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[masergt] 19/3/2024 19:23

Russian democracy in action, logliar. And still no comment?

[loganair] 19/3/2024 12:46

The MOEX Russia index was little changed at 3,300 on Tuesday, preserving muted dynamics for the third session, amid the absence of big macroeconomic references and ahead of CBR's policy meeting this Friday. Meanwhile, ruble extended its rebound putting some pressure on exporters' shares.

Among sectors IT posted the largest gains of over 1%, and construction dropped modestly.

As for individual stocks, the leaders of growth were Yandex (3.9%), X5 (3.3%), and Seligdar (2.7%).

However, VK (-0.6%), NLMK (-0.6%), RusGidro (-0.5%), and Lukoil (-0.4%) slid.

On geopolitical arena, the European Union is preparing to levy tariffs on grain imports from Russia and Belarus to placate farmers and some member states.

[1998 crisis mk2] 18/3/2024 18:00

Russian election was most corrupt in country's history, monitoring group says


An election monitoring group has branded the Russian presidential election the most fraudulent and corrupt in its history.

The non-governmental Golos group said the results were not legitimate as "the campaign took place in a situation where the fundamental articles of the Russian Constitution, guaranteeing political rights and freedoms, were essentially not in effect".

"Never before have we seen a presidential campaign that fell so far short of constitutional standards," it said.

According to Russian media, the final count shows Vladimir Putin won 87.28% of the vote share on a record turnout of 77.4%.
Ballots are compiled during the Russian election

Golos said vote observers had been withdrawn after voting began in some regions, while in others they were not sent in the first place.

"In private conversations, representatives of candidates and parties admitted that this was done under pressure," Golos said.

The group cited incidents of voter intimidation, including putting law enforcement officers in polling stations and having them peer over voters' shoulders as they cast their votes.

According to Golos, officers at one site in Moscow took a ballot from a voter's hand to check who she voted for.

These incidents have not been independently verified.

[loganair] 18/3/2024 09:31

The MOEX Russia index remained unchanged at 3,290 on Monday, following the muted close on Friday, as risk sentiment was pressured by prospects of prolonged monetary tightening by CBR. This week, the central lender will decide on its monetary policy, with analysts expecting interest rates to remain at current levels. On the other hand, the downturn momentum was limited since president elections brought no suprises.

On the corporate front, the main decliners were Polymetal (-2.2%), TCS (-2.1%), PIK (-1.5%), Polus (-1.3%), Sovcomflot (-1.1%), and AFK Sistema (-1%). TCS shared dropped amid the resumption of trade after redomiciliation, while Socomflot was penalized by financial accounts for 2023. Also, Tatneft lost 0.6% since its net ptofit fell by 22% in the second half of 2023 to $1.5 billion, below the consensus.

In contrast, GLTR (1.4%), Novabev (1.3%), VK (1.3%), NLMK (0.7%), and Novatek (-0.6%) advanced. Novabev recommended to pay 22 rubles per share as final dividends for 2023.

[brwo349] 17/3/2024 20:05

It appears Putin got less than 139% of the vote and some sources are actually suggesting he may have got less than 100%! He's definitely on shaky ground

ROFLMAO!

[1917again] 16/3/2024 18:36

The body bag and coffin companies are the only ones booming in Russia


NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has estimated that Russia has lost over 350,000 troops over the two years of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Stoltenberg at a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda at NATO headquarters in Brussels on 14 March, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The secretary general stressed that with its courage and creativity, "Ukraine has shown that Russian forces can be defeated".

"Russia is paying a very high price for minor gains. On land, Putin's war has already cost Russia over 350,000 military casualties," he added, referring to the number of killed and wounded Russian military personnel.

"At sea, Ukrainian attacks have sunk or disabled a significant part of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. In the air, Ukraine has been shooting down key Russian targets, including expensive reconnaissance aircraft," Stoltenberg said.

Background:

In November 2023, the NATO secretary general stated that Russia had lost over 300,000 military personnel in Ukraine.

The same estimate appears in the annual report of US intelligence released this week.

Ukraine's General Staff assessed the total losses of Russian forces to date since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine to be almost 428,000.

[loganair] 16/3/2024 13:10

Ukraine is running so low on ammunition that it will run out of air defence missiles to defend its cities by the end of the month, according to reports. Supplies of missiles defending cities such as Odesa are dwindling fast, according to Ukrainian sources quoted by The Washington Post.

Russian officials have said that they know Ukraine is running out of ammunition and have decided that this is the time to strike. Along the frontlines in Ukraine’s Donbas, Moscow’s forces have continued to push back and outgunned Ukrainian forces who have complained of dwindling stocks of shells.

[1998 crisis mk2] 16/3/2024 11:58

Lots of Russian refineries being hit by new long range of Ukrainian drones

No fuel for those junk Ladas

[loganair] 16/3/2024 08:50

BBC Russian Service - 3,047 Russians killed over the past 4 weeks = 108 per day.

First 2 weeks of February - 1,194 Russians killed = 85 per day.

Last 6 months of 2023 on average 78 Russians were killed per day.


BBC Russian Service - estimates 85,000 Russians killed since the start of the conflict in February 2022.

[brwo349] 15/3/2024 16:21

Russian Election. PMSL.



President Putin faces no serious challenge as he seeks a fifth term in office. His most vocal critics have either fled into exile or been jailed at home. Mr Navalny, his fiercest opponent, is dead.

But the Kremlin likes to boast that Russia has the "best democracy" in the world. So, along with Mr Putin on the ballot are three officially authorised challengers from Russia's Kremlin-friendly parliament.

I caught up with one of them recently. It was an odd experience.

"Why do you think you'd be a better president than Putin?" I asked Nikolai Kharitonov, the Communist Party candidate.

"It's not for me to say," Mr Kharitonov replied. "That wouldn't be right."

Nikolai Kharitonov, the presidential candidate, believes it's not for him to say whether he would make a better president than Putin
"But do you think your manifesto is better than Putin's?" I continued.

"That's for voters to decide."

"But what do you think?"

"It doesn't matter what I think. It's up to the voters."

Instead of talking up himself, Mr Kharitonov praised the incumbent.


LOL!

Exit polls are predicting Putin will garner 139% of the vote.

[loganair] 15/3/2024 10:37

Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian economy has consistently defied the dire predictions of critics.

At the start of the war, the International Monetary Fund expected a prolonged recession, forecasting the economy to contract by 8.5 percent in 2022 and 2.3 percent in 2023. While Russia’s economy did shrink in 2022, the contraction was just 1.2 percent. Last year, the economy officially grew 3.6 percent.

According to Castellum.AI, a global risk platform, Russia has been slapped with 16,587 sanctions since the start of the war. Some $300bn of Russian assets have been frozen.

Other restrictions apply to international debt markets and industrial imports. The most consequential sanctions limit natural gas exports and place a cap on Russian oil prices.

“I can’t say sanctions have had a big impact on me,” Nikolai Zlatarev, a Moscow resident who works in education, told Al Jazeera. “My weekly shop is a little more expensive and I buy more Russian brands. But I doubt that drinking Dobry Cola instead of Coca-Cola will change the election.”

Owing to high oil prices and elevated military spending, Russia has managed to mitigate much of the impact of sanctions.

“Extra spending unleashed by war can boost economic activity. But it also represents a redistribution of income away from state services towards the army,” Konstantin Sonin, a political economist at the University of Chicago, told Al Jazeera.

Military spending has swelled in recent years, rising from 3.9 percent of the gross domestic product in 2023 to about 6 percent in 2023 – the highest it has been since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This year, military expenditure is expected to account for almost one-third of government outlays.

Meanwhile, Russia’s massive energy sector has kept money flowing into state coffers, while local companies have made substantial efforts to substitute Western imports.

“Import substitution always happens with trade restrictions,” Sonin said.

“Most critically, Russia has continued to sell plenty of fossil fuels. It’s true that oil and gas exports have fallen because of sanctions, but elevated prices have kept overall revenues high,” he said.

Sonin added that “it’s important to recall the size of Russia’s fossil fuels sector. Domestically, oil accounts for roughly one-third of tax receipts and half of all export revenue”.

The Kyiv School of Economics estimates that Moscow made $178bn from oil sales last year and that revenues could rise to $200bn in 2024 – not far off the $218bn earned in 2022.

Russia has also found ways to skirt import restrictions by sourcing goods from countries acting as intermediaries for Western goods. For instance, Serbia’s exports of phones to Russia rose from $8,518 in 2021 to $37m in 2022.

For Zlatarev in Moscow, conditions are far better than the widely remembered economic crises of the 1990s.

“Compared to then, things are OK. Even if the costs of this conflict are high, Putin is still viewed as a net positive,” she said. “Most people I know have said they’ll vote for him.”

[loganair] 15/3/2024 09:57

The MOEX Russia index traded muted at 3,300 on Friday, as investors refrained from making big decisions amid the start of presidential elections, which will take place until March 17th.

On the corporate front, the main gainers were Rostelecom (1.9%), Rusneft (1.8%), and Seligdar (1.7%).

On the other hand, Rusal (-1.3%), Mechel (-0.8%), EN+ (-0.7%), GLTR (-0.7%), and Raspadskaya (-0.7%) dropped. The former fell after publishing an 84% plunge in its net profit to $282 million in 2023.

Also, Polymetal traded flat despite presenting a 40% increase in net adjusted income for the year. In other stocks to follow, Novatek will be approving the dividend recommendation for 2023.

[loganair] 15/3/2024 09:22

AI needs a lot of energy, needs secure baseline power, not wind or solar.

Since its expansion BRICs is becoming BRICS/OPEC energy block...control energy - control everything.

[loganair] 14/3/2024 16:43

3 biggest Importers of fossil fuels from Russia on a daily basis during March 2024 so far - also have included the EU:

China..€260mln
India..€150mln
Turkey €100mln
EU.....€ 75mln

Circa 40% of EU imports from Russia are into Hungry and Slovakia.

[loganair] 14/3/2024 11:07

The month of February 2024 revealing the numbers behind the Russian fossil fuel trade in yet another geography: oil products imported by the UK made from Russian crude have sent EUR 165mln in tax revenue back to the Kremlin — equivalent to 28% of the humanitarian aid it has so far provided to Ukraine.

[loganair] 14/3/2024 10:56

The MOEX Russia index fell 0.6% to 3,300 on Thursday as investors digested hotter-than-expected CPI data and the remarks of CBR's officials. The central lender hinted that the monetary policy might have to remain hawkish longer to ensure the stablizing of the exchange rate and a retreat in price pressures. Inflation is now anticipated to peak in the Q2 of 2024. Weighing on the risk sentiment further, the country braced for the 2-day presidential elections which start on Friday.

On the corporate front, all sectors traded in the red, with the exception of IT.

Among individual stocks, the most penalized values were GLTR (-1.6%), PIK (-1.1%), Rostelecom (-1.1%), Polymetal (-1%), and Mechel (-1%).

In contrast, Rusal (0.8%) and NorNickel (0.6%) advanced.

[loganair] 13/3/2024 21:06

Russia is entering its third year of war in Ukraine with an unprecedented amount of cash in government coffers, bolstered by a record $37 billion of crude oil sales to India last year, according to new analysis, which concludes that some of the crude was refined by India and then exported to the United States as oil products worth more than $1 billion.

The analysis by the CREA estimated the US was the biggest buyer of refined products from India made from Russian crude last year, worth $1.3 billion between early December 2022, when the price cap was introduced, and the end of 2023.

The value of these oil product exports rises significantly once US allies that are also enforcing sanctions against Russia are included. The CREA estimated that $9.1 billion worth of oil products made from Russian crude was imported by these nations in 2023, a 44% increase from the year before.

This flow of payments, ultimately to Moscow’s benefit, comes from India increasing its purchases of Russian crude by over 13 times its pre-war amounts, according to the analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), exclusively shared with CNN. It amounts to US strategic partner New Delhi stepping in to replace crude purchases by Western buyers, reduced by sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the analysis said.

While Russian crude sales to India are not subject to sanctions and are entirely legitimate, an examination of shipping routes by experts suggests this huge volume of shipments might involve the so-called “shadow fleet” of crude tankers, specially created by Moscow to try to disguise who it is trading with and how, and maximize the Kremlin’s profits.

The net impact of India’s crude purchases has been to weaken the pinch Russian President Vladimir Putin feels from oil sanctions. Russia’s federal revenues ballooned to an all-time high of $320 billion in 2023 and are set to rise further still in 2024.

The funds at the Kremlin’s disposal put Moscow in a better position to sustain a lengthy war than Kyiv, which is struggling to maintain the desperately needed flow of Western cash.