The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Fedayeen]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Great thread!!

Thank you

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Vimpelcom buys Armenia telco for 382 mln euros

MOSCOW, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Russia's number two mobile phone company Vimpelcom said on Friday it had signed a deal to buy 90 percent of Armenian Armentel from Greece's largest telecoms operator OTE <OTEr.AT> for a total of 382 million euros. Vimpelcom said in a statement it would pay 341.9 million euros for the stake and assume around 40 million euros in net debt and obligations. Armentel is a fixed-line operator in Armenia with mobile licences on the GSM-900 and CDMA standards. It has 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000 GSM clients.

"With approximately 40 percent mobile market share, Armentel occupies a strong position in the Armenian market and we will work to enhance the position," the statement quoted Vimpelcom Chief Executive Alexander Izosimov as saying. OTE bought Armentel in 1998 but said earlier this year it would sell it because the unit was not in line with its strategic focus. In June, OTE short-listed four bidders, including Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat and Russian conglomerate Sistema <SSAq.L>.

The bidding was over on Sept. 18 and since then the market has been rife with rumours as to who won the tender. The world mobile phone market is now short of acquisition targets with cash-rich international majors hunting for purchases to expand beyond their satiated markets. Russian cellphone companies are also joining the rush as the penetration on the local market is over 100 percent.

Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...M-UPDATE-1.XML

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia wants extensive changes to U.N. Iran measure

http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...1-ArticlePage3

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6111188.stm

Russian marchers defy Moscow ban

Ultra-nationalists and far-right demonstrators have rallied in the Russian capital, Moscow, defying a ban on their march by the city's mayor.

Fewer than 2,000 protesters turned up - lower than expected - and dozens were arrested, local media reported.

Some carried religious icons, others gave Nazi-style salutes as they delivered a message of opposition to immigrants and immigrant workers.

There was a huge police presence for the march on National Unity Day.

'Ideology of lies'

Protesters gathered in a central Moscow square, met by several hundred police officers, some in riot gear.

One banner read: "Don't confuse German fascists with Russian patriots."

The protesters called for special privileges for ethnic Russians and more restrictions on immigrant workers.

One protest organiser, Alexander Belov, said there were demonstrations in more than 20 cities - including St Petersburg, Krasnodar in southern Russia and Novosibirsk in Siberia.

Police in St Petersburg reportedly broke up a fight between right and left-wing protesters, detaining dozens.

A counter-protest in Moscow by left-wing demonstrators drew about 500 people carrying banners with slogans such as "Russian Anti-Fascist Front" and "I am Russian and therefore not a fascist."

One left-wing protester, Svetlana Gannushkina, said: "We have to protest this ideology of lies and hate,"

About 30 people were also arrested at a demonstration in Kiev, in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, when fighting broke out between pro-Russian and nationalist Ukraine demonstrators.

The BBC's Steven Eke in Moscow says organised protests by far-right groups in Russia have become increasingly common in recent years.

The anti-immigration message is increasingly catching on in Russia, he says, and Russian society at large seems to be becoming increasingly intolerant of minorities.

Monitoring groups say 39 people have been killed and hundreds attacked so far this year in apparent hate crimes.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov had banned the rally in the capital this year in a bid to prevent any repeat of last year's demonstration when hundreds of ultra-nationalists shouted far-right slogans.

That march dominated the new 4 November Public Unity holiday which replaced the 7 November public holiday marking the 1917 Bolshevik uprising.

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

ARMENIA SELLING MORE INFRASTRUCTURE, INDUSTRY TO RUSSIA

In his November 6 news conference, Armenia’s de facto strongman and presidential aspirant Serge Sarkisian welcomed the just-consummated purchase of the Armentel telecommunications company by the Russian giant Vympelcom. Sarkisian is defense minister as well as secretary of the national security council (supervising the security agencies), and concurrently the head of the Armenian side in the Armenia-Russia Economic Cooperation Commission, thus also in charge of Armenia’s economic relations with Russia. “I don’t see any risk at all in the growth of Russian capital in our country,” Sarkisian averred (Interfax, November 6).

Indeed he has, along with his long-time political ally President Robert Kocharian, overseen the process of transferring Armenia’s infrastructure and industrial assets to Russian interests. On October 31-November 1 in Moscow, Kocharian finalized the handover of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline and the Hrazdan electricity generating plant’s fifth power bloc, the leading unit in the country, to Gazprom in return for temporary price relief on Russian gas (see EDM, November 3). Low-priced gas is only a recent rationale for selling infrastructure assets to Russia. In 2002-2005, the rationale was debt relief. Kocharian and Sarkisian oversaw the transfer of state-owned industries to Russia in debt-for-assets swaps.

Vympelcom announced on November 3 in Moscow the purchase of a 90% stake in Armentel from the Greek owner, Hellenic Telecommunications (OTE). Vympelcom is paying $ 434 million in cash and assumes an additional $ 52 million in OTE debt. OTE had bought Armentel from the Armenian government in 1997 for $142.5 million and invested a reported $300 million in it since then. Armentel currently has a 40% to 50% share of Armenia’s mobile telephone market and operates the country’s fixed-line telephony network. The Armenian government retains a 10% stake in Armentel. According to government data (Arminfo, November 3), Armentel has until now been Armenia’s second-largest taxpayer.

During Kocharian’s Moscow visit last week, Russia’s Comstar Telesystems announced the acquisition of Armenia’s telecommunications company CallNet and its subsidiary, the Internet service provider Cornet. The fast-growing Callnet and Cornet comprise the second-largest telecommunications group in Armenia. The Russian Comstar is acquiring a 75% stake in that group for an as yet undisclosed price, with an option to purchase the remaining 25%.

Also during Kocharian’s visit, Russia’s state-owned Foreign Trade Bank (Vneshtorgbank) announced its intention to acquire the remaining 30% of shares in what used to be Armenia’s Savings Bank. The Vneshtorgbank had in 2004 acquired 70% of the shares in that bank, which became Vneshtorgbank Armenia. The tycoon Mikhail Bagdasarov owns the remaining 30% and is negotiating the sale to the Russian Vneshtorgbank (Kommersant, SKRIN Market and Corporate News, October 30-31).

On the eve of Kocharian’s Moscow visit, Sarkisian presided over the ceremony marking the completion of the ArmenAl plant’s overhaul by Russian Aluminum (RusAl). The Yerevan-based ArmenAl, a major producer of aluminum foil, idled in the 1990s, was acquired in 2002 by RusAl, which two years later subcontracted the overhaul to Germany’s Achenbach firm for $80 million (RFE/RL Armenia Report, Armenpress, October 26).

In September of this year, the Russian state-owned Inter-RAO UES (a subsidiary of Russia’s Unified Energy Systems state monopoly) completed the acquisition of the Electricity Networks of Armenia in full ownership from the British-based Midland Holdings. Apart from the transmission networks, Russia’s UES owns and operates some 80% percent of Armenia’s electricity generation capacities and is the financial manager of Armenia’s Nuclear Power Plant.

During his meeting with Kocharian in the Kremlin on October 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin professed to feel that the level of Russian investment in Armenia is too low, “strangely and shamefully” so. Widely cited in Armenia, this remark seems disingenuous on several counts. Russia is by far the largest investor overall in post-Soviet Armenia. Putin’s estimation apparently did not include the transactions-in-progress that are being finalized now. Unlike Western investors, Russian ones are focusing on Armenia’s strategic assets and infrastructure as the economic basis for political influence and control. Putin’s remark seems designed to goad official Yerevan into selling more assets to Russian interests, in which case Yerevan would have to start scraping the bottom of the assets barrel.

Source: http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2371620

[crusader1492]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I would like to know your opinions on this recent development (read the article below).
I really can't see this being good for Armenia as Azerbaijan will now have leverage to "negociate" with Russia over the politically unsolved NKR issue. In short, I think Azerbaijan would do anything for Russia as long as Russia pledged to help get Artsakh back within Azeri control.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg168648.html

ILKHAM ALIYEV CHANGES ROUTES
Dmitry Butrin

RusData Dialine - Russian Press Digest
November 9, 2006 Thursday

Azeri President to hold talks with Vladimir Putin

Today Russian President Vladimir Putin will suggest to Azerbaijani
President Ilkham Aliyev, who is visiting Moscow after a trip to
Brussels to meet with European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso, that he decide whether Azerbaijan intends to continue with its
"strategic partnership" with Russia. If Azerbaijan responds positively,
Moscow will request Baku's cooperation in Russia's struggle with
Georgia and will offer Russian arms and investment by UES Russia and
RusAl in return.

President Aliyev's visit to Europe unnerved the Kremlin chiefly
because of Azerbaijan's projected defense spending for 2007: the
country will spend $1 billion on the military next year, up from $600
million currently. Russia fears that this could be a preliminary step
towards membership in NATO. If Azerbaijan joins neighboring Georgia
in a NATO bid, the ex-Soviet Caucasus could end up hosting NATO and
American military bases as the West seeks to control Iran.

In an effort to forestall the possibility of NATO bases near its
southern border, Russia is attempting to lure Azerbaijan back to its
own camp with promises of increased sales of cut-rate Russian-made
weapons. Russia has been curtailing its arms trade with Azerbaijan,
fearing to fan the flames of Azerbaijan's long-standing feud with
neighboring Armenia.

Russia is also focusing on Azerbaijan in an attempt to create a
unified front within the CIS against the Kremlin's latest enemy,
Georgia. Moscow is seeking to impose an energy blockade on Georgia
in the winter of 2006-2007, while Azerbaijan last winter stepped
in with emergency supplies of electrical energy and gas when Russia
interrupted deliveries to Georgia. In 2007, Gazprom is threatening
to raise the price of gas for Georgia from $110 to $230 per thousand
cubic meters. According to unofficial sources, the same proposal
has been made for Azerbaijan as well, angering President Aliyev. The
country currently pays $95-100 per thousand cubic meters for the 1.5
billion cubic meters of gas that it imports from Russia annually.

Other proposals from the Kremlin are more palatable: according to
Kommersant's sources, Vladimir Putin will offer President Aliyev
investment by the company RusAl to the tune of a $1 billion aluminum
plant in Azerbaijan. Mr. Putin will also mention interest on the
part of the Russian company UES Energy in investing in Azerbaijan's
energy sector.

[gmd]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I would like to know your opinions on this recent development (read the article below).
I really can't see this being good for Armenia as Azerbaijan will now have leverage to "negociate" with Russia over the politically unsolved NKR issue. In short, I think Azerbaijan would do anything for Russia as long as Russia pledged to help get Artsakh back within Azeri control.

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg168648.html

ILKHAM ALIYEV CHANGES ROUTES
Dmitry Butrin

RusData Dialine - Russian Press Digest
November 9, 2006 Thursday

Azeri President to hold talks with Vladimir Putin

Today Russian President Vladimir Putin will suggest to Azerbaijani
President Ilkham Aliyev, who is visiting Moscow after a trip to
Brussels to meet with European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso, that he decide whether Azerbaijan intends to continue with its
"strategic partnership" with Russia. If Azerbaijan responds positively,
Moscow will request Baku's cooperation in Russia's struggle with
Georgia and will offer Russian arms and investment by UES Russia and
RusAl in return.

President Aliyev's visit to Europe unnerved the Kremlin chiefly
because of Azerbaijan's projected defense spending for 2007: the
country will spend $1 billion on the military next year, up from $600
million currently. Russia fears that this could be a preliminary step
towards membership in NATO. If Azerbaijan joins neighboring Georgia
in a NATO bid, the ex-Soviet Caucasus could end up hosting NATO and
American military bases as the West seeks to control Iran.

In an effort to forestall the possibility of NATO bases near its
southern border, Russia is attempting to lure Azerbaijan back to its
own camp with promises of increased sales of cut-rate Russian-made
weapons. Russia has been curtailing its arms trade with Azerbaijan,
fearing to fan the flames of Azerbaijan's long-standing feud with
neighboring Armenia.

Russia is also focusing on Azerbaijan in an attempt to create a
unified front within the CIS against the Kremlin's latest enemy,
Georgia. Moscow is seeking to impose an energy blockade on Georgia
in the winter of 2006-2007, while Azerbaijan last winter stepped
in with emergency supplies of electrical energy and gas when Russia
interrupted deliveries to Georgia. In 2007, Gazprom is threatening
to raise the price of gas for Georgia from $110 to $230 per thousand
cubic meters. According to unofficial sources, the same proposal
has been made for Azerbaijan as well, angering President Aliyev. The
country currently pays $95-100 per thousand cubic meters for the 1.5
billion cubic meters of gas that it imports from Russia annually.

Other proposals from the Kremlin are more palatable: according to
Kommersant's sources, Vladimir Putin will offer President Aliyev
investment by the company RusAl to the tune of a $1 billion aluminum
plant in Azerbaijan. Mr. Putin will also mention interest on the
part of the Russian company UES Energy in investing in Azerbaijan's
energy sector.

If the Azeris take sides against Georgia then it may jeopordize their pipeline and only land link to Turkey/West. Plus I cannot imagine that the Russians can be too trusting of the Azeris since they have such close cultural ties with Turkey.

[crusader1492]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

If the Azeris take sides against Georgia then it may jeopordize their pipeline and only land link to Turkey/West. Plus I cannot imagine that the Russians can be too trusting of the Azeris since they have such close cultural ties with Turkey.

Your analysis makes sense. However, Azerbaijan may temporarily put aside the realization of their oil revenue in order to secure a more pressing short term goal: Artsakh.

The question is: Would Russia sacrifice their relationship with Armenia (who is in a box) in order to put Georgia in a box?
In short, I think Russia wouldn't hesitate to throw Armenia under the bus if they thought it would increase their control over the caucuses as a whole. In turn, Azerbaijan, wouldn't hesitate to throw Georgia under the bus if they believed it would increase their chances of regaining Artsakh.

[gmd]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Your analysis makes sense. However, Azerbaijan may temporarily put aside the realization of their oil revenue in order to secure a more pressing short term goal: Artsakh.

The question is: Would Russia sacrifice their relationship with Armenia (who is in a box) in order to put Georgia in a box?
In short, I think Russia wouldn't hesitate to throw Armenia under the bus if they thought it would increase their control over the caucuses as a whole. In turn, Azerbaijan, wouldn't hesitate to throw Georgia under the bus if they believed it would increase their chances of regaining Artsakh.

All nations will do what is in their best interst regardless of it consequences. However, the long term goals of Russia would not be served by having the Azeri's or Armenia get too much leverage in the region. If Russia starts selling arms to the Azeris they may want to keep balance in Armenia. I am sure Russia does not want the Azeris having a direct land link to Turkey. Losing Artsak would lose a key leverage against the Azeris that Russia enjoys as much as Armenia.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I am sure Russia does not want the Azeris having a direct land link to Turkey.

Yep, correct.

But for some reason, they also do want Armenians to march into Baku. Same goes for Iran.

Typically in war, you always want to finish off your enemy. Russians and Iranians stopped our side from doing so.