CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) — Telling the story of Chernobyl in numbers 30 years later involves dauntingly large figures and others that are even more vexing because they’re still unknown. A look at numbers that hint at the scope of the world’s worst nuclear accident, the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986: —More than ...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — With flowers, candles, anger and tears, Ukraine on Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the world’s worst nuclear accident. Some survivors said the chaos of that time is etched in their minds forever. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko led a ceremony in Chernobyl, where work is underway to complete a ...

MOSCOW – Russia’s central bank has drawn up a “risk scenario” under which oil prices will stay around $35 for the next three years, governor Elvira Nabiullina said, an outcome that would severely dent Russia’s chances of making a robust economic recovery. Nabiullina made the comments after the central bank left its main lending rate <RUCBIR=ECI> on hold at 11 ...

MOSCOW — Tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated Wednesday as Ukraine decided to stop buying Russian natural gas — hoping to rely on supplies from other countries — and closed its airspace to its eastern neighbor. Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and its support for separatist rebels in the east has brought relations between the two ...

BUDAPEST – Cheniere Energy Inc plans to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to central and southeastern Europe within a few years, a move that with U.S. supplies would loosen Russia’s energy grip on the region, sources told Reuters. The Houston-based LNG specialist, which is gearing up to launch western European operations this year, is eyeing an eastern expansion, said six sources ...

MOSCOW/PRAGUE – Russia’s plans to drop Ukraine as a route for pumping natural gas to Europe will still leave state-run Gazprom facing about $1 billion in annual transit fees to Slovakia and Bulgaria for years to come, analysts and industry sources say. Russia wants to circumnavigate Ukraine to pipe its gas to Europe because of pricing disagreements, which at times ...

MOSCOW/LONDON – As Russia prepares to meet OPEC next week, a briefing paper from a Moscow think tank has shed light on how the government was warned against cutting oil output late last year even though global prices were plummeting. Speculation was rife that Russia and the oil exporters’ cartel might strike a production deal to arrest the slide when ...

MOSCOW – Russia on Wednesday demanded the timely repayment of all debts owed to it by Ukraine and accused Kiev of effectively preparing the way for default with a new law. It threatened to take the issue to international courts if necessary. The law, approved by Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday, gives the government the right to miss payments to its ...

ASHGABAT – The European Union, keen to lessen its dependence on Russia for energy supplies, expects to start receiving natural gas from Turkmenistan by 2019, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said in an interview. Russia currently supplies around a third of Europe’s gas needs, but Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its involvement in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine ...

On Saturday, April 26, 1986, at 1:23 a.m., a test at the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in what we now know as Ukraine went terribly awry. A power surge caused the nuclear reactor’s cores to explode. A steam cloud and subsequent plume of fire blew the roof off of the facility. To the town right next door, Chernobyl just ...