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Daimler seeks stake in Russian truck maker Kamaz

German auto giant Daimler said Wednesday that it had officially filed a request with Russian authorities to take a stake in the truck maker Kamaz.

Daimler seeks stake in Russian truck maker Kamaz
Photo: DPA

“We filed a request with Russian anti-cartel authorities,” a Daimler spokeswoman told AFP. “If we decide to acquire a participation in Kamaz, we will have already filed the request, or maybe even obtained the authorisation.”

Daimler has said it will decide by the end of the year whether to invest in Russia, a fast-growing market the German group feels is key to its heavy truck activities. But it is hesitating between building its own plant or buying a stake in Kamaz, with even the size of a potential holding put in question by the financial crisis and slumping automobile market.

Daimler had initially said it was in exclusive talks on a 42 percent stake in Kamaz but Sergey Chemezov, president of the Russian group’s supervisory board, said last month that Daimler now only wants 10 percent owing to the price.

The cost of a 42 percent holding had been estimated at $2 billion (€1.5 billion).

“The decision has not been taken yet. We are still looking at the options,” the Daimler spokeswoman said. “We still expect to decide by the end of the year.”

RUSSIA

Russia announces no New Year’s greetings for France, US, Germany

US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be receiving New Year's greetings from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Russia announces no New Year's greetings for France, US, Germany

As the world gears up to ring in the New Year this weekend, Putin sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of Kremlin-friendly countries including Turkey, Syria, Venezuela and China.

But Putin will not wish a happy New Year to the leaders of the United States, France and Germany, countries that have piled unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

“We currently have no contact with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And the president will not congratulate them given the unfriendly actions that they are taking on a continuous basis,” he added.

Putin shocked the world by sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine on February 24.

While Kyiv’s Western allies refused to send troops to Ukraine, they have been supplying the ex-Soviet country with weapons in a show of support that has seen Moscow suffer humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

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