Russia raises RusHydro authorized capital.

MOSCOW, November 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian government earmarked
4.33 billion rubles of budget money to increase the authorized capital of
RusHydro Company that owns the ruined Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant
in Siberia.

The increase will be arranged by additional share placement, according
to a resolution signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and posted on the
government website on Thursday.
The resolution instructs Rosimushchestvo property agency to provide
for additional stock issue of RusHydro in three months.

.Ukraine eyes SDR to pay for Russian gas.

KIEV, November 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
said his country plans to pay for Russian gas supplied in October with
special drawing rights (SDR) and the issue will be discussed with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The press service of the Ukrainian president quoted Yushchenko as
telling European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso he had
instructed the National Bank to negotiate with the IMF the possibility to
pay for imported gas with special drawing rights. In August the IMF
decided to remit SDR worth 2.04 billion dollars to the gold and currency
reserves of Ukraine.
Yushchenko said the financial situation of Naftogaz Ukraine Company
was "critical." He blamed Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko for
"inadequate" gas agreements with Russia, as well as non-payments by
domestic consumers and said Naftogaz is incapable of paying for the gas
supplied in October. He said Naftogaz had not purchased a single dollar to
pay Gazprom.
Naftogaz has borrowed nearly a half of funds it had to pay for Russian
gas supplied in 2009 and Yushchenko said the company may face Russian
fines worth 7.8 billion dollars for insufficient gas offtake in 2009.
Yushchenko said long-term gas agreements with Russia that are valid up
to 2019 need to be radically amended and asked Barroso to help arrange
negotiations with Moscow.
Also on Thursday Naftogaz avoided a default on 500-million dollar
foreign debt and completed its rescheduling by exchanging overdue bonds
for new ones with longer maturity and higher yield.
The company had to pay 500 million dollars for its Eurobonds with
8.125 percent yield on September 30, but said it had no money and offered
new bonds that mature in 2014 with a yield of 9.5 percent. The government
provided sovereign guarantees to the new securities.

.Medvedev opposes interference in dividend distribution.

MOSCOW, November 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
opposed the proposal of Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov to adopt
legislation that would guarantee dividends to minority stakeholders.
"That is a dubious thing," the president said on Thursday at a meeting
with upper house members.
"We have to understand that decisions inside a joint-stock company
shall be made by the owners, and if we strip them of the right, we shall
most likely aggravate the problem," Medvedev said.
The president said owners can find a lot of reasons why dividends
should not be paid. "Minority stockholders will get nothing even if we
stipulate by law that a certain amount of profit has to be distributed as
dividends," the president said.
"Therefore, I do not believe it (the proposal) to be efficient," he
said.


.GEF to assist Sochi Olympic construction.

SOCHI, November 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The Global Environment Fund (GEF)
will assist environmental protection during the construction of Olympic
objects in the Black Sea spa of Sochi, which is to host Winter Games in
2014.
The Olympstroi Company in charge of the construction said on Thursday
GEF will analyze the existing projects and will offer additional
environmental protection measures and corresponding financial resources.
"The parties agreed to draft concrete proposals for the introduction
of green standards into Olympic construction, efficient use of energy,
including from alternative sources, and reduction of polluting discharge
from vehicles and greenhouse gases," the company said commenting on the
results of a meeting with GEF representatives.
Russia has been cooperating with GEF since 1994 and the Fund has
earmarked close to 30 million dollars for environmental projects in the
country since then.

.Minor earthquake hits Kamchatka coast.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKI, November 6 (Itar-Tass) -- An earthquake
force 4.3 Richter scale was registered overnight in the Sea of Okhotsk
close to the western coast of Kamchatka, the Far Eastern regional
emergency center told Tass on Friday.
It reported no injured or damage and said no tsunami threat was
announced.
The epicenter was 221 kilometers west of Ust-Bolsheretsk district
center. No tremors were reported in local residential settlements.
.Ukraine, Belarus agree on border, transit increase.

KIEV, November 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
and his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko agreed on Thursday to
increase the transit of oil, gas and electricity through their countries
to Europe.
Deputy head of the presidential secretariat Andrei Goncharuk said
joint measures to increase the transit are envisaged in a communique of
the summit.
Energy ministries of both countries will discuss the measures already
this year.
Besides the transit, the document called to settle the border problem
between the two countries, which Goncharuk said was "a priority" in
bilateral relations.
Earlier Yushchenko told a joint press conference with Lukashenko that
Belarus agreed to submit the border agreement for ratification. Ukraine
has already ratified the document, while Belarus linked ratification to
the Ukrainian fulfillment of financial obligations it took after the
Soviet disintegration in 1991 when both countries dropped the Soviet ruble
from mutual settlements.
In 2003 Ukraine and Belarus signed a protocol that fixed Ukrainian
debt at 134 million dollars. Ukraine proposed to repay 80 percent of the
debt by constructing border checkpoints.
-0-nec