Rosneft is buying Alrosa's natural gas assets for a sum between $1-1.5 billion, says Kommersant, as part of an aggressive bid to undermine Gazprom's monopoly.

The Russian Central Bank spent $700 million on forex interventions critical to avoid volatility in April.

Liberal democrat Mikhail Degtyarev has drafted a law to ban the US currency in Russia, says Izvestia daily.

NOVATEK has posted encouraging 1Q 2013 financial highlights, with total revenues growing by 48.9% to RUR 80.6 billion compared to RUR 54.1 billion in the same period of 2012.

The Accounts Chamber has launched a probe into Gazprom’s activities, says its head Sergey Stepashin.