Nezavisimaya Gazeta
A NATO Transit Hub May Be Established in Central Russia
Russia may sign an agreement to set up a NATO transit hub in Ulyanovsk to facilitate cargo transit from Afghanistan to Europe, the business daily newspaper Kommersant reported Friday, citing several sources. One source said that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will approve a resolution to that effect soon.
According to a diplomatic source, it will be a multimodal backhaul hub. NATO ultimately plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and the best way to do it would be to use “various modes of transportation through a single route.”
Talks on establishing a NATO logistics base in central Russia started one-and-a-half years ago. A source from the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the United States proposed a Russian city where “cargo from Afghanistan could be airlifted and then forwarded by rail to Latvia or Estonia.” After discussing several locations, both parties agreed to set up the hub in Ulyanovsk because its airport is best suited to the task in that region due to the proximity of railway lines.
Russian Railways and Volga-Dnieper Airlines, which are already involved in delivering NATO cargo from Afghanistan to Europe, are expected to benefit, as the project will increase cargo traffic considerably.
There are over 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, all of whom are to be pulled out by late 2014, handing their responsibilities over to local security forces. NATO has been delivering its cargo through Uzbekistan. However, Uzbekistan recently withdrew NATO’s transit permit over concerns that narcotics and weapons could slip into to the country along with NATO cargo, a Russian diplomat told Kommersant.
Russia and NATO have been cooperating in transiting cargo to Afghanistan within the framework of the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a commercially-based logistics arrangement connecting Baltic and Caspian ports with Afghanistan via Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Over half of the coalition’s cargo is delivered through the NDN. In 2010, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said both parties had agreed on simplified conditions for the transit of mine resistant ambush protected armored vehicles to and from Afghanistan across Russia, the online news agency Lenta.ru writes.
Moskovskiye Novosti
Putin Promises 100 Steps to Meet Businesses Halfway
Russia needs to climb 100 places from its current deplorable rating of 120th in the Doing Business-2012 rankings, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a business forum on Thursday. The participants discussed the political climate as well.
The first plenary session of Russia Forum 2012 sponsored by Sberbank and Troika Dialog was entitled Russia-2018: Vital Crossroads and Challenges and it basically focused on the next presidency. Participants tried to understand how Russia could resolve the problems that have not been resolved by now.
At this point, “Russia cannot resolve any problems because it is a problem itself,” said Sergei Guriyev, rector at the New Economic School (NES) in Moscow.
Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who elicited the longest applause, called for “using the political energy that has recently emerged.” He cited the latest initiatives to liberalize the political system, which are supported by both the president and the prime minister. As an aside, he has not changed his mind about joining the new cabinet, especially if Medvedev swaps with Putin. “Putin has made up his mind; I have too. I am not joining the new government,” Kudrin said.
In his words, excessive government regulation and pressure on business are a bigger problem than skidding privatization. “We tend to show favoritism when we distribute financing,” he said. This strips private investors of any incentive. The same holds true when supporting inefficient companies like Lanta Tur, he said.
Many prefer investing in China, Troika Dialog head Ruben Vardanyan said. Although the profits are lower and the rules are even more troublesome, they are, nonetheless, strictly observed. Russia is unpredictable, he said.
Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin tried to encourage some positive thinking in what most listeners saw as a platform policy speech. Pointing out Russia’s “deplorable” 120th place ranking in international business climate surveys, he called for moving up to 20th place in only “a few years.”
First of all, he proposed “increasing the status” of business leaders. An ombudsman will be appointed to uphold their rights in the way that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov defends foreign investors. The new ombudsman will have authority to overrule an officials’ decision.
A process will be introduced for hearing commercial disputes. Businesses will be given longer periods for appeals and all Soviet-era clauses that allow turning a commercial dispute into a criminal case will be removed from legislation.
The very ideology of government regulation will be changed: business leaders will enjoy the presumption of an aboveboard operation. The government will ensure businesses responsibility rather than issue permits. Business unions and associations will be able to file joint lawsuits to defend their members.
At the same time, the government will keep its authority for pinpoint interference whenever it is deemed necessary. Before leaving the forum, Putin made a generous move: he ordered VTB Bank to buy out investors who suffered significant losses when the bank’s shares fell during the recession.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
If Not Putin, Who?
“If not Putin, who?” seems to be the rallying cry of Vladimir Putin’s presidential campaign. His election staff began the campaign far in advance of the official start date of the election, even though this violates the law.
The idea, naturally, is that there is no alternative to Putin because all the other candidates have little to offer by comparison. While they promote themselves and squabble with each other, he alone is engaged in the practical work of leading the country.
Putin is also a prolific writer, contributing an article a week on subjects from economics, to ethnic issues, to international relations.
All of this is intended to induce voters to vote for Putin or to not vote at all, which would also be a good thing. In effect, the aim of all this blaring election buildup is to suggest that everyone in this old and great country is worse than Putin.
In the first place, this is an insult to Russia. Second, this cannot be true because there are dozens or even hundreds of individuals who deserve to be leaders no less, if not more, than Putin. Third, these implications provide a disservice to Putin himself because it is he who has made politics an unacceptable occupation for many decent people.
If a leader creates a situation where there is no one around him, he must be banished from politics and from government for this alone. The lack of any diversification in economics or in politics is equally disastrous for Russia.
This country and the world are on the verge of disaster. If the current prime minister takes the wheel again the bus could meet crash.
We cannot live like this any longer, nor do we wish to meet such an ignominious end.
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