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IN FOCUS OF THE RUSSIAN PRESS

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Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Belarus pulling back from its pro-Russian stance; Vedomosti: Customs Union in heated debate over aircraft import tax; RBC Daily: Russian Defense Ministry to buy Italian office furniture; Izvestia: Foreign companies in Russia to sign anti-corruption convention; Vremya Novostei: Russians see drugs as greater threat than terrorism.

Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Belarus pulling back from its pro-Russian stance

Alexander Lukashenko's annual address to the Belarusian parliament and the nation was mainly targeted at Moscow. The Belarusian leader confirmed the republic's independent development. He said that the people of Belarus would rather live in dugouts than allow Russia to manipulate it.

Ten years ago, one of the reasons why Lukashenko sought a problem-free relationship with Moscow was that his electorate considered a union with Russia a natural way of life. Today, when the value of independence has prevailed in the public mind, nostalgic rhetoric about post-Soviet unity is no longer needed.

Lukashenko in effect opened his election campaign with this address. With a presidential ballot set for next March, and there being no particular reason to doubt his re-election, the address is an economic and political platform for his next term. He will as before stress the main differences between Belarus and Russia: the growing GDP and employment in Belarus, and the corresponding drop in Russia and successful curbing of housing and utility rates in Belarus despite mounting energy prices. This is a convenient way to prove the managerial efficiency of his regime as opposed to the "rich neighbor's" and to persuade the hesitant that Belarus does not need closer ties with Russia.

Minsk has not only changed the message of its foreign policy, but has also made a series of expressive gestures. Its refusal to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia was in a sense crossing the line. Lukashenko's demonstrative departure for Venezuela in March, on the day Vladimir Putin arrived in Belarus to attend a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State, was to show Lukashenko's confidence in his strength should bilateral relations become conflicted.

This confidence is well founded. With Minsk restoring contacts with the European Union, joining the Eastern Partnership and prioritizing the development of relations with its Baltic neighbors and with Ukraine, its maneuvering room is growing. Following the completion of new pipelines on the Baltic, it will broaden still further. Next time, it will be based on the perception of Russia as a challenge to national energy security.

Vedomosti: Customs Union in heated debate over aircraft import tax

The commission of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus has failed to agree to cancel import duty on aircraft and components, Vedomosti was told by a Russian government official and another source close to the secretariat of the commission, which met in Moscow on April 16 and 17.

Russian airlines have been asking the government to cancel the import tax for several years now, said Yelena Sakhnova, a VTB Capital analyst. Two months ago, Belarus proposed cancelling the duties without any time limits, the secretariat source said, adding that Russia rejected that plan, instead proposing a temporary cancellation until 2015, with an option to extend the term.

No agreement was reached, and the proposals were sent back for finalizing, the source said. The three partners are coordinating their positions, a commission representative confirmed. They were not determined to absolutely reach an agreement at the latest meeting, a government official said:

"This is a very complex issue, and a focus of ongoing intergovernmental discussion."

The problem is that Kazakhstan, unlike Russia and Belarus, has no aircraft building industry of its own, and is therefore interested in cancelling the import tax for the longest period possible, the official explained: "But the duty free import period will be linked to Russia's production of its new aircraft."

Duty free import of airliners could bail the Russian aviation out of the current crisis. Moreover, it would encourage a major breakthrough in building a common competitive air services market in the post-Soviet countries. With this policy, airlines could afford younger aircraft, Sky Express CEO Marina Bukalova said through her press office.

Transaero CEO Olga Pleshakova is confident that a zero import duty introduced for three to five years, that is, until Russia begins commercial production of new models, would make Russian airlines more competitive and financially stable.

However, airlines would also take it in their stride if the import tax is not cancelled at all: "They are long used to high import rates," Sakhnova said.

RBC Daily: Russian Defense Ministry to buy Italian office furniture

Russian furniture producers are outraged by the Defense Ministry's decision to buy office furniture from Italy.

The ministry posted a contract for the purchase of 125 items of furniture on its web site on April 14. According to the contract, the federal budget will pay 18.3 million rubles ($628,003) for luxury tables, chairs, wardrobes and free standing coat racks. For example, tables for ranking ministry officials are made of solid beech with an olive wood veneer and upholstered in dark-green buffalo leather.

A spokesman for a Russian furniture company said the detailed descriptions of the listed items in the contract imply that they have already been purchased.

Russian furniture makers are outraged that the bulk of furniture was ordered in Italy.

"There are companies in Russia that have the equipment and ability to fulfill such orders, but government agencies place large contracts abroad," said Alexander Gordeyev, head of the Mebelny Mir group of furniture companies.

He said the 18.3 million ruble total equals the average monthly revenue of a Russian furniture plant.

"We regard the purchase of foreign furniture by such a large and influential government agency as disrespectful to Russian furniture makers," Gordeyev said. "What is the worth of officials' declarations on the need to support domestic producers and the non-financial sectors, especially during the crisis?"

The businessman said that the placement of government contracts abroad is fuelling the anger of Russian furniture producers, who plan to set up a branch organization, the Russian Furniture Union, in mid-May. Consultations are currently under way with more than 200 furniture makers from 40 regions.

The new organization will begin by sending a letter to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Alexei Serdyukov to advise them on the inadmissibility of placing state orders with foreign producers.

Serdyukov should know about good furniture, because he started his career in 1985 as a department head in a furniture store in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and ended it as the general director of the furniture company Mebel Market in 2000.

Izvestia: Foreign companies in Russia to sign anti-corruption convention

On Wednesday, 56 companies operating in Russia are to sign anti-corruption agreements, pledging not to pay bribes and to expose those who offer them. Russian analysts remain skeptical, saying the campaign is unlikely to succeed.

It took several months to draft anti-corruption documents, Filipp Lupov, project manager at the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), told the paper. The Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade, which launched the project, was joined by the IBLF, the European Business Association and the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC).

The document's authors deny any link between the latest agreement and the investigation of multi-billion-dollar corruption scandals at Russian divisions of international furniture retailer IKEA, Siemens, Europe's largest engineering conglomerate, multinational information technology corporation Hewlett-Packard and German carmaker Daimler. "Their managers are in an extremely difficult situation and are simply trying to reach their targets," Lupov explained.

Companies that have signed the anti-corruption agreement, pledge not to pay any bribes directly or those through their subsidiaries. Nor should officials expect any covert bribes in the form of luxury gifts or expensive holidays.

The parties also pledge to keep an eye on each other and to report any dubious situations to a special council in charge of mandatory decisions. But it is unclear who will monitor them because control is the main problem of such agreements based on the "biting the hand that feeds you" principle.

"Western corruption is different from corruption in Russia," Kirill Kabanov, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, told the paper.

"Western businesses try to influence their governments, while Russian officials rob everyone who passes through their sphere of influence. Western business has found itself in a dubious situation. On the one hand, OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries stipulate criminal liability for handing out bribes worldwide," Kabanov said. "At the same time, there is no such penalty in China.

Consequently, Chinese companies actively use bribes in their work. I can guarantee that Russian officials will award contracts to Chinese companies in this situation. In response, Western companies will try to work through intermediaries not covered by the anti-corruption agreement," Kabanov told the paper.

"Bribery in Russia is a virtually legalized official privilege," Agvan Mikaelyan, CEO of accounting firm Finexpertiza, told the paper. "We should realize that business is forced to pay bribes. That's why I don't think the agreement will have any serious impact on the situation with bribes," Mikaelyan said.

Vremya Novostei: Russians see drugs as greater threat than terrorism

Terrorism is a lesser threat than drug abuse, according to many Russians, a recent nationwide survey suggests. Alcoholism, another traditional problem plaguing the country, comes in third now.

The VTsIOM public opinion center canvassed 1,600 people in 140 cities and towns in 42 regions on April 3 and 4 to measure public anxiety levels.

It is evident from the results that a growing number of Russians see terrorism as a serious national threat: in 2002, 29% ranked it as the top threat facing the nation, while in 2010, the number rose to 60%. However, 65% see drugs as the greatest threat, and that remained almost unchanged.

"This is a widespread social plague," VTsIOM Director Valery Fyodorov told Vremya Novostei. He also pointed out a clear long-term trend - drug and alcohol abuse (55%) are still among the top three national threats and are unlikely to go away anytime soon, while terrorism, in second place, must be the result of the recent attacks. "Terrorism appeared after the recent metro attacks," he said. Two bombs went off in the Moscow metro on March 29 killing 38 and injuring 64.

However, Russians still seem to trust in the authorities to protect them, although their trust is not as strong as it used to be: in 2008, 66% of respondents expected the authorities to help, in 2009 49% and in 2010 only 36%.

Sociologists have found that Russians have been gradually becoming less concerned over environmental issues (from 41% in 2002 to 33% in 2010), crime (from 42% to 28%), AIDS (from 24% to 16%), natural disasters (from 20% to 12%), and air crashes (from 26% to 12%).

On the other hand, the number of those who think that traffic accidents pose the greatest danger to human lives grew eight-fold, from 4% in 2002 to 33% in 2010; the number of respondents who ticked "smoking" grew from 9% to 14%.

April 21, 2010 

RIA Novosti




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