“The Spy and the Traitor” by Ben Macintyre is meticulously researched history narrated by a natural storyteller. Macintyre, a columnist and associate editor of The Times, is the author of ten books about 20th century wars, espionage, spies and a variety of strange and colorful characters. His grasp of the arcane world — and lingo…
Kazakhstan‘s interim president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the chosen successor of veteran ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev who retains sweeping powers, has won a snap presidential election with nearly 71 percent of the vote, according to early results on Monday. Nazarbayev, who ruled oil producer Kazakhstan for almost three decades, handpicked the 66-year-old career diplomat as his successor when…
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it welcomed the formation of a ruling coalition and government in Moldova, and hoped to restore good relations between Moscow and Chisinau. It also said it hoped the situation in Moldova‘s capital would stabilise soon after Russia’s ally, President Igor Dodon, was temporarily relieved of his duties by a…
The arrest of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov on drug charges last week has led to an outpouring of support from Russia’s journalists and civil society activists. His colleagues have said they believe the evidence against him was fabricated as punishment for his investigations. Golunov is a correspondent for the Meduza news website who is best-known…
An aide to opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been detained on the same day he was set to be released from jail for organizing nationwide protests last year against an unpopular government decision to raise the pension age. Leonid Volkov could now stay in prison until September 9, the Mediazona online news site reported, citing…
A senior American banker once secretly awarded a shareholding in powerful Moscow investment bank Renaissance Capital to one of Vladimir Putin’s closest friends and brokered meetings for the friend with top U.S. foreign policy officials a decade ago, emails show. The American banker, Robert Foresman, currently vice chairman at UBS investment bank in New York,…
Three of Russia’s leading newspapers published identical front pages Monday in solidarity with investigative journalist Ivan Golunov. The move by the Kommersant, RBC and Vedomosti newspapers is unprecedented in Russia. The newspapers, whose front pages read “I/We Are Ivan Golunov,” asked for a detailed investigation into the actions of the police officers involved in Golunov’s…
In “1983: The World At The Brink,” Taylor Downing delves into one of the most pivotal years of the Cold War, when escalating brinkmanship between the Soviet Union and the United States nearly caused nuclear apocalypse. Downing is a historian, award-winning television producer and writer who has penned best-selling books on both world wars and…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. In 2018, Gazprom delivered 245 million cubic meters of gas to Bosnia and Herzegovina. TurkStream is the project for an export gas pipeline stretching across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and further…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. In 2018, Gazprom delivered 245 million cubic meters of gas to Bosnia and Herzegovina. TurkStream is the project for an export gas pipeline stretching across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and further…
Background Japan Bank for International Cooperation was set up in 1999 as a state-owned financial institution aimed at developing economic cooperation with foreign countries. The bank is focused on supporting international economic activities of Japanese companies. Gazprom and JBIC have established a long-standing and fruitful cooperation. Specifically, JBIC participated in financing the Blue Stream gas pipeline construction project and the Sakhalin II project. In December 2018, Gazprom successfully placed its…
A Russian journalist known for investigating corruption among Moscow city officials has been charged with large-scale drug trafficking, but his lawyer, his employer and colleagues say he has been framed. The journalist, 36-year-old Ivan Golunov, was detained in central Moscow on Thursday on his way to a meeting with a source when illegal drugs were…
With trade tensions between the United States and Сhina front and center, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the U.S. of “unbridled economic egoism” that is a recipe for trade wars and real wars. In some of his strongest words on the subject, Putin used an economic forum in St. Petersburg to align Moscow…
A new history of the world’s worst nuclear accident has emerged from the recent opening of Chernobyl archival materials. In “Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy,” Serhii Plokhy traces how the explosion occurred in 1986, the Soviet government’s crisis management, and the repercussions of the explosion that released radiation equivalent to 500 bombs dropped on Hiroshima.…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. Gazprom is represented in Vietnam by Gazprom International B.V., a specialized company focused on the implementation of power generation and LNG projects outside Russia. Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) is engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, production,…
Release June 7, 2019, 20:30 The project for a large-scale industrial cluster to be created in the northwest of Russia in 2019–2024 was presented today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019. The event was attended by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Konstantin Makhov, Chief Executive Officer of RusGazDobycha, Kirill Seleznev, Director General of RusKhimAlyans, Andrey Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation,…
St Petersburg – PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev took part in a panel session called “Responsible Development vs. Sustainable Consumption: Nature and Technology” at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. The discussion was moderated by Andrey Fursenko, aide to the President of the Russian Federation. Panel participants included Irina Bokova, Chairperson of the PhosAgro Committee on…
St Petersburg – PhosAgro Board of Directors Chairman Xavier Rolet took part in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (“SPIEF”) panel session ‘Is Modern Business Capable of Implementing Successful Long-Term Strategies?’ organised by PwC. Last year PhosAgro set new records for mining and production output volumes, and the company achieved its goals under its long-term…
At least 100 people gathered in central Moscow Friday evening to hold single pickets against the arrest of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov. Golunov, an investigative reporter for the Meduza news website, was detained Thursday afternoon on drug trafficking charges which his colleagues say were “persecution” for his reports. Russia’s independent trade union of journalists on Friday…
Russia’s state communications regulator on Friday said it was not satisfied with Google’s content filtering system and that it could open a new case against the company, the state-run RIA news agency reported. Russia last year launched a civil case against Google, accusing it of failing to comply with a legal requirement to remove certain…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. Siemens AG is a leading manufacturer of electronics and electric tools. The company entered the Russian market in 1853. Gazprom Energoholding, a vertically integrated holding company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom), manages the production companies of the…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:40 Denis Fyodorov, Director General of Gazprom Energoholding, and Sergey Milto, Director General of TER-Servis, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 a contract for the long-term service maintenance of Siemens-made gas turbines and generators at the Grozny Thermal Power Plant (TPP). The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom…
Background In June 2018, the Gazprom Board of Directors approved the Company’s power generation strategy for 2018–2027. The document provides for, among other things, the diversification of Gazprom’s power business by entering promising foreign markets. At present, the Gazprom Energoholding Group, together with NIS a.d. Novi Sad (Gazprom Neft Group), is implementing a project for the construction of a combined cycle thermal power plant…
Russian soldiers of the future will be assigned service in specific military branches based on their hereditary predispositions detailed in so-called “genetic passports,” the country’s chief scientist has said. President Vladimir Putin decreed in March for all Russians to be assigned “genetic passports” by 2025 under the national chemical and biological security strategy. Scientists speculated…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:30 Oleg Aksyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Head of Department at Gazprom, and Petr Mishnev, Technical Development & Quality Director of Severstal Management, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 an updated Scientific and Technical Cooperation Program. The ceremony took place in the presence of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. The document,…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:25 Kirill Seleznev, Director General of RusKhimAlyans, and Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of the Leningrad Region, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 an Agreement on social and economic cooperation. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Konstantin Makhov, Chief Executive Officer of RusGazDobycha. In line with the…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:20 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexander Beglov, Acting Governor of St. Petersburg, and Vladimir Lyubomirov, President of the regional sports public organization St. Petersburg Yacht Club, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 a Cooperation Agreement in the area of physical education and sports. The Agreement was made due to the expiration of a similar trilateral…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. Cooperation between Gazprom and the Sakhalin Region is strategic. Within the state-run Eastern Gas Program, the Company is developing a major gas production center on the shelf of Sakhalin Island. In particular, commercial development…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:10 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Ivan Belozertsev, Governor of the Penza Region, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 a Roadmap to expand the use of hi-tech products, including import-substituting ones, manufactured by the Penza Region’s companies in the interests of Gazprom. The document covers the period up to 2021. The Roadmap will contribute…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:05 A series of agreements on the wider use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel was signed today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan, signed an Agreement on the implementation of two investment projects in the region, namely the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex…
Release June 7, 2019, 15:00 A number of agreements relating to the manufacturing of cutting-edge high-technology equipment for Gazprom were signed today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Sergey Chemezov, Director General of the state-owned Rostec Corporation, signed a Cooperation Agreement. The document identifies the priority areas of interaction between the parties. The…
Release June 7, 2019, 14:50 A number of cooperation agreements in the area of metrology, standardization and certification were signed today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, signed a Roadmap to introduce a Special National Primary Standard for the storage, reproduction and transfer of a flow…
Release June 7, 2019, 14:45 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Ulf Heitmueller, Chairman of the Executive Board of VNG, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 the General Terms of Gas Supply to VNG Handel & Vertrieb (a subsidiary of VNG). According to the document, Gazprom will supply up to 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year to VNG Handel &…
Release June 7, 2019, 14:40 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV, today signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 the Contract on the amendments to the Basic Agreement on Asset Sale. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, and Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl, Minister…
Release June 7, 2019, 14:35 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl, Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs of Austria, took place today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019. The meeting participants discussed relevant issues related to cooperation. The parties noted the continued and active growth in the Austrian imports of Russian gas…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. Gazprom’s main partner in China is CNPC, a state-owned oil and gas company. On May 21, 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed the 30-year Sales and Purchase Agreement for Russian gas to be supplied via the eastern…
President Donald Trump has said the United States could improve relations with Russia, days after the end of a U.S. special counsel investigation. U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced his resignation last week — two years after being appointed to probe Russian interference in the 2016 election — saying the investigation was never going to…
St. Petersburg, 7th June 2019 – ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev has issued an invitation to world leaders from politics, business and education to join a debate to urgently implement human-centred solutions that can help solve the widening global skills gap and worsening talent shortage. Around 6% of the world’s GDP has been lost due…
The Kremlin said on Friday that Britain was responsible for damaging its relations with Russia and rebuffed a call made by London for Moscow to change its behavior on the international stage, Russian news agencies reported. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokeswoman said on Thursday Britain could only have a better relationship with Russia if…
Sweltering summer temperatures came to Moscow this week, with the thermometer reaching a record high of 30 degrees Celsius on Thursday. Muscovites flocked to the city’s parks and fountains in search of any respite they could find. Here’s a look at Russia’s capital during a heat wave:
St Petersburg – PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev participated in a teledebate entitled “Investments into Russia’s future: how to make national projects attractive to investors” that was organised by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Russia 24 TV channel at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (“SPIEF”). During the debate, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev…
St Petersburg – PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev participated in a teledebate entitled “Investments into Russia’s future: how to make national projects attractive to investors” that was organised by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Russia 24 TV channel at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (“SPIEF”). During the debate, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev…
St. Petersburg – PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev took part in a panel session titled ‘A Recipe for Global Competitiveness for Russian Industry’ at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (“SPIEF”). The debates were focused on successful cases of Russian companies in export markets and the mechanisms through which the state can support exports. Deputy Prime…
During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM and Hermith GmbH (Germany), a major European titanium supplier, have concluded an agreement aimed at establishing a joint venture for production of titanium alloys. The document has been signed by President of TVEL JSC Natalia Nikipelova and Director General of Hermith GmbH Alexey…
A prominent journalist from the Meduza news website who investigates corruption has been detained in Moscow on charges of drug trafficking, the website reported on Friday. Police apprehended special correspondent Ivan Golunov in central Moscow on Thursday afternoon and retrieved a bag containing an unknown substance from his backpack, Meduza cited his lawyer as saying.…
It’s almost midnight on a Saturday night in a gated central Moscow courtyard and the party has just begun. A woman wearing nothing but a long silver cloak and a pair of stilettos walks past a queue of people waiting to check their bags. Her companion is dressed in a smart suit with an open…
St. Petersburg – At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, PhosAgro signed a memorandum of cooperation with Infotech Baltika concerning the construction of a specialised marine terminal for the transhipment of mineral fertilizers and apatite concentrate at the seaport of Murmansk. The document was signed by PhosAgro’s CEO, Andrey Guryev, and Infotech Baltika’s CEO, Alexander…
Russia and the United States blamed each other for a near collision between their warships in the East China Sea on Friday with both countries accusing one another of dangerous and unprofessional behavior. Russia’s Pacific Fleet said that the USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser, had come within just 50 meters (165 feet) of the Russian…
Fourteen Russia-backed YouTube channels spreading disinformation have been generating billions of views and millions of dollars in advertising revenue, according to researchers, and had not been labeled as state-sponsored, contrary to the world’s most popular streaming service’s policy. The channels, including news outlets NTV and Russia-24, carried false reports ranging from a U.S. politician covering…
Russia is ready to send more military specialists to Venezuela if needed, Russia’s foreign ministry said according to the state-run RIA news agency. Another state news agency, TASS, quoted the ministry as saying Russia did not rule out increasing the number of its military personnel in Venezuela. Moscow has previously said that a full withdrawal…
Traffic congestion in Moscow is among the worst in the world with more than half of drivers’ travel time spent in gridlock, according to research by the Dutch navigation device maker TomTom. Research published earlier this year named Moscow the world capital of traffic jams in 2018, surpassing 2017 leader Los Angeles. Drivers in the…
Release June 6, 2019, 19:05 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 2019. The meeting participants examined the current issues and prospects of their cooperation, putting a special focus on gas supplies. It was noted that Gazprom’s supplies to Hungary…
Background The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 6 to 8. This year’s key topic is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. In 2018, Gazprom exported to Serbia 2.15 billion cubic meters of gas, a 1.2 per cent increase from 2017 (2.12 billion cubic meters). In June 2017, Gazprom and the Serbian Ministry of Mining and Energy signed the roadmap…
Born into a noble Russian family, Alexander Pushkin was the son of Sergei Pushkin, a descendant of a family with Russian nobility tracing back to the 12th century, and Nadezhda Gannibal, a descendant of German and Scandinavian nobility. Pushkin’s maternal great-grandfather Abram Gannibal was an African page who was kidnapped, sent to Constantinople and later…
The United States had proposed a second referendum for Crimea to join Russia shortly after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014, Russia’s foreign minister has said. Moscow says an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to become part of Russia in a March 2014 referendum wanting protection from what the Kremlin cast as an illegal coup…
On June 6 on the margins of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019, a statutory meeting of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) Public Council was conducted in the mess hall of the nuclear icebreaker Arktika which is currently under construction at the Baltic Shipyard. The meeting was attended by representatives from executive and legislative…
The daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has stirred controversy on social media for not sharing some of her followers’ concerns about homosexuality being punished by the death penalty in certain Muslim countries. Dmitry Peskov’s daughter Yelizaveta Peskova marked the end of Ramadan with an Instagram post Tuesday. There, one user asked if she was…
Russia’s top cellphone operator MTS has signed an agreement with Huawei to develop 5G technology as the Chinese telecom giant faces escalating pressure from the United States, news agencies reported. The 5G deal was one of several cooperation agreements signed after talks on Wednesday between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow.…
Russian economic growth is hampered by deep-seated corruption in the country’s legal system, the head of Russia’s auditing agency said Thursday. Audit Chamber head Alexei Kudrin told a St. Petersburg International Economic Forum panel that corruption in the Russian judiciary system goes back centuries, pointing to one of the classic Russian poet Alexander Pushkin’s works…
ROSATOM and VTB have concluded the agreement on the cooperation to implement Arctic projects. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Petersburg International Economic Forum. Deputy Director General and Director of Directorate of the Northern Sea Route Vyacheslav Ruksha signed the agreement for ROSATOM and Vice President and Chairman of the Board of…