Author: Torgomian Varazdat

EXCERPTS: GUNVOR’S TIMCHENKO

Wall Street Journal
June 11 2008

On His History, Putin and Gunvor

Gennady Timchenko, the world’s most powerful independent trader of
Russian oil, spoke with The Wall Street Journal’s Guy Chazan about
his past, his politics and his company, Gunvor Group. (See related
article.)

On his history

"I was born in Armenia, in the city of Leninakan. My father was in the
military. He was transferred from place to place because of military
service. When I was 6 we moved to East Germany. I spent there another
six to seven years. Then we moved to Ukraine. In 1970 I started
studying at the Mechanical Institute (in Leningrad). I finished in
1977. I studied to be an electro-mechanical engineer. After that,
I got a job at the Izhorsk plant, near St. Petersburg. It was a big
factory, with 20,000 workers. I was responsible for making equipment
for nuclear power stations — power generators.

"In 1987, Russia decided to change from a monopoly of foreign trade to
give some enterprises the right also to do foreign trade with foreign
countries. Nikolai Ryzhkov (the then-Soviet prime minister) signed
the decree. If you wanted to do foreign trade at the refinery, you
needed educated people. This refinery (Kirishi) got an order. Seventy
to seventy-two enterprises in Russia got the right to trade. What
happened — the management of Kirishi refinery — because it’s not far
from St. Petersburg — came to St. Petersburg to look for potential
staff for this (foreign trade) organization — because they were
supposed to trade petrochemicals, oil etc. They came to one of my
friends, who had a background at the Academy of Foreign Trade. He
was working for a foreign trade organization in Soviet times, in the
energy sector. They invited him as a vice director of their foreign
trade company. He said OK. He called me, and said if you want you can
join us. It was my luck. My luck started there. I got to the right
industry — a very interesting industry."

On his ties to the KGB

"I never worked in the organs. It’s a fairy tale, a conspiracy story. I
was never in East Germany at the same time when they say I served
with Putin. I know all this. It’s a mess what they publish. And it’s
so easy to check.

"I am a businessman, really. I came up from the factory, and then
the Kirishi refinery in 1987."

On his relationship with Putin

"I first got to know him (in) the early 1990s, when we were already
in the oil business. We thought that it was time to reconstruct
the terminal in St. Petersburg. To do that you need to go through
certain procedures with the Mayor’s office. I went there when
(Anatoly) Sobchak was leader. Putin was his assistant. We met —
I was a member of the delegation. It was after he returned from his
service in Germany — say 1991-92. We tried to get this project done
but it never happened. This was the first time we met.

"That time, the Russian system worked this way. You had to have
licenses to sell crude oil, refined products, petrochemicals. It was
big trouble with cash at that time in the country. It was hard to
borrow money, so the ministry in Moscow gave quotas to the refinery to
sell certain amounts of oil. It could even be the mayor’s office. That
was the way the state supported the regions. And that’s why we had
contacts with the mayor’s office. We were the only professional company
in St. Petersburg who got the right to become a "special exporter." We
were qualified. After that the St. Petersburg mayor’s office asked
us to fulfill some of the quotas they had, such as kerosene to sell,
or heavy fuel. We were supposed to sell it and we would bring them
money or food. Barter deals. They needed food urgently. I remember
when Sobchak said, "Guys, we have food for only two days, please do
something quickly." We sold heavy fuel to Iceland, and we immediately
bought from them herring because it’s easy to transport. It was at
least something. That’s how it was. Those were the contacts we had
with that office."

On his friendliness with Putin

"It’s not true. I knew Putin. I knew him through this judo club. When
I went there to fights and he’s there, we would shake hands. I don’t
have time to meet with him. He doesn’t have time to meet with me,
probably. Last time I met him was about two years go. We met with
judo champions, girls and boys. Many people were there — 30 to 40
people. It wasn’t a fight — it was just a meeting of the champions."

On the growth of Gunvor

"We had an opinion with Torbjorn (Tornqvist) that oil prices are going
up. We had an opinion that Russian oil production is going to grow a
lot. So why don’t we create something global, something that will work
on a higher scale? He was in this industry for many years. He started
in BP. And I had certain experience also. There was good chemistry. We
got on well together. He created a very good team of traders. Really
top traders, top of the market. This is one reason. The second reason
is always that we already had certain business for many years in
Russia — him and me. He did his business, I did mine. But when we
joined forces, it was synergy. Last year, we did a $40 billion turnover
… Next year, probably $70 billion turnover. That’s the prediction.

"We have relations with our competitors, with Vitol. I know people
personally there. I talked to one of the owners of the company. He said
I take my hat off to you. You did it very fast. You did a good job.

"My feeling is that it’s because we took steps to go into logistics,
and we’re doing it really well. And investing in logistics. That’s a
serious reason. Second reason — we created offices — maybe worldwide
is an exaggeration, but in Nigeria, Singapore, Amsterdam. It means
we’re starting to buy oil from other countries.

"Why so fast? It depends what you mean by fast. I consider it quite
reasonable, from my point of view. If you look at the Russian market,
all our volumes we get on the tenders. If it is Rosneft, or a private
oil company. A gentleman was here, a senior manager from TNK-BP. I
talked to him the other day. We met for the first time. He said we
have five companies who buy oil from us and Gunvor has the biggest
share of all these 5. Not because of some kind of advantage. It’s
just pure economics, pure business. We can give better conditions. We
have certain know-how in our system, how we give the best price to
them. You take Rosneft. (We have) 30% to 40% of their volumes. But
everything is in open tenders.

"It’s pure economics in our relationship with Gazprom Neft,
Surgutneftegaz, and TNK-BP. We have a big gasoline business, because
we took really good traders. They’re doing a very good job and they’re
very well-paid. It’s market conditions."

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ARMENIAN CHESS FEDERATION POSTPONES INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT IN YEREVAN

ARMENPRESS:
June 10, 2008

YEREVAN, JUNE 10, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Chess Federation had to postpone
an international chess tournament in Yerevan-Chess Giants- until June
12 after the sudden death of Armenian grandmaster Karen Asrian.

Karen Asrian was Olympic champion, Armenia’s three time champion and
winner of many international competitions. He died on June 9.

ARMENIAN REPORTER SAYS FATHER’S ARREST POLITICALLY MOTIVATED

Aravot
June 3 2008
Armenia

An Armenian journalist has said that his work for an opposition daily
is the reason for his father’s arrest, Aravot newspaper reported on
3 June.

Speaking at his father’s trial in a Yerevan court on 2 June, Vahagn
Hovakimyan, said that his father Misak Hovakimyan had been detained
because he was a correspondent of the opposition Haykakan Zhamanak
newspaper.

Misak Hovakimyan was arrested in the aftermath of opposition rallies in
Yerevan following the February presidential election in Armenia. Like
many others detained at the time, Misak Hovakimyan was accused
of putting up resistance to a representative of the authorities,
Aravot said.

Speaking at the trial, Misak Hovakimyan said that the police had used
violence during his arrest, Aravot reported.

PROSECUTOR GENERAL WANTS "TO SEE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER IN HIS STATUS"

NOYAN TAPAN

Ju ne 6, 2008

YEREVAN, JUNE 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Prosecutor’s Office was obliged
to respond to the special speech of the Human Rights Defender. This
statement was made by Aghvan Hovsepian, the RA Prosecutor General,
during the discussion of the special public report of the RA Human
Rights Defender "on the February 19, 2008 presidential elections and
the post-electoral developments" in the National Assembly on June
5. According to him, a number of issues raised in the report have to
do with the prosecutor’s office and in case of not responding to them,
the prosecutor’s office would indirectly accept the commentaries in
the report.

According to Aghvan Hovsepian, the Human Rights Defender has surpassed
his competences, as the arguments in the report have nothing to do
with the problems of the human rights protection. In response to
the statement of the Defender that a prosecutor’s office has never
submitted objections to the report of the ombudsman, the Prosecutor
General mentioned in his turn that this is also the first time the
Human Rights Defender has made a political analysis in his report. "I
would like to see the Human Rights Defender in his status," Aghvan
Hovsepian mentioned. Not disputing the right of the ombudsman for
making a special report, he mentioned at the same time that the
Human Rights Defender is not a free creator to choose the subject of
the report himself: "He is a state official and his activities are
regulated by the law."

"I am far from thinking that police collaborators have operated
exceptionally by law and that there have been no excesses. That is
why an investigation is underway, as a result of which corresponding
decisions will be made," Aghvan Hovsepian declared. Referring to the
issue on the participation of police troops in the March 1 events and
the control over their avtivities, the Prosecutor General mentioned
that according to the Law on Police, the keeping of the public order
and the provision of the public security is the problem of those
troops and the Chief of the Police is their commander.

Aghvan Hovsepian mentioned that not a search but a scene inspection
was carried out in the Liberty square. In his words, the tents in
the square cannot be considered flats, therefore, no court decision
was necessary for the inspection.

CONDITIONS OF POWER-BEARING SUBSTANCES’ SUPPLY FROM RUSSIA TO ARMENIA TO BE AGREED ON BY LATE JUNE

Noyan Tapan

Ju ne 7, 2008

SAINT PETERSBURG, JUNE 7, NOYAN TAPAN. During the June 6 meeting of
the Armenian president Serge Sargsian and the Russian president Dmitry
Medvedev in Saint Petersburg, the sides confirmed their wilingness
to deepen allied partnership of the two countries. They expressed
satisfaction at the current level of political dialog and economic
cooperation between Armenia and Russia.

The sides discussed a wide range of issues on bilateral relations,
including cooperation in the energy and transport sectors. The
presidents have instructed the heads of the appropriate structures
to reach an agreement on the conditions of supply of power-bearing
subsatnces from Russia to Armenia.

NT was informed by the RA president’s press service that the
interlocutors also exchanged ideas on some problems related to
regional and international developments. Special attention was paid
to the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
June 8, 2008 Sunday
FINAL Edition

DVD REVIEWS: MANNIX: THE FIRST SEASON

by Walter Addiego

RATING: POLITE APPLAUSE

Two-fisted private eye Joe Mannix took an amazing number of beatings
during this show’s long run 1967-75, but always looked snappy in his
sport coat and tie. He did things his way: He smoked and drank, drove
hot cars and constantly argued with his boss Joseph Campanella.

Mannix was a manly man, at least as popular culture defined it at the
time. The show worked because of Mike Connors’ portrayal of the title
character, a down-to-earth Armenian American detective and Korean War
veteran given to spouting Armenian proverbs. The plots are routine,
but Connors is affable, things move quickly and there’s the great
theme music by Lalo Schifrin. The opening credits make notable use of
the then-fashionable split-screen technique. Another time warp: In
this first season, Mannix’s detective agency uses computers, but
they’re the Stone Age kind that work with punch cards! Fans of the
series will miss Gail Fisher, who memorably played Mannix’s secretary,
Peggy, but didn’t join the cast until the second season. She was one
of the first black actresses to have a regular role in a prime-time
network series. Lots of extras in this set, including a new interview
with Connors and Campanella, a Connors appearance on "The Mike Douglas
Show," the series’ pilot and audio commentaries by Connors, Campanella
and William Link, one of the show’s creators.

MANNIX: THE FIRST SEASON
1967-68
NOT RATED
CBS/PARAMOUNT
$49.99 SIX DISCS

PRESS TV, Iran
June 7 2008

Gazprom in Iran-Armenia gas pipeline
Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:40:22

The Russian energy giant Gazprom will invest more than 200 million
dollars in the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.

The Russian gas giant will invest the sum in the Iran-Armenia gas
project by the end of 2009, Armenia’s Minister of Energy and Natural
Resources, Armen Movsisyan, said Friday.

Once completed, the 140-km pipeline would provide Armenia with an
alternative to the gas it now imports from Russia. For each cubic
meter of Iranian gas, Armenia is scheduled to return 3 kilowatt hours
of electric energy to Iran.

The remarks by Movsisyan come as Tehran plays host to a delegation
from Gazprom today to continue talks on joint energy projects.

Gazprom’s Chief Executive Officer, Alexei Miller, traveled to Iran in
February and held talks with Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein
Nozari.

Iran holds the second largest gas reserves in the world after Russia.

ARARAT MAHTESYAN DISCHARGED

Panorama.am
21:59 04/06/2008

Today the president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree by
discharging Ararat Mahtesyan from his position of the first deputy
of the RA Chief Police Officer of the Adjunct body of RA. According
to the press service of the president’s administration the president
signed another decree by appointing Armen Ericyan the deputy of the
Chief of Police Station as the First deputy of Chief of Police Station.

BARACK OBAMA HAS CAPTIVATED THE WORLD
By Borzou Daragahi, [email protected]

Los Angeles Times
June 5 2008
CA

Newspaper front pages and TV newscasts feature photos and footage of
‘the political giant slayer,’ who is intensely popular across the
globe. But not everyone is pleased with all his positions.

BEIRUT — No one’s tossing confetti or releasing balloons, but
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s ascent to likely Democratic Party presidential
nominee has captivated many of those watching the American political
contest abroad.

Newspaper front pages and television newscasts throughout the world
Wednesday featured photographs and footage of the smiling Illinois
lawmaker, who a day earlier clinched the Democratic nomination by
winning enough delegates to edge out Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The conservative French daily Le Figaro described him as "the man
in a hurry who dethroned Hillary." The left-leaning London-based
Guardian called him "a political giant slayer" who defeated his own
party’s entrenched interest. And in Mexico, an editorial cartoon
in the daily Reforma depicted him as a Christ-like figure atop the
Democratic donkey on Palm Sunday.

"Obama’s America on the doorstep of history," said a headline on the
front page of As Safir here in Lebanon.

Obama remains intensely popular throughout the world. According to
a poll released this week by the pan-Arab Qatar-based Al Jazeera
news channel, more than half of those interviewed in 22 countries
preferred Obama over Clinton or Republican John McCain, who was the
least recognized and least preferred presidential candidate.

Even in stridently anti-American Iran, state-controlled television
showed video of Obama making a speech behind a lectern bearing a
placard reading "Change."

"It’s a matter of the heart. It’s a matter of affiliation," said Radwan
Abdullah, a professor of international relations at the University
of Jordan in Amman. "He’s a minority African American from the Third
World. He was the underdog. People identify with his type."

Still, some analysts expressed concern about Obama’s foreign policy
positions. In Turkey, some worried about his support for Armenians,
who are locked in a dispute with Turks over the Armenian genocide of
the early 20th century. There has been some nervousness in Tokyo about
whether Obama’s criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement
hints at possible trade disputes for Japan’s export-dependent
economy. Many Israelis worry that Obama has been too willing to
negotiate with the Jewish state’s enemies, especially Iran.

Some Israelis were heartened by remarks he made Wednesday at a
conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where
he declared his willingness to confront Iran and support a unified
Jerusalem as capital of Israel, a position that appeared to go beyond
even the Bush administration’s position on Jerusalem.

"He said all options for dealing with Iran are on the table, which
means he would negotiate but there would still be a credible military
threat," said Michael Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center,
an independent Israeli think tank.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Obama’s support
of a unified Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"The whole world knows that East Jerusalem, holy Jerusalem, was
occupied in 1967, and we will not accept a Palestinian state without
having Jerusalem as the capital," Abbas told reporters in the West
Bank city of Ramallah.

Obama’s newcomer status has also caused doubt among some trying to
gauge his positions on various issues.

"Obama is not a well-established politician," said Abul-Fazel Amoee,
a Tehran political scientist close to Iran’s conservatives. "He
comes out of the blue sky. Obama’s slogans are ambiguous and may
change. Obama is not coming from a family like the Kennedys. He seems
open to pressures."

Despite such concerns, people marveled at Obama’s rise and considered
it a U.S. milestone. Al Jazeera devoted an hour Wednesday night to
a discussion about his prospects.

"The fact that he become the candidate of the Democratic Party
proves that there is a change in the public opinion in the U.S.,"
said Ghassan Ezzi, professor of political sciences at the Lebanese
University in Beirut. "He said that he was ready to talk to [Iranian
President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. This shows a lot of courage. It’s
like saying I am ready to talk to the devil."

For many, Obama’s rise is a global event, regardless of the outcome
in November.

"I’m hugely aware of what his achievements mean for the wider world,
way beyond America," said David Lammy, a British lawmaker who, like
Obama, is of African descent. "It’s a huge achievement to come from
a place where very few people believed he would be on the ticket."

Even if he loses the presidential election to McCain, he’s already
won, said an editorial in the English-language Khaleej Times, a daily
based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"If McCain is America’s past," it said, "Obama is its future."

WHY DO THE MPS RAISE THEIR OWN SALARIES
Gevorg Harutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on June 04, 2008
Armenia

Seven MPs representing RPA, "Bargavach Hayastan", "Orinats Yerkir"
and ARFD parliamentary factions submitted a bill, which envisages
amendments and supplementations in the law on the "The Salaries of
RA legislative, executive and judicial bodies."

Should the parliament approve this bill the salaries of the Chairman
of the Constitutional Court, Ministers, Major of Yerevan and all the
MPs will twice increase.

Correspondent of "Hayots Ashkharh" daily had conversation with the
co-authors of the bill, yesterday.

Rafik Petrosyan

RPA

"The law in which we propose to make amendments and supplementations
has been adopted still in 2002, but the salaries of the high ranking
state officials haven’t changed during the previous six years. Whereas
the salaries of the civil employees have been reviewed several
times. Therefore members of four fractions of the parliament came
out with an initiative to review the salaries of the high-ranking
officials.

The country’s Prime Minister and Speaker of NA who get 340 thousand
drams (300 thousand after retention) can’t cover the expenses linked
with the activity of an MP. We have proposed to double the salaries
of the high-ranking officials.

We have taken into considerations our people’s social state and
continuous inflation. We have also taken into account the fact that
the employees of the private sector, in fact, get more salaries than
the MPs.

The increase of the salaries of the high-ranking official is a matter
of prestige for the state as well. We must pay proper salaries to our
MPs, Ministers and other high-ranking officials. This way we can stop
the overflow of our best specialists to the private sectors were they
get higher salaries.

ARA NRANYAN

ARF

"Still in 2002 the authorities set about the formation of the institute
of civil employees and created a system of joint payment. At that time
the basic salary was 20 thousand drams. During the previous years the
salaries of the civil employees have been doubled, but the salaries of
the public employees, except the judicial system has remained the same.

This is nonsense. The Prosecutor or the Judge get more salary than the
country’s President or the Prime Minister. What we need is a complex
package of laws and to represent the whole system of public service
in a single legislative domain.

We have proposed to double the salaries of the country’s President,
Speaker of NA, the Prime Minister, the Ministers and the MPs, which
is firstly aimed at making the state system competitive. So in this
term, I don’t see any grounds for complaints, because this initiative
raises the level of the salaries in the whole country, increase of
budgetary salaries as well as the salaries of the private sector."

VARDAN BOSTANGYAN

"Bargavach Hayastan Party"

"Some MPs implement both legal and political activities. It is not
a secret that the MPs don’t get proper salaries for their overloaded
work.

Maybe all the 131 MPs would like to be the co-authors of the bill
but only seven have signed it. In my view we do our work properly and
we have the right to submit such draft law. If some MPs have certain
income from different sources and they don’t need this salary, this
doesn’t mean that we also don’t need it. We must observe all the
social and political circumstances.

After the formation of the Council of the Central Bank we adopted
a principle, according to which the level of the salaries in the
Central Bank cannot be less than the salaries in the whole banking
system. Otherwise all the best specialists will shift to the private
banks.

The same thing our state must do, so that the best specialists won’t
have to respond to the proposals from the private sector. This logic
of competition must work in all the spheres. Otherwise there will be
no stimulus to work better."