Page 23 - RusRPTJune18

2.12 Politics - misc
Russia's lower house of parliament confirmed Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister on Tuesday, voting 374 against 56 in favour of him remaining in the job he has held since 2012. He was nominated by President Vladimir Putin, who was sworn in for a new six-year term in the Kremlin on May 7.
Ukraine's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz has appealed Swiss courts seeking to the enforce the recovery of $2.6bn debt from Russia's giant Gazprom following the award of the Stockholm arbitration court, Naftogaz said in a statement on May 30. A bitter conflict between Naftogaz and the Russian gas monopolist that erupted after a ruling by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, according to which Gazprom should repay to Kyiv a total of $2.6bn. Despite the award of the Stockholm arbitration court, Gazprom refused to resume deliveries of gas to Naftogaz Ukrainy on March 1, or pay $2.6bn to Naftogaz. At the same time, the Russian monopolist is challenging the arbitration award in Swedish courts, declaring the terms of the order to be unreasonable, and initiated a new arbitration, trying to cancel the results of the previous one. In accordance with international law, arbitral awards are enforceable in almost all countries. Gazprom's challenging these awards cannot stop their execution, Naftogaz said.
Ratings of current Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin stand at 34% and are out of reach of other contenders for the elections slated in September , who barely reach 1%, RBC business portal said on May 31 citing the data of Levada-Center pollster. This week Sobyanin said he will run for re-election as mayor of the Russian capital, which will be held on September 9. Sobyanin, 59, is an ex-senator for Tyumen region and a Kremlin insider, having served as deputy prime minister, and head of the presidential administration. Then-President Dmitry Medvedev appointed him Moscow mayor in 2010, replacing long-time Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Liberal opposition politician Ilya Yashin said on April 11 that he will participate in the Moscow elections and was endorsed by the opposition leader and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny. Navalny himself rose to prominence by coming in in second in the 2013 Moscow mayoral elections with more than 27% of votes. Currently Yashin's rating is below 1%, however, the poll results show. Another opposition candidate's Dmitri Gudkov's rating is also below 1%. Currently the reported voter turnout estimate is higher than prior to the last election, with 54% of respondents ready to vote and 28% doubting they will participate versus 44% and 26% in July 2013, respectively.
Russian oligarch and owner of Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich
missed his club’s victory in the FA final as the UK authorities have failed to renew his UK visa. He has since got an Israeli passport and withdrawn his application for a UK passport. He also cancelled plans to invest $1bn into a new stadium for Chelsea FC.
It might take up to a year to lift the sanctions from companies of embattled Russian metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska , most notably En+ and Rusal aluminium major, the Financial Times reported unnamed former US Treasury officials on May 3. Kremlin insider Deripaska has recently caved in to
23 RUSSIA Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com