MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti)
Eni postpones agreement with Gazprom/Gambling to be moved to "reservations" in Russia/Russian president blacklists Communist leader/Interior Ministry swoops down on Georgian mafia/All conscriptions in Russia involve violations of the law - rights advocates
(RIA Novosti does not accept responsibility for articles in the press)
Vedomosti
Eni postpones agreement with Gazprom
The conflict between Royal Dutch Shell and the Russian government has scared off other investors from Russia. Yesterday, Eni's CEO Paolo Scaroni said his company was afraid of problems encountered by foreigners in the country. Experts believe, however, that Scaroni simply found a pretext to postpone an asset swap agreement with Gazprom, which was to be signed on October 15, as the future partners have so far failed to come to terms.
Scaroni's statement could mean that the situation around the Sakhalin II energy project has forced investors who were positive about Russia to change their minds, said Alexei Makarkin, deputy director general of the Center for Political Technologies. They will only be reassured if provided with guarantees that their investments are safe, he said.
"We are willing to listen to foreign firms," a high-ranking official told Vedomosti. "But they are trying to get the most out of the state, and the state is protecting its interests. We are not reneging on our commitments, but they also have to act in good faith."
Perhaps Eni is trying to bargain for better terms of cooperation, while the problems of Sakhalin II are secondary, said Mikhail Zak, head of research with the Veles Capital brokerage.
Talks between Gazprom and Eni are difficult, a source close to the Russian gas giant said earlier. Gazprom wants access to Italian gas distribution assets, preferably a controlling stake. Eni, however, intends to dole out small stakes in its assets to third countries.
Yesterday, the Italian news agency Ansa said that talks are deadlocked, and that nothing will be signed on October 15. Gazprom's management, however, insists that the agreement will be signed as scheduled. "We do not know what problems they [Eni] encountered in Russia," a Gazprom manager said.
A representative of a Western major said that all the moves of Russian officials were nothing compared to the terrorist attacks Shell has to deal with in Nigeria. "The world's leading companies work in Africa, Colombia and other places that are far from safe because it is lucrative," he said. "So no one will leave Russia voluntarily."
Biznes
Gambling to be moved to "reservations" in Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported the idea of the pro-Kremlin party United Russia to move gambling to specially designated areas free of residential neighborhoods. Four sites will be offered to the gaming industry - two in European Russia, and one each in Siberia and the Far East. Gambling moguls claim this will kill off their business.
"All members of the lower house spoke off the record about curtailing the gaming business, but few dared to sign the proposed amendments," said Vladimir Medinsky, deputy head of the house's committee on economic policy. "Now that the idea has been supported by the speaker and the president, house members will applaud the introduction of a harsh law."
Market players are shocked. Yevgeny Matveichuk, board chairman of the Rosgame group of companies, said that although the president's support for the idea of "reservations" will postpone the adoption of the law on a second reading for about six months, the future looks gloomy.
"We still have time to get returns from out investment projects, but the amendments are actually a death sentence for us," he said.
Igor Salita, director general of the Jackpot system, said he hopes for a three- or four-year transition period to redeploy the business.
Michael Bottcher, president of Storm International BV, which controls the Superslots chain and has several casinos in Moscow, said the gaming business will retreat into the shadows in Russia, just as happens in all other countries that prohibit gambling instead of regulating it.
Russia's regions, which hope to host gambling "reservations," report they have sites available. A source in the Moscow Region administration, said the Ramenskoye District, outside Moscow, is a good site.
The Moscow authorities' reaction has been calm. "Moscow does not want to lose 8 billion rubles (about $299 million) in annual revenues," said Andrei Metelsky, deputy chairman of the Moscow city parliament. "But we can make the sacrifice for the sake of the tranquility of the city and its residents."
"Moscow is swamped with easy money, and if gamblers lose to the benefit of the state, why not allow them to do it?" Medinsky said.
Kommersant
Russian president blacklists Communist leader
Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with leaders of parliamentary factions yesterday has led to a scandal. For the first time in his six and a half years in office Putin refused to receive a faction representative instead of its leader.
The Kremlin refused to receive Ivan Melnikov, first deputy chairman of the Communist Party, who was to replace Gennady Zyuganov as the latter was away on a business trip. A source in the Kremlin administration said they viewed Zyuganov's non-adherence to protocol as "disrespect for the president and state affairs."
The meeting centered on developments in Georgia, but the president said he was also ready to discuss other issues with deputies. Notably, Zyuganov intended to ask Putin about the future of Russian autonomies. However, the day before the meeting he went to Astrakhan, on the Volga River, to report to local voters about his faction's work in parliament, and to campaign for Communists taking part in regional election October 8.
The president was dissatisfied that a faction leader was replaced with his deputy, the source said. "When you invite a person to a birthday party and another one turns up instead, is it respectful toward the host?" he said, describing Putin's reaction to Melnikov's possible attendance at the meeting.
Melnikov said he regretted the lost opportunity to voice the Communist Party's position on Georgia. "It is not about individuals, but they should not treat the Communist Party this way," he said. "I was asked to voice the party's position, and I was willing to do so. My participation was coordinated and announced. So I view these developments as the authorities' indifference to whether the Communist position will be presented or not."
Following yesterday's scandal, Putin may now refuse to receive Zyuganov with other faction leaders, the source said. "He did not turn up yesterday, and now he stands every chance of being excluded from the list of leaders invited by the president for at least the next two or three meetings," he said. "He ignored protocol, and therefore showed disrespect for the president and state affairs."
Izvestia
Interior Ministry swoops down on Georgian mafia
The so-called "Georgian mafia" has lately come under a massive attack by the Interior Ministry, unprecedented in recent years. Sources in the ministry told Izvestia that recent operations against gangland figures are far from the last. However, the ministry has not officially acknowledged that actions are being taken on ethnic grounds.
"The blow is aimed at organized crime, not against any particular ethnicity," said ministry official spokesman Valery Gribakin.
According to information supplied by ministry sources, the Georgian criminal grouping is one of the largest in Russia, and judging from data by independent sources, it is "undoubtedly the leading one". Crime figures from Georgia make up almost one-third of mob bosses in the Russian capital, and more than half across the country. Their spheres of influence are the hotel, gaming and oil business. Georgians also control Moscow's black car market - car thefts, VIN forging and trade in stolen spare parts.
"They descend on Moscow on a rotating basis," the ministry told the paper. "First they report to their bosses, and then they go in for whatever comes their way - the extortion racket, apartment robberies, raids on foreign exchange booths, or cash collectors, or stealing vanity bags from cars. Then these casual criminals make a quick getaway."
"Georgian underworld figures also rule the roost in many non-Georgian syndicates - in Solntsevo, Taganka and Izmailovo," said another source familiar with the criminal gangs. "They extort oil companies to the tune of $10 million a month. Nearly half the money recycling in the oil business finds its way into the pockets of Georgian mobsters. Those of our guys who try to protest are killed."
Soon a very strong blow will be dealt to the positions of the Georgian criminal groups, said a source in the ministry. Its status will undoubtedly decline, and a turf war will begin in the capital.
"Chechens have long jockeyed for their place, but because some authorities back the Georgians, they did not risk a conflict," said a source in the Interior Ministry. "But now they will certainly take advantage of the situation."
According to intelligence information, sources say, the groups are already actively negotiating a re-division and redistribution of criminal businesses.
Novye Izvestia
All conscriptions in Russia involve violations of the law - rights advocates
A Moscow court will hear today the case of Dmitry Pishchulin, a student of the All-Russian State Cinema Institute, who believes he was illegally drafted. One morning, the young man came to a military enlistment office to get a document necessary to receive a foreign passport, and by evening he was already at a railway station, his head shaven, waiting to be sent to the Baltic Fleet. Such a violation of the drafting procedure is not a unique case.
Almost all conscripts in the country have been drafted in violation of the law, say rights advocates. Although the Defense Ministry does not officially encourage them, it seems that enlistment offices are simply unable to work within the rules.
"We have been receiving complaints from conscripts since September 1 [although under the Russian president's decree, the draft must begin on October 1]," said Tatyana Kuznetsova, head of the inter-regional movement Soldiers' Mothers. "All of them have received notices ordering them to present themselves at enlistment offices before the draft starts."
"We have been monitoring the draft for three years," said Sergei Krivenko, coordinator of the coalition of public movements, For a Democratic Alternative Civil Service. "In absolutely all the regions we have monitored military commissioners' offices and draft commissions violate the law."
Pavel Shaikin, a Moscow-based expert in military law, also said, "100% of the conscripts are drafted with legal violations, as enlistment offices are simply unable to abide by all the regulations."
"They do not see that they are violating the law," Kuznetsova, of Soldiers' Mothers, said. "When we tell them they do not abide by the Constitution and the law On Military Service, they say they always do."
"When I tell people how I was drafted in one day, even military people start laughing, because that is so absurd and impossible," Pishchulin said. He escaped by mere chance - he went to the toilet at the station, and when he came back, the train had already departed. "The guy was lucky," Shaikin said. "If he had come to the fleet and taken the oath, he wouldn't have been able to contest the draft."
