Russian Bobsleigh Federation president Alexander Zubkov said on Tuesday he was temporarily stepping down from his post after being banned from the sport for two years over doping violations. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) last week suspended Zubkov from any activities related to the sport for a two-year period. “I took this step…
A woman has been detained on suspicion of beating up a taxi driver and stealing his vehicle in central Moscow after a disagreement over the fare, police said Tuesday. The unnamed 27-year-old suspect was detained after police issued an alert in connection with the incident on Oruzheiny Pereulok near the Garden Ring, police said in…
A model from Belarus who claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in U.S. President Donald Trump’s election was freed from Russian police custody on Tuesday, but remains a suspect in an unrelated criminal case, the TASS news agency reported. Anastasia Vashukevich and three others were detained upon arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday…
A board game that traces the paths of two alleged Russian agents believed to be behind the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in England last year is reportedly now on sale in Russia. Britain charged two Russian citizens in absentia for the attempted murder of ex-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia…
A commercial airliner flying from Siberia to Moscow made an unplanned landing in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk on Tuesday after a passenger demanded the plane change course, Russian security officials said. There were conflicting reports about the passenger, with some Russian news agencies saying he had been detained by police on landing while others said…
Dennis Christensen / Jehovah’s Witnesses The first Jehovah’s Witness detained for extremism in Russia has likened the authorities’ behavior to that of Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union ahead of a verdict in his trial. Armed police scaled the gates of a compound where the Christian denomination was meeting in Oryol, some 320 kilometers south of Moscow, in May…
At least three crew members were killed and one injured when a military strategic bomber crashed in northwestern Russia on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry has said. Interfax quoted the ministry’s press service as saying that the Tupolev Tu-22M3 made a “hard landing” and was destroyed after getting caught in a snow squall in the Murmansk…
Russians have one of the lowest levels of institutional trust in the world, including trust in NGOs, businesses and international organizations, according to a survey of 26 major economies published this week. Russia has consistently ranked as having one of the lowest levels of public trust in the annual “Trust Barometer” survey conducted by Edelman,…
Moscow – Two of the world’s leading producers of phosphate-based fertilizers, Russia’s PhosAgro and Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden, discussed prospects for cooperation on key issues related to the sustainable development of the mineral fertilizer industry and on meeting the needs of the agriculture industry for high-quality phosphate-based fertilizers with low levels of potentially-harmful heavy metals, and…
Russian police detained 11 protesters outside the Japanese embassy in Moscow as they rallied against the idea of ceding control over disputed islands to Japan, OVD-Info, a Russian organisation that monitor protest, said on Tuesday. The detentions took place ahead of talks in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss…
The lawyer for a former U.S. marine accused of spying by Russia said on Tuesday that his client had been misled before his arrest and believed that a thumb drive handed to him in a hotel room had contained cultural rather than secret information. Russia’s Federal Security Serviced detained Paul Whelan, who holds U.S., British,…
Russia’s oldest human rights organization, the Moscow Helsinki Group, has chosen three members to succeed the late Lyudmila Alexeyeva this week. Alexeyeva, who was a driving force behind the Soviet civil-rights movement, died at age 91 on Dec. 8, 2018. Alexeyeva and other dissidents founded the Moscow Helsinki Group in 1976 to monitor Soviet compliance…
Background Japan’s Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) is one of the world’s most diversified corporations. Its major business areas include the marketing of, and investing in, oil and gas production and processing, as well as energy infrastructure development. Gazprom and Mitsui are partners in the Sakhalin II project, which includes Russia’s first LNG plant. The Sakhalin II operator is Sakhalin Energy Investment Company…
Russia’s overall foreign debt fell by $64.4 billion last year to reach a 10-year low, Central Bank data showed Monday. Foreign debt has been falling since 2014, when Western sanctions imposed over the conflict in Ukraine made it harder for companies to borrow abroad. Read More Central Bank Says Russia’s Foreign Debt Fell $130 Billion…
Moscow – Andrey Guryev, President of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers and CEO of PhosAgro, one of the world’s largest phosphate-based fertilizer producers, will participate in the World Economic Forum’s 49th Annual Meeting on 22–25 January 2019 in Davos, Switzerland. The Russian government delegation to the World Economic Forum will be headed by the…
The European Union sanctioned on Monday the heads of Russia’s military intelligence and two of their officers blamed for poisoning a former Russian double agent in Britain last year, a decision Moscow dismissed as groundless. The EU travel bans and asset freezes included two men Britain has named as intelligence officers Alexander Petrov and Ruslan…
Why isn’t the Russian film industry happy? It’s complicated. Getting history on film: interviewing one of the camp survivors. Courtesy of “Women of the Gulag” It’s Oscar time again. On Jan. 22, among the nominations for 2019 awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy will announce the five short documentary films up…
Russia said on Monday it was unacceptable for the United States to demand Moscow destroy its 9M729 cruise missile, a weapon Washington alleges is in violation of a landmark Cold-War era treaty. Washington called on Moscow to destroy the new cruise missile system which it said was a “direct and continuing violation” of the Intermediate-range…
Internet users throughout the world will soon need IDs to go online as anonymity will gradually fade into oblivion, Russia’s culture minister predicted on Monday. Russia has for years called for international regulations cementing state control over the internet, arguing that national governments are otherwise left vulnerable to cyberattacks from foreign powers. Russian lawmakers submitted…
With a workforce of elderly women and using local ingredients, a honey and confectionery business put together with funds raised online is breathing life into an ailing Russian village. Cocco Bello Honey in Maly Turysh, in Sverdlovsk region around 1,500 kilometers east of Moscow, employs local residents, many in their sixties and over, left behind…
Three Russian servicemen were reportedly killed when their armored vehicle fell into a gorge in the Georgian breakaway republic of Abkhazia. Online footage of the incident’s aftermath showed a BTR-80 armored personnel carrier (APC) in a ravine below a mountainous road. The RBC news website cited Russia’s Southern Military District as saying the vehicle fell…
The United States called on Russia on Monday to destroy a new cruise missile system which it said constituted a “direct violation” of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and accused Moscow of destabilizing global security. “Unfortunately, the United States increasingly finds that Russia cannot be trusted to comply with its arms control obligations and…
A woman who is reported to be the oldest in Russia has died in the North Caucasus at age 128, local officials announced Monday. The Russian Book of Records certified Nano Shaova as the country’s oldest person on July 4, 2017, when her age was given as 126 years, 11 months and 19 days. Shaova’s…
While the world set their eyes on the sky for 2019’s first and only super blood wolf moon, residents of Moscow were out of luck as cloudy skies hid the phenomenon from view. People in other parts of Russia had better chances, though, as the full phase of the eclipse could be seen in the…
A slew of emailed bomb threats sparked mass evacuations on Monday in Magnitogorsk, an industrial Russian city that was rocked by an apartment building explosion late last month that killed over three dozen people. Russian investigators have said that a gas leak was the most likely cause for the Dec. 31 blast that killed 39…
Background Gazprom Dobycha Urengoy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, was set up to develop the Urengoyskoye oil, gas and condensate field, one of the largest in the world. Its production infrastructure consists of 22 comprehensive gas treatment units, two oil production sites, 20 booster compressor stations, five gas cooling stations, more than 2,800 production wells, two compressor stations for the utilization of associated petroleum gas, and a pump station for…
Russia’s communication watchdog said on Monday it was opening administrative proceedings against Twitter and Facebook for failing to explain how they plan to comply with local data laws, the Interfax news agency reported. Roskomnadzor, the watchdog, was quoted as saying that Twitter and Facebook had not explained how and when they would comply with legislation…
Pushkin House has launched the 7th round of its annual Book Prize, a competition which seeks to bring the finest writing about the Russian-speaking world to the attention of readers and promote an informed and nuanced debate about events, institutions and people in the past and present. The prize recognizes excellence in works of non-fiction…
Nayara Energy Limited, 49.13% of which is held by Rosneft Oil Company, works on a milestone development programme for its Vadinar refinery. The first stage involves the organization of production of petrochemical products and a foray into Indian petrochemical market. The first phase of the Vadinar refinery development programme includes construction of new units to…
Moscow – PhosAgro (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world’s leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has joined the United Nations Global Compact. Launched in 2000, the Global Compact is the UN’s largest international initiative for business in the areas of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. Since its establishment, more than 13,000 companies…
January 18, 2019 Q4 2018 GROUP HIGHLIGHTS Hot metal output decreased 3% q/q in Q4 2018 to 2.23 mln tonnes (Q3 2018: 2.31 mln tonnes), due to BF#2 short-term maintenance works. Crude steel production declined by 4% to 2.94 mln tonnes (Q3 2018: 3.06 mln tonnes) reflecting a decrease in pig iron production and seasonal…
Release January 17, 2019, 21:10 Denis Vasyukov has been appointed Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Krasnodar. Denis Vasyukov was born in 1977 in Kemerovo. He graduated from Tomsk Polytechnic University, majoring in Machine-Building Technologies. He has an MBA. He has been employed with Gazprom for over 16 years. Between 2002 and 2010, he rose through the ranks from Dispatcher to Chief Engineer – First Deputy Director of the Yurginskoye…
On January 17, 2019, during the visit of the Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to the Republic of Serbia, a package of agreements was signed in Belgrade. It creates a legal foundation for the practical implementation of joint projects in the field of nuclear energy use for peaceful purposes: an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in…
Release January 17, 2019, 18:45 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Dusan Bajatovic, Director General of Srbijagas, signed today in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia, a Memorandum of Understanding on the advancement of the expansion project for the Banatski Dvor underground gas storage (UGS) facility. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Aleksandar Vucic, President of the…
TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM has supplied a range of nuclear fuel components for ETTR-2 research reactor in Egypt. The items were manufactured by Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP PJSC, an enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company), which is the key Russian producer of nuclear fuel for research reactors. The shipments have been carried out under…
Rosneft Deutschland GmbH, a Rosneft subsidiary, started direct marketing operations in order to increase the efficiency. The company implemented marketing of all refined products produced by Rosneft Deutschland at three refineries in Germany where the company is a shareholder. The products range includes gasoline, diesel, heating oil, jet fuel, LPG, bitumen, fuel oil and petrochemical…
Specialists from RN-UfaNIPIneft, a facility of Rosneft’s corporate Research and Development Complex, have completed their work on creation of the first industrial model of RN-SIGMA corporate software solution designed for geomechanics modelling when drilling. The software allows Company’s engineers expanding their application of geomechanics for borehole stability calculation and reducing the risks during drilling of…
January 15, 2019 Izhora Pipe Mill (IPM, part of PAO Severstal) is to produce and supply over 11 thousand tons of large diameter pipes for the Poland–Slovakia Gas Interconnection project, which will become part of the EU energy infrastructure priority corridor North–South gas interconnections in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe (NSI East Gas). IPM…
In the second six-month period of 2018, Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex’s portfolio of orders grew by 42 percent, and currently Zvezda has contracts for construction of 37 vessels. Zvezda’s anchor customer is Rosneft, which placed an order for 26 vessels, including 12 Arc6 and Arc7 ice-class tankers, 4 ice-class multi-purpose support vessels, and 10 Aframax tankers.…
TVEL JSC and Chinese company CNLY (a part of CNNC corporation) have signed the contract for supply of nuclear fuel for CFR-600 fast-neutron reactor which is currently under construction. The contract covers the initial loading of nuclear fuel, as well as supplies for refueling during the first seven years of the reactor operation. New manufacturing…
TVEL JSC and Chinese company CNLY (a part of CNNC corporation) have signed the contract for supply of nuclear fuel for CFR-600 fast-neutron reactor which is currently under construction. The contract covers the initial loading of nuclear fuel, as well as supplies for refueling during the first seven years of the reactor operation. New manufacturing…
In 2018, Russian nuclear power plants (branches of Rosenergoatom) set a new electricity production record which is 204.275 bln kilowatt-hours, accrued cumulative output and exceeded achievement of 2017 (202.868 bln kWh) by more than 1.4 bln kWh. The FAS balance over 2018 was fulfilled by 101.46% with the planned indicator of 201.334 bln kWh. Kalinin…
The Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, the NTI Energynet and the Center for Strategic Research “North-West” Foundation (the infrastructure center of Energynet) have entered into a cooperation agreement to work jointly on developing the digital (intelligent) electric power in Russia and implementing the Roadmap introduced by Energynet the National Technological Initiative, including the areas of establishing and…
Background Gazprom Dobycha Irkutsk, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, operates gas and gas condensate production and treatment facilities and acts as the design and construction customer for the pre-development of hydrocarbon fields in the Irkutsk Region, with Gazprom acting as the license holder. The Kovyktinskoye gas and condensate field (with Gazprom Dobycha Irkutsk appointed in 2011 as its development operator), along with the Chayandinskoye oil, gas and condensate field…
Release January 8, 2019, 14:40 Photos A commissioning ceremony for an offshore gas receiving terminal and a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) called Marshal Vasilevskiy was held today in the Kaliningrad Region. Taking part in the event were Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Alexander Gutsan, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District, Anton Alikhanov,…