SOCHI — With two years to go before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi organizers have begun recruiting volunteers. The organizing committee said Tuesday that it expects to receive more than 200,000 applications from people between the ages of 18 and 80. Volunteers are expected to...

Renaissance Partners, the investment unit of Moscow-based Renaissance Capital, will start building a $5 billion residential complex outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, this month. Renaissance Partners, the investment unit of Moscow-based Renaissance Capital, will start building a $5 billion residential complex outside the...

Iran's beginning enrichment of uranium to the 20-percent level is not a positive, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Tuesday. Iran's beginning enrichment of uranium to the 20-percent level is not a positive, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Tuesday, Interfax reported. "It must be stated that it goes against the decisions of both the IAEA and the UN Security Council," Gatilov said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. Uranium enriched at the 20-percent level...

Architectural preservation group Arkhnadzor said Monday that demolition at the constructivist-era Dynamo football stadium as a part of ongoing building work was against the law. Architectural preservation group Arkhnadzor said Monday that demolition at the constructivist-era Dynamo football stadium as a part of ongoing building work was against the law. The iconic sports venue controlled by state-owned banking giant VTB is undergoing a $1.5 billion redevelopment that will...

Petroleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, and a group of Russian companies started drilling the first oil well on the Junin 6 block in the Orinoco crude belt. CARACAS, Venezuela — Petroleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, and a group of Russian companies started drilling the first oil well on the...

... “Steve Jobs” (2011) by Walter Isaacson Movie pick: “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), directed by Frank Darabont Favorite Moscow restaurant: White Rabbit Best weekend getaway: There’s never a dull moment in Amsterdam. Rovers started importing goods to what was then the Soviet Union in 1989. In 1994, he founded Florus, which transported flowers, plants and perishable goods to Russia from the Netherlands. The business thrived, and Rovers got good at resolving disputes with...

... "Everybody knows that people should not be left on the platform," Kovalenko told Komsomolskaya Pravda. He says only Gazflot workers were removed despite his request that the AMNGR crew be moved onto the icebreaker Magadan before the operation started. "We would have to pay for the icebreaker — rent and fuel. So don't ask that question again," he says the main engineer of AMNGR, Leonid Bordzilovsky, told him by phone from Murmansk. Kovalenko said Tersin advised management...

... in Sochi and the 2nd phase of CPC Tank Farm construction in Novorossiysk). Position: Head of HR Department (HR Director). Reported directly to General Director. Key achievements:  Organized overall HR activities in new business unit from start-up till the dissolution (up to 1300 employees on multiple locations in Moscow, Ufa, Tyumen’, Surgut, Noviy Urengoy, Sakhalin, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Vladivostok);  Designed, developed and updated company Organizational Chart, HR policy and...

... missile defense to cyber security, hoping to set the stage for a renewed arms control push once elections are over in both countries, the top U.S. arms negotiator said. Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control, said a year after the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia that the United States was still committed to returning to the negotiating table to discuss cuts in strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. But with Europe working on a nuclear deterrence review, elections in Russia...

Russia will stonewall any UN sanctions on Syria and will push for a quick start to talks between the Syrian government and the country's opposition. Russia will stonewall any UN sanctions on Syria and will push for a quick start to talks between the Syrian government and the country's opposition, Foreign Minister...

... noncash payments, it obliges every citizen to become a client of the bank and a card holder, imposing bank services on them," he said. TransCreditBank, for example, has 2 million clients, most of which are debit cardholders. Last year, the bank started a credit card project, and now 50,000 such cards have been issued. Visa issued 80 million cards in 2011, up from 30,000 in 1994, Karina Grosheva, Visa's head of corporate communication, told The Moscow Times 
Many retailers are not in a...

Gazprom said it has pushed forward the start of construction of the South Stream pipeline, designed to bypass countries such as Ukraine through which Russian natural gas is now piped to Europe. "The plan ... will allow us to start the gas pipeline construction as early as December 2012...

... those are the hallmarks of the best business leaders today. IESE's Global Executive MBA program was specifically created to develop this kind of leader. HIGHLIGHTS: Part-time and flexible format Monthly: 1 week of residential module every month — start: September 2012 Locations: Barcelona, Munich, NY and Shanghai Bi-Monthly: 2 weeks of residential module every 2 months — start: February 2013 Locations: Barcelona, NY, Shanghai, Silicon Valley Electives (for both formats): Sao Paolo, Silicon...

... head of the construction department. Bidding for the remaining 10 routes will be held in the near future, according to Bochkaryov. The most expensive project is the reconstruction of Mozhaiskoye Shosse from the Moscow Ring Road to the Garden Ring, the starting price of which is 10.9 billion rubles. The least expensive job is repairing Leningradskoye Shosse between the Sokol metro station and the Moscow Ring Road for 2.14 billion rubles. The results of the bidding were published on the web site of the...

The Finance Ministry hasn't started discussing tax breaks for the Gazprom-led Shtokman venture two months before an investment deadline because the operator hasn't submitted profitability estimates. The Finance Ministry hasn't started discussing tax breaks for the...

With temperatures in Moscow predicted to plummet well below minus 20 degrees Celsius over the weekend, spare a thought for the city's bird population whose survival skills are being tested as the Russian winter starts to bite. With temperatures in Moscow predicted to plummet well below minus 20 degrees Celsius over the weekend, spare a thought for the city's bird population whose survival skills are being tested as the Russian winter starts to bite. Most...

... myrrh is oozing from an icon of the prime minister as a sign of God's blessing. The cult, led by former convict Svetlana Frolova, is based in the Nizhny Novgorod region and considers Putin to be the reincarnation of the apostle Paul. "Attention! Starting from Thursday, the icon of Vladimir Putin was renewed and started seeping myrrh," the cult said in a statement on its web site. "God is giving us signs of His gracious presence." Myrrh seeping out of icons and the renewal of icons...

... Accordian.) Widely different numbers of demonstrators were reported as being in attendance at the rally by police and journalists, ranging from 15,000 to 90,000. 2:07 p.m.: Vedomosti is reporting that a group of nationalists at Kaluzhskaya Ploshchad, the start point of the opposition march, has just been detained after they prepared to undertake “provocations.” 2:02 p.m.: Moscow Times intern Chloe Cranston, reporting from the pro-Putin rally: “The speeches are mainly directed against foreigners, particularly...

Ukraine intends to gradually reduce the volume of gas bought from Russia starting from 2013. Ukraine intends to gradually reduce the volume of gas bought from Russia starting from 2013, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yury Boiko said. "We have told our Russian partners that we cannot buy [a lot of...

... "Finally we got that signature. I always joke that it was to avoid headlines in newspapers about a Spanish businessman dying in the office of a supervisory authority," Linares said, chuckling, in an interview. Shortly afterward, the Roca facility started production of washbasins and toilet bowls as part of the family-owned bathroom fixture company's first major investment in Russia, and Linares went on to open six more factories — without falling ill. He later learned that he had not suffered...