Month: February 2008

February 22, 2008

Medvedev to Continue Putin’s Policies in the CIS

This one comes from Reuters: Putin introduced the 42-year-old Medvedev to leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as “one of the candidates” in the March 2 election, but left no doubt he was more than that. “The C...
February 22, 2008

Energy Blast, Feb. 22, 2008

Total and StatoilHydro have landed a major deal with Gazprom to create a joint venture to develop phase 1 of the Shtokman Field. AP reports that “The new operating company, based in Zug, Switzerland, will plan, finance and build the first st...
February 22, 2008

Today in Russian Business

Lufthansa is in big political trouble once again in Russia, after tax authorities froze the accounts Tuesday over demands that the airline give up between $7.4 million and $10.3 million in outstanding payments. Renault has ponied up to buy a 25% s...
February 22, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Feb. 22, 2008

TODAY: Russia’s envoy lashes out at West over Kosovo, protests shall proceed despite ban, Tymoshenko talks gas with Putin, and the world reacts to the U.S. shooting down a satellite. After Serbian nationalists set fire to the U.S. Embassy in...
February 21, 2008

In Panic, the Siloviki Revert to Blood Libel

Russia’s finance community is officially head-over-heels in love with the president-to-be Dmitri Medvedev, whose soothing promises of legal reform and liberal institution building are music to their ears. A recent note to clients of Alfa Bank, for...
February 21, 2008

Lukashenko Attacks Putin over Kosovo

Stratfor is reporting that Belorussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has given a vitriolic interview with two Russian television stations in which he attacks Vladimir Putin as being a weak leader for allowing Kosovo’s delcaration of independ...
February 21, 2008

An Ideal Job for Putin

“He has a strong personal brand, undimmed self-belief, a devoted public following, a distinctive balding pate and – unlike Adam Applegarth – plentiful experience of bringing private-sector assets gently under the wing of the stat...
February 21, 2008

Asymmetry Grows Between Gazprom and Europe

A new article at the European Voice calls upon the European Union to get its act together with a common energy policy to achieve bargaining parity with Gazprom: Imagine, say, winter 2015, and an announcement by Gazprom that it cannot provide the g...
February 21, 2008

Energy Blast, Feb. 21, 2008

According to one UK newspaper, the Nord Stream project is either “the answer to Europe’s energy needs, a multibillion-pound black hole, [or] a Kremlin conspiracy.” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has met with Vladimir Putin and Pri...
February 21, 2008

Today in Russian Business

“If RusAl and Norilsk Nickel merge, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service could demand the creation of a commodity exchange trading in non-ferrous metals.” Vladimir Potanin’s Interros, a key shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, is cons...