Vedomosti
GAZ to assemble Volkswagens
German automotive giant Volkswagen AG wants to commission the second phase of its Kaluga plant which now assembles 150,000 cars annually, but until then, production will be set up at GAZ Group, Russia's second-largest automaker, in Nizhny Novgorod, the Volga Federal District.
On Thursday, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the company's plans to expand production in Russia because the Kaluga plant, commissioned in the spring 2008, now lacks sufficient capacity.
VW will build the plant's second phase in the long run, but vehicles could be assembled at GAZ Group facilities under industrial-assembly contracts in the meantime, Winterkorn said.
ASM Holding, which monitors the Russian auto industry, said Volkswagen's Kaluga plant assembled 57,600 cars January-July 2010.
Winterkorn promised that total output would reach 90,000-100,000 units this year, that the plant would attain design capacity and 150,000 cars would be assembled in 2011, and that by 2017-2018 Volkswagen would plan to sell 360,000 cars in Russia each year.
In 2006, GAZ Group bought up to date Chrysler tooling to assemble 160,000 Volga Siber vehicles per year. A total of 1,579 Volga Siber cars rolled off the assembly line in the first six months of 2010.
Last year, GAZ was named a production partner in a consortium comprising Magna International, the most diversified global automotive component supplier, and Russia's largest state-owned bank, Sberbank (Savings Bank), both of which intended to buy the German subsidiary Opel from U.S. automotive giant General Motors (GM).
Although the consortium planned to assemble Opel cars at idle GAZ facilities, GM later cancelled the deal but proposed negotiating the use of the GAZ assembly line. In July 2010, Deputy GAZ CEO Yelena Matveyeva called GM the company's most likely partner.
On Thursday, Matveyeva told the paper that her company was in talks with Volkswagen, and that a contract could be signed by late September under the most optimistic scenario.
The Volkswagen assembly line could also be used to manufacture other models, a source close to GAZ said. A GM spokesperson said talks with GAZ were still underway, while a Volkswagen spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.
It cost Volkswagen 570 million euros to build the Kaluga plant, and another 100-150 million euros are required to double its capacity in the next 18 to 24 months, said Ivan Bonchev, the head of auto industry analysis at Ernst & Young consultancy.
He said industrial-assembly contracts made it possible to cut production-expansion investment and to reduce risk.
Kommersant
Kasyanov to develop Solidarity movement into a party
Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister from 2000 to 2004 and currently the leader of the People's Democratic Union, on Thursday announced that he was joining with the Solidarity movement to establish a party, thus enabling the democratic opposition to take part in the 2011 parliamentary elections.
Kasyanov is also ready to run for the presidency provided he is the only opposition candidate.
He said Thursday that people are reevaluating the situation in the country and that their attitude to the authorities is deteriorating.
Kasyanov is convinced that they need to consider how the interests of what he calls the democratic part of society can be represented in the State Duma and presidential elections. He thinks that democrats should try registering a new party to enable them to participate in the elections.
The PDU leader said the list of potential coalition members had been narrowed down to the PDU, Solidarity and the United Civil Front. Yabloko, which is a registered party, refused to form a coalition with Kasyanov last spring,
Kasyanov thinks Solidarity should form the core of the new party, which will be established with assistance from the PDU. "We should create a legal instrument to take part in the elections, choose a name for this coalition, convene a congress and submit the documents to the Justice Ministry, while people will continue to remain members of their respective parties and movements," the PDU leader said.
Asked why he thinks the authorities would approve and register this new party Kasyanov answered that daily public protests are having an influence on the authorities and that different events could take place within a year, for example, some bans could be lifted.
Boris Nemtsov, prime minister from 1997 to 1998, currently chairman of the organizing committee of the proposed Solidarity party, said that the movement's political council decided to establish the party but that he "has not yet discussed the question with Mikhail Kasyanov."
Nemtsov said: "The current task is to attract as many supporters as possible before discussing ways of registering the party."
"We don't think the party will end up being registered," he said.
The potential partners have not yet agreed on a joint presidential candidate.
Kasyanov said Thursday that a joint candidate put forward by the democratic forces should be chosen by the public, that is, "a group of respected people who enjoy indisputable authority in society and who are not involved in politics."
He said he is categorically against starting a nomination race among democrats because this would split potential allies rather than unite them.
But Nemtsov would prefer the democratic candidate to be chosen publicly. "It should be a joint candidate selected at a joint congress of democratic forces," he said, adding that he had not yet decided to run for presidency.
As for Kasyanov, he said he "will be ready when the time is right."
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
United Russia's popularity up 7% in one month
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party is starting the 2010-11 political season with an unexpectedly high popularity rating. Voter support surged 7% in August according to surveys, the first significant increase in the party's popularity in the past six months. United Russia's opponents can boast no such results as their ratings, including those of the Communist Party (KPRF), Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and A Just Russia, dropped several percent last month.
On Thursday FOM pollster released the results of its survey of the parliamentary parties' confidence level in late July and early August. Political activity in Russia is usually low at this time of the year, as many politicians go on holiday.
Yet, this was a difficult year for the country as wildfires raged through the central part of Russia clouding the capital, Moscow, in thick smoke. Political parties were not particularly active during this time, which is the obvious reason their popularity began declining.
In early August, public confidence in United Russia dropped 4% to 49%. A Just Russia also lost 4% in late July, KPRF 2% and LDPR 1%.
In early August, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had to intervene personally and ask political parties to join the firefighting effort and provide assistance to the victims. United Russia, which he controls, responded promptly, inspired by Boris Gryzlov who chairs United Russia's Supreme Council and who donated 100,000 rubles. Sergei Mironov, the leader of A Just Russia, donated as much.
Judging by poll results, the parties' renewed activity was not wasted, although it was United Russia that collected most of the dividends. Its popularity surged 7%, to 56% on August 29. The party in power has not seen such a dramatic change in public confidence since March.
The growth in popularity was not entirely due to the party's charitable activities, but to a large extent to the bubbling activity of its leader, Putin. The prime minister has amazed the nation several times during last month, for example by personally joining the firefighting effort by flying the Be-200 amphibious plane and dropping water over the Ryazan Region.
He also tried out the new highway between the Far Eastern cities of Khabarovsk and Chita in a Lada Kalina sedan.
Dmitry Orlov, head of the Agency of Political and Economic Communications, said that Putin's intensive promotional campaign must also be boosting his party's popularity.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Lawsuits against online slander skyrocket
The number of legal cases with plaintiffs seeking to uphold their good name against slander on the Internet has increased dramatically in Russian courts. But experience shows that it is not always possible to get a redress for the wrongs done online, and the reason is freedom of opinion.
Statistics show that this year alone the arbitration courts have seen 107 legal actions to protect reputations from information spread through the Internet. This is up from 98 suits filed in all of last year. The feature of such actions is that a company, as a rule, litigates against a company. In one case, an auto dealer filed a lawsuit against a consumer watchdog group for publishing an unfavorable comment on its website about the dealer. In this case, the dealership decided that the comments were more harmful to its reputation than its rude treatment of clients. It claimed 17 million rubles in damages. The court slashed the amount to 10,000, and the defendant's problem was that it provided no proof for its claim.
Even so, experts say that in most cases plaintiffs lose because the courts regard "truths" disputed online as the author's personal opinion, which is not punishable by law in this country unless it deals with extremism.
Still, Internet bloggers risk not only a fine, but also their freedom. If law enforcement agencies decide an online opinion is extremist or slanderous, the author could find him or herself in the dock.
Not so long ago, 30-year-old blogger Dmitry K. was tried in Samara for extremist remarks on his online diary. The court of Samara's Sovetsky District handed down a suspended sentence of a year in prison. According to the investigators, from 2006 to February 2009, Dmitry, using a screen name (an online alias), made insulting entries in his live journal against a number of operating administrative agencies.
In such instances, it is always difficult to prove that the person concerned is to blame for the fiery words. But the secret services have learned how to track an offender. The investigation also included a psychological and linguistic test, which confirmed that the blogger's texts contained calls for extremist activity. Dmitry, on the other hand, told the press that the main purpose of his Internet posts was to test the response of law enforcement bodies to his releases. It appears the bodies passed the test.
It's not easy for a blogger to conceal his or her identity on the Internet. The secret services have a process that identifies the source computer. Many people think that any offensive or curse word online is outside court competence. But judicial practice is gradually catching up with the virtual world.
RBC Daily
Russians earn more, ready to spend more
A survey by influential pollster Levada Center shows that the financial standing of Russians improved over the crisis-ridden 2008. Investors say the crisis did not seriously affect average incomes, and that end-demand sectors are now taking advantage of this.
The number of Russians who can barely buy enough food has declined by 5% totaling 9%, down 3% since 2009. This is the result of a 30% and another 46% pension rise in 2009 and 2010, respectively, said chief BNP Paribas economist Yulia Tseplyayeva. Reduced poverty levels and improved living standards are therefore not surprising.
The Federal Service for State Statistics (Rosstat) said actual popular income and salaries had increased 5.2% and 6.8%, respectively, January-June 2010. Consequently, the share of people who can afford to buy food and clothing has increased by 7% in the past two years to reach 48%. Analysts are noting a stable increase in consumer purchases. Notably, retail trade revenue has increased 6.6% in the first six months of 2010.
"Sales began to rebound in late 2009. Pre-crisis buying has resumed in most sectors," said RMG Securities analyst Yekaterina Andreyanova.
However, the situation inside the electronic appliances stores and supermarkets segment has not yet completely normalized. Andreyanova hopes this will happen before the year is out.
Analysts are not surprised by the improved financial standing of Russians. "Household incomes did not plunge during the crisis, and the average income is now also rising," said Sergei Smirnov, director of the Social Policy Institute at the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics.
Chief Deutsche Bank economist Yaroslav Lisovolik said pre-crisis economic growth was based on consumption growing by 15%-16% annually and that a similar model is back on track.
However, this does not mean that the consumer purchasing crisis has been completely overcome. "Six-percent pre-crisis unemployment levels now total 7%. Latent unemployment exceeds pre-crisis levels by 150%-200%," Tseplyayeva said.
Nationwide average income would automatically dwindle if global oil prices drop to January-June 2009 levels.
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MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti)
