The PRC leadership is considering the possibility of merging existing Chinese state-owned oil companies in order to create a competitor to large Western oil producers in the face of falling oil prices Photo: Getty Images “We want to create a major Chinese brand to better compete abroad,” The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed Chinese official as saying.

Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina/RBC Maxim Nogotkov lost control over the parent company of his holding. The Supreme Court of Cyprus rejected his appeal against the decision to recover 51% of Cypriot Trellas in favor of Solvers Oleg Malis. The decision was made on Tuesday, February 17, around 11:00 Moscow time. Malis himself told RBC about this. According to him, the decision of the court of first instance, made in December 2014, was upheld.

NATO says the situation in Donbass is deteriorating and believes that the “refusal of the militias” to comply with the ceasefire threatens the Minsk agreements NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Photo: AP) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the deterioration of the situation in Donbass, including around Debaltsevo. He expressed this opinion to journalists in Riga, reports Reuters . He said he was "deeply concerned" by the situation.

The Russian beer market fell by 7% in 2014. This was reported in a press release from the Baltika brewing company. “As expected by the company, the fall in the beer market in 2014 was about 7% compared to 2013. The market decline was influenced by the deterioration of the general macroeconomic situation and rising inflation, especially in the second half of the year, which had a negative impact on the purchasing power of consumers in the beer category,” the company’s report says.

Photo: RIA Novosti Consumer debts for heat in 2014 increased to 155 billion rubles, which is 14% more than at the end of 2013, analysts from the NP Council of Energy Producers calculated, having collected data from 22 large generating companies. The main defaulters for heat are management companies, homeowners' associations and other housing organizations; they account for 55% of the debt - 86 billion rubles.

The militias confirm the partial withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Debaltseve, but claim that a large number of military personnel remain surrounded in the city. Earlier, Poroshenko announced the withdrawal of 80% of units from Debaltseve Ukrainian army leaves Debaltseve (Photo: REUTERS 2015) Many Ukrainian security forces remain surrounded in the Debaltsevo area, Andrei Purgin, speaker of the parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told RIA Novosti.

Law enforcement officers conducted searches in the St. Petersburg metro. Investigative actions took place the day before, told TASS Dmitry Kochetkov, head of the press service of the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, . He confirmed that department employees took part in the searches. He declined to make any other comments.

Russian Post has frozen delivery rates for daily newspapers. As follows from the company's message received by RBC, the price for this service will remain at the 2014 level and will not increase. The press service report notes that in total, Russian Post will allocate about 700 million rubles for subscription support activities in the second half of 2015. The decision applies to both federal and regional newspapers, the company noted.

Yandex believes that Google, which owns the Android operating system, limits manufacturers from collaborating with competing services. Yandex, which is losing its share in search, sent a corresponding statement to the FAS Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC FAS will look Yandex requires checking the actions of a competitor when distributing devices with the Android operating system, Yandex representative Ochir Mandzhikov told RBC.

The court dismissed the criminal case of the famous lawyer Murad Musaev. The reason was the expiration of the statute of limitations. The investigation accused the defense attorney of putting pressure on the jurors; their case will be considered on March 3 Lawyer Murad Musaev (Photo: RIA Novosti) The Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow on Wednesday terminated the criminal proceedings against lawyer Murad Musaev, who was accused of influencing jurors.

Due to the fall in advertising revenues from print media, Kommersant is cutting costs on some of its editorial departments and business services Photo: TASS Kommersant management announced on Wednesday, February 18, a 10% cut in journalists' salaries, two sources at the publishing house said. One of them clarified: we are talking about newspaper journalists; in other departments, the cost reduction could be even greater.

Photo: AP The President of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) Valentin Balakhnichev officially resigned. The organization will receive a new head no earlier than the end of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The resignation of Valentin Balakhnichev did not become a sensation. He announced it back in early February, even naming the exact date for announcing his decision. “Everything will be done according to the rules,” R-Sport quotes Balakhnichev as saying.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine estimated the losses of military personnel in Debaltseve in recent days at 22 people killed and more than 150 wounded Ukrainian army leaving Debaltseve (Photo: REUTERS 2015) The losses of the Ukrainian army during the last days of fighting in Debaltsevo and when leaving the city amounted to 22 dead and more than 150 wounded, according to the report of the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine Gennady Vorobyov, which he voiced at a

Photo: TASS The dispute between Rosneft and Gazprom over access to gas infrastructure has moved to a new level. The oil company wants to include the right to export gas and reduce tariffs for its pumping in the general scheme of the gas industry. RBC obtained presentations from Gazprom and Rosneft for a meeting at the Ministry of Energy on February 12 on pricing for gas transportation and storage as part of finalizing the master plan for the development of the gas industry until 2030.

S. Umnov announced a reduction in funding for the St. Petersburg headquarters by 15% Photo: S. Umnov/assembly.spb.ru The St. Petersburg Main Directorate has stopped recruiting internal affairs bodies in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Sergei Umnov, announced this during a speech in the Legislative Assembly of the city.