The Moscow Times

Business: RenCap Cuts RTS '08 Target to 2,350
Renaissance Capital on Monday slashed its year-end forecast for the benchmark RTS Index from 3,000 to 2,350 and increased its equity risk premium for the country from 4 percent to 5.5 percent in a sign of continued investor jitters.

News

Medvedev Agrees With EU on Framework Pact
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer Russia and the EU launch long-delayed talks on a new partnership pact, welcoming a new chapter in their often rocky relations.

When Success and Image Don't Mesh
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer The country’s crumbling infrastructure might require an urgent overhaul, rampant corruption might need to be stamped out, and runaway prices might demand taming, but Russia’s most pressing task, some observers say, lies in a completely different area.

Severstal Buys U.S. Plants for $1.25Bln
By Nadia Popova / Staff Writer The country’s largest steelmaker, Severstal, announced Thursday that it had won a bidding war for U.S. steelmaker and distributor Esmark, agreeing to shell out $1.25 billion for the company.

Late-Landing Solana Upstaged by Medvedev
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana found out Thursday that it does not pay to be tardy.

News in Brief
Bill to Protect JournalistsWomen Detained in Scam

Nazarbayev Turns Birthday Into Holiday
The Associated Press Kazakhstan's president has approved a bill to create a new holiday on his birthday to honor the nation's capital, Astana, local media reported Thursday.

Naryshkin in Surprise Visit to Chechnya
By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff Writer Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin and his deputy, Vladislav Surkov, made a surprise visit Thursday to Chechnya to meet with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and discuss local governance and economic sustainability.

Medvedev Meets Abkhaz Leader
The Associated Press President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday met with the leader of Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia, which recently has been the focus of rising tensions in the region.

Wife Held Hostage at Gunpoint in Car
By Marianna Tishchenko / Special to The Moscow Times A jealous businessman took his common-law wife hostage Thursday morning in central Moscow, holding her at gunpoint inside his sports utility vehicle until police commandoes stormed the vehicle, arrested the assailant and freed the woman, law enforcement officials said.

Khodorkovsky Told To Seek Early Release
By Svetlana Osadchuk / Staff Writer As jailed former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky turned 45 on Thursday, his lawyers and human rights activists urged him to appeal for early release.

Business

Finns Threaten Trade Measures
By Gleb Bryanski, Tarmo Virki / Reuters But such a move in a dispute between Moscow and Helsinki over wood tariffs might contradict international trade law.

AAR Threatens Suit Over Meeting It Led
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer The Russian billionaires who own half of TNK-BP threatened new legal action against BP on Thursday for not following their wishes at a shareholders meeting presided over by one of their own representatives.

Chubais Praises TNK-BP Shareholders
The Moscow Times K-1, majority owned by Unified Energy System, said Thursday that it had created a joint venture with TNK-BP, which UES chief Anatoly Chubais hailed as ""a sign of a positive future"" for the embattled oil firm.

Polyus Adds 4th Independent Director
Reuters Polyus Gold said Thursday that its shareholders voted to add a fourth independent director to the board along with two representatives each for the company's rival co-owners.

Metalloinvest's Bottomless Money Pit
By Robin Paxton / Reuters Soviet geologists were looking for oil when they explored the Belgorod region, 500 kilometers south of Moscow. Instead, they unearthed Europe's largest iron belt.

Prices and Purchases Double BasEl Worth
Reuters, Bloomberg Oleg Deripaska, the country's richest man, almost doubled the net asset value of Basic Element last year as revenues increased 45 percent on a mix of internal growth, acquisitions and high commodity prices.

Bank of Cyprus Pays $576M For 80% Stake in Uniastrum
Reuters, AP, Bloomberg The Bank of Cyprus said Thursday that it had clinched a deal to buy 80 percent of Uniastrum, Russia's ninth-largest bank in terms of branch network, for $576 million as part of its strategy to expand abroad.

Business in Brief
Gazprom's Stake in Oil UnitBill on Caspian, Azov OilPutin Wants to See ChavezSistema Posts Q1 LossRTS Considers Earlier StartCapital Inflow EstimateWallpaper Joint VentureOil Funds Invested in Gold?

Opinion

Look West, Go East
When the leaders of the European Union and Russia gather for their summit on Friday in Khanty-Mansiisk, the main items on the official agenda will be a new partnership and cooperation agreement and an energy charter.

Sports

Resilient Germany Beats Turkey at Its Own Game
By Robert Millward / The Associated Press A power outage took out TV pictures being beamed around the world, Vienna's main fan zone was evacuated because of a spectacular thunderstorm, two players had their bloodied heads stitched, and a pro-Tibet demonstrator ran onto the field.

Editorial

New Priorities But Steadfast Dependence
After the Soviet collapse, the government and ordinary Russians initially saw the European Union as a benign role model and an example of best practices in public and business administration.

How My Husband Saved Me From Extortion

Getting Sour, Sluggish and Old on Kvas
What do you get when you cross an American carbonated soft drink and a traditional Russian fermented beverage? Bubbly bread? Cola with a kick?

« to older

Features

Services

Tools

MT news

Testimonials

Sponsored links

News

Business

Opinion

Sports

Editorial

Currency Exchange

Weather

Hurdles Ahead.

Most Popular Stories.

Archive

Columnists