My profile:
PRAGUE -- Russia offered the Czech Republic direct deliveries of oil in an unprecedented move aiming to improve its business image in the West, government officials said Monday.
In an interview with the Euro weekly, Vaclav Bartuska, Czech ambassador-at-large for energy security, said the offer came in writing and was designed to eliminate the middlemen making money from oil business on the way from Russia to Prague.
Bartuska declined to reveal the names of the middlemen that would be left out of the new deal nor technical details of the solution, but he called the deal "unprecedented," saying no such offer was ever made to any other country.
In July, the Czech Republic reported that Russia had reduced oil supplies without any immediate explanation. There were concerns that the move was a retaliation after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg signed a deal in Prague to deploy a radar system near the capital as part of a U.S. global missile shield.
The shipments are now back to normal, and Moscow has assured the Czech government that the July decline was due to technical problems and trade relations between the companies that deliver oil, not because of opposition the U.S. missile-defense plan.
Bartuska said the new offer allows for direct relations between the refineries and suppliers.
Direct Oil Offer Made To Czechs
09 September 2008
The Associated Press
Discussion
Comments
To post comments you must be registered
Comments via Facebook
Most Read
1.
Putin Chasing Imaginary American Ghosts
Here we go again — another round of anti-Americanism from the Kremlin and state-controlled media. Blaming outside forces for Russia's woes has a long history in the country. The closer we get to the March 4 presidential election, the more intense the anti-American hysteria becomes.
2.
Pro-Putin March Plan For Feb. 23
Supporters of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin plan to hold a march Feb. 23 and expect that 200,000 people will come.
3.
Putin Proposes Shortening Winter Vacation
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday proposed shortening the length of the 10-day New Year holidays and adding extra vacation days later in the year.
4.
Putin Has Plethora of Business Ideas
President of state-controlled bank VTB Andrei Kostin on Thursday called for business to support the government ahead of next month's presidential election, hinting that entrepreneurs' participation in opposition protests could be hazardous to their health.
5.
United Russia Site Attacked by Hacker Group Anonymous
A United Russia party website was knocked offline Thursday after hackers from the group Anonymous claimed to have directed a denial of service attack on the site.
6.
Gorbachev: Putin Has 'Exhausted Himself' as President
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has "exhausted himself" as Russia's leader and that his inability to change the Kremlin's political system might prompt more massive protests.
7.
Rogozin Says Population Goal Should Be 500 Million
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin set the bar for Russia's population quite high Thursday, saying the country's goal should be a population of 500 million — more than triple its current size.
8.
Blog Shows Lavish Chechen Spending
Prominent blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny on Thursday accused the Chechen Interior Ministry of illegally spending millions of rubles in federal money on expensive cars and other goods.
9.
Gypsy Cab Serial Killer Gets Life
Serial murderer Vladimir Mirgorod was given a life sentence for the killings of 15 women and children in the north and northeast regions of Moscow from 2002 to 2004.
10.
Aeroflot Countering Bribery Allegations
Aeroflot said it will file a countersuit for slander and defamation against a U.S. tour company that has accused the airline of bribery and extortion.
1.
Putin Stand-In Faces Zhirinovsky Fire
In Tuesday's second presidential debate of the campaign season, firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky harangued Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's levelheaded proxy over her patron's refusal to debate and alleged desire to rule for life.
2.
Pro-Putin Song Is Web Hit
A schmaltzy music video hailing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Russia's savior became a hit on the Russian Internet on Tuesday, with many bloggers and YouTube users poking fun at the song's hyperbolic lyrics.
3.
Malev Goes Bankrupt Owing $130M to VEB
Hungary's state airline Malev stopped flying after 66 years on Friday, citing bankruptcy, amid debts to creditors that include 100 million euros ($130 million) owed to VEB.
4.
McCain Taunts Putin Over Protests
U.S. Senator John McCain has again angered supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by describing Russia's nascent protest movement as an extension of the Arab Spring uprisings that have shaken and toppled governments across the Middle East.
5.
Lavrov in Syria to Strongly Back Assad
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, sending a clear message that Russia intends to stand by its strongest ally in the Middle East amid an international outcry over the country's response to a civil revolt.
6.
Campaign Mudslinging Taken to New Lows
If politics is a dirty business, then Russia is no exception.
7.
FSB Upgrades from iPads to Pricey Typewriters
The Federal Security Service paid over 2 million rubles ($67,000) for an order of nearly 100 typewriters, or about 22,000 rubles per machine.
8.
Campaign Begins With Testy Debate
Communist Gennady Zyuganov and businessman Mikhail Prokhorov kicked off the presidential campaign season on Monday with a testy TV debate that centered on Zyuganov's political accomplishments and Prokhorov's connection to the chaotic 1990s.
9.
Scientists Tap Ancient Lake
Russian scientists have breached an ice sheet that has sealed subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica for more than 20 million years at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters, reaching a critical stage in a decades-long drilling project.
10.
The Truth About Gary Powers, a Cold War Hero
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the famous spy exchange between U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers and Soviet spy Rudolph Able on the Glienicker Bridge in Potsdam, Germany.
1.
Election Webcam Installation Begins
In a city that was once the cradle of Russian democracy, an unprecedented new campaign kicked off over the weekend to install web cameras in every polling station around the country in an effort to prevent voting fraud.
2.
Feminist Punk Band Become Unlikely Putin Foil
Pussy Riot, a feminist punk collective from Moscow, creates protest through its dissident songs and unsanctioned performances, including a brief unauthorized concert in late January on Red Square.
3.
Why Putin Will Never, Ever Give Up Power
If Putin gave up power at any age, he and dozens of his friends and colleagues who have become millionaires and billionaires over the past 10 years through their Kremlin-connected businesses could face serious corruption charges. This is why the best, and perhaps only, way for Putin to preserve immunity is to stay in power until death.
4.
Why Putin Is Mad at Me
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin got very angry last Wednesday when he met with the editors-in-chief of Russia's top media outlets.
5.
Russia Seeks Proof U.S. Zapped Failed Probe
A Russian state commission investigating the crash of the Fobos-Grunt Mars probe will conduct tests to see whether U.S. radar played a role in the spacecraft's failure.
6.
Putin Pledges to Fight Own Legacy
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed a radical rollback of his own social and fiscal policies in a draft of his presidential program, which touts economic modernization and strengthening rule of law.
7.
A U.S. Defense Strategy for Russia to Emulate
U.S. President Barack Obama caused considerable damage to the Kremlin during a visit to the Pentagon last week when he announced a decisive reduction in the military ambitions of the United States. This was a serious blow to Russia's propagandistic stereotype that Washington is still determined to dominate the world, with Russia being at the top of the U.S. list of targets.
8.
Recruiters Say Mother Russia Seeking Talent
Demographics make it a candidate’s market, but foreigners have to offer something unique to find their place.
9.
From Protest to Nausea
The history of successive authoritarian regimes in Russia reveals a recurring pattern: They do not die from external blows or domestic insurgencies.
10.
Soviet Spy Who Saved Stalin, Roosevelt Dead
Gevork Vartanyan, the legendary Soviet spy who foiled Nazi Germany's assassination attempt on the leaders of the Allied powers in Tehran in 1943, died in a Moscow hospital Tuesday. He was 88.
