MOSCOW, March 7 (RIA Novosti) U.S. missile defense system strains Russia-NATO relations/ U.S. promises to consult with Russia, but won't back down on MD/ LUKoil halts refinery project in Turkey/ Ford looks to expand on Russian market/ Bank of Russia proposes disclosure of banking secrets
Novye Izvestia
U.S. missile defense system strains Russia-NATO relations
Russia's representative to NATO said he saw no particular threat in the deployment of U.S. ABM systems and radars in Europe.
Russia is capable of responding to any strike, Konstantin Totsky told popular daily Novye Izvestia. Besides, we now live in a new world, he writes, where Russia is not going to fight America or Europe, and Iran does not have the military capability.
Totsky writes that there would be no war in Europe, and therefore the deployment of U.S. systems on the continent was not about a military threat. What concerns him is that Washington's actions contradict its political rhetoric.
He believes, that what, Henry Obering, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), described as consultations with Russia were not consultations at all, the Russian official said. Instead of exchanging ideas and discussing the issues taking account of its partner's opinions, the United States held a briefing to announce its decision to deploy ABM systems and radars in Europe.
Obering delivered a detailed report on the issue and showed slides, plans and calculations at Wednesday's meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, attended by representatives from the 26 NATO countries and Russia. However, there were no experts in the audience, and many of those present there, including myself, had questions.
According to Totsky, it is not ambassadors or ministers, but scientists, mathematicians, physicists, ballistics experts and designers who should meet to discuss the capabilities and drawbacks of the U.S. ABM system. Scientists do not deceive each other, which will go some way to proving the picture is not true. The true essence of U.S. plans cannot be evaluated without serious expert discussion.
The worst part is that we offered cooperation, but it has been refused, the official writes. If Iranian missiles and the nuclear weapons of "problem" countries are our common enemy, we should sit down together to discuss the issue, and possibly build a joint ballistic missile defense system. However, Washington does not like the idea; it wants to build its own system, promising to invite us later to use it.
I do not understand our partners in the NATO-Russia Council, Totsky writes. Washington has said that it will deploy its interceptor missiles and radars in Eastern Europe in order to protect its allies, but has it asked its allies if they want protection? The American ABM project does not need the approval of the NATO Council.
As I was preparing to go to Brussels, Totsky writes, I was surprised to learn that Russia and NATO were cooperating in the ABM sphere. I regarded that as a demonstration of a trust at the highest level. Unfortunately, that trust has now run out, the official concludes.
Vremya Novostei
U.S. promises to consult with Russia, but won't back down on MD
Following Vladimir Putin's harsh words in Munich, the Bush administration has drawn up a master plan aimed at reconciliation with Russia. It is aimed at strengthening understanding between Russian and American leaders, but without compromising missile defense (MD) and NATO enlargement.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that the White House intends to ramp up dialogue with Russia on strategic issues for the Kremlin to gain a better grasp on Washington's foreign policy. The report's content was confirmed at a regular White House press meeting.
However, the paper's high-placed source stressed that changes in the relations will not mean concessions on key issues, such as NATO's eastward expansion, or deployment of missile defense components in the Czech Republic and Poland. The White House thinks dialogue with Russia will help the U.S. to raise the barrier to Iran's and North Korea's nuclear plans.
Sergei Kazennov, an analyst with the Institute of National Security and Strategic Studies, described U.S administration's proposal to keep Moscow better informed of its strategic plans, was in answer to the Russian president's remarks in Munich, accusing the Bush administration of creating a unipolar world by military force. "This is just a diplomatic move aimed at calming not only Russia, but Western Europe, who is increasingly anxious that America is drawing it into a confrontation with Russia," the expert said. "This new U.S approach to relations with Russia will not halt Washington's plans to deploy a missile defense system in Eastern Europe and its Middle East policy. It is a sort of generic sedative for external use."
Anatoly Utkin, director of the U.S. and Canada Institute's Center for International Studies, said consultations between Moscow and Washington on key strategic matters had been going on since the late 1960s and had a positive impact in strengthening international security. "This state of affairs finally became clear in May 2002 during a Russian visit by U.S. president George W. Bush, who announced the U.S. would unilaterally withdraw from the ABM Treaty," the expert said.
Vedomosti
LUKoil halts refinery project in Turkey
Russian oil major LUKoil has decided to halt plans to build an oil refinery in Turkey, and will increase the capacity of its refinery in Burgas, Bulgaria. Entering the Turkish market is difficult and the company is gambling on Bulgaria, which expects the construction of an oil pipeline from Burgas to Alexandroupolis in Greece.
LUKoil currently owns 15 gas stations in Turkey and plans to double their number by the year-end. In the longer term, its strategy is 500 stations selling 2 million metric tons of petrol a year, a company representative said. In order to provide fuel for its stations, it wanted to buy or build a refinery in Turkey for about $3 billion with a capacity of 8-10 million metric tons. Last year LUKoil's president Vagit Alekperov said that the oil major was in talks with the Turkish authorities, which had offered tax exemptions for the project. LUKoil supplied 300,000 metric tons of petrochemicals to Turkey in 2006, a company representative said.
Yesterday, however, Alekperov announced that the Turkish project had been put on hold. Instead, the company had decided to increase the capacity of its Burgas refinery from 7.5 million to 10 million metric tons. "Our experts believe this will be more efficient," he said.
In switching the focus to the Bulgarian project, LUKoil did the right thing, said Valery Nesterov of the Troika Dialog brokerage. As the planned Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline will allow Russia to increase oil supplies to Europe via the Black Sea bypassing the Bosphorus Strait with its limited traffic capacity.
Maksim Shein, head of analysis with Broker Credit Service, said that the Bulgarian project would cost LUKoil up to $600 million.
According to Nesterov, it was difficult to enter the Turkish market. In 1993, Russia's Yukos, the now bankrupt oil company, set up a joint venture with a Turkish partner, with government backing, to purchase 53 petrol stations and 100 new ones. However, the project was never implemented. In 2004, another Russian oil company, Tatneft, won a tender for a 66% stake in Tupras, the country's refining monopoly, but the deal did not go through because of the trade union objections.
Biznes
Ford looks to expand on Russian market
In 2007 automotive giant Ford Motor Co. plans to sell 200,000 vehicles in Russia.
Earlier this year the company said it wanted to sell 150,000 cars on the Russian market; but Ford Russia spokesperson Yekaterina Kulinenko said Tuesday these plans remain unchanged.
Market experts said this reflects demand for Ford cars, but importing this volume of vehicles is virtually impossible.
In reality, Ford could potentially sell just over 160,000 cars here, Oleg Datskiv, director of Internet portal Auto-Dealer.Ru, told the paper.
Lewis Booth, chairman of Ford Europe, said last year's 72% dynamic increase in car sales in Russia would help expand business operations on the Eastern European market.
The primary obstacle is the company's car assembly plant in Vsevolozhsk near St. Petersburg only has a production capacity of 60,000 to 72,000 vehicles, Datskiv said.
Ford will be forced to import over 100,000 cars.
Datskiv said no carmaker has been able to import so many vehicles. "Last year, rising sales were a problem; the company had not streamlined its logistical structure until late 2006 and boosted sales this January," he told the paper.
Independent expert Valery Tarakanov said he doubted whether Ford's logistical infrastructure and dealers would be able to handle this volume of vehicles. He said the company's business plan either expected a possible stagnation or sluggish sales by rival automakers.
This year, market growth will slow down 45-50% on 2006, Tarakanov said.
Kommersant
Bank of Russia proposes disclosure of banking secrets
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has decided to revise banking legislation relating to the disclosure of confidential information that constitutes banking secrets.
That information will now be disclosed by auditors. The list of information of interest to the CBR is open, so auditors may be asked to share information on any issue.
Members of the banking and auditing community said the CBR's new initiative was irrational and futile.
"That the CBR is shifting direct responsibility over the control of banks to auditors is not the worst thing," said Alexander Murychev, first acting vice president of the Russian Union of Industrialist and Entrepreneurs.
"The worst thing is that the amendments turning bank auditors from independent consultants into controllers will undermine the prestige of audits and deprive banks of their consulting support," he said.
Because they cannot be sure that the information they provide to auditors will remain confidential, banks will refuse to share their problems with them. The CBR's amendments will provoke a rapid growth of shadow audits.
"In other words, banks will pay auditors to keep their information secret," said the head of a major Russian bank.
Some market players said the CBR is acting in line with a secret state strategy aimed at ensuring maximum disclosure of commercial information.
Boris Sokolov, president of the auditors' professional community, said: "Such a precedent in the banking sector may encourage state regulators in other segments to voice similar complaints. The state insurance supervision agency, the federal service for financial markets, and the financial monitoring service will all want to control business. I shudder to think what would happen if tax agencies present their requests to auditors."
The Russian tax agencies have already accused PricewaterhouseCooper's Audit (PWC Audit) of failing to report relevant information to the state.
On December 14, 2006, they filed a suit with the Moscow arbitration court to invalidate PWC's contracts to audit the beleaguered oil company Yukos.
They claim that the auditor should have informed the state financial monitoring service about Yukos's tax evasion schemes, in accordance with the law on combating money laundering and terrorism financing.
RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.
