Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Italy's Eni, Gazprom Sign Deal For Black Sea Gas Pipeline

Russian Energy and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko (file photo) (epa)

June 23, 2007 -- Italy and Russia's main energy companies have signed a deal to build a gas pipeline from Russia to Bulgaria via the Black Sea.

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June 23, 2007

The deal was announced at a news conference in Rome today by Paolo Scaroni, head of Italy's Eni, and Gazprom executive Aleksandr Medvedev.

Present at the event were Italian Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani and Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko.

The pipeline will be called South Stream.

(AP, Il Sole 24 Ore)

The Post-Soviet Petrostate

The oil-export terminal at Primorsk, Russia (TASS)

WEALTH AND POWER. At an RFE/RL briefing in Washington on January 24, Freedom House Director of Studies Christopher Walker and RFE/RL regional analyst Daniel Kimmage argued that energy-sector wealth is preventing many former Soviet countries -- Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan -- from developing strong democratic institutions.

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Listen to the entire briefing (about 90 minutes):
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Russia's Gazprom Looks Ahead To A New Year

Azerbaijan: Coping With The Oil Windfall

Azerbaijan Boom Sparks Fears Of Dutch Disease

Kazakh President Tells West -- We Don't Need Your Advice

Could Turkmen President's Death Lead Instability?

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