POLITICS
Tuesday’s terrorist attack on the Chechen parliament in Grozny, which killed at least six people, including suicide bombers, and injured 17 others, is a sign that post-war stability in the republic remains fragile.
(Moscow Times, Vremya Novostei, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
During a meeting with French and German leaders in France’s Deauville, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he would attend the NATO summit in Lisbon on November 20. The Russian leader will participate in a Russia-NATO summit for the first time since the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.
(Vremya Novostei, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Russia has begun withdrawing its troops from the village of Perev at the Georgian border with South Ossetia, where Russian soldiers have been stationed since the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war. Tbilisi has described the move as a Georgian diplomatic victory, while some experts link Moscow’s decision with the forthcoming Russia-NATO summit.
(Kommersant)
ECONOMY
Experts consider the government’s budget forecast for 2011-2013 too optimistic, saying that the level of consumer inflation may be 1.5 times higher and GDP growth two times lower than expected in 2011.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has pledged that Russia would fully meet its domestic borrowing plans this year, contradicting expectations that high oil prices will reduce the need for debt issuance.
(The Moscow Times)
OIL&GAS
Russia may increase oil re-export duties for Belarus to 85-90 percent from an average of 55-58 percent in order to compensate the budget losses when oil export duties will be abolished following the introduction of a common economic space between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
(Vremya Novostei, Vedomosti)
BUSINESS
Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Holding has terminated a cooperation agreement with aluminum giant RusAL, calling for an end to “destructive actions” toward Norilsk Nickel, in which both sides hold a 25 percent stake. The announcement came two days before the Thursday emergency shareholder meeting of the mining company, which will determine the makeup of the board of directors - the source of the conflict between Interros and Oleg Deripaska's RusAl.
(Moscow Times, Vedomosti)
State-run monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) is planning to sell its subsidiaries for more than 150 billion rubles ($4.88 billion) in 2010-2012, an RZhD vice-president said on Tuesday.
(Vremya Novostei)
INVESTMENT
A Moscow court has rejected a request by investment fund Hermitage Capital to regain control over three subsidiaries that the fund's lawyer Sergei Magnitsky suspected had been used by the police to steal government money.
(Moscow Times)
SOCIETY
At least 200,000 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan may arrive in Russia in the near future as the republic’s labor market remains stagnated following violent inter-ethnic clashes that hit the country this summer.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
The ruling United Russia party emerged as the apparent winner in a race with its pro-Kremlin rival to create a pro-modernization movement called Go Russia after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin indirectly gave the green light to its project Tuesday.
(The Moscow Times)
Moscow authorities have proposed to charge drivers a fee for entering the city center. They believe this would encourage people to use public transportation and decrease traffic jams.
(Vedomosti)
About 6,000 young activists from the Russian pro-Kremlin environmental protection movement Mestniye (Locals) staged a meeting on Bolotnaya Square in downtown Moscow, demanding the modernization of industrial enterprises in order to protect the environment. Some analysts view the move as an attempt by authorities to cover the growing activity of independent ecological movements.
(Kommersant)
SPORTS
English Premier League leaders Chelsea defeated Spartak Moscow 2:0 in the Champions League match at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on Tuesday. Yuri Zhirkov, who signed for Chelsea from Spartak’s archrivals CSKA Moscow in 2009, scored the crucial first goal.
(Vremya Novostei, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
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