MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) Moscow makes anti-NATO demarche / Gazprom finds gas for Europe in Azerbaijan / Russian intellectual property system no longer able to fight piracy / Yukos shareholders plan to recover $50 billion from Russia
Trud
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Moscow makes anti-NATO demarche
The appointment of former Russian MP Dmitry Rogozin as Moscow's permanent envoy to the North Atlantic alliance appears as a kind of muscle-flexing to most experts, and suggested a tough dialogue. On the other hand, some political analysts warn against exaggerating the role of Moscow's new man in Brussels.
The Western media has unfailingly dubbed Rogozin "Russia's leading nationalist politician and a foreign-policy hawk."
"Given that Rogozin has been a fervent critic of NATO's policies, especially its eastward expansion, in the past few years, his appointment clearly shows Russia's annoyance with the bloc," said Vyacheslav Nikonov, head of the Moscow-based think tank Polity.
Well-known German political expert Alexander Rahr also sounded convinced that the tough Russian politician would not overuse diplomatic tools in dealing with NATO: "This man is a boxer, and he will use tough techniques."
On the other hand, Dmitry Danilov, head of the European Security Department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said one should refrain from seeking negative implications and overtones in Rogozin's appointment: "It isn't right to believe that tensions could grow with someone's appointment. An envoy's job is to be the mouthpiece of the country's policies. However, an envoy's personality and energy will have everything to do with making relations change for the better."
"It is obvious that Moscow chose to send an obedient nationalist to Brussels, rather than an obedient romanticist," said Alexei Malashenko, an expert with the Moscow Carnegie Center, meaning Rogozin's former activities first as a leader of the Rodina (Motherland) party famous for its strongly anti-migrant rhetoric, and then in the unregistered Great Russia party with a similar pro-Slavic ideology. Now he will be too busy to continue any such operations.
Vedomosti
Gazprom finds gas for Europe in Azerbaijan
Russian energy giant Gazprom has shown interest in buying Azerbaijani gas from the Shakh Deniz project. The company needs it to fill its future South Stream pipeline, analysts believe.
Peter Mellbye, executive vice-president of StatoilHydro (the project's commercial operator) said Gazprom is showing interest in the second stage of the project. Azerbaijan is now becoming crucial for gas supplies to Europe, he stressed.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov declined to comment. However, a source in the Russian holding confirmed that negotiations were being conducted. He refused to give any details.
Kjersti Morstoel, a StatoilHydro spokesman, said that Gazprom and StatoilHydro, as partners, [in developing the Shtokman field] held regular business meetings, and at one of them had discussed the possible purchase of gas from Shakh Deniz.
Morstoel stressed that more buyers in Europe are interested in Shakh Deniz gas as the project enters its second phase, but declined to name them.
Production at Shakh Deniz began in December 2006. The field currently produces eight billion cubic meters of gas annually, all going to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In November 2007, the field was found to contain additional reserves of one trillion cubic meters.
It is the development of these resources that will kick off the second stage of the project, said Tamam Bayatly, a spokesman for BP Azerbaijan (Shakh Deniz production operator).
No timeline or amount to be produced in the second phase has been set however, because the precise volume of resources in the new beds requires updating. This may take the partners several years.
Gazprom needs Azeri gas to fill its South Stream line from Russia to southern Europe, said Mikhail Korchemkin, general director of East European Gas Analysis.
The fuel can be shipped along the existing Caspian pipeline to Makhachkala and then to Russia's Black Sea coast, he said.
The Caspian pipeline previously supplied Russian gas to Azerbaijan, but Russia put a halt to supplies in 2007, Korchemkin said.
Gazprom, in tandem with Italy's Eni, is due to finish the construction of South Stream by 2012, with plans to supply eight billion cubic meters a year.
Gazeta
Russian intellectual property system no longer able to fight piracy
On January 1, the Russian Parliament enacted part four of the Civil Code abolishing all documents regulating the work of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent).
Consequently, the government, which has not yet introduced any other regulations in this sphere, will prove unable to fight piracy, an important pre-condition of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization.
Lawyer Vadim Uskov said Rospatent could no longer examine patent claims, trademarks, or industrial models and make the relevant decisions, and that it was also unable to schedule meetings of the Chamber of Patent Disputes.
Yevgeny Ariyevich, an international partner with Baker & McKenzie CIS, a subsidiary of global law firm Baker & McKenzie, said the Chamber of Patent Disputes was in no position to examine claims pending the approval of new patent regulations.
He said Rospatent had to prolong old documents or take some other action in this field.
Patent agents said the new regulations featured numerous controversial provisions. According to Uskov, the Rospatent director must not approve all the decisions passed by the Chamber of Patent Disputes because his prerogatives would exceed those of the Rospatent board and because his functions were initially different.
There are also some problems concenring utility models, namely, statutory monopolies granted for a limited time in exchange for an inventor providing sufficient knowledge of his or her invention to permit a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art to produce the item.
Utility models, which are very similar to patents, usually have shorter terms (often 6 or 10 years) and less stringent patentability requirements. Under U.S. legislation, private individuals not using utility models registered by them cannot apply for patent rights.
However, Russian legislation, which lacks this provision, enables squatters to register similar products as utility models and blackmail producers.
Uskov said local companies faced numerous lawsuits filed for extortion purposes.
Business & Financial Markets
Yukos shareholders plan to recover $50 billion from Russia
Yukos shareholders are planning to demand from Russia $50 billion instead of $33 billion earlier claimed through the European Court of Human Rights in the Hague.
Legal experts explain this change of heart as being due to an IPO carried out in 2006 by Rosneft, the company that purchased Yukos's core asset - Yuganskneftegaz - ahead of the flotation.
One of the plaintiffs is the bankrupt company's pension fund, which looked after the interests of its former staff. However, market players consider this to be a speculative economic gamble making use of pensioners and pensions.
In the spring of this year, the Hague Court of Arbitration is set to consider claims from three Yukos shareholders, including the holding's pension fund - Veteran Petroleum Trust (VPT) - against Russia, which is accused of "discriminatory action and expropriation of property."
The Cyprus-registered VPT was set up by Yukos to guarantee pensions for the group's staff. All the trust's assets were invested in the oil company's securities. VPT's share of Yukos capital was 10%; Shearman & Sterling, a law firm representing Yukos's interests, estimates it at $5 billion. Yukos had more than 100,000 people on its roll.
However, experts on the Russian pension market are sure that Veteran Petroleum was designed to play a role in the group's schemes, rather than look after the social welfare of its personnel.
"It is very doubtful that the fund handled accounts of rank and file staff; more likely it acted as a tool for distributing Yukos assets among its shareholders," said one of the sources.
"International experience shows that investing funds in the securities of the parent company alone increases risks materially, and in the case of this fund, they were not insured by legislation in any country," said Vadim Soskov, executive director of Aton Management.
In his view, the claim is mostly a political move.
In the opinion of Mikhail Chernigovsky, director of analysis at the Vegas-Lex law firm, the shareholders' actions play a supportive role.
"Considering that Russia has not ratified the Energy Charter Treaty [pivotal to the current case] it is unlikely to observe the court's positive ruling," said the expert.
He said the decision could play a key role in further litigation concerning Yukos in the European Court of Human Rights.
"A failing to fulfill the rulings of this court could seriously affect the international standing of the offending state," Chernigovsky said.
RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.
