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Saudi Arabia on Thursday extended a voluntary oil production cut of 1 million barrels per day to the end of September, keeping the door open for another extension. Russia has also elected to reduce its oil exports by 300,000 barrels per day next month. A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. UBS said it expects Brent prices to trade in the $85 to $90 per barrel range over the coming months. Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that the country's crude oil inventory declined by a record 17 million barrels last week as exports and refiners' input of crude oil ramped up in the heart of summer travel season.

Persons: Brent, Alexander Novak, Maxim, Shariq Khan, Natalie Grover, Arathy, Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan, David Gregorio, Leslie Adler, Deepa Babington Organizations: Saudi, bbl, UBS, U.S . West Texas Intermediate, Organization of, Petroleum, REUTERS, U.S . Energy Information Administration, Bank of England, Thomson Locations: Russia, Saudi Arabia, U.S, Russian, OPEC, Saudi Aramco, Abqaiq, Bengaluru, London, Houston, Singapore

Brent crude futures rose 74 cents, or 0.9%, to $85.88 a barrel by 11:13 a.m. EDT (1513 GMT). Both benchmarks were set for their longest streak of weekly gains this year. Russia has also elected to reduce its oil exports by 300,000 bpd next month. A view shows branded oil tanks at Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019. UBS said it expects Brent prices to trade in the $85 to $90 per barrel range over the coming months.

Persons: Brent, Maxim, Alexander Novak, Shariq Khan, Natalie Grover, Arathy, Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Saudi, bbl, UBS BENGALURU, Brent, . West Texas Intermediate, UBS, REUTERS, Organization of, Petroleum, Bank of England, Thomson Locations: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, Abqaiq, Russian, OPEC, U.S, Bengaluru, London, Houston, Singapore

☆ China to send special envoy to Saudi Arabia for Ukraine talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui leaves the headquarters of the Russian foreign ministry following talks in Moscow, Russia, May 26, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File PhotoBEIJING, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will visit Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for international talks on the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, China's foreign ministry said on Friday. "China is willing to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine," Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson at the Chinese ministry, said in a statement. China was invited to a previous round of talks in Copenhagen in late June but did not attend. Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Eurasian Affairs Li Hui, Maxim, Wang Wenbin, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Toby Chopra Organizations: Eurasian Affairs, REUTERS, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, BEIJING, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, China, Copenhagen

☆ Russia's world champion beach footballers pining for international return
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/11] Russian national beach football team's forward Fedor Zemskov attempts a bicycle kick during a practice session, at a training camp, held ahead of the Nations Cup 2023 four-team international tournament in Moscow, Russia, July 18, 2023. That applies to beach football too and, while the ban is clearly negative for Russia, captain Anton Shkarin believes the wider game has also suffered. "When you disconnect a national team such as ours, the class falls immediately," he told Reuters at a training session in Moscow. "We communicate well with the guys from Europe who play and everyone is upset that we're banned." Reporting by Alexey Petrov; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Ken FerrisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Fedor Zemskov, Maxim, Anton Shkarin, we're, Mikhail Likhachev, Stanislav Kosharnyi, Alexey Petrov, Alexander Marrow, Ken Ferris Organizations: Nations, REUTERS, soccer, UEFA, FIFA, Reuters, United Arab Emirates, Games, Thomson Locations: Russian, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine MOSCOW, Ukraine, Europe, St Petersburg, Iran, Senegal, Belarus, Brazil, India, China, South Africa

Video The attack on the Moscow buildings closed traffic on at least two large avenues, according to state media. Credit Credit... Reuters Smoke was rising from the top floors of a high-rise building in a complex for Leroy Merlin, a French home improvement store. Russia has fired missiles and drones at cities across Ukraine nearly every day while Russian cities, including Moscow, have been spared the violence of the war. Then on May 31, the Russian defense ministry said at least eight drones had targeted the capital and surrounding region. Ukraine has started to publicly take credit for attacks in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, arguing that the attacks are happening inside Ukrainian territory.

Persons: Maxim Shemetov, Sergei Sobyanin, Leroy Merlin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Shawn Paik, Jin Yu Young, Ivan Nechepurenko Organizations: ., Reuters, Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian National Defense Management Center, The New York Times, Credit, Military University, Central Military, Russian Armed Forces Locations: Moscow, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Komsomolsky, Russian, Moskva, Russia, Crimea

☆ Russia accuses Ukraine of 'terrorism' after drone strike near Moscow army HQ
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The drone attack, though not serious in terms of its human cost or damage, was the most high-profile of its kind since two drones reached the Kremlin in May. [1/5]A member of the security services investigates the damaged building following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, July 24. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the RTVI TV channel Ukraine was guilty of what she called "an act of international terrorism." Citing emergency services, Russian state news agencies reported that drone fragments had been found near a building on Komsomolsky Avenue, which runs through Moscow. After May's drone attack on the Kremlin, U.S. drone experts concluded they might have been launched from inside Russia.

Persons: Nobody, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Maxim Shemetov, Mykhailo Fedorov, Fedorov, Maria Zakharova, Sergei Sobyanin, Andrew Osborn, Lidia Kelly, Simon Cameron, Moore, David Holmes, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Defence Ministry, Defence, Russian, Reuters, Kremlin, Russian Defence Ministry, Odesa, REUTERS, ACT, Foreign Ministry, Moscow, Thomson Locations: Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, MOSCOW, Crimea, Russian, Ukrainian, U.S, Melbourne

☆ Russia offers BRICS partners a module on its planned space station
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A view shows a model of a new Russian orbital space station at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Moscow region, Russia August 15, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File PhotoJuly 24 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's space agency on Monday suggested Moscow's partners in the BRICS group - Brazil, India, China and South Africa - could build a module for its planned orbital station, the Interfax news agency reported. Reporting from a BRICS meeting on space cooperation in Hermanus, South Africa, Interfax said it was "assumed" that the first module of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) would be launched in 2027, with construction completed by 2032. By then, the International Space Station - one of the last forums of cooperation between Washington and Moscow as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent relations to a post-Cold War low - is likely to have been decommissioned. Roskosmos said last August that its new space station would consist of six modules and a service platform, to accommodate up to four cosmonauts, and be built in two phases.

Persons: Maxim, Yuri Borisov, Roskosmos, Borisov, Kevin Liffey, Andrew Heavens Organizations: Patriot Congress, Exhibition, REUTERS, Russian, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Hermanus, Washington, Ukraine

Russia's gas, in contrast to its oil, is not subject to Western sanctions, although Brussels is considering extending its embargo on Russian fuel. Gazprom's gas exports, mainly to Europe, almost halved last year because of the political crisis over Ukraine and after undersea Nord Stream pipelines were damaged by unexplained blasts last September. Timchenko had long challenged Gazprom's monopoly on Russian gas exports, saying in 2012 that Europeans wanted to have an alternative to Gazprom. "I believe that Gazprom Export's marketing campaign led to its European share decrease ... Liquefied natural gas has already come to the market. In essence, a new, cheaper gas market is emerging; one has to see such things," Timchenko told the Forbes magazine in 2012.

Persons: Maxim Shemetov, Russia's, Ronald Smith of, Novatek, Vladimir Putin, Alexei Miller, Putin, Miller, Gennady Timchenko, Timchenko, Oksana Kobzeva, Vladimir Soldatkin, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Gazprom, REUTERS, Stream, EU, Kremlin, European Union, Novatek, BCS, Forbes, Thomson Locations: Russia, Europe, MOSCOW, Ukraine, Brussels, Siberia, LNG, Ronald Smith of Moscow, Germany, Italy, Soviet, St Petersburg, Moscow, Russian

IMPORTED ASSEMBLY KITSAfter a chaotic decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia encouraged Western carmakers to build factories. "Undoubtedly, the expansion of Chinese carmakers on the Russian market will continue," said Andrey Olkhovsky, the head of dealership chain Avtodom. It is a radical change of fortunes for Chinese carmakers in Russia. Production of Chinese vehicles only began in Russia in 2019 with the arrival of Chinese automotive company Great Wall Motor (601633.SS). LESS LOCAL INPUTUnder the partnership with Chinese firms, less of the production at former Western factories is currently conducted in Russia, the sources said.

Persons: Jetour, Maxim Shemetov, Moscow's, Sergei Sobyanin, French carmaker, JAC, Sehol, Moskvich, capitalising, Vladimir Bespalov, Vladimir Putin, Andrey Olkhovsky, Olkhovsky, Wall, Sollers, Avtovaz, Denis Manturov, Gleb Stolyarov, Alexander Marrow, Zhang Yan, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, French, French carmaker Renault, Moscow Automobile Factory, JAC Motors, Reuters, Renault, Nissan, Russia's Industry, Trade Ministry, Wall, Chery, Geely, HK, Argo, Ford Transit, Nissan's St, Lada, China's FAW Group's, FAW, Western, Trade, Thomson Locations: Lyubertsy, Moscow Region, Russia, Soviet, Moscow, Anhui, Ukraine, Soviet Union, Western, Tula, Autostat, Tatarstan, Nissan's, Nissan's St Petersburg, St Petersburg, Leningrad, Japan, Europe, China, Shanghai

☆ No one from Wagner has visited barracks offered by Belarus, ministry adviser says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TSEL, Belarus, July 7 (Reuters) - No one from the Russian Wagner mercenary group has yet visited a disused military camp that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has offered for Wagner's use, an adviser to the Belarus defence minister told reporters on Friday. Asked if Wagner had come to look at the site, the adviser, Leonid Kasinsky, said: "They have not come, they have not looked." [1/3]A view shows a tent camp, which, according to the Belarusian Defence Ministry, was set up for exercises at a disused military base near the village of Tsel in the Asipovichy District, Belarus July 7, 2023. Lukashenko said Belarus had offered Wagner the disused Soviet-era military quarters near Tsel, but added that "Wagner has a different vision for deployment", on which he declined to elaborate. Kasinsky said around 300 tents at the camp had been put up for an exercise, and were not connected to Wagner.

Persons: Russian Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Lukashenko, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Leonid Kasinsky, Maxim Shemetov Lukashenko, Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Kasinsky, Guy Faulconbridge, Kevin Liffey, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: Russian Defence Ministry, Belarusian Defence Ministry, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: TSEL, Belarus, Russian, Tsel, Asipovichy District, Russia

☆ US says it is a new thing to see Putin's leadership directly challenged
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Simon Lewis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"It is a certainly a new thing to see President Putin's leadership directly challenged. Prigozhin's Wagner has fought the bloodiest battles of the 16-month war in Ukraine. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File PhotoThe United States had communications with the Russian government on Saturday, both through U.S. Tracy told Russian officials that the United States expects Russia to uphold its obligations to protect embassy and diplomatic personnel. It was founded in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and started supporting pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

Persons: Russia's Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin's, Matthew Miller, Prigozhin, Prigozhin's Wagner, Vladimir Putin, Maxim, Lynne Tracy, Tracy, Miller, Wagner, Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, Daphne Psaledakis, Jasper Ward, Chris Reese, Leslie Adler Organizations: U.S . State Department, Department, REUTERS, U.S, Central African, Russia, Thomson Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Ukraine, States, United States, Libya, Syria, Central African Republic, Mali, Ukraine's Crimea, Donbas, Washington, Africa, Jasper

Moscow CNN —Some Russians greeted the weekend’s armed insurrection led by the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with sympathy, appearing to welcome the mercenary fighters. Roman Romokhov/AFP/Getty ImagesLocals were also seen booing police cars that arrived as the Wagner fighters vacated Rostov-on-Don on Saturday, in an abrupt de-escalation. Over the weekend, checkpoints had been set up on Moscow’s outskirts, and residents braced for Wagner fighters to enter. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters“It was really uneasy yesterday,” Moscow resident Andrey told Reuters, “But look now, people are walking in the streets and it’s all good. But that sentiment runs counter to the messaging from the Kremlin, which has painted Prigozhin and his Wagner fighters as traitors to Russia.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, “ Wagner, Moscow –, Vladimir Putin, “, Roman Romokhov, ”, Dmitry, Natalia Kolesnikova, Maxim Shemetov, Andrey, ” Oleg, Prigozhin’s, Irada Zeynalova, Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, Alexander Ermochenko, Don, Putin, hasn’t, Putin – Organizations: Moscow CNN —, Kremlin, Southern Military District, Getty, Rostov, Don, ”, Reuters, NTV, Belarusian, Fighters, CNN Locations: Moscow, Russian, Rostov, AFP, ” Rostov, Moscow’s, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Don

☆ McDonald's in Russia is now called 'Tasty & that's it' and Big Macs are Big Hits
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Lauren Steussy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

New owners of locations that once housed McDonald's and Starbucks say they got a great deal. In May 2022, McDonald's stopped doing business in Russia, citing the war in Ukraine, and the "unpredictable operating environment." They replaced Big Macs with Big Hits and sold a record 120,000 burgers on the first day in business, the chain's CEO told Reuters at the time. "We have never seen such daily turnover in the whole time McDonald's has worked in Russia," Oleg Paroev told Reuters in June 2022. Starbucks locations in Russia also ceased operations around the same time and became Stars Coffee, a cafe with a familiar green logo of a vaguely seafaring-looking queen.

Persons: —, McDonald's, Krispy Kreme, Oleg Paroev, Maxim, Anton Pinskiy, Timati, Vladimir Putin, Pinskiy, Alexander Govor, Vladimir Organizations: Global, Service, Guardian, Reuters, REUTERS, Tass, Starbucks Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian

☆ Exclusive: Russia's VTB may pull out of running for Yandex stake - CEO Kostin
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovMOSCOW, June 9 (Reuters) - Russian state-owned lender VTB (VTBR.MM) may pull out of the running to acquire a stake in internet giant Yandex (YNDX.O), the bank's CEO, Andrei Kostin, told Reuters, as discussions are now centered around higher prices than the bank's initial offer. Kostin said he was not sure VTB would continue with its bid. "I am not sure that we will go into Yandex," Kostin told Reuters when asked about plans. "It was announced at $7 billion recently, we submitted our application at a different price level, lower," Kostin said. VTB was hit hard with Western sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine, something that limits its ability to front a consortium bid, Kostin said.

Persons: Maxim Shemetov, Andrei Kostin, Kostin, –, Arkady Volozh, VTB, Vladimir Potanin, Vagit Alekperov, Guy Faulconbridge, Elena Fabrichnaya, Alexander Marrow Organizations: Moscow International Business Center, REUTERS, VTB, Reuters, Kostin, Yandex NV, Thomson Locations: Moscow, City, Russia, Maxim Shemetov MOSCOW, Yandex, Ukraine, Yandex's

[1/4] Residents of the Shebekinsky district of Russia's Belgorod region, who were evacuated following recent attacks on settlements near the Russia-Ukraine border in the course of a military conflict, visit a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Belgorod, Russia, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovSummary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. The blasts - some distant, some uncomfortably close - have become a daily reality for Markevich and her neighbours in the Russian town of Razumnoye, a 35-minute drive from the border with Ukraine. So too has the occasional boom of Russian air defences directed against incoming missiles or drones. Her neighbour Natalia Cherkashina, 65, said that what once seemed like a faraway conflict was now very close to home.

Persons: Maxim, Irina Markevich, Markevich, Natalia Cherkashina, they're, Viktor Ignatyev, Vyacheslav Gladkov, Cherkashina, Mark Trevelyan, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shebekinsky, Russia's Belgorod, Russia, Ukraine, Belgorod, RAZUMNOYE, Russian, Razumnoye, Moscow, Ukrainian

☆ Russia evacuates thousands near the Ukraine border
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A resident of the Shebekinsky district of Russia's Belgorod region, who were evacuated following recent attacks on settlements near the Russia-Ukraine border in the course of a military conflict, stays at a temporary accommodation centre located in a...moreA resident of the Shebekinsky district of Russia's Belgorod region, who were evacuated following recent attacks on settlements near the Russia-Ukraine border in the course of a military conflict, stays at a temporary accommodation centre located in a sports facility in the city of Belgorod, Russia, June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYClose

Persons: Maxim Organizations: REUTERS Locations: Shebekinsky, Russia's Belgorod, Russia, Ukraine, Belgorod

[1/3] A tyre produced by the Finnish group Nokian Tyres on display at a dealership in Moscow, Russia, March 23, 2023. Nokian Tyres' protracted departure illustrates the growing headwinds faced by Western companies that have yet to fully depart the country. "The war changed the operating environment in a rapid and unpredictable way," Nokian Tyres' Chief Transformation Officer Johanna Horsma told Reuters. Additional valuation requirements published in mid-December came in the middle of Nokian Tyres' transaction, he added. The buyer needs to be well selected to avoid scammers, said Nokian Tyres' Horsma.

Persons: Maxim Shemetov, Johanna Horsma, Finland's Fortum, Germany's, Peter Wand, Baker McKenzie, Thomas Kormendi, Kormendi, Alexei Moiseev, Moiseev, Nokian, Tatiana Stanovaya, Elopak, Baker McKenzie's Wand, Alexander Marrow, Darya Korsunskaya, Matt Scuffham, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Nokian Tyres, REUTERS, Finland's, U.S . Treasury, Reuters, Companies, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, finalising, Ukraine, Western, Frankfurt

☆ Russian clothing brands plug gap left by Western rivals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Roman Churikov | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] People line up to enter an H&M store, which was reopened to sell the remaining stock before the company exits the Russian market, in Moscow, Russia August 2, 2022. Spain's Inditex (ITX.MC) has sold some of its more than 500 Russian stores to a UAE-based buyer. Gloria Jeans, once a re-seller of Levi's jeans, has taken over Swedish retailer H&M's central Moscow store. Russians have developed solutions with small-scale imports and online sellers helping to keep foreign brands alive, but some things remain difficult to find. Shopper Irina Nikulina said she did not miss foreign brands too much, except when needing something simple, like a reasonably priced white t-shirt.

Persons: Maxim, Spain's, Anton, Antonina, Oleg Klimov, Gloria Jeans, Ksenia Zhdanova, Zhdanova, Irina Nikulina, Tatiana Vakhonina, Roman Churikov, Lev Sergeev, Alexander Reshetnikov, Alexander Paramoshin, Alexander Marrow, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Russia's, Shopping, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine MOSCOW, Ukraine, UAE, Zara, Soviet Union, Kazakhstan

☆ Factbox: What do we know about the drone attacks on Moscow?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Vehicles of emergency service are parked near a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovMOSCOW, May 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday though all of them were destroyed by air defence systems, Russia's defence ministry said. Here is what we know so far:Russia's defence ministry blamed Ukraine for what it called a "terrorist" attack. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not immediately respond to a written request for comment on who was behind the drone attack on Moscow. Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said several drones had fallen on buildings in Moscow, inflicting minor damage.

[1/2] An ambulance and firefighting vehicles are parked outside a multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, May 30, 2023. Drone attacks deep inside Russia have intensified in recent weeks, with strikes on oil pipeline installations and even the Kremlin earlier this month that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine. Some filmed a drone being shot down and a plume of smoke rising over the Moscow skyline. MOSCOW UNDER ATTACKIt was unclear how President Vladimir Putin will react to the attack on Moscow, which brings the war in Ukraine to the capital of the world's biggest nuclear power. Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said on the Telegram channel that several drones were shot down on their approach to Moscow.

☆ Drone attacks in Moscow strikes near the heart of Russia's elite
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

On Tuesday morning, a wave of drone strikes hit the Russian capital. An ambulance and firefighting vehicles are parked outside a multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia. Instead, it appeared to strike near the heart of Russia’s political and economic elite. A view shows a damaged multi-storey apartment block following a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia. But it’s clear that the drone strikes are an embarrassment to the Russian military, regardless of how the remotely piloted vehicles were launched.

[1/2] A security guard stands next to the Trinity icon at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in the town of Sergiyev Posad, Russia, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File PhotoMay 27 (Reuters) - Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, on Saturday dismissed his expert on art and restoration for obstructing the transfer of a historic 15th-century Trinity icon to the Church from a Moscow museum. On Saturday, Patriarch Kirill decreed that Kalinin be dismissed from his post "in connection with the obstruction of bringing the icon" to Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Kalinin was also banned from the priesthood, according to the note published on the Russian Orthodox Church's website. Patriarch Kirill said last year that those who died fighting in Ukraine would be purged of their sins.

May 16 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday its agencies were tracking Western spy activity after the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency published a video encouraging Russians to make contact via a secure internet channel. Published nearly 15 months into Moscow's war with Ukraine, the video invites Russians to take a colossal risk. Asked about the video, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had not paid attention to it, but added: "I am convinced that our special services are monitoring this space in the necessary way." Some Russians reacted sceptically to the video on social media, saying it looked like a "provocation" by Russia's FSB security service. "The CIA wants to know the truth about #Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who know and can tell us this truth," it said.

☆ Saudi Aramco’s Profit Slides as Oil Boom Cools
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Summer Said | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Saudi Aramco employee in a branded helmet at one of the company’s oil facilities. Photo: MAXIM SHEMETOV/REUTERSDUBAI—Saudi Arabia’s national oil company posted a 19% drop in quarterly profit due to lower oil prices amid concerns over weakening global energy demand. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, said Tuesday that it made a net profit of 119.54 billion Saudi riyals, equivalent to roughly $31.88 billion, in the first three months of the year, down from $39.47 billion in the same period last year, when it benefited from soaring oil prices after Russia invaded Ukraine.

☆ Photos show how Putin massively scaled back his Victory Day celebrations compared to the ostentatious military displays of previous years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Photos from this year compared to previous years show how much the Victory Day parade has changed:A Soviet T-34 tank during the Victory Day Red Square Parade on May 9, 2023, in Moscow, Russia. Russian tanks in Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 9, 2021. Armored vehicles drive past the Kremlin after a military parade on Victory Day, with an empty sky, on May 9, 2023. Russian soldiers march toward Red Square to attend a Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. A Russian service member walks across a street before a military parade on Victory Day in Moscow, Russia, on May 9 2023.

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