MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) Kremlin intentionally cuts 2007 Duma election campaign/ New Russian president will have to steer between different values/ Gazprom to reduce investor profits in Sakhalin-1 project/ PSA Peugeot Citroen plans to sell 300,000 cars a year in Russia/ Statistics service will have access to corporate records
Kommersant
Kremlin intentionally cuts 2007 Duma election campaign
President Vladimir Putin's decree setting a date for the State Duma elections was finally published today. The Kremlin probably delayed announcing the start of the election campaign to shorten the length.
The president was in no hurry to sign the decree, eventually releasing it on September 2, the latest date allowed by law, which states it should be signed no earlier than 110 days and no later than 90 prior to voting. By signing it at the last minute, Putin cut the campaign term by 2.5 weeks.
The Kremlin must have made a point of shortening the parliamentary campaign after the 1999 Duma voting. Amendments adopted in the summer of 2003 officially cut the federal election campaign from 150 to 110 days. Another amendment was pushed through by the Presidential Executive Office in the spring of 2005, cutting the time for media canvassing to a mere 28 days. The canvassing period had not been precisely defined prior to that, and depended only on how quickly a party submitted the registration documents to the Central Election Commission.
A high-ranking Kremlin source confirmed that the Kremlin was trying to cut the election campaign on purpose. "Yes, we are trying for the shortest possible time," the source told the Kommersant correspondent, however denied that it was done in the interests of one particular party, United Russia, for example. The source dismissed the suggestion as groundless.
Representatives of some parties think the Kremlin is seeking to cut the Duma campaign to prevent any scandals. "They want to round it up as fast as they can, they are dead scared of the opposition speaking out and telling the public what a mess they are in. And they are all the more scared of some local version of the 'orange revolution' in other CIS countries," said KPRF Secretary Vadim Solovyov.
"Evidently, they are doing it in order to carry out a dubious operation 'elections' as soon as possible," said Eduard Limonov, a member of The Other Russia coalition.
"The Kremlin is happy with the current election ratings of all the parties, and is trying to 'mothball' the situation. From this perspective, the shorter the campaign, the better," said Yevgeny Minchenko, the Director of the International Institute of Political Analysis.
Vremya Novostei
New Russian president will have to steer between different values
As far as Russia's next president is concerned, many Russians agree with the well-known article written by jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Left Turn, and the widespread view that the left-wingers considers the current head of state to be left-leaning, and some of the right-wingers, right-leaning. According to experts, a new president, just like the incumbent one, will have to steer a course between different ideological values.
A poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) in 153 cities of 46 Russian regions, revealed that 52% of those surveyed are convinced that the next head of state should be one who believes in social justice and caring for all underprivileged sections of the population. Surprisingly, a pro-market president gained a high percentage - in the view of 20% of those interviewed a right-wing politician should take over the helm to support effective and competitive business. As many as 9% consider that the new president should pursue a different course, while 19% were hesitant in their opinion.
"Putin is neither right nor left, said Vitaly Ivanov, deputy general director of the Center for Current Politics. "Rightists in this country are often confused with liberals. Putin's policy is an astute mixture of right, left, and liberal elements." According to the expert, the explanation lies in life itself, not in the incumbent's personal desire to embrace everything or his ideological non-identification: "Life is more complex than any ideology. In practice, one has to make decisions that fit some or other ideological matrix - left, right or liberal."
In Ivanov's view, "a new president, whatever he may declare, will be forced to follow a mixed policy - on some things it will be a leftist course and one concerned with populist decisions, and on others, he will look to more strategic ways." Anyone replacing Putin will have to fit into the existing configuration.
"Actually, for all his socially Leftist phrases, Putin remains a believer in the market system," said Alexander Konovalov, president of the Institute of Strategic Estimates. "Is he a man who believes in democratic values? I very much doubt it. Historically, Russia has always been a collective-minded and leftist country. Add to this the frustration of the period when we started and failed to finish the building of a market."
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Gazprom to reduce investor profits in Sakhalin-1 project
Vladimir Kozlov, head of the Sakhalin office of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, openly confirmed Gazprom's claim to all gas produced in the Sakhalin-1 project. Therefore, the expectations of those companies, which hoped to gain large profits under the product sharing agreement to develop the oil and gas resources on the island's shelf, are likely to be frustrated.
The Gazprom manager said that until 2016 gas from the Sakhalin-1 project would be the only source of gas for Russia's Far East. According to Gazprom's estimates, the Far East and the Trans-Baikal area will require 13 billion cubic meters of gas until 2010, 16 billion by 2015, and 19.2 billion by 2020. Experts say that these figures are overstated, as the only large domestic gas consumer in the region is the Khabarovsk Territory which needs 3 to 4 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
If Gazprom succeeds, the investors in the Sakhalin-1 project - U.S.'s Exxon Neftegaz Ltd. and Japan's SODECO with a 30% stake each, and India's ONGC and Russia's Rosneft, with 20% each - will be unable to export gas under the production sharing agreement, but will instead have to supply it to Gazprom.
"Most probably, Gazprom will offer the consortium a higher price than $50 per 1,000 cubic meters, the average price in Russia, on the condition that it buys the gas immediately," said Irina Fyurst, an expert with the 2K Audit Business Consultations company. "Most probably, the consortium members will agree to these terms, since it is better to sell gas to Gazprom than not to sell it at all. Of course, this is a far cry from the $250 the partners in the Sakhalin-1 project could get exporting gas to Asia-Pacific markets, but the companies will have guaranteed gas purchases."
The expert thinks that Gazprom is likely to get approval from Exxon Neftegaz, the project operator, by offering assistance to Exxon in LNG supplies from the Sakhalin-2 project. Russian state-run oil company Rosneft, which will become the main supplier of energy resources to China, is unlikely to resist Gazprom's plan either: it has enough projects to compensate for any losses from Sakhalin-1. In addition, it is quite possible that there are some mutual agreements on the Sakhalin-3 project, which Rosneft and Gazprom have yet to divide.
Vedomosti
PSA Peugeot Citroen plans to sell 300,000 cars a year in Russia
Christian Streiff, the new CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroen, revealed plans by Europe's second largest car manufacturer for 2010-2015. In the next 4 years, the company plans to produce 53 new car models. Its operating profit should reach 6% and sales by the year 2010 will reach 4 million cars, 100,000 of them in Russia.
"Peugeot's profit forecast is based on excessively optimistic estimates for European sales, expansion on emerging markets and cost cutting," commented an employee at UBS, an investment bank.
PSA plans to sell 100,000 cars in Russia in 2010 and later "rapidly increase sales" to 300,000 cars a year. Analysts consider these plans too daring as the company is lagging behind predicted sales rates. In the first six months of 2007, sales of foreign cars in Russia rose by 71% in comparison with the same period last year. Peugeot increased its sales by 55% - from 6,335 cars to 9,875, and Citroen's sales dropped from 5,143 to 4,977.
PSA Peugeot Citroen's Russian plant will only start operating in 2010, and will have to import cars to increase sales, said Ivan Bonchev, automotive analyst at Ernst&Young. The Russian car market will grow by 15-20% a year and it will only be possible to reach a sales target of 100,000 cars a year by 2010 if PSA launches a marketing program and takes the lead in aggressive pricing policies, as GM and Ford are doing. It has a better chance of annually selling 300,000 cars within 5 years as the company will have more opportunities to lead on pricing wars after beginning local production.
Business & Financial Markets
Kommersant
Statistics service will have access to corporate records
On Tuesday, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed a bill in the first reading on statistical records. Under the bill, the Federal State Statistics Service, Rosstat, will have the right to access all classified records from state agencies and private companies.
Experts voiced their apprehensions that commercial secrets could find their way onto the black market if the bill comes into force.
The Government will approve a list of all records, due to be submitted to Rosstat, which said it primarily needed information on corporate wage funds, unit sales, suppliers, and customers.
Igor Tokarev, a senior expert with the Moscow-based bar association FBK-Pravo, said such information could also be divulged to other agencies.
Yelena Panina, deputy chairperson of the State Duma's economic policy committee, said the bill was aimed at providing Rosstat with commercial secrets and other corporate records, but that it did not stipulate any clear confidentiality measures.
Deputy State Duma Speaker Vladimir Katrenko said the concerns were justified regarding the bill's clause on providing confidential information. He said CDs with classified Interior Ministry or Federal Tax Service records could be bought on any open-air software market now.
Rosstat head Vladimir Sokolin promised that his agency would not leak any information. He also swore to journalists in the State Duma off the record that he would personally pay $5,000 if any leak still occur and information is accessible under the counter.
Sergei Tsukhlo, head of the market forecasts laboratory at the Institute for the Economy in Transition, said the new bill would not affect Rosstat's performance, and that the agency was unlikely to provide more in-depth or authentic records after processing the information in the long-term.
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