Ten most important and memorable events – RIA Novosti

Ten most important and memorable events – RIA Novosti

2008-12-30

News agency RIA Novosti’s correspondents in North-West Russia has ranked the ten most important and memorable events in the region in 2008.

1. Constitutional court moves to St. Petersburg

Russia’s constitutional court with its 19 judges moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg in May 2008.

2. Fleet command moves to St. Petersburg

A final decision to move the Russian Fleet Command from Moscow to St. Petersburg was taken this year. The Fleet Command will start moving to the Admiralty building in the city’s centre in 2009.

3. Commodity Exchange opened in St. Petersburg

An international Commodity Exchange opened in St. Petersburg this year. Among the founders are major Russian oil companies like Transneft and Rosneft, large trading and transport companies and major Russian banks. The first transaction with oil products was done by Gazprom and Gazenergoset.

4. Two car factories in St. Petersburg

General Motors (GM) opened a 300 million USD factory in St. Petersburg in 2008, a year after Toyota Motor Corp. did the same. GM produces two models at the factory in St. Petersburg - Chevrolet Captiva and Opel Antara.

5. “Zenit” – victories and defeats

St. Petersburg football team “Zenit” won the UEFA Cup in May and the UEFA Super Cup in August. The team had a tough time in Champions League and became number three in their group.

6. Death of a Soviet intelligence legend

The legendary Soviet intelligence agent Nikolay Kuznetsov died at age 87 in Novgorod Oblast in September. He was granted the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” and was Russia’s only full Cavalier of the Order of Glory. In 2007, all his medals and awards were stolen. They were returned to him the same year after a private investigation done by a team of Moscow journalists.

7. Murmansk: two disasters in December

In Murmansk, the end of the year was marked by two tragedies – the killing of Kandalaksha mayor Nina Varlamova on December 16, and the mine explosion outside Kirovsk on December 11, where 12 workers were killed. Varlamova’s killer has been arrested, but the cause of the mining accident has not yet been established.

8. Komi blogger judged for dislike of police

This year was marked by several criminal cases against Russian web loggers. One that caused a great stir was the case against Savva Terentyev from Syktyvkar, who in June was sentenced to one year of prison for “sparking social discord” after writing hateful comments about the police in his blog.

9. Megaprojects in oil and gas transportation

This year Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the construction of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) from Unecha in Bryansk Oblast to Ust-Luga in Leningrad Oblast. BPS will make it possible for Russia to deliver oil to EU without having to use the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus. In December the construction of a pipeline from Gazprom’s Bovanenkovo gas field in the Yamal Peninsula to Ukhta in Komi started.

10. Lawsuits towards ex-mayor of Arkhangelsk

The scandals around the ex-mayor of Arkhangelsk city, Aleksandr Donskoy, continued for the second year. In March 2008 Donskoy was sentenced to three years of prison for abuse of office, after being found guilty in taking 4 million RUB from the mayor’s office to use on bodyguards for himself and his family. In an earlier lawsuit, Donskoy was judged to pay a 70 000 RUB fine for presenting a fake diploma and conducting business while in position as mayor.

National Economic Trends

By Denis Maternovsky

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s ruble gained against the dollar for the second day as the central bank, which manages the currency, abstained from the market on the last day of the year.

The ruble strengthened 0.2 percent to 29.3660 per dollar at 10:10 a.m. in Moscow. It slid 0.4 percent to 41.4795 versus the euro and was little changed against the central bank’s dollar-euro basket at 34.8121.

To contact the reporter on this story: Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 31, 2008 02:17 EST

Russia's narrow monetary base up $1.9 bln in week

MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's narrowly-defined monetary base stood at 4,283 billion rubles ($145.8 billion) as of December 29, up 57.3 billion rubles ($1.9 billion) in the week from December 22, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) said Wednesday.

According to the Bank, the monetary base (narrow definition) consists of the currency issued by the bank, including cash in vaults of credit institutions, and required reserves balances on ruble deposits with the Central Bank.
More than 300 Bln rubles reserved for real sector support, labor market policy in 2009 – Putin

http://www.interfax.com/3/459503/news.aspx

NOVO-OGARYOVO. Dec 30 (Interfax) - More than 320 billion rubles

will be appropriated to provide assistance to the real sector of the

economy and to resolve problems on the employment market in 2009, said

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"A total of 326.3 billion rubles have been reserved to provide

assistance to the real sector of the economy and pursue an active policy

on the labor market," Putin said at a meeting with members of a Russian

governmental commission responsible for measures to stabilize the

national economy.

In particular, 50 billion rubles will be provided to defense

industry enterprises, including 15 billion rubles for subsidizing

interest rates on loans and 35 billion rubles for investing in the fixed

assets of strategic defense industry enterprises, he said.

NOVO-OGARYOVO, December 30 (Itar-Tass) -- Some 326.3 billion rubles have been reserved in support of the real sector and employment, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the governmental commission for the sustainable economic development on Tuesday.

The federal government has also assigned 50 billion rubles in support of the defense sector. “Fifteen billion rubles will subsidize the interest, while 35 billion will be added to charter capitals of key defense enterprises,” Putin said.

Airlines buying jetliners with up to 50 seats and relevant engines may be exempt from import duties, Putin added.

“The move has been coordinated with the Industry Ministry and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC),” he said.