City Moscow Financial News

MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia's central bank will hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday to discuss the level of its key interest rate, it said on Monday, as the sharply weakening rouble prompted calls for higher borrowing costs.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin's economic adviser rebuked the central bank on Monday as the rouble slid past 101 per U.S. dollar, blaming its 30% year-to-date slump on loose monetary policy and revealing growing discord among Russia's monetary authorities.

Defence Minister Li Shangfu will visit Russia and Belarus this week, his ministry said on Monday, as relations between Beijing and Moscow flourish with high-level visits and phone calls. Ties have remained warm in recent years, with China refusing to speak out against Russia's widely condemned invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Pakistan has suspended import of Russian oil after two consignments on the grounds of “quality of crude”. The Pakistan government has blamed the quality of Russian crude for its decision even as Russian oil continues to top Indian energy imports. Refineries in Pakistan have refused to process Russian oil, as less petrol was being produced from it with 20 per cent more furnace oil compared to the Arabian crude, ET has learnt.

Russian experts say they think that the government will use the digital ruble to pay state benefits – and think the CBDC could be used to evade sanctions.

dirty fuels from Russia in years, as a slump in crude flows from the key producer and looming refinery maintenance threaten supplies. August imports of sludgy products from Russia should double from last month to about 269,000 barrels a day, initial data compiled by Bloomberg from analytics firm Kpler show. That would be the most since at least early 2017. The flows mostly include high-sulfur fuel oil and vacuum gasoil, which can be used in secondary refining units to improve yields of higher-value products like diesel and gasoline. Fuel oil is also used in shipping and power generation. Smaller imports of Russian crude in the wake of Moscow’s output cuts means India has less to refine into dirty products — prompting it to ship in more of the feedstocks from Russia. Upcoming maintenance at Indian refineries may also impact its sludgy fuels production, another reason why it’s importing more now. “It appears that there’s a strong build-up of Russian fuel oils exports to India,” said Andon Pavlov, lead analyst for refining and dirty products at Kpler. “This might have to do with the upcoming refinery maintenance in India, set to put a lid on total primary processing capacity over September-October.”

By Guy Faulconbridge

Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July whereas Luna-25 took off on 11 August. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to land on the lunar surface around August 23 after completing a 40-day journey. On the other hand, Luna-25 is expected to land on the moon around August 21, two days ahead of Chandrayaan-3.

(Reuters) — Russia sent a task force to oversee cleanup of parts of the country's Far East on Sunday after Typhoon Khanun passed through the Primorye region, the emergencies ministry in Moscow said.

Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was not completely off the mark when he publicly accused the United States of ensuring his removal as prime minister through a no-confidence motion with the help of the army in April last year. He had waved a paper at every public rally claiming the same to be a diplomatic cable from Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, dated March 7, 2022, in which the US had used threatening language against him.

Russia thwarted an attack by 20 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow-annexed Crimea overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday. Fourteen drones were shot down by Russian air defenses and a further six were jammed electronically, the ministry said in a Telegram post. No casualties or damage were reported.

Kyiv said Friday that Russian forces had fired four Kinzhal hypersonic missiles at an airfield in western Ukraine, an attack that regional officials earlier reported had left one child dead. «One Kh-47 missile was destroyed within the Kyiv region. The rest hit near the airfield.

The Russian Central Bank will pilot its digital ruble on Moscow’s metro system as the nation’s CBDC project begins to gather pace.

Chandrayaan-3 vs Russia's Luna-25 race to the moon: here's who will claim the south pole position 1st "Now we will wait for the 21st. I hope that a highly precise soft landing on the moon will happen," Borisov told workers at the Vostochny Cosmodrome after the launch, according to Interfax.

By Alexander Marrow and Polina Devitt

By Valentina Za and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich

The Russian digital ruble pilot proper will begin next week, says the country’s Central Bank, with 600 citizens set to become the first people in the nation to use the CBDC.

The Intercept. During the meeting, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials have drawn tremendous attention, debate, and rumors in Pakistan over the past year and a half. One month after the meeting, a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan's leadership was held in Parliament.

The pilot will begin on 15 August and involve select clients of the participating banks. It will test the opening of digital ruble accounts and money transfers to them, person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and QR code-based payments.

Russia will build up forces at its western borders following Finland's accession to the U.S.-led NATO alliance, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the governing board of the ministry on Wednesday. In opening remarks to the Collegium of the Defence Ministry, Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and that he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, whose inclusion has almost doubled the length of Russia's land border with NATO.

Most Russian citizens say they distrust or have no interest in using the digital ruble, Russia’s CBDC, a survey has found.