Moskovskiye Novosti
Russia to take appropriate stance on Iran-Israel confrontation
Russia should assume an appropriate attitude on the Iran-Israel confrontation, said head of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev.
Moscow should formulate a categorical verbal protest against the statements made by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, which are completely inadmissible and run counter to international law and the interests of the Iranian people.
Iran remains free of sanctions following its president's recent statements. Therefore, Russian-Iranian cooperation should proceed as before, in compliance with Russia's international commitments.
Russia must not try to maintain this cooperation at all costs. It should not see Ahmadi-Nejad's statements as a reason for canceling the air defense system contract or stopping work at the Bushehr nuclear power plant because its rivals will exploit this situation. After denouncing Iran, they will quickly take the positions Moscow would abandon there. They are putting pressure on Moscow to do this, but it should not yield to emotions or lose perspective on the long-term interests of the state.
The Iranian president has made his statements on Israel proceeding from his own understanding of the country's national interests. In his opinion, Iran will not lose from confrontation with the world, which will only unify the society around the strong and fearless leader.
Many leaders have used this tactic and the subsequent international isolation has strengthened their regimes. But the international community will not benefit from isolating Iran. Instead, it should pull the country out of its self-imposed isolation and involve it in international cooperation as a full-fledged, equal, predictable and transparent partner.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Chances of liberal democratic modernization minimal in Russia - expert
Russia has entered a stage where a liberal development scenario has become improbable because of both external and internal factors, said Lilia Shevtsova, a leading researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
The progress of the West, which has proved the benefits of its civilization at the turn of the 21st century, has been stopped by new challenges. More importantly, the liberal ideology is in crisis because of the failure to find a new balance of freedom, equality and justice.
Post-Soviet countries have contributed to "simplifying" liberal democracy by separating elections from constitutional liberalism (the domination of law and civil rights) and using democracy to create undemocratic regimes. They are putting individual democratic values at the service of the regime's interests, which has delivered the hardest blow to liberal democracy.
There are two more external factors that hinder a new wave of democracy. International terrorism has forced society to think primarily of security and the energy problem has engendered consumer countries' disregard for producer countries, many of which are undemocratic.
The internal obstacles to liberal democratic renaissance in Russia include the use of liberal rhetoric by a non-liberal government, the inability of Yeltsin-era liberal democrats to consolidate in opposition to the regime, the unfinished liberal reforms and strong paternalistic traditions.
In addition, nationalism, which has assumed a pro-Western drift in Ukraine, the Baltic countries and Moldova, has led to the rejection of the West and its ideology in Russia.
The last obstacle is the preservation of superpower attributes, primarily the nuclear factor, which blocks modernization by creating the illusion of power and allowing Russia to rest on the laurels of its ephemeral status.
Vedomosti
Pro-Kremlin party interferes with ex-premier's presidential campaign
United Russia has interfered with preparations for the Saturday congress of the Democratic Party of Russia, of which Mikhail Kasyanov is expected to be elected party leader. They are persuading democrats to not vote for the former prime minister. To avoid a scandal, the congress will be closed to the press.
In the run-up to the event, democrats came under unprecedented pressure from the pro-Kremlin party. The Democratic Party's chairman Alexander Polovinkin says that, this week, leader of their division in the Russian republic of Mari El Vasily Sorokin met deputies Alexander Khinshtein and Sergei Zhitinkin, who advised him against voting for Kasyanov, saying that the forthcoming congress would not be legitimate.
There was also pressure from United Russia Deputy Frants Klintsevich, who recently met the chairman of the party's central committee, Andrei Bogdanov, and representatives of its divisions in Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, St. Petersburg and Samara to tell them that their party would not be registered if it were led by Kasyanov, but without him they had a chance to make the cutoff at the parliamentary election in 2007.
Democrats complain that even local officials try to influence them. Yevgenia Skorobogatykh from the Lipetsk Region says that representatives of the Russian Registration Service came to her place to ask why she and her mother had joined Kasyanov's party if "he will soon be jailed anyway".
Experts, however, warn that even if Kasyanov becomes the party's leader, it will not be enough. "He simply must present a business plan that would oppose the president's initiatives and offer something revolutionary that would spur debates," said Bukster Group's Oleg Matveichev.
So far Kasyanov is one of the least popular candidates for the leader of democratic opposition, said Yelena Bashkirova, director general of the independent research company Bashkirova and Partners. A recent poll shows that only electricity monopoly Unified Energy System CEO Anatoly Chubais is less popular than the former prime minister.
Gazeta
Russian sovereign rating upgraded to investment level too late - experts
The world's three leading rating agencies have confirmed their Russian investment ratings: Standard & Poor's on December 15 and Moody's and Fitch some time before. But the market showed little reaction and most experts say the S&P decision came too late.
"The market has long been trading Russia at an investment grade," said Pavel Teplukhin, president of Troika Dialog. "Besides, there is more breaking news on the market than a minor upgrade by S&P, such as Rosneft's initiative to float its shares through Sberbank."
"Everyone knows that S&P's has always underrated Russia," said Andrei Dobrynin, MDM Bank's director for loan market management. "The agency explained this by insufficient structural reforms. But a survey of technical parameters, such as the payments balance, shows that Russia's real rating is much higher. But its major upgrade has been prevented by political uncertainty."
The S&P decision will nevertheless have its effect on the market. "The upgrade will indirectly influence Russian corporate borrowers in the West by reducing their production outlays because they will obtain loans cheaper now," said Vyacheslav Barashenkov, Uniastrum Bank's director for institutional investors.
Russia's economic future seems clearer and big Western investment and pension funds may bring their money here, though not soon enough. Despite the upgrade, Russia is still fighting capital outflow. Ratings are a good gauge of the debt repayment ability, but not a sufficient yardstick of the real investment climate.
Kommersant
China buys Russian jet engines wholesale
Russian state arms dealer Rosoboroneksport has clinched a contract worth more than $500 million to supply China with 150 AL-31F jet engines manufactured by Moscow's machine building production association Salyut. The engines will be installed on Su-27SKM fighters assembled in China under license.
This is the third contract in 2005 to deliver Salyut products to China. Late in June, Rosoboroneksport signed a two-year delivery agreement with Beijing on 100 AL-31FN engines for light J-10 fighters, also known as Super-10 (the Chinese version of the Israeli Lavi fighter). The deal was worth $350 million. Experts estimate that China's overall demand for AL-31FN engines will be 250 units, which may bring Russia about $900 million. Evidently, after taking delivery of the first shipment of 100 engines, China will sign a new agreement with Rosoboroneksport for more Salyut engines.
Additionally, Salyut signed a contract in May with Beijing worth $100 million to supply, in the course of three years, spare parts for Su-27SK and Su-30MK2 fighter engines, earlier delivered to China or assembled under a license at a Shenyang plant. Salyut was able to negotiate this contract without the state intermediary, because it has the right to supply spare parts and conduct maintenance on its own. This right was granted to it in September 2002 and extended last September for another three years.
As a result, this year alone Salyut's order book rose by one billion U.S. dollars thanks to engine supplies to China.
Izvestia
Russia retires its last scientific satellite
Russia has retired its last scientific satellite, a 2-ton Koronas-F, which was launched in 2001 and monitored solar activity and magnetic disturbances after solar flares.
The United States currently has about 40 such satellites, European countries about ten, Japan 5 and even China has a couple of primitive satellites. Russia, however, has launched only 5 scientific spacecraft in the last 15 years. One of them, sent to Mars, was destroyed in the near-earth orbit. Three satellites to monitor solar activity were launched in 1994-1995 and stopped operating by 2000.
This field of study is so important that it was chosen by China as the target for its satellites. From now on Russia will have to get this information from the American SOHO telescope, which has been in orbit for ten years.
Nevertheless, Russia does have three left, although they work on foreign satellites, the U.S. Mars-Odyssey, the European Mars Express and the Venus Express. Also, it has won tenders to install its scientific packages on the first U.S. satellite to be sent as part of the Moon colonization program in 2008 and on the new American Mars rover in 2009.
Concerning its own scientific satellites, the Federal Space Program still envisages launching six astrophysical labs until 2015 to study remote and extragalactic objects in different parts of space. The first one, the Radioastron observatory, will be launched in 2007. There are also plans to send spacecraft to Phobos, a Mars moon, in 2009, to the Moon in 2012 and to Venus in 2016.
The Federal Space Agency is positive that all plans are feasible and drafted on a budget allocated for the space program. Work on most of them is already under way.
