Russia
Russia’s assistance in dealing with the consequences of the earthquake and the tsunami which hit Japan was the topic of a telephone conversation held on 14 March by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan. Earlier, during a meeting with deputy prime minister Igor Sechin, the readiness to offer Russian help to Japan was also declared by prime minister Vladimir Putin. According to Sechin, Japan has requested an increase in energy supply from Russia. In response, Moscow is to urgently deliver to Japan up to 150 thousand tonnes of liquefied gas (LNG), it will increase the supply of coal to the country, and transfer additional electricity supplies through an underwater cable from Sakhalin to Japan.
On 14 March, a team of several dozen rescuers from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived in Tokyo. Soon, they are to be followed by a group of nuclear security experts, who are to assist in dealing with the consequences of the explosion in the Fukushima I power plant. (According to Kommersant, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes that the natural disaster in Japan will bring Moscow and Tokyo closer together – in a way that 11 September 2001 improved relations between Russia and the US, or the Smolensk air crash revived Moscow’s relations with Poland).
2011.03.14, TV Rossija, www.rian.ru, www.rusnovosti.ru, www.kommersant.ru
Moscow declares Gaddafi persona non grata
Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev issued a special decree prohibiting Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi from entering Russia or conducting financial operations on Russia’s territory. The ban covers 15 people, including Gaddafi’s sons and his closest aides. A list of Libyan officials affected by the ban has been attached to Medvedev’s 9 March decree on the implementation by Russia of the UN Security Council resolution from 26 February 2011 regarding sanctions against Libya. The resolution prohibits the supply of any kind of arms to the North African state.
2011.03.14, PAP, www.rusnovosti.ru, www.rian.ru, www.lenta.ru
Russia to withdraw Tu-154M from its fleet
The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) has recommended that as of 1 July 2011 airlines should withdraw from their fleets all Tu-154M aircraft if the planes’ design is not improved. The information was reported by head of Rosaviatsia Alexander Neradko. As one of the reasons for the decision, Neradko mentioned the frequent malfunctioning of the aircraft’s power system.
2011.03.12, PAP, www.newsru.com
United Russia wins regional elections
On 13 March regional elections at various levels – including parliamentary, municipal and mayoral elections – were held in 74 Russian regions. According to preliminary results, Putin’s United Russia party is in the lead in all 12 areas where regional parliaments were being elected, although its performance is weaker than on previous occasions. United Russia managed to win over 50 percent of votes in just four regions: Chukotka (71 percent), Dagestan (67 percent), Adygea (58 percent) and Komi (50.8 percent). In the remaining areas, including Kirov, Tver, Kursk, Kaliningrad, and Nizhniy Novgorod, the party secured between 36 and 45 percent of the votes. United Russia was followed by – in various order – KPFR, LDPR, Just Russia and one extra-parliamentary party – Patriots of Russia. The democratic Yabloko party and the liberal Pravoye Delo, running in three regions, failed to reach the election threshold.
The United Russia’s overall preliminary result in 12 Russian regions – including the votes obtained within the majority system – secured it 68.5 percent of seats in local parliaments. Putin-led United Russia has already announced that it expects to do at least equally well in the December elections to the State Duma.
2011.03.14, Interfax, www.gazeta.ru, www.newsru.com
Merger in investment market: Sberbank buys Troika Dialog
On 11 March state-controlled Sberbank signed a letter of intent with the oldest Russian investment company Troika Dialog under which it will purchase 100 percent of Troika’s shares. The transaction is to be carried out in two stages. In the autumn of 2011 Sberbank is to pay $1 billion for 63.6 percent of Troika’s shares, owned by a group of shareholders including Ruben Vardanian, and 36.4 percent owned by the South-African Standard Bank. Three years later, Sberbank is expected to make another, performance-related payment (current Troika CEO, Ruben Vardanian, puts the figure at around $700 million). Under the agreement, Vardanian is to remain in charge of the company for three years, while Sberbank president, German Gref, is expected to take over as chairman of the board.
2011.03.12, Interfax, www.gazeta.ru, www.kommersant.ru
Eastern Europe
On 11 March the Ukrainian State Property Fund sold a 92.79 percent stake in Ukraine's telecom monopoly, Ukrtelecom, for 10.57 billion hryvnia (around $1.3 billion). The shares have been bought by Epic Services Ukraine (ESU), a daughter company of the Austrian EPIC group. The opposition claims that the company was sold to a pre-agreed buyer (ESU was the only bidder submitting the final tender) and that in reality Ukrtelecom has been sold to Ukrainian businessmen, most probably closely linked to president Viktor Yanukovych. They also accuse the government of setting a far too low asking price for the company. Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, claims that the transaction has caused the state to lose between $3 and $4 billion.
2011.03.11, Interfax, PAP, www.pravda.com.ua, www.unian.net, www.kommersant.ua
New body set up for Polish-Ukrainian cooperation
The European Meeting Centre (EMC), which is to serve as a platform for cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian non-governmental organisations striving to create a civil society, was opened on 11 March in Lviv. The opening ceremony was attended by Lviv mayor Andrei Sadovy, representatives of Wroclaw city authorities and several Polish MPs.
2011.03.11, PAP
Ales Mikhailevich flees from Belarus
Ales Mikhailevich, former presidential candidate who, following his release from custody in mid February, announced publicly that he had been subjected to torture and freed in exchange for signing a declaration of cooperation with KGB, has fled Belarus. On 14 March, Mikhailevich wrote on his blog that he is in a “safe place, outside the reach of the KGB”. He explained that the KGB had once again called him in for questioning and he feared that this time he would not be allowed to leave. Mikhailevich’s wife has told journalists that she is not aware of her husband’s whereabouts but said that he had left the country. People with close ties to the former presidential candidate, quoted by the Gazeta.ru website, have suggested that Mikhailevich is staying in Poland.
2011.03.14, PAP, www.belapan.com, www.naviny.by, www.gazeta.ru
Another anti-Polish show on Belarusian television
On 13 March, in the current affairs programme Centre Point, the Belarusian state television once again attacked Poland, describing it as a country with imperialist ambitions, acting against the interests of the European Union but loyal to the United States. The assessment of the Polish foreign policy was presented by two members of the Russian State Duma: Sergei Markov and Leonid Kalashnikov.
2011.03.13, PAP
Belarusians from neighbouring states speak out against sanctions
During a meeting in Riga on 12 March, representatives of Belarusian organisations from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia and Ukraine appealed to the heads of EU member states, members of the European Council and members of the European Parliament to return to a constructive dialogue with Belarus. They accused the EU, the United States and other countries of putting pressure on Belarus, using Cold War rhetoric and trying to impose their will on Minsk.
2011.03.12, www.naviny.by
US vice president pays official visit to Moldova
Under the Compact programme, for the next five years the United States will give Moldova $262 million annually for the development of the country’s agricultural sector and the modernisation of the road infrastructure – said US vice president Joe Biden during his official visit to Chisinau on 11 March. The US politician held meetings with Moldova’s prime minister Vlad Filat, acting president Marian Lupu and representatives of the parliamentary factions comprising the ruling Alliance for European Integration. The opposition Communist Party refused to attend the meeting.
Joe Biden also met with around five thousand Chisinau residents in one of the capital’s central squares. During his speech, the US vice president said that Washington and Moscow agree on the need for a peaceful resolution of the Transnistria conflict in full respect for Moldova’s territorial integrity.
2011.03.12, Interfax, www.tvc21.md, www.azi.md, www.newsmoldova.ru
South Caucasus and Central Asia
Azerbaijan: police quell anti-government protests
On 11 March police in Baku prevented an anti-government demonstration which was expected to be organised in the centre of the capital. Participation in the protest was encouraged through an Internet campaigned launched by young opposition activists from the newly established ’11 March Movement’. As a precaution, the police arrested potential participants (for example, outside underground stations) and dispersed groups of young people gathering in different parts of the capital. 43 people were detained, 23 of whom were released after questioning. The remaining 20 people have been charged with failing to follow police orders. (Earlier, the police carried out individual arrests of young opposition activists, including organisers of the protests).
On 12 March, the police brutally broke up a rally held by the Musavat party. According to figures provided by the opposition, over 60 people were detained; several dozen of them have already been sentenced to administrative arrest and fines.
2011.03.11-14, Interfax, PAP, www.apa.az, www.contact.az
Armenian politicians visit Brussels
Another round of talks on the preparations for the signing of an association agreement between Armenia and the European Union was held in Brussels on 11 March. The key issues discussed by the delegations were the easing of the visa regime and the creation of a free trade area.
The same day, the head of the Armenian Defence Ministry Seiran Oganyan held a meeting in the NATO headquarters with representatives of the Alliance’s military command and took part in a meeting of defence ministers representing the states engaged in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan.
2011.03.12, www.regnum.ru, www.news.am, www.aysor.am, www.armtoday.info
CEO of Inter RAO UES visits Tajikistan
Chairman of Inter RAO UES Boris Kovalchuk paid a working visit to Tajikistan on 11 March, where he was received by president Emomali Rakhmon and carried out an inspection of the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power plant (75 percent of which belongs to RAO UES). The discussions focused on the re-payment of Tajikistan’s debt for the supply of energy from Sangtuda-1 (currently estimated at $33 million), strategic partnership between Inter RAO UES and Tajikistan, as well as Russia’s participation in the CASA-1000 project – an energy transmission system from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2011.03.12, Interfax, www.regnum.ru, www.ferghana.ru