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In the same case, the court sentenced in absentia Konstantin Kobzar, the former deputy head of Ukraine’s state bodyguard department and head of the presidential security service, to 10 years of imprisonmentMOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. A Kiev court has sentenced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in absentia to 15 years in prison on charges of incitement to defection and illegal border crossing, according to the Prosecutor-General’s office’s Telegram channel. In the same case, the court also sentenced in absentia Konstantin Kobzar, the former deputy head of Ukraine’s state bodyguard department and head of the presidential security service, to 10 years...

Deep in your heart you knew there are tax-payer’s money wasted somewhere in the whole Russian spy drama. Why did the Obama administration and the Russian government wanted to get rid of them so fast? We may never know. However we can prove that USAID funded the agro- and eco-tourism project in 2004 run by the company 4Vlast for which Anya Chapman and Vasily Kushchenko worked at the time. As you know from the previous research Chapman was the London contact person for the 4Vlast firm, Kushchenko was running their tourism firm and worked for the 4 Vlast Mrs. World...

Russia's under-pressure economy and Vladimir Putin have been dealt a devastating blow after state-controlled gas giant Gazprom recorded a huge net loss of $12.89B (£9.9bn) in 2024. The company's financial woes were compounded by plummeting share prices in its subsidiary Gazpro Neft and an increased income tax rate of 25%. This greatly raised tax liabilities for the company, leading to billions of pounds lost and follows a historic 2023 where Gazprom revealed a net loss for the first time in 25 years, recording a historic deficit of 629 billion rubles ($7.6 billion). The huge financial blow has had a knock...

Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom may slash staff numbers as it faces dwindling revenues amid sanctions imposed following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. -snip- In December, Elena Ilyukhina, a deputy chair of Gazprom's management committee, sent a proposal to CEO Alexey Miller to reduce staff from 4,100 to 2,500 at the firms' central office and St. Petersburg branch, according to the 47news telegram channel. On Monday, the outlet posted an image of the document, in which Ilyukhina described the challenges Gazprom faced. In a call for "cost optimization at all levels of management," she said the company needed to...

Gazprom reportedly confirmed the stoppage, saying Kyiv refused to extend a deal. LONDON -- Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through its territory to Europe at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, as a long-held deal expired, Kyiv officials said. "We stopped the transit of Russian gas, this is a historic event," Herman Galushchenko, Ukraine's energy minister, said in a statement. "Russia is losing markets, it will suffer financial losses." The move had been expected, as Galushchenko and other officials signaled they were preparing to stop the transnational pipelines and discussing the move with neighboring nations. "We have undergone a...

VIENNA (AP) – Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom stopped supplies to Austria early Saturday, according to the Vienna-based utility OMV after it said it would stop payments for the gas following an arbitration award. The official cutoff of supplies before dawn Saturday came after Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Friday held a hastily called news conference to emphasize his country has a secure supply of alternative fuel for this winter.

The proposed sale by Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, of his estim-ated $10bn (£5.5bn) stake in the Sibneft oil company to Gazprom, the state-controlled gas group, looks like a neat way of settling accounts with his country. He sails off into the sunset, free to buy yachts and football clubs, while the Kremlin virtually completes the renationalisation of Russia's core energy assets. Smiles all around, not least among the bankers involved. The truth is far less pleasant, for Russia and for Mr Abramovich. This deal, if it goes ahead, will be the latest development in the untransparent privatisation of Russia's...

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it lost access to many world markets, including much of Europe. Countries like Germany, which for years had relied on Russian gas and oil, now turned sharply away and sought to rid themselves of any vestiges of Russian dependence. (Source) Into the breach stepped China. Always thirsty for new supplies of gas and oil, China quickly notified Russia that it was interested in receiving Russian gas and in developing a pipeline from Siberia for that gas. (Source). Recently, however, that lifeline looks more like a noose, at least for Russia. Beijing is taking...

Gazprom, once Russia's biggest earning company, last year made its largest ever cut in natural gas production as the war in Ukraine continues to affect the majority state-owned energy giant. Until 2023, Gazprom was the largest publicly listed natural gas company in the world, but the engine of Russia's economy has paid a high price due to Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, last month posting its first annual loss in a quarter of a century. Adding to the bad news, Gazprom's annual report released Monday said that it had cut natural gas production by 13 percent to an all-time...

In mid-2022, Gazprom restricted gas flows to Europe in what was seen as a move by Putin to get both leverage against Kyiv's allies ahead of the winter season and retaliate against Western sanctions and support of Ukraine. But the EU managed to find alternative long-term sources of gas imports and free itself from most Russian piped-gas imports ... Gazprom's revenue fell by 41 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2023, while sales profits dropped 71 percent and gas production by 25 percent... The report said the company's upstream gas-production base is now isolated because infrastructure connecting its main...

The Russian government has instructed Gazprom, once Russia's biggest company by revenue, not to pay out dividends, following record losses and a plummeting share price. Earlier this month, Gazprom Group, which also includes oil and power businesses, announced a net loss of 629 billion rubles [$6.9 billion] for last year—the first since 1999. A decree on the government website, dated May 18, ordered Gazprom not "to provide for the payment of dividends on ordinary registered shares," for 2023.

Gazprom, the energy giant at the heart of Russia's economy, has announced it is selling property in Moscow, one week after posting record losses linked to restricted supplies to Europe linked to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The company said on Wednesday that the properties include office and non-residential buildings, a car parking lot in the capital, and the Imperial Park Hotel and spa sanatorium and resort complex in Rogozino village, just outside of Moscow. "Gazprom is engaged in a fire sale. They had their worst year in decades, and their production has fallen precipitously, down to what it was...

Kremlin-owned gas giant Gazprom said on Thursday it plunged to a net loss of 629 billion rubles ($6.9 billion) in 2023, its first annual loss in more than 20 years, amid dwindling gas trade with Europe, once its main sales market. The results highlight the dramatic decline of Gazprom, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been one of Russia’s most powerful companies, often used as a leverage to solve disputes with its neighbors, such as Ukraine and Moldova. Analysts had expected net income of 447 billion rubles, according to Interfax news agency. According to Reuters analysis, it...

A new BBC report has pointed to ‘evidence’ in a documentary that Russian navy ships were stationed near the site of the blast that destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline three months before it happened, in a clear insinuation that it was Russia that blew up its own pipeline.The report states that “Russian ships able to perform underwater operations were present near to where explosions later took place on the Nord Stream pipelines, according to an investigative documentary.”“The vessels were reportedly located using intercepted Russian navy communications,” it adds.The BBC says that the “suspicious Russian ship movements in the run-up to...

On September 26, 2022, Russian-owned Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were hit by major explosions that put both pipelines out of operation. I use the term “operation,” advisedly because, due to the diplomacy surrounding Putin’s War in Ukraine, both pipelines had been shut down. It became quickly apparent that the cause of the explosions was sabotage. I covered the attacks on the pipelines in this story; Sanctions and US Opposition Couldn’t Stop Nord Stream and Russian Gas, but Sabotage Might Have Done the Job.The obvious question was, who did it? Four suspects emerged: the United States, Ukraine, an undetermined...

Denmark has invited Russian energy giant Gazprom to help recover a mystery object that was spotted near the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline six months after sections of it were sabotaged. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who revealed the discovery of the object earlier this month, said experts believe that the object could be a signal antenna to activate an explosive in that part of the pipeline. German, Swedish and Danish authorities are investigating the undersea explosions that sparked four leaks on the two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Danish...

At the peak of his power, Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he could use his energy weapon to impose his will across Europe. Now Moldova — with a population of only 2.5 million — is emerging as the last truly vulnerable energy target in his flailing campaign to destabilize governments in the neighborhood taking a pro-EU trajectory. But no matter how hard Putin tries to turn the energy screws to topple the administration, Moldova’s government is doggedly resisting. Only last week Russian missile strikes triggered blackouts in half the country and last month Gazprom slashed gas supplies by a third,...

Enormous explosion hit one of Russia's major gas pipelines, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky There are fears it may be a 'tit-for-tat' after traces of explosives were found at the site of the Nord Stream blast The fireball was visible for miles in every direction today after hitting about 14 miles east of St Petersburg Swedish prosecutor claimed sabotage was the cause of the Nord Stream pipeline blasts of September 26 An enormous explosion has hit one of Russia's major gas pipelines, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky above and prompting fears it was a...

Andrew Weissmann and his part in decades of criminal activities. We first heard about Andrew Weissmann during the Mueller Special Counsel. It was uncovered that Weissmann was at Hillary’s 2016 Inauguration [funeral] party. This made no sense to this former international audit executive. There are ethics practices in auditing that prevent partaking in audits where you have a conflict of interest, whether real or perceived. This guy Weissmann should never have been assigned to the Mueller team. Something was up. Some believe the Mueller gang was led by Weissmann. This gang deviated from standard practices or committed crimes over 130...

Switzerland’s environment minister is facing backlash after recommending that people shower together in an effort to cut energy consumption this winter and fend off power cuts. Simonetta Sommaruga, 62, suggested that people “turn off the computer when you don’t need it, or turn off lights, or shower together” as part of her measures promoting a 15 percent reduction in energy consumption, The Times of London reported. Her suggestions were in response to questions on the government’s campaign by readers of Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten, according to the report. Authorities in Switzerland, which imports 75 percent of its gas from Germany,...