As Greece teeters, Alexis Tsipras is feted in St Petersburg
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E.U. Agrees to Extend Economic Sanctions Against Russia
BRUSSELS — The European Union is set to extend by six months economic sanctions against Russia , calming fears that Greece ’s acrimonious negotiations over its debt crisis might allow Russia to break the unity of the 28-nation bloc in its response to the conflict in Ukraine. A decision to prolong the sanctions, which expire at the end of July, was made by European ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday and is expected to be ratified at a meeting of foreign ministers early next week in Luxembourg, diplomats in Brussels said. Moscow lobbied hard against a renewal of the sanctions, imposed last year in tandem with similar measures by the United States after Russia annexed Crimea in March and then provided support to separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Decisions on sanctions require unanimity, so Russia needed to win over only one European Union country to block an extension. But it […]
Russia’s Rosneft unlikely to resume Kara Sea drilling before 2018 –
Russian state oil producer Rosneft will be forced to postpone drilling a second well in the Kara Sea for at least two more years, three sources told Reuters, as a Continue Reading
Gazprom Seeks A Way Around Ukraine By 2019
Gazprom has vowed to entirely cut out Ukraine as a transit hub for natural gas exports to Europe. The conflict with Ukraine has scrambled the longstanding energy relationship between Russia and Europe. The European Union imports around one-third of its natural gas from Russia, but having seen those flows cut off multiple times in the past, European officials are pushing to rid themselves of their dependence on Moscow. The violence in Ukraine solidified that motivation. Russia is also unhappy with the arrangement. In an effort to separate gas exports to the EU (a critical business relationship that Moscow doesn’t want interrupted) from its ongoing conflict with Kiev (a geostrategic priority), Russia has a great incentive to cut out Ukraine. About half of Russia’s gas exports to Europe must travel through Ukraine. But that could change within the next four years, if Gazprom gets its way. “We will not export […]
Gazprom Now Settling All Crude Sales To China In Renminbi
Two topics we’ve deemed critically important to a thorough understanding of both global finance and the shifting geopolitical landscape are the death of the petrodollar and the idea of yuan hegemony. Last November, in “ How The Petrodollar Quietly Died And No One Noticed ,” we said the following about the slow motion demise of the system that has served to perpetuate decades of dollar dominance: Two years ago, in hushed tones at first, then ever louder, the financial world began discussing that which shall never be discussed in polite company – the end of the system that according to many has framed and facilitated the US Dollar’s reserve currency status: the Petrodollar, or the world in which oil export countries would recycle the dollars they received in exchange for their oil exports, by purchasing more USD-denominated assets, boosting the financial strength of the reserve currency, leading to even […]
Russia mulls oil sales for Iran
The Kremlin said it’s reviewed selling oil for Iran during talks with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on the sidelines of last week’s OPEC conference in Vienna. File Photo by UPI/Maryam Rahmanian MOSCOW, June 9 (UPI) — Iranian crude oil could make its way to the international market using Russian intermediaries, the Russian energy minister said. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said it’s too early to discuss direct oil imports from Iran, though expansion of bilateral trade may extend to global sales for the Islamic republic . "Our traders will facilitate sale of Iran’s oil on the global market if possible," he said. Novak said he spoke about trade issues with Iranian representatives on the sidelines of last week’s conference of ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna. Plans in the works since early 2014 include potential shipments of as much as 500,000 barrels per day […]
Russian Pause in Dollar Purchases Helps to End Ruble’s Tumble
The Bank of Russia paused foreign-currency purchases for the first time since it started interventions last month, helping to arrest a slump in the ruble. Officials didn’t buy or sell foreign currency on June 5, according to data released Tuesday. The currency gained 0.5 percent to 55.704 against the dollar by 5:44 p.m. in Moscow, strengthening for a third day. Russia has damped this year’s biggest major-currency rally, with the ruble tumbling 15 percent since its interventions. Any further depreciation risks stoking inflation and threatening policy makers’ efforts to reduce borrowing costs. “It seems that the central bank decided that it has done enough, at least for now, in terms of foreign-currency interventions,” Piotr Matys, a London-based foreign-exchange strategist at Rabobank, said by e-mail. “The Bank of Russia is likely to be flexible when it comes to buying hard currencies to rebuild its reserves.” Bank of Russia Governor Elvira […]
Gazprom Given Six Weeks to Respond to EU Antitrust Charges
The extension gives Gazprom until mid-September to go through the case file and work on disproving some of the EU charges, or propose a settlement. “Gazprom is currently going through the extensive case file, analyzing it thoroughly and preparing the appropriate reply,” the company said. The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust watchdog, confirmed the extension. “Gazprom argued that it would need additional time, including to assess the issues raised and translate documents,” the commission said. The commission filed formal charges against Gazprom in April , claiming it was hindering competition and charging unfair prices in some Central and Eastern European countries. Gazprom has rejected the charges as politically motivated. —Tom Fairless contributed to this article.
Russia to Start Iran Crude Imports
Russia may start importing crude from Iran next week as part of an oil-for-goods agreement, Iranian Energy Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. “We hope that next week” Russia will take its first imports, Zanganeh told reporters on board a plane from Vienna late on Friday, after attending a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “Much of this will be for cash and we will be using this money to buy commodities from the Russians.” Iranian oil exports have dropped 50 percent since international sanctions against the country were tightened in 2011 amid a dispute over its nuclear program. Companies that trade with Iran are barred from doing business with U.S. and European operators. World powers including Russia and the U.S. plan to complete talks with Iran by the end of June to end the decade-long impasse over its atomic program. Zanganeh said he discussed the deal with […]
Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions
Photo Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front in Moscow in May. Her party has taken money from a bank tied to the Kremlin. Credit Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The war in Ukraine that has pitted Russia against the West is being waged not just with tanks, artillery and troops. Increasingly, Moscow has brought to bear different kinds of weapons, according to American and European officials: money, ideology and disinformation. Even as the Obama administration and its European allies try to counter Russia’s military intervention across its border, they have found themselves struggling at home against what they see as a concerted drive by Moscow to leverage its economic power, finance European political parties and movements, and spread alternative accounts of the conflict. The Kremlin’s goal seems to be to sow division, destabilize the European Union and possibly fracture what until now has been a […]