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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
September 1, 2010
After years of micromanaging state-owned companies the Russian government appears set to loosen its grip, as lower-than-expected world commodity prices continue to stretch the gaping hole in the budget. The Economic Development and Finance Ministries have both predicted that the budget deficit could hit 5.4 percent of GDP this year, forcing the government to consider privatizing part of its portfolio of bank shares and other company assets to help plug the hole. In its new privatization drive, the government may be willing to go further than analysts expect by including some strategic companies in the bargain.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
August 31, 2010
In the quicksand world of Russian business, the high-profile spat between billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska – two of Russia’s best known oligarchs – is threatening to invite a state takeover of Norilsk Nickel, at a time when the Kremlin is struggling to reduce the state’s excessive role in the economy.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
August 26, 2010
Can a foreign investor ever navigate Russia’s labyrinthine business landscape without being caught up in a cobweb of bureaucracy? Well, the Kremlin thinks it has the answer. In a move that is both bold and bullish, the Russian government has granted new powers to the Investment Policy Department of the Ministry of Economic Development to tackle various problems facing business investors, an acknowledgement that doing business in this country can sometimes be nerve-racking if not impossible.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
August 19, 2010
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sought help on Monday from some of the country’s business leaders to rebuild communities destroyed by recent wild fires. But analysts criticize the move as an attempt to shift responsibility and extract funds from businesses whose survival depends on state patronage.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
August 17, 2010
Things have never been the same for Russia’s gambling industry since the glowing neon lights on casinos went out last year, as a sweeping new law shuttered both high-profile nightspots and numerous slot machines tucked beneath underpasses or next to metro stations across the country. The law, pushed by the then-President Vladimir Putin, banished all casinos, slot-machine parlors and other gambling halls from the nation’s centers of commerce to reservations in the Kaliningrad, Altai, and Vladivostok Regions, as well as to the border of the Krasnodar and Rostov Regions starting July 1, 2009.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
August 5, 2010
The Russian government on Thursday slapped a temporary ban on the export of grain and related agriculture products as sizzling heat and stifling humidity across Russia continue to destroy crops and jeopardize winter grain planting. "I think it is advisable to introduce a temporary ban on the export from Russia of grain and other agriculture products made from grain," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a televised government meeting. The ban is expected to last from August 15 to December 1 2010. Experts say the move would enable Russian wheat exporters to renege on their supply contracts as it provides them with the possibility of pleading force majeure.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
August 3, 2010
President Dmitry Medvedev’s high-profile drive to cut corruption and create a level playing field for technological development and modernization may face its first test later this month when the government announces the names of the lucky winners of the new Long Term Evolution technology licenses (LTE), better know as Fourth Generation or 4G licenses.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
July 22, 2010
Foreign automakers keep strengthening their foothold in the Russian auto market by opening affiliated auto loan banks, in a bid to help more Russians finance the cars of their dreams. In a practice that has become a trend in recent years, the banking arms of major foreign automobile companies, such as BMW, Toyota and Peugeot, have established captive banks that specialize in granting loans for purchases of their own brands of cars, usually on more favorable terms than stand-alone banks.
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By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile
July 20, 2010
Lately, AFK Sistema, billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s holding company, has been busy lobbying for some direct and indirect protectionist measures to shield its struggling GLONASS navigation system from its archrival, the American GPS. The GLONASS devices, for which protection is sought, are being produced by two of AFK Sistema’s high-tech subsidiaries – Sitronics and RTI Systemy. Sistema controls a 51-percent stake in the Navigational Information System, the main producer of the GLONASS module, and Sitronics, the main contractor for the project. The pilot batches of GLONASS chipsets are expected to hit the market this year.
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By Svetlana Kononova, Special to Russia Profile
July 14, 2010
The Russian government plans to introduce a tax on luxury items, including expensive houses, yachts and cars, to help raise funds for the budget, the Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said last week. But the latest Summer Millionaire Fair held in Moscow at the beginning of July appeared to show that rich Russians are taking a greater interest in different luxury items, such as VIP-class goods and services.
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