Russia"s metals giant Norilsk Nickel posted a 6% decrease year-on-year in nickel output to 282,900 metric tons in 2009, with last year"s copper production down 4% to 402,000 metric tons against 2008.
Russia successfully launched the Proton-M carrier rocket with a U.S. telecommunications satellite Intelsat-16 on Friday, a spokesman for Russia"s space agency said.
Gazprom Neft, the oil producing arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, said on Wednesday its U.S. GAAP net profit decreased 35% year-on-year in 2009 to $3.01 billion.