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☆ Ukraine says it will hit Russia's precious oil refineries even if the US tells it not to
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The US has urged Ukraine not to strike Russian oil refineries, fearing it could drive up prices and prompt retaliation, reports say. Ukraine has ramped up its attacks in recent months, targeting Russia's energy infrastructure. Ukraine has ramped up its attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure in recent months, conducting long-range drone strikes on some of its biggest oil refineries. Russian Emergencies Ministry/ReutersShortly after the Financial Times report, a Ukrainian government official responded publicly, saying that Ukraine would continue to strike oil refineries. More than 10 major refineries and depots have been damaged, and oil prices have spiked in recent weeks.

Persons: —, Biden, Olga Stefanishyna, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Torbjörn Törnqvist Organizations: US, Service, Financial Times, Russian Emergencies Ministry, Reuters, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Gunvor Locations: Ukraine, Washington, Russia, Ukrainian, Klintsy, Bryansk Region, Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Dnipro

☆ North Korean missiles won't defeat Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

An expert believes that North Korean short-range ballistic missiles could hit pinpoint targets. North Korean arms are known for being cheap rather than good, as Moscow discovered when it recently began importing shoddy North Korean ammunition . But these North Korean ballistic missiles are not some knockoff of the notorious 1950s Soviet Scud, a liquid-fueled rocket that takes more than an hour to launch. "They may have some design heritage with Russian systems, but they borrow heavily from North Korean expertise." This suggests that Russia will need a lot of North Korean missiles, which in turn raises the question of North Korea's rocket manufacturing capacity.

Persons: —, Russia's, Masao Dahlgren, Dahlgren, Ukraine –, Kim Jong Organizations: Service, White House, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Korean, International Institute for Strategic Studies Locations: Russia, Korean, Ukraine, Korea, Moscow, Zaporizhia, Washington ,, United States, Iran, Nazi, Iranian, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Japan, South Korea, Pyongyang, Russian, Korea's

☆ Ukraine conducts new attack on Russian railway deep in Siberia - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsKYIV, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ukraine's domestic spy agency has detonated explosives on a Russian railway line deep in Siberia, the second attack this week on military supply routes in the area, a Ukrainian source told Reuters on Friday. The train had been using a backup railway line after an attack on a nearby tunnel a day earlier caused trains to be diverted, the source said. The Ukrainian source, who said both operations were conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), gave a similar assessment of the damage, citing Russian Telegram channels. Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway is widely seen as more important for Russian freight transport than the Baikal-Amur Mainline. A Russian industry source who declined to be identified said the backup route was functioning and being used by trains carrying freight on Friday afternoon.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Tom Balmforth, Gleb Stolyarov, Timothy Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Security Service of Ukraine, Russian, Reuters, Russian Railways, Russia's, Railway, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Siberia, Ukrainian, Russia, Siberia's Buryatia, Mongolia, Russian, Buryatia, Moscow, Chertov, Russia's Baikal, Russia's, Baikal, Amur, Kyiv

Prior to the February 2022 invasion, Chinese cars accounted for less than 10% of the Russian market. Russia has jumped from 11th place to become China's largest export market for cars, reaching a value of $9.4 billion in January-October, Chinese customs data showed. Overall, monthly car sales in Russia are now more than double what they were a year ago, Autostat data showed, while separate data from federal statistics service Rosstat showed car production was nearly three times higher in September year-on-year, underlining the sector's partial recovery. 'UNSTABLE, SHAKY' MARKETSanctions against Russia contributed to lower car production and sales most notably in 2022, but also after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Meanwhile, the rouble's slide to 100 against the dollar this year has made imports more expensive, depressing purchases of Chinese cars.

Persons: PPK, Sergei Udalov, Udalov, Russia's, Natalia Zubarevich, Zubarevich, Gleb Stolyarov, Alexander Marrow, Zoey Zhang, Vineet Sachdev, Mike Collett, White, Mark Potter Organizations: Reuters, Reuters Graphics, Chery, Geely, HK, West shuns, Autostat, Russia, Western, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Moscow State University, Wages, Lada, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Soviet, Beijing, China, West shuns Russia, Western

☆ Russia's weaker hand undermines case for Power of Siberia 2 gas link to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Vladimir Soldatkin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Russia currently exports gas to China through the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline, which began operating in 2019 and runs through eastern Siberia into China's northeastern Heilongjiang province. Moscow has not said how much the 2,600 km (1,616 miles) Power of Siberia-2 would cost or how it would be financed. Russia aims to increase supplies via Power of Siberia 1 to 38 bcm annually by 2025. If the plans for Power of Siberia 2 and another link from Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin come to fruition, Russia's pipeline gas exports to China would rise to almost 100 bcm per year by 2030. "This fact will require CNPC to build on its own all the necessary gas transportation infrastructure in China," Kondratov wrote.

Persons: Maxim, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Kondratov, Kondratov, Sergey Vakulenko, Vakulenko, Viktoria Abramchenko, Andrew Hayley, Chen Aizhu, Oksana Kobzeva, Mark Trevelyan, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, Russia, East, Power, Gazprom, Economics, Russian Academy of Science, Carnegie Endowment, International, Soyuz, Thomson Locations: Siberia, Svobodny, Amur, Russia, East Power, Turkmenistan, MOSCOW, China, Europe, Yamal, Mongolia, Baltic, Moscow, Ukraine, Beijing, China's, Heilongjiang, Russian, Power, Russia's, Sakhalin, That's, Nord, Turkey, Japan, United States, Qatar, Australia, Singapore

☆ With outlaws for allies, is Russia becoming another 'rogue state'?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Vladimir Smirnov | Afp | Getty ImagesUnder President Vladimir Putin, Russia has occupied an often contradictory and increasingly unsettling position on the global stage in recent years. Some close followers of Russia believe Moscow, operating outside international law, is increasingly acting like a "rogue state" itself, particularly in its desire to challenge and subvert the West's dominance in global affairs. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia November 20, 2017. "Russia is increasingly a rogue state: Its core relations are with countries outside a rules-based global order: Belarus, Iran, Syria, and North Korea," Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of Eurasia Group, told CNBC Monday. Friends, with benefitsRussian political analyst Anton Barbashin rejected the label of "rogue state" for Russia, however, saying Moscow continues to hold power and influence in a more global geopolitical sphere.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Smirnov, —, Bashar al, Assad, Mikhail Klimentyev, South Korea —, Ian Bremmer, Bremmer, Kim, Kim Jong, Putin, Edward Howell, Anton Barbashin, Barbashin, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Mikhail Svetlov Organizations: North, Vostochny, Afp, Getty, . Security, Sputnik, Kremlin, Eurasia Group, CNBC, NATO, Ukraine, Russian, Oxford University, UN Security Council, UN, Democratic People's, UNSC, Indian Locations: Amur, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Belarus, Syria, Ukraine, Moscow, China, India, Black, Sochi, U.S, South Korea, United States, Pyongyang, Russian, Tsiolkovsky, Korea, Beijing, DPRK, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North, Turkey, OSAKA, JAPAN, Osaka, Japan

Finland is a European Union member that supports sanctions on Russia and the most recent to join NATO. Both Turkey and the UAE have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but have not joined Western sanctions and sought to maintain ties with Russia. The latest sanctions package targets Russian companies that repair, develop and manufacture weapons, including the Kalibr cruise missile. Turkey, meanwhile, has tried to balance its close ties with both Russia and Ukraine, positioning itself as a mediator. Including the latest sanctions, the U.S. has targeted almost 3,000 businesses and people since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to State.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, ” James O’Brien, Putin, O’Brien, “, ” O’Brien, ”, Richard Connolly, Alexander, Lukashenko, ” Connolly, Denis Manturov, Connolly, Tom Keatinge, Andrei Bokarev, Sergei Shoigu, Iskander Makhmudov, Alexei Krivoruchko, Wagner, Otar, Partskhaladze, Antony Blinken, Suzan Fraser, Jon Gambrell, Antony Blinken’s Organizations: United Arab, State, Treasury, NATO, State Department’s Office, Associated Press, State Department, European Union, The State Department, Russia’s Ministry of Defense, Oxford, Western, Russian Industry, Trade, Centre for Financial, Security, Royal United Services Institute, “, U.S, Russian Defense, Russian, Federal Security Service Locations: States, Russia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Ukraine, U.S, UAE, Russia’s, Moscow, Finland, European, Belarus, Russian, ”, London, North Korea, Georgian, State, Ankara, Dubai

The move in August by Russian companies to instead offer fertilisers at market prices could increase India's import costs and subsidy burden amid a rally in global prices, as a top exporter, China, tries to curtail overseas sales. "Russian companies are offering fertilisers at the market prices," the official said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Reuters Graphics"Russian companies were offering DAP at discounts of as high as $80 (per ton). DAP prices were around $440 per ton in July, he added. "The global fertiliser prices are rising just before crucial state elections in India.

Persons: Amit Dave, Rajendra Jadhav, Polina Devitt, Tony Munroe, David Evans Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, United, Reuters Graphics, Thomson Locations: Ahmedabad, India, Rights MUMBAI, LONDON, China, New Delhi, Russia, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Russian, Mumbai

☆ How U.S. microchips are fueling Russia's military — despite sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Murky supply chainsNot all advanced technologies are subject to Western sanctions on Russia. So, a Russian military, as well as its civilian economy, have become dependent," Sam Bendett, advisor at the Center for Naval Analyses, said. Meanwhile, sanctions on Russia are largely limited to Ukraine's Western allies, meaning that many countries continue to trade with Russia. And this is what the Russian industry as well as the Russian military and its intelligence services are taking advantage of," Bendett said. Sanctions clampdownThe burgeoning trade flows have prompted calls from Western allies to either get more countries on board with sanctions, or slap secondary sanctions on certain entities operating within those countries in a bid to stifle Russia's military strength.

Persons: Elina Ribakova, KSE, Sam Bendett, spokespeople, Bendett, Sellers Organizations: CNBC, Semiconductors, Peterson Institute for International Economics, KSE Institute, Kyiv School, Economics, United Arab, Moscow, Royal United Services Institute, U.S ., Center for Naval, Russian, Economic Security, of, CNBC Exports, Union, Russian Federation, European Union, Peterson Institute for International Locations: Russia, Moscow, China, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Russia's, U.S, Japan, Germany, Russian, microchips, Hong Kong, of Ukraine, Caucasus, Central Asia, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan

☆ Russia is 'accepting risks' and dropping its guard against other threats to hold its ground in Ukraine, British military says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Shifting the bulk of its military to Ukraine has made Russia vulnerable elsewhere, experts say. The war has become a nearly all-consuming effort for Russia's military. Units from across Russia are now "bearing the brunt" of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that kicked off in early June, the British Ministry of Defense said in an update published Thursday. "The way Russia is accepting risks across Eurasia highlights how the war has dislocated Russia's established national strategy," the ministry said. "Russia has really made itself vulnerable globally," Dara Massicot, an expert on the Russian military at the Rand Corporation think tank, said in April.

Persons: —, Ukraine's, Ben Wallace, Muhammed Enes Yildirim, Dara Massicot, Adm, Tony Radakin, Radakin, ANATOLII STEPANOV, Christopher Cavoli, Cavoli, we've, Justin Bronk, They'd, Bronk, they're Organizations: Service, British Ministry of Defense, Russian, Eastern Military District, 61st Naval Infantry Brigade, NATO, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Arms Army, Rand Corporation, US European Command, Royal United Services Institute Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, Belarus, Zaporizhzhia, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Crimea, Velyka, Donetsk Oblast, Bakhmut, Moscow, Russian, Oskol, Ukraine's Kharkiv, AFP, British, Kaliningrad, Finland

May 31 (Reuters) - Russia's unemployment rate dropped to a record low 3.3% in April, data showed on Wednesday, highlighting the labour shortage that is stifling economic growth, while other indicators painted a mixed picture. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer demand, fell 0.1% compared with March and industrial output dropped 5.0%. Excluding seasonal factors, economic growth slowed to 0.2% in April, the ministry said. Russia's market has changed drastically since the sanctions war began, Tsukhlo said, with mass-market and expensive brands alike leaving the country. "(They) could have been replaced by Russian light industry products, but there is no one there to produce them," he said.

Persons: Sergei Tsukhlo, Tsukhlo, Alexander Marrow, Darya, Alison Williams Organizations: Russia's Gaidar, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian

☆ Europe wants to ban Russian diamond imports. What comes next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“Russian diamonds are not forever,” European Council President Charles Michel said on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Friday. Tatyana Makeyeva/ReutersA ban on Russian diamonds could inflate prices for European consumers, especially if diamond production elsewhere doesn’t ramp up. The biggest task facing Europe is how to design an air-tight ban that prevents Russian diamonds from arriving in the bloc through circuitous routes. “There are a lot of Russian diamonds that still get sold within the American economy,” he said. “If you really want to close loopholes, you need to find a system that prevents [Russian] diamonds going to the G7 market,” Neys said.

“This is the second train, there was one like it just before.”The video, seemingly filmed in late March, shows old Soviet tanks being transported, somewhere in Russia. Moscow has been known to bring out older military equipment from storage to help it prosecute the war in Ukraine, but these are different. The tanks are T-55s, a model first commissioned by the Soviet Union’s Red Army in 1948, shortly after the end of World War II. Soviet T-54/T-55 tanks form a threatening ring round the Parliament buildings in Hungary on November 12, 1956. T-55 tanks drive through the streets of Prague, capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, in 1968.

☆ Russian Attack on Ukraine Kills at Least 12 People: Live Updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Marc Santora | Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Evidence is piling up about the steady disintegration of Russia’s vital natural gas export industry since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. With this success behind them, European leaders are contemplating widening their attack to include imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia. Russian L.N.G. energy commissioner, has urged members of the bloc and European energy companies to stop buying Russian L.N.G. On the other hand, having largely gone cold turkey on Russian pipeline gas, European leaders may calculate that “going without Russian L.N.G.

☆ Russia’s Gas Exports Are Expected to Slide in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stanley Reed | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Evidence is piling up about the steady disintegration of Russia’s vital natural gas export industry since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian news reports estimate that Russia’s gas exports by pipeline could fall as much as 50 percent in volume this year from last year. The problems are not limited to gas delivered by pipeline. The European Union is threatening to curtail imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia, which were the solitary bright spot for the Russian industry last year. Russia has to a great extent cut itself off from Europe — its most important customer for natural gas, one that paid on time and full prices.

☆ Russia says it may take over Toyota plant in St Petersburg -TASS
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - Japanese car maker Toyota's (7203.T) St Petersburg plant may be transferred to the Russian state entity NAMI, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on Thursday, according to the state-run TASS news agency. "The transfer of Toyota's Russian asets to NAMI is being considered," Manturov was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a business congress. A spokesperson for Toyota said on Friday it was considering what to do regarding the plant, after having already decided last year to end vehicle production in Russia after suspending production in St Petersburg last March. "While it's true that we're considering various options, nothing has been decided at this point," the spokesperson said. Toyota said in September it had decided to stop vehicle production in Russia due to the interruption in supplies of key materials and parts.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine is endangering Russia's centuries of great-power status
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Robert Farley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

And yet Russian power and influence have waned in the past; the first 20 years of the 20th century represented a nadir in Russian power, as the Russian Empire lost most of its western territories after suffering a series of defeats at the hands of Japan, Germany, and Poland. Russian soldiers in World War II uniforms parade at Dvortsovaya Square in St. Petersburg in January 2019. AP Photo/Dmitri LovetskyBy virtue of its size and legacy, Russia is undoubtedly an important military power. Even as Russia has struggled mightily to impose its will upon Ukraine, nuclear weapons have ensured that NATO stays on the sidelines. Thomson ReutersBut is Russia a great power if it can't even crush its neighbor without help from China?

☆ Russia is showing off advanced military tech around the world while its troops in Ukraine struggle with obsolete Soviet-era weapons
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has been showing off advanced military technology around the world, according to the UK MOD. But its soldiers are struggling in Ukraine with Soviet-era equipment and limited supplies. This comes at the same time as Russia's own soldiers are dying in droves in Ukraine using old Soviet-era equipment. TASS also said that other Russian defense companies were due to show off "more than 200 full-scale samples of weapons and military equipment, ammunition and gear" at the event. As a result, the country's military has had to take Soviet-era tanks out of storage to fight, and has been using less-accurate Soviet-era missiles.

Although winter weather has been gentle to Ukraine’s crops, the ongoing conflict has reduced the country’s 2023 winter wheat plantings 22% below last year’s harvested area. CROP CONDITIONSRecent rains for parched winter wheat in the U.S. Plains have also added to wheat market pressure, though updated crop conditions released late on Monday suggest risks remain. Winter wheat in Texas and Oklahoma is not doing well, but it is better than a year ago. This week, Oklahoma is at 36% GE versus 17% a month ago, 31% in November and 11% a year ago. Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma planted half of this year’s U.S. winter wheat acres, and producers there are hoping yields will rebound from last year’s drought.

☆ Rusal accuses Potanin of breaching Nornickel shareholder pact
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aluminium ingots are seen stored at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in Krasnoyarsk, Russia October 3, 2018. Under the management of Mr. Potanin, Norilsk Nickel lost a number of assets that played a key role in group's activities. This resulted in Norilsk Nickel and its shareholders suffering significant losses." In July, Potanin in July floated the idea of a $60 billion merger of Nornickel with Rusal as a means of mitigating possible sanctions risks, but he said last month the idea had been postponed. He also said the 10-year shareholder agreement protecting Nornickel's dividend payouts was on track to expire at the end of 2022.

☆ Carmaker Nissan just sold its Russian business for less than $1 to a state-owned company, chalking up nearly $700 million in losses as it exits the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Carmaker Nissan said it is exiting Russia and selling its operations to state-owned NAMI for under $1. The deal gives Nissan the option to buy back the entity and its operations within the next six years. The deal allows for the Russian operations to continue and preserves 2,000 jobs in the company. However, the deal gives Nissan the option to buy back the entity and its operations within the next six years, the carmaker added. Nissan suspended its Russian operations in March after the country invaded Ukraine on February 24, triggering sweeping sanctions against Moscow.

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