The government now intends to divest itself of only 19.5% in Rosneft despite earlier plans for a higher percentage. The daily quotes the new government privatization program until 2016 and several sources close to the matter. The head of Rosneft Igor Sechin has repeatedly spoken out against the privatization of the company. In December 2011 while Deputy Prime Minister Sechin warned Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that if privatized Rosneft would not be able to work on the Arctic shelf and will pay less taxes, the paper reports. The Russian government owns more than 75 percent of Rosneft, and Britain’s BP owns 19 percent. The previous privatization plan which ends this year saw the government completely privatize 12 large state-owned companies, including Rosneft, and a reduction of its share in seven others. According to the new plan the government will retain control of RusHydro and Zarubezhneft, that were planned to be privatized by 2016. Privatisation of banks have also been revised. The state will relinquish its stake in VTB as previously thought. The sale of the Agricultural Bank and Rosagroleasing, will be transformed into development institutions, Vedomosti reports. The privatization of a quarter of Russian Railways will be postponed for two years from 2014 to 2016. The government has also decided to privatize only about 25 percent of the United Shipbuilding Corporation instead of initially planned half of the company, the business daily reports. Plans to sell Transneft and Inter RAO remained unchanged. The new assets offered for privatization include Vnukovo airport and landline provider Rostelecom. … Read More
‘Don’t arm maniacs’: London’s mayor opposes weapon support for Syrian rebels
Writing for British publication The Telegraph, Boris Johnson wrote that the UK must not use Syria as “an arena for muscle flexing.” “We can’t use Syria as an arena for geopolitical point-scoring or muscle-flexing, and we won’t get a ceasefire by pressing weapons into the hands of maniacs,” wrote Johnson. He joins a number of prominent British political and social figures in an attempt to dissuade Prime Minister David Cameron from sending arms to the Syrian opposition. “This is the moment for a total ceasefire, an end to the madness,” Johnson writes. “It is time for the US, Russia, the EU, Turkey, Iran, Saudi and all the players to convene an intergovernmental conference to try to halt the carnage.” Deputy PM Nick Clegg also warned Cameron of the dangers of supplying the opposition with weapons. He reasoned that the UK government had not deemed it necessary to send weapons before and saw no reason to change this policy. There has been speculation that Cameron is in favor of supporting Washington and sending weapons aid to rebels in Syria. The Obama Administration announced last week that the Syrian regime had crossed “a red line,” citing evidence that government forces had used the chemical weapon sarin in the conflict. The “intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year,” said Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes said in a statement. Russia spoke out against the US plan to aid the rebels, saying the Kremlin was “unconvinced” by the US evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces were using chemical weapons. The Syrian issue dominated bilateral talks between Moscow and London last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Cameron last Monday, insisting that supplying the opposition with weapons would only serve to destabilize Syria further. Russia believes the conflict will only be brought to an end through negotiations. “I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras,” Putin said, referring to a video footage on the internet of a rebel fighter apparently eating the heart of a government soldier. David Cameron, however, remains steadfast in his opinion that the root cause of the conflict is Assad. The “new evidence makes that clearer than ever,” said Cameron, citing the US’ claims of government forces using sarin gas. Washington is also reviewing the possibility of setting up a no-fly zone in Syria, US officials told Reuters. The no-fly zone would extend 40km into Syrian territory and would be used as a safe haven for refugees and a platform to train rebels. … Read More
UK and Russia ‘can overcome Syria differences’
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Syria fork: Cameron says no decision yet to arm rebels, as Putin defends govt arms supplies
“Russia supplies arms to the official government of Syria in accordance with international laws,” said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the meeting at 10 Downing Street. He stressed that “the blood is on the hands of both parties” of the conflict, not only Bashar Assad’s government but also the rebels. “I think you will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines, in front of the public and cameras,” Putin said referring to a video footage on the Internet of a rebel fighter eating a heart of a government soldier. “Is it them who you want to supply with weapons?” he said adding that it does not correspond with international humanitarian norms. The comments came as the two leaders met ahead of the G8 summit scheduled to start on Monday in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. The President and Prime minister discussed a broad range of questions including security on Winter Olympics in Russia’s resort city Sochi, however the civil war in Syria was the main focus with questions after the press-conference concentrating on this topic. PM Cameron, unlike Putin, laid the total responsibility for the two-year Syrian crisis on President Bashar Assad. “The responsibility lies with Assad and the onslaught that he created with his people,” the PM said. The “new evidence makes that clearer than ever,” he added referring to the US claims of finding proof that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against the rebels. The findings were disclosed on Thursday and assessment results were handed to the Russian Foreign Ministry which found them “unconvincing”. The press conference once again showed wide differences between Moscow’s and London’s approaches to the situation in Syria – something Cameron admitted straight away. Despite this, leaders said that the countries have a common goal and the desire to provide conditions of a diplomatic settlement of the ongoing Syrian conflict. “There is common ground in that we both see a humanitarian catastrophe”, Cameron said. Russia’s President agreed that “eventually we will solve the problem and put all parties at the negotiating table with joint efforts.” “This is one of the most appropriate solutions to the problem, and it can be solved only through political and diplomatic means,” Putin said. … Read More
Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on
For over 20 years Aleksey Leonov, the first man to conduct a spacewalk in 1965, has been struggling to gain permission to disclose details of what happened to the legendary Yuri Gagarin in March 1968. Back then a State Commission established to investigate the accident (which Leonov was a part of), concluded that a crew of MiG-15UTI, Yuri Gagarin and experienced instructor Vladimir Seryogin, tried to avoid a foreign object – like geese or a hot air balloon – by carrying out a maneuver that had led to a tailspin and, finally, collision with the ground. Both pilots died in that test flight. “That conclusion is believable to a civilian – not to a professional,” Leonov told RT. He has always had a firm stance against the secrecy surrounding Gagarin’s death, and wanted at least his family to know the truth. “In fact, everything went down differently,” he says. According to a declassified report, there is a human factor behind the tragic incident – an unauthorized SU-15 fighter jet was flying dangerously close to Gagarin’s aircraft. “In this case, the pilot didn’t follow the book, descending to an altitude of 450 meters. I know this because I was there; I heard the sound and talked to witnesses. While afterburning the aircraft reduced its echelon at a distance of 10-15 meters in the clouds, passing close to Gagarin, turning his plane and thus sending it into a tailspin – a deep spiral, to be precise – at a speed of 750 kilometers per hour,” Leonov tells. However, the name of the man responsible for Gagarin’s death is still not being disclosed. Keeping him anonymous was a condition under which Leonov was allowed to talk. It is only known that the pilot is now 80 years old and is in poor health. “I promised that I wouldn’t name [him],” Leonov said. Conspiracy theories have surrounded the events of that day for years. They included suicide – even a collision with a UFO. But for all intents and purposes, the case is closed, and the newfound truth should provide those affected with closure. Such is the conclusion of the first woman in space, Russian Valentina Tereshkova. She spoke at a press conference at the UN headquarters in Vienna, where she participated in a conference of the Committee for the Peaceful Use of Outer Space. “The only regret here is that it took so long for the truth to be revealed,” she said. “But we can finally rest easy.” Gagarin’s passing was not only a tragedy, but a career-ending moment for Tereshkova. The state simply wouldn’t let her fly anymore, as the possibility of losing a second cosmonaut of such stature would have been simply catastrophic. “They forbade me from flying ever again, even piloting planes. The repercussions of the death of one cosmonaut were so great that they wanted to keep me safe.” But the source of Tereshkova’s deepest sadness still lies with Gagarin’s passing. She tried to hold back tears, as she spoke: “I still miss him. It is a loss not only for us cosmonaut colleagues, but for the entire community.” … Read More
Disputed Schneerson Library collection gets new home at Moscow’s Jewish Museum
The Schneerson Library, which boasts a selection of rare Hasidic religious books and documents, was started in the early 20th Century by Rabbi Joseph I. Schneerson in the Russian city of Lyubavichi (present-day Belarus). Part of the collection later came to be nationalized by Soviet Russia as there were no legal heirs in the Schneerson family. Earlier this year, a US court issued a ruling according to which Russia would be required to pay US$50,000 a day to Chabad Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish movement headquartered in New York City, until it releases the historic Schneerson Library of which the Jewish group claims rightful ownership. The roots of the conflict go back to 1994, when the Library of Congress obtained seven of the rare Schneerson Library books from the Russian State Library through an inter-library exchange program. The books were handed on to Chabad-Lubavitch. But since then the US library helped to prolong the use of the books twice, in 1995 and 1996, before the Jewish organization finally refused to return the books back to Russia in 2000. Chabad-Lubavitch used diplomatic channels to propose another ‘exchange’, sending a list of the books they were ready to give back in return for getting the seven abovementioned books into indefinite possession. In 2004 the movement filed a lawsuit against Russia, claiming the Russian part of the Schneerson Library in full. In 2010 an American court actually granted their claim, which Russia ignored as invalid. Moscow is currently working on a lawsuit against the US Library of Congress over the rare collection. In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the recent decision of the US court, ruling to fine Russia US$50,000 daily until it surrenders the texts, “has nothing in common with justice.” The collection is the “heritage of the Russian nation,” according to Lavrov. President Vladimir Putin came up with the idea to house the unique collection at the Jewish Museum and the Center of Tolerance in February. The president stated that the Schneerson Library belongs to the Russian state. “Sadly, I can only state that the discussion on the issue has become confrontational, after what I regard as unlawful decisions taken in the other country’s courts,” he said. Four thousand five hundred books from the collection, which is currently stored at the Russian State Library, are set to be taken to the Jewish Museum and the Center of Tolerance by the end of the year. The Center’s new library area will function as the branch of the Russian State Library. Chabad-Lubavitch is one of the largest Hasidic movements of Orthodox Judaism in the world with cells in over 1,000 cities across the world. Founded in the late 18th century by Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the movement was based in the Russian town of Lyubavichi until the early 20th century. In 1940, the sixth leader of the organization, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, escaped from WWII, raging in Europe, to New York, USA, where he founded a synagogue. The movement’s current official HQ is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, NYC. Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Center of Tolerance features permanent and temporary exhibitions, conference halls, a library, a research center, a 4D cinema, a children’s center, a museum shop, and a kosher cafe. Among the first guests of the museum, which opened in November, were Israeli President Shimon Peres and FM Lavrov. … Read More
Putin talks NSA, Syria, Iran, drones in exclusive RT interview (FULL VIDEO)
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