22 June 1999
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Management Shake-up At Tatneft
The board of directors of Tatarstan's oil company Tatneft complied with a retirement request from its former chief, Renat Galeev, and nominated Shafagat Takhautdinov as Tatneft's new general-director at a meeting in Elmet on 21 June, Tatar media reported. Galeev retired due to health reasons. Takhautdinov was Tatneft's first deputy general-director and chief engineer. At a meeting of Tatneft's shareholders due to be held on 25 June the new chairman of the company's board of directors will be appointed. The president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, also attended the 21 June meeting. Addressing oil-industry workers, he called for an increase in the amount of oil extracted in the republic and for the development of new oil deposits, including small-sized ones. Shaimiev said that market forces are pushing Tatarstan to sell not oil but oil-derived products. In Shaimiev's opinion, Tatneft currently does not have the voice it should have among Russian oil politics, and needs to show "positive aggressiveness." Tatneft is one of Russia's leading oil companies. Internationally, it occupies the 30th place on volume of extraction and 18th in oil stocks. Over the last few years, Tatneft has consistently increased oil extraction.
Former Chally Mayor Nominated As Russian Deputy
Agriculture Minister Rafgat Altynbayev, former mayor of Tatarstan's second city Chally, was nominated as deputy minister of agriculture and foodstuffs for the Russian Federation, Tatar radio reported on 21 June, citing unnamed officials within the Russian government.
Likhachev Comments On Yugoslav Events
Vasilii Likhachev, Russia's permanent representative at the European Union in Brussels and Tatarstan's former parliament speaker, arrived in Kazan on an unofficial visit on 21 June, Tatar radio and television reported. Speaking with journalists upon arriving, Likhachev commented on the Yugoslav situation. Likhachev said: "It seems to me that from a moral point of view, many Europeans have already got an allergy [concerning the Yugoslavia issue]. How could it happen that in the end of the 20th century a syndrome involving strength appeared in international relations? Just what is the attitude to the United Nations, what is the terrible attitude to international law! What was the point in the bombing of a peaceful territory while now 30 billion [dollars] must be found [for reconstruction]? It is no mere chance that at the elections to the Europarliament, people voted against social democrats. It means that people expressed their support for peaceful development."
Uplink To Be Constructed In Tatarstan
The Kazan telecommunications company Satellite Club signed contracts in Warsaw with the Polish firms Diomar and Telmor on cooperation in creating a satellite TV channel for Tatarstan, Tatar-inform reported. According to the contracts, the Polish companies will make deliveries and install equipment at an uplink which will be used for transmitting information to the satellite. An official from Satellite Club told Tatar-inform that the project will cost $500,000. The uplink will reportedly be located in Tatarstan and part of the income from its use will be retained by Tatarstan. The company canceled the idea of renting the uplink owned by the Russian NTV-Plyus TV company which would cost $750,000 per year.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova