Russia Financial News

The U.S. military is considering putting armed personnel on commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, in what would be an unheard of action aimed at stopping Iran from seizing and harassing civilian vessels

U.S. gas prices are continuing to rise — giving drivers across the country another headache at the pump

Global prices for food commodities like rice and vegetable oil have risen for the first time in months after Russia ended a deal allowing Ukraine ship grain and India restricted some rice exports

The ruble has dropped against the U.S. dollar in trading in Moscow to it lowest level since the first month of the war in Ukraine

Egypt’s Central Bank announced a new hike in interest rates as the cash-strapped North African country battles surging inflation and a depreciating currency

NEW DELHI : Food Corp. of India (FCI) has recommended the finance ministry remove import duty on wheat till February 2024 till fresh arrivals start to maintain the country’s food security and arrest rising food prices, a government official said. This recommendation comes over a year after the government banned wheat exports due to brutal heat waves that damaged wheat crops, sparking concerns about wheat availability in the country.

NEW DELHI : The air freight sector is navigating a transition at a time the world is recovering from the covid pandemic and the intensified Russia-Ukraine conflict, Blue Dart Express Ltd managing director Balfour Manuel said. Unpredictable demand from the US and Europe, compounded by domestic disturbances, has posed difficulties for India’s air cargo sector, Manuel said in an interview, adding the company’s outlook remains buoyant for a bounceback in freight volumes. “Air cargo trade from India is facing challenges due to demand fluctuations from the US and Europe, along with certain domestic disruptions.

By Michelle Nichols

(Reuters) — Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie visited Ukraine on Friday and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as he underscored strong U.S. support for Kyiv's fight against Russia.

Alexei Navalny on charges of extremism and sentenced him to 19 years in prison Friday. Navalny is already serving a nine-year term on a variety of charges that he says were politically motivated. The new charges related to the activities of Navalny's anti-corruption foundation and statements by his top associates. It was his fifth criminal conviction and the third and longest prison term handed to him, all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin strategy to silence its most ardent opponent. It wasn't immediately clear whether he would serve this new term concurrently with his current sentence on charges of fraud and contempt of court. The prosecution had demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said beforehand that he expected to receive a lengthy term. Navalny was also sentenced in 2021 to two and a half years in prison for a parole violation. The extremism trial took place behind closed doors in the penal colony east of Moscow where he is imprisoned. Navalny appeared in the courtroom Friday afternoon, wearing prison garb and looking gaunt, but with a defiant smile on his face. As the judge read out the verdict, the politician stood alongside his lawyers and his co-defendant with his arms crossed, listening with a serious expression on his face.

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Investing.com — Crude oil prices rose Friday, on course for their sixth consecutive week of gains, after top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary output cuts through September, further tightening global supplies.

agricultural exports before the war, a key link in the global food supply chain. Ukraine supplied about 9% of the world’s exported wheat and nearly half the world’s sunflower oil before the Russian invasion.

The attack on Novorossiysk is the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted in the 18-month war. The city is a major port on the Black Sea and hosts a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal. It is a key port for Russian exports.

India maintained «affordability» of petroleum products notwithstanding disruptions in the global energy markets and the hike in prices of petrol and diesel in the last two years has been marginal compared to several large economies and neighbouring nations, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday. In an interaction with a group of reporters, he also slammed the opposition for attacking the government on oil prices saying the states ruled by it are selling petrol and diesel at higher rates compared to those governed by the BJP which significantly cut the VAT on petroleum products to bring down the rates.

Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war War is tearing apart Ukraine’s economy. Last year the country’s GDP fell by 30%; a ballooning budget deficit forced the central bank to print billions of hryvnia and devalue the currency. On March 21st the IMF announced Ukraine would receive the seventh-biggest bail-out in the fund’s 79-year history.

The central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, being developed by the Bank of Russia has now got its official logo. The Bank of Russia has also published commission fee rates, which would exceed zero points only in 2025. 

The prime ministers of the three Baltic countries agreed Thursday to speed up their nations’ disconnection from Russia’s power grid by nearly one year and connect with the continental European energy network by February 2025

Niger President Mohamed Bazoum on Thursday appealed to the US government and the entire international community for help in restoring the country's constitutional order that is under attack from a military junta, according to a report published by AFP. In a column in The Washington Post, Bazoum said, "If a coup attempt to depose him is successful, "it will have devastating consequences for our country, our region, and the entire world. I write this as a hostage" "Niger is under attack from a military junta...

rupee hit the lowest in more than two months before closing at 82.72 against the dollar. “Rupee is likely to appreciate today as US dollar retreated from its 4 week high after fresh economic data from US showed that economy is feeling the heat of aggressive rate hike," ICICI Direct said.

Navalny faces trial again on Friday to hear whether he has been found guilty of a series of extremism charges that could see him spend 20 more years behind bars. He is already serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for «embezzlement», a charge that his supporters say was trumped up in retaliation for challenging President Vladimir Putin. Navalny said he expected the court to hand him a lengthy, «Stalinist» prison sentence of about 18 years, and called on his supporters to resist Putin's rule in a statement Thursday.