Environmental activists in front of the LUKoil headquarters in Moscow Wednesday. They were protesting against what they said was pollution caused by Russia's top oil company near an oil excavation site in the Perm region.
Gazprom's Export Monopoly Cemented
By Stephen Boykewich
Staff Writer
The State Duma overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday formalizing Gazprom's monopoly over gas exports, defying EU calls for liberalization on the eve of the Group of Eight summit.
Steelmaker Cancels Placement of Shares
By Yuriy Humber
Staff Writer
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel, or MMK, delayed indefinitely its first-ever offer of shares to investors just hours before a Wednesday placement, blaming a slump in emerging markets.
Aeroflot Rebuffs Smuggling Allegations
By Conor Humphries
Staff Writer
Flagship carrier Aeroflot on Wednesday dismissed as hearsay allegations that its staff members had been involved in the organized smuggling of counterfeit DVDs into the United States.
Grain Exports to Plunge Due to Weather
By Anna Smolchenko
Staff Writer
Russian grain exports are set to plunge this year because of a lower harvest due to drought in the country's south and heavy rainfall in Siberia, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said Wednesday.
Soros Speaks Out Against Rosneft Listing
Reuters
Europe must develop a common energy policy and the planned flotation of state oil firm Rosneft should be blocked to tackle the threat Russia poses to energy supplies, billionaire financier George Soros said Tuesday.
Celebrity CEO Brings Color to Russian Faces
By Rebecca Hewitt
Special to The Moscow Times
For hundreds of thousands of people across Russia and the former Soviet Union, the person they credit with giving them the power to take control of their lives is not Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin but a tall Swede with an uncanny resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Heineken Eyes Russia Expansion
Reuters
Dutch brewer Heineken hopes to increase its share in Russia, its single largest market, to 20 percent from the current 16 percent in five to six years, its chairman said Wednesday.
