Amid growing tensions between Russia and the West, Russian media have reported that the children of officials who are living abroad will soon have to return to Russia.
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – October 16, 2016) The President of Russia answered questions from Russian journalists following the BRICS Summit. Question: Much is being said in the Western media about BRICS going through a rough patch. Since Brazil got a new president, the country has been allegedly thinking whether it needs BRICS. There is little secret about the tension that exists between […]
» Read more
GORKI. Oct 13 (Interfax) – The Russian government on Thursday gave its general backing to the draft federal budget for 2017 and the planning period 2018 and 2019, the Cabinet’s press office told reporters. The draft socio-economic forecast for the period was also approved. “All the documents submitted for approval at the Cabinet meeting were approved. There will be some […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 14, 2016) The Russian government says it will invest 80 billion US dollars in developing Russia’s Far North between now and 2030, money it does not yet have (profile.ru/economics/item/111568-5-trillionov). But the biggest barrier to achieving its goals may not be financial stringencies but the impact of global warming. According to Russian […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – October 12, 2016) Vladimir Putin is taking part in the eighth Russia Calling! Investment Forum organised by VTB Capital. This year’s theme is Maintaining Responsibility, Expanding Opportunities. Invitations to the forum’s plenary session have been sent to Russian Government members and heads of major international corporations and leading Russian companies, delegates from over 60 countries, including 550 investors […]
» Read more
“… When Russian President Vladimir Putin banned most food imports from Europe in 2014 in response to Western sanctions, Russian dairy farmers rejoiced as deliveries of French and Italian cheeses ceased. Now, they believed, they could compete. Since then, they have tried to duplicate all sorts of famous varieties, from Camembert to Emmenthal. But one global delicacy remains largely beyond […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – October 10, 2016) Vladimir Putin took part in a special session of the World Energy Congress. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: President Erdogan, presidents and colleagues, Mr Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to address such an authoritative international forum. I believe that in the current complicated global economic situation, […]
» Read more
“The man in charge of Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft is skeptical about a global crude production freeze or cut, despite President Putin’s pledge to cooperate with OPEC.”
» Read more
Oil prices jumped as much as 3 percent on Monday, with Brent hitting a one-year high, after Russia said it was ready to join OPEC in curbing crude output and Algeria called for similar commitments from other non-OPEC producers. … “Russia is ready to join the joint measures to cap production and is calling for other oil exporters to join,” […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 7 (Interfax) – Internal structural problems and external conditions will limit Russia’s economic growth to 1.5% annually in the medium term, according to the Finance Ministry’s draft fiscal policy guidelines, posted on the State Duma Budget and Tax Committee’s website. The guidelines are based on the baseline scenario of the Economic Development Ministry’s socioeconomic development forecast for 2017 […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yelena Mukhametshina – October 7, 2016) After suffering a major brain drain in the 1990s, Russia is once again witnessing a rise in emigration. But whereas people back then left the country because of the crumbling economy, now they are leaving even as the government attempts to diversify it, writes Committee for Civil Initiatives (CCI) […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 6, 2016) During the 20th century, large numbers of #Russians moved from villages to the cities, but as of now, many of them have not completed the psychological transition from rural to urban life; and that has given rise to marginal groups who represent a threat to the country, according to […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – September 26, 2016) As President Vladimir Putin further tightens his grip on power after dubious elections that gave his party an absolute majority, Russia is sliding into protracted stagnation. The Economics Ministry has adjusted downward its forecast through 2019 and Russia is now expected to underperform the global economy even more than previously […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 4, 2016) This year has been marked by the rise in Russia of a new “societal agreement” on three points: that the country is in stagnation and will remain so for a long time, that Putin will stay in office “until the end of life (his or ours), and that “after […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 4, 2016) Russia’s military spending is set to increase by 679 billion rubles ($10 billion) despite the welfare budget decreasing by 375 billion rubles ($6 billion), the Gazeta.ru news website reported Tuesday, citing a source in the government. The government’s finance ministry published a bill of amendments to the welfare budget on Monday, announcing […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) – The Russian economy might leave its mono-product era behind in 2028-2030, Herman Gref, the head of Sberbank (MOEX: SBER), said. “When might this mono-product era potentially end? In 2028-2030. The general feeling is and all the trends we have today indicate that there won’t be a repeat of the commodities super-cycle. We need to be […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Olga Tanas October 4, 2016) Russia’s central bank sidelined the officials who headed its unprecedented cull of lenders, rearranging its leadership in the biggest shakeup since a currency crisis last year. Dmitry Tulin, the first deputy governor in charge of monetary policy, will replace Alexei Simanovsky and take over banking regulation and supervision starting Oct. 17, […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) – The recession in the Russian economy is ending with growth under way, but that growth will be gradual at first, Alexei Kudrin, head of the Center for Strategic Research, said. “This year we’ll still have decline of 0.6%, statistically, but next year we’ll have approximately 0.5-0.8% growth. I repeat, that is statistically not as much […]
» Read more
(Government.ru – October 2, 2016) The Prime Minister answered the questions of the news programme’s host Valery Fadeyev. The interview was recorded following the Sochi International Investment Forum 2016. Excerpts from the interview: Valery Fadeyev: Mr Medvedev, when can we expect to see economic growth? Dmitry Medvedev: Economic growth depends on a large number of factors and is determined by […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) – Russia’s GDP in August 2016 was unchanged from August 2015, compared with a decline of 0.8% in July, the first time the decline in annualized GDP has halted since December 2014, the Economic Development Ministry said in its monthly economic monitoring reported published on Monday. On a seasonally adjusted basis, GDP in August rose 0.3% […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – October 1, 2016) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets has said that poverty has been steadily growing in Russia since 2014, and almost 5 million Russians currently earn the minimum wage. “Unfortunately, in our country after 2014 poverty has been consistently growing, and the measures that we are taking, we believe, at the moment should be stepped […]
» Read more
(Interfax – September 30, 2016) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said he agrees with former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin that the whole system of state governance in Russia should be changed – a further sign Kudrin is back in the corridors of power after he stepped down as finance minister in 2011 after a public disagreement with Medvedev. Medvedev […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 2 (Interfax) – Russia’s economic growth will depend on the success of structural transformations in the economy, which cannot be accomplished rapidly, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. The sanctions and the external pressure on Russia “are bad, but these are not the main [factors],” he said in an interview with the Voskresnoye Vremya program aired by Channel One. […]
» Read more
… Medvedev expects modest growth in the economy early 2017 …. The Russian economy has struggled following the introduction of international sanctions against Moscow in 2014 over its role in the Ukraine crisis. … According to a Reuters poll, Russian inflation will fall to just over 6 percent by the end of the year as monetary policy is kept tight, […]
» Read more
(Government.ru – September 30, 2016) The forum’s main focus is a new standard in public administration: projects for growth, projects for life. From Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks: This year’s forum is being held right after the elections. Russia voted for members of the State Duma, legislative assemblies in the regions, governors, mayors and local authorities. Almost 40,000 seats were contested by […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 1, 2016) In another indication that Russia may be on the brink of radical reform of its state structures and of how such a development may open a Pandora’s box of problems for the Kremlin, Prime Minister Dmitry #Medvedev says that it is “necessary to replace the entire system of government […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Mikhail Fishman – September 29, 2016) Boris Yeltsin reportedly first spotted Sergei Kiriyenko, then a young businessman from Nizhny Novgorod, during a boat trip on the Volga River in July 1994. Nearly four years later, Yeltsin would shock the political establishment by appointing him prime minister. Plucked from relative obscurity at the age of just […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 27, 2016) Russians are more positive about their job prospects than one year ago, according to a report by a state Russian state pollster. In the survey run by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), less than a quarter of respondents (23 percent) claimed that someone close to them had lost their job […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 25, 2016) Most observers have focused on Vladimir Putin’s moves to restore the KGB, but they have not paid as much attention to the return under his rule of another feature of Soviet life that most Russians thought they had left behind: long lines at stores for even the most basic […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 26, 2016) Some 82 percent of Russians can feel the effects of the country’s economic decline, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday, citing a report by independent pollster the Levada Center. The number has risen from the 61 percent who felt the pinch back in the fall of 2014. Almost one in five respondents (17 […]
» Read more
(Government.ru/Rossiyskaya Gazeta – September 22, 2016) Article by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for the academic journal Voprosy Ekonomiki (Economic Issues) vopreco.ru/rus/redaction.files/10-16.pdf Abridged version (published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta): The Russian economy is undergoing a period of profound transformation. In the next few years Russia will have to fundamentally restructure its economic system in response to the challenges and changes of the […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 22, 2016) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the reforms needed to save Russia’s economy will have “a high social cost” for the Russian people. Writing in an article for Russian economic journal “Questions of Economics,” Medvedev pledged that Russian authorities would not revert to Soviet-style planning, but maintained that deregulation was […]
» Read more
Russia’s economy should over the next few years undergo an overhaul to remain competitive in the world, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an article entitled “Russia’s social and economic development: acquisition of new dynamics” for the Voprosy Ekonomiki (Economic Issues) magazine. …
» Read more
Abstract: This article measures changes in #Russia’s performance in economic, technological, military, and human capital domains and compares this performance to those of five of the West’s leading powers, the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as to the world as a whole (wherever possible), to test the hypothesis that Russia has declined versus its Western […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Sean Guillory – September 13, 2016) Sean Guillory lives in Pittsburgh. He hosts the SRB podcast, a weekly podcast on Eurasian politics, history and culture, and blogs for seansrussiablog.org. You can follow him on Twitter @seansrussiablog. Writings on contemporary Russia are mostly variations on the same subject: Vladimir Putin; his rise to and iron grip on power. Western […]
» Read more
By any measure, the Russian economy is deep in a classic recession: GDP has dropped for the sixth consecutive quarter. If Russia had political competition, these elections would pose a challenge for both the ruling party and the opposition. But without real competition, politicians are under little pressure to lift the economy out of the current crisis. … * * […]
» Read more
TULA. Sept 8 (Interfax) – While manufacturing the hi-tech civil products, the Russian military-industrial complex should target the needs of the healthcare, energy, aircraft and ship construction, space and information technology sectors, it is unacceptable to produce frying pans on high-grade equipment, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Our military-industrial complex certainly has the potential to meet these challenges, it possesses […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 8, 2016) Because incomes in Moscow and St. Petersburg were higher to begin with, residents of the two Russian capitals until recently had been able to absorb the impact of the economic crisis better than the other and poorer regions, one reason why there have been fewer economic protests in the […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Sept 7 (Interfax) – The Russian Finance Ministry has not suggested introducing a progressive income tax scale after 2018. “We’re not proposing a progressive income tax scale [after 2028]. We’re not discussing one and we’re not proposing one,” Deputy Finance Minister Ilya Trunin told reporters. The Vedomosti newspaper has quoted sources as saying the Finance Ministry had suggested several […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – September 3, 2016) Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum. This year, representatives of 35 countries applied to attend the forum. In total, delegations from 56 countries are taking part. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ms Park Geun-hye, Mr Shinzo Abe, friends, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Vladivostok, to the second Eastern […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ksenia Galouchko – September 5, 2016) Russian stocks climbed to a record for the second day in a row and the ruble rallied with bonds as oil advanced and investors speculated U.S. rates will stay low, fueling demand for higher-yielding assets. The Micex Index closed up 0.7 percent to 2,017.38 after piercing the 2,000-point level for […]
» Read more
(Kremlin.ru – September 5, 2016) Full text of Vladimir Putin’s interview to the international media company Bloomberg has been published. The interview was recorded on September 1, 2016, in Vladivostok. John Micklethwait: Mr President, thank you very much for speaking to Bloomberg. Here in Vladivostok we’re on the edge of the Pacific and on the eve of the second Eastern […]
» Read more
Russia’s higher education sector is at a crossroads. A few universities are trying to raising their game in the hope of international ranking, but most are barely surviving staff and funding cuts. (opendemocracy.net – Tatyana Dvornikova – September 2, 2016) Tatyana Dvornikova is a Moscow-based journalist. She works with Colta, Kommersant and Radio Mel. Russia’s higher education sector is braced […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Natasha Doff – August 29, 2016) [Charts here bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-29/a-year-after-18-billion-debt-deal-ukraine-is-hardly-better-off] A year after Ukraine averted default by reaching an agreement with creditors to restructure $18 billion of debt, the country’s bond market is again beginning to veer off course. After outperforming all of emerging Europe in the first seven months of the year, some of those gains […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ksenia Galouchko – September 1, 2016) The cost of insuring Russian debt using credit-default swaps fell to a three-week low as tensions with Ukraine eased, offering relief from mounting political risk that had weighed on assets last month. Five-year CDS contracts declined seven basis points this week to 219, the lowest since Aug. 10 when Russian […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax) – The Russian economy an expect slow, unsteady recovery in the next few quarters, the Central Bank’s Research and Forecasting Department said in its latest Talking Trends bulletin. The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said in an initial estimate that GDP had fallen 0.6% year-on-year in Q2 2016. The Central Bank’s analysts said Rosstat’s data imply […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Vladimir Kuznetsov – August 31, 2016) The Russian ruble headed for its first gain in August in a decade as a jump in oil prices and high domestic rates helped lure investors hunting returns in riskier emerging-market assets. The currency of the world’s biggest energy exporter traded little changed at 65.24 against the dollar by 3:02 […]
» Read more
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Andre Tartar, Anna Andrianova – August 28, 2016) The recent flare up over Crimea may have just delayed Russia’s economic recovery. After President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of plotting terrorist attacks on the Black Sea peninsula this month, the chance that Western countries will scrap economic sanctions against Russia has declined, according to a Bloomberg survey […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 30, 2016) Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has announced a new “baseline plus” plan for the Russian economy, despite concerns that the country’s original economic strategy remains unbalanced, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday. While the country’s current baseline plan is formed on the price of oil remaining stable at $40 per barrel for […]
» Read more
On Aug. 24, a bankrupt businessman took the staff and customers of a bank in downtown Moscow hostage in a bid to attract the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the plight of those in his position.
» Read more