In Moscow, the Kotelniki station of the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya metro line will open in December, said Andrei Bochkarev, head of the Moscow construction department, at a press conference. He recalled that the station's opening is delayed due to the resolution of land relations issues and the need to allocate a plot of land for the construction of a large transport hub near the station.

Russian Railways is cutting staff... The average number of Russian Railways employees in the first half of the year was 3.2% less than a year ago, at 863,700 people, according to the company's quarterly reports. At the end of 2013, there were 880,820 people. At the beginning of this year, Russian Railways announced that it would not hire new employees during the year and promised to review its salary indexation policy: to raise them once a year instead of twice.

Maxim Stulov / Vedomosti Shares of the IT company Armada fell by 40% to 62.65 rubles at the close of trading on August 15 on the Moscow Exchange, while the MICEX index grew by 0.73%. Armada's capitalization fell to 902.1 million rubles. The collapse of shares was caused by a statement by members of the Armada board of directors elected in July, Alexander Morgulchik and German Kaplun, about the absence of personnel, reporting, a seal, and a chief accountant in the company.

Oliver Bunic / Bloomberg Last week, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic explained the reason for launching an investigation into the privatization of Serbia's Naftna Industrija Srbija AD (NIS): the country is "dissatisfied with the agreement [between Russia and Serbia] on NIS," Prime reports him as saying. Of NIS's 400 million euros in net profit, Serbia receives only 29 million euros, Vucic explained. NIS's net profit in 2013 was 418 million euros.

TV comedy has come to opera / ©Bregenzer Festspiele / Anja Köhler Bregenz stages many new operas, including one-act operas: one of the highlights of the past years was Richard Dünser's opera "Radek", commissioned by the festival, about the best publicist of our "Pravda". The tradition lives on: among the premieres this year is "Life on the Edge of the Milk Street" by the Viennese Bernhard Gander. It looks like a full-fledged opera - three acts, more than two hours of action.

The price of Brent crude oil fell to its lowest in 14 months on Monday: during trading on Monday, quotes fell to $101.43 per barrel, the lowest since June 26, 2013. October Brent futures on the London ICE Futures Exchange fell by $1.83 (1.77%) to $101.7 per barrel by 18:11 Moscow time on Monday. The price of WTI oil futures for September on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $1.14 (1.17%) to $96.21 per barrel by 18:11 Moscow time.

All issues related to the delivery of Russian humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine have been settled with the Ukrainian side and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday. He noted that all issues "that were largely artificially raised" have been removed. The minister recalled that there are Ukrainian border guards and customs officers at the Russian checkpoint who arrived to check the cargo.

Three foreign companies, including the American Chevron, intend to submit applications for participation in a joint venture - the operator of the Ukrainian gas transportation network (GTS). This was stated to ITAR-TASS by three sources familiar with the course of negotiations. "At the moment, we are talking about applications from three companies," one of them noted.

FIFA President Joseph Blatter met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and head of the 2018 FIFA World Cup organizing committee Alexei Sorokin, the FIFA website reported. The meetings took place during Blatter's two-day visit to Sochi. In particular, in a conversation with Sorokin and Mutko, the FIFA President discussed a possible reduction in the number of stadiums that will host the 2018 World Cup, as well as issues of their capacity.

Reports that Ukraine allegedly bombed a Russian military convoy are untrue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. According to ITAR-TASS, the minister said that it was the militias who destroyed the Ukrainian convoy.

Zurab Javakhadze / ITAR-TASS A preliminary report on the investigation into the crash of the Malaysian Boeing 777 in eastern Ukraine will be submitted to the UN Security Council by the end of August, the current chairman of the Security Council, British Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant, told journalists. "The preliminary report will be submitted by the end of August," the diplomat said (quoted by RIA Novosti).

August 18, 2014, 15:05 / Business The general director of Rechturflot is suspected of fraud of 26 million rubles undefined Vedomosti A criminal case has been initiated against the general director of Rechturflot LLC, who is suspected of selling “fake” tours worth more than 26 million rubles, the press service of the transport department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District told Interfax on Monday.

If Russia tries to send troops into a NATO member state, even if these troops are not in uniform with official markings, as was the case in Crimea, NATO will respond with force. This was stated by the commander of NATO forces in Europe, General Philip Breedlove, in an interview with Die Welt on Sunday. According to him, the alliance has no plans to intervene in the situation in Ukraine.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Energy has ordered the suspension of all activities on the South Stream project until it meets the requirements of the European Commission. The corresponding letter to the Bulgarian Energy Holding was signed today by the Minister of Economy and Energy of the country's technical government Vasil Shtonov, ITAR-TASS reports.

August 18, 2014, 00:38 / Finance Tax authorities will have new opportunities to obtain information from offshore companies Tax authorities will have new ways to obtain information from offshore companies. But to do this they will have to prove that it is impossible to obtain data in Russia Philip Sterkin Margarita Papchenkova Bloomberg OECD card. Sergey Shatalov Deputy Minister of Finance.