Moscow, November 30, RIA Novosti
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
Putin to mend relations between Fradkov and Ivanov
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov paid a working visit to Izhevsk, a major Russian defense industry center, and made it clear that he would personally head the government’s commission on military and industrial issues, despite Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov’s announcement on November 22 that he wanted this job for himself.
Ivanov would seem to be a logical candidate since recently he became deputy prime minister in charge of the national defense industry. And it took Fradkov an entire week to disavow Ivanov’s conjecture and to say that he will preside over the commission’s November 30 session, due to examine the 2006 state defense order.
At first glance this looks like a tug-of-war game between two political heavyweights, as they try to control the national military-industrial sector. However, Pavel Zolotarev, deputy director of the US and Canada Institute, has a different opinion: “The two politicians have unequal resources. The prime minister assigns specific duties to his deputies, while the president is supposed to appoint the chairman of the commission on military and industrial issues or to approve his candidacy. We should therefore wait and see.”
Fradkov said in Izhevsk that the list of strategic enterprises was subject to change. “We can increase or reduce their number in line with our present-day tasks and depending on the state’s ability to run these enterprises,” he noted. According to Fradkov, some enterprises can be struck off this list, while the state can manage others more actively.
In short, Fradkov, who is visiting the Urals region after Ivanov, has proved who is the boss around here.
VEDOMOSTI
Putin will become ruling party leader and then prime minister – experts
Mikhail Fradkov is rumored to have benefited the most from the government reshuffle. Why did he initiate it and assume so many powers?
Olga Kryshtanovskaya, head of the elite sector at the Institute of Social Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences: “Fradkov’s position has not been strengthened. However, the government is becoming stronger and powers in it are being redistributed in anticipation of time when Vladimir Putin becomes prime minister. It is no coincidence that a major PR campaign of the government has been launched and Untied Russia is fighting to get the majority in regional parliaments. In my opinion, Putin will first become the leader of the ruling party and then take the prime minister’s chair. But to make this chair attractive, the prime minister should be given as many powers as possible.”
Vyacheslav Nikonov, president of the Policy foundation: “Fradkov wants to have more control of the cabinet’s operation, which is especially important now that he has two deputies who the president trusts and experts regard as his possible successors. No wonder that Fradkov, who is an ambitious politician, does not want to play the role of a decorative screen.”
Sergei Kocherov, a political scientist form Nizhni Novgorod: He [Fradkov] knows that mistakes may cost him his head, which is why he is placing barriers between himself and the ministers. Secondly, Fradkov is working for the future. The example of Kiriyenko shows that there are no former prime ministers or ex-security officers for that matter. Fradkov is not eager to retire and wants to hold another high post. In this sense, it is extremely important for him to show that he controls the government.”
Valery Ostrovsky, a political scientist from St. Petersburg: “Fradkov needed something to make up for his weakening position. If we accept the version that Medvedev and Ivanov are rival successors, how can Fradkov gain from this situation? He should assume control of the cabinet’s resources so as to offer them to the frontrunner at a certain stage in the race.”
IZVESTIA
British specialists find Chechen terrorist bases in Iran
The Sunday Telegraph has reported that Chechen terrorists are trained in Iran. This could have been a sensation if not for one thing: Tehran will not endanger its relations with Moscow by giving shelter to “Chechen separatists.” It was thanks to Russia’s reserved stand that the Iranian nuclear dossier has not been sent to the UN Security Council so far. Therefore, the British press reports are nothing more than disinformation.
The Sunday Telegraph writes that Chechen fighters are trained on the premises of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps near Tajrish Square in Tehran. The newspaper insists that they also undergo political and ideological indoctrination in the city of Qum, a sacred place for Shia Muslims and the birthplace of Imam Khomeini, who inspired the 1979 revolution in Iran.
It is impossible to imagine Wahhabi Chechen fighters listening to Shiite preachers. Besides, since the beginning of the conflict Iran has been on Moscow’s side in the conflict with Wahhabi terrorists.
The publication in the British newspaper is just another salvo fired in the western information war against Iran. But this salvo also includes Russia, who is nearly the only true ally of Tehran in its nuclear problem. Iran would not endanger its relations with Russia now because it needs reliable defenses against the mounting diplomatic pressure from the U.S. and the EU. A quarrel between Tehran and Moscow would have simplified the work of western diplomats.
BIZNES
Gazprom wants to share in foreign partners’ projects
The names of Gazprom partners among foreign companies to develop the Shtokman gas field on the Barents shelf will be announced by spring 2006. Alexander Ryazanov, deputy chief executive of the Russian gas monopoly, has emphasized that the concern is interested in obtaining not only the technologies of foreign companies, but also stakes in their projects. Such a deal may benefit everyone concerned, analysts believe.
Ryazanov says the concern is currently negotiating with the companies short-listed for the Shtockman project (Norway’s Statoil and Hydro, American ConocoPhillips and ChevronTexaco, and French Total), following “a sufficiently tough program.” Gazprom will make its final decision before the end of next March by choosing two or three partners from among the contenders.
“Asset swapping has already been discussed,” says Andrei Gromadin, an MDM Bank analyst. “Specifically, Statoil offered a share in its Snovit deposit in exchange for access to Shtokman. Hydro made a similar proposal.”
In the analyst’s view, the concern seeks to extend the geographical range of its activity — in particular to tap into the American gas market. At the same time, all Gazprom’s assets — both existing and future — are oriented toward Europe in the first place.
“Gazprom has already come to terms with Shell to swap 25% of Sakhalin-2 for 50% of Zapolyarnoye-Neokomskiye Zalezhi,” says Konstantin Gulyayev, a leading analyst of the Region group of companies. However, he notes, Gazprom also needs foreigners’ financial participation in the project, so the monopoly will never agree to asset swapping without investments.
Since Gazprom lacks its own funds to make substantial investments in its fields in Russia, Gulyayev stresses, the state company will select the already developed deposits requiring no material outlays for swapping with foreign state companies. As a result, Gazprom will secure the needed foreign assets, while the swapping will ease the project’s financial burden for foreign partners.
GAZETA .RU
Gasoline war may break out in Russia
The Russian Federal Energy Agency (Rosenergo) demands the restoration of fuel inspectorates, which have the right to recall licenses from those who sell low-quality gasoline. Executives are concerned about the present situation because the share of low-quality fuel sold at regional gas stations can be as high as 40%. Specialists claim that the Rosenergo initiatives have been prompted by various factors, and not only by its aspiration to make the Russian gas market more civilized.
The Rosenergo plans have been announced by Agency head Sergei Oganesyan. In his opinion, since the abolition of fuel inspectorates in 2004, the market has not been able to control the influx of low-quality petroleum products. However, Rosenergo has not yet drawn up a clear-cut plan to organize the work of fuel inspectorates.
Both car drivers and car manufacturers suffer from low-quality fuel. The launch of Nissan Murano and 350Z on the Russian market, which have been available abroad for a long time, was delayed by the adaptation of the cars for local conditions, said a spokesman for the Nissan concern’s representative office in Russia. The high-tech multi-cylinder engines of these cars are especially sensitive to fuel quality, he added.
Car market experts note a marked decline in gasoline quality over the past two or three years. However, Gennady Kornilov, first deputy general director of the Central Automobile and Automobile Engine Research Institute, says it will be much more difficult to organize the work of fuel inspectorates now because Russia needs fuel with different octane numbers. “In Russia, there are cars meeting both
Euro-0 and Euro-4 norms; therefore, they cannot be powered by the same gasoline,” he says.
“Most probably, the restoration of the inspections of petroleum products has been lobbied by large petroleum products producers,” said Arif Zeinalov, analyst with the InterFinTrade company. “Due to low-quality but cheaper fuel, independent producers control about 15% of the Russian market. The probability of selling low-quality fuel through semi-legal arrangements is high, so it will continue to be sold.”
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
Abolition of death penalty will meet Russia’s pro-European choice
Russia’s failure to honor its free-will commitment to abolish the death penalty could suspend its presidency due next year of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which demands that Moscow adopt a law on the abolition of the death penalty.
There is a variety of imaginative rumors among PACE deputies, including that the death penalty is being reserved “to execute Khodorkovsky.”
Ten votes will be enough to protest against the Russian delegation’s powers at the annual PACE session in January – and this number can be secured. Nor is the voting likely to be in Russia’s favor. Moreover, Russia could be prevented from chairing the G8.
The moratorium on the death penalty has been in force in Russia for almost a decade. However, two thirds of the country’s population have no trust in the legal system and favor the death penalty and they are ready to give courts the power to decide who shall live and who shall die.
There is an impression that the average Russian prefers not to think about the consequences. For example, if a person believes Russia should quit the Council of Europe to administer the death penalty again, it does not occur to him that he and his compatriots would not be allowed then to appeal to the European human rights courts in Strasbourg, which tries Russian cases almost every month now and satisfies half the petitions.
Whether Russian modernization is a success – and nobody doubts that the process is necessary – will also depend on whether the economic, social and moral spheres are going to be developed. Every country that banned the death penalty did so only on grounds of “responsibility ethics” – the government’s political will. The abolition of the death penalty will be in tune with Russia’s pro-European choice. And it took us much political will to make the choice.
