What the Russian papers say

MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) Russia will gain nothing from new configuration of U.S. missile-defense system in Europe - analyst / German laws work against Nord Stream / Rusal may lose one more foreign business / Crisis changed Russians' attitude to professions

Vedomosti

Russia will gain nothing from new configuration of U.S. missile-defense system in Europe - analyst

Instead of stationary ground-based interceptors (GBIs), due to have been deployed in Poland under the George W. Bush administration's missile-defense plan, Washington is now proposing that Warsaw host logistics-support bases and command centers for the ship-based Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) missile interceptors on its territory.

Analysts say less vulnerable missiles will be deployed in Europe, and that Russia will not gain any military-strategic advantages.

In September 2009, the current U.S. administration announced its decision to renounce the previous administration's plan for siting stationary GBI bases in Poland and an early-warning radar in the Czech Republic in favor of a more flexible missile-defense system utilizing ship-based SM-3 missiles because Iran lacks long-range ballistic missiles.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the new system did not pose the same risks for Moscow as the previous configuration.

A source in the Russian Defense Ministry said this implied logistics-support bases and command centers, and that the U.S. would probably not deploy any SM-3 launchers in Poland.

Moscow Defence Brief editor-in-chief Mikhail Barabanov said new SM-3 Block 2B missile interceptors would be deployed in 2020, specifically during the final stage of the Obama administration's new missile defense architecture stipulating creation of an adaptive missile-defense system in Europe.

The new missiles will be able to knock down intercontinental ballistic missiles, including land-mobile ICBMs. Less vulnerable missiles, rather than stationary GBI sites envisioned by the previous U.S. administration, will therefore be deployed in Europe.

In that case, Russia will not gain any military-strategic advantages.

RBC Daily, Vedomosti

German laws work against Nord Stream

The new rules regulating gas infrastructure that have recently come into effect in Germany may raise another problem for the Nord Stream pipeline project. German officials have set a 5% cap on profitableness of this transport infrastructure.

Currently, Russian energy giant Gazprom owns 51% of project operator Nord Stream AG, Germany's Wintershall Holding and E.ON Ruhrgas each holding 20%, and Netherlands Gasunie accounting for 9%. In April, shareholders opened talks on admitting France's GDF Suez.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Gasunie president Marcel Kramer said at an international gas congress in Buenos Aires that they were worried that implementation of the project may be delayed. In shareholders' view, the rate of profit is outrageously low, what with the costs and risks.

Germany is modifying its legislation to meet the requirements of the third energy package approved by the European Parliament in the spring, says Troika Dialog analyst Valery Nesterov. The document is aimed at deregulating Europe's energy market.

Mikhail Korchemkin, director of East European Gas Analysts, considers the 5% rate adequate: "After all, Gazprom is not closing its subsidiary, Gazprom Marketing and Trading, in the United Kingdom, whose profitability is just 1%."

Natalya Leshchenko from Global Insight warns Gazprom against panic, too. "Such statements are tactical maneuvers. The pipe access rules are not yet approved, and such claims are used to lobby one's interests," she believes.

The rules apply to Germany's domestic gas pipeline NEL (capacity 25 billion cubic meters), says Arbat Capital analyst Vitaly Gromadin. But the Gazprom-Wintershall-Wingas joint venture has repeatedly said it will push for a favored status for this pipeline, because its gas is planned to be sent on to Britain and the Netherlands.

Gromadin is not ruling out that the Nord Stream shareholders' statement is aimed at making German authorities more tractable. But shareholders of such a mammoth project as Nord Stream could, in his view, easily sacrifice the high profitableness of one section of the future gas pipeline anyway.

Gazeta.ru

Crisis changed Russians' attitude to professions

Law is still the most prestigious profession but blue-collar trades are becoming increasingly popular in Russia. Three years ago, the words "plumber" and "prestigious" were incompatible, analysts say.

A total of 20% of the 1,600 respondents of a VTsIOM survey conducted in 140 cities of 42 Russian regions, territories and republics said lawyer is the most prestigious profession, a decrease from 28% in 2006.

At the same time, blue-collar trades are becoming more popular. Five percent of Russians said it was prestigious to be a worker and 6% said they would like their kids to choose a blue-collar trade. In 2006, parents refused even to consider such a possibility.

According to recruiting agency SuperJob.ru, Russians think that jobs in science and the public utilities do not offer a promising career, just as in education, service industries, culture and the arts, sport, security activities and tourism.

SuperJob's survey showed that 75% of the respondents believe that "skilled workers are always in demand."

"It is important to distinguish between prestige and popularity of a profession or trade," said Alyona Vladimirskaya, head of the Rabota@Mail.ru project. The job market does not have enough vacancies for lawyers and other prestigious legal professions, in which it is extremely hard to get a job. The situation is exactly the same for economists and bankers.

Employment analysts see nothing strange in the growing prestige of working trades. "Employers' attitude to these trades is improving, and wages are growing," Vladimirskaya said.

Besides, not all talented young people can pay for a higher education, which is becoming increasingly expensive, while the choice of a blue-collar trade implies free education, a bed in a hostel, and other privileges.

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