Posted on 09/20/2005 3:52:14 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
Russia's major oil producers agreed Monday to freeze their gasoline prices in the country until the end of the year, the Interfax news agency said, citing the Industry and Energy Ministry.
The oil companies made the decision at a meeting with Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, Interfax quoted ministry spokesman Stas Naumov as saying. The ministry could not immediately be contacted Monday.
"The result of the meeting was a voluntary decision by the management of Russia's largest companies; prices won't rise any further on the domestic market until the end of the year," the official said, according to Interfax.
Surging oil prices worldwide have boosted the cost of gasoline in Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, provoking criticism from Kremlin-loyal politicians. Gas prices rose by a ruble in the space of a week as of Tuesday, to 18 rubles ($0.63) per liter (0.26 gallon).
The biggest Russian crude oil producer, Lukoil, announced a unilateral cap on gasoline prices Monday with immediate effect. Another major oil company, TNK-BP, which is a 50-percent joint venture with British oil giant BP, declined to confirm the price freeze, but said it would make an announcement Tuesday.
"We support the government's efforts to ease up tensions on the fuel market," TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva told The Associated Press.
In a statement, Lukoil blamed high mineral-resource taxes that are pegged to world prices, as well as under-investment in domestic refineries.
I'm sure you have the same vision of America when our "to high" standard of living is brought in line with the 3rd world labor you love.
Nonsense yourself, you really should bother with history. Internal only after your buddy Stalin made them so in the 1920s. Before that Abhazia was an independent soviet republic.
Resolution of the People's Assembly
Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia15 October 1997
On condemnation of genocide, ethnic cleansing and other crimes committed by the military-political authorities of Georgia against the population of Abkhazia during the Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-1993.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing the break-up of the Georgian "empire", the Georgian leadership decided to keep Abkhazia, South Ossetia and other non-Georgian regions within Georgia by means of force. Beginning from late 80-s, counting on the assistance of thousands of Georgians of Abkhazia, who found themselves here as a result of demographic expansion, the Georgian authorities launched an anti-Abkhazian campaign. Following the government's directives, scholars, intellectuals, informal organizations, clergy and Georgian mass media were accusing the "newcomers" on the Georgian land, Abkhazians, in all failures of the Georgian nation, particularly, in "blocking" their way towards national independence. In reality, the misanthropic ideology of aggressive Georgian nationalism was aimed at stirring up inter-ethnic animosity in Abkhazia, intimidating the Abkhazians and representatives of other nationalities living in Abkhazia, at abolishing the statehood of Abkhazia and the creation on the territory of the Georgian SSR of a unitary mono-ethnic independent Georgian state. The opponents of the cherished goal were threatened with physical annihilation or eviction from Abkhazia.
Bloody events in Abkhazia in July 1989, inspired by the Georgian authorities, became a dress rehearsal for a planned large-scale inter-ethnic and inter-state armed confrontation.
In the years that followed, at the bidding of the Tbilisi emissaries, the Georgian ultranationalists started the division of institutions, enterprises, arts associations and other unions and even sport teams according to the ethnicity, and the citizens of non-Georgian nationality were dismissed from their jobs. Later the Ministry of Interior, the Procurator's Office, the Supreme Council and the Government of Abkhazia became also divided along the ethnic lines. Simultaneously to this, illegal Georgian armed formations were created, which were engaged in blackmailing and looting of peaceful civilians, in terror and subversive activities on the territory of Abkhazia.
The artificially created complex social-political and criminal situation forced thousands of Russians, Armenians, Greeks, Estonians and representatives of other nationalities to leave the Republic. Simultaneously, ethnic Georgians from Georgia were moving to Abkhazia and were getting permanent residence.
The leadership of Abkhazia repeatedly appealed to the Georgian authorities demanding to halt these explosive processes, but all in vain.
In the course of ever growing Georgian-Abkhazian opposition, which was taking place against the background of the collapse of the USSR and, accordingly, the Georgian SSR, the state-legal relations between Georgia and Abkhazia were disrupted. On 25 August 1990 the Supreme Council of Abkhazia, fearing the encroachment upon Abkhazia's statehood, and realising the right of the Abkhazian nation to self-determination, adopted the "Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Abkhazia" and the Resolution "On Legal Guarantees for the Protection of the Statehood of Abkhazia". On 21 February 1992 the Military Council of Georgia reinstated the Constitution of 1921 in which the state status of Abkhazia was not determined, and somewhat later, on 23 July 1992, the Supreme Council of Abkhazia restored the 1925 Constitution of Abkhazia, according to which Abkhazia was a sovereign state.
On 14 August 1992 the Republic of Georgia launched an armed attack against Abkhazia aiming at abolishment of the statehood of Abkhazia and at depriving of its people of their political independence. The Georgian occupational forces, among whom were thousands of criminals deliberately released from their prisons, perpetrated war crimes: they destroyed towns and other settlements, destroyed items of great cultural value for the nation, including the Central State Archives of Abkhazia and the unique Abkhazological Research Institute, treated prisoners of war and the wounded with cruelty, killed and raped peaceful civilians, looted and seized public and private property. The Georgian military-political authorities were guided by the principle "Abkhazia without the Abkhazians", which was officially confirmed on 25 August 1992 by G. Karkarashvili, the Commander-in-Chief of the occupational troops in his televised address. The Georgian population of Abkhazia, especially the inhabitants of the settlements created during the Stalin period, took a most active part in mass killings of Abkhazians, including children, women and elderly.
As a result of the ethnic cleansing, practically no Abkhazian population was left on the occupied part of Abkhazia, including the towns of Ochamchyra, Sukhum and Gagra. For example, according to the data of the Procurator's Office of Abkhazia, out of 7 thousand of Abkhazians residing in the city of Ochamchyra, over 400 were forced to be registered as Georgians, hundreds of Abkhazians were killed, and the rest had to flee in order to save their lives.
The Georgian occupants transferred the main focus of their operations onto the territory of Eastern Abkhazia. Following the directives of the Georgian leadership, they surrounded and isolated from the outside world all Abkhazian settlements in this area, including the town of Tkuarchal. Using modern weaponry, including the weapons of mass destruction, such as artillery systems "Grad", "Uragan", cluster shells and other kinds of weapons banned by the Geneva Convention of 1949, the aggressor was deliberately and systematically destroying the Abkhazian population of Abzhywan Abkhazia, which made up nearly a half of the entire Abkhazian nation. In the course of military operations a number of Abkhazian settlements were razed to the ground. It is noteworthy that among the documents of the headquarters of the 24th brigade of the Georgian military forces, captured by the Abkhazian fighters, a plan was found of launching on 26 December 1992 of a massive nuclear attack directed at 34 objects, including the settlements in Eastern Abkhazia.
Trying to escape genocide, the Abkhazians and representatives of other nationalities from Sukhum, Gagra and other areas of the Republic were thronging into Bzyp Abkhazia, which, encircled by the enemy and isolated from the outer world, was engaged in unequal struggle. Thus, in the end of the XXth century, before the eyes of the civilized world, the Georgian nationalists were carrying out a deliberate extermination of the Abkhazian nation, which, according to the Convention of the UN General Assembly of 9 December 1948, can be qualified as genocide.
The Procurator's Office of the Republic of Abkhazia, conducting criminal investigation of numerous crimes committed by the Georgian occupational forces in Abkhazia, instituted more than three thousand criminal cases. Thousands of Armenians, Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Estonians, Turks and others were forced to leave Abkhazia. For example, during only one day, on 15 August 1993, 1200 ethnic Greeks were expelled from the city of Sukhum. As a rule, the authorities discontinued the residence permits of the citizens who had to leave the occupied territory, and they had to produce written obligations stating that they would not return back to Abkhazia. The houses and apartments of the deported citizens of Abkhazia were given over exclusively to ethnic Georgians, to those who were fighting in Abkhazia, or to those hastily brought in from Georgia.
The Supreme Council of the Republic of Abkhazia, at the very outset of the war, qualified in its special Resolutions of 15.09.1992 the actions of the Georgian military-political authorities against Abkhazia and its people as an aggression and genocide. The leadership of Abkhazia, public and political organizations, scientific institutions and individual citizens of Abkhazia have been repeatedly appealing to the world community with the request to stop the genocide, ethnic cleansing and other crimes being committed in Abkhazia by the Georgian authorities. However, no adequate practical measures were taken by the world community in order to save the Abkhazians and all multi-ethnic population of Abkhazia.
The people of Abkhazia, at the cost of incredible efforts and a considerable number of lives have heroically defended the liberty and independence of their motherland. A great assistance in this holy struggle was provided by the volunteers from the North Caucasus, the South of Russia and by the representatives of the Abkhazo-Adyghean Diaspora, by the people of good will. The majority of the Georgian population of the Republic, who played here the role of the "fifth column", had left Abkhazia together with the retreating Georgian troops.
Since the end of active military activity, the Georgian authorities have been trying to conceal from the world community their crimes committed in Abkhazia. Moreover, they are trying to groundlessly accuse the Abkhazian side in "aggressive separatism" and "genocide" of the Georgians, thus creating a false public opinion concerning the lawfulness and necessity of solving the problem by means of force.
Regrettably, referring to one-sided information provided by Georgia, and with silent approval of international and regional organizations, the Russian Federation, in its capacity of facilitator of negotiations, is carrying out an economic and informational blockade of Abkhazia, thus aggravating the hardships and living standards of the multi-ethnic population of Abkhazia, which suffered during the war.
Giving the political and legal assessment to the events of 1992-1993 in Abkhazia, the People's Assembly of the Republic of Abkhazia resolves:
Sokrat DJINDJOLIA
SPEAKER OF THE PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY
PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ABKHAZIA
City of SUKHUM
15 October 1997 No. 363-c-XIII
Maybe we should also consult the UN as to whether or not the Serbs are guilty of ethnic cleansing. Not.
Does Russia really need its soldiers acting a human shields in a UN "peacekeeping" mission for a cause supported by Basayev himself, even while this killer still roams free?
Yeah, sure. At the rate we're going it'll happen, well, never.
Abkhazia is internal part of Georgia no matter what is your opinion. Beside maybe you want Russia to give up its territories gained after 1920??
an independent soviet republic.
an oxymoron. However I’m afraid that you really think so…
Wow, you support the work of Stalin, how EUish of you.
You might be interested in Lukasz's Stalinist stance.
Typical jb6’s demagogy. My country also lost plenty of territories because of Stalin. But we are not crazy enough to make any territorial claims. (and Poland was independent in opposition to Abkhazia!) So, I’m repeating my question once again.
Do you want Russia to give up its territories gained after 1920?? (Please answer you little troll)
However the local FR "I see KGB agents under my bed" freemarket warriors treat it to their convenience. So be it.
The only voice of reason was "I must agree that I don't know enough about all of the aspects of the situation to comment intelligently."
/sarcasm on
Yarrrr... here are the communist fascists trying to control gas prices. They are going to freeze to death, at least sit in the dark throughout their neverending winter!
/sarcasm off
A-76 very low quality, primarily used for tractors, trucks, some old cars.
A-92 std. quality. Used by old cars and trucks, vans.
A-95 high quality. Used by majority of cars, some vans.
A-98 premium qualty (or superfine?). Used by some cars.
Already happening on the border with Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. Have heard it on the radio yesterday.
Can't forget what I saw on the border of Republic of Iraland and Northern Ireland in 2001. It was some 30 miles west from Derry. British side - petrol station empty. Irish side - loooong queues.
It would be hard to get it back - Wilno/Vilnius is the captal of Lithuania and Lwow/Lviv is the center of Ukrainian nationalism.
It would be hard to get it back - Wilno/Vilnius is the captal of Lithuania and Lwow/Lviv is the center of Ukrainian nationalism.
Getting Wroclaw/Breslau, Gdansk/Danzig, Szczecin/Stettin instead was a good bargain, especially that all Germans were removed.
Doesn’t matter, we don’t have any claims and that is all. If you want you also may answer to my previous question, because jb6 as always surrendered.
Do you want Russia to give up its territories gained after 1920??
Which territories would that be, besides Kalinengrad? I'll trade you, you give up Silesia and they can give up Kalinengrad...and then Poland and Germany can arm wrestle about who gets it.
Not only Kaliningrad but also Finish Karelia and Japanese Kuril islands.
I'll trade you, you give up Silesia and they can give up Kalinengrad...and then Poland and Germany can arm wrestle about who gets it.
Nor myself nor Poland has any problems with status quo. It is you the one who made similar claims towards Georgia.
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