Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Russia Opens Gazprom's Doors To Foreign Investors

Construction work begins on the Baltic Sea pipeline being laid by a Gazprom joint venture, December 2005 (epa)

29 December 2005 -- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has signed a government measure lifting restrictions on foreign stock ownership in the state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom.

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December 29, 2005

Fradkov signed the resolution on 28 December. This is the much-anticipated final step in the process of opening up the world's largest gas producer to foreign investors.

Gazprom supplies about half of the European Union's gas imports. Until now, foreigners had been restricted to purchasing a limited number of shares that trade on overseas exchanges at a hefty premium.

(AP)

Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More