The Gazprom tower, which threatens to imperil St Petersburg's UNESCO heritage status, has been the subject of several public protests of late and, as you may remember, some imaginative headlines.  Now the  project seems to have encountered a new adversary.  An article in today's Moscow Times reports that two state channels have offered contrasting opinions on the potential new HQ, which could signal a government rift.  A Channel One report harshly criticized the plans.  Interviewee Valentina Matviyenko, St. Petersburg Governor and tower approver, seemed to backtrack with a suggestion that the plans would have to wait for 'serious government assessment' before going ahead.  Meanwhile Gazprom's media organ NTV heartily endorsed the project (no surprises there).  Conservationists have noted ...

Fresh off a deal with Venezuela, Russia's weapons maker appears to have its next willing customer in Saudi Arabia.

First reported in English language press on August 29 (Interfax via Bloomberg), we now have significantly more detail on the slow-drip revelation of an upcoming Saudi arms purchase from Russia.

What began as a $2 billion deal involving "150 helicopters, more than 150 battle tanks, about 250 infantry carriers and several dozen air-defense systems" has now become the following, according to Interfax via UPI earlier this month and yesterday, and Gulf News:

30 Mi-35 attack helicopters Up to 120 Mi-171B multipurpose transport helicopters150 T-90s battle tanks 250 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehiclesThe "air-defense" system in question appears to be the S-400, said to have twice the target range of the US Patriot counterpart and capable ...

From Interfax:Russia's ex-prime minister and leader of the Russian People's Democratic Union Mikhail Kasyanov has claimed he is ready to appear as a witness in the trial of former head of the defunct oil company Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev.

"I am ready to appear in court for hearings in the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev case and to answer all questions," Kasyanov told Interfax on Friday, when asked to comment on claims by Khodorkovsky's defense, that several persons, among them Kasyanov, have been summoned to court as witnesses.

Kasyanov also said that, "during his tenure as prime minister he was critical of the law enforcement agencies' moves from the first day of Lebedev and Khodorkovsky's arrest." "Later, after examining individual aspects of the indictment, I declared that the case was politically motivated," he said.

Looks like the procuracy is going to have to take a mulligan on the trial of Anna Politkovskaya's killers.  The Supreme Court issued a decision today overturning the not guilty verdict for Sergei Khajikurbanov, Ibrahim Makhmudov and Dzhebrayl Makhmudov, which Karinna Moskalenko calls "part of the game."  The Financial Times has the story:

Neither the murderer, nor the person who ordered the contract-style killing, have been found.

"It is desirable that this case is brought to an end, it is a question of honour," Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the parliament's civil law committee, told Interfax. "Politkovskaya was a person of conscience, it is important for everybody that her killer is found."

Karinna Moskalenko, who represented Ms Politkovskaya's family in the trial, said the murder investigation had been inadequate and the victim's rights had been violated.

"We need answers to difficult, but at the same time simple questions.

...

Here's a write-up of Russia's beautifully liberal concept of emissions reductions.  From The Guardian:Russia plans to release 30 percent more greenhouse gases by 2020 under an emissions target scheme announced on Friday by President Dmitry Medvedev. "Based on the current situation by 2020 we could cut emissions by about 10-15 percent," Medvedev told Russian state television, according to a copy of his comments supplied by the Kremlin. Arkady Dvorkovich, the Kremlin's chief economic adviser, later clarified to Interfax news agency that the reduction would be from 1990 levels, before the Soviet Union fell and Russia's heavy industry collapsed.

It would be hard for anyone to disagree with what the Russian president said today:

"As regards the fight against corruption, it is clear that we are at the very start of this path. Nobody is feeling dizzy with success. There is actually no success so far," Medvedev was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

"We were striving to set up a legislative framework for these actions for the first time in 20 years."

However, inevitably the question comes back to the growing gap between well meaning rhetoric and political realities.  As we can see from Jason Corcoran at the Guardian, there is no shortage of journalists willing to drink the kool-aid.  Let's hope he is right that promises from this government to eradicate legal nihilism are "no longer utterly hollow." ...

For as often as we hear the pained and repetitive declarations from Gazprom officials about Russia being a normal, regular, and reliable supplier of energy, once in a while we still get threats like this one from energy czar Igor Sechin:Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said on Thursday transit risks remain for Russian gas deliveries to Europe, Interfax news agency reported."From our point of view, risks remain. We have not yet reached guaranteed stability and we are prepared to clarify our position on this issue," Interfax quoted Sechin, who oversees Russia's energy sector, as saying.Sechin was speaking at a conference alongside EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who is no stranger to the use of energy supplies as a political weapon, Gazprom's monopoly, and was a major proponent of the new unbundling regulations. ...

Several news outlets are reporting that a Russian court today has granted parole to the former Yukos lawyer, political prisoner, and mother of three Svetlana Bakhmina.  Here is an excerpt from the Moscow Times:The Preobrazhensky District Court granted parole to Bakhmina, who was serving a 6 1/2-year term being convicted in April 2006 on charges of embezzlement and tax evasion.   She is one of several senior Yukos officials to be jailed since the company came under fire in 2003. Her bid to be released has become a cause celebre among prominent liberals and has even been backed by Kremlin supporters. Several members of the Public Chamber have called for her release, as has former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.   ...

Russia’s current woes can be readily summed up in just one single variable – the value of the ruble – and this value, as we all know, is falling. Almost uncontrollably so.br /br /blockquoteThe bank’s target will be “very quickly” breached without more intervention, said Gaelle Blanchard of Societe Generale SA in London. “Right now the market is convinced it wants to see the ruble lower,” Blanchard said. “As long as the central bank gives these targets, then speculators are going to have something to aim for.”br /br //blockquoteblockquote“The market is testing whether the authorities see this band as something permanent or something that will move,” said Lars Rassmussen, an emerging markets analyst at Danske Bank A/S. “Our view is that they’ll move it because it’s not worth wasting the reserves for a band that is obviously not wide enough.”/blockquoteblockquoteFirst Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov expressed regret that the general …

strong/stronga href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SVFAWkhXc8I/AAAAAAAAL3k/ueQYKIgYSc0/s1600-h/hrvynia.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283074594387227586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 159px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SVFAWkhXc8I/AAAAAAAAL3k/ueQYKIgYSc0/s320/hrvynia.png" border="0" //abr /br /blockquotep“In Ukraine, the evidence is still that policymakers do not quite understand the seriousness of the challenges they face,”. Timothy Ash, analyst at the Royal Bank of Scotland. /pp“There is a burgeoning economic crisis in the European periphery,” Krugman said on the ABC network Dec. 14. “The money has dried up. That’s the new center, the center of this crisis has moved from the U.S. housing market to the European periphery.” /p/blockquoteMake no mistake about it. What is taking place right now in Ukraine is extraordinarily serious. The IMF have recently agreed a support loan to the country, but the politicians themselves still can't agree on whether or not they are actually going to abide by the conditions attached to it. Meantime, as we can all see on ...