Russia announced that it will boost its arsenal of nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by 40 as part of a large-scale modernization of the Russian military. While the modernization has been ongoing for quite some time, the latest announcement seems to come as a direct counter to NATO’s own announcement that it would place forces…
After the reported death of an additional two servicemen yesterday in Ukraine as reported by Kiev’s military spokesman Andrei Lysenko and increased heavy weaponry presence on both sides in the contested region of Luhansk has prompted calls by both separatists and Kiev to meet again on June 23 in Minsk. The last meeting in the…
The G-7 has again begun to mull tougher sanctions on Russia. The catalyst for the discussions is an alleged outbreak of Russia-fueled violence in eastern Ukraine. There has been increasing amounts of coverage of certain areas of eastern Ukraine in which a perceived buildup of Russian military equipment has been able to reach separatists in the…
The G7 Summit ended today in the Bavarian Alps, and the heads of state of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US issued a proclamation of solidarity on sanctions again the Russian Federation and committed to keep them in place and have their duration be “clearly linked to Russia’s complete implementation of the…
The ruble has slid to its lowest point in five weeks after the CBR suspended its foreign exchange auctions in order to keep the value from going too high. Specifically, the CR suspended the sale of its one-year foreign currency repurchase agreements, purposefully focusing any remaining investor attention on high-yield ruble-denominated assets. The CBR is…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation granting the Russian government the authority to shut down NGOs that it deems “undesirable.” The new law extends mainly to foreign NGOs and affords the government the leeway to fine and restrict their activities if it views them as illicit or in violation of the new law.…
The last time the EU Eastern Partnership Summit took place, it was 2013, and we lived in a different world. The results of that meeting, with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych choosing to go with Russia’s offer of a $9 billion development fund in exchange for EEU association over an EU Association Agreement, sparked the…
Russia announced that it may partially repeal an embargo leveled against European food imports. Specifically, Moscow may begin to allow for imports from approximately 20 firms from Hungary, Cyprus and Greece back into the Russian market after an embargo worth $9 billion was imposed in August of 2014. Incidentally, in order to make up for…
Christopher Weafer is the founder of Macro-Advisory, a research consulting company focusing on Russia, the CIS, and macro oil trends and was recently in 2013 voted the best Russian investment strategist in a poll by Thomas Reuters Extel. Before becoming a consultant, Chris was Chief Strategist at Sberbank-CIB, Russia’s largest bank. He also writes extensively…
The Wall Street Journal published an interesting piece on the hardships facing Ukrainian businesses attempting to compete in the European Union. The headline message of the piece is that it is proving much more difficult for the Ukrainian economy to shift away from its legacy affiliation with Russia and adapt in phases to the competitive…
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