But analysts say the fossil fuel’s boom will probably be short-lived as the turn to renewable energy picks up
The expanding use of private military and security companies in recent years suggests that they may take a leading role as the Ukraine conflict develops
Armed men burst into the headquarters of Ukraine’s energy firm Naftogaz on Wednesday in what the security service said was part of a criminal inquiry.
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/ 20 January 2009
An abrupt rise in Russian gas prices will undermine Ukraine’s economic and energy security and leave some enterprises on the brink of insolvency.
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/ 14 January 2009
The EU raised the stakes with Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday by threatening to ditch them as gas suppliers and to promote court action against them.
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/ 13 January 2009
Russian gas delivered into Ukraine’s pipelines to end an embargo on Europe cannot be transported onwards, officials said on Tuesday.
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/ 11 January 2009
Ukraine, Russia and the EU struck a monitoring agreement on Sunday that should enable the resumption of Russian supplies to Europe.
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/ 10 January 2009
The European Union will hold talks with Russia on Saturday to finalise a gas monitoring deal to allow the resumption of gas supplies to Europe.
Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom said a deal to monitor gas exports via Ukraine would be signed on Friday, allowing for the resumption of supplies.
Stakeholders in the transport of Siberian gas to Europe should form a consortium to manage the pipelines, a leader of German business said on Friday.
Russia and Ukraine held talks over a solution to the escalating gas dispute, it was reported on Thursday.
Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine shut down on Wednesday, leaving growing numbers of EU members without fuel in freezing temperatures.
Russia halts gas supplies to the Balkans, Turkey and south-eastern Europe, while flows to Austria drop by 90% in a deepening price row
Russian gas flows to four European Union countries were below normal levels on Saturday after Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine in a pricing dispute.
Russia cut off the gas to its neighbour Ukraine on Thursday after a contract dispute but increased supplies to other European states.
Russia was preparing to turn off gas deliveries to neighbouring Ukraine on Thursday, raising the spectre of disruptions to European Union supplies.
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/ 31 December 2008
Russia state gas monopoly Gazprom has accused Ukraine of "blackmail," saying it had threatened to confiscate gas en route to delivery to Europe.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom accused the Ukraine on Wednesday of planning to siphon off gas that Russia transits through Ukrainian territory to the European Union, as a payment dispute escalated. Ukraine is the main transit route for Russian supplies to the European Union and a previous such dispute in 2006 led to knock-on disruption in EU countries.
Russia and Ukraine slid towards a new gas war on Tuesday as Moscow slashed supplies to the ex-Soviet republic by 50% and Ukraine’s state gas company said it may cut deliveries to Europe. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was to cut supplies to 50% of their normal level on Tuesday at 5pm GMT, doubling a 25% cut already in force since Monday.
The West cast doubt on Russia’s presidential election on Monday after Dmitry Medvedev won a landslide victory and vowed to follow the course set by outgoing leader Vladimir Putin. Near complete results gave Medvedev 70,2% of Sunday’s vote, crushing his nearest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who won 17,8%.
Russia’s next president Dmitry Medvedev pledged to uphold Vladimir Putin’s policies on Monday after a big election win that critics said was stage-managed to let the outgoing Kremlin leader keep his grip on power. Medvedev (42) who will be the youngest Russian leader since Tsar Nicholas II when he is sworn in on May 7, has asked former KGB spy Putin to be his prime minister.
Dmitry Medvedev was elected as Russia’s next president, early results showed on Sunday, after a vote that will preserve the power of his mentor President Vladimir Putin but which opponents said was unfair. Medvedev, a 42-year-old former lawyer who has worked at Putin’s side since the 1990s, will take over the trappings of the Presidency from his patron in May.
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/ 27 February 2008
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whose victory in Sunday’s presidential election is all but assured, on Wednesday took a day out from his unofficial campaign … in order to campaign. National television showed Medvedev responding to the audience’s queries about pensions and salaries.
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/ 22 December 2007
The secretive oil company Gunvor has broken its silence over its alleged links with Vladimir Putin, denying that the Russian President was the company’s ”beneficiary” owner. Gunvor’s CEO said it was ”plain wrong” to suggest the company had benefited from its alleged close connections with the Kremlin.
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/ 20 December 2007
An unprecedented battle is taking place inside the Kremlin in advance of Vladimir Putin’s departure from office, with claims that the president presides over a secret multibillion-dollar fortune. Rival clans inside the Kremlin are embroiled in a struggle for the control of assets as Putin prepares to transfer power to his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev.
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/ 20 December 2007
A clash between ministries over how to stop Russia from flaring nearly -billion of gas each year is reinforcing doubts that the country can meet President Vladimir Putin’s goal to all but eliminate the waste by 2011. Some experts say Russia is also the leading flarer of gas, although by its own calculations it is only the second largest after Nigeria.
The European Union is to hold an extraordinary meeting of national gas experts to discuss the dispute between Ukraine and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, officials said on Wednesday. The EU Gas Coordination Group will hold an ad-hoc meeting later this month to ”evaluate the situation” and assess its ”possible consequences”.
Russia threatened on Tuesday to cut gas supplies to Ukraine again in a move that appears to reflect its displeasure at the prospect of a new orange government in Kiev. Gazprom, the state-controlled monopoly, said it would reduce supplies to Ukraine next month unless it settled a bill of more than ,3-billion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday gave the strongest hint yet that he will remain at the centre of power in Russia for the forseeable future, saying the possibility of him becoming prime minister after the presidential election in March was ”entirely realistic”.
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/ 25 September 2007
Climate change is spurring a ”worldwide economic and industrial restructuring” as more and more of the world’s largest companies seek to confront global warming, an investor survey said on Monday. Even so, some big firms were still doing far too little to identify risks and opportunities from climate change.
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/ 3 September 2007
It is, quite simply, Russia’s most breathtakingly beautiful city. However, St Petersburg, Russia’s second city and former imperial capital, is in danger of being chucked off Unesco’s list of world heritage sites because of plans to build a 300m high skyscraper in its historic centre.