Russia Financial News

Energy Transition Working Group is facing challenges in reaching a consensus on the joint communique with clean hydrogen and the Russia-Ukraine war being the key sticking points. About 60% of the communique has been agreed upon, but negotiations are still continuing on whether the future of hydrogen should be green or clean, people close to the development said. Officials are hopeful of some agreement on the second day of the talks on Saturday.

Reuters, the aid package, valued at up to $400 million, will primarily consist of artillery, air defence missiles, and ground vehicles, as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive efforts. However, the package will not include cluster munitions, according to two US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In July, the United States provided dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) to Ukraine.

Ukraine is set to nationalize a bank controlled by two Russian businessmen, denying them a financial haven and seeking to curb their influence on Kyiv’s economy and politics. Sense Bank, formerly known as Alfa Bank-Ukraine, is controlled by Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, two Russian businessmen under European Union and United Kingdom sanctions over their alleged ties to the Kremlin, which they have denied.

The U.S. has transformed global markets by boosting crude-oil exports more than 30-fold over the past decade. Much of the boom hinges on Corpus Christi Bay.

While Europe has worked hard to close security gaps since Russia invaded Ukraine, a tiny island group in the North Atlantic provides a loophole for Russian ships to fish and dock in its waters and ports, among them vessels accused of spying and sabotage. Western nations are growing increasingly wary of what’s going on in and around the Faroe Islands, a self-governing territory under the Kingdom of Denmark which has a longstanding fishing agreement with Moscow. The agreement lets Russian vessels call at Faroese ports, circumventing a ban from European Union ports.

Bolivia’s president says the Andean country's total lithium resources have increased 2 million tons to a total of 23 million tons

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz celebrated beating Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon men’s singles final as Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova triumphed in the women’s final.

Donald Trump’s company and his former longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen have settled a lawsuit over Cohen’s claims he was unfairly stuck with big legal bills after getting entangled in investigations into the former president

G20 Energy Transition Working Group is facing challenges in reaching a consensus on the joint communique with clean hydrogen and the Russia-Ukraine war being the key sticking points. About 60% of the communique has been agreed upon, but negotiations are still continuing on whether the future of hydrogen should be green or clean, people aware of the development said. The communique entails a paragraph that states to deplore the aggression by Russia against Ukraine, which is being opposed by Russia and China, sources said.

sunflower oil and wheat are on the rise in India after Russia suspended a deal that allowed export of commodities from war-torn Ukraine through the Black Sea.Soyabean oil, too, is turning expensive, as dry weather in the US has impacted soyabean production in the country, a top producer and exporter of the beans. Shipments of sunflower oil to India have stopped after Russia on July 17 said it was pulling out of the year-old deal that allowed shipments of grains and other foodstuffs to move past the Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea. To make matters worse, over the next two days, Russia bombed the Ukrainian grain port of Odesa, reportedly destroying more than 60,000 tonnes of grain. India imports sunflower and soyabean oils to meet domestic demand. Since the suspension of the deal, sunflower oil prices have risen by almost 8%. “Prices of both sunflower and soyabean oils have started moving up,” said Sandeep Bajoria, Bajoria, CEO of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage and consultancy firm. “If Russia does not extend the grain deal, then prices of sunflower oil go up further. On the other hand, dry weather conditions in the US have driven up the prices of soyabean oil by 5% in the last week.”

New Delhi: With state run ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) yet to get the equity rights for its shares in Sakhalin-1, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has not received any dividend payments, said two people aware of the development. The issue of India’s most lucrative energy equity buy overseas has been raised with Rosneft and at various levels in the Russian government but is yet to be resolved. The stake sale was purchased ONGC’s subsidiary for $331 million in 2001 that has yielded manifold returns.

Investing.com — OPEC’s bid for $80 and above oil got a boost from ally Russia this week as Moscow’s increasingly desperate offensives against Ukraine raised supply concerns in a market already besieged by the oil cartel’s rhetoric over cuts. 

By Olena Harmash

Russia’s central bank raised its key interest rate Friday for the first time since shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, a response to a difficult new period for the economy of labor shortages, a weakened ruble and resurgent inflation. The Russian economy fell into a recession last year but survived the onslaught of Western sanctions thanks to a windfall of oil and gas revenues, state handouts and the ability to quickly reroute trade from Europe to Asia. Economists expect Russia to eke out positive growth this year.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's central bank hiked its key interest rate by a greater-than-expected 100 basis points to 8.5% on Friday, raising the cost of borrowing as the weak rouble added to inflation pressure from a tight labour market and strong consumer demand.

Black Sea port infrastructure. Hours later, seven Russian missiles also damaged what officials described as an «important infrastructure facility» southwest of the port city of Odesa, in what appeared to be part of an ongoing Kremlin effort to cripple Ukraine's Black Sea food exports. Officials did not immediately provide details of that attack.

Poland after contact was lost during training, Poland's Defence Ministry said Friday. The ministry said that no one was hurt and there was no damage from the incident on Thursday afternoon. Polish media reported that an eyewitness saw an object crashing in the woods near the village of Trzebien and notified the fire brigade.

Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war The 13:38 express from Kyiv pulls into Kramatorsk, welcomed by a sea of flowers and outstretched arms. Of the passengers who aren’t soldiers on their way to nearby Bakhmut, almost all on board are the wives and girlfriends of those already fighting. Viktoria, 27, and Karolina, 29, have travelled to see their men Alexander, 32, and Vladimir, 33, who are waiting for them on the platform.

central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 8.5% on Friday, raising the cost of borrowing as the weak rouble stoked inflationary risks from a tight labour market and strong consumer demand. It was the first time the bank had lifted rates in more than a year, having gradually reversed an emergency hike to 20% made in late February last year after Russia's decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, which saw the West impose sanctions on Moscow. It had previously held rates at 7.5% since the last cut in September.

By Olena Harmash

Russia will keep compulsory military service for 18-year-olds, state media reported on Friday, permanently increasing the number of young men liable to conscription, after lawmakers dropped a proposal not to start before the age of 21. All men in Russia are currently required to do a year's military service between the ages of 18 and 27, or equivalent training while in higher education.Andrei Kartapolov, a former general who chairs the defence committee of the lower house of parliament, or State Duma, had proposed that the conscription period be pushed back in stages to ages 21-30.