MOSCOW, April 6 (RIA Novosti) Lukashenko and the Union State/ Federal reform/ Russia-Mongolia deal/ Siberian oil co. goes on the defensive/ Lawmakers to up journalists' responsibility/ Govt. popularity ratings
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Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Pro-Kremlin party defends "Russia's last ally"
Members of pro-Kremlin party United Russia spoke up Wednesday in defense of "Russia's last ally," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The 10 years that have passed since the signing of the first agreement on the unification of Russia and Belarus should have sufficiently shown that the Union State is nothing but a myth. But United Russia continues to uphold the idea, hoping, without good reason, that Lukashenko will eventually become easier to deal with, popular daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported.
Russia calmly watched the March presidential elections in Belarus and congratulated Lukashenko on his third victory. Moscow also did not respond to the Belarusian president's inappropriate statement regarding the length of his stay in power: Lukashenko said he would cede power only when the National Bank of Belarus had accumulated at least 100 metric tons of gold (it had 25 tons at the start of his third term).
Over the past 10 years, the Kremlin has failed to encourage Lukashenko to promote real integration, streamline economic relations with Russia, or make concessions in the endless bargaining over a gas transportation joint venture established on the basis of Belarusian state gas company Beltransgaz.
The creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus began 10 years ago, but Lukashenko invariably found new reasons to postpone the delegation of part of his country's sovereign rights to Russia. So far, he has only agreed to a common defense and foreign policy, which would help him ward off Western attacks.
At the same time, he has stood firmly against creating a common currency because he knows that accepting the Russian ruble as the monetary unit of Belarus would make him just another governor of a Russian region.
Gazeta
Regional enlargement may prompt constitutional change
The Kremlin's program of federal reform is not going according to plan. Leaks from the presidential administration suggest that a decision may be made to change the Constitution following the April 16 referendum on uniting the Irkutsk Region and the Ust Ordynsky Buryat Autonomous Area.
At the start of Putin's first presidential term, an attempt was made to reinforce the power vertical with federal districts, but the move failed to achieve the desired results. Kremlin strategists then decided to merge the regions, lowering their number to fifty. The main snag was that the Constitution states that regions can only be merged through referendums, a process that has turned out to be lengthy and complex. It took two years of preparation to merge the Perm Region and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area. Moreover, the governors resisted the measure employing sabotage or open blackmail. Adygea's President Khazret Sovmen, for example, hinted that he could not control his people who were angered by the merger.
In most regional referendums and elections, voter turnover of less than 95% is considered disgraceful (the all-time record belongs to Chechnya, which once reported 100% turnout). When deputies of the Irkutsk regional legislature were debating the date of the referendum, election committee chairman Viktor Ignatenko warned, "April will not see the required 50% turnout."
If vote-rigging exceeds the maximum allowable level in the Baikal area, the Kremlin may opt for a radical move, up to and including amending the Constitution. Sources in the administration confirmed that the idea is in the air - rather than going through the hassle of referendums that may need to be doctored, why not strike a couple of lines from the governing law and decide everything within a couple of months through administrative procedures.
Kommersant
Russia to develop Asia's largest coal deposit
Mongolian Transportation Minister Tsegmed Tsengel, who recently visited Moscow, said his country could offer Russia its Tavan-Tolgoi coal deposit in exchange for the construction of 1,500km of roadway in Mongolia. The coal deposit, Asia's largest, is located 250km from the Chinese border and contains an estimated 5-6 billion metric tons of coal worth at least $300 billion. High-calorie coking coal, the main feedstock of the steel-smelting industry, accounts for 40% of the deposit's reserves.
"Russian companies have been trying to obtain deposit development rights for several years," a source close to the talks told leading business daily Kommersant. "But Mongolia did not agree to hold direct talks until now."
Canada's BHP Billiton and Ivanhoe Mines, Brazil's Cia Vale do Rio Doce and China's Shenhua Group, as well as Russia's major metals and ore-mining companies (Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), Severstal, Evraz Group and Alrosa), vied for control of the Tavan-Tolgoi deposit. But the majority decided to withdraw because of the lack of infrastructure. "This is the main problem," said MMK commercial director Viktor Kutishchev. Another contender told the paper that China, the main prospective customer, would dictate coal prices because the deposit was located near the Chinese border, and that any developer would need powerful state support to prevent this.
Only two Russian companies, Severstal and Zarubezhgeologia (the All-Russia Research Institute of Geology of Foreign Countries), have requested permission to develop the deposit.
Severstal experts said Mongolian coal could be delivered to China, Japan and Russia, and that a 400km access route was required to link the deposit with the Ulan-Bator railroad. "This is a project of medium complexity," said Severstal-Resurs, a raw-materials subsidiary of Severstal Group.
Vedomosti
Surgutneftegaz defends against hostile takeover - experts
Siberian oil company Surgutneftegaz may soon spend half of its accumulated billions. The company announced Wednesday that it was going to buy back 5% of its market stock and pay out $1.3 billion in record dividends. The shares are meant for employee options, but analysts view the move as a way for one of the largest Russian oil companies to fend off a hostile takeover.
Surgutneftegaz will distribute 36.7 billion rubles ($1.33 billion) to shareholders (19 billion rubles, or $689.4 million, for 2004). The board also approved the concept of an option program under which the company would buy back up to 5% of its shares on the market. A company representative refused to offer details on the program or a purchase date. Based on Wednesday's capitalization figures, the company's 5% is worth $3.29 billion, and so the amount of future outlays exceeds $4.5 billion.
The well-endowed company is positioned both for dividends and buyouts, experts said. According to Oleg Maximov, an analyst with investment company Troika Dialog, Surgutneftegaz has more than $10 billion in its accounts and has not made any major acquisitions over the past several years.
Ivan Mazalov of Prosperity Capital Management agreed, estimating the company's shares in free float at 25%-30%. The amount of authorized capital that would be under the company's control if it collected 5% of its stock is difficult to assess because Surgutneftegaz is not revealing its ownership structure.
Analyst Vadim Kleiner with Hermitage Capital Management said 5% was precisely the amount Surgutneftegaz was short of for gaining full control. Buying stock signals the company's struggle for survival, said Ivan Andriyevsky, chief managing partner of 2K Audit-Business Consulting. "This is a right and proper defense against a possible aggressive takeover," he said.
For a company that already has between 55% and 65% of its shares, the desire to buy out another 5% as incentive for its employees looks strange, said Steven Dashevsky, head of research at Aton Capital. He said the options made for nice wrapping around a plan to increase management control over the company through treasury stock.
Novye Izvestia
Russia's upper house supports stricter responsibility for journalists
Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, is drafting amendments to the Law On Mass Media and to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would increase journalists' responsibility for their work. Human rights activists argue that the proper responsibilities of journalists stipulated under the current law are sufficient.
Lyudmila Narusova, the head of the council's committee on information policy, said the amendments would address obsolete clauses without infringing on freedom of speech.
"Until now, we have warded off all attempts to try to improve or rewrite the law on the media so as to stipulate harsher punishment (for journalists)," said Alexei Simonov, the head of non-profit Glasnost Defense Foundation (GDF). "Not a single amendment expanding the opportunities or strengthening the positions of journalists has been suggested so far. All the amendments introduce additional types of censorship, whether you call it a responsibility for fanning ethnic strife, publishing unreliable materials, or violating moral norms."
Simonov said that even officials from the Federal Agency for Mass Communications had admitted that the new law should not be amended because the old law had been quite effective.
Monitoring conducted by the GDF showed that journalists abide by the required norms of responsibility for their work. "Courts grant about 60-65% of suits filed against the media, some of them ridiculously unreadable," Simonov said. "The penalties levied on newspapers continue to grow. According to last month's data, the average penalty was more than 1 million rubles ($36,000)."
At the same time, Simonov said the current clause on the protection of journalists' rights was totally ineffective. "In the past seven or eight years, the clause of the law that stipulates punishment for hindering journalists' operations was applied only three times," he said.
Vremya Novostei
Emergencies minister maintains popularity streak
The results of a recent survey by a major Russian public opinion pollster showed that Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu remained the most popular cabinet member in March and that he was supported by 75% of respondents (his popularity rating last year reached 78%).
The survey by VTsIOM, the All-Russia public opinion research center, showed that 12% of respondents disapproved of Shoigu. "It appears that Shoigu, who has served longer than any other government minister and whose reputation is flawless, can save the people from any disaster or calamity," said Boris Makarenko, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies. In contrast, Russian citizens do not even know the names of some other government ministers.
According to the survey, 51% of respondents said they liked Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, whereas 26% disapproved of his work. The ratings for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were 38% and 20% respectively. Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev was supported by 49%, whereas 32% said they did not like his work. And the VTSIOM survey assessed the popularity of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (37%, 21%) for the first time.
"The brutal hazing of army recruits has not seriously damaged the defense minister's reputation," Makarenko told the paper. He said the ratings of Ivanov and Medvedev were interesting because one of them could succeed President Vladimir Putin in 2008.
Some cabinet members are considered villains, including Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail Zurabov, who is disliked by 50% of respondents and supported by only 24%. Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref placed second in this category with 45% and 32%, while Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was third with 39% and 25%. And 40% of respondents said they disapproved of Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko, whereas 16% supported him.
Some government ministers, such as Information Technologies and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman (unknown by 62% of respondents), remain outside the public spotlight. The survey showed that the majority of respondents did not know anything about Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev (60%) or Transportation Minister Igor Levitin (58%).
