Hilton Worldwide plans to open 8 new hotels in Russia before 2014. Hilton Worldwide currently has 3 hotels in the country, in Moscow, Perm and Novosibirsk. The company announced signing 3 more contracts for Moscow (Double tree by Hilton), Yaroslavl (Hilton Garden Inn Yaroslavl) and Kazan (Hilton Garden Inn Kazan).

These three new Hilton Worldwide properties are in addition to a series of other hotels announced earlier in the year for Omsk, Perm, Sochi, Samara and Ulyanovsk. The hotel chain is in negotiations across Russia to open hotels in areas with a population in excess of 500,000.

Moscow city government has banned off-sales of strong alcohol (stronger than 15% ABV) in supermarkets,shops,and kiosks from 10 at night until 10 at the morning in a move that may presage a national ban to counter alcohol abuse. The Moscow move extends a ban introduced in April banning hard liquor sales from 11 at night until 8 in the morning. The ban goes into effect September 1. It does not affect sales in restaurants, clubs and bars. The ban is a boost for brewers who have been campaigning to flip drinkers from vodka to beer but saw sales tumble 10% when excise duty on beer was tripled on January 1.

Russia's record-breaking heatwave looks set to come to a dramatic end, with a severe storm now heading for Moscow after battering St Petersburg. Nearly 100,000 people around St Petersburg were left without power, rail services were halted and trees felled amid high winds and heavy rains.