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By Katya Kumkova, Special to Russia Profile
June 22, 2009
WalMart Reaffirms its Intention to Enter the Russian Market Despite Global Financial Turmoil. But launching local operations may not be easy for so enormous and controversial a company.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
June 17, 2009
Best known for its bombers and fighter jets, Russian aircraft producer Sukhoi has decided to assume a completely new image with its brand new line of commercial aircraft, meant to give Russia a strong presence on the global market. The new Sukhoi Superjet 100 was the main attraction of this year’s Salon du Bourget in Paris, marking the world’s biggest air show with its debut flight. The show routinely features Sukhoi military aircraft, but this time the Russians opted to draw all the attention to their new commercial planes.
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By Tom Balmforth, Special to Russia Profile
June 15, 2009
Russia’s ailing car industry, which has been badly hit by the global financial crisis, got a shot in the arm on May 30, when a consortium made up of Russia’s Sberbank and Canada’s Magna took over the German car manufacturer Opel. Opel’s Western technologies and product range should give the Russian car industry a much-needed competitive boost, when demand begins to recover from the economic crisis. But the deal also represents the Kremlin’s latest effort to penetrate European markets.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
June 4, 2009
A consortium led by Sberbank agreed to take control of Opel, an asset belonging to the now bankrupt General Motors. Sberbank will take a 35 percent stake, the Canadian automobile parts maker Magna will take 20 percent, GM will keep a 35 percent stake and Opel employees will receive ten percent of the company’s shares. But the deal was met with much skepticism both in Europe and in Russia. The Russian government owns a 60 percent stake in Sberbank, so partial ownership of the German carmaker would strengthen the Kremlin’s business presence in Europe, already heavily dependent on Russian natural gas.
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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
June 2, 2009
Oil Prices have posted an unexpected recovery, the markets are riding high on a wave of optimism, and the devaluation of the ruble seems to have done its job. But the respite is temporary, and Russia is still crippled by some fundamental problems that the government has not addressed.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
May 27, 2009
Russia is reversing its much-criticized anti-crisis strategy of generous hand outs to troubled banks and businesses. Having acknowledged that this policy produced mixed results at best, and was counter productive at worst, the government finally seems to have recognized the need to tighten its belt and refrain from providing lucrative financial support to either banks or the real sector.
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By Dmitry Babich, Russia Profile
May 15, 2009
As the struggle for dominance over the supply routes of Russian and Central Asian gas to the EU countries intensifies, the conference on energy dialogue between Russia and the EU scheduled to take place in Berlin on May 19 is looked upon with hope. The agenda of the conference is expected to fill up fast because of the dramatic rivalry between the EU, Russia, the United States and Central Asian countries for control over production of natural gas in the former Soviet Union.
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By Irina Aervitz, Russia Profile
April 8, 2009
In 2003, AvtoVAZ controlled 72 percent of passenger car production in Russia. Since then, its market share has been falling steadily, mainly due to internal inefficiencies and foreign competition. In 2007, AvtoVaz’s passenger market share amounted to 24 percent. Today, the world economic crisis is threatening to destroy the competitiveness of much stronger car makers than AvtoVAZ, while the potential downfall of AvtoVAZ could turn into a social disaster.
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By Sergei Balashov, Russia Profile
April 1, 2009
Dmitry Medvedev has been busy gearing up for the G20 summit in London, set to mark the next litmus test of his almost year-long presidency. As part of this preparation, he sat down with the BBC last weekend to discuss a wide variety of issues. A key point he made in this interview was that in its effort to combat the ongoing economic crisis, Russia should strive to steer its economy away from relying on commodities. But is there any other way for this country to go?
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By Roland Oliphant, Russia Profile
March 31, 2009
The draft budget for the coming year has finally been sent to the State Duma for approval. The original document, based on the price of oil at $95 per barrel, had to be rewritten when oil prices collapsed. Based on the current price of $41 a barrel, the new budget manfully faces up to the fact that Russia must run its first budget deficit in a decade. But the government is still trying to put on a misleadingly brave face.
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