Last year, oil output in Russia, the world’s top crude producer, edged up 1.2 percent to reach a new post-Soviet high of 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd), or 511 million tonnes.

“Taking into consideration companies plans, this would be around 1 percent. We will add some 5 million tonnes,” said Sergey Kudryashov. The growth would slow further from 2.2 percent in 2010.

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RADA conducts due diligence and business intelligence investigations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

A preliminary check of Russian corporate records showed that the company was, in fact, registered at the address given on their website.

A call to the phone number listed on the website, however, did not connect to the company in question, but rather to a credit company. The people at the credit company were very helpful, they advised that they had had the phone number for several years, and that they had never heard of the other company.

Various search engines showed that the number was, in fact, connected to the credit company; the only site with linking the number to the technology company was the technology company’s own site.

Several other companies seemed to be located at the address used by the technology company on their website. Several of them were contacted by telephone. None seemed to know about the technology company, and one provided contact information for the leasing agent. The leasing agent advised that they had been managing the property for several years, and that they had never heard of the technology company.

RADA’s client decided not to pursue business with the technology company, as it could not be located with any degree of reliability.

RADA conducts due diligence and business intelligence investigations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Russia has remained an “island of stability” amid the raging sea of the world economy.

We have generally coped with the aftermath of the crisis, our economic development is picking up the pace, and this instills hope, the Prime Minister has said.

On the political situation in the country, he said that Russia is in the middle of a cycle, with the Duma elections over, while the presidential election race is just getting under way. He wished all Russians, irrespective of their political preferences, well-being and prosperity.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are expected to rise more than 30% to $60 billion, Kruglov said in the interview.

“The favorable external environment and a strict control of operations will bring the company increased profitability,” Kruglov said.

Gazprom expects higher prices for its gas sales in Europe, as well as higher export volumes, he said.

“Despite the increased tax burden on the gas industry, the company’s finances will continue to improve,” Kruglov said.

Mission commander Oleg Kononenko and his colleagues, American Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are to dock with the space station on Friday.

The blastoff took place without a hitch and the spacecraft reached Earth orbit about nine minutes later. Video from inside the craft showed the three crew members gripping each others’ hands in celebration as the final stage of the booster rocket separated.

The three aboard the Russian spacecraft will join three others already on the ISS, NASA’s Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin. The six are to work together on the station until March 2012.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the gala, which was broadcast live on a screen outside the theater, on Russian television, the Internet and in movie theaters in 36 countries. Top Russian and foreign opera and ballet stars, including Violeta Urmana, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Natalie Dessay, performed in the two-hour long concert.   The exterior of the theater was elaborately illuminated in different designs.

In his opening speech, Medvedev called the Bolshoi “one of our greatest national brands.”

Speaking about the restoration of the Bolshoi, which has burned down and suffered bombing throughout its 235-year history, Medvedev said the country “has always found the money to keep the Bolshoi in such a proper condition.”

“I am absolutely sure that everything that has been done will for many more years serve the generations of our citizens, all those who love the Bolshoi Theatre and inspire new miracles,” he said.

The gala began when the elaborately designed red and gold curtain rose and the stunned audience saw an orange Kamaz truck rolling across the stage, followed by scores of men and women wearing construction overalls and helmets. Suddenly they stopped, faced the auditorium and sang “Glory!” a chorus from Mikhail Glinka’s opera “Life for the Czar.”

The theater’s space has been more than doubled to almost 780,000 square feet from the original 340,000-plus as the building expanded about 79 feet deep into the ground, where a new performance venue called Beethoven Hall was created for small-scale productions.

The theater’s 236th opera and ballet seasons on the historical Bolshoi stage will open early next month with the premieres of Mikhail Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Ludmila” and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Sleeping Beauty,” starring American David Hallberg as a Bolshoi premier dancer.

Mr. Kim, who is said to fear flying, has made armored train his preferred conveyance to Russia in the past. Mr. Kim’s last foray into Russia was a four-day jaunt in Russia’s Far East that was little publicized.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Mr. Kim’s train Sunday left Amur in Russia’s Far East after he visited the power plant, and it is heading to Ulan-Ude for his summit with Mr. Medvedev, which will take place Tuesday at an army base.

General Aleksander Zelin, head of the Russian air force, said he expects the T-50 prototype to be ready in 2013, with “mass-produced aircraft” arriving in 2014 or 2015.

The aircraft is expected to become a staple of airborne defense for both Russia and India, who collaborated on its design, explained Mikhail Pogosyan, head of Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation.

“The T-50 will be the newest main plane both for the Russian and the Indian air force,” Pogosyan said.

The Sukhoi T-50 cost the two governments about $6 billion to develop, with India shouldering about 35% of the cost. It is intended to match the U.S. F-22 raptor.