... again grants preferential conditions to coal shippers. However, this is unlikely, as RZD opposes preferential treatment, preferring to diversify cargo flows along the Eastern Polygon." REFERENCE: The non-discriminatory access rules for railway infrastructure ensure equal access for all companies to transportation services. The existing order prioritizes special, repair, passenger, postal, and international transport over freight, which is further divided into categories based on importance—from ...

... expenses amounted to approximately 555 billion rubles, representing a 14-15% year-on-year increase. This increase in costs was partially driven by inflationary pressures (salary indexing and other items) as well as significant bank investments in IT infrastructure and the development of digital services. Nevertheless, the rise in expenses slightly outpaced income growth, enabling the cost-to-income ratio to remain around 33%. Investors view this level of expense control positively, as Sber maintains ...

... Azerbaijan. For instance, Azerbaijani pipelines through Turkey supply only 10 billion cubic meters annually, but Baku could increase exports by 3-4 billion cubic meters via Ukraine, according to Gromov. This could be achieved without the need for additional infrastructure. Second, by using Ukraine’s pipeline system, Azerbaijan could further expand its export capacity in the future, as the Ukrainian gas transit system has significant unused capacity, Gromov concludes. Translated using ChatGPT ...

... Loss calculations However, official statistics on refinery profitability are still available. By the end of January to August 2024, the balance of profits and losses of fuel producers had decreased by 34%. This is partly due to damage to refinery infrastructure from Ukrainian drone attacks and unplanned downtime due to sanctions on equipment supplies for oil refining. The losses of oil producers are partly compensated by budget subsidies under the so-called "damper mechanism." By ...

... volume of startup acquisitions exceeded $100 billion, showing a growth of more than 155% compared to the same period last year. Corporate giants are willing to pay unprecedented sums for innovations in key areas—particularly in cybersecurity and AI infrastructure. For instance, Google has announced plans to acquire Israeli cloud startup Wiz for a record $32 billion. OpenAI made a notable acquisition by purchasing the startup of legendary designer Jony Ive for $6.5 billion. The surge in M&A activity ...