Two distinct and remarkably dissimilar international events developed in parallel in Russian foreign policy over the last two weeks: rapprochement with Poland and networking in Latin America. The latter started with Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin’s, visit to Venezuela and continued with President, Dmitry Medvedev’s, official... MORE

For the second consecutive year, Russia’s Surgutneftegaz has failed to crash the door of the Hungarian MOL’s annual general meeting of its shareholders and the board of directors. The April 29 event seems set to consolidate MOL’s defenses against such predatory takeover tactics. MOL’s oil-refining... MORE

On January 31 in Budapest, Russian and Hungarian officials signed the project agreement for the construction of Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline on Hungarian territory. Hungary’s privately-owned MOL Company, a member of the Nabucco consortium, is not a party to the South Stream agreement. Hungary participates... MORE

It has been reported from Warsaw that a U.S. military base along with a battery of PAC2 and PAC3 Patriot missiles will be deployed next April in MorÄ…g, a town only 100 kilometers away from the Russian border (the Kaliningrad region). It was originally announced... MORE

Hungarian MOL's oil-producing joint venture in Russia, ZMB, has gained a respite from the Russian authorities' threat to revoke its production license. ZMB (Zapadno-Malobalyk), a parity joint venture of MOL with Russneft in western Siberia's Khanty-Mansi district, had recently been warned by Russia's mineral resources... MORE

On July 13 the Nabucco transit countries removed an important obstacle for the strategic pipeline project. Attending a high profile meeting hosted by Turkey, the prime ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey inked the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). The ceremony was also attended by... MORE

A burst of sunshine has finally been shed on the little known story of how a once obscure Ukrainian entrepreneur, Dmytro Firtash, suspected of links to Russian organized crime, and his unknown partners in a Cypriot holding company named Mabofi Holdings, established Emfesz KFT, a... MORE

The Russian government is now openly backing Surgut Neftegaz's surreptitious acquisition of a large stake in the Hungarian MOL oil and gas company. The acquisition is legally contested in Hungary. The Russian government's political intrusion nullifies Surgut's thesis that the acquisition was a regular, free-market... MORE

*Note to readers: the M:Communications company advises that Mr. Gennady Timchenko owned less than 0.1 percent of Surgut shares as of June 11 The Kremlin-connected oil company Surgut Neftegaz has launched judicial proceedings in Budapest's metropolitan court against Hungarian MOL, the most successful private oil... MORE