MOSCOW, April 5 (RIA Novosti) More limits on NGOs/ Opinion poll on protests/ Threat to Gazprom monopoly/ Gazprom-Belarus dynamic/ Hollywood battles piracy
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Gazeta
Government to further limit rights of NGOs in Russia
For the second time in the past few months, the government is attempting to limit the rights of non-government organizations in Russia. Moscow-based United Russia activists have proposed legislation stating that a public organization be considered established only after registering with the state, not after holding a constitutive meeting.
Once the initiative is approved by the Moscow city legislature, it will be submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, which is also controlled by centrist party United Russia. After the federal laws are amended, there will be a legal basis for abolishing public organizations that have not been registered as legal entities, in other words, thousands of NGOs.
The Russian government first limited the rights of public organizations under the new Law On Non-Government Organizations that came into force on January 10, 2006 with harsh criticism from the West. The leadership of the Council of Europe labeled the amendments on government control of NGOs and criteria for their abolition as "excessively strict."
Sergei Mitrokhin, head of the Moscow branch of liberal party Yabloko and deputy of the Moscow Duma, called the United Russia initiative "odious" and said it was "a request for absolute government control."
Yevgeny Ikhlov, head of the information and analysis service of the For Human Rights movement, also underscored the absurdity of the new demand placed on NGOs that are not registered as legal entities. He cited the Common Cause initiative group, an organization founded in 1997 that includes many prominent human rights activists - Yelena Bonner, Lyudmila Alexeyeva and Sergei Kovalyov. "Why should they need state registration and accountability if they only meet in the Sakharov Museum two or three times a month?" Ikhlov asked.
Kommersant
Protest sentiments on the rise in Russia
A recent nationwide survey conducted by a major Russian pollster found that nearly half of the country thought mass protests against the decline in living standards were "likely." VTsIOM (the All-Russia Center for the Study of Public Onion) found that more than a third of respondents said they were ready to join such protests, but researchers said the Paris scenario would not be played out in Russia.
VTsIOM head Valery Fyodorov said the declaration by respondents that they were ready to protest was "just words." "The high expectations of mass [protest] actions point to the general mood in society," he said. According to Fyodorov, unlike the French, Russians do not have a history of "grassroots organization."
He said there should be "an active minority" in society that would turn "passive expectations into action." Moreover, he did not rule out "an explosive growth" of large-scale protests in regions where housing and communal tariffs would not grow gradually, by 10%-15% a year, but rapidly and several-fold. He said that if the authorities did not revise their policies after the demonstrations, the people would be unlikely to resort to such actions again, and instead "will think about adjusting to the new conditions."
The political opposition was not puzzled by Fyodorov's conclusions. Vladimir Ryzhkov, a member of the lower house of parliament and co-chairman of the Republican Party of Russia, said the opposition found it difficult to harness the protest sentiments of society because of an "information blockade." He said it was hard to publish "even a paid announcement for an upcoming demonstration."
Ivan Melnikov, deputy chairman of the central committee of the Communist Party, said the 15% of the public that was aware of the opposition's role in organizing protests was "a good figure for modern times." "This means that political consciousness is awakening in society," he said. "When it has fully awoken, it will put everything in the right places."
Gazeta.ru
Turkmenistan set to break up Gazprom monopoly
On Tuesday, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an agreement on the annual delivery of 30 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas to China over the next 30 years following the completion of the Turkmenistan-China pipeline in 2009.
Experts said Russian gas giant Gazprom should join the ambitious deal in order to minimize possible losses. They said the contract could seriously hurt Russia's interests since it had planned to buy Turkmen gas as well.
It appears that Central Asia may start drifting away from Moscow in favor of closer relations with the Asia-Pacific region, first and foremost, China. "The Chinese gas pipeline is as important for Turkmenistan as the North European Gas Pipeline is for Gazprom," Mikhail Korchemkin, managing director of East European Gas Analysis, told the paper. "Russia is becoming a very inconvenient and expensive transit country, and I believe that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will soon follow suit."
Alexei Gromov, director of gas industry research at the Institute of Natural Monopolies, said it took $2-$3 to produce 1,000 cubic meters of Turkmen gas, whereas West Siberian gas production costs were $12-$13. "East Siberian and Far Eastern gas production costs will be even higher because of local climate conditions and the need for additional gas purification," he said.
This considerable price gap would allow China to pressure Russian authorities on the issue of gas prices, experts said. Beijing insists on paying $70-$80 per 1,000 cubic meters, whereas Russia hopes to charge at least $140-$150.
Gromov said Gazprom should immediately begin implementing the Russian-Chinese agreements on the delivery of West Siberian gas along the Altai pipeline, which is scheduled to open in 2011, and that it should join the Chinese-Turkmen project. "This is the only way to minimize possible losses from the Chinese-Turkmen gas contract," he said.
Gazeta, Vremya Novostei
Gazprom recognizes market status of Belarus
Mindful of its Ukrainian fiasco, Gazprom has launched its bid for the Belarusian gas transit system well in advance - exactly nine months before it will begin delivering gas to Belarus at new prices. On Tuesday, Alexander Ryazanov, deputy head of the concern's board, promised to triple gas prices in 2007 if Minsk barred Gazprom from "its gas transit and gas distribution infrastructure and direct sales of gas to consumers."
Outwardly, Gazprom's radical decision looks to be politically beneficial for both the monopoly and officials in Moscow. Until now, the energy giant, and through it the Russian authorities, has been accused of a non-market approach. For its friend Belarus, led by the "last dictator in Europe," Gazprom has kept prices at an invariably low level, one that no longer exists on any market (except the Russian domestic market). For "disloyal" partners, like Ukraine, Moldova or Georgia, it has sharply driven up prices.
The news of a massive price hike (from the current $46.68 per 1,000 cu m) came as a shock to Minsk, which, although professing readiness to accept higher prices for Russian gas, did not seem to have a clear view of the monopoly's actual claims. The new prices will eat up nearly $2 billion of the Belarusian budget.
Yaroslav Romanchuk, a leader in the United Civil Party of Belarus, said Russia had more effective leverage against Belarus than it did with Ukraine. About 35% of Belarusian exports are refined Russian oil products. And if Moscow cuts back on oil deliveries to Belarusian refineries, the country is guaranteed to experience a budgetary and financial crisis. Besides, Belarusian enterprises are already paying the European price for electricity, 7.5 cents per kWh, and are hardly likely to be able to bear a fresh jump in energy prices.
Romanchuk said that with gas prices rising to at least $100, 3%-5% of Belarus' GDP would be trimmed off the economy and many Belarusian products would become uncompetitive.
Vedomosti
Pressure on Hollywood to sell cheap DVDs in Russia
Universal Pictures Rus, a Russian multimedia publisher and distributor, is changing the system of sales in the country: new films on DVD will be released sooner, and sold at a lower price. Large Hollywood film companies may follow suit, since the sale of cheaper licensed DVDs may help to fight pirates, who are the first to make and sell new films.
Company director general Yegor Borisov said about 300 million counterfeit DVDs were made in Russia in 2005, compared to 21 million legal copies. He assessed the market for licensed goods at $200 million and of pirated goods at several billion dollars. This year, 500-600 million DVDs are expected to be made in Russia, the overwhelming majority of them counterfeit.
Marina Trushina, director general of Warner Home Video for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, said: "Universal Pictures has pioneered the idea of selling DVDs very cheaply [for about 150 rubles, or $5.42] and with a very short delay [four weeks] after the premiere." "The sales of pirated copies [at 100 rubles or $3.61] have dropped by 60-70%."
A two-tier approach to making legal DVDs - first an expensive version with five-channel sound and additional material, costing 300-500 rubles or $11-$18, and then an economy version costing 60-150 rubles or $2.5-$6 - could reduce the activity of video pirates.
Long periods of up to four to six months between the premiere and the DVD release encourage piracy, said Mikhail Chupov, the head of the leading Russian information security agency Informzashchita.
"Pirated copies are on sale a week after the premiere, or even on the same night," Borisov said.
When a licensed product is offered on the same conditions, this will discourage people from buying counterfeit goods, said Vyacheslav Dobychin, the director of Videoservice, an official distributor of Disney and Sony.
Universal's idea may be good, but not entirely good, say producers. Marina Trushina said the margin of sellers of pirated goods was still higher than that of the sellers of legal but cheaper items. Besides, Universal's plan is designed only for the largest cities because distribution networks are underdeveloped in the regions. "Cheap DVDs will simply not reach buyers," Chupov said.
