A holding jointly owned by a Ukrainian developer, Austria’s Strabag and Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element was launched to build transport infrastructure.At the beginning of 2008, Strabag Ukraine will begin accepting large orders for bridges, tunnels, roads and real estate and invest in aggregate production. They project one billion euros in turnover in three years, due to the lack of experienced competitors on the Ukrainian market.

Alitalia remains up for sale, but likely will not be purchased by Russia's Aeroflot. For 11 months, the Italian airline has searched for a purchaser of the state’s 49.9% stake. Advisor Citigroup had been in talks with Aeroflot, backed by Italian banking group Unicredit, to purchase the loss-making Italian flag-carrier. However, the Russian air carrier is reported to have withdrawn from the deal.

It’s participation as a bidder solidifies its reputation as a “comeback kid” — from an unprofitable Soviet airline to a restructured, profit-making Russian business.

Russian Railways, RZD, has launched a deluxe service on the Express between Moscow and St Petersburg. The wagon caters to wealthy businessmen and elite tourists and is the same model introduced in 2006 on the Moscow Helsinki route. Featuring a comfortable double bunk or two singles, an in-cabin shower and DVD player in the wagon is a prototype for similar services to be launched to Sochi and other Russian cities. RZD will take delivery of its first Siemens built HS engine in December this year, according to VP Valentin Gapanovich which will run between Moscow and St Petersburg in three and a half hours.

A Russia-EU aviation summit scheduled for mid-November was postponed indefinitely, unofficially due to a dispute with Lufthansa. The German airline has been using a Kazakh airport as a hub for its cargo flights, and is under Russian pressure to switch to Krasnoyarsk.