(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) The current trend of slowed economic growth in Russia might be reversed this quarter, according to the Russian Economic Development Ministry. “We anticipate that there will be a turning point in negative trends already in the second quarter and that economic growth will surpass 3% in the second half of the year,” Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said at a government session dedicated to
(Interfax – BRYANSK, May 16, 2013) 3.4% GDP growth in Russia is good, but there is still income inequality that proves the Russian economy has some flaws, Rosstat head Alexander Surinov told a press conference in Bryansk. “GDP growth rates have shrunk but there is still 3.4% growth. I have been in the statistics business for a long time. 3% growth was deemed very good or even magnificent for the
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – May 17, 2013) A bribery scandal at French lender Societe Generale’s Russian entity Rosbank shows that stricter measures should be implemented by both Western and Russian companies to enforce compliance with their codes of conduct, experts said. The Investigative Committee said Thursday that they have opened a criminal case into Rosbank chief executive Vladimir Golubkov and senior vice president Tamara Polyanitsina on
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Fedor Kikta, special to RBTH – May 15, 2013) Europe’s auto exporters are irked by Russia’s “scrappage tax” amid mounting environmental pressure. When Russia’s record 18-year-long bid to join the World Trade Organization finally concluded successfully last year, one of the last major stumbling blocks concerned car important tariffs. For the last decade Russia’s government had skillfully been using a carrot-and-stick approach to
(Interfax – May 16, 2013) Russia will continue improving its investment appeal and introducing innovations regardless of the scenario of Russia’s socio-economic development adopted by the Russian government by 2016, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. “We will continue improving the investment appeal, supporting the high-tech sectors, and introducing innovations regardless of what scenario will be eventuated,” Medvedev told a government meeting on Thursday. “We should ensure modernization of the
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 15, 2013) Consumption in Russia is higher than production efficiency, and this could weaken the ruble and drive up inflation in the medium-term if labor productivity does not significantly improve, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said while presenting at a Wednesday conference entitled ‘The National System of Competences and Qualifications,’ organized by the newspaper Vedomosti and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in Moscow. According to an
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 15, 2013) Former YUKOS Head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and former Menatep Board Chairman Platon Lebedev are unlikely to be released under amnesty for economic crimes initiated by business ombudsman Boris Titov because the two were sentenced under articles, which are included in the draft being prepared to be submitted to the Russian State Duma. “There will be no lists with surnames of businessmen who could be pardoned.
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Evgenia Pismennaya & Olga Tanas – May 16, 2013) Russia’s government is split over empowering the central bank to support the economy as part of efforts to revive growth, leaving President Vladimir Putin to decide, according to an official familiar with the proposals. While the government suggests lowering bank loan rates, slowing utility-price increases and compelling state companies to pay out a quarter of profit under
(Interfax – May 15, 2013) The head of the Skolkovo Foundation, tycoon Viktor Vekselberg, has denied reports that the innovations centre has been financing the opposition in Russia, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 15 May. Asked by journalists whether the Skolkovo Foundation may have been involved in financing the opposition movement in Russia, he said: “No, it is categorically not involved (in this)”. Speculation that Skolkovo may have been
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 15, 2013) Russia could complete negotiations to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in two years if this issue is not politicized, Vladimir Tkachenko, Russia’s representative in talks to join the organization, said in an interview with Interfax. “If we’re talking about a timeframe, then technically all work could in principle be finished within two years. But there are underwater rocks on our
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Victor Davidoff – May 13, 2013) One year ago on May 7, President-elect Vladimir Putin’s motorcade traversed the empty streets of Moscow, cleared of every living soul by the police, to his inauguration in the Kremlin. This anniversary passed mostly unnoticed by the public and mainstream media. The reason is not so much that it was overshadowed by Victory Day celebrations and protest demonstrations but
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 13, 2013) The idea that “Moscow is not Russia” has long been a commonplace among both residents of the capital and residents of the portions of Russia beyond the ring road, but the two are increasingly dissimilar, raising the possibility that a conflict between the capital and the rest of the country could emerge. In an essay on the “Svobodnaya pressa”
(Interfax – May 13, 2013) State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin has partially backed the proposal made by business ombudsman Boris Titov on amnesty for economic crimes. “Some citizens convicted for so-called economic crimes can and should be amnestied. Some of those who have committed economic crimes should still serve their sentences,” Naryshkin told reporters in the State Duma on Monday. At the same time, he reiterated that “to understand the
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – May 13, 2013) The government’s fiscal watchdog has started looking at Gazprom’s books in an audit that is poised to produce exciting results, the agency’s chief said. “I think the findings will be interesting,” Sergei Stepashin, chairman of the Audit Chamber, said Friday, Interfax reported. His remarks are the latest update on the sweeping audit after he announced in January that it
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 10 New Russia legislation to prevent officials from having cash or stock accounts abroad, promoted by the regime as a step toward “the nationalization of the elite,” brings Russia into line with countries like Bangladesh rather than the West and gives the Kremlin powers much like those of medieval Muscovy, a Moscow commentator says. In an article in “Novaya gazeta,”
(Interfax – LONDON/MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) Russian business tycoon Boris Berezovsky was buried Brookwood cemetery, Surrey, in Great Britain, a source close to the businessman told Interfax on Wednesday. “The burial service was conducted in the family circle, while the burial ceremony itself was attended by 50 to 70 people – the family and friends of the late oligarch,” the source said. All the proceedings were fully closed to outsiders
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alexandra Ilina, Moskovskiye Novosti – May 8, 2013) GALKINSKOYE, Sverdlovsk region – The village of Galkinskoye is no different from any of the other towns and villages around the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, with its old wooden houses, rickety fences and decaying former farm buildings. However, in 2008, Vasily Melnichenko came up with the idea to transform it into an exemplary state farm. “Melnichenko? Vasily
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – May 8, 2013) An investigation into the embezzlement of budget funds from state-owned innovation hub Skolkovo has led to a public spat between the agency conducting the investigation and the Cabinet of Ministers, whose head, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, created the institution in 2010. On Tuesday, pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia published a damning article written by Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin in which
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 8, 2013) An initiative by business ombudsman Boris Titov to free more than 100,000 entrepreneurs serving prison sentences for white-collar crimes will be submitted to the State Duma next week, Kommersant reported Wednesday. Titov warned that many people were likely to oppose the idea, but he acknowledged that without such a measure it would be difficult to overcome the remnants of the “turbulent 1990s.”
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 7, 2013) Only seven percent of Russian citizens currently engage in entrepreneurial activity and few of the remainder even consider that a possibility, according to the Global Entrepreneurial Survey, which ranks Russia 67th out of 69 countries in terms of the number of people who form and operate new companies. Olga Verkhovskaya, the head of the Russian office of the survey,
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 7, 2013) Most Russians claim they are accustomed to contemporary living conditions yet 54% admit “life is hard but tolerable,” sociologists said. “The number of such citizens has declined over past months (from 85% in December),” the Russian Public Opinion Study Center (VTsIOM) told Interfax on Tuesday presenting a recent poll. Meanwhile, the number of respondents who described their life as favorable has grown from 31%
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 8, 2013) A growing number of Russian businessmen expect the country’s economy to grow in the next 12 months, according to a quarterly survey by Grant Thornton International released Wednesday The latest survey data, when compared to last year’s results, shows an increase in the number of Russian business leaders who are annoyed with bureaucracy (69 percent compared to 55 percent), expect difficulties with
(Cato Institute – cato.org – Andrei Illarionov – May 1, 2013) It is challenging to calculate the industrial output for post-socialist transition economies. However, through meticulous work based on internationally recognized statistical standards over two decades, two Russian economists currently associated with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Eduard Baranov and Vladimir Bessonov, were able to produce a statistical time-series for the main branches of Russian industry and for
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – April 30, 2013) SOCHI The problems on Ruslan Zokhidov’s mind are not typical for a young man of his age: he is the least likely person to be found nattily dressed at a trendy night club or entering a university lugging a pile of books. Instead, Zokhidov, 19, lugs building materials and wears rubber boots for his job as a construction
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Massive injections of government money into the Russian economy will do more to fuel inflation than to accelerate growth in production, the government should act to extend greater economic freedom, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who now chairs the Civil Initiatives Committee, believes. “When the government starts going in with its money through development institutions, (a(euro) ) it seems to it that a plantneeds
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Robert LaFranco & Alex Sazonov – May 1, 2013) Alisher Usmanov, Russia’s richest person, moved control of most of his $20 billion fortune last year to a holding company based in the British Virgin Islands, a collection of more than 60 isles 5,600 miles away from Moscow. The company, USM Holdings, controls the billionaire’s most valuable asset, Metalloinvest Holding Co., Russia’s largest iron ore producer, through
(opendemocracy.net – Dmitri Travin – April 30, 2013) Dmitri Travin is Research Director at the European University in St. Petersburg’s Centre of Modernization Studies Vladimir Putin has long paid lip service to the notion that his government should address the problem of corruption. Is his new campaign for real, or will it be more of a shootout between corrupt officials and businessmen with more or less support from on high?
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktoriya Semioshina, special to RBTH – May 1, 2013) In early May, Russians have two bank holidays in quick succession, both inherited from the former Soviet Union. This sometimes translates into as many as nine days off work plenty of time to head for warmer climes, though many will opt to stay at home. For the latter, there will be numerous recreational
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Nathan Gray – April 29, 2013) The American Chamber of Commerce cleared the decks straightaway at its annual investment conference last week, in the wake of a difficult year in Russian-U.S. political relations. “One of the purposes of this conference is to emphasize the fact that basically it’s business as usual, despite some of the geopolitical tension,” AmCham president and CEO Andrew Somers said in
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Andrey Kostin – April 29, 2013) Andrey Kostin is chairman of VTB Group, Russia’s second- largest lender. He is also chairman of the B20 financial- stability task force. Russia’s central bank is about to get a new chairman and, as at the Bank of England, the imminent arrival of a new broom has raised expectations of a more relaxed monetary policy. Russia, however, is different. Elvira
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 29, 2013) The Russian economy could be in a position to achieve 6% annual growth in 2014-2016 with structural modernization, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said. “The use of these reserves (structural modernization mechanisms) will enable us to enter a trajectory of 6% growth in 2014-2016 and almost 7% a year in 2017-2020. This level is definitely the limit from the point of view of the
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas & Irina Reznik – April 29, 2013) President Vladimir Putin rejected calls for fiscal stimulus, limiting Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s options as he races to meet a deadline for submitting a plan to revitalize Russia’s economy. First Deputy Premier Igor Shuvalov said Putin dismissed proposals to aid flagging growth by boosting federal spending at a meeting with officials last week. That means any measures
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – April 26, 2013) President Vladimir Putin pledged to stay the course on a range of key issues, from macroeconomic policy to the battle with corruption and the composition of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s Cabinet, during a record-breaking live call-in show broadcast on national television on Thursday. The annual show, which lasted an unprecedented 4 hours and 47 minutes, saw a confident and
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 26, 2013) Anatoly Chubais, who oversaw Russia’s mass privatization drive in the 1990s, said on Friday he had always treated allegations that his US advisers at the time were operatives of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as rumors – until President Vladimir Putin said so out loud yesterday. “I often heard those claims and frankly speaking, treated them as rumors. But if the president
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – April 25, 2013) ExxonMobil was a highlight of an investment conference in Moscow on Wednesday, attended by U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, where speakers discussed the prospects of U.S. business in Russia. Organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, the event sought to emphasize trade and investment despite political tensions between the countries. McFaul recalled how President Vladimir Putin and President
(Buiness New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – April 25, 2013) There is no competition in Russia. The revenues are fake. You have to control the whole sector to make money.” This comment was made by Oleg Tinkoff on one of the panels at Sberbanks recent investment conference, “The Russia Forum”, yet this highly successful Russian serial entrepreneur’s entire career is testament to the opposite. Tinkoff began
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 25, 2013) Officers of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency operated as consultants to Anatoly Chubais, the Russian deputy prime minister who oversaw the privatization of the country’s economy in the early 1990′s, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “In Chubais’ entourage, it has now turned out, CIA officers worked as consultants,” Putin said at a live Q&A session with the Russian public. Putin
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – April 24, 2013) Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday that investment into the city’s economy reached the pre-crisis level, citing commercial real estate as an example. Twice as much is being invested in Moscow’s commercial real estate as in London, he said at a high-profile panel on the city’s development held by RIA Novosti. But both Sobyanin and other officials admitted that
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Evgeny Basmanov, special to RBTH – April 24, 2013) Why the country’s tax system is more trustworthy than those in most European countries. At the end of last year, celebrated actor Gerard Depardieu, unhappy with the high rate of tax in his native France, decided to move to Russia and change his citizenship. The tax system in Russia is indeed far more dependable
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 24, 2013) Intrinsic deficiencies rather than external shocks can turn the current slowdown in the Russian economy into a full-blown recession, research conducted at the Higher School of Economics has found. Valery Mironov and Vadim Kanonov from the school’s Center for Economic Development said Russia was vulnerable to sliding into an “autonomous recession” even without a significant decline in oil prices, Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 23, 2013) Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said that he did not discuss any job offers with President Vladimir Putin on April 22. Kudrin attended a Putin-chaired session on economic issues in Sochi on Monday as an expert. “As I left the hall, I had a chance to meet with Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) on my way out of there. We continue communicating as usual,
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – April 23, 2013) President Vladimir Putin has said he expects a list of proposals for spurring the economy to be ready by the middle of next month. The list must contain the often conflicting proposals that Cabinet ministers, Kremlin staff and economists put forward at a meeting Monday, Putin said. He made the statement in a separate meeting later on Monday with
(Interfax – SOCHI, April 22, 2013) Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov has described claims that capital outflow from Russia has assumed a “gigantic” scope as a myth. “Assertions that capital outflow has assumed a gigantic scope, and that there are signs of capital flight are a myth,” Belousov told reporters after a meeting on economic issues chaired by President Vladimir Putin. A large inflow of direct foreign investment has been
(Interfax – SOCHI, April 22, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin said the long-term consequences of the extraordinary measures taken in Cyprus are not known yet. “We see what methods of resolving debt problems are used on specific countries, I mean Cyprus, where the measures that have been taken essentially undermine confidence in the financial system,” Putin told a meeting on economic issues. “Experts are divided on how these extraordinary actions
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 22, 2013) A spokesman for the Kremlin said in an interview aired on Monday that state officials should not own real estate abroad, as it could leave them open to “pressure.” “Officials should not possess real estate in foreign countries,” Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya 24 TV channel. “[People] working for the government shouldn’t
(Interfax – April 18, 2013) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov said on 18 April that “certain forces” are trying to undermine the country’s budding innovation centre, Skolkovo, which is being investigated for embezzlement, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported. Surkov, who is a member of the Skolkovo Foundation’s board of trustees, was speaking following a raid by Federal Security Service officers on the centre’s headquarters in Moscow, during which
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 19, 2013) The president and CEO of leading Russian lender Sberbank (RTS: SBER), German Gref opposes the idea of creating internal offshore zones in Russia, but is proposing that special measures be developed to bring capital back to the country, possibly even an amnesty for capital that now flees to offshore jurisdictions. “I don’t really believe in internal offshore zones. It doesn’t seem optimal to revive
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 19, 2013) The downtown office of the Skolkovo Foundation was searched Thursday as part of an ongoing corruption scandal involving two former executives whom the Investigative Committee accused of using a fraudulent tender to steal 23.8 million rubles ($789,000). A spokesman for Skolkovo Russia’s high profile project to diversify its oil-dependent economy through high-tech investments told Interfax that representatives of
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 18, 2013) The Russian government does not have to undertake immediate action to stimulate economic growth, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said. There is “dissatisfaction with the pace of economic growth,” he said, but the Russian economy is not in recession. “This is no place for emotions. Of course there can be stimulation of one another all the time under some kind of complex scenarios,
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – April 19, 2013) A prominent Kremlin critic in the largely rubber-stamp parliament, Ponomaryov suggested that ulterior motives lay behind Friday’s news. Investigators have accused a top manager at the government’s flagship Skolkovo Foundation of making $750,000 in improper payments to a State Duma deputy with close links to the street protest movement, according to a statement posted on the Investigative Committee’s website
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