Tatneft to elect new board, Tatarstan's head nominated as chairman.

KAZAN, June 23 (Itar-Tass) -- Tatneft company will elect on Thursday
new board of directors.
Tatarstan's Head Rustam Minnikhanov is nominated as the state
representative, the company's press service reported.
"The list of candidates includes 15 names, among which are ministers
of finances, of land and property relations," the source said. "The
management initiated candidatures of Director General Shafagat
Takhautdinov and his four deputies."
Tatneft is one of the largest, internationally recognised Russian oil
companies, operating as a vertically integrated Group. The company ranks
sixth in Russia by the volume of oil production after Rosneft, Lukoil,
Surgutneftegaz, TNK-BP and Gazprom neft. In 2010, it produced 25.8 million
tonnes of oil, and net profits made 50.6 billion roubles.
In the competitive refining market the company develops its own
facilities, at the same time expanding the export of oil, gas and
petrochemical products.
The main shareholder is the Republic of Tatarstan through its holding
company Svyazinvestneftekhim, which holds 30.4% of Tatneft. The Government
of Tatarstan holds also a golden share in the company.
As of 1 July 2010, Tatneft had 626 filling stations, of which 490 are
located on the territory of the Russian Federation and 136 are located in
Ukraine.
In addition to Russia, it conducts exploration and production
operations in Libya, Angola, Syria, Iran, Vietnam, Oman and Saudi Arabia.


.Cote D'Ivoire armed conflict may resume - RF envoy extraordinary.

ABIDJAN, June 23 (Itar-Tass) -- The situation in Cote D'Ivoire remains
tense, and the armed conflict may resume, Russia's Envoy Extraordinary
Leonid Rogov said on Thursday.
"The situation in the country is very vague, and the violation may
repeat any moment," he said. "Some allies of former President Loran Gbagbo
have left, but may come back, some are hiding inside the country, and the
population carries many guns, that is why an armed conflict cannot be
excluded.
The number of refugees in Cote D'Ivoire makes about 480,000, where 300
are refugees inside the country, and the remaining 180,000 left abroad, to
Liberia and Ghana.
"No Russians were victims in the armed conflict in Cote D'Ivoire," he
continued. "There was practically no evacuation of Russian citizens, only
those who preferred to leave, were able to go."
As for Russia's humanitarian aid, "no doubt it will be helpful for the
locals," he said, "The republic's government expresses appreciation to the
Russian Federation for the aid, and the people of Cote D'Ivoire valued
attention from Russia to their difficulties."
On Wednesday, plane of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry
delivered to Cote D'Ivoire 36 tonnes of food, tents, blankets and so forth.
The conflict which lasted for almost five months killed 3,000 in Cote
D'Ivoire.


.Agriculture G20 may reduce food prices volatility - Skrynnik.

MOSCOW, June 23 (Itar-Tass) -- The action plan of G20 on volatility of
good prices and development of agriculture is complex, structured with
practical measures to solve the tasks, Russia's Agriculture Minister Elena
Skrynnik told G20 summit of agriculture ministers in Paris on Wednesday.
Implementation of the plan "will let working out at the international
level of a strategy for stable development of agriculture in mid- and
long-term, for improvement of information exchange of statistic data, for
cutting negative influence of exceeding volatility of food prices," she
said.
Russia appreciates the G20's efforts in solving the problem of
volatility of market prices, she said.
The G20 action plan includes four global initiatives: for organise
International coordination committee on studying wheat: organisation of
agricultural market information system: organisation of united system of
agricultural geo monitoring; establishment of a rapid reaction forum in
the framework of the food security committee.
Skrynnik said that Russia has certain experience, which will be useful
while solving the above tasks.
Russia has already in regions information-analytical system to balance
production and consumption.
As for the rapid reaction forum, she said it necessary to have there
officials of certain authorities.
"Russia may be represented by a deputy minister of agriculture, who
will have authorities to react promptly and make decisions, which may
influence directly agricultural production and food markets in crisis
situations," she said.


.Progress cargo craft to deliver presents for crew, equipment.

MOSCOW, June 23 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's cargo spaceship Progress will
deliver on Thursday over 2.6 tonnes of cargo for the station and the crew
and new equipment for scientific experiments.
This year's third space freighter lifted off Baikonur on Tuesday, June
21.
The Progress M-11M is due to dock with the Russian segment of the
International Space Station at 20:37 Moscow time, spokesman of Russia's
Mission Control Valery Lyndin said. Should anything go wrong, flight
engineers Alexander Samokytyayev or Sergei Volkov will run docking with
the station manually.
The freighter carries food, drinking water, fuel, equipment, clothes,
and oxygen. Besides standard cargo, Progress will deliver to the station a
new portion of napkins and detectors to install in the Russian part of the
ISS a 'curtain', which would protect cosmonauts from space irradiation.
Besides, the crew will receive new equipment for physics and biotechnology
experiments.
The cargo craft delivers packages from psychologists, presents from
the families, fruit and pickles.
Psychologists have sent DVDs with Russia's old musicals and recent
foreign films. Fantasy fan Borisenko will receive three books, where two
were written by Stanislaw Lem.
Big packages for Russians contain many tasty surprises, carefully
prepared by families and friends.