MOSCOW, January 15 (RIA Novosti) Moscow changes stance on Iran / British Council scandal grows in Russia / Near-bankrupt Swiss firm still pesters Russian government / Italian company allowed to buy blocking stake in Sukhoi Civil Aircraft / Gazprom subsidiary to take 15% of Irish market / Sistema has big plans in Indian cellular market
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Moscow changes stance on Iran
According to certain diplomatic sources, Russia is ready to agree to use harsher wording in the third UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against Iran to be discussed at the meeting of the Iran Six, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, in Berlin in the second half of February.
However, the sources failed to clarify whether Moscow could expect any concessions from the West in response for its compliance, for example, over the status of Kosovo or the extension of the U.S. antimissile system into Eastern Europe.
The six international mediators are currently involved in intensive correspondence, exchanging proposals and coordinating elements of the future resolution. The sources said it would no doubt be harsher than the two previous ones. Some of them mentioned that this was down to Moscow's disappointment with Tehran, which failed to comply with its request to least temporarily suspend uranium enrichment, as required by the earlier Security Council resolutions. During his last year's visit to Iran President Putin personally suggested to the Iranian government the so-called zero enrichment option.
Until recently, Moscow had hoped Iran would cooperate, and even suggested the group of six should praise its active collaboration with IAEA. But there was no positive response. That is why Russia has lost some of its enthusiasm about Iran's willingness to clarify all the issues with the IAEA regarding its nuclear program in the next four weeks, the diplomatic sources maintained.
Vremya Novostei, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
British Council scandal grows in Russia
The British Council has refused to terminate its operation in Russia. In response, the Russian government is drafting administrative and legal measures.
Britain insists that the ban on the Council's operation has a political aspect, but Russian politicians disagree. Experts say that the scandal is fanning tensions in relations between Moscow and London.
Konstantin Kosachev, recently reappointed head of the international affairs committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, said: "There are legal and financial complaints about the operation of the British Council's branches. [They] are not a result of recent complications in Russian-British relations."
However, Kosachev admitted that these complications had brought the scandal to a head.
He said the Council's branches "are operating as divisions or cultural sectors of Britain's general consulates in several Russian cities."
"In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomatic missions are exempt from all national, regional or municipal dues and taxes in respect of the premises of the mission, whether owned or leased, but must not practice for personal profit any professional or commercial activity," Kosachev said.
He added that the British Council's branches were profiting financially by offering Russians English lessons.
Ella Pamfilova, head of the presidential council for civil society institutions and human rights, said the Russian authorities should settle their legal complaints against the British Council, if they have any, in court.
"I am sorry the British Council has fallen victim to the political differences between Russia and Britain," she said.
Alexander Brod, a member of Russia's Public Chamber and director of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, said: "We must admit that there are quite a few problems in bilateral relations. Britain often takes a biased stance regarding the domestic and foreign policy of Russia."
Brod said he fears the scandal would aggravate problems in Russian-British relations.
"I would not like the conflict to provoke mutual sanctions or complicate the issue of entry visas," he said.
Izvestia/Gazeta
Near-bankrupt Swiss firm still pesters Russian government
The almost forgotten history of Russia's debts to the Swiss-based firm Noga yesterday exploded into a great international scandal. France froze the accounts of Russia's Finance Ministry, Central Bank, the Presidential Executive Office and other Russian state bodies. Hundreds of millions of euros have been immobilized by a ruling of the Paris court of law.
Why is it that for many years the Russian government has not been able to solve the problem and allows the firm to humiliate it? Izvestia offers its own recipe - to fight the beast on its own turf.
Noga has been pestering Russia like a buzzing fly for more than 10 years.
"All claims from Noga are based on the awards granted it by the Stockholm Court of Arbitration [in 1997]," said Valery Gushcha, member of the Moscow Bar. "It is not surprising, therefore, that the courts side with Noga."
The targets are not only aircraft, ships and paintings. Problems with Noga are depriving the country of hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, because the Finance Ministry cannot place the reserves of the Stabilization Fund in high-yielding shares of overseas companies - their assets could also be frozen.
Finance Deputy Minister Sergei Storchak was crafting a defense mechanism against such developments. But following his arrest there is no one left to deal with the headache.
"Curiously enough, the Russian authorities are sitting on their hands," Gushcha said. "The first thing for them to do is to have the awards of international arbitration tribunals repealed, not to settle claims in each individual case of property seizure."
"The Stockholm decision cannot be protested any longer," said Albert Yeganyan, an attorney with Vegas-Lex. "The period of limitation is well past. What is puzzling is that the Russian government, according to the Audit Chamber, has spent several million dollars on fees for legal experts since the litigation started. But things have not budged an inch," he said.
"Some of our officials find it profitable to have long-running court cases with anyone (including Noga)," said Andrei Cherepanov, who supervises the national development project.
"All kinds of advisers draw hefty sums for supporting Russia in arbitration tribunals. Since these payments alone have cost Russia huge sums of money, I believe the advisers go and share with officials."
Izvestia has offered its own recipe for the problem - to buy up for a song all Noga's debts, which is on the brink of bankruptcy. Newspaper experts estimate their price at 10% of their par value.
Once control over the debts is obtained, the firm could be declared bankrupt and closed once and for all.
Kommersant
Italian company allowed to buy blocking stake in Sukhoi Civil Aircraft
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing Italy's aerospace giant Alenia Aeronautica to acquire 25% plus one share in the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company, according to the presidential press service.
The president took this step in order to boost cooperation between Russian and Italian companies in designing, building, marketing and servicing Russia's SuperJet-100 regional airliner, being developed by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft.
This is the first time that a foreign company has bought a blocking stake in a Russian aircraft manufacturer. Experts said foreign partners were likely to buy into a consortium developing engines for the MS-21 short-haul and medium-haul aircraft family and the state holding company Russian Helicopters.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft said the deal would be closed by midsummer, and that Alenia would buy an additional stock issue. Last August, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft boosted its statutory capital by 200% to 2.2 billion rubles ($90.57 million) in preparation for the deal.
Senior Sukhoi Civil Aircraft vice president Maxim Grishanin said Alenia would invest up to $200 million into the SSJ-100 program.
Alenia, which had supplied fuselages for Boeing B-717 airliners, was forced to look for a new partner after the U.S. company stopped manufacturing them in early 2006.
The Italian side will customize SSJ-100s, convert them into executive jets and manufacture fuselage components.
In September 2007, Alenia and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft registered their joint venture SuperJet International with a statutory capital of 15 million euros. The Italian company owns a 51% stake in the venture that will market and service the new planes in Europe, the United States, Africa and Australia.
Oleg Panteleyev, chief analyst at aviation monitoring agency AviaPort, said no other Russian aircraft manufacturer was ready to sell its blocking stakes to foreign partners that could eventually help develop the engines of MS-21 airliners.
The winner of the MS-21 engine tender will be chosen in August 2008, and consortiums established later on.
Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy director at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said foreign companies, including the Italian-British Agusta Westland helicopter design and manufacturing company, could allso buy into the state-owned company Russian Helicopters.
Gazeta.ru
Gazprom subsidiary to take 15% of Irish market
Gazprom has made some progress in its expansion to European markets. By the end of this year, major Irish power plants will be fueled by Russian gas, while five years from now, the Russian gas giant's subsidiary, Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd, intends to have from 10% to 15% of the gas market of Ireland, a country that imports 90% of the natural gas it needs.
The local market is not so large - it is estimated at 2 billion euros, but Gazprom is determined to use every opportunity to assert its position in Europe.
Experts believe the Russian gas holding will benefit from a foray into any European market, even a small one, all the more so since downstream marketing will remain the company's priority in the next few years. Gazprom is tapping all the resources which could help it attain its goal. It is interested in small remote markets like Ireland and Serbia, because its presence in those markets will later enable Gazprom to expand its stakes in European energy projects, explained Sergei Mikheyev, deputy director general of the Center of Political Technologies, a Moscow think tank.
Major European countries resisting Gazprom's expansion are guided by political motives rather than economic ones. Smaller ones give more importance to business than to politics. "Ireland went through a series of reforms a few years ago, which turned it into one of the most liberal markets for foreign companies," said Artyom Konchin from the Aton brokerage. "No wonder Gazprom does not want to lose the chance."
Gazprom, in turn, will have to pay its price for the policy it adopted - to allow foreign companies access to Russian mineral resources. The Russian monopoly is implementing a joint project with Italian Eni and Enel to build South Stream, a gas pipeline that will run directly from Russia to Bulgaria along the Black Sea bed.
It is also involved in negotiations with Gaz de France and is planning the acquisition of stakes in German utilities through a swap of its assets for the Yuzhno-Russkoye field on the Yamal Peninsula operated by German gas companies, thus assuring itself a marketing network in Germany.
Business & Financial Markets
Sistema has big plans in Indian cellular market
Indian cell phone service provider Shyam Telelink, in which AFK Sistema, one of Russia's largest diversified consumer holding companies, owns a 10% stake, has received telecom service licenses for the entire country.
Sistema expects to assume control over the Indian operator by the end of January and to start building a network, which will cost it about $7 billion.
In September last year, Sistema paid $11.4 million for a 10% stake in Shyam Telelink and signed a call option agreement allowing it to buy 41% in the Indian operator, which it plans to use by February. A 51% stake in Shyam will cost the Russian company $58.1 million.
In December, India's antimonopoly agencies allowed Sistema to increase its stake in Shyam Telelink to 74%. The call option to buy another 23% will be effective until May 2009.
Shyam has received the license to provide fixed-line and mobile services, broadband Internet access and Internet protocol (IP) services. Nine companies out of the 45 that had filed their requests were granted the license. Shyam and three other regional operators were granted a nationwide license, and the rest may work only in individual regions of the country.
Previously Shyam Telelink worked only in Rajasthan.
Sistema President Alexander Goncharuk said the holding plans to create a pan-Indian telecom operator together with its Indian partners, and to become one of the top 10 mobile operators in India. He said investment in Shyam Telecom could be between $4 billion and $7 billion.
Yekaterina Generalova, an analyst with MDM Bank, said 20% of Indians are mobile subscribers and the market has been growing by 55% a year. These are good figures, and the price for entering that market is acceptable, she said.
"AFK Sistema was almost 100% confident that it would get a nationwide license, as the company's spokesman said Sistema had recruited high-ranking supporters in Russia and India before buying Shyam," Generalova said.
However, not all experts share her views.
Andrei Bogdanov from Troika Dialog said Sistema had not been fully confident of its victory, as many local players had bid for the license.
He said: "I believe the license is not enough to spur a growth in the company's shares. Sistema will have to receive waveband frequencies and build the network and infrastructure. So [the granting of the license] was positive news for Sistema, but it will be able to enjoy its results only later."
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