Gazprom races into the business top-20

Gazprom has made it into the Forbes rundown of the world’s largest publicly-listed corporations. Russia’s gas giant took 19th place this year, after coming 44th in 2007.

Topping the list was Britain's HSBC, followed by General Electric in the U.S. and Bank of America.

Twenty-nine Russian companies rank in the magazine's ratings including Lukoil, Sberbank, brewer Baltika and carmaker Avtovaz