Moskovsky Komsomolets
High oil prices – ailment or remedy for Russia?
Global oil prices continued to rise in January, which presumably should benefit an oil-exporting country like Russia. However, a new oil tax has led to rapid growth in gasoline prices, which in turn has triggered price hikes on all goods and services.
In January, gasoline prices grew by 5% on average, or by 1 ruble per liter, and experts predict the trend will continue. The Federal Antimonopoly Service has already said that it will take measures to hold gasoline and diesel prices in check.
Experts agree that the federal watchdog will certainly try to prevent oil companies from shifting the growing tax burden onto consumers but many doubt that it will succeed. On the one hand, the Federal Antimonopoly Service stands a good chance since it has repeatedly fined oil companies for inadequate pricing before. However, the service says that the maximum fine of 500,000 rubles, or about $16,700, is almost negligible for oil companies. Igor Artemyev, head of FAS, suspects oil companies of a cartel agreement. If that can be proven, oil companies will face much graver consequences than just a fine.
On the other hand, gasoline prices are highly unlikely to go down since 60% of them are made up by taxes. Last December, President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree cutting the base rate of transport tax. However, the federal budget needs revenue so the Finance Ministry announced an increase in fuel excise tax. Oil companies do not want to lose money and they bury the new excise tax in their gasoline price.
Other reasons for higher gasoline prices are the growing global oil prices, decreased export duties on oil products and high taxes. Also, Russia lacks state-of-the-art refineries and faces costly modernization of facilities built back in the Soviet times. Existing refineries are spaced unevenly across Russia, which results in higher transportation costs.
Higher gasoline prices will as usual lead to overall price hikes. Suppliers and transport companies spend more money on gasoline but are reluctant to lose profits. So, consumers will suffer a double blow: higher gasoline prices and soaring prices on all goods and services.
Food prices in Russia have grown by an average 14.7% since the beginning of 2010. Vegetable prices have rocketed up by 67%. These trends have so far continued in 2011. Buckwheat has gone up 20%; rice prices have grown between 5% and 8%, certain dairy products have surged by 10%, and prices on some types of fish have risen by 20%.
Taxi fares have grown by about 25%. Even gym membership, which seemingly is not related to gasoline prices, has become more expensive. When asked what the reason was, the gym manager threw his hands up in exasperation: “You see, everything’s getting more expensive.”
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Russia’s police force modernized
Last Friday, the State Duma passed a draft of law enforcement reform bills that will transform Russia’s police force. The changes will not be limited to changing the Soviet term “militia” to the more modern name “police.”
The new Russian police will now abide by regulations some of which were borrowed from other countries. This, according to State Duma security committee head Vladimir Vasiliev, entails “reorienting the police so that it sees its main task as protection of individual rights and society as a whole.”
For example, the right to a phone call. Duma deputies clarified that every detainee is guaranteed not just a phone call within three hours, but a phone conversation, meaning he or she is allowed repeated attempts to reach someone. However, this right will be waived for those who had escaped from police custody or from a psychiatric institution, evaded sentencing or compulsory medical measures assigned by the court, or are on the wanted list.
Russian police will now need to name a reason for an arrest and explain the detainee’s rights. Before police enter someone's home, they will have to give the residents a reason for entering. Police officers cannot enter “to establish the circumstances of an offense.” However, the police reserve the right to enter to investigate a crime. The new law also provides for emergencies when a police officer must enter immediately because delay would “endanger the lives and health of citizens or police officers or could have other grave consequences.” In any case, the police officer must inform the prosecutor within 24 hours in writing about entry into private property.
There were other amendments to the basic bill that address human rights concerns expressed during public discussion of the law enforcement reform. Police are banned from using non-lethal weapons such as batons against participants in unauthorized peaceful rallies. However, police officers may resort to this “arsenal” to quell riots and other illegal actions that interfere with road traffic, communications and the activity of an organization.
United Russia's Andrei Makarov proposed an amendment prohibiting the police from using special tactics against all women, not just those who are “visibly pregnant,” as the bill initially stated.
“As a matter of principle, you cannot beat up women,” said Makarov, prompting applause from the audience.
“Those of you who are applauding, just stop and think for a moment that women blew up a couple of aircraft recently,” said Vladimir Kolesnikov, explaining the position of the committee opposed to such an amendment.
“The amendment is rejected according to the principles of gender equality,” concluded Oleg Morozov, the Duma's first deputy speaker, who presided at the meeting.
Public attitudes towards the police will be monitored, and the monitoring results will be published.
“The district police will report on a monthly basis and the heads of regional law enforcement agencies will report as often as required by legislature,” said State Secretary and Deputy Interior Minister Sergei Bulavin.
Kommersant
St. Petersburg historical landmark status to be amended
Governor Valentina Matviyenko has taken back her proposal to drop St. Petersburg from the list of historical landmarks whose authorities need to get planning permission from the Federal Service for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. Seeking to quell the scandal her proposal created, she said she would agree to the city keeping this status if the Ministry of Culture limited its authority to the city’s historical center.
In her letter to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Matviyenko had asked for St. Petersburg to be stripped of its status of a historical city which calls for preservation of all historical landmarks and for agreeing city development projects with the federal cultural watchdog.
The list of historical sites, which entered into force last October, includes 41 towns and cities across Russia, where historical buildings make up over 55% of the area. Moscow, unlike St. Petersburg, does not meet this criterion. Pleading this, the governor asked the prime minister to strike St. Petersburg off the list. Matviyenko argued that the entire city area would be put under excessive federal oversight, while the historical center would suffer double regulation because city bylaws on protected zones did not coincide with federal requirements for historical sites.
Matviyenko’s initiative triggered a scandal, in the wake of the passions around the Okhta Center skyscraper and demolition of several buildings on Nevsky Avenue. The public clearly perceived the governor’s move as a political mistake.
On Friday, Matviyenko agreed with Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeyev “to remedy the situation.” She said the ministry would issue a “special decree giving the status of an historical landmark only to St. Petersburg’s historical center.” She said the city administration did not object to the required coordination of building plans concerning the historical part of the city. “We have been coordinating documents with the watchdog agency all along, just as the law requires.”
This claim, however, is not entirely true considering recent court rulings that the city bylaw on protected areas was passed by Smolny with violations of the coordination procedure. Fears about dual regulation of protected zones are also unjustified. Alexander Rabotkevich, head of the ministry’s monument protection division, said regulations covering protected areas and historical landmarks “supplement each other” and there can be no contradictions between them.
On January 25, the cultural watchdog circulated a letter indicating that only area planning documents within historical and cultural background plans existing in St. Petersburg and several other cities need to be agreed. The federal ministry sets no excessive demands in this regard. This position, according to Rabotkevich, was explained at a Smolny meeting on December 1, 2010. Now it will be reinforced with the culture minister’s order. Amendments to the law will be drafted at the same time. In addition, the Ministry of Culture will instruct regional protection agencies to update boundaries of historical landmarks and inform the federal agency of the results.
RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.
