What the Russian papers say

Russia offers energy roadmap to Iran/ Russia considers new amnesty for North Caucasus militants/ Energy-saving policy: current state and future prospects/ Optimize and privatize/ Insider information bill passed

GZT.RU

Russia offers energy roadmap to Iran

Seeking to moderate the negative effect of international anti-Iran sanctions, Russia has offered it an energy roadmap: it will supply gasoline and carry on bilateral cooperation in civilian nuclear projects.

It looks like the diplomatic rapprochement with the West has not stopped Russia from seeing Iran as its partner.

On July 14, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said after talks with visiting Iranian Petroleum Minister Masud Mir-Kazemi that they are drafting a roadmap that will focus on oil and natural gas projects.

The two countries have signed an agreement to set up a joint bank to support and implement oil and gas projects and a number of related establishments, as well as to sell part of the hydrocarbons on an oil exchange.

Russia and Iran are among the world's largest oil and gas producers, according to both ministers, and the North-South transport corridor will open new prospects in that sphere.

Russians assured the Iranian delegation that a roadmap will also be drafted for electricity and civilian nuclear projects. Shmatko said the UN Security Council sanctions, which Russia supported, and the unilateral U.S. sanctions will not hinder any of these projects.

On June 9, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1929 imposing a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, including tougher financial controls and an expanded arms embargo. The U.S. sanctions approved in early July impose penalties on foreign companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran or assist Iran with its domestic refining capacity.

Yevgeny Satanovsky, president of Russia's Institute of the Middle East, said Russia can bypass these sanctions.

"During the talks on the UN sanctions, China insisted that oil and gas [projects] be removed from the document," Satanovsky said, adding that Russia can also evade the much harsher U.S. sanctions by instructing Russian companies not cooperating with the West to provide assistance to Iran.

"In the oil sphere, LUKoil, a partner of the huge U.S. crude producer ConocoPhillips, will not be cooperating with Iran, but some other company can do it," the analyst said.

After the United States approved its unilateral sanctions, the largest global fuel suppliers - BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total - fled the fuel-hungry Iran.

"The signed Russian-Iranian agreement is boosting Russia's strategic and economic interests," Satanovsky said. "Iran will not always be an enemy of the West; this is a new round of its political evolution since the Islamic Revolution [in 1979]. Russia takes this into account when promoting its pragmatic interests."

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

Russia considers new amnesty for North Caucasus militants

Russian authorities are considering a new amnesty for militants to stabilize the situation in the North Caucasus.

Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the president of Ingushetia, has said such actions should be taken regularly. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who said a year ago he would not show mercy for militants, has now promised amnesty to them.

After Yevkurov became Ingushetia's president in October 2008, he launched an active dialogue with the extremists' families to encourage them to influence their errant sons. The militants responded by trying to assassinate Yevkurov in June 2009.

He survived the attempt and continued the dialogue in parallel with special operations against those who refused to negotiate with the authorities. Now he says amnesties should become regular. "You must always give people a chance," Yevkurov said.

He believes the situation in the region has improved over the past year, thanks to the use of force and also to negotiations with the militants' families. "These comprehensive efforts have substantially eased tensions compared to a year ago," the Ingush president said.

Chechen President Kadyrov has changed his view since the May 2009 suicide bombing in Grozny, when he said there will be no mercy for the militants. On July 7, 2010, he said: "I was firmly resigned never again to ask the militants to lay down arms. But their relatives have appealed to me through our religious leaders, saying that their children, who 'have lost their way' and 'took a wrong turn,' are sorry for their decision."

Kadyrov said that even Doku Umarov, the leader of the North Caucasus militants, could be pardoned.

Tensions in Ingushetia and Chechnya have not eased much. There have been several clashes between law enforcers and militants in Ingushetia in July, leaving dead and wounded. Fourteen law enforcers have been killed and 97 wounded in the republic since the beginning of the year.

Terrorist attacks are staged just as frequently in Chechnya. In the first six months of 2010, over 100 people were detained on suspicion of terrorism and assistance to terrorists.

Kadyrov's surprise statement and Yevkurov's new promises were made after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke in Kislovodsk on July 6 in favor of amnesty for North Caucasus militants.

It appears Russia will do anything to restore peace in the region.

 

Tribuna

Energy-saving policy: current state and future prospects

Russia is not currently very energy efficient. The national infrastructure, mechanisms, buildings, structures, housing and municipal utilities sectors consume two to three times more energy than for example the United States or Germany. The Energy Efficiency Law, passed last November, again highlights this problem.

Although many people think it merely stipulates the introduction of low energy bulbs and halogen lamps, this is not the main problem we face.

Something has to be done about heat-emitting housing, low-efficiency power plants, motor vehicles and equipment that have a high fuel consumption rate and endless losses incurred by power transmission lines.

The problem can be solved by developing and introducing state-of-the-art energy efficient technology as soon as possible.

Established in November 2009, the energy service company TechnoPromEnergo is trying to accomplish this objective and in a short period of time has become a leader in the field of energy efficient innovation technology.

Aleksei Alyoshin, first deputy CEO at the Russian Technologies State Corporation, and Yevgeny Roitman, chairman of the board at the innovation corporation TechnoProm, praised TechnoPromEnergo's innovations. These companies cofounded a consortium.

Cooperation will be structured as a public-private partnership. It needs all efforts to be directed towards strengthening it as a mechanism guaranteeing the introduction of a wide range of energy efficient processes.

Tula Region Deputy Governor Alexander Yevteyev gave an example of the cost effective Novomoskovsk industrial cluster, and said that there private investment exceeded federal investment five times over.

Novikombank Deputy CEO Mikhail Dokuchayev said the banking sector was also interested in TechnoPromEnergo innovations due to the short period of time it took banks to recoup their investments.

TechnoPromEnergo CEO Alexei Rytikov said the consortium's priorities now included lamps, heating, machinery and transport, energy grids combined with energy audits, innovation and introduction plans, improving and strengthening partnership with Russian energy giant Gazprom, heat and wholesale energy generating companies, the housing and municipal utilities sector, as well as the defense and engineering industries.

The primary focus is on the introduction of advanced world-class engineering solutions in the field of energy efficient and resource saving technology.

The paper's sources said they were all very interested in President Medvedev's initiative for the Skolkovo hi-tech hub, aiming to create a Russian-style Silicon Valley in the Moscow Region.

Intended to become a global hi-tech leader, the TechnoPromEnergo innovation consortium plans to eventually merge with the Skolkovo project, which has a similar focus on innovation.

 

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

Optimize and privatize

The government is busy handing federal property over to new owners - religious organizations, municipalities and private individuals. The process is difficult and involves scandals, court cases, and rumors, a property management official said.

In an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Natalia Sergunina, deputy head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management, describes the process, the government's plans and why the government decided to part with the property.

She says this is not a question of returning property to its former owners. It is rather one of finding an effective owner for property that fails to fulfill the state's functions and powers. This applies, for instance, to religious facilities, which should be used, as much as possible, for the purposes they were created for.

The government is making efforts to fill the gap in spiritual education of Russians, especially young people, Sergunina said. She pointed out that prayer houses are being returned not only to the Orthodox Church, but also to all principal faiths. They pass either into ownership or free use. The Novodevichy Convent, for example, has been handed over to the Church for free use and will remain in federal ownership, because it is under UNESCO protection.

During 2009, 42 petitions were made for the transfer of property rights. In the first six months of 2010, the number has already reached 51. The actual number of buildings and facilities involved is higher. The Solovki Monastery, for example, had one petition for 109 buildings. The Novodevichy Convent has one petition for 47 buildings. In 2009, seven ownership transfer decisions were made, while this year there were 21 decisions in just the first six months. The New Jerusalem Monastery's buildings and facilities are currently under consideration.

But more often than not, the Church applies for the use not ownership of the property concerned. While a facility is federally owned, it can claim financing from the federal budget for its reconstruction.

The Federal Agency will soon move more decisively to cut surplus public property that fails to fulfill the state's functions and powers. The issue of federal property optimization was raised by President Medvedev in the Budget Address for 2011-2013. It does not concern traditional privatization alone. A fairly large potential exists for cutting government property whose upkeep is a heavy burden on the budget.

BFM.ru

Insider information bill passed

On July 14, the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, approved the federal bill On Counteracting the Illegitimate Use of Insider Information and Manipulation of the Market, and Making Amendments to Separate Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation, drafted over ten years ago and passed by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on July 2.

This is a history-making bill for the country's financial system, Liana Pepelyayeva, deputy chairperson of the State Duma's financial markets committee, told BFM.ru.

The bill aims to facilitate the creation of an international financial center, and its enactment is expected to promote a favorable investment climate. Pepelyayeva said the lack of inside information would rule out market manipulation.

Moreover, the bill's approval is a precondition for recognizing the Russian market's regulated status by international organizations.

The law contains definitions of inside information, insiders, market manipulation, operations with financial instruments or products and trade organizers.

Managing companies and organizations controlling over 35% of specific markets or dominating the Russian market, as well as trade organizers, stock market players, board of directors members, auditors, valuers and insurance companies having access to inside information are listed among insiders.

The Central Bank of Russia, federal executive power bodies, regional and local governments, rating agencies, as well as wire services divulging or providing inside information, also have insider status.

From now on, journalists and editors-in-chief will have to inform the Federal Service for Financial Markets about the sources of information that eventually turns out to be false and leads to market manipulation.

The law contains a reservation to the effect that editorial offices, editors-in-chief and journalists will bear no responsibility if a source is quoted verbatim or if the material is reprinted from another publication.

Although the bill was drafted in 2000, analysts, politicians and market players are still divided on its provisions. The regulatory document complicates market operation regulations and may cause a predictable negative response from market players.

The bill, due to be signed into law by the president, will enter into force six months after publication. Its clauses stipulating administrative and criminal liability will be enacted in 12 months and three years, respectively.

 

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MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti)