Russia to Introduce Mandatory Language Test for Foreigners

Oct. 26 – Foreigners who work in residential housing and utilities, retail trade, and services will be required to pass a basic Russian-language test under a bill that the State Duma approved on Tuesday in a key second reading.

The head of the Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, called the measure practical and rejected the idea that it was discriminatory.

“This kind of norm is not discrimination,” he said, according to Interfax. “Knowledge of the official state language is necessary to ensure that migrants are comfortable living in the country and that they have legal literacy and can defend their rights.” Read the rest of this entry »

St. Petersburg City Guide

By RUSSIA CONSULTING

Located on the Neva River at the easternmost part of the Baltic Sea, St. Petersburg is the second-largest city in Russia and the third-largest city in Europe, with some 4.8 million inhabitants. Founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, it was capital of Imperial Russia for nearly 200 years until Soviet times, when Moscow was re-established as the nation’s capital. The city has been nicknamed the Northern Capital and the Cultural Capital of Russia given its rich history and its status as one of the country’s main intellectual centers. The historic city center of St. Petersburg is a UNESCO World Heritage site. St. Petersburg covers a total area of 1,439 square kilometers with a population density of 3,300 people per square kilometer. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia’s Greenest Places are the Poorest Regions

Oct. 23 – The Altai Republic and Chechen Republic are the best places to live in Russia as they represent the country’s cleanest economies, according to a new index released last week.

The top of the list is dominated by “agro-industrial regions” like the Siberian Altai Republic, which holds the first place, followed by the Chechen Republic, the Jewish autonomous region in the Russian Far East, and the Siberian Tuva Republic. The only “industrial” region to make the Top 10 was Tver, located 100 kilometers to the north of Moscow. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia to Liberalize Rules for Foreign Executives in Accordance with WTO Standards

Oct. 15 – Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development has published a draft bill developed by the Labor Ministry that will liberalize migration legislation concerning foreign executives as a result of the country’s joining the WTO in August 2012, Russian business daily Kommersant reported on Saturday.

The proposed changes affect senior managers and highly-qualified specialists, which are termed “key personnel of commercial organizations” in the bill. Read the rest of this entry »

Runet to Represent 2.8 Percent of Russian GDP by 2016

Oct. 11 – Russian internet, or Runet, has been labeled the fastest-growing Internet economy in Europe and now represents 1 percent of the country’s GDP, according to a recent report released by the Moscow Higher School of Economics and the Russian Electronic Communications Association.

According to the report, Internet businesses are demonstrating strong sales across the board in areas ranging from website development to online marketing. The value of the web economy in the country will grow 30 percent to 720 billion rubles (around US$23.2 billion) by the year-end 2012, the report says. Read the rest of this entry »

Evraz to Become Russia’s Largest Coking Coal Producer

Oct. 9 – Russia’s Evraz is to take control over coal miner Raspadskaya after acquiring half the stake of the Cyprus-based investment vehicle, Corber Enterprises. This US$800-million deal will enable the steelmaker to sufficiently run the coal-coking business as well as turning it into Russia’s largest steel-component producer.

Although Evraz did not specify the total price tag for the deal, it is said to have paid about US$202 million in cash, and the rest in new shares and warrants. At current prices, it is approximately just under US$800 million. Read the rest of this entry »

French Alstom to Invest in Russian Locomotives Maker

Oct. 2 – French transport and power engineering company Alstom SA said it has successfully raised 350 million euros (US$451.68 million) to finance an investment in Transmashholding, Russia’s largest maker of locomotives and rail equipment, for which it already made an initial payment of US$75 million in May 2011.

The remaining payment, due in October 2012, is based on the Russian firm’s results between 2008 and 2011, which showed strong growth with sales reaching US$3.6 billion in 2011.

The proceeds will be mainly used to fund the remaining payment of around US$350 million related to a deal under which Alstom is buying a 25 percent stake in Transmashholding. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian State Officials Featured As Epic Heroes

Oct. 1 – Sergei Shoigu, a Moscow region governor and ex emergency situations minister, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, have been featured as epic heroes in modern Tuva epos “About Buga Tur Shoigu.”

The epic, composed by PhD Candidate and Tyvan university scholar Aibek Soskal, casts Shoigu as Sergek, an immortal hero whose name translates as “cheerful.” The names given to Medvedev and Putin translate into “bear” and “snake which rules the world,” respectively. Read the rest of this entry »

Radio Liberty to Stop Medium Wave Broadcasting in Russia

Sept. 25 – Radio Liberty will stop medium wave broadcasting in Moscow on November 10, and will switch over to multimedia Internet broadcasting to comply with a new Russian law.

The new law will ban radio broadcasting in Russia by companies that are more than 48 percent owned by foreign individuals or legal entities.

“We are not giving up on our commitment to provide you with Svoboda’s unique perspective on news and events in Russia,” wrote Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President Steve Korn, referring to the network’s Russian name, Radio Svoboda, in a statement posted on the network’s website Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

A Special Tax Regime for Russia’s Far East and Siberia

Sept. 24 – The Kremlin may consider a special tax regime for economic partners in the Far East and Siberia. The idea to bestow tax rebates on businesses across the region follows the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, hosted by Russia in Vladivostok earlier this month.

Both President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have now said they were toying with the thought of slashing the tax burden in the easternmost provinces to spur private enterprise, investment appeal and potential for trade with some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, such as China and Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »

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