POLITICS
The official website of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s presidential campaign was launched on Thursday. However, the election platform published on the website has been developed by Putin’s election campaign team, while Putin plans to announce his election program as early as next week, ahead of the February 12 deadline. (Kommersant, Vedomosti, Moscow News)
If elected president, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plans to “resurrect” the idea of introducing the so-called administrative courts – judicial bodies that would deal exclusively with citizens’ claims against the state. (Moscow News)
A senior Russian Orthodox Church figure, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has called for the creation of “Christian or Orthodox parties or political factions” in Russia. (Kommersant, Moscow News)
About 600 foreign observers will monitor Russian presidential elections in March. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
ECONOMY
Russian investors moved about $85 billion from the country in 2011, while actively borrowing funds abroad. Central Bank experts believe that financial transactions by banks and companies have become less transparent. (Kommersant, Vedomosti, Izvestia, Moscow News)
President Dmitry Medvedev has criticized Russian banks for keeping high interest rates on consumer loans despite relatively low inflation last year. (Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Russian Federal Consumer Protection Service chief Gennady Onishchenko said his agency might have to restrict the import of Ukrainian agricultural products over “a noticeable deterioration in the quality standards of cheese supplied from Ukraine.” His statement immediately drew criticism from Ukrainian authorities. (Izvestia, The Moscow Times)
Russian telecoms company Rostelecom is planning to acquire 75 percent minus one share of Armenian mobile operator GNC-Alfa and Internet-provider Ucom. The deal would allow the Russian company to control at least 13 percent of the Armenian broadband communication services market. (Kommersant)
The Russian consumer auto market could significantly slow down its growth in 2012 after finishing the previous year with an impressive 2.65 million cars sold, experts believe. (Izvestia)
DEFENSE
Russia is facing a serious shortage of new recruits during the spring military draft. The military expects to recruit about 300,000 men, while only 135,000 were drafted in the fall last year. (Kommersant)
WORLD
The Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan announced their readiness for peace talks in an e-mailed statement on Thursday, but insisted on direct dialogue with the United States because they consider President Hamid Karzai’s government a “puppet” of the West. (Kommersant)
The decision of Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilanis to sack the defense secretary could bring the country to the brink of a military coup. The generals have already warned the premier that further criticism of the military could lead to “serious consequences.” (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
The involvement of French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in a scandal over alleged improper uses of funds for fighting AIDS, could cost President Nicolas Sarkozy his post if claims by Marianne magazine are confirmed. (Izvestia)
CRIME
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to create and head a task force to fight financial crime, including money laundering. (Kommersant, The Moscow Times)
Russian state officials misappropriated more than 718 billion rubles ($22.7 billion) from the federal budget last year, the record amount in a decade. (The Moscow Times)
Charges against Rasul Mirzayev, the world champion in mixed martial arts who killed a student in Moscow last summer, have been reduced to “infliction of death through negligence.” (Kommersant)
SOCIETY
Egypt, Thailand and Finland were preferred destinations for Russian tourists last year. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
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