Russia 111005 Basic Political Developments

Investigator in Magnitsky case arrested for taking bribe

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20111005/167401043.html
12:14 05/10/2011

MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti)

An investigator in the case of campaigning lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has been arrested for demanding a $3 million bribe to drop charges against suspected smugglers in an unrelated case.

Maj. Nelly Dmitriyeva accepted part of the pay-off through a third party in August, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor-General's Office told reporters on Wednesday.

"Dmitriyeva called on her acquaintances to take the bribe. On August 23, one of the intermediaries took 50,000 euro and $1,000 in bribes, as well as counterfeit euros and dollars totaling 50 million rubles ($1.5 million)," spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

The bribe-takers were detained red-handed by the security services, Markin said.

Dmitryeva is reported to have been investigating the death of Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody in 2009. Magnitsky was detained on tax evasion charges after accusing a number of law enforcement officials of massive fraud.

Magnitsky, who working on behalf of a British-registered investment company, Hermitage Capital Management, spent a year in Moscow's notorious Butyrka prison before his death.

In July, the Kremlin's rights body said the death was the result of "calculated, deliberate and inhumane neglect."

Moscow to spend $76m on stray dogs and cats

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/cc6b2a38-60b0-4e31-9713-82f17fdfcf47.aspx

October 05, 2011

MOSCOW: Russian authorities are set to allocate over 2.5 billion rubles ($76 million) to care for stray dogs and cats in Moscow over the next three years, the chairperson of the city's ecology committee said on Wednesday.

There are currently 12 shelters able to house 12,500 stray dogs.

This year, 260 million rubles ($23.2 million) were allocated for the purpose.

Russia will spend 798 million rubles ($24 million) in 2012 to sterilise stray animals and keep shelters running.

In 2013, a total of 838 million rubles ($25.6 million) will be allocated, and the spending will further increase to 880 million rubles (almost $27 million) in 2014, said Moscow Ecology Committee spokeswoman Vera Stepanenko.

"As of September 1, approximately 12,000 dogs are being kept in the city's animal shelters, foster owners were found for 3,300 dogs this year," said Anton Velikhovsky, the head Moscow's public utilities and land improvement department.

He said the population of stray dogs in the city is estimated to be between 30,000 and 10,000.

This year, a total of 8,600 animals were caught, and 7,500 of them were sterilised.

Every year the number of stray animals increases by around 5,000 in Moscow.

Indo-Asian News Service
11:08 05/10/2011ALL NEWS

62 people detained, 13 criminal cases opened over forest fires in Bratsk

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/240040.html

MOSCOW, October 5 (Itar-Tass) —— As many as 13 criminal cases were opened in the city of Bratsk, Irkutsk region, over recent forest fires, and 62 persons were detained on suspicion of being involved in arson, a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry’s public order department said on Wednesday.

“Sixty-two persons were detained for violating the fire regime,” the spokesman said. “Apart from than, police are taking effort to expose and bring to responsibility those who were behind setting fire to trees, bushes and grass.”

An emergency regime is still in force in the city of Bratsk and the Bratsk district. Fire fighting operations involve 1,755 men and 119 units of hardware. It is planned to engage more people in the fire fighting operations. It is also planned to use two Il-76 plane of the Russian emergencies ministry.

PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Oct 5

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/press-digest-russia-oct-idUSL5E7L50TT20111005
2:33am EDT

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- Russian tycoon Vladimir Kogan, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is in talks to buy Vozrozhdenie Bank , a top-30 lender by assets, the paper writes, citing sources.

- Russia has exported 10 million tonnes of grain in the last three months, some 33 percent more than in 2008, when Russia recorded a record high harvest.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- Russia's state-controlled oil producer Rosneft may attract a manager from British oil major BP to run the company's strategic policy, the daily says.

- The outflow of capital this year reached $50 billion by October, far outweighing an expected $36 billion, according to a central bank report.

IZVESTIA

www.izvestia.ru

- Russia will be able to deploy its new anti-missile S-500 systems , successor to the S-300 and S-400, only after 2017 at the earliest, the daily reports.

ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA

www.rg.ru

- Nearly a third -- 42 million hectares out of 115 million hectares -- of Russia's ploughed fields have become abandoned or misused in the last ten years.

MOSKOVSKY KOMSOMOLETS

www.mk.ru

- Scientists in Ukraine's Crimea region warn of a possible ecological disaster if even one of the hundreds of chemical containers, discovered on the Black Sea floor around the peninsular, start leaking.

(Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova)

Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, October 5, 2011

http://en.rian.ru/papers/20111005/167396540.html
08:48 05/10/2011

POLITICS

 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will seek the creation of an "Eurasian Union" of former Soviet countries as part of his foreign policy agenda if he is re-elected president next year. (Izvestia)

 Most Russians consider inflation, poor living conditions and dismal communal services as the major problems facing Russian society. (Kommersant, Moscow News)

 ECONOMY & BUSINESS

 Russia's key stock indexes tumbled more than 5 percent on Tuesday as the price of Brent crude oil fell below the $100-a-barrel level for the first time in 45 days. (Kommersant)

 Russia is losing fierce competition with Belarus over lucrative Venezuelan markets. Unlike its Russian companies, Belarusian firms are already extracting oil, building manufacturing plants, railroads and gas pipelines in the oil-rich Latin American country. (Kommersant)

 Russia’s federal budget will allocate additional 150 billion rubles ($4.6 billion) to the support of state-run companies and corporations. (Vedomosti)

 Russian energy giant Gazprom may spend over $8 billion this year to buy 29 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Central Asian countries. (Vedomosti)

 Russia has exported a record 10 million metric tons of grain since lifting the grain export ban three months ago. (Vedomosti)

 The flights of Russia’s troubled Avianova airline will be suspended indefinitely on October 9. The company will have to reimburse passengers about $5 billion for cancelled tickets bought in advance. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

 DEFENSE

 The development of Russia’s formidable S-500 air defense system is lagging behind schedule by at least two years. (Izvestia)

 WORLD

 South Ossetia has introduced travel restrictions on Russian citizens and other foreigners as a security measure ahead of November’s presidential election. (Kommersant, Moscow Times, Moscow News)

SOCIETY

 The State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, has approved a bill stipulating chemical castration for pedophiles, in a bid to crack down on sex crime against minors. (Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moscow News)

 Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky are facing off in a London court, where Berezovsky is suing Abramovich for $5 billion on allegations of breach of trust and breach of contract. (Moscow Times, Moscow News)

 The Moscow government has adopted one of its most ambitious and expensive programs - “Healthcare in Moscow in 2012-2016” allocating over 1 trillion rubles ($30.5 billion) on improving the situation with healthcare in the Russian capital for the next five years. (Izvestia)

 Russia will soon adopt an amended Civil Code designed to protect privacy of the Russian citizens. One of the amendments stipulates a ban on posting confidential personal information on the internet without prior consent of individuals. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

CRIME

 Moscow police have intercepted the sale of a computerized database containing 500 Gigabytes of personal data of millions of Russian citizens. (Moscow News)

 SPORTS

 “If it were not for the lockout in the NBA, I would continue to play overseas” - interview with the best Russian basketball player Andrei Kirilenko upon his return to Russia. (Izvestia)

  For more details on all the news in Russia today, visit our website at http://en.rian.ru.