POLITICS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow with representatives of the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas and said that their reconciliation deal would help advance the Middle East peace process
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
A week after talks with an envoy for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with representatives of the country’s opposition.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
Four liberal opposition politicians asked the Justice Ministry to register a new political party that would seek to revert the presidential term to four years, free jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and ease the rules for registering parties.
(Kommersant)
Participants of the Russia-EU summit in June are unlikely to adopt a plan for the mutual annulment of visas. Moscow is however still not ready meet some of the EU demands, including the abolishment of temporary registration for foreigners and compliance with EU anti-corruption requirements
(Vedomosti)
ECONOMY
Illegal capital exports from Russia stood at $37.6 billion last year, Customs Union Commission Executive Secretary Sergei Glazyev said in a report posted on the commission’s web site
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant)
Belarus’s National Bank has devalued the national currency by over 30 percent
(Vedomosti, Kommersant, Izvestia)
METALS MINING
Russian steel giant Severstal mulls attracting a $5-billion loan to buy 80% in Raspadskaya, Russia’s largest coalmine, which has been out of operation for more than a year after two deadly methane blasts
(Vedomosti)
OIL GAS
The collapse of BP’s talks on the share swap with Rosneft limits strategic options for the British company and its Russian venture, TNK-BP, and will have a negative impact on credit, Moody’s Investors Service said
(The Moscow Times)
AEROSPACE
Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal case on charges of negligence that led to the loss of three Glonass satellites late last year
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
VEHICLES ENGINEERING
General Motors approved its strategy for Russia, which includes investments of more than $1 billion over the next several years, said GM Russia and CIS general manager Jim Bovenzi.
(The Moscow Times)
TELECOMS IT
Russia’s most popular search engine Yandex has increased its price guidance for its New York IPO scheduled for Tuesday, with the possibility to raise up to $1.4 billion, which would make it the world’s largest tech IPO this year.
(Vedomosti, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
BANKING FINANCE
A former Central Bank head, Sergei Dubinin, is likely to become the new chairman of the supervisory board at state bank VTB as part of the Kremlin’s measures to improve the investment climate, a presidential adviser said
(The Moscow Times)
SOCIETY
Oscar-winning film director Nikita Mikhalkov will have to navigate Moscow’s notorious traffic jams as a regular motorist now that he has lost his much-lambasted road privileges provided by the Defense Ministry.
(Kommersant, Izvestia)
An Altai court cleared three men of poaching charges Monday, ruling that their presence on a helicopter that crashed while carrying senior officials on an illegal hunting trip was insufficient proof that they had participated in it.
(Vedomosti, Kommersant)
The Russian government approved a list of professions from which drug addicts are banned. Applicants for those jobs will likely have to undergo compulsory drug testing
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
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