(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Charles Recknagel – May 7, 2014) The European Union gets about one-third of its natural gas from Russia, and about half of that gas arrives in Europe via pipelines passing through Ukraine. Moscow is threatening to cut off natural-gas deliveries to Ukraine unless Kyiv promptly pays its outstanding bills. And that means the EU could potentially be caught in the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Diana Kulchitskaya – May 7, 2014) Visa and MasterCard will hold fast to Russia despite a new law that forces them to pay over $3.8 billion as a security deposit to the Central Bank. Both international firms consider the measures taken as too severe and think that they will not only make work in Russia […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – May 7, 2014) Russia will be ready to consider a discount for natural gas to Ukraine on the second round of negotiations on the gas issue where EU Commission representatives should also be present, Russian Izvestia reported on May 7 citing its source in the government. The “second round” of negotiations […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – May 7, 2014) Nathan Rothschild once famously said, “buy on the sound of canons, sell on the sound of trumpets.” However, the few investors that were still looking at Ukraine are fading away as the cycle of violence escalates and the body count rises. War is close and the […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – MOSCOW BLOG, Ben Aris in Moscow – May 6, 2014) With the violence in eastern Ukraine escalating by the day, the West’s policy of imposing sanctions on Russia is bound to fail. All this policy has done is to paint both the Kremlin and Washington into their respective corners, making the chances of military […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – May 6, 2014) [Charts here http://www.bne.eu/content/russia-heads-toward-stagnation] The Ukraine crisis has been an economic train wreck for Russia. The outlook for this year was never good, but on April 30 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) argued the Russian economy is already in recession and a growing number of analysts believe […]
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(Interfax – May 5, 2014) Russia filed a suit with the World Trade Organization on April 30 to begin judicial hearings on the application of the European Union’s Third Energy Package, a source close to the WTO told Interfax. The chief trade negotiator at the Economic Development Ministry, Maxim Medvedkov confirmed that the suit has been filed. He said that […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Maria Karnaukh, special to RBTH – May 2, 2014) The 2014 Winter Olympics have already gone down in history as the most expensive Olympics ever, but now they promise to set another record in terms of profits generated by the organizers. The funds from sponsors alone will bring the Sochi Organizing Committee $1.3 […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Alexei Lossan, RBTH – May 1, 2014) More than a month has now passed since the EU and the United States first imposed sanctions on Russia in response to what they saw as its annexation of Crimea. On Monday, April 28, the U.S. hit Russia with a further round of sanctions. But what […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Stephen Bierman – April 29, 2014) Exxon Mobil (XOM) Corp.’s dream of drilling in the Russian Arctic may risk running aground on the politics of Ukraine. The company plans to start drilling in August in the Arctic’s remote Kara Sea — the centerpiece of Exxon’s global alliance with Russian state-controlled OAO Rosneft. (ROSN) The partnership, which […]
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MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – Western sanctions against Moscow are unlikely to disrupt existing business ties with Russia, Renaissance Capital economist Oleg Kouzmin told RIA Novosti. “We do not think that sanctions would damage the existing business relations with Russia and its trading partners,” Kouzmin said. “Probably they may become an additional obstacle for attracting new foreign […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Carl Schreck, Luke Johnson – April 28, 2014) When the United States last month imposed visa and financial sanctions on wealthy businessmen seen as close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader laughed it off, saying: “I think I need to stay away from them.” Putin might have a harder time staying away from the group of senior officials […]
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The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release April 28, 2014 Background Conference Call on Ukraine Sanctions Manila, Philippines 9:24 P.M. PHT MS. HAYDEN: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining. We’re here to talk about the new sanctions that will be going out today on Russia. We have senior administration officials to speak with you on background. There […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Ilya Arkhipov and Kasia Klimasinska – April 29, 2014) The latest U.S. penalties against Vladimir Putin’s inner circle may provoke the Russian president into escalating the Ukraine crisis without crippling key sectors of his nation’s economy. The sanctions imposed by the Obama administration yesterday on seven officials and 17 companies won’t go unanswered, […]
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(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – April 29, 2014) The United States announced new sanctions on seven Russian government officials April 28. A long-used tactic, sanctions can yield unpredictable effects or have no effect at all, depending upon how they are crafted. It is commonly assumed that sanctions are applied when a target country’s actions are deemed unacceptable. The sanctioning nation presumably chooses […]
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(mccain.senate.gov – Washington, D.C. – April 28, 2014) U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today released the following statement on the Obama Administration’s latest round of sanctions against Russia and the situation in Ukraine: “The Obama Administration’s latest round of sanctions is days late and dollars short. While a unified U.S. and European response to Russia’s aggression […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – WASHINGTON – April 28, 2014) A fresh round of U.S. sanctions against top Russian officials amounts to little more than a “slap on the wrist” and will do little to halt the unrest in Ukraine, Republican lawmakers said. Members of Congress in recent days had called for the Obama administration to impose sanctions on key economic players in Russia, such […]
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BEREZHANY, Ternopol region. April 27 (Interfax) – Ukraine will start receiving reverse gas as early as October 2014, and will stop importing Russian gas after 2015, said independent parliamentary deputy and presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko. “We have negotiated an agreement and we will start receiving reverse gas from Slovakia in October, giving up Russian gas,” he told residents of the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson – ALABUGA, Tatarstan, April 28, 2014) As Western politicians huffed and puffed about slapping additional sanctions on Russia, captains of big global business in the country showed no jitters as they met with top Russian officials Friday. Moreover, the only person to mention Russia’s clash with the West over Ukraine at a meeting […]
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(Interfax – Vladivostok, April 26, 2014) Many foreign investors that have long been working in Russia are not planning to leave the country and intend to make new investments in the Russian Federation despite Western sanctions, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has said. “These are investors who have been working in Russia for many years and usually describe how […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Concorde Capital – April 24, 2014) The Russian Energy Ministry has offered EU Energy Commissioner GYnther Oettinger to convene negotiations with EU and Ukraine on “natural gas issues” in Moscow on April 28, Interfax reported on April 23 citing a ministry representative. “We are ready to discuss with partners the place and time of […]
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(Voice of America – Mil Arcega – April 21, 2014) Western sanctions are hurting Russia’s economy. That’s according to the country’s economic minister, who says Russia’s economic output is shrinking as investors take their money elsewhere. But some western companies are bucking that trend – expanding business interests in Russia – even as the U.S. and European allies consider wider […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Chris Weafer, Macro Advisory – April 14, 2014) “Let me warn you, if you start chasing after views, you’ll be left without bread and without views” Nikolai Gogol Weekend headlines will add to market nervousness today. The headlines from east Ukraine over the weekend will unsettle markets at the start of trading today. The […]
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MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti), Luidmila Chernova – Russia’s exclusion from the G8 is a knee-jerk reaction provoked by short-sighted interests, which will ultimately lead to economic problems, according to Andrew McKillop, a former chief policy analyst at the European Commission Directorate General for Energy. “It’s a purely political stance, provoked by only political short-term interest, and has nothing to […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Peter Hobson – April 10, 2014) U.S. fast food giant Burger King plans to expand its chain into Crimea, filling the vacuum left when McDonald’s pulled out of the peninsula last Friday, citing unspecified supply issues. Burger King currently has no outlets in Crimea, which has been at the center of tensions between Russia and […]
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BERLIN, April 10 (RIA Novosti) – The outflow of capital from Russia is not tied to events in Ukraine, but to fluctuations in the exchange rate of the ruble, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Thursday. “The outflow of capital is not mainly tied to Crimea, the outflow, of course, is connected with the events that happened in […]
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(RIA Novosti – Beijing, April 0, 2014) Russia does not intend to switch energy exports from the western to the eastern direction because of an escalation of tension over Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Arkadiy Dvorkovich said on Wednesday [9 April] after a meeting with the co-chairs of the Russia-China energy cooperation committee . “At the moment we have no intention […]
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KYIV. April 8 (Interfax) – Most Ukrainian citizens would like the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including establishing a free trade zone, to be signed as quickly as possible but stances as to when this should be done differ. According to the poll held by the Rating sociological group, the results of which Interfax obtained on Tuesday, 38% of respondents believe that […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – April 7, 2014) With pro-Russian protests in eastern Ukraine turning violent and fears growing of a Russian incursion on the pretext of “protecting” ethnic Russian civilians, attention is now turning to what the economy of this country would look like were those regions to split. The answer: not good. A group of protestors who […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – April 7, 2014) While Russia’s standoff with the West over Ukraine may have caused Italian energy group Eni to distance itself from the huge South Stream gas pipeline project linking Russia to Central Europe, partners from Germany, which is highly dependent on Russian gas, have stayed faithful. On Friday, German engineering conglomerate […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 27, 2014) U.S. spying could cost software companies said Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov, in a message attached to an Instagram shot of a recent Wall Street Journal article detailing renewed U.S interest in spying on Russia. “U.S. security services have put an end to the further use of U.S. computer software […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – PERSPECTIVE – Roland Nash of Verno Investment Research – March 27, 2014) As the conflict between Russia and the West for influence in Ukraine unfolded, finance has found itself in the unfortunate position of sitting squarely in the front line. From the acceptance by Viktor Yanukovych of a $15bn loan from Russia to the […]
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(Stratfor.com – Geopolitical Weekly – George Friedman – Tuesday, March 25, 2014 – 03:08) As I discussed last week, the fundamental problem that Ukraine poses for Russia, beyond a long-term geographical threat, is a crisis in internal legitimacy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spent his time in power rebuilding the authority of the Russian state within Russia and the authority of […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – March 24, 2014) Russian President Vladimir Putin named Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, his long-time trusted lieutenant and trouble-shooter, on March 21 to oversee the economic development of the Re public of Crimea. Crimea and the city of Sevastopol were formally incorporated into the Russian Federation as individual federation subjects on March 17. Putin then designated […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, March 24, 2014) The potential of the Crimean economy will depend to a large extent on the development of its economic ties with Ukraine, Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Andrey Klepach told a briefing in Moscow on Monday. Asked what contribution the Crimean economy would make to the Russian economy, the deputy minister said that “it […]
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MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) – G8 contacts between countries that were held as part of preparations for the G8 summit in Sochi continue today at the expert level but in other formats, the Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Interfax. “Some meetings have been cancelled. Other meetings have been held in a broader format because they envision the participation […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – March 25, 2014) “I would never want to be member of a club that wanted me as a member,” Marco Grouch famously said. Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov came out with pretty much the same defence after Russia was suspended from participating in the G8 meetings and international leaders due in Russia for the […]
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The Charlie Rose Show covers unfolding events in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, including occupied Crimea. Rose talks with Stephen Sestanovich, Stephen Cohen and Ian Bremmer.
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Chris Weafer, Macro Advisors – March 24, 2014) “Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear the most” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment The threat is more important than existing sanctions. The sanctions announced so far do not directly cause any material disruption to the economy. But the actions taken […]
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MOSCOW/VIENNA. March 20 (Interfax) – Moscow may draft its own “blacklist” of American officials as part of a response that will “mirror” the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “If Washington restarts measures to escalate tensions and confrontation, as well as attempts to tell us what we should do using the […]
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MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) – The sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union and the United States do not have international legal grounds, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “Unilateral sanctions have never done any good. They are not legal. And they do not have international legal grounds,” Lavrov said at a State Duma sitting on Thursday. “The UN […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Tatyana Lisina, special to RBTH – March 15, 2014) Russia can supply water and electricity to the peninsula, but not immediately, which could result in problems for local residents. One of the concerns of local officials in Crimea should the peninsula decide to separate from Kiev is how to supply water and electricity […]
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ST. PETERSBURG. March 13 (Interfax) – Former Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin is apprehensive about possible Western sanctions against Russia and said limitations in the banking sector have already begun. “I can say quite definitely: credit line limits for Russia are being closed,” said Kudrin, who is currently a member of the Presidential Economic Council. “Our corporate sector currently has […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – March 12, 2014) Overworked and understaffed, Russia’s fledgling Intellectual Property Rights Court is watching nervously as its case load continues to climb. “Compared to analogous courts in Europe, we have a very high case load … and an increase in workload leads to the risk of a decline in the quality of […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – editorial – March 6, 2014) As the U.S. and Europe consider financial sanctions to punish Russia for trampling on Ukraine’s sovereignty, they are coming up against an uncomfortable reality: Those sanctions tend to cut both ways. But how deep do they cut? Russia is far more financially intertwined with the West than it was back in […]
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MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti) – An adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that authorities would issue general advice to dump US government bonds in the event of Russian companies and individuals being targeted by sanctions over events in Ukraine. Sergei Glazyev said the United States would be the first to suffer in the event of any sanctions […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – March 5, 2014) A cheaper ruble and more expensive oil could actually go a long way in improving Russia’s economy, possibly offsetting other potential aftershocks of the Ukraine crisis. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in interviews on Sunday identified the ruble’s slide as among Russia’s economic challenges that could get worse […]
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[poll originally posted in late 2013] We would like to hear your opinion about unfolding events in Ukraine and welcome your participation in the following poll. Visitors can vote for up to three choices, and generally can vote once each day. There also as an option to “fill in the blank.” After you have made your choice(s) and/or added a […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – February 26, 2014) As Russia ally and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych fled and a new government took over in Kiev this weekend, Russia awoke to unpaid debts and a question: how to deal with its neighbor’s government not only politically, but economically. “The main channel of influence on the Russian economy […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktor Kuzmin, special to RBTH – February 20, 2014) Russia’s Economic Development Minister heads to Washington next week for a series of talks in increasing bilateral trade relations. Russia and the United States will make another attempt early next week to revitalize bilateral trade during a working trip to Washington by Economic Development […]
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