Windows to Russia

Hello,

Yesterday I wondered what Prime Minister Putin was up to. So today while I was drinking my coffee I thought that I would see what the President of Russia Medvedev is doing!

1. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to discuss space exploration and military cooperation with his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, during his first trip abroad as president on May 22-23. Medvedev’s visit to Kazakhstan will be followed by a two-day trip to China, during which the countries will sign a number of documents, including a joint declaration on key international issues.

2. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he will hold one-on-one talks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy during the G8 summit in Japan in July.

3. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for reforms in Russia’s judicial system to prevent bribery and corruption, and make the courts truly independent.

4. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev signed an order on May 14 allowing Manchester United and Chelsea fans holding tickets for the final at Luzhniki Stadium to enter the country without visas.

5. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the 54th Strategic Missile Division deployment area.

6. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s successful start suggests that we should expect many and substantial reforms soon, and they are badly needed. Corruption cannot continue like this if the Russian state is to stay manageable. Long-prepared reforms for education, health care and pensions are urgent. The country’s infrastructure must be extended and renewed. The government can no longer afford not to reform as it did for the past five years. There is new hope for Russia.

Looks like Medvedev is being the President of Russia……

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking about what Putin is doing now that he is not President anymore!

1. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved on Tuesday the country’s largest spending project since the Soviet collapse, a $570 billion program to overhaul and expand the country’s transportation infrastructure over the next seven years.

2. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced the creation of a new executive body that he said would inject efficiency into the unwieldy government machine. The new body, called the presidium, will comprise Putin’s seven deputies and seven other ministers and meet once a week, in a routine reminiscent of Putin’s weekly Monday meetings with key ministers in the Kremlin. The entire Cabinet will convene at least once a month, Putin said.

3. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged his government on Tuesday to give Russia a modern fleet of ships for its flourishing energy sector and named his close ally, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, to manage the multibillion-dollar project.

Looks like he is busy being a Prime Minister….

Kyle & Svet

PS: Tomorrow we will see what President Medvedev is doing!

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

In the last few days in Russia there have been interesting tidbits of information.

1. Vodka is on the decline by 2%….. but the catch is that champagne and sparkling wines are up 16%, cognac production increased 19.6% and the output of low alcohol drinks (beer) doubled.

2. An Estonian court said Monday the trial of a 88-year-old WWII veteran and Hero of the Soviet Union on charges of genocide is due to start on May 20 in the town of Kardla in the country’s western island of Hiiumaa. Meri is a cousin of the late former Estonian president Lennart Meri.

3. The British are Coming! Roughly 7,000 police officers and interior military were attracted to ensure order in the city. The police will be wherever the fans are, Over 50,000 Britain’s fans are expected to arrive for the final match of the UEFA Champions League that Manchester United and Chelsea will play in Moscow May 21. (Today)

4. A 58-kilometer (36-mile) long pipeline to the Yury Korchagin oil and gas field, located in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea has been completed.

5. Russia has been ranked 131 out of 140 countries & the USA ranked 97 out of 140 in the Global Peace Index, an annual study of how peaceful countries are, both domestically and internationally. (Sounds like the USA and Russia are not very peaceful)

So that is about it… Oh yes the weather for the UEFA Champions League is terrible. Rain, rain and more rain.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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RBC, 20.05.2008, Moscow 09:58:13.The Executive Board of the international special-purpose entity (SPE) Trans-Balkan Pipeline B.V. has resolved 10 out of 12 issues regarding the implementation of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project during its first ever meeting held in Amsterdam on May 15, head of the Executive Board, the company’s President Sergei Vinnichenko told RBC on Monday. Among the most important matters he named the agreement in principle of the board’s members to raise the company’s initial budget (currently set at EUR 5.8m), depending on the future need for additional funding to make a feasibility study. The existing budget is not enough to launch the project, Vinnichenko said, adding that the required figure would only be determined after talks with the potential contractor on the feasibility study, which had yet to start.

RBC, 20.05.2008, Moscow 09:23:49.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting on the development of Russia’s transportation system in 2010-2015 in Sochi today, the government’s press office reported. The PM is also expected to visit the “Transport in Russia Ч 2008” international exhibition.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 19:44:51.The Board of Directors of Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russia’s mobile services provider, recommended that the company’s shareholders approve nearly RUB 29.581bn (approx. USD 1.24bn) as the total dividend payment for 2007, which is 1.5 times more than in 2006, the company’s official documents show. Hence, the dividend per share is recommended at RUB 14.84 (approx. USD 0.622). MTS’s President Leonid Melamed stated earlier that he expected the dividend payment to top USD 1bn, in line with the dividend policy that the company adopted in 2007.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 19:19:19.At their meeting today, Gazprom’s Chairman Alexei Miller, and Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian agreed to sign a mid-term gas supply contract. Until January 2009, Armenia will be buying Russian gas at $110 per 1,000 cubic meters. By 2011, the countries expect Armenia (as well as Russia’s domestic consumers) to pay European-level prices, Gazprom’s press office reported.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 15:28:45.Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia’s Board of Directors has recommended that its shareholders approve a dividend of RUB 30 (approx. USD 1.26) per common share for 2007, the corporation stated today. The total payout will amount to roughly RUB 33.712m (approx. USD 1.414m), while net profit reached some RUB 130.071m (approx. USD 5.46m) in 2007.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 14:47:57.Two and a half hours before the close of today’s special dollar trading session for tomorrow deals, the high on deals remained unchanged at 23.80 RUB/USD, while the low on deals fell RUB 0.04 to 23.69 RUB/USD. Meanwhile, the weighted average exchange rate stood at 23.71 RUB/USD, RUB 0.01 lower than the official rate set by the Bank of Russia for May 20. The current developments on MICEX can be attributed to the dollar’s decline against the euro on international exchanges. The latter is now trading at some USD 1.5590, up from roughly USD 1.5570 in the morning.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 13:44:17.A council for the fight against corruption will be established in Russia, and will be chaired by the country’s leader, the President’s Chief-of-Staff Sergei Naryshkin reported following an anti-corruption meeting with the President today. Naryshkin was also quoted by the Mayak radio station as saying that it had been decided to form an interdepartmental group for the fight against corruption, to be headed by himself. According to the Chief-of-Staff, Dmitry Medvedev had charged the participants of the meeting to prepare a national plan for countering corruption. In turn, Russia’s General Prosecutor Yury Chaika added that the plan would be approved by a presidential decree.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 12:26:36.Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) carried out the first flight of the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 (SSJ-100) Russian regional jet in Komsomolsk-on-Amur today, the company’s press office told RBC. The plane was in the air for one hour and five minutes, reached the altitude of roughly 1,200 meters, and landed safely. The flight was preceded by a variety of trials, as all systems were tested on the ground.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 09:58:38.Russia has won first place in the ice hockey World Championship, beating Canada 5-4 in the final match. This is Russia’s first “gold” since 1993, when the current Russian chief coach Vyacheslav Bykov played for the Russian team. This was also the first ever game, in which Russia played versus Canada in the World Championship finals.

RBC, 19.05.2008, Moscow 09:24:42.A Russian delegation will resume multilateral consultations in Geneva on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which will last until the end of the month. It is expected that the delegation will be led by head of the Russian Economy Ministry’s trade negotiations department Maxim Medvedkov. As part of the preparation of the final document, Russia will discuss with its key trade partners such systemic issues as customs and technical regulation, protection of intellectual property rights, and state support of agricultural producers. The major issue that has yet to be agreed upon with the US and the Cairns Group (an interest group of agricultural exporting countries) is the size of agricultural subsidies.

RUSSIA

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree on measures to counter corruption, the Kremlin said on Monday

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has appointed Arkady Dvorkovich sherpa in the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and also reappointed four officials as heads of presidential administration departments, the Kremlin said on Monday

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin issued instructions on Monday to assess and check foreign trade contracts in the agricultural sphere for their compliance with the country’s interests

* Russia’s new Voronezh-type radar site in the southern town of Armavir will be put on combat duty in February 2009, the commander of the Russian Space Forces said

* Russia’s Maria Sharapova once again heads the rating list of the Women Tennis Association after the former World No. 1, Justine Henin of Belgium, announced she was quitting tennis last week

* Dmitry Medvedev has appointed Sergei Ushakov as a presidential adviser, the Kremlin press service said on Monday

* Irina Khakamada, a well-known Russian opposition figure, told RIA Novosti on Monday that she had quit politics

* The first charter planes carrying Manchester United and Chelsea supporters have arrived in Moscow as the Russian capital gears up to host the first all- English final in the history of Europe’s most prestigious club competition

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will head an anti-corruption council to be set up in Russia in the near future, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin said after a presidential conference

* Agricultural experts have detected bird flu antibodies in migratory birds in southern Siberia, Russia’s agricultural watchdog said in a statement Monday

* A Tajik national in possession of over 5 kg (11 lbs) of heroin has been detained near Moscow’s Kazansky railway station, a police source said

* Russia’s new Superjet 100 medium-haul passenger airliner made its first test flight on Monday, a spokesman for manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft said

* A new round of bilateral and multilateral talks on Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) will begin in Geneva on Monday, Russia’s chief delegate to the talks said

* Eighteen people including 15 Russians were injured when a tourist bus crashed in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, a spokesman for the local emergencies service said on Monday

WORLD

* During a meeting with the UN envoy to Afghanistan on Monday Iran’s president said that foreign intervention in Afghanistan would not solve the problems in the country

* The government of Kosovo has adopted a law on public holidays in the “world’s newest state”, Serbia’s Tanyug news agency reported

* An Estonian court said the trial of a 88-year-old WWII veteran and Hero of the Soviet Union on charges of genocide is due to start on May 20 in the town of Kardla in the country’s western island of Hiiumaa

* The cost of damage from Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis, which hit the Southeast Asian country over two weeks ago, has been assessed at over $10 billion, national media said on Monday, citing Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win

* Kazakhstan has banned the export of petroleum products in a bid to stem price growth on the domestic market, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said on Monday

* The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will donate 135 million euros to support international efforts to clean up the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the bank said on Monday

* Russia’s national ice hockey team beat Canada 5-4 in overtime in the final of the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada to become world champions for the first time in 15 years

* The Ukrainian government plans to involve the international community in an investigation into a mineral license scandal concerning a U.S. oil company, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said

* Another two Russian aircraft will deliver humanitarian aid to southwest China, which was devastated by an earthquake May 12, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said

* Georgia and its breakaway republic of Abkhazia have drawn up a plan to resolve their long-running conflict, a Russian business daily reported

* Eight people have been killed and nine injured in two terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, the country’s interior and defense ministries announced on Monday

* Some 200 relief workers have been buried in landslides over the past three days in China’s quake-hit province of Sichuan, the Xinhua news agency reported on Monday

* A group of Syrian military officials arrived in Moscow on Monday to discuss prospects for bilateral military and technical cooperation, a Russian Air Force spokesman said

BUSINESS

* Novatek said on Monday its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) grew 80%, year on year, in January-March 2008 to 7.5 billion rubles ($315 million)

* Severstal, Russia’s top steelmaker, said on Monday it had signed an agreement to buy 100% of U.S.-based WCI Steel’s shares for $140 million

* Russia’s crude exports declined 3.3% year-on-year in the first quarter to 61.1 million metric tons (448 million barrels), the country’s top statistics body said on Monday

* Russia’s largest steel producer Severstal is set to issue $1.5 billion in Eurobonds and could invest the funds in buying U.S. steelmaker Esmark, business daily Vedomosti reported

* The European Union said it had cleared the joint venture between SolVin, owned by the Solvay Group, BASF, and the Russian energy giant Gazprom’s Sibur

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Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee later than usual today, I had to undergo some tests for my cardiologist and I have more tests to come in the next few weeks. As I was drinking my coffee I thought about how fantastic the health care is here in Moscow.

I have an insurance plan that costs me $500 per year. (Yes, per year : not per month!) It is not a plan from America, but a Russian health plan.

I have a cardiologist, a regular doctor (therapist), a dentist, a doctor for pain, a doctor for arthritis & in fact, a doctor for any issue that I need. These doctors are all women, no men. In Russia the medical field is dominated by women.

In America one trip to the cardiologist was $500. I had 6 heart attacks before I came to Russia & it was a concern of mine, about health care. Everything that I read was about how terrible the health care is in Russia.

I am here to tell you that if I had the cardiologist in America that I do now (in Russia), I may have not suffered 5 more heart attacks. I feel that if I had a cardiologist that cared about me, instead of did I have insurance (I did) & how fast can we get you out of the hospital! I would have been better off.
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My first heart attack was while driving to work. I drove myself to a hospital and was released in two hours after a cardiologist said: “It is all in his head!” Two weeks later I drove myself to another hospital, to find that I had a blockage of my LAD or *widow maker of 98 percent!

*(A widow maker is a nickname used to describe a highly stenotic left main coronary artery or proximal left anterior descending coronary artery of the heart. This term is used because if the artery gets completely occluded it will cause a massive heart attack that will likely lead to death.)

To make a long story short, I had a stent put in the second time and the following 4 trips to the hospital, I ended up with 5 more stents being put in for a total of 6 stents.**

**(In medicine, a stent is a tube that is inserted into a natural conduit of the body to prevent or counteract a disease-induced localized flow constriction.)

Out of 6 trips to the hospital I drove myself 5 times & rode the ambulance once. The insurance that I had, refused to pay for the ambulance ride? ($3867)

The total bills of all my heart fun times came to over $1,000,000.
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The health care in Russia has been fantastic, Now I have a group of doctors that take all the time that is needed and they run any test that is needed. They never make you feel like you are a burden all for $500 a year……

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

Just found a tidbit of information about renting office space in Moscow….
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Rent in Moscow business centers had skyrocketed. According to consultants Cushman & Wakefield & Stiles & Riabokobylko, the average cost for 1 sq. m. of class-A office space, not counting VAT, services and other charges, rose within the Garden Ring rose from $1000 in March to $1200 in April, up 75 percent in one year, and 20 percent in one month, that is 14 times more than the official inflation rate for that month of 1.2 percent. C&W&S&R say that Moscow has passed Paris in the rating of expensive office rentals, and may exceed London by 2010.
In the first quarter of this year, total office space in Moscow reached 7.31 million sq. m., almost 60 percent of which is in the Central District. Rent is rising is other parts of the city as well. Rent in Moscow City rose 40 percent in a year to $1340 per sq. m. in April. There is also high demand for office space in the northern bedroom neighborhoods, although rent there has increased only 1 percent in a year, to $600 per sq. m. In London, Europe’s most expensive capital, prices in the Western part of the city, the section favored by large corporations, are rising by 2-5 percent annually.

The situation in Moscow is due to reduced new construction in the center of the city. While it was planned to build 155,000 sq .m. of new office space in the first quarter of this year, much less than that was built. Furthermore, city officials have banned the building of new office space in the center. Until 2009, only projects begun before the moratorium will be completed. Olga Yasko of Colliers International said that 377,000 sq. m. of new office space were made available in 2007. This year, 429,000 sq. m. are planned, and next year 524,000 sq. m. will be made ready. The financial crisis has forced up the cost of credit for developers from 10-11 percent to 18 percent annually, which is also reflected in the prices.
www.kommersant.com
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Leaves me out of the office renting game.

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

Looks like Litvinenko is a issue again.
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18/05/2008 16:03 MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday it was prepared to cooperate with Britain in investigating the case of poisoned defector Alexander Litvinenko after London lifted its unfounded accusations.

Former Russian security service officer Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning in London in November 2006. London accused Russia’s security services of their complicity in Litvinenko’s death.

“We are ready for cooperation and interaction with them [British security services] but the first step should be made by Britain. We expect them to apologize for unfounded accusations as we are absolutely uninvolved in what they accuse us,” Viktor Komogorov, head of the FSB operative information and international relations service said.

A large amount of radioactive polonium-210 was found in the Russian security service defector’s body, but the British authorities have not yet made public any official document specifying the exact cause of his death or the results of the autopsy.

Litvinenko was fired from the FSB (formerly the KGB) following a 1998 press conference in which he and a number of other FSB officers alleged that they had been ordered to murder and kidnap a number of high-profile figures.

London has requested the extradition of its chief suspect in the Litvinenko case, Russian businessman and MP Andrei Lugovoi. Moscow has refused to extradite the former Kremlin security guard, saying its Constitution does not permit this.

Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko in London before the ex-FSB officer fell ill, denies any involvement and says Litvinenko tried to recruit him for the British Intelligence Service (MI6).

The dispute has led to a dramatic deterioration in relations between London and Moscow, including tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats and the closure of two British Council offices in Russia.

Litvinenko received British citizenship in 2006 and published two books in the U.K. alleging the involvement of the Russian security services in a series of apartment bombings in Russia in 1999.
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I think that Britain needs to open up on this one, admit any mistakes & get coordination with Russia!

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

Big Fire could be seen from our Balcony. I couldn’t get the camera out in time to get the flames but it sure made lots of black smoke. This fire was about 5 km away…..
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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080517/107646166.html

MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) – A fire has broken out at an electric substation in south-east Moscow, but the transformer involved was not connected to the power grid and the work of the substation will not be affected, said a representative of the Federal Grid Company.

“Repair work is taking place at the substation, during which new equipment is being tested. A new transformer, not connected to the power grid, was being tested and a fire broke out. This will not affect the work of the substation itself,” said Olga Kindyashova.

The alarm concerning a fire on the territory of the substation was raised at 5:20 p.m. Moscow time (13:20 GMT).

There are no reports of injuries.

Firefighters are at the scene. The fire has been classed as a level ‘two’, with the maximum being five.
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It smelled the whole are up..(Yuck!)

Kyle & Svet

comments always welcome.

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Hello,

I thought Russia was the only country with racial problems……

Never dreamed that there is racial problems in the USA. I lived there 47 years and saw it all. Now The UN is going to investigate these problems. (I do not think that the USA cares what the UN thinks!)
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U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S. from Monday
Fri May 16, 2008 2:48pm EDT

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – A special U.N. human rights investigator will visit the United States this month to probe racism, an issue that has forced its way into the race to secure the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

The United Nations said Doudou Diene would meet federal and local officials, as well as lawmakers and judicial authorities during the May 19-June 6 visit.

“The special rapporteur will…gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” a U.N. statement said on Friday.

His three-week visit, at U.S. government invitation, will cover eight cities — Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Race has become a central issue in the U.S. election cycle because Sen. Barack Obama, the frontrunner in the battle for the Democratic nomination battle, stands to become the country’s first African American president.

His campaign has increased turnout among black voters but has also turned off some white voters in a country with a history of slavery and racial segregation.

Diene, a Senegalese lawyer who has served in the independent post since 2002, will report his findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council next year.

However, the United Nations has almost no clout when it comes to U.S. domestic affairs and is widely perceived by many as interfering. The United States is not among the 47 member states of the Geneva-based forum, but has observer status.

In a report last year he said Islamophobia had grown worldwide since the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States, carried out by al-Qaeda militants.

DEATH PENALTY

A U.N. panel which examined the U.S. record on racial discrimination last March urged the United States to halt racial profiling of Americans of Arab, Muslim and South Asian descent and to ensure immigrants and non-nationals are not mistreated.

It also said America should impose a moratorium on the death penalty and stop sentencing young offenders to life in prison until it can root out racial bias from its justice system.

Racial minorities were more likely than whites to be sentenced to death or to life without parole as juveniles, according to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It monitors compliance with an international treaty which Washington ratified in 1994.

U.S. officials told the body, made up of 18 independent experts, that they were combating hate crimes such as displays of hangman’s nooses and police brutality against minorities.

Some 800 racially motivated incidents against people perceived to be Arab, Muslim, Sikh or South Asian had been investigated since the September 11 attacks, they said at the time.

Substantial progress had been made over the years in addressing disparities in housing, education, employment and health care, according to a U.S. report submitted to the talks.
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Now it is not just Russia everyone points the finger at. My country gets a taste of what they give Russia all the time……….

Never Dreamed….. “racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia”

Kyle

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