What the Russian papers say

MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) Washington disappointed with Moscow's response to its arms control offer/Russia's Orthodox Church may sever relations with major European church/Delivery of new regional airliner again delayed/Gazprom Neft may develop two Iranian oilfields

MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) Washington disappointed with Moscow's response to its arms control offer/Russia's Orthodox Church may sever relations with major European church/Delivery of new regional airliner again delayed/Gazprom Neft may develop two Iranian oilfields

Kommersant

Washington disappointed with Moscow's response to its arms control offer

Ellen Tauscher, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, on Tuesday expressed discontent with Russia's response to an arms control offer recently put forward by the Obama administration.

It was the first American official admittance of problems at the talks on a new agreement to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expires next month. The snag in the agreement is that the United States wants to retain close control over Russia's Topol mobile ICBMs.

Sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin administration close to the talks refused to speak about the details even on the condition of anonymity.

"The negotiators have been instructed not to talk to the press. This is a sensitive issue and any leakage may do serious damage to, if not prevent the signing of the new agreement," Kremlin officials said.

Analysts informed on the essence of the talks spoke more freely. One of them said the differences concerned the limit on nuclear-capable delivery platforms and the verification mechanism for mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

"The Americans have proposed a new limit for delivery vehicles, which we do not accept," said a source without elaborating.

He said problems with regard to ICBMs were created by Washington's proposal to keep the old monitoring mechanism in the new agreement.

"They have proposed keeping and even tightening control over our Topol-class mobile ICBMs, while we are against registering the Topol missiles as a separate category," he said.

The United States has no mobile ICBMs and therefore its proposal on controlling the Russian mobile ICBMs is an attempt to restore the balance that was disrupted in 1991 when the U.S. curtailed its project of creating such mobile systems.

However, the analyst warned against dramatizing the situation and Ms Tauscher's statement.

"There has been certain progress, and differences can be ultimately settled," he said. "Tauscher's words can be seen as a desire to put pressure on us."

Kommersant

Russia's Orthodox Ñhurch may sever relations with major European church

The Russian Orthodox Church may sever relations with the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a major Protestant church of Western Europe that has elected a woman to chair the EKD's council.

The Orthodox clergy say this runs counter to evangelical principles. Analysts fear this could provoke a big inter-faith conflict.

Bishop Margot Kassmann, the first woman to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany, which unites some 24 million Protestants of more than 20 Lutheran and Reformed churches, was elected at the council's meeting on October 28. The 51-year-old bishop of Hanover is divorced and has four daughters.

"We plan to celebrate 50 years of dialog with the German Lutheran Church in late November and early December," Hilarion, the bishop of Volokolamsk and head of the Moscow patriarchy's external church relations department, said on Wednesday. "The celebrations will also mark the end of that dialog."

The Russian Orthodox Church does not accept female clergy.

"A female bishop is a contradiction of the evangelical principles," said Georgy Zavershinsky, the PR head of the external church relations department. "Therefore, there can be no church relations between us. We will most likely have to deal with their church as with a public organization."

Russian Lutherans support the arguments of the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexander Prilutsky, chief secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (Russia), said female bishops were evidence of "a crisis in the Western society."

"Our relations with Western Protestants have recently become more complicated because of their liberal theological practices," said Bishop Konstantin Bendas, director for temporal affairs at the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith. "Unfortunately, the West is departing from the evangelical principles. Sweden, for example, has deviated the most by electing a lesbian bishop."

If the inter-faith dialog stops, "this could lead to severance of diplomatic relations between German Christians and the Russian Orthodox Church," said Roman Lunkin, director of the Institute of Religion and Law and a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Europe. "This could provoke the largest inter-Christian conflict of the past years."

Gazeta.ru

Delivery of new regional airliner again delayed

On Wednesday, Mikhail Pogosyan, CEO of Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company (SAHC), said the first Superjet (SSJ) 100 medium-range regional airliner would not be delivered to flag carrier Aeroflot before the year is out.

The SSJ 100, seating 78 to 98 passengers, was developed in collaboration with global aerospace and defense corporation Boeing and Italy's aircraft and defense company Finmeccanica.

"We now lack engines for the prototype version and the first production aircraft," said Olga Kayukova, a spokesperson for Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), an SAHC subsidiary.

SCAC blamed Russian aircraft engine manufacturer NPO Saturn currently developing and certifying the SSJ 100's SaM-146 engine. "We have no claim against the French party," Kayukova said.

The SaM-146 engine is developed on a par with Snecma, a major French manufacturer of engines for commercial and military aircraft.

NPO Saturn managing director Ilya Fyodorov recently said the state had failed to finance the company for nine months because Saturn was previously a private company.

Although NPO Saturn is now completely owned by the state, the company will be unable to deliver aircraft engines on schedule even if it accelerates the production.

"Miracles don't happen, and it's impossible to shorten the 9-12-month engine production cycle," Fyodorov said.

He said it would be possible to certify the engine in early 2010.

A source in the aviation community said foreign aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing also frequently delayed deliveries. Clients are patient with short delays but find reasons to cancel contracts if the process lasts a year or more, the source said.

Aeroflot is not over-exaggerating the situation. A corporate source said the airline would not cancel its SSJ 100 contract in any case. "We still need a plane of this size and specifications," the source said.

Oleg Panteleyev, chief analyst at aviation consultancy Aviaport, said the delay was not critical because the market was not growing and because it was difficult to finance new aircraft purchases.

"Possible claims are a good trump card for conducting other talks and receiving preferential treatment on other issues," Panteleyev said.

Vedomosti, Kommersant

Gazprom Neft may develop two Iranian oilfields

Gazprom Neft, the oil unit of Russian energy giant Gazprom, and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding on the joint development of the Azar and Shangule oilfields in Iran.

The two fields' reserves have been estimated at 5-6 billion barrels of oil (680-820 million tons). Russia's second largest crude producer, LUKoil, which discovered the oilfields, has not been invited to participate in their development.

Gazprom Neft first announced its intention to work in Iran in mid-2008, and then held talks on a number of deposits there, including one of Iran's largest oilfields, North Azadegan.

It said it would enter negotiations with NIOC on the potential development of the Azar and Shangule perspective blocks after carrying out a feasibility study. A Gazprom Neft representative said they would work under a service contract.

Exploration and Production International, a division of Norway's Norsk Hydro, initially held the exploration license for the Azar and Shangule blocks of the Anaran onshore deposit in western Iran. In 2003, Norsk Hydro ceded a 25% stake in the project to LUKoil.

At that time, spending on exploration was estimated at $137.3 million and the perspective reserves of the deposit, which also includes the Musian block, were estimated at 350 million tons.

In 2005, the partners discovered oil in the Azar block, and a year later NIOC proclaimed the reserves to be of commercial value. The fields have been estimated at 2.2 billion barrels or 300 million tons of oil, Platts News said citing Iran's state news agency Shana.

Later Norsk Hydro and LUKoil launched negotiations on a service contract for the Azar block. No news on the talks' progress was subsequently reported, and now LUKoil Overseas, a division of LUKoil, and Statoil, which has acquired Norsk Hydro, refuse to speak about the Iranian project.

The significance of the contract for Gazprom Neft is not very large because it cannot put the blocks' reserves or output on its balance, said Valery Nesterov, an analyst with Troika Dialog.

The Russian crude producer will accept financial compensation for its expenses under the project as well as a specified share of profits in a monetary or physical form, Nesterov said. The potential benefits of Gazprom Neft from the project cannot be reliably assessed without information on the contract's conditions and timeframe, he said.

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