Iranian and Russian officials inked a new cooperation deal this past Tuesday. The agreement has a two-tier focus, the first of which is military, whilst the other is technological. The military aspect was signed off on by the two countries’ respective defense ministers, and was seemingly engineered to counter a perceived threat posed by the…
Russia’s Central Bank has announced it will use credit ratings of lenders before March 1 of last year (2014) in determining its capital requirements, artificially easing pressure on debt ridden Russian companies struggling for refinancing. Without access to Western capital markets, companies have either been forced to accept egregiously high interest rates from non-Western banks,…
The Ukrainian military announced that its forces have successfully regained control of the Donetsk airport. The Ukrainian military has long laid siege to the airport, which for months has been the sight of intensive fighting between separatist militias and Ukrainian military. The latest spat of intense fighting has seemingly shaken the last bastions of separatist…
In December, we had the chance to talk with Eric Lorber, an attorney based in Washington, DC at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP who assists multinational companies in compliance with US economic sanctions. He was formerly a member of the Iran Sanctions Team at the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime (OFAC) in the…
Russian energy major Gazprom announced that the company will begin to shift the flow of natural gas supplies destined for the European Union. Gazprom chief Alexei Miller stated that the company will begin to channel resources through Turkey, and from that point into European markets. The move appears to be geopolitically motivated, as it will…
Major Chinese debt rating agency Dagong announced that Russian debt is still more creditworthy than US debt. Russia, which is currently traversing a currency crisis and recession, and struggling with a severely weakened ruble, will maintain an A rating with Dagong, whereas the United States was recently given an A- by the agency. Dagong officials…
Yields on Russian government debt bonds have soared on the expectation that credit ratings agencies will reduce the rating to junk. The ruble, on further news that oil has reached $50 a barrel, has tumbled once again. This morning, as Brent trades above $50, the ruble has begun another tepid ascent in value. Standard &…
Talks on peace and de-escalation appear to be in progress between Kiev, Separatists, Russia, and the EU. Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France will speak over the phone on January 9 as the first step in a collaborative effort to stop violence in eastern Ukraine and reach a political solution. The phone conference…
The Russian economy retracted for the first time since 2009, registering a fall of 0.9% in November. The lack of growth exacerbated the ongoing crisis surrounding the ruble, reducing the currency’s value by an additional 7%. Emergency stimulus injected into the currency by the Russian central bank seemingly stopped the currency free fall in weeks…
Tensions between Moscow and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization flared again yesterday, as the Kremlin responded to rumors that Ukraine may become a member of NATO. The Kremlin has promised to cease all remaining ties with NATO should Ukraine begin the accession process, and accused NATO of using Ukraine for its own purposes of turning…
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