Interfax News

Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate - a type of light oil - into light and heavy naphtha, kerosene and diesel to be shipped by sea.It was not clear how long the disruption would last…

Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and could hinder any Russian attempt to seize more Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea coast.The Russian defence ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia and that the Novocherkassk large landing ship had been damaged.Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had briefed President Vladimir Putin in detail about the attack, the Kremlin said.

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index rose on Friday and posted a second consecutive weekly gain on the back of stronger demand across vessel segments.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, rose to an over three-weeks high as it added 62 points, or 3.5%, to 1,820. It was up 10.8% this week.The capesize index added 99 points, or 3.7%, to 2,763. The index rose 6.8% for the week.Average daily earnings for capesize vessels…

Some 151 ships have used Ukraine's new Black Sea shipping corridor since it was set up in August, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Friday, citing a senior government official.A total of 4.4 million metric tons of cargo, including 3.2 million tons of grain, has been shipped via the corridor, Yuriy Vaskov, deputy minister for renovation and infrastructure, was quoted as saying.A U.N.-backed deal that had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea collapsed in July after Russia withdrew.In response…

Romania expects around 30 ships from Ukraine to clear customs on the Danube River over the next two days as it bids to clear a logjam in the aftermath of Wednesday's Russian attack on Ukraine's main river port at Izmail.The river and its mouth, now Ukraine's last waterborne grain export route, are backed up with vessels travelling to and from Ukrainian ports, commercial ship tracking data shows.Romanian authorities managing the waterway still expect a "peak" in traffic in August…

Russia warned the West on Friday that unless obstacles to its exports of grain and fertilisers were removed, then Ukraine would have to export grain over land and Moscow would work outside the UN-brokered landmark grain export deal.The Black Sea grain deal is an attempt by the United Nations to ease a food crisis that predated the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but was made worse by the most deadly war in Europe since World War Two.The deal, first signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey…

Russia and India are looking at expanding the use of the Northern Sea shipping route that passes through the Arctic and which could include the building of processing facilities, Russia's Interfax agency reported on Wednesday. Alexei Chekunkov, Russia's minister for the development of the Far East and the Arctic, is visiting India and a key issue in his talks with Indian officials was the "reliable and safe" transportation of goods through the Northern Sea Route using Russian and Indian ports, Interfax reported.

One of President Vladimir Putin's top allies said on Wednesday that the sabotage of the Nord Stream offshore gas pipelines resembled the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency-backed attacks on oil infrastructure in Nicaragua in 1983.Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany on the bed of the Baltic Sea, were ruptured last month in what Moscow said was an act of "international terrorism".President Vladimir Putin on Friday blamed the United States and its allies for blowing up the undersea Nord Stream pipelines, allegations rejected by Washington.

A Russian missile has hit a tanker that has been drifting in the Black Sea for over four months and had been carrying diesel, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Thursday, citing Ukraine's military which called the ship an "ecological bomb".The Moldova-flagged tanker Millennial Spirit has now been struck twice since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.It was first hit with a missile fired from a warship days after the invasion. Moldova said at the time that the ship had a Russian crew and two were seriously wounded. Ukraine's southern military command said when the vessel was struck in February it had more than 500 tonnes of diesel on board and that since then it had been drifting without a crew."Probably the remainder of the cargo is burning…

Russia's oil production rose almost 5% in the first half of June compared with May, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the output statistics.Average daily oil production, including condensate, was 1.46 million tonnes in the first 13 days of June, 68,000 tonnes more than May levels, the news agency reported.Russian oil companies, led by Rosneft ROSN.MM, were expected to re-open wells in June which they had shut due to Western sanctions as the companies bank on a pick-up in seasonal demand and sustained Asian buying, Reuters sources said previously.

Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine, in return for the lifting of some sanctions, the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying on Wednesday.Ukraine's Black Sea ports have been blocked since Russia sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 and more than 20 million tonnes of grain are stuck in silos in the country.Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global…

Ukraine is seeking ways to get grain and vegetable oils out of the country by breaking a months-long blockade of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea by the Russian navy and moving more by land.The war, together with Western sanctions against Russia, have sent the price of grain, cooking oil, fertilizer, and energy soaring.That in turn, is threatening a global food crisis as many countries count on Russia and Ukraine for more than half of their wheat imports, including some of the poorest.Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of the global wheat supply…

Moscow said on Thursday that sanctions on Russia would have to be reviewed if it were to heed a U.N. appeal to open access to Ukraine's Black Sea ports so that grain could be exported, according to an Interfax news agency report. Read full storyUkraine, one of the world's biggest grain producers, used to export most of its goods through its seaports, but since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, it has been forced to export by train or via its small Danube River ports.U.N. food chief David Beasley appealed on Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin…

Russia said on Thursday the flagship of its Black Sea fleet was seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following an explosion that a Ukrainian official said was the result of a missile strike.Russia's defence ministry said a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused ammunition to blow up, Interfax news agency reported.It did not say what caused the fire but Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit…

The United States on Saturday denied that it had carried out military operations in Russian territorial waters, after Moscow said a Russian naval vessel chased away a U.S. submarine in Russian waters in the Pacific.Russia accused Washington of breaking international law and creating a national security threat over the incident at a time of high tensions between Moscow and Washington over a Russian military buildup near Ukraine.Interfax news agency cited the Russian Defense Ministry as saying a Russian naval vessel chased away a U.S.

Six Russian warships are heading to the Black Sea from the Mediterranean for naval drills, the Interfax news agency cited Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Tuesday, in what it said was a pre-planned movement of military resources.Russia announced last month its navy would stage a sweeping set of exercises involving all its fleets in January and February, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in the latest show of strength in a surge of military activity during a standoff with…

Russia's Gazprom will complete the filling of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline by the end of this year, Chief Executive Alexei Miller said on Thursday, according to the Interfax news agency.The first of the two lines of the pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany, had already been filled and had reached operational pressure, Miller said.(Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Edmund Blair)

Russia's Black Sea naval forces practiced destroying enemy targets on Tuesday as Moscow bristled at the presence of two U.S. warships in the area.President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship "through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its ... defense systems" and complained about NATO activity near Russia's borders.On Tuesday, the Black Sea fleet said its ships had rehearsed destroying enemy targets and that their air defense systems had been put on alert at its bases in Novorossiysk and on annexed Crimea…

Russian authorities in the southern region of Krasnodar said on Tuesday they were investigating an oil spill in the Black Sea and working to clean it up.Local authorities in the region, a popular tourist destination for Russians in summer, said the spill was located at around 800 meters from the shore near a deep-water sewer outlet in Tuapse, a coastal town north of the resort city of Sochi, the Interfax news agency reported.They did not provide any detail on the size of the spill but said the oil was being absorbed by sorbents…

Russia's Energy Ministry is due to prepare a report in the coming days about the possibility of Rosneft exporting natural gas to Europe via the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Interfax cited Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Wednesday.Currently, Kremlin-controlled Gazprom has exclusive rights for Russian pipeline gas exports.Novak said this month that Rosneft had asked the government for permission to export natural gas and the government was reviewing the request.The…

Russia is tracking a Spanish naval ship in the Black Sea, the Interfax news agency cited Russia's defense ministry as saying on Wednesday, as Ukraine and NATO countries both held military drills in the area.The ministry said the Spanish ship had entered the Black Sea on Wednesday to take part in the Sea Breeze 2021 military drills, which started late last month in the Black Sea and southern Ukraine and involve more than 30 countries.Two Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets also escorted a foreign reconnaissance aircraft…

Russia said on Wednesday it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to chase it out of waters Moscow claims in the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimea peninsula.Britain rejected Russia’s account of the incident, saying it believed any shots fired were a pre-announced Russian “gunnery exercise”, and that no bombs had been dropped. But it confirmed that its destroyer, HMS Defender, had sailed through what it described as waters belonging to Ukraine.The…

The United States and Germany on Wednesday unveiled an agreement on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under which Berlin pledged to respond to any attempt by Russia to use energy as a weapon against Ukraine and other Central and Eastern European countries.The pact aims to mitigate what critics see as the strategic dangers of the $11 billion pipeline, now 98% complete, being built under the Baltic Sea to carry gas from Russia’s Arctic region to Germany.U.S. officials have opposed the pipeline…