Vedomosti
Test by fire
Fires have been raging across central Russia because of record-breaking heat. Forest fires have destroyed entire villages and have caused a number of deaths. Five billion rubles from the budget will be allocated to combat the fires, and companies in some regions have been recommended to cut production.
By 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, a total of 774 fires were recorded in Russia, covering a total area of 128.5 hectares, the Emergencies Ministry reported. The situation is most difficult in the Central and Volga districts, where as many as 1,257 houses have burned down, 28 people have died, and 5,200 have been evacuated.
On Friday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order to help the victims. The federal budget will allocate 5 billion rubles to compensate them for losses incurred. The maximum compensation is to be 3.2 million rubles: with each person getting 100,000 rubles from the federal and 100,000 rubles from the regional budget for possessions lost in the fires, 2 million for the construction of a house, and 1 million for required infrastructure. The families of those who died will be paid 1 million rubles each.
The Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh regions will get most of the amount: 2.5 billion and 1.07 billion rubles respectively. Nizhny Novgorod Governor Valery Shantsev pledged that those who have suffered would already be able to receive 200,000 rubles this week. In the Voronezh Region, Governor Alexei Gordeyev said the fire situation is under control, but that it would remain difficult throughout the week.
The Ivanovo and Moscow regions are preparing to announce contractors to build new housing. New houses are to be completed before November 1. Given the tight schedule, contractors will be chosen without tenders, said Andrei Barkovsky, press secretary of the Moscow Region governor.
The Shatura, Yegoryevsk, Lukhovitsy, Pavlovo-Posad and Noginsk districts are facing difficulties - companies producing high levels of waste emissions have been advised to scale down production, Barkovsky says. A similar warning was issued in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. In Dzerzhinsk, the concentration of carbon monoxide in the air is five times above normal levels, the local state weather service reported.
Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) production sites have not suffered in the fires, but flames did come close to its testing range in Nizhny Novgorod, a company spokesman said. Nor has the AvtoVAZ auto company suffered, though a heavy haze was reported in Togliatti because of burning fires. Seventy-five plant personnel were sent on a relief mission, said a spokesman for the Togliatti mayor's office.
Vremya Novostei
Caucasus looks to greet Kuwaiti emir
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, is holding talks in Moscow on Monday. He will take part in a meeting of the inter-government commission on cooperation in trade, economy, science and technology between the two countries. On the Russian side, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko heads the commission.
Kuwaitis are actively preparing a visit to Russia by their emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. These trips to Russia by high-ranking Kuwaiti officials have been to prepare the ground for it. The visit is expected to take place before the end of the year. The emir is likely not only to visit Moscow, but one of the Russian republics in the Caucasus as well.
In mid- May, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad al-Sabah visited the Russian capital. He said that Kuwait had adopted an ambitious economic program worth $150 billion. The program includes plans to build new cities, roads, power plants and seawater desalination units. Previously wary of nuclear power, Kuwait is now convinced of its safety and is currently exploring its possibilities with interest.
Kuwaiti authorities are ready and willing to cooperate with the Russians in all these areas, not to mention the oil industry, which remains of traditional interest for the two countries. In terms of proven reserves, the country is ranked fourth in the world, behind only Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.
This time, the visit by the minister, who arrived in the Russian capital on Sunday evening, has coincided with a dramatic date in the history of Kuwait, one that has left a deep impact on its relations with other countries, including Russia. Twenty years ago today, on the night of August 1-2, 1990, Iraqi troops unexpectedly crossed the border into Kuwait, quickly overrunning the small country, whose oil wealth had attracted the Saddam Hussein regime.
True, Kuwait would rather remember its liberation day rather than this date. Since 1991, liberation day has been marked on February 26. It had been preceded by over 200 days of occupation. The expulsion of Iraqi troops was made possible by an international coalition of 40 U.S.-led countries aligning with Kuwait. The Soviet Union's political support for the coalition's actions came as a surprise for many, including the Iraqi leader.
Even though Russia refrained from joining the war, its condemnation of Iraqi aggression was the first signal that Moscow had changed its Middle East policy. Iraq had been considered a Soviet ally, while Moscow's ties with Kuwait were firm, but not close. By condemning the act of aggression the Soviet Union confirmed its new direction in international affairs.
Itogi
GLONASS: Designed to international navigation standards?
Sistema's largest shareholder, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, has introduced a proposal to the government that would prohibit the import of navigation equipment without a GLONASS access chip. Critics reacted at once, complaining that consumers will be forced to buy domestic products of low quality. However proponents responded that Russia's GLONASS/GPS receivers are quite competitive and that Russia can dictate its own terms for the navigation services market. Yevgeny Belyanko, design director at M2M Telematics, Russia's largest manufacturer of GLONASS/GPS equipment, spoke with Itogi.
Belyanko said that despite all the talk, GLONASS and GPS remain the only two functioning global navigation systems in the world, though neither is perfect. For example, the GPS system has a large "black spot" in Russia's Baikal area. GLONASS has some large "black spots" as well, due to a lack of satellites in its system. But the main intrigue of the current situation is that over the course of modern history of hi-tech, Russia has probably made a claim on a global level.
A fully operational GLONASS constellation system, made up of 24 satellites, was launched in 1995. However only six satellites were still operational by 2001, and the system was disabled. Russia has subsequently committed to restoring the system and the latest program is now nearly complete.
GLONASS and GPS are not mirror images of each other, though they share some common technical features. GLONASS/GPS dual mode receivers have been used by professionals for quite some time. Professional geodesic receivers have incorporated access to both technologies since 2000, and many Western publications have described the advantages of such receivers. It appears that Russia had an original technology with acceptable quality, though developers failed to modify it for consumer use. This is why GLONASS has not been considered in the same breath with the GPS system. But lately GLONASS developers have gotten serious: new satellites have been launched and the constellation system will be fully restored this year. Additionally, each satellite includes reserve equipment for reliability. Today, GLONASS is a fully operating system. A campaign has been launched promoting the GLONASS/GPS receiver combination as the highest quality navigation equipment available today for consumers.
Navigators equipped to receive signals from both the GLONASS and GPS systems, provide more uncompromised navigation and accuracy in an urban environment than either the GPS or GLONASS system alone.
RBC daily
Up to 10% of resident companies to be expelled from special economic zones
Russia's Economic Development Ministry plans to revise its special economic zone development strategy in order to purge these zones of ineffective investors, RBC Daily reports. This policy is likely to affect about 10% of these special zones' current residents, which will be gradually replaced by large producers, along the lines of Nokia or Microsoft, over the next two years. This will not be easy, as the privileges Russian special economic zones are offering still leave much to be desired, analysts claim.
Special Economic Zones of Russia (SEZ), the managing company of Russia's 16 special economic zones, fully owned and funded by the government, will make a list of investors who have failed to show any impressive results since registering with one of these zones. Such investors account for at least 10%-15% of resident companies, according to SEZ company estimates.
Russia passed a special economic zones law five years ago; government investment over that period totaled 45 billion rubles ($1.5 billion), while resident companies are committed to investing another 200 billion rubles ($6.6 billion). Russia pins great hopes on its special economic zones. Igor Kosov, CEO of the managing company, SEZ, is confident that these zones will meet international standards in five years' time. Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said these zones are "in demand" and that they are "a useful tool for attracting investment to Russia's regions."
The managing company expects at least one or two major investors to join each of the 16 special zones in Russia over the next two years, especially those on Fortune's list. "No matter how successful small businesses are, the full-fledged operation of a special economic zone requires the presence of one or two major players, such as Nokia or Microsoft," a SEZ source said.
Foreign investors are especially welcome to industrial zones, in recognition that Western producers have greater potential and resources for setting up innovative industrial concerns.
"When the special zones were being established, local governments tried hard to fill them with local companies," the source added. "Now, after three or four years, it has become obvious that many of them are not coping very well on their own. Therefore, SEZ's new management plans to closely monitor such investors' operation and apply sanctions if necessary, up to expulsion from the zones."
"This is a natural survival process: if a company fails to comply with its commitments, its contract should be revised," said Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank. However, the economic downturn is also affecting market leaders' plans, and attracting major investors might prove more difficult than it might seem, she added. Much will depend on the external market situation.
Vlast
Nashi: pro-Kremlin youth movement turns ten
The Seliger youth forum closed on July 28. The political movement Nashi (Ours) that organized the event has recently turned ten.
The very idea of a pro-government youth group brings back memories of the Soviet era Komsomol, the Young Communist League. Those who grew up during that period must remember that most of the YCL activists had career motives rather than political convictions. Nashi members must have similar motivations, as career promises are contained in the program folder, The Manifesto. "You either become a leader or a follower, or end up a victim... our generation is bound to replace the losers at the helm... By building a personnel reserve for the country's modernization, we will provide powerful support for a new generation of leaders to prepare them for high political, economic and administrative positions," it says.
It is therefore only natural that during Soviet times, when people did not think in terms of the career ladder as the main goal, that their attitude toward YCL leaders was largely negative. This is why similar public moral assumptions toward the pro-Putin activists ten years after the YCL was disbanded seem to persist. Nashi leaders immediately began praising the country's leadership.
Nashi members are currently employed in high government positions, as well as at the Kremlin Executive Office and the Public Chamber, according to the group's founder, Vasily Yakemenko. All the official agencies responsible for youth policy are headed by Nashi members. This means we have met our goals, he added.
Although there is no reason to challenge his figures, Nashi's effectiveness and the assertion that the movement has met its goals remain questionable. The old YCL system was well established and functional; and in fact still is. Former YCL leaders account for a large part of Russia's government and business elite.
Nashi's achievements are far less impressive by comparison. Yakemenko heads a federal agency set up especially for him; four Nashi members have State Duma seats and two are on the Public Chamber - this is good but this is about the extent of it. Another 15 Nashi members are mentioned in public sources as middle managers in Moscow and in regional governments. It follows that the other Nashi members employed by the government hold minor posts, unworthy of public mention - something that measures career success, especially in politics.
RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.
MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti)
