The Moscow Times

Shares of Internet company Mail.ru Group could rise as a result of the initial public offering planned by social-networking site Facebook.

Oil output from Russia hit a record high last month thanks to higher pumping rates at Rosneft and Gazprom.

Rusnano still plans to sell 10 percent of shares to investors in 2012 and expects the proceeds to be reinvested in the company.

Norway's Statoil wants to sell its stake in the West Qurna-2 oilfield to LUKoil and the Iraqi oil ministry has no objection "in principle."

There's much glitter in Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik's reception area. Some of the sheen emanates from a gold-colored frame around a full-length mirror. More radiates from a nearby silvery imitation of an apple tree with shiny white fruit.

Besides the bitter cold, demonstrators and observers at Saturday's opposition rally could once again be facing quality issues with telecommunication services.

Climate was a recurring theme at a forum Thursday with government officials and investors discussing Moscow's severe frost and the impact next month's presidential election will have on the business environment.

Russia is counting on President Bashar Assad to keep his grip on power to see through potential arms contracts worth up to $6 billion and help Moscow reach a record defense export year, according to the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, or CAST.

President Dmitry Medvedev accepted Trade and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko's resignation Wednesday, the Kremlin website reported, as the long-serving minister moves to take the position of head of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Gazprom said Wednesday that it expects to rake in almost $40 billion in last year's profit, a big increase from 2010 but not enough to stop ExxonMobil from spurting into the lead again as the world's most profitable publicly traded energy company.