The total number of unemployed people in...

The total number of unemployed people in Russia may rise to 6.7 million as almost half a million people are in danger of losing their jobs, a deputy premier said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) -Total has...

MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) -Total has rectified numerous violations at the Kharyaga oil deposit in northern Russia that the French energy giant is developing, the Russian Audit Chamber chairman said Thursday. In January, the Audit Chamber found the project operator had committed a number of violations, including underproduction of crude and a failure to meet the schedule and requirement for development works. "I should say Total has corrected the numerous violations that we registered," Sergei Stepashin said. He said the French side had considered all the proposals that the Audit Chamber had made concerning project profits and environmental issues. Total is developing the Kharyaga oilfield, in Russia"s Yamal-Nenets autonomy, under a 1995 production-sharing agreement (PSA) signed with the Russian government for 29 years with possible extension till 33 years. A mineral resources regulator initiated license revocation discussions on Kharyaga at the end of last year after revealing that the operator had failed to follow the central commission"s recommendations on the field"s development, and in particular failed to observe the gas drive recovery process, burning up 60% of natural gas produced in 2005. Also last April, the Natural Resources Ministry accused Total of failing to meet its targets for Kharyaga under the PSA. It said the investor had failed to increase production of crude and introduce new technologies and equipment for effective production since the agreement came into force in 1999. Ministry experts warned that the situation could result in losses for Russia, as the country "would be forced to continue sending the entire deposit"s output to the investor in compensation for its expenses." Total holds a controlling, 50% stake in a consortium set up to run the Kharyaga project, which also includes Norway"s Hydro (40%) and the Nenets Oil Company (10%), controlled by the regional government. The French company is not the only Western operator to have come under the scrutiny of Russian regulators in recent months. In late March, Russia"s environmental watchdog launched a probe into alleged environmental violations at the Sakhalin I hydrocarbon project, run by U.S. giant ExxonMobil off Russia"s Pacific Coast. Months of pressure on Royal Dutch Shell, which was in charge of the Sakhalin II gas project, culminated last year in the purchase by Russia"s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom of 50% plus one share in the project. The Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP also received a warning about its license for the giant Kovykta natural gas deposit, in East Siberia, over an alleged failure to meet its obligations to supply nearby areas with gas. Analysts have said the raids are part of the Kremlin"s drive to regain control of the country"s vast mineral resources.

KIEV, May 9 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine"s president...

KIEV, May 9 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine"s president and prime minister, bitter political rivals expected to run in presidential elections later this year, stood together on Saturday at the Victory Day parade in Kiev. On the 84th anniversary of the end of World War II, Viktor Yushchenko said he thought about the dead and the survivors, the victors and those who fought "on all fronts and in the resistance." The president gets most of his support in the nationalist west of Ukraine, where a regional parliament voted in March to remove a public monument to Soviet WWII soldiers and place it in a museum of Soviet totalitarianism, saying the statue had no historical or cultural value. "This is our shared, united, indivisible, holy and great victory", said Yushchenko, adding that the victory was won by Ukrainians together with other peoples. Western Ukraine was the stronghold of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a nationalist group initially set up to protect ethnic Ukrainians from Poles that engaged in guerrilla fighting with Soviet troops and collaborated with Nazi Germans during the war. Although he did not mention it specifically in his speech, Yushchenko has sought recognition for the group, and a statue to one of its founders, Stepan Bandera, was unveiled in Lvov in 2007. Yulia Tymoshenko, who is seen as having moved closer to Russia since falling out with Yushchenko last year, congratulated veterans, emphasizing the victory over fascism. "I know that today affects you most of all, my dear war veterans," the prime minister said in a statement released by the government press service. "You are disturbed and painfully wounded by the worry that the exploits of millions of heroes, who protected the planet from fascism, is gradually forgotten, that the honor and the glory of the great victory is darkened daily by little disputes, and sometimes also ingratitude." "This categorically not the case," she declared. Yushchenko said almost no country was more affected by the war than Ukraine, and called for the country to come together. "More than 7 million Ukrainians were sent to the front in World War II. Each second one failed to return home. Every other one of the survivors became a disabled war veteran," the president said. "In the epicenter of the World War, Ukraine sustained practically the highest level of casualties and destruction." The actions of resistance groups on the Eastern front during World War II is a contentious issue between Moscow and some former Soviet republics, particularly the Baltic States, where some nationalists fought with the Nazis against Soviet troops. The relocation of the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet-era monument to the Red Army, in Estonia in 2007 sparked violent protests from ethnic Russians. One person was killed and several dozen injured in clashes with police. Moscow issued strong protests with some lawmakers calling for cutting diplomatic ties with Tallinn.