MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) Britain urges Russia to change its constitution/ Gazprom looks for funding/ Can Russia find an appropriate response to Western actions?/ Belarusian and Russian secret services working hand in hand/ Business will have no part in Russian-British conflict
RBK Daily/Vremya Novostei
Britain urges Russia to change its constitution
On Monday evening, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking in parliament, said in reply to Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, accused of poisoning a former security officer, Alexander Litvinenko, in London in November 2006, the United Kingdom was expelling four Russian diplomats and suspending the issue of visas to Russian government officials. What is more, Miliband urged Russia to change its constitution so that its provisions better meet British interests.
The British proposal to change the Russian constitution is not the first attempt by leading Western countries to spread the operation of their laws to sovereign states. Until now, this has been mainly practiced by the United States, which has repeatedly tried leaders of other countries, arrested high-placed officials (including Russian officials), and banned cartel agreements between third countries. But even Washington would never let itself advise Russia that it needs to change its basic laws.
"If it was suggested to the British that they change their constitution, they would laugh their heads off, but for some reason they are making such demands on us," said veteran intelligence officer Mikhail Lyubimov. He thinks Miliband's idea can only be treated with humor: "Of course, this is funny, because it is outside the law. I am unsure how much army humor it has, but a bit of black comedy is there." Concerning the response the Russian authorities should give, Lyubimov said: "I would respond calmly, with no extreme moves. And we should also expel four diplomats. We and they have a history of diplomat expulsions, but these prove nothing ..."
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Miliband's remarks: "The moves by London officials look like a well-orchestrated action aimed at deliberately politicizing the so called Litvinenko case, in which the Russian side has always been ready to fully cooperate with the British authorities, but on a strictly professional basis." Moscow has also drawn conclusions that Britain is fomenting Russophobic sentiments.
It looks as if London's fervor and Moscow's reaction have worried the U.S. leadership. Washington on Monday with deliberate reassurance commented on the scandal, suggesting the sides go back to constructive cooperation, although no doubt has been left on whose side the American administration is in this dispute.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Gazprom looks for funding
Russian gas giant Gazprom has decided to attract foreign partners to the Shtokman gas condensate project in the Barents Sea because it needs finances to develop the field. However, foreign companies are unlikely to pay 100% of its costs.
France's Total is ready to invest some $4-$5 billion in the project's first phase, and the other potential partner (Norway's Statoil and Hydro, or U.S. ConocoPhillips) could contribute the same amount.
Christophe de Margerie, head of Total, told the French newspaper Le Figaro that he did not believe it was a financial risk to participate in a project without a development license. Moreover, he said Total was considering signing other agreements with Russian companies.
The French company has already benefited from its agreement with Gazprom, as its shares soared by 3.2%. Total also plans to register part of Shtokman's giant reserves on its balance sheet, which is likely to boost its capitalization.
A Gazprom spokesmen previously said that total investment in the project's first phase would amount to some $15 billion. Foreign partners could contribute $8-$10 billion, or two-thirds of the required amount, although they will hold no more than 49% of the Shtokman shares.
Samuil Goldshmit, of the 2K Audit - Business Consulting independent consulting group, said: "Gazprom clearly lacks funds, as demonstrated by the fact that it refused to buy out its subsidiary, Gazprom Neft, from the Italians. Besides, cuts in export deliveries this year will reduce the company's budget by some $11 billion. In short, Gazprom is unlikely to invest its own funds in the Shtokman project in the next 18 months."
According to the analyst, the gas giant can easily take out another loan of $5-$6 billion, as any bank will gladly supply the money against the security of the Shtokman reserves.
Izvestia
Can Russia find an appropriate response to Western actions?
The Kremlin's relations with the West are deteriorating. Russia intends to withdraw from the treaty on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), while the United States plans to deploy its anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. The war of words with Britain and the Kosovo issue are additional complications.
What can Russia do in this situation? We offer you the opinions of Izvestia commentators.
Anatoly Maximov: "How can we reply to the unfair treatment over Kosovo? Watch a friendly country being split? Or fight back? Or use the situation in an attempt to outplay our partners?
"There are two outcasts in Europe now - Serbia, from which Kosovo is being torn, and Russia, which is being surrounded by NATO bases.
"The West is pushing Russia and Serbia towards each other. What if Moscow proposes deploying its missiles or radars in Serbia? This could be an appropriate response to U.S. plans to locate its anti-missiles and radars in Poland and the Czech Republic. Besides, two fraternal countries [Russia and Serbia] could also consider establishing an international alliance.
"It would be premature to propose unification, but why not establish a military alliance?
"The loss of Kosovo will be a psychological shock to Serbia. The West is pursuing a consistently anti-Serbian policy, and, as it has happened in history before, only a fraternal Orthodox country can protect Serbs' interests, a country where Serbs are liked and loved."
Maxim Yusin: "Deploying our missiles and radars in Serbia is a daring but impractical idea. Serbs would never agree to that solution, as it would mean the end of their relationship with the West. And Serbs do not want to sever these relations, even though they may lose Kosovo.
"We must think realistically and admit that Serbia's strategic goal is integration in Western organizations. Serbs have no need for the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or the Collective Security Treaty Organization. They want to join the European Union, and later probably NATO.
"Serbs are pragmatists who care above all for their own interests. They are grateful to us now, because Russia is very likely the only country fighting for their interests in the UN Security Council. But if faced with a choice between Russia and the West, they will choose the West. The post-Communist countries in Eastern Europe choose the West because this promises membership in the elite club called the European Union, with a visa free regime and multibillion subsidies.
"Serbs and Russians love each other, but marriages are not always made for love. There are also marriages of convenience."
Kommersant
Belarusian and Russian secret services working hand in hand
The Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB), the main national secret service, recently exposed and arrested four former officers of the Belarusian Armed Forces and one Russian military officer charging them with spying for Poland.
Sources in the staff of the Russia-Belarus Union State's secretary general said the spies had been gathering data on strategic components of the joint Russian-Belarusian air-defense system, primarily the S-300 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.
Ivan Makushok, aide to the secretary general, said the countries' vigilant security services had conducted a successful joint undercover operation and exposed the culprits, and that the Union State would have long become a reality if the economists had worked in the same way.
When asked whether this was a set-up, Makushok said there were many criminals, but that Polish secret services wanted to pass intelligence data to the United States.
Deputy KGB director Major General Viktor Vegera said the arrested had failed to damage the defense capability of the Union State.
On Monday, Valery Nadtochayev, head of the Belarusian KGB's public relations center, said the authorities were now choosing a court to try the case.
The Polish Foreign Ministry has made no comment on this sensational story. Tadeusz Iwinski, member of the Polish Parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the spy case had only been reported in Belarusian media, and that Poland had nothing to do with it.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) declined to say whether the arrested Russian citizen had also spied for Poland. "We are making no comment on this subject," Sergei Ignatchenko, head of the FSB press service, told the paper.
He also declined to give the officer's name.
Vremya Novostei
Business will have no part in Russian-British conflict
Rosneft on Monday cancelled a planned placement of Eurobonds to the tune of $2 billion. The news came on the heels of a conflict between Russia and Britain, over Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi for trial in the U.K.
Experts do not believe political frictions should affect economic relations between the two countries. After all, state-owned Vneshtorgbank, despite everything else, is going to list company securities on the London Stock Exchange.
Rosneft is making no comment. Between July 6-12, it staged a road show of Eurobonds worth $2 billion in Europe and America. The issue was to have included a five-year and a ten-year tranche. On Monday the market was expected to have been told about expected yields. On Tuesday, the bid book was to be closed and the placement price set. The Eurobond deal was sponsored by ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citi, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
Alexander Razuvayev, head of market analysis at Sobinbank, said Rosneft was abandoning the bond flotation, because it could tap other sources. Rosneft is now borrowing considerable sums from international investment banks, including Vneshtorgbank, he said. Also, it has long been rumored on the market that Rosneft is planning to sell the treasury shares it bought at a Yukos auction to a strategic investor, presumably a Chinese and/or Indian company. In view of the favorable business climate and rising oil prices, the oil major could benefit handsomely from the trading margin."
Maxim Osadchy, senior analyst at Antanta-Capital brokerage, said that the steps taken by the two country leaders were unlikely to affect Russian-British economic relations.
In addition, the expert said, Vneshtorgbank is stepping up efforts to set up around VTB Europe bank an investment bank that could provide a platform for placing Russian securities on the London Stock Exchange. "Vneshtorgbank is a state-owned bank, and if there were serious plans to spoil relations with London, VTB would not invest so heavily in a business in London," Osadchy said.
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