POLITICS
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is paying a two-day visit to Italy and attended a military parade in Rome to mark 150 years since the unification of Italy.
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
About 450 social organizations and activist groups, have rallied to a new political coalition launched by Vladimir Putin, the prime minister’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said. However, sources in Russia’s three major business unions – the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Business Russia and Opora Rossii said the announcement that they joined the All-Russia People’s Front was premature.
(Vedomosti)
ECONOMY
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party has drafted a five-year plan, which it says is designed to lay the basis for “real competitiveness” necessary for “boosted modernization.” Some experts already described it as a return to the Soviet practice of five-year economic planning.
(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
METALS MINING
Polyus Gold, Russia’s top gold miner, is negotiating a merger with the world’s largest gold producers – Newmont Mining, Newcrest Mining and AngloGold Ashanti.
(Vedomosti)
OIL GAS
Russian gas giant Gazprom is preparing the largest LNG supply contracts in its history – Indian companies are set to buy 7.5 million metric tons of the fuel annually for 25 years.
(Vedomosti)
Russia’s oil output edged up 0.2% to 10.26 million barrels per day in May, matching a post-Soviet record seen in October, as companies ramp up production on the back of high crude prices.
(The Moscow Times)
TELECOMS IT
Google accused Chinese special services of hacking its Gmail e-mail service.
(Vedomosti, Kommersant, Moskovskie Novosti, Izvestia)
CONSUMER
Russia banned the import of raw vegetables from EU nations over a deadly E.coli outbreak. European commission representatives said the measure was “excessive” and “irrelevant.” Russian vegetable sellers say there will be no deficit, but the prices may go up.
(The Moscow Times, Vedomosti, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti, Izvestia)
DEFENSE
Russia has already cut its nuclear arsenal below the level required in an arms control treaty signed with the United States last year, according to new figures from the U.S. State Department.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
SOCIETY
Chechen native Rustam Makhmudov has been charged with the murder in the 2006 of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, investigators said.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant)
A report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy argues that the decades-old “global war on drugs” has failed.
(Vedomosti)
A new visa agreement between Russia and Europe’s Schengen zone could significantly reduce red tape and travel restrictions by next year – but only for professionals, not tourists, a European diplomat said.
(The Moscow Times)
Military prosecutors recommended the dismissal of a veteran submarine commander who became an internet sensation after he was filmed confronting a superior with an eye-watering torrent of obscenities.
(The Moscow Times, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
Kyrgyz Special Forces were put on increased alert and passport control was introduced in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh for fears that last year’s devastating ethnic clashes may once again spark in the country. President Roza Otunbayeva called on citizens to preserve inter-ethnic accord in the republic.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
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