Investigation of Euroset officials` abduction case completed -- SKP.

MOSCOW, September 5 (Itar-Tass) --The investigation of the abduction
case against Euroset telecom retail chain officials has been completed, a
spokesman for the Investigation Committee under the Prosecutor General's
Office (SKP), Vladimir Markin, said.
"The SKP Main Investigation Department has completed the investigation
in respect of Euroset officials Bopris Levin, Andrei Yermilov, Vitaly
Tsverkunov, Roman Chichkov, Alexei Olseik, Yuri Rogov, Sergei Katorgin,
and Alexander Kurta," Markin said.
He noted that "the investigators have collected proof of their
involvement in robberies, illegal deprivation of freedom and abduction,
extortion, torture, and a knowingly false report of a grave crime".
Levin, Yermilov, Tsverkunov, and Katorgin have been put into
protective custody. The others have been made give a written pledge not to
leave the city.
All of them are now studying their case, after which it will be
transferred to court for examination on the merits, Markin said, adding
that the criminal case against former Euroset owner Yevgeny Chichvarkin
will be considered separately.
Earlier, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said Britain's
Westminster Court had issued an arrest warrant for Chichvarkin.

.IMF may disburse new portion of stabilisation loan to Belarus in
October.

MINSK, September 5 (Itar-Tass) --The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
may disburse the next portion of a stabilisation loan to Belarus in
October.
An IMF mission that has just visited the country reached an agreement
with Belarusian authorities to complete the second review under the
standby loan arrangements, the IMF Office in Belarus said.
The Belarusian government's letter of intent will now be submitted to
the IMF Executive Board for consideration after the annual IMF and World
Bank meeting in October. If approved, the IMF will disburse the next
portion of the loan in the amount of 683 million U.S. dollars.
The IMF Office emphasised that the macroeconomic and financial policy
in Belarus complies with the loan programme requirements. Belarusian
authorities had met all of the programme's quantitative targets as of the
end of June and made big progress in complying with the programme's
structural targets, including in the drafting of a decree on the creation
of a privatisation agency in the country.
Belarus' exchange rate, budget and tax policy is consistent with the
programme's goals. The IMF mission and the Belarusian authorities agreed
on the need to pursue a more stringent lending policy in order to curb
internal demand and improve the balance of payment in Belarus, the office
said.
In January 2009, the IMF Executive Board approved an anti-crisis
programme drafted by the Belarusian government. To support the programnme,
the IMF had decided to provide a loan of 2.46 billion U.S. dollars. In
June, after the completion of the first review of the programme, the IMF
increased financial aid to Belarus to 3.52 billion U.S. dollars.
Belarus received the first portion of the IMF loan in the amount of
878.9 million U.S. dollars in January and the second one of almost 680
million U.S. dollars in early July. The funds were deposited in the
country's gold and foreign exchange reserves and used to support the
national currency.

.General Motors Russia begins serial production of Chevrolet Cruze.

ST. PETERSBURG, September 5 (Itar-Tass) -- General Motors has begun
serial production of Chevrolet Cruise cars in Russia.
The American company's in St. Petersburg is the only producer of this
model in Europe, the press service of the city's Committee for Economic
Development, Industrial Policy and Trade said.
Committee First Deputy Chairman Sergei Fiveisky said the Chevrolet
Cruze sedan is the first Russian car made in St. Petersburg that has been
included in the federal programme of low-interest rate loans.
"This can be one of the factors that will allow General Motors to
increase car production as against the current level and keep production
facility busy," the official said.
He stressed that the company would sell only locally-produced cars on
the Russian market. The price of the cars made in St. Petersburg will
begin from 540,000 roubles.
General Motors officials said earlier the company planned to make the
Opel Astra in St. Petersburg.
In the first seven months of this year, 7,700 foreign brand cars were
assembled in St. Petersburg, 65 percent down from the same period of last
year. In July, St. Petersburg's automobile plants made 700 cars, a
decrease of 100 cars from June 2008.
Four foreign brand cares are made in St. Petersburg: Chevrolet
Captiva, Opel Antara, Toyota Camry, and Nissan Teana. Two new brands will
be added to this list in the autumn: Chevrolet Cruze and X-Trail.
The General Motors plant was opened in St. Petersburg's Shushary
industrial zone on November 7, 2008. Investments in stage one of the plant
with a capacity of 60,000 cars a year had exceeded 300 million U.S.
dollars. The plant is expected to start operating at full capacity by the
end of 2010.
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