By William Dunkerley

Recently two of Russia's most respected media leaders have spoken out against increased domination of the media market by state-owned outlets. Pavel Gusev and Vladimir Sungorkin, editors-in chiefs of Moskovsky Komsomolets and Komsomolskaya Pravda respectively, minced no words. Speaking at the Council for the Mass Media, they made clear their alarm over state "monopolism in the mass media," reported Interfax on May 16.

By Gordon M. Hahn

Despite the predictions and subsequent reporting in the U.S. mainstream media about the end of reforms (about which they never reported in the first place) and a ‘Putin-dominated new government,’ in fact the new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Dmitrii Medvdev formed under president Vladimir Putin is dominated by political liberals.  By liberals I mean the classical term ‘liberal’ as political democracy and free market economics. 

Moscow wants the true cause of the death of Russian citizen Alexander Litvinenko in the United Kingdom to be established as soon as possible, Russian Ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko told Interfax.

Developing nations were the key drivers of growth in international trade for 2011, in spite of the volatility caused by the international financial crisis, according to a report launched last week at the EBRD’s Trade Finance Forum in London. The Forum was attended by 250 trade finance professionals from major global market players. The report “Rethinking Trade and Finance” by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce, with contributions from the EBRD and other institutions, notes that despite a year of upheavals, annual trade volume growth for 2011 was 6.6 per cent, slightly above forecasts by the World Trade Organization.

The EBRD is providing long-term financing to support restructuring, modernisation and expansion of a sanitary ware plant located in Syzran, Samara Region, Russia. The plant, Syzranskaya Keramika, needs improvements to benefit from the fast-growing demand for sanitary ware in Russia. This deal will also promote foreign investment in Russia's regions, which remain underserved by foreign capital and cross-border investment in general.

The Henry Jackson Societyhas announced the launch of a new initiative - the Henry Jackson Initiative for Inclusive Capitalism (HJI) - to provide a platform for thought leadership, policy recommendation and the promotion of business initiatives aimed at extending the benefits of capitalism to a broader set of stakeholders and society at large.

The HJI - guided by a trans-Atlantic, non-partisan task force of business, policy and academic leaders including Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, CEO of EL Rothschild, and Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company - maintains that capitalism is the most powerful economic system that exists for lifting people out of poverty and building cohesive societies, but that it must more effectively serve long term value creation and the needs of the many, not short term gain and the needs of the few.

"The challenges we see in the system are neither irreparable nor inherent to capitalism itself," said Lady de Rothschild. "Capitalism, as it was conceived by Adam Smith, is not only the greatest engine for growth and prosperity that the world has ever known, but it is also a moral system, one where free markets are constrained by common values and a shared future. We can, and should, uphold these values and ensure that the benefits of capitalism are felt by everybody, not just a select few."

To mark the launch of the HJI, the task force has convened leading CEOs, policymakers and academics for a breakfast discussion on capitalism, its future, and how businesses can foster a more inclusive system.

At the event, the HJI revealed the results of its first white paper, "Towards a More Inclusive Capitalism," which identified three areas in which work needs to be done to make "capitalism for everybody" and recognized a number of companies already working in these areas to improve the current situation.

By Pavel Gagarin

Despite the huge investment potential, Russia is still considered by international investors as a high-risk area. The on going eurozone crisis also affects the evaluation of the Russian market. Continuity of power, provided by the recent presidential election, can reassure investors to some extent, as can Russia’s planned entry into the WTO.

Russian Consolidated Budget’s Surplus Reaches $7.5bn In January-February Revenues of Russia’s consolidated budget in January-February 2012 amounted to RUR2.9474tn ($97.5bn, or €75.5bn) and expenses equalled RUR2.7215tn ($90bn, or €69.7bn), according to a financial statement posted on the Russian Treasury’s website. This means that the consolidated budget had a surplus of RUR225.9bn ($7.5bn, or €5.8bn) for the specified period. The federal budget had a deficit of RUR199.6bn in January-February.

The consolidated budget of Russianregions was executed with a surplus of RUR73.6bn. Revenues totalled RUR874.8bn and expenses RUR801.2bn. Budgets of state extra-budget funds were executed with a surplus of RUR319.2bn and of territorial state extra-budget funds with a surplus of RUR32.9bn. (FC Novosti)

FOREX CLUB, a leading online broker, has won the 'Best Dealing Room' award at the 2012 World Finance Foreign Exchange Awards. The honour comes as a result of voting by the magazine's 60,000 global readership. The awards, now in their fifth year, recognise industry leaders and institutions that represent the benchmark of success and best practice in foreign exchange.

Market leaders Mail.ru, Vkontakte and Yandex, together with a further 40 speakers and 400 guests, will debate Russia's digital future at the digital conference, DLD Moscow, taking place from 27-29 May 2012, and is being held in the Russian metropolis for the first time. Russia is one of the fastest growing and leading European digital markets, as demonstrated by the user numbers and the capitalisation of internet giants such as Mail.ru, Vkontakte and Yandex. Among the 40 speakers will be Dmitry Grishin (CEO, Mail.Ru Group), Pavel Durov (CEO, Vkontakte) and Arkady Volozh (CEO, Yandex). Additionally, entrepreneurs, creative minds and experts from the international DLD community, such as Italian designer Lapo Elkann, Matt Michelsen of Lady Gaga's littlemonsters.com or Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, will also be speaking at the conference.