(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 21, 2013) Russia has risen eight points to rank 56th best country in the latest survey of taxation environment, which is part of the World Bank’s Doing Business effort. The improvement was thanks to a reduction of administrative red tape, but the survey of 189 countries found that it still cost Russian companies too […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Viktor Kuzmin, RBTH – November 19, 2013) The Russian government has established a foundation to support startups. Experts, however, are skeptical that such an idea will be successful Startup support is becoming a part of the Russian government’s small- and medium-business support policy. Notwithstanding planned 2014 budget expenditure cuts (many items will be […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 20, 2013) The United States may publish the extended version of the “Magnitsky list” as early as next month, while Europe is expected to pass a similar measure, Hermitage Capital investment fund president and bill supporter William Browder said. The Magnitsky Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress in December 2012 and named after late […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) – State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov has blamed frequent aircraft accidents in Russia on the antisocial type of capitalism that appeared in the country under the influence of a liberal economy. “Airplanes tend to crash in our country quite often because the liberal economy generated a special kind of capitalism in Russia that […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) – Most Russians describe the current economic status of the country and their families as mediocre and the number of negative opinions is rising, Levada Center told Interfax. Fifty-four percent of the 1,603 respondents polled in October said that the country’s economic status was mediocre, 32% said it was bad, and 11% claimed that the Russian […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 19, 2013) U.S.-born banker Alexis Rodzianko has been elected president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, or AmCham, the chamber said Tuesday. The previous president, Andrew Somers, announced earlier this year he would be departing to launch a new strategic consulting firm. “We have the greatest confidence in Alex, who comes to […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 19, 2013) Russia’s regions are overwhelmingly in a deep crisis, the result of a confluence of factors that can be overcome only by ending “hyper-centralization,” restoring budgetary federalism, and somehow reversing the “degradation” and rapacity of the Moscow elite and its faith in gigantist projects, according to Natalya Zubarevich. In a […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – November 19, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin is frustrated with the slow progress in his anti-corruption drive and struggling to take charge of the situation. Having ignored the problem for over a decade, the president has been forced to finally deal with the problem of graft, as Russia can […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) – Russians most often consider their life as favorable but still prefer to make short-term plans, sociologists said. In the past several months Russian citizens started assessing their lives more positively than before – the share of respondents thinking it is favorable grew from 37% in Q1 to 42% in Q3, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 16 (Interfax) – The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has dropped its charges against the Foundation for the Development of the Center for the Elaboration and Commercialization of New Technologies (Skolkovo Foundation) after the latter corrected the violations uncovered earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Saturday. “The management of the non-profit organization Foundation for the Development of the […]
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(Kremlin.ru – Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow Region – November 14, 2013) Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) Supervisory Board. Meeting participants discussed the creation of a good investment climate and the evaluation of new ASI-supported projects. PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues, Today we are holding our final meeting this year. So I would […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Anna Kuchma, RBTH – November 14, 2013) The Russian Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has lowered its forecasted growth rate for the country’s development through 2030. Experts caution that the new projection is conservative and describes the most negative Decreasing real oil prices and oil production output will cause Russia’s economic growth during […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) – The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) acknowledges that it has very high inflationary expectations, the bank’s first deputy chief, Ksenia Yudayeva, said during a session of the State Duma committee for economic policy, innovative development, and entrepreneurship on Thursday. “Only just today I had a meeting on this subject. We have quantitative parameters of inflationary […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 13 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for boosting trade between Russia and the United States and for more extensive mutual investment. “Russia and the United States possess all the necessary resources for more extensive collaboration in countering modern threats and challenges and in trying to settle regional crises and conflicts. I am convinced that […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, November 14, 2013) In an editorial today, Moscow’s “Nezavisimaya gazeta” asks what may be the key question about Russian social and political life in the next few years or more: will Russians react to the Kremlin’s unprecedented prediction that the country potentially faces decades of stagnation as a result of the government’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Lena Smirnova – November 13, 2013) The first Russians to dispose of free wealth in nearly a century are putting down the institutional roots of philanthropy, but donations trail behind the sums shelled out by donors in the U.S., Britain and China, according to a report released by private bank Coutts on Tuesday. Coutts Million […]
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BRUSSELS. Nov 13 (Interfax) – Russia is eager to have the closest relationship with the European Union, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels on Tuesday. “This is our closest partner. More than 50% of our trade is with the European Union,” Rogozin said. “There is no alternative to political and […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Andrew McChesney – November 13, 2013) The government is considering delaying the privatization of oil giant Rosneft until 2016 or later as it seeks to maximize the price it can secure. Rosneft is scheduled to be privatized in 2015, and a postponement could put a dent in projected government spending. “We will have to discuss […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – Russia may file three to four lawsuits in the WTO over the next two to three years, Maksim Medvedkov, the head of the Economic Development Ministry’s trade negotiations department, said at a roundtable during a business strategy conference organized by Vedomosti newspaper in Moscow on Tuesday. “In the next two to three years I see […]
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MOSCOW, November 13 (RIA Novosti) Russia’s GDP growth is likely to remain below this year’s goal of 1.8 percent, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Wednesday. The Federal Statistics Service said Tuesday that Russia’s GDP had grown 1.2 percent on a year earlier in the third quarter of 2013, the same pace as in the previous three months. […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) – Russia’s gross domestic product expanded 1.2% year-on-year last quarter, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said on Tuesday. That was in line with what the Economic Development Ministry had calculated for the period – 1.2%. Rosstat did not report January-September GDP dynamics. Judging from the data for Q1 (1.6% year-on-year growth), Q2 (1.2%), and Q3, […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – November 12, 2013) Over three-fourths of Russians say they are happy, a figure that has grown by a third in the last two decades, a recent poll said. According to a study by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (VTsIOM), 76 percent of Russians said they were happy, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday, citing […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Maria Prikhodina, special to RBTH – November 11, 2013) Despite the lack of legislation to encourage corporate giving, social entrepreneurship is growing among Russian firms. Darya Alexeyeva, the director of a workshop for young adults with developmental disabilities, felt like celebrating when her students earned $6,000 at a recent craft fair. “It was […]
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TBILISI. Nov 9 (Interfax) – The Georgian prime minister’s special commissioner for relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, is due to have his fifth meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin on November 19-23 in seeking to restore economic ties between the two countries. The meeting will be held in Prague . “It will be our fifth meeting, one at […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – November 11, 2013) The only route to success for Russian technology firms is to launch an operation and find investors in U.S., an investment forum heard. The venture capital market in the U.S. is mature, and investors have experience that Russia, whose investment institutions are relatively young, does not have, speakers at […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Panin – November 11, 2013) Russia is ranked number one in Europe in terms of building retail space but still has a lower ratio of shopping malls to people, according to research by Cushman & Wakefield. With over 456,200 square meters of retail space built in just the first half of 2013, Russia topped […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Agnes Lovasz – November 11, 2013) Russia’s deepening economic slowdown is impeding eastern Europe’s recovery as lower oil prices hurt the world’s largest energy exporter, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said. Russia, the largest of 34 economies from Morocco to Mongolia where the London-based EBRD invests, will grow 1.3 percent in 2013 and 2.5 […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Tatyana Lisina, special to RBTH – November 8, 2013) The most expensive Russian brands are conceding significantly in value to brands from developed countries. Experts believe this is because of a lack of investment into brand marketing. Brand consultants Interbrand recently presented ratings for the top 40 most expensive brands of 2013. Gazprom […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Delphine d’Amora – November 7, 2013) Prominent members of the business community have sent an appeal to President Vladimir Putin asking for a reevaluation of amendments to the Criminal Code, which Putin himself submitted to the State Duma on Oct. 11, Vedomosti reported Thursday. The amendments would authorize investigators to open tax cases at their […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 199 – Stephen Blank – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – November 6, 2013) Indian Premier Manmohan Singh’s October 21–22 visit to Moscow not only reaffirmed traditional Indo-Russian amity, it also revealed significant trends in Asian developments that affect both parties as well as other key players like the United States, China and Pakistan. In […]
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MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) Russia has “made progress” in improving the quality of life of its citizens over the last decade, though the country’s scores in some areas are lower than the international average, a new study by an international economic organization says. The average Russian household net-adjusted disposable income is about $15,300 a year, according to the […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) – Almost half of Russians (46%) approve of the course of national development taken by Vladimir Putin after his return to the presidency, Levada Center told Interfax. This course is mostly supported by women (50% vs. 41% of men), young citizens aged from 18 to 24 (55%), people with secondary education (52%) and residents of cities […]
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MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) Russia will not consider raising the retirement age until at least 2018, but will encourage people to work longer, the head of the State Pension Fund said Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin said during 2011 electoral campaigning that he was against raising the pension age and has frequently restated this position. Russia’s next presidential elections […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – James M. Gomez & Kateryna Choursina – November 6, 2013) Ukraine needs a free trade agreement with the European Union to help the eastern European nation kickstart the economy and regain competitiveness on global markets, President Viktor Yanukovych said. “By choosing to get closer to the European Union, we are making a pragmatic choice for optimal […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – November 5, 2013) Despite its extraordinary scientific capacity, a stated desire to be competitive and the availability of capital, it may take several generations before Russia’s investment in innovation will bear fruit, a report by MIT on the country’s role in global innovation shows. Russia has many of the necessary elements to […]
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MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) The Russian Central Bank launched a public competition Tuesday to find a symbol that will represent the ruble alongside other major world currencies. For the next month, visitors to the Central Bank’s website can vote for one of five variations on the letter R in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. “Written symbols for […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – November 4, 2013) Facing down Russian bullying on one side and an economic collapse that could only be months away, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has reportedly caved into long-standing pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on November 4 by saying his government would hike domestic gas tariffs. Ukraine’s hard currency reserves have been […]
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KHARKIV. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Ukraine will have no political clout in the association with the European Union, while the Eurasian Economic Union guarantees absolute equality of its members, says Russian presidential adviser Sergei Glazyev. “Our Customs Union is being set up according to the same rules as the European Union,” Glazyev said. “Both they and we work in compliance […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Anna Kuchma, RBTH – November 4, 2013) If Hollywood movies are to be believed, foreigners are scared witless of doing business in Russia. Russian businessmen look more like hardened criminals, and any attempts to work honestly in the country crash against an impenetrable wall of bureaucracy or so it is said. But […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – November 1, 2013) Good infrastructure, a secure environment and exponentially increasing computer power guarantee the growth of innovative solutions to global problems, political and technology leaders told attendees of the International Forum for Innovative Development in Moscow on Thursday. Russia has the intellectual capital, education and state support to become a technology […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anatoly Medetsky – November 1, 2013) Russian government officials, led by two deputy ministers, met with U.S. business representatives and lobbyists for a two-day conference in Houston to exchange their views on doing business in Russia. Deputy Economic Development Minister Sergei Belyakov gave a keynote speech during the Oct. 29 to 30 meeting organized by […]
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(Government.ru – October 31, 2013) Dmitry Medvedev’s address to the plenary meeting: Addressing the plenary meeting of the 2nd Moscow International Forum, Open Innovations Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, Mr Katainen (Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen of Finland), Mr Ayrault (Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of France), the first thing I heard was: What can governments do to support innovation? I think the […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Artem Zagorodnov, RBTH – October 31, 2013) Russia moves ahead of its fellow BRIC countries in the World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business ranking, as the country fights to attract international investment. Russia jumped 20 places in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business survey to number 92 out of 185 […]
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MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) – Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev expects to see “statistically significant” improvement in Russia’s fourth quarter macroeconomic performance. “There are signs of improvement, in terms of the investment climate, industrial output and inventories,” he said. “It seems to me that we are leaving the lowest zone, where we have been since the fourth quarter of 2012, […]
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(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments – November 1, 2013) Over the 22 years of Ukraine’s independence, people have grown used to its endless maneuvering. Ukraine began by proclaiming the goal of European integration, which was common to the logic of Eastern European […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has advised Ukraine to look to Brussels to raise standby loans in future. “They constantly turn to us for credits, for example,” Medvedev is quoted by Reuters as saying. “In the end, if they have such advanced relations with Brussels … let them get credits from Brussels,” he said. Russia has […]
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(Interfax – October 31, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Aleksey Kudrin, a former finance minister and deputy prime minister, to the presidium of the presidential economic council, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 31 October. A decree confirming the membership of the council’s presidium, which included Kudrin’s name, was signed on 31 August, Interfax said, citing an […]
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(Interfax – October 31, 2013) The materials of the checks carried out by the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which uncovered serious violations regarding the use of budget funds in the Skolkovo innovation foundation, will not cause an immediate launch of criminal cases, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported, quoting an informed source in the law-enforcement structures as saying. No criminal cases expected […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Maria Karnaukh, special to RBTH – November 1, 2013) Many countries would like to tap into the Arctic’s vast hydrocarbon resources, but Russia is the only nation so far to have risked hefty investments in the region. Experts wonder whether Moscow will be successful in selling Arctic oil at $200 or more per […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Guennadi Moukine – October 31, 2013) Russia’s straddling of Europe and Asia and its unpretentious approach to embracing all who strive to capitalize on new technology will make the Open Innovations Forum that starts Thursday in Moscow a success, the event’s chief executive said. World-famous innovators and visionaries will share their concepts and secrets of […]
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