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The Regions This Week
November 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Eastern Europe
Ukraine and the US will jointly oppose implemen- tation of the Russian Nord Stream 2 project, as agreed during Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s visit to Kyiv. Ukraine has been resisting the expansion of the Nord Stream pipeline that connects Germany directly to Russia’s Yamal gas fields, and would ef- fectively cut Ukraine out of the loop.
Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny was banned from leaving the country, he wrote on Twitter. Navalny was due to fly to Strasbourg to hear the European Court of Human Rights’ decision on his case, but border guards took his passport and said he was not allowed to leave Russia.
Russian hydropower holding RusHydro will cut its 2018 investment programme by 22% from RUB124.5bn ($1.9bn) to RUB96.7bn, Interfax re- ported. Total investment programmed by the re- newable energy investor for 2018-2022 is planned at RUB362bn, down from the RUB443bn previously approved for 2019-2023.
Ukraine’s two largest pro-Russian political par- ties merged. Yuriy Boyko of the Opposition Bloc and Vadim Rabinovich of the For Life party signed an agreement to merge their parties into the new Opposition Platform For Life ahead of next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections.
Russia could see its largest ever number of outlet stores openings in 2019 in terms of numbers, geo- graphic spread, and floor space, Tass said citing a study by real estate consulting company CBRE.
Russia’s growth slowed to 1.3% in 3Q18 due to a high base effect from last year’s record breaking harvest, according to preliminary data from Ross- tat.
The cost of holidays for Russians in Turkey could increase by over 30% in 2019, according to the acting head of the Association of Russian Tour
Operators (ATOR) Maya Lomidze. Reportedly, many Turkish hotels have already informed Russian tour operators of the imminent price hikes.
The Russian-backed self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in Ukraine held elec- tions for their heads of government and councils. As expected, Denis Pushilin was elected head of the Donetsk government, and Leonid Pasechnik was elected head in Luhansk.
Transit of goods across Belarus is rising every year. Between January and September this year 49.5mn tonnes of merchandise crossed Belarus in transit, 18% up from the same period of last year, the State Customs Committee of Belarus reported.
Russia's third largest air carrier Ural airlines increased the number of foreign destinations
it flies to from the Moscow regional Zhukovsky airport and is now serving Amsterdam, Catania, Is- tanbul, Karlovy Vari, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Prague, Shymkent and Stockholm.
Russian gold and silver producer Polym-
etal launched construction of the new Nezhda mine in Eastern Siberia, which is expected to start contributing to its dividends by 2022 after $234mn of capital investment.
Leading Belarusian truck-maker BelAZ will resume delivering to China, BelTA reported. A deal was signed at the recent Shanghai expo on delivering a haul truck with carrying capacity of 360 tonnes. At present China uses 485 BelAZ vehicles.
Leading Ukrainian energy company DTEK re- sumed deliveries of anthracite coal to its power plant located in the disputed Luhansk (aka Lugansk) region of the Donbas that is currently under the control of Russian-backed separatists. Anthracite supplies from DTEK mines in Russia have enabled the power plant to reduce its natural gas use by 30%.