Court Awaits Ruling in Case to Ban Bhagavad Gita in Russia

Dec. 21 – Indian parliament was closed Monday while protesters gathered outside a Russian consulate in Kolkata to protest the proposed ban of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the holiest Hindu scriptures, in Russia. The Bhagavad Gita is facing the prospect of being branded ”extremist” literature, effectively barring it from distribution in Russia.

Prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk seek to include the widely distributed book, translated and commented on by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), on the Justice Ministry’s list of banned extremist literature, which includes Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Read the rest of this entry »

Political Risk to Rise in Post Electoral Russia

Dec. 12 – Political uncertainty and the prospect of more large protests are adding an extra layer of concern for foreign investors in Russia.

The MICEX Index tumbled 4.7 percent Tuesday after the first gathering of protestors last Monday evening and the transfer of additional Interior Ministry troops to the Russian capital.

Fear hit the market again on Friday as investors sold on the eve of what may be Russia’s largest demonstration in years near the Kremlin on Saturday. The RTS slipped 4.3 percent on Friday, compared with a 2 percent drop for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and little movement in Brent crude prices. The ruble dropped against the dollar and the euro. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia Set to Return to Deep Space after 15 Years

Nov. 9 – Russia is preparing for a historic return to deep space with the launch of the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft on Wednesday on an ambitious and risky three-year US$163 million mission to bring back a soil sample from the Red Planet.

The launch is scheduled for 12:16 a.m. Moscow time this Wednesday (20.16 GMT Tuesday), Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) reports. The Zenit-2SB rocket with the Phobos-Grunt mission is set to launch from the Baikonur Space Center located in Kazakhstan. Read the rest of this entry »

JPMorgan to help Russian Orphans Adapt to Society

Oct. 4 – U.S. investment banking giant JPMorgan announced its first local project aimed to develop a new integrated approach to orphan social adaptation to society, local press reports.

In partnership with its philanthropy New Eurasia Foundation (NEF), JPMorgan is aiming to bring together noncommercial organizations, government bodies and corporate sponsors in a common framework to address the problem of socialization for young adults leaving institutional care. Read the rest of this entry »

Five More Russian Universities Included in Top Schools List

Sept. 7 – Five more Russian universities, in addition to the Lomonosov Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University, were included for the first time in the 2010-2011 QS World University Rankings.

Among them are Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Peoples Friendship University of Russia, State University of Nizniy Novgorod, and two schools from Siberia – Tomsk Polytechnic University and Altai State University. The ranking currently evaluates around 600 universities in the world and ranks the top 400. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia to Profit from Nature Reserves

Aug. 30 – Russia will spend a total of US$82 million to make the country’s national parks profitable and accessible for the public, just like in the United States, Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said on Monday.

About 1.5 billion rubles (around US$51.7 million) will be spent on building infrastructure, with the remaining funds allotted for transportation and communications services aimed to monitor the territory of reserves and fight poaching, he said at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Read the rest of this entry »

State Duma to Ban Beer Sales at Night

Jul. 12 – The State Duma may approve additional restrictions on the sale of beer with alcohol content of more than 0.5 percent between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the country before the summer recess. The bill would also ban the sale of beer altogether at outdoor kiosks (stalls), train stations and street stands, at which around one-third, or about US$6 billion of Russia’s beer is sold.

The bill also expands the number of places where alcohol consumption is prohibited. These places will now include courtyards, elevators, building entryways, playgrounds, forests, parks and beaches. The law is expected to fully enter into force by January 1, 2013, but it is already causing shock waves in the industry. Read the rest of this entry »

AmCham to Educate American Politicians about Russia

Jun. 30 – The American Chamber of Commerce in Russia believes it can convince the U.S. Congress to repeal the nearly 40-year-old Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a part of the 1974 Trade Act that prevents the United States from granting Russia permanent normalized trade relations, or PNTR. Congress has held off repealing the amendment for almost two decades.

Since March 2011, Andrew Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, began organizing trips to bring together members of Congress and executives from U.S. companies operating in Russia. The exchanges are intended to educate the politicians about modern Russia and stress its importance as a business partner, Somers said to The Moscow Times. Read the rest of this entry »

Study Shows More than 20% of Russians Wish to Emigrate

Jun. 10 – For the last 20 years, the number of Russians who want to emigrate has grown from 5 percent to 20 percent, according to a Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) pool conducted from June 4-5 in 46 Russian regions.

According to the received data, 21 percent of 1,600 interviewed citizens wish to get a constant residence abroad. Groups between 18-24 years old (39 percent) as well as highly educated respondents (29 percent) and active Internet users (33 percent) showed the greatest interest in emigration. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia Has Billionaires, but Lacks Millionaires

Jun. 2 – According to global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group’s global wealth report 2011, Russia ranks fifth in the highest number of “ultra-high-net-worth” (UHNW) households at 561.

This year’s Global Wealth Report titled “Shaping a New Tomorrow: How to Capitalize on the Momentum of Change” for the first time published figures on the countries with the highest number of UHNW households, defined as those with more than US$100 million in assets under management (AuM). Read the rest of this entry »

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