As President Dmitrii Medvedev met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today, the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk, northern Russia, put the aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” on the water. The vessel was one of the issues on the Russian-Indian agenda.
Representatives of the EU and Russia this week met in Brussels to discuss a new Partnership Agreement. The Russian side say the further talks will be “long and complicated”.
Russia has officially started the construction of its first floating nuclear power plant. However, the project designers have failed to complete all technical details. The project is deadlocked, newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta concludes.
Gazprom today officially started drilling at the first production well at the Bovanankovo field, the biggest field in the gas-rich Yamal Peninsula. At the same time, the company started the construction of the 1100 km long Ukhta-Bovanenkovo pipeline. –This is the most extensive energy project in newer Russian history, company board leader Viktor Zukov said
Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug are two of nine Russian regions, which on 1 March 2009 will have regional parliament elections. The elections will be a major test of confidence for authorities in the regions.
The Murmansk regional government has decided to shut down the village Rikolatva in the Kovdor municipality. The only production enterprise in the village is bankrupt.
Russia is preparing for a new Arctic expedition next spring to continue the study of the Lomonosov Ridge in order to provide evidence about the extension of the country’s Arctic shelf.
The Norwegian governor of the Svalbard Archipelago today said that Russian activities at the archipelago will be subjected to new restrictions, NRK reports.
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global has lost 173 billion NOK since June this year. At the same time, the fund administrators are now investing major sums in new stocks acquisitions.
The financial crisis is hitting hard on a number of Russian regions. Now, the federal government is preparing an anti-crisis programme for the federal subjects.
