mass production. Teams of engineers, armourers, and factory supervisors were fine-tuning its design.

Communist Party leaders insisted that these factories were engaged in the manufacture of automobiles. But this product was neither a vehicle nor any of its parts. It was a weapon: a strange-looking rifle, deviating from the classic forms. At a glance, the new rifle was in many ways peculiar, an oddity, a reason to furrow brows and shake heads. Its components were simple, inelegant, and by Western standards, of seemingly workmanlike craftsmanship. The AK-47 was born. Within 25 years it would be the most abundant firearm the world had known.

The acronym abbreviated two Russian words, Avtomat Kalashnikova, the automatic by Kalashnikov, a nod to Senior Sergeant Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, a 29-year-old former tank commander to whom the army and the Communist Party formally attributed the weapon's design. The number was shorthand for 1947, the year a technical bureau in Kovrov, a city east of Moscow, had finished the prototypes. It seemed a puzzling embodiment of a firearm compromise, a blend of design choices no existing Western army was willing yet to make. It was shorter than the infantry rifles it would displace, but longer than the submachine guns that had been in service for 30 years. It fired a medium-powered cartridge, not powerful enough for long-range sniping duty, but with adequate energy to strike lethally and cause terrible wounds within the ranges at which almost all combat occurs. It could be fired automatically, and at a rate like those of the machine guns that already had changed the way wars were fought. It could be fired on single fire, like a rifle of yore.

None of the Soviet Union's Cold War opponents had managed to conceive of, much less produce, a firearm of such firepower at such compact size. And this new weapon had other useful traits. It had little recoil compared to most rifles of its time. It was so reliable, even when soaked in bog water and coated with sand, that its Soviet testers had trouble making it jam. And its design was a testament to simplicity, so much so that its basic operation might be grasped within minutes, and Soviet teachers would soon learn that it could be disassembled and reassembled by Slavic schoolboys in less than 30 seconds flat.

Together these traits meant that once this weapon was distributed, the small-statured, the mechanically disinclined, the dim-witted, and the untrained might be able to wield, with little difficulty or instruction, a lightweight automatic rifle that could push out blistering fire for the lengths of two or three football fields. For the purpose for which it was designed – as a device that allowed ordinary men to kill other men without extensive training or undue complications – this was an eminently well-conceived tool.

The carefully packaged history of Soviet times, a cheerful parable for the proletariat, was that the AK-47 sprang from the mind of a gifted if unlettered sergeant who wanted to present his nation an instrument for its defence. This was a message made in the Communist Party's propaganda mills. It required redaction and lies. In publishing this account, the Soviet Union resorted to enough invention, some of it cartoonish, that even Mikhail Kalashnikov eventually publicly criticised it, albeit lightly. The AK-47 did not result from an epiphany at the workbench of an intent Russian sergeant. Heroism, in the classic sense, was nonexistent here. Spontaneity, according to a close reading of the available records, played almost no role. The automatic Kalashnikov was the result of state process and collective work, the output not of a man but of committees. And its wide distribution and martial popularity did not occur because the rifle is, as General Kalashnikov often said, "simple, reliable, and easy to use".

Ultimately, it was its production by the tens of millions by governments that gave them away or lost control of them that made the Kalashnikov the world's primary firearm. One way to understand the nature of its familiarity is this: had the AK-47 been created in Luxembourg, few people would likely have ever heard of it. But Luxembourg could not have created this weapon, because it lacked the Soviet bureaucracy and the particular historical pressures that ordered the Kalashnikov to its form within the USSR. The Soviet state is the inventor here – both of the weapon and its fables.

In the mid-1950s, while the Soviet Union staggered out of Stalin's reign, the Kremlin was in a unique position. It was both the world's standard bearer for socialism and a nation with the military power to help fraternal nations with their armament desires. Soviet arms became a form of Soviet political currency. To compete with this new weapon, combatants faced a choice. Either use the Kalashnikov, or come up with a rifle that could match it in a fight.

War reorganised around Stalin's gun. Nations queued up, seeking their share, as did revolutionary groups, and, later, terrorist organisations. As the AK-47 gained acceptance and approval in the Soviet army, the Kremlin used it as a readily deliverable tool in the game of East-West influence jockeying, both as a diplomatic chip to secure new friendships and as an item to be distributed to those willing to harass or otherwise occupy the attention of the West. On the practical side, convincing allies and potential allies to select Soviet equipment expanded standardisation. It also made client states accept that in the event of their own local wars, they would need to be resupplied via the Kremlin.

The result was a logistical and psychological arrangement that created dependencies serving Kremlin interests. On the political side, sharing military technology cemented

allies and made new friends for the Kremlin, all the while helping to frustrate the West. Foreign acceptance of Russian firearms created the impression that Soviet equipment was preferable to Western military products. For a nation that struggled to manufacture decent elevators and shoes, in a system in which wool shirts were not necessarily wool, approval of a Soviet weapon served as a refreshing endorsement of an industrial base often making shoddy goods.

For all of these reasons, the period centred on the 1950s marked the most important years for the Kalashnikov line. The weapon had been developed. The man credited for its invention would be given public stature and material rewards and would be regarded as a proletarian hero. The infrastructure would be built to manufacture the assault rifle across the socialist world, and the Russian assault rifle would see its first combat use – both by conventional forces and by insurgents. The United States military, all the while, would misjudge the meaning and significance of the AK-47's arrival. Beyond dismissing the value of the socialists' main firearm with parochial superiority, it would develop weapons for its own forces that would fail when it mattered most, losing one of the most important but least-chronicled arms races of the Cold War. The Kalashnikov Era had arrived. We are living in it still.

Tanks can rout conventional armies. GPS-guided ordnance can scatter combatants. Land mines, suicide bombers, and improvised explosives have attracted more attention in recent years. Yet the rifle remains pre-eminent. Whenever an idea organises for battle it gathers around its guns. Few weapons are as accessible or can be as readily learnt. No other weapon appears in as many conflict areas year after year. None is as sure to appear in each future war, if only because no other weapon is as well suited for as many missions and tasks. And of all the rifles available for war today, the Kalashnikov line stands apart as the most abundant and widely used rifle ever made.

Virtually everyone has seen a Kalashnikov. With its stubby black barrel with a parallel gas tube above, its steep front sight post, and the distinctive banana clip, its unmistakable profile has become a constant presence in the news. It is the world's most widely recognised weapon, one of the world's most recognisable objects.

More than six decades after its design and initial distribution, more than 50 national armies carry the automatic Kalashnikov, as do an array of police, intelligence, and security agencies. But its fuller terrain lies outside the sphere of conventional force. The Kalashnikov marks the guerrilla, the terrorist, the child soldier, the dictator, and the thug – all of whom have found it to be a ready equaliser against morally or materially superior foes. Celebrated by Soviet propagandists as a tool for self-defence and liberation, its first lethal uses were for repression – crushing uprisings in East Germany in 1953 and in Hungary in 1956, and for shooting fleeing civilians trying to cross the Iron Curtain's borders.

Once it grew beyond border and crackdown duty in Eastern Europe and became an automatic weapon for global combat service, it was instantly a groundbreaking firearm, a weapon that rearranged the rules. In the 1960s, when American Marines encountered

AK-47s in urban warfare, at Hue City in Vietnam, they discovered that a single guerrilla with a Kalashnikov could slow a company's advance; they used cannon to rubble buildings in which AK-toting Viet Cong marksmen hid.

Its power, today a battlefield norm, was at first of an almost unseen sort, at least among the weapons that could be wielded by one man. Engineers in Finland and Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia secured early versions of the weapon and developed unlicensed knock-offs straightaway. After leading the revolution that put him atop Cuba, Fidel Castro amassed stores of Soviet assault rifles and distributed engraved Kalashnikovs as gifts. Idi Amin armed his Ugandan forces with Kalashnikovs and appointed himself president for life. Yasser Arafat procured them for the PLO and the many terrorist groups that spread from Fatah.

Its followers cross all lines. The Egyptian army outfitted itself with Kalashnikovs. Islamic Jihad used a Kalashnikov to assassinate the Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat. The great numbers of its manufacture and the multiple sellers offering it ultimately ensured that it would be turned against the army that created it, as was the case in the Soviet-Afghan war and then again in Chechnya.

By the 1980s, with several sources simultaneously arming both sides of the Afghan conflict, the country filled with AK-47s and their derivatives. A durable assault rifle can have many lives over the decades of its existence, and in Afghanistan the weapons were recycled repeatedly, passed from fighter to fighter by many means.

In the Panjshir Valley, a chasm in the mountains north of Kabul, the rifle sometimes became a family heirloom. The valley had been the scene of some of the most intense fighting in the early years of the war; its canyons became backdrops for mujahideen legend. Several times the Soviet army thrust armoured columns up the valley, sometimes enveloping the guerrillas by using helicopters to land troops on mountain passes to cut off withdrawing mujahideen. Each time the Soviet forces controlled territory briefly before being subjected to persistent attacks. The valley was never conquered, and its villages were never co-opted or tamed.

First among the Soviet army's foes was Ahmad Shah Massoud, the ethnic Tajik commander whose charisma and tactical adroitness became part of Afghan lore. After one Soviet incursion, Massoud attended the funeral of a dead guerrilla. He lifted the man's Kalashnikov and carried it to the deceased man's younger brother, Ashrat Khan. The commander's mastery of quiet ceremony, like his sense for tactics, had reached a high state of polish.

"Do you want to be a mujahid?" Massoud asked. Ashrat Khan extended his hands. He accepted the rifle. "Yes, I am going to take my brother's weapon," he said. "I am going to be with you." At moments such as these, the Kalashnikov's infiltration of the martial world was nearing completion. Afghans were using it for the same purpose that Mikhail Kalashnikov insisted had motivated him – to defend their native land.

The rifle assumed uses that were at once soldierly and ceremonial, and over the decades it reached far beyond conflicts in which the Kremlin played a primary role. When Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, was mourned in 2004 by his followers in Gaza, his casket was guarded by masked men at the ready with folding-stock AKs. The scene was a throwback. Six years earlier along the Cambodian-Thai border, the body of Pol Pot was attended by teenage gunmen carrying an Asian version of the same gun.

Mastering a Kalashnikov is one of the surest ways to become an underground fighter in our time. In Belfast, both sides used them in clashes and political art. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, student notebooks from Al-Qa'ida camps showed that the opening class in jihad curricula was a lesson on Kalashnikov's avtomat. Along with the rocket-propelled grenade, the portable mortar tube, and the makeshift bomb, the automatic Kalashnikov completes the quartet of weapons for the resistance in Afghanistan and Iraq, where insurgents rely on the local version, the Tabuk.

In his first taped message after the attacks of 11 September 2001, Osama bin Laden held a microphone near his beard and told the world that "the winds of faith and change have blown". It was his movie, he could put in it anything he wanted. Beside him was a Kalashnikov leaning against a rock. Bin Laden understood the symbolic potency of his choice.

Others keep their Kalashnikovs near for more practical tasks. By the time Saddam Hussein was pulled from a hole in Ad Dawr, in late 2003, the fugitive president had distilled his possessions to a modern outlaw's basic needs: two AK-47s and a crate of American cash. (He also had a pistol, a nine-millimetre Glock.) Kalashnikovs are not just tools for the battlefield. They guard South American cocoa plantations and cocaine-processing labs. In Los Angeles they have served bank robbers and urban gangs; in the northwestern United States, survivalists squirrel them away in anticipation of the worst. African poachers use them to thin wildlife populations and defend their illegal trade against anti-poaching patrols, which carry Kalashnikovs, too.

In the western Pacific, the aboriginal Chukti people fire Kalashnikovs at migrating grey whales. Given that the automatic Kalashnikov was conceived with the intention of shooting 160-pound capitalists, its use against 30-ton marine mammals would seem ill-advised. But Kalashnikovs are regularly at hand.

No one can say for certain how many of the weapons exist today. Their production in secrecy, often in some of the planet's harshest dictatorships, has made precise accounting impossible. One point is beyond dispute. They are the most abundant firearms on earth. Since the Soviet army chose the AK-47 for distribution to Soviet ranks, they have been made in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, China, East Germany, Egypt, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) and the United States.

Knock-off versions, incorporating the main elements of Kalashnikov's operating system, were developed in Croatia, Finland, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Israel. More are made every year. Venezuela plans to build a new plant, which could be used to arm

groups throughout the region in a new round of opaque handouts. Serious estimates put the number of Kalashnikovs and its derivatives as high as 100 million. There could be one for every 70 people alive.

During decades of influence jockeying, the Cold War saw the shipment of enormous quantities of Kalashnikovs to proxy forces, from the Viet Cong to militias in Beirut. Lists resemble tour guides to troubled lands: Russian, Chinese, and North Korean guns were carried by the North Vietnamese Army; Polish Kalashnikovs were shipped to the Contras; East German Kalashnikovs went to Yemen; Romanian AKs armed the Kurds; Russian and Bulgarian AK-47s supplied Rwanda; the United States directed Chinese and Egyptian Kalashnikovs to Afghanistan's anti-Soviet mujahideen. Chinese Kalashnikovs are abundant in Uganda and Sudan.

For people who study the universe of disorder, the AK-47 serves as a reasonably reliable unit of measure. Arms-control specialists and students of conflict look to the price of these assault rifles in a nation's open-market arms bazaar to determine both the degree to which destabilised lands are awash in small arms and the state of risk. When prices rise, public anxiety is considered high. When they sink, the decline can indicate a conflict is ebbing.

Because there is no surer sign that a country has gone sour than the appearance of Kalashnikovs in the public's grip, they can also function as an informal social indicator. Anywhere large numbers of young men in civilian clothes or mismatched uniforms carry AK-47s is a very good place not to go; when the guns turn up in the hands of mobs, it is time to leave. In the aftermath of the Cold War, the overabundance of the weapon has remained a persistent factor in terrorism, crime, ethnic cleansing, and local and regional destabilisation.

In 2001, the United Nations convened a conference by noting that small arms were principal weapons in 46 of the 49 major conflicts in the 1990s, in which four million people died. In 2004, Human Rights Watch identified 18 nations where child soldiers are still used. For most of these wars and most of these young conscripts, AK-47s are the primary arm. The available American casualty data from Iraq show that bullets fired from the Eastern bloc's family of firearms remain, injury by injury, the most lethal wounding agent on the battlefield.

Even a single gun can set a nation in motion. In 1989, after the drifter Patrick Purdy opened fire with a Kalashnikov on a schoolyard in Stockton, California, Congress began work on the assault weapon ban. Purdy did not use a true automatic Kalashnikov. But the mere appearance of a Kalashnikov in a schoolyard crowded with children – its look – was enough to put Congress in a law-making mood.

And look is important to Kalashnikovs. In their march from secrecy to ubiquity, Kalashnikovs have become more than weapons. They have become symbols—first of the industrial success of Stalin's Soviet Union and the socialist way, later of popular insurrection, armed liberation, and gangland stature, more recently of jihad.

A Kalashnikov can be appropriated for most any cause. An AK-47 with bayonet attached appears on the flag of Mozambique; it shares that flag with a hoe and a book, as if it were one of a young nation's foundational tools. Another Kalashnikov-like rifle, held aloft by a defiant fist, adorns the emblem of Hezbollah. Here its meaning is different. The flag is not about victory, not yet. It's about the fight.

In Hollywood, the Kalashnikov suggests the bad guy, the lunatic, the connoisseur tough. "AK-47 – the very best there is," the actor Samuel L Jackson said in one of his well-known roles. "When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room."

These mixed meanings make a potent brew. The Kalashnikov stirs feelings, for and against, and the savvy have learnt to tap these meanings for their own purposes. In Missouri in mid-2009, Mark Muller, the owner of a car dealership, offered a voucher for an AK-47 with the purchase of every pick-up truck. The offer was a gimmick – true AK-47s cannot be legally owned by most people in the United States, and the dealership offered a coupon worth only half the price of the semiautomatic version sold in American gun shops. Once again, though, facts did not matter. A team from Al Jazeera turned up, as did another from Russian state TV news. The coverage triggered old arguments. What does this weapon mean? Muller appeared before the cameras brandishing a Kalashnikov, enjoying the free publicity. He held up his rifle for the cameras and grinned – the rascal's pose. The Kalashnikov was put to yet another use.

This is an edited extract from 'The Gun: The AK-47 and the Evolution of War', by CJ Chivers, published by Allen Lane, £25; cjchivers.com

'AK-47 is the tool': The gun in pop culture

* Ice Cube appears to have quite a fondness for the AK-47, frequently name-checking it in his lyrics. He raps on NWA's "Straight Outta Compton":

"Here's a murder rap to keep yo dancing/ With a crime record like Charles Manson/ AK-47 is the tool/ Don't make me act the motherfuckin' fool". On "It Was a Good Day", though, he reveals that: "Today I didn't even have to use my AK/ I got to say it was a good day".

* Eminem put an AK-47 into George W Bush's hands in an animated video for his protest song "Mosh". Cartoons of the gun-toting president were accompanied by the lyrics: "Let the president answer a higher anarchy/ Strap him with an AK-47, let him go, fight his own war/ Let him impress daddy that way/ No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil".

* Philippe Starck painted an 18-carat, gold-plate finish on a cast of an AK-47, topping it off with a lampshade. The 'Kalashnikov AK-47 Table Light' could be yours for just £1,360.

* In 2004, Playboy placed the AK-47 fourth on their list of 'Fifty Products that Changed the World', deeming it less important than the Apple Mac desktop computer, the Pill, and the Sony Betamax video machine, but more influential than breast implants (at number six), crack cocaine (11) or the Big Mac (29).

* The iPod only made it to number 12 on Playboy's list – but luckily someone has since combined the two inventions. You can buy AK-magazine-shaped MP3 players, that attach to the rifle, and can hold up to 9,000 songs to blast your ears instead of your enemy. The Russian ex-rock star, Andrey Koltakov, who is part of the team behind the MP3 player, describes it as "our bit for world peace ... hopefully, from now on ... terrorists will use their AK-47s to listen to music and audio books".

* Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor who never received any royalties for his creation, has instead cashed in with another Russian export – vodka. Kalashnikov describes the 41 per cent proof drink as "military strength", and the bottles come stamped with his name and face.

As well as endorsements from Samuel L Jackson's character in the film, Jackie Brown, the AK-47 is also declared the "real weapon of mass destruction" by Ethan Hawke's character in the 2005 arms-dealer movie, Lords of War.

* An AK-47-alike toy has made it into this year's Christmas wish list. The Nerf N-Strike Stampede ECS, a plastic machine gun capable of firing off a round of 18 soft bullets, made it into the 'Dream Dozen' Christmas toys for 2010, according to the Toy Retailers Association.

HOLLY WILLIAMS

National Economic Trends

Russia’s Population Declines 4.8% Since Collapse of Soviet Union http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aVR0vW3caXmo

By Denis Maternovsky

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s population may have declined 4.8 percent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, according to the first national census in eight years.

Preliminary data of the survey puts the population at 141.2 million people, the government’s official Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper reported today, citing Alexander Surinov, head of the Federal Statistics Service. That figure may rise after polling is

completed in remote areas and Russians temporarily living abroad are included, Surinov said.

Russia’s population peaked at 148.3 million in 1991 and reached 145.2 million in 2002, when the country last conducted a census.

To contact the reporter on this story: Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net

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

Last Updated: November 8, 2010 01:27 EST

October inflation reported at 0.5% m/m http://www.businessneweurope.eu/dispatch_text13493

Alfa BankNovember 8, 2010

According to Rosstat, CPI increased 0.5% m/m in October slightly below market consensus and our expectations of 0.6% m/m. In annual terms, price growth accelerated from 7.0% y/y in September to 7.6% y/y in October.

Monthly CPI growth of 0.5% m/m in October represents a deceleration vs. the 0.8% m/m in September, signaling the end of the first wave of the drought- induced price shock. However, some acceleration in grain prices seen over the last two weeks suggests that there will be more than one wave of food inflation. This will become noticeable when meat prices start to rise owing to reduced livestock in the summer. We also note that non-food inflation did not decelerate in October and kept to the same pace as September of 0.6% m/m, justifying our view that high inflationary expectations in Russia will not be short-lived. We keep our 2010 CPI forecast of 8.6% y/y unchanged and expect inflationary pressure to continue into 1Q11 owing to the accelerated budget spending effect at the year-end.

Natalia Orlova

MinEconomy submits privatisation plan to the government http://www.businessneweurope.eu/dispatch_text13493

VTB CapitalNovember 8, 2010

News: MinEconomy has submitted the 2011-13 privatisation plan to the government for consideration. According to Vedomosti, stakes in 854 companies and 117 state-owned/privately operated companies (FGUPs) will be privatised, while on some of the largest assets there is the option of being sold by 2015.

Our View: The plan does not provide clarity over the specific timing of when assets are to be sold, and the actual sizes of the stakes could still be revised. Earlier official estimates suggested that up to RUB 1tn could be raised in 2011- 13, while Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov estimated that up to RUB 1.8tn could be raised from the privatisation process (by 2015).

In our view, the government is likely to leave itself as much flexibility as possible in terms of timing and actual stakes offered for sale.

Russian Government Funds Won't Hold Spain, Ireland Debthttp://www.businessneweurope.eu/dispatch_text13493

bneNovember 8, 2010

The Finance Ministry has excluded Ireland and Spain from a list of countries approved for bond investment by the country's two sovereign wealth funds, Bloomberg reports quoting the ministry's website.

The two countries were not mentioned in a document specifying the national debt acceptable for purchase by the Reserve Fund and National Welfare Fund, which together represent more than $130 billion, or more than half of Ireland's $227 billion gross domestic product in 2009, according to the web site.

"It's a question for the Central Bank whether they invested," Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said November 3 by phone. "What matters for us is that Irish and Spanish notes weren't part of the formula used to calculate the yield the Central Bank pays us."

A spokesman for the Central Bank did not return a call seeking comment.

The Irish government said Sept. 30 that costs to bail out the country's banks may reach about 50 billion euros ($70 billion). On the same day, Spain had its top credit rating cut one level by Moody's Investors Service, which cited the nation's "weak" economic outlook.

The Russian funds are managed by the Central Bank under guidelines set down by the Finance Ministry.

The decision was not surprising given that the two funds have a very low risk profile and how the yield differential between and Spanish and Irish debt had widened against the German bund, said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib.

"Ten years ago, the Irish Celtic Tiger was roaring while the Russian bear was licking its wounds. Today, the tiger is an endangered species while the bear is much more robust,"

he said.

Russia's funds may still invest in the debt obligations of the governments of Austria, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United States, Finland, France and Sweden, the ministry said.

Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions

VimpelCom, Gazprom, Rosneft and Polyus: Russia Equity Preview http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aG_ONgwqxBPA

By Henry Meyer

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may be active in Russian trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are from the previous close in Moscow.

The 30-stock Micex Index rose 0.2 percent to 1,540.11. The dollar-denominated RTS Index gained 0.7 percent to 1,613.60.

VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP US): The pending merger between the owner of Russia’s second-biggest mobile-phone operator and Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE depends on Telenor ASA, Oslo-based Dagens Naeringsliv reported Nov. 6, citing an interview with Sawiris. Telenor is concerned about the possible move by the Algerian government to nationalize Orascom Telecom Algeria and about potential regulatory objections in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the newspaper said. The shares declined 1.6 percent to $15.99 in New York.

OAO Gazprom (GAZP RM): The world’s biggest natural gas producer is due to release second-quarter results under International Financial Reporting Standards today. The shares were little changed at 170.15 rubles.

OAO Rosneft (ROSN RX): Crude oil surged to the highest level in two years as U.S. payrolls rose more than forecast in October, a sign the economy is recovering. Oil for December delivery settled at $86.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Nov. 5. The shares of Russia’s biggest oil company dropped 0.4 percent to 216.8 rubles.

OAO Polyus Gold (PLZL RX): Gold rose to a record $1,398.70 an ounce on bets the Federal Reserve’s stimulus plan to bolster the U.S. economy will erode the value of the dollar, boosting demand for precious metals as alternative assets. Polyus, the country’s biggest gold producer, declined 1 percent to 1,542.71 rubles.

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

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

Last Updated: November 7, 2010 22:00 EST

MICEX stock market makes offer for 20 pct of rival RTS for $150 mlnhttp://en.rian.ru/business/20101108/161245183.html

11:14 08/11/2010

Russia's largest stock exchange, the MICEX has offered the shareholders of RTS, the country's second biggest equities bourse, to sell 20 percent of their shares for $150 million and swap the other 80 percent for MICEX stock, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday, citing RTS sources.

The sum of $150 million was derived from the RTS' total worth of $750 million, the sources told the paper.

"In exchange for their stock, RTS shareholders were offered 17-20 percent of MICEX shares, proceeding from MICEX's $3.5 billion market capitalization. If a shareholder refuses to accept cash and swaps his shareholding for shares, the MICEX is prepared to pay a premium," a member of the RTS board of directors told the paper.

Experts polled by the paper said that MICEX had made the offer after the RTS announced plans to hold an initial public offering (IPO) in 2011 to raise funds to increase capitalization and expand the volume of trading.

Another RTS board member told the paper that after the deal was finalized, the two exchanges were expected to operate independently for several years, but declined to give any specific details.

The government's strategy for development of the financial market until 2020 envisages consolidation of the stock exchange infrastructure, the paper said.

RTS shareholders have reacted to the MICEX's offer with some restraint. One RTS shareholder told the paper that the offer needed further discussion.

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

Transportation Ministry urges airlines to form 'relief fund'

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20101108114513.shtml

      RBC, 08.11.2010, Moscow 11:45:13.The Russian Transportation Ministry has suggested that air carriers set up a joint insurance fund, the RBC Daily newspaper reported today. The ministry published a bill on its website on air carriers' fulfillment of obligations to passengers. If the bill becomes a law, airlines that do not join the fund will not be eligible to provide services to passengers.

      When Russian authorities failed to provide immediate help to the thousands of passengers who suffered from the bankruptcy of the AirUnion alliance back in 2008, the government came up with a special support fund and committed RUB 5bn (app. USD 162m) in 2009 for the transportation of passengers of air companies experiencing difficulties. This year, a total of RUB 1bn (app. USD 32m) was committed for this purpose, though no money was used. For next year, the ministry proposes that air carriers form a kind of 'relief fund,' to which they will contribute a portion of their revenue from ticket sales.

      Meanwhile, airlines and insurance companies do not agree with the ministry's initiative and propose their own schemes for dealing with potential problems.

United Rusal Climbs to Highest Since Hong Kong Debut (Update1) http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2vlVAmL.AJg

By Bloomberg News

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum maker, rose to a record in Hong Kong on optimism higher metal prices may boost its earnings.

Rusal gained by as much as 8.1 percent to HK$11, the highest since its Jan. 27 debut, and traded at HK$10.98 as of 11:16 a.m. local time. Aluminum prices in London have gained 26 percent since the end of 2008, touching a six-month high of $2,459 a ton on Oct. 14.

The Federal Reserve said on Nov. 3 it will buy an extra $600 billion of Treasuries to accelerate economic growth, cut unemployment and avert deflation. Metal prices in London surged as the decision boosted the outlook for demand.

“Rusal stands to benefit from the stronger aluminum prices in an overall commodity price rally,” said Helen Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst at UOB-Kay Hian Ltd.

Moscow-based Rusal, which beat analyst forecasts for second-quarter profit, will report its third-quarter earnings on Nov. 12. Aluminum prices may rise next year as China scales back production, Rusal said in September.

The price of aluminum may rise to as much as $2,500 a metric ton in 2011, Rusal First Deputy Chief Executive Officer Vladislav Soloviev said Sept. 21. China may become a net importer as domestic smelters cut output to curb costs and reduce power consumption, he said.

To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Hobbs at ahobbs4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2010 22:55 EST

Pipeline to Baltic Heralds $2.5 Billion Market: Russia Credithttp://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-07/pipeline-to-baltic-heralds-2-5-billion-market-russia-credit.html

November 07, 2010, 4:24 PM EST

By Paul Abelsky and Anastasia Ustinova

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Russian companies building the planned Moscow-to-Minsk highway and an oil pipeline to the Baltic Sea are spurring a new market for infrastructure bonds that the government expects to reach $2.5 billion a year.

OAO Main Road, a group comprising units of OAO Gazprom and companies such as Portuguese toll operator Brisa-Auto Estradas de Portugal SA, is selling 8 billion rubles ($261 million) of 18-year debt later this month. OAO Western High-Speed Diameter plans to market 10 billion rubles of 20-year, state-guaranteed bonds this month and 15 billion rubles next year for a St. Petersburg highway. Ust-Luga Port on the Baltic Sea plans to sell as much as 10 billion rubles of notes next year.

Russian sellers may have to pay more relative to sovereign debt than their peers in India and China. Main Road expects to pay a premium of 1.6 percentage points over Russian Finance Ministry bonds, half a point more than comparable Indian spreads and a point more than Chinese, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“The risk reward is obviously better for infrastructure bonds than for pure sovereign bonds,” said Yerlan Syzdykov, a fund manager in Dublin at Pioneer Investments, which oversees about $252 billion. “From this perspective, we’ve always have been looking at this as sovereign-plus, pricing-wise.”

Infrastructure investments in emerging markets will total $4 trillion over the next five years, according to Syzdykov. Pioneer, a unit of Italian bank UniCredit SpA, has invested in projects in countries including Peru, Philippines and Brazil.

Funding Roads

Russia needs about $1 trillion over the next decade to finance the overhaul of the country’s transportation system and capital markets can be used as “a supplement to, or

instead of traditional bank financing,” according to Oleg Pankratov, co- head of global banking at VTB Capital in London.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s government is using the market to close a funding gap for roads the World Bank estimates at about 1.2 percent of gross domestic product, or about $15 billion. The bonds also are a response to capping state expenditures this year after Russia reported its first budget deficit in a decade.

“The idea of infrastructure bonds was born out of the crisis,” Alexei Chichkanov, head of the St. Petersburg government’s investment committee, which oversees the city highway project, said in a Nov. 3 interview. “It became clear that financing large infrastructure projects without additional state guarantees is extremely difficult.”

Moscow Gridlock

Russian state spending on transportation will fall to 1.9 percent of GDP this year from the “already low level of” 2.5 percent in 2009, the World Bank said in a report published on June 16. Gridlock in the capital costs Moscow 400 billion rubles a year, the Transport Ministry estimates.

“Our infrastructure has reached a critical condition, it needs massive, long-term investments,” said Alexander Sinenko, deputy head of the Federal Financial Market Service in Moscow. “It’s necessary to seek financing on the securities market.”

India plans to spend $1.5 trillion in the decade through 2017 to build roads, ports and power plants. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked companies and investors on March 23 to fund half the planned $1 trillion budgeted for the five years starting April 2012. China is spending about $300 billion to build a high-speed network of at least 18,000 kilometers (11,185 miles) by 2020.

For Russian corporate debt to qualify as an infrastructure bond, notes must be issued by a winner of a government concession or receive state guarantees, Sinenko said on Nov. 2. Transport Minister Igor Levitin said last year he expects annual sales of the infrastructure bonds to reach 75 billion rubles.

30-Year Concession

Main Road, based in Moscow, signed a 30-year concession agreement last year with the Russian government for a 32.4 billion ruble project, according to the company’s website. The government will contribute 11 billion rubles and a further 19 billion rubles will be raised from the capital markets.

The group expects to pay a premium of 160 basis points, or 1.6 percentage points, for state OFZ bonds on 18-year debt callable 11 years after the issue, according to an Oct. 28 report by OAO Gazprombank, the lending arm of Russia’s gas export monopoly that’s managing the sale.

In India, the extra yield investors demand to own Infrastructure Development Finance Co.’s 9 billion rupees ($203.5 million) of 8.48 percent bonds due in 2013 rose to 110 basis points as of Nov. 2 from 109 basis points on Oct. 1, according to Barclays Plc prices on Bloomberg.

The Chinese rail ministry’s 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) of 4.1 percent notes due 2025 traded at a spread of 53 basis points above the 15-year China government bond, according to Chinabond prices and Bloomberg data.

Russian Risk

“Investors demand a higher risk premium to buy Russian equities and you can really tell that bondholders are also seeking the same higher premium for weaker corporate governance and institutional underdevelopment,” Pioneer’s Syzdykov said.

The ruble was little changed at 30.751 a dollar on Nov. 3, the last day markets were open before national holidays. Non- deliverable forwards, or NDFs, which provide a guide to expectations of currency movements and interest rate differentials and allow companies to hedge against currency movements, show the ruble at 31.055 per dollar in three months.

The yield on Russia’s dollar bonds due in 2020 rose 7 basis points to 4.183 percent on Nov. 5. The yield on the country’s ruble notes due November 2014 fell 9 basis points to 7.19 percent on Nov. 3, the last trading day of the week.

The cost of protecting Russian debt against non-payment for five years using credit-default swaps fell 9 basis points to 128, down from this year’s peak of 217, according to prices from CMA. The contracts pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a government or company fail to adhere to its debt agreements.

Default Swaps

Credit-default swaps for Russia, rated Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service, its third-lowest investment grade, cost 6 basis points more than similar contracts for Turkey, which is rated four levels lower at Ba2. Russia swaps cost as much as 40 basis points less on April 20.

The extra yield investors demand to hold Russian debt rather than U.S. Treasuries slid 1 basis point to 196, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. EMBI+ indexes. The difference compares with 128 for debt of similarly rated Mexico and 174 for Brazil, which is rated two steps lower at Baa3 by Moody’s.

The yield spread on Russian bonds is 35 basis points below the average for emerging markets, down from a 15-month high of 105 in February, according to JPMorgan indexes.

Ust Luga Port on the Baltic Sea, picked by Putin to become the end point of a new pipeline, plans to sell as much as 10 billion rubles of bonds with maturities of five or seven years.

The group expects rates to be “more attractively priced” than the 9.9 percent on the ruble debt it sold in 2007, which matured earlier this year, Maxim Shirokov, chief executive officer of the operator, OAO Ust-Luga Co., said in a Nov. 2 interview. The port needs the funds to help build terminals and a maritime logistics center, he said.

“We are looking to investors who aren’t ready to work with high risk,” he said. “The project in Ust-Luga needs this type of financing as we are poised to start.”

--With assistance Denis Maternovsky and Lyubov Pronina in Moscow and Henry Sanderson in Beijing. Editors: Rodney Jefferson, Tim Quinson

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Abelsky in Moscow at pabelsky@bloomberg.net.

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

DJ Deripaska Repurchases 17% Stake In Strabag At EUR19.25 A Sharehttp://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/sbagy_dj-deripaska-repurchases-17-stake-in-strabag-at-eur19-25-a-share-1289435.html

Posted on: Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:01:34 ESTVIENNA, Nov 08, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --

Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska has signed a deal to repurchase a 17% stake in Austrian builder Strabag SE (STR.VI), which is the lion's share of the 25% stake he had been forced to pawn when the global financial crisis reduced the value of his assets, Strabag said in a statement Monday.

Deripaska's investment vehicle Rasperia Trading Ltd. will buy the 17% stake at a price of EUR19.25 a share, or a total of EUR373.1 million for 19.4 million shares, Strabag said in a statement. The deal is expected to close Nov. 30.

Deripaska had initially bought a 25% stake in Strabag - paying about EUR1.2 billion for it at the time - but was forced to sell it to help him raise liquidity to repay maturing debt during the financial crisis.

For the remaining 8% Deripaska and Strabag's core shareholders have signed an extended buy option that will allow Deripaska to repurchase the stake any time until July 15, 2014.

With the deal Deripaska is also acquiring his seat in the key shareholder syndicate that controls a large majority of the company.

-By Flemming E. Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; +43 1 513 69 22 10; flemming.hansen@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

UPDATE 1-Deripaska to buy back 17 pct of Strabaghttp://in.reuters.com/article/idINLDE6A709G20101108

1:31pm IST

* Deripaska agrees to buy back 17 pct stake for 373 mln eur

* Option for remaining 8 pct stake extended until 2014

* Deripaska sees Strabag as long-term investment

(Adds details, background)

FRANKFURT, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska agreed to buy back a 17 percent stake in Strabag (STRV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research) for 373 million euros ($524 million).

Strabag shareholders agreed to extend Deripaska's option to buy back another 8 percent of shares in the Austrian builder until 2014, Strabag and Deripaska's unit Basic Elements said in a joint statement on Monday.

"We view our involvement with Strabag as a long-term strategic investment, a real partnership which stands to enhance the company's position to the benefit of all of its shareholders," said Andrei Elinson, deputy chief executive of Basic Element, in the statement.

Deripaska, who flourished as a commodity trader in the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, fell from the top of Russia's rich list during the credit crisis.

His stake in emerging Europe's biggest builder, partly debt-financed when bought for around 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in 2007, was taken over by other shareholders in 2009 when Deripaska retained an option to buy it back. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan)

Russian company to invest $63 million in Armenian smelterhttp://www.arka.am/eng/economy/2010/11/08/22315.html

YEREVAN, November 8, /ARKA/. Some $63 million are planned to be invested in a new ore dressing and processing plant Sagamar being now built near the town of Stepanavan in the northern province of Lori, Karen Kazarian, Neva-Rus company’s director in charge of investments and Armenian programs, told journalists Saturday after the plant was visited by president Serzh Sargsyan.

Karen Kazarian said the plant will be put into action in 2011 May.

The plant will have the capacity to process half a million tons of copper, zinc and lead ore a year and the entire output will be sold to Bulgaria, Serbia and China through the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea.

Karen Kazarian said the plant will hire 500 new workers and import purifying stations from Canada and Europe.

Neva- Rus company has been operating in Armenia since 2007, making investments in mining sector of the country through its subsidiaries Sagamar and Mir Molibdena (Molybdenum World) companies.

Neva-Rus is also prospecting the Dastakert copper and molybdenum mine in Sisian, south of Armenia. The mine was acquired in 2008. The company plans to invest in its development about $6 million.

According to Karen Kazarian, prospecting is to over late next year, but the work for designing a smelter will begin this December. The company’s overall investments in this project are expected to reach $100 million and about 1000 new jobs will be created. -0-

08/11/2010 12:37

Russia's carbon trading market finally starts to move http://www.businessneweurope.eu/storyf2390/Russias_carbon_trading_market_finally_starts_to_move

Rachel Morarjee in Moscow November 8, 2010

When Kevin James at Climate Change Capital moved to Moscow in 2005, he hoped that his company would be in the vanguard of a movement to make money out of cleaning up the country's Soviet-era factories. Instead, the company pulled out of the country four years later, frustrated by bureaucratic infighting between Russian government ministries over whether the country should sell any of its carbon credits in return for reducing emissions.

"We tried to pull off three or four environmentally-friendly projects in Russia, but there was a policy morass at a national level which held us up," he tells bne.

But now, after years of delay, the country's carbon trading market is finally starting to move.

Earlier this year, Russia gave the green light to 15 projects aimed at cutting emissions in sectors ranging from paper factories to chemicals and power generation. The projects' 30m tonnes of carbon credits could raise as much as $300m on the open market. Carbon credits, in essence, put a monetary value on emissions. Another group of projects is currently awaiting government approval.

Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2004 put the UN treaty into force, binding member states to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. The programme allows developed countries to invest in reducing emissions in other developed countries, as a cheaper alternative to fulfilling Kyoto targets at home.

Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's carbon emissions were already at 1990 levels and many local officials felt that the carbon credits granted to the country should be used to allow future growth rather than sold to investors in return for emissions cuts. Furthermore, the cowboy capitalism that Russia experienced in the 1990s left officials wary of selling state assets to benefit the private sector, bankers and Russian officials say.

Before the global economic crisis in 2008, many Russian officials couldn't see the value in raising money through emissions cuts because the country was awash with cash, says James. That attitude has changed as money has got tighter.

Bankers say the first tender earlier this year was a test run and if it goes well, Russia will issue more. But early hopes for the country to issue 300m tonnes of carbon credits and generate a market worth as much as $3bn have faded. "The clear advantage of the carbon market and joint implementation in particular is that it would provide additional financing for energy efficiency," says a banker working in the sector who asked not to be indentified.

"Kyoto ends in 2012 so there is limited time for additional projects, but there is still the chance to use the additional investment for key priority areas in Russia. " he adds.

Mobile payments open up the Russian consumerhttp://rt.com/Business/2010-11-08/mobile-payments-open-russian.html/print

08 November, 2010, 08:29

Keeping cash on hand is becoming less of a priority, even for cash loving Russian consumers, with mobile payments increasingly important on the Russian market and operators seeing it as a major revenues base.

Russians still have faith in cash. Many people don't trust banks – due to sad history of defaults. Credit cards are rare. Debit cards are used mainly to withdraw salaries from cash machines.

That leaves the field wide open to Mobile operators – who can build on the common use of pre-paid phones – according to VTB Capital analyst Viktor Klimovich.

“This is the fastest growing share of operators revenues, and it will continue to grow quite rapidly according to both operators estimations and other analysts. Now we have all the people are having mobile phone and we think that micro payment will be very popular among Russians.”

95% of Mobiles are pre-paid. Put money on your phone – and you can pay for a range of other goods. People from small cities will benefit the most from mobile payments – with fewer banks – while citizens of the metropolis can top up their mobile on almost any corner – saving time, nerves and queues, according to Viktor Markelov, New Products Director at Vimpelcom.

“And for the Russian economy it's good, because it's a kind of non cash payments. And Russia mostly cash driven economy, which not very good from other perspectives, especially from state perspective. We contribute to the trend to become banking society and we cover unbanked customers. That how it is micro financing.”

So your phone is no longer just a gadget. It can replace your wallet. 3d party services are becoming widespread in Russia. Now – if you hop on a train – it becomes not just traffic free but also cash free. Simply pay with you phone.  

Russian poulterers ask government not to ban frozen chicken - Kommersanthttp://en.rian.ru/business/20101108/161246007.html

12:24 08/11/2010

Russia's largest poultry enterprises have written to First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov with a request to withhold a ban on processing of frozen poultry meat from next year, Kommersant business daily said on Monday.

Last week Gennady Onishchenko, Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare head, told RIA Novosti that only chilled poultry would be sold in Russia from 2011 as meat freezing was an outdated technology.

Kommersant, which obtained the letter, said poultry producers told Zubkov, who is responsible for agricultural issues in the government, that using chilled meat instead of

frozen was "often simply impossible", because the two-day period in which poultry can be kept chilled was not enough for processing due to the long distances between processing enterprises and poultry farms.

"As a result, domestic producers will be hurt - at the moment, any poultry plant can freeze its products and send it across the country, while without freezing poultry from the European part of Russia will not reach Siberia. Our association members have invested $3 billion in Russia's agriculture, but now the investors have doubts whether they should invest in poultry farms and processing," Sergei Yushin, head of the National Meat Association, told Kommersant.

The letter also warned of rising prices for poultry products if the ban, which does not exist in the U.S. or the European Union, was introduced.

The producers said the ban on frozen poultry effectively meant an end to all poultry imports, as a Customs Union agreement states that only poultry with a temperature of below minus 18 degrees Celsius could be imported to the Union, which consists of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Russia will hold talks on the issue with the EU on November 11, as European authorities are worried by the proposed ban, Kommersant said.

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

World expertise at Cobb Russian poultry seminarhttp://www.worldpoultry.net/news/world-expertise-at-cobb-russian-poultry-seminar-8118.html

//08 Nov 2010 Almost 100 customers from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan took part in the two-day Cobb Europe technical seminar near Yakhonty, focusing on improving the efficiency of breeder and broiler production.

The seminar — attended by 70% of the poultry industry — was opened by Cobb Europe general manager Roy Mutimer, followed by the vice president of Rossptisteprom. Galina Bobyleva, who stressed the importance of controlling the production cost of the poultry meat in the Russian federation.

“This would be the most important factor for the Russian industry to become competitive in the world market” said Ms Bobyleva.  Breeding companies can help the industry with their products and knowledge — exactly the goal of the seminar.

A team of Cobb speakers presented on aspects of production — Pelayo Casanovas on efficiencies and profitability in breeder and broiler production, Patrick van Trijp on

hatching egg recovery, Andre Derkx on mortality in lay, Mark Foote on hatchery effects, Leasea Butler on male management and Paul Welten on feeding for optimal production.

Two members of the Cobb world technical support contributed to the event - Matthew Wilson on ventilation management for optimal broiler performance and Dr John Halley on the efficiency of broiler performance.  Martijn Gruyters of Cobb Europe covered management for optimal broiler performance.

“Our own speakers were joined by members of the Cobb world technical support team which was very well received by the delegates,” said Mr Mutimer.  “Everybody is looking forward to our next technical seminar.”

Related website Cobb Vantress

Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)

November 08, 2010 11:38

Lukoil places further $200 mln in 10-yr notes at 5.8%http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=200321

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Lukoil (RTS: LKOH) has placed a further $200 million in ten-year Eurobonds at 5.8% pa, a source at one of the organizing banks told Interfax.

The placement price was 102.44%.

The oil company placed the main tranche of $800 million in 2020 bonds at 6.25% pa on October 29.

Pr

11:07CUSTOMS UNION COMMITTEE APPROVES INCLUSION OF 2 LUKOIL FIELDS IN LIST OF PROJECTS SUBJECT TO TAX BREAKShttp://www.interfax.com/news.asp

08.11.2010

Tatneft Produces Over 2 Million Tons of Crude In Octoberhttp://www.oilandgaseurasia.com/news/p/0/news/9397

In October, Tatneft produced 2.202863 million tons of crude, or 45,554 tons more than planned, the company reported in a news release.

Since the beginning of the year, Tatneft has produced 21.549709 million tons of crude, a figure 21,784 tons higher than for the same period in 2009.

Also, in the first 10 months of 2010, the company drilled 539,700 meters of rock (in 2009, it drilled 463,200 meters).

361 wells have been built compared to 307 in 2009. In 2010, 38 drilling brigades were engaged in drilling.

Copyright 2010, Tatneft. All rights reserved.

Russia Energy Profile: Surpassed Saudi Arabia In 2009 http://www.eurasiareview.com/201011069493/russia-energy-profile-surpassed-saudi-arabia-in-2009.html

Saturday, 06 November 2010 11:07 Written by Eurasia Review

Russia is a major exporter of oil and natural gas and its economic growth over the past decade has been driven primarily by energy exports, given the increase in Russian oil production and relatively high world oil prices during the period. Internally, Russia gets over half of its domestic energy needs from natural gas.

Oil

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Russia’s proven oil reserves were 60 billion barrels as of the beginning of 2010. Most of Russia’s resources are located in Western Siberia, between the Ural Mountains and the Central Siberian Plateau. Eastern Siberia holds some reserves, but the region has had little exploration.

In 2009 Russia produced an estimated 9.9 million bbl/d of oil, and consumed roughly 2.9 million bbl/d. Russia exported around 7 million bbl/d in 2009 including roughly 4.0 million bbl/d of crude oil and the remainder in products. Russia’s oil exports fall under the jurisdiction of the state-owned pipeline monopoly, Transneft.

Exploration and Production

Most of Russia’s oil production comes from Western Siberia, more specifically from Priobskoye, Prirazlomnoye, Mamontovskoye, Malobalykskoye, and Surgut group of fields. The Sakhalin group of fields in the Far East is expected to contribute to most of Russia’s oil production in the near term. In the longer-term, untapped oil reserves in Eastern Siberia, the Caspian Sea, and Sahkalin are expected to play a larger role and

several international oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP are actively working in this area.

Sector Organization

Most of Russia’s production remains dominated by domestic firms. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia undertook privatization of the oil industry, however the consolidation that followed transformed the sector into one dominated by a few privately-owned companies that drove the growth in the sector starting in the late 1990s. In 2003, BP invested in TNK, forming TNK-BP, one of country’s major oil producers. This was followed by the entrance of ConocoPhillips into the Russian oil exploration and production. Subsequent attempts by foreign firms to increase their investment in Russia were unsuccessful. The state-run Rosneft acquired most or the Yukos assets, and became the largest oil producer in Russia. While foreign companies can invest in Russia, this is generally done with a Russian company, usually Rosneft.

Refinery Sector

Russia has 40 oil refineries with a total crude oil processing capacity of 5.4 million bbl/d, according to OGJ. Rosneft, the largest refinery operator controls 1.3 million bbl/d and operates Russia’s largest refinery, the 385,176-bbl/d Angarsk facility. Other companies with sizeable refining capacity in Russia include Lukoil (975,860 bbl/d), and TNK-BP (690,000 bbl/d).

Oil Exports

During 2009, Russia exported 7 million bbl/d of oil. The majority of Russian exports (80 percent) are destined for European markets, particularly Germany and Netherlands. Around 12 percent of Russia’s oil exports go to Asia, while 6 percent are exported to North and South America, with the majority of those exports going to the United States (5 percent of total exports).

Pipelines

Russia has an extensive domestic distribution and export pipeline network. Russia’s entire pipeline network is dominated by the state-run Transneft, which transports 90 percent of all oil produced in Russia, according to IHS Global Insight. These include a number of domestic pipeline networks, pipelines that transport oil to export terminals such as Novorossiisk on the Black Sea and Primorsk on the Baltic Sea, as well as a number of export pipelines that deliver oil to western European markets. Russian export pipelines include Druzhba, Baltic Pipeline System, North-Western Pipeline System, Tengiz-Novorossiisk, and Baku-Novorossiisk. All of these pipelines with the exception of the Tengiz-Novorossiisk are Transneft-controlled pipelines. Druzhba is Russia’s largest pipeline, transporting oil to European markets on two routes, (1) northern via Belarus, Poland, and Germany, and (2) southern via Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Hungary. Druzhba is more than 2,300 miles long and has the capacity to

carry up to 1.4 million bbl/d of oil.

Proposed Oil Pipeline Routes and Pipeline Expansion Projects

Tengiz to Novorossiisk Expansion: The Tengiz to Novorossiisk pipeline, operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), was commissioned in November 2001. This pipeline transports crude oil from the western Kazakh oilfield Tengiz to the Russian Black Sea port Novorossiisk. CPC shareholders in late 2008 approved an expansion of the pipeline, which would increase its peak design throughput to 1.34 million bbl/d by 2013. The pipeline’s current capacity is 565,000 bbl/d.

Eastern Siberia-PacificOcean (ESPO): Taishet - Skovorodino - KozminoBay: Transneft is building the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline in two stages, with the first phase (1,491-mile, 600,000 bbl/d) completed in September 2010. The pipeline crude, called ESPO blend, is expected to start flowing by January 2011. ESPO blend is a high-quality light (34.8 API) and sweet (0.54 percent sulphur) mix of crude oil from 22 different Russian oilfields. Eventually this pipeline will deliver crude oil from Eastern Siberia to Russia’s Pacific Coast, giving Russia’s crude oil easier access to Asia-Pacific markets. Once completed, this pipeline will be able to transport 1.6 million bb/d of crude oil and it will be approximately 2,610 miles long.

Kharyaga-Indiga Pipeline: Transneft’s proposed Kharyaga-Indiga pipeline would serve as an export line for crude oil produced in the Timan-Pechora region and oilfields in northern Russia. If built, the 267-mile pipeline is expected to transport 240,000 bbl/d. No timeline has been set for construction. Oil from Timan-Pechora has a lower sulfur content and is lighter than the rest of the Urals blend.

Ports

There are eight ports in Russia serving as export outlets for Russian oil to various markets, including Europe, North and South America, as well as Asia. The largest Russian port is Primorsk with a capacity of 1.5 million bbl/d. Other ports include DeKastri, Kozmino Bay, and Prigorodnoye (located in the Far East), as well as Novorossiysk, Yuzhny, and Tuapse (Black Sea).

Currently, there are a few proposals for expansions and new terminal constructions in Russia. These include the proposed expansion to Primorsk, where throughput capacity has steadily increased, with additional capacity being added once the Baltic Pipeline System II (BPS-II) comes online. The construction on BPS-II began in June 2009.

An export terminal in the Gulf of Finland, Ust-Luga, is also under construction. Once completed, the terminal will be mainly served by rail and will have the capacity to export up to 500,000 bbl/d.

Rail Export Routes

Rail exports comprise roughly 5 percent of Russian oil exports. Rail is generally used as an alternative to Transneft’s pipeline network, although rail shipments generally are costlier than pipeline exports. Russia exports crude oil and petroleum products by rail through Estonia and Latvia. Additionally, crude oil is transported to China via rail to the northeast cities of Harbin and Daqing and to central China via Mongolia. In 2009, Russia exported an average of 306,000 bbl/d to China via rail, however Russia plans on increasing exports to China significantly in the future. The planned ESPO pipeline will stretch from Eastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean, with a planned spur allowing significant increase in export volumes to China.

Natural Gas

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves, with 1,680 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), and Russia’s reserves account for about a quarter of the world’s total proven reserves. The majority of these reserves are located in Siberia, with the Yamburg, Urengoy, and Medvezh’ye fields alone accounting for about 45 percent of Russia’s total reserves. More than half of all reserves are located in Siberia. Significant reserves are also located in northern Russia.

Exploration and Production

In 2009 Russia was the world’s second-largest natural gas producer (19.3 Tcf), second only to the United States (21Tcf), however, Russia was the world’s largest exporter (7.3 Tcf). Russia’s production decreased in 2009, falling by more than 4 Tcf or 17 percent year over year. The decrease in production led to a lower natural gas exports during the year, as well. At 19.3 Tcf, Russia’s production reached the lowest level since 1992.

The largest concentration of production is located in Siberia, where about 95 percent of Russia’s natural gas is produced. Some of the most prolific fields in this area include Yamburg, Urengoy, and Medvezh’ye, all of which are licensed to Gazprom, Russia’s state-run natural gas exploration and production company. These three fields have seen output declines in recent years. In response, the company launched the Yamal Megaproject in late 2008. Additionally, the Zapolyarnoye field, commissioned in 2001, is expected to offset some of the declines of Gazprom’s big three fields.

Gas Flaring

Natural gas associated with oil production is often flared. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Russia flared an estimated 1,432 Bcf of natural gas in 2008, the highest of any country in the world. The Russian government has taken steps to reduce natural gas flaring and setting a target of 95 percent utilization or associated gas by 2012.

Sector Organization

The state-run Gazprom dominates Russia’s upstream, with 90 percent of the total natural gas output produced by Gazprom. Gazprom also controls most of the Russian gas reserves, with more than 65 percent of proven reserves being directly controlled by the company, with additional reserves being controlled by Gazprom in joint ventures with other companies.

While independent producers have gained importance, with producers such as Novatek and LUKoil contributing increasing volumes to Russia’s production in recent years, the upstream remains fairly limited to independent producers and other companies, including Russian oil majors. Gazprom’s position is further cemented by its legal monopoly on Russian gas exports.

Natural Gas Exports

Russia exports significant amounts of natural gas to customers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In addition, Gazprom (through its subsidiary Gazexport) has shifted much of its natural gas exports to serve the rising demand in countries of the EU, as well as Turkey, Japan, and other Asian countries.

According to Eastern Bloc Research data, Russia exported more than 6.5 Tcf of natural gas in 2009, which includes 4.5 Tcf to Eastern and Western Europe and 2.2 Tcf to CIS countries. Included in Russian export estimates are volumes mixed with Central Asian gas exports.

Export Disputes

Russia’s natural gas exports to Eastern and Western Europe shipped on pipelines traversing Ukraine and Belarus have in the past been affected by political and economic disputes between Russia and these natural gas hubs. The disputes with Ukraine and Belarus were centered around natural gas prices in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Disputes between Russia and its immediate neighbors resulted in natural gas being cut off to much of Europe. European countries are seeking out alternate sources of natural gas and alternate pipeline routes to ensure security of natural gas supplies.

Pipelines

In addition to dominating the upstream, Gazprom dominates Russia’s natural gas pipeline system as well. There are currently nine major pipelines in Russia, seven of which are export pipelines. The Yamal-Europe I, Northern Lights, Soyuz, and Bratrstvo pipelines all carry Russian gas to Eastern and Western European markets via Ukraine and/or Belarus. These four pipelines have a combined capacity of 4 Tcf. Three other pipelines, Blue Stream, North Caucasus, and Mozdok-Gazi-Magomed connect Russia’s production areas to consumers in Turkey and FSU republics in the east.

Proposed Natural Gas Pipelines

Yamal-Europe II: The Yamal-Europe I pipeline (1 Tcf), which carries natural gas from Russia to Poland and Germany via Belarus, would be expanded another 1 Tcf under this proposal. Gazprom and Poland currently disagree on the exact route of the second branch as it travels through Poland. Gazprom is seeking a route via southeastern Poland to Slovakia and on to Central Europe, while Poland wants the branch to travel through its own country and then on to Germany.

South Stream: The first component of the South Stream project plans to send natural gas from the same starting point as the Blue Stream pipeline at Beregovaya for 560 miles under the Black Sea, achieving a maximum water depth of over 6,500 feet. The second, onshore component will cross Bulgaria with two alternatives: one directed towards the northwest, crossing Serbia and Hungary and linking with existing gas pipelines from Russia; and the other directed to the southwest through Greece and Albania, linking directly to the Italian network. As a result of the Russia-Ukraine disputes, the pipeline will be constructed through Turkey’s waters, avoiding Ukraine’s territory altogether. Gazprom expects the pipeline to be completed by 2015.

Nord Stream Pipeline: A northern pipeline extending over 2,000 miles from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, was initially approved in 2005. Once completed, the pipeline will be the longest sub-sea pipeline, with a capacity to transport 1.9 Tcf of natural gas. Environmental concerns have resulted in delays, and the expected completion date has been moved to 2013 from its original start-up date of 2010.

Source: EIA

Gazprom

UPDATE 1-Gazprom Q2 net falls 11pct, takes Europe price hithttp://in.reuters.com/article/idINLDE6A70ER20101108

2:31pm IST

* Q2 income 170 bln rbls ($5.52 bln) vs 192 bln Q2 '09

* H1 income up to 494.68 bln rbls from 296 bln

* Sales volumes and domestic gas price pick up

* Gas prices to Europe fall 23 pct in first six months

By Jessica Bachman

MOSCOW, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday second-quarter earnings fell 11 percent from the same period last year on lower gas prices from its contracts with Europe.

The world's largest gas producer said April-June net income fell to 169.7 billion roubles ($5.52 billion) from 192.6 billion in the second quarter of last year, but beat forecasts for 163.5 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Net profit for the first half of the year rose to 494.7 billion roubles from 296.2 billion as sales volume picked up and domestic market prices jumped nearly 40 percent from last year.

Between January and June, Gazprom exported 77 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to Europe, up from 64.5 bcm during the same period of 2009. Domestic sales rose to 150.7 bcm from 142.8 bcm in the first half of 2009.

Gazprom, which supplies a quarter of the European Union's gas needs, was hit by falling prices on long-term sales contracts to Europe: these are pegged to the oil price with a lag time of six to nine months.

The average realised price per 1,000 cubic metres of gas for export fell 23 percent to 8,595 roubles in the first six months of this year against 11,174 roubles in the same period of 2009.

Gazprom reported second-quarter revenue of 764 billion roubles, missing analysts' forecasts of 779 billion.

Net debt was barely changed from the first quarter of 2010 and, at June 30, was 974.7 billion roubles.

($1=30.76 Rouble)

(Reporting by Jessica Bachman; Editing by Hans Peters and David Hulmes)

November 08, 2010 10:10

Gazprom's Q2 IFRS earnings fall 12% to 170 bln rubles, above forecasthttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=200299

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) reduced net profit to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 12% year-on-year in Q2 2010 to 169.731 billion rubles, the gas giant said in a statement.

This was more than the 162 billion rubles that analysts predicted in a consensus forecast for Interfax.

Gazprom said its sales revenue grew 21% to 764.477 billion rubles, and that earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) soared 44% to 289.593 billion rubles. The consensus was 759 billion rubles and 272 billion rubles, respectively.

Pr

Gazprom reveals drop in Q2 net profit

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20101108103336.shtml

      RBC, 08.11.2010, Moscow 10:33:36.Gazprom's net profit under IFRS shrank 12.4 percent to RUB 171.385bn (app. USD 5.57bn) in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the Russian energy holding indicated in a financial statement today.

Gazprom first half net profit up 67 pct to 480 bln rbls, above forecasthttp://en.rian.ru/business/20101108/161244646.html

10:32 08/11/2010

Russia's gas giant Gazprom boosted its January-June net profit by 67 percent year-on-year to 480.079 billion rubles to IFRS, Gazprom said on Monday.

The company's first half revenue rose by 17 percent year-on-year to 1.721 trillion rubles, Gazprom said.

Net sales of gas for the first half rose to 77.0 bcm, up from 64.5 bcm the previous year.

MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti)

NOVEMBER 8, 2010, 2:40 A.M. ET

Gazprom 1H Net Profit Up 66% On Higher Domestic Prices

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101108-701387.html

By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--Russia's OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), the world's largest producer of natural gas, Monday posted a 66% rise in net profit for the second quarter, boosted by higher domestic prices, despite continued weak European demand.

State-controlled Gazprom said net income attributable to shareholders for the January to June period totaled 494.68 billion rubles ($16.06 billion), compared with RUB296.24 billion during the same period a year earlier.

Sales in the period increased 17% to RUB1.721 trillion, from RUB1.471 trillion a year earlier, helped by higher prices at home and increased sales volumes in Europe.

Gazprom supplies around a quarter of Europe's gas needs, though its market share has dropped in the last two years due to the inflow of alternative energy sources.

Operating profit totaled RUB577.72 billion in the first half, up from RUB431.94 billion a year earlier.

-By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232 9197; jacob.pedersen@dowjones.com

Gazprom reports its consolidated interim condensed financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the six months ended 30 June 2010 http://www.gazprom.com/press/news/2010/november/article105125/

08.11.2010 10:00

On 8 November 2010 OAO Gazprom issued its unaudited consolidated interim condensed financial information prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 “Interim Financial Reporting” (IAS 34) for the six months ended 30 June 2010.

The table below presents the unaudited consolidated interim condensed statement of comprehensive income prepared in accordance with IFRS for the six months ended 30 June 2010 and 2009. All amounts are presented in millions of Russian Roubles.

Six months ended30 June

2010 2009Sales (net of excise tax, VAT and customs duties) 1,721,293   1,470,535Net gain from trading activity 7,761   2,351Operating expenses (1,151,334)   (1,040,949)Operating profit 577,720   431,937Purchase of non-controlling interest in OAO Gazprom neft –   13,865Finance income 91,588   240,415Finance expense (83,444)   (317,073)Share of net income of associated undertakings and jointly 52,945   15,790

controlled entitiesGains on disposal of available-for-sale financial assets 1,389   2,839Profit before profit tax 640,198   387,773Current profit tax expense (99,390)   (88,393)Deferred profit tax (expense) benefit (32,574)   6,380Profit tax expense (131,964)   (82,013)Profit for the period 508,234   305,760Other comprehensive income      Gains arising from change in fair value of available-for-sale financial assets, net of tax 174   12,468

Share of other comprehensive income of associated undertakings and jointly controlled entities 726   3,960

Translation differences (13,315)   5,926Revaluation of equity interest –   9,911Other comprehensive (loss) income for the period, net of tax (12,415)   32,265

Total comprehensive income for the period 495,819   338,025Profit attributable to:      owners of OAO Gazprom 494,684   296,243non-controlling interest 13,550   9,517  508,234   305,760Total comprehensive income attributable to:      owners of OAO Gazprom 480,079   330,396non-controlling interest 15,740   7,629  495,819   338,025

Sales (net of excise tax, VAT and customs duties) increased by RR 250,758 million, or 17%, to RR 1,721,293 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. More detailed information on our sales for the six months ended 30 June 2010 and 2009 is presented in the table below.

  

in millions of RR (unless otherwise stated) Six months ended 30 June

  2010 2009Sales of gas    Europe and other countriesNet sales (net of excise tax and customs duties) 526,438 584,803Volumes in bcm 77.0 64.5Average price, RR/mcm (including excise tax and customs 8,595.0 11,174.4

duties)FSUNet sales (net of VAT and customs duties) 188,152 161,284Volumes in bcm 31.6 21.1Average price, RR/mcm (including customs duties, net of VAT) 6,848.2 8,103.6

RussiaNet sales (net of VAT) 343,587 248,215Volumes in bcm 150.7 142.8Average price, RR/mcm (net of VAT) 2,279.5 1,737.8Total sales of gasNet sales (net of excise tax, VAT and customs duties) 1,058,177 994,302Volumes in bcm 259.3 228.4     Net sales of refined products (net of excise tax, VAT and customs duties) 319,125 222,631

Net electric and heat energy sales (net of VAT) 148,670 99,826Net sales of crude oil and gas condensate (net of excise tax, VAT and customs duties) 93,520 79,285

Net gas transportation sales (net of VAT) 45,576 26,797Other revenues (net of VAT) 56,225 47,694Total sales (net of excise tax, VAT and customs duties) 1,721,293 1,470,535

Net sales of gas increased by RR 63,875 million, or 6%, to RR 1,058,177 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. This increase was primarily due to higher volumes of gas sold in all geographical segments, which was partly compensated by the decrease of average realized prices in RR terms (including excise tax and customs duties) for sales in Europe and other countries and FSU.

For the six months ended 30 June 2010 net sales of gas to Europe and other countries decreased by RR 58,365 million, or 10%, to RR 526,438 million compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. This mainly results from the decrease of average realized prices in RR terms (including excise tax and customs duties) by 23% which was partly compensated by the increase of the volume of gas sold by 19%, or 12.5 bcm.

Net sales of gas to FSU countries increased by RR 26,868 million, or 17%, to RR 188,152 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. The increase of sales in this segment is explained by the increase of volumes of gas sold by 50%, or 10.5 bcm, which was compensated by the decrease of the average realized prices in RR terms (including customs duties, net of VAT) by 15%.

Net sales of gas in the domestic market increased by RR 95,372 million, or 38%, to RR 343,587 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. This is explained primarily by the increase in the average domestic price for gas set up by the Federal Tariffs Service, which was enhanced by the increase of the volume of gas sold by 6%, or 7.9 bcm.

Net sales of refined products increased by RR 96,494 million, or 43%, to RR 319,125 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. The increase was due to the increase of volumes sold and increase of prices for refined products as well as by new acquisitions of Gazprom neft Group.

Net electric and heat energy sales increased by RR 48,844 million, or 49%, to RR 148,670 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. The increase in electric and heat energy sales mainly resulted from consolidation of OAO TGC-1 starting from 31 December 2009 after control over that entity was obtained as well as from the increase in sales of electricity and heat volumes by other energy assets of the Group.

In the six months ended 30 June 2010 net sales of crude oil and gas condensate increased by RR 14,235 million, or 18%, to RR 93,520 million compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. The increase of net sales of crude oil and gas condensate primarily resulted from the Gazprom Neft activities: net sales of crude oil increased by RR 8,340 million, or 12%, to RR 80,835 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009.

In the six months ended 30 June 2010 net gas transportation sales increased by RR 18,779 million, or 70%, to RR 45,576 million compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009. The increase of net gas transportation sales was primarily due to the increase of volumes of gas transported for independent gas suppliers.

Operating expenses increased by RR 110,385 million, or 11%, to RR 1,151,334 million in the six months ended 30 June 2010 compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009.

Major items whose growth resulted in the increase of the total amount of operating expenses are: exchange rate differences on operating items (change by RR 43,021 million), taxes other than on income (increase by RR 36,926 million), transit of gas, oil and refined products (increase by RR 34,051 million). With that, the cost of purchased oil and gas decreased by RR 79,996 million. The decrease in cost of purchased gas was mainly caused by the decrease in cost of Central Asian gas purchases.

In the six months ended 30 June 2010 our profit for the period attributable to owners of OAO Gazprom totaled RR 494,684 million which is RR 198,441 million, or 67%, higher compared to the six months ended 30 June 2009.

Our net debt balance (defined as the sum of short-term borrowings, including current portion of long-term borrowings, short-term promissory notes payable, long-term

borrowings, long-term promissory notes payable and restructured tax liabilities, net of cash and cash equivalents and balances of cash and cash equivalents restricted as to withdrawal under the terms of certain borrowings and other contractual obligations) decreased by RR 397,574 million, or 29%, from RR 1,372,307 million as of 31 December 2009 to RR 974,733 million as of 30 June 2010. This can be explained by the decrease of long-term and short-term borrowings which was primarily caused by the effect of deconsolidation of banking subsidiaries of the Group as of 30 June 2010 and the increase of cash and cash equivalents.

More detailed information on the IFRS consolidated interim condensed financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2010 can be found here.

Information Directorate, OAO Gazprom

Gazprom, Bulgaria announce South Stream feasibility study tender

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15660256

08.11.2010, 11.21

MOSCOW, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s gas giant Gazprom and the Bulgarian Energy Holding have announced a tender for choosing a company that will prepare a feasibility study of the South Stream pipeline section that will run across the Bulgarian territory.

Earlier Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Bulgaria and Russia agreed to speed up work over the South Stream project.

“We’ve made serious progress in the implementation of the South Stream project,” he said.

Bulgaria’s Minister of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov underlined that “it is in the interests of Bulgaria to speed up work on the project’s implementation.”

Gazprom is the only gas exporter to Bulgaria. Through Bulgaria’s territory the Russian monopoly pumps gas to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia, the Prime-Tass business news agency said.

In January 2008 Russia and Bulgaria signed an intergovernmental agreement on Bulgaria’s joining the South Stream project.

South Stream is a joint project of Gazprom and Italy’s Eni that envisions exports of Russian gas and may be, of the Central Asian gas to Europe through the Black Sea. The gas pipeline’s annual throughput is 30-63 billion cubic meters.

The project is estimated at 8.6 billion euros.

The pipeline is expected to be commissioned before December 31, 2015.