Russia to establish ties with South Sudan

Russia to establish ties with South Sudan

Updated: 2011-07-08 13:18

(Xinhua)

"We are ready to establish diplomatic relations with the new state in Africa and in the nearest future we expect to hold substantive talks on the issue with South Sudanese representatives," the spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

The diplomat also said that the Russian president's special envoy to Africa Mikhail Margelov was going to attend the official ceremony of South Sudan's independence proclamation due on July 9 in Juba, future capital of the country.

According to Lukashevich, the Russian envoy is to hand a letter from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the leaders of the new state.

South Sudan voted to secede from the north in a referendum in January, which is part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 to end two decades of civil war in the largest Africa nation.

Ambassador to Russia Pushes Iraqi Interests

Iraq’s ambassador to Russia says that despite the Russian government allocating 150 scholarships to students from Iraq, the ministries of higher education in Baghdad and Erbil have not helped students study at Russian universities. As a result, most of the scholarships are going unused.

“We have not been able to properly use the scholarships because we still have some problems in the ministries of higher education in Iraq and Kurdistan,” Ambassador Fayiq Fariq Nerwayi said. “Many Iraqi students would like to study in Russia but we don’t have a system in Iraq that can efficiently process the students’ demands yet.”

Nerwayi reported that out of the 150 scholarships, 50 of them have been allocated for Kurdistan. 

The ambassador added that delegations from two Russian universities have visited the Kurdistan Region to build academic ties. 

“If a Kurdish delegation visits Russia, the ministry of higher education’s view of Russian universities will change,” said Nerwayi.  

He added his embassy can convince the Russians to open up schools, colleges, language and industrial institutes in Iraq and Kurdistan.

Nerwayi was born in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, in 1948 and holds a master’s degree in political science from a university in Finland. He was the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)’s representative in Jordan and Turkey for many years.

Nerwayi said Iraqi diplomats and the media have not done enough to inform Russia about the changes in Iraq. The Iraqi embassy is trying to counter that by signing an agreement with Russia Today television channel. 

He argued that Russia has always valued its relations with Iraq, maintaining that Moscow and St. Petersburg have the largest collection of archive documents on Iraq.

Regarding Russia’s stance on the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi ambassador said Russia has had major trade, military and diplomatic relations with Iraq and that by opposing the war “it was defending its interests. It is not against freedom for the Iraqi people.”

Nerwayi also maintained that Russia “is an old friend of the Kurds. We want to tell the Russian government to support the freedom and democracy that has come about in Iraq so that the disasters that the Kurds and others went through in Iraq will not be repeated.” 

While Iraq’s constitution allows the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to have offices inside Iraqi embassies, there is no KRG section in the embassy in Russia because it has not been approved by the Iraqi parliament, he said. However, there is a KRG office in Moscow that operates independently from the Iraqi embassy.

Nerwayi said the KRG office in Russia is not an official entity as far as the Iraqi embassy is concerned but that the two sides deal with each other and “have good relations.”

Nerwayi said he recently had a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who said Russia would try to improve relations with Iraq.  

Russia charges Chinese man with contraband of military equipment

CHITA, July 8 (RIA Novosti)

The man, whose identity has not been revealed, was caught at one of the border checkpoints in Transbaikal region in July last year. Customs officials found six stepping motors, two piston pumps, 54 connectors, an elapsed-time meter and other parts in the trunk of his car.

"It took experts from the Defense Ministry almost a year to prove that the confiscated equipment is part of assembly kits for MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets," Yulia Philipova said.

"A criminal case has been opened," she said.

It is the second attempt by Chinese nationals to smuggle spare parts for fighter jets from Russia in the past three years.

A Chinese man was detained at the same border checkpoint in 2009 while trying to smuggle power supply circuits for Su-27s.

China is notorious for producing copycat versions of military equipment from all over the world.

Russia has accused China of producing its own clones of some Russian-made weaponry, including the Su-27SK fighter jet, in violation of intellectual property agreements.

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ULAN-UDE, July 8 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian customs in Transbaikalia seized a batch of equipment which a Chinese national tried to smuggle out into China in his car.

The batch included two plunger pumps which are used in MiG-29 and Su-27 combat jets, the customs said on Friday.

“Military-designation products can be taken in and out of the country upon licenses issued by the Russian Service for military-technical cooperation,” it said adding a criminal case was instituted on charges of contraband.

Customs spokeswoman Yulia Filippova recalled another batch of Su-27 devices was seized at the same checkpoint in 2009 from a Chinese national who claimed he was carrying water pumps for an acquaintance.

11:05 08/07/2011ALL NEWS

Medvedev presents law on Belarus export oil duties outside CU.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/181741.html

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(Adds information)

MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has presented for further ratification by the State Duma a law on payment and calculation of export duties when oil and oil products are exported from the territory of Belarus outside the customs territory of the Customs Union.

The law was signed in Moscow on December 9, 2010, the Kremlin’s press service reported on Friday.

Medvedev appointed Secretary of State, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov his official representative during the ratification procedures in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly.

In December, Russia's Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina said that Russia and Belarus had agreed to nil oil duties, but to charge ten percent of export duties on oil products.

Experts forecast that the new methods of charging duties will benefit about 3.9 billion dollars to Belarus’ budget.

“As for Russia, we shall not have an immediate effect: we would rather have an effect of bigger sale of the products,” the minister said. “Russia's economy will gain in mid-term more that it may lose in short-term.”

The Belarussian parliament ratified the agreement on December 21.

The agreement does not cover oil produced in the territory of Belarus and oil products produced from third countries’ raw materials and those for re-export.

The duties will be equal to those in the Russian Federation on the day the customs of the Republic of Belarus register a declaration on imported goods. At the same time, Belarus will have a right to charge additional payments to its budget above the export duty payable to the Russian budget.

11:19 08/07/2011ALL NEWS

Voloshin is reappointed head of group on int’l financial centre.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/181751.html

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MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev renewed team of the working group on organization of the international financial centre in the Russian Federation, supervised by the presidential council on development of financial market, the Kremlins press service said on Friday.

Uralkali’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Alexander Voloshin was reappointed the group’s leader.

The group will feature federal and Moscow officials, representatives of legislative authorities, financial experts, businessmen and scientists.

12:06 08/07/2011ALL NEWS

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MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia will not cut financing of the Skolkovo’s main work in future, Russia’s Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich said on Friday.

His comment is placed on the site of the presidential commission on modernization.

“Less financing of the Skolkovo innovations centre is caused by the planned finalizing of the infrastructures’ construction,” he explained. “We shall use more private money for construction of buildings, and for the main work – support of projects, university and other directions – financing will not be cut.”

According to the finance ministry’s information, expenses for Skolkovo will be cut from 27.1 billion rubles in 2012 to 17.1 billion in 2014.

Besides, according to the bill of the budget policies for 2012 and for 2013 and 2014, financing of projects, approved by the presidential commission on modernization will be made by private investments, the federal and regional budgets.

Russia plans to allocate for these projects in 2012 – ten billion rubles of federal funds, in 2013 – 6.3 billion, and in 2014 – 3.6 billion rubles.

Lower budget allocations by 2014 are caused by planned finalizing of ten projects in 2013.

“Those are the projects, which were approved in the very beginning, and now they are being completed,” Dvorkovich said.

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MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit the oil refinery in Kirishi near St. Petersburg on Friday to discuss the situation on the domestic petrol market following price hikes and shortages of the fuel in some regions of the country.

The government press service said Putin will “discuss the current situation in the industry and modernization prospects of petrochemical facilities, in particular, increased refining capacities, higher oil conversion ratio, uninterrupted supply of fuel to the domestic Russian market and the necessary changes in customs, tariff, and tax policies.”

Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in charge of the fuel and energy complex will accompany Putin.