Forget about privatization. With the state’s takeover of TNK-BP by Rosneft, Russia is headed for a nosedive into dirigisme economy and the accompanying headaches of stagnation.

An intriguing analysis has recently been published in the Moscow Times by Associate Fellow of the Russia & Eurasia Programme at Chatham House in London John Lough. Below, John writes at length about the transformation of Rosneft in to a power-player at British Petroleum and the TNK-BP acquisition’s immediate ramifications to the Russian economy and [...]

The Moscow Times and Steel Guru have reported that Rosneft is looking to build a $700 million oil-products pipeline from Mozambique to Zimbabwe in an unprecedented effort to expand its international reach in to Africa. The new route seeks to compete with shipments to Zimbabwe by road from neighboring South Africa that supplement supplies through [...]

So far 2012 has been quite a year for resource nationalism, with Argentina seizing back control of YPF from its Spanish owners Repsol, TNK-BP’s never-ending troubles in Russia, and even the creeping expropriation in places such as the United Kingdom and Australia where tax regimes have sharpened with little warning.  But could the threats be [...]

In this exclusive interview, German businessman Franz J. Sedelmayer discusses his decades-long dispute with the Russian government, challenging Russia’s sovereign immunity, and the link between state corruption and the current environment of civil unrest in Russia.

There’s no shortage of mutual historic distrust between the Russian and Chinese governments. Is that changing?

Russian court officers raided BP PLC’s Moscow office on Wednesday seeking documents in a court case related to the British oil giant’s failed Arctic deal with OAO Rosneft, raising the pressure on BP just a day after Rosneft said it would work on the project with Exxon Mobil Corp. Gregory L. White And Guy Chazan document that [...]

Like a good actor, Georgia can swiftly change appearance without even leaving the stage. On May 25th it presented its ugly face, as a few hundred stick-wielding protesters led by Nino Burjanadze, a former speaker of parliament, clashed with police, who dispersed them with tear gas and rubber bullets. This was the Georgia of old, [...]

A fifth of the military hardware budget in Russia is stolen by corrupt officials and contractors each year, bleeding the state budget, and undermining the combat readiness of the armed forces, according to Russia’s chief military prosecutor. The allegations, published in a state newspaper on Tuesday, came a week after Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, [...]

As the United States and Russia look to improve their equivocal relationship, there is still great hesitation as to what the future may hold for the two powerhouses. The Moscow Times reports that both sides are eager to come to a common agreement on how they can best serve each other, but with corruption and government [...]