Category: Vladimir Putin

Lukoil Offers Something Its Giant Rival Can’t: Rising Dividends

Investing in Russian oil has become a choice between cash or glory, and Lukoil PSJC looks like the richer side of the bet. Russia’s second-largest oil producer has watched as state-run rival Rosneft PJSC came to command the nation’s industry — first by winning control of Yukos’s best assets a decade ago, then the $54 billion acquisition of TNK-BP in 2013, and finally last year’s purchase of Bashneft PJSC.

NY Times Says Trump Campaign Had Repeated Contact With Russian Intelligence

Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing four current and former U.S. officials. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said, according to the Times.

Host Alec Baldwin, ‘SNL’ Cast Skewer Trump White House

Alec Baldwin, who has scored in guest shots on “Saturday Night Live” with his mocking impersonation of Donald Trump since the campaign’s final weeks, presided Saturday night as guest host of the NBC comedy show, serving up yet another Trump masquerade. In his spoof, President Trump made good on a tweeted vow to “see you in court” directed at the three Ninth Circuit federal judges who last week refused to lift a stay preventing his immigration ban from being enforced.

Trump’s plan for safe zones in Syria risks dragging the US…

President Donald Trump said this week that he would “absolutely do safe zones in Syria” to stem the flow of refugees into other countries. Trump is expected to ask the Pentagon and State Department to draft a plan for establishing the safe zones, so it’s currently unclear what measures specifically Trump would authorize.

RT Channel’s Unique Carriage Deals Make It Difficult to Drop in U.S.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Editor-in-chief of RT, the 24-hour English-language TV news channel, Margarita Simonyan, attend an exhibition marking RT’s 10th anniversary in Moscow in December 2015. The Kremlin-financed RT television channel, thrust into the spotlight by a recent U.S. intelligence report , has over the years secured carriage on U.S. cable and satellite services in a way that largely protects it from being dropped.

Senators Split Over Tillerson and His Ties to Putin

President-Elect Trump’s pick to be Secretary of State suggested that Russia “poses a danger,” responding to concerns that he is overly cozy with the Russian President. Lawmakers on Wednesday were deeply divided over whether President-elect Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson would be right for the job, with many senators raising concerns about his overly cozy ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

U.S. Firms With Most at Stake as Russian Ties Fray, in Charts

Frosty relations between the U.S. and Russia grew icier this week after President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats over hacking. While the sanctions are largely at the diplomatic level and Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wouldn’t retaliate, companies with heavy cross-border activity could have substantial sums at stake.

Expelled Russian Diplomats Leave United States

Russian diplomats who were expelled by order of U.S. President Barack Obama left Washington on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported, citing Russia’s embassy. Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over the hacking of U.S. political groups during the 2016 presidential election.

Trump focuses New Year’s tweet on ‘many enemies’ and everyone…

On the final day of 2016, President-elect Donald Trump sent a New Year’s message of “love!” on Twitter, including to his “many enemies” and everyone who has “lost so badly.” The tweet came after another that praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for not launching a tit-for-tat sanctions to respond to those issued by US President Barack Obama’s administration this week in retaliation for Russia’s suspected election-related hacking.

The Latest: Vermont governor ‘outraged’ over utility malware

Vermont’s governor says he has been in touch with the federal government and the state’s utilities about the discovery on a utility laptop of a malware code used by Russian hackers. Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin says people should be “alarmed and outraged” Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been attempting to hack our electric grid.”

Russia Urges Libya Leadership Role for UN-Defying Military Chief

Russia threw its weight behind a powerful Libyan army commander, Khalifa Haftar, who’s in conflict with the UN-backed government there, saying he must have a role in the leadership of the crisis-wracked state. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov criticized the United Nations’ envoy to Libya for favoring other political forces in the North African country.

Rosneft Could Accelerate Global Expansion in 2017, Says WoodMac

Rosneft PJSC has the opportunity to accelerate its international expansion next year as the political environment becomes more favorable for the state-run Russian oil producer. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s “Russia-friendly rhetoric” and the appointment of Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State “are likely to have a profound impact on the way Russia is perceived by the West,” according to consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Rosneft has recent international success to build upon — its $1.1 billion purchase of a stake in an Egyptian gas field and the Russian government’s sale of 19.5 percent of the company to Glencore Plc and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

Tillerson’s Foreign Prowess Said Aided by Exxon Intelligence Arm

Even before Donald Trump tapped him to be the top U.S. diplomat, Rex Tillerson already had his own State Department. Behind the walls of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s secluded corporate headquarters in suburban Dallas, a little-known intelligence unit works to keep top executives informed on economic, social and political situations around the world so they never walk into a foreign negotiation unprepared.