Sakhalin Duma criticizes oil consortium From Svobodny Sakhalin The Sakhalin Duma recently passed a decree supporting major Sakhalin oil company Rosneft-Sakhalinmorneftegaz in its pursuit of membership in the Sakhalin-2 shelf oil project. The duma appointed its chairman Boris Tretyak to oversee the decree. Oil exploration means jobs are forthcoming on Sakhalin By Mike Eckel On an island where the fishing industry is suffering and the manufacturing base is nearly non-existent, $200 million is no small change.

Collecting taxes will be difficult By Victoria Vasilenko In the wake of the federal government's reinforced efforts to increase tax returns, Sakhalin authorities said collection is quite a challenge for a region with 1.6 billion rubles ($268 million) in back taxes as of June 1. Battling the apartment bureaucracy in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk By Andrew Wilson Having suffered the vagaries of rental apartments for six years, my wife and I decided to purchase an apartment in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk this spring. We settled on a medium-sized flat in the southern end of the city, where the utilities are reputed to be unusually reliable. Briefs: Border guard units on Kurils are under-funded…Forest fires on Sakhalin [Back to the top]  [Back to Front page]  [Write to us] Sakhalin Briefs Border guard units on Kurils are under-funded An inspection team from the Main Supervisory Directorate of the Presidential Administration visited Sakhalin and the Kurils recently to examine protection of marine resources. Commander of the Pacific Border District Pavel Tarasenko and border guard officers tried to convince the inspection commission that in underfunding the marine units of border guards, the federal government loses significantly more money from increasing poaching. Lack of fuel and spare parts keep many border guard boats on shore, officers complained. According to the Pacific Border District, over half of the catch of Russian fishermen, worth of millions of dollars, is smuggled abroad every year. Forest fires on Sakhalin Forest fires were raging over 6,550 hectars in the north of Sakhalin as of July 1, according to the Sakhalin Emergencies Department. Five fires were localized and extinguished by the beginning of July. There is no danger of the blaze spreading to the south, the Emergencies Department said. Altogether, 67 forest fires have started and spread over 8,700 hectars in the region since the beginning of the fire season this spring. Compiled from press reports [Back to the top]  [Back to Front page]  [Write to us] © copyright 1998 the Vladivostok News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any form.