Gazprom's board is proposing that about 1,600 managers and administrators be cut from its headquarters at St. Petersburg, citing recent challenges.

Gazprom is considering cutting about 40% of its headquarters staff - more than 1,500 job cuts - as the Russian gas giant grapples with the loss of most of its sales to Europe, state news agency TASS reported on Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow was in contact with its "Serbian friends" about the fate of Serbian oil company NIS, which Belgrade fears will face U.S. sanctions because Russia's Gazprom is its majority owner.

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, which explore for, produce and sell oil as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, many of which are in the so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers operated by non-Western companies.

The no-confidence vote, if it succeeds, will trigger a snap election. According to a recent January poll, the liberal opposition Progressive Slovakia is the most popular party in the country on 23.9 percent support, with Fico’s ruling Smer in second on 18 percent.

Russia's Gazprom is considering cutting hundreds of administrative jobs, a company spokesman confirmed to AFP on Monday, as the gas producer reels amid the loss of key exports to Europe.

MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - The United States has introduced sanctions against two Russian oil extraction companies, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in charge of law enforcement in the sphere of sanctions, said on Friday.

A delegation of Slovakia's far-right MPs, led by Deputy Speaker and leader of the nationalist party SNS Andrej Danko, is set to travel to Russia in January to "develop dialogue" following the visit by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

"We didn't refuse the flight; the Slovak side simply sent us incomplete documents... when they were asked to complete them, they informed us about the change of route," the Polish Foreign Ministry's spokesperson said.

(Reuters) - Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited areas hit by rolling power cuts on Thursday and blamed Russian gas giant Gazprom for the energy crisis gripping the country's Transdniestria pro-Russian separatist enclave. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moldova and Ukraine were responsible for the heating and power shortages.

CHISINAU - The leader of Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria has travelled to Moscow since the suspension of Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine, the president of Moldova said on Tuesday. Read more at straitstimes.