Search Results for: Vladimir Putin
EU unveils plans for historic single energy market
February 26th, 2015
The EU unveiled plans Wednesday for a continent-wide single energy market to reduce its uneasy reliance on Russian supplies and cut a massive annual import bill of some 400 billion euros. The proposals by the European Commission, the executive ...
Hungary says agreement reached on new gas deal with Russia
February 18th, 2015
Hungary on Tuesday reached a “political agreement” with Moscow on a new gas deal, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s main objective while hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban, who said only “technical” details needed to be finalized on the deal ...
Russian Asset Sales Muddy Sanction Compliance
February 13th, 2015
U.S. Companies Already Have to Contend With Complex Rules In recent months, Boris and Arkady Rotenberg—Russian businessmen and friends of Vladimir Putin —have sold off assets to their sons that include holdings in a Gazprom drilling contractor and the sleek Finnish Langvik Congress ...
Greek PM Tsipras in Brussels as clock ticks on EU bailout (Video)
February 12th, 2015
Greece‘s radical new prime minister Alexis Tsipras was in Brussels on Thursday to lay out his case for more financial help to fellow EU leaders following finance ministers’ failure to narrow differences overnight. The summit chairman, conservative former Polish ...
Russian Central Bank Defends Its Independence After Surprise Rate Cut
February 2nd, 2015
Ruble Slides Lower Against the Dollar The Bank of Russia has defended its independence after Friday’s surprise cut in interest rates raised concerns about the influence of the Kremlin, industrialists and bankers over the central bank’s policy. Amid complaints ...
S&P Downgrades Russia’s Sovereign Credit Rating to Junk
January 27th, 2015
Ratings agency S&P has cut Russia’s sovereign credit rating to junk status, bringing it below investment grade for the first time in a decade. Warning of difficult times ahead for Russia’s economy, S&P said Monday that it had cut ...
Russian Ruble Falls After Tensions Flare Over Ukraine
January 26th, 2015
The Russian ruble fell sharply on opening on Monday, following a weekend of violence in eastern Ukraine and threats of further Western sanctions against Russia. At 10:55 the ruble was down 2.4 percent against the dollar at 65.82 and 2.4 percent weaker against the euro at 73.85. President Vladimir Putin blamed “criminal orders” by Ukrainian ...
Russia Abandons PetroDollar By Opening Reserve Fund
January 16th, 2015
2015 has not been good to Russia; the spread between Brent and WTI is gone in anticipation of US exports and both benchmarks have flirted with sub $45 prices. A hostage to such prices, the ruble has yet to ...
Bank of Russia Picks New Monetary Policy Chief as Ruble Plunges
January 15th, 2015
Russia’s central bank replaced its head of monetary policy after a series of emergency measures failed to contain the ruble’s decline, drawing criticism from President Vladimir Putin. Dmitry Tulin, a former central bank official who also worked at the International Monetary ...
Russia faces wave of bankruptcies if interest rates don’t fall
January 13th, 2015
The pressure is building on Vladimir Putin: Russia will be hit by a wave of bankruptcies unless it cuts interest rates very soon, a top financial official warned Monday. Anatoly Aksakov, president of Russia’s regional banking association and deputy ...
