... designated it as providing financial services to the Export Development Bank of Iran amid sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation. "This attitude angers us because we're a Belarussian bank, operating fully within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Belarus to the standards required by our laws," Andrei Veretelnikov, chairman of Trade Capital Bank's board, said by phone from Minsk. "There will be difficulties with our relations with European and American banks, but the work of the bank...

Gazprom plans to raise Europe-bound gas exports across Belarus by about 13 percent this year after gaining control of the country's pipeline and Ukraine's threats to cut purchases. Gazprom will increase shipments by 4 billion cubic meters this year, chief executive Alexei Miller told the Belarus energy minister...

... terrorist attack — a bomb in a metro station in Minsk that killed 15 people. Eight months later, after a two-month trial, her son — who says he is innocent — and a childhood friend were condemned to death, a sentence carried out in Belarus by a pistol shot at an unannounced time. In a race to gain a reprieve, Kovalyova is taking her case to European institutions, and she is also campaigning to abolish the death penalty in her country, the only one in Europe still to practice it...

Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said Friday that Kiev is still considering joining the customs union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Friday that Kiev is still considering joining the customs union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Interfax reported. "We are tracking how it's working very closely, and we have practically...

... everything honestly," he said. But Rovers had a feeling that there were opportunities that could only be realized by being permanently on the ground in Moscow, and in 1996 — despite warnings from relatives and even his business partner in Belarus — he and his wife put their two young daughters in a Pontiac Trans Sport and drove from the Netherlands to Moscow. Speaking no Russian except da and nyet, and lacking a local partner, Rovers had the chutzpah to open the Moscow phone book...

... the long-serving minister moves to take the position of head of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Medvedev awarded Khristenko the Order of Merit for his services. The resignation has been expected since December, when Customs Union partners Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed on Khristenko's chairmanship of the new body. Khristenko, who has served as head of the ministry since 2004, is married to Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova. Both faced accusations of corruption last...

... — Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov reiterated that his country wouldn't join a Russia-led customs union after the two countries failed to review their natural gas agreement and Russia banned imports of some Ukrainian cheese. "Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan signed all accords without us," Azarov told journalists Saturday in Kiev. "We offered to use the formula three-plus-one, but we were told that such a format is not suitable." He added that he hoped the format will eventually...

... and other drinks. Lawmakers in Moscow have expressed alarm at Customs Union rules that could lift a Russia-wide ban on reusing bottles for vodka and other drinks. In the latest in an increasingly acrimonious deadlock between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus over alcohol regulation, Alexander Torshin, first deputy speaker of the Federation Council, told Interfax on Friday that lifting the ban would mean a surge in contraband booze and threats to consumer safety. "Used bottles are a key element...

... About 50 percent of all butter did not meet standards. Protasov said other segments also will be checked. Meanwhile, food retail market players attending the summit were not very impressed by the opportunities coming out of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The size of the market will change and some barriers may disappear, Protasov said, but retailers are not now interested in this new Belarus-Kazakhstan market. "Why do we need to go somewhere, to unknown consumers?" said...

Gazprom Neft refined 6 percent more crude last year than in 2010, the company said Tuesday. (Bloomberg) Belarus' foreign currency and gold reserves rose to $7.97 billion as of Feb. 1, up 0.7 percent from a month earlier as the value of monetary gold in reserves increased 25.5 percent to $2.4 billion in January and foreign currency reserves declined 15.9...

... the first-ever snow city in Russia. The architectural feat required 500 blocks of ice, 1,000 blocks of snow and more than 100 architects, sculptors, artists and volunteers from all over Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Serbia, Belarus and Finland. With winter having finally arrived, a new city has sprung up within Moscow, made entirely of ice and snow. Located in Sokolniki Park, Moroz City (Frost city) claims to be the first-ever snow city in Russia. The architectural...

... against another corrupt and authoritarian regime after hundreds of thousands of his supporters held street protests in August 1991. In a worst-case scenario, Putin and his inner circle could try to escape justice by fleeing to a friendly country, such as Belarus — not the best place to spend the rest of their lives, but it sure beats a prison cell in Krasnokamensk or even The Hague. If they take enough money with them, they could set up a luxurious retirement community — an enhanced Belarussian...

... with high-quality economic growth depending on this. In particular, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently stressed that Russia must make its tax system more attractive to investors and competitive in comparison with the other countries of the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan customs union, even despite a risk of a shortfall in budget revenues. Egor Lysenko Project Coordinator for East Siberia Pepeliaev Group Law Firm The Russian government has recently been talking more about the need to optimize groups...

... region's total output, the company said Wednesday. (Bloomberg) The Finance Ministry said Wednesday that it issued 19.8 billion rubles ($644 million) of bonds due in 2017 at an average yield of 8.04 percent, the biggest sale since July 27. (Bloomberg) Belarus will raise the fee it charges to ship Russian crude oil across its territory by 8.3 percent from Feb. 1, the Economic Development Ministry in Minsk said on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)

... last year to $54.1 million, the most since Russia imposed a trade embargo in 2006, the National Statistics Office in Tbilisi said in an e-mailed statement Friday. Exports rose 37.7 percent in 2011 from a year earlier to 16.9 million liters. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan topped the list of customers. Russia prohibited imports of Georgian mineral water and wine in 2006 after Georgia expelled four Russian servicemen whom it accused of espionage. Georgia last year backed Russia's bid to join the World...

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Friday that Kiev is still considering joining the customs union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Interfax reported. "We are tracking how it's working very closely, and we have practically all the information about what has a positive effect and what has a negative one. And we are not ruling out the possibility...

... accounted for 80 percent of Ukrainian cheese exports last year, or $350 million in revenues, according to Ukrainian business weekly Delovaya Stolitsa. Moscow has long urged Kiev to join the Customs Union it has established together with ex-Soviet allies Belarus and Kazakhstan. But Ukraine has refused, pursuing a free trade deal with the European Union instead, which it hopes to sign this year. "This cheese war fits within the overall theme of [Russia] putting pressure on Ukraine," said Voldymyr...

... other former Soviet republics is reviewing its import duties in the face of Russia's future entry into the bigger trade bloc. The WTO accession terms allow the country to raise duties for some products, such as air conditioners, Medvedkov said. Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are holding consultations, which will be complete in April, he said. Russia's membership in the World Trade Organization, expected to become effective in June, will also oblige the Federal Customs Service to tell companies that...

... exports, and it is favored by international logistics firms for its ice-free harbor and the shorter transit time to the Far East than from Russia's Baltic ports, said Perry Neumann, managing director of the Kuehne + Nagel logistics firm in Russia and Belarus. But room for expansion is limited because the port is surrounded by hills, and the port suffers from insufficient infrastructure and handling procedures and poor road conditions, especially in winter. Seasonal imports of fruit from Turkey, Israel...

... from 56 million tons in 1990, when it was part of the Soviet Union. Production has been stable in the past few years, sliding slightly in 2010 because of a harsh drought that year. Putin said low-priced imports were suppressing the local industry. Belarus is a key exporter of dairy products to Russia. Full-cycle farms must also incorporate beef production, Putin said. This approach helped Russian farmers in areas such as poultry farming, he added. Putin later inspected a poultry farm that opened...