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The Regions This Week
February 1, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eastern Europe
The US Treasury Department (USTD) formally lifted the April 6 round of sanctions on the com- panies belonging to Russian oligarch and Kremlin insider Oleg Deripaska, but left those that target the businessmen personally in place. As part of the deal state-owned bank VTB and a big creditor of Deripaska increased its stake in his energy holding EN+ to 22.27% from 7.65%, Vedomosti reported.
Russia’s Gazprom guides for at least 200bcm
of gas exports to Europe in the short term. The management of Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom said that the company will continue to deliver a record circa200bn cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Europe in the near term.
Ukraine’s incumbent President Petro Poroshen- ko announced his candidature for reelection in the elections slated for March 31 "I would like to ask voters for a mandate to ensure the irrevers- ibility of the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and our independence, as well as to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity, bring back peace, complete the construction of a strong state capable of providing prosperity to every Ukrain- ian," Poroshenko said.
Eight out of ten (80%) Ukrainian citizens believe Ukraine is moving in the “wrong direction,” ac- cording to a poll from the Seetarget company.
Belarus’s biggest bank Belarusbank reported a strong BYN342mn ($128.5mn) in profits in 2018, which was well above the projected BYN292mn, the bank said. Belarusbank is the largest financial and credit institution in Belarus with about half the market share in most segments.
Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev will donate all his salary and other income to three charitable funds this year,
Interfax Ukraine reported. Kobolev’s salary has become a political issue in the election season as it is far in excess of average incomes in Ukraine.
Russia’s imports of meat and meat products plummeted by almost 58% to 800,000 tonnes over the past four years since introduction of sanctions and countersanctions, Sergei Dankvert, director of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight, said.
Belarus bears the greatest costs from the exist- ing barriers within the Eurasian Economic Un- ion, Tatyana Valovaya, the Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, said.
Russia’s pipeline operating company Nord Stream 2 AG is hoping to attract project financ- ing worth €6bn, chief financial officer Paul Cor- coran told reporters. "We are still in discussions with export credit agencies,” he added.
Belarus' gold reserves rose by 1 tonne in 2018 to total 41.2 tonnes on 1 January 2019, the National Bank of Belarus said on January 29.
Novatek plans to launch the first train of its third LNG (LNG-3) project at the end of 2024, increas- ing its total LNG shipment flow to 46.5mmt/a, Kommersant reported. According to the paper, the third LNG project might include up to three trains with capacity of 1.5-1.6mmt of LNG each.
Polymetal International completed the sale of its Kapan mine in Armenia. The deal is in line with the guidance on the sale announced earlier. The sale of Kapan, one of the highest cost mines in company’s portfolio, is part of the company’s moves to re-profiling and concentrate on lower costs and more profitable assets.