Gazprom

"Gazprom, get your phallus out of St Petersburg"

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:50:09 +0200

Thousands of St Petersburg residents took to the streets on Saturday to protest plans to build a 400-metre skyscraper in the historic centre of the city. Despite widespread opposition however, the future home of Russian energy giant Gazprom is already being built.

The 77-storey, €1.6 billion project, was given the green light by St Petersburg mayor Valentina Matviyenko on October 6, despite a warning from Unesco in September that the building could cross the former capital off the list of World Heritage Sites. The Okhta was also criticised by Russian rock star Boris Grebenschikov, who labelled it "the devil's spit". Meanwhile architects Norman Foster, Rafael Viñoly and Kisho Kurokawa, who were invited to judge the project at a meeting held by the organisers, walked out in protest of the plans. According to a poll conducted by non-governmental civil rights organisation EKOM on September 28, only 19.9% of city residents support the project, whereas 66.4% oppose it.

The building, designed by Scottish architects RMJM, also goes against the city's construction regulations, which impose a height maximum of 42 metres - ten times shorter than what's been dubbed the ‘Gazscraper'. And to top it off, archaeologists last year discovered a mine of incredible finds, including remains of the ancient Swedish town of Nyenschantz, two fortresses, and a Neolithic settlement - right below the area where the Okhta is being built. On September 30 the city council announced that the archaeologists would have until the spring to finish their work, when construction would take hold of the entire site.

Moscow council is corrupt and xenophobic... they said so themselves

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:49:41 +0200

Muscovites were, on September 24, surprised to find adverts in the city streets suggesting that their council was corrupt, xenophobic and irresponsible. Carrying the council logo, the allegations seemed to be coming straight from the horse's mouth.

The posters only stayed on display for a couple of hours, but photos of the billboards appeared online a few days later. It was soon realised that the posters were a prank, put up illegally and swiftly removed by the local authorities.

The poster reads: "Tenders are supposed to be fair." Listed as sponsors are Moscow City Hall and Inteko. To an outsider it might seem quite innocent, but every Muscovite understands the hidden joke. Inteko, the capital's biggest development company, is widely believed to receive the most lucrative deals from Moscow City Hall.

Coincidentally, the owner of Inteko, billionaire Elena Baturina, is married to the head of the city council, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

"Driver, give way to expensive foreign cars with flashing lights! We are hurrying to work, not to steal!" The logo is that of the Moscow Traffic Police," which is reputed as one of the most corrupt organizations in Russia.

"Smoke. Drink Give birth to freaks." Logos of Moscow City Hall and Jaguar energy drink. Jaguar is the most popular drink amongst youths in Moscow. It has an alcohol content of 9 percent.

"A Georgian is not a friend to a Russian," with the logo of state channel TV 1 and the Nashi youth movement. Both institutions are openly anti-Georgian.

"A Khokhol is no brother to a Russian," with TV 1 and Gazprom. Khokhol is derogatory slang for Ukrainian. The slogan refers to the recent natural gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the clear anti-Ukrainian position transmitted on Russian state TV.

Some bloggers took the posters seriously, but the majority of them got the joke and applauded the artist behind it for his daring. They thought that he or she was a political activist, but they couldn't agree from which side.

One of our Observers in Russia tells us that he knows who was behind the prank but that he wishes to remain strictly anonymous. A non-political young man who was simply fed-up with certain aspects of organisation in the capital, he pulled off the stunt with the help of a few friends, and for less than 100 euros in total.

Some Russians haven’t heard about the crisis

Ségolène Team Observers — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:49:18 +0200

One of our Observers for Russia, Ostap Karmodi, alerted us to these photos which are making the rounds on the Russian blogosphere. According to bloggers, this sumptuous abode, currently under construction just north of Moscow, appears to belong to the head of gas giant Gazprom.

This information has not been verified by the France 24 editorial team.

Ostap Karmodi is a Russian freelance journalist who currently lives in Eastern Europe.

The page on which these images were originally published has since been deleted. Thankfully, other bloggers had already reposted them before it went down. Bloggers say that the residence in question is the future home of Alexey Miller, CEO of Gazprom. On one forum, an anonymous contributor says that he himself worked on the construction of the palace, and that it's got 248 rooms in total. But it's hard to verify the details. The bloggers located the building on Google Maps, but said that it was impossible to zoom in on the area... [France 24 has contacted Google to see if the blurring effect in this area followed a request from Gazprom or other Russian authorities. We're currently awaiting a response.]"

The (extremely kitsch) Gazprom anthem

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:07:27 +0100

Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, is more than just a company. As this song makes quite clear, it is something of a national saviour.

Viktor Chernomyrdin, who was Russia's longest-serving prime minister, and current President Dmitry Medvedev both started their careers as chairmen of the company. And according to a recent poll, 44% of the Russian population would like to work for it, while around half a million already do.

The feel-good anthem was composed and performed by Vladimir Tumayev, director of the Gazprom subsidy Spetsgazavtotrans and founder of the company football club, SOYUZ-Gazprom.

Gas pipes cut from Turkmenistan to Iran

Julien — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:02:16 +0100

By our Observer for Turkmenistan, 'Maciula'.

Two weeks have passed since the suspension of Turkmen gas supplies to Iran. The pipelines are still empty and both sides are stiffening their position. Ashgabat obstinately claims that the suspension is due to maintenance works (but who conducts such works during the harshest winter in decades?) and at the same time warns that supplies will not be restored unless the Iranians pay off the debt they allegedly owe Turkmenistan.

Tehran's position is quite different, as described by Bruce Pannier from the Radio Free Europe:

Iranian officials have now made it clear that the issue clearly involves price. Iranian Oil and Gas Minister Gholamhossein Nozari recently said that talks on raising the price for Turkmen natural gas, from the current $75 to $140 per 1,000 cubic meters, would resume only when the supplies were restored. Nozari added that if deliveries did not resume, Iran could refuse to buy Turkmen gas.

Only the highest officials in Ashgabat probably know the true reason of the crisis. Nevertheless, the commentators have already come up with various theories and written about the activity of Washington, which has supposedly been trying to exert pressure on Berdymukhammedov to take hostile measures against Tehran, as well as about the rights of the Turkmen minority living in northern Iran being violated by the Iranian authorities and the backstairs activity of Russia aimed against... Turkey, etc.

It seems, however, that there is no hidden agenda here. The two reasons that most likely lie behind the suspended gas supplies are: shortage of gas in Turkmenistan (I have written about it in one of my recent posts) and Ashgabat's growing assertiveness encouraged by the recent success in its negotiations with the Gazprom which ended up in a 30-percent price rise on gas sold to Russia.

There is one more interesting aspect to this issue that has probably not been raised yet. Interestingly enough, the parties to the conflict (especially Turkmenistan) communicate with each other not only through diplomatic channels but also by public announcements in the media. However, I would not attribute it to their openness or concern to keep the public informed. This rather indicates that the conflict is indeed severe and, thus, unlikely to end soon."

Article published on Neweurasia 17 January 2008.