East European Countries

The Russian rouble, and its stocks, surged Thursday following a phone conversation between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. In the call the two leaders discussed how to end the Ukraine War. According to data on the over-the counter market, at 0745 GMT the rouble had risen 3% against the dollar and was trading at 90.90, its highest level since September 2024. During the trading session, the rouble briefly reached the highest level since September 11 at 89.90. The rouble has gained 20% against the dollar since the beginning of the year. The Moscow Exchange index (MOEX),...

The governor of Krasnodar said that a drone attack from Ukraine overnight caused a fire to break out at an oil storage depot in the southern Russian region. 55 firefighters were battling the blaze. In recent days, a series of drone strikes by Ukraine against Russia's energy infrastructure has sparked fires at a major refinery in Volgograd and at the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant. Veniamin Kodratyev said, "The fire is contained and there are no injuries," on Telegram, as a team of 19 firefighters tried to extinguish flames. Kondratyev didn't specify which depot was burning or the extent of damage....

The Moldovan opposition leader, Alexandr Stoianoglo who lost the presidential vote held in November, announced on Friday that he would lead a coalition consisting of three parties against the pro-Western majority ruling at the parliament elections this year. Last year, the former prosecutor general was closer than anyone expected to unseating pro Western President Maia Sandu. She lost in a runoff after campaigning on a balanced foreign policies that looked to Russia and West. He was backed by a pro-Moscow party. The election is expected to be a close one and could result in Sandu's pro Western PAS party losing...

Czech Republicbased turbine producer Doosan Skoda Power launched a preliminary public offering on Monday, seeking to raise 2.53 billion crowns ($ 105. million) by offering up to a 3rd of its shares in a Prague. listing. The company, whose supreme moms and dad is South Korea's Doosan. Corp, serves consumers including energy groups CEZ. , EPH and Orlen, and earned a profit of 559.3. million crowns on revenue of 4.8 billion crowns in 2023. The offer will consist of existing and brand-new shares, with the. price range set at 220-260 crowns per share, the company said. Last rates is expected...

The leader of Moldova's. separatist Transdniestria area, gripped by power and heating. cuts, said on Friday that gas reserves would be exhausted within. days and prompted the central federal government to end synthetic delays. and offer new products. However Moldova's prime minister said the option could be. solved only if Russian gas manufacturer Gazprom resumed. shipments to Moldova, or if the pro-Russian separatist region. agreed to pay for gas secured on European markets. Transdniestria, which split from Moldova as the Soviet Union. was collapsing, had actually long gotten Russian gas passing through. Ukraine, however authorities in Kyiv, secured a nearly...

A major Russian gunpowder factory in the Tambov area was assaulted, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday, without directly claiming Ukrainian duty or defining the consequences of the attack. The enterprise is one of the primary providers of dynamite products for the army of the Russian Federation, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, composed on Telegram of the powder factory. With the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, production at the plant increased significantly, he added. There was no instant public comment from Russia on the attack on the factory. Individually, Ukraine's armed force said...

This time it's various is a wellworn cliché that seems to be getting another try with the most recent U.S. sanctions versus Russia's. petroleum exports. Oil costs jumped in the wake of the brand-new steps targeted at. avoiding Russia from shipping crude using a so-called dark. fleet of tankers. It does appear weird a market which has been arguing. because Russia's 2022 intrusion of Ukraine that sanctions are. mostly inadequate, need to unexpectedly change to believing the new. actions are the genuine offer. What's more likely is that the jump in costs because. President Joe Biden's outbound administration revealed the....

The Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC) said on Wednesday that unexpected upkeep at the Shah Deniz Alfa gas platform was expected to last till Jan. 19. The suspension is anticipated to cut gas flows to Europe by 8.5. million cubic metres per day, the company said on its website. BP said on Jan. 10 it had actually suspended the work of the. platform, one of two at Azerbaijan's biggest gas field,. after finding a technical problem at the subsea gas condensate. export line between the platform and the Sangachal terminal. According to BP, Alpha represents about 40% of Shah. Deniz's...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the potential insolvency or sale of the operator of the completed however never ever launched Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would amount to theft. Lavrov, speaking at a news conference in Moscow, was discussing the matter after a court in Switzerland extended the deadline for Nord Stream 2 AG, a system of Russia's Gazprom , to reorganize its financial obligations to May 9 from Jan. 10. The court also stated that Swiss-registered Nord Stream 2 AG had to settle its debts to small-scale lenders completely within 60 days. The Wall Street...

Six European Union countries called on the European Commission to decrease the $60 per barrel price cap put on Russian oil by G7 countries, arguing it would decrease Moscow's revenues to continue the war in Ukraine while not causing a market shock. Cost caps on Russian seaborne crude in addition to refined petroleum items were set by G7 countries to suppress Moscow's. profits from oil trade and in this method limitation the nation's. capability to fund its invasion of Ukraine. Procedures that target incomes from the export of oil are. crucial considering that they lower Russia's single most important earnings....

Following new United States sanctions against Russia's oil sector, Gazprom Neft will be offered 45 days to exit ownership of Serbian oil business NIS , Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday. NIS is bulk owned by Gazprom Neft which holds a 50% stake and Gazprom which holds 6.15% of shares. The Serbian federal government holds an additional 29.87% with little shareholders accounting for the rest. The Biden administration on Friday imposed its broadest package of sanctions yet targeting Russia's oil and gas incomes in an attempt to offer Kyiv and the inbound administration of Donald Trump leverage to reach...

Russian oil manufacturer Gazpromneft brushed off the effect of significant brand-new U.S. sanctions on Friday, while insurance provider Ingosstrakh said they would produce a market vacuum that would benefit less credible rivals. The outbound administration of President Joe Biden on Friday imposed its broadest bundle of sanctions yet, targeting Russia's oil and gas profits in an attempt to offer Kyiv and the inbound administration of Donald Trump leverage to reach an offer for peace in Ukraine. A U.S. official said the procedures need to expense Russia billions of dollars a month. Gazpromneft, likewise hit by British sanctions, stated it would...

Ostap Kostyuk, the CEO of the 90-year-old Zavallivsky Graphite mine in central Ukraine, dreams of producing graphite that is pure enough to be used for lithium batteries. He compares this to trying to make a Rolls-Royce "inside a garage" due to the lack of investment. Kostyuk is sitting on Europe's largest deposit of graphite. He sees an opportunity, but admits that profits won't come fast for American investors. Kostyuk said that the challenges of extracting minerals from Ukraine are a long-term commitment. He showed me the vast facility in Kirovohrad, where he was standing in front of old heavy machinery,...

BestChange, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, has stated that it does not know why Roskomnadzor's website was blocked. However it says it is working with the central banks to try and lift the ban. In Russia, it is illegal to circulate and advertise digital currencies, but cryptocurrency mining is legal. Roskomnadzor has restricted bestchange.ru in Russia, the platform responded late Monday to a comment request. "Unfortunately, this is not the reason for which it happened. We are in communication with the central banks to identify the cause and we're interacting with regulators to clarify the issue and lift the ban. Roskomnadzor...

Nornickel of Russia, a world leader in the production of refined nickel, palladium and other metals, reported a 37% drop in its net profit for 2024 to $1.8 billion due to Western sanctions and lower metals prices. Nornickel reported that 2024 revenues would fall by 13%, to $12.5 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, however, will decline by 25%, to $5.2 billion. In a press release, Nornickel President Vladimir Potanin stated that sanctions and restrictions along with falling prices for our key metals continue to impact our revenue and profitability. Potanin stated that the company was able to...

ContiTech, a division of German auto parts supplier Continental, will close four plants, and reduce the size of two more, according to a company announcement on Thursday. This will affect 570 employees. The group is aiming for more than 7,000 cuts in its restructuring plan, which it has been working on since over a month. It aims to save 400 million euro ($417 million), a dollar a day by 2025. ContiTech will close its factories in Bad Blankenburg and Stolzenau, as well the combined sites of Frohburg & Geithain in Germany. The company also said that production at its Hannover-Vahrenwald...

Russia's Nornickel, the world's significant producer of refined nickel and palladium, stated on Monday it sees its nickel output at 204,000211,000 metric loads in 2025, an approximately 3% boost from in 2015. The company said it produced 205,000 tons of nickel in 2024, a 2% drop from the previous year, but surpassed its earlier production assistance of approximately 204,000 lots. Nornickel said it had actually produced 2.762 million ounces of palladium in 2024, a 3% increase year-on-year. It anticipated it will produce 2.704-2.756 million ounces of palladium in 2025. In 2024, the output of all key metals exceeded our production...

The Kremlin stated on Thursday it saw absolutely nothing particularly new in a hazard by U.S. President Donald Trump to hit Russia with brand-new sanctions and tariffs if it did not agree to end the war in Ukraine. Referring to Russia and the war, Trump said on Wednesday: If we don't make a 'deal,' and quickly, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and numerous other taking part nations. Trump said he would be doing a huge favour to Russia and Putin...

The European Commission intends to propose a ban on imports of Russian main aluminium in its 16th plan of sanctions against Russia over its intrusion of Ukraine, European Union diplomats stated on Tuesday. EU countries hope to pass a 16th bundle of constraints in February to mark the 3rd anniversary of the war. The Commission held casual conferences with EU countries on Tuesday to discuss information of the forthcoming plan, the sources stated. One source included that the restriction would be phased in. In a letter late last year, 10 EU nations proposed further sanctions on Russian trade, including its...

Russian forces continue to launch attacks near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in an effort to bypass it from the south and cut off supply paths to Ukraine's troops, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday. The capture of the roadway and rail hub in the eastern Donetsk region might develop serious troubles for the Ukrainian army on the eastern front and also permit Russia to reinforce and advance its cutting edge to the west. The Pokrovsk direction stays the most popular and there the Russians attacked 34 times (in the past 24 hours) and attempted to break through our defences...

Northvolt's. monetary collapse has actually not totally crushed Europe's dream of. establishing its own electric car batteries but satisfying it. is likely to require Chinese cash and knowledge. InoBat CEO Marian Bocek's Slovakian start-up had to work. hard to secure financing till China's fifth-largest battery maker. Gotion bought a 25% stake last year and formed a. joint endeavor with InoBat to construct European gigafactories. On Friday, InoBat revealed 100 million euros ($ 104 million). in Series C financing, taking its total raised to well over 400. million euros. Coming simply weeks after Northvolt's failure, the investment. shows European EV battery...

Standard Investments, the biggest investor in UK's Johnson Matthey, on Monday urged the British autocatalyst maker to initiate a tactical evaluation and upgrade its board. Requirement Investments, which holds an 11% stake in the London-listed company, sent out a letter resolving Johnson Matthey Chairman Patrick Thomas, stating the board and management have stayed contented and incapable of correcting a misdirected technique leading to sustained underperformance. JM needs brand-new voices on its board prepared to take swift action and stopped the substantial value destruction that the current board and management have commanded, it stated in the letter. Standard Investments also required...

Russia's Nornickel, the world's largest manufacturer of palladium and a significant manufacturer of fine-tuned nickel, on Friday stated it prepares to sell whatever it produces in 2025, despite difficult conditions in the metals markets. Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, however limitations against Moscow have actually triggered some Western business to avoid purchasing Russian metal and complicated payment flows, leading Nornickel to redirect sales to Asia. In April, the London Metal Exchange prohibited shipments of newly-produced Russian aluminium, copper and nickel to the LME-registered warehouses to abide by U.S. and UK sanctions that are aimed at attempting to...

India will reach a. decision quickly on whether to enforce import constraints on. metallurgical coke, a key active ingredient in steelmaking, a source. with direct knowledge of the matter informed Reuters. India, the world's second-largest manufacturer of unrefined steel,. proposed a plan in April to safeguard regional providers of low-ash. metallurgical coke by enforcing country-specific quotas to restrict. yearly imports to 2.85 million metric tons for one year. Leading steelmakers such as JSW Steel and. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel opposed the move, saying it would strike. output, and the government has actually been consulting with the. market. Those consultations have concluded,...