Economy – Page 2 – Connect Russia

Remembering Chernobyl

The Chernobyl disaster had only been publicized because the Soviet Union couldn’t hide it. If the USSR had its way, Chernobyl would have been tucked in that file of previously unreported Soviet disasters, like failed moon launches, humanitarian disasters, even another nuclear accident 29 years earlier. It was only when radiation readings rose throughout Scandinavia and meteorologists tracked back wind patterns did suspicion fall on the four reactor power plant 80 miles north of Kiev, a city the size of Chicago.   Initially, reporting on Chernobyl was a challenge for NBC News. (Soviet Life had featured Chernobyl, ironically enough, in an article on the Soviet Union’s great nuclear safety record!) Then, a freelance “journalist” with exclusive video of the reactor on fire approached three of the four networks’ bureaus in Rome. Apologies abounded.

Ultimately, the Soviets opened up. There were reports on Soviet television and in Soviet newspapers and scientific journals. The eeriest part of the trip, no doubt, was watching the clean-up at Pripyat, the mini-city of 55,000 that surrounded the nuclear power plant. By Soviet standards, it was paradise. High rise towers with roomy apartments surrounded by parks, including an amusement park and a sports park that had been ceremoniously opened the morning of the accident but never used.

Two years after the accident, an army of clean-up workers were still carting away things like school desks from the local school, preparing to dismantle the steel cars from the ferris wheel at that park, all of it accompanied by classic music pumped out over an area-wide p.a. system…to help the workers avoid going crazy from the deathly silence of a city abandoned on a spring day two years earlier. The workers were from all over the Soviet Union, drawn by the double salary, the double pensions, good housing. They talked of drinking vast volumes of red wine, ostensibly as an antidote for radiation, but no doubt for more banal medicinal purposes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

(Via MSNBC)

Rocket genius behind Russia’s triumph

Fifty years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Sergei Korolev built the rocket that took him. In doing so, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to journey into space.

A gifted engineer and designer, Korolev developed the first intercontinental missile and then launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1.

Yuri Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in Klushino, in the Smolensk region, 160km west of Moscow. Twenty pilots were selected, but the early version of the Vostok capsule was so cramped, only those under 168cm could get in it. The slightly built Gagarin fitted in nicely.

Then it was announced Gagarin had landed safely. On January 14, 1966, Korolev died, aged 59, during routine surgery.

Yuri Gagarin’s famous flight came perilously close to disaster.

News of Gagarin’s flight swept round the globe. “Man in space!” the London Evening News announced. Next morning’s US headlines included the classic: “Soviets put man in space. Spokesman says US asleep.”

(Via NZ Herald)

Armenia’s retail trade in January rises 1.4% from a year earlier

Armenia’s retail trade in 2011 January rose by 1.4% from a year earlier, according to the latest numbers, revealed by the CIS Statistical Committee, which said that the average growth among several former Soviet republics was 2.6%.  According to its figures, in terms of retail growth Armenia came in seventh among CIS countries.   The highest retail growth of 20.6% was reported by Belarus. Ukraine came in second with 11.7% growth. It was followed by Kazakhstan – 11.1%, Azerbaijan- 8.3%, Tajikistan – 5.8%, Moldova – 4.4%, Russia- – 0.5%. Kyrgyzstan posted a 7.2% decline. No data were available on Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

(Via Arka Armenian News Agency)

Related News Articles on Economics/Resource availability (particularly in Armenia)

Prices of vegetables, potato and fruits see highest rise in the first quarter of 2011

Inflation for vulnerable population in Armenia rises to 20% in quarter one, 2011

Government of Armenia plans to involve additional money for implementation of the program “Available apartments to young families”

National Statistical Service disagrees with allegations of some of local poultry farms

Armenia’s trade with Russia in Jan.-Feb. 2011 surges by 16.7% to $159.5 million

Nagorno-karabakh president visits Martakert region, emphasizes socioeconomic situation improvement

Armenian central bank governor off to Germany to discuss status of implementation of kfw loan programs

Prime Minister Sargsyan discusses tax regime efficiency enhancement issues with World Bank delegation

Foreign investments in Armenian real sector economy in 2010 contract by 41.1%

Armenia’s international investment position grew by 5.85% as of December 31, 2010

Prime Minister Sarkisian visits Pepsi plant in Armenia

Yerevan Joor to lower price of drinking water for Yerevan households to 175 drams per one cubic meter

Projected GDP growth for 2011 quite feasible, MP says

316 tons of aluminum foil produced in Armenia in Jan-Feb 2011

615 kilograms of cheese destroyed in Armenia after governmental inspections

Silks and Quilts in Central Asian Cultures

Silks and Quilts in Central Asian Cultures, UCLA Asia Institute

Possibly the best-dressed scholarly meeting of the season, “Textiles as Treasures” looked at the place of fabrics in the lives and the industry of nomadic and urban Central Asian cultures over centuries. The March 5 conference was organized by the Asia Institute’s Program on Central Asia; a day-long program on the music of the region is planned for April 1.

Margaret Kivelson, UCLA professor emerita of space physics, describes items from her personal collection of Central Asian textiles to the audience.

At “Textiles as Treasures: Cultures of Consumption in Central Asia and Beyond,” held Saturday, March 5, in UCLA’s Royce Hall, historians, ethnographers and collectors considered how the role of textiles varies across the region and over time, in permanent and temporary settlements. The UCLA Asia Institute’s Program on Central Asia organized the free, public gathering with support from the Textile Museum Associates of Southern California. The UCLA Center for India and South Asia cosponsored. Cheri Hunter of the Textile Museum Associates of Southern California, a conference cosponsor, addresses the audience.

Some textile designs in Central Asia remained in continuous production for hundreds of years, said Jon Thompson, a retired curator of Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum. While creating a new home-decor aesthetic in the West, the phenomenon also directed Turkmen production away from home furnishings destined for family and ceremonial use and towards international market demands.  Going back to the 16th century, Indian merchants were especially active in the textile trade, moving far into Central Asia, said Professor Claude Markovits of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales in Paris. In today’s Ferghana Valley, the heart of Central Asia’s cotton, silk and textile industries, several fourth- and fifth-generation ikat weavers are reviving some of the pre-Soviet splendor of the vocation, according to a conference paper by University of Kansas curator Mary Dusenbury. A number of conference attendees sported ikat garments, including this Indonesian example and others from Central Asia.

Textiles may go through finishing processes abroad, especially in Turkey and Italy, according to Dusenbury.  To get textiles ready for market, Central Asian producers now have to closely consider opportunities in places such as Moscow, Paris, New York and San Francisco, said Lotus Stack, curator emeritus of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

(Via UCLA; Asia Institute)

Putin Wants Greater Biotech Role

Russia wants to have a 5 percent share in the global biotech market by 2020, a senior official said Friday after a government meeting chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“The new wave of global technological development will be linked to biotechnologies and new materials unlike the previous wave linked to information and computer technology,” Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach told reporters.

The government approved on Friday 25 so-called “technology platforms,” modeled on their European equivalents, which will provide framework and coordination for research and funding. Three of the platforms are linked to biotech.

(Via The Moscow Times)

Lavrov Opposes Arming Libyan Rebels

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West on Wednesday against arming rebels battling Moammar Gadhafi’s forces and said Libyans must forge their political future without any outside interference.

With Western leaders saying they were not ruling out arming the rebels, Lavrov emphasized Russia’s opposition.

Russia, a veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council member, backed sanctions against Gadhafi’s government and abstained in the vote on the resolution authorizing military action to enforce no-fly zones, allowing it to pass.

Turning to the future, Lavrov said “the Libyan sides must agree on what the Libyan state should be.”

(Via The Moscow Times)

Investigators to Question Top Prosecutor’s Son in Gambling Case

The Investigative Committee said Wednesday that it would question the son of Prosecutor General Yury Chaika in connection with an illegal gambling case, significantly raising the stakes in an ongoing turf war between investigators and the Prosecutor General’s Office.

A lawyer for the ring’s suspected mastermind, Ivan Nazarov, denied that his client had any ties to Artyom Chaika. The main suspect, Nazarov, is in custody, and investigators have accused several local prosecutors, including the Moscow region‘s chief prosecutor, Alexander Mokhov, of allowing the gambling ring to operate in exchange for free trips abroad and other gifts.

(Via Moscow Times)

(Related News stories)

Chaika‘s Son Sought in Gambling Inquiry

31 March 2011

By Alexey Eremenko / The Moscow Times

… with an illegal gambling case, significantly raising the stakes in an ongoing turf war between investigators and the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Investigative Committee said Wednesday that it would question the son of Prosecutor General Yury Chaika in connection with an illegal gambling case, significantly raising the stakes in an ongoing turf war between investigators and the Prosecutor General’s Office. A spokesman for the Investigative Committee said Artyom Chaika would be questioned “soon”…

Chaika Plans Dismissals in Turf War

30 March 2011

The Moscow Times

Prosecutor General Yury Chaika plans to fire Moscow region prosecutors accused of having ties to illegal gambling business, Kommersant reported Tuesday. Prosecutor General Yury Chaika plans to fire Moscow region prosecutors accused of having ties to illegal…

Medvedev Toughens Stance on Graft

29 March 2011

By Nabi Abdullaev / The Moscow Times

… said the percentage of his orders being implemented is close to the highs seen under Josef Stalin and that Medvedev is far ahead of his tough-talking predecessor, Vladimir Putin, in his early years in power. Medvedev ordered Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to draft legislation to assist prosecutors in their checks of officials’ income declarations. “Prepare the legal amendments. I am ready to support them in order to make the checks more clear and effective,” Medvedev said in response to…

Medvedev Intervenes in 2 Agencies’ Turf War

4 April 2011

The Moscow Times

… Kommersant reported Friday. The Thursday meeting was linked to the committee’s probe into an illegal gambling ring in the Moscow region that investigators claim operated under the protection of prosecutors, the report said. Prosecutor General Yury Chaikarequested the talks after investigators announced plans to question his son Artyom over the case, the report said. Neither the Kremlin nor the law enforcement agencies have commented on the meeting. Medvedev warned the parties not to go public…

Gambling Suspect Caught in Turf War Appeals to Kremlin

29 March 2011

The Moscow Times

… week, saying it found no evidence that Nazarov financed prosecutors’ trips. It dismissed other related accusations as well, and closed several cases against its officials and a Nazarov aide. The Investigative Committee will ask Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to reopen these cases and related criminal inquiries into top prosecutors from Moscow region towns of Noginsk and Klin also linked to Nazarov, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Saturday. Chaika‘s agency also closed eight criminal…

Energy efficiency becoming promising area for investment in Russia

President Dmitry Medvedev has made energy efficiency a plank of his modernization platform. In 2008 he set a target to reduce Russia’s energy intensity by 40 percent by 2020.

And the Energy Efficiency Program to 2020, approved by the government last October, set aside 9.5 trillion rubles ($3 billion) for energy saving programs.

“In Russia we are totally focused on energy saving,” he told The Moscow Times.

Honeywell is only one of many foreign companies seeking a slice of the energy efficiency pie.

Currently, average efficiency for a gas turbine is about 35 to 38 percent, while average for a combined-cycle turbine is 55 to 56 percent. Alstrom’s range of turbines includes a simple-cycle turbine with 38.1 percent efficiency and a combined-cycle turbine with 58.3 percent. The McKinsey & Company report projected that Russia could save $486 billion over the next 20 years and reduce energy consumption by 23 percent if it plowed $210.8 billion of investment into maximizing efficiency.

(Via The Moscow Times)

Putin Links Economy and Ecology

Experts estimate that about 15 percent of the country is in critical environmental condition, and further neglect may have an irreversible impact, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

“Yearly reports indicate that the man-made impact on ecological systems is not abating and is only increasing. Air and water pollution in virtually all Russian regions remains at a high level,” Putin said at a meeting on ways to improve the environmental situation in the country.

Companies must be forced to implement new environmental technologies, otherwise the country is doomed “to trail behind,” Putin said.

“I am perfectly aware of the concerns of those specialists who are thinking about the need to increase labor productivity and about the state of our competition. But we all understand that the lack of stimulus is helping preserve old production facilities and old technologies, leading to an extensive approach to growth that will always leave us lagging behind,” the prime minister said.

(via Moscow Times)

Baikal Airport to Become International Transportation Hub for Southeast Siberia

Russia will allocate around US$6.8 million in the federal budget for the continuing reconstruction of the Baikal International Airport OJSC in Ulan-Ude, Buryat Republic this year, the local press office announced on Monday.

Plans include building a second runway, enlarging the first runway, improving passenger facilities, and modernizing of the taxi lane.

The reconstruction of the airport is planned to be finished in 2012, when the last tranche of US$11.3 million will be invested.

The whole reconstruction project, implemented within the framework of a federal program of economic and social development of the Far East and Transbaikalia since 2008, is estimated to cost around US$30 million when completed.

After the reconstruction of the runway, the airport will be able to serve any type of aircraft without restrictions on take-off weight. New lighting equipment will also allow the airport to accept aircraft at night time on request of air companies and to operate 24 hours in the future.

(Via Russia Briefing News)