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Sacked ambassador stokes Russian tension over Libya

Russia’s former ambassador to Libya has stoked new tension between President Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, after calling the Kremlin’s acquiescence to air strikes targeting Libya a “betrayal of Russia’s interests”.

Chamov, who was sacked as ambassador to Tripoli by Medvedev earlier this month, told reporters that Moscow’s failure to oppose the bombing raids would lose Russian companies huge sums of money in arms and other contracts.

Russia abstained last week during the UN security council vote which approved military intervention in Libya.

Chamov, who was reportedly greeted at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport by Russian nationalists bearing bunches of flowers, declined to comment on Medvedev personally.

Analysts said Putin’s comments reflected his desire to please patriotic voters, while Medvedev had acted shrewdly to preserve respect in the west while bolstering Russian interests.

Medvedev and Putin have both said they will agree together who contests the Russian presidency next March. Some observers think any disagreements between the two are cosmetic.

(Via The Guardian)

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)

Activists want Russian language to have official status in Latvia

A campaign for a referendum on the Russian language is unfolding in Latvia, despite the government’s warnings that it will “worsen the split” in society.

The status of Russian as the second state language is dangerous for Latvia, the country’s Cultural Minister Sarmite Elerte said on Wednesday. She explained her position by “the split in the bilingual society,” which is stressful for ethnic Latvians, Russians and minorities.

Ethnic Russians make up about 30 percent of the Latvia’s population and more than 40 percent in the capital, Riga. The aim of the campaign launched on March 7 is to give the Russian language the status of a second official language. The referendum will be called if the required 10,000 signatures are collected. The campaigners have already managed to collect a thousand signatures.

The campaigners for the referendum on the Russian language followed the example of the opposition “For Fatherland and Freedom” party. Its members had collected signatures in support of switching over to Latvian at Russian-speaking schools financed by the state.

Elerte told journalists she considered ethnic Russians the national minority in the country. The minister cited the Convention for the Protection of National Minorities to support her views. Minorities are ethnic groups who have lived in Latvia for generations and regard themselves as Latvian nationals Itar-Tass quoted her as saying.

The state language is the most important problem that divides ethnic Latvians, Russians and national minorities since Latvia became independent in 1991.

(Via Russia Today)

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)

Russian bombers ‘intercepted in British airspace’

March 25, 2010 (last year)

Rare photos of Russian strategic bomber jets purportedly intercepted in British airspace show Moscow’s war machine is becoming increasingly bold, analysts said Thursday as Russia denied any territorial violations.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence released images it said were taken earlier this month of two Russian Tu-160 bombers — known as Blackjacks by NATO forces — as they entered UK airspace near the Outer Hebrides islands off Scotland’s northwest coast.

It said the March 10 incident, which resulted in crystal clear images of the planes against clear blue skies and a dramatic sunset, was one of many intercepts carried out by British Royal Air Force crews in just over 12 months.

“This is not an unusual incident, and many people may be surprised to know that our crews have successfully scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009,” Wing Cdr. Mark Gorringe, of the RAF’s 111 Squadron, said in a statement.

(Via CNN)

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)