Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Friday that he opposes proposals for the government to sell a stake in oil-pipeline operator Transneft, RIA-Novosti reported on Friday. (Bloomberg)

Ecuador is seeking a $2 billion credit from Russia to buy Russian equipment, including for hydropower projects, state-run electricity exporter Inter RAO said Friday.  (Bloomberg)

Russian farmers harvested 52.6 million tons of grain in the current marketing year as of Friday, 32 percent less than a year earlier, Interfax reported, citing Agriculture Ministry data. (Bloomberg)

Sberbank will lend as much as 150 billion rubles ($4.8 billion) over 15 years to power distributor MRSK Holding, the companies said Friday. (Bloomberg)

The government aims to attract more than 400 billion rubles ($13 billion) in private investment in the North Caucasus over the next five years to help alleviate poverty and quell extremism, Alexander Khloponin, the Kremlin envoy to the Federal North Caucasus District, said on Friday. (Bloomberg)

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said the east-west pipeline his country is building may link to the European Union-backed Nabucco system, Vedomosti reported Friday.  (Bloomberg)

State-run Sberbank and its largest private rival, Alfa Bank, each raised $1 billion in eurobonds Friday, as strong demand enabled them to secure lower yields than originally expected.  (Reuters)