Putin inaugurates bypass highway in Sochi.

SOCHI, December 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin on Friday took the seat at the wheel of a luxury black Mercedes
limousine for a test drive along a newly-built bypass highway in Sochi
(the venue of 2014 Winter Olympics), including the Krasnodar Territory's
longest tunnel.

The highway will let transit and intra-city transport bypass the city
center.
"The 17-kilometer stretch of the bypass highway is an old-time and
unique project. It was launched back in 1989 only to be frozen due to
financial constraints in 1995. In 2004 we re-launched it and, after the
past few years of strenuous efforts, we have finalized it at last," Putin
said.
What makes the project so unique is that it consists of mostly tunnels
and overpasses.
"It is an excellent New Year present to Sochi. Also, it is part of the
Olympic project," Putin said.
He shook hands with some of the builders and asked if they were happy
with the fruits of their labor to hear a chorus of yeses in reply.
The main purpose of the bypass highway, which is 17.1 kilometers long,
is to siphon off the flow of transit traffic bound for Adler, Krasnaya
Polyana and further towards neighboring Abkhazia.
The bypass runs along the M-27 federal highway Dzhubga-Sochi at a
distance of 3-5 kilometers away from it. The stretch of the road that
opened to traffic on Friday is 8.9 kilometers long.
The facility began to be designed in 1978. The last finishing touches
to the blueprints were put at the beginning of 2008, in keeping with the
latest security requirements and the advanced tunnel-driving technologies
available. The longest tunnel on the route, linking Plastunskaya Street
and the Mamaika residential neighborhood is 2,620 kilometers long. It is
Russia's third largest automobile tunnel in Russia. It is 10.8 meters wide
and 5.2 meters high and is equipped with temperature, air transparency and
CO content sensors, as well as 255 CCTV cameras and foam, water and gas
fire fighting equipment.

.Interros considers joining Societe Generale shareholders - Potanin.

SOCHI, December 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Interros is contemplating
the possibility of joining the shareholders of the French bank Societe
Generale, but a final decision should be expected in 2011, the company's
CEO Vladimir Potanin said on Friday.
"We have a strategic plan - that for becoming a Societe Generale
shareholder at some future date. Our French partners have welcomed this
idea and invited us to become one of the bank's shareholders. Before that,
though, all assets of the Societe General's group present in Russia's
territory are to be consolidated," Potanin told the media.
Interros is a major Russian private investment company. The group's
affiliates operate throughout Russia, Europe, Asia, and North America. The
company's assets are invested mainly in the metallurgy and mining (MMC
Norilsk Nickel), the financial sector (Rosbank), the media (ProfMedia
holding) and the real estate sector (Open Investments, Rosa Khutor).
Interros enjoys the reputation of a reliable partner and of a
dependable authority with the business community. The company dynamically
advances business relations with both Russian and foreign investors. Since
its establishment in 1990 Interros managers have built a wide network of
business relations with senior executives of major industrial and
financial companies in Russia and elsewhere. Total value of assets under
Interros management exceeded 10 bln dollars in early 2009.

.Ukraine has money to pay Russia for December gas - Yushchenko.

KIEV, December 26 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine will pay Russia for the
amount of gas it has consumed in December on time, President Yushchenko
said on television on Friday in response to journalists' questions about
Gazprom's concern over Ukraine's ability to settle the due debt for
December gas.
"Ukraine will pay," Yushchenko said.
The president remarked once again that Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko
had concluded gas contracts that contradicted the national interests.
"What Ukraine needs for stable gas settlements is not loans. It needs
normal free market terms of transit and purchase of Russian gas,"
Yushchenko said.
He claimed that "Ukraine is transiting Russian gas at a rate that is
far below that charged by other countries in Europe."
In the meantime, the price of gas for Naftogaz Ukrainy has grown
three-fold to 420 dollars for one thousand cubic meters.
"This is the highest price in Europe. In Germany the price of gas is
170 dollars," Yushchenko said. According to his calculations the fair
price of gas for Ukraine is to lie between 137 dollars and 147 dollars for
one thousand cubic meters.
In his opinion Ukraine should conduct talks over gas purchases from
Turkmenistan.
"The market for Turkmen gas is narrow," Yushchenko said, adding that
in a situation like this Ukraine might achieve a better price.

-0-str