Page 101 - RusRPTJun19

all permissions for construction besides that of Denmark, the territorial waters of which the company said it was ready to bypass. The company is reportedly preparing legal action against Danish regulators, which have refused to grant the pipeline construction permits. In the meantime, the EU Council approved a European gas directive on April 15 that is expected to delay commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas line – and potentially leave it half empty. Germany remains the key player able to relief tensions with Denmark and EU and broker the agreement, but potential pressure from the US could shift the balance in the negotiations, as most recently US senators were said to plan to introduce a bill targeting Nord Stream.
9.1.2 Automotive sector news
Russia’s sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) fell 2.7% on the year to 148,300 vehicles in April, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said in a statement on Monday. In January–April, sales of cars and LCVs fell 1% to 539,946 units. “Market sales in April again struggled to catch up to the strong result achieved on year ago. Clearly, the market in its current shape is no match to the one we saw delivering consistent double-digit growth rates only 12 months ago,” AEB said quoting Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee. Sales of Russia’s largest carmaker AvtoVAZ grew 5% on the year to 32,316 cars in April and 4% to 114,679 units in January–April.
9.1.3 Aviation sector news
Russian Finance Ministry rejected a proposal made by the country's largest air carriers who are asking to be compensated for rising jet fuel costs, RBC daily reported on May 7 citing the sources close to negotiations. FinMin reportedly urged the airlines to find internal operational cutbacks to combat rising costs, which is hurting the industry and has stymied the government’s plans to develop the domestic aircraft industry. The prospects of Russian aircraft industry will be in focus after this week's tragic deadly crash of Sukhoi Super Jet 100 operated by Russia's national carrier Aeroflot. Despite billons of US dollars invested in the development of SSJ-100, the crash has opened a debate on the viability of domestically built jets. In 2018 alone Russian carriers posted a consolidated loss of RUB50bn ($764mn), out of which RUB43bn accounted for the top 10 largest airlines. The loss was mostly
101 RUSSIA Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com