Windows to Russia

Hello,

Do you need a job? Russia has openings:

Perceived prestige of being a government worker is not enough, the personnel shortage in the central state system exceeds 15 percent, according to a report published yesterday by Rosstat. Even though top state jobs pay twice the national average, the government is unable to compete with the private sector on the labor market. As a result, government service has become woman’s work. In the first quarter of 2008, women made up 71 percent of federal officials, 58 percent in Moscow. (Link)

Kyle & Svet

RBC, 27.05.2008, Moscow 14:45:29.Russia’s government has filed a lawsuit in France against Swiss company Noga requesting the payment of significant damages caused by Noga’s unlawful arrest of Russia’s assets in France, the Finance Ministry reported today.

RBC, 27.05.2008, Moscow 14:39:48.Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered his government to curb inflation, stressing that this is a key task for the time being, the Mayak radio station quoted the President as saying at a meeting with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. In turn, Kudrin noted that the government had been able to bring the growth rate of the money supply in the economy into line with the plans that had been endorsed by the State Duma and the government’s monetary policy guidelines. The Deputy PM promised that the measures taken by the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Russia will permit to not only reduce further consumer price growth, but also quash inflation within the next half a year. The Finance Ministry is monitoring the major monetary policy parameters, and, according to Kudrin, at the moment they look much better than they did a year ago.

RBC, 27.05.2008, Moscow 13:50:48.A meeting of the Working Party on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will begin on June 16, 2008, the Russian Economy Ministry’s press office reported. The Working Party will meet for a week to review the latest version of the consolidated report on Russia’s entry to the WTO, which was adopted at the previous meeting.

RBC, 27.05.2008, Moscow 13:28:56.A transition to equal profitability of natural gas supplies on the domestic market and abroad will be completed in 2014-2015, Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach said during today’s meeting of a trilateral commission for the regulation of social and economic relations. The government decided to stick to its plan providing for bringing the prices of domestic gas supplies to the level of export prices excluding duties and transportation costs. However, the fulfillment of the plan was postponed by several years, so equal profitability of gas supplies will not be attained in 2011, as originally planned, Klepach said.

RBC, 27.05.2008, Moscow 12:42:54.Foreign Ministers Eduard Nalbandian of Armenia and Sergei Lavrov of Russia will discuss cooperation between the two countries as part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Russian ministry’s representative Andrei Nesterenko reported. He indicated that the Armenian Foreign Minister would pay a working visit to Moscow on May 29-June 1 to touch base on Russia and Armenia’s approaches to international issues of primary importance and to further coordinate Moscow and Yerevan’s foreign policies, particularly as part of continuing their joint work as part of the CIS and the CSTO, international organizations, such as the UN, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE, and multilateral forums.

RBC, 26.05.2008, Moscow 18:56:18.Russia has written off a $20bn debt of Africa’s poorest countries, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today. He added that Russia was doing a lot to ease the debt burden of poor countries owing large debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Development Association (IDA). Lavrov indicated that Russia had cancelled roughly half of the sum over the last two years.

RBC, 26.05.2008, Moscow 17:57:09.The Russian Defense Ministry has refuted the claims of the UN mission in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict that the Georgian unmanned aircraft was shot down by the Russian air force on April 20, the head of the ministry’s press office, Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky told RBC. He reiterated that Russian military airplanes had not violated Georgia’s state border either on April 20 or on any other day, nor had they shoot down Georgian unmanned aircraft.

RBC, 26.05.2008, Moscow 14:32:31.The US Department of Commerce has set a zero import duty on carbamide supplied by EuroChem, the Russian mineral and chemical company said in a statement today.

RBC, 26.05.2008, Moscow 13:45:19.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has requested that a bill on trade regulation is introduced in the government before Friday, the government’s press officer reported today. The decision was made on the basis of a meeting on improving Russia’s agricultural policy that was held in Yessentuki on May 19. Putin also commissioned several ministries and government bodies to take steps to carry out the federal program on the development of agriculture and regulation of agricultural products markets for 2008-2012.

RBC, 26.05.2008, Moscow 13:49:25.Fighting corruption is a top priority for Russia’s new President Dmitry Medvedev. The anti-corruption council could be transformed into a new powerful body to keep a close eye on officials and their families. Medvedev seems to have received carte blanche from Putin to root out corruption, experts say. At the same time, the campaign will allow Medvedev to strengthen his grip on power, making new appointments. Yesterday Medvedev discussed anti-corruption methods with officials and members of the public. In the absence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the government was represented by his deputy and government chief-of-staff Sergei Sobyanin. After the meeting, reporters were told that Medvedev would chair an anti-corruption council, and an interdepartmental group would be heated by Sergei Naryshkin, chief-of-staff to President Medvedev.

Hello,

Now it is getting good, Georgia wants Russia to pay for drone?
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Georgia calls on Russia to pay for downed drone Georgia says Moscow should apologize and pay it compensation for a drone that according to a UN report was shot down by a Russian jet over Abkhazia. Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia said it shot down the spy plane in late spring. Tbilisi has released a video claiming to show a Russian plane attacking the drone. Moscow strongly denies the allegations saying the tape was questionable. But on Monday the United Nations observer mission to Georgia issued a statement saying it believes Tbilisi’s version of the events. Russia’s ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko says he does not “question the professionalism of the UN officials, but the evidence given to them was questionable”.
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Georgia seems to have nothing better to do than irritate Russia…..

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

I have come across this article in several forms in the last few days. I get a chuckle out of it when I see it. In Russia you always have to build something better or first. It seems to be a Russian trait. It is a trait that I saw all my life in the USA & a trait that is very strong in Russia. I did an article months ago about the “Father Of All Bombs” it is a Russian bomb that is more powerful than the “Mother Of All Bombs” that the USA built. Like I said this is an important trait that Russians have……… (Link)
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MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) – Russia started developing tactical laser weapons before the United States and has several prototypes of high-precision combat chemical lasers in its arsenal, a defense industry source said on Tuesday.

The Boeing Company said recently it had test-fired a high-energy chemical laser fitted aboard a C-130H aircraft for the first time. The successful ground tests, “a key milestone for the Advanced Tactical Laser Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program,” took place on May 13 at the Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Commenting on the announcement, the Russian expert said: “We tested a similar system back in 1972. Even then our ‘laser cannon was capable of hitting targets with high precision.”
“We have moved far ahead since then, and the U.S. has to keep pace with our research and development,” he added.
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This is something that the USA & Russia have in common, they always want to be the best. That is another reason why I like Russia.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

Hello,

This is an article about the UN findings about the downed drone in Georgia. Articles have sprung up all over the Western presses about that the UN had said without a doubt the drone was shot down by a Russian Jet! The fact is that the UN failed to reach a positive conclusion…..Now the UN says that it was a Russian Jet…… Cool!
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Russia’s Jet Might Have Downed Georgia’s Drone
The UN mission in Georgia has released a report on April 20 accident, when a spy drone of Georgia’s Interior Ministry was hit in the air of Abkhazia. It appears the experts failed to reach a final conclusion.
It emerged that the UN experts based their investigation on the tape allegedly made aboard the drone by Georgia’s military in online mode. The experts were even provided with the 12-second portion that hadn’t been released at first.

The expert conclusion appears at least vague, as there are no evidences explicitly proving that the drone was hit by Russia’s jet. The nine-page report of the UN representatives gives no idea what jet was shown on the video tape.

What’s more, the international experts were unable to find an airport from which the jet could have taken off. It might have been Krasnodar, but then, the jet would have to fly 366km in one direction and another 366km back to the airport. But its maximum flying range is just 700km.

The experts were probing into the events of April 20, which anew aggravated the relations of Moscow and Tbilisi. In Georgia, they claimed that Russia’s jet hit the drone of Georgia that day, violating the cease-fire agreement. Moscow rebuffed by saying that the same document banned Georgian aircraft from flying in Abkhazia’s air.
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UN Got On Russia’s Back
UN mission in Georgia blamed on Russia the destruction of Georgia’s spy drone in Abkhazia’s air April 20. Based on that conclusion, Tbilisi again referred to Russia as to the conflict party rather than its intermediary and called for the urgent replacement of Russia’s peacekeepers in Abkhazia. Official Moscow denies the involvement, but some members of the State Duma leave room for such possibility.
The yesterday’s statement of the UN experts advanced the dispute around the destruction of Georgia’s spy drone to a new level. The conclusion says the tape provided by Georgia shows either MiG-29 or Su-27. The radars first spotted the jet at roughly 12 kilometers from Gudauta airport, Abkhazia, at the altitude of 2,800 meters, i.e. it could have taken off exactly from that airport. Having hit the drone, the jet flew back to Russia’s air space and headed for the Maikop-Krasnodar line, the experts specified.

Once the conclusion was ready, the UN lashed out at Russia blaming on it violation of cease-fire agreement coupled with the recent strengthening of peacekeepers contingent in Abkhazia.

Russia’s Defense Ministry bluntly denied the involvement. “Any violation of Georgia’s state border, the more so hitting its drone is completely out of the question,” said Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, who heads the press service of Defense Ministry.

In the RF parliament, however, they don’t completely cross out the possibility of Russia’s involvement. “More likely than not, it was Russia’s jet,” Gennady Gudkov said yesterday, calling on the authorities “not to react to the UN conclusions.” Gudkov is the deputy head at State Duma’s Security Committee.

But it appears that Moscow will have to explain in the end, at least Slovenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitri Rupel voiced exactly that demand Monday on behalf of EU, where Slovenia presides nowadays.
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The story changes by the day…….

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 18:25:22.Just over two thirds of Russians (68 percent) believe that a major sea-port Sevastopol must belong to their country, a poll held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed. A mere 5 percent of the respondents said that the city could remain part of Ukraine, while 27 percent are undecided on the matter. The percentage of those who think that Sevastopol must be part of Russia is lower among people aged 18-24 (59 percent) than among older respondents (66-71 percent).

More than half of those who believe that Sevastopol must belong to Russia explain their position by saying that it was a Russian city in the past (56 percent). Other respondents said that Sevastopol is a strategically important port and a place of Russia’s military glory (6-7 percent). Meanwhile, 31 percent of respondents said that it was more important to return Sevastopol to Russia than to maintain good relations with Ukraine, compared to 18 percent of Russians who believe otherwise.

The poll was conducted among 1,600 people in 153 locations in 46 regions and republics of Russia on May 17-18, with the margin of error of no more than 3.4 percent.

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & realized that Medvedev has long term connections with China….

Medvedev knows China. For two years he was in charge of a difficult job – organizing the Year of Russia in China and the Year of China in Russia. He had to make numerous trips and conduct many talks. In a way, he closed down the old era in bilateral relations. Now his task is to open a new one. (LINK)

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BEIJING, May 24 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s relations with China are becoming a key factor in the development of international affairs, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday, the second day of his official visit to Beijing.

Medvedev told Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference: “My visit to China is aimed at developing the strategic dialogue that has been progressing over the past few years between our countries.”

“We have achieved major progress. Now Russian-Chinese relations are becoming a key factor in international developments.”

The committee chairman told the Russian leader that his visit to China “will not only help the development of strategic partnership between the two countries,” but also open a new page in the history of their relations.
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Looks like a new ballgame is in the works. This is a powerful combination of countries. Medvedev has long and solid ties with China. He goes way back and has a lot of respect in China. These two countries working together will be hard to push around!

Something to think about……

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 14:52:43.The National Banking Board may review the Russian banking sector’s development strategy until 2020 in the fall of 2008, President of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia, State Duma deputy Anatoly Aksakov said during the association’s general annual meeting. If the board approves the strategy, the document will be almost mandatory for the authorities, Aksakov stated. A draft strategy has already been devised, and a working group to be headed by the association’s First Deputy President Alexander Khandruyev will be created to finalize it. The document is to be prepared before the beginning of the Sochi economic forum scheduled for September 2008. It must be in line with financial markets’ development strategy and provide for closing the 22-fold gap between the incomes of the rich and the poor, reducing inequality between Russia’s regions, and maintaining the country’s economic sovereignty, Aksakov noted.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 14:09:05.According to preliminary data, Russian producer prices grew 4.5 percent in April 2008 and 26.6 percent between January and April, the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported. As stated in the federal service’s document, the price of crude oil and associated gas jumped 9 percent and the price of natural gas and gas condensate rose 6 percent, while a 4.9-percent decline in prices was seen within the non-ferrous iron ore mining segment. Prices increased in the manufacturing sector (certain refined oil products), metallurgy and the chemical industry, while the price of electricity produced domestically slid 5.5 percent, and the price of electricity supplied to industrial consumers and agricultural producers dropped 1.4 percent.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 13:42:21.At today’s annual general meeting, NOVATEK shareholders approved the payment of RUB 1.52 (approx. USD 0.06) per share as dividend for 2007, one of the shareholders told RBC. Consequently, combined with an interim dividend of RUB 0.83 (approx. USD 0.04) paid for the first half of 2007, total dividend for the 2007 fiscal year will amount to RUB 2.35 (approx. USD 0.10) per common share. As reported earlier, NOVATEK paid RUB 1.10 (approx. USD 0.05) per common share for 2006, with the total payout, including interim dividend payments, amounting to RUB 5bn (approx. USD 212m).

RBC, 23.05.2008, London 13:15:36.Severstal has reached an agreement on the acquisition of up to 61.5 percent of African Iron Ore Group Ltd. (AIOG) shares, the Russian steel producer said in a press release today. AIOG’s subsidiaries have a license for conducting a geological survey at the Putu Range iron ore deposit in Liberia. In addition, Severstal is expected to buy a 6.29-percent stake in Mano River Resources Inc., which holds a controlling stake in AIOG. The Russian company is to pay $37.5m for the stake in AIOG, while the price of the second deal is estimated at GBP 2m (USD 3.9m). Both deals will be implemented through Severstal’s Dutch subsidiary Lybica Holding B.V.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 12:23:04.According to preliminary data, real disposable cash incomes of Russians grew 11.8 percent in January-April 2008 compared to the same month a year earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said in a report today. The average monthly accrued wages climbed 28.1 percent to RUB 16,253 (approx. USD 689) in April 2008 against April 2007 and went up 28 percent in the first four months of 2008 compared to January-April 2007.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 12:03:25.Today’s session on the Russian stock market opened with a rise in most traded securities. On MICEX, the majority of stocks went up 0.5 percent on average within the first few minutes of trade. Meanwhile, Polyus Gold, Norilsk Nickel, and Gazprom Neft traded below yesterday’s close. However, the situation changed after the first 30 minutes of trade, as only Sberbank, Rosneft and Polyus Gold remained in positive territory. Most securities declined 0.5 percent on average and the RTS index was slightly down.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 11:12:00.Russia’s natural gas production rose 1.3 percent to 56.9bn cubic meters in April 2008 compared to the same month a year earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported today. Meanwhile, gas output fell 4.4 percent in April against the previous month.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 11:01:54.Russia’s retail trade grew 13.2 percent to roughly RUB 1.058 trillion (approx. USD 44.9bn) in April 2008 compared to the same month a year earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported today. The figure edged up 0.3 percent in April compared to March.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 10:53:14.Russia’s oil and gas condensate production inched down 0.7 percent to 39.7m tonnes in April 2008 compared to the same month a year earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported today. Oil output shrank 3.6 percent in April compared to March.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 10:32:04.According to preliminary data, Russia’s fixed investment grew 20.3 percent to RUB 529.6bn (approx. USD 22.5bn) in January-April 2008 compared to the same months a year earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service reported today. In April alone, fixed investment went up 2.2 against March.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 09:55:07.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to arrive in Minsk today. As part of his visit, Putin will take part in the meeting of the heads of government of CIS member states. Moreover, the Russian PM intends to meet one-on-one with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Timoshenko, who will be chairing the meeting the the commonwealth’s Prime Ministers. The chairmanship will be handed over to Belarus during this meeting.

RBC, 23.05.2008, Moscow 09:28:15.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will today begin his official visit to the People’s Republic of China. He is visiting China at the invitation of the country’s President Hu Jintao. At the talks in Beijing, the leaders intend to discuss cooperation in the nuclear industry, fuel and energy, and investment. Particular attention will be paid to the matter of state support of banking institutions and mechanisms. Moreover, such issues will be considered as collaboration in civil aviation, migration, and environment.

RBC, 22.05.2008, Kiev 19:31:06.Whether to increase the capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium or not is to be resolved by the end of May 2008, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister of Kazakhstan Lyazat Kiinov told an energy forum in Kiev today. He added that the issue had been settled in principle, and shareholder approvals were expected in the near future. He regretted that there had been no serious discussions of linking the Caspial pipeline project to the Odessa-Brody pipeline. This would require an additional leg of 150 kilometers, including across the Russian territory. For this, in turn, Russia’s agreement would be needed. Yet, this link is approved, there would be no difficulty in finding enough oil to load the Oddessa-Brody pipeline, the Deputy Minister assured. According to Kiinov, the Caspian pipeline would be able to carry some 67m tonnes of oil, of which some 37m tonnes could be bound via the Ukrainian route.

RBC, 22.05.2008, Moscow 16:32:35.The government board is to consider on Monday a reduction in the tax burden for the oil industry, a source close to the cabinet told journalists today. The bills are to be introduced to the State Duma during the spring session. The matter of the extension of a tax holiday to several Russian regions, as well as methods of calculation of oil production will also be reviewed during the session, the source said.

RBC, 22.05.2008, Tbilisi 14:58:07.International observers from the CIS, who monitored Georgia’s parliamentary election on Wednesday, have named it democratic. Although there have been some violations, they cannot affect the election results, the observers said in a statement today. They also noted that Georgia had created all necessary conditions for monitoring the election.

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MOSCOW (Moscow News) – The minimum wage per month in the capital (Moscow) is to come to 10, 900 rubles by the end of 2010. Currently the minimum wage in the city is 6,800 rubles. After September 1, it will be 7,500 rubles.

Additionally, pensions in the capital are to exceed the cost of living by the end of 2009, Igor Antonov, the chairman of the budget and finance committee of Moscow State Duma, said.
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That in American Dollars: (at exchange of 23.5 rubles per dollar)

Per Month:
6800 rubles = $290 (now)
7500 rubles = $319 (Sept.1st 2008)
10,900 rubles = $464 (2010)

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

Now this statement could cause some fun times in the future:

The head of the State Duma committee on CIS affairs, Alexei Ostrovsky, said in April that Russia could reclaim the Crimea if Ukraine was admitted to NATO. Media reported that President Vladimir Putin issued a similar threat during a closed-door speech to NATO leaders at the Bucharest Summit earlier in April.

Now lets have tea!

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…