[lbo-talk] Russia reinforces dominance in fSU

[Chris Doss]

A few links.

DEALS GIVE RUSSIAN COMPANIES INFLUENCE OVER GEORGIA’S ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE
Zeyno Baran: 8/18/03

The fragility of Georgia’s electric system became vivid on August 18, when a 
disruption to a transmission line switched off the entire country. 
Government officials promptly claimed sabotage. But opposition politicians 
in Tbilisi accuse President Eduard Shevardnadze of betraying citizens by 
allowing Russian energy companies potentially decisive influence over how 
Georgia delivers electricity. Russia’s electricity monopoly took controlling 
interest of Georgia’s power plants on August 6, weeks after a Moscow-based 
natural gas giant won the right to upgrade and manage pipelines through 
Georgia. Many observers suspect Shevardnadze of trading strategic assets in 
return for a promise that Russian players will back his political allies in 
a contentious upcoming parliamentary vote.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/eav081803.shtml
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KOCHARIAN’S MOSCOW VISIT UNDERSCORES STRENGTHENING ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN SECURITY 
COOPERATION
Sergei Blagov: 1/21/03
Armenian President Robert Kocharian’s recent visit to Russia underscored the 
strengthening strategic ties between Yerevan and Moscow. This trend has 
prompted some regional analysts to raise questions about a possible shift in 
the strategic balance in the Caucasus.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav012103.shtml
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RUSSIA TIGHTENS GRIP ON ARMENIA WITH DEBT AGREEMENTS
Emil Danielyan: 5/07/03
Pressed to settle its accumulating debt, Armenia is intent on transferring 
state-owned strategic assets to Russia. A series of equity-for-debt deals, 
agreed to in principle over the past few months, may place virtually the 
entire Armenian energy sector under Russian control. The swaps would provide 
Moscow with additional political leverage over its chief ally in the South 
Caucasus.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/eav050703.shtml
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Who Will Unlock Armenia First: Russia or US?
Almost everybody in Armenia has been talking recently about the possible 
reopening of the country's borders. Armenian Minister for Transport and 
Communication Andranik Manukian is now busy trying to re-establish train 
services to Georgia and Turkey and is offering Azerbaijan and Georgia help 
in transporting goods across Armenia in future. The country has been 
practically landlocked for over ten years: the war in Abkhazia brought the 
closure of the railway line to Russia; then Turkey accused Armenia of 
annexing Azerbaijani territory during the Karabakh war and closed its border 
with the small republic.

http://www.rosbaltnews.com/2003/08/25/63764.html
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Russia gains strategic air base in Central Asia

An agreement on opening a Russian air base in the town of Kant (Kyrgyzstan) 
was signed by the countries defence ministers in the presence of their 
presidents on Monday. President Vladimir Putin hailed the move saying that 
the agreement is ''a first step…it puts our military presence in Kyrgyzstan 
on a legal footing''.

http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/09/22/Russiagainss.shtml
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RUSSIAN MOVES IN CAUCASUS ENERGY AND POWER SECTORS COULD HAVE GEOPOLITICAL 
IMPACT
Haroutiun Khachatrian: 9/25/03
An acquisition binge has put a Russian company in position to dominate 
potential Caucasus power exports. At the same time, the business moves can 
enhance the Kremlin’s ability to project its political power in the region.
The Russian expansion into the Caucasus, led by the state-controlled 
electric company RAO Unified Energy Systems (UES), has accelerated in recent 
months. Of late, the chief acquisition target has been Armenia. Two recent 
debt-for-equity swaps left nearly a 50 percent stake in Armenia’s 
electricity generation capacity in Russian hands. Among the entities now 
under Russian corporate control are the 1100-megawatt Hrazdan thermal power 
plant and six hydropower stations, totaling 556 megawatts, on the so-called 
Sevan-Hrazdan cascade.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/eav092503.shtml
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Chubais Spells out Napoleonic Vision for Russian Energy
ULYANOVSK, Russia--It was likely to be a week for grand visions, with the 
presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan meeting in Yalta to 
take a further step toward establishing a “two-speed” Commonwealth of 
Independent States (CIS). The four will, they said, create a “united 
economic space” in which tariffs would be unified and the flow of labor and 
capital made easier.
But if anything, that ambition was eclipsed by the vision outlined by 
Unified Energy Systems (UES), Russia’s monopoly electricity generator and 
distributor. In the Yalta summit, there were already signs of reluctance, 
with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma making it plain that the CIS was a 
second choice. "Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow," he commented, 
after saying that "the European market is closed for us."

http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=50&NrSection=6&NrArticle=10700&ST1=body&ST_T1=wir&ST_PS1=5&ST_AS1=0&ST_LS1=0&ST_max=1
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Dead on Arrival
Ukraine has finally been dragged, kicking and screaming, into a union of 
sorts with Russia. Alarming as that is in theory, there isn’t much to fret 
about in practice.
by Ivan Khokhotva
READING, United Kingdom--The art of sitting on the fence is something Kiev 
diplomats have mastered to perfection. After 12 years of going it alone, 
Ukraine is the only post-Soviet country still decidedly unsure as to where 
exactly it is heading. With the Balts voting to join the EU, dictatorial and 
energy-rich Turkmenistan blithely aloof, and the rest of the former Soviet 
Union firmly, if unhappily in the Russian orbit, Ukraine alone has contrived 
to keep all options open.

http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=50&NrSection=3&NrArticle=10724

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