Asides

Political turbulence impacts on rouble

Jan 10th, 2012 | By | Category: Asides

Political turbulence is having a negative impact on the value of the Russian rouble, prompting concern among investors. The currency has weakened by three per cent against the dollar since the outbreak of political protests following the disputed parliamentary elections held at the beginning of December 2011. The upheaval has left the rouble in a [...]



United Russia party losing support

Dec 6th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

The parliamentary election in Russia has seen Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party lose a substantial level of support from around the country. In the Sunday elections, the party had 49.54 per cent of the vote, after 96 per cent of ballots had been counted. This is a significant decline on the 64.3 per cent [...]



Accused Russian spy wins fight to remain in UK

Nov 29th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

A 26-year-old woman accused of being a Russian spy has won the right to remain in the UK, despite numerous accusations that she was passing information back to her homeland. Katia Zatuliveter won her hearing with the Special Immigration Appeals Commission today, (Tuesday, 29 November) after convincing those present that she had not been liaising [...]



Luxury goods could offer a more secure investment

Oct 4th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

Luxury goods are increasingly being used as a way for wealthy individuals to get more credit for investment. Using high-value goods such as art, wine, vintage cars and boats can prove a good way for individuals to get liquidity out of their assets to invest back into a business or to make large purchases. Whereas [...]



Russia's Nord Stream pipeline in operation

Sep 6th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

The Nord Stream pipeline, which runs from Russia through to Europe, will begin pumping gas today (6 September). Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, explained that the line will begin pumping technical gas near Vyborg. The 1,220 km pipeline will link the Russian city, which lies northwest of Saint Petersburg, to the German city of Greifswald, [...]



Russia's Gazprom reports substantial rise in profits

Aug 30th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

A substantial rise in three-month profits has been reported by Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom. The group revealed that pre-tax profits for the first quarter of 2011 reached 591 billion roubles, which represents a 40 per cent increase on the same period last year. Meanwhile, sales were up by 38 per cent to 1.32 trillion [...]



Oil field exceeds expectations

Aug 16th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

Drilling and testing of the first horizontal well in the Russian Zapadno Chumpasskoye Field has exceeded expectations. Heritage Oil Plc reported that production from Well 363 is currently at a controlled rate of 1,205 bopd, contributing to the overall field production rate of c.1,600 bopd. This is a significant increase on the 431 bopd recorded [...]



Russia is 'underrated'

Aug 9th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

Credit rating companies have "clearly underrated" Russia, according to the country's Finance Ministry. Standard & Poor's, one of the largest ratings firms, have the Russian economy rated at BBB. This is the second lowest investment grade possible, making it similarly matched to Mexico. This is despite the fact that Russia's debt-to-GDP stands at 9.3 per [...]



Russian market buoys car sales

Jul 12th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

The Russian market has helped a French car maker to keep its head above the ground amid a poor performance in Europe. PSA Peugeot Citroen, France’s biggest car maker, reported a fractional increase in worldwide sales of 0.2 per cent for the first half of 2011 compared to the same six months last year. As [...]



Russia keen to develop financial services presence

Jul 5th, 2011 | By | Category: Asides

Russian politicians and investors are keen to develop Moscow as an international centre for financial services. The country’s government has been exerting pressure on the two major exchanges, Micex and RTS, to come to an agreement regarding the development of Russia’s financial services industry for some time. Now, the two have finalised a $5 billion [...]