Midsize oil producer Bashneft has fired two senior executives as the company tries to clean up an Arctic oil spill before the spring thaw arrives at the end of May. Midsize oil producer Bashneft has fired two senior executives as the company tries to clean up an Arctic oil spill before the spring thaw arrives at the end of May. A blowout at...

An employee of a "closed" enterprise in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg has been accused of leaking secrets about the intercontinental Bulava missile, Kommersant reported Monday. An employee of a "closed" enterprise in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg has been accused of leaking secrets about the intercontinental Bulava missile, Kommersant reported Monday. A Sverdlovsk regional court held proceedings against the employee, who is accused of transferring classified information...

... infrastructure development, corresponding stress to the environment and risk of ecological disaster. "The main contamination of the world's oceans is not happening at oil rigs, or other places where oil is being extracted — the share of such spills is only about 2 percent," said Valery Tsepelev, deputy head of the northwest branch of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, or Rosgidromet. The much greater risk comes from transportation, he said, mainly...

... even the growing costs resulting from introducing higher safety standards don't guarantee the lowering of environmental risks, which will remain in any case," the report said. Talking the Talk Gazprom lacks sufficient resources to clean up an oil spill at Prirazlomnaya, having set aside "a meager sum" of 7 million rubles ($233,000) to insure the oil-drilling platform from environmental risks, Greenpeace said, citing the company's statement at a meeting with nongovernmental organizations...

Moscow’s sky was back to normal Friday after a mysterious green cloud that descended on part of the city and prompted emergency calls from residents fearing a chemical spill had dissipated. Moscow’s sky was back to normal Friday after a mysterious green cloud that descended on part of the city and prompted emergency calls from residents fearing a chemical spill had dissipated. But nothing so sinister as chemical...

... random that they didn't look like they were coming from the ministry itself," he said. He singled out the ministry's apparently selective application of justice when it comes to polluting oil companies. "There was sharp criticism of TNK-BP for spilling oil, but nothing was said about Rosneft, which is spilling 10 times more than TNK-BP," he said. 417712 179742

... Western and Islamic countries should increase pressure on Assad's armed opponents to stop attacks and try to avert what he said were deliberate efforts to sow discord between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. "There is now … a real threat of the conflict spilling over into Lebanon, where — given the history and ethnic and religious makeup of the population, and the principles on which the Lebanese state is based — it could end very badly," he said. (Reuters)

... analysts said. "This is strongly positive for the company and the sector overall." Last month a senior Russian official questioned the company's dividend policy, saying it was underinvesting in its pipeline infrastructure, which resulted in oil spills in Siberia. (Reuters)

... troops are gone. Few believe that there will be any kind of peace in Afghanistan after NATO forces leave. Civil war and unrest could easily spread to the Central Asian republics, and that means a wave of refugees, as well as Islamic radicals, could soon spill into Russia. If Moscow needs a pretext to criticize the West, it should focus on Afghanistan, not missile defense. In place of pointless bickering over what the U.S. missile defense system might be able to accomplish in 20 or 30 years, Moscow should...