MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti) U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan may be closed/ Belarus unlikely to recognize Abkhazia, South Ossetia soon/ Diamond producers team up to support demand and prices/Germany to teach Russia energy efficiency
Kommersant
U.S. base in Kyrgyzstan may be closed
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who will hold talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow today, may be expecting Russia to grant all his financial requests.
Kyrgyzstan has requested $450 million in financial assistance and for its $180 debt to Russia to be written off.
In return, Moscow expects the Kyrgyz parliament to rule on the closure of the U.S. base today, which could be done already today.
Russia and China, the most influential members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, asked Kyrgyzstan to close the U.S. base in 2006, and since then the issue has been raised at each Russian-Kyrgyz meeting.
The SCO comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. The group primarily addresses security issues, but has recently moved to embrace economic and energy projects.
According to a source with inside information about the talks, this time Moscow said it would provide financial assistance only after Kyrgyzstan officially announces the termination of the agreement on the deployment of the U.S. base.
Until today, the Kyrgyz authorities have dismissed all rumors about the drafting of any relevant documents. But yesterday evening the administration of the Kyrgyz president ordered that the ruling Ak Zhol party, which holds 80% of seats in parliament, convene an extraordinary meeting today.
The meeting's agenda is being kept under wraps; but there are some indicators, for example, the Kyrgyz parliament yesterday approved a schedule of meetings for February, where the issue of the U.S. base stands at the top.
On the other hand, a relevant decision may not mean that U.S. troops are pulled out of Kyrgyzstan. Moscow may use the issue as a bargaining chip in talks with Washington on the deployment of ballistic missile systems in Central Europe and the admission of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO.
Gazeta.ru
Belarus unlikely to recognize Abkhazia, South Ossetia soon
The Russia-Belarus Union State Supreme Council will finally meet in Moscow on Tuesday, after two changes of date from November 3 and December 1, 2008 with no apparent reasons given.
This time, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's visit to Moscow is expected to finally provide some answers, in particular, what Russia has gained in exchange for agreeing to sell gas to Belarus at a discounted price and granting the country with a large dollar-denominated loan. All we know for sure is that Belarus is not going to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two former breakaway regions of Georgia, as independent states any time soon.
Russia has been trying to talk Lukashenko into recognizing the two newly-independent states for six months. So far the only country to recognize them apart from Moscow is Nicaragua, while Belarus is in no hurry to follow suit.
Lukashenko said last November that he wanted to "walk this road just like Russia had." He was referring to a special parliamentary session. The first meeting of the Belarusian parliament this year is scheduled for early April.
The issue is effectively suspended until April, according to Kirill Koktysh from the Association of Political Experts and Consultants. We might as well forget the idea of "loans for recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia" as unachievable, the analyst told Gazeta.ru.
Pyotr Martsev, editor-in-chief of the privately owned Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta newspaper, said the issue was no longer pressing. "Recognizing the two republics now would complicate Minsk's negotiations with the European Union. Even for Russia, it is no longer that urgent," he added.
Belarusian political analyst Vyacheslav Pozdnyak said the issue would certainly come up now, since it is the only important foreign-policy issue where Russia need's Belarus's support.
He believes Lukashenko's policy toward Moscow will be "to balance between promising too much and doing little."
Vedomosti
Diamond producers team up to support demand and prices
Alrosa, De Beers, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, which jointly control over 90% of the global diamond market, are planning a joint marketing campaign later this month aimed at supporting demand for diamonds and prices.
Sergei Vybornov, president of Russia's state-controlled diamond monopoly Alrosa, said part of the plan would be to advertise diamonds as an investment vehicle to boost demand.
The companies will set up an SPV, SteerCom, to implement their common market strategy, said De Beers spokesperson Lynette Gould. Management consultants McKinsey & Co are already working on the financial planning involving all the production chain's links, including diamond miners, cutters and jewelers, Gould said, adding that U.S. Harry Winston Diamond Corp has joined the project.
Vybornov and Gould did not give an amount that they are willing to spend on the campaign.
Sergei Goryainov estimates that an effective marketing campaign costs around $1 billion, with the bulk going on advertising.
There is no wonder that diamond miners decided to spend their money on this campaign, he added. The uncut diamond market slowed to a halt after diamond sales dropped 30%.
The current diamond stocks are worth $15-$20 billion, with annual sales about $10 billion, Vybornov said.
Prices have slumped as well, as the Rapaport Diamond Index (the average retail price of 1 ct diamond in New York market) dropped to its July 2007 level, $6,893, from the summer peak of $8,921.
The four companies intend to stimulate demand and support prices, as "a luxury item cannot be cheap," an Alrosa source said.
Maxim Shkadov, director general of Kristall, Smolensk diamond company, said he supports the initiative but was unable to participate due to tight liquidity.
Alrosa has enough funds despite the crisis, Goryainov said, as it is selling raw diamonds to the State Depository.
Gazeta, Vremya Novostei
Germany to teach Russia energy efficiency
The German Energy Agency, DENA, and the Russian Energy Ministry will present the idea of a bilateral energy agency in Berlin tomorrow. Russia will receive German know-how in energy efficiency, while German companies will get new orders, which is a major survival factor amid the global economic crisis.
Russia's energy efficiency may greatly benefit Germany, the Vremya Novostei daily writes. Saving energy, above all natural gas, will lower Gazprom's export risks, or what Europe sees as risks in view of falling production at Russia's largest West Siberian deposits and Russia's growing domestic demand.
According to DENA, the use of energy-efficient equipment could improve efficiency by up to 40% equal to 400 million tons of conventional fuel annually. Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko put the figure at 380 million tons.
A source at DENA said investment in the energy sector could be "accepted as a contribution to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions."
Sergei Pikin, director of Russia's Energy Development Fund, told the Gazeta daily: "We have grown used to cheap energy resources, which we don't value. Russia has no energy saving projects, and all relevant decisions come from the West."
Alexander Rahr, director for Russia and the CIS at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), said: "The idea is not to learn to turn off the light, but to use electricity sparingly, like Europeans do. Russia needs a major overhaul in that segment, whereas Germany, which is developing alternative energy sources and, unlike many other states, has the funds for such projects, is a good strategic partner. The two countries launched a special energy efficiency program two or three years ago; it will now be complemented with practical projects."
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