MOSCOW, September 18 (RIA Novosti) Russia's religious leaders about Pope's speech / New winds blowing in Havana / Iran to buy five Russian passenger airliners / Gazprom ready to buy Russian stake in TNK-BP / Security services to clamp down on banking sector
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Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Russia's religious leaders about Pope's speech
The address by Benedict XVI, in which he quoted Byzantine Emperor Paleolog's criticism of Islam, has provoked indignation in the Islamic world and encouraged Russia's religious leaders to speak up.
Russian Muslims reminded the Pope of his responsibility and the international importance of his speeches, while the Orthodox and Jewish clergy thought the reaction of Muslims over-emotional.
Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, head of the Central Muslim Board of Russia, said religious leaders should be more careful with their words in current conditions and in an "extremely complicated world situation".
The Russian Council of Muftis issued a special statement saying an academic address by a person "vested with high responsibility and exerting influence on people" should be free of "ill-considered formulas and quotations".
Considering Islamic outrage justified, the Council called on Russian Muslims to "regard the situation calmly and with consideration," just as in the case of the cartoon scandal.
Orthodox Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk told the popular daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the reaction of Muslims to the Pope's address was too sensitive. The concept of jihad the Pope referred to "is more a relic of the thinking of the Middle Ages than an element of modern Islam," he said.
Deacon Andrei Kurayev, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy, said the Islamic world's reaction to the quotation from "a well known Byzantine source" by "Professor Ratzinger" was "inadequate".
"This is [part of] history, and to develop good relations between Islam and Christianity we should remember history, and not have a fit of hysterics," he said.
Rabbi Zinovy Kogan of the Russian Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations, told the newspaper that Benedict XVI "made a mistake" and chose "an inappropriate quotation" to illustrate his idea, but that Muslims should "be tolerant and forgiving".
"A weak person easily flies into a rage," he said. "I hope Russian Muslims will show more restraint than the Muslims of poor countries."
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
New winds blowing in Havana
The 14th conference of the non-aligned movement has ended in Cuba. Its documents highlighted the fight against poverty, illegal migration, racism and nationalism, and include a condemnation of terrorism. Its declaration rejected the use of George W. Bush's favorite term, the "axis of evil".
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, whose reform initiatives met with approval, indicated he wanted to be one of the movement's chief ideological pundits.
Belarus, the only European country outside the Council of Europe, and the only one in Europe that is a member of the non-aligned movement, is becoming one of its most active members.
The conference also saw attempts to politicize some of the issues. A number of Latin American countries tried to present non-alignment as an alternative to a unipolar world dominated by the United States.
But most states, apparently unwilling to quarrel with Washington, chose to downplay them, and anti-American rhetoric never found its way into official documents.
Nevertheless, to judge from Latin America's influence in the movement, the forum reaffirmed Fidel Castro's phrase: "New winds are blowing over this hemisphere." With Cuba set to take over its presidency soon, everyone is looking to the movement's growing activity.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad maintained a low profile at the forum. The joke was that he was keeping his "scare tactics" for a UN General Assembly session.
Washington took no notice of the forum. The "guest" status extended to the Americans failed to suit them.
One of the forum's meetings was described as historic. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to resume a peace dialogue at the deputy foreign minister level.
Vremya Novostei
Iran to buy five Russian passenger airliners
On Saturday, the leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co. (IFK) signed a preliminary contract on the sale of five Tupolev Tu-204-100 jetliners to Iran. There are plans to finalize the agreement by December 15, 2006, and to supply the planes in late 2008, Alexander Rubtsov, the company's general director, told Vremya Novostei.
Due to an embargo on U.S. aircraft deliveries, Iran remains one of the few countries to operate numerous Soviet- and Russian-made civil airplanes, mostly Tupolev Tu-154 airliners. Starting in 2005, Tehran has been negotiating the purchase of the more advanced Tu-204-100 medium-range airliners with Russia.
Rubtsov said he signed the $180-million contract Sunday to supply five Tu-204-100s to Iran Air Tour, a division of Iran's largest national carrier, Iran Air.
Unlike other IFK export deals, this Iranian contract will not offer any state financial guarantees.
IFK has concluded two contracts with Cuba's state-owned airline, Cubana de Aviacion, on the sale of four Ilyushin Il-96-300 and three Tu-204 aircraft.
Other preliminary contracts envision the delivery of three Il-96-400 and four Tu-204 planes to Syrian airlines, and five Il-96-400 planes to Zimbabwe. The paper's sources said off the record that a contract with Zimbabwe may be signed in the next 30 days.
The leasing company IFK, which was established in 1999, mostly receives Il-96 planes from the Voronezh-based VASO aircraft plant, and Tu-204 jetliners from the Aviastar-SP enterprise in Ulyanovsk. The state owns a controlling stake in IFK.
Vedomosti
Gazprom ready to buy Russian stake in TNK-BP
Two Gazprom top managers told the business daily that the Russian natural gas monopoly was interested in buying a stake in Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP held by Russian shareholders.
Half of the company is owned by oil major BP, and the other half is controlled by Alfa Group and a consortium of Access Industries and Renova Group.
No specific negotiations have yet been held, one of the Gazprom officials said, since the deal can only be struck one year from now - under a TNK-BP agreement, none of its shareholders can sell their stakes until late 2007.
The official said Gazprom's top management had discussed a potential deal with the Russian co-owners of TNK-BP, who had said they were not against selling their stakes to Gazprom.
"This would be a bargain for our company's oil business," the Gazprom top manager said. "We could double oil output to 80 million metric tons a year, and Gazprom's capitalization would increase by tens of billions of dollars."
Russian shareholders of TNK-BP confirmed that the deal was being negotiated with Gazprom.
The energy giant would only buy the entire 50% stake, the Gazprom official said. Judging by the current capitalization of TNK-BP, half of the oil company would cost up to $20-25 billion; as of September 15 TNK-BP's capitalization on the RTS was $42.06 billion.
When the moratorium on the stakes sale expires, the value may leap, said Stephen Dashevsky, Aton brokerage's chief analyst. Gazprom's oil business may reach the size of Russian oil companies LUKoil and Rosneft, which will boost the company's capitalization by 10-15%. Dashevsky is confident Gazprom will be able to afford a $25-30 billion loan.
TNK-BP Ltd. was established in 2003. In 2005, it produced 75.35 million metric tons of oil. TNK-BP International's net profit calculated to US GAAP was $4.744 billion. As of last Friday, the company's capitalization was $39.3 billion.
Novye Izvestia
Security services to clamp down on banking sector
After Andrei Kozlov, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, was killed September 13, President Vladimir Putin demanded that prosecutors, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) reinforce their control over the banking sector.
Experts fear that this might hurt not the banks that violate the law, but rather their clients.
In the past few months, the possibility of granting security services access to confidential banking information has been discussed as part of efforts to prevent money laundering and monitor under-the-counter wages. Many people interpreted this statement by the president as a final decision in favor of the security structures. Experts are wary of the idea.
"Vladimir Putin's statement was very short and not entirely clear," said Pavel Medvedev, first deputy chairman of the lower house's Committee on Lending Organizations.
"I hope he meant a single databank of stolen passports, which are the main instruments for tax evasion. To create the illusion of a profit shortfall, a front company is paid to open an account using a stolen passport. The firm then returns the money to the client, for a commission. Andrei Kozlov was vigorously fighting these crooks," Medvedev said.
Medvedev said interference by the security services in other ways would be unjustified and even harmful.
"All Russian security structures have claimed the right of access to banking records at one time or another. I hope that he [Putin] will not give them too much authority in this regard," he said.
Natalia Borzova, deputy CEO for lending institutions at FinExpertiza, an audit-consulting group, is even more skeptical about the security services' "contribution" to banking control.
"There are enough control and monitoring agencies in the banking sector," she said. "Why add one more? It would be better for the FSB and the Interior Ministry to deal with their direct responsibilities, checking addresses where fly-by-night firms are registered. Besides, security structures have the right to subpoena documents and request the information they need."
