The Moscow Times: RZD to Move Estonian Oil by Year-End, Yakunin Says

The Moscow Times: RZD to Move Estonian Oil by Year-End, Yakunin Says

Reuters

Diplomatic spats between the two countries play a significant role in deliveries to Baltic ports, he said. Estonia and Russia in 2007 fell out after Estonia moved a Red Army World War II monument from the center of its capital city.

"We hope that by the end of 2010 the export of petroleum products will go through Ust-Luga [in Russia]," Russian Railways chief executive Vladimir Yakunin told the newspaper, adding that there was also close cooperation with the port of Murmansk.

"It is difficult to answer unequivocally as I am not an oil trader, but as a railway man I think, yes, this will bring significant reductions in oil transit to Estonia," he said, though noting that this would be up to the oil trading companies.

Estonia's ice-free port of Muuga shipped 23 million metric tons of Russian oil products in 2009 and has been an important outlet for Russian refineries.

After the 2007 dispute, oil product loadings slipped to 20 million metric tons in 2008 from highs of 26 million metric tons in 2005.

Coal loading was halted and redirected from Tallinn to the neighboring Riga port in Latvia.

"If access to the sea through ports is based on good neighborly relations, then it is good for all, but if these relations worsen, then, of course, countries that depend on the transit of its goods through another country feel discomfort and may be pushed to create their own opportunities," he added.

Russia has also said Estonia discriminates against its large population of ethnic Russians, and talks about a formal border agreement, almost 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, remain stalled.

RBC: Russian Railways secures RUB 50bn in subsidies

http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20100204112652.shtml

      RBC, 04.02.2010, Moscow 11:26:52.The decision on the allocation of RUB 50bn (approx. USD 1.67bn) as subsidies to Russian Railways has been finalized, the company's President Vladimir Yakunin told journalists during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. He explained that the matter had been discussed at a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who commissioned the allocation of this sum to the company.

      As reported earlier, the money is being extended to Russian Railways to compensate for lower tariffs on cargo transportation.

DefenseNews: Norway: Costs To Cool Russian Air Force Activities

HELSINKI - The Russian Air Force's activities in northern Europe are being influenced by budget cuts affecting jet fuel supplies and the reorganization of Air Force and Navy unit structures on the heavily militarized Kola Peninsula, according to reports from Etterretningstjenesten, Norway's National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The intelligence data in the reports, which is compiled by the NIS' Arctic-based monitoring stations, suggests a potential fall-off in training and joint naval and air exercises by Russia's military in the country's northern territories in 2010, including the North Atlantic and Barents Sea.

Although Russian military spending is being cut as part of anti-recessionary countermeasures, the savings now sought are not expected to affect weapon purchases, according to the NIS.

The NIS reported that the cutbacks have affected raw material supplies to bases in the Murmansk region, with air units being requested to limit flights in training and exercise programs.

Norwegian F-16 fighter jets scrambled 39 times in 2009 in response to Russian Air Force activities close to Norwegian airspace. NIS monitoring stations registered a total of 77 Russian Air Force aircraft, mainly strategic bombers.

An additional 40 aircraft were registered but not identified by Norwegian fighters, raising the total number of westbound Russian military flights to 120 in 2009. The most common identified bombers included Tu-95 Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack aircraft operating from the Engels air base in Saratov, south of Moscow.

The most recent scrambling took place Jan. 19, when six NATO combat planes shadowed two Tu-95 bombers, operating from Engels, which flew close to Norwegian airspace en route to the Barents Sea. The shadowing NATO aircraft included four Norwegian Air Force F-16s and two British Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft.

2/03/10

The complaint against the Georgian diplomat was filed by the Union of Eurasian Youth, an ultra-nationalist youth group led by Alexander Dugin, a far-right ideologue who reportedly enjoys good connections with the Kremlin, the Rusbalt news agency reported on February 3. The group claims that Vashadze repeatedly violated Russian law on hate-speech, but details have not been published.

Tbilisi, which severed diplomatic relations with Moscow after the 2008 Georgian-Russian war, expressed bewilderment over the accusations. Georgian officials insist that Vashadze had always been tactful in his references to Russia, the GHN news agency reported. Vashadze mailed his Russian passport to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in November 2009, but reportedly still remains a Russian national.