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renovation program," he said. It was reported earlier that 23.5mn tourists had visited Moscow in 2018 for at least one night, while 56mn people had visited the Russian capital on a day trip.
9.1.10 Utilities sector news
Two heat power plants were on March 18 launched in the annexed Crimea peninsula at Tavricheskaya of Simferopol and Balaklavskaya in Sevastopol. Boasting a total capacity of 990MW they are to supply 90% of the pensinsula's power needs, Russian state technology agency Rostec announced. The power plants are controlled by Tehnopromexport agency, a subsidiary of Rostec, which was embroiled in the sanction-busting scandal centred on gas turbines from engineering major Siemens being supplied to Crimea. Siemens originally sold the turbines to a power plant in the city of Taman in Russia's southern Krasnodar region. In September 2016 Tekhnopromexport reportedly scrapped the project and put four turbines it acquired up for sale. Subsequently, Interavtomatika, a Russian company in which Siemens owns a 47.5% stake, reportedly supplied the German company's turbines to power plants in the peninsula in the first known breach of Crimea-related EU sanctions with major capital goods equipment from a major European company. In 2017, Siemens pressed charges. It is also mulling exiting Siemens Gas Turbines Technologies, a joint venture with Russian Power Machines, and giving up its 45.7% share in Interavtomatika because of its unhappiness at the Crimea turbines scandal. Since 2018, Power Machines (Silovie Machini) of steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov and Tekhnopromexport have been under US sanctions. Recent reports suggested that a subsidiary of state-controlled gas major Gazprom will replace Power Machines in the joint venture with Siemens. In the meantime, despite the Crimea embarrassment, Siemens has reiterated its readiness to participate in the Russian state power capacity modernisation programme and even localise 90% of the production of the turbines, as required by the Kremlin.
The Russian government will allocate RUB7bn in 2019–2021 to produce high-capacity gas turbines in the country, according to a statement released on Thursday. “The federal budget for 2019-2021 envisages RUB7bn towards this goal. It is expected that the amount of non-budget financing of the project will be at least RUB7bn as well,” the statement read. The minimum production of medium- and high-capacity turbines is to amount to 22 until the end of 2032. Long-term service agreements are to be signed during the sale of these turbines. Russia buys high-capacity gas turbines from Siemens since there is no local production. In 2017 Siemens said that all the four turbines meant to be used on a Russian power plant on the Taman Peninsula were illegally shipped to Crimea, forcing the company to cancel its licensing agreements to sell power equipment to Russian firms and suspend then- current agreements with state-run companies. Siemens continues litigation with its Russian contractors, and the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry developed a three-year roadmap to produce gas turbines with 110–170 megawatt (MW) capacity.
9.1.11 Metallurgy & mining sector news
Net profit of Russian gold miner Nordgold in 2018 declined by 45% to $91.9mn, the company said on March 25. The decline in net profit was attributed to negative revaluation of non-core assets and higher financial costs,
101 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com