MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) Clear leader in ruling tandem / Moscow's tough stance may facilitate talks with NATO / Rosneft might sell ONGC part of Sakhalin-3 / Official unemployment to reach 2 million next year - Putin /
Vedomosti
Clear leader in ruling tandem
Anyone who switched on the Q&A session with Vladimir Putin on the Rossiya Channel Thursday a few minutes into the show might have thought they had gone 12 months back in time.
The country's leader was answering questions asked by the nation that had twice elected him as president without as much as a hint that he held a different post now. Only the most curious and persistent viewers would have heard any mention of President Dmitry Medvedev.
Putin had several explicit opportunities during the question and answer session to make a reference to his own boss. Many of the questions had to do with military reform and foreign policy. He could have said that these issues are actually the competence of the commander-in-chief and president, but he didn't.
Moreover, he showed a thorough knowledge of the problems and even broke news that no one was going to fire ensigns without their consent. He never added while speaking about the Caucasus war, U.S.-Russian relations, or military bases in Venezuela and Cuba that the decisions were made by Medvedev or at least by himself and the president together. In fact, he did mention that they were an "effective tandem" once to the reporters - after the live show was over.
It was just like before, only longer, and sounded like the national leader had been missing his people, but was prevented from holding an event like this by minor predicaments. Official commentators have so far carefully avoided explaining what has prevented Medvedev from speaking to the nation in a similar format.
However, one got the impression that Putin held himself differently that afternoon, at least at the beginning of the show. He stumbled and started over and sounded nervous and stressed.
The event itself looked like a carefully staged and rehearsed ritual rather than a relaxed Q&A with impromptu elements.
It probably happened because in the past, Putin appeared on TV as the leader of a booming economy, while now the national economy is declining. Although used to talking about success and achievements, now he had to discuss how to deal with problems. A legitimate national leader before, he probably felt uncomfortable as the country's second top official playing the role of the first one.
Vremya Novostei
Moscow's tough stance may facilitate talks with NATO
Russia and the West are expected to resume talks on key international security issues soon. Moscow thinks their success largely depends on Western arguments.
Vladimir Yevseyev, a senior research associate at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economy and International Relations, said: "NATO statements supporting political dialogue with Russia were largely facilitated by Moscow's tough stance on crucial issues that are painful for NATO. The bloc is still primarily a military organization, and so trump cards are the most effective method of interaction with it."
One of these 'trump cards' was Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement of a readiness to deploy Iskander theater missile systems in the Kaliningrad Region on the Baltic coast.
"NATO knows that the missiles can be tipped with conventional or nuclear warheads, depending on the situation," Yevseyev said. "Brussels has also been impressed by Russia's readiness to retarget its sea-based strategic systems. Therefore, we can expect Brussels and Moscow to resume the talks at least on the issues they view as threatening, above all Afghanistan. The NATO troops fighting the Taliban need to deliver vital cargos across Russia in the light of permanent instability in Pakistan, across which it is currently delivering the bulk of cargos."
Nadezhda Arbatova, section head at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations' Center for European Studies, said: "A change has become apparent in the European countries' attitude to NATO expansion in the past few months. More NATO member countries are coming to see that the bloc cannot keep advancing toward Russia in full disregard of the country's security interests."
Gazeta
Rosneft might sell ONGC part of Sakhalin-3
Formally, President Dmitry Medvedev is going to New Delhi to close the Year of Russia in India. But it will not be a ceremony-only visit. Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said that Russia and India would sign an agreement to build additional reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, to be designed by Russian engineers. It was also confirmed that Rosneft is examining the possibility of selling a blocking stake (25.1%) in Sakhalin-3's Veninsky block to India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
The project's shareholders are Rosneft (74.9%) and China's Sinopec (25.1%), while the operator of Sakhalin-3 (Veninsky block) is Venineft.
Vitaly Kryukov, an analyst with the Kapital Investment Group, said that Rosneft would keep control over the project in any case and if the ONGC gets a stake, it will be no more than 24.8%. He estimates it at $300 million.
The deal will benefit both companies: Rosneft will diversify risks and make a profit on selling the stake, while the ONGC will have the chance to enter on its books reserves and future output in line with its share. The ONGC will have to bear some of the project costs, however.
Alexander Shtok, director of due diligence at 2K Audit - Business Consultations, an independent consulting group, is not ruling out that additional terms for participation in Sakhalin-3 may have been put before the ONGC. Rosneft, for example, could be interested in refining or marketing projects in India. In a swap for the stake in the Veninsky block, the ONGC could have been asked to offer Rosneft stakes in some of the company's Indian projects.
But what is certain is that Rosneft will try to sell the stake in the block at top price. Considering the ONGC's interest in Russian oil and gas projects, it is not impossible that the Indian company might agree to pay a substantial premium for the stake.
Kommersant
Official unemployment to reach 2 million next year - Putin
On Thursday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a nationwide question and answer session that, according to a government forecast, official unemployment figures could reach 2 million next year.
Ministry of Healthcare officials confirmed this forecast and said it implied the number of officially registered jobless people, and was used to calculate 2009 unemployment benefits and to predict the volume of active employment programs, including retraining courses.
The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said it had registered 4.6 million jobless people, or 6.1% of the 76.2-million economically active population, on November 1, 2008 under the International Labor Organization's (ILO) methodology.
Supposing the correlation between unregistered and registered jobless people remains the same (2.7 million), there will be 5.4 million unregistered jobless Russians next year.
Consequently, Putin's forecast means that maximum 2009 unemployment levels may reach 7.4 million, or 9% of the economically active population. The previous forecast estimated unemployment at 6.3 million or 8.2% of the economically active population.
In effect, unemployment is expected to soar by 2.8 million instead of the projected 1.7 million.
Putin said the labor market situation remained complicated and announced his decision to cut the foreign worker quota by 50%.
The 3.9 million foreign worker quota, stipulated by Putin on November 7, will therefore be cut by 1.95 million and will exceed maximum nationwide unemployment increment by two-thirds.
In his speech, Putin noted that Russian workers were not attracted to jobs currently being taken up by foreign migrant workers.
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