Economy of Russia

The Petrotel refinery in Ploiesti in southern Romania, majority owned by Lukoil, restarted on Monday, after being shut for a week because of the fraud investigation, according to company sources.

Russia's ambassador to Romania last week expressed concern after Romanian prosecutors seized oil and fuel inventories worth 1.04 billion lei (230 million euro) belonging to Petrotel Lukoil.

Russia's ambassador to Romania expressed concern after Romanian prosecutors on Monday seized oil and fuel inventories worth 1.04 billion lei (230 million euro) belonging to Petrotel Lukoil, the local subsidiary of Russian group Lukoil.

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Prime Minister Victor Ponta assured on Friday that Romania has sufficient gas reserves, but underscored the need for Romania to exploit its own gas deposits to no longer depend on Russia's Gazprom.

The Council of the European Union is to go ahead with a new package of sanctions targeting Russia on Friday, a diplomatic source has announced.

Measures could however be reversed depending on the situation in the east of Ukraine, the source was quoted by Russian agency ITAR-TASS as saying.

Russia's Lukoil has announced it is selling its filling station networks in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

"The decision to sell the assets was taken as part of the effort to optimize Lukoil's business in petroleum product marketing," the company said in a statement.

More than 27,000 Russian tourists have been stranded abroad, a tour operators association said Monday, as the latest in a series of travel companies failed amid strains over the Ukrainian crisis.
      

Çukurova Holding has said it paid Russia’s Alfa Group $1.6 billion to recover a disputed stake in Turkcell, taking a major step toward regaining control of Turkey’s biggest mobile phone operator after a seven-year battle.

EU leaders have introduced a third stage of sanctions against Russia over the country's stance on the Ukraine crisis.

Under the new agreement, trade in Russian bonds and stocks issued by state-owned companies will be banned, and Russian military entities will be prevented from receiving arms and high-tech items.

The United States and Europe targeted Russia's key financial, arms and energy sectors July 29 with tough new sanctions in response to Moscow's intervention in the Ukraine crisis.

Announcing the measures, U.S. President Barack Obama denied that the West had begun a new Cold War against its former Soviet foe, but urged his counterpart Vladimir Putin to reverse course.

Two shareholders of Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell, Turkish Çukurova Holding and Russian Altimo, have reached an agreement in an ongoing legal battle, a U.K. court looking into the legal dispute between parties has announced.