Izvestia
Rail security bill exceeds federal budget
Railroads are proving to be a far greater security challenge than airports. A recent Russian Railways meeting reviewed various proposals on security measures, ranging from setting up a special security service for railroad stations, installing metal detectors at all station entrances, clearing the areas in front of stations and building fences along all railroad lines. Izvestia investigated what these projects might cost.
Currently, door frame metal detectors are installed at rail terminals in four Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tver and Vyborg. Not a great achievement, considering there are 18,000 stations, including short platforms, in Russia. Passenger and luggage inspection facilities, radio jamming devices and explosion-proof containers will be provided to 34 railroad stations across the country soon. But it is a slow process. First, Russian manufacturers found themselves unprepared – they are not making enough detectors. Second, all these laws need to be harmonized.
Occasionally, things reach the point of absurdity. Security rules dictate that metal detectors must be installed at all entrances and exits, but that would violate fire regulations. Another problem is that 1.7 sq m of area is needed per passenger to make the boarding area secure, which requires 1,000 sq m per train, said Sergei Abramov, director of railroad stations. Stations cannot be expanded that much. So the remaining solution is to increase security personnel. Russian Railways is willing to go even further and set up its own security service.
“We believe there is a great demand for such a service,” Vladimir Yakunin, Russian Railways chief, told Izvestia. He added that his company annually spends 11 billion rubles of its own money on security. Security personnel currently numbers 62,000.
However, train stations are not the only points where railroads are vulnerable to terrorist attack. A bomb can easily be planted anywhere along a train’s route. In 2010 alone, according to law enforcement agencies, 542 instances of “objects placed on rails” were reported, as well as 101 cases of rail sabotage. To counter this, some regions suggested fencing off the entire length of Russia’s railroad tracks. Considering that railroads in Russia stretch for over 82,000 kilometers, this would make it a construction project of the century. The funding needed for this comprehensive measure would be 13 trillion rubles. For comparison, the entire 2011 budget of the Russian Federation stands at 8.8 trillion rubles.
So other ways to protect the lines need to be considered. The State Duma has suggested toughening punishment for unsanctioned presence at transport infrastructure facilities. In the United States, for example, it is treated as a criminal offence. The downside is that guards would start detaining all jaywalkers.
Another hazard, railroad executives say, is crowded squares outside stations. They suggested clearing the area of all vendors and making the space a no-go area. But Ilya Klebanov, presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District, said the issue was too petty to be worth considering.
Vedomosti
Aeroflot in settlement talks over flight delays
Nearly three months after the shutdown at Sheremetyevo airport, Aeroflot has yet to reach a settlement with thousands of holiday travelers who were left stranded at the airport.
Between December 26 and 28 Aeroflot delayed over 200 flights for more than eight hours due to a lack of de-icing fluid. Many passengers had to wait over 24 hours for their flights to depart. Aeroflot has offered passengers compensation of 25 rubles per hour of delay, or a voucher equivalent to the cost of a fare from Moscow to their destination (excluding taxes and fees). The company had planned to distribute 20,000 vouchers, but only about a quarter have been claimed so far. Some 2,000 people were refused vouchers as they could not produce their boarding passes.
In addition to material compensation, about 1,500 passengers filed lawsuits against Aeroflot for moral damages. Lawyer Sergei Zhorin filed 50 lawsuits totaling 10 million rubles on behalf of 500 passengers. Lawyer Sergei Litvintsev sent the claims he received to Aeroflot, giving the company an opportunity to settle out of court.
The lawyers and Aeroflot managers have been in talks for two weeks, an Aeroflot spokesperson said. Yesterday they met for a second round of talks. Litvintsev told Interfax news agency that talks with Aeroflot had so far failed to yield any results. “The company has not made us any offers and is refusing to compensate for moral damages,” the lawyer said.
Litvintsev wants the airline to pay 4,000 rubles for every hour of delay and threatens to file lawsuits if Aeroflot fails to comply. Sergei Zorin seems pleased with how talks are proceeding. He said they were likely to reach a compromise and promised to unveil the settlement terms and sums involved next week. Aeroflot representative said they were considering several different compensation options. Specifically, that some disabled passengers should be entitled to either cash compensation or a voucher equivalent to the cost of a one way fare, and that children under 6 years would receive an additional 2,000 rubles per day.
All lawsuits will be withdrawn as soon as the settlement is agreed, Zhorin says. He declined to comment on Litvintsev’s statements, saying that they each had their own approach. Initially they had planned to act jointly, but then opted for separate courses of action. Zhorin and his colleagues are also involved in out-of-court settlement talks with the airline Transaero. The company has agreed to compensate all proven material damages, pay double Aeroflot’s rate per hour of delay, and negotiate individual compensation for moral damages with each passenger. To date the company has reviewed 1,350 passenger claims and will be paying 19.4 million rubles in compensation, a Transaero representative said.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Russians back Putin, condemn Libyan airstrikes
An overwhelming majority of Russians disapprove of international airstrikes against Libya, the country’s public opinion centers reported three days after Vladimir Putin likened the attacks to crusades.
Russian recruitment agency SuperJob said 78% of respondents condemned the international coalition’s actions and only 5% supported the strikes.
Russia’s national pollster VTsIOM put these figures at 64% and 20%, respectively. More than half of Russians, 56%, believe their country should stay neutral on the Libya issue.
The Levada Center conducted a survey shortly before the airstrikes began. Respondents were asked to select measures they would approve to stop the bloodshed in Libya and protect civilians. Around 12% of respondents indicated freezing Gaddafi’s accounts and imposing a foreign travel ban on him and his entourage; 13% supported economic sanctions against Gaddafi’s regime; 10% backed a no-fly zone; and only 7% a ground operation.
“Russians have been condemning the use of force against other countries for the past 20 years,” said Levada Center head Lev Gudkov. On the other hand, 51% are indifferent to Libya, probably due to a lack of awareness.
“This does not only reflect Russians’ non-aggressiveness, but also the emotions they experienced during airstrikes on Yugoslavia,” said Alexander Oslon, head of the FOM public opinion foundation. “That was an enormous culture shock for them, amounting to a turning point in many Russians’ attitudes toward the United States and the West.”
Dmitry Furman from the Institute of Europe think tank pointed to an obvious similarity between the prime minister’s statements on Libya while visiting a Russian ballistic missile plant and the apparent public mood: “He is much closer to the people, psychologically, than President Dmitry Medvedev.”
“He must be aware, deep down, that the regime he has been painstakingly building in Russia is much more similar to those in Libya or Egypt than he is prepared to admit. He certainly feels some empathy and fear that one day he might go the same way as Gaddafi,” Furman said.
Putin’s statement was perfectly in tune with the public mood, said Nikolai Petrov from the Carnegie Moscow Center. “There is this stereotype dating back to the Soviet era: the Arab nations are proud and freedom-loving, while [Western] imperialists intervene in their internal affairs. This is a stereotype shared by 90% of Russians who believe that we, too, are capable of managing our own internal problems and do not want any foreign or international interference. In this respect, what Putin said and where he said it was in tune with his voters’ sentiment. He always says what they expect to hear, unlike Medvedev, whose job is to signal to the West that they should not pay too much heed to what is being said for internal purposes,” he said.
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