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Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Western sanctions against Russia hurt European economies: Russian official

Sanctions against Russia have reached a deadlock and are hurting European economies, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.A vote opposing anti-Russia sanctions by the regional council of Veneto in north-eastern Italy on Wednesday shows that "the process of the anti-Russia propaganda in the context of Ukraine has reached an impasse," Zakharova was quoted by the Russian newspaper Izvestiya as saying.The vote concerns the recognition of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation and the lifting of anti-Russia sanctions.Stefano Valdegamberi, a regional council lawmaker, told Izvestiya that the anti-Russia sanctions were "a mistake" on Monday.Veneto has suffered from the negative economic impacts of the sanctions, according to Valdegamberi.The European Union has introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia since 2014, accusing Russia of being involved in the armed conflicts in Ukraine.Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations, and took countermeasures in August 2014, banning certain food products imported from the countries that imposed restrictions against Russia.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbY-T2yIyKX47EEiCZOr8G7ZzClEd54YPdpHv6lw23RB8NN-0NnSMkJHMxTsnE5IoW83ZzwfZ8C5X9EfFLFQyn2GcdTl-cgxpiMOTP6JLOXRdKqlFPLYxUC-JgjkQOOx55k6SvwuV1BQw/s1600/gif_20160425161336.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbY-T2yIyKX47EEiCZOr8G7ZzClEd54YPdpHv6lw23RB8NN-0NnSMkJHMxTsnE5IoW83ZzwfZ8C5X9EfFLFQyn2GcdTl-cgxpiMOTP6JLOXRdKqlFPLYxUC-JgjkQOOx55k6SvwuV1BQw/s640/gif_20160425161336.gif"> </a> </div>

Western sanctions against Russia hurt European economies: Russian official

Sanctions against Russia have reached a deadlock and are hurting European economies, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sa...

Friday, March 18, 2016

55 people on board flydubai flight #FZ981 feared dead after the aircraft crashed while landing in Rostov on Don.

55 people on board flydubai flight #FZ981 feared dead after the aircraft crashed while landing in Rostov on Don.

At least 55 people on board flydubai flight FZ981 feared dead after the aircraft crashed while landing in Rostov on Don,Russia

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Almost 7,000 migrants detained in Moscow for checks

It says police, migration and security services are conducting an operation between October 23 and November 2 to reveal illegal migrants. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZchynQyiSKxKr8x5P_ueXz1-pDJqcm564oXnC3tzPNGa1er5HsDLfNGRWaBvicPFgc0ML6VSc1_y4VH6j9eQIBZ7igEaXonrxhUaO7wO6p98CWpBcCzPrqKd_YBDlt6Qw_BH55Y8-fQ/s1600/r1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZchynQyiSKxKr8x5P_ueXz1-pDJqcm564oXnC3tzPNGa1er5HsDLfNGRWaBvicPFgc0ML6VSc1_y4VH6j9eQIBZ7igEaXonrxhUaO7wO6p98CWpBcCzPrqKd_YBDlt6Qw_BH55Y8-fQ/s1600/r1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> A total of 6,830 migrants have been taken to police departments over the past 24 hours for checks on whether their stay in Russia is legal, the press service of the Moscow police headquarters reports on Saturday. It says police, migration and security services are conducting an operation between October 23 and November 2 to reveal illegal migrants. A total of 535 administrative protocols have been drawn up over violation of rules of entry into Russia or stay in it for foreign nationals or persons without citizenship. Twenty-three criminal cases have been opened over unlawful stay in Moscow.

Almost 7,000 migrants detained in Moscow for checks

It says police, migration and security services are conducting an operation between October 23 and November 2 to reveal illegal migrants. A ...

FINANCE MINISTRY JOINS CENTRAL BANK IN DEFENDING RUSSIA'S WEAKENING CURRENCY

The ruble sank to another historic low Wednesday, passing the 41 per U.S. dollar mark twice in morning trading as the Finance Ministry announced it was joining the Central Bank in moves to defend Russia's rapidly weakening currency. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg466E0joOHkerHGuZ5a0Nw7gTI_s2-vLcRbXREFxZB17ZNbl-78yR2sPGbQvjSHTvSwmPPLXeN79egqhyun33Cpsmi13fz6gPApgORppOlly-njKyoQIBtMKNrGqWdXRNFnern_g71t7U/s1600/Ruble-Stulov-Vedomosti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg466E0joOHkerHGuZ5a0Nw7gTI_s2-vLcRbXREFxZB17ZNbl-78yR2sPGbQvjSHTvSwmPPLXeN79egqhyun33Cpsmi13fz6gPApgORppOlly-njKyoQIBtMKNrGqWdXRNFnern_g71t7U/s1600/Ruble-Stulov-Vedomosti.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Shortly after midday a dollar was worth 41.04 rubles, the Russian currency's lowest level since being restructured in the 1998 default crisis. It is just a week since the ruble breached the 40 to the dollar mark for the first time. The ruble also set a new low against the euro, its third in three days, ploughing past 52 to the euro shortly after 5 p.m. in Moscow. Pressure on the ruble, already battered by tension over Ukraine and Western sanctions on the Kremlin, has intensified since the beginning of the week as the price of crude oil, Russia's key export and the backbone of its state finances, plunged to four-year lows. "Ruble weakening has become the dominant theme, with the Central Bank the lonely seller," analysts at Sberbank CIB said in a research note Tuesday. The Central Bank said Wednesday that it had spent $2.72 billion of foreign currency between Friday and Monday, as the total amount of reserves spent buoying the ruble already this month edges toward $10 billion. The ruble pared losses later in the day, falling to 40.68 against the dollar in the early evening. One spur for the afternoon correction was a statement by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who said Russia would begin foreign exchange deposit auctions within a month. Siluanov said such a move would slightly reduce pressure on the ruble. A representative of the Central Bank told the Prime economic news agency that the auctions would help meet demand for foreign currency. The amount of money available to the Finance Ministry for this type of operation was probably around $5.7 billion, according to Dmitry Polevoy, ING Bank's chief economist in Russia. But he added that while it may slow the ruble's decline, it was unlikely to stop it. "Given the scale of the market stress, the Finance Ministry deposits alone won't be able to cure the foreign exchange market," Polevoy said in a note to investors Wednesday. Brent oil fell to a new four-year low of $83.9 per barrel in London on Wednesday. Crude had recorded its biggest one-day fall in three years a day earlier and has plunged over 20 percent since a mid-June high. "Weak oil is having a direct impact on the national currency, which could lead to fresh historical lows against the dollar," analysts at Promsvyazbank said in a note Tuesday. The Central Bank said Wednesday that it had lifted its proscribed trading corridor for the ruble, which it uses as a guide for market interventions, by 35 kopeks Tuesday. The upward shift was the 11th such move since the beginning of this month. The Central Bank automatically sells its foreign currency reserves on the market once the ruble overshoots the boundary set for it, shifting the trading corridor by 5 kopeks every time it spends $350 million. A shift of 35 kopeks indicates that the Central Bank, which releases foreign currency data with a two day time lag, spent about $2 billion Tuesday in efforts to strengthen the currency. Few experts predict that the ruble will reverse its recent falls in the face of weakening crude prices and the continuing impact of Western sanctions on Russia, which is struggling to avoid a recession after a sharp slowing of growth last year. While causing pain for importers, ruble devaluation generates extra money for Russian commodity exporters and extra money for the government's coffers through increased tax revenues. "It is interesting how the Central Bank is not panicking," Timothy Ash, head of emerging market research at Standard Bank, said in a note to investors Wednesday. "They appear comfortable with ruble weakness — seeing this as an escape valve for market concerns and also a likely kicker for growth."

FINANCE MINISTRY JOINS CENTRAL BANK IN DEFENDING RUSSIA'S WEAKENING CURRENCY

The ruble sank to another historic low Wednesday, passing the 41 per U.S. dollar mark twice in morning trading as the Finance Ministry annou...

FORMER YUKOS INVESTORS EYE RUSSIAN ASSETS IN EUROPE AND U.S.

Former investors in defunct oil firm Yukos will ask U.S. and EU courts to expropriate Russian-owned assets on their territory as part of a $50 billion damages ruling made by the Hague arbitration court in June, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported Monday. Yukos was bankrupted and dismembered in the 2000s as the Russian government seized key oil assets from oligarchs who had snapped them up on the cheap during Russia's chaotic 1990s privatizations. Two of Yukos' owners, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, spent about a decade in prison. Others fled, joining overseas investors fighting for compensation. Tim Osborne, the lawyer representing the interests of exiled Russian billionaires and former Yukos shareholders Leonid Nevzlin and Vladmir Dubov, said the case for expropriating Russian assets would soon be brought before German courts, Russian business daily Vedomosti cited Der Spiegel as saying. Osborne added that the group was also moving to bring similar cases to courts in the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands and France. If German courts decide in the investors' favor, fees paid by German energy firms for Russian gas could be handed over to the plaintiffs, according to Der Spiegel. Russia's state-controlled Gazprom provides 38 percent of Germany's natural gas. In June, the Hague ordered Russia to pay $50 billion to Yukos investors after ruling that Russia had broken the Energy Charter Treaty when it nationalized the company to pay for its alleged tax evasion. The court also demanded that the Russian government pay court fees of $65 million. In its ruling, the court wrote: "The primary objective of the Russian Federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt Yukos and appropriate its valuable assets." Russia's Finance Ministry said at the time that it planned to appeal against the decision, calling it "politically biased." Before its demise, Yukos was one of Russia's largest oil and gas companies and was the first to embrace transparent management and seek Western finance and participation. After state prosecutors exploded the company with charges of massive tax evasion its key assets were hived off to small state-owned oil firm Rosneft. Then a small time player in the energy market, Rosneft has become one of the world's biggest oil majors. In July the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia must pay ex-Yukos shareholders 1.86 billion euros ($2.37 billion) in compensation for the nationalization of Yukos, a decision that the Finance Ministry rejected as unfair. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QOcKXty5xHCGIFutBS_2LVr7v76MwGyEEpQvCZNcAJEds3nQzc9cDoy9puwfRUiPR7SQL_Cu1r26mtl8QB92w8a4vbX0byyl6InislAznChGtj5IjTCDFV_sthjlHavenlg4zzsvQA8/s1600/rYukos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QOcKXty5xHCGIFutBS_2LVr7v76MwGyEEpQvCZNcAJEds3nQzc9cDoy9puwfRUiPR7SQL_Cu1r26mtl8QB92w8a4vbX0byyl6InislAznChGtj5IjTCDFV_sthjlHavenlg4zzsvQA8/s1600/rYukos.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>

FORMER YUKOS INVESTORS EYE RUSSIAN ASSETS IN EUROPE AND U.S.

Former investors in defunct oil firm Yukos will ask U.S. and EU courts to expropriate Russian-owned assets on their territory as part of a $...

PUTIN signs law curbing foreign ownership in "Russlan Media"

President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a widely criticized bill limiting foreign ownership in Russian media assets to 20 percent, according to a document published Wednesday on the government's legal information website. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7qbfy7NDK_lwZWwbYUUhDRYSMIz7L4I8CJGdeLl6KCsRzh5VE6JRuDk-W6yf_TM3-IKAwBLCOJLZHMqTVtHlKi3ZAQGseTEJJOAVADDBAt1WmDyc3lSNPlAVrddSzpFoP6qrZM_Dw54/s1600/rmagazines-newspapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7qbfy7NDK_lwZWwbYUUhDRYSMIz7L4I8CJGdeLl6KCsRzh5VE6JRuDk-W6yf_TM3-IKAwBLCOJLZHMqTVtHlKi3ZAQGseTEJJOAVADDBAt1WmDyc3lSNPlAVrddSzpFoP6qrZM_Dw54/s1600/rmagazines-newspapers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> The law will force some of the world's largest media companies — including Conde Nast, Hearst Corporation and Axel Springer — to sell off or shut down their Russian assets by Feb. 1, 2017. It will also directly impact The Moscow Times' owner Sanoma Independent Media, the Russian branch of Finnish media group Sanoma and one of Russia's largest publishing houses. The media bill galloped from proposal to new legal reality in under a month over the objections of industry players and the companies concerned. An earlier law had limited foreign shares in radio and television to 50 percent but bypassed print media.

PUTIN signs law curbing foreign ownership in "Russlan Media"

President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a widely criticized bill limiting foreign ownership in Russian media assets to 20 percent, acco...

BRITAIN may block $6.5 billion russian energy deal

A $6.5 billion attempt by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman to buy the oil and gas operations of German utility firm RWE, which has operations in British coastal waters, could be blocked by London, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO9J9kVJixG_z53AeXSLDgoaS7sCieGox0KhavO8YG7sx9bhGkVSTIzIlhdmNZrRKK9RaWI-yjk0bfJs4y3gss1B9bJlwkdQUEj2dHq2bYUG6zkzSk9S7U7SK9qSpaOCVw8MgMbwmExfo/s1600/rFridman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO9J9kVJixG_z53AeXSLDgoaS7sCieGox0KhavO8YG7sx9bhGkVSTIzIlhdmNZrRKK9RaWI-yjk0bfJs4y3gss1B9bJlwkdQUEj2dHq2bYUG6zkzSk9S7U7SK9qSpaOCVw8MgMbwmExfo/s1600/rFridman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> The purchase, if completed, would be the first major acquisition for Fridman's Luxembourg-based fund LetterOne. The fund was set up last year to invest proceeds from the sale by Russian tycoons of their stake in private Russian oil firm TNK-BP to state owned Rosneft last year. United Kingdom Energy Minister Ed Davey was "not minded" to give official approval to the sale, the Financial Times reported citing unnamed sources. The U.K. government is apparently reluctant to approve the sale due to Western sanctions imposed this year on Moscow for its annexation of the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea and support for separatist rebels in the east of the country. Fridman is not among dozens of Russian businessmen and officials who have been hit with asset freezes and travel bans as a result of sanctions. LetterOne is not a sanctioned company. A consortium of four Russian billionaires, including Fridman and German Khan, his business partner in LetterOne, were handed $28 billion for their stake in TNK-BP in a $55 billion deal last year. The sale turned Russia's state-owned Rosneft, a key target of Western sanctions, into the biggest publicly-listed oil company in the world.

BRITAIN may block $6.5 billion russian energy deal

A $6.5 billion attempt by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman to buy the oil and gas operations of German utility firm RWE, which has operat...

IS RUSSIA HEADING FOR ANOTHER 1998-STYLE CRISIS?

Not since the financial crisis of August 1998 has Russia faced the very real possibility of a currency crisis that could seriously threaten the fundamental stability of the country's economic and political system. Though the ruble's loss of 20 percent of its value this year falls well short of the 70 percent collapse in 1998 and is even lower — in relative terms — than the 30 percent decline experienced in 2008, there are key parallels between the 1998 crisis and the crisis developing in Russia today. Both Russia's leaders and citizens would do well to remember the lessons of August 1998 as they face the coming storm. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0IaKVsT_5d-eZrR5KsVunZ2xqz10C6-gm32he07V_xDOfmPgE82lEzmAlNkQUXIJcfJYsOlRfDdC_oM5FV2rSsp3iSpGxeBphwQVa-VG5XYkrP6ylY-Yaf0VWJjxoCxtuJPPQhHt_A2w/s1600/ruble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0IaKVsT_5d-eZrR5KsVunZ2xqz10C6-gm32he07V_xDOfmPgE82lEzmAlNkQUXIJcfJYsOlRfDdC_oM5FV2rSsp3iSpGxeBphwQVa-VG5XYkrP6ylY-Yaf0VWJjxoCxtuJPPQhHt_A2w/s1600/ruble.jpg" width="320" /></a>There is a wide range of macroeconomic forces that can influence the exchange rate through supply and demand for the national currency. Importantly, most of these forces lie outside the control of the government. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 issued a collective wakeup call to international lenders as they realized the mistake of their myopic enthusiasm for investment in developing economies. Having awoken to the fundamental weaknesses in these economies, investors became risk averse toward developing economies — Russia included — almost overnight. Russia's access to foreign borrowing was cut off at the very same time that oil prices — the country's eternal economic crutch — were declining. Falling oil prices meant fewer dollars coming into Russia, thus strengthening the dollar against the ruble, as well as less revenue going into state coffers. The foundations of a debt crisis were set. By 1998, years of post-Soviet economic decline, a costly war in Chechnya and unsustainable social spending had nearly bankrupted the Russian state. The government and many private firms were heavily burdened with foreign loans denominated primarily in dollars with few willing lenders remaining. Regardless of the value of the ruble, these loans had to be repaid in dollars when they came due. Thus, the Russian government had a major interest in propping up the ruble: It would cost far more rubles to pay off these loans at 20 rubles to the dollar than it would at 6 rubles to the dollar. It was able to do so only as long as it had the currency reserves to buy up excess rubles on currency markets with dollars, thereby reducing the ruble's supply and maintaining the currency's value. By August 1998, the country had burned through $27 billion, exhausting its foreign currency reserves until it could no longer defend the currency. This resulted in a de facto "float" that revealed the true market price of the ruble, far below the futile peg that former Russian President Boris Yeltsin's government had tried to defend. Currency crises like the one in August 1998 are often characterized by a vicious downward spiral of self-fulfilling prophecies. As expectations rise that the government will eventually fail in its efforts to defend the currency, more and more ruble holders will convert their rubles into stabler currencies. Demand for rubles falls while demand for dollars rises, putting downward pressure on the Russian currency. Furthermore, these transactions flood the market with even more rubles that the government is forced to buy up if it hopes to maintain the currency's value. Since nobody wants to be the last man holding rubles when the currency collapses, this spiral can exacerbate and accelerate the coming collapse. Speculative attacks only add fuel to this fire. Though Putin's Russia in 2014 is a vastly different country than Yeltsin's Russia in 1998, the parallels between the two eras are strong enough to warrant Russians to take heed. Though the government does not have the same debt burden today, neither does it have infinite reserves. A costly intervention in Ukraine's ongoing conflict, the costs of integrating Crimea into Russia, falling oil prices, unsustainable budget expenditures for the sake of maintaining regime support, and billions wasted defending the ruble could quickly drain the country's estimated $450 billion in reserves. By comparison, the 2008 intervention to defend the ruble cost $200 billion. Though it can hold out for much longer than it did in 1998, Russia cannot withstand falling oil prices and exchange rates forever, especially if sanctions drag on. If Russia reaches the day when it has exhausted its reserves, it will struggle to find willing lenders, just as it struggled in 1998. But this time it won't just be due to risk aversion on the part of international lenders; sanctions on Russia's largest banks have choked off much of the country's access to international borrowing. This reality lays the foundation for a new debt crisis that could rock the public and private sectors as Russian firms struggle to service existing debts without access to additional international borrowing. As was the case in 1998, most of those existing debts are denominated in dollars — and now in 2014 — euros. Businesses are well aware that those debts will become increasingly costly to repay as the ruble spirals downward. And so the vicious cycle takes hold. Indebted businesses snatch up what few dollars and euros they can acquire on already-strained domestic markets, fueling the ruble's fall. Firms with large holdings in rubles exchange them for foreign currencies as a hedge against further devaluation. The ruble falls further. Eventually, the man on the street will realize that his life savings — what little there may be — are evaporating as the ruble slides further. The self-fulfilling prophesy becomes reality as ordinary Russians struggle to meet the basic needs of their families amid rampant inflation. Two key consequences of the August 1998 crisis are worth remembering. First, the country's economic trajectory was put in a tailspin once again, with Russians' real wages falling to their lowest level in the post-Soviet era. Russia's economy would recover only with the rebound in oil prices during the ensuing decade. There is no guarantee that Russia can count on such fortune today, and the full economic costs of Russia's current confrontation with the West remain to be seen. However they tally, they will be steep. Second, the 1998 crisis was a watershed moment in Russia's political development. The people of Russia, beaten down by years of economic trauma and failed reforms, were ready by 1998 for anyone but Yeltsin. Russians demanded anyone who could restore order and stability to Russia's economic and political system; Russians demanded the anti-Yeltsin. August 1998 set the stage for the rise of Vladimir Putin, the anti-Yeltsin. Should the vicious cycle of economic crisis grip Russia once again, we can only imagine what kind of "anti-Putin" could rise from the ruins.-Robert Person

IS RUSSIA HEADING FOR ANOTHER 1998-STYLE CRISIS?

Not since the financial crisis of August 1998 has Russia faced the very real possibility of a currency crisis that could seriously threaten ...

Russian Finance Minister: RUSSIA NEEDS BACKUP BUDGET FOR WORST-CASE SCENARIO

Russia must create a contingency budget to counter the threat that Western sanctions, economic stagnation and low oil prices will dash the country's hopes of restoring growth in the near term, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Friday. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkmfa6c_Un-25sBN8lIeA64M-VVOIwEjxbbJs105NgNLrsau0uSryOhT48CQozPuueBf4eHyIvGmzSfkxcEDdhlDn62j3Op2n7X-anKzqRyD6qDJF7G4rXyhOcb2HU2t3SRLOJAUrcPo/s1600/Anton_Siluanov.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkmfa6c_Un-25sBN8lIeA64M-VVOIwEjxbbJs105NgNLrsau0uSryOhT48CQozPuueBf4eHyIvGmzSfkxcEDdhlDn62j3Op2n7X-anKzqRyD6qDJF7G4rXyhOcb2HU2t3SRLOJAUrcPo/s1600/Anton_Siluanov.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div> "A budget cannot constantly have expenses that were drafted in a different economic reality. We must always have another version in case times like these continue," Siluanov said in a speech to Russia's parliament, the State Duma, news agency RIA Novosti reported. The latest budget for 2015-17, which faced its first reading in the State Duma on Friday, is based on the optimistic forecast that sanctions will ease and oil prices next year will average $100 per barrel. The budget predicts GDP growth of 1.2 percent next year, 2.3 percent next year and 3 percent in 2016. This scenario looks increasingly far-fetched: Economic growth has crashed in 2014, with a recent World Bank forecast predicting growth of 0.5 for this year, 0.3 percent next year and 0.4 percent in 2016. Western sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine show no sign of letting up and the price of Brent crude oil — the global benchmark — was at $86 per barrel on Friday amid a global supply glut that will likely keep prices depressed in the short term. Siluanov has criticized the budget before. At an investment summit late last month he called the budget's forecast "optimistic" and said Russia "will have to try very hard to ensure the planned growth rates," according to Reuters. Experts polled by The St. Petersburg Times noted previously that the 2015-17 budget is crippled by new expenses and past promises that are now too exorbitant to fulfill, including the cost of supporting Crimea — which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March — and the state's massive $700 billion rearmament program. Lower budget revenues led to a controversial decision earlier this year to use contributions to privately managed pension funds to fill gaps in the state budget for the second year in a row. The move was heavily criticized by economists, who said that it will both increase the state's future spending obligations and deprive nascent markets of strong institutional investors. Siluanov on Friday also asked Russian lawmakers for permission to use, if necessary, up to 500 billion rubles ($12 billion) from the government's Reserve Fund, an oil-revenue-funded piggy bank, to fulfill spending obligations next year. "We created [the fund] for this, and there are now more than 3 trillion rubles ($72 billion) in the Reserve Fund," RIA Novosti quoted Siluanov as saying. At the same time, the minister warned that the fund is "not infinite" and urged lawmakers to optimize government programs and bring state spending in line with the budget's limitations.

Russian Finance Minister: RUSSIA NEEDS BACKUP BUDGET FOR WORST-CASE SCENARIO

Russia must create a contingency budget to counter the threat that Western sanctions, economic stagnation and low oil prices will dash the c...

Price of apples set to double as import ban squeezs supply

Russia's cheapest apples are expected to roughly double in price by the beginning of next year as Russia's bans on food imports from Western countries that have sanctioned it over Ukraine drive up inflation, the Izvestia newspaper reported Thursday. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pd9p1EOf-tzX9sB9TR7wDtTjI8OEux0TxSZ2wqj4f8956rPs8ScYoEajw8_mYG5epYL4YqXUW20UU4NSTqfvdAXbqxm0UQSYxtcICM9Ch9rfoUQcoZWHjScwHMlfv547YVQpFCI3F9g/s1600/rApples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pd9p1EOf-tzX9sB9TR7wDtTjI8OEux0TxSZ2wqj4f8956rPs8ScYoEajw8_mYG5epYL4YqXUW20UU4NSTqfvdAXbqxm0UQSYxtcICM9Ch9rfoUQcoZWHjScwHMlfv547YVQpFCI3F9g/s1600/rApples.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Prices will likely leap from 30-40 rubles ($0.75-1) to 60 rubles per kilo, Igor Mukhanin, a representative of the Russian Orchard Association, told the paper. Russia's August import bans closed down flows of fruits and vegetables from Poland, which had supplied 40 percent of Russia's apples, and Moldova, which had supplied 15 percent. While overall inflation has already leaped to 8 percent, apples had have so far been insulated because imports from Moldova have been re-exported to Russia through Belarus, Tatiana Getman, an analyst at agricultural consultancy APK-Inform, told the newspaper. Also, Russian suppliers typically only begin importing from Poland in November-December, she said. According to Mukhanin, Russia has relied heavily on Poland's apples because they are both cheap and hardy in Russia's cold weather. Russian apple farmers currently have neither the refrigeration technology nor the resources to make up for the potential deficit, he said.

Price of apples set to double as import ban squeezs supply

Russia's cheapest apples are expected to roughly double in price by the beginning of next year as Russia's bans on food imports from...

Russians flock to budget stores as prices rise

Russia’s faltering economy appears to be edging shoppers into budget food stores, with two of the country’s biggest food retailers reporting a double-digit rise in sales over the third quarter last week. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQOFqy0srOPeFidRzBBpfIPb1AtSYniako2wK3WGxWl7Rtn_YetKyAS-BBDJgv2LQ9eGNGqHEtt7c-7lohyphenhyphen5RDRzUYnl3y_arXHbziHLXHfNOcfrLemLEAyfoiF5CP3CnV398SEd2KgM/s1600/rShop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQOFqy0srOPeFidRzBBpfIPb1AtSYniako2wK3WGxWl7Rtn_YetKyAS-BBDJgv2LQ9eGNGqHEtt7c-7lohyphenhyphen5RDRzUYnl3y_arXHbziHLXHfNOcfrLemLEAyfoiF5CP3CnV398SEd2KgM/s1600/rShop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Russia’s biggest food retailer Magnit, founded and co-owned by billionaire Sergei Galitsky, reported on Thursday a 21 percent growth of revenue in the first 9 months of 2014. Second-biggest retailer X5 Retail Group said Friday that its revenue in the third quarter grew 23 percent year-on-year. The number of customers at its Pyatyorochka discount store rose by over 17 percent, the retailer added, while customers on average were spending almost 8 percent more on each visit. Both companies, it seems, have inflation to thank for their higher revenues. Year-on-year inflation hit 8 percent in September, driven up by the plummeting value of the ruble and Russia’s bans on many food imports from the United States and European Union, according to data from state statistics service Rosstat. But as analyst point out, the companies’ success may also be due to customers trying to economize as inflation combines with weak salary growth to push purchasing power down. This conclusion was supported by a Nielsen survey on consumer behavior published Friday, which revealed that two-thirds of households in Russia began saving up in the last three months while a fifth of them spent less on food and groceries. “We expect that consumers will switch to shops with lower prices, choosing in general discounters before more expensive supermarkets,” Marina Erskova, head of sales effectiveness practice at Nielsen Russia, wrote in comments to the survey. The survey was conducted from the end of August to beginning of September this year in 22 major cities across Russia and included 1,100 respondents. Consumers will also be more inclined to monitor special price offers and other promotional campaigns launched by retailers as means to save up on spending, she added. But even as consumers lament their lower purchasing power, big retail chains are no doubt happy with the situation. For these wealthy companies, the crisis is an opportunity to muscle out smaller, less solvent competitors, said Maxim Klyagin, an analyst at Finam Management. “Big chains can offer better deals [than smaller firms] by investing in their prices. They have enough resources to shoulder the burden of additional overheads and set the best price for their customers,” Klyagin said. Because of their size and reach, large retail chains can also negotiate better deals and prices with suppliers, which compete to see their products on the shelves, said Natalya Kolupayeva, retail and consumer market analyst at Raiffeisenbank. “The loser in this case is small business and regional stores, which do not have the option of better deals from their suppliers and cannot open new outlets, especially if their debt burden is high,” the analyst said, adding that this was the reason why large chains have edged out small retailers. Magnit and X5’s ambitious expansion programs contributed to their revenue growth, Klyagin of Finam Management said. Both Magnit and Pyatyorochka have over the last nine months increased the number of stores they operated by 18 and 21 percent respectively. As of September 2014, Magnit operated over 9,000 stores while Pyatyorochka operated 4,300 stores, according to company press releases.

Russians flock to budget stores as prices rise

Russia’s faltering economy appears to be edging shoppers into budget food stores, with two of the country’s biggest food retailers reporting...

Russian Shoppers feel the pinch of inflation

Price rises since President Vladimir Putin signed a decree halting EU and U.S. agricultural produce imports on Aug. 6. have been particularly rapid for meat, fish, dairy products and, despite a good harvest, fruit and vegetables. Standing on tiptoe, Galina Abdullina strained to reach the back of the top shelf to get one of the last tubs of discounted smetana, the sour cream beloved by Russians. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDaQukZydHYRn3LItXOS7d7GZEbsoHoz_V56z8tPYH0u8WerI4rQq_80Itl3PqfapxDXjZRpXyvNyXjA5Uxxrv2TBCg__r3j45Yw8iEu05eNxR-x1thl_uCv31N3Lem6l-RsGAd-eJAk/s1600/rShopper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDaQukZydHYRn3LItXOS7d7GZEbsoHoz_V56z8tPYH0u8WerI4rQq_80Itl3PqfapxDXjZRpXyvNyXjA5Uxxrv2TBCg__r3j45Yw8iEu05eNxR-x1thl_uCv31N3Lem6l-RsGAd-eJAk/s1600/rShopper.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> She said she had come to this branch of Pyatyorochka, a budget supermarket chain, after purchasing just a loaf of bread in a nearby upmarket shopping center where prices have risen rapidly. "It's terrible," said Abdullina, 77, who spent her working life as an employee in Soviet department stores GUM and Detsky Mir. "We go there to look at things, and here to buy." Abdullina is one of millions of Russians hit by rising prices in the wake of Russia's August ban of food imports from the European Union and United States, a tit-for-tat response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Climbing food prices have fueled annual consumer inflation that reached 8 percent in September, its highest level for three years. Expensive Food Price rises since President Vladimir Putin signed a decree halting EU and U.S. agricultural produce imports on Aug. 6. have been particularly rapid for meat, fish, dairy products and, despite a good harvest, fruit and vegetables. The cost of meat and poultry jumped 16.8 percent in September, fish and seafood by 14.1 percent, dairy products by 16.2 percent and fruit and vegetables by 6.1 percent. "Meat is very expensive," said pensioner Galina Maurova, who was shopping at budget supermarket Dixy on Monday. Price rises have continued unabated this month. Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 13 the cost of salami, sausages, hot dogs, tinned meat, smetana, milk, cheese and caramel has climbed by 0.4-0.6 percent, according to Russia's State Statistics Service. In the same period the price of cucumbers shot up 10.9 percent and tomatoes by 5.7 percent. Not Just the Poor The effects of inflation, however, are not only being felt by those with limited budgets. Browsing the shelves at an elite supermarket, Yury, 63, picked out fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy products as the fastest price risers. But he was particularly horrified by the speed with which fish prices had shot up. "The price of fish is monstrous," he said. "I am trying to decide how to change my shopping behavior." Over 50 percent of middle-class Russians noticed either food price rises or a lack of goods on shop shelves between July and September, according to a survey by Sberbank CIB released earlier this month. Even government ministers have commented on their rising food expenses. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who said he goes shopping once a week, told reporters last month he was spending up to 20 percent more on food than at the beginning of the year. Inflation remains a big concern for Russian people, many of whom remember watching with horror in the late 1990s as runaway price rises wiped out their savings. Russians picked inflation as the most serious problem for the country ahead of utility services, corruption and alcoholism in a survey published Aug. 12 by state-run pollster VTsIOM. Top Concern Food price rises have been the key factor behind inflation, but it has also been driven by a steady devaluation of the ruble. The Russian currency repeatedly touched record lows this month, and has shed over 20 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. The weak currency makes imports more expensive, increasing costs for Russian retailers. Officials originally planned to bring inflation down 5 percent in 2014 — an increasingly distant goal as investors were spooked by the Kremlin's role in Ukraine and falling oil prices accelerated the ruble's tumble. In a bid to rein in price rises, the Central Bank has hiked interest rates three times this year despite a flagging economy. The state could impose price controls on 40 "socially important" goods if they rise in price by more than 30 percent, Trade and Industry Ministry Denis Manturov said in an interview with state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta published on Oct. 9. 'Just One' Bag of Groceries Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina has said that inflation will be at least 8 percent this year, and some experts are predicting that consumer prices will continue to rise into 2015. If the oil price trades between $90 and $95 a barrel then inflation will peak at 9 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2015, analysts at VTB Capital said in Oct. 6 research note. "We expect the effects from the food import ban to begin to dissipate from the second quarter next year," said Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist at ING in Moscow. While inflation remains high, Abdullina in the budget supermarket said she will simply be buying less. "I used to get two shopping bags of groceries. Now I just buy one," she said.

Russian Shoppers feel the pinch of inflation

Price rises since President Vladimir Putin signed a decree halting EU and U.S. agricultural produce imports on Aug. 6. have been particularl...

Friday, October 24, 2014

Putin admits that helped former Ukrainian president to flee

The Russian leader first recognized publicly attended ousted President Viktor Yanukovich to prevent escape was pursued. President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that helped the president of Ukraine , Viktor Yanukovych , to escape in the midst of massive protests - to avoid that was  pursued by the opposition forces . <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ku9eh7vPJbdTf00Co8Ted39tvIGD4s9sYXLtLXrgA1OxEXlwRrJEUdCEMvm0cAgnJjYkUuhCwf5WRTQ7YmN11lGhXOW-xIxyvhGa3v3b3-XBtxfVPVRVE_eJA-v8b2dck97xmKGFRuE/s1600/putin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ku9eh7vPJbdTf00Co8Ted39tvIGD4s9sYXLtLXrgA1OxEXlwRrJEUdCEMvm0cAgnJjYkUuhCwf5WRTQ7YmN11lGhXOW-xIxyvhGa3v3b3-XBtxfVPVRVE_eJA-v8b2dck97xmKGFRuE/s1600/putin.jpg" width="320" /></a>The Russian leader first recognized publicly attended the deposed president, at the request of himself, that he moved to Crimea and later to Russia in order to ensure their personal safety. I will not hide that help (Yanukovich) to move to the Crimea, where he remained for several days. Crimea was part of Ukraine at that time, "Putin said in a speech at the Valdai Club in Sochi. He recalled that the Ukrainian crisis began in the capital Kiev, despite the efforts, the events became rapid and violent, "there were murders, people were burned alive" even office staff of the Party of Regions, he said. In such circumstances, "it was absurd that Yanukovych returned to Kiev," the Russian president, quoted in dispatches TASS news agency, adding that "honestly asked me to bring him to Russia and that's what we did." He argued that everyone forgot about the agreements signed by the opposition leaders and the government of Yanukovych in February to end the protests, after which he was dismissed by the opposition in the Parliament building on the departure of members of his party. Yanukovich fled to Russia the same month, when violent protests had already claimed over a hundred lives, and his dismissal infuriated residents in the Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, which contributed to the ongoing conflict in the region. Crimea was the first region as opposed to Kiev, and through a referendum decided its cleavage joined Ukraine and the Russian Federation, a move that Donetsk and Lugansk tried to repeat, but the outbreak of armed confrontation. Putin criticized the government in this regard in Kiev by the excessive use of force against separatists in those regions also East Ukrainian. In this context, the Federal Migration Service of Russia said Friday denying the alleged grant Yanukovych Russian citizenship or asylum, as recently noted press reports that quoted an adviser to the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine.

Putin admits that helped former Ukrainian president to flee

The Russian leader first recognized publicly attended ousted President Viktor Yanukovich to prevent escape was pursued. President Vladimir P...

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Charred tanks in Ukraine point to Russian involvement:Reuters Exclusive

The burnt-out remains of dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in fields near this small village bear witness to the ferocity of a battle that turned the tide of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ61IknzDm83DHgtQO6AlVUpgHn_Ca6iKyi3socTAV7DmDpMwy02bNH6gBhtY4hOi3njvtoLefB8JvuMwb81b3XhGNV-PFmjuVSC39YKEG_h1a8A1TAKxbqI748k2hKRdzGEkEyI_Hf2M/s1600/s_u.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ61IknzDm83DHgtQO6AlVUpgHn_Ca6iKyi3socTAV7DmDpMwy02bNH6gBhtY4hOi3njvtoLefB8JvuMwb81b3XhGNV-PFmjuVSC39YKEG_h1a8A1TAKxbqI748k2hKRdzGEkEyI_Hf2M/s1600/s_u.jpg" width="320" /></a>Most of the tanks were used by the government forces routed in August near Horbatenko, 40 km (25 miles) southeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, a defeat so demoralizing that days later Kiev agreed a ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists. But among the debris Reuters found the blackened carcasses of what military experts have since identified as two Russian army tanks, supporting statements by Kiev and the West that the rebels were backed by troops and equipment sent by Moscow. Moscow denies the accusations though the rebels had been on the brink of defeat until late August, when the Ukrainian government says they received an injection of soldiers and weapons from Russia. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DqGsK2JrhgmTINav2HGvhMMkk7hNPAWiEB3to55HTSgpr9cI777CdsFYvwz61qp8Ln4iOseCJ_EI3lvJOWSridi_LRqk-_338EwJQql1DAHLKPDxDewEgtG6KqZVg3Hz6Vh_Bw3XqGU/s1600/0s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DqGsK2JrhgmTINav2HGvhMMkk7hNPAWiEB3to55HTSgpr9cI777CdsFYvwz61qp8Ln4iOseCJ_EI3lvJOWSridi_LRqk-_338EwJQql1DAHLKPDxDewEgtG6KqZVg3Hz6Vh_Bw3XqGU/s1600/0s.jpg" width="320" /></a>Reuters showed photographs of the two badly damaged tanks, one of which had lost its turret, to four independent military experts, who said they were of a type used exclusively by the Russian army. At least one, they agreed, was a T-72BM - a Russian-made modification of a well known Soviet tank. This version of the tank, they said, is not known to have been exported. "It is operated by the Russian Army in large numbers, but crucially it is not known to have been exported or operated outside of Russia," Joseph Dempsey, a military analyst for the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote in late August when a tank like that was discovered on grainy footage of rebel convoy. "The presence of this variant in Ukraine therefore strongly supports the contention that Russia is supplying arms to separatist forces," Dempsey said. Such remarks clearly undermine Russian denials of direct involvement in the conflict in Ukraine to ensure Moscow maintains some influence and make governing Ukraine difficult as Kiev charts a Westward political and economic course. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRcI5dSgR_rQXY6agbrRLXTuhSNm94P01GlH5ld6l0fYJjfiTfvephHrShPRLtzcXh-h1O5NzXUH5SmklDBAie596JKJrUlR6KL-RsqL_jkwkcyLLHujQc-YZ8Ne-0ckw8o5k_RCn7Y0/s1600/Novoazovsk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRcI5dSgR_rQXY6agbrRLXTuhSNm94P01GlH5ld6l0fYJjfiTfvephHrShPRLtzcXh-h1O5NzXUH5SmklDBAie596JKJrUlR6KL-RsqL_jkwkcyLLHujQc-YZ8Ne-0ckw8o5k_RCn7Y0/s1600/Novoazovsk.jpg" width="320" /></a>The military experts shown photographs of the two tanks said the second was either the same as the first, a T-72BM, or a slightly different model, a T-72B1. More conclusive recognition is difficult because of the extent of the damage. The Soviet-made T-72B1, Dempsey said, is not believed to be in active service in Ukraine, making it almost impossible that the separatists captured it in battle. Ukraine's Security Council, which groups the country's top political, defense and security chiefs, said in June the separatists were using T-72 tanks that could not have been captured from the Ukrainian army. FIERCE BATTLES Kiev also said in late August that Russian forces had entered Ukraine and occupied Starobeshevo, 5 km (three miles) from Horbatenko. <a href="http://us.mobile.reuters.com/do/getGalleryImages?u=USKCN0IC1GE20141023&i=6" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://us.mobile.reuters.com/do/getGalleryImages?u=USKCN0IC1GE20141023&i=6" /></a>The Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request by Reuters for more details of the decisive battles that followed soon afterwards but Ukrainian soldiers caught in the battles say they were quickly overcome. Alexei Koshelenko, who said he was captured on Aug. 24-25 near the town of Ilovaysk, said: "We were hit by (multiple rocket launcher) Grads and after that the troops just swept us away. We were completely defeated within 20 minutes. Many of us were killed, others are missing." "They were Russians," he said after being released with other prisoners of war. Referring to a city 300 km (200 miles) northeast of Moscow, he said: "They said they were an airborne assault battalion from Kostroma." The accounts of residents of Horbatenko, a village of a few dozen inhabitants which overlooks the fields that became the battlefield, also challenge Russia's denials of direct intervention. <a href="http://us.mobile.reuters.com/do/getGalleryImages?u=USKCN0IC1GE20141023&i=8" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://us.mobile.reuters.com/do/getGalleryImages?u=USKCN0IC1GE20141023&i=8" /></a>Valentina Ivanovna, 75, said she was slightly wounded by shrapnel when fighting became fierce in late August. "We saw an armored convoy coming down here," she said. "They had white circles on the armor and white flags but whose troops they were we don’t know." Neither the rebels nor the Ukrainian forces have white circles as their permanent recognized emblem. But another local resident, who gave her name only as Nina for fear of retribution, said she had been told the meaning of the white circles in conversations with passing soldiers who identified themselves as Russian. "One of them told me: white circles mean this is Russians," she said. "He came to the last house for some water to drink and I asked how you can tell the difference between a Ukrainian or Russian. He said that if it's us, there are white circles on the tanks." The two damaged tanks were too badly burned to have any recognizable insignia but a destroyed Soviet-made BMP-2 armored personnel carrier a few hundred meters away also bore a white circle on its broken turret. Residents of areas on the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia also reported seeing armored convoys marked by white circles on Aug. 26. Two days later Reuters spotted an armored convoy with the same insignia on the Russian side of the border. UKRAINIAN ACCUSATIONS At the end of August, Ukraine accused Russian troops of crossing the border. To support the accusations, it released videotaped interviews with Russian paratroopers captured by Ukrainian forces in a village 15 km (nine miles) from Horbatenko. They said they served in the 98th division based in the town of Ivanovo in central Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believed they had lost their way and crossed the unmarked segment of the border unintentionally. The captured paratroopers were later sent back to Russia. <a href="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/T27IpkMhBiuGHEQxiKn8PA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxMjtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-10-23T124930Z_1_LYNXNPEA9M0KD_RTROPTP_2_UKRAINE-CRISIS-TANKS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/T27IpkMhBiuGHEQxiKn8PA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxMjtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-10-23T124930Z_1_LYNXNPEA9M0KD_RTROPTP_2_UKRAINE-CRISIS-TANKS.JPG" border="0" class="decoded" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/T27IpkMhBiuGHEQxiKn8PA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxMjtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-10-23T124930Z_1_LYNXNPEA9M0KD_RTROPTP_2_UKRAINE-CRISIS-TANKS.JPG" /></a>Anti-tank missiles fired near where the tanks were destroyed also appear to have originated in Russia because various used parts of Kornet anti-tank guided missiles were left there. Reuters showed three military experts photographs of the missile parts and two of them said Ukraine does not have anti-tank guided missiles of this type. "The presence of the Kornet ATGM is noteworthy and while it has been exported widely by Russia this list does not include Ukraine. As such, it further supports Russian involvement," the International Institute for Strategic Studies told Reuters. Trenches near the tanks also provided what appeared to be more evidence of foreign troops - numerous empty boxes of ready-to-eat meals that are used by the Russian army. Each box contains meals for one day. A Reuters reporter counted 124 packages of field rations with "not for sale" labels and notes that they were produced for the Russian Defense Ministry. A spokeswoman for Voentorg, the company in Russia that produces such meals for the Russian Defense Ministry, confirmed they cannot be sold. <a href="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/l6WSqccM3d8Z3Vf2Age5uA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-10-23T124930Z_1_LYNXNPEA9M0KF_RTROPTP_2_UKRAINE-CRISIS-TANKS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/l6WSqccM3d8Z3Vf2Age5uA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-10-23T124930Z_1_LYNXNPEA9M0KF_RTROPTP_2_UKRAINE-CRISIS-TANKS.JPG" border="0" class="decoded" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/l6WSqccM3d8Z3Vf2Age5uA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-10-23T124930Z_1_LYNXNPEA9M0KF_RTROPTP_2_UKRAINE-CRISIS-TANKS.JPG" /></a>About 50 empty bottles of mineral water around the tanks bore labels identifying them as being produced in Russia's Ivanovo province, the region where the division of the Russian paratroopers captured in August is based.Although Moscow has denied any direct involvement in the conflict, graves have been found in Russia with the remains of Russian servicemen who relatives, friends and human rights activists say were killed in Ukraine. Moscow and the rebels have said that any acting servicemen from Russia were volunteers. Asked about the presence of Russian arms and field rations in Ukraine a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said: "We have the answer and it has been given multiple times." Ukraine's Defense Ministry did not reply to a request from Reuters about the losses near Starobeshevo.

Charred tanks in Ukraine point to Russian involvement:Reuters Exclusive

The burnt-out remains of dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in fields near this small village bear witness to the ferocity of a battle tha...

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

With a parade for Putin, Serbia walks a tightrope

In his 1949 memoir Eastern Approaches, British officer Fitzroy Maclean wrote of standing on top of Belgrade's fortress and watching the Nazis retreat across the River Sava, leaving the capital to the Red Army and Yugoslav Partisan guerrillas. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZdHbBwRxDP4gn3wGz8CyV-ePto0YxUitp7XS62bnilhTpIFPKT1BtwVJ87eNmGeMagDBEbPZMcqVxTQQb3p6uvM-vEXXPNwaXN7JpihDhl-mtGt1sVNBg2A2MFXmiNuwCHGmUvq78B0/s1600/bbq-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhZdHbBwRxDP4gn3wGz8CyV-ePto0YxUitp7XS62bnilhTpIFPKT1BtwVJ87eNmGeMagDBEbPZMcqVxTQQb3p6uvM-vEXXPNwaXN7JpihDhl-mtGt1sVNBg2A2MFXmiNuwCHGmUvq78B0/s1600/bbq-4.jpg" width="320" /></a>The date, Oct. 20, 1944 became Liberation Day. It was marked initially with military parades, but once Yugoslavia split with Josef Stalin's Soviet Union in 1948, these were abandoned in favor of memorials for those killed. On Thursday, guns, tanks and planes will be back in the city, now capital of Serbia, for a Liberation Day parade held four days early to accommodate the guest of honor -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, en route to a summit in Milan. It is a gesture with huge symbolism in a Cold-War-style East-West split over Ukraine that has forced Serbia, politically indebted to Russia but seeing its economic future with the European Union, into a delicate balancing act. The United States is uncomfortable about the idea of Putin and his military chief taking the salute at a parade of 4,500 Serbian soldiers while NATO says Russian soldiers are still making war in eastern Ukraine. "You can have good relations with Russia and China, and with the United States. But our view of visits by Chinese and Russian officials differs; the Chinese haven't attacked anyone, but the Russians have," Michael Kirby, the U.S. ambassador to Serbia, was reported as telling the Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti in an interview last month. Kirby later said he was not trying to tell Serbia whom it could invite, but his remark exposed the tightrope the country is treading. "BOBBING AND WEAVING" Since the ouster of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 after a decade of war, Western sanctions and isolation over the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia, the most populous part of the socialist federation built by Josip Broz Tito after World War Two, has steadily turned towards the European mainstream. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRrDjctCImf3g1Jh6S1uR15zjhzO9NvsEtXaBFxxsvjNivGWNyITDF7G5S4TujTYcCidL7f6PcyFM9UAL2oVEb9GKy4s6-_TDj70SH_T8wdWCnHcfxGGl7zaDfYEVNN_UM-qraBoZuas/s1600/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRrDjctCImf3g1Jh6S1uR15zjhzO9NvsEtXaBFxxsvjNivGWNyITDF7G5S4TujTYcCidL7f6PcyFM9UAL2oVEb9GKy4s6-_TDj70SH_T8wdWCnHcfxGGl7zaDfYEVNN_UM-qraBoZuas/s1600/22.jpg" width="320" /></a>The numbers speak for themselves: between 2007 and 2013, the country of 7.3 million people exported 32.6 billion euros ($41.21 billion) worth of goods to the EU, compared to just 4.2 billion euros to Russia. Over the same period, the EU was the source of 9.2 billion euros in foreign direct investment in Serbia, compared to 2.5 billion euros from Russia. EU accession negotiations are set to begin in earnest, with full membership likely only after 2020, providing the 28-nation bloc can keep in check misgivings over the wisdom of expansion to the poorer countries of the western Balkans having taken in ex-Yugoslav Croatia last year. Majority Albanian Kosovo, which split from Serbia after a 1998-99 conflict stopped by NATO air strikes, remains an issue. Serbia has signed up to compromises, but the EU will press for more and Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo as independent. It is Russia that stands between Kosovo and a seat at the United Nations, and Serbia, like much of eastern Europe, is also dependent on Russian gas. That has left Belgrade trying to straddle both East and West, a ploy played brilliantly by Tito during the Cold War but not so simple since the Berlin Wall came down. Serbia has pledged its respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, whose own moves towards the EU prompted Moscow's annexation of Crimea and a pro-Russian revolt in the east. But Belgrade has refused to join the West's sanctions on Russia, something the EU's new commissioner tasked with accession negotiations, Johannes Hahn, said Belgrade would "have to address". And while negotiating an Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO - the highest rung of cooperation between the military alliance and a country not aspiring to join - Serbia will host Russian soldiers for joint military exercises near the border with NATO member Croatia later this year. "That's not at all smart," said Jelena Milic, director of the Belgrade-based Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies. She described Serbian policy as "bobbing and weaving." "There's no foreign policy strategy and so there's no security policy," Milic told Reuters. Serbia's foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, however, said the policy was "crystal clear". "What is Serbia supposed to do? To say that, because we want to join the EU, sorry Russia, we're not friends with you anymore? Where's our national interest in that?" he told state television last week. "Russia and China are our only defense against Kosovo joining the United Nations." FREE TRADE The quid pro quo became clear in 2008, when Kosovo declared independence and Serbia sold a majority stake in its gas monopoly to Russia's Gazprom, at what was seen at the time as a bargain price. Russia's veto-power kept Kosovo out of the realm of the United Nations, complicating the task of state-building in a victory of sorts for Serbia. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNGBibYCN-MSiyMnPwIrsoTbx-iCnS_ihWRsVUrNk3jDzbgBYtn98g-7zClKZsMYb7FBBRH5HQkWFJaVwpv1iQfn2TTPriBs7vpp9XVhmknKMr-vUrP-VmndfrYAcw-zMnb8hulqhFOb0/s1600/s1re.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNGBibYCN-MSiyMnPwIrsoTbx-iCnS_ihWRsVUrNk3jDzbgBYtn98g-7zClKZsMYb7FBBRH5HQkWFJaVwpv1iQfn2TTPriBs7vpp9XVhmknKMr-vUrP-VmndfrYAcw-zMnb8hulqhFOb0/s1600/s1re.jpg" width="320" /></a>Also of value to Serbia is its free-trade arrangement with Russia, signed in 2000 and a lure for foreign manufacturers looking to set up in the Balkans. Serbia wants to expand it to include the cars that Italian automaker Fiat builds in the Balkan country, making them cheaper on the Russian market. While Serbs have confirmed their EU ambitions through the ballot box, the economic crisis in the bloc has tested their enthusiasm, and many Serbs feel they share more values with fellow Orthodox Russians than the more liberal Europeans. "We have joint roots, language, faith, customs and culture," Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic told Russian television. "In all wars we were always on the same side." However, Goran Svilanovic, head of the Regional Cooperation Council promoting the region's European integration and a former Yugoslav foreign minister, said Serbia would have little choice but to adapt. "As Serbia advances towards EU membership, it will have to adjust gradually to bring its foreign policy into line with EU policy," he told Reuters last week. A sign that is already doing so sits in a field north of Belgrade, where in November last year a welder marked the ceremonial start on Serbia's stretch of Russia's South Stream gas pipeline, designed to further strengthen Russia's hold on energy supplies to Europe. Full construction was due to commence in July; the government promised as much when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Belgrade in June. But bowing to EU pressure pending a ruling in Brussels on whether the project complies with EU law, Serbia appears to have quietly postponed. No official announcement was made, but Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told reporters last week: "There's no sense in it (the pipeline) starting and ending in Serbia." Of Putin's visit, he said: <blockquote class="tr_bq">"Putin will hear that Serbia is on the European path. We have other relations we are developing with the Russian Federation, but the strategic goal is not in question – Serbia is on the EU path."</blockquote>

With a parade for Putin, Serbia walks a tightrope

In his 1949 memoir Eastern Approaches, British officer Fitzroy Maclean wrote of standing on top of Belgrade's fortress and watching the ...

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Russian central bank intervention is a dead end

The Russian central bank is doing what it can. The problem is that it cannot do much. It spent $1.4 billion on Oct. 3 and 6 to try stemming the rouble’s slide. But the currency keeps falling. Spending foreign exchange reserves can make sense – a little – when markets seem lost in a temporary moment of insanity. And the Russian central bank has $470 billion worth of it to spend. But there is nothing irrational about the rouble’s weakness. Its root causes are the deep flaws of the Russian economy, and the country’s new aggressive foreign policy. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwEL9Fb-OyMIfnC6kCeUVOjcHTq_-VWE_9zS-qSQLxD01n1kJZQ5E1DpQgGTTmqjw7tJ-kSrF7IqW_DN7C8UDByyaVF2-3Gb-8rk2Siatm1ETsMx5wKYLQiEspbGjDAgkyMyZ3MwHC3o/s1600/promobox_icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwEL9Fb-OyMIfnC6kCeUVOjcHTq_-VWE_9zS-qSQLxD01n1kJZQ5E1DpQgGTTmqjw7tJ-kSrF7IqW_DN7C8UDByyaVF2-3Gb-8rk2Siatm1ETsMx5wKYLQiEspbGjDAgkyMyZ3MwHC3o/s1600/promobox_icon.png" /></a></div>At the moment there are many reasons to take capital out of Russia and few to bring it in. Even before the Ukrainian crisis and the annexation of Crimea in March, the country was headed for a worrying economic slowdown. Since then, economic sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States have hit hard, cutting off some of Russia’s top banks and oil companies from Western sources of funding. But their impact pales in comparison to the financial market’s sanctions: investors have started to treat Russia as radioactive. The Russian government’s reaction to Western measures has been to retreat into a command-style economy, bearing an eerie resemblance to the old Soviet model. A few weeks ago the arrest of oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov scared investors, who fear a return of the days when the state seemed ready to expropriate at will. Meanwhile, the economic environment is hostile. Oil prices are at their lowest level in more than two years. Domestic inflation – fuelled by the rouble’s 14 percent slide against its reference basket since the beginning of the year – will reach 8 percent this year. An embargo on Western food and clothing imports adds to the inflationary pressure. Consumption is holding for now – but only because the fear of what’s ahead is leading to stocking up on durable goods. What’s the central bank to do? Moving faster to an inflation-target monetary policy, as it plans to do next year, would require higher rates, after three hikes this year already. Tightening by another notch would push the economy down from stagnation to recession. The reality is that the rouble’s slide will continue as long as the government keeps scaring investors away.

Russian central bank intervention is a dead end

The Russian central bank is doing what it can. The problem is that it cannot do much. It spent $1.4 billion on Oct. 3 and 6 to try stemming ...

Russia's Putin to attend G20 leaders summit: Australia

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey confirmed Sunday Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 leaders' summit in November, despite concerns about Russia's actions in Ukraine in recent months. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzmNczayYVdA_-AMtauGrGx_5HB-y3PKXTX1gx117GcphyvHY-m6KuYdgWHPbPS4ZbsPYzibbRakzqOuydhFhyWbhLFSxJQwGzjEUxrHVWCw9bSjAkCPFg6r4_70LnVyHVNEbCXfBJJs/s1600/B8NnzY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzmNczayYVdA_-AMtauGrGx_5HB-y3PKXTX1gx117GcphyvHY-m6KuYdgWHPbPS4ZbsPYzibbRakzqOuydhFhyWbhLFSxJQwGzjEUxrHVWCw9bSjAkCPFg6r4_70LnVyHVNEbCXfBJJs/s1600/B8NnzY.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Australia's confirmation that the Russian leader would attend the high-powered summit came after Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said he would also meet Putin next week. "I spoke with the Finance Minister of Russia only yesterday... and he did confirm that President Putin will be coming to the G20 leaders' summit in Brisbane," Hockey told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday morning. "That has certainly been the consensus of other members of the G20 that President Putin should attend. And I think there will be some full and frank dialogue with President Putin at that meeting." Hockey added that it was "certainly the strong view of the president of the US, the chancellor of Germany and others that he should be attending". There were question marks over Putin's attendance due to the six-month conflict between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 3,300 people. But there had been signs of a shift after Hockey said at the G20 finance ministers' meeting in September that member nations believed Russia's attendance would help address the geo-political tensions. Poroshenko said Saturday he would meet Putin while attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Milan, but added: "I don't expect that these will be easy negotiations." The Milan talks will also include the prime ministers of Italy and Britain as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Poroshenko's announcement came as Kiev reported rebel attacks had subsided, signalling the possibility of rescuing a truce in the conflict. The two leaders last met in late August for talks that led to the truce accord. Fighting has continued in several areas along the frontline where the two sides have failed to pull back heavy artillery, as required under the ceasefire. Opposition to Putin's attendance at the G20 summit intensified earlier this year after a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July, killing all 298 onboard, including 38 Australian citizens and residents. Kiev and the West have accused Moscow-backed separatists of shooting it down with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia. Moscow denies the charge and has pointed the finger back at Kiev.

Russia's Putin to attend G20 leaders summit: Australia

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey confirmed Sunday Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 leaders' summit in November, despite concerns about ...

Putin orders Russian troops withdrawal from Ukrainian border: reports

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw to their permanent bases after military exercises in Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported late on Saturday, citing Kremlin spokesman. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFS37w3XgQJi3NmAHj5f7KHlLS55voFfxR443iPefgUBoAN7C96RHMNzFaGARx_Uk2oeEoh4iF0co3Ptg-JRRVpc82t_tYJlrV5GdRWI8P-hdzJMihsRFfiprpRcsD_qS4iyaU1lUV5M/s1600/BB8PD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFS37w3XgQJi3NmAHj5f7KHlLS55voFfxR443iPefgUBoAN7C96RHMNzFaGARx_Uk2oeEoh4iF0co3Ptg-JRRVpc82t_tYJlrV5GdRWI8P-hdzJMihsRFfiprpRcsD_qS4iyaU1lUV5M/s1600/BB8PD.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> The troops pullout came before an expected meeting between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Milan next week. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that the Russian president had met his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu. "The minister had reported to the Supreme Commander about the completion of summer period of training on shooting ranges of the southern military district," Peskov said according to RIA Novosti news agency. "After the report, Putin ordered to launch the return of the troops to their permanent bases... In total, these are 17,600 military servicemen who were trained on the shooting ranges of Rostov region in summer," Peskov said. Relations between Moscow and the NATO alliance are at a post-Cold War low over Russia's actions in Ukraine, where it annexed the Crimean peninsula in March and has been supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. A month ago, NATO said Russia had several thousand combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles in eastern Ukraine supporting pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian army. Russia denies the charges but says it has a right to defend the interests of the region's Russian-speaking majority. The alliance said in the end of last month it had observed a significant pullback of Russian conventional forces from inside Ukraine since an uneasy ceasefire began on Sept. 5. The Kremlin has said Putin and Poroshenko may hold talks on the sidelines of a summit of Asian and European leaders in Milan on Oct. 16-17.

Putin orders Russian troops withdrawal from Ukrainian border: reports

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw to their permanent bases after military exercises in Rostov region n...

Friday, May 9, 2014

Coca-Cola closes Russia juice subsidiary — report

The company ends operations at two plants in the Moscow region and the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, losing annual capacity of 560 million liters and about 1,000 workers. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMgCSrMkoOs8XVaU0CLawSEk4I-DxSluiWiMSGHozAzF85g2CWx6IMTxrmAdRe_dA977podcXE2Vjyy4Xn2a3kM8p-LiXiI_B5WS9aFPPfMw7HMprMvIF8ZOKTwvJipEu_Q4tQ1-Xvw8/s1600/186.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMgCSrMkoOs8XVaU0CLawSEk4I-DxSluiWiMSGHozAzF85g2CWx6IMTxrmAdRe_dA977podcXE2Vjyy4Xn2a3kM8p-LiXiI_B5WS9aFPPfMw7HMprMvIF8ZOKTwvJipEu_Q4tQ1-Xvw8/s1600/186.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> MOSCOW, May 08. Coca-Cola will close Russian subsidiary Nidan Juices in June, Kommersant daily reported. The company ends operations at two plants in the Moscow region and the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, losing annual capacity of 560 million liters and about 1,000 workers, the paper says, adding that Nidan’s flagship brand Moya Semiya will be handed over to another Coca-Cola juice company, Multon, while the fate of Da! and Caprice brands remained unresolved. Nidan had already notified Novosibirsk region’s authorities of pending job cuts at the local facility, says the paper, quoting the region’s interim Vice-Governor Sergei Semka. <blockquote class="tr_bq">“All the region’s retailers were notified in the written form about Nidan’s closing,” said Holiday Classic retailer.</blockquote> Industry data records Coca-Cola as having acquired Nidan for $276 million in 2010 when the company was the fourth-largest juice producer in Russia with a 13% market share. But Coca-Cola had failed to sustain Nidan’s competitiveness, Russia's Union of Juice Producers is cited as saying, noting Nidan’s share slipping to 9% in 2011 and 6.9% the following year. <blockquote class="tr_bq">Coca-Cola is said to explain the wind-up of Nidan operations by a juice market contraction in Russia falling 5% last year.</blockquote> “Since Nidan’s results came in below market average, the company decided to streamline its juice business on the basis of a more efficient Multon,” Coca-Cola’s spokesman Vladimir Kravtsov is quoted as saying.

Coca-Cola closes Russia juice subsidiary — report

The company ends operations at two plants in the Moscow region and the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, losing annual capacity of 560 million l...

Ukraine ready to pay gas debt to Russia within 10 days at $268

Russian Energy Minister said, that Ukraine had no right to revise the price of gas from Russia unilaterally. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0j-9MUUHVshg45X9t7UPZSGi_Np1lj_olz9r8dcq5Jdg8rEBRQs3MoLy6B5AJeuZNwdUS7WqxfgVGqfRliz6iIDd4WwxpSJa0uVaBicDEc7f3j3v4OMWz879KDSzGMQ_8uJSWNlSztfg/s1600/rtxz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0j-9MUUHVshg45X9t7UPZSGi_Np1lj_olz9r8dcq5Jdg8rEBRQs3MoLy6B5AJeuZNwdUS7WqxfgVGqfRliz6iIDd4WwxpSJa0uVaBicDEc7f3j3v4OMWz879KDSzGMQ_8uJSWNlSztfg/s1600/rtxz.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Ukraine is ready to pay the debt for Russian gas within ten days if its price is set at $268.5 per 1,000 cubic metres, parliament-appointed Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday, May 7. “We have sent a proposal to Russia’s Gazprom to extend the contract at a price of $268.5 per 1,000 cubic metres as in the first quarter of 2014. As soon as this price is set and an additional agreement is signed, Ukraine will be prepared to pay all debts within ten days, including the debts of the previous government,” Yatsenyuk said. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said, however, that Ukraine had no right to revise the price of gas from Russia unilaterally. He said the issue of gas price had been raised by the Ukrainian delegation at the trilateral consultations in Warsaw on May 2. “We did not want to discuss this issue at the consultations because we think that there are no grounds for discussing it,” Novak said. He recalled that the contract signed 2009 was still in force. “The contract has been in effect for five years and has been implemented. Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuri Prodan reaffirmed this yesterday,” he said. Under the contract, the price of gas supplied to Ukraine is determined by the formula that is pegged to the price of oil. “This formula is used everywhere in the world for pipeline gas supplies. Therefore there are no grounds to discuss the price today and especially unilaterally offer the first quarter price of $268 per 1,000 cubic metres as the Ukrainian authorities are doing,” Novak said. Parliament-appointed acting President Alexander Turchinov on May 1 instructed the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry to secure gas supplies from Russia at the price that was in effect in February and March 2014. If Russia disagrees to meet the demand, the relevant Ukrainian ministries and agencies have been instructed to “file a corresponding lawsuit with an international court of arbitration within a month of the receipt of the notice”. Prodan said Ukraine was ready to pay its debt to Russia’s Gazprom for gas supplies at a price of $268.5 per 1,000 cubic metres. “Ukraine is ready to pay the debt. But we cannot pay the price Gazprom set from April 1. It is unjustifiably high and is about 500 U.S. dollars. We are ready to pay under our obligations,” the minister said. He disagreed with price of gas set by Gazprom which put Ukraine’s debt for gas at $3.5 billion. Yatsenyuk also reiterated that Ukraine was prepared to pay the price of $268 per 1,000 cubic metres of Russian gas. This is 45% below the established price of gas. If Moscow disagrees, Kiev will be prepared to contest its debt in court, he said. Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov said Ukraine had so far not paid the gas debt. “The deadline for payments for April has passed. Nothing was paid. Ukraine’s overdue debt for the Russian gas has increased to $3.508 billion, he said. Now that the debt has not been paid, Gazprom will start supplying gas to Ukraine against advance payments from June. Russian Energy Minister Novak said this was not a restriction but an option stipulated by the contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine. “If no payment for the gas supplied is made on May 7, Gazprom on May 16 will issue a preliminary bill for the supply of gas in June. Ukraine will have an opportunity to pay this bill by May 31, in which case the amount of gas to be supplied in June under the advance payment will not exceed the volume paid for until May 31,” Novak said.

Ukraine ready to pay gas debt to Russia within 10 days at $268

Russian Energy Minister said, that Ukraine had no right to revise the price of gas from Russia unilaterally. Ukraine is ready to pay the deb...