POLITICS
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin oversaw the signing of $775 million worth of deals in Copenhagen on Tuesday as he led a heavyweight business delegation on the first stop of a two-day tour of the region. During the press conference, the Russian president also gave detailed answers about the “crusade” on Libya and the forthcoming presidential elections in Russia
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
The French and Italian leaders called on Tuesday for the EU to reform its Schengen treaty following a dispute over a recent influx of immigrants from North Africa
(Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited the disputed Georgian republic of Abkhazia. After talks with Lavrov, the Abkhazian foreign minister said that more states would soon recognize the republic’s independence, but avoided naming them
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
ECONOMY
The volume of mergers and acquisitions on the Russian market showed annual growth in 2010 of $46.8 billion, but no structural changes were seen in the field, which remains skewed by a few big foreign deals
(The Moscow Times)
VEHICLES ENGINEERING
Germany’s Siemens started production of 38 Desiro (Lastochka) trains on order from Russian Railways
(The Moscow Times)
POWER GENERATION
Visiting the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, President Dmitry Medvedev said new nuclear plant safety rules must be drawn up
(The Moscow Times, Vedomosti, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
Gazprom and Itochu Corp. agreed to study possible construction of an LNG plant to boost fuel supplies to Japan
(The Moscow Times)
REAL ESTATE
Though Russia’s Gazprom has agreed to shift the construction of a 400-meter skystrper in St. Petersburg from the city’s historic center to a suburb, new controversies have arisen. Experts fear that the construction may aggravate traffic problems in the district and environmentalists are concerned by its effects on a seasonal bird migration route
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
TELECOMS IT
Two men in Florida have filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple for location-based tracking on iPhones and other devices that use the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 4.
(Vedomosti)
At the request of Russian rights holders, Google has started deleting links to websites offering pirated content. So far, 106 websites (446 web pages) have been deleted from search results
(Vedomosti)
BANKING FINANCE
The Russian economics ministry expects the ruble to strengthen to 24-25 rubles to the dollar, the pre-crisis 2008 level, by the end of this year
(Vedomosti, Izvestia)
SOCIETY
Two powerful bombs targeted police buildings in Volgograd on Tudesday, but no one was injured after police were tipped off about the explosives hidden in packages
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
According to a survey by independent pollster Levada Center, 38 percent of Russians want Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev to run together in the 2012 presidential elections. Around 19 percent want Putin to run and 12 percent want Medvedev to stay for a second term (Vedomosti)
An independent commission carrying out a Kremlin-ordered inquiry into the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has found that he was illegally jailed and deprived of medical care
(The Moscow Times)
A daring robbery followed by a car chase and gunfire saw a gang of assailants, some of whom posed as traffic cops, steal about $5.5 million on Monday not far from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, Moscow region police said
(The Moscow Times)
Police have arrested the suspected kidnappers of Ivan Kaspersky, son of Yevgeny Kaspersky, the software tycoon and co-owner of Kaspersky Laboratories. According to the police, the kidnappers were surprisingly “stupid and audacious.”
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Izvestia)
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