Longtime dissident and former deputy prime minister of Russia Boris Nemtsov was shot four times in the back and killed in an attack that has left Russian civil society in an uproar. In the weeks before his death, Nemtsov constantly raised suspicions that he would be targeted by the Putin regime for assassination. Nemtsov was one of…
The gas crisis in Ukraine is heating up again as CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller reminded his Ukrainian counterparts at Naftogaz that Russia can shut off natural gas within two days due to a dispute over payments. These disputes have stretched into the past long before the conflict in Ukraine even began, but their renewed…
Kazakh Oil Minister Vladimir Shkolnik has announced that it has no plans to cut oil production, despite the over 50% decline in the prices of common oil benchmark indices like Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate. Shkolnik said that no production decreases were planned for 2015, despite the very clear warnings about lower profits and…
In a surprise move, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan devalued the manat by 33.5% over the weekend. The devaluation came flying in the face of earlier government rhetoric that it would be able to maintain the stability and value of its currency with the precipitous decline in oil prices over the past six months, coupled…
Western sanctions from a conglomerate of EU and other Western countries have thus far failed to hit the pressure points in the Russian economy, according to spate of new articles. In fact, their imposition appears to be hurting several Western companies more than Russian ones and the primary factors causing economic pain in Russia are…
Russian households have shown the largest decline in consumption since 1991, according to new data just released. A slump of 44% in the value of the ruble has led to a decrease in overall purchasing power of the Russian consumer, and residents are comparing the situation to the fall of the USSR, when savings were…
In a bid to secure a final agreement on the funding and leadership for the TAPI pipeline, which will transport natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan to India, Pakistani oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Indian officials have urged Turkmenistan to relax a domestic law so that an international company can be brought in…
Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel staunchly refused to provide lethal military support to Kiev on Saturday, instead throwing her support behind diplomatic and persuasion efforts to enact a ceasefire between government forces and Russian backed separatist militias currently engaged in ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine. Her statements were immediately denounced by US Senator Bob Corker…
Yesterday, the IMF announced it had received a communiqué from the Mongolian government making an official request for support for their ailing economy, which has seen foreign direct investment plunge some 70% in the past year and a government reconsidering austerity measures versus development of potentially lucrative international mining projects. Mongolia has already received an…
The summit organized by the OSCE on Saturday in Minsk, which aimed to end the months of fighting between the Ukrainian military and separatist groups came to an end just hours after the meeting was convened. The talks ended with “no signature” on any proposals, and discussions were unlikely to resume the following day. One…
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