The Moscow Times Archive

Business: RenCap Cuts RTS '08 Target to 2,350
Renaissance Capital on Monday slashed its year-end forecast for the benchmark RTS Index from 3,000 to 2,350 and increased its equity risk premium for the country from 4 percent to 5.5 percent in a sign of continued investor jitters.

EU Scolds Russia on Belarus Conflict
By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer European Union leaders on Tuesday criticized Russia's decision to shut down its main oil pipeline to Europe, which has disrupted supplies to five countries and added fuel to the debate over Russia's reliability as an energy provider.

Putin Stands Tough on Oil Dispute
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer President Vladimir Putin sent strong signals to Belarus on Tuesday that he would not back down in a heated dispute over oil tariffs that has disrupted the flow of crude to Europe.

Putin Signs New Banking Law
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law making it easier for foreigners to gain exposure to the country's booming banking sector ahead of a major share offering by two giant, state-owned banks, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Sitronics Sets $500M Target for 2007 Float
Sitronics plans to become Russia's first technology firm to float its shares and aims to raise over half a billion dollars in an initial public offering scheduled for the first quarter of 2007, the company said Tuesday.

Majors Eye Tarim Field Exploration
By Winnie Zhu / Special to The Moscow Times Shell, Chevron and Gazprom may bid for oil exploration rights in the Tarim region of northwestern China in partnership with PetroChina, officials at the Chinese company said.

Ukraine Flourishes Despite Gas Hike
By Mara D. Bellaby / Special to The Moscow Times The warnings in Ukraine verged on the apocalyptic when Russia sharply raised prices for natural gas one year ago.

Azeris Halt Oil Exports to Europe Via Russia
State-owned oil company Socar says the crude will be used domestically as fuel for power stations.

Russia May Cut North Korean Debt
By Steve Gutterman / Special to The Moscow Times Russia could stand to profit economically and politically by developing closer relations with Kim Jong Il's regime.

Barclays Capital May Open a Moscow Branch in 2007
Barclays Capital is likely to open a Moscow office this year, its head of European investment banking said, making it the latest Western financial heavyweight to expand in the fast-growing Russian market.

Polymetal to Float 30% of Its Shares
By Robin Paxton / Special to The Moscow Times Polymetal, the world's fifth-largest silver miner, will become the latest Russian metals company to float in London and Moscow when it offers 30 percent of its shares in the first quarter of 2007.

Truckers Protest Fruit Embargo
By Simon Shuster / Special to The Moscow Times Russian police tried -- and failed --this week to break up about 60 trucks with banned fruit that have formed an emotional and politically sensitive blockade on the Georgian border.

Business in Brief
Evraz Eyes Highveld Control JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Evraz Group, the steelmaker partly owned by Roman Abramovich, sought anti-monopoly approval to take full control of Highveld Steel & Vanadium by acquiring Anglo American's remaining interest. Evraz submitted applications to both European and South African authorities ""around Dec. 20,"" Highveld CEO Andre de Nysschen said Jan. 3. Evraz must offer to buy minority shareholders' interests if its own shareholding in Highveld exceeds 35 percent, according to South African regulations. (Bloomberg) Hellstroem Moves to Altimo Kurt Hellstroem, the former CEO of Ericsson, joined the advisory board of Altimo in an effort by the telecommunications company to raise its international profile. Billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Altimo, which values its telecommunications assets in Russia and abroad at $14 billion, appointed Hellstroem to its international advisory board at a meeting Tuesday, the company said in a statement.

Flashback
Now a Moscow landmark, the Riverside Towers project near Paveletsky Station was only just taking shape in January 1996.

A Long Overdue Response
By Robin Shepherd / Special to The Moscow Times As Russia and Belarus continue to blame each other over the suspension of oil supplies through the northern leg of the Druzhba oil pipeline to Poland and Germany, Europe might well pause to take stock of its own share of responsibility for the latest threat to its energy security.

Paying Respect to the Late Mr. Noodle
The news Friday of the death of the Ramen noodle guy surprised those who had never suspected there was such an individual.

Your Own Personal Jeeves
By Joyce Man / Special to The Moscow Times Moneyed Muscovites with no time to spare are turning to concierge services for ""lifestyle management"" help.

Mulled Wine
What you'll pay for a glass of mulled wine -- sometimes called glogg, gluhwein or glintvein -- in selected Moscow cafes and restaurants (serving sizes vary):

An Almost Organic Cafe
By Nathan Toohey / Special to The Moscow Times ""An organic place for organic people"" is how Organic Cafe describes itself. But don't jump to any conclusions.

Canadian Juniors Top Russia in Finals for 3rd Straight Year
Canada scored three goals in a three-minute span late in the first period and beat Russia 4-2 Friday to win its third consecutive World Junior Ice Hockey Championship title.

When 2 Trucks Collide
By Yulia Latynina / Special to The Moscow Times On New Year's Eve, Russia managed to avoid an international scandal by reaching an agreement with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, whereby Belarus will pay Gazprom $100 per thousand cubic meters of natural gas.

Moscow Gridlock the Cost of Authoritarianism
By Anders Aslund / Special to The Moscow Times Moscow's traffic demonstrates Russia's fundamental problem. Materially, the middle class has grown strong, but a small ruling elite disregards the rest of the population.

British Detectives Focus on Lugovoi, Kovtun
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer But Scotland Yard has little hope they will be held accountable for the death of Alexander Litvinenko.

Milinkevich Detained Over the Weekend
By Yuras Karmanau / Special to The Moscow Times The leader of Belarus' beleaguered opposition, Alexander Milinkevich, was detained twice by police Saturday, his spokesman said.

Litvinenko Case Casts Light on Ex-Agents' World
By Kim Murphy / Special to The Moscow Times Former FSB and KGB operatives man the country's security services industry.

Putin Focuses on Youth in New Year's Address
President Vladimir Putin, in his annual New Year's Eve address to the nation, called on Russians to improve conditions for the country's youth.

Masimov to Become Kazakh Premier
By Raushan Nurshayeva / Special to The Moscow Times Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will nominate Karim Masimov, a business-minded deputy prime minister, as the new prime minister of the oil-producing republic, members of the parliament said Tuesday.

Turkmen Leader Looking to Liberalize His Country
By Ilan Greenberg / Special to The Moscow Times Turkmenistan's acting president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, who had promised only continuity with the severely authoritarian policies of his predecessor, is proposing measures that would help lift the nation from its fortresslike isolation.

Putin Reaffirms Faith on Christmas
President Vladimir Putin celebrated Orthodox Christmas early Sunday in a monastery outside Moscow as senior government figures attended a service in the capital's main cathedral led by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Priest Murdered in Village in the Urals
By Christian Lowe / Staff Writer Orthodox officials say the Christmas Eve killing is a sign the country is 'morally sick.'

Vatican Faces Questions as Polish Prelate Leaves
By Craig S. Smith, Ian Fisher / The Roman Catholic Church in Poland was in turmoil Monday as a second prelate stepped down because of his communist-era secret police ties, after Sunday's resignation of this city's archbishop over similar allegations.

Chavez Announces Nationalizations
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced plans to nationalize Venezuela's electrical and telecommunications companies, pledging to create a socialist state in a bold move with echoes of Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

Hussein's Voice Fills Trial After Death
By Lauren Frayer / Special to The Moscow Times Saddam Hussein had been dead nine days but his voice resounded through the courtroom as he and his cousin, ""Chemical Ali"" discussed killing thousands of Kurds in the 1980s, audiotapes played at their war crimes trial revealed.

U.S. Hunts Al-Qaida, Kills Many in Somalia
By Guled Mohamed / Special to The Moscow Times A U.S. warplane hunting al-Qaida suspects killed many people in south Somalia as other airstrikes also hit the remote region where fugitive Islamist fighters are hiding, officials said Tuesday.

News in Brief
Khodorkovsky Punished Prosecutors from the city of Chita on Tuesday defended a decision to move jailed former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky to solitary confinement, Ekho Moskvy radio reported Tuesday. Khodorkovsky had been moved into the single-person cell as punishment, prosecutors said, for drinking tea outside the permitted area. This is the third time that Khodorkovsky, now serving an eight-year sentence, has been moved to solitary confinement. The first time Khodorkovsky was forced into solitary confinement was ultimately overturned by a judge. If he is found in violation once more -- leading to a third, judicially approved confinement -- Khodorkovsky would lose any chance of early release. (MT) Bribery in Volgograd Region Pavel Karev, the speaker of the Volgograd region Duma, has been sentenced to three years in a high-security prison for accepting bribes, Ekho Moskvy reported Tuesday. Karev was arrested late last year by FSB agents after receiving a $10,000 bribe from a local businessman.

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