Russian Press at a Glance, Tuesday, March 20, 2012

POLITICS

A regional official who ran as an independent trounced a candidate from the ruling United Russia party during runoff mayoral elections over the weekend in the city of Togliatti, a stronghold of the Russian working class which houses the headquarters of the long-flagging AvtoVAZ carmaker. (Vedomosti, Moscow News)

Russia’s ruling United Russia party may be split into two parties – the left-centrist People’s Party and the right-centrist United Russia party. The move is aimed at winning more electoral support around Putin-Medvedev tandem for the next six years. (Izvestia)

Russian human-rights activists may play the role of leading reformers in the “expanded government.” Members of public organizations will be entrusted with the task of developing an anti-corruption strategy, including the fight against abuse of power by police and reforms of the judicial system, which will serve as a blueprint for the heads of relevant ministries. (Kommersant)

Russian Prime Minister and president-elect Vladimir Putin will address members of the lower house, the State Duma on April 11, with a report on the Cabinet activities in 2011. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

ECONOMY BUSINESS

Russia’s workforce is ageing – the average age of an industrial worker in the country has increased from 39.6 years in 2005 to 39.9 years in 2010, according to a report published by the Russian statistics service Rosstat. (Kommersant)

The Russian government decided not to impose a ban on grain exports in 2012, a measure introduced in 2010 following a heatwave and drought that wiped out about a third of the nation’s harvest. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moscow News)

Apple Inc, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, has announced it will pay a dividend of $2.65 a share quarterly, starting in July, and will buy back $10 billion in stock, starting in the next fiscal year. (Vedomosti, Moscow News)

Sibur Holding, Russia’s largest petrochemical group, may pay a record $755 million in dividends in 2012 and continue the trend in the future to enhance its image ahead of the upcoming IPO. (Kommersant, Vedomosti)

The Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has agreed to allow Germany’s Daimler automaker to increase its stake in Russia’s leading truck maker KamAZ to a blocking 25 percent plus one share. Experts believe it is just a step in Daimler’s consolidation of control over KamAZ, which may take a few years. (Kommersant, Vedomosti)

The world’s largest delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS) has agreed a $6.85 bln deal to buy its Dutch rival TNT Express. The deal will allow the U.S. company to snatch a third of the European package delivery market. (Vedomosti)

SPACE

Russian Federal Space Agency is facing deep reforms and crackdown on corruption. An interview with Russian space chief Vladimir Popovkin a day after his release from a hospital. (Izvestia)

CRIME

Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service has proposed an alternative punishment for drug-addicts – either a two-year sentence or mandatory medical treatment. Experts are skeptical about the proposal as the shortage of rehabilitation facilities may lead to the growing number of convicts serving sentences in already overcrowded prisons. (Moscow News)

Sergei Mavrodi, the notorious mastermind of the 1990’s MMM pyramid scheme, was taken to hospital from a detention facility several hours before the start of a new trial, which may put him behind bars for another 12 years. (Izvestia, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

 

For more details on all the news in Russia today, visit our website at http://en.rian.ru.

 

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