Anti-corruption blogger and opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been elected to the board of directors of Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot, at the airline’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Navalny was nominated by the National Reserve Bank controlled by businessman Alexander Lebedev, whose structures hold about 15 % in the flagship airline.

The Paris-based momagri SGPA indicator has come to expose a little known fact: Agricultural subsidies in the U.S. are quite higher than the figures usually given, and very largely exceed those granted by the European Union (EU) and its member-states. In fact, over $172 billion[1] were appropriated in the U.S. in 2010, against EUR76 billion in the E.U., or EUR422 per capita in the U.S. against EUR151 per capita in the E.U., i.e. close to three times more. This observation goes against stereotypes claiming that European farmers are the most assisted. And the gap continues to increase since 2008.

President Vladimir Putin appointed Business Russia lobby group leader Boris Titov as ombudsman for entrepreneurs' rights, he said on Thursday. "As a result of consultations with business society, it was decided to appoint Boris Titov as the federal ombudsman," Putin said. Titov will safeguard the rights of both Russian and foreign entrepreneurs in his new role.

The XVI St Petersburg International Economic Forum has officially opened. The forum’s theme this year is Effective Leadership, which is also at the focus of Vladimir Putin's address at the forum’s plenary session.

Over 5,000 people from 87 countries are taking part in the forum, including President of Finland Sauli Niinisto, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China He Guoqiang and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. More than 30 countries are represented at the ministerial level.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has just finished speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. It was an aggressive speech on international issues, while offering concessions on the domestic front, andnalso repeated the call for transforming Russian economy and moving it up the World Bank's "Doing Business" ranking to become one of the "best"places to do business in the world.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and Sberbank of Russia, the largest financial institution in Russia and the CIS, today signed a $1 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate increasing U.S. exports of goods and services to Russia and other countries in which Sberbank operates and Ex-Im Bank programs are available. 

by Gordon M. Hahn

In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, a Stanford University journalism professor and former New York Times writer Joel Brinkley blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for the recent downturn in U.S.-Russian relations following the progress made during the ‘reset’ years under U.S. President Barak Obama and Russian Prime Minister and former president Dmitrii Medvedev (San Francisco Chronicle, 20 May 2012). 

Part of a $6 million investment to capture Russian regional growth opportunity in 2012

IBM has announced the opening of 10 new branch offices across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as part of a major initiative to capture regional business growth and increase its presence in the fastest growing markets in the world. The move is part of an incremental investment of $6 million that IBM will make this year in the Russia and CIS region to expand its operations and increase its footprint to 22 offices. To strengthen its support for clients and partners, IBM will also double its staff in the Russian regions and CIS countries by the end of 2012. IBM will also strengthen its business partner network across the region to over 4,000 partners this year.

Inroduction by Sharon Tennison, founder of Russia Other Points of View

The following is a long and frank interview between Vladimir Pozner, Russia's Iconic TV journalist (and strong critic of the Putin/Medvedev "swap" of public offices) and Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia and now Prime Minister of Russia.  It examines most of the issues which have been raised by foreign media and street protestors in Moscow and other Russian cities. Seldom do we get the actual dialogues of such meetings or interviews.  We believe it is worth the time to ponder to the exact words and the different points of view of these two VIP public figures.

Tver District Court of Moscow has rejected the claim for 2 million rubles compensation by Maria Babalova, music critic and columnist at metropolitan Moscow newspaper against The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia and reaffirmed the right of the Bolshoi to bar theatre critics from rehearsals.

In her statement of the claim Maria Babalova indicated that on October 2, 2011 she visited The State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia as a spectator to see a rehearsal performance arranged for that day. However, before the performance started the announcement was made that the show was closed to the press and would not begin until Ms Babalova left the room. The claimant refused to do so, and as a result, she was forced to leave the hall. In her lawsuit Ms Babalova asked the court to recover compensation for moral damages from the Bolshoi Theatre at the rate of 2 million rubles, and oblige the defendant to make an official apology by posting this apology on the official website.

On June 13, 2012 the court decided to deny the claim in full.The interests of the Bolshoi Theatre were represented by the advocates of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners.

"Our position was based on the fact that the rehearsal performance was closed, and the invitations were delivered to the individuals concerned at their address. Moreover, since the entrance by invitation was free, the Bolshoi Theatre did not take an obligation to allow any bearer of the invitation to the performance, using its reasonable right to restrict access, in particular, the presence of theatre critics at the rehearsal", says Alina Kudriavtseva, Senior Associate at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, representing the interests of the client in court. - "This case is unusual for the court practice in Russia. We are pleased we were able to justify the right to hold closed-door theatre rehearsals among the audience they are aimed at."