Russia to build most expensive gas project in history

http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/09-02-2009/107079-russia_gas_project-0

Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom plans to launch its most expensive project ever against the background of the disastrous downfall of its profit. The South Stream pipeline will connect Russia with South Europe along the bottom of the Black Sea by 2015. Plunging oil prices will cut the profits of the state-run monopoly by $19-26 billion, whereas the cost of the new pipeline is evaluated at 24 billion euros. It would be possible to avoid this spending if Gazprom continued its gas transit via the territory of Ukraine. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko already said that Russia has only one goal with its new project – to get under Ukraine’s skin. This does not seem to be likely for it is a highly expensive initiative for Russia.

 

Experts say that the construction of the new pipeline will cost Gazprom too much under the conditions of the current economic crisis. Gazprom may suffer losses already during the fourth quarter of the current year. The losses of the natural gas giant will cause a serious damage to Russia’s budget too.

Deadline Set On Russian Military Reform

Russia’s hard-charging chief of the general staff pledged Monday to complete the long-delayed and fiercely opposed restructuring of the Russian armed forces over the next four years.

“We are planning to complete a reform of the military within the next three or four years. The established time frame has not been revised,” four-star army Gen. Nikolai Makarov announced, RIA Novosti reported.

Makarov promised that when the reform was completed, the Russian armed forces would emerge from their shake-up streamlined, far faster-reacting and with modern 21st-century weaponry.

RIA Novosti noted that the ambitious reform program — long pushed by former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and by former Defense Minister and current First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov — would transform the longstanding four-level command and control structure of the Russian army to a three-stage one. Currently the system’s four levels are military district, army, division and regiment. Under the new system there will be only three levels: military district, operational command and brigade.