Russia 100715 Basic Political Developments

RIA: Turkish parliament ratifies Russian-Turkish NPP agreement

http://en.rian.ru/business/20100715/159820318.html
11:13 15/07/2010

ANKARA, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Turkish parliament on Thursday ratified a cooperation agreement with Russia on the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant, the parliament's press service said.

The plant is expected to be built by Atomstroyexport near the Mediterranean port of Mersin in the Akkuyu area and put into operation in 2016-2019. Russia will build four nuclear power units for the plant, each with a capacity of 1.2 GW.

Rosatom CEO Sergei Kiriyenko earlier said Russia would hold the controlling stake in the $18-20 billion project. He said the project was not going to be limited to construction but would also include the creation of a nuclear engineering company, which would be owned by Russia in the initial phase.

The deal on the construction of the plant was signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to Ankara in mid-May.

Russia and Turkey have already undertaken several joint projects in the energy sphere, including the Blue Stream gas pipeline, the South Stream gas pipeline and the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

VOR: New details on Kaczynski air crash

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/07/15/12376223.html

Jul 15, 2010 09:49 Moscow Time

Polish experts have been able to decipher more fragments on the voice recorder retrieved form the Polish president’s Tu-154 airliner that crashed near Smolensk on April 10, killing President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and more than 90 Polish officials.  The captain of the plane, Arkadiusz Protasiuk apparently said seconds before the tragedy: “If we don’t land, they will kill me”, according to the Polish media. The report has not been immediately confirmed by the Military Prosecutor’s Office.

Prague Monitor: Russian daily: Czech govt to skip Russia in privatisation, Temelín

http://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/07/15/russian-daily-czech-govt-skip-russia-privatisation-temel%C3%ADn
ČTK |

15 July 2010

Moscow, July 14 (CTK) - Russia is faced with "a loss of very promising contracts" now that a new centre-right coalition government has assumed power in the Czech Republic, Russian daily Kommersant writes Wednesday.

It says the government of Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS) will do everything to prevent Russia from gaining state property, and it will also do its utmost to eliminate the Russian firm Atomstroyexport from the completion of the nuclear power plant in Temelin, south Bohemia.

"The previous centre-right government of Mirek Topolanek (ODS) bet on the prospective development of nuclear energy already, fearing for the country's energy security. The Czech leaders say dependence on Russia in this field has assumed alarming proportions," the paper writes.

It writes that the Czech Republic covers two thirds of oil consumption and four fifths of natural gas with imports from Russia.

Russian Lukoil concern, that is seeking control of Czech refineries, serves planes at Prague's Ruzyne airport, the paper writes.

It recalls that since the beginning of the year, Temelin has used Russian fuel supplied by TVEL firm that wants to build in the Czech Republic a fuel production capacity that would serve whole Europe.

"However, the main issue is probably the fact that Russians may play the key role in the tender for the construction of new nuclear capacities," Kommersant writes.

It says Temelin is sought by three bidders: the Russian Atomstroyexport, the U.S. Westinghouse and the French Ariva.

"Formally, the tender decision is to be made by CEZ management...In fact, however, the decision will be strongly influenced by the Czech government as in any other European country," the paper writes.

The state has a majority stake in the energy company CEZ that operates Temelin.

Kommersant writes that Necas's government, in an effort to secure billions of crowns for the state treasury, is going to consider soon the full or partial sale of many large state-controlled firms, such as the CSA air carrier, Budvar brewery, Czech Post, Czech Rail and the forest company.

However, the government only wants to sell 7 percent of shares of CEZ, one of the biggest firms in central and east Europe, in order to keep its control of the company and a maximal possible influence on its projects.

These include the completion of Temelin and upgrading the older nuclear powers plants in Dukovany, south Moravia, and Jaslovske Bohunice, west Slovakia, Kommersant writes.

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Moscow Times: Moldovan Wine Ban to Stay in Place After Talks Collapse

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/moldovan-wine-ban-to-stay-in-place-after-talks-collapse/410409.html
15 July 2010

The Moscow Times

Russia broke off talks with Moldova about lifting a ban on imports of the country's wine after a Moldovan minister said there was nothing dangerous about its wine, a senior health official said Wednesday.

The Federal Consumer Protection Service banned wine imports from Moldova earlier this month after Chisinau introduced a national day of mourning called "Soviet Occupation Day."

The service, which has regularly banned countries' top food exports amid political tensions, cited the wine's substandard quality.

Gennady Onishchenko, the service's director, said the talks were cut off because the Moldovan agriculture minister denied that the country's wine contained harmful substances.

"He denied everything and said that everything was fine. … The lack of understanding of this move is making us take an indefinite break in the consultations that were just beginning," Onishchenko told Interfax.

Moldova's Constitutional Court rejected the day of mourning on Monday.

Vedomosti/Russia Today: The butter is churned

http://rt.com/Top_News/Press/eng.html
Yulia Shmidt, Anfisa Voronina

Finland became the new country on the list of states that do not abide by Russia’s sanitary requirements. Rosselkhoznadzor (Russia’s Agriculture Ministry) has blocked the supplies of 14 Finnish enterprises, including Valio, a well-known company in Russia.

Yesterday evening, Rosselkhoznadzor announced a temporary suspension on food supplies, starting July 9, from 14 of Finland’s companies; the reason – violation of Russia’s sanitary requirements. The statement does not specify what specific rules the Finnish companies broke; Rosselkhoznadzor representative could not be reached.

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On Wednesday, the trucks of several producers of meat and dairy products were sent back at the Russian border, reports the Finnish newspaper, YLE. According to the publication, in May, Russian officials had inspected 23 Finnish factories and decided that their production does not meet their requirements. An employee of the Finnish Food Safety Authority told YLE that his office was not provided specific information on what types of violations were recorded by the representatives of Russia’s Rosselkhoznadzor. The Finnish newspaper reports that, among others, the ban was applied to four Valio factories, as well as Atria and HK Ruokatalo facilities.

Valio representatives were not available to comment yesterday evening; meanwhile, a staff member of the Valio office in Russia confirmed that problems do exist, but did not specify any details. A representative of the Atria office in St. Petersburg said that there are no problems in crossing the border.

An employee of one Russian food company, working with some major networks, said that St. Petersburg’s retail networks, including Lenta and O’Key, are aware of the problems with butter and cheese supplies from Finland. O’Key spokesperson said that the retailer does not comment on supplier relations; Lenta did not comment.

Last year’s total sales of the Russian subsidiary of Valio amounted to 71.6 million tons. Valio has an 18% share in the processed cheese segment of the Russian market (34% in Moscow, and 43% in St. Petersburg), in the butter segment – 14% (23% in Moscow, 52.5% in St. Petersburg), the company had previously reported, while citing Nielsen.

Valio produces some of its products in Russia: in December of last year the company began producing yogurt drinks at the Galaktika dairy plant in the Leningrad region, and reported that it intends to further develop local production.

“Consumers do not feel the lack of supplies, due to the ban. In the summer months, Russian companies are at the peak of production,” says Vladimir Labinov, executive director of the Dairy Union. “And, if the conflict with the Russian authorities is prolonged, the production of the Finnish companies could very well be replaced by other importers.”

Heads of the two countries will soon have the chance to discuss the problem: President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Finland has been scheduled for July 20-21. So far, the agenda includes issues concerning cooperation in the field of wood processing, says a source, close to the Russian presidential administration.

Read the article on the newspaper's website (in Russian)