PULIKOVSKY CRITICIZED SHTYROV AND ISHAYEV

Presidential representative in Far East Konstantin Pulikovsky believes that Yakutian president Shtyrov and Khabarovsky Krai governor Ishayev made a "gross political mistake" by initiating a petition to President Putin, in which they opposed to monetarization of social privileges.

In their petition, governors of ten Russian Far East regions, with the exception of Chukotka and Primorsky Krai, voiced their objections to substitution of social privileges by monetary compensations. Pulikovsky's press service disseminated a press release which says, in particular:

"That was a political demarche, a groundless declaration that the federal centre thinks little about Far Easterners' day-to-day needs, while the above said governors take care about people. In fact, there are enough resources in Russia, to finance all responsibilities shared by the federal and regional authorities. The fewer political demarches we have, the better people will live. The federal centre will see that none of regions get in a position, where its authorities cannot pay monetary compensations to citizens. All of the Far Eastern regions, with the exception of Chukotka, continue to be subsidized by the federal budget. The federal centre never forgot to transfer resources and will be doing same in the future." - Yevgeny ITAROV.

MAYORAL ELECTIONS IN MAGADAN APPOINTED FOR 10 OCTOBER

Mayoral campaign began in Magadan, where the city electoral commission appointed elections for 10 October.

To be registered as mayoral candidates, contenders should solicit 930 voter signatures or put up a deposit of 1.5 million rubles before 4 September. The list of candidates will be finalized by the city electoral commission by 9 September.

The mayoral elections had to be appointed ahead of schedule, after seating mayor Nikolai Karpenko resigned upon getting a position of head of control department in the presidential envoy's office in the Southern federal district. - Yury ROGOV.

NAKHODKA WILL ELECT MAYOR

Seating mayor Viktor Gnezdilov's term of office expires in December, and analysts predict several possible scenarios for further developments.

First: elections will take place in December. Second: the State Duma may pass an amendment permitting mayoral and gubernatorial elections on the same day. Given that new Primorye governor will be elected next spring, Nakhodka lawmakers will have to extend Gnezdilov's powers till then.

Another possible alternative is Viktor Gnezdilov's resignation before December, in which event elections must be appointed within three months latest. This sudden move will give the seating mayor an advantage over contenders who will have little time for campaign preparations.

Though none of potential mayoral candidates revealed his electoral plans so far, experts evaluate their chances. According to a rating prepared by regional analyst, Viktor Gnezdilov, who has ruled in Nakhodka since 1987, is not at the top of the list. Public opinion polls showed that the community has high trust in Nadezhda Mylova, head of the public utility Zhilkomkhoz and member of the regional legislative assembly.

Mentioned among other potential candidates are first vice mayor Mikhail Panchenko, chairman of city legislative assembly Mikhail Pilipenko, lawmakers Viktor Ryashentsev, Alexey Makarov, Oleg Kutnyashenko, Boris Vyshegorodtsev, head of local employment centre Yekaterina Vlasova, regional legislative assembly member Andrei Kulikov and businessman Yury Boltenko.

There are out-of-towners on the list as well. They are Muscovite Timofei Khryapov, new chairman of board of Nakhodka BAMR fishing company, and Dmitry Glotov, president of Primorye Fishing Companies Asssociations. - Natalia KHOMENKO.

128 NATIONALITIES LIVE IN PRIMORSKY KRAI

The Census 2002 results showed that there are representatives of 128 nationalities and 15 associated ethnical groups residing in Primorye.

The majority of population is Russian nationals - 90% of the total, or 1,861,800. During last 14 years, this number has gone down by 5% due to migration processes and natural loss.

The second-largest national group is Ukrainians (94,100), with their total numbers dropping by 49.2% since the previous census in 1989. A major outflow of Ukrainian nationals occurred in early 1990s, when fishermen were leaving catching and processing fleets and going home. Due to the same reason, Belarus populations dropped down by 10,300 and reached a total of 11,600.

Due to departure to Israel and Germany for permanent residence, the numbers of Jewish and German populations went down by more than half (by 1,100) and by 600, respectively.

However, reverse trends were also observed. After the law "On Rehabilitation of Political Victims" was adopted, the number of Korean nationals grew 2.1 times and reached 17,900. The Armenian and Azerbaijan populations grew, respectively, from 2,400 to 5,600 and to 4,400 persons. 97.9% of the region's population speak Russian language. - Yury ROGOV.

VOSTOCHNY PORT HOPES TO EXCEED 20M TONS TURNOVER IN 2004

Vostochny port handled a total of 11,924,000 tons of cargo during 7 months of 2004.

As spokesman for the port informs, this is a 27% increase on same period a year ago. OAO Vostochny Port's three cargo complexes handled 10,119,000 tons (compared with 7,935,000 tons in 2003). Its specialized coal terminal increased cargo turnover by 18% and brought it up to 8.31 million tons. OOO East Ural Terminal handled more than 504,000 tons of mineral fertilizer (+9% on January - July 2003). Vostochny International Container Services (VICS) transshipped 39% more containers than a year ago, and OAO Agrokhimvostokexport handled 70,700 tons of timber cargoes (+1%).

OAO Vostochny Port director general Alexander Ignatenko believes that Vostochny's cargo turnover will exceed 20 million tons in 2004. - Yulia PROKHOROVA.