Russia 100414 Basic Political Developments

RUVR: Olympic construction in Sochi ahead of schedule - IOC

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/04/14/6397532.html
Apr 14, 2010 10:25 Moscow Time

Construction of Olympic sports facilities in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics, is ahead of schedule, an International Olympic Committee delegation has said during a regular inspection tour. Mountain ski tracks at the Roza Khutor resort site and the first level of the Grand Ice Palace seating 12,000 spectators are almost ready. About 50 km of railway and parallel motor road from the local airport to Krasnaya Polyana have already been laid. Several tunnels are being built.  

Reuters: UPDATE 1-Russia's Usmanov not ruling out Arsenal bid

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63D08720100414
3:00am EDT

* Red & White Holdings "retains all its options"

* Says remains "committed long-term investor"

(Adds detail)

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Red & White Holdings, the investment vehicle of Russian steel magnate Alisher Usmanov, has left the door ajar for a takeover of Premier League soccer club Arsenal , saying it will keep all options open.

In a statement on Tuesday, Red & White, which currently holds a 26 percent stake in the north London-based club, said it remained a "committed long-term investor".

"At this stage Red & White retains all its options and does not wish for the purposes of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers to reduce its future flexibility and accordingly no particular course of action is ruled in or out," it said.

The chances of an offer for the club materialising intensified this week after one of its biggest shareholders, Nina Bracewell-Smith, hired U.S. private equity firm Blackstone to find a buyer for her 16 percent stake. [ID:nLDE63B1V0]

That led to speculation that either Usmanov or U.S. sports tycoon Stan Kroenke, who has a 29.9 percent stake, could make a bid for the club.

If either of them were to acquire Bracewell-Smith's stake, it would take them over the 30 percent threshold which requires a formal offer to be made for the business under City takeover rules.

However, the chances of Kroenke making a bid diminished on Tuesday when he made a surprise move to buy the St Louis Rams American football team. He had been expected to sell his 40 percent holding in the NFL outfit, possibly to fund a takeover of Arsenal.

Arsenal currently sit third in the Premier League and remain in with a chance of winning the title for the first time since 2004.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Paul Sandle)

Apa.az: Moscow Mayor Yuriy Lujkov issues order to build Muslim Magomayev’s monument in Russian capital

http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=119932

[ 14 Apr 2010 11:45 ]

Baku. Lachin Sultanova – APA. Moscow Mayor Yuriy Lujkov issued an order to build famous singer Muslim Magomayev’s monument in the center of Moscow, APA reports quoting RIA-Novosty.

The bronze monument with granite plinth will be built by sculptor Alexander Rukavishnikov.

The project was ordered by Araz Agalarov’s Crocus International Company.

Renovation of the territory and installation of the monument will be agreed with a contractor company in the next few days.

14 April 2010, 10:54

Interfax: Media review: Islamic Puppeteers

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7161
Russian Islamic policy is being performed by a small company where all parts are cast in accordance with the rules of a classic thriller production - from king to swindler.

Will Kadyrov become a Muslim vice-president of the Russian Federation?

Moscow Metro bombings made President Dmitry Medvedev threaten "dagger thrusts" on terrorists. The Kremlin has not yet given any more insight into the Islamic problem. "To develop economy, education, and culture, and strengthen ethical and moral components" - this is, strictly speaking, the only brief selection of prescriptions for a "sick Moslem" which federal authorities thought fit to (or could) write out. In this form these recommendations may be compared to such advice as "you need to have your stomach, ears, feet and eyes treated."

Different groups of the heterogeneous (if not to say - motley) Moslem community of Russia are in a hurry to fill out a vacant form of the "Islamic policy" with their own content. But only one such group has moved beyond posting its political program on the Internet to create its real political structures at the federal level. This group is represented by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov's federal concept involves creating a "Social Federalist Party" (SFP) which is in the near future to form a bipartisan political system resembling the US one together with the United Russia party. Chechen leader's advisers view SFP to be similar to the Turkish Justice and Development Party chaired by Tayyip Erdogan. A new party will be naturally based on the Muslim population of Russia. The party's leader will presumably hold a post of the country's vice-president which should be established by amending the Constitution the Russian Federation.

According to the model developed by Kadyrov's advisers, the SFP shall be created on the platform of the "basic Muslim culture", since "nothing else unites the Northern Caucasus and the region of the Urals and the Volga River." Shifting the emphasis from religion to "culture" means, among other things, that Kadyrov's followers are seeking to introduce Muslim representatives of big and medium business into Islamic structures, along with religious leaders.

Dirty linen from mosque

An idea to unite Russian Muslims under the aegis of one organization and one and by all means Chechen leader was first voiced as far back as 2004 by Ahmad Kadyrov, a deceased father of the current Chechen President. The practice of establishing "representative offices of the President of the Chechen Republic" in the large Russian cities was started at that time. To some extent, it is related to strengthening general positions of the Caucasus Muslims in Russia. The day when Kazan and Ufa are going to give up their positions of the major Muslim capitals to Grozny and Makhachkala seems to be not far away.

However, the first step to establish the federal Islamic structure was made in Ufa. In December last year, the leaders of three largest Muslim organizations - the Russian Council of Muftis (CMP), Russia's Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims (CSGM), and Coordination Center for Muslims of the Northern Caucasus (CCM) - met in Ufa. Soon after, Kadyrov made an official statement that he "expressly" supported the idea to unite all Muslims of Russia.

The meeting participants decided to establish two wings within a new organization - a socio-political and a religious one. Ramzan Kadyrov was offered to govern Islamic policy of the country and Ravil Gainutdin, the head of CMP, received a proposal to provide religious instruction to Muslims. The socio-political wing put into effect the part of Kadyrov's federal concept which was intended to introduce representatives of Islamic business and bureaucracy into high politics. A well known Islamic expert Roman Silantyev noted that "immunity against resignations (for public officials), "dekulakization" (seizure of property) (for oligarchs) and legal prosecution for resources embezzlement and connections to extremists (for community leaders) would be an additional but very important bonus for secular Islamic leaders."

This union has immediately given rise to scandals of mostly criminal nature. It was rumored that the head of CSGM Talgat Tajuddin was offered one million euro as a payoff. (Tajuddin initially insisted that the integration should be made around his "central spiritual governance".)

Even more incredible seemed rumors that there had been "a conflict with the application of physical force" between Sheikh Gainutdin and his council on economic and legal matters Farit Farisov. They, however, decided not to wash their dirty linen in public, moreover, sheikh preferred not to complicate his relations with his indispensable assistant. Little is known about Farisov, in particular, that he has a master degree in boxing, and was employed by the Spektr security agency. His name was once associated with the Kazan organized crime group, allegedly, because Farisov was put on the list of wanted persons by St. Petersburg Department of Internal Affairs in 1995 upon the request of the 1st department of the Kazan Regional Office for Organized Crime (RUOP). Since 2000, however, if his official CV to be believed, Farisov has been appointed a council to the President of Chechnya.

Gradually, it became known that less than ten people were actually involved in the promotion of Kadyrov's concept to create a federal party. In charge of the process were the above mentioned Farisov and the former deputy of the State Duma Abdul-Vahed Niyazov who was the main negotiator and ideologist of this campaign.

The hustling

Niyazov mostly owes his success to do an impossible thing - put constantly conflicting Muslim leaders at one negotiating table - to his wife. She is in a unique position, because she is a nephew of Tajuddin and at the same time, a sister of Gainutdin's wife. The rest of success in building the union belongs completely to Niyazov himself, a 41-year old General Director of the Islamic Cultural Center (ICC).

Different people noted his extraordinary abilities as negotiator. For instance, when he as a newly elected deputy of the 3rd State Duma thought it improper not to have a higher education degree, he managed to "fast-talk" four years of study in the Russian State Humanitarian University within only four months and was qualified as "document manager" as early as in summer of 2000. According to law enforcement bodies report, Niyazov acted as a mediator between the interested circles of the Saudi Arabia and representatives of the so called Chechen rebellion.

In a word, Niyazov has an extraordinary talent to penetrate the most unexpected places. Thus, in 1999, he created an Islamist movement Refah. Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Sergey Shoigu who at that time was the leading figure of the voting list of the future party in power made an imprudent official statement that Refax is nothing less than "an organization forming a block of the Unity (Yedinstvo) party". Now Shoigu always loses his temper when someone mentions the name of this ambitious Islamic activist in his presence, and Refax has long passed into oblivion.

Before that, in 1994, Niyazov was involved in establishing the Union of the Russian Muslims and the Highest Coordination Center of Spiritual Governance. Both organizations have ceased to exist now.

In 1997, Niyazov in association with radical mufti Nafigullah Ashirov organized the Interregional Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Siberia and the Far East. (Police files record Ashirov as a habitual criminal: in 1971, he was convicted for robbery in Tyumen, was released from prison, and almost immediately landed in jail again, this time for disorderly behavior.)

Niyazov has gained extensive experience in creating different kinds of Islamic structures. He created the only organization which cannot be sold or bought - it is the above mentioned Islamic Cultural Center. The inspection conducted this year by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation showed that the Center exists on paper only. It has no money on its accounts, and the tax service was waiting for their financial statements in vain for the last three years. The list of this "cultural center" members consists of one person only - its founder.

When Niyazov announced the decision of the Islamic Cultural Center to pay one million rubles for "reliable information" about initiators of the bomb attack on the Moscow Metro, insiders resented the idea. If this organization has nothing on its accounts, the statement must be just hearsay. Jafar Ponchayev, mufti of St. Petersburg, referred to this initiative as "PR on blood".

But it would be fairer to use a more common word for this initiative - "advertisement". Niyazov's commercial project - turnkey sale of Islamic organizations - is a win-win business. He never loses, anyway. If the SFP proves successful, Niyazov moves to the Kremlin following his powerful patrons and receives the state budget at his own disposal. If the new party loses the first round of parliamentary elections, Niyazov assigns his votes to a large federal structure for a price. In the last case, only personal ambitions of the Chechen leader would be harmed.

Alexey CHELNOKOV

"Argumenty Nedely" Russian weekly
April 8, 2010

POLISH PLANE CRASH

Georgian Times: Pole MP Apologizes for Blaming Russia for Smolensk Air Crash

http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=21220

Pole MP Artur Gurski has apologized for blaming Russia for the Smolensk air crash, the Novie Izvestia newspaper says.

According to the MP, he made the statement in ‘a state of a profound shock’ just in several hours after the air crush.
The Tu-154 passenger plane with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and a delegation of senior officials, crashed some 300-400 meters from the runway near the Russian city of Smolensk on Saturday while landing in heavy fog.
All 96 people on board died.
Kaczynski was on his way to a ceremony in nearby Katyn to commemorate the memory of some 20,000 Polish officers killed by Soviet secret police during the World War ll. IPN 2010.04.14 11:43