Russian MPs believe that Russia should go back to the practice of planned economy. Today, many countries develop under the conditions of planned economies with France being the most striking example. According to many experts, there are signs of such an economic model in France. Does Russia need planned economy?
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Ukrainian foreign minister: proposed UN peacekeeping mission for Donbass could be civilian
2015/04/29
UNITED NATIONS, April 30. /TASS/. Kiev is discussing in the United Nations the possibility for deploying peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine and is convinced that this mission could help to carry out free and fair elections in Donbass and also to disarm and withdraw illegal armed groups, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin told reporters on Wednesday.
"I already had a number of meetings with P5 [UN Security Council permanent members] representatives, UN Secretariat, discussing, of course, the situation in Donbass, discussing the possibility to bring UN presence to Donbass... It could be a civilian mission, it could be a civilian-military mission," he said.
Klimkin stressed that the mission should care about the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
"In the sense of helping to prepare free and fair elections, in the sense of assisting [in] implementing the law on special status in Donetsk and Lugansk, including disarmament, including pulling back of illegal armed formations and many, many of such issues," he said.
The issue of a possible deployment of international peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine is often discussed during the contacts of Ukraine’s authorities with the UN Secretariat.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon told Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko in a phone conversation on April 20 that the decision on sending peacekeepers to Donbass can be taken only by the UN Security Council. Diplomats say however Kiev has not yet sent an official request to the Security Council to consider the proposal of the UN presence in the conflict zone.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with radio stations last week that Kiev’s initiative on peacekeepers was aimed at splitting the country into two parts. He earlier said Moscow would not vote in the UN Security Council on the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Ukraine.
Putin to have conversation with Canada’s former PM Chretien
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet on Thursday with Canada’s former Prime Minister Jean-Loup Chretien, the presidential press secretary, Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
He said Putin and Chretien have been keeping up warm relations even after the Canadian Prime Minister left his post.
"We know Mr. Chretien is making what we believe to be a private visit and he will be received for a brief conversation," Peskov said.
"Also, it’s well known that they (Putin and Chretien - TASS) have long-standing relations," he said. "I’d even call their relations of partnership."
"When Chretien was Prime Minister, they met frequently enough, held talks and exchanged visits and hence a tradition of maintaining this relationship," Peskov said.
"Putin mostly meets with his former partners when they happen to be in Moscow," he said.
Jean-Loup Chretien stood at the head of the Canadian government from 1993 through to 2003.
He says he has long-time relations with Russia, as he made a trip to Siberia in 1970 when he was Minister of Northern Development back at home.
After that, Chretien cooperated very closely with Russia’s first post-Soviet President and with Vladimir Putin. When the Russian authorities awarded with the Order of Friendship to him in 2014, he said says he was always content with the way the Canadian-Russian relations were developing
His current meeting with President Putin will take place against the background of a considerable cooling-off in relations between Russia and Western countries, as Canada is one of the countries that joined all the Western sanctions against Russia over what the Western powers describe as "Russia’s role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine."
Also on Thursday, Putin is expected to have a number of other working meetings and a conference with permanent members of Russia’s Security Council.
Energy to top agenda of Putin-Xi meeting — Chinese ambassador
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Energy cooperation will top the agenda of a summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Moscow, China’s Ambassador to Russia Lee Huei said on Wednesday.
It is still unknown how many and which documents will be signed during the meeting between the Russian and Chinese leaders, the ambassador said.
"No doubt, these will be the documents in the political sphere and in the sphere of trade and economic cooperation," the Chinese diplomat said.
Details on the documents that will be signed during the meeting "will become known closer to the visit by the Chinese leader to Russia somewhere two days before its start," he said.
It is not ruled that the Russian and Chinese leaders will discuss the prospects of concluding a bilateral agreement on gas supplies via the western route, China’s ambassador said.
"Energy cooperation will be a major issue at the negotiations between our leaders," the Chinese diplomat said.
Russian and Chinese companies are currently negotiating the terms of an agreement on gas supplies via the western route while an agreement on gas deliveries via the eastern route has already been signed, China’s ambassador to Moscow said.
Russia’s gas supplies to China via western route
Russia and China are expected to sign a contract on gas supplies along the western route to pump Russian natural gas from its West Siberian gas fields to its eastern neighbor.
Gazprom Head Alexey Miller held talks in China on February 13 on Russian natural gas supplies via the western route. Miller said after the talks that the project of a gas pipeline to run along the western route was at an advanced stage of readiness for the commencement of its construction. Russia was preparing a new contract with China for the supply of 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, the Gazprom head said at the time.
Gazprom and China’s CNPC signed a framework agreement on November 10, 2014 on Russian natural gas supplies to China via the western route, using the Altai gas pipeline system. Direct supplies are scheduled to begin in 2019. The western route project will supplement Russia’s natural gas supplies to its eastern neighbor via the Power of Siberia pipeline.
Russia’s gas supplies to China via eastern route
The Power of Siberia gas pipeline estimated at over $21 billion is intended to pump 61 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to the Russian Far East and China and will stretch over a distance of 3,968 km (2,465 miles).
The pipeline is designed to pump natural gas from the giant Chayanda oil and gas condensate deposit in Yakutia in northeast Russia and the Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk Region in Eastern Siberia. The Power of Siberia will run along the operational East Siberia - Pacific oil pipeline, crossing marshlands, mountainous and seismically active areas.
The first stage envisages the construction of the Yakutia-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk gas pipeline. During the second stage, the Irkutsk gas production center based on the Kovykta deposit will be connected with the Yakutia center based on the Chayanda field.
The gas pipeline’s first stage is scheduled to be commissioned in 2017.
The Chayanda oil and gas condensate field in the Lensky district of Yakutia was discovered in 1989. The field, one of Russia’s largest undeveloped deposits, holds about 1.45 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 93 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. The field is expected to produce up to 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas and at least 1.5 million tons of oil annually.
The Kovykta gas condensate deposit discovered in 1987 is located in the north of the Irkutsk Region. The deposit’s reserves are estimated at 1.9 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, 2.3 billion cubic meters of helium and 115 million tons of liquid gas condensate.
Chernobyl NPP wildfire fully put out — Ukraine's Emergencies State Service
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The forest wildfire that broke out in the Chernobyl NPP Exclusion Zone has been fully put out, the press service of Ukraine's Emergencies State Service said on Wednesday.
"The fire has been extinguished. The situation is under control of the state service," the Ukrainian UNN news agency cited the State Service.
According to previous reports, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the government meeting, "The fire situation has stabilized and the radiation levels in the fire zone and Kiev are normal. There is no threat to local residents."
Ukraine's Interior Ministry instituted a criminal inquiry into the reasons of the fire.
NORAD says third stage of rocket carrying cargo spacecraft burned in dense atmosphere
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket that put the Progress spacecraft into undesignated orbit has burned in dense atmosphere, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported Wednesday.
According to American measurements, the object having No. 40620 in the US catalogue lost orbit.
Soyuz-2.1a blasted off from the Baikonur space site on Tuesday morning. After the cargo spacecraft's separation from the rocket reports arrived that two antennae of the approach and docking system had failed to unfold. Then it turned out that the spacecraft missed the expected orbit and entered an uncontrolled spin. Repeated attempts to establish communication with the spacecraft failed.
Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov told the media on Wednesday there were no chances for docking with the ISS. The spacecraft will be deorbited on May 5-7 to burn in the Earth’s atmosphere.
East Ukraine militia claim Kiev troops plan large-scale provocations for May 8 and 9
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Self-proclaimed Donetsk republic defense spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Wednesday, citing human intelligence data, that the Ukrainian Army command plans large-scale provocations for May 8 and 9, including shelling of populated localities from heavy artillery systems.
"I said on numerous occasions that we continued to receive information on Ukrainian military buildup along the entire line of contact," he said, pointing to the deployment of seven mobile task groups reinforced with batteries of the Grad multiple rocket launchers.
"But now I’m referring to the use heavy artillery and jet propulsion systems with considerable destructive potential that could lead to mass civilian casualties," Basurin noted.
According to him, facts have been revealed when Ukrainian service members in their conversations with the local population strongly recommend them to leave the settlements of Novoluganskoye and Staromikhailovka as of May 7.
"In general, a distressful conclusion arises all by itself," the DPR defense spokesman said.
Russian bikers including Night Wolves members visit Auschwitz-Birkenau camp museum
2015/04/29
WARSAW, April 29. /TASS/. A group of Russian bikers, including members of the Nochnye Volki (Night Wolves) club on Wednesday visited the museum located at the site of the former Nazi camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were accompanied by Polish bikers on this trip.
One of the night wolves, Vladimir Vassilyev, told TASS he arrived in Poland from the Czech Republic where he had come by plane and rented a motorcycle.
"I came here to remind our children of what happened in that camp and to prevent it from happening again," he said.
Miroslaw Wenglorz, a representative of the Polish biking movement called Miezdynarodowy Motocyklowy Rajd Katynski said the Polish bikers wanted to assist their Russian pals and to escort them.
"I joined the rides to Katyn on three occasions and I found a warm reception there," he said. "Now I’d like to show hospitality on my part."
After the laying of flowers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the biking group headed for a Soviet military cemetery in the town of Pszczyna.
On April 24, the Polish authorities took a decision to ban entry of the country’s territory for bikers from the Nochnya Volki all-Russia biking club who were making a ride from Moscow to Berlin on the occasion of the 70th anniversary since VE-Day.
Reports said the decision to ban entry for them had been taken out of the considerations of ‘national security’, since the Night Wolves pose risk for Polish security interests.
Following the incident with the bikers on the Belarusian-Polish border, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz.
She was told that Moscow expected well-substantiated explanations from Warsaw over the ungrounded and affronting actions undertaken by the Polish authorities, "which cannot be called otherwise than an outrage on the memory of those who gave their lives for the liberation of Europe from Nazism," a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said.
European Commission president says his relations with Putin at good level
2015/04/29
PARIS, April 29. /TASS/. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday said his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are at a good level.
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Juncker said: "In fact, I have good relations with Vladimir Putin."
Answering a question on what topics Juncker and Putin discuss at talks, the EC president said: "When I hold talks with different people, we do not release a communique in this connection. I can say, though, that I continue to play the appropriate role in current difficult conditions, without trying to cast a shadow on anybody."
"I know what the media is all about. So, this is a good reason not to answer you," Juncker noted.
Mass arrests of opposition activists reported in south Ukraine's Odessa — local media
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. More than 10 opposition activists have been detained in Odessa on Wednesday by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU). Among them are the mother of the leader of the Odessa "Anti-Maidan" group Anton Davidchenko, leader of the People’s Rada of Bessarabia Vera Shevchenko and opposition journalist Artyom Buzila, 1NEWS writes.
The arrests have sparked a massive public outcry in the social networks. "The authorities are so afraid of Odessa residents, so afraid of assuming responsibility for the May 2 events that it is trying to silence as many people as it can," Editor-in-Chief of the Timer Internet portal Yury Tkachev writes on his Facebook page. "A total of 50 people have been arrested this month in Odessa alone." Tkachev has urged Odessa residents not to cede ground and join a memorial rally on May 2.
Meanwhile, the so-called United Headquarters of the Odessa Patriotic Forces comprising such organizations as the Right Sector and the Self-Defense of the Maidan planned to hold its own commemorative events on May 2. Coordinator of the Self-Defense of Odessa Vitaly Kozhukhar and spokeswoman for the Right Sector in Odessa Varvara Chernoivanenko told reporters that they had already obtained permission from the authorities to hold a rally in memory of the Ukrainian patriots who died on May 2 upholding the Maidan ideals.
On Saturday, Odessa will mark the first anniversary of the May 2 tragedy when dozens of people were killed in clashes of pro-federalization and nationalist activists.
Defunct cargo spacecraft to be deorbited May 5-7 — Russian space agency
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia’s defunct cargo spacecraft Progress M-27M, which entered into an uncontrolled spin after abortive launch on Tuesday, is to be deorbited on May 5-7 to burn in the Earth’s atmosphere, the Russian space agency Roscosmos has told TASS.
"The deorbiting of the Progress cargo spacecraft Progress M-27M and its burning in the atmosphere is expected on May 5 through May 7," Roscosmos said.
The spacecraft poses no significant threat to the International Space Station, as their orbits are considerably different.
"At the moment the spacecraft’s onboard systems are under control. Roscosmos specialists keep track of the spacecraft’s orbit and will timely report any changes in the situation," the Roscosmos press-service said.
Progress M-27M blasted off from the Baikonur space site on Tuesday morning. After its separation from the rocket reports arrived that two antennae of the approach and docking system Kursk had failed to unfold. Then it turned out that the spacecraft missed the expected orbit and entered an uncontrolled spin. Repeated attempts to establish communication with the spacecraft failed.
Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov told the media on Wednesday there were no chances for docking with the ISS and that the possibility of dumping Progress M-27M were being considered.
Ukrainian president’s firm challenges Russian assets seizure in tax probe
2015/04/29
LIPETSK, April 29. /TASS/. Roshen Confectionary Corporation owned by Ukrainian billionaire President Petro Poroshenko has filed a protest to a Moscow court over a judgment to seize assets of its Lipetsk confectionary in central Russia in an embezzlement probe, a Roshen official said on Wednesday.
"The protest prepared by lawyers was filed to the Moscow City Court to challenge the lower court’s decision on the seizure of assets," Lipetsk confectionary Deputy CEO Oleg Kazakov said.
The Lipetsk confectionary reported on Tuesday investigators had seized its assets worth 2 billion rubles ($39 million) under a Moscow district court’s ruling as part of a criminal probe into the embezzlement of budget funds at the factory.
The Lipetsk confectionary deputy head said the plant’s management "disagrees with the property seizure in principle and especially considering the fact that the value of the assets seized considerably exceeds tax claims that total 180 million rubles ($3.5 million)."
Russia’s Investigative Committee said on April 1 investigators had searched Roshen’s Lipetsk confectionery as part of a criminal probe into the illegal 180 million-ruble value added tax refund.
The criminal case against the Roshen confectionery was opened on charges of the fraudulent theft of 180 million rubles through the illegal VAT refund from the Russian budget, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said at the time.
The criminal case was opened on the basis of materials provided by Russia’s Federal Security Service, he said.
"For the purpose of seizing items and documents that are important for the criminal case, searches are being made today on the territory of the Lipetsk confectionery Roshen and in the offices of the research and production firm Metallimpress in Nizhny Novgorod," Markin said at the time.
According to investigators, representatives of these organizations sent forged documents to the Lipetsk regional tax inspectorate in 2012-2013 on the works allegedly fulfilled in 2012 and worth over 1 billion rubles ($17 million at the current exchange rate) for the construction of a confectionery and demanded a VAT refund of over 180 million rubles, Markin said.
However, the cost of works performed by sub-contractors hired by Metallimpress was clearly overstated and some organizations carried no financial or economic activities, he added.
The forged documents later served as the ground for transferring over 180 million rubles to the Roshen Lipetsk confectionery’s settlement account in an illegal VAT refund, the Investigative Committee spokesman said.
The investigation is continuing to find all the circumstances of this crime, Markin said.
Ukraine’s President Poroshenko pledged to sell his business assets after he was elected head of state in May last year.
Project of Ukrainian-Russian nuclear fuel plant to be renounced
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Ukraine plans renouncing a joint project with Russia, under which the two countries were to build a factory for the production of nuclear fuel, the Minister of Energy and Coalmining, Vladimir Demchishin told TASS on Wednesday.
"We’ll denounce the agreement and, in most probability, this will be done by law," he said.
Russia holds large-scale military drills in Tajikistan
2015/04/29
DUSHANBE, April 29. /TASS/. Russia has held a large-scale military exercise 20 kilometers away from Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe. Units of the 201st military base of the Russian Defense Ministry practised anti-terrorist operations, an aide to the commander of the Central Military District, Yaroslav Roshchupkin, told TASS.
"The 201st military base has carried out a terrain exercise to practice the search for and seizure of a base camp of militants in the mountains," Roshchupkin said. Drones were employed.
The Russian military base in Tajikistan is the largest Russian ground force outside the national territory. Up to 2020 its combat strength will increase to 9,000 men from 7,000.
Belarus finds itself dragged into Ukrainian conflict — Lukashenko
2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Belarus took the role of "a peacemaking capital" not only because it improves the country’s reputation, but also because Minsk was in fact "dragged into war" in Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday.
"The main thing is that war today is in full swing not in the Golan Heights, in Libya, in Iraq, where they are bombing. It is not even that the war is near us. The war is right here. There is no shooting war yet [right here], by a shooting war is in full swing near us. And we have already been dragged into it," Lukashenko said.
"Our people are already fighting - some of them for one side, others for another. For now, there are only few of them. If they want to fight and die for $10,000 - it’s their choice, they may go ahead. This is not what is scary. War will end, and those militants, with blood on their hands, will return home," the Belarusian president noted.
"I do not want Belarusians to go there, to that bloodbath, and die there. It only contributes to conflict escalation," Lukashenko said. This hot spot in eastern Ukraine is the problem of Belarus as well, he added. Minsk should do everything possible to prevent the escalation in Donbas so that the war does not spill over the borders to other countries, the Belarusian leader stressed.
Landmark Kremlin tower restored ahead of schedule
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The five-month restoration of the Kremlin main clock Spasskaya Tower has been completed ahead of schedule, Sergey Devyatov, a spokesman for the Federal Protection Service, told TASS on Wednesday.
Devyatov said the tower had undergone restoration "from the ruby star to the foundation."
He said that the star's stainless steel bearing construction and ruby glass had been cleaned for the first time since 1946, while the filament lamp made in the 1940s was replaced with metal-halogen lamps.
The 18th century Kremlin Clock also underwent maintenance, with the hands and dial covered with gold leaf, Devyatov said.
The conservation of the old Italian red bricks of the Spasskaya Tower also carried out, he said.
The Spasskaya (Saviour's) Tower was built in 1491 by an Italian architect, Pietro Antonio Solari, and got its name from an icon of Christ the Saviour which was placed above the tower's gates. The icon was removed in 1917 after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The first star made of semi-precious stones was installed on the Spasskaya Tower in 1935. In 1937 the star was replaced with a new one made of ruby glass.
Putin orders impartial assessment of damage from fires in Khakassia
2015/04/29
NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 29. /TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has ordered to do an urgent and impartial assessment of the damage caused by wildfires in the east-Siberian region of Khakassia and other parts of Siberia and the Far East.
"It’s important to do an impartial assessment as soon as possible," he said at a conference with government members.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said, on his part, the agencies of power had placed housing and infrastructure restoration requests totaling 7 billion rubles, "but this assessment should be supported by documents."
Putin told Kozak to press forward with the process and not to waste time. "It’s important to do this work right now and to achieve timely results," he said.
Kozak said on his part restoration of the housing damaged by fires in Khakassia and the Trans-Baikal territory is to begin on May 15.
"Full inventory of all the dwelling houses damaged by wildfires has been taken," he said at a conference chaired by the President. "
A total of 1,373 houses have been fully destroyed and another 64 houses demand a complete overhaul.
Kozak said appropriate instructions for building residential houses upon model projects had been issued and the organizations that would take charge of this job had also been selected.
"We can give a kind of consent for signing these agreements quickly enough and get down to the construction works at the sites of residential facilities and central infrastructures as of May 15," he said.
Protest action of Right Sector in front of the Ukrainian presidential office finished
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Supporters of the ultra-right Ukrainian organization Right Sector have left the square in front of the presidential office but promised to be back on the weekend to set fire to the building.
Wednesday’s protest action gathered about 200 radicals, whose leaders earlier urged the armed forces to disobey the authorities. Right Sector spokesman Artyom Skoropadsky said the demonstration was a warning.
"Next time we will set the presidential office building on fire," he said about further action to be taken if the rightist activists’ demands were ignored.
Right Sector militants were demanding meetings with senior officials, but nobody emerged from the building and the demonstrators left. Next time they are going to demonstrate on the weekend.
Earlier, Right Sector militants said that their base in the Dnepropetrovsk Region had been surrounded by two paratroop brigades. The radicals said "the authorities are planning a large-scale provocation against the volunteers and urged their "brothers" to protest.
Ukraine expects Russian gas price at less than $220 per thousand cubic meters in Q3
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Ukraine expects the price of Russian natural gas to be less than $220 per 1,000 cubic meters in July-September 2015, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Vladimir Demchishin said on Wednesday.
"I believe it will be below $220 in the third quarter," the minister said.
The average price of gas on the European spot market is currently at about $240 per 1,000 cubic meters, Demchishin said.
The Ukrainian energy and coal minister said he hoped that "this figure [less than $220] will be sealed in a protocol between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom."
Ukraine’s major gas suppliers are currently Russia and European countries that resupply Russian natural gas in a reverse-flow mode.
Ukraine imported 4.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas in January-February, including 2.3 billion cubic meters from Europe, according to data provided in March by Ukrainian gas transportation company Ukrtransgaz.
In the same period last year, Ukraine also imported 4.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas but the entire volume came from Russia.
Ukraine’s annual gas consumption amounts to about 50 billion cubic meters.
Kiev says all movements of troops in Dnipropetrovsk Region due to drills
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that regular airborne units are conducting exercises in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region and this is the sole reason behind all movements of military forces in the area.
Members of the ultra-right paramilitary group Right Sector, outlawed in Russia, said on Tuesday their base in the Dnipropetrovsk Region had been surrounded by regular army units, including the 25th and 95th paratroop brigades.
The Right Sector said the authorities are planning a large-scale provocation against the volunteers and urged their "brothers in all other Ukrainian volunteer movements to gather in front of the presidential administration building on April 29."
"Airborne troops' movements in the Dnipropetrovsk Region are related to exercises," the Defense Ministry said. "All statements being spread in the Internet regarding the situation in the Dnipropetrovsk Region are expected to raise tensions in society and prove attempts at armed provocations in the territory of Ukraine on the eve of May holidays," the Defense Ministry said.
In the evening of April 28 and in the morning of April 29 there were telephone conversations between the chief of the General Staff, Viktor Muzhenok and leader of the extremist organization Dmytro Yarosh. "The two men discussed a variety of issues, including the implementation of previous agreements regarding cooperation between and integration of the volunteer paramilitary force with the Ukrainian Armed Forces," the General Staff said. "All armed units in Ukrainian territory must be legitimate and subordinate to the Armed Forces or other government agencies.".
Soyuz rocket engine may have overworked because of control system glitch
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The engine of the carrier rocket that orbited the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft has "overworked" and the contingency might have been caused by the control unit, a source at the Voronezh-based Chemical Automatics Design Bureau, that created the RD-0110 engine that has successfully worked in more than 1,500 launches, told TASS on Wednesday.
The contingency with the Progress spacecraft might have been caused by problems with the engine control system that was giving commands. This is also confirmed by the fact that the RF-0110 engine even "overworked," burning overtime, the source said.
The record of 1,500 launches "testifies to the high reliability and fine operation of the engine, so there should be no questions to the product’s design." According to the expert, raising the issue of "the third stage engine’s malfunction currently would not be quite appropriate."
"The RD-0110 engine has approved itself a reliable product, having only one contingency - in August 2011," the source said. But even the investigation conducted at that time at the Voronezh Mechanical Plant that was engaged in serial manufacturing of the RD-0110, showed that its production technology requirements were fully complied with.
Kremlin says Putin can’t oblige state companies’ bosses to disclose incomes
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot oblige top managers of state-controlled companies to publish data on their incomes, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"The president expressed his opinion [during a recent question-and-answer conference] and this was not outlined as an instruction. Moreover, in this case, he cannot give an instruction on this score," Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman said this issue should not be "addressed to us."
The Russian government issued a resolution in late March canceling the recently-adopted requirement for top managers of companies with state stakes to publish information on their incomes and expenditures.
The presidential spokesman earlier said the Kremlin had not exerted any pressure on the government to pass the decision on cancelling the obligatory publication of income and expenses by state companies’ bosses.
"No, this was not the case [the Kremlin’s pressure on the government]," Peskov said. "This is the issue, which is wholly and fully the prerogative of the Cabinet of Ministers," Peskov said.
The requirement for the heads of state companies to submit information on their incomes to the government but not publicly was introduced in the summer of 2013. The list comprised 62 companies, including rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZD), oil major Rosneft, gas giant Gazprom, hi-tech nanotechnology corporation Rosnano and retail savings bank Sberbank.
Putin said during his Q&A conference on April 16 he would recommend the heads of large state companies to disclose data on their incomes voluntarily because "there is nothing terrible about that."
Right Sector defies pledge to join Ukrainian army — presidential adviser
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The volunteer Ukrainian paramilitary force calling itself Right Sector defies its pledge to get integrated with the Ukrainian armed forces, Ukrainian presidential adviser, defense minister’s aide Yuri Biryukov has said on his page in Facebook in the wake of statements by the Right Sector Ukrainian army were trying to disarm its members.
Biryukov recalled there had been attempts to devise an integration formula, but certain problems emerged. "Right Sector units said they were against being diluted within regular army units," he said. At a certain point it was agreed that "their units will not be split and the headquarters of volunteer battalions will be manned by career officers."
Besides, the leader of the Right Sector, parliament member Dmytro Yarosh became an adviser to Ukraine’s General Staff.
"That was three weeks ago," Biryukov said. "Since then some battalion commanders, their deputies, chiefs of the battalions’ headquarters and their deputies kept coming to the General Staff again and again. The mood was getting worse and rhetoric eventually grew into ultimatums."
"Time is ripe to understand and realize that the army must be indivisible, homogenous and a formidable force," the presidential adviser said.
He avoided commenting on the events of the past few hours unfolding around the Right Sectors’ base, adding that he was ignorant of what decisions had been made and who made them.
On Tuesday, the 25th and 95th brigades of Ukraine’s armed forces surrounded the base of the volunteer battalion Right Sector in the village of Velikomikhailovka and demanded they should lay down arms.
Right Sector is an informal ultra-right extremist group. In March 2014 it was reformed into a political party on the legal and personnel base of the Ukrainian National Assembly party (UNA-UNSO).
Russia’s Supreme Court last November declared Right Sector as an extremist organization and outlawed it in Russia.
Russian rescuers start disaster relief works in Nepal — emergencies minister
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Emergencies Ministry’s rescuers have started disaster relief works in Nepal, the ministry’s head Vladimir Puchkov said on Wednesday.
"Russian rescuers started working. They are professional rescuers," Puchkov said. Also on the team are Russian cynologists who will look for people under rubble, and mountain climbers, who will provide targeted aid to Russians.
"Russian Emergencies Ministry’s specialists have started works to determine the sustainability of buildings and facilities in the earthquake zone in Nepal where aftershocks continue. The Russian Embassy building suffered," Puchkov said.
The devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal on Saturday. The death toll of the earthquake has reached 5,020 people, Nepal’s police reported on Wednesday, while 7,624 others were injured. According to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), at least 6.6 million citizens have been affected by the disaster.
Seismologists have registered 67 aftershocks after the devastating earthquake, the Indian Meteorological Department told TASS on Saturday. The magnitude of aftershocks varied from 3.2 to 6.9, most of them were felt on the territory of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Lithuania denies entry to bikers from Russia and Belarus
2015/04/29
VILNIUS, April 29. /TASS/. Lithuania has denied permission to four bikers from Russia and Belarus to cross into the Lithuanian territory despite Schengen visas issued to the bikers. The press service of the Lithuanian border guards circulated a statement on Wednesday, citing absence of documents to confirm the purpose of the presence of the four bikers on the Lithuanian territory, including technical maintenance certificates, as the reason.
"Two bikers from Russia and two bikers from Belarus were not allowed to cross the state border at the Medininkai and Salcininkai border check points on Tuesday evening, " spokesman for the Lithuanian Border Guard Service Giedrius Misutis confirmed. "Apart from the visa, the border guards might ask for other documents, such as a voucher for accommodation in Lithuania, a voucher for tourist services, an invitation from friends or relatives or other documents," the spokesman told TASS.
On April 27 the Lithuanian authorities turned away a group of eight bikers with Russian license plates, with possible members of the Night Wolves bikers' club.
A Moscow-Berlin marathon devoted to the 70th anniversary of victory in WWII, set off from Moscow on April 25 to pay homage to Soviet soldiers who were killed in action when liberating European states from Nazi occupants. The bikers were to cross the territory of Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and the Czech Republic before a final stopover in Berlin on May 9, which was to crown their mission.
But, on April 27 the bikers were denied permission to cross into Poland. The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded explanations from Poland and resolutely condemned Warsaw’s act.
Russian sports minister denies conflict with Russian Football Union
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Wednesday he had no issues of contradiction with the Russian Football Union and he may be the last person at the moment supporting Russia’s football governing body.
"There is no standoff with the RFU," Mutko told a news conference in Moscow. "I may be the last person rendering support for his organization."
"There are two matches ahead of the Russian national team and they will decide everything. We may not qualify for the [2016] Euro Cup and we are engaged in such mess. Do we need it? We must be working to provide a holiday of football. Yes, there are problems. But where no problems exist at all? Each sport has its own problems," Mutko said.
Russia’s daily Novaya Gazeta published on Friday a copy of a contract inked by the RFU with Italian manager Capello in January of 2014.
In line with the document, which was signed until July 2018 and stipulated an annual salary of €7 million ($7.6 million) for the Italian coach, the RFU practically had no rights of severing the contract unilaterally without paying a penalty, while Capello was granted such opportunity. Some parts of the contract were signed by Sports Minister Mutko.
Earlier in the month the RFU received an inquiry from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which wanted to know whether Russia’s football governing body possibly collaborated with companies Chestersen Ltd and FARO Management in signing the contract with Capello.
The OCCRP suspects the Italian manager of having additional sources of income. Last week RFU President Nikolai Tolstykh told TASS that the contract with Capello was signed without the participation of any third party.
The OCCRP is a not-for-profit, joint program of a number of regional non-profit investigative centers and for profit independent media stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, according to its official website.
Capello’s contract, which he initially signed in 2012 and extended for another four years in early 2014, was in the media spotlight late last year over the issue of wage arrears.
Capello and Oreste Cinquini, the Russian football team’s general manager, had been unpaid between last June and December. According to various media reports, RFU’s debt to Italian managers totaled some 600 million rubles ($9.7 million). On February 5, Russian billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov extended 400 million rubles ($5.96 million) loan to the RFU to repay Capello’s wage arrears.
The RFU said in its statement on February 6 that it executed "the necessary financial transactions to repay wages to head coach of the Russian national team Fabio Capello," and thanked both Mutko and Usmanov for their help in the settlement of the debt repayment issue.
The Russian national squad experienced a string of setbacks over the past decade failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and 2010 championship in South Africa to the great dismay of the Russian football fans.
Things changed when Italian phenomenon Capello took over the team as the head coach in July of 2012 and managed to help the Russian national squad to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The team, however, failed to clear the first stage of the much-anticipated global tournament putting their coach in the center of stern criticism and raising serious concerns in the country about the team’s performance in the next World Cup, which would be hosted by Russia in 2018.
However, Russia did not severe the contract with Capello after the Russian team’s performance at the World Cup in Brazil and the Italian manager also decided to stay with the Russian squad as the head coach until the year of 2018 as stipulated by the contract terms.
Belarus leader says tension between great powers at Cold War level
2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Tension between world powers has reached the level of Cold War, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday.
"Who would have thought that today bombs will drop and shells will explode in neighboring Ukraine, that the smell of big war will linger in Europe again, that tension between great powers will reach the level of Cold War," Lukashenko said.
The president noted that Belarus remains "a place of peace, calm and order." "Unfortunately, some people forgot the lessons of the Great Patriotic War, the 70th anniversary of which we will celebrate in a few days," Lukashenko said.
The main task now is to maintain peace, order and independence, the Belarusian president said. "The fate of Belarus is determined not at the front or in squares, but in the economy. Economy is the guarantor of our independence," Lukashenko said.
Gas pipeline catches fire after shelling in east Ukraine — city administration
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A high pressure gas pipeline has caught fire in Ukraine’s Gorlovka after shellings at night, the city’s administration said on Wednesday.
"We registered fire at a high pressure gas pipeline after shellings," the Donetsk News Agency quoted an administration official as saying.
Eighteen electric substations were left without power in the morning, but repair workers have already fixed half of them.
"Six residential houses were destroyed" as a result of night’s shellings, the official added.
The DPR defense ministry said Ukrainian forces shelled Gorlovka twice overnight. "They shelled from 152mm artillery and 82mm mortars," the defense ministry added. One person died in shellings and one more was injured.
Belarus president: if US is included in Normandy Four, there will be peace in Ukraine
2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Including the US in the Normandy format may have a positive effect on reaching peace and stability in eastern Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday.
"[If] Americans get involved - there [in Ukraine] will be peace," Lukashenko said.
The Normandy Quartet got its name from the first meeting in this format in June 2014 during D-Day celebrations in northern France. In February 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the Minsk accords on the settlement in Ukraine.
The Minsk agreements envisage ceasefire in Ukraine’s south-east, heavy weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local elections in Donbass and constitutional reform in Ukraine.
Russian defense minister orders to consider restarting Tu-160 missile carrier production
2015/04/29
KAZAN, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu gave instructions on Wednesday to study the issue of resuming the production of Tupolev Tu-160 (NATO reporting name: Blackjack) supersonic strategic bombers at the Kazan aviation plant in the Volga Republic of Tatarstan.
"It is necessary already today to start implementing tasks not only for keeping in good order and modernizing the fleet of long-range aviation but also for reproducing Tu-160 missile carriers," Shoigu said during a visit to the Kazan plant.
The Tu-160 bomber is "a unique plane that has been several decades abreast of time and has not used its constructive possibilities to the full extent until now," the Russian defense minister said.
"No one has devised a better plane in the supersonic category up to date," Shoigu said.
The Russian Air Force currently operates about 15 Tu-160 strategic bombers. The missile carriers are undergoing modernization, which was announced in 2012.
Russia is currently developing a new strategic bomber dubbed PAK DA (prospective aviation complex of long-range aviation). The new bomber is expected to make its first flight in 2019 and become operational in the Russian Air Force approximately in 2023-2025.
According to previous reports, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held a workshop on the restoration and maintenance of the country’s long-range aviation fleet. The Defense Ministry said Shoigu has visited the Kazan Aviation Plant and gave orders to furnish the enterprise with new equipment to boost the long-range aviation power.
Ahead of the meeting, the ministry said, Shoigu visited shops of the aircraft plant where the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 bombers are repaired and modernized.
The Defense Ministry press service told TASS on Wednesday that Russia’s Air Force will get two strategic bombers Tupolev Tu-160 and twelve long-range Tu-22M3 bombers before the end of this year.
In February, Russian Air Force Commander Viktor Bondarev said that deep modernisation of five Tu-160 and nine Tu-22M3 aircraft would be completed this year.
"Six more Tu-22M3 aircraft have been taken for modernization to the Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant," the press service said.
The Kazan Aviation Plant, founded in 1927, is a subsidiary of JSC Tupolev. It currently manufactures special purpose aircraft on the basis of Tu-214, as well as repairs and modernises bombers. In addition, the company manufactures and supplies components and assemblies within the framework of cooperation with other plants of the United Aircraft Corporation. In particular, the Kazan plant is preparing for the production of wings and tail assembly for the IL-476 planes.
Controlled deorbiting of Progress impossible — source
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Specialists have arrived at the conclusion that controlled deorbiting of the cargo spacecraft progress M-27M is impossible, a source in the space rocket industry has told TASS.
"Specialists have agreed that Progress is hopeless. Its controlled deorbiting is impossible," he said.
"Commands were sent many a time. None of them worked," the source said.
Earlier, a source said that three of Wednesday’s six scheduled communication sessions had reached nowhere.
"All of the tree attempts were futile. No radical changes have occurred. Progress remains out of control," he said. "Minimum telemetry data are arriving from the Kvant module. It provides only some general parameters, but they are of little help. The main telemetry unit Blits keeps quiet," the source said.
Progress M-27M blasted off from Baikonur on Tuesday morning. After its separation from the delivery vehicle reports arrived two antennae of the approach and docking system Kurs would not unfold. A short while later it turned out that the spacecraft was in an undesignated orbit and spinning erratically. All attempts to contact the spacecraft have been unsuccessful. According to earlier reports if Progress remains out of control, it may leave its orbit on May 3-4.
Ukraine's PM pledges Chernobyl wildfire no threat to people
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The wildfire situation near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster is under control, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday.
"The fire situation has stabilised and the radiation levels in the fire zone and Kiev are normal," Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting.
"There is no threat to local residents and those involved in the firefighting effort," he said.
Local officials told TASS earlier that fire broke out on Tuesday in the southern, less contaminated part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone but the blaze has almost reached "the area which was more contaminated after the Chernobyl NPP disaster."
Zoryan Shkiryak, the acting head of Ukraine's emergencies service, said earlier he was convinced that the fire would be extinguished by the end of the day.
The Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 square kilometers around the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Belarus remains Russia’s closest ally, does not lean towards West — Lukashenko
2015/04/29
MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Belarus has always been and remains Russia’s closest ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday.
Belarus has never tried to get closer to the West, Lukashenko stressed. "There are talks among Russian liberals, including in the Russian leadership, that Belarus has started leaning towards the West. Get this out of your minds, people and leadership of Russia. We have always been and will remain with Russia," he added.
"Let us have our own position and our own opinion," the Belarusian president said. "If I ran away after Crimea [joined Russia last year], would there be a negotiating platform [in Minsk]? Never," Lukashenko added.
"We have always been with Russia and will remain this way, and one should not talk about any kind of ‘leaning’," he stressed. "There are forces in Russia that want to limit the influence of the Belarusian model, Lukashenko on the processes in Russia," Lukashenko added. "We are a sovereign state. We are brothers with Russia, but we want to live in our own house," he noted.
"We will come to Moscow on May 8 and demonstrate that we are part of the ‘Russian world’," Lukashenko said.
Third batch of equipment for S-400 missile regiment arrives in Russia's Kamchatka
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A third batch of equipment for a regiment of the S-400 "Triumph" air defense missile systems has arrived from Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, spokesman for Russia’s Eastern Military District Roman Martov said on Wednesday.
"The batch comprises more than 50 units of equipment, spare parts and accessories of the S-400 missile system that will soon replace the S-300. The rearmament will be completed soon and the new S-400 air defense missile system will be put on combat duty to protect air frontiers of Russia’s northeast," Martov said.
The first batch that included more than 20 equipment units for the S-400 system had arrived in Kamchatka in early February. The second batch arrived to the peninsula in April. According to previous reports, the delivery of the regimental set of the Triumph missile systems will take five trains.
A Russian Defense Ministry source told TASS previously that the S-400 regimental set for Kamchatka would comprise three battalions, and not two as before.
The S-400 missile systems are already protecting the skies over Moscow and St. Petersburg, and Severomorsk - the headquarters of the Northern Fleet, the Kaliningrad region - the most western part of the country, locked between Poland, Lithuania and Belarus and home to Russia’s Baltic Fleet, and also southern regions and the coast of the Sea of Japan in the Far East. The S-400 is a new generation anti-aircraft system, which can be equipped with very long-range missiles (up to 400km), long-range (250km) and medium-range (120km). It’s capable of shooting down anything from small aircraft to cruise missiles such as the Tomahawk, and even ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
US Air Force detects 44 debris of ‘unknown origin’ close to Russian cargo ship
2015/04/29
NEW YORK, April 29. /TASS/. The personnel of the Joint Space Operations Center at the US Vandenberg Air Force base in California detected 44 debris of unknown origin in orbit close to Russia’s Progress space ship, Center Chief Lieut.-Gen. Jay Raymond said on Wednesday.
The US specialists have failed to establish the origin of the debris so far, he said.
Russia’s Progress M-27M freighter launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday failed to reach its designated orbit for docking with the International Space Station and is currently spinning out of control.
The general said the Joint Space Operations Center at the US Vandenberg Air Force base continued to watch these developments and work with the US government, international and industrial partners to ensure the safety of astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Russia-China military, technical cooperation not directed against third countries
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Military and technical cooperation between Russia and China is not directed against any third counties, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said on Wednesday.
The ambassador noted that military and technical cooperation was "part and parcel of our overall cooperation." "Our cooperation in the military and industrial sector has long played a very important role in boosting the combat effectiveness of the Chinese defence forces," the diplomat said. "Both the Russian side and we attach great importance to the development of our cooperation in the military field," Li Hui said.
The ambassador added that cooperation between China and Russia in the military and industrial sector "was aimed at protecting our security and promoting peace and stability in the world." "Such cooperation is not directed against anyone, against any third countries," the diplomat said.
Right Sector activists warn they may set fire to Ukrainian presidential residence
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. A crowd of 200 supporters of Ukraine’s ultra-right organization Right Sector, outlawed in Russia as extremist, has gathered in front of the Ukrainian presidential administration building, a TASS correspondent reports from the scene.
According to Right Sector’s press-secretary Artyom Skoropadsky, the "protest action has not begun yet in earnest and today it will not gather many people."
"Most of Right Sector activists are now in the Dnipropetrovsk Region, where the battalion has its base," he said. "This is a warning demonstration. But it may last as long as the presidential administration will be on fire."
Skoropadsky warned that if the demonstrators’ demands were ignored, "next time we shall set fire to the presidential administration building."
Another Right Sector activist, Alexey Byk, said he and his men were there "to address the president with a reminder he is not enteral and that setting volunteer battalions and the regular army against each other is nothing but a provocation of bloodshed."
At the moment the presidential building is surrounded by three police cordons. Buses with National Guard servicemen are parked inside the gateways of buildings around.
Xi Jinping to meet in Moscow only Vladimir Putin — Ambassador
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, meetings with other countries’ leaders are not planned, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said.
"We do not know who else will attend the celebrations," he told reporters, answering a question whether a meeting between Xi Jinping and leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un was possible. "We haven’t received the final list of the participants."
The ambassador added that at the moment only a meeting with the Russian president was planned. "It will certainly take place," he said.
According to previous reports, leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un has accepted an invitation to arrive in Moscow to take part in the Victory Day celebrations.
Next cargo spacecraft Progress may be launched ahead of time
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Cargo spacecraft Progress M-28M, originally scheduled to be launched on August 6, may be put in orbit ahead of time due to the failed launch of its predecessor, a source at the Baikonur space site told TASS.
"The next Progress may be dispatched to the ISS earlier, because the cargo the Progress M-27M was carrying apparently has been lost. The crew has enough food and water, but in any case the reserves must be replenished," the source said. The next cargo spacecraft is already at Baikonur, but it still needs a delivery vehicle and equipment, and so on."
"Progress M-27M blasted off from Baikonur on Tuesday morning to have been propelled into an undesignated orbit. Several attempts to establish stable communication with it and put it under control have failed. A total of six attempts to contact the spacecraft will be made today. A source in the space rocket industry responsible for ballistic support for Russian spacecraft earlier told TASS Progress might leave its orbit on May 3-4, if no contact with it is established by then.
Radiation level safe in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone hit by wildfire
2015/04/29
KIEV, April 29. /TASS/. The radiation level is safe in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Exclusion Zone where a forest fire broke out on Tuesday, the acting head of Ukraine's emergencies service said on Wednesday.
"The background radiation level is normal, there is no threat," Zoryan Shkiryak said.
He said the fire had been localised and the situation was under control.
Shkiryak said that aircraft were dumping water on the flames.
The Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 square kilometers around the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Putin unlikely to see Navalny as a political threat — spokesman
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin hardly sees the leader of the Party of Progress, Aleksei Navalny, as a political threat, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
"In general, given the level of credibility, popularity and electoral rating, the president can hardly see other politicians as a threat," Peskov told the media.
He refrained from comments on the decision to strip the Party of Progress of its registration. He advised the media to turn to the Justice Ministry for explanations.
On Tuesday, the Justice Ministry said it had declared void the state registration of the Party of Progress, of which Navalny is the leader. The Justice Ministry said the party had violated certain legal rules. For instance, during the six months following its registration it failed to open local chapters in no less than half of Russia’s regions.
No decision yet on Progress cargo ship deorbiting or docking — source
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia has not yet made a decision on whether to deorbit an unmanned cargo ship spinning uncontrollably in an undesignated orbit or dock it with the International Space Station (ISS), a source in the rocket and space industry said on Wednesday.
The Progress M-27M freighter blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday. After its separation from the carrier rocket, Mission Control said no telemetry was available.
Two antennas of the cargo ship’s Kurs docking system were reported to have failed to unfold. Soon it turned out that the spacecraft had entered an undesignated orbit due to a mishap in one of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket’s stages and was spinning without any control.
"It is first necessary to stabilize the spacecraft and make sure that all of its units and systems operate before deorbiting it or docking it with the ISS. A decision on whether to deorbit it or to dock has not yet been made, the source said.
Three more attempts will be made soon to establish communication with the Progress spacecraft, after which there will be an interval six circuits long, the source said.
"Specialists will try to establish communication with the space ship as long as its resources last," he said.
Telemetric data from the Progress cargo ship were not yet available, he added.
Another source in the Russian space industry told TASS that "chances remain for docking in the teleoperation mode, if specialists succeed in stabilizing the space ship."
According to the source, a failure of a part of the spacecraft’s Kurs rendezvous and docking system "is not such a terrible thing."
Previous attempts to establish communication with the Progress space freighter have failed. Six attempts will be made on Wednesday.
A source in Russia’s rocket and space industry engaged in ballistics provision for Russian spacecraft told TASS the Progress cargo ship may be deorbited on May 3-4, if attempts to establish communication with it fail.
The Progress space freighter has about 2.5 tons of cargo on its board for the ISS crew and also a copy of the Banner of the Soviet Victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
Russia launches design campaign for mascot of 2018 FIFA World Cup
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko launched on Wednesday an official campaign for the design of the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in 11 different cities across Russia.
The launch of the campaign was announced at a special news conference in the Russian capital of Moscow attended by various football officials, including Alexey Sorokin, the CEO of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Russia-2018.
Sorokin earlier told TASS that the mascot of the much anticipated global football championship in Russia will be unveiled in the second half of 2016.
Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over four years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.
Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.
Proton rocket carrying Mexican satellite may be launched May 15-16
2015/04/29
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A Proton-M space rocket carrying a Mexican communication satellite Mexsat-1 may blast off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan on May 15 or 16, a source at Baikonur said.
"On April 30 the foreign client will be prepared to say if the satellite is ready for launch. According to preliminary estimates the launch of the Proton may take place on May 15-16," he said.
Earlier, the Khrunichev Center - the designer and manufacturer of the Proton rocket - said the launch had been postponed indefinitely at the client’s request, adding that the satellite’s manufacturer (Boeing Corporation) asked for more time to check onboard equipment.
Mexsat-1 is a 5.3-tonne mobile communication satellite built for Mexico’s Communication and Transport Ministry. It will join a satellite cluster providing communication links to remote regions. The Mexsat system consists of three satellites, two ground stations, and a control centre.
Mexsat-1 is a fourth-generation Mexican satellite developed by Boeing. It will serve the interests of national security and civilian and humanitarian programs. The satellite’s mobile communication channels will be crucial to providing assistance in case of man-made and natural calamities, for telemedicine, rural education and government operations. Its expected service life is 15 years. The satellite will be propelled into a geostationary orbit at 113 degrees Western longitude.
Nazarbayev accepts resignation of Kazakhstan’s government — presidential press service
2015/04/29
ASTANA, April 29. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has accepted resignation of the country’s government on Wednesday.
"The head of state signed a decree ‘About the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan’ in connection with the Kazakhstani government’s resignation," the president’s press service said. The government will perform its duties until new parliament is elected.
Nazarbayev also signed decrees on resignation of akims (heads) of Almaty, Astana and the country’s regions.
Members of the Kazakh government have submitted resignation to the newly elected president Nursultan Nazarbayev, the press service of the country's prime minister, Karim Masimov, said earlier.
Nazarbayev, who was inaugurated for a fifth term earlier on Wednesday, is expected to nominate a new prime minister later in the day. The premier's candidacy has to be approved by the parliament.
Nazarbayev, 74, secured 97.75% of the vote at the snap presidential elections last weekend.
Masimov held the post of Kazakhstan's prime minister in 2007-2012 and from April 2014 till the present day.
UN allocates $15 million emergency funds for Nepal earthquake relief
2015/04/28
UN, April 29. /TASS/. The United Nations have allocated $15 million in emergency funding to help Nepal cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people.
United Nations aid chief Valerie Amos on Tuesday "released $15 million through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to enable humanitarian aid organizations to rapidly scale up operations and provide immediate assistance to people in desperate need," said the report from the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA.
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday destroying buildings in the capital Kathmandu and severely affecting rural areas across the region.
The death toll has risen to more than 5,000 now, with more than 10,000 injured, officials say.
The U.N. estimates that eight million people in 39 districts have been affected by the earthquake - more than a quarter of the population.
Among the dead are nearly 80 climbers who were at Mount Everest base camp when it was hit by an avalanche triggered by the quake.
Tremors were felt in India’s capital New Delhi and its eastern, northern and north-eastern states, where 70 people were killed and more than 250 injured, as well as in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Tibet.
The United Nations and its partners are taking measures to help the affected people, OCHA said. The World Food Programme (WFP) is planning to provide food assistance to 1.4 million people over three months.
On Tuesday, WFP chartered an 80-tonne cargo plane filled with relief supplies, including food, shelter and telecoms gear, to Kathmandu from Dubai.
The World Health Organization said on Monday it had already distributed medical supplies to cover the health needs of more than 40,000 people for three months in the country.
Attempt to contact Progress cargo spacecraft fails
2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Mission Control Centre failed to get telemetric data from the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft during its first communication session on Wednesday, a rocket and space industry source told TASS.
"The attempt was unsuccessful," the source said, adding that the centre would make another attempt to get telemetry from the spacecraft at 05:00 Moscow time.
TASS reported on Thursday that Russian specialists on Wednesday were expected to use a remote control mode of operation in order to stop the spacecraft’s erratic rotation,
The Mission Control Centre declined to comment on Wednesday’s communication session.
A Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress M-27M spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan at on Tuesday morning. After its separation from the rocket, the Mission Control Centre said no telemetry was available. A source in the space industry told TASS that two antennas of Progress’s docking system Kurs had failed to unfold. Soon it turned out that the spacecraft itself had entered an undesignated orbit due to a mishap in one of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket’s stages.
Russian rescue team arrives in Nepal
2015/04/28
KATHMANDU, April 29. /TASS/. A team of rescuers and medical experts from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry have arrived in Nepal to help it cope with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 5,000 people.
Two Russian Il-76 planes on Wednesday brought the Russian rescue team to Kathmandu, Nepal's earthquake-hit capital, to join search and rescue operations.
The team includes around 100 specialists - rescuers, medical experts and psychologists - from the Centrospas rescue group and the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Centre Leader, as well as experts from the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute on Problems of Civil Defence and Emergency Situations, the ministry told TASS. All of them have vast experience of working in disaster zones, including quake-affected areas, it said.
The planes also delivered more than two tonnes of relief aid to the disaster-stricken country, including foodstuffs and daily necessities, as well as five special vehicles and high-tech equipment necessary to eliminate the damage caused by the earthquake.
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal on Saturday, April 25. The epicentre was located 84 kilometres away from the capital city Kathmandu at a depth of 15 kilometres. The earthquake was followed by a series of 67 aftershocks with a magnitude ranging from 3.5 to 6.9.
According to the latest reports, the earthquake claimed more than 5,000 lives. Over 10,000 people were injured. The biggest damage was done to Kathmandu, where 1,900 have been ruined and at least 4,000 more building severely damaged. The earthquake triggered snow slides at the world’s highest Mount Everest, burring about 80 climbers. Earth tremors were felt in the Indian capital New Delhi and in its eastern, northern and northeastern states, where 70 people were killed and more than 250 injured, in Myanmar, Bangaldesh, and in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
Siberian husky is official mascot of 2016 Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia
2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. A Siberian husky has been chosen as the official mascot of the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia.
The decision was unveiled on Tuesday during late-night TV talk show Evening Urgant on Russia's main Channel One. Show guests included the president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF), Vladislav Tretiak, and the head of the contest's jury of experts and former Russian national team forward, Alexei Morozov.
The Siberian husky has no name yet. What name the dog will get and whether it will have it at all is expected to be determined later.
The winning mascot was designed by Natalya Petukhova from the southern Russian city of Samara. She will get 200,000 roubles ($3,800) award. The other contenders shortlisted by the jury of experts from some 20 entries included characters Kot Matros (Sailor cat), Samovar Dymok (Smokey Little Samovar), and Russian Bogatyr.
The 2016 IIHF World Championship is scheduled to take place between May 6 and 22 in Russia's two biggest cities Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Roshen says its assets worth $38.9 mln seized in Lipetsk
2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The property of the Lipetsk confectionary Roshen, which is part of the Roshen Confectionary Corporation, has been seized, the corporation said in a statement on Tuesday.
Roshen Confectionary Corporation is owned by Ukraine President Pyotr Poroshenko.
"The total value of the property that was seized on April 24, is 2 bln rubles ($38.9 mln), which is absolutely incomparable with the tax claim worth 180 mln rubles ($3.5 mln) that was laid earlier as part of the initiated criminal case", according to the corporation’s statement.
The property was seized under the ruling of the Basmany district court in Moscow dated April 16, the corporation said.
Roshen confectionary in Lipetsk has not received any ban on production operation, the factory’s first deputy head Oleg Kazakov told TASS.
"The factory’s administration is not allowed to dispose of the factory’s property (including buildings, land plots) but there has been no ban on production operation", he said.
On April 1, the law enforcement officers blocked the entry to the territory of the Roshen confectionary in Lipetsk. The company called it an attempt to hamper it to sell its assets in Russia.
In March 2014, law enforcement officers from Moscow blocked Roshen’s production facilities in Lipetsk. This move was attributed to the investigation in a case of copyright infringement. Russian corporation United Confectioners filed a lawsuit against Roshen accusing it of illegal use of the Lastochka brand.
In March, the Federal Tax Service of the Lipetsk region said it planned to oblige Roshen to pay more than 30 million rubles ($584.613) of unpaid taxes. The company denied the claims.
Russia provides assistance to citizens of all post-Soviet states in Nepal
2015/04/28
MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The mission of the Russian Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation in Nepal is rendering assistance not only to Russians but also to citizens of all post-Soviet countries, the agency’s spokesman Sergey Shatunov said on Tuesday.
Head of the agency Lyubov Glebova noted that "Russia’s representatives in Kathmandu did not differentiate a citizen of what country a person speaking Russian was. "If he applies for help, he will get it," she said.
According to Shatunov, "in these difficult days, when Nepal is facing the consequences of a catastrophic earthquake, the agency’s Russian Center of Science and Culture became a center providing humanitarian assistance not only to Russians, but also to CIS citizens." "In spite of the objective difficulties, the camp at the center organized water supply, it provides food and electricity," he said. "People are also given an opportunity to get in touch with their families and relatives."
"Those who have injuries are delivered emergency medical care," Shatunov said. "The rest of our fellow citizens are involved in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake - they are clearing the debris and helping the victims." "The local authorities have expressed gratitude for help, and ordinary citizens of Nepal thank them for their personal involvement and contribution," he noted.
Currently, "about 250 people remain in the camp overnight," agency’s spokesman said. "People who were trapped in the mountains arrive here," he added. According to Shatunov, the Emergencies Ministry officers and the agency’s employees in Kathmandu "are compiling the lists of our fellow countrymen who need evacuation."
Prime Minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala has declared three days of mourning on Tuesday for the victims of the magniture-7.9 earthquake, which rocked the country on Saturday.
According to the latest reports, the death toll from the earthquake in Nepal has reached 5,057 people, more than 10,000 were injured.
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