In this issue:

Pole Star Publishes LaRouche on U.S. Elections

Conference Marks Peaceful Nuclear Energy Anniversary

Go-Ahead to Russia for Spent Fuel Depository

IAEA Praises Russia's Nuclear Cooperation with Iran

Russia to NATO: We Are 'Leading Nation in Eurasia'

Russia Invited to November Mercosur Summit

China Seeks 'Big Projects' with Russia

Primakov Hosts Russian-Arab Business Council

Kazakhstan To Upgrade Rail System

Yukos Oil Raided Again

From Volume 3, Issue Number 27 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published July 6, 2004
Russia and the CIS News Digest

Pole Star Publishes LaRouche on U.S. Elections

At the end of June, the Russian Internet publication Polyarnaya Zvezda (The Pole Star) posted Lyndon LaRouche's replies to its questions about the U.S. elections. The publication is posting the replies of various experts, including, so far, one from the New York Council on Foreign Relations. LaRouche was identified as candidate for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination. The Yekaterinburg-based Polyarnaya Zvezda project is known for its focus on Eurasian matters and is relatively widely read in Russia. See Latest from LaRouche for the interview.

Conference Marks Peaceful Nuclear Energy Anniversary

The International Atomic Energy Agency held an event in Russia to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world's first nuclear power plant, completed June 27, 1954, in Obninsk, about 100 kilometers from Moscow. The event discussed new technologies, needed for economic growth. In a message to the June 27-July 2 conference, held in Moscow under the title "Fifty Years of Nuclear Power—the Next Fifty Years," Russian President Vladimir Putin stated: "The nuclear power industry now is a growing economic sector, actively promoting social and economic progress in many countries. Its future largely depends on fruitful international cooperation."

A spokesman for the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy, Nikolai Shingarev, told Tass that the first generation of electricity for the grid at the Obninsk power station 50 years ago, "gave mankind not only 'atomic' power, but also basic knowledge for peaceful uses of nuclear energy."

On the agenda of the conference, which came out of a proposal by Russia to the IAEA several years ago, were papers on the future of nuclear power, particularly in Asia; the obstacles that must be overcome worldwide, including the negative portrayal of nuclear in the media; non-electric uses of nuclear energy, including nuclear desalination concepts, being presented by India, Brazil, and Russia; and the design and development of advanced nuclear systems. With some five hundred participants, the conference received papers from Brazil, Argentina, Armenia, Thailand, Lithuania, Turkey, Belarus, Serbia, Ukraine, India, Tajikistan, Indonesia, and South Korea, in addition to the major nuclear supplier states: France, the UK, Germany, Japan, China, and Russia. The minimal participation by the United States was notable.

Summarizing the history of nuclear technology, Russian wires quoted the scientist Vladimir Vernadsky, who said, as early as 1922: "The time is near when man will receive atomic energy, which will allow him to arrange his life the way he likes."

Go-Ahead to Russia for Spent Fuel Depository

Following a meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, IAEA General Director Mohamed ElBaradei announced that Russia is willing to build a "state-of-the-art" geological depository to store spent nuclear fuel, according to Radio Free Europe June 28. (This highly radioactive material is most often idiotically called nuclear "waste." In fact, the spent fuel should not be stored at all, but reprocessed, where 90% of the material could be recycled for reuse to fuel nuclear power reactors). ElBaradei said that more than 50 countries have spent fuel, but "not all countries have the right geology to store waste underground." This is a political problem, however, he indicated, since "most technological hurdles for spent fuel disposal or reprocessing have already been solved."

The importance of the Russian offer to "accept" foreign spent fuel, in addition to the fact that it would bring in revenue to keep its nuclear industry alive, is that, politically, it provides a counter to the U.S. proposals that would have the U.S. or the UN control the world's enriched uranium fuel and spent fuel resources. In that case, only countries that met U.S. nonproliferation standards would have access to the material.

ElBaradei also announced that next year Russia would host an international conference on disposing of spent nuclear fuel, again taking the initiative away from the promoters of technological apartheid.

IAEA Praises Russia's Nuclear Cooperation with Iran

In comments that will have Dick Cheney chewing the rug, IAEA General Director Mohamed ElBaradei stated June 29 in Moscow, where he was attending the international nuclear energy conference, that Russia's cooperation with Iran to build the Bushehr nuclear power plant is "no longer at the center of international concern," because it is a project to produce energy, and there is an agreement with Iran to return the spent fuel to Russia. Following a meeting with President Putin, ElBaradei said that, regarding the nuclear cooperation, and assurances that the nuclear material "is used at a high level of safety, and not misused for military purposes," the "Russian contribution has been extremely useful."

Russia to NATO: We Are 'Leading Nation in Eurasia'

On the eve of the NATO summit meeting in Turkey June 27, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about increased NATO activity in the Caucasus and Central Asia. "Russia, as the leading nation in Eurasia, is by no means indifferent as to what direction the Alliance's efforts are taking in regions that have strategic importance for our interests" spokesman A. Yakovenko said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned down an invitation to the meeting. At a press conference in Moscow on June 25, Deputy Foreign Ministry Chizhov explained Putin's declining, as related to Russian displeasure over delays in signing of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. According to Chizhov, NATO is linking the new members' joining the CFE, to Russia's withdrawal of its forces stationed in Georgia and Moldova, which Moscow prefers to negotiate on a bilateral basis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did attend a session of the NATO-Russia Council on the sidelines of the Istanbul summit.

Russia Invited to November Mercosur Summit

While Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa was in Moscow the week of June 21, he formally invited President Putin to attend the Mercosur summit scheduled to start Nov. 20. Mercosur (Common Market of the South) includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The Russian news service Pravda.ru analyzed this development in terms of South America's desire for economic cooperation, outside the looting relations of "free trade" with the United States and the European Union. Pravda.ru wrote, "As talks on free trade negotiations with the U.S. and the European Union have been frozen for months, Mercosur countries, with Brazil and Argentina at the head, are speeding up contacts with what they think will be the superpowers of the future: China, India, and Russia."

China Seeks 'Big Projects' with Russia

"China and Russia have to expand economic cooperation with big projects," National Peoples' Congress head Wu Bangguo told visiting Khabarovsk Region governor Viktor Ishayev in Beijing June 30. "The two countries should figure out the big projects from the strategic height and long-term perspective, and the big enterprises should be involved," Wu Bangguo said. Wu had been in Russia in May, including in Khabarovsk Region, in Russia's Far East. Ishayev is leading a 27-member delegation from Russian oil, coal, and banking industries. Russia has 13%-15% of the world's oil, 35% of natural gas, almost 12% of coal. "China is a large and attractive market and Russia has rich energy resources," Ishayev said.

Primakov Hosts Russian-Arab Business Council

Ex-Prime Minister, Academician Yevgeni Primakov, current head of Russia's Chamber of Trade & Industry, opened the second meeting of the Russian-Arab Business Council, June 25. The Russian side was represented by major corporations and banks, including Sistema Corp., Alpha Group's SUAL Holding, United Energy Systems, Vneshtorgbank, Aeroflot, and others. The Arab delegation included heads of 22 trade and industry chambers of Arab countries.

Sistema Corp.'s general director, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, co-chairman of RABC from the Russian side, said at a press conference that new opportunities are opening up for Russian-Arab concerns in the oil and gas sectors, and for Arab investments in Russian banks, housing, services, and tourism. He confirmed that Sistema intends to invest in a number of projects in Arab countries. At the same time, he emphasized that "the advantage of Arab investments in Russia is a more important subject of the talks."

Tatyana Gvilava, RABC's Director, mentioned that during the five months since the Council's first meeting, the organization has taken part in the second annual exhibition "Days of Russia in Amman," as well as the Russian-Egyptian Business Forum held in Moscow, convened in late May during the official visit of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. On the eve of its second meeting, RABC facilitated the visit of representatives of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Transport and Chief Railway Authority to Moscow. The meeting was followed by the First Russian-Arab Industrial Exhibition in Moscow, held on June 28-30.

During the event, Russian politicians and businessmen also discussed other issues of Eurasian economic cooperation. In particular, Vladimir Yevtushenkov confirmed the plans of Sistema Corporation to invest $600 million in India, for telecommunications projects.

Kazakhstan To Upgrade Rail System

Kazakhstan plans to invest the equivalent of $1.1 billion to modernize and expand its railroad system over the next three years. This will include $900 million of Kazakh government funds, and $201 million in foreign investment, Transport and Communications Minister Kazhmurat Nagmanov announced at a press conference in Astana. "According to experts, possible income from transit shipments through Kazakhstan is estimated at $2 billion a year," UPI reported that Nagmanov said, but Kazakstan does not expect to achieve that level until the decade ending 2030. The transport investment program is supported by the government transport departments of China, India, and Iran, which are all interested Kazakhstan's role as a link between the Asia-Pacific region and key markets in Russia, Europe, and Southwest Asia.

Yukos Oil Raided Again

Tax inspectors and court officials raided the Moscow headquarters of Yukos Oil on July 1, implementing a court order requiring Yukos to pay $3.4 billion in back taxes and penalties. The court had ruled in favor of instant recompensation, rebuffing a Yukos management offer to settle the tax bill over several years. Tax inspectors can now try to recover the entire $3.4 billion, which implies the seizure and emergency sale of corporate assets. There has been discussion in the Russian press about the potential purchase of Yukos assets by other Russian oil companies. At the end of June, the criminal trial of ex-CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his deputy Platon Lebedev was postponed until July 12.

Although President Putin has stated that Russia has nothing to gain from Yukos' bankruptcy, the tax authorities' move brings it closer to that condition. Alexander Rahr, Russia specialist at the German Foreign Policy Association, believes Yukos may survive as a firm that, like the other big oil firms Lukoil and Rosneft, is "no longer state-owned, but kept under such tight control that they do not act against the state and government." Former Russian central bank governor Victor Gerashchenko, an independent figure but one having close contacts with the Kremlin, who was appointed to the Yukos board earlier this year, was confirmed as chairman of the board on June 24.

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