MOSCOW - The Russian central bank said on Wednesday it had sold 5.99 billion roubles of eight-month GKO treasury bills at an average yield of 14.96 percent.
The auction is one of those by Russia to swap an originally planned 12 billion roubles of OFZ bonds and six billion roubles in GKO for OFZ number 25030 which matures on December 15.
But following the announcement of the results of Wednesday's auction, the Finance Ministry said it would issue a further four billion roubles of the same series of GKOs, number 21156, on December 5, as part of the swap of OFZ 25030.
A total of 32 billion roubles in OFZs were due to mature on December 15. It was Russia's biggest issue. Now a total of 20.4 billion remain.
The GKO's sold in the current auction will mature July 17, 2002. Demand was 8.67 billion in nominal terms and 7.91 million in cash terms.
The average price was 91.35 percent and the minimum accepted price was 91.21 percent. The cut-off yield was 15.23 percent. //Reuters

MOSCOW - Russia will experience a 3 or 4 per cent economic rise in 2002, former finance minister Alexander Livshits, who is a deputy general director of Russky Alyuminy company now, forecasted at a press conference today.
In other words, Russia's economic development will slowdown a little next year as compared to 2001. In addition, Livshits stressed it will be difficult for the government to restrain inflation within 11 or 12 per cent.
In any case, the future economic situation will become more clear in December, when the government passes the tariff policy for 2002.
The former finance minister believes that the inflation rate may reach 16 per cent in the event tariffs are higher than forecasted by the Ministry for Economic Development and Trade. Commenting on the dollar exchange rate next year, Livshits said it will most likely reach 32 to 34 rubles. //RBC

BISHKEK - The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan is pressing requests to use airbases in the ex-Soviet states of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for the campaign, according to officials in both states.
Both France and the United States have troops at Khanabad in Uzbekistan, but President Islam Karimov has only allowed them to pursue search and rescue and humanitarian missions, prompting the coalition to seek bases for more active operations.
"We are carefully considering a request from the French government to allow aircraft into the territory of Kyrgyzstan," Askar Aitmatov, a senior official in Kyrgyzstan's presidential administration, told a news briefing on Wednesday.
"Naturally, we are looking at such questions, which are directly linked to the security not just of our country, but of the whole region, in the context of close consultations with our partners, allies and friends." //Reuters

MOSCOW - Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel has no plans to cut nickel or copper output in 2002, Interfax news agency quoted a company spokesman as saying on Wednesday.
The spokesman said reports citing Norilsk's deputy general director of the arctic division, Vladimir Petrov, as saying the company would cut nickel, copper and cobalt production by about 10 percent "had been misinterpreted".
He added, "Petrov did indeed meet with division bosses and discuss plans for 2002 last week. But he spoke only about a possible adjustment of original production plans and certainly not a reduction in output."
Company representatives in Moscow and Norilsk were unavailable for comment on Wednesday.
The spokesman was also quoted as saying the head of Norilsk's arctic division had reassured workers a few days ago that production would be steady.
"We have decided to sustain levels of output so as to safeguard each and every employee," Dzhonson Khagazheyev, general director of the division, was quoted as saying.
He said the company had arranged to carry over debt payments and that it would not buy new supplies until the end of the year.
"It would have been difficult to foresee the current price situation, but we can face it and live through these low prices for our metals," Khagazheyev added.
Norilsk says it produces 20 percent of the world's nickel, although it never discloses production figures.
It is also an important swing producer of copper and minor metal cobalt. //Reuters

MOSCOW - Russia will increase quotas on fuel oil shipments in December allowing exporters to lift 25 percent of total domestic output instead of the current 21 percent, a spokesman for the Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.
He said the decision was taken on Tuesday by a government commission on access to oil pipelines headed by Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko.
The commission decided in September to restore quotas on fuel oil exports from October due to uncertainty over oil prices and to meet domestic needs.
Fuel oil shipments from Russia were halted in November for almost three days due to confusion between different ministries but then resumed. Oil firms were allowed to ship abroad 21 percent of their domestic output.
Russia exported 27.7 million tonnes of fuel oil in 2000. It exported 26.8 million tonnes of fuel oil in the first nine months of this year. //Reuters

COPENHAGEN - U.S. wind turbine company Enron Wind, a unit of troubled energy firm Enron, said on Wednesday it might build Russia's first big wind farm with Swiss/Swedish industrial group ABB.
``At present, feasibility studies are being carried out and they will take at least 12 months,'' head of German Enron Wind Gmbh John Mills told Reuters by telephone.
The studies are funded by grants from the U.S. trade and development authorities and ABB. The proposed wind farm would generate around 75-100 megawatt and cost $75-100 million, Mills said.
The park would be placed in the Leningrad region and would mainly be financed by ABB. Enron would supply the wind turbines, Mills said.
According to the BTM independent windpower consultancy, eastern Europe had a total capacity of wind turbines generating 22 megawatt last year compared to western Europe's accumulated capacity of 13,600 megawatts. //Reuters

MONTE CARLO - Russia's German Skurygin, the 1999 world champion in the 50-kilometer walk, has been suspended for two years for taking a banned substance.
The IAAF, track and field's governing body, said Tuesday the world title will go to Italy's Ivano Brugnetti, the silver medalist.
The Russian federation recently imposed the suspension on Skurygin after a long investigation, the IAAF said.
After winning his walk event in Seville, Spain, he tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, a substance used to increase the body's own natural production of testosterone.
The international track body said it did not accept Skurygin's excuse that he was seriously ill at the time of the test. //AP

MOSCOW - Defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India on Wednesday came back from a stunning first-game loss in the FIDE world championships, crushing France's Olivier Touzane and forcing a playoff.
After the loss Tuesday to Touzane, the lowest-seeded of the tournament's 128 players, Anand needed the win while playing black to stay in competition. Each round consists of two games, with rapid and blitz playoffs in case of ties.
Anand chose the Benko Gambit and Touzane went astray early. Anand quickly got an overwhelming position with an extra pawn, two outside connected passed pawns, and numerous threats to win further material.
In the first game against Touzane, Anand also gained a winning position but threw it away through carelessness.
The 31-year-old Anand is the top seed in the tournament and ranked third in the world behind former world champion Garry Kasparov and Braingames world champion Vladimir Kramnik, both of Russia. The 28-year-old Touzane holds the title of international master.
In other games Wednesday, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, 18, of India, achieved a draw with against former FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia. The two, who also drew on Tuesday, were to have their playoff later Wednesday.
Indian grandmasters Dibyendu Barua and Penteala Harikrishna were eliminated by France's Joel Lautier and Slovenia's Alexander Beliavsky respectively. Second-seeded Michael Adams of England, third-seeded Alexander Morozvich of Russia, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine seeded fourth, eight-seeded Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, and 10th seed Rustam Kazimdzanov all advanced to the second round in games completed by Wednesday afternoon.
Sixty-four top women players are also competing under the same format for the women's world championship. The world's strongest woman player, Judit Polgar of Hungary, is playing in the men's championship.
On the women's side, Ramaswamy Aarthie of India was eliminated by Georgia's Nino Khurtsidze.
Kasparov and Kramnik will try to rival FIDE with exhibition match in Moscow beginning Dec. 1. With a prize fund of dlrs 500,000, the match will include four regular games, six rapid games and 10 blitz games. //AP

MOSCOW - Russia will cut the export tariff on crude oil from January 2002 to 19.2 euros per tonne from current 23.4 euros due to falling world prices, Economy and Trade Minister German Gref said on Wednesday.
The decision was taken by a government commission on protective measures in foreign trade, headed by Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin.
Currently, the government sets the tariff in euros per tonne every two months, pegging it to the price of the Russian Urals blend.
The tariff of 23.4 euros per tonne will remain in effect until the end of the year, while the new tariff will be effective until the end of February.
The next meeting of the panel is scheduled for January, when a new law on customs tariffs comes into force.
The current tariff band list, in effect since August 1, 2000, ranges from zero when the Urals price is below $15, to a maximum of 48 euros when the Urals price rises above $32.50. The tariff is adjusted according to the euro-dollar rate.
The new law on customs tariffs sets the maximum crude tariff rate as a percentage of its customs value, which fluctuates in line with the Urals price.
With Urals crude below $15 a barrel, no tariff will be collected. A tariff of 35 percent will be set when Urals is at $15-25 and at 40 percent when the price rises above $25.
Urals was traded at $18.26/$18.28 per barrel in Rotterdam and at $18.00/$18.02 in the Mediterranean at around 1500 GMT. //Reuters