Russia 110708 Basic Political Developments
Putin Throws Crumbs at Tajikistan
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- Russia makes good 20-year-old US$36 million Soviet rice export debt to Thailand
- Russia to get new icebreakers
- State Duma goes on summer vacation
- Russian defense minister lashes out at missile designer for criticism
- Kremlin says Swedish seizure of property “illegitimate”.
Putin Throws Crumbs at Tajikistanhttp://www.eurasianet.org/node/63827 July 8, 2011 - 12:36am, by David Trilling Something must be going right in the rickety relationship between Dushanbe and Moscow. In late March, Moscow increased fuel export duties on petroleum products destined for Tajikistan, the poorest country to emerge from the former Soviet Union. This blog speculated on possible causes: Could it have been pressure to allow Russian troops to reassume control over the Tajiks’ wide-open border with Afghanistan, which Moscow says is a conduit for millions of dollars of heroin blighting Russian youth? Or something thornier, such as whether Moscow should pay to station its troops on Tajik soil? Certainly, Russian primo Vladimir Putin isn’t the kind of leader who responds to irritations with charity. In May, prices for gasoline in Tajikistan jumped 44 percent thanks to his tariffs. But in a sudden about-face, the all-powerful Putin has signed a decree actually lowering – slightly, immediately, even retroactively – those fuel duties. Light crude prices will decrease by a modest 3.7 percent as of July 1, CA-News reported on July 5. Putin is no doubt concerned by what the US Embassy, in a WikiLeaked cable, described last year as a “poorly trained, poorly paid, underequipped and often under-fed” Tajik border force that allows 40 tons of opiates to enter Russia each year. But what has he received in return? It appears something has finally come out of months of meetings over the fate of that vexing frontier, and the few remaining Russian military trainers there. In Dushanbe last week, a high-level Russian delegation including Sergey Naryshkin, the head of the presidential administration, and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdukov announced they had made a deal. Though the Tajiks say there is no way they will allow the Russians to retake control of the frontier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is set to sign the heretofore-undisclosed agreement with his counterpart, Emomali Rakhmon, when he travels to Dushanbe to attend the annual CIS Summit in September. That party happens to coincide with Tajikistan’s celebrations of 20 years of independence from Moscow. The city’s makeup artists are frantically slapping on a smiley face, repaving roads and repainting buildings for the event. Will we learn then what deal the two countries have struck? Or will we be left guessing long after the paint dries? Russia makes good 20-year-old US$36 million Soviet rice export debt to Thailandhttp://www.pattayamail.com/business/russia-makes-good-20-year-old-us-36-million-soviet-rice-export-debt-to-thailand-4624 Friday, 08 July 2011 By MCOT
Russia has paid its rice debt of US$36 million, over Bt1.1 billion, inherited from the former Soviet Union, according to Commerce Ministry spokesman Chatchai Chookaew. The funds transfer was made on June 15 by the Russian government to the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Bank). The debt payment was later transferred to the Ministry of Commerce, which will transfer the sum to the Ministry of Finance. Thai Commerce Minister Pornthiva Nakasai travelled to the Russian capital on behalf of the Thai government to sign the agreement May 31 with Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak that Russia would repay its rice debt’s principal sum of about US$36 million to Thailand by July 12. At that time, the minister said the accord was to maintain good relations between both countries and that some of the interest had previously been paid to the Thai government by Russia, and that the latter is an interesting market for Thailand, as the country is dependent on rice imports of 400,000 tonnes annually. The US$36 million debt was in arrears for over 20 years as Thailand sold 200,000 tonnes of rice to the former Soviet Union in 1990 under a government-to-government contract. It was understood at that time to be repaid in two years, but the Soviet Union collapsed the following year and the Russian Federation government could not meet the obligation. Several negotiations followed. The latest agreement relieves Russia of the accrued interest of US$9 million. Russia to get new icebreakershttp://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/08/52945870.html Jul 8, 2011 11:35 Moscow Time Russia is building three new nuclear icebreakers. The icebreakers will be assembled in part at the Admiralty Shipyard in St.Petersburg, in part in Helsinki. The new icebreakers will be provided with the Rhythm-200 innovative high-powered reactor with an advanced radiation protection system. They will be used to cut way for vessels in the Arctic. RT News line, July 8 State Duma goes on summer vacationhttp://rt.com/politics/news-line/2011-07-08/#id13909 12:26 The State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament, on Friday closed the spring session and adjourned for summer recess. During the past season, the MPs ratified 264 federal laws and three constitutional laws, Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said. The next session, starting in the autumn, will be the last one for the current configuration of the lower chamber, since in November 2011 Russia will elect a new, 6th State Duma. “I have no doubts that even during the election campaign, we will still be able to stick to the constructive discussion of laws,” Gryzlov told the MPs as he closed the session. Russian defense minister lashes out at missile designer for criticismhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20110708/165080824.html 01:58 08/07/2011 MOSCOW, July 8 (RIA Novosti)Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has accused leading missile designer Yury Solomonov of having grudges against the ministry and lobbying for defense industry. Solomonov, who designed RS-24 and Bulava ballistic missiles, said in an interview with Russia's Kommersant daily on Wednesday that the 2011 state defense order was in jeopardy partly because the Defense Ministry had delayed the signing of new defense contracts, especially on procurement of strategic nuclear armaments. "I suspect that he is holding grudges because of his dismissal from the post of the general director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology [MITT]," Serdyukov told reporters on Thursday. "It could be also viewed as a form of lobbyism, an attempt to interfere with our work," the minister added. Solomonov was fired from the post of general director of the MITT in July 2009 after a series of unsuccessful Bulava tests. He was replaced by Sergei Nikulin, the former head of the Vympel tool-making plant. All four launches of Bulava after the replacement were successful, and the Defense Ministry said the missile is ready for commissioning. "I don't know whether it's a coincidence or not, but his departure and the arrival of a new director changed the work for the better," Serdyukov said. He said the ministry will recommend the Russian leadership to reprimand Solomonov for ungrounded accusations. Meanwhile, Serdyukov admitted on Thursday that his ministry failed to conclude contracts worth around 18% (108 billion rubles) out of the overall 2011 state defense order, approved in the amount of 581.5 billion rubles ($20.7 bln), due to soaring prices for military products. He also said his ministry is ready to buy military products from manufacturers, providing a 25%-plus profitability for them, following Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's statement in May that defense industry enterprises' profitability should not be less than 15% but that ready items should not be overcharged. If the price the Defense Ministry pays for military products is not transparent and it is unclear where the profit goes, it will not pay extra money to arms manufacturers, he concluded. 01:32 08/07/2011ALL NEWS
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/181554.html 8/7 Tass 166 MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) —— The Kremlin property department described the Swedish judicial decision to arrest a building of the Russian trade mission near Stockholm as “illegitimate” and said it would not comply with it. The arrest was imposed upon a claim of German businessmen Franz Sedelmayer who is seeking close to five million euro of compensation for lost investments while launching a business in St. Petersburg in early 1990s. The arrest was imposed by the Stockholm City Court and in early July the Supreme Court of Sweden confirmed the judgment. However spokesman of the Kremlin property administration Viktor Khrekov said on Thursday the Swedish courts “incorrectly applied the norms of international law.” In particular, the court referred to the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Property of December 2, 2004, which has not yet entered into force. “It is even more surprising that the Stockholm City Court did not apply the provision of the 1968 Vienna Convention and the 1927 convention between the USSR and Sweden which have to regulate such an issue,” Khrekov added. “In connection with the foregoing, and considering that in that case the Swedish courts have gone beyond their powers and committed a violation of universally recognized principles of international law stipulating sovereign equality of states, non-interference into their internal affairs and honest fulfillment of international legal acts, we consider this decision as illegitimate and not subject to execution,” Khrekov said. The spokesman actually reiterated the statement of the Russian foreign ministry which also recognized the Swedish decision as illegitimate. The Swedish charge d’affaires was summoned to the ministry on Wednesday to be informed that “the Russian side does not recognize the legitimacy of the given judgment of the Swedish Supreme Court as contradicting international law,” the ministry said.
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