As they say, in vino veritas. There's more truth in wine than in politics, at least - Moskovskiy Komsomolets reports that despite lack of official diplomatic relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, Georgian wine may still find its way back to Russian stores. A group of businessmen, members of the National Wine Agency of Georgia, met with Gennadiy Onnishenko, Chief Sanitary Inspector of Russia and the person responsible for introducing the ban on Georgian wines seven years ago. The daily reports that an understanding has been reached and only technical details are left - after Rospotrebnadzor, the Federal Service for Control in the Sphere of Protection Consumers' Rights and Well-Being of Humans visits Georgian wineries next week, product licensing may begin; by the end of spring Russia's southern neighbor may resume wine exports into the country. However, things will be different - on one hand, Georgian wines will have to compete with spirits from South America, on the other hand after the ban Georgian producers reoriented towards the European consumers who are willing to pay higher prices for higher quality - this means in Russia Georgian wine will cost 300 rubles ($10) and up.
***
Izvestia takes a look at the Crisis and Situation Center, launched by Russia's Foreign Ministry January 1st of this year, but expected to achieve full potential only by this summer. The center's director, Dmitry Kazimirov, expained that it's necessary to be able to quickly react to emergency situations - for exmaple, to inform Russian citizens currently in a given country of an imposed state of emergency; the center would also help compatriots get in touch with Russian officials wherever they are. In order to do that, the agency plans to employ SMS texting, internet messaging and special software - although the article does not provide specifics in this regard. Overall, the center will be basically a hybrid between a call center and an inter-agency cooridnation office. The daily reminds that there have been talks of launching such an entity since 2006; the reason for the seemingly redundant body doubling responsibilities of existing missions is quite trivial - understaffing. Moreover, high staff turnover leads to members of foreign missions lacking exerience in emergency response, such as, say, evacuation - newly appointed diplomats are left to 'reinvent the wheel'. With only skeleton crew staffing Russian missions overseas at night, it seems that the only logical solution for the problem is centralizing emergency management. Representatives of the tourism industry, while praising the efforts, still believe that Russian missions to countries popular with tourists should increase staffing.
***
Novye Izvestia has troubling news from the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex. The organization has released figures for Russia's oil export - in January 2013, the amount of oil shipped abroad has dropped by 3.5%, with neigbouring countries' dip in demand for Russian oil being more pronounced than from non-CIS trade partners. On the backdrop of an increase in oil production, the country may find itself in an unleasant situation. Experts interviewed by the daily mostly blame global recession, reminding that lately gas exports have also been declining. However, looking closely at the breakdown of export dynamics, it's obvious that former Soviet states are more actively looking for alternatives to Russian oil - if they do secure such sources, the current trend may become long-term and severely reduce global demand for Russia's "black gold".
****
The Russian agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, is finalizing the bill banning US Turkeys from entering the country - the poultry is raised with a feed additive Ractopamine which is prohibited to use in Russia. Research shows that the drug can lead to excessive weight gain and endanger consumers who are taking heart medicine - that means, millions of Russians. Alexey Alexeenko, press secretary of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance emphasized that even the drug packaging indicates it may be harmful for humans and special gear is required when handling it. Unfortunately, safety came second to greed in the US market, where farms routinely using the drug when raising livestock started turning on average 10% more profit - thus 60% of American agricultural facilities use the controvesial substance. The article reminds that Ractopamine has already been banned in Europe - the European Union has a list of allowed importers with drug-free meat; it's possible Russia will do the same in the future. Meanwhile, consumers should not be expecting a spike in prices as US meat will likely be substituted by other, cleaner imports.
Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/25950828/103684239.html
st louis news utah jazz lawrence of arabia denver nuggets correspondents dinner i am legend san antonio spurs
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন