Russia 090427
Basic Political Developments
· PM Stanishev opens trade & industry exhibition in Moscow - The Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev will open the Bulgarian national trade-industrial exhibition, which is part of the program for the marking of the Year of Bulgaria in Russia.
· Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev on work visit to Moscow - . In Moscow, Sergey Stanishev will confer with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev; his counterpart Vladimir Putin; and Moscow’s mayor Yury Luzhkov.
· Bulgarian PM pays visit to Moscow
· Bulgaria’s Delegation in Moscow with Three Options for South Stream Agreement
· Bulgarian PM Negotiates Energy Projects in Moscow - The main topics that Stanishev is going to negotiate include the construction of the South Stream pipeline, the financing of Bulgaria’s second NPP in Belene, as well as the proposed new contract with Gazprom.
· Bulgaria president sees deal with Russia on South Stream pipeline by end-May
· Pravda: Bulgaria turns into center of big play between Russia and West
· Bulgaria in energy play between East and West, comments in Russian press /ROUNDUP/
· Russia is ready to extend a loan of 3.8 billion euros ($5.92 billion) to Bulgaria by the end of the year for the construction of the country's second nuclear power plant in Belene, Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said
· Bulgarian Summit Sets Up Tense Talks in Moscow - Russia and Bulgaria will soon bridge differences over Sofia's participation in a Moscow-backed pipeline project to bring gas to Europe and sign a final deal, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Saturday.
· Russia minister upbeat on gas deal with Bulgaria - Sergei Shmatko told a news conference at an energy security summit in Sofia that both sides should be ready to compromise and reminded Bulgaria to live up to its political promise to join the South Stream project.
· Parvanov Won by Standing up against Moscow
· Travelers Arriving From U.S. To Be Checked for Swine Flu - All passengers arriving in Russia from the United States or Mexico will have their temperatures tested to make sure that they are not carrying a deadly strain of swine flu, Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, said Sunday.
· Mexican, US imports banned - RUSSIA, fearing the spread of swine flu, on Sunday banned meat imports from Mexico, several US states and nine Latin American nations, a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.
· Major joint projects to help RF, China overcome crisis – Lavrov: The Chinese foreign minister arrived in Moscow for a visit on Sunday for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
· Lavrov talk on EU eastern influence 'nonsense': EU - The Czech EU presidency said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was talking "nonsense" in accusing the European Union of seeking a sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union.
· EU hits back at Russian "nonsense" over Eastern initiative: Top European Union diplomats on Monday dismissed as 'nonsense' a claim by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the EU is planning to build a sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union, just 24 hours before a meeting with him.
· Brazil, Russia, India, China offer IMF financial aid for wider policy role
· Developed countries resist IMF reform-Russia's Kudrin
· Russian warships arrive in Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy mission
· Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran to unify efforts to strengthen security in Caspian Sea - Heads of the three countries' border services reached this agreement during bilateral and trilateral meeting in Baku, the Azerbaijan State Border Service reported on April 25
· Astrakhan - Russia's gateway to the Caspian and Iran: Russia’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Transport, Vladimir Dergunov says “we need to capitalize on our position as a transport hub – by road, rail, air, and sea. Ultimately, we want to overtake the Suez Canal as the major North-South transit corridor, linking Europe with Iran and India.”
· Russia to build 6 Kilo-class diesel submarines for Vietnam
· Russia to sell 6 submarines to Vietnam, not Venezuela – paper: The St. Petersburg naval dockyard Admiralteyskye Verfi and Vietnam will shortly sign the contract, worth $1.8 billion, AFP quoted the daily Kommersant as reporting Monday. The paper was citing sources close to Russian arms export agency Rosoboronexport.
· Russia’s search for new arms markets in South America: New SIPRI data on global arms transfers published today reveal that Russia remains the second largest arms exporter in the world, accounting for a quarter of global exports of major conventional arms.
· US journalist arrested in Russian Olympic City - An American journalist with the New Yorker magazine was briefly arrested at a polling station in the Russian city of Sochi on Sunday, Associated Press reports.
· New Yorker writer arrested in Russia: report
· United Russia's Pakhomov to win Sochi mayor vote - election head
· Pakhomov wins landslide victory in Sochi mayor elections
· Idealism Amid the Cynicism of Russian Politics - Winning Candidate From Ruling Party Renounces Fraudulent Victory
· Russian Mayor Walks Into Chess Master’s Trap
· Medvedev to meet Council of Trustees of Rus Olympians Foundation
· Su-35 fighter model crashes, pilot catapults in Khabarovsk terr
· High-ranking police officer guns down 2, injures 7 people
· Policeman murders three people in south Moscow store
· FSB Under Fire for List Of Terrorist Tactics - The nearly 1,000-word document, titled "About Tactics Used For Diversionist-Terrorist Acts," was apparently only recently added to the FSB's web site under the heading "Professional Advice," which also contains articles advising citizens how to behave in a terror attack or a hostage situation.
· Military Relaunches Operations in Chechnya - Federal commanders reintroduced the security restrictions associated with counterterrorism operations in the Shali, Shatoi and Vedeno districts near the Caucasus Mountains in the region.
· Gordon M. Hahn: Averting the Caucasus Jihad - Russia is the only country besides Pakistan (and perhaps India) that has both a viable jihad movement and stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear materials and weapons. Russia's jihad movement is something the West should not ignore.
· Paul Goble: Medvedev ‘Imitates’ Political Reform to Defend Putin’s System, Moscow Commentator Says
· Between Assertiveness and Insecurity: Russian Elite Attitudes and the Russia-Georgia Crisis
· State Demography Policy Won't Work, UN Warns - Presenting the results of the 2008 United Nations Human Development Report for Russia, the report's authors said the government needed to take more than just fertility into account if it wanted to mitigate the effects of a demographic crisis.
· Russia must overcome racism to boost population: U.N.
National Economic Trends
· Russia Plans to Sell Bonds in 2010, Seeks Loans From World Bank - Banks and pension funds are likely to be the chief buyers of Russian bonds, Kudrin said today in an interview broadcast on the state television channel Vesti. Russia’s budget deficit may be wider than the government’s estimate of 7.4 percent of gross domestic product, Kudrin said in Washington on April 24.
· World Bank says Russia asks for VEB bond guarantee - Russia has asked the World Bank to provide a partial guarantee on a bond issue by the state lender VEB, the World Bank's country director for Russia Klaus Rohland said on Monday.
· Risks of inflation higher than 13% forecasted by govt minimal in 2009 – Kudrin
· UBS: Russia: How bad or likely is -9.5% contraction?
· Rencap: New official forecast: 6% GDP decline in 2009
· UralSib - Economics: Russia's foreign debt improves
· Rencap: Russian unemployment reaches 9.5% in 1Q09, investment down 15% YoY
· CBR auction REPO rates drop nearly 100 bpts
· CBR could resume buying on forex market this week
Business, Energy or Environmental regulations or discussions
· No changes planned to electricity market liberalization timetable –Shmatko
· Liberalisation of the electricity markets might be delayed until 2013
· Ministry Wants Delay Of Utility Rate Hikes - The Economic Development Ministry wants to put a brake on price rises for electricity, gas and rail transport, Interfax reported Friday, as officials try to ease the cost burden on crisis-hit domestic industry.
· Economic Development Ministry slows tariff increases for power and gas companies in 2010-2012
· Russian Media Highlights From VTB Capital Forum – Summary of VTB Capital Forum: Russia Calling on 21-23 April.
· Evraz: 2008 IFRS preview: and glimpse at 1Q09
· Acron officially starts Oleny Ruchei phosphate project
· Hyundai seeks $331 mln borrowing for Russia plant
· Car production in Russia down by two-thirds
· Sberbank in BTA Talks
· Sberbank considering purchase of 53% stake in BTA Bank
· VTG Seeks Russian Partner - VTG, which runs Europe's largest fleet of privately owned railway cars, is close to finding a Russian partner to expand its tank-container transport business there and in neighboring regions.
· INTERVIEW: SDM Bank counts its conservatism as its strength
· Magnit - attracting consumers: Russia's leading regional supermarket chain Magnit is expecting to end this year by setting a new sales record and is one of the few Russian companies that is still expanding fast.
· Russian market set to be one of world's best performers this year and next - Peter Halloran of Pharos Financial Group comment
· Western Gray Whales Get a Break From Noisy Oil Development - The decision by Sakhalin Energy, which is developing the Sakhalin II project, followed a recommendation today by an international scientific panel to halt further noisy seismic testing in the whales' feeding area near Piltun Bay on the western edge of the Sea of Okhotsk.
· UPDATE: Sakhalin Energy Halts 09 Seismic To Protect Whales
· Sakhalin Energy gives chance to gray whales - Conservation organizations have won agreement from the Sakhalin Energy consortium to end seismic work in Russian waters, near the only feeding ground of a critically endangered population of gray whales.
Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
· Oil should rise to $70-80/bbl in 2010: Russian minister
· New gas tariff growth rates proposed for 2010
· Korea, Russia to Push Gas Pipeline - President Lee Myung-bak and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday discussed Korea importing Russian natural gas via gas pipelines running through North Korea. Lee said the project could be of great help to North Korea as well, because it would earn it a huge amount of money.
· PetroChina to boost storage for Russian oil
· PetroChina to raise storage capacity for Russian oil
· Tatneft to post operating loss for 4Q08
· Modified Izmeron Complexes Help Increase Oil Production in TNK-BP and Rosneft
· TNK-BP consolidates geoscience experience of Tyumen and London Universities
· CEE oil and gas - better up than down - With signs of the oil price and emerging European economies stabilising, it might be tempting to plough back into the region's oil and gas stocks. Analysts say that would be jumping the gun a bit, but if you do, better to invest upstream than downstream.
Gazprom
· Sberbank lends Gazprom $3 bln for oil arm buy-back
· Transgaz representatives to attend meeting with Gazprom - According to a media release, the minister of Economy and representatives of gas producer Romgaz and gas transporter Transgaz (TGN) will meet on May 20-21
· Bulgaria President: Gazprom May Not Interfere with Our Sovereignty
· Turkmenistan: The Bell Tolls For Gazprom’s Dominance Of Caspian Energy Market
· Gazprom saves on dividends - For the first time in years, Russian energy giant
· Gazprom plans to reduce dividend payments by more than 50%.
· Gazprom's oil arm buys 16.95% of Britain's Sibir Energy
· Sibir Energy Confirms Gazprom Neft Bought 17% Stake
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Basic Political Developments
PM Stanishev opens trade & industry exhibition in Moscow
http://international.ibox.bg/news/id_110701798
Updated on: 27.04.2009, 09:4
The Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev will open the Bulgarian national trade-industrial exhibition, which is part of the program for the marking of the Year of Bulgaria in Russia.
The exhibition will be in the “Gostnii dvor” complex from today till 30th April 2009.
Afterwards it will be exhibited in Kazan, Ekaretinburg and Hanti-Mansiisk in the period May-June 2009, informed the press centre of the Ministry of economy and energy.
The national exhibition in Moscow will be the biggest presentation till today of the Bulgaria export potential and will aim at the development of the trade and economic ties and partnerships between the business of the two countries.
Bulgaria will be presented as a full member of the EU and a reliable partner offering competitive prices and services, corresponding to the high European and world quality requirements.
Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev on work visit to Moscow
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n179058
27 April 2009 | 00:24 | FOCUS News Agency
Sofia. Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev is on a work visit to Moscow, Bulgarian National Radio reported. There he is going to open the Bulgarian National Trade and Industry Exhibition as part of Year of Bulgaria in Russia initiative and will welcome participants to Bulgarian-Russian business forum. In Moscow, Sergey Stanishev will confer with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev; his counterpart Vladimir Putin; and Moscow’s mayor Yury Luzhkov. Stanishev is expected to discuss with them issues related to cooperation in energy sector; balancing of economic relations by increasing Bulgarian exports to Russia; as well as participation of Bulgarian construction companies in building sports facilities for the Olympic games in Sochi in 2014. Before leaving Moscow, Stanishev will meet with Russian Patriarch Cyril.
Bulgarian PM pays visit to Moscow
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n179113
27 April 2009 | 07:47 | FOCUS News Agency
Moscow. Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev’s working visit to Moscow continues, the government’s press service announced.
On Monday he is to be awarded the title Honorary Doctor of Diplomatic Academy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stanishev is to deliver a lecture titled Bulgarian-Russian Dialog in the Context of the European Idea. Together with the academy rector professor Alexander Panov the prime minister is to unveil a documentary exhibition called The foundations of Bulgarian Parliamentarism and Beginning of Bulgarian-Russian Diplomatic Relations. The exhibition has been prepared by Archives State Agency.
Bulgaria’s Delegation in Moscow with Three Options for South Stream Agreement
http://paper.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2009-04-27&article=27358
MONDAY, 27 April 2009
“Bulgaria is not ready to sign the South Stream agreement at all costs,” will be the motto of Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev’s delegation that landed in Moscow yesterday to spend three days in talks over the South Stream pipeline project. There are three options for the Bulgarian diplomats: they either sign the agreement, or don’t, or simply keep a low profile until there is another political decision which is again a way out of having to seal the deal mandatorily. Stanishev will be discussing the agreement with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and counterpart Vladimir Putin. Bulgaria’s ministers of economy – Petar Dimitrov – and EU affairs – Gergana Passy - as well as an array of deputies will be there to support their premier in the negotiations. Belene Nuclear Power Plant’s construction and a potential loan from the Russian state to complete are going to be two other issues on the agenda.
Last evening Stanishev met with the Bulgarian community in Moscow.