Medvedev Will Make Economic Pitch to G8
04 July 2008By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer

The Group of Eight summit in Japan next week will be a global coming out party of sorts for Dmitry Medvedev, as the new president is expected to offer his take on global economic problems and their possible solutions.

Medvedev, who has been in office just two months and, at 42, is the youngest of the G8 leaders, will announce a Russian contribution — possibly over $100 million — to the fight against the global food crisis and lay out his vision for a new international financial system in which Russia would play a key role.

While global problems like climate change and poverty will provide a platform for grand statements, as always, the devil will be in the details — or in his case, in a series of bilateral meetings with heads of G8 states, analysts said.

The thorny issue of the Kuril Islands, which Japan claims as its own Northern Territories, is likely to be discussed one on one with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, while a dispute surrounding the joint British-Russian venture TNK-BP will probably be discussed during Medvedev's first meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Medvedev's top economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Thursday.

U.S. President George W. Bush, attending his last G8 Summit before leaving office in January, is under pressure from a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to address the need to open global energy markets, an idea Russia doesn't particularly like.

"This debut for Medvedev will be very important," said Alexei Malashenko a senior analyst with Carnegie Moscow Center, adding that the bilateral meetings would offer the best clues as to whether the G8 leaders "take a liking" to the new president.

Medvedev, speaking in an interview with a select few media outlets from the G8 countries released Thursday, said he looked forward to his meeting with Brown but that London would have to meet Moscow halfway on a series of diplomatic and other disputes.

Medvedev, Miller Look for Azeri Gas
04 July 2008BAKU, Azerbaijan — Europe's bill for Russian gas will rise by one-quarter by the end of 2008 and eventually double, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said Thursday on a Central Asian energy tour with President Dmitry Medvedev.

Speaking after Medvedev met with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Miller said Moscow would begin talks on buying gas from Baku, which could undermine a Western-backed project to bypass Russia and ship fuel from the region directly to Europe.

"There's a good chance for new agreements on trading hydrocarbons," Medvedev said after meeting Aliyev. The countries are considering a project of "mutual interest," Aliyev said, without elaborating.

Turkmenistan, which has among the world's biggest gas reserves and each year exports the equivalent of Italy's annual consumption, is the next stop on Medvedev's trip.

Before leaving, Medvedev told reporters that oil would hit $150 per barrel, causing "problems for the world's economy." U.S. light crude futures hit a record of $145.85 per barrel Thursday.

Miller said he expected gas prices to rise to $500 per 1,000 cubic meters from the current $400 by the end of the year. If oil prices were to hit $250 per barrel, gas prices would hit $1,000, he said.

Analysts and oil executives have already described Miller's predictions of an oil price rally to $250 as apocalyptic. They say attempts to talk the energy prices up are harmful — especially coming from Gazprom, which supplies one-quarter of Europe's gas needs.

04 July 2008

By Nadia Popova

Power Machines, the country's biggest energy machinery producer, announced Thursday that it would build a 26.8-megawatt hydrostation in northern Iraq by July 2010, raising hopes for other Russian firms looking to re-enter the country.

Financial terms for the deal would not be disclosed, Power Machines said in a statement, although an analyst estimated that it was worth $16 million to $18 million. Originally signed in 2001, the contract was suspended shortly after U.S.-led troops toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

"Iraq is rich with hydro- and thermal-energy resources and has a huge potential," Farid Dyomin, head of Power Machine's department for the Middle East and Africa, said by telephone. "Experts estimate that Iraq now plans to build 3,000 megawatts [of capacity] per year, and we want to take an active role."

Construction of the Al-Adayim station marks one of Russia's first steps back into Iraq — where it had a significant presence, particularly in the oil and gas sector — before the invasion.

In March, then-President Vladimir Putin called on Iraq to welcome investment from Russian firms the same day LUKoil chief executive Vagit Alekperov traveled to Baghdad for talks on reviving a $3.7 billion prewar concession for the West-Qurna-2 field.

Last month, LUKoil and Gazprom were among 35 energy majors the Iraqi Oil Ministry shortlisted as eligible to submit tenders to develop six of the country's rich oil fields and two gas fields.

From The Guardian

Russia: Medvedev's missiles hard line dismays west

Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, yesterday launched an outspoken attack on America's European missile defence plans, in the latest sign that policy towards the west is unchanged since Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev denounced the Bush administration's plans to build a missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, allegedly to shoot down a rogue missile fired by Iran. He accused the US of aggravating the situation and promised that Russia would respond appropriately.

"This common [security] heritage cannot survive if one of the sides selectively destroys isolated elements of the strategic construction," Medvedev said, adding: "This doesn't satisfy us."

Addressing Russian ambassadors in Moscow, Medvedev also dubbed Kosovo's US-backed independence illegal and accused the Baltic states of glorifying fascism. "They are shuffling history like a pack of cards," he said.

Medvedev's hard line in one of his first speeches on foreign policy since his May inauguration is likely to disappoint western observers. They hoped his presidency might usher in a more conciliatory era.

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"They hoped his presidency might usher in a more conciliatory era." Did they believe Russia would allow to be bullied, conned and humiliated by concilliation with "West" missiles at their doorstep — just becasue they changed president? They (the west) are the naive ugly ones... but one can only try, can't one? Why don't they try a different approach... Find another way to solve the problem  — if there is a problem, that is...

Putin Gets a Role in Foreign Policy

16 July 2008

By Simon Saradzhyan/ Staff Writer

President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday unveiled a new foreign policy strategy that grants unprecedented rights to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and shows that the Kremlin will maintain the tough course set during Putin's presidency.

The foreign policy strategy, signed by Medvedev on Saturday but released Tuesday to coincide with a keynote speech to ambassadors, says the prime minister will be allowed for the first time to implement foreign policy measures, a right previously assumed to be monopolized by the president.

Amid speculation that presidential powers would be weakened after Putin left the Kremlin, Medvedev said immediately after his election in March that he would retain the presidential right to control foreign policy.

A Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on the redivision of foreign policy powers Tuesday, and the Kremlin did not release further details about the prime minister's new role in foreign policy.

Other than this and several other differences, the new strategy strongly resembles one approved by then-President Putin in 2000, reiterating Russia's interest in reasserting itself as an international player in a multipolar world where UN and international law reign supreme and unilateral actions by countries like the United States are unwelcome.

"The vague and somewhat incomprehensible expectations that there might be some kind of liberalization in foreign policy" under Medvedev have proven unfounded, said Dmitry Trenin, political analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center.

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Gus: Russia will not play the game invented by the west and loaded in favour of the west. They (the west) should realise that... Putin or whomever.