Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, October 28

© Alex StefflerRussian Press - Behind the Headlines, October 28
Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, October 28 - Sputnik International
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Georgia backs off blocking Russia’s WTO bid/ Russians may be offered larger pension for delayed retirement / Russian government closes royal family murder case

Kommersant

Georgia backs off blocking Russia’s WTO bid

Georgia has reached a compromise with Russia on monitoring trade on Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s borders, it announced on Thursday following consultations with Switzerland and the EU.

After 18 years of talks, Russia was finally granted most favored nation status in the majority of countries and is on the verge of joining the World Trade Organization. Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergi Kapanadze said 15 minutes ahead of a new round of Swiss-mediated Russian-Georgian talks, that Georgia would give Russia a “final proposal.” Russia’s Top Negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said Russia would need a few days to consider it.

Although the proposal’s content was not disclosed, it likely involves the electronic monitoring of Russia’s trade operations on the borders of the two former Georgian regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, without defining the trade formally as Russian-Georgian trade. Russia recognizes the two break-away republics as independent states while Georgia and most WTO members do not.

The Wall Street Journal earlier wrote, quoting Georgian sources, that the EU warned Georgia it was ready to admit Russia by a simple majority rather than a unanimous vote unless a compromise was reached. If Russia is really interested in joining the WTO and Georgia’s proposal contains no “hidden reefs,” Russia’s accession could become official at the WTO ministerial conference on December 15-17.

Bilateral negotiations with all WTO members were completed by the spring of 2007 – all except Georgia. All major disagreements were settled during President Vladimir Putin’s first term when Russia pledged to reduce the national economy’s dependency on resources.

Russia has made a great effort to harmonize its trade laws with the WTO, adopting over 42 packages of bills since 1994. Formal WTO accession will provide effective preferences as soon as in 2012, and will convince other members that Russia will not use protectionist policies in foreign trade in the future.

Russia’s potential costs and benefits stemming from WTO accession were estimated before the global crisis. The World Bank’s David Tarr and Natalya Volchkova said in a 2010 report that the new trade agreement would bring Russia about $40 billion annually in the medium term. Russia’s overall WTO benefit will reach 3.3 percent of GDP ($53bln) in the medium term and 11 percent ($177bln) in the long run when the local business environment improves.

Harmonizing Russia’s laws and government regulations with WTO standards will influence everyone, especially low and medium-income families. In fact the former will benefit the most from the liberalization of the labor market. The most competitive and attractive Russian regions will also benefit from the change.

Some analysts are skeptical about an immediate benefit from Russia’s WTO accession. However, Yulia Tseplyayeva from BNP Paribas believes a transition period will help ease the short-term negative effects and make the long-term improvements come sooner. “Russia will have to encourage privatization and market reform. The tightening of government regulation in the economy will slow if not stop altogether,” she said.

If this round of WTO talks collapses, it could be delayed for another several years.


Moskovsky Komsomolets

Russians may be offered larger pension for delayed retirement

The government is considering a new alternative in its quest to attain pension fund relief. The latest proposal encourages pensioners to delay retirement and in turn earn a larger pension.

RBC Daily writes that the experts who are drafting pension reform proposals for Strategy 2020 are suggesting a program that encourages pension age Russians to delay retirement. Women at 55 and men at 60 would have a choice between retiring on a basic pension and postponing retirement by one to five years to qualify for a larger pension.

This approach suggests that the amount of a pension would depend on how long a person delays retirement. A one year delay in retirement would increase the basic pension from 8,700 rubles to 10,100 rubles and for five years to 22,400 rubles. Pensioners who had already been drawing an allowance for several years would be able to take part in the program and would be free to withdraw from it at their discretion.

The Public Opinion Foundation has surveyed the public’s attitude toward delayed retirement. The results show that 55 percent of Russians plan to continue working upon reaching the retirement age and 63 percent of them would like to retain their current jobs. Many Russians also have additional income, which is why 13 percent say they do not plan to spend their pensions and 15 percent hope to live on asset returns. Overall, 18 percent of respondents said they like the initiative.

But the Healthcare and Social Development Ministry is wary. “Initiatives like this should be assessed on the basis of a comprehensive analysis,” a ministry official said, adding that they are drafting a pension strategy to 2050 per a presidential directive. Earlier the ministry proposed a new pension formula based on employment record and salary.

Experts are optimistic about this proposal. “This is a good variant,” said Yelena Penukhina from the non-profit Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-term Forecasting (CMASF). “In fact, this is a softer way to increase the pension age.” Penukhina cautions, however, that the plan depends on the budget’s ability to shoulder the delayed but higher payments. “A cost analysis should determine if the budget will benefit from this proposal and whether it will help balance the pension system,” she said.


Rossiiskaya Gazeta

Russia closes royal family murder case

Vladimir Solovyov, senior investigator and criminologist at the main directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee, has given representatives of the Romanov dynasty a copy of the resolution that closed the criminal case regarding the murder of the royal family near Yekaterinburg in 1918.

The case, which is documented in 28 volumes, was closed in January 2011. The 800-page resolution presents the investigation’s main findings and argues that the remains of the royal family found in the early 1990s were indeed authentic.

Solovyov said that this was established based on an anthropological examination, analysis of historical materials and forensic evidence. He expressed the hope that these findings would help to finally lay Crown Prince Alexei and his sister Mary to rest. Several groups of both Russian and foreign geneticists working independently confirmed these results. The remains of the royal family’s servants were found to be authentic and the hemophilia gene was detected in the remains of Empress Alexandra, the Crown Princess Mary and her brother Alexei. Solovyov said yesterday that there is no documentary evidence indicating that Lenin or Kremlin officials gave the order to execute the royal family.

In turn, Alexander Zakatov, the director of the Romanov dynasty's office, stressed that the imperial house has no information that Lenin was directly involved in the royal family’s death, but added that it does have indirect evidence of Soviet leaders' awareness of the events in Yekaterinburg.

German Lukyanov, the Romanovs' lawyer, said that the imperial family plans to publish the investigation files. They will also be posted online, as Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna has long wanted to make these documents available to the general public for discussion and to help dispel any possible doubts. Solovyov said the Romanovs would need approval from the Investigative Committee to publish the materials.

“Materials related to the resolution terminating the criminal case into the murder of Nicholas II and his family can only be published with special permission from the head of the Investigative Committee,” said Solovyov.

Zakatov agreed to comply and stressed that, in moving to publish the resolution, the House of Romanov will act in full accordance with the Russian law. The Grand Duchess and her son are Russian citizens and will never “willfully violate laws, or do anything in a roundabout way.”

On October 1, 2008, the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court decided to rehabilitate Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

Tsar Nicholas II, his family and servants were shot in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 17, 1918. Their remains were discovered in July 1991, and buried in summer 1998 in St. Petersburg's Peter and Paul Cathedral. A second set of remains was found in 2007 near Yekaterinburg. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Nicholas II and his family as saints in 2000.

 

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