http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/08/47081169.html
Mar 8, 2011 05:48 Moscow Time
A former Russian officer, now living in the United States, has pleaded guilty to illegal financial transactions totaling more than $ 170 million.
According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Victor Kaganov created five fictitious companies and transferred through them for overseas business partners.
Much of the money came from Russia and the transfers were made to countries in Asia and Europe.
Victor Kaganov emigrated to the U.S. in 1998.
From 2002 to 2009 he conducted more than 4 thousand electronic financial transactions.
Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek need visa changes, Russian says
http://centralasiaonline.com/cocoon/caii/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/caii/newsbriefs/2011/03/07/newsbrief-10
Staff Report
2011-03-07
DUSHANBE – A Russian lawmaker said on Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei Radio (RSNR) his colleagues are preparing to institute visa requirements for Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Tajik visitors, pressa.tj reported March 7.
The lack of drug enforcement on the Afghan-Tajik border will force Russia either to take charge there itself or to cancel Tajiks' visa-free privileges, Semion Bagdasarov said, according to AsiaPlus.tj. He also warned of the danger of allowing visa-free travel from countries where Islamic militant groups are based, pressa.tj reported.
Bagdasarov sits on the Russian Duma's committee for international affairs.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/08/47082613.html
Mar 8, 2011 08:46 Moscow Time
DPRK leader Kim Jong Il visited a joint concert by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra of the XXI century dedicated to International Women's Day.
In the evening's program were works by Korean and Russian composers, including songs from Soviet years.
At the conclusion of the concert, Kim Jong Il personally thanked the Russian musicians for the "excellent presentation, and all the joy they had brought to Korean women celebrating their holiday.
Serbia's export to the Russian market hit a 15-year high
http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=96451
Balkan Business News Correspondent - 08.03.2011
Serbia's export to the Russian market hit a 15-year high last year, head of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) office in the Russian Federation Janko Djuric told Tanjug. The export/import ratio, which ranged between 12% and 14% in the last decade, reached "a fantastic 25%". In 2010, the total trade between Serbia and the Russian Federation reached $2,701.6 million, some 16% above the 2009 balance. Serbia's export rose by a staggering 55% from the year before and totaled $541.1 million. Import grew about 9%, to $2,160.5 million. The negative score of $1,619.4 million is caused by the import of oil and gas from Russia, where oil accounts for 43.3% and gas for 30.7% of the total imports. Serbia exports fruit, medicine, car batteries, floor covering, copper pipes and car tires to Russia, while importing oil and oil derivatives, gas, aluminum, mineral fuels, etc. Apple exports have almost been quadrupled and Serbian fruits can now be found at large market chains due to the SCC's activities. Source: SIEPA
Russia defends MTS investor warning on Turkmenistan
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/03/07/mts-turkmenistan-idINLDE7260QV20110307
Mon, Mar 7 2011
* MTS licence suspended in December
* Turkmenistan complained it had no fare share of MTS profit
* MTS warned energy firms business in Turkmenistan is risky
* Russian diplomacy breaks silence, backs MTS in Turkmen row
By Vladimir Soldatkin
MOSCOW, March 7 (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry on Monday threw its weight behind the country's top mobile telecoms firm, MTS (MBT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), pledging to defend its interests in a row with gas-rich Turkmenistan which suspended its licence.
The dispute is aggravated by Moscow's hunt for Ashgabat's huge gas reserves -- also an attraction for the European Union trying to secure access to Turkmen gas for its Nabucco pipeline project, a rival to the Russia-sponsored South Stream link.
Apart from exports to Russia, Turkmenistan, with the world's fourth-largest reserves of the fuel, also supplies its gas to China and Iran and eyes a route to India and Pakistan via Afghanistan to cut dependence on former imperial master Moscow.
MTS, part of oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Sistema (SSAq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), had an 85 percent share of Turkmenistan's mobile market until its licence was suddenly suspended last year for reasons that the company said "were never fully justified". [ID:nLDE6BL1FK]
"We believe it is a matter of principle that the conscientious Russian investor's interests are upheld. We will provide necessary help to MTS in the future," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The rebuke was issued as a response to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry's riposte to MTS last week, when Ashgabat said it had not received its fair share of the "enormous profits" generated by the operator in the country. Last week MTS sent a letter to participants of Turkmenistan's oil and gas roadshow in Singapore, warning energy majors of the "perils" of investing in the Central Asian nation.
It said its sad experience in the country should serve as a "cautionary tale" for all those doing business in Turkmenistan.
MTS said it had invested over $188 million in Turkmenistan since 2005 and serviced more than 2.4 million customers. It had previously said that it could incur total losses of about $600 million following the licence suspension. [ID:nLDE72208F]
Relations between Moscow and Ashgabat soured after a dispute over a pipeline rupture in 2009, which ultimately led to a sharp reduction in Turkmen gas exports to Russia on the back of declining demand for energy as the economic downturn bit. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
Machines with fragments of AN-148 cannot leave the crash site
story: Investigation into the crash of AN-148 in the Belgorod region
http://www.rian.ru/incidents/20110308/343687038.html
VORONEZH, March 8th - RIA Novosti. Machine, which on Monday plunged tail and wing crashed in Belgorod, Voronezh aircraft An-148, could not leave the crash site because of the risk of fuel spills on the road, told RIA Novosti source, who works at the scene.
AN-148 crashed on Saturday near the village of Garbuzova Alekseevskii region of Belgorod region. Killing all six crew members - four Russians and two pilots of the Republic of Myanmar. At the crash site by representatives of the Moscow and Kursk investigation department of transport, as well as flight engineering, computational, analytical, administrative committees have studied and the list of wreckage of the aircraft.
Sending fragments to the examination was difficult due to the fact that the tail of the plane was in a swamp. To extract even wanted to bring the plane, but in the end cost the rescue crane. In the evening, loading the machine on the tail section and one wing of the aircraft is over Machinery planned to send in Voronezh on Monday night, but they still remain in the village Garbuzova. Because of the oversized cargo, both the truck could not go yesterday. There is a danger of spillage of kerosene on the road. Need support - the source said.
According to him, the column will need two cars and two traffic police MOE, including a fire. Board production Voronezh Aircraft Joint Stock Company (JSC VASO) performed a test flight. In addition to the four Russians among the crew were two pilots of the Republic of Myanmar which took place at the An-148 training in accordance with the program of training flight crews. On Sunday, the bodies of all the victims were taken to Voronezh, was the procedure for their identification. Requiem for the pilots will take place on Wednesday at 11.00 in the Palace of Culture. Lenin.
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