• Russia's largest bank loses $1 billion in Turkey

    Sberbank is cutting back on its business outside of Russia, which has been causing it tremendous losses due to US and EU sanctions, reports finanz.ru.

    By the end of the year, the largest Russian government bank will have disposed of its subsidiary in Turkey. Denizbank will be sold to Emirates NBD Bank, one of the largest banks in the UAE. A binding agreement has already been signed, Sberbank reported in an IFRS report on Thursday.

    The deal is priced at 14.6 billion lira, equivalent to $2.35 …

  • Ukraine marks 1000 days without Russian gas

    Thursday, August 23, marks 1000 days since Ukraine imported the last batch of Russian gas, reports Ukrtransgaz, Ukrainian operator of the gas transit system.

    In late November 2015, Ukraine refused to purchase natural gas from Gazprom, as the Ukrainian gas company, Naftogaz considered this price too inflated. Import of gas is now carried out via western border.

    The rejection of Russian gas allowed Ukraine to begin reforming the gas market and reforming the corporate governance of Naftogaz. For …

  • European Court of Human Rights orders Russia to report on the health of 4 Ukrainian political prisoners

    The government of the Russian Federation must inform the European Court of Human Rights on the health of the Ukrainian political prisoners Stanislav Klykh, Vladimir Balukh, Emir-Husein Kuku and Sergei Litvinov, as well as on the medical care provided to them, Pavel Petrenko, the Ukrainian Minister of Justice announced.

    “The ECHR responded very quickly to the request of the Ukrainian government concerning the health of Ukrainian political prisoners. The decision of the ECHR is as follows: the …

  • Threat of new US sanctions sends Russian government bank shares tumbling

    Russian government bank shares continue to plummet on the Moscow Exchange due to the threat of new US sanctions, which at first seemed unlikely, but are becoming more real every day.

    After US Senator Chris Van Hollen said that the bipartisan sanctions bill will target the Russian banking sector, Sberbank and VTB Bank’s share prices began to drop at an accelerating rate.

    At the end of trading on Thursday, Sberbank’s shares had lost 4.84%, closing at a price of 178.71 rubles, a low since August …

  • Merkel demands withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia

    Germany continues to support the territorial integrity of Georgia and demands to withdraw Russian troops from the country, announced  Angela Merkel at a press conference in Tbilisi, reports News-Georgia.

    “I am glad that I am in Georgia today. The last time I visited here was ten years ago. The Ceasefire Agreement was signed then. We still insistently demand Russia withdraw its troops, and of course, after ten years we support the territorial integrity of Georgia,” Merkel said.

    She also added …