Russia 110201 Basic Political Developments

Russia mulls direct flights to Kenya

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/Kenyabusiness/Russia-mulls-direct-flights-to-Kenya-5413.html

BY LABAN WANAMBISI

Updated 20 minutes ago

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 1 - Visiting Parliamentarians from Russia on Monday pledged to push for the introduction of direct flights between Nairobi and Moscow in a bid to boost bilateral trade.

Speaking during a business forum with the National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Svetlana Orlova said the lack of direct flights was the biggest hindrance to many Russian tourists who would like to visit Kenya.

“The tourism sector is very important and when I get back to Russia, we will talk about it with the our Minister for Tourism, and what is also important is to also have flight from Moscow-Nairobi, Vladivostok-Nairobi, Khabarovsk- Nairobi and other Russian cities to bring tourists to Nairobi,” said the Deputy Chairman who is the equivalent of the Deputy Speaker in Kenya.

She said that they also mulling to start the importation of Kenyan coffee and flowers.

“We would have liked to see an aero float flying into Nairobi and Kenya Airways fly to Moscow but the necessary agreements have not been signed” Ms Orlova said.

Speaker Marende said the move will greatly help bridge the balance of trade which currently stands at Sh7.5 billion in favour of Russia.

“From the statistics that I have from my research, I have found that Russia has the highest number of billionaires in the world, so encourage them to visit Kenya. I also have information that they are among the world’s biggest spenders, Russians largely like to live well,” said Mr Marende.

He urged the Russian MPs to consider direct sales of agricultural fertilizer to Kenyan farmers saying the middlemen had for long made the input expensive for the farmers.

“Russia is supplying fertilizer to Kenya but is going through third parties we would like to see it coming to Kenya directly, it will help to improve our agricultural production,” he said.

The Deputy Chairman said they are also planning to set up a fertilizer factory in Kenya.

Ms Orlova said that Russian companies had expressed interest in undertaking several infrastructural projects such as the construction of the modern railway line, the Lamu Port and thermal and atomic energy projects. 

The Russians also plan to establish a Cultural Institute in Kenya as part of boosting its 48 year relationship with the Kenya.

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Medvedev unveils statue of ‘decisive’ Yeltsin

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110201/162401175.html
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised the country’s first post-Soviet leader, the late Boris Yeltsin, for his decisiveness and unveiled a statue to him in his Urals hometown of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.

“Present-day Russia should be grateful to President Yeltsin for the fact that, in our most difficult period, we did not sway from the path of change,” said Medvedev, speaking on what would have been Yeltsin’s 80^th birthday.

“He was a genuine leader,” he added. “He was very brave and never compromised on even insignificant, let alone significant, issues.”

Medvedev also said today’s Russia was “down to Boris Yeltsin and all those who helped him form the basis for a new state.”

Yeltsin, who has been both praised as a champion of democratic reforms and criticized for impoverishing millions of Russians, died of heart failure at the age of 76 on April 23, 2007. He was Russia's president from 1991-1999 and was succeeded by Vladimir Putin.

YEKATERINBURG, February 1 (RIA Novosti)

Dmitry Medvedev unveils monument to Yeltsin

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/01/42234226.html
Feb 1, 2011 06:17 Moscow Time

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Yekaterinburg. There he will attend the opening ceremony of a monument to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, who today would have turned 80 years old.

The monument was erected on the street named in honor of Boris Yeltsin, the presidential center which is under construction near the center, also bears his name.

According to the author of the work, the sculptor Georgy Frangulyan, the monument is composed of several pieces of marble weighing 15 tons each.

The monuments height is about 10 meters. "This monument is not an obelisk, but a boulder in motion, which was Boris Nikolaevich, explained Frangulyan. During his visit to the Sverdlovsk region, President Medvedev will hold a meeting of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights.

On the same day the president will return to Moscow, ITAR-TASS.

80th Anniversary Of Boris Yeltsin's Birth

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_yeltsin_/2293499.html
February 01, 2011

February 1 is the 80th anniversary of the birth of Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian Federation.

The anniversary is being marked this week in Russia with a series of programs, exhibits and tributes, and current President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to visit Yekaterinburg, Yeltsin's home city in the Urals region, to take part in the unveiling of a monument to the former leader.

Yeltsin served as president from 1991 until New Year's Eve in 1999, when he dramatically resigned, leaving the presidency to his chosen successor, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Yeltsin died of heart failure in April, 2007, at the age of 76.

Yeltsin left behind a mixed legacy. During his years as leader, he oversaw the dissolution of the Soviet Union, steered Russia toward democratic freedoms, and unleashed economic reforms aimed at transforming Russia into a free-market economy.

 
But his era as president was also marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, the war in Chechnya, and a variety of other political and social problems. He departed office with a public approval rating of below 10 percent.
 

RFE/RL’s Central Newsroom

Medvedev, Naina Yeltsin attending monument unveiling ceremony

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15910399

01.02.2011, 10.52

YEKATERINBURG, February 1 (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev, who came to Yekaterinburg on Monday night, and Naina Yeltsin, widow of Boris Yeltsin, attended the ceremony of unveiling a monument to Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia. He would turn 80 on February 1.

The monument was unveiled in the street, named after Yeltsin, near a presidential centre, which is under construction and which will also bear his name. According to Georgy Frangulyan, a sculptor, who is the author of the monument, it is made up of several marble blocks, each weighing 15 tons. The monument is 10 metres high.

Speaking at the ceremony, Medvedev said that Russia should be grateful to Boris Yeltsin for the transformations he had put into effect, despite all difficulties.

“Russia should be grateful to Yeltsin, because in the most difficult period the country did not deviate from the path of changes, implemented radical transformations and is now moving forward,” he said.

“We have a modern country today, which is developing, although not without problems, and which is moving forward, and the credit for that should be given to Yeltsin and to all those who helped him build a new state,” Medvedev stressed. “The foundation, on which our country is being built, was laid at that time.”

Medvedev pointed to the fact that the first president of any country was sure to meet major difficulties. “The first president should resolve most complicated problems, including the changing of the state system. This is what Boris Yeltsin had to do,” he said.

“We all were looking forward to great changes – the changing of the economic system and of the political set-up, but no one expected the process to be so dramatic. This is what Boris Nikolayevich had to face,” Medvedev continued. The process was dramatic, but the reforms were implemented anyway, he added.

Medvedev described the unveiling of the monument to Yeltsin as “a memorable event in the life of our country.” “Boris Nikolayevich loved this country and was part of it. He was a strong man, a man of decision, who never accepted compromises and always tried to secure the support for his stand. This is not easy, but in certain situations this is absolutely necessary,” the President said.

“Yeltsin’s strength helped us live through a difficult period, when the foundation of Russia’s statehood was being created. The monument expresses determination and will – the traits, which were most characteristic of Boris Yeltsin, a citizen of the Russian Federation,” Medvedev said, pointing to the monument.

After ending his speech, the President laid a bunch of dark red roses at the foot of the monument.