The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned Russia’s business and political elite not to underestimate the challenges the global green energy transition will present for the country, as a leading government minister blasted the EU’s green energy plans as “protectionist.” “We will see a very significant structural transformation, related to the world…
On June 3, 2021, in Saint-Petersburg, Director General of ROSATOM Aleksei Likhachev took part in the SPIEF-2021 session “Russia in the Race for Top Global Managerial Talent” at the 24th Saint-Petersburg International Economic Forum. First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergei Kirienko, Head of the Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad…
In late January, as some wealthy countries were opening vaccination clinics, Tashkent resident Rustam Djabborov took to Facebook to make an announcement of his own. A journalist by trade, Djabborov referenced an article he had written a few months before, where he promised to be the first to volunteer for clinical trials if Uzbekistan developed…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 2 to 5. This year’s main theme is “A Collective Reckoning of the New Global Economic Reality.” TotalEnergies handles the whole range of operations in the oil and gas sector from production to sales of marketable products to end consumers. Gazprom in partnership with TotalEnergies (50 per cent, project…
Rosneft was the general partner of the youth section of the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF Junior), which is being held for the first time as part of the SPIEF.
June 3, 2021, 14:35 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021. The meeting focused on the current matters and opportunities with regard to strengthening cooperation in gas supplies. It was noted that in the first five months of 2021 Gazprom’s…
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund will ditch its holdings in dollars, dramatically increase its holdings of Chinese yuan and invest in gold for the first ever time, Russia’s Finance Ministry said Thursday. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that Russia’s $186-billion national welfare fund (NWF) would completely divest its $41…
The World Health Organization (WHO) and Europe’s medicines authority are wrapping up their review of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and are expected to report their findings as soon as this week, the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. The WHO, which has approved eight vaccines so far, and the European Medicines Agency launched…
June 3, 2021, 13:15 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Olga Taratynova, Director of the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 the Agreement of Cooperation for the preservation of cultural heritage and development of the Tsarskoe Selo Museum. The signing ceremony took place in the restored interiors of the Lyons…
June 3, 2021, 13:00 A working meeting of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, with Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ENGIE, and Catherine MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021. The parties discussed the cooperation of their companies in the gas sector, highlighting in particular the growth in Russian gas supplies…
This year’s winner of the prestigious Russian National Bestseller Award was announced in St. Petersburg on May 29. The award went to writer and journalist Alexander Pelevin for his novel “Pokrov-17.” Fusing Russian reality circa 1993 with mysticism, it tells the story of Moscow journalist Andrei Tikhonov, who is sent on a mission to the…
Surging inflation is not a temporary trend and poses a serious threat to Russia’s economic recovery, Central Bank chief Elvira Nabiullina has warned. “We have very hot inflation and high inflation expectations. At first it seemed like it would be temporary. But now we don’t think so,” Nabiullina told the opening session of the St.…
Updated at 12:06 p.m. on June 3. Russian authorities stepped up its crackdown on opposition figures Tuesday morning, raiding apartments, offices and a summer house connected to a vocal anti-Kremlin politician and his relatives. Former parliamentarian and opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov said Russian security officers raided his family dacha early Tuesday, while security services also…
On June 2, the collegium of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus has taken a positive decision on amending the license of the “Belarus NPP” State Enterprise for the right to operate in the area of atomic energy use which allows starting the commercial operation of the Belarus NPP power unit…
June 3, 2021 PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel and mining companies, and PJSC Gazprom Neft, one of Russia’s leading oil producers, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and cooperation agreement to collaborate on the development of technologies and materials for the production, transportation, storage and use of hydrogen in…
Russia is seeking to expand wide-ranging sanctions it adopted in response to a U.S. human rights abuse law to all foreigners but will continue to limit its controversial adoption ban to U.S. citizens, according to legislation introduced Wednesday. “Currently, sanctions for violating the rights and freedoms of Russians are only set for U.S. citizens,” said…
Russia’s independent VTimes news and economics outlet has announced it will shut down on June 12, just weeks after authorities designated it as a “foreign agent.” VTimes was launched last October by a group of former senior editors and journalists who left the business daily Vedomosti after clashing with newly appointed chief editor Andrei Shmarov,…
June 3, 2021 PAO Severstal (MICEX-RTS: CHMF; LSE: SVST) announces the publication of its Sustainability Report 2020 on the corporate website. The company’s 2020 Report became the eleventh in a row, which passed the procedure of public assurance by the Council of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on Non-Financial Reporting and was prepared…
June 2, 2021, 21:20 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Valery Limarenko, Governor of the Sakhalin Region, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021. The parties discussed the progress of the Sakhalin Region’s gas supply and gas infrastructure expansion program for 2021–2025. It was noted that both the Company and the Region are…
June 2, 2021, 21:10 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Vladimir Semashko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Russian Federation, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021. Стороны рассмотрели актуальные вопросы сотрудничества в газовой сфере. Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 is being held at the EXPOFORUM…
June 2, 2021, 19:15 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Francois Fillon, French politician, discussed today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 the development trends and prospects of Europe’s energy market. The parties noted the essential role of natural gas in ensuring the reliable and well-balanced operation of Europe’s energy system. It was also emphasized that expanded use of natural gas is the…
June 2, 2021, 18:25 A working meeting between Alexey Miller Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Gerhard Schroeder, Chairman of the Shareholders’ Committee of Nord Stream AG, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021. The parties highlighted the successful operation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and exchanged views on the development prospects of Europe’s gas sector. Background Nord Stream AG has been…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 2 to 5. This year’s main theme is “A Collective Reckoning of the New Global Economic Reality.” Gazprom and LUKOIL are bound by the 2014–2024 General Agreement on Strategic Partnership, pursuant to which, among other things, LUKOIL supplies gas into Gazprom’s gas transmission system. The…
On June 5, 2021, the Energy Panel “Transformation of the World Energy” organized with the support of Rosneft will be held during the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russia has transferred the second installment of a billion-dollar loan to Belarus, as the isolated country prepares to be hit by a fresh round of Western sanctions. Belarus’ Finance Ministry said Wednesday it had received the $500 million payment from Moscow — the second tranche of a $1-billion funding package the two countries agreed last…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 2 to 5. This year’s main theme is “A Collective Reckoning of the New Global Economic Reality.” On December 5, 2019, Gazprom and the Government of Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The document provides for a joint assessment of the feasibility of the project for pipeline gas supplies…
A Russian court on Wednesday ordered that Kremlin critic Andrei Pivovarov be held in pre-trial detention for two months, his allies said from the courtroom. “Andrei Pivovarov has been detained for two months,” allies wrote on his Facebook account from the courtroom, describing the ruling as a “pretext” to bar the activist from running in…
Russian authorities widened a crackdown on the country’s beleaguered opposition on Wednesday as the legislature advanced a bill that would bar opponents from polls and a court jailed another well-known Kremlin critic. Russia’s opposition says authorities are stepping up a campaign of intimidation against dissenters ahead of a parliamentary vote in September, allegations the Kremlin…
Belarusian opposition activists in exile are calling for the EU to ramp up sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime after the forced landing of a Ryanair Athens to Vilnius flight and arrest of a dissident journalist onboard. Outrage over the incident — in which Lukashenko scrambled a MiG-29 jet fighter to intercept the flight carrying…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 2 to 5. This year’s main theme is “A Collective Reckoning of the New Global Economic Reality.” The World Energy Council is a global non-governmental energy organization, which was created in 1923. With its headquarters in London, the WEC currently connects more than 3,000 energy-related organizations via national…
Holding on tight to the handlebars of his black electric scooter, 34-year-old IT consultant Evgeni Ovchinnikov, zooms along the embankments of the Moscow River, passing the Kremlin and Red Square on his daily commute to work. “I have halved my trip to work because of this thing. No more traffic rage either!” he said. Like…
A former Austrian foreign minister who danced with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been voted onto the board of directors of Russia’s largest oil company. Karin Kneissl, who served as Austria’s foreign minister from 2017-2019, will join the board of state-controlled Rosneft, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Kneissl caused a stir across Europe…
The exhibition was almost ready when the order to cancel came from above. Set to take place on central Moscow’s trendy Chistoprudny bulvar, the open-air exhibition, part of an ambitious program of celebrations for the centenary of the birth of Andrei Sakharov, was to commemorate the nuclear physicist and Soviet dissident’s campaigns for human rights…
A sea in Russia’s Arctic known as the “birthplace of ice” could break ice melt records for a second consecutive year in 2021, climatologist Zachary Labe of Colorado State University tweeted Tuesday. In 2020 the Laptev Sea stayed ice-free until November for the first time in documented history. The sea, which plays a crucial role…
U.S. President Joe Biden should urge the release of U.S. citizens detained in Russia at his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was jailed in Russia for spying, has said. “I would ask President Biden to aggressively discuss and resolve this issue with his Russian counterparts,” Whelan told…
Viasna, citing Latypov’s relatives, said Wednesday the activist was returned to prison and that family had been able to deliver him a parcel there. Latypov was detained last September and went on trial in the capital Minsk on several charges including creating protest symbols and resisting law enforcement. Viasna said he appeared in court with…
Updated at 2:15 p.m. on June 3. Turkey will send home Russian military experts helping it operate the Russian-made S-400 air defense system but will not budge on the key U.S. demand to scrap the deal altogether, Bloomberg reported this week. Russia delivered its first of four S-400 batteries to NATO member Turkey in July…
Nearly one in four Russians say they have had coronavirus though most have not been officially diagnosed, according to an independent survey published Wednesday. Only 7% of those polled told the Levada Center polling agency that they had obtained an official diagnosis after contracting the coronavirus. Another 17% said they had not been diagnosed but…
Airline companies said flights between Germany and Russia had resumed Wednesday evening, after each country blocked the other’s incoming flights as part of the fall-out from tensions over Belarus. German airline Lufthansa told AFP that the Russian authorities had finally granted it clearance for passenger flights to Russia in June. “That means Lufthansa flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg…
Sudan’s transitional government is renegotiating the previous administration’s naval base agreement with Russia, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday. The Sudanese army chief of staff’s remarks follows Arab media reports in April that Sudan had suspended the naval base agreement. Russia’s Embassy in Khartoum said at the time it had not yet been…
Belarusian activist Stepan Latypov stabbed himself in the throat in a Minsk courtroom Thursday after testifying that police had tortured him in custody, the Current Time news site has reported, citing the Viasna Human Rights Center. Graphic videos posted on Twitter showed the aftermath of the incident, with the 41-year-old Latypov being carried away from…
Belarus said Tuesday it is further restricting citizens from leaving the country, including those with foreign residency permits, in a move the opposition denounced as “an absolute violation of the law.” The development comes as dozens of Belarusians, some of them illegally, have been fleeing their country in recent months amid a bloody crackdown in…
Children’s Day, like several other Soviet holidays, actually began in the U.S. In 1857, Reverend Dr. Charles Leonard held a special service dedicated to children in his Chelsea, Massachusetts church. He first called it Rose Day, and later Flower Sunday, and finally Children’s Day. In 1925, the World Conference of Child Welfare in Geneva founded…
Russian lawmakers on Tuesday backed a bill that would force foreign internet companies to set up local offices or face harsh penalties, including an outright ban. The bill was passed on the first of its three required readings, parliament’s lower house said in a statement. The legislation concerns online companies whose daily users in Russia…
June 1, 2021, Büyükeceli, Mersin province, Turkey. Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel (RPV) installation is completed at the Akkuyu NPP construction site. This is one of the key stages in the main equipment assembly. Prior to RPV installation, the “core catcher” was mounted at Unit 1, concreting of the support and thrust trusses was carried…
The Russian government plans to invest 777 billion rubles ($10.5 billion) into electric and hydrogen vehicle development by 2030, according to documents obtained by the Vedomosti news outlet. In the next nine years Russia’s electric vehicle (EV) share of the auto market could grow from 0.05% to 15%, officials at the Ministry of Economic Development…
On International Children’s Day, Rosneft sums up the results of its activities related to supporting children’s social projects.
The large families of the Krasnoyarsk Territory were given more than 7,000 laptops with the support of Rosneft.
GSPI JSC, under general control of Rusatom Overseas JSC, has received design documentation approval from the Main Department of State Expertise to construct a radiation therapy building at the Altai Regional Oncology Centre. The approval means detailed design documentation development and construction and installation work can now begin. The building is to host a radiation…
Seven out of 10 Russians support government plans to revive the Stalin-era practice reminiscent of the gulag labor camps that would use prisoners for major construction projects, according to a state-backed survey released Tuesday. Several cabinet ministers, the state railway monopoly and the head of Russia’s penitentiary system have in recent weeks proposed dispatching around…
Russian authorities stepped up its crackdown on opposition figures Tuesday morning, raiding apartments, offices and a summer house connected to a vocal anti-Kremlin politician and his relatives. Former parliamentarian and opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov said Russian security officers raided his family dacha early Tuesday, while security services also searched the apartments of his former assistant,…
Russia has banned non-state-approved educational activities and cooperation with foreign academics, according to highly criticized changes to Russia’s education law that came into effect Tuesday. The law is based on the need cited by lawmakers for broad state power to permit or forbid activities outside formal academic settings. They said that the law was essential to counter…
31 May 2021 – The Moscow Exchange registered the exchange-traded bonds program of Atomenergoprom JSC, the company holding Rosatom’s civil assets. The exchange-traded bonds program and the securities prospectus were approved at a meeting of the Board of Directors of Atomenergoprom, which took place on 26 April 2021. The total (maximum) par value amount of…
Russia will resume flights with the United Kingdom along with flights to seven other countries in June but extend travel restrictions to Turkey for another three weeks, Russia’s coronavirus response center announced Monday. Moscow temporarily suspended flights between Russia and the U.K. in late December, after Britain announced it had discovered a highly transmissible strain…
The former executive director of Open Russia, an opposition movement founded by exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has reportedly been removed from a plane in St. Petersburg and detained. “I have just been removed from the plane from Pulkovo (airport)…The plane was about to take off.” Andrei Pivovarov wrote on his Twitter account on Monday…
May 31, 2021, 22:00 Moscow, May 31, 2021. The Ninth Season of the Gazprom International Children’s Social Programme Football for Friendship has finished. The key values of the programme are friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions, and honour. 12-14-year old girls and boys from over 200 countries have joined the new season of the programme. One of the distinctive…
The Russian government is working on amendments to legislation that could ban the production of non-recyclable plastic materials in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko said at the 9th Nevsky International Ecological Congress in St. Petersburg. New measures will provide Russian businessmen with opportunities to adapt and adjust their manufacturing, the government claimed. But some lawmakers…
Netflix, the world’s largest streaming platform, has bought the rights to Russia’s “Brother” (“Brat”) films and will make them available from June 1. The “Brother” series are Russian neo-noir crime dramas written and directed by Alexei Balabanov in 1997 and 2000. The series tells a story of Danila Bogrov, who has just returned from fighting…
Steven Seagal, Hollywood actor and one of Vladimir Putin’s biggest fans, is now a member of the pro-Kremlin party called “A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth,” the party announced Saturday. Seagal, a naturalized Russian citizen since 2016, said that he plans to focus his work in the party on environmental issues and crackdown…
RN-Purneftegaz, a production enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company, began using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor greenhouse gas levels at oil and gas treatment, refining, and transportation facilities.