City Saint Petersburg Financial News

New Delhi: Russia’s top luxury hotels, once managed by Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Park Hyatt, are looking at leading Indian hospitality firms to run these properties, after the international brands checked out of the country following its invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials have sounded out Tata group’s Indian Hotels Co. Ltd (IHCL), which operates Taj luxury hotels; and East India Hotels (EIH), which operates The Oberoi hotels, a person aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity.

opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the OVD-Info rights group said Saturday. The 47-year-old Kremlin critic was serving a 19-year prison sentence in the Arctic when authorities announced his death, prompting grief among his supporters.

The Russian metal mining giant Nornickel (Nornickel Norilsk) says it will start paying its employees dividends with “digital financial assets.”

By Andrew Osborn and Maxim Rodionov

Vladimir Lenin has been gone for a century, but the evil he did lives on. The first leader of the Soviet Union died on Jan. 21, 1924, in Gorki, Russia (now called Nizhny Novgorod), after repeated strokes.

Russian authorities say that a huge fire tore through a large warehouse used by Russia's largest online retailer south of St. Petersburg

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A huge fire tore through a warehouse belonging to one of Russia's biggest online retailers in St. Petersburg on Saturday, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said, saying firefighters had succeeded in halting it spreading further.

snowstorms disrupting transportation and closing schools in Scandinavia while strong winds and heavy rain in western Europe caused flooding and at least one death. Temperatures fell below minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Nordic region for a second day in a row Wednesday. In Kvikkjokk-Arrenjarka in Swedish Lapland, the mercury dropped to minus 43.6 C (minus 46.5 F), the lowest January temperature recorded in Sweden in 25 years, Sweden's TT news agency reported.

Russia, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar signed three documents relating to the Kudan Kulam Nuclear Power Plants, an MoU on cooperation in pharmaceuticals and healthcare and a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations according to a release of the Ministry of External affairs. The EAM was on a visit to Russia from December 25 to 29 as a part of the ongoing high-level exchanges between the two sides. During his visit, Jaishankar called on Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and held discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov. «Three documents relating to the Kudan Kulam Nuclear Power Plants, an MoU on cooperation in pharmaceuticals and healthcare and a Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations were signed during the visit,» the Ministry of External Affairs said in a release.

economic ties with India, while meeting the country’s top diplomat, currently on a five-day visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that despite the challenges faced by both countries, economic ties are developing rapidly. “There is no doubt that Russian-Indian trade will exceed the significant milestone of $50 billion by the end of this year, and set a new historical maximum,” Manturov remarked.

On the tarmac of a Moscow airport in late August, Yevgeny Prigozhin waited on his Embraer Legacy 600 for a safety check to finish before it could take off. The mercenary army chief was headed home to St. Petersburg with nine others onboard.

fashion show this week honouring long-time leader President Vladimir Putin by embellishing his face on Andy Warhol-inspired sweaters, in what one nationalist news outlet called an «unusual» display. Since Russia launched full-scale hostilities against Ukraine last year, Putin's cult of personality has burst into the mainstream, with officials effusively heaping praise on the president. The fashion show, held late on Thursday, took place in Putin's native Saint Petersburg and showcased art by Alexey Sergienko, a self-proclaimed patriot whose collection of paintings 'The President is a Kindhearted Man' formed the basis for the designs. «I was impressed when he was re-elected,» Sergienko told AFP, standing in front of his piece «Putin, Star, Crown» — a kaleidoscopic grid of Putin's interspaced with stars and crowns. «The crown is a reference to the past, and it's also an allusion to the fact that I knew that the president would be elected again and again,» he said. «I painted this picture saying that we shall have Putin for a long time, forever,» he told AFP. Many of his works are reminiscent of American artist Andy Warhol, whose vibrant paintings of celebrities and everyday objects popularised the «pop art» movement of the late 1950s to 1960s. The event, which the ultra-nationalist television channel Tsargrad described in a report as «unusual», featured a catwalk of models wearing a range of Putin-themed jackets, t-shirts and neck-scarves. «We came to the show as a whole family,» 48-year-old visitor Andrey Nechaev told AFP. «We are very happy to be here,» he added. The Kremlin's desire to galvanise support for Putin and the conflict in Ukraine has touched on almost every aspect of life, including music and the

Russia’s pivot to the Global South, Western, South and Central Asia is strategic and long-term. While Moscow’s partnership with New Delhi has deep mental and cultural roots, Russia-China ties does not have dimension of a military alliance, Prof. Alexander Dynkin, President of IMEMO (Russia’s top think tank) & leading economist tells ET’s Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury ahead of Primakov Readings (Russia’s premier foreign policy forum) in Moscow on October 27-28.

A Moscow court has fined Google for failing to store personal data on its Russian users, the latest in a series of fines on the U.S. tech giant amid tensions with the West over the fighting in Ukraine

Netflix documentary 'Take Care of Maya' has accused Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg of sexual abuse. She has filed a criminal complaint against the hospital. According to the Daily Mail, the 17-year-old girl has filed a criminal complaint with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department involving the hospital.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its 20th month, the chairperson of the Russian Federation Council proposed the creation of a Ministry of Happiness in the country, reported Hindustan Times on 7 November. During a speech at the recent Znanie (Knowledge) education expo in Moscow, Valentina Matviyenko said she came up with the idea in 2019 while on a trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to The Insider, a Russian independent publication online, Valentina Matviyenko said, "Immediately, a law on overall happiness!" “You know, I dream of creating and have even proposed that we create a Ministry of Happiness in Russia.

Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov arrived in Beijing on Monday ahead of an expected visit by President Vladimir Putin to China, for a gathering of representatives of 130 countries that will be overshadowed by the Israel-Gaza war. This will be Putin's first trip to a major global power since the Ukraine invasion. The foreign ministry announced on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that Lavrov was in the Chinese capital as part of a Russian delegation. Beijing is hosting representatives of 130 countries Tuesday to Wednesday to mark a decade of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a key geopolitical project of President Xi Jinping to extend China's global reach. But all eyes will be on Putin, who last month told Beijing's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Saint Petersburg he had «gladly accepted» Xi's invitation to visit China for the BRI talking shop. The Russian leader's strategic dependence on China has only grown since his invasion of neighbouring Ukraine thrust his country into international isolation. Putin last week voiced concern at the «catastrophic increase» in the number of civilian victims in Israel and the Gaza Strip. The Kremlin ambassador to the United Nations has called for a «humanitarian cease-fire» in the Gaza Strip and Israel, while blaming the United States for the ongoing conflict. This year, trade between China and Russia has soared to levels not seen since the beginning of Moscow's war in Ukraine, with Chinese imports of Russian oil offering Moscow a critical lifeline as international sanctions bite. China has refused to condemn the war in an effort to position itself as a neutral party, while at the same time offering Moscow vital diplomatic and financial support. At the heart of the

Russia's fuel export ban counteracted fears that slowing economies and high interest rates could crimp demand. Brent futures were up 78 cents, or 0.84%, at $94.08 a barrel by 1443 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures rose by $1.02, or 1.14%, to $90.65 a barrel. For the week, both benchmarks were relatively flat, after rising more than 10% in the previous three weeks on concerns about tight global supply. Russia's Transneft suspended deliveries of diesel to the key Baltic and Black Sea terminals of Primorsk and Novorossiysk on Friday, state media agency Tass said. Russia temporarily banned exports of gasoline and diesel to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilise the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday, without a specified end date. The ban will «bring new uncertainty into an already tight global refined product supply picture and the prospect that the impacted countries will be seeking to bid up cargoes from alternative suppliers,» RBC said in a note. Russian wholesale gasoline prices were down nearly 10% and diesel down 7.5% on Friday on the St.

Hurricane Idalia brought torrential rain and threats of flash flooding on Wednesday afternoon to southeast Georgia after slamming into Florida, where authorities feared a powerful storm surge may have inundated communities in the Big Bend region. Authorities in Florida were still trying to carry out damage assessments in the hardest-hit areas as water rescues of trapped residents were under way in southern Georgia. Video footage and photographs from the region showed ocean waters washing over highways and neighborhoods swamped by extensive flooding at midday.

Prigozhin last week, the Kremlin's spokesperson said Wednesday. Speaking to reporters during his daily conference call, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that «different versions» of what happened exist and «are being considered» by Russian investigators, including, «let's put this way, deliberate wrongdoing.» A business jet carrying Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the his top lieutenants crashed halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg a week ago, killing all seven passengers and three crew members. The Interstate Aviation Committee, the Moscow-headquartered body that oversees civil aviation in most former Soviet republics, said in an online statement Wednesday that it was not currently investigating the crash, although the agency has an accident investigation division.

By Maria Alejandra Cardona and Marco Bello