No re-using vodka bottles

MPs in Moscow have expressed alarm at Customs Union rules that could lift a Russia-wide ban on re-using bottles for vodka and other drinks.

The Customs Union between Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia came into existence in January 2010. Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia plan to become a single economic space and aim to proceed with economic integration, removing all customs borders between each other after July 2011 and implementing the single economic space from this January 2012.

In the latest in an increasingly acrimonious deadlock between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus over alcohol regulation, Alexander Torshin, first deputy speaker of the Federation Council, said on 27 January that lifting the ban would mean a surge in contraband booze and threats to consumer safety. "Used bottles are a key element in the production of illegal vodka and other drinks, where a bottle bought for a rouble brings tens of roubles of income in counterfeit alcohol," he said. The senator said he had written to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov outlining his concerns.

Re-using old bottles allows producers of illicit spirits to undercut legitimate brands of expensive spirits. The practice is legal for beer and other low-alcohol drinks.

Parliamentarians are also at odds with the Customs Union over safety regulations that would ban plastic bottles for alcohol, which the Russian brewing industry maintains are perfectly suitable for its products.

Fifth-generation Kalashnikov assault rifle unveiled

Russia's largest firearms manufacturer, JSC Izhmash, unveiled on 26 January its first model of the fifth generation Kalashnikov assault rifle. The new rifle is tentatively called AK-12. The assembly of the new weapon, the development of which was initiated by Izhmash's chief designer Vladimir Zlobin, was completed in 2011. The new weapon was currently on test by specialists.

Russia's Interior Ministry has already requested the AK-12 for test exploitation. Izhmash said it was ready to arrange deliveries of the new weapon for the Russian army too.

However the Defence Ministry said it had no immediate plans to purchase the new Kalashnikov rifle. “The AK-12 is being developed for export purposes,@ Izhmash said, “However, it also meets the requirements of the Defence Ministry, which the ministry has for the equipment of the soldiers of the Russian army.” the press service of the company said.

The designers have aimed to improve the parameters of the rifle. They have adapted the weapon to modern combat conditions, having preserved Kalashnikov's unique qualities: simplicity, reliability and relatively low production cost.

The AK-12 has classic configuration, which creates a constructively simple automatic rifle with an option to mount powerful muzzles and large magazines. The new rifle is created as a basic platform, which will then be used for the development of nearly 20 different modifications of civil and military firearms.

The new rifle also has the folding stock, and the height-adjustable heelpiece. The operating rod handle of the AK-12 can be mounted either on the left or on the right, which makes the weapon comfortable for both left-handed and right-handed people. The list of novelties includes three fire modes: single shots, three shots and automatic fire.

EU to ease visa regime with Russia in 2012

Michael Webb, chargé d'affaires of the EU delegation to Russia, said in mid January that the European Union was planning to sign a document about the simplification of the visa regime with the Russian Federation. The agreement to ease visa procedures up to 90 days could be signed in the first half of 2012.

The discussion of the plan of Moscow and Brussels to cancel the visas between the Russian Federation and the European Union was completed in the beginning of November 2011. The list of mutual steps to elaborate the agreement about the visa-free regime was coordinated at the Russia-EU summit in Brussels on 14December 2011.

Officials now have to deal with technical issues, particularly the need to bar organised criminal groups from crossing the borders.

The first European country to have opened borders for Russian citizens was Croatia. In addition to the simplified entry for the summer tourist season - from April till the end of October - tourists from Russia only need to have their international passports to visit Croatia. However, the current privileges would end in 2013, when Croatia becomes a full-fledged member of the European Union. Afterwards, Russians will have to obtain Schengen visas to be able to travel to Croatia.

Other members of the Schengen Agreement - Sweden and Poland - are also going to ease visa procedures with Russia. This year, Poland is going to host the Euro-2012 football championship. Tourists will be able to submit visa documents in March of this year. If tourists present their tickets for football matches, their documents will be prepared much faster.

In addition, the Polish authorities said in the beginning of December that Poland would be ready to issue Schengen visas to Russian tourists for five years. However, a person would have to have at least two expired Schengen visas to qualify.

From 1 February, Sweden has promised to reduce the visa processing period to three working days. Swedish officials also promised to take more active efforts when issuing multi-entry visas, which were not common for Russian tourists.

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Speakers at the rally included whistleblower Alexei Navalny, socialite Ksenia Sobchak and even former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin taking turns at the microphone. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, now aged 80, did not attend as expected but did send a message of support instead. He later told Moscow Echo radio that Putin should not stand for another term in office

Putin's ruling United Russia party won a narrow parliamentary majority in the elections, but did so amid reports of vote rigging. A week of seething public discontent, driven by the middle class, culminated first in an earlier rally in Bolotnaya Ploshchad on 10 December, at the time counted as Moscow's largest protest since 1993.

Ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin's appearance on stage produced a sensation. Kudrin demanded the head of the Central Election Committee Vladimir Churov should resign. He also called for new elections to the Duma to be hald, urged the Kremlin to adopt new legislation on political parties, register those parties and advised protesters to elect a group of people who would make a list of requirements to the authorities so that "the confrontation does not lead to another revolution."

Musician Vasya Oblomov was one of a succession
of speakers at the rally.

The government rejected both demands but has instead proposed restoring direct elections for regional governors and easing the notoriously restrictive rules for registering political parties and presidential candidates. Such changes would not however be implemented until after presidential elections to be held in March, ensuring that no radical anti-Kremlin candidates would be allowed to participate. Vladimir Putin, currently Russian prime minister, is widely expected to win the presidential elections.

Putin has voiced an ambiguous stance on the protests, acknowledging their legitimacy but ridiculing their participants. A Putin spokesman said that "the majority of the population" supported him, describing the protesters as a minority.

Organisers of the 24 December rally, the second to protest against the election result, put the number at 120 thousand, while police gave a figure of 29 thousand. Independent monitors from the Citizen Observer electoral watchdog were keeping count at the entrance to the rally's venue, but could not collate their results immediately. It is expected that the Prospekt Sakharova rally had become the largest protest action in Russia in the last twenty years.

During the rally the temperature hovered around minus 3°C. Attempts by opposition leaders to rouse the public into a bellicose mood were largely unsuccessful, with the mood being generally good-natured and ironic. Smiling faces and humorous posters were everywhere, but the people carrying them spoke about serious discontent with the country's politics.

Soyuz rocket launch fails

A Soyuz-2 vehicle failed on 23 December to put a communications satellite into orbit after being fired from the country's Plesetsk spaceport. Debris re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and crashed to the ground.

Fragments are known to have landed in a street in a remote Siberian village, ironically named Cosmonauts Street. Residents of Vagaitsevo village, south of the central Siberian regional capital Novosibirsk, said a piece had landed on a house there.

The owner of the house said that he heard a huge noise and a crash as the satellite hit the roof. "I climbed up onto the roof and could not work out what had happened. Then I saw a huge hole in the roof and the metal object," he told Russian state television. The damage was being examined by specialists and that the home's owner would be compensated.

Soyuz flight resumes service to ISS

United Russia ahead in parliamentary elections

As of the morning of Monday 5 December the Central Election Commission had processed 92% of votes in Russia’s general election. United Russia, the ruling party, had at that point gained 49.67% of votes, Nikolai Konkin, the secretary of the Commission said.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation gained 19.13%, Just Russia - 13.18%, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - 11.66%.

Perception of corruption improves slightly

Russia's reputation on corruption has improved, jumping 11 spots in Transparency International's annual corruption perception index of countries around the world.

The country is now ranked 143rd out of the 183 countries surveyed. It may be an improvement but it shares that spot with several developing countries, including Nigeria, Mauritania, Togo, Uganda, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

The survey, published on 1 December, gave Russia a score of 2.4, which is a slight improvement from the 2.1 points the country received last year, when it was rated 154th out of the 178 countries monitored.

Countries are ranked on scores from zero to 10, with zero being the most corrupt and 10 appearing to have no corruption at all. Data for the index are collected by collecting evidence from monitors and businessmen about their perception of corruption in their country's governments.

New Zealand earned the cleanest rating, coming in first with 9.5 points, followed by Finland and Denmark both with 9.4 points. Somalia and North Korea had the lowest scores of 1.0 points each. Britain ranked 16th with a score of 7.8, while the United States landed in 24th spot with a score of 7.1.

According to Transparency International the improved score for Russia stems from President Dmitry Medvedev's focus on fighting corruption and the recent implementation of anti-bribery legislation, such as signing the OECD anti-bribery convention and implementing increased fines for those convicted of taking kickbacks. But experts say that while laws may have been passed, enforcement remains low.

Former Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Khorev and several other high-ranking officials fled the country after getting involved in bribe scandals this year.

Berlin-based Transparency International has published the corruption perception index since 1995. Corruption has become a rallying cry for protesters around the world, its report claims, with protests taking place in many of the lower-ranking countries.

Five new countries were added in 2011 — North Korea, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines and Suriname.

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Link:  Russian government website (по-русски)