RIA Novosti
KOMMERSANT
At the fifth session of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, CBSS, held at a resort near the Estonian capital, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov defended freedom of tanker shipments in the Baltic Sea. Prime Ministers from the 11 member states (besides the 10 Baltic littoral states, the CBSS also includes Iceland) discussed safety of shipments. The environmental issue is a key subject for the EU and the International Maritime Organization, Kommersant points out. From April 15, 2005 the organization intends to declare the Baltic Sea an especially vulnerable zone, which means that mono-hull tankers will be prohibited. This will further complicate Russia's oil and petrochemicals transportation in the sea. If the ban is introduced, the export capacity of the Baltic pipeline network may become useless.
Russia has long been engaged in environmental protection of the Bay of Finland, Fradkov announced at the meeting. For example, captains of 28 foreign vessels in Primorsk, the Leningrad region, have been notified that their ships did not comply with the IMO standards. Besides, Russia now uses only double-hull tankers in the Baltic, and the ban is not applied to them, the Prime Minister pointed out. Other CBSS representatives noted Russia's environmental achievements, the newspaper writes.
The meeting's participants agreed not to dissolve the organization after almost all of its members had joined the European Union. They decided to turn it into yet another site for Russian-EU cooperation. To signal CBSS inviolability, the 11 Prime Ministers planted trees in an Estonian park, Kommersant reports.
IZVESTIA
On Monday Abkhazia celebrated the 10th anniversary since Russian peacekeepers' deployment in the republic. At celebrations in Sukhumi, both Russian and Abkhazian speakers delicately mentioned that it was a sad holiday, referring to the escalation of relations between Abkhazia and Georgia, Izvestia writes.
"It is time to change the mandate of the CIS collective peacekeeping forces in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict," Georgian Defense Minister Georgy Baramidze said, when greeting the peacekeepers on June 21. Tbilisi, however, did not offer to withdraw peacekeepers from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, only to extend the mandate. Moscow said it would not make hasty and ill-considered decisions.
Talking of extending the mandate, the Georgian party means that peacekeepers should be given certain police functions, the newspaper explains. Moscow, in its turn, believes that peacekeepers are no policemen. "Reconsideration of the mandate is not a subject for quick and hasty decisions," Konstantin Margelov, first deputy chairman of the Federation Council's committee for CIS affairs, told Izvestia. As to the peacekeepers' withdrawal, the Russian and Georgian Presidents have agreed that it will be possible only after the situation has stabilized, he pointed out.
During his February visit to Moscow Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili tried to convince Vladimir Putin that Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia and Abkhazia had a positive potential, Izvestia recalls. "This potential should be used correctly," he said then, adding, "Russia can play a powerful part in the zones of conflicts, if it wants to." Yesterday's greetings of Sukhumi peacekeepers showed that Russia had not given up its part, the newspaper points out.
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
The Yukos affair is working up to a climax, writes VN. Government officials are no longer barred from commenting on the oil company's further destiny. Comments came en masse after President Putin said, last week, that the Russian authorities were not after bankrupting the company. The state made it clear that it is ready to meet the oil giant halfway and not to bankrupt it, writes the paper. The state even suggested a possible scenario. The arrest of Yukos' assets imposed by the court to ensure the tax ministry's $3.4 billion back-tax claim may be lifted in the near future. Yukos may pay off the federal tax liabilities by selling its assets, suggested Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin.
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov does not rule out that the original tax claim may be cut.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
Russia's gold and currency reserves will rise $20-$25 billion, while the ruble-dollar rate will not surpass 30 rubles per dollar in 2004, reported Aleksei Ulukayev, first deputy chief of the Central Bank. Besides, the Central Bank intends to keep inflation within 10% in 2004 and real ruble strengthening - within 7%, according to Ulyukayev.
Mr. Ulyukayev said the Central Bank had, above all, to ensure the above inflation rate as it was "the prime responsibility of monetary bodies." The Bank's second most important objective is to prevent the ruble from strengthening too much. Mr. Ulyukayev is positive the obligations set out in a program of the credit and monetary policy of the Russian government and the Central Bank will be fulfilled. One of the obligations under the program is to deter the ruble from strengthening more than 7%. However, many factors, including structural ones, that cannot be influenced by the Bank, have their impact on the real effective ruble rate.
The Bank calculated several options for the growth of the gold and currency reserves that are contingent on euro-dollar rates and oil prices. Hence it received the figure of $20-$25 billion. The reserves are expected to increase $10 billion in the first half of 2004.
As of today, the reserves have already rose by $8.6 billion and reached $85.6 billion, reports the newspaper.
GAZETA
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took unprecedented doping control measures two months prior to the Olympic Games in Athens, writes Gazeta. All the participants, i.e. 10,000 athletes, will have to undergo doping control during the Olympics, whereas some of the athletes may have to do it more than one time. A modern lab outfitted with appropriate equipment and chemical agents has been opened in Athens for the purpose.
The news was spelled out by Nikolai Durmanov, Director of the Russian Olympic Committee's Anti-Doping Commission.
"The use of stimulates can boost an athlete's performance by only 0.5%. However it is enough to move an athlete from tenth to first place in many kinds of sports," said Mr. Durmanov. This is, undoubtedly, an inviting prospect, adds the newspaper.
