Russian Press at a Glance, Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Russian Press at a Glance, Tuesday, July 12, 2011

BULGARIA SHIP SINKING

The sinking of a tour ship on Volga is on the front pages of most Russian newspapers again. Tuesday was declared a nationwide day of mourning in Russia. As the victim’s bodies are being recovered from the sunken Bulgaria tour ship, more details of the deadly accident are becoming known

(Kommersant, Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, The Moscow Times)

POLITICS

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with major Russian businessmen to discuss privatization and ways to improve investment climate in the country

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and heard their opinions on how to improve Russia’s development strategy through 2020

The approval rating of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his party fell dramatically, though not to the benefit of his main political rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Experts warn that the growth of protest sentiments in the absence of a strong opposition force may lead to an uprising against the system in general

An armed conflict may break out between Israel and Lebanon over gas fields in the Mediterranean, which Israel has recently included into its exclusive economic zone

ECONOMY

REAL ESTATE

TELECOMS & IT

SOCIETY

Six people died when an Antonov An-24 plane with 37 people on board, including one child, ditched in the Ob River on the border between the Tomsk and Khanty-Mansiisk regions early on Monday after a fire broke out in the aircraft's port engine

The Moscow District Military Court sentenced the leader of a Russian nationalist group and five other members to life in prison for dozens of ethnically motivated murders, others were sentenced to 10-13 years behind bars

Two aides to lawmakers tried to sell a State Duma mandate for 7.5 million euro. They offered to put the buyer into the party’s list at the forthcoming parliamentary elections

Children of migrants who want to study in Moscow schools, will be tested for their knowledge of Russian

12:13 12/07/2011ALL NEWS

12/7 Tass 92

MOSCOW, July 12 (Itar-Tass) — Itar-Tass World Service.

Russia announces mourning day for the dead on July 10 in disaster with M/S Bulgaria.

July 12 was announced the day of national mourning in connection with the shipwreck of the Bulgaria cruise ship that sank in the Volga River in the area of the Tatarstan Republic. It turned out on Monday that the disaster of the Bulgaria diesel electric ship, that took the lives of over 100 people on July 10 (third of whom were children), took place under conditions which could be clearly called as ordinary for the Russian river fleet. In any case, dozens of outdated vessels carry passengers on the self-same Volga. They have no licenses; and their owners regard haulages, listings as well as non-operating engines as nothing extraordinary. The ship was operable, claimed its owner and operator.

The Bulgaria pleasure boat with a seating capacity of 140, built in Czechoslovakia in 1955, sank quickly on Sunday three kilometres from the Volga bank, notes Vedomosti. According to Minister for Emergencies Sergei Shoigu, the vessel carried not 185 people, as it was recorded in documents, but 205. Only 80 were rescued. Skin divers could bring from the sunken ship 55 bodies by Monday evening.

Novye Izvestia states that a report from spokeswoman from the Prosecutor-General’s office Marina Gridneva appeared on Monday. According to Gridneva, the M/S Bulgaria was overhauled 30 years ago, while it started its tip overloaded and with dead left engine as well as with no license for carrying passengers. In the opinion of chairman of the State Duma Transport Committee Sergei Shishkarev, the crippled ship started its trip either over negligence of control bodies, or corruption.

According to the latest data, there were 205 people aboard the M/S Bulgaria, notes Rossiiskaya Gazeta. It turns out that the Bulgaria was overloaded. The thing is that according to technical specifications, the motor ship could carry no more than 120-140 people.

Kommersant sources at the state commission, investigating circumstances of the disaster, noted that all factors, called by law enforcement bodies, could contribute to the emergency, but were not likely its reasons. In the commission’s opinion, dozens, and may be, hundreds of ships on the Volga and other Russian rivers operate under similar and even more difficult conditions for years. The state of those ships is far from ideal. Commission members believe that the cause of the disaster is probably connected with actions of the crewmembers, above all, its captain while making the last manoeuvre.

Izvestia quotes President Medvedev’s words at a special meeting on Monday. “The number of such old tubs is innumerable. It is necessary to assess the situation and to make owners carry out their overhaul or put them out of operation. Tthe entire country should face this task,” he stated.

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Moscow to expand by 150 percent.

Sobyanin and Gromov submitted Medvedev their proposals on changing the capital’s boundaries, Vedomosti writes, noting that an idea of turning Moscow into a metropolitan area and of shifting federal officials beyond the Moscow Circular Highway, was put forth by the president at the recent Petersburg economic forum. Moscow’s area will increase thanks to the region by 135 percent, from the present 107,000 hectares to 251,000. The capital will expand, above all, in the southern direction: Moscow may receive areas, limited by the Kievskoye and Varshavskoye highways as well as the Grand Circle of the Moscow Railway. But it follows from a press release of the Moscow city government, the government of the Moscow Region and Gromov’ s statement that Moscow may also include Skolkovo with its innovation centre (south-west) and “Rublyovo- Arkhangelskoye” (west) where an International Financial Centre will be located.

It is planned to build 105 million square metres of real estate in new areas (60 million square metres of housing and 45 million square metres of administrative offices), that is nearly ten times more than there is now there as well as to resettle two million people there (press release says that 250,000 people live there now, though according to the census, much more population lives in that area), the newspaper notes.

A Kremlin official, to whom Vedomosti refers, says that Medvedev backed all proposals on the whole, but will study them additionally.

Kommersant emphasises that 144,000 ha, the city gets from the region, are located between the Varshavskoye and Kievskoye highways. The city boundary in this sector will sprawl from the present Moscow Circular Highway to the Grand Circle of the Moscow Railway. Federal offices will move precisely there with time. It was not specified on Monday when the resettlement is made. Sobyanin only explained that it would take a year for drafting a project for withdrawing government offices from Moscow’s centre. It was decided to look for a place for an International Financial Centre a bit more to the west – in the Roblevo-Arkhangelskoye direction. “A tentative decision was taken to move precisely in this direction,” Gromov said.

The new territory will need making a radically new master plan of Moscow instead of the one, adopted under Yuri Luzhkov in 2009, Kommersant learnt from scientific director of the Transport Research Institute Mikhail Blikin. According to the scientific director, “the best highway in the area of new development construction – the Kievskoye Highway” – will need reconstruction, since the eight-ten-lane traffic along the highway is organised only for the first 40 kilometres, and turns into the four-lane road closer to a new Moscow border. The Kaluzhskoye Highway should be also reconstructed. Besides, the Moscow City Hall reported that three new routes would be built, connecting city boundaries, bypassing the centre. The Moscow Circular Highway will be also reconstructed. It is also planned to build a Metro underground line to Skolkovo.

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Bank of Russia does not advise citizens to sell dollars.

Komsomolskaya Pravda quotes Ulyukayev’s words: “A jump in exchange rates is possible, but those who will start selling out dollars, will lose. A simple rule for unsophisticated investors: don’t make fuss and don’t change the structure of your investments”.

There are no grounds either or anxiety over the fate of the Russian rouble, while prices may nosedive in the new future, hopes Ulyukayev, writes Rossiiskaya Gazeta. He gave an advice to dollar holders in connection with press reports on a possible technical default of the US on state securities. The thing is that the country topped another ceiling of the state debt back on May 16 which was set by the Congress at 14.3 trillion dollars. If the Congress does not vote for an increase in the ceiling by August 2, this may trigger a technical default, that is the country will not pay for its obligations. But Ulyukayev explained that though a technical default may cause some drops in the dollar’s exchange rates, the question is how long this will last.

The main thing is, the deputy chairman intimated, that he does not believe in the very possibility of a default. “This is impossible,” he said. On the other hand, a potential partial default of the Greek economy will not tell negatively on the rate of the Russian rouble. “We are not holders of Greek obligations,” Ulyukayev dispelled fears. He confirmed his previous forecast on a zero outflow of capital, despite the fact that money was flowing away from Russia in the past.

Leading expert of the Development Centre Sergei Pukhov, quoted by Novye Izvestia, is convinced that nothing threatens the dollar in the long-term perspective. “Indeed, the US debt dependence is on the rise, but trust in the dollar persists for the time being,” the analytic said. “That is no matter what happens to the top level of the debt, people will invest in American assets all the same. Nothing will happen to the dollar. Moreover, if any upheavals, connected with debt problems, incidentally not only in the US, but also in Europe, happen, the dollar will play the role of a calm haven. Capital will be quickly invested precisely in dollar assets during a crisis.”