Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, September 5

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Russian Press - Behind the Headlines - Sputnik International
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Billionaire leader unveils shadow government / Conflicting findings on Russian’s biggest concerns / Ukraine to dissolve Naftogaz in new contract bid

Kommersant
Billionaire leader unveils shadow government
Mikhail Prokhorov, leader of the Right Cause liberal party, announced he has selected several people who could potentially fill posts in his “shadow Cabinet.” He also plans to run for president if his party can collect 15% of the vote.
A press conference with the Right Cause leader was organized by the Regional Journalists’ Club headed by Irina Yasina for about 500 journalists from most of Russia’s regions. Yasina emphasized that she is not a member of the party, although she supports liberalism. In her words, the club was a project of the Open Russia public organization founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Prokhorov immediately made it clear that there were “no similarities” between himself and Khodorkovsky, saying he has “left the business world” and “strictly observes the law.”  

Prokhorov named the members of his team he refers to as a “shadow government.”
“Unlike other political parties, we have a network of people who, if appointed to public office, are willing to assume professional responsibility on behalf of the people,” he said.

He presented his potential minister of energy and utilities, Vice President of Gas and Power at TNK-BP, Mikhail Slobodin; healthcare minister, co-owner of 36.6 Pharmacy Chain, Artyom Bektemirov; media minister, journalist Alexander Lyubimov; anti-substance abuse minister, Yevgeny Roizman (founder of the City Without Drugs Foundation); culture minister, director of State Library of Foreign Literature, Yekaterina Geniyeva; finance minister, Polyus Gold CEO Yevgeny Ivanov; and sports minister, four-time Olympic champion swimmer Alexander Popov. He described all of the ministerial candidates as “remarkable personalities.”   
Prokhorov said he is not afraid of losing the election. “I am confident that Right Cause will make it into the State Duma, but if that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t change anything. It is a long-term project, so a single election does not mean anything,” he said.
Prohkorov will head the party’s federal list as well as the regional list in his native Krasnoyarsk Territory. He also confirmed that he had offered the Kirov Region governor, Nikita Belykh, a place on the party list. If the party collects 15% of the vote in the parliamentary elections, Prokhorov will be able to run for president.  

The “ministers” described their political agendas. Roizman said he plans a federal-level crackdown on alcohol and drugs; Bektemirov promised to eliminate the “ineffective” health insurance system; while Lyubimov said he didn’t know what he would do as media minister.    
Analysts are skeptical of Prokhorov’s far-reaching plans to change the balance of power in Russia: “There seems to be a shortage of creative ideas. They are trying to force a discussion on the party,” said Sergey Chernyakhovsky.
Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation, said Prokhorov’s choice of ministers was clearly prompted by the need to boost their status in the run-up to the elections. However, he doubts the idea will in any way benefit the party in the parliamentary elections.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Conflicting findings on Russian’s biggest concerns
Leading polling agencies have issued conflicting findings on the issues most worrying people. The public’s concerns are drinking and drugs, with inflation taking third place, according to surveys by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM). But a day earlier, Levada-Center reported that economic problems are still front and center for most Russians, specifically inflation, poverty, unemployment and the economic crisis. Meanwhile, VTsIOM insists that economic life is getting back to normal, bringing social ills to the fore. Independent analysts explain the economy normalization argument by the upcoming elections and pollsters’ differing attitudes toward the authorities.

Substance abuse is among the main problems facing the country, VTsIOM told Interfax on Thursday. Asked what issues troubled them most in August, respondents put drinking and drug abuse first (50%) and living standards second (49%). Inflation, which was at the top of the list in August, moved to third place (48%). The economic crisis was mentioned by only 16%.
But Levada-Center cites other figures: the key issue for 73% of Russians is inflation, it says, not drinking. Poverty worries 52% of respondents, and 41% of those polled point to growing unemployment. The economic crisis and the state of industry and farming disturb only 32% of those questioned.
These findings were obtained at almost the same time: Levada-Center conducted its poll between August 4-22, and VTsIOM, August 27-28.
Analysts offer a variety of explanations for the mixed message.

Denis Volkov, of Levada-Center, says economic issues traditionally remain on top. “But if you ask about the biggest threat to life, then drug abuse (66%), drinking (59%) and environmental pollution (34%) will move up,” he said.

Valery Fedorov, VTsIOM director general, says there are other things that explain the discrepancy. “When life gets back to normal, concerns about drinking and drugs move upstage. During economic troubles people focus on living standards, inflation, etc. This was first observed in 2009-2010. Since then the anxiety over economic problems has declined but not disappeared,” he said. “The better the economic situation in the country, the more Russians will be concerned with non-economic matters, above all drinking and drug abuse. The paradox is that when people show concern for social woes, it means the economy is back to normal.”
Independent analysts, however, disagree. “Anxiety over economic questions is unlikely to decline,” says Irina Vorobyova, an analyst with 2K Audit-Business Consultations/Morison International.

“Judging by poll-based business and consumer indicators, the population’s economic fears reached their peak in August or were close to the levels reported over the past two years,” agrees Alexander Osin, chief economist at Finam Management. Economic recovery, according to Osin, is based on general growth, not growing consumption. That’s why consumers perceive the state of things in the economy as worse than is reflected in the statistics.”

Dmitry Shusternyak, director at FinExpertiza Consulting, says: “Many answers are spontaneous because there is often no well-thought-out system of expert views.”

Moskovsky Komsomolets
Ukraine to dissolve Naftogaz in new contract bid
The Ukrainian government plans to liquidate the state company Naftogaz in an effort to prompt a review of the current gas agreement with Russia. Meanwhile, analysts are shrugging this off as another groundless Ukrainian bluff. Eliminating the gas company does not absolve Ukraine of its obligations under previous gas agreements.

The current Russian-Ukrainian gas agreement contradicts Ukrainian law and therefore should be reviewed without fail, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told reporters. All the more so as Ukraine loses an estimated $400 million a year as a result of the 2009 gas contract. The Ukrainian government has found a seemingly simple way to nullify its contractual obligations with Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly – they will simply liquidate Naftogaz. Naftogaz’s mining and transportation companies will be spun off. Ironically, Ukraine is generally following the example of Lenin, who eliminated the interim government and declined to pay the tsar's debts.

Gazprom has reacted as expected. Chairman of the board, Alexei Miller, said that Naftogaz can only be liquidated after it merges with Gazprom. Only in this way can Ukraine’s gas contract be revised. In response, Prime Minister Azarov's spokesman Vitaly Lukyanenko said that Ukraine is not considering a Naftogaz Gazprom merger. In other words, this gas contract discussion has once again ground to a halt.
Analysts see Ukraine's moves as a ploy to pressure Russia. Valery Yazev, head of the Russian Gas Society, said that restructuring Naftogaz will not free Ukraine from its obligations under its previous gas agreements. This is because it was not only Naftogaz that assumed the obligations of the gas contracts, but also the Ukrainian government under an intergovernmental agreement.

So another round in this gas war can be expected. Some of the battles might end up in the Stockholm Arbitration Court. Indeed, at a time when Kiev is trying to abandon its commitments, there may be no alternative to litigation in forcing it to comply with the current agreements. It’s either that or turn off the gas again.

RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.

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