The international airport of Sheremetyevo has summarized the May holiday flight program, which is traditionally a period of intense streams of air-passengers to and from vacation places. According to preliminary results, from April 25 till May 9 of 2012 Sheremetyevo airport served 1 million 040 thousand passengers, which is 14.2% more than the figure of the last year.

The passenger traffic on international airlines increased during the period of the May vacation by 15.2% and constituted 689.5 thousand people, on internal airlines it increased by 12.2% to 350.4 thousand passengers.

Steve Shor, Founder of the National Children's Leukemia Foundation (NCLF), a leading non-profit organization in the United States, and National Program Director Dr. Sara Gardin will address an entire delegation of prominent executives at Frost & Sullivan’s inaugural launch of its premier global congress on Growth, Innovation and Leadership – GIL 2012: Russia.  During the address, a monumental discovery in cancer research will be presented as announced for the first time on 9 May 2012 in London, UK.

The Henry Jackson Societyhas announced the launch of a new initiative - the Henry Jackson Initiative for Inclusive Capitalism (HJI) - to provide a platform for thought leadership, policy recommendation and the promotion of business initiatives aimed at extending the benefits of capitalism to a broader set of stakeholders and society at large.

Greece is the dominant issue affecting all global markets. Global market events continue to be the dominant driver of Russian asset prices and, while there will be more significant domestic news this week, the external influence is unlikely to diminish over the short term. Greece will continue to dominate global headlines as investor concerns have now shifted to "when" and with what collateral damage the country leaves the euro rather than "if". The first meeting between the newly elected French president and the German chancellor tomorrow will be important, as investors are hoping for evidence that the two can agree a common position and coordinated action rather than showing visible signs of polarization. The former would help contribute calm, while the latter would further knock sentiment and asset prices. Economic data in the US, on Tuesday and Wednesday, will also have a global impact. The hope is that either the data reverses the recent decline or elicits a sentiment-friendly response from the US Fed.

by Gordon Hahn

In recent remarks outgoing Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev declared himself to be a conservative. He made his remarks in a speech accepting a proposal to become a member and chairman of the Kremlin’s United Russia party (Irina Granik, “Ni razu ne liberal,” Kommersant, 28 April 2012). Unfortunately, there have been some grossly inaccurate and politicized ‘analyses’ of his remarks.

Globaltrans at end April announced that it would acquire 100% of Metalloinvesttrans, Metalloinvest’s captive rail freight operator, for $540 mln. We expect the deal to be completed very soon, and the company should be consolidated into Globaltrans’ financials from June. We plug this into our model, leaving all other assumptions unchanged. As a result, we raise our EBITDA forecasts by 14% for 2012 to $642 mln and 22% for 2013 to $764 mln. Our revised target price of $27.08 per GDR implies upside of 49% and warrants a BUY recommendation on the stock.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told a Red Square military parade to mark the 67th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany that the colossal sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in World War Two gave Russia the unquestionable right to advance its position on global security.

“Russia is implementing a policy of strengthening security in the world,” Putin said at a VE Day parade that was his first major speech since his controversial return to the Kremlin earlier this week.

A Convertible bond is a hybrid investment that invests in both the bond market and the stock market at the same time.  Due to an internal mechanism, this investment will automatically switch from one market to the other without the need for us to take any action whatsoever.

By Gordon M. Hahn

During the Cold War Washington and Moscow constructed the barricades that made for what Alexander Solzhenitsyn called “a world split apart.”

Today, there are still many issues on which the U.S. and the West stand on opposite sides of the barricade from Russia.  Now, however, the twilight socialist-capitalist ideological struggle is absent.  The only ideological aspect to new divergence (and competition of interests) is external to the immediate Russia-West relationship––and is “religious” not economic.

Last month, the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot further expanded its hub at Moscow Sheremyetevo (SVO), as it launched two EU-bound routes. On 26 March, the airline inaugurated four weekly services to Kraków (KRK), making the Polish city the seventh destination it serves with Sukhoi Superjet 100s outside of Russia.

Jacek Majchrowski, the Mayor of Kraków, said: “Kraków has lobbied for this service for years, and we expect the service to foster cultural and business links between the cities. It also brings EURO 2012 closer to Moscow, and we hope to hear more Russian on the high street.”

A day later, daily services were launched to Stuttgart, Aeroflot’s eighth German destination. The 2,000-kilometre route to Stuttgart (STR) is offered with A320s. Speaking during the launch in Stuttgart, Konstantin Pilipenko, Aeroflot’s Country Manager in Germany, commented: “The new route connects two economically important areas, offering convenient options for business, leisure and VFR traffic alike. Looking at booking patterns to date, we are confident that the project will succeed.”

Krakow was last connected with Moscow by LOT in 1990, while Aeroflot’s Stuttgart route faces indirect competition from germanwings’ four weekly flights to Moscow Vnukovo.

(Anna Aero)