PhosAgro 1Q 2019 EBITDA Grows 73% YoY to RUB 24.8 bln

Moscow – PhosAgro (“PhosAgro” or “the Company”) (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, today announces its consolidated IFRS financial results for the three months (1Q) ended 31 March 2019.  Revenue for 1Q 2019 rose by 32% year-on-year to RUB 72.3 billion (USD 1.1 billion). EBITDA increased by…

A Majority of Russian Families Have No Savings, Poll Says

Two-thirds of Russian families have no financial savings to speak of, according to a new survey published by the independent Levada Center polling agency. The findings back up official data showing five consecutive years of declining real incomes as Western sanctions and dropping oil prices hit Russian consumers. Sixty-five percent of Russian households reported a…

Nuclear Technology Information Center Opened in Tashkent

The official opening of the Nuclear Technology Information Center, a joint project of Uzatom and ROSATOM, took place in Tashkent on 15 May. Uzatom Director General Zhurabeck Mirzamakhmudov, ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev, President of Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences Bekhzod Yuldashev, Russian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Vladimir Turdenev took part in the event as along with…

Russia Dirty Oil Crisis Drags On as Port Loads Tainted Cargo

Russia’s efforts to resolve an unprecedented oil-contamination crisis suffered a setback as the nation loaded another tainted cargo from a port in the Baltic Sea, days after the government had said the port was clear. Traders receiving Urals crude at the Ust-Luga terminal said some oil continues to exceed acceptable levels of organic chloride, the…

Russia’s Largest Rivers From the Amur to the Volga

From May 15 through June 15, Russia holds the United Days of Protection of Small Rivers and Ponds. This movement involves more than 100 environmental organizations throughout Russia, and aims to celebrate the smaller of Russia’s waters. While the country gets set cleaning, assessing, developing and restoring these small rivers and ponds, here’s a look…

Russian National Sentenced to 25 Years Over Alleged Terror Plot

A Russian national has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly plotting a terror attack in the country’s east, state media reported Wednesday. A total of 20 terror attacks were prevented by security forces in 2018, the first deputy chief of Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Committee told reporters earlier this year. According to the committee’s…

Economic Impact of Activities of Rosneft United Research and Development Centre Evaluated to Exceed 150 Billion Roubles

Rosneft Oil Company reviewed the results of the Rosneft United Research and Development Centre (RN-RDC). Since its foundation in 2016, RN-RDC has become Europe’s largest scientific oil and gas centre, the amount of work performed using its own resources has increased more than 2 times. At the moment, it includes 32 design and research institutes,…

Messoyakhaneftegaz Produces the 10 Millionth Ton of Oil

Messoyakhaneftegaz, a joint venture of Gazprom Neft and Rosneft, produced the 10 millionth ton of oil. This target was reached in less than three years of operation of the East-Messoyakha field. During the period, over 300 production wells were built in the licence area. The total drilling rate exceeded 1.1 thousand km. The enterprise produces…

Russia Eases Arms Resale Rules to Avoid Sanctions – Reports

Russia has eased its weapons resale rules to alleviate secondary buyers’ fears of U.S. sanctions, according to an unpublished government decree cited by the Vedomosti business daily Wednesday. Reports found that Russia sold the second-most weapons in 2018 despite five years of declining sales. Countries trading with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors currently face secondary…

On This Day: Mikhail Bulgakov

On this day in 1891, Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev – then part of the Russian empire, now the capital of Ukraine. Today a household name in Russian literature, Bulgakov’s best and most known work was published after his death in 1940. One of seven children, Bulgakov’s father was a prominent professor and a…

U.S. Senators Introduce Bill Targeting Russia-Germany Pipeline

A group of Republican and Democratic U.S. senators introduced legislation on Tuesday seeking sanctions targeting the Nord Stream 2, a planned gas pipeline from Russia to Germany under fire from the United States and some European Union countries. The bill introduced by Republican Senators Ted Cruz, John Barrasso and Tom Cotton and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen,…

What Did Pompeo Discuss With Putin in Russia?

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. Pompeo’s trip marked the first high-profile U.S. visit to Russia since allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a subsequent investigation rankled bilateral relations. Meeting in the southern city…

Putin’s New Energy Security Doctrine Preaches Self-Reliance

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new energy security doctrine preaching self-reliance in the face of geopolitical isolation. Russia has unrivaled energy resources and is the world’s top exporter of gas and its second-biggest of crude oil. The new doctrine replaces the 2012 plan and takes into account threats to Russia’s energy security and…

Mineral and Raw Material Base Development. Gas Production. Gas Transmission System Development Press Conference held

Watch Press Conference Listen to audio For Gazprom’s Press Conferences audio broadcast please dial: +7 495 719-35-77 (Russian) +7 495 719-30-00 (English) Materials May 14, 2019, 02:30 pm (Moscow time) Participants: Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Oleg Aksyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Head of Department, Gazprom; Sergey Menshikov, Member of the Management Committee, Head of Department, Gazprom; Vyacheslav Mikhalenko, Member…

Russian Fighter Jet Drops ‘Powerful’ Bunker Buster

An anonymously published video of Russia’s fighter jet showed on Tuesday what is purported to be “the most powerful” laser-guided bomb in service. “In the video, the work of the Su-34 using the most powerful of the guided bombs in service,” the video caption reads. The undated video identifies the bunker buster in question as…

Contest: Two Free Tickets to Romen

If all you know about Romani music came from listening to a couple of singers at a Mediterranean resort jiggling lots of fake gold and stamping their feet — who were, by the way, a Spanish-French-German couple from Des Moines — then you don’t know anything about Romani music. And if you think all Romani…

Young Russian Journalist Dies After Falling From Window

A promising journalist for an online feminist magazine has died at age 25 after falling from an eighth-floor apartment window in a tragic accident that does not appear suspicious. Wonderzine editor Margarita Virova fell out of her window while trying to take a photograph of her friends in the early hours of Monday. She died…

Russia Warns U.S. is Preparing to Use Nuclear Weapons in Europe

The United States is laying the groundwork to use nuclear weapons in Europe, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s arms control and nonproliferation chief has warned. The U.S. and Russia are suspending the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which bans either side from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe. Russia has said it was…

Turkey Weighs New U.S. Call to Delay Buying Russian Missiles

Turkey is considering a U.S. request to delay the purchase of a Russian missile-defense system into 2020, a move that could ease tensions between the NATO allies, according to two people familiar with the proposal. The Trump administration last week asked Ankara to postpone receiving the advanced S-400 missile-defense system which was set for July,…

Clashes Erupt During Protest at Russian Church Construction Site

Protesters in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg rallied against the construction of a church in a city park, with reports of church supporters using violence and tear gas against the picketers. Opponents gathered in the city’s central park on Monday after photographs of fencing around the planned church site spread online. They argue that authorities…

Trump Announces Plans to Meet Russia’s Putin at G20

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 gathering in Japan next month. Trump said his meeting with Xi could be fruitful as their trade dispute escalated after failing to reach agreement during high-level talks last week.

TENEX – Winner of Mitsubishi Research Institute Tender

In April 2019, TENEX together with JSC “SSC RIAR” and FSUE “PA “Mayak” won the tender for the “Development of Technologies for Retrieving Fuel Debris and Internal Structures (Development for Dust Collection System of Fuel Debris)” project which consists of research works on development of a system to collect the dust generated during the processing…

Moscow Metro Riders Sit Atop Game of Thrones’ Iron Throne

The Moscow metro staged a photo op with an Iron Throne inspired by HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” over the weekend. The one-day event at Delovoy Tsentr station featured three Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister and Jon Snow lookalikes on Saturday. A cello duet accompaniment made the experience even more immersive as commuters took turns…

Final round of 8th corporate Fakel Festival opens in Sochi

Release May 12, 2019, 20:00 The opening ceremony for the final round of Gazprom’s 8th corporate Fakel Festival took place in Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi. The event brought together over 1,600 people representing 40 delegations from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and China. The Festival’s guests include delegations from Bolivia, France, Germany, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Over the course of three days, contestants…

Sergei Dorenko Dead at 59

Sergei Dorenko died on May 9 in Moscow. According to multiple media reports, he was riding his motorcycle not far from the city center when he had a heart attack, drove into the oncoming traffic lane and then slid to a stop. No other vehicles were involved in the accident, and he apparently died on the…

Russian Preschoolers’ Victory Day March Stirs Outrage

Children in southern Russia who donned military uniforms and paraded in front of their parents and officials ahead of Victory Day have generated pride among local authorities and caused outrage elsewhere in Russia. The Pyatigorsk city administration boasted that around 500 preschoolers dressed as airborne troops, sailors and Soviet soldiers took part in the parade…

Siberian Communists Unveil Stalin Monument Amid Controversy

A controversial sculpture of Soviet leader Josef Stalin was unveiled in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on Thursday. A small black bust and two plaques were unveiled on the date Russia celebrates Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, with crowds gathering at a site where a fence and security measures will protect the memorial…

Russia Marks Victory Day With Red Square Military Parade

Every year, Russia celebrates May 9 as the day the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. Modern-day Russia marks Victory Day with parades and processions across the country, but none more well-known than Moscow’s massive parade that showcases the Russian military’s tanks, planes, artillery and soldiers. This year’s military parade on Red…