MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)
Vremya Novostei
Tehran Waits For Putin, To Change Relations With Russia
Hussein Musaviyan, the deputy secretary of Iran's National Security Council, said on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin could visit Tehran in the near future, writes Vremya Novostei.
Musaviyan said the issue had been raised during his Moscow talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said agreement had been reached in principle on Putin's visit to Tehran in the near future. "Naturally, both Moscow and Tehran are prepared for this visit," Musaviyan said. "But serious preconditions must be created for this and agreements that could fundamentally change relations between our countries need to be drafted."
Washington's negative position has hindered bilateral relations. The United States is categorically opposed to Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation. A U.S. diplomat who preferred to remain anonymous said Washington did not trust Tehran and was surprised at Moscow's shortsightedness.
Despite media reports about Russian nuclear-fuel deliveries to Bushehr being delayed, Musaviyan's visit only focused on politics. He was not even scheduled to nuclear energy chief Alexander Rumyantsev. Nuclear Energy Agency officials said yesterday that fuel deliveries would not be delayed, that they would arrive six months before the power station is commissioned and so there was nothing to discuss.
Tehran has economic levers on Moscow. "Russia is now our main partner in the field of nuclear technologies," said Musaviyan. "So a peaceful resolution of the crisis around Iran's nuclear program will help expand Iranian-Russian cooperation in this sphere." Tehran has repeatedly voiced its plans to build seven new NPPs, each of which could bring in $1 billion to the Russian treasury. Musaviyan also said Tehran had already placed a contract for a communications satellite in Russia, while the two countries have also coordinated the purchase of Russian Tupolev Tu-204 planes. And, finally, Iran wants to define the share of Russian companies in major oil and gas projects on its territory
Izvestia
Russian Republics Oppose Larger Regions
The Russian authorities' campaign to enlarge the regions has come under threat, as a few regional leaders have started energetically resisting plans to merge their regions with neighboring territories, writes Izvestia.
The federal center is now discussing merging several regions, including the Adygea republic with the Krasnodar territory (south); Karelia with the Murmansk region (northwest); the Nenets autonomous area with the Arkhangelsk region (north); and Kuzbass with the Altai territory and the Altai republic in southern Siberia (southern Siberia).
Adygea has reacted to the merger idea most painfully. President of Adygea Khazret Sovmen has said it is a political provocation that could lead to negative consequences given the socio-political situation in the North Caucasus remains complicated. Local public organizations are already preparing protests, claiming that the merger will fuel social tensions and extremism.
Karelia believes that the projected merger with the Murmansk region will eventually deprive the republic's small ethnic groups (the Karels, Veps and Finns), of their unique national identities. Anatoly Grigoryev, head of the Karelian Congress public organization, believes Karelian culture will be destroyed. Consequently, national Karelian districts would have no alternative but to join Finland.
However, some people disagree. Anatoly Tsygankov, chief of Karelia's center of political and social studies, says the ethnic factor may be artificially linked with regional mergers. For instance, Karelia is a national republic only due to Soviet traditions. In reality, though, its residents do not consider themselves to be a unique ethnic community. The ethnic factor is important in other Russian territories where powerful ethnic communities live, notably in the south, and is fraught with serious conflicts. However, the "erosion" of ethnic groups would not cause conflicts during regional mergers. On the contrary, the expert says, this only threatens their comfortable and relatively secluded existence.
Kompaniya
Foreign Household Appliances Producer Flock To Russia
Foreign producers of domestic appliances are rushing to establish plats in Russia. South Korean LG Electronics will begin the construction of a factory in Ruza outside Moscow this week and plans to make it one of the biggest in the LG empire, writes Kompaniya, a magazine.
By April 2006, four units should be built on an area of 50 hectares, where refrigerators, washing machines, television sets and audio equipment (about 4 million units a year) will be produced. It terms of output, it will be bigger than the factories of LG's rivals in Russia.
Italy's Indesit plans to produce 1.5 million refrigerators and 500,000 washing machines at its factory in Lipetsk, Central Russia. Turkey's Vestel, which opened a television factory in Aleksandrov, Moscow region, a year ago, plans to complement it with a company that will assemble up to 2 million refrigerators and washing machines a year.
The capacity of the first stage of the Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate factory, which is to be built on a recently allotted site outside St. Petersburg, will be 500,000 fridges a year. The factory will eventually be turned into a technopark where other household electric appliances will be produced.
Alexander Plyatsevoi, head of the Russian branch association RATEK, thinks that the reason for this activity of foreign producers in Russia is the stable growth of this sector's sales (25% per annum) and high import duties on electric and electronic appliances, which makes importing less profitable than on-site production.
LG's main rival at home and in the world, Samsung Electronics, is considering building a factory in Russia. The project's implementation depends on the adoption of the law on special economic zones, said Samsung Electronics Rus spokesman Mikhail Platonov. The company plans to launch production in these zones.
Gazeta
Russian Oil Companies Seek To Protect Business In Ukraine
Gazeta reports that Russian oil companies have appealed to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to protect their business in Ukraine after the country's premier, Yulia Timoshenko, accused LUKoil, TNK-BP and Tatneft, which control over 60% of the local fuel market, of colluding to raise gasoline prices, reports Gazeta.
Ukraine's Anti-Monopoly Committee opened a case into collusion by the Russian oil companies yesterday. If the officials prove that the Russian companies broke the law, they will be fined 10% of their 2004 earnings. Since these were considerable, each will have to pay tens of millions of dollars.
This year, the three companies promised to deliver 600,000 metric tons of diesel fuel to Ukrainian farms at $460 per ton (which is $100 below the top price in the country), but Ukrainian officials have not stopped their crusade against the Russian majors. This has forced the oil companies to resort to emergency measures: TNK-BP has halted the sale of gasoline at its filling stations in Ukraine and the other companies have promised to do the same.
However, the oil majors do not believe their actions will have any effect. Yesterday LUKoil, TNK-BP, Tatneft and Alyans Group sent a letter to the Russian premier, asking him to protect them at his forthcoming talks with his Ukrainian counterpart. The premiers were to meet last Friday but Timoshenko postponed her visit to Moscow and the new timeframe has not been approved yet.
Yevgeny Suvorov, chief analyst at Zenit bank, thinks the oil companies should not expect Fradkov to solve their problems. But the companies' situation is not hopeless. The Ukrainian government prohibited the export of oil this year. The ban includes diesel and engine fuel, but only for April-May and August-September. The oil companies can use this loophole to transport petrochemicals out of the country.
Izvestia
SVYAZINVEST TO BE SOLD WITH FOUR SUBSIDIARIES
Svyazinvest, Russia's largest telecommunications holding company, will be privatized at an auction in one lot with four other operators, Izvestia reports. Valery Nazarov, head of the Federal Agency for the Management of Federal Property, puts the holding's market value at $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion.
Nazarov said yesterday the other companies in question were Svyazinvest's subsidiaries Uralsvyazinform, Tsentralny Telegraf, Tsentrtelekom, and Volgatelekom, in which the state holds unwanted minority stakes. These stakes were set to be auctioned off in late 2004 and early 2005, but the events were cancelled due to a lack of bidders.
Yelena Bazhenova, an analyst with Aton Capital, says the privatization of these stocks is sensible, but says the prices in the past were so high that investors just could not afford them.
However, yesterday a consortium of five non-governmental organizations, headed by the Regional Social Organization for Telecommunications Reform, published a report on Svyazinvest that suggests that a rushed privatization would not benefit the state. Analysts are divided over the issue. While Bazhenova believes that, now that Svyazinvest has been successfully restructured and optimized, it should be sold as soon as possible to encourage the telecommunications market in general, Yevgeny Golosnoi, an analyst with Troika Dialog, warns against any judgments on the figures of future privatization until an independent comprehensive appraisal.
The state, through its 75% minus one share in Svyazinvest, currently holds controlling stakes in seven interregional telecommunications operators and Rostelecom, the national long-distance operator.
Noviye Izvestia
Patriarchate Signs Cooperation Agreement With Russian Railways
Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy II has signed an agreement on cooperation with Russian Railways (RZD). Therefore, the Russian Orthodox Church will become a spiritual monopolist for the most widely used form of public transport, writes Noviye Izvestia.
In keeping with the agreement, which, according to the Patriarchate's press service, has been signed for an "indefinite period," there are plans to revive chapels at stations and mobile churches in railway cars. Missionary and enlightenment activities will also begin on long-distance trains. Clergymen and railroad staff will combat "pseudo-religious organizations that are dangerous to society." This means people handing out fliers for sects will be driven away from trains.
However, it would be wrong to forget that modern Russia, as distinct from the pre-revolutionary era, is a country where believers and atheists, Buddhists and Muslims, Catholics and Protestants, Orthodox believers and Krishnaites have equal rights. Another question is whether or not the Russian Orthodox Church's plans are tantamount to censorship on the wheels.
None of the "traditional" religions pursues the practice of signing agreements either with ministries or with organizations such as the railway service. But the Russian Orthodox Church began signing agreements on the federal and regional levels in the early 1990s. In 1996, it signed a cooperation agreement with the Interior Ministry on joint work to reform convicts and improve law and order, and in 1999 it put pen to paper on an agreement with the Russian Academy of Sciences. It also has agreements with the education, justice and culture ministries. Moreover, the Patriarchate has contractual obligations with all groups of armed forces.
