Russian blogger Navalny unmasks 'Kremlin' photo smear

The Russian blogger leading Russia's vote-rigging protests has accused supporters of Vladimir Putin of seeking to smear him with a fake photo.

Alexei Navalny proved that a picture in a newspaper distributed by Putin supporters was a forgery when he published the original on his blog.

The faked photo shows Mr Navalny alongside fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who lives in London.

Protesters fear the March presidential vote may be rigged to favour Mr Putin.

Currently prime minister, he is standing for re-election after serving two previous terms as president.

Alleged fraud at parliamentary elections in December sparked the biggest anti-government rallies seen in Moscow since Soviet times.

Mr Navalny, a lawyer who campaigns against corruption, was a key speaker at the last rally, on 24 December, which drew an estimated 100,000 people.
Young activists sporting blue rain jackets marked "Vladimir Putin" were spotted handing out newspapers containing the forged photo in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

The photo shows Mr Navalny and Mr Berezovsky standing beside each other, smiling for the camera, with the caption: "Alexei Navalny has never made any secret of the fact that the oligarch Boris Berezovsky gives him money to fight Putin."

Russia has been trying for years to extradite Mr Berezovsky, who was granted political asylum in the UK in 2003. He is wanted on fraud charges, which he denies.

In a blog posting which led with the words "News from [Vladimir] Putin's electoral campaign", Mr Navalny published the original photo, sent to him months earlier by photographer Alexei Yushenkov as a souvenir.

Taken on 25 May in the offices of Russian radio station Moscow Echo, the snap shows the blogger alongside Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire who has since declared himself a candidate in the March election.
On his own blog, Mr Yushenkov confirmed that the photo had never been published because of its poor quality and he surmised that it had been stolen when Mr Navalny's email account was hacked last year.

Russian bloggers have been posting their own parodies of the fake photo, some of which were published on Mr Navalny's blog.

The photozhabas, as digitally altered images are known in Russian internet slang, show the blogger posing with everyone from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to Bender, the robot in the cartoon Futurama.

In another development, the Urals editor of popular Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty has denied any link to the doctored photograph.

Dmitry Bondarev told the BBC's Russian Service that his publication had no connection to the other paper, which bears the name "Argumenty i Fakty - Urals Digest" and looks similar.

A note on the paper with the fake photo, which is reportedly a special edition praising Mr Putin and trashing the opposition, says that it was compiled by the All-Russia Popular Front - a political coalition launched by Mr Putin in May.

According to Yekaterinburg blogger nuclOid, 80,000 copies were printed.

Russia's new ICBM about to materialize

Russia conducted a successful launch of Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday morning. It was the third launch of the new ICBM this year. Two more launches are required to pass Bulava into service. The two launches need to be successful to let this happen.

The tests of the Bulava missile continue for seven years already. Today's launch has become the 17^th - since 2004. Ten of these launches were successful. The first three launches were successful. The following three - in 2006 - ended with failures.

The launches at the end of 2008 and 2009 led to negative results too. Soon afterwards, Russian and foreign media started saying that the country was supposedly no longer capable of building ICBMs. Specialists urged everyone not to come to such conclusions. They said that the tests were conducted to find out the flaws which would then be removed.

In 2010, all the launches of the new missile ended successfully. Officials with the defense ministry said that it would be possible to pass Bulava into service after five successful launches. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov stated after the tests in July that one could already launch the serial production of Bulava.

The skeptics, who declared Bulava an "unsuccessful project," do not say anything now.

Today's launch was conducted from the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear submarine.

"The missile was launched from under the water in the White Sea, near Kamchatka peninsula. The flight of the missile was conducted as planned. The warheads arrived to the range ground on time," official spokesman for Russia's Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov said.

The sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile R-30 Bulava (RSM-56) is a three-stage hard fuel missile. The missile is equipped with the dispensing warhead. The warheads of the missile are capable of changing the altitude of the flight trajectory. They can strike the targets at a distance of up to 9,000 kilometers. The power of each warhead makes up 100-150 kilotons.

Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear cruiser is a Borei class submarine, project 955. The construction of the submarine began in 1996. The submarine currently goes through the process of tests. The submarine is going to be passed into service together with Bulava.

Medvedev backs Libya sanctions

President Dmitry Medvedev gave his backing to a UN Security Council resolution which authorized international military action in Libya.

In a decree posted on the Kremlin’s website on Friday, Medvedev banned all Libyan flights in Russian air space with the exception of humanitarian flights and authorized searches of ships for weapons or military personnel.

The decree also bans all financial operations involving the assets of Gaddafi and members of his family and his aides.

Video-Blog Diplomacy Could Trap Medvedev

MOSCOW, Russia -- President Dmitry Medvedev has introduced an innovative way to conduct foreign policy — video-blog diplomacy.
On Oct. 3, Medvedev recorded a video message to the Russian and Belarussian people. He made clear that the Kremlin no longer views Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko as Russia’s strategic partner. Medvedev basically called for a regime change in Minsk.

Sending powerful video-blog messages to neighboring states and their leaders has become a drill for Medvedev.

In August 2009, a few months before the presidential election in Ukraine, Medvedev bluntly called for a freeze in relations between Russia and Ukraine until Ukrainian voters replaced their “anti-Russian president,” Viktor Yushchenko. They did, and Russian-Ukrainian relations are back to normal.

This strategy has the advantage of publicly identifying laudable foreign policy objectives. It provides a direct channel of communication with broad audiences in the target states and Russia.

In his video-blog messages, Medvedev is presenting the Kremlin’s foreign policy as grounded more in moral imperatives and less in realpolitik.

He is rallying international and domestic support behind his positions— and thus campaigning for leadership at home and abroad, boosting his self-esteem.

But there is a downside to the video-blog diplomacy. It could turn out to be a high-stakes bet, front-loaded with risks of failure, especially when taping a video blog predates strategy development.

Once you publicly unveil the desirable policy outcomes, you deny yourself the advantage of a strategic surprise. You are locked into a strategy that is basically being developed on the go.

You no longer have the luxury of making a timely U-turn. Your policy options are further constrained by the public appeal to moral values, all but precluding a face-saving deal to avoid failure.

Medvedev’s call for a regime change in Kiev was successful largely because the Ukrainian political winds had already been blowing in Moscow’s favor. Yushchenko had such low ratings that his defeat was all but a given.

This is hardly the case in Belarus, where the “last dictator of Europe” stands a good chance of being re-elected without resorting to electoral fraud. The Kremlin would then be forced to deal with Lukashenko.

Lukashenko will surely challenge Medvedev’s video-blog diplomacy. Let’s hope that Medvedev has a strategy to deal with the aftermath.

Protestors tell the Kremlin where to stick Moscow's next mayor

With Yury Luzhkov’s days in office looking increasingly numbered, protestors have moved for calling for his head to demanding a say in who replaces the mayor.

An officially sanctioned demonstration in Moscow on Saturday brought 2,000 people to Bolotnaya Ploshchad – and made it clear that the incoming mayor should not expect an easy ride.

The campaign, led by opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Vladimir Milov, fears Luzhkov’s eventual replacement will simply offer more of the same, since the new mayor will be imposed by the Kremlin.

Ilya Yashin gave both barrels to the authorities, gzt.ru reported. “The next mayor, who you are inventing right now in the Kremlin, will be no better,” he said. “He will be the same crook, redneck. And we will not live better.

“We want to tell you guys in the Kremlin where to stick your appointment. We want to return to public elections!”

Milov’s opening address complained that the new man would have no connection with the city.

“You have probably seen the shortlists of candidates which include the Kremlin’s caretaker and heads of government units who haven’t lived in Moscow for five years,” he said.

“They saw her only from the window of their Mercedes. This is what awaits us, because mayoral elections in our city have been abolished.”

The man at the centre of the storm, Luzkhov himself, is back in the office after a week’s vacation in Austria.

And he is adamant that he won’t step down of his own accord, Interfax reported.

He added that his first day back at work was merely “a start”, the agency reported.

Most observers, however, feel it is more of a finish. The Petersburg-based International Institute of Political Expertise rates Luzhkov’s future as the most precarious of Russia’s political figures.

And there are question marks over the future of several other long-serving officials, Kommersant reported.

Moscow Region’s Boris Gromov drew criticism for his handling of this summer’s fires, while Omsk’s Leonid Polezhayev was taken to court over the mysterious death of conscripts from his patch.

Like Polezhayev, Tomsk’s Viktor Kress is a long-serving governor whose 90s links make him increasingly vulnerable while Tver’s Dmitry Zelenin is expected to struggle.

Recent months have seen a string of long-serving governors leave office as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to revitalise local government. The heads of Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Kalmykia, Orenburg and the Yamalo Nenets Autonomous Region have all left this year.

Saakashvili calls Georgia to war against Russia

President Mikheil Saakashvili has called on Georgia to prepare for “total defence” against Russia. “The goal of the enemy is to gain control over Georgia,” he said at the Georgian Ministry of Defence on Thursday, and exhorted his countrymen, “to burn every square metre under their feet.”

Before the war in 2008 the Gerogian army’s first duty was peacekeeping, the president said. But now the most important task before them was to halt the advance into Georgia, followed by the liberation of territories including Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Speaking live on national television he told Georgians on Wednesday that the leaders of his armed forces should prepare not only total defence but also a sustainable defence. This should include long-term courses at military school and continued military reforms, he said. He added that Afghanistan was a good training ground for Georgian forces and that he wants to send more soldiers there.

“The goal of our enemy is to gain control over Georgia and he is working intensively on this task,”georgia reported. “Our final goal is the complete de-occupation of Georgian territory.”

“He wants to send messages to the world that Russia is the aggressor,” Masha Lipman of the Carnegie Centre said. “That Russia is ready to attack Georgia at any point…He is alarmed and he wants everybody else to be alarmed.”

She added that Russia did not attack Georgia the first time and that it would not do so this time, “I can make no sense of it whatsoever.”

Change at Westminster prompts hope of Kremlin thaw

A change in government is prompting cautious hopes of a thaw in UK-Russian relations after the coalition of David Cameron's Conservatives and Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats ended 13 years of Labour rule in London.

The entente between Moscow and Westminster has been decidedly less than cordial in recent years, with on-going high-level spats over the death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko and the western reaction to the 2008 war in South Ossetia dominating political exchanges between the two countries.

Presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko admitted that relations had reached "a point close to freezing", and urged Cameron's Westminster coalition with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to show "the political will to improve bilateral relations".

Among Russians current living in the UK, the new-look coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats seems to match the voting preferences of many.

A poll on the election suggested 45 per cent of numbers supported the Tories, with 26 per cent backing the Lib Dems and just 11 per cent favouring the outgoing Labour government.

For most expat Russian, however, the main concerns are not connected with high-level politics, but with day-to-day issues such as tax and public services.

Comments on the Rupoint forum focused more on changes to income tax thresholds and fears of an increase in VAT (the UK's sales tax, reduced to 15 per cent to stimulate spending during the economic crisis but back up to 17.5 per cent at the start of 2010).

Not even fears that a Conservative leadership would take a tougher line on immigration were enough to dissuade Russians from leaning towards David Cameron's party.

Tatiana Sukhoparova studied in the UK and continues to work there. She told The Moscow News: "People fear that those without citizenship or at least an unlimited leave to remain in Britain will inevitably have difficulties in staying here long term.

This also concerns me, since I am planning to apply for citizenship in the near future. I feel strongly connected to British culture, having spent most of my adult life here, and I feel part of a community here and care about what happens in the political, social and economic systems in Britain."

But she added that she had become frustrated with the consistent negative portrayal of Russia as a hostile nation, mired in mafia and KGB spooks.

"As a patriot I do feel resentful when Russians are spoken of badly," she said. "Our relations have to move on to a new phase and not just stand still.

"I believe that Cameron in coalition with Nick Clegg will bring in a new and fresh view on this relationship. They are of a different generation and seem to have more of an open mind - which is clearly shown in their coalition deal and makes me hope for a warmer attitude towards Russia."

But some feared the old wounds would take time to heal.

Neil McGowan, managing director of tour operator "The Russia Experience" which provides tailor-made excursions for Britons in Russia, has first hand experience of the damage done to tourist and study links between the two countries.

Accusing out-going British foreign minister David Miliband of "vicious bigoted hatred" of Russia, he claimed that the seeds of the clash dated back to then-President Vladimir Putin's refusal to support the Iraq war prompting a string of tit-for-tat measures.

"I believe that the hostility in relations - begun by David Miliband on his third day in office as Foreign Secretary - has been extremely damaging to British business interests in Russia, and likewise to the UK's potential to attract inward investment from Russian businesses," McGowan told The Moscow News.

His own tourist business also suffered, particularly amid repeated attempts from the British government and media to portray Russia as the aggressor in the 2008 conflict with Georgia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, followed by a sharp hike in visa costs on both sides.

"In terms of tourism into Russia, it's been catastrophic," he added. "We experienced dozens of cancellations from people who didn't want to go to the country that invaded poor little Georgia. How many more people changed their views on Russia as a destination we'll never know - we can see the hole in the figures though."

But joy at seeing the end of Miliband was tempered with concern at the arrival of William Hague as the new Foreign Secretary, particularly given his willingness to work with explicitly anti-Russian parties in former communist countries within the European Union.

"Hague is a silly ‘Little Englander' whose knowledge of countries other than America is mostly confined to the cheese section in Marks and Spencer's," McGowan added. "Perhaps he will mature into the job, although I have never thought of him as having one diplomatic bone in his body."

London calling as Chichvarkin speaks out

Exiled telecoms tycoon Yevgeny Chichvarkin ramped up the intrigue this week as he claimed that his former business partner, Boris Levin, could be the next to die in jail from inadequate medical attention.

In an Alexei Dymovsky-style video appeal posted on his blog on the Snob website, Chichvarkin piled the pressure on President Dmitry Medvedev, urging him to intervene in Levin's case.

Chichvarkin also accused a raft of officials of harassing his company and plotting a hostile takeover of Yevroset, the mobile firm he founded. Although the fate of Dymovsky's YouTube appeal does not bode well for Chichvarkin, he may have timed it to perfection.

A suited Chichvarkin appeared stern in the video against the sombre backdrop of London's Houses of Parliament and the River Thames.

Chichvarkin, who fled to the British capital in late 2008, urged Medvedev to look into his case, reiterating claims that Yevroset, along with six other companies, had been targeted in corporate raids by a gang of 11 officials operating out of the Interior Ministry's Department K.

After accusing generals Konstantin Machabel and Boris Miroshnikov of leading the "gang", Chichvarkin accused members of the department of stealing confiscated state property amounting to billions of dollars, as well as inducing the deaths of people close to him.

Chichvarkin is wanted in Russia over the 2003 abduction of Andrei Vlaskin, Yevroset's freight transport agent, and violently extorting money from him after he had stolen handsets from the company. Moscow filed an extradition request for Chichvarkin last June, but British prosecutors have delayed a decision until August.

Levin, Yevroset's vice president, is currently being detained for the abduction of Vlaskin, but both Chichvarkin and Levin deny the allegations and say the case against them is "fabricated".
Chichvarkin claims that Levin, who has contracted hepatitis while in pre-trial detention, is being denied necessary medical attention, effectively holding him "hostage".

Chichvarkin claimed that Levin would suffer the same fate as Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail last November, unless he is administered the right treatment. Prison deaths leapt back into the public eye last week when businesswoman Vera Trifonova died because her kidney condition and general poor health were allegedly deliberately ignored to coerce her into false testimony.

The appeal does seem to have got the ball rolling, if only with Levin's case. The Prosecutor General's Office confirmed it was investigating media statements "about the poor health of ...Levin," RIA Novosti reported.

Marat Faizullin, Levin's lawyer, confirmed to Kommersant that his client needed medical attention.

But Yuri Gervis, Chichvarkin's laywer, said he still doubts that any progress will be made. "It's a question of what's going to be checked out and what conclusions they arrive at. That is to say it's a question of whether they do an all-encompassing investigation, or whether it's just a formal one."

According to Chichvarkin, his case is at the nexus of a host of prominent scandals. Writing in Novaya Gazeta in March, Chichvarkin claimed that the reason that police superintendent Denis Yevsyukov went on his shooting rampage in a Moscow supermarket last year was connected to his own case.

Just before his drunken killing spree, Yevsyukov, so goes the version, received a phone call informing him he was being investigated for corruption against Chichvarkin.
Apparently this was the last straw.

Chichvarkin made no mention of this in this week's video, noted Alexei Mukhin, head of the Centre for Political Information, but agreed it was timed to follow the death of Trifonova. "After the death of Magnitsky and Trifonova, a third death would be a fateful blow to the president's credentials as a liberal," said Mukhin.

Recently two exiled businessmen, Mikhail Gutseriyev and Telman Ismailov, have returned to Russia, but both on Putin's orders.

Rehabilitating Chichvarkin would help Medvedev to salvage his liberal reputation, which has been undermined by the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case. But doing so is far from easy because Chichvarkin has become even more "persona non grata" after he named the various officials implicated in hostile takeovers, meaning that Medvedev would have to personally take him under his wing, said Mukhin.

"The moment of truth has arrived for Medvedev. If he really does want to [stand] in 2012, then he has to take up Chichvarkin's offer. This will be a very elucidating step for the whole country: it will reveal Medvedev's political orientation."

Lukashenko rebukes Kremlin for military bases

The authoritarian leader of Belarus has scolded the Kremlin for not paying for Russian military bases deployed in the ex-Soviet nation.

President Alexander Lukashenko said Sunday that Russia pays "zero rubles, zero kopecks" for two using two bases outside the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

One of the bases is part of Russia's ballistic missile early warning system. The other provides communications with Russian submarines in the Atlantic.

Lukashenko was indignant about last week's agreement between Russia and Ukraine that allowed Moscow to extend its lease of Ukrainian port in return for discounts for natural gas.

Lukashenko also said he might cancel his participation in a summit of a Moscow-dominated security alliance later this month.

Kremlin Security Scare

A 35-year-old man was detained after he tried to force his way into the Kremlin, saying he wanted to marry President Dmitry Medvedev's daughter. Medvedev has a teenage son but no daughters. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Medvedev's predecessor, has two daughters.
The man, whom police identified only as Bakhtiyar from Dagestan, was sent for psychiatric tests.

Putin Tells Kudrin No Loan From IMF

Russia will not borrow discounted loans from the International Monetary Fund in the near future, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin during a government meeting on Thursday.
Kudrin said the country had the right to borrow as much as $8.8 billion at discounted rates in the form of IMF’s Special Drawing Rights.
Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, are an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries. At a G20 meeting in London in April, the group authorized the IMF to issue an extra $250 billion of the instruments to fast-track lending to developing countries.
“Do we need these loans?” Putin interjected.
“This is our reserve position in case of another crisis or situation in which we need to ensure the stability of Russia’s balance of payments,” Kudrin responded.
Putin interrupted him, and in a rare outburst directed at the finance minister said, “Alexei Leonidovich, can you hear what I’m asking? Do we need this money or not?”
Kudrin rushed to explain that he had consulted with the Economic Development Ministry and decided that there was no necessity to use the SDRs, as Russia already has significant currency reserves and sufficient market access to loans and that the country is trying to reduce its deficit anyway. The Central Bank said Thursday that the country’s foreign ­exchange reserves stood at $409 billion.
Putin also instructed Kudrin not to participate in financing any SDRs, as the country already has other financial commitments. Instead, he said, Russia must use its influence within the fund to encourage more lending to the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Russia, which currently holds 47 percent of its reserves in dollars, has, along with China, persistently criticized the dollar’s status as the dominant global reserve currency and advocated using SDRs as a potential alternative.

Fridman Touts Alfa To Kremlin

President Dmitry Medvedev met with Alfa Group co-owner Mikhail Fridman in the Kremlin on Tuesday, a day after voicing criticism that was seen as directed at the group's bank. An account of the meeting on the Kremlin web site did not say whether they discussed Medvedev's comments Monday, which blasted banks for being excessively tough on companies trying to restructure debt. Fridman used the meeting to say Alfa Group, which includes Alfa Bank, was a major employer and to highlight the good its other units have done. The day before, Medvedev told the government to make sure that banks don't ruin large employers, even if they default on loans. Rising unemployment is a major concern for the authorities. Alfa Bank is suing several units of Basic Element, Oleg Deripaska's holding company, for overdue loan payments. BasEl units have said the litigation might stall their operations. Fridman said Alfa Group employed 250,000 people and has worked to avoid layoffs by continuing investments, including at TNK-BP's two new oil fields that came on line last month, creating thousands of jobs. Fridman also said Alfa-controlled X5 Retail Group had opened dozens of new stores this year. A Kremlin spokeswoman declined to provide any further information. An Alfa spokeswoman said she didn't know whether they discussed overdue loans.

Kremlin Unveils List of 100 Potential Leaders

The Kremlin on Tuesday published the first 100 names in a list of the country's top 1,000 managers compiled to help President Dmitry Medvedev fill senior government posts.Medvedev announced plans last year to draw up a list of the so-called "Golden 1,000" of top management personnel as part of a recruitment drive aimed at bringing new blood into the political elite.Medvedev has promised to publish the entire list, taking a sharply different tack from his mentor and predecessor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who frequently tapped relatively obscure friends and colleagues -- including Medvedev -- for senior government posts.The initiative is a response to the difficulties the state is facing in identifying and recruiting competent personnel for public service, senior officials say.Medvedev said Tuesday that he had approved the first 100 candidates and planned to meet with them in the near future. "There will be a process of rotating cadres," Medvedev said, speaking a day after he fired four governors and nominated Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev as the new governor of the Voronezh region.Medvedev nominated one of the candidates on the new list, Federation Council Senator Andrei Turchak, as governor of the Pskov region on Monday. His candidacy still has to be formally approved by the regional parliament.The oldest person on the list, Garry Minkh, 50, was appointed the Kremlin's envoy to the State Duma last week. He previously headed the parliament's legal department. The businesspeople included in the top 100 include former RusAl CEO Alexander Bulygin; Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh; VTB-24 CEO and former Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov; Sistema CEO Leonid Melamed; and Lev Khasis, CEO of X5 Retail Group, which runs Pyatyorochka and Perekryostok supermarkets.Khasis told The Moscow Times in an e-mailed comment that he was aware of being on the list and that the presidential administration had requested his consent in a letter.Asked if he was ready to leave his job for a state position, Khasis didn't reply directly but said he had a "special" attitude toward Medvedev as the head of the state.The list reflects the state's need for "more effective managers," said Dmitry Badovsky, deputy director of Moscow State University's Institute of Social Systems.During unstable economic conditions, some of the business representatives may be tempted by the offer of a secure state job, Badovsky said. "Given the current economic crisis, some managers may see good prospects in a move to the civil service."
Sergei Naryshkin, head of the presidential administration, said a total of 1,211 candidates had been nominated for the Golden 1,000 and that the final list would be compiled by March 1.The candidates were nominated by 170 "famous and authoritative people" whose identifies will not be disclosed, Naryshkin said, Interfax reported.The candidate must display "success, management abilities, strategic thinking, professionalism and public acclaim" and cannot have a criminal record, Naryshkin said. A further 21,000 people have been nominated for lists to fill lower regional posts, he said, Interfax reported.The first 100 candidates -- whose names were published on the Kremlin web site www.kremlin.ru/articles/kadry.shtml -- were divided into four categories: federal officials; regional officials; businesspeople; and representatives of the sciences, academia and public organizations.Andrei Volkov, dean of the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, said he was flattered to be asked to appear on the education list."I made no effort, and I am pleased that several experts considered me a qualified specialist," he said.Volkov said he would consider switching jobs if asked by the Kremlin. "I have a very interesting job, but there can be different situations in life and I wouldn't say no to anything."The list of federal officials includes four State Duma deputies, three of whom are members of United Russia, the party headed by Putin. The other Duma deputy, Oleg Denisenko, is a Communist. There are no representatives of other parties, The list of regional officials includes two deputy governors, both of whom are United Russia members, and three mayors."Medvedev is showing that he wants to find support in the social group that might be described as the liberal-minded bureaucracy," said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst with the Center for Political Technologies.The list gives some businessmen, regional managers and middle managers the chance to "raise their status," Makarkin said.The list allows qualified specialists to "get to know each other and each other's capabilities," said Sergei Guriyev, rector of the New Economic School, who is on the education list. "When a state project, such as a ministry, is created, this means they can collect a critical mass of team members."Communist youth coordinator and former Duma Deputy Darya Mitina called the candidates who are under 35 "pathetic" in her LiveJournal blog Tuesday. The two youngest candidates on the list are 26 years old.Being included on the list means "new opportunities," said Nikolai Nikiforov, director general of the Center of Information Technology of Tatarstan, a state agency. He said an offer of another government position would be "a great honor.""I got a call from the presidential administration asking whether I minded being on the list," said Vladimir Nazarov, an academic at the Institute for the Economy in Transition. "Would you refuse if you were me?" But Nazarov conceded he might not be ready for a top government post. "If I was told to head the Magadan region, I could hardly do it because I've never been a governor."

A Candle in Moscow

The spot in Moscow where reporter

Anastasiya Baburova was tragicly murdered in Vladimir Putin's lawless state.

Shuvalov: Tycoons Won't All Get Help

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Russia will not write a blank check to save top businessmen hit by the global economic crisis, and the state expects something in return for helping bail them out, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Thursday.Some of Russia's richest men, who borrowed billions of dollars in the boom years during Vladimir Putin's presidency, face difficulties because the value of collateral they put up as security for major loans has plummeted.Russia has spent large amounts helping businessmen such as metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska, once Russia's richest man, refinance foreign debt.But Shuvalov said businessmen should not expect the state to help them with everything and they would have to make compromises."We must have understanding. ... We see that many enterprises that we work with, and their shareholders, have started to feel that the state will save them no matter what," he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos."Against this background, they have begun to think ... that the state will help them no matter, help them to refinance their foreign debts and give them special programs to buy their production. We have nothing like this in our plans."Russia has spent about $11 billion through state corporation VEB to refinance companies' foreign debts and had received requests for much more financial help, Shuvalov said.He gave no details, but VEB chairman Vladimir Dmitriyev told reporters that Russian companies had made bids for about $90 billion to help them restructure their foreign debts.Russian corporations must pay back $115.7 billion in foreign debt and interest this year, according to government estimates.Putin told investors in Davos on Wednesday that excessive state intervention in the economy would be a mistaken reaction to the crisis.He also said businessmen would have to take responsibility for their decisions, although the state would continue to support national champions."Just because the enterprise is important and has several tens of thousands of workers, we do not simply intend to give out resources and wait for them to come for more later," said Shuvalov, an influential figure in Putin's government."The shareholders and heads of these enterprises must for themselves look at their own personal responsibility," he said.Deripaska last year used his 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading producer of nickel and palladium, as collateral for a $4.5 billion loan from VEB.Norilsk's largest shareholder, Vladimir Potanin, and Deripaska, who controls aluminum giant United Company RusAl, have proposed pooling their metals assets with other miners to create an entity that would be part-owned by the Kremlin and wipe out their debts.

Budget Deficit Could Drain Much of Stabilization Fund

A significant portion of Russia's $215 billion stabilization fund will be spent in 2009 to cover the country's budget deficit, said Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin at a State Duma meeting on Friday. “This year is the peak of the crisis, and we’re starting from the idea that a significant part of the Reserve Fund will be spent, but not all,” he said. The country is facing a budget shortfall of 4.4 trillion rubles ($124.6 billion), or 5.4 percent of GDP, and if the government's 2009 budget is not revised, the deficit could reach as much as 6.1 percent of GDP. On Jan. 22, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the Finance Ministry to revise its 2009 budget based on a new average oil price of $41 per barrel, down from the previously forecast $70. Urals blend crude, Russia's main oil export, was trading at $43 a barrel on Friday, down from its July high of $143. Last year the stabilization fund, supplied since 2004 by windfall oil and gas revenues, was divided into the National Welfare Fund and the Reserve Fund, which stand at 2.8 trillion rubles and 4.5 trillion rubles, respectively. In December, the welfare fund loaned 340 billion rubles to Vneshekonombank, as part of a $200 billion dollar bailout package aimed at revitalizing the country’s ailing financial sector. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, speaking to the parliament on Friday, said the government would "most likely" have to cut back on expenditures in 2009.

Will The Real Gazprom CEO Please Stand Up

The great Russian-Ukrainian gas war is over, and it is time to assess the outcome. On the surface, the result looks promising. Finally, Russia and Ukraine have concluded a normal long-term gas agreement.
Both gas prices and transit tariffs are market-related and based on clear principles without shady intermediaries or arbitrariness. The gas prices will probably average $230 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2009, while investment bankers had expected $250.Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukraine had an obligation to guarantee transit of Russia's gas since Kiev ratified the Energy Charter Treaty (which Moscow has not ratified).Putin lamented that the "European Union is placing Russia and Ukraine in the same category," but the supplier in this transaction is also obligated to deliver. Vedomosti perhaps put it best: "Gazprom's reliability as a supplier is inseparable from Ukraine's as a transit state."Corruption and Ukrainian domestic politics were major factors in a conflict in which the prime antagonists were Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Dmitry Firtash, partial owner of the shady intermediary RosUkrEnergo.Both Tymoshenko and Putin claim that RosUkrEnergo through Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's administration disrupted the gas negotiations on Dec. 31.Tymoshenko walked away from this conflict with an outstanding victory. RosUkrEnergo has been excluded from the Russian-Ukrainian gas trade, losing profits of at least $1 billion a year.At his news conference on Jan. 8, Putin implausibly denied that he knew Firtash, although both were co-founders of RosUkrEnergo in July 2004. Subsequently, Gazprom sold RosUkrEnergo's debt of $1.7 billion to Naftogaz, allowing Naftogaz to squeeze Firtash out."Finally, we eliminated a big political slush fund, which fed several political forces," Tymoshenko said. Firtash has spent lavishly on Ukrainian politics, mainly on former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions but also on Yushchenko's administration.The elimination of RosUkrEnergo will cleanse Ukrainian politics of gas money. Although Yanukovych has sensibly kept a low profile, his campaign financing will most likely dwindle in the end.Gazprom's cost in the gas war was very high. Its direct financial loss was about $2 billion, but its reputation has suffered even more since the gas monopoly has proven itself an unreliable supplier.Its customers will try to reduce their dependence on the state-run gas monopoly, but when Gazprom is the problem new pipelines are of little help.Before the conflict broke out, Gazprom opened a web site that criticized Ukraine. This suggests that Moscow was gearing up for a fight. Gazprom and Putin pulled no punches in going after Kiev. "The current situation shows a high degree of criminalization of power in Ukraine," Putin said.During the January 2006 Russia-Ukraine gas conflict, Gazprom's stock price skyrocketed because investors were impressed when the company pushed for higher export prices at a time of rising energy prices.During the latest gas war, however, Gazprom's stocks plummeted as investors objected when the company treating its customers recklessly by demanding unrealistically high prices at a time of sharply falling energy prices.Meanwhile, European gas consumers suffered considerably, and the European Union looked terribly weak, having failed to learn anything from previous gas wars.But one European politician stands out as a true leader -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During Putin's news conference with Merkel on Jan. 16 in Berlin, Merkel lectured him like a teacher to a schoolboy, placing the responsibility on Moscow, and Putin ate his teacher's humble pie.Austria, France, Hungary, Germany and Italy have quietly built up gas reserves that could last for three months; they have learned the lesson from 2006.Now, other European countries are likely to build up large reserves and further diversify their energy supplies, although this is very expensive.Putin has the most complex motivation in all of this. By directly commanding Gazprom and taking over the negotiations, Putin confirmed the old assumption that he is the real CEO of Gazprom.Although Ukraine had paid its gas bills by Dec. 30, Putin ordered the disruption in the gas supply, making him the main culprit.Gazprom's damaged reputation will likely impair its stock price and debt rating. The conflict was also a disaster for Russia's foreign policy. President Dmitry Medvedev's hastily arranged "gas summit" attracted no heads of state and was the largest snub to Russian diplomacy in recent memory.Putin has been identified as one of RosUkr-Energo's main beneficiaries, but now he has accepted the fact that this middleman will have to be eliminated from gas transactions. Moreover, he looked panicky when he lost himself in technical details, accusing Ukraine of "theft" of tiny gas volumes, far smaller than customary losses.In the end, the gas war had to be settled by Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers. The press photos showed a strident Ukrainian prime minister, while Putin looked increasingly frustrated.So why did Putin instigate the gas war in the first place? My suspicion is that his main purpose was to whip up Russian patriotism against Ukraine and enhance support for the government in a time of economic decline. This was perhaps his only success.According to the state-run pollster VTsIOM, 63 percent of Russians believed that Ukraine was solely responsible for the conflict.Another suspicion is that Putin hoped to destabilize Ukraine by exploiting its domestic divisions and its severe financial crisis. If this were his goal, he failed. Tymoshenko had little choice except to liquidate RosUkrEnergo since it was an issue of her political survival.After Putin and Tymoshenko signed the gas peace treaty, Ukraine has eliminated a major source of corruption. Now it should reform its distorted energy sector to improve efficiency and save energy.Ukraine must stop subsidizing its imports of gas, and it should also raise the government's purchasing price for domestically produced gas to stimulate domestic production.And the EU should get more serious about its own energy security. Whatever Putin's motive was, he is likely to offer more shocks as the situation grows worse for both Russia and Putin in a deepening economic crisis. The EU must realize that it needs a Russia policy no less than it requires an energy policy.Only two winners are apparent -- Tymoshenko and Merkel.There are many losers: Firtash, European gas consumers, Gazprom, its shareholders, Yushchenko and, last but not least, Putin.

Slain Moscow Reporter Buried In Sevastopol

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- Anastasiya Baburova, who chased after the assassin of human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov only to be killed by the same unidentified gunman, was buried in her native Ukraine on Jan. 26.

Baburova, 25, was a Moscow journalist with one of Russia’s few remaining independent newspapers, Novaya Gazeta.She and Markelov were slain less than a mile from the Kremlin, just after the lawyer held a Jan. 19 press conference to condemn the early release from prison of a Russian army colonel convicted of killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman in 2000.Baburova was from Sevastopol.Agence France Presse reported that several dozen mourners attended the funeral Mass held in St. Vladimir Orthodox Cathedral in the center of the Crimean port city before she was laid to rest in a cemetery on the city’s outskirts.Her mother, Larysa Baburova, told the French news agency that her daughter a year ago had complained that her work was too dangerous, saying: “Mum, I am not going to live long like this.”Novaya Gazeta – one of the few Russian newspapers that allow criticism of the Kremlin in its coverage – has been hit by tragedy several times, including in 2006, when star journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in Moscow.If these murders follow the disturbing Russian pattern, no killers will be found.

Regions Ordered to Create Jobs

President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday warned regional governments to get serious about fighting unemployment and ordered his representatives to the federal administrative districts to "deal with" those who are neglecting a federally funded effort to create jobs. The government has allocated 43 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) to boost employment in the regions this year amid growing concern that the worsening economy could lead to unrest. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin on Tuesday to keep him updated on how the funds are being used. "Everyone needs to decide for himself what needs to be done, but when it comes to the labor market -- creating new jobs and supporting our citizens -- these are paramount concerns," Medvedev said at his Gorky retreat, Interfax reported. Medvedev said unemployment had reached 1.5 million people, a 20 percent increase since Oct. 1, and Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova warned that the figure could rise to 2 million people this year. The federal funds should go toward public works projects and measures to help with temporary employment, such as paying for workers' relocation costs, Medvedev said. "Regional authorities need to cooperate with employers and labor unions," he said, adding that they should consider forming trilateral commissions to study the matter. Medvedev also said companies should think twice before hiring foreign employees, in an apparent reference to workers from other former Soviet republics. As an example, Medvedev mentioned a visit he made this week to Ingushetia, which has 57 percent unemployment, the highest in the country. "Despite having this 57 percent unemployment rate, I believe that 4,000 workers have been invited from abroad, and they do not know what they should do with them," he said.

Medvedev Looks to Fill Senior Posts

President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that a final list of the country's top 1,000 managers, which the Kremlin is compiling to help fill senior government posts, has been completed and will be made available to the public. The recruitment drive, first announced last summer, is a response to the difficulties the state is facing in identifying and recruiting competent personnel for public service, top officials say. It also highlights the lack of a proper recruitment system for government posts and the need for a new generation of managers to replace the Soviet-era nomenklatura, and Kremlin watchers say the initiative is an attempt to lessen the influence of civil servants directly loyal to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Medvedev has reached out to Communists, nationalists and liberal politicians alike to create the pool of potential applicants, with the Kremlin contacting all four parties in the State Duma and asking them to submit the names of potential candidates for government jobs. The list of Medvedev's so-called "Golden 1,000" includes scientists, members of nongovernmental organizations, regional and federal officials and businesspeople, Medvedev said in a meeting with his presidential envoys. "We will publish this list. It cannot be a secret," Medvedev said in comments published on the Kremlin's web site. Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin sent a letter to the Duma factions, whose representatives met last summer under the auspices of a new presidential commission on recruitment, asking for names for the "Golden 1,000" list, said Igor Lebedev, chairman of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party faction in the Duma. Each member of the commission was asked to submit the names of 11 candidates to serve in federal and regional agencies, party organizations or as "representatives of business, culture and education," Lebedev said. LDPR has three members on the commission, including leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The only stipulation was that candidates must be 35 to 50 years old. LDPR has nominated around 30 candidates, including Alexander Kurdyumov, rector of the Institute of World Civilizations, a higher education college founded by Zhirinovsky in 1999. "We hope that all the candidates proposed by us will be approved by the president and will be offered some kind of government post," Lebedev said in remarks forwarded by his press secretary. The Communist Party confirmed that it also had received the request from the presidential administration but offered few details. Party leader Gennady Zyuganov is currently drawing up a list of names, said Pavel Shcherbakov, press secretary for deputy party leader Ivan Melnikov. Nikolai Levichev, leader of A Just Russia in the Duma, could not be reached for immediate comment. A Kremlin spokeswoman declined to comment on the recruitment drive, saying, "We have no official documents about this." Russia doesn't have a transparent route to government posts, such as the fast-track Civil Service test for graduates in Britain. "It depends entirely on having connections at a high level," said Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst at Merkator. Medvedev first called for a new recruitment strategy back in July and founded the presidential commission on recruitment in August. In his November address to the nation, he said he was looking for the "most talented, creative-thinking and professional people." Medvedev is breaking away from Putin's strategy of placing personal acquaintances and former colleagues in top jobs — a strategy that proved ineffective by the end of his second term, Oreshkin said. "However large Putin's circle of acquaintances may be, it's not large enough for the whole country," he said. Putin also relied on members of the Soviet-era nomenklatura, but this generation is going away, said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who tracks Kremlin politics as the director of the Center for Elite Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. While the nomenklatura made up 38 percent of officials in Putin's government, they make up only 16 percent of Medvedev's government, she said. A key decision that showed Medvedev's clout was his recent dismissal of Ingush strongman Murat Zyazikov, Oreshkin said, describing this as a "serious revolution in Ingushetia." Nevertheless, Medvedev "is changing the personnel very carefully so as not to step on any of Putin's painful corns," he said. Last month, Medvedev also appointed Nikita Belykh, the former leader of the Union of Right Forces, or SPS, as governor of the Kirov region, a surprise decision that some observers interpreted as a sign that the president was open to working with the liberal opposition. Kryshtanovskaya said, however, that Belykh's appointment might be more about ensuring that he didn't cross over to a radical opposition group like Solidarity, founded by former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and one-time chess champion Garry Kasparov. Before serving in SPS, Belykh worked in regional government. The presidential commission and its plan for a "Golden 1,000" database follows a similar project launched by the United Russia party two years ago. Called "Talent Pool: Professional Team," it allows people to apply for a talent pool via a web site. United Russia representatives have also contacted organizations including the Russian Harvard Alumni club to encourage applicants. The Kremlin and United Russia projects are not directly connected, said Yury Kotler, the head of the United Russia project. "It's two systems that don't interconnect. People can be in both or either." He described the aim of his project as finding "future leaders." Some have gained state or party jobs, he said. It also has a networking element, as successful candidates can communicate with one another on a closed web portal. Not all the successful applicants are members of United Russia, Kotler said. "It's not within the party. It's an instrument, it's a search engine." Kotler previously worked as a spokesman for Menatep, Yukos' holding company, and as a consultant at headhunters Ward Howell International, which took part in creating the project. The web site is full of Western management buzzwords such as "agents of positive change" and "peer education." It features United Russia's flag logo, although Putin, who heads United Russia, is conspicuously absent. The project has a slightly different age range from the "Golden 1,000": 25 to 45. While the "Golden 1,000" looks for top officials, the United Russia project might find hospital managers or ambitious teachers who wanted to make their school the best in the district, Kotler said. Around 15,000 people have applied so far, of whom about 1,000 passed a test and interview, Kotler said.
"President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that a final list of the country’s top 1,000 managers, which the Kremlin is compiling to help fill senior government posts, has been completed and will be made available to the public."