MOSCOW, November 30 (RIA Novosti) Why Western media attack Russia / Yegor Gaidar's hypertension acquires poisonous implications / Gazprom may agree to allow foreign access to Shtokman / Reverence for foreign investors is gone - expert / Avtovaz entitled to same privileges as foreigners for import of auto components
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Vedomosti
Why Western media attack Russia
The Western mass media are painting an increasingly gloomy picture of Russia. Here are just a few of this week's headlines: "Russia: The Enemy" (The Wall Street Journal), "Corruption, Violence and Vice Have Triumphed in Putin's Russia" (The Guardian), "Fear Russia" (The Financial Times Deutschland). Why is the country's image in decline?
Fedor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Politics: "The general negative background is due to the fact that Russia has gone beyond the sensible in its pressure, especially in the field of energy. All countries resort to blackmail, bluffs and pressure when discussing important issues, but Russia has gone too far by displaying its strength and ignoring the response of others. At some point it became clear that the EU was so afraid to be left without heat and light that it was ready to make a lot of concessions. But now Russia is forcing Europeans and Americans to come together on all issues against their common "enemy."
"The murder of journalist [Anna] Politkovskaya, the blockade of Georgia and the episode with the ex-FSB agent, [Alexander] Litvinenko, affected the country's image. The situation got even worse because Russian law-enforcement bodies were unable to produce fast results in the Politkovskaya case and because Russia was obviously uninterested in investigating Litvinenko's death. It should have reacted noisily and publicly, even "imposing" its help on British investigators."
Sergei Kolushev, founder of the Russian Economic Forum in London, managing director of Eventica (London): "The image has been deteriorating for a long time. The Litvinenko case just burst the abscess.
"The country's image mostly suffers from a lack of information about processes now under way in the Russian economy and politics. We have left it up to everyone else to discuss the issues, but we are keeping silent. I do not remember the British press covering a visit by a high-ranking Russian official in recent years or quoting his words about Russia. The only exception is [President Vladimir] Putin at the Russia-EU summit last year. It would be good for government officials to be more active outside the country."
"The latest attacks in the media are oriented toward ordinary people. Bad stories sell much better than headlines like "Russia is Our Friend." Of course, businesses are shrewd and understand that it is not that simple."
Yulia Kochetygova, director of Standard & Poor's Corporate Governance Services: "There are different factors that we call country risks. They include unpredictable and non-transparent state management, inconsistent government policies and a lack of clear targets. When everything is unclear, it generates a negative perception and fears, which accumulate gradually and burst when they reach some critical point."
Gazeta, Kommersant
Yegor Gaidar's hypertension acquires poisonous implications
Yesterday it emerged that Yegor Gaidar, director of the Transitional Economy Institute, and former Russian Prime Minister, had been admitted to a Dublin hospital six days before. He was in Ireland presenting his new book. Although doctors have not yet made final statement on his condition, a rumor has surfaced that he was poisoned.
Gaidar's daughter, Maria, said that his illness had nothing to do with food poisoning, adding "the main theory is poisoning with a substance unknown to civilian medicine." Referring to the doctors' opinion, she said, "All symptoms - lack of strength, falling asleep, fainting, brain shutdown, throat bleeding and partial paralysis - point to poisoning.
However, a prominent Russian toxicologist who asked to remain anonymous said that Gaidar's illness showed symptoms of a hypertensive crisis. "Bleeding and vomiting are typical of arterial hypertension," he said. "Such crises occur most often in overweight people." Had it been a serious poisoning, he would have had to spend much longer than a week in the hospital, he added.
However, Anatoly Chubais, CEO of RAO UES, supported the poisoning version, saying "the chain of deaths of [journalist Anna] Politkovskaya, [ex-FSB officer Alexander] Litvinenko and Gaidar, which luckily has not been completed, would be very convenient for those who favor the use of force and unconstitutional methods to change the government in Russia."
Political expert Andrei Piontkovsky offered a different interpretation of Chubais's statement. "He was not referring to [exiled oligarch Boris] Berezovsky and his henchmen," he said. "Chubais hinted that there was a faction in the Kremlin willing to come to power using force." The expert said that Chubais used Gaidar's illness as an excuse to state his view. "He told the warring Kremlin factions that he supported [President Vladimir] Putin and would support his running for a third term," he said.
Kommersant
Gazprom may agree to allow foreign access to Shtokman
Gazprom's liquefied natural gas (LNG) strategy, which was discussed yesterday by the Russian energy giant's board, plans to use gas from the Shtokman field and does not rule out the possibility that some LNG will be supplied to the United States before 2015. Other Russian LNG projects were considered less promising.
A source familiar with the strategy said despite fierce LNG competition in North America, gas supplies will be profitable, and the price could rival that of gas from the Gulf of Mexico. The source said that preliminary agreements have already been reached with potential buyers to sign long-term contracts for LNG deliveries to the United States.
None of Russia's LNG plants has yet begun operation. Of all the potential LNG projects - Shtokman in the Murmansk Region, Baltic in the Leningrad Region, Yamal (Kharasaveiskoye deposit), Tambei (South-Tambeiskoye deposit) and Sakhalin II - the first and the last one are considered the most lucrative. The two have geographical advantages for deliveries to the U.S.A. over every other source except Norway's Snohvit (Snow White) and deposits in Trinidad and Tobago. The Russian projects will leave behind the traditional gas suppliers to the U.S. - Nigeria and Algeria - in terms of their transportation costs.
Though Gazprom has not yet reached an agreement on Sakhalin II, the strategy foresees spot LNG supplies in the near future. The Baltic project is considered economically unjustified if domestic gas prices are completely deregulated. According to the strategy, gas from the Kharasaveiskoye deposit will be supplied to the unified gas system of Yamal. The Tambei project will involve more complicated technologies, as transportation through arctic ice will be expensive.
Therefore, gas supplies from the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea, which has 3.7 trillion cubic meters of gas, are being reconsidered. However, there is an alternative. About a couple of weeks ago, a foreign candidate for participation in the Shtokman project, Norway's Statoil, declared that it had resumed negotiations on its participation in the project. Like another potential partner in the Shtokman project, Total, Statoil has a stake in Snohvit.
A source at Gazprom confirmed that negotiations on Shtokman would be resumed. The strategy presented yesterday also foresees that the gas monopoly will join international consortiums. Gazprom said the strategy would be adopted in full in the first half of 2007. The gas monopoly evidently expects to have made a decision on foreign participation in the development of the Shtokman deposit by that time.
Gazeta.ru
Reverence for foreign investors is gone - expert
The environmental authorities want to revoke 5 licenses held by subsidiaries of British gold miner Peter Hambro Mining. Experts point out that the entire investment situation in Russia has changed.
The authorities are displeased not only with foreign investors in oil and gas, but also with gold miners. Complaints about the British company, 100% of whose assets are Russian, were voiced on November 29 personally by the Natural Resources Monitoring Agency's most prominent official, deputy head Oleg Mitvol. "It is one of those companies that simply include licenses on their balance sheet, thus increasing their capitalization, but they do not develop fields," he said. The agency insists on revoking Peter Hambro's licenses and does not plan to levy fines.
According to available information, the company's other 45 licenses will also be checked. However, the final decision will be made by another agency, the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources.
"We have not received any significant complaints, although we have frequently been inspected," said Pavel Maslovsky, the company's co-owner and CEO.
Industry experts agree that not all complaints are justified. "The fields the Agency is complaining about are at the exploration stage," said Vladimir Katunin of Aton. "It would be strange for a company not to abide by the license requirements."
Experts are surprised not so much by the developments around this particular company as by the obviously greater interest in gold mining in general. The situation on the Russian precious metals market is different from that on the oil and gas market. "There is no monopoly on the Russian gold market now," Katunin said. "The largest player, Polyus Gold, controls about 18% of the market. Peter Hambro Mining controls about 3%-4%.
Apparently, this does not prevent the state from imposing its rules on the sector. The entire investment situation in Russia has changed, experts say. "Attracting foreign investment today is not so crucial as before," said Alexei Makarkin, deputy general director of the Center of Political Technologies. "The period of reverence for foreign investors is gone." Now the government wants to attract foreign investors on profitable terms. Foreigners who do not agree to them have recently been "shown the door."
Biznes
Avtovaz entitled to same privileges as foreigners for import of auto components
Avtovaz, Russia's leading automotive company, has become the country's first producer to sign an agreement with the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to launch the industrial assembly of cars. Almost all foreign companies active in Russia are now working under this system or will soon switch to it. However, the plant is likely to use privileges for the import of auto components only for new models.
Under the agreement, Avtovaz will be able to import auto components at a lower customs rate of 0.3% instead of the current 5%-15%.
Avtovaz said the accord would enable it to reduce expenses from the import of exclusively foreign components, such as air bags and power steering systems, and to diversify its suppliers. This will evidently pressurize Russian suppliers into improving the quality of their products. "The agreement will enable Avtovaz to use more foreign components," said Alexander Agibalov, managing director of AG Capital. "Quality will be a priority, and this will be an advantage for the producer," he said. According to the official, the share of foreign components in Avtovaz' models is currently too small.
When the government was adopting resolution No. 166 on the industrial assembly of cars 18 months ago, Avtovaz and other Russian carmakers criticized it, saying that the new industrial assembly regulations would only benefit foreign carmakers. However, the company has now realized that it may also take advantage of it. Two other Russian carmakers, SOK Group and Severstal Auto, have also signed agreements with the Economic Development and Trade Ministry. These, however, concern the assembly of two foreign makes, Kia and SsangYong.
Gairat Salimov, an analyst with Troika Dialog, a brokerage, believes Avtovaz will now be free to cooperate with foreign companies and assemble foreign cars at its facilities. According to sources, Renault, with which Avtovaz is currently negotiating, is seeking to assemble Logan cars at a plant in Togliatti. "In addition, the playing field has been leveled: it would be wrong if privileged tariffs were introduced for foreign cars, and remained the same for Ladas," Salimov said.
Agibalov believes that now Avtovaz will be able to use more foreign components in its new models, including the new family of C-class cars it is developing now.
