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insider Oleg Deripaska is close to reaching an agreement with the US Department of Treasury on removing the sanctions that have riled the company since April. The Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said his department is open to removing Rusal from the sanctions list, adding the objective was “not to put Rusal out of business,” Reuters reported on July 21. “The company has approached us on certain de-listing issues [from the Specially Designated Nationals List],” Mnuchin told Reuters.“I’m not going to go into the exact specifics of what those proposals are and where we stand on them, but, yes, if we can find an acceptable solution, that is our objective,” he said.
Russia will initiate consultations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a dispute over steel and aluminium import duties imposed by the US , the organisation said on July 2. Ahead of the much anticipated Russia-US summit this week, Russia is being pulled into the trade war provoked by the administration of President Donald Trump and has already said it will introduce retaliatory measures against US imports . "Russia claims the US duties of 25% and 10% on imports of steel and aluminium products respectively are inconsistent with provisions of the WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards," the WTO press service reports. The damage to Russia is estimated at roughly $0.5bn.
Talks between representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union (EU) that took place in Berlin on July 17 regarding the prospects of the Ukrainian transit of Russian gas after 2019 did not bear any specific results or agreements . Russia is pressing ahead with the Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream pipelines that would allow it to bypass the Ukrainian transit route for gas supplies to Europe. The current contract with Ukrainian gas major Naftogaz will expire in 2019.
The US investor Bill Browder has filed a criminal complaint with the Estonian authorities over an alleged case of money laundering by the Estonian branch of Danske Bank , newswires reported on July 25. As much as €7.1bn may have been laundered via the bank’s Estonian operations, Danish and international media reported in July. The alleged money laundering is the focus of probes by financial regulatory authorities in Denmark and Estonia, as well as an internal investigation by Danske Bank. The Estonian Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed it had received Browder’s complaint but said details on further action would not be provided until after the complaint had been analysed.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has extended visa-free travel for supporters of the FIFA World Cup recently held in Russia. About 0.7mn people who still have valid Fan-IDs will be able to travel to Russia visa-free until the end of 2018, Interfax reported on July 15. The move is aimed at extending Putin's solid PR gains from the successful hosting of the spectacular and unpredictable World Cup that finished last week with no incidents. The Fan-ID is a plastic badge identification card issued free of charge and mandatory for attending the World Cup games. Out of the 1.5mn Fan-IDs issues about 0.87mn went to Russian fans, leaving about 0.6mn-0.7mn foreigners eligible for visa-free travel.
Russian authorities are considering scaling its pension reform back and reducing the hike to retirement ages , Reuters said on July 6 citing unnamed
9 RUSSIA Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com