IZVESTIA
Today Tallinn, Estonia, will host a session of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov will have to defend Russia's stand on several sensitive issues: situation of Russian speakers in the Baltic states, development of the Kaliningrad region and the attempts to oust Russian oil carriers from the Baltic Sea. At the Tallinn session the CBSS prime ministers will determine the fate of the organization, which is gradually turning into a bilateral organization, instead of multilateral. Eight out of its eleven members are now EU members. The twelfth is the EU executive body, the European Commission. After the EU enlargement the question was raised whether the CBSS remained expedient. Russia believes that it should be preserved as the only site to discuss and solve Baltic-related problems. Besides, it provides Russia with an "additional mechanism of dialog with the European Union," the government points out. Today, however, this mechanism is working against Russia. On a number of issues the country is in isolation: the EU members refuse to discuss the discrimination of Russian speakers in the Baltic States and decided on conditions of oil shipments in the Baltic Sea to Russia's disadvantage.
Nevertheless, Fradkov intends to produce evidence that the treat of environmental catastrophe in the sea is exaggerated and that the quality of Russian tankers and port equipment comply with the highest environmental standards. Baltic neighbors' concerns about the environmental safety of the sea will incur significant losses on Russian oil producers and the budget. The government admits that the ban on mono-hull tankers will double costs of oil shipment in the Baltic. Russian shippers are surprised by the zeal demonstrated by Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, one-fourth of whose tankers are mono-hull and for whom the sea's status of a sensitive maritime zone will create more problems than for Russia, Izvestia points out.
KOMMERSANT
The so-called president of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov has announced that his militants are changing the tactics of resistance and will go from guerrilla methods to active onslaught, Kommersant reports. However, the official authorities in Grozny do not believe that the new tactics will take the militants anywhere, taking into account that it is not the first statement by Maskhadov of this kind.
On Sunday Maskhadov announced the new tactics against federal forces on Radio Liberty. Militants "are going to change tactics and start onslaught", he said. His people "are engaged in permanent hostilities against Russian servicemen", while "the number of militants are growing by every day", he said.
Sultan Satuyev, Chechnya's deputy interior minister, commented Maskhadov's statement as follows, "He and Basayev keep declaring something all the time, but we are not afraid. We will continue working as we have been doing so far. Of course we will take measures concerning the statement. After all, the only thing they can do is to attack from the back, they do not have forces for anything above that. But these attacks are no man's way of fighting. We, however, feel the support of our people. So, Maskhadov and Basayev are not going to succeed".
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
Troop shift from Russia's European part to the Far East was successful. Everything is ready for the active stage of the large-scale operative and strategic command-and-staff exercise Mobilnost 2004 (Mobility 2004), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reported to Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin. Sometimes the schedule was so tight that planes landed with a five-minute interval, he added. The military and civilian air traffic controllers worked brilliantly. So did pilots of the military transport planes, the newspaper points out. "A delay from the takeoff schedule did not exceed 2 or 3 minutes, and in the landing schedule 10 or 15 minutes because of thecross wind," Air Force Commander Vladimir Mikhailov proudly announced.
Now the President and Defense Minister are getting ready for the visit to the scene of the exercise to personally watch the battles in the Far Eastern military district and in the Pacific on June 22-24. The active stage includes two battalion and three company tactical exercises with landing and firing, assault and defense. The scenario of the exercise reflects the nature of possible armed conflicts, the military believe. The opponent will have formations of different types that will use guerrilla, sabotage and terrorist tactics, Vremya Novostei reports.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
Ahead of the SPS congress, Boris Nadezhdin, secretary of the party presidium, came up with a sensational declaration. At the election conference of the party's Moscow regional department held last Saturday, he told the few journalists present that he did not rule out a possibility of an alliance between the SPS and the right wing of United Russia. "Kremlin political technologists" could assist it, he believes. Besides the key issue for determining the new coalition, "which is more important, property or freedom?", the congress is expected to debate the role of Anatoly Chubais.
According to Nadezhdin, there are two "trajectories" in the party. The first one is oriented towards human rights and social area supported by Boris Nemtsov and earlier Irina Khakamada. This is a way of tough opposition to the President, but a possibility of coalition with Yabloko. The second way is making economy the corner stone. The rightists talking of the supremacy of economic freedom above all others tend to support the government's and the President's policy and want to ally with United Russia, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports.
GAZETA
RAO UES of Russia has decided to become a majority shareholder in the Russian Communal Systems, the largest private company in the communal housing sector. The holding has already sent the United Financial Group an offer to sell a 25-percent stake of the company it had bought from Gazprombank, said Mikhail Abyzov, RAO UES board member. If the transaction takes place, RAO UES will almost consolidate controlling stake in the company. Analysts believe that in the future communal business can become more profitable than the power industry, Gazeta points out.
