Windows to Russia

RBC, 29.07.2008, Moscow 11:51:33.NOVATEK’s natural gas production rose 1.9 percent in the first half of 2008 compared to the same period of the previous year, the press office of Russia’s second-largest gas company said today. Oil and gas condensate output increased 2.4 percent to 1.24m tonnes, and 1.066m tonnes of unstable gas condensate was processed at NOVATEK’s Purovsky plant.

RBC, 28.07.2008, Moscow 19:57:43.Russia’s Economy Ministry has downgraded its oil exports forecast for 2008 to 249m tonnes from the previous reading of 251m-256m tonnes, Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach told journalists today. Simultaneously, the ministry raised its natural gas exports forecast from 202.8bn cubic meters to 205bn cubic meters.

RBC, 28.07.2008, Moscow 18:54:59.The Bank of Russia could revise its inflation forecast for 2008 upwards, but the new rate will most likely be below the one anticipated by the Economy Ministry (11.8 percent), the bank’s First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists today. The bank’s current forecast is 10.5 percent.

RBC, 28.07.2008, Moscow 16:33:36.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has commissioned the Foreign Ministry to sign an agreement with Montenegro on the terms of travel of either country’s citizens to the other one, the government’s press office reported today. The document provides for a visa-free travel between the two countries if the duration of the stay does not exceed 30 days from the date of arrival. The draft agreement has been approved by the Russian government.

RBC, 28.07.2008, Moscow 15:59:49.The situation around the Russian metals and mining company Mechel must become a lesson for the entire Russian market, Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich was cited by the Vesti TV channel as saying today. He expressed hope that all Russian companies, regardless of their size, would conduct their business in a civilized manner. The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has already been auditing Mechel’s operations for several weeks, Dvorkovich noted, adding that the regulator would make a decision in due time. The antitrust watchdog has a right to impose sanctions on Mechel, and will certainly do it if the company has violated the law, Dvorkovich stated. Meanwhile, he pointed out that Mechel had been cooperating with the anti-monopoly service and had provided it with all necessary information.

RBC, 28.07.2008, Moscow 14:11:41.It will take the Russian stock market at least three months to recover from its significant fall on July 25, 2008, analysts told RBC. Although a technical rebound is possible in morning trade, risks are running high and investor sentiment is downbeat, weighing on the prices of Russian companies. A minimum of three months is needed to improve the country’s investment climate, experts indicate.

RBC, 28.07.2008, Moscow 12:33:31.LUKOIL Eurasia Petrol A.S., a LUKoil subsidiary, has acquired a 100-percent stake in Turkey’s fuel distribution company Akpet. The deal was signed by LUKoil’s President Vagit Alekperov and Akpet’s owners in Istanbul today. The size of the deal has not been revealed.

Hello,

I looked at my wife the other day while eating a Big Mac in Moscow and said:”These are so much better than in America and they are cheap here!” Now I know why……
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Big Mac reveals true worth of crashing dollar
The American dollar is overvalued in Russia by as much as 30 per cent, according to the so-called ‘Big Mac index’. The index was developed by The Economist magazine as a way of valuing currencies based on the price of the popular hamburgers around the world. A Big Mac costs $US 2.54 in Russia compared with $US 3.57 in the United States.

The Economist assumes that production costs are equal overall. That means it’s possible to measure the purchasing power of world currencies in reference to the dollar according to the price Big Macs.

Using the Big Mac index, the U.S. dollar should cost 16.5 roubles instead of the official rate of 23.37 rubles quoted by the Russian Central Bank.

The dearest McDonald’s is in Norway, where people pay $US 7.88 for a Big Mac. The cheapest ones are in Malaysia, China and Hong-Kong, where they can cost anything between $US 1.17 and $US 1.83, reports The Economist.
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“Using the Big Mac index, the U.S. dollar should cost 16.5 rubles instead of the official rate of 23.37 rubles quoted by the Russian Central Bank.” I have multiple of articles about the Banks in Russia supporting the dollar. They work overtime trying to keep the dollar from crashing any faster than it does!

The Big Mac is the proof and I am going to enjoy them. But look at that price in China…….

Kyle & Svet

Germany Handed Over Litvinenko Files to Russia

Germany has handed over to Russia the files related to assassination of FSB ex-officer Alexander Litvinenko and attempted murder of Dmitry Kovtun, RIA Novosti reported with reference to Vladimir Markin, the official representative of Investigating Committee of the RF General Prosecutor Office. The files were provided in July, during the visit of investigators’ delegation to Germany.

“Manifesting readiness for cooperation with Russia’s colleagues and in execution of Russia’s request, Germany’s competent authorities have handed over to Russia’s delegation a portion of files of the criminal case that is of interest for probing into the murder of Litvinenko,” Markin said.

FSB ex-officer Litvinenko fled to Britain in 2000 and was granted political asylum there. He was poisoned by radioactive polonium-210 and died in London in November of 2006. So far, British authorities have released neither the official conclusion on the cause of his death nor the results of postmortem examination.

British detectives blame the murder on Russia’s businessman and State Duma member Andrei Lugovoy and London demands his extradition, to no avail though. Similar to Litvinenko, Lugovoy had once been the officer of FSB.

Russia’s investigators first requested the files related to Litvinenko case far back December 27, 2006, but no response followed. So, the detectives went to Hamburg July 13, 2008 and were given the required files.
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About time and Russia had to go get the files because no one would respond……

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

I found this study on Russians and their so called desire to all leave the country. Like I suspected already while living in Russia, they do not have anymore desire to leave than other counties do…
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Roughly a half of Russians don’t want to go overseas but a third of the nation (35 percent) favors traveling over the world. No more than 8 percent of respondents are ready to emigrate for permanent residence, signaled the poll of All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Studies.
Nine percent of the Russians would like to work overseas and 4 percent want to get education there. The potentially mobile respondents have high (or incomplete high) education. In this most educated group, 47 percent would like to travel worldwide, 13 percent want to work overseas, 10 percent are willing to emigrate for permanent residence and 7 percent – to study in some foreign state.

As to the most favored state for permanent residence, Germany (18 percent) is the evident leader and the United States (14 percent) enjoys the second score. But the situation is quite the opposite when it comes to employment – the U.S. leads with 29 percent and Germany follows with just 19 percent. The Russians would rather go to Britain (40 percent) and the United States (16 percent) for education, while France (13 percent) and Italy (11 percent) are chosen for traveling.

All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Studies held its poll July 19 and 20, covering 1,600 respondents in 140 settlements of Russia. The statistic error isn’t above 3.4 percent. (Link)
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My wife has always been confused by the reports that Russians want to go to America. Seems Germany is favored before America.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 24.07.2008, Moscow 12:59:50.Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s proposal that Russia set up a military base in Venezuela, combined with information released this week on the possible deployment of Russian bombers in Cuba, may provoke an overly negative reaction from the US, the RBC Daily newspaper reported today. Washington may fail to understand the intricacies of Moscow’s diplomatic game, in which Russia seeks to receive an additional trump card in an attempt to decide in its favor the issue of the deployment of US missile shield elements in Eastern Europe.

RBC: Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves stood at $588.3 billion as of July 18, 2008, $10 billion, or 1.7 percent, more than a week before.

Over the previous two weeks, the reserves rose by $14.8 billion. From June 27 to July 18, they increased by $24.8 billion, or 4.4 percent.

The fast rise could be due both to the dollar’s depreciation against the euro and the Central Bank’s increased acquisition of foreign currency on Russia’s forex market, bringing the reserves to their highest level ever recorded.

From July 1, 2008, the Central Bank started assessing foreign securities in the reserves based on their market value. Earlier, the assessment was based on amortized value (purchase price plus interest). In doing this, the Central Bank has brought its reserve valuation system in line with international standards.

Currently, China has the largest gold and foreign currency reserves in the world, largely thanks to its huge trade surplus, fed by its growing exports to the United States.

Gold and foreign currency reserves are highly liquid financial assets controlled by the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry. They consist of monetary gold, special drawing rights, the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund, and foreign currency.
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RBC: Russia has responded to Washington’s plans to deploy a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Russian bombers have landed in Cuba, Izvestia newspaper reported citing a source with Russia’s Defense Ministry. The planes made reconnaissance flights and inspected local airfield infrastructure. The return of Russian bombers to Cuba stirred panic in Washington.

Meanwhile, Russian defense officials believe that Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers could easily be sent not only to Cuba, but also to other locations in Latin America. Apparently, the move is Moscow’s response to the planned US missile shield in Eastern Europe.

The source stressed that reconnaissance flights did not mean that Russian strategic bombers flew to Venezuela and other countries in the region; a visit to an airfield by a transport aircraft is enough to get acquainted with an area.

The news unnerved US officials. Gen. Norton Schwartz, nominated for Chief of the Air Force, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia would be crossing “a red line” if it were to use Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.

Responding to this warning, Gen. Anatoly Kornukov, former Russian Air Force Commander, said Russian bombers could use foreign airfields, including in Cuba, if governments did not object to this. “Though located very close to the US, they will present no danger whatsoever, just like the US missile defense system in the Czech Republic,” he was quoted as saying by Echo of Moscow radio.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday said Cuba did not have to explain or “ask forgiveness” about reports that Russia might use the Caribbean island as a refueling base for its bombers.

In August 2007, Russia made a decision to resume regular strategic flights to parts of the world remote from Russia, including US shores, and such flights require refueling bases along the way.

According to some reports, the Tu-160 and Tu-95 bombers have recently been modernized to carry the Kh-555, Russia’s new conventionally armed air-launched cruise missile with a flight range of over 3,500 km. It is believed that the Kh-555 cannot be intercepted by any existing defense missile system, nor by the missile shield developed by the United States.

RBC, 24.07.2008, Moscow 17:11:41.MegaFon has upgraded its capital investment forecast for 2008 from $1.7bn to $2bn, the Russian mobile service provider said in a statement today. Roughly $250m – $300m of this sum is to be invested in the construction of 3G networks. In 2007, the company invested more than $100m for that purpose.

Hello,

As you remember on Wednesdays we publish Stories from Soviet Childhood – my generation was brought up reading the stories, and generation of our parents was brought up on them and we tried to bring up our children by reading them good children book. Today we are finishing a story by Nikolay Nosov “The pistol”. If you did not read the first part please click at the little picture. To the right —->

The Pistol

(Part 2)

At that moment steps were heard outside and the door-bell rang. Marina and Ira ran to open the door. Sasha [boy’s name] poked his head into the passage and hissed after them: “Don’t let him in!”
But Marina [girls’s name] had already opened the door. Sure enough, there on the threshold stood a militiaman [policeman]. The brass buttons on his uniform fairly shone. Sasha dropped on to his hands and knees and crawled under the sofa.

“Is this Apartment No. 6?” he heard the militiaman ask.
“No,” said Ira. “This is No. 1, No. 6 is in the house next door. The one on the right.”
“Thanks,” said the militiaman.

Sasha heaved a sigh of relief and was about to climb out from under the sofa when the militiaman asked:
“By the way, is there a boy called Sasha in this flat?”
“Yes,” said Ira [girl’s name].
“He’s the one I want,” said the militiaman and walked straight into the room.

When the girls came in they saw that Sasha had disappeared. Marina peeped under the sofa but Sasha shook his head violently and signed to her not to give him away.

“Well, and where is that Sasha of yours?” asked the militiaman.
By this time the girls were a little frightened too and they didn’t know what to say.
Finally Marina said: “He . . . er, he isn’t home just now. He … er, he went out to play.”
“What do you want him for?” asked Ira. “Do you know anything about him?”
“I know all sorts of things,” said the militiaman. “I know that his name is Sasha. I also know that he had a brand-new toy pistol and that now he hasn’t got it.”

“He knows everything!” thought Sasha in horror.
He was so nervous that his nose began to itch and before he could stop himself he sneezed.

“Who’s that?” asked the militiaman in surprise.
“That’s our dog,” Marina said hastily.
“What is he doing under the sofa?”
“Oh, he always sleeps under the sofa,” Marina went on.
“Indeed? And what is his name?”
“Er .. . Bobik,” said Marina, turning red as a beet-root.
“Bobik! Bobik! Hallo there, Bobik!” called the militiaman and whistled. “Why doesn’t he come out, I wonder?” He whistled again. “Doesn’t want to. Funny dog. What breed did you say he was?”
“Er … he’s … er….” Marina couldn’t for the life of her remember the name of a single breed. “He’s a … what do you call it. A very good breed. . . , Oh, yes, a Doberman pinscher.”
“That’s a fine breed,” said the militiaman with a broad smile. “I know that breed very well. They have long hair all over their faces.”

He bent down and peered under the sofa. Sasha stared back at him, his eyes round with fright. The militiaman whistled again, this time with amazement.
“So that’s your Doberman pinscher! Hey there, young man, what are you doing under the sofa? Come out. You’re caught anyway.”

“I shan’t come out,” cried Sasha.
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll take me to the militia station.”
“What for?”
“For that old woman.”
“What old woman?”
“The one I frightened with my pistol.”
The militiaman raised his eyebrows. “Whatever is he talking about?”
“He was outside playing with his pistol and an old woman was passing just as he fired and she took fright,” Ira explained.

“This must be his property then?” said the militiaman, producing a shiny new pistol from his pocket.
“That’s his!” said Ira. “Marina and I bought it for him and he lost it. Where did you find it?”
“In the back yard near your door. Now what do you mean by frightening old women with a pistol, young man?” said the militiaman, bending down to Sasha who was still crouching under the sofa.

“I didn’t mean to.”
“You’re not telling the truth. I can see by your eyes. If you tell me the truth, I’ll give you back your pistol.”
“And you won’t take me to the militia station?”
“No.”

“I didn’t mean to scare her. I only wanted to see whether she would be scared or not.”
“Now that isn’t nice at all, young man. I really ought to lock you up for that, but since I promised, I won’t. But if I catch you doing anything like that again…. Come now, get out from under there and I’ll give you your pistol.”
“No, I’ll come out when you’ve gone.”
“You are a funny one,” laughed the militiaman. “All right, I’m going.”

He laid the pistol on the table and went out. Marina showed him to the door. Sasha climbed out from under the sofa, snatched up his beloved pistol and hugged it.

“Hurrah, my dear darling pistol. So you’ve come back to me after all. But how did the militiaman know my name, I wonder?”

“You wrote it yourself on the handle,” said Ira.
Just then Marina came back. She pounced on Sasha at once.
“You naughty boy! When I think of all the lies I had to tell that militiaman because of you I could nearly die with shame. The next time you get into a scrape like that, don’t expect me to protect you.”

“I shan’t get into any more scrapes,” said Sasha. “I’ll never frighten anyone again.”

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Previous stories:

ZIS

Cucumbers

THE CRUCIAN CARP

Mishka’s Porridge
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Best wishes and next Wednesday we will continue reading Stories from Soviet Childhood!

Svet

comments always welcome

Seems we have a pattern?

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and the issue of Condoleezza Rice keeps coming up. Looks like she is the new mouth for the USA.

Her latest threat was yesterday, it was printed that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave Iran a two week deadline to curb its nuclear program…..

Rice wants “serious answer” from Iran

SHANNON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Monday that it faced more sanctions if it defied a two-week deadline to agree to curb its nuclear program.

Well Rice did not have to wait long for her threat to be answered…..

Iran’s president vows no retreat in nuclear row

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran will not “retreat one iota” over its disputed nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.

Condoleezza Rice got a serious answer. Now what is she going to do?

Go To War?

Kyle & Svet

Hello,

I printed a post not long ago about Russia: “Beware Russia is Growing While You Look The Other Way!” So while everyone is still worried about mole hills, Russia is building Mountains!
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BARVIKHA (Moscow Region), July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russian energy companies have signed cooperation agreements with Venezuela’s state oil and gas company as part of an official visit by the South American country’s president to Russia.

Anglo-Russian oil venture TNK-BP and Venezuela’s PDVSA agreed on the joint exploration of the Ayacucho-2 area in the Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela. Russian state-run energy giant Gazprom signed a deal with the Venezuelan company on the appraisal and certification of the Ayacucho-3 oil fields.

LUKoil and PDVSA signed a memorandum of understanding and an agreement on joint exploration in the Junin-3 area, also in the Orinoco belt.

The documents were signed in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez.

Chavez told the Russian leader: “We are happy to be here, and this is an excellent opportunity to promote and improve our relations and open up new horizons.”

Medvedev said the Russian-Venezuelan talks would give “another powerful impetus” to bilateral relations.
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Looks like Russia Growing! What with major input into Africa, South America, China & many more. Russia is starting to prove that they are serious about their new Democracy. I am starting to understand that Russia looks at the world allot different than America…..

And it is not all Bad!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

While drinking my morning cup of coffee, I was thinking about some of the blogs that we read all the time.

The Silver People Chronicle: A blog about the history of the Panama Canal!

clarkspicks.com: A blog about classic music videos, you do not want to miss them!

Diary From England: A blog about life in England!

TESSELLAR > Blog: A blog about Architecture!

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis: You want some Russian history?

My life in Bergen, a photoblog: A blog about Norway!

Пётр: A blog about what ever Peter wants to write about! Peter is a Russian in St. Pete.

ROTUS: We do not know what this blog is about! We just like going there and picking on the owner, Clark! 🙂

We read them because we like them.

Kyle & Svet