NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
Duma Waits for Putin's Anti-Terrorist Instructions.
Tomorrow, a working group drafting a package of legal amendments in the wake of the series of terrorist attacks will assemble in the State Duma for its first session. The parliamentarians will be guided by Vladimir Putin's September 4 address to the nation. The president, in particular, gave orders "to form an effective anti-crisis management system, including brand new approaches to the work of law-enforcement agencies."
NG tried to find out what the State Duma knew about the "new approaches" and whether specific legislative initiatives had already been put forward. However, confusion reigns in the Duma, and deputies are waiting for clearer instructions. According to initial reports, particular attention will be devoted to increasing transport security - in the air, at sea, on land and underground. Amendments are required for the Criminal, Air and Water Codes. The State Duma is also considering a measure to ban potentially dangerous passengers or luggage from travelling. Besides all this, migration problems will also come under discussion, including stricter control over travellers and tougher temporary registration procedures.
Whether the new legislative initiatives will be funded is a separate issue, NG writes. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said yesterday that the government was ready to discuss "additional funds" for national security as part of the 2005 budget. He, however, added that allocations for law-enforcement efforts and security had been drastically increased anyway.
VEDOMOSTI
Yukos To Sell Mazeikiu Nafta Shares
With its back taxes hitting $7.5 billion, Yukos is urgently looking for more money to pay the debt. Two high-level sources close to the company have told Vedomosti that Yukos is negotiating sales of 53.6% of shares in the Lithuanian-based oil complex, Mazeikiu Nafta. Yukos purchased 26.8% of Mazeikiu Nafta's shares in 2001 for $75 million and provided a $75 million loan to the concern for five years. A year later, Yukos bought another 26.8% of the concern's shares for $85 million. These assets have not been arrested, as Mazeikiu Nafta's shares are not directly owned by Yukos, the source said.
Stephen Dashevsky, Atona chief analyst, believes Surgutneftegaz does not have enough oil refining capacities and LUKoil will be the most likely potential purchasers. The analyst recalls that LUkoil was in talks over oil deliveries for the Mazeikiu oil refinery five years ago, and now the company has ambitious plans to extract oil on the Baltic shelf.
"It will all depend on the price that Yukos offers," a LUKoil manager said. "We believe that Yukos bought this plant for too high a price - nearly $800-900 million, including debts and investment." A Surgutneftegaz representative declined to comment. The Lithuanian government does not know anything yet about Yukos's plans to sell Mazeikiu Nafta's shares, Sauljus Specjus, the Lithuanian prime minister's adviser, told Vedomosti.
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
Beslan Developments Put Careers of North Ossetian and Ingush Presidents at Risk
On Tuesday, the opposition gathered for a meeting in front of the North Ossetian government building on the central square of Vladikavkaz. The protesters demanded the resignation of incumbent President Alexander Dzasokhov. The slogans of the protesters ran, "Corrupt Authorities - the Source of Terrorism."
According to Vremya Novostei sources in Beslan and Vladikavkaz, anti-presidential sentiments have increased here since the events of September 3. "Dzasokhov promised no storm in any case, but failed to keep his word," say relatives of the dead hostages. Moreover, many of them believe that the number of victims could have been lower, if Dzasokhov had met the militants' demands and launched negotiations.
Ingush President Murat Zyazikov who the militants also wanted to negotiate with disappeared completely during these days. The Ingushes are discouraged over his silence and are demanding explanations. Mr Zyazikov was also criticised for the militants' attack on Ingushetia in June.
North Ossetian presidential elections are due in January 2006, and contenders are already stepping up their efforts. In the current circumstances, the Kremlin, which supported Mr. Dzasokhov at the previous elections, may not support his early resignation. Anyway, the authority of the local power bodies has been seriously undermined.
KOMMERSANT
Rising Hotel Rates Can Discourage Foreign Tourists
Tour operators receiving foreign tourists in Russia held a meeting at the Russian Union of Travel Industry yesterday. They focused on the expected rise in hotel rates in Moscow and St Petersburg.
According to tour operators, 1.2-1.3 million foreign tourists visited Russia last year, which is 50% less than in the previous year.
Operators qualify the current situation in this segment of the tourist market as very serious. "Prices at leading tourist-class hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg will rise by an average of 30-35% next year," said Leonid Isakovich, head of the Akademservis DMS Co. "This means that the foreign tourist flow into Russia may decline by 40% next year." The price hikes are going to hit above all tourist-class hotels. Moscow's Kosmos hotel, for example, will become 35% more expensive, i.e. in June 2005 a two-bed room with breakfast will cost $100 per day instead of the current $70.
Hotels have not denied the expected price hike but neither have they provided any specific figures. Hotel managers cite excess demand when explaining the price rises.
NOVIYE IZVESTIA
Russian Scholar Solves Mystery of the Century, Stands to Earn $1 Million
Kit Devlin, a mathematics professor at Stanford University, has said at an annual science festival in Exeter, UK, that the solution to the Henri Poincare? problemsuggested by Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman is perfect. If other mathematicians do not disprove his calculations in the near future, the scholar will be awarded $1 million.
Grigory Perelman, a leading researcher at the mathematical physics lab of the St Petersburg branch of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, who holds a degree of candidate of physics and mathematics, found the answer to the problem back two years ago, recalled the newspaper. The scholar's two articles that claimed he had proved Poincare?'s hypothesis were published on the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Web site at that time.
The problem is that Mr Perelman does not seem to be interested in getting the money. He has avoided discussing his results with anyone or meeting reporters. He has not even bothered to provide his work to mathematical editions of authority like The Advances in Mathematics magazine, while his articles published on the Internet are preprints and are not qualified as scientific publications, according to Professor Devlin.
The hypothesis was articulated by French scholar Henry Poincare? in 1904. It is considered to be a central problem of topology, a science about the geometric properties of bodies that do not change when bodies stretch, curve or contract. Scholars had been unsuccessfully struggling to find an answer to the problem for 100 years.
