Ken Clarke is demanding cuts to the projected £4 million bill for the inquest into the London death of Alexander Litvinenko, saying it is too high for times of austerity. The Justice Secretary has written to Dr Shirley Radcliffe, deputy coroner responsible for the inquest, expressing concern at the proposed cost.

Globaltrans, Russia's Leading Private Freight Rail Operator, has announced an equity offering totaling up to $500 mln, of which as much as $400 mln will be primary shares (including treasury shares) and up to $100 mln secondary shares (including a greenshoe option). The price range for the offering was set at $16.00-17.25 per GDR, implying a 1.5-8.5% discount to last Friday's closing price. Additionally, the company has reported a solid set of 1Q12 IFRS results, its EBITDA margin improving to 50.3% in 1Q12 from 42.3% a year ago. Globaltrans is our top pick in the transport sector. We reiterate our target price of $27.08 per GDR and BUY recommendation on the stock.

Gazprom Export, the export arm of Russian energy Gazprom, has signed a revised gas price deal with Germany's E.ON, bringing the terms of its long-term natural gas deliveries into line with compensation deals with other European customers, Gazprom said on Tuesday. “This agreement is a compromise and takes into account current trends in the natural gas market development,” Gazprom Export head Alexander Medvedev said at the signing ceremony.

In May, domestic demand remained the major economic growth driver. Retail sales climbed 6.8% y-o-y, bringing the 5m12 figure to 7.2%. Investment grew 7.7% y-o-y during the month, while the 5m12 tally remained in the double digits (12.1%). Construction volumes increased a respective 7.1% in May and 5.4% in 5m12. The agricultural sector also performed well, expanding 4.7% in May and 4.4% over 5m12.

Three presidents, two prime ministers and dozens of senior ministerial officials, over 75 Fortune 1000 top executives, and over 400 Russia's leading business and finance figures were among the 5,000 all gathered at the Sixteenth St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) from June 21-23 to discuss, debate and network what it takes to have "Leadership that Works." 

Moscow has grown almost 2.5 times in size overnight on Sunday as the city’s limits were pushed out 50 kilometres southwest in an effort to ease horrendous traffic jams, improve living conditions and make the Russian capital a more attractive place for foreign investors and financiers. The ambitious “Greater Moscow” plan proposed by then President Dmitry Medvedev a year ago came into effect on July 1, increasing the city area from 1,070 square kilometres to 2,550 square kilometres. This will push Moscow up from the 34th spot among the world biggest capitals in terms of area to the 7th spot.

Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July 1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months. Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a.m. CDT (2:14 p.m. local time) after undocking from the space station's Rassvet module at 11:47 p.m. June 30. The trio, which arrived at the station Dec. 23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were aboard the station.

By William Dunkerley

Senators are pressing ahead with the "Magnitsky Bill," seemingly oblivious that they've been hoodwinked by foreign agitators whose aims the bill serves. The legislation is ostensibly about the 2009 death of Russian Sergei Magnitsky. He was denied medical treatment for his illnesses while in pre-trial detention. His arrest had been in connection with a large tax-evasion case. The bill would inflict punishment upon the Russian officials who were complicit in the death.

The Shah Deniz consortium has now concluded its evaluation of potential gas export routes towards South East and Central Europe. The Nabucco West project with a route running from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Baumgarten has been selected as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. Development of the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) project, which had been assembled by Shah Deniz partners in collaboration with Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, will cease. 

Shares in Polyus Gold International Limited (PGIL), the controlling shareholder in No. 1 Russian gold producer Polyus Gold, will start trading in the London Stock Exchange's premium segment on June 19, the company said in a statement. At the same time, the listing of the Company's existing Level 1 Global Depository Receipts will be cancelled and the Level 1 GDR programme will be amended to limit the number of shares that may be held within it to 4.99% of PGIL's issued share capital. The company's TIDM code on the LSE will be PGIL. On admission, there will be 3,032,149,962 shares in issue.

(Interfax)