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Books on Russia
REPUBLICAN REFERENCE
Area (sq.km)
17,075,400
Population
143,782,338
Principal
ethnic groups
Russians 82%
Tatars 3.3%
Ukrainians 2.7%
Principal towns
Moscow (capital)
St Petersburg
Novosibirsk
Nizhni Novgorod
Yekaterinburg
Samara
Currency
Rouble
President
Vladimir Putin
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Update No: 290 - (10/03/05)
Chechen Leader Aslan Maskhadov Killed
Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed by Russian troops fighting
to quell a long rebellion in the mainly Muslim Caucasus region, the Russian army
announced on March 8th. The death of Maskhadov, 53, would boost Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who built his power largely on a tough line against
the Chechen rebels. The armed campaign which Maskhadov led had brought bombings
to the very heart of Russia.
"A special operation was carried out by us in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt
as a result of which the international terrorist and leader of the rebel group
Aslan Maskhadov was killed," FSB Security Service chief, Nikolai Patrushev,
told President Vladimir Putin. Tolstoy-Yurt is 20 km (12 miles) north of Grozny.
Four close comrades of Maskhadov have been detained, Patrushev was shown on
television telling Putin. He added that there had been no casualties among
Russian security forces.
Maskhadov's envoy in London, Akhmed Zakayev, said he had no hard information,
but he thought the reports were true. This is a situation where the often
blurred distinction between a terrorist and a freedom fighter may be discerned.
Moscow blames Maskhadov, who had a US$10 million reward on his head, for a
string of deadly operations in Russia, including an attack on a Moscow theatre,
a bombing near the Kremlin and an action against a school in the south Russian
town of Beslan. At least 326 hostages -- half of them children -- died at the
school in Beslan last year, few outside observers connect him with that horrific
crime.
Maskhadov actually condemned the assault on the school, for which his rival, the
Islamic extremist, Shamil Basayev, not only claimed responsibility as he had
done for the Moscow Theatre massacre, but threatened many more such horrors to
come. Maskhadov was the moderate by comparison and did not even demand full
independence for Chechnya. He had no Islamic goals but was unquestionably a
fervid nationalist opposed to Russian hegemony over his small mountain state. He
had negotiated the peace of 1996 when General Lebed was the Russian security
supremo. The two agreed to postpone resolution of the status of Chechnya until a
referendum in 2001. The outbreak of the second Chechen War in 1999 aborted that.
The mysterious explosions in Moscow in 1999 which precipitated the renewed
conflict, have been attributed by some as authored by certain Russians, (several
accusations have been made but never substantiated), seeking to scuttle that
process, which it certainly did. The referendum would of course have been won by
Maskhadov's independence party, so the Chechens, who always denied their
involvement in the Moscow bombings, (even Basayev who proudly proclaimed his
responsibility for the others), never had their chance to achieve independence
via the ballot box.
Although it never took place, the aborted referendum gives Chechnya an unusual
status already, namely an international legal profile. This can be said to
justify its independence movement lobbying abroad for their cause, as Zakayev
does in London.
Links to al Qaeda
Moscow claims, however, that the Chechens have been going much further than
that. It links Maskhadov, and field commander Basayev, to groups that conducted
attacks such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. In the case of
Basayev, a fanatic, a l'outrance, the claim is plausible, but not for Maskhadov.
Recently Maskhadov had called for a month's truce, and further asked for talks
with Moscow on Chechen demands for independence. The Chechens by and large
one-sidedly observed the truce, although the Russians did not accept it, indeed
as a response they mounted their attack and killed Maskhadov. The Kremlin
insisted that it would not negotiate with terrorists, but with Maskhadov dead,
undoubted terrorists in the shape of the Islamicist Basayev, is what they are
left with. There was intense rivalry between the mainstream nationalists of
Maskhadov and the Basayev Islamic group because they had such different views of
the struggle and how to wage it. It is said that the Basayev wing twice
attempted to assassinate Maskhadov, who had been elected president of his
country during a period of peace, and it must now be a matter of speculation if
it was they that betrayed his whereabouts to the Russian special forces. Some
critics of Moscow's policies in Chechnya saw Maskhadov as a man with whom Moscow
could have negotiated, as General Lebed once did. Why then did Putin reject the
possibilities of peace in this benighted country?
Russian leaders, fearing a breakaway by Chechnya could trigger secession moves
by other regions in the sprawling federation, have fought two wars in Chechnya.
Tens of thousands were killed on both sides in the first conflict from 1994-96.
Putin sent troops back into the territory in late 1999 to cement his image as a
strong leader ahead of his election as president in 2000. The territory suffered
widespread devastation and thousands more were killed.
Russia has suffered a series of humiliating setbacks in its bid to control
Chechnya, including last year's assassination of the Moscow-backed president of
the region in a bomb attack. In 1996, Russian special forces killed the first
post-Soviet rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudayev. Being Chechen leader is not an
enviable role.
The gremlin in the Kremlin
Putin has not been having a good time of it recently and his popularity, once
sky-high, is plummeting. He has introduced welfare 'reforms' that have alienated
large swathes of the population. By and large they directly affect only the
pensioners and the older people, obviously those who will no longer be around
for much longer. The measures include the abolition of free public transport and
medical treatment for them and the like.
But the man in the Kremlin and his close advisers seem to have forgotten two
equally evident points. Everybody knows that they are going to get older
themselves one day, while they naturally have a concern for their parents'
welfare, especially as the more responsible among them are now going to have to
delve into their own pockets to help them out, particularly when they fall ill,
as of course many of them are bound to do.
The measures have a sinister aspect about them. So does virtually everything
Putin does these days, from continuing the utterly futile Chechen war to
abolishing regional elections and curbing the media. Putin is showing fascist
tendencies as a parvenu to power, as could have been predicted from his
life-long love affair with the KGB, which still exists in all but name in the
shape of the FSB he came to head (it was a regular practice in Soviet times to
ring the changes on the title of the organisation, the Cheka, the OGPU, etc).
The astonishing thing is how many people nurtured illusions about the man, given
the extraordinarily underhand way he came to power and acquired popularity,
starting a new genocidal war in Chechnya for no credible reason - except that it
would secure his stall in the Kremlin. Moreover, he is the sort of character who
would never admit to having made a mistake, unlike his predecessor who admitted
that the first Chechen war was exactly that and who openly apologised to the
Russian people for his failure to improve their lot when he resigned in 2000 at
the New Year.
Yeltsin must be having second thoughts about whether his choice of successor was
so wise after all. Someone who certainly does, and has said so, who had a
considerable hand in the matter at the time, is the exiled tycoon, Boris
Berezovsky. Bush and Blair must likewise be wondering if their unconditional
endorsement of the new man in the Kremlin was really so sensible in hindsight.
At that juncture the big oligarchs were bent on protecting their ill-gotten
gains at all costs, just as Yeltsin desired to protect the entourage around his
daughter and other Kremlin intimates from retribution at the hands of the law
for corruption and sundry manifest misdemeanours. Neither motive was likely to
be conducive to the right candidate for the succession being chosen. Putin was
deemed the man to continue the cover-up of the many misdeeds of the 1990s,
having proved his discretion amply at the helm of the FSB at the end of the
decade.
He has kept his side of the bargain with Yeltsin - but not exactly with the
non-Russian oligarchs. He has fallen out with four major oligarchs, all of them
Jewish - no surprise at all. Having come to power by initiating what amounts to
genocide, to exploit the Russian people's long-held phobia about the swarthy
denizens and diasporants of the Caucusus, he then decided that to pander to
their entrenched anti-semitism could not fail to enhance his position. These are
the actions of a demagogue.
Losing out in Ukraine
His latest gaffe has been in backing the wrong horse in Ukraine and doing so in
a particularly ham-handed way, which may come to haunt him. He has clearly made
an enemy of the supporters of the new Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko,
even if Yushchenko himself as a seasoned politician understands what it is all
about.
Ukraine is no ordinary former republic of the Soviet Union in the near-abroad of
Russia. It has by far the largest ethnically Russian population, eleven million,
out of forty-nine million, and is right next to European Russia in the east of
the country. But it has many other minority ethnicities as well.
The Russian time-bomb
It has generally been assumed that the ethnic Russians in the country are
fervently Muscovite, harking back to the days when Ukraine was ruled from
Moscow, or indeed St Petersburg. This is not necessarily true.
Ukraine would be an excellent place to live, if only it did not have a huge
hangover from its past association with Russia, notably in Soviet days when many
millions were murdered in Stalin's collectivisation of agriculture and his
purges. Now it has a chance to begin to disassociate itself from Russia and it
is manifestly taking it. For Putin to so speedily endorse a patently flawed
electoral result on November 21st in Ukraine, simply because the pro- Russian
candidate, Viktor Yakunovich, was deemed the winner was a colossal
miscalculation, an eternal reminder to all Ukrainian citizens that the one thing
that you can expect out of Moscow is not democracy - but autocracy!
But Ukraine is the answer
Ukraine could yet become the ideal of what Russians everywhere, whether
living in Russia or the world-wide diaspora, aspire for their original homeland
- democratic and prosperous; cosmopolitan and Western.
The first precondition of the first part is in the process of being met; the
second could surely do so, if the West comes to the rescue; - in which case the
third and fourth automatically apply.
The moral is obvious - save Ukraine and one day you save Russia.
Bush, Putin meet and end "Romantic Period"
On February 24th, Presidents Bush and Putin had the 10th talks between the
two leaders so far. Bush said his ''very frank'' relationship with Putin allowed
him to raise his concerns about democratic setbacks in Russia, while respecting
Putin as ''a decision-maker.'' This was done in a private way so as not to
embarrass Putin in public, although this very admission was of course in public.
Bush said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in
Slovenia in June 2001 that he looked him in the eye and got ''a sense of his
soul.'' Lately, Bush seems to be having second thoughts and wondering if he saw
the real Putin. ''I have some concerns about some of the decisions by
Vladimir,'' Bush said in a meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on
February 23rd, on the eve of talks with Putin in Slovakia on the 24th. ''Bush in
his tenure has gone full circle with Russia, first neglecting a spent
superpower, then courting a promising ally in the war against terror after 9/ll,
then to disinterest, after Putin opposed the Iraq war,'' Alexander Rahr, Russia
expert from the Berlin-based DGAP foreign-policy research institute, said in an
interview on the German leg of Bush's tour. ''The price of neglect is Russian
embitterment.''
Putin was the first foreign leader invited to Bush's Texas ranch, where Bush
took Putin on a nature walk and threw a chuck- wagon barbecue in his honour.
Since then, Bush has often prefaced criticism of Putin's policies by noting that
they like each other and share a devotion to religion.
Bush and Putin have disagreed over the U.S. invasion of Iraq, over Putin's
agreement to help Iran build a nuclear power plant and over his decision to
scrap direct election of regional governors and appoint them himself. The talks
in Bratislava capped a four- day European trip during which Bush tried to mend
relations with critics of the Iraq war and push his agenda of expanding
democracy. ''The Russian government must renew a commitment to democracy and the
rule of law,'' Bush said in a speech in Brussels on February 21st.
Both leaders put a brave face on the outcome of the Bratislava meeting on
February 24th. Putin said that he was satisfied with the results of the summit
in the Slovak capital, despite a clash over Moscow's democratic credentials.
"I am satisfied with the meeting and with the results of the meeting,"
Putin told a news conference following talks with his Slovak counterpart, Ivan
Gasparovic.
Bush warned Putin in the meeting against backsliding on democracy in Russia in
what both sides called a frank debate at the Bratislava summit. But he also
assured the Russian president he was still a trusted partner of the United
States and Putin said his country would not go back on the democratic path it
embarked upon when the Soviet Union collapsed 14 years ago. Putin said his frank
discussion with Bush was useful although he made clear Russia did not accept
being lectured by the West on how to run its affairs. "The meeting was very
positive both in terms of its atmosphere and the choice of topics," Putin
added. His aides said that in turn, Putin challenged Bush about the US rule of
law in relation to Guantanamo Bay, and the sordid events of prisoner abuse in
the coalition's military prisons in Iraq.
Western and Russian civil rights campaigners accuse Putin of restricting
democracy by abolishing the election of provincial governors, pursuing a
vendetta against the Yukos oil company and tightening the Kremlin's grip on the
media. They also fear he is trying to stifle democratic changes across the
ex-Soviet bloc, with Russian reluctance to accept free elections in Ukraine
often cited as the latest example.
In addition, its crackdown on separatists in Chechnya has drawn Western
criticism, and the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Russia
committed serious abuses, including the torture and killing of civilians in its
southern province.
Ariel Cohen, a Russian studies analyst at the Washington-based Heritage
Foundation, said: "Putin signalled he's not interested in being lectured
like a schoolboy.'' Indeed, he isn't. Putin said that Russia would develop its
own brand of democracy without foreign interference. "The fundamental
principles of democracy and democratic institutions should be adapted to the
realities of Russian life today, to our traditions and to our history,'' he told
Slovak media, according to a transcript on the Kremlin Web site. "And we
will do this ourselves.''
Rumpus over Yukos
The largest shareholder in OAO Yukos Oil Co. has urged the US to block
Russia's quest for World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, saying the
government pushed Yukos into bankruptcy with its demand for US$28 billion in
taxes. The move raised concerns that Putin is seeking to tighten control of
businesses.
A Bush bid to get Putin to ease controls on business and not squelch internal
dissent would get a "tart'' response, Yuri Ushakov, Russia's ambassador to
the US, told the New York Times in an interview published on February 23rd.
Russians don't support some of Bush's foreign policies and are "highly
critical of your electoral college system,'' the Times quoted Ushakov as saying
in response to questions, by which he meant that only a handful of US states can
determine the outcome of a presidential election.
"There are powerful forces in Russia that are deeply anti- American,'' said
the Heritage Foundation's Cohen. "Putin's concern is that if he looks weak,
the extreme nationalist forces will work for his removal.'' The US is trying to
walk a fine line between expressing displeasure with Putin's recent actions and
finding a way to push Russia back toward democracy, a U.S. government official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Complex Relationship"
Russia, which overtook Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer last
year, wants to join the WTO this year and must agree on membership terms with
governments including the US. The US supports Russia's bid to join the WTO as a
way to strengthen "the gains of freedom and prosperity in that country,''
Bush said Feb. 21. They have in principle, reached agreement on the area of dual
pricing in the energy sector, and made progress in the areas of intellectual
property rights and aircraft. On January 31st Russia ceased being one of the
IMF's five largest debtor nations by repaying, years ahead of time, its
outstanding debt of $3.3bn.
Bush and Putin have been cooperating in fighting terrorism worldwide and in
efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons, specifically in North Korea,
Stephen Hadley, Bush's new national security adviser, told reporters in Mainz,
Germany. "It's a complex relationship,'' Hadley said. "We have a very
constructive relationship with Russia.'' But Russia has shown little interest in
the one-sided temporary cease-fire in Chechnya affected by the Chechen
president, as a bid to start to negotiate.
Iran, with Russia's assistance, is pressing ahead with the construction of a
heavy-water nuclear reactor, which theoretically could make fuel for a nuclear
bomb. Putin said in mid-February that Russia would continue helping Iran on the
US$800 million project, dismissing opposition from the US, the UK, France and
Germany.
In general the Bush-Putin meeting went off better than expected. Both sides are
reliant on good relations with the other. Putin knows that Washington is by far
Moscow's most important interlocutor, while the Kremlin is still the main one
for any US administration.
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AUTOMOBILES
Suzuki's 2004 sales in Russia leap 65%
Suzuki saw its automobile sales in Russia jump 65.3% in 2004, Interfax New
Agency reported recently.
The Moscow offices of Itochu Corp, Suzuki's official distributor in Russia, told
Interfax that official dealer sales came to 6,685 vehicles last year versus
4,044 the year before and 1,912 in 2002. The SUV Grand Vitara was Suzuki's
biggest seller in Russia in 2004, accounting for 50% of overall sales. Second
was the company's 'Liana' model car (32% of sales).
GAZ to send Turkey 4,000 automobiles in 2005
Gorky Automotive Works, the Nizhny Novgorod-based automaker GAZ, plans to ship
around 4,000 light trucks and buses based on its Sobol and GAZel models to
Turkey in 2005 under a contract signed late last November, company press
secretary, Sergei Lugovo, said recently, Interfax News Agency reported.
GAZ already shipped some 100 vehicles in December. Lugovoi said Turkey is
particularly interested in Sobol-based light trucks. GAZ is part of Ruspromavto.
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AVIATION & SPACE
Sukhoi records strong 2004
Russian firm Sukhoi, the country's major aircraft producer, posted profit of
45bn rubles (about US$1.6bn) in 2004, the company said in a statement, Interfax
News Agency reported recently.
The share of export products in the total sales volume totalled some 95%, the
company said.
Sukhoi's plants mostly manufacture military-purpose products, while the share of
civilian output in the total sales volume is about 5%, a Sukhoi official said.
In future, the share of civil aircraft will increase, including through
implementation of the Russian Regional Jet development project.
According to the official, the company's revenues from independent exports of
spare parts and servicing of earlier exported aircraft are growing. "The
volume of services provided in 2003 amounted to US$15m. Contracts worth a total
of US$135m were implemented in 2004, and our plan is to bring the volume of
services up to over US$150m in 2005," he said.
Sukhoi worked on 10 direct contracts on spare part supplies and aircraft
servicing in such countries as Algeria, Belarus, China, India and Kazakstan in
2004, the official added.
"Sukhoi expects to get at least 80% of the market of spare parts for
earlier supplied Su planes. The market is estimated at US$1bn for the next few
years," he said.
According to him, Sukhoi is number 28 on the list of the world's 100 leading
defence industry companies posted by Defence News. Experts say the company
accounts for 14% of global aircraft production and will account for 16% in 2015.
Sukhoi's products, including licensed and joint production, amount to 25% on the
global warplane market.
Moscow wants to create new air carrier
The Russian state-owned Pulkovo, the country's number three carrier, plans to
merge with smaller airline Rossiya later this year to form another air carrier,
government officials said, RBC reported recently.
Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Fradkov, is reported to have signed a resolution
defining the new status of Rossiya, which carries the president and senior
government officials, as well as commercial passengers. The merger is expected
to be completed within a year.
The resolution calls for Rossiya to transfer about 30 of its 41 jets to the
Kremlin, which will then hire pilots and crews from the airline on a contract
basis, the daily said. This scheme will make it possible to cut spending, noted
the news service. The new airline, tentatively called Soyuz, will get the
remainder of Rossiya's fleet, Pulkovo's 40-plus Tupolevs and Ilyushins, and the
licences and routes of both airlines. Pulkovo Airport, St Petersburg's only
commercial airport, which currently belongs to the eponymous airline, will be
spun off as a separate commercial entity. In the first 11 months of 2004 Pulkovo
carried 2.5m passengers, while Rossiya carried 578,000.
Its major competitors, Aeroflot and number two airline Sibir carried 6.3m and
3.5m, respectively. Other details of the proposed deal are not disclosed as yet.
Both Rossiya and Pulkovo have acting directors general, and there is no clear
indication of who will run the new company.
Space Agency green-lights plan for Q1 launches
The Russian Federal Space Agency has approved a plan for space launches in the
first quarter of 2005, agency press secretary, Vyacheslav Davidenko, said
recently, Interfax News Agency reported.
"Seven rockets will be launched in the first 3 months of the year 2005.
They will put 8 spacecraft and satellites into circumterrestrial orbits,"
he said. "Units of the Federal Space Agency and Space Troops are preparing
to launch Soyuz, Proton, RS-20 and Cosmos rockets from the Baikonur and Plesetsk
spaceports," Davidenko said.
Russia puts US satellite into orbit
The Proton-M carrier rocket put the AMS-12 foreign telecommunications satellite
into its designated orbit, Interfax News Agency reported.
The AMS-12 satellite will be used to provide television and telephone
communications services, transmit data to a large circle of users, create
corporate networks and for other telecommunications purposes. The satellite will
be in geostationary orbit at 37.5 degrees West, which will make it possible to
serve clients in South and North America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa.
Russian capital to host next ISS partners session
The next meeting of the space agency chiefs of the participants in the
International Space Station project will be held in Moscow, Russian Space Agency
spokesman, Vyacheslav Davidenko, said, Interfax News Agency reported.
"At their Montreal meeting, the heads of space agencies of participants in
the ISS project (Russia, US, EU, Canada, and Japan) accepted Russian Space
Agency head Anatoly Perminov's offer to conduct the next meeting in
Moscow," Davidenko said. The ISS multilateral coordination council is
working in Montreal at the moment. According to Davidenko, the date of the
Moscow meeting has not yet been set.
The space agency chiefs meeting in Montreal were to sign a cornerstone document
defining the further fate of the ISS, its construction deadline and operation,
as well as the participation of all partners in the project, he said.
Russia intends to raise the issue of modifying the procedure of financing its
Progress and Soyuz spacecraft launches, which after the US Space Shuttle tragedy
on February 1st, 2003, have been shouldering the burden of supporting the ISS
project.
Russian aircraft manufacturer signs major contract
The Nizhniy Novgorod Sokol aircraft construction factory has signed a contract
to deliver 45 M101-T multipurpose planes to the Vozdushnyye Transportnyye
Sistemy [VTS] leasing company, ITAR-TASS News Agency reported.
The agreement states that the planes will be deivered to the customer by the end
of 2007. The first eight planes will be delivered to VTS this autumn, the
aircraft factory's press service told ITAR-TASS.
According to Sokol's director general, Mikhail Shibayev, this is the first
contract for such a quantity of aircraft signed in the modern history of Russian
civilian aircraft construction. Working in partnership with the customer, the
factory will create a base for servicing and repairing the M-101T planes and
training flight and engineering staff.
In the Volga Federal District this project for building and maintaining modern
aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo between regions is seen as
crucial. According to Russian president's plenipotentiary representative in the
Volga Federal District, Sergey Kiriyenko, the contract "is the first step
on the path towards restoring air links between the towns of the Volga
district."
The M-101T is the first Russian high-speed multi-purpose aircraft with a
turbo-prop engine and pressurized cabin. It can be stationed in unsurfaced and
mountain airfields and fly at any time of day or night under the most difficult
climatic conditions, as test flights in various Russian regions, central Africa
and on the Arabian peninsula have shown.
Russian Burlak engine for IL-76 military aircraft ready for tests
The first new D-30KP-3 Burlak engine to be mounted on the IL-76 Candid military
transport aircraft will undergo bench tests in the near future, Interfax-AVN
Military News Agency web site reported.
"The engine prototype was submitted for bench tests in late February-early
March," the director general of the Saturn research and production
association, Yuriy Lastochkin, said at the Aero India 2005 air show.
"Another four engines, also designed for bench tests and development, will
have been manufactured before the end of the year," he said.
A total of nine engine prototypes are expected to be produced for research and
development. The last four of them will be designed for flight tests, Lastochkin
said.
According to him, the entire programme of D-30KP-3 bench tests will be completed
in the first or second quarter of 2006. At the end of the second quarter of 2007
the flight and certification tests are to be carried out.
Lastochkin noted that at the present time the fleet of IL-76s in service with
the Russian air force amounted to over 300 aircraft, and that the objective of
providing these aircraft with a contemporary and cheap power plant was of
paramount importance. "The modernization will make the aircraft operation
1.5 times cheaper due to reducing its fuel consumption and extending the service
life. Burlak will be cheap due to the fact that it will use up to 75 per cent of
units and components of mass-produced D-30KP-2 engines. Its thrust will also
increase," Lastochkin said.
He also said that the Indian air force had expressed its interest in the Burlak
power plant. "Given the composition of the national aircraft fleet, this
project is of considerable interest to India, while we will be able to expand
this engine's market," he said.
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BANKING
Sberbank sells Moscow bank stake to HVB, Nordea
Sberbank, Russia's biggest savings institution, sold its 2.16 per cent
interest in International Moscow Bank (IMB) to the HVB Group's Bayerische
Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG and the Nordea Group's Nordea Bank Finland pls, A
Sberbank and IMB joint statement said, Interfax News Agency reported.
The parties said Sberbank sold 833 shares to Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank and
917 shares to Nordea bank Finland. HVB now controls 47.402 per cent or 60,358
shares in IMB and Nordea Group has 22.406 per cent or 28,530 shares.
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CREDIT RATINGS
S&P joins peers in upgrading Russia's debt
Standard & Poor's recently raised its credit rating on Russia from
"junk" to investment grade in a move that brings S&P into line
with the other two leading ratings agencies, the Financial Times reported on
February 1st.
It is a big step forward in the rehabilitation of Russia in the eyes of
investors after it defaulted on its domestic debt in August 1998.
The upgrade prompted an immediate 8 basis point (hundredth of a percentage
point) fall in the yield on the benchmark 2030 sovereign bond.
S&P still has serious concerns about the political risks involved in
investing in Russia but the upgrade of the country's long-term foreign currency
rating reflects its strong financial position, the agency said.
Russia's one-notch upgrade from double B plus to triple B minus with a stable
outlook puts it on the lowest rung of the investment grade category. It widens
the range of institutions that can invest in the country's sovereign and
corporate debt and cuts the cost of borrowing.
"The upgrade reflects recent, crucial improvements in the government's debt
level and external liquidity," said Helena Hessel, S&P analyst.
"These improvements are so significant that they now outweigh the serious
and growing political risk that continues to be a key ratings constraint on
Russia."
Helped by a rising oil price, the Russian government became a net creditor at
the end of last year, with a net external asset position of almost 11 per cent
of current account receipts, compared with a net debtor position of more than 17
per cent a year earlier.
This was "an important rating consideration in the context of the continued
political institutional and structural weaknesses the country faces," said
Ms Hessel. "At this point, the financial flexibility afforded by the
government more than offsets these other challenges." The Russian
government's break-up of Yukos, the oil company, and its pursuit of VimpelCom, a
mobile phone company, for back taxes have dented investor confidence.
Tim Ash, emerging markets analyst at Bear Stearns, said the move was long
overdue. "The Russia financing position is simply so strong as to outweigh
concerns on the political/structural reform front," he said.
But some investors advised caution. John Cleary, chief investment officer at
Standard Asset Management, part of Standard Bank, said "My biggest worry is
that now that Russia is included in the benchmark emerging market debt indices,
there may be indiscriminate buying.
"There are good Russian companies issuing international bonds but there is
a lot of dross too. Corporate governance remains a worry in Russia. During the
last Russian crisis, many companies that no one had heard of before were issuing
debt."
Fitch Ratings raised Russia to investment grade in November after Moody's led
the way in October 2003.
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ENERGY
Russia and Uzbekistan push ahead with Central Asian gas transit plan
The Gazprom corporation has signed contracts to transit Central Asian gas across
Uzbekistan and to purchase Uzbek gas in 2005, RIA News Agency reported.
A Gazprom press statement said that the contracts were signed during a visit to
Uzbekistan by a company delegation headed by deputy chairmen of the board, Yuriy
Komarov, and Aleksandr Ryazanov.
"During the visit contracts were signed between Gazprom and the Uztransgaz
company for the transport of Central Asian gas across the Republic of Uzbekistan
and for the purchase of 5bn cubic metres of gas from Uzbekistan in 2005,"
the statement said.
The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in the gas sector between Russia
and Uzbekistan in the areas recorded in the Strategic Cooperation Agreement. In
particular, they have decided to create joint working groups to step up work on
the Central Asia-Centre development project, draft a long-term contract for gas
transit across Uzbekistan, and to prepare a production-sharing agreement to
develop deposits in Uzbekistan's Ustyurt region.
Uzbekistan's gas reserves are over 6,250bn cubic metres. Its current output is
55bn cubic metres a year, of which 5bn are exported to Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan. It started sending gas to Russia in May 2003, 1.27bn cubic metres in
that year and about 7bn last year.
The Strategic Cooperation Agreement between Uztransgaz and Gazprom was signed on
17 December 2002 and covers in particular long-term purchases of Uzbek gas for
the period 2003 to 2012, a role for Gazprom in developing Uzbek gas deposits on
production-sharing terms, the joint development of a gas transit infrastructure
in Uzbekistan, and the transport of Central Asian gas across the republic.
Joint work to develop Uzbekistan's gas industry is part of the Central Asia-Centre
project on the reconstruction and expansion of existing and also the building of
new gas transit facilities in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia,
so that Central Asian gas can be transported across these republics in the
amounts required by international agreements.
Russian state oil firm supplies first oil to China
Rosneft has delivered its first oil supplies to China. "The first tanks
have already been sent," Rosneft president Sergey Bogdanchikov said in
Khabarovsk, ITAR-TASS News Agency reported.
Bogdanchikov said that the company intends to supply 4m tonnes this year in
accordance with a trading contract and 8.9m tonnes a year over the next five
years.
"Russia and China have signed an intergovernmental agreement under which
Russia has undertaken to supply 10m tonnes of oil to China by rail in 2005. From
next year supplies will rise to 15m tonnes," Bogdanchikov said. Reserves
are large enough to implement the programme, he added.
Moscow and Damascus discuss oil cooperation
Opportunities for Russian-Syrian cooperation in the oil industry will be
discussed during a visit to Russia by Syrian President, Bashar al-Asad, the
Syrian president told students in Moscow's International Relations Institute (MGIMO)
recently, New Europe reported.
"We want to explore and extract oil reserves together with Russian
companies," he said. "Syria still hopes that the situation in Iraq
will stabilise and that it will be necessary for us to start joint projects with
Russia in this country also," he said. The Syrian president said that he
plans to sign two fuel and energy cooperation agreements while in Moscow. Al-Asad
said, "The setting up of free trade zones between our countries may become
an important issue."
Grigoryev says Russia mulling oil branch pipe to China
The Russian government's decision on building an oil pipeline system connecting
Taishet in the Irkutsk region, Skovorodino in the Amur region, and Perevoznaya
Bay in the Maritime (Primorye) territory does not exclude the possibility of
building a branch pipe to China, Sergei Grigoryev, vice president of the state
oil transportation company Transneft, said, Interfax News Agency reported.
"What matters above all for us is that a principled decision has been made,
and now we will launch a specific feasibility study and begin the construction.
A decision on building a branch to China will be made in the course of the
project implementation," Grigoryev said.
It is planned to build a railway loading station in Skovorodino, from which oil
will be delivered by rail to Nakhodka at the first stage, and this would
facilitate to transport oil from Skovorodino to China, Grigoryev said.
"The distance between Skovorodino and China is 50kms, and the construction
of this branch will not cost too much," he said.
Bigger LUKoil output helps double 2004 Q3 profit
LUKoil, Russia's biggest oil producer, doubled third-quarter profit by ramping
up exports amid higher oil prices, the company announced on January 11th. Net
income increased to €1.4bn from €701m, in the year-ago period, LUKoil was
quoted as saying by Interfax News Agency. Sales rose 62% to €9.8bn.
LUKoil produces almost a fifth of the oil in Russia, the world's second biggest
crude supplier behind Saudi Arabia. The company is diversifying from its west
Siberian production base. LUKoil is increasing sales to China, partly replacing
YUKOS Oil Co, which is being dismantled by the Russian government in a €20bn
tax dispute.
ConocoPhillips, the third largest US oil company, last year bought at least 10%
of LUKoil. In late September the Houston-based ConocoPhillips won in the auction
for the sale of the LUKoil state share package of 7.6% purchasing it for €2bn
and announced the intention to buy 2.4% more. ConocoPhillips even signed an
agreement with the Russian Fund of Federal Property (RFFI) that opens the way to
bringing the share of the American company in the LUKoil authorised capital up
to 20%. The agreement is considered as an example of mutually advantageous
cooperation between Russia and the United States in the energy sphere.
US President George W Bush at talks with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov
on January 12th mentioned the successful deal on the purchase of LUKoil shares
by ConocoPhillips. LUKoil results are "a nice surprise at the start of the
year," said Aivaras Abromavicius, who co-manages €800m in Eastern
European funds for East Capital asset Management in Stockholm. According to a
survey, LUKoil's profit was greater than the median estimate of €1.13bn.
Excise and export tariffs almost doubled to €1.47bn, LUKoil said. The producer
raised oil extraction 8.2% to 1.72m barrels a day in the first 9 nine months of
2004. Crude oil exports rose by a quarter to average 925,000 barrels a day in
the period, the company said.
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FOOD & DRINK
Cargill to build Tula oil plant
US company, Cargill, has started to build its first oil extraction plant in
Russia, in which it plans to invest over US$60m, Interfax News Agency reported.
The company said in a statement that the plant is being built at the Cargill
industrial complex in Efremov, Tula region. The plant will have a special
bottling line for sunflower, rape and maize oil, and also a line to package palm
and coconut oils. Construction should be completed by February 2006. Dominique
Le Doeuil, manager of the company's starch and sweetener department in Russia,
said that by placing the plant in Efremov, the company will be able to benefit
from existing infrastructure and from good relations with the Tula regional
administration.
Russia gears up for Guinness beer production in July
The Russian subsidiary of Heineken NV said recently that it will create a
partnership with Diageo Plc to produce and distribute Guinness in Russia, AFX
News Service reported.
From July 1st, Heineken will become the authorised importer and distributor of
the Guinness and Kilkenny brands in Russia, the report said. It will start local
production of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout under licence in St Petersburg before
July.
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FOREIGN ECONOMIC COOPERATION
Moscow and Damascus boost economic and military ties
Syrian leader, Bashar Assad, and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, signed a
raft of documents at the Kremlin recently to revive flagging economic ties and
deepen military cooperation, New Europe has reported.
Projects aim to reverse a slump that reduced the volume of bilateral trade from
around US$1bn in 1992 to some 210m in 2004.
Russia will also write off 73% of Syria's debts amounting to US$13.4bn, Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin said after the consultations. In a joint declaration on
friendship and cooperation, Moscow and Damascus also agreed to "develop
traditional cooperation in the military-technical sphere with consideration of
mutual interests and international obligations."
But Syria's acquisition of modern Russian missiles was not a topic, President
Assad said earlier, despite Israeli claims that a major arms deal is in the
works. The leaders sought new impetus for ties that flourished in previous
decades.
"Syria is a country that had special and extremely warm relations with the
Soviet Union and with Russia today," Putin told Assad, who arrived in
Moscow recently on a 4-day visit.
Flanked by their ministers for foreign affairs, economics and energy as well as
military representatives, the presidents discussed terrorism, the conflict in
Iraq and the Middle East peace process, in which Assad said Russia "bears a
great responsibility" as a sponsor. "Were it not for your position the
situation (in the Middle East) would have been entirely different," he
stressed.
Israel has been closely watching Russia's relations with Syria in recent weeks
after evidence allegedly surfaced of preparations to supply advanced missile
systems.
The Russian weapons reportedly included Iskander-E surface-to-surface missiles
capable of striking any Israeli target from Syria. However, the Russian
government says none of the missiles will be sold to Damascus.
Igla SA-18 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles able to destroy planes and
helicopters were also part of an arms package, according to Israeli authorities
that accuse Syria of supporting terrorists and arming Lebanese Hezbollah
guerrillas.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Russia should become IT leader by 2010: Reyman
A comprehensive programme aimed at creating a network of Silicon Valley-type
centres in Russia to develop information and high technology products for
exports is crucial to making the country a leader on the global market for high
technologies, Information Technologies and Communications Minister, Leonid
Reyman, said, Interfax News Agency reported.
Information technologies account for more than 10% of leading countries' GDP
(gross domestic product), while the volume of the global information
technologies market stands at US$915bn, making it larger than the world oil
sector, Reyman said. Russia accounts for a mere 0.2% of the global market for
information technologies, he said.
The 2010 programme will help support high technology companies' efforts to gain
access to the global market, remove administrative barriers and step up the
drafting of new copyright laws to encourage investments in Russia's information
technology sector, Reyman said.
Providing technoparks with a special economic zone status and introducing
favourable customs and tax regulations for them will give an impetus to the
sector, the minister said.
Among other measures, the programme envisions setting up a university to train
personnel for IT companies and financing training courses for teachers, he said.
It is also planned to establish a commercial venture fund to finance information
technology projects, he said. "The state should show its long-term interest
in this area, thus encouraging more investments," the minister said.
A total of 18bn rubles in budget funds will be invested in the programme in
2005-2010, Reyman said. All documents dealing with technoparks will be drafted
in 2005, while the first technoparks and the university will be started in
2006-2007, he said. "This programme is expected to raise the volume of
Russia's information technology market to US$40bn, bringing high technologies'
share of GDP to 5%," he said.
After Russia becomes an IT leader, Western companies will start to sign
contracts with Russian IT companies, he said. This will help meet the goal of
doubling GDP in 10 years and lower the country's dependence on its raw materials
sector, Reyman said.
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MINERALS & METALS
Mechel pays out US$411m for Yakutugol
Metallurgy concern Mechel Steel Group, Russia's fifth largest steelmaker, has
acquired a blocking stake of 25 per cent plus one share in Far East coal company
Yakutugol through its 100 per cent subsidiary, Little Echo Invest Corp, a Mechel
press release said, Interfax News Agency reported.
Little Echo Invest Corp, which is an affiliate of the Mechel steel group,
offered 11.577bn roubles (US$411.12m) for the state block of shares, more than
three times the starting price set at 3.618bn roubles (US$128.48). The company
was transformed into a joint-stock company in December 2002. The company's
authorised capital of 4.04bn roubles (US$143.47m) is divided into 3.93m common
shares and 113,187 preferred shares with a par value of 1,000 roubles (US$35.51)
each.
Yakutugol produces mainly coking coal, but also thermal coal, at open pits and
underground mines, according to Interfax. The company's production amounts to 9m
tonnes of coal per year and revenue in the first nine months of 2004 amounted to
7.28bn roubles (about US$262.3m). The company's coal reserves, based on Russian
standards, are estimated at about 300m tonnes. The company sells mainly in the
Pacific region - Japan, South Korea and Taiwan - under long-term contracts.
Russia boosts 2004 11-mo iron ore exports 8%
Russia increased its iron ore exports 8% year-on-year to 17.55m tonnes in
January-November 2004. Sources at Rudprom, which unites most of Russia's ore
producing enterprises, said that 7.65m tonnes of concentrate had been exported
(13.1% up), 8.58m tonnes of pellets (7.6% up), 455,000 tonnes of agglomerated
ore (15.4% down) and 871,000 tonnes of iron-content briquettes (3.7% down),
Interfax News Agency reported.
14.35m tonnes of iron ore was exported to countries outside the Commonwealth of
Independent States, representing 81.8% of all Russia's iron ore exports for the
period. That included 6.17m tonnes of concentrate, 7.77m tonnes of pellets and
402,000 tonnes of iron-content briquettes shipped to non-CIS countries. Russia
increased production of commodity iron ore 5.8% year-on-year to 88.67m tonnes in
January-November 2004.
Usmanov pays out US$1.7bn for iron ore mine
Russian billionaire, Alisher Usmanov, bought Mikhailovsky GOK, the country's
second iron ore mine, for US$1.7bn, adding to his Russian steel assets after
selling Corus Group shares last year, New Europe reported recently.
Usmanov, a Russian citizen who was born in Uzbekistan, owns majority stakes in
Russia's Lebedinsky Iron Ore Mine, Nosta Steel and Oskolosky Special Steel, and
a 35% stake in Alinogorsky Iron Ore Mine.
He and Vasily Anisimov, a former owner of aluminium maker SUAL, bought 97% of
Mikhailovsky from Boris Ivanishvili, who controls industrial holding group
Metalloinvest.
"Mr Usmanov bought Mikhailovsky, he is looking for more opportunities this
year too, although everything depends on market conditions and a host of other
factors," said Valery Dikevich, Usmanov's Moscow-based spokesman. Credit
Suisse First Boston sold a £214m (US$412m) stake in Corus Group on Usmanov's
behalf on December 14th.
The bank sold 400m shares at 53.5p each for Gallagher Holdings, his investment
vehicle, after Corus shares rose 78% last year.
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Moscow Cablecom unveils deal with Columbus Nova
US company, Moscow CableCom Corp, which owns telecoms assets in Russia,
announced recently that it completed a US$51m financing transaction with
Columbus Nova Capital and its affiliates pursuant to which the Company issued
4,500,000 shares of its newly authorised Series B Convertible Preferred Stock,
to Columbus Nova for US$22m, before transaction costs, currently estimated to
total between US$3.2m and US$3.5m, New Europe reported recently.
The company said in a statement that it also issued warrants to Columbus Nova to
acquire an additional 8,283,000 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock
at US$5.00 per share. In addition, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, ComCor-TV
(CCTV), a Moscow-based hybrid-coaxial fibre pay-TV and internet service
provider, received US$18.5m of proceeds from Columbus Nova pursuant to the terms
of a US$28.5m 5-year term debt facility. Proceeds from the debt facility will be
used to pay loan fees totalling US$612,500, and to pay off a US$4m bridge loan
that was extended by Columbus Nova to CCTV to facilitate operational growth in
advance of the closing of the financing transaction.
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TRANSPORT
Russian Railways to invest in Eastern Siberian road
OAO Russian Railways plans to invest over 3bn roubles in developing Eastern
Siberian Railway infrastructure due to growth in oil transportation, a source in
the company's public relations department said, Interfax News Agency reported.
Russian Railways Vice President, Sergei Kozyryev, said that to ensure growing
volumes of transportation on the Irkutsk - Petrovsky Zavod section, it is
necessary to spend 3.191m roubles on repairing a land bank, including 2.577bn
rouble on strengthening the bank at Lake Baikal.
Russian Railways plan to transport 18m tonnes of oil along the Eastern Siberian
Railway in 2005, including 3m tonnes through the Naushki border crossing to
China, and 5.5m tonnes through the Zabaikalsk border crossing.
Based on preliminary figures, oil transportation is forecasted to increase to
24.5m tonnes in 2006, including 5.5m tonnes through Naushki and 9.5m tonnes
through Zabaikalsk.
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