Gazprom conducted the first exchange of assets with foreigners The German petrochemical concern BASF became the first foreign company that managed to exchange assets with Gazprom. On December 17, the head of the Russian gas monopolist, Alexey Miller, and the chairman of the board of BASF, Jurgen Hambrecht, signed documents on the deal. The German group became a shareholder of Severneftegazprom, which owns the license for the large Yuzhno-Russkoye field.

The head of Roscosmos expects the struggle in the navigation services market to intensify The main breakthrough of 2007 in the domestic space industry is considered to be the development of the GLONASS satellite system. This was stated yesterday by the head of Roscosmos, Anatoly Perminov (pictured) , summing up the results of the outgoing year. As Mr.

Allianz and AXA invested in ROSNO and RESO-Garantiya In the past year, the insurance market has been pleased with two major transactions for the industry. In the spring, the German Allianz bought a controlling stake in ROSNO from AFK Sistema for $750 million. By this time, the German company already owned 47.4% of the insurer’s shares, and as a result its share amounted to 97% of the shares. At that time, ROSNO was valued at $1.5 billion, which became a record for the Russian market.

The mortgage crisis that began in the summer significantly reduced the investment attractiveness of Russian banks. The forecasts of market participants who expected that in 2007 many large Russian banks would find new foreign owners did not come true. The only major transaction involving a Western strategic investor was the exercise in December by the French group Societe Generale of an option to purchase 30% plus two shares of Rosbank.

Gazprom began buying Beltransgaz in parts The promised, as they say, waits for three years. In the case of Beltransgaz, Gazprom waited five years for mercy from Alexander Lukashenko. And if we take the first intergovernmental agreement on this topic as a starting point, then its history goes back a good fifteen years. As a result, Gazprom agreed to value Beltransgaz at $5 billion—that’s exactly what Mr. Lukashenko wanted to get five years ago, when the deal was successfully scrapped.

Moscow fiscal officials will collect a third more taxes in 2007 than in 2006 Tax control in Moscow is becoming increasingly stricter. Moscow tax officials this year will collect at least a third more taxes than last year. This is evidenced by the tax collection statistics published on the official website of the Moscow Federal Tax Service. Moscow, like any capital, lives off the taxes of the largest corporations registered on its territory and trading enterprises.

Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov decided to divide their joint business Perhaps the most scandalous event of the past year was the collapse of one of the largest and most durable Russian tandems - the multibillion-dollar empire of Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov. The “divorce” of the two former partners began immediately after last New Year, which businessmen traditionally celebrated in Courchevel, France, Mr.

In 2007, a Russian photographer died in Iraq At the end of the outgoing year, on December 26, George Bush signed, despite the objections of the opposition in Congress , a 555 billion budget for the next fiscal year. To the satisfaction of the US President, there is a line about the allocation of $70 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Serbia will fight for integrity to the last drop of energy The Serbian authorities still have the last word in the Kosovo settlement process , at least in the past year.

Dmitry Rogozin is expecting his official appointment as Russia's permanent representative to NATO any day now. In the Duma of the third convocation, the politician headed the Committee on International Affairs, and from the summer of 2002 to January 2004 he served as the special representative of the Russian President on the problems of the Kaliningrad region, so the appointment can be called his return to foreign policy. At the same time, at a certain moment, Mr.

In the calendar of the most important sports competitions in the coming year, two main and most striking events can be distinguished - the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing and the final tournament of the European Football Championship in Austria and Switzerland. Both of these sports forums are held once every four years and are preceded by a long and sometimes dramatic qualifying cycle, as was the case with our national football team.

Vladimir Putin visited his future government Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at the Government House to congratulate the Cabinet of Ministers on the upcoming holiday. This holiday, according to the head of state, should mark his ascension to the post of prime minister after the presidential elections in March 2008, if the current First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wins them.

Anatoly Chubais will no longer be accused of selling out Russia for pennies The reform of the electric power industry entered its final stage this year. The main thing has begun - the sale of energy generating assets. Anatoly Chubais apparently decided to hedge his bets in case of accusations of squandering, and the starting price at all auctions without exception turned out to be too high.

Russia and the United States will take up missile defense and the CFE Treaty in 2009 In the coming year, Russia will continue to search for solutions to problems associated with the deployment of elements of the American missile defense system (ABM) in the Czech Republic and Poland and the limitation of conventional weapons in Europe.

German automakers-competitors are moving closer In the German automotive industry, they began to talk about prospects that at first glance were absolutely fantastic. Two irreconcilable rivals in the market - BMW and Daimler, as follows from a report in the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper, have almost entered into negotiations on direct production cooperation. And, apparently, their plans are quite serious and real .