Russia 111201 Basic Political Developments
INA Corruption Payments Linked to Russia’s Gazprom, Valasz Says
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- Russia’s Corruption Ranking at Four-Year Low, Transparency Says
- Russia ranks 143 in Transparency International 2011 corruption index
- Russian ambassador wants to reward British rescuers after Irish Sea tragedy
- Head of Turkish Administration for Religion holds meetings in Moscow
INA Corruption Payments Linked to Russia’s Gazprom, Valasz Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/ina-corruption-payments-linked-to-russia-s-gazprom-valasz-says.html Q By Edith Balazs - Dec 1, 2011 8:50 AM GMT+0100 Croatia’s corruption charges against Hungarian refiner MOL Nyrt. are erroneous as the two Cyprus- based companies through which Mol Nyrt. allegedly paid a bribe to obtain a majority in Croatian refiner INA (INARA) Industrija Nafte d.d. belong to OAO Gazprom, Heti Valasz said, citing documents it obtained. Croatia is accusing Mol Chief Executive Officer Zsolt Hernadi of paying a 10 million-euro ($13.5 million) bribe to former Croatian Premier Ivo Sanader through two Cyprus-based companies, which are Mol affiliates, the Hungarian weekly said. The two companies, Hangarn Oil Products Trading Ltd. and Ceroma Holdings Ltd., are controlled by Russian energy giant Gazprom through Atlas Alpha Services Ltd. and Potassa Holdings Ltd., the paper reported. To contact the reporter on this story: Edith Balazs in Budapest at ebalazs1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net Russia’s Corruption Ranking at Four-Year Low, Transparency Sayshttp://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-01/russia-s-corruption-ranking-at-four-year-low-transparency-says.html December 01, 2011, 1:05 AM EST By Henry Meyer Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s ranking among the world’s most corrupt nations fell to the lowest level since 2007, the year before President Dmitry Medvedev came to office, according to Transparency International. Russia was classified as the 143rd most-corrupt country out of 182 surveyed in Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, an improvement on its 154th place the previous year. Even with the improved ranking, Russia remains the world’s most corrupt major economy, with higher levels of graft than in Pakistan, Cameroon and Niger. New Zealand is the least corrupt country and Somalia the most, according to the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog. Medvedev, 46, a former corporate lawyer, repeatedly promised to fight corruption and improve the rule of law. He agreed in September to step aside next May to make way for the return of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the presidency. Putin, 59, a former KGB officer, has been in power since 2000 and may serve as president for another 12 years. Russians paid at least 164 billion rubles ($5.35 billion) in bribes last year to buy off teachers, traffic policemen and others in “everyday” situations, almost double the level in 2001, the Economy Ministry said in June. --Editors: Andrew Langley, Jennifer Freedman To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Russia ranks 143 in Transparency International 2011 corruption indexhttp://en.rian.ru/crime/20111201/169195312.html 05:14 01/12/2011 MOSCOW, December 1 (RIA Novosti)Despite Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s efforts to fight corruption, its level in Russia remains extremely high, with the country ranking 143rd out of 182 countries in Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index published on Thursday. Russia’s ranking indicates an improvement on its 154th place in the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog’s 2010 list. But despite this, the country remains the world’s most corrupt major economy, with a score of 2.4 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean) and the level of graft equal to those of Uganda and Nigeria. New Zealand (9.5) tops Transparency International's list as the least corrupt county, followed by Denmark (9.4) and Finland (9.4). The most corrupt countries are Somalia and North Korea, both having scored 1.0. Yelena Panfilova, the head of Transparency International's Russian branch, earlier said a score below 3 describes the level of corruption in a country as extremely high. The 2011 index shows that nearly two thirds of the listed countries score below five. Medvedev has declared a fight against corruption one of the cornerstones of his domestic policies. He has agreed to step down in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin when his presidential term expires in 2012, allowing Putin to run for the presidency next March. Russian ambassador wants to reward British rescuers after Irish Sea tragedyhttp://en.rian.ru/russia/20111201/169193813.html 03:08 01/12/2011 LONDON, December 1 (RIA Novosti)Russian Ambassador to Britain Alexander Yakovenko has proposed rewarding British rescuers involved in the operation in the Irish Sea following the sinking of a cargo ship with Russian sailors onboard. The Swanland cargo vessel with 3,000 tons of limestone onboard sank off the coast of north Wales after making a distress call at about 02:00 GMT on Sunday. The 81-meter vessel is believed to have suffered a cracked hull after it was hit by high waves. One sailor died, five went missing, and two other members of the eight-strong Russian crew were recovered. Dozens of British rescuers were involved in a search operation following the tragedy. Among them was Prince William, who serves as a Royal Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter pilot in Wales. “What if we propose them [the rescuers] to be rewarded by the Russian side?” Yakovenko said during a meeting with the two survivors, Roman Savin and Vitaly Karpenko, in London on Wednesday. Savin and Karpenko agreed this was a good idea. Both sailors said they were planning to return Russia on Thursday. When asked about their plans for future, they said they were still undecided whether to continue their career at sea. The search for the five missing sailors was called off late on Monday. An empty life raft was found during the search. Head of Turkish Administration for Religion holds meetings in Moscowhttp://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/society/20501.html Mehmet Gormez, head of the Turkish Administration for Religion, has met Chairman of the Russian Mufti Council Ravil Gaynutdin in Moscow, at the invitation of the Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia Kirill, TRT reports. The sides will discuss the clerical education of Muslims in Russia, exterior and interior decoration of the new Moscow Cathedral Mosque. A technical group from the Turkish Administration for Religion will arrive in Moscow in January 2012 for construction of the mosque. Gormez and Gaynutdin met Rector of the Moscow Islamic University Marat Murtazin. They noted positive development of bilateral ties. Turkey is taking part in composing a three-tome encyclopedic dictionary for Islam on the Russian language. It also plans to support in publishing literature for education, IslamRF reports. Gormez also met Kirill in his Moscow residence. They expressed willingness to continue the clerical tradition and dialogue. 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