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The Regions This Week
May 24, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eastern Europe
Belarus is going to seek compensation for the direct and indirect losses caused by poor-quality oil from Russia, according to the nation's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko. Minsk estimates its immediate losses at $100mn.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy be- lieves that "the first task" of the new leader- ship should be a ceasefire in Donbas. "I have been often asked: What price are you ready to pay for the ceasefire? It’s a strange question. What price are you ready to pay for the lives of you loved ones? I can assure you that I'm ready to pay any price to stop the deaths of our heroes,” he said.
Russia's GDP growth slowed notably to 0.5% year-on-year in 1Q19, down from the strong 2.7% y/y seen in 4Q18 and 1.9% y/y in 1Q18, according to preliminary data from statistics bureau Rosstat.
Russian millennials are most worried about corruption and income inequality, according to the annual global study of millennials carried out by Deloitte. Most notably, the overall satisfaction level among Russian millennials are particularly low, with only 18% estimating it highly as com- pared to the global average of 29%.
One of Russia's largest producers of thermal coal Fuel Company (KTK) will not pay divi- dends for 2018, accruing RUB6bn ($93mn) of net profit made last year. The company has recently been acquired by Mikhail Gutseriev and his asso- ciates, together now controlling 67% in KTK. The company’s share price fell 10% on the news.
Ukraine’s PrivatBank filed a lawsuit against its former owner Ihor Kolomoisky and his associ- ates in a Delaware court in the US The 104-page filing accuses Kolomoisky of misappropriating
hundreds of millions of dollars and laundering the money through 20 US corporations to buy steel plants and commercial real estate in 12 US states, including Ohio, Texas, Florida and Kentucky.
Following the publication of very strong 1Q19 results for Qiwi, which showed soaring earnings growth and margins offsetting the investment in development, market watchers have upgraded recommendations and target prices on shares
of Russian electronic payment system.
Renova Group that unites the assets of sanc- tioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg called off the sale of electric utility major T Plus to GazpromEnergoHolding (GEH), a subsidiary of state gas giant Gazprom, due to the low valuation.
Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas company, plans to launch its third LNG plant Obskiy LNG in 4Q22. Novatek has an ambitious LNG strategy. The company also advanced further with its Arctic LNG-2 plant by signing a contract with UK-based TechnipFMC for engineering, procurement, supply, construction and commissioning.
Just under 58% of Ukrainians generally trust their new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to a new poll. Another 35.1% are more likely to trust the president, and 23% of citizens trust him completely, according to the poll. Former President Petro Poroshenko was trusted by only 15% of respondents (11.3% and 3.7%, respectively).
Russian internet major Yandex will allow the clients of its food delivery service Yandex.
Eda (Yandex.Food) to place orders on behalf of their employers, similarly to corporate accounts already functioning for Yandex.Taxi service.