Kommersant

Religion to stage a comeback at schools and in the army

President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday finalized a long-running dispute on teaching religious education in schools and the introduction of army priests. At a meeting in his out-of-town residence in Barvikha, he backed both proposals. No forced indoctrination is expected, although atheists will be taught "secular ethics."

In opening the meeting, Dmitry Medvedev said "he had decided to support the idea of teaching religious culture and secular ethics in Russian schools." "I also consider it advisable to establish a permanent chaplain service in our armed forces, representing traditional Russian faiths," the president said. The president said the experiment would involve 18 regions, and religious disciplines are expected to be introduced in schools from September 1 of this year.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill stressed that any religious education needed to be taught on a voluntary principle. "Forced worship is no worship," he quoted a proverb.

Vladimir Vigilyansky, a Moscow Patriarchate spokesman, told Kommersant that "a great deed has been performed," meaning school.

Russia's Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar is most concerned by "problems of anti-foreigner hatred and extremism," which should be solved by "educating children in the proper understanding of religious culture." He described the scenario when school students can learn about multi faiths as "optimal."

"Absolutely correct" was how Igor Lebedev, leader of the LDPR parliamentary party, called President Medvedev's initiative. United Russia made no official comment yesterday, but its ties with the Russian Orthodox Church are now well-documentated.

Ivan Melnikov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Communist Party central committee, fears that clerics may replace secular instructors with time. "We are against interference by church institutions in the affairs of social institutions," he stressed.

Attempts at penetration "have been taken since the 1990s and always on the initiative of the authorities," said Sergei Ivanenko, member of Yabloko's political committee, seeing in this the desire "to gain additional control over citizens through church institutions."

Vedomosti

Gazprom may postpone Shtokman project

Russian energy giant Gazprom has decided to put off commercial development of the Bovanenkovskoye deposit on the Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia, and is considering postponing the Shtokman gas project in the Barents Sea.

The decision to postpone the unveiling of the huge Bovanenkovskoye deposit until late 2012 will save the gas export monopoly nearly 137 billion rubles ($4.4 billion). However, Gazprom said in a memorandum on bond placement that it could also put off commissioning Shtokman.

Earlier, a Gazprom spokesperson said the project would become operational as planned, with the first phase, with a planned capacity of 23.7 bcm of gas annually going on stream in 2013, and the second (7.5 million metric tons of LNG) in 2014. However, the company said in the memorandum that the deadlines could be reviewed "depending on the situation on the natural gas market."

The first leg of the Nord Stream pipeline, which is planned to deliver gas from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea, will be commissioned in 2011 and the second in 2012. However, the second leg should receive gas from Shtokman, said Mikhail Korchemkin, director of East European Gas Analysis.

A Gazprom spokesman declined to comment.

Under the company's development plan approved last December, investment in Shtokman should reach 37.1 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) this year, while long-term investment will amount to 18.5 billion rubles ($593 million). Overall spending on the first leg of the project was approved at $15 billion at 2006 prices.

The memorandum on the Eurobond issue states that Gazprom has postponed the commissioning of several projects, including Bovanenkovskoye, the Kharvutinsky block of the Yamburgskoye field (30 billion cu m, to come on stream in 2011) and West Pestsovoye field (2 billion cu m, 2010) by one year, and the Nydinsky block of the Medvezhye field (2 billion cu m) by two years.

Gazprom's investment will total 12.4 billion rubles ($397.7 million) this year. The company may reconsider its foreign projects, on which it planned to spend 10.9 billion rubles ($350 million) this year, including Venezuela. The last memorandum does not say anything about the Urumaco-2 block of the Rafael Urdaneta project, although the April memorandum set out plans to start drilling there.

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

State Duma to consider removing slander from Criminal Code

The State Duma is considering a draft law, which has aroused a strong reaction among people. The draft law stipulates removing the articles Defamation and Insult from the Russian Criminal Code and transferring them to the Administrative Offences Code. The punishment for this offence will be a fine and not prison.

The law is not only very interesting but also important for creating civil society, because it will defend the freedom of the press. Most normal democratic countries do not jail their citizens for these offences.

In Russia, the Defamation article, which carries a maximum three-year jail sentence, is often used to get rid of inconvenient journalists. High- and medium-ranked officials often use it to retaliate to criticism.

The current law has two ways of prosecuting for insult, indignity and injury to one's business reputation. The Civil Code states the plantiff can submit a lawsuit against the offender and demand a retraction of the slander.

The draft law states that criminal proceedings should only be initiated in extreme cases, if there is a "threat to society." In other cases, those who commit slander and libel will be punished with a fine.

Boris Reznik, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, believes that the law will "decriminalize journalism." Lawyers also support the new law, saying that judges have enough to do without having to listen to defamation cases. In addition, it is also more profitable for the state not to spend tax-payers money on criminal cases, while administrative fines will be a source of income for the country.

RBC Daily

Georgia, Ukraine denied access to NATO

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who stands down next week after five years as NATO chief, made his last official speech in London. He said at the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank that the alliance had made progress, but faced challenges in the 21st century and must adapt to the modern world.

"NATO can no longer be a solo-player," said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, "Quite the contrary."

Next he said that the alliance should restore relations with Russia and should not admit countries that are not ready for membership, above all Georgia and Ukraine.

The countries that seek NATO membership must satisfy certain requirements, which Kiev and Tbilisi are incapable of doing now, the NATO leader said, adding that the alliance was mostly unhappy about the political situation in the two countries.

The situation in Ukraine, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said, is complicated, to put it diplomatically, and the situation in Georgia is not simple either.

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's permanent representative to NATO, said on this account: "The Secretary General said the right things, but they are old news for everyone."

Russia has been telling NATO for years that Georgia and Ukraine should not be admitted to the alliance because of political turmoil there, Rogozin said. And the internal crisis in NATO, which developed after the end of the Cold War, is not news for anyone in the world either, he said.

"Russia and Europe were pushed to the brink of a cold war last August because of Mr. Saakashvili's opportunistic policies," Rogozin said. "Mr. de Hoop Scheffer should tell us how the European security system, allegedly safeguarded by NATO, could permit this, and what should be done to prevent a repetition of such a problem."

However, NATO can still overcome the internal crisis, the Russian official said.

"I am optimistic about the new Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen," Rogozin said. Denmark's prime minister "is younger than de Hoop Scheffer and will not view the position of NATO Secretary General as a pre-retirement post."

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