[Marxism] Chubais supports 'liberal imperialism'

["DoC" <donaloc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Russian energy group plans expansion drive

by Stefan Wagstyl and Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow

Unified Energy System, the Russian electiricity monopoly, is considering
politically sensitive moves to supply power to Iran, Turkey and China as
part of an international expansion drive.

The group is planning investments in power generation and/or
distribution in the countries of the former Soviet Union on Russia's
southern borders, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which
would complement existing UES investments in Georgia and Armenia. Once
these are in place, UES will be in a position to build connecting links
to Iran, Turkey and China and use an existing link between Armenia and
Iran.

Anatoly Chubais, UES Chairman, said the moves would make sense
commercially in spite of the political challenges involved in dealing
with several different countries lying in a politically sensitive
region. "There's a business logic. There's a good price for electricity
in Iran, China and Turkey", he said.

The planned investments by the state-controlled UES might be seen in
some of the former Soviet republics as a new form of Russian
imperialism.

But Mr Chubais, a leader of Russia's liberal Union of Right Forces
party, said UES's plans were in tune with his programme of 'liberal
imperialism' in which businesses, not governments, took the initiative,
acting out of commercial, not political motives. Mr Chubais said the
proposed Kazakh investment was a stake in a large power station but he
declined to give details of the plans in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as
talks were at a sensitive stage.

The group's existing investments int he region include about 20 per cent
of Georgia's generating capacity and 35 per cent of its distribution
network. In Armenia, it controls 85 per cent of generation through its
management contract for the Metsamor nuclear plant. Mr Chubais said
these investments could open doors to larger markets.

Earlier Mr Chubais told an investment conference that the company was
preparing for reform of the domestic electricity market, in spite of the
fact the government postphoned key decisions this year.

Under the plan, UES would be broken into distribution, transmission and
generating companies which would mostly be privatised. But Mikhail
Fradkov, the prime minister, delayed implementation, saying he needed
more time to study the mechanism of deregulation and its impact on
households.

The government is now due to reconsider the reforms on December 2.

Mr Chubais said yesterday that UES had proposed new plans under which
prices would be liberalised slowly - over 3 to 5 years - to protect
vulnerable consumers.

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