NEWS, 26.05.2012.

I made Russia a freer country: Medvedev

 

President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia had become a freer nation during his four-year term, citing the mass protests of recent months as evidence of change."Spring has come to us, both literally and figuratively. I congratulate you," Medvedev said in a live television interview, his last before he hands the presidency back to Vladimir Putin."Freedom," Medvedev sighed and smiled, "is such a unique feeling that everyone interprets differently."Freedom is a sense of self. And in this sense we've done a lot," he told a group of liberal journalists,who are usually sidelined for their sceptical stance towards the government.Medvedev's political mentor Putin, who became his prime minister after being barred by the constitution from serving more than two successive presidential terms, announced plans in September to return to the Kremlin in a job swap with his close ally.That announcement coupled with fraud-tainted parliamentary polls in December led to the largest protests since the Soviet era, when tens of thousands rallied in Moscow protesting Putin's comeback.Protests lose stingBoth Medvedev and Putin have in the past sought to stress that the protests were the hallmark of a democratic society, and introduced cosmetic political reforms that many analysts called a concession to protesters."Let's ask people who took to various squares whether they are free or not," Medvedev said."It is not important who they support: 'the white', 'the red' or 'the blue'. I am absolutely confident that the overwhelming majority of them will say: 'Yes, I am free because I stand here, I have my own position, I do not like a lot, or on the contrary, I like practically everything, don't you dare touch it. I am free'.""The current accelerated movement towards democracy will not lead to chaos," Medvedev added. "Society has matured."The nascent protest movement has lost much of its sting since Putin's crushing 4 March presidential victory, although it still hopes to muster another major demonstration in Moscow the day before Putin's 7 May inauguration.Medvedev defended his decision to cede the country's top job which has earned him mockery from the liberal opposition and many ordinary Russians calling him a mere seat-warmer incapable of promoting true reform.Hunger strike"We've achieved the political results we were hoping for," said Medvedev, who expects to be appointed prime minister when Putin moves back to the Kremlin."The decisions that were announced in September have been confirmed by political practice and it, as we know, is a criterion of truth.""We've thought it all up not to warm ourselves up but to receive a concrete political result. And we've received it, we've received a mandate to rule," he said.But the outgoing president also spoke disparagingly of the recent 40-day hunger strike by opposition politician Oleg Shein in the southern city of Astrakhan in protest at alleged violations in mayoral elections that he contested."I do not blame anyone. But 'Hunger Games' - I will remind you, is a rather mediocre Hollywood blockbuster, I don't know whether you've watched it or not, I have - whoever does it very often pursues a very obvious political goal."He defended his presidential decisions including the sacking of governors and the reform of the bloated police force, reiterating that Russia's most prominent prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky would not be allowed to walk free unless he asked for pardon."Without a request there cannot be a review. This is my firm position."Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky is set to stay in jail until 2016 after being convicted in two fraud trials in what his supporters say is a case of personal vendetta on the part of Putin.

 

Iran: Enriched uranium traces a 'technical issue'

 

A top Iranian nuclear negotiator said that traces of enriched uranium discovered at an underground bunker came from a "routine technical issue," the country's official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, was responding to a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that said it had found radioactive traces at an Iranian nuclear site. The uranium found had been enriched to a level that is slightly closer to the threshold needed for nuclear weapons than Iran's previous highest-known enrichment grade.The IAEA said in the confidential report obtained Friday by The Associated Press that it was asking Tehran for a full explanation about the traces. But the report was careful to avoid any suggestion that Iran was intentionally increasing the level of its uranium enrichment.Tehran said the find was a technical glitch, according to the report. Analysts and diplomats said Iran's version sounded plausible.The West suspects Iran is pursuing a weapons program. Tehran denies the charge, saying its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful purposes like power generation and cancer treatment.Soltanieh said the report on Iran's nuclear activities was "historic evidence" that proved the peaceful nature of Iranian nuclear activities, while the uranium discovery was blown out of proportion for political reasons."This issue shows that some intend to damage the existing constructive cooperation between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency," he was quoted as saying.The higher the enrichment, the easier it becomes to re-enrich uranium to the 90 percent needed for weapons grade. As a result, the finding of traces at 27 percent at the Fordo enrichment plant in central Iran sparked international interest.Iran denies any plans to develop nuclear weapons, but has for years declined offers of reactor fuel from abroad, including more recent inducements of 20-percent material if it stops Aproducing at that level. The Islamic Republic says it wants to continue producing 20 percent uranium to fuel its research reactor and for medical purposes.But its refusal to accept foreign offers has increased fears Tehran may want to turn its enrichment activities toward producing such arms. The concerns have been fed by IAEA suspicions that Iran has experimented on components of an atomic arms program — suspicions Tehran also denies.The report cited a May 9 letter from Iranian officials suggesting any enrichment at 27 percent was inadvertent. The letter said the particles were produced "above the target value" and could have been for "technical reasons beyond the operator's control."But the IAEA report did detail some progress in talks between the U.N. nuclear agency and Iran that the agency hopes will relaunch a long-stalled probe into the suspicions that Tehran has worked on nuclear-weapons related experiments.Amano will handover the report on Iran's nuclear activities to the board of directors of the agency later in June.IRNA also reported that Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said Saturday that Tehran will not open the Parchin site until the agency convinces the country it is necessary."If a visit to Parchin is to happen, they should convince us in advance. So far, no reason and evidence has been handed to us," Abbas was quoted as saying.After a short visit to Tehran last week, Amano said Iran and the agency will sign an agreement on inspection to the site, soon.

NEWS,16.03.2012.

Greece receives second multibillion-dollar bailout

The euro zone's temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, will contribute 109.1 billion euros to the second Greek bailout after covering the costs of the Greek debt swap. The IMF will contribute 28 billion euros on top of the 109.1 billion, which the Fund will pay to Greece over four years, rather than the three years envisaged in the euro zone financing plan. The 109.1 billion figure includes 48 billion euros that the EFSF will provide, in the form of its own bonds, to recapitalise Greek banks, over the next few weeks, Regling told several international news agencies.” That means 61 billion euros is left for normal programme financing," he said in comments for release on Friday. The EFSF figure does not include the 30 billion euros that the euro zone has provided as a sweetener for investors in the privately held debt restructuring, or the 5.5 billion euros of repayment of accrued interest. Regling said the EFSF has provided 26.6 billion euros of the sweetener for investors holding debt governed by Greek law.” Once the debt exchange offer has been completed on Greek sovereign bonds issued under international law and Greek corporate and municipal bonds, guaranteed by the Greek state, the amount of the PSI (private sector involvement) contribution could increase to a total of 30 billion euros," Regling said. Investors holding Greek bonds issued under international law have until March 23 to accept or reject a debt swap offer already widely accepted by those holding Greek-law bonds. The EFSF, which has a total lending capacity of 440 billion euros thanks to guarantees from euro zone governments, has issued 6-month bills worth 4.6 billion euros to repay accrued interest on Greek debt out of the 5.5-billion-euro total. If holders of Greek debt under international law decide to accept the debt swap too, they will get the remaining 900 million euros. The second bailout for Greece, financed by the EFSF, comes on top of the fund's commitments to Ireland and Portugal, the two other euro zone countries that have been cut off from the markets and need euro zone loans to avoid bankruptcy.” Overall the EFSF has committed 192 billion euros for the three programmes of Ireland, Portugal and Greece. This leaves 248 billion euros of uncommitted resources," Regling said. Under a preliminary funding plan, which is subject to market conditions, the EFSF expects to raise a total of 8.1 billion euros for Ireland in 2012 and 2 billion euros in 2013.For Portugal, the EFSF wants to raise 13.9 billion euros in 2012, 3.6 billion euros in 2013 and 1.7 billion euros in 2014.To service the Greek programme, the EFSF's preliminary funding plan envisages 32.2 billion euros in 2012, 32.3 billion euros in 2013 and 32.1 billion euros in 2014.Next week, the fund may issue its longest bond so far of between 20 and 30 years in maturity in an auction of 1-to-1.5 billion euros, depending on market conditions. The EFSF also plans to sell 2 billion euros' worth of 6-month bills on March 20 and is considering the sale of a benchmark 5-year bond on March 22.

'Dummy' journalist annoys Sarkozy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was caught on camera calling a journalist a "dummy", in an outburst his Socialist election rival Francois Hollande condemned as vulgar and undignified. Sarkozy has earned a reputation for blunt speaking during his five-year presidency. In the run-up to April's first round presidential vote, he appears to have been at pains to shed that image. But during a visit to Chalons-sur-Marne, east of Paris, he appeared to lose patience with a young journalist when questioned about clashes between police and striking steel workers in the capital on Thursday.” Do you think I give a damn about what you say? What do you expect me to say?" he says, adding: "What a dummy!” He then turned back smiling to the journalist and slapped him on the shoulder, apologizing for the comment and saying: "He's nice really. He's young.” Socialist candidate Francois Hollande blasted Sarkozy in the wake of the incident accusing him of slipping back into the "excesses" and "vulgarity" that had marked his five-year term."Do you think that's the best way to conduct a dignified public debate?" he said on France 2 television. Some 150 workers from the Arcelor Mittal steel mill at Floranges in eastern France gathered outside Sarkozy's campaign headquarters in Paris earlier in the day to protest at the threatened closure of the plant and push for a solution. The protest turned violent as workers tried to break through a police line, prompting riot police to fire tear gas to put an end to the demonstration. Sarkozy's comments came only hours after he had himself criticized his rival Hollande for losing his temper, referring to the Socialist candidate's heated campaign speech in Marseilles a day earlier.” There’s no need to get angry, tense up, to be nasty or aggressive," he told journalists on the side lines of an earlier visit to a metal factory.Sarkozy has been dogged by a reputation for inflammatory language since he captured the headlines during his 2007 presidential campaign with a call to rid the Paris suburbs of young "scum”. In 2008 he was caught on camera telling a man at an agricultural fair to "get lost, jerk", a phrase that would haunt him throughout his presidency. That, combined with his whirlwind romance with model-turned-singer Carla Bruni and his friendships with wealthy businessmen, alienated many voters.Sarkozy has consistently trailed Hollande in polls of voting intentions, but overtook his arch-rival in the first-round vote in an IFOP poll this week. Second-round polls still show Hollande as the outright winner. The latest daily rolling poll of voting intentions by IFOP for magazine Paris Match, showed Sarkozy taking 28% of the vote in the first round on April 22, against 26.5%  for Hollande.Hollande would still win in a second-round runoff, with 53.5% of votes.