Russia: Kaliningrad Region media highlights 10-16 Mar 08

Strana Kaliningrad, in its article on 12 March, alleged that Kaliningrad Region governor Georgiy Boos might be offered a post in Russia's new cabinet that will be formed after Dmitriy Medvedev is inaugurated as president. Over the past few weeks incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Boos to the Kremlin twice. Last January he awarded him with an Order of Merit for the Motherland of the fourth grade, and in early March Boos briefed Putin on the region's successes. Boos is said to have already selected a successor and is now drafting a work plan for his new job.

His press officer Irina Smirnova denied speculation that Putin and Boos had met to discuss the latter's promotion to the government. Boos himself also refuted rumours about him moving back to Moscow: "I'm not going to leave. I intend to stay in the post for two terms if people in the region and the president have no complaints about my work. If Dmitriy Medvedev offers me a new post, I'll refuse. If he gives such a command, I will certainly obey it because one cannot say 'no' to the president of the country. As for those who aim to be my successor, I have something to tell them: 'Sleep well. Those who do not sleep, have no dreams'." (Strana Kaliningrad newspaper, Kaliningrad, 12 Mar 08 p 2)

Valentina Matyukhina, the chief editor of the Nasha Zhizn newspaper that comes out in Kaliningrad's Gvardeyskiy district, has been charged with an administrative offence for publishing excerpts from Dmitriy Medvedev's speeches on 1 March, the day of campaign silence before the 2 March presidential vote in Russia, NTRK Kaskad TV reported on 13 March. The case will be heard by the Gvardeyskiy district court of Kaliningrad. (NTRK Kaskad TV "Kaskad-Novosti" news, Kaliningrad, 2000 gmt 13 Mar 08)

More than 100 investors have shown interest in the development projects presented by Kaliningrad Region at MIPIM International Property Market in Cannes, GTRK Kaliningrad TV said on 13 March. Kaliningrad Region has taken part in the property fair for the third time. The portfolio of Kaliningrad projects is worth 170m euros; investors were found for all of them. Two contracts for construction of hotels in Kaliningrad Region, which were signed at the trade fair, are expected to yield R150m (6.4m dollars) annually in tax revenue. (GTRK Kaliningrad TV "Vesti Kaliningrad" news, 1220 gmt 13 Mar 08)

The Kaliningrad Region government has summed up one-year results of implementing a joint Russian-Danish programme for assisting the economic development of Kaliningrad Region, Baltik Plyus reported on 12 March. Specific attention was given to the involvement in the programme of consulting companies, public relations and HR firms. The regional administration and the Danish Foreign Ministry, who sponsor the programme, think that reinforcing local B2B companies with qualified personnel would provide a solid foundation for the development of small and medium-size business in the region. Today, their level of expertise leaves much to be desired. (Baltik Plyus radio, Kaliningrad, 0800 gmt 12 Mar 08)

With around 40 per cent of electricity imported from Lithuania, Kaliningrad Region might face a severe electricity shortage after the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania is shut down in 2009, the Kaliningrad supplement to the Komsomolskaya Pravda said in an article on 14 March. The second power unit of heat and power plant No 2 will not have been launched by then, which means the regional economy might seriously slow down.

"We will be short of around 800 MW of electricity. The situation will get more or less stable after the second power block of heat and power plant No 2 becomes operational. In 2013, however, we might again face a shortage of electricity if industry continues to grow as planned," Gariy Chmykhov, a member of the Kaliningrad Region of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told the newspaper. Given the expected increase in gas prices in 2011, the region needs an alternative source of power, he said. A nuclear power plant may become one.

Chmykhov sees no risk in developing nuclear power in the region. There are six nuclear power plants within the range of 600 km from Kaliningrad. The region's neighbours Belarus, Poland, Estonia, Finland and Sweden have announced plans to build nuclear power plants. He called on the regional authorities to follow suit because an energy crisis is looming. (Kaliningrad supplement to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, 14 Mar 08 p 20)

More than R5m is to be provided by the Kaliningrad city administration for the second stage of a seismic study of the city and its environs in 2008, Baltik Plyus reported on 13 March. The figure is up three times on 2007 when the study began. Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics of the Earth will make up a seismic hazard map for Kaliningrad and its suburbs which can be used as guidelines by architects and construction engineers.

A few earthquakes with magnitude 4 to 6 that occurred in Kaliningrad in September 2004 left 17 people injured and damaged 1,146 buildings. (Baltik Plyus radio, Kaliningrad, 1500 gmt 13 Mar 08)

Source: Kaliningrad Region media highlights, in Russian 16 Mar 08

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