TMCnet News
Yesterday in Brief for August 31, 2006(Interfax News Agency Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) The following is a digest of headline news from August 30 to 11:30 a.m. on August 31: USMANOV BUYS KOMMERSANT FOR $200 MILLION Alisher Usmanov's Mediaholding is to purchase the Kommersant Publishing House for $200 million, the businessman said. The deal comprises the mass media outlet itself, as well as the real estate owned by the publishing house, "six thousand square meters in Moscow and one and half thousand square meters in St. Petersburg," he said. The deal had nothing to do either with Gazprom or with the latter's media arm, Gazprom-Media, Usmanov said. "I'm not going by any means to interfere with [Kommersant's] editorial policy, and I see it as my task to help further develop thebusiness of the Kommersant publishing house," Usmanov said. RUSSIA PREPARING FOR SEXTET'S MEETING ON IRAN Russia is preparing to take part in the sextet's meeting on the Iranian nuclear problem, a Russian diplomatic source told Interfax on Thursday. "Preparatory work for the meeting of political directors of the sextet's foreign ministries is underway," the source said. "The meeting will be held, but its time and place are yet to be specified," the source said. The sextet comprises Russia, the U.S., China, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. ACCORD ON BURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS PROJECT TO BE SIGNED IN 2006 A trilateral agreement on the construction of the Burgas- Alexandroupolis oil pipeline will be signed before the end of 2006, according to the Russian Fuel and Energy Ministry. Russian Deputy Industry and Energy Minister Andrei Dementyev and Greek Development Ministry Secretary General Nikolaus Stefanu discussed the project in Moscow on Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin will meet with Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov in Athens on September 4 to discuss cooperation in the energy sphere, including the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline. The Burgas-Alexandroupolis project envisages the creation of a new additional route to transport oil from Black Sea ports to markets in Europe, the U.S. and the Asia-pacific region, through Bulgaria and Greece. GREAT WALL SEEKING NEW GREENFIELD SITE IN RUSSIA The Great Wall Motor Company (GWM), China's largest private automotive manufacturer, is no longer planning to build a factory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Russia and is looking for other greenfield sites, Pang Jinzhu, GWM's Russia sales manager, told a press conference. "Alabuga is no longer our only choice - our specialists are looking for more suitable regions," Pang said. The company still intends to build an assembly plant in Russia, Pang said. "The decision to build a factory in Russia was reached at the very highest level in the company," he said. Pang did not say whether the main parameters of the project, investment and planned production volumes, would be reviewed. A week ago, GWM said it was putting off the project because it had been unable to obtain approval from Russian regulators. Top company figures said they were in continuous talks with the Russian government and that the latter was pursuing a rather inconsistent policy. ANTI-MONOPOLY SERVICE LAUNCHES PROBE INTO NISSAN OPERATIONS The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has launched a probe into vehicle manufacturer Nissan for suspected collusion in setting prices for after- sale repairs, Andrei Kashevarov, deputy head of the service, said on Wednesday. Earlier, insurance companies responsible for organizing car repairs reported that Nissan had raised repair rates approximately 70%. Kashevarov said that a letter Nissan sent to its divisions directly speaks of eradicating competition between dealers in the rates for after-sale repairs, which would be deemed an unacceptable restriction of competition. World experience has shown that there should be such competition even among dealers of one and the same company. Some media reports said that the probe also concerns other carmakers such as Toyota and Citroen. FINANCE MINISTRY ISSUES SAVING BONDS WORTH 14 BILLION RUBLES The Russian Finance Ministry issued additional state savings bonds with a fixed rate coupon interest for 14 billion rubles on August 29, the ministry said on its website. The Ministry instructed Sberbank of Russia to carry out the additional placement of 39001RMFS bonds on private offerings with a placing price of 101.0775% of the face value (not including coupon interest), the annual yield amounts to 6.69%. GLONASS SYSTEM DISCUSSED AT GOVERNMENT CONFERENCE A government conference of the Military Industrial Commission took place on Wednesday to discuss the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), a radio satellite navigation system operated for the Russian government by the armed forces, the Defense Ministry said. The conference brought together Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and the Military Industrial Commission, who "discussed the current state of work to further develop and use GLONASS, and issues of international cooperation in this field," the Defense Ministry said. GLONASS is set to be completed by 2010 under a presidential directive, and will comprise 24 satellites. STRATEGIC VISION GROUP TO HOLD SESSION IN KAZAN The second session of the Strategic Vision Group (SVG), "Russia - Islamic World," will be held in Kazan, Tatarstan, on August 31, Tartar mass media agency Tatmedia told Interfax. Participants in the session will include representatives from Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and leaders from the Russian internal republics of Bashkortostan, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Chechnya and Tatarstan. Representatives of the Russian presidential administration, leaders of federal and republican bodies, of the Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Russia will take part in the session. The SVG is was created to expand cooperation between Russia and Islamic countries in all spheres, its first session taking place in March 2006 in Moscow. ORGANIZERS OF MADONNA'S MOSCOW CONCERT DENY CANCELLATION RUMORS Anton Atrashkin, PR manager of the Russian tour of U.S. pop idol Madonna, has flatly denied media rumors about the cancellation of the singer's concert in Moscow. "That's absolute nonsense. Besides, no educated person has ever trusted the sources of such rumors," he told Interfax on Thursday. It was announced earlier this week that Madonna would perform at Luzhniki stadium on September 12. CIS & BALTICS NEW COALITION LIKELY TO EMERGE NEXT MONTH - UKRAINIAN MINISTER Ukrainian Justice Minister Roman Zvarych has expressed hope that a new parliamentary coalition will be formed within two weeks after parliament reconvenes after its summer break on Tuesday, and haspredicted the Our Ukraine party will be part of the new coalition. Today's parliamentary coalition brings together the Party of Regions, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. Bringing Our Ukraine into a new coalition would "provide justification" for members of the party holding ministerial portfolios, Zvarych told Interfax. "It is not a very logical or clear situation at the level of the coalition government, in which there are representatives of a political force, to which I also belong, namely the Our Ukraine parliamentary group, but this political force is not a signatory to the coalition agreement," he said. NIYAZOV MEETS KAZAKH FOREIGN MINISTER IN ASHGABAT Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov met with Kazakh Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev in Ashgabat on Thursday. "The purpose of my visit is to give impetus to relations between our countries. We would like to add fresh impetus to bilateralrelations," Tokayev said at the meeting. Kazakhstan is following Turkmen development closely and "nothing stands in the way of our relations," he said. AZERI SPECIAL SERVICES DETAIN MEMBERS OF DRUG SMUGGLING RING The Azeri National Security Ministry has neutralized a criminal group involved in smuggling drugs from Iran to Georgia and Russian via Azerbaijan. Three residents of the Jalilabad district of Azerbaijan and the city of Ganja took drugs from two Iranians at the Azeri-Iranian border, a statement by the ministry's press service says. Employees of the National Security Ministry detained one of the members of the group in the Jalilabad district as he attempted to deliver drugs to other group members. Other members of the group were detained later. Copyright 2006 Interfax News Agency. Source: Financial Times Information Limited. |