Eastern Europe

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The faulty battery of one of the Orlan-MKS spacesuits, whose failure led to the cancellation of a spacewalk under the Russian program, will be brought back to Earth on the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, Vladimir Solovyov, flig...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Ukraine's energy system will operate with a capacity margin on Friday, February 17, and at the weekend, Energy Ministry German Galushchenko said."There will be a capacity margin due to a decline in demand," Ukrainia...

KAZAN. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The Tatneft board will discuss the possibility of establishing a representative office in Turkey at its meeting on February 27, the company said in a statement.Interfax has not yet received any comment from Tatneft .The agenda o...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Russia's MMK Group is restarting production at its Turkish asset following the earthquake.MKK said in a press release that it had adopted a "phased plan to resume production" starting with a continuous picking unit ...

ASTANA. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's KazTransOil has been discussing cooperation with Chinese partners in pipeline projects.KazTransOil General Director Talgat Kurmanbayev and Meng Xiangdong, a representative of the Chinese partners CNPC Explorati...

YEREVAN. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The European Union has announced the launch of a civilian mission in Armenia for two years."The European Union is launching today the EU civilian mission in Armenia under the Common Security and Defense Policy," the Co...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The faulty Soyuz MS-22 spaceship's unmanned decent has been planned for late March, said Vladimir Solovyov, flight director for the Russian segment of International Space Station (ISS)."This spaceship [Soyuz MS-22] is s...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The request for Russian gas transit via Ukraine has risen to its highest level since early April.The Gas Transport System Operator of Ukraine, or GTSOU, has accepted a booking from Gazprom on Monday to transport 39.2 million cu...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Ukraine has been and is a guarantor of global food security, and it will continue to make its key contribution to it, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said."Owing to the joint efforts of Ukraine, partner countries, and...

WASHINGTON. Feb 20 (Interfax) - U.S. President Joe Biden has arrived in Kiev for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky, the White House said in a statement on Monday."I am in Kiev today to meet with President Zelensky and reaffirm our...

MINSK. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Belarus expects to boost exports 6.5% to Russia in 2023, the country's Deputy Economic Minister Dmitry Yaroshevich said on the Belarus 1 TV channel."Last year, 64% of our exports went to Russia and China, and we are reta...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The net outflow of people from Ukraine increased to 16,000 over the past week from 8,000 a week before, Ukrainian media reported with reference to the State Border Service's information available on social media.The number ...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Russia and China have reinstated an agreement on visa-free group trips, which was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian Economic Development Ministry told Interfax."The agreement between the government of the ...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada's delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) will ignore the assembly's winter session in protest against a Russian delegation...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Internet company VK has become the sole owner of educational platform Uchi.ru, having bought a 75% stake for 8.7 billion rubles.According to VK, the deal will strengthen the Internet company's position in the segment of ext...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The week starts with a day of unlimited power supply in Ukraine on February 20, as Ukrenergo has set no limits on power consumption for nine consecutive days, the Ukrainian media said with the reference to a forecast by distrib...

CHISINAU. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The citizens of Moldova do not support cancellation of the country's constitutional neutrality, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said."Neutrality cannot defend us [...], but you know that today there is no popular suppor...

DUSHANBE. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Nineteen people have been killed by avalanches in Tajikistan, and a high risk of avalanches, mudslides, landslides and rockslides will persist until Tuesday, the Tajik Emergency Situations and Civil Defense Committee said on ...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Dutch heavy lift and transport operator Mammoet has secured the Russian president's permission to sell its Russian business.Ashburn Offshore Engineering (Tianjin) Co., Ltd has received the green light to acquire 100% of Mam...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Ukrainian authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the first and final review under the Program Monitoring with Board Involvement (PMB)."This agreement, which is subj...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin has granted permission for Gazprom Neft to acquire Shell's stakes in the Salym Petroleum and Khanty Mansi Oil and Gas Union projects.The relevant presidential order, published late on Friday, grants...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Russian legislators have proposed to enshrine in law the government's right to temporarily suspend the release and dissemination of official statistical information in the country.A bill to amend the law on official statist...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) has been adjusted by burns of the Progress MS-22 resupply ship's engines ahead of the Soyuz MS-22's descent, the Russian state corporation Roscosmos said in a statement...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Ukrnafta plans to increase production of oil and gas condensate by 6% in 2023, Ukrainian media said, citing the company's CEO Sergei Koretsky."We have set the objective of not just containing the natural decline in prod...

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Gazprom will start building new major gas pipelines in the near future, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin in the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on the Rossiya 1 telev...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - There is no high risk of an attack on Ukraine from Belarus, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said."We believe there is neither probability nor high risk of an attack from Belarus at present," the Ukrainian media qu...

YEKATERINBURG. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The issue of digital financial assets (DFA) for which the underlying asset is gold could help participants in foreign economic activities carry out settlements, the first deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CB...

MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The former Russian division of Finnish single-use dishes and packaging producer Huhtamaki, which was bought by a company controlled by businessman Alexander Govor last September, has changed its name to Scandipakk, the company ...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) -The Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) will now publish its first estimate of Russia's 2022 GDP dynamics on February 22, according to a notice on the Rosstat website.The figures were due to be unveiled on Feb...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Gas stocks in European underground storage facilities have fallen below 65% of capacity. Europe is trying to save gas primarily at the expense of industry, and fairly mild weather is helping. However, the current inventories ar...

KAZAN. Feb 17 (Interfax) - PJSC Kazanorgsintez , part of SIBUR petrochemical holding, plans to allocate 70 billion rubles for investments in 2023-2027, Kazanorgsintez CEO Airat Safin said on Friday at the final board meeting for 2022 of Tatarstan's Ec...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The European Commission on Friday decided to cancel the anti-dumping duty on imports of Ukrainian hot-rolled steel coils, set at 60.5 euros per tonne, Ukrainian media reported, quoting the Ukrmetallurgprom association's web...

YEKATERINBURG. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Banks from leading friendly partner nations of Russia have expressed interested in opening branches in Russia, Central Bank of Russia (CBR) First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin told reporters on the sidelines of th...

MINSK. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Poland has said it is not planning to close the only operating checkpoint for trucks on the Polish-Belarusian border."The Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Koroszczyn [the Kozlovichi-Kukuryki border checkpoint on the Bela...

YEKATERINBURG. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Yekaterinburg has been left without a Czech Consulate General de jure, according to an order signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.The document was published on the official legal information website."Un...

SALEKHARD. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Gazprom Dobycha Nadym is due to begin commercial gas production at the Kharasaveyskoye field in 2024, the company's CEO Dmitry Shchegolev said during a teleconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Cabinet approved the country's withdrawal from the protocol on the council of the chiefs of customs services of the CIS member states signed in Moscow on May 30, 2002 at its meeting on Friday, Ukrainian media ...

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Russia has recorded 14,740 new cases of Covid-19, the highest daily number since mid-October 2022, and 37 related deaths over the past 24 hours, the coronavirus response headquarters said in a statement on Thursday.Russia "...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday discussed plans for developing Gazprom with company CEO Alexei Miller, Putin said during a video conference session with the company's management and employees in honor of Gazpro...

ASTANA. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed into law the bill on ratifying the agreement on joint control regarding the procedures for crediting and distributing the import customs duties (other duties, taxes, and charges...

BRUSSELS. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The European Commission has frozen Russian assets in Europe worth 21.5 billion euros, is working to block other assets, including those of the Russian Central Bank, and is looking for legal ways towards possible confiscation ...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Ukraine is not experiencing electricity shortage at the moment, although some problems are still in place, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said."There have been no power outages in all of Ukraine for nearly a week," Ukrain...

KAZAN. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Airat Safin, General Director of Kazanorgsintez PJSC (a part of SIBUR), has appealed to head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov on behalf of the company to secure support for increasing ethane production capacity at Gazprom's O...

YEKATERINBURG. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) rarely receives applications from foreign participants regarding the sale of subsidiary banks in Russia, Central Bank First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin said on the sidelines of t...

YEKATERINBURG. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Issuers in Russia's financial sector could return to paying dividends if their respective amounts of profit allow for remitting payments to shareholders without risks to capital, and this should assist in restoring i...

MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - External assistance made up 68.8% of sources that helped cover Ukraine's budget deficit between the beginning of the year and February 15, head of the Verkhovna Rada's budget committee Roksolana Pidlasa told Ukrainian r...

DUSHANBE. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Tajikistan is optimistic about a visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin due in early March, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin said at a press conference in Dushanbe."We are expecting this visit to be ...

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - The European Union and the East Europe Foundation have announced a grant competition for Ukrainian nongovernmental organizations (NGO) for over 11 million hryvni."We have supported 15 initiatives promoting social integratio...

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - The Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) endorsed Ukraine as a full member of the organization at an annual session on February 15, Ukrainian media have reported citing the Ukrainian F...

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Denmark has channeled about 4.5 million euros in additional funding through the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (Nefco), ensuring the delivery of new containerized mobile boiler units to Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported...