Gazeta
Experts on Putin and Kuchma Meeting
Yesterday, Ukraine's outgoing president Leonid Kuchma arrived in Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. Experts and politicians interviewed by Gazeta speculate about the goal of his visit.
Alexei Malashenko, expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center: Kuchma has come to ask what to do, whether to go right to the end, that is, change the constitution and insist on new elections, or to agree to a third round, which will result in a Yushchenko victory. Apparently, there is also a question about whether Kuchma should step aside to avoid becoming an additional irritant.
Alexei Makarkin, deputy general director of the Political Technology Center: It is unlikely that Kuchma has come to negotiate on replacing Viktor Yanukovich with Sergei Tigipko [a former chairman of Ukraine's National Bank; rumors that he could be nominated as a new candidate appeared after he had resigned as Yanukovich's campaign chief]. I think agreement had already been achieved over the phone. The question at issue is different. The West is insisting on a repetition of the second round. This means that Yushchenko has a good chance of winning, but Kuchma does not want him to come to power. So Kuchma launched a clever game and offered to hold new elections instead of repeating these ones. It would be the best move for him, as both Yushchenko and Yanukovich could be removed. Instead, Tigipko could be promoted as he has left his posts and distanced himself from Yanukovich. This would give Kuchma an opportunity to play a political game. Now Russia is the only one who can support the proposal.
Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee: Kuchma's visit is absolutely natural. Ukraine is part of all the integration projects in the former Soviet Union and it is strange that leaders of European organizations of which Ukraine is not member dominate the consultations.
Mark Urnov, president of the Expertiza foundation: Kuchma has come to Moscow because he feels that his position is unstable. [His] project for preserving power is failing. He has come to ask for guarantees for his further political life.
Vremya Novostei
President Putin Begins Visit to India
Today, Russian-Indian relations, especially in the military and technical sphere, are growing closer, say analysts in both countries.
India accounts for 35% of Russian arms exports, and signed contracts total $5 billion. Now a trend is emerging to move away from the customary buy and sell scheme toward the joint development of arms. The first project is the BraMos joint company, which develops and produces supersonic anti-ship missiles, the newspaper recalls.
Although Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has described the project as "still-born" (missile systems are not exported as was planned), the sides involved have given it too much attention to allow it to fail. Further proof is Mr. Putin's consent to visit BraMos during his current visit.
The agreement on India's participation in modernizing the Russian global satellite navigation system Glonass, the only rival of US GPS, promises to become epoch-making. Russia and India intend to build and launch satellites together, and there should be 18 in orbit by 2007. In terms of the civilian economy, Glonass is needed pinpointing locations. Russia does not rule out that India may use the system for military purposes.
Today, Moscow expects New Delhi to recognize Russia as a market economy country and agree to its accession to the WTO. It should be admitted, though, that contacts outside military trade economic are not so impressive. According to the Russian customs service, in 2003 trade turnover with India was a mere $3.3 billion, compared to the Indian-Chinese turnover of over $10 billion. The faзade of cooperation is two broadly advertised projects in the energy sphere: India has invested $1.7 billion in oil production in Sakhalin, while Russia is involved in the construction of a nuclear power plant in southern India worth $2.6 billion.
Vedomosti
TNK-BP - The New Leader in Russia's Oil Industry
Taking into account that it owns a half of Slavneft, TNK-BP produced more oil than any other company oil in Russia at the end of November. Until recently TNK-BP was only the third biggest oil producer after LUKoil and Yukos.
On November 29 (the latest available statistics), TNK-BP's average daily output exceeded its rivals for the first time. On that day, the company produced 231,900 metric tons of oil, outpacing LUKoil and Yukos (which produced 231,700 tons each).
Explaining the company's success in an interview to Vedomosti, a TNK-BP spokesman said it was down to new technologies and major investment totaling $1.3-1.4 bln.
"TNK-BP is most likely the industry's new leader," says Dmitry Lukashov, an analyst with Aton investment. LUKoil could rival its leadership, according to Mr. Lukashov, "[but it] has been growing slower." This year the company plans to increase output by 7%, while TNK-BP plans a 12% increase. In reality, the expert believes growth will "most likely be no less than 15%," while he added that Yukos would soon cease to be a leading company.
Only Gazpromneft may outstrip TNK-BP, after the former acquires Yuganskneftegaz. However, even if it does, Gazpromneft is unlikely to do so in the next two to three years, says analyst Valery Nesterov of Troika Dialog. "Gazpromneft's growth rate will hardly be impressive, and it is unlikely to reach the 7% level (which TNK-BP plans for 2007). The change of Yuganskneftegaz's ownership may lead to problems in its operation, Mr. Nesterov warns. Yugansk greatly depends on Yukos, which sells some of its oil to its own refineries, he explains.
TNK-BP was established in September 2003 and belongs on a parity basis to British Petroleum and a consortium of the Alfa Group and Access/Renova. TNK-BP owns a 96% stake in TNK, 50% of the shares in Slavneft, 99% in ONAKO, and 82% in Sidanko, as well as the Rospan (100%) and RUSIA Petroleum (62%) natural gas facilities, and a network of filling stations.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
What will be the consequences of Western interference in other countries' internal affairs?
The aspiration to accelerate democratic development in some countries through outside pressure will inevitably lead to violations of its principles in international affairs. A group of leading industrial nations has begun to interfere actively with the internal affairs of developing countries in a bid to implant their own public and political standards in them, Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee, writes in a Nezavisimaya Gazeta article.
The active efforts of Western nations come with certain euphoria after they won the East-West confrontation and are now convinced of their righteous cause. However, "dizziness with success" often leads to excesses. For example, the military "export of democracy" in Iraq, speaking in Soviet terms, was a kind of "liberal Trotskyism" in global democratization. Therefore, fully aware of the upcoming problems in the Iraqi settlement and in the relations with the Arab world, the European nations found it sensible to sacrifice partially their good relations with their main partner to avoid acknowledging such actions as a legal precedent.
The situation with the Ukrainian elections has nothing to do with Ukraine's accession to Euro-Atlantic structures: Romano Prodi, head of the European Commission, recently made it clear that he saw no prospects for Ukraine in the EU. However, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the newly appointed External Affairs Commissioner, made an interesting slip in a speech to European MPs, promising "to prevent such countries as Ukraine from returning under Moscow's influence." The situation in Ukraine has whipped up to the pre-revolutionary point not for the sake of Ukraine itself, but because it was aimed against Russia. This approach requires democracy to be sacrificed for "a super-task."
Instead of having a geographically determined role in the process, Russia is presented as something of a foe, while its strategic interests in the region are interpreted as imperial ambitions.
In practice, the choice between Russia or the West has a negative impact on the former Soviet republics, as it brings their public to the point of split as part of external geopolitical games, and deprives them of the advantages of cooperation in both directions.
Novye Izvestia
Imitation sales in Russia prior to New Year
If Christmas sales offer goods for prices that are two or three times lower than usual in Europe and the U.S., Russia's system of New Year sales is some sort of an advertising ploy to attract clients, or, to put it bluntly, is nothing but a scam, Novye Izvestia reports.
New Year sales usually begin after the New Year holidays. The majority of shop chains advertise 90% discounts but, in reality, offer a small number of outdated goods and services.
If a collection is in the sales, shops generally cut prices by merely 15-20%, and rarely 30%, whereas the owners of small private shops prefer to avoid sales altogether.
Only large chains can afford significant sales and launch extensive campaigns. Some companies, usually quite big ones, lure their customers with the so-called "summary" seasonal discounts when the latter increase with the more goods you buy. Some chains offer their clients a small but permanent discount.
On certain days, imitated sales are organized. Such discount campaigns lie at the basis of the majority of chains selling electronic appliances. Any campaign of the kind offers goods for cut prices in different forms: by providing discounts, special prices, additional presents, and coupons encouraging clients to buy more.
Some shops even offer discounts involving advanced payment by opening so-called accumulative accounts, meaning that the money paid by the customer is summed up, and discounts are increased proportionately.
