The Republic of Tuva and the State of Russian Coal Exports

Mar. 14 – Russia’s US$8 billion investment into Siberia to develop the Tyva Ulug-Khem Coal Basin, estimated to have 2.5 times more reserves than the Mongolian Tavan Tolgoi field, could double the country’s metallurgical coal exports by 2020.

“Annual coal production in Tyva may reach 40 million metric tons in 2020 should all the companies implement the announced plans in full,” Dmitry Sakhno, project manager at OAO Severstal, Russia’s second- largest steel producer, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

At the same time, according to Sakhno, the delays by some of the mining companies as well as complexity’s of developing the region may curb production by 2020 to 15 million to 20 million tons. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian E-book Market Set for a Boost

Mar. 12 – Russia’s US$2.2 million e-book market expects to double this year following key market players’ prospects to keep their remarkable growth in sales. Meanwhile, market players estimate that the legitimate segment accounts for only 10 percent of the Russian digital book market.

A December 2011 report by RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) Research says the domestic online retail industry is expected to grow considerably. In the market research company’s best-case scenario, e-books’ share of the Russian book market could hit 30 percent by 2015. For now, digital books account for less than 1 percent of the country’s total book sales. Read the rest of this entry »

International Women’s Day to Boost Russian Flower Industry

Mar. 7 – Russia’s fresh-flower industry will make one-third of its annual revenue through International Women’s Day: prices for flowers more than doubled a week before March 8.

Flowers remain the most popular gift for International Women’s Day, which is celebrated in Russia on March 8. A total of 54 percent of men plan to give flowers as a gift this year, while 45 percent of women hope to receive them on their holiday, Interfax reported Tuesday, citing pollster Levada Center.

Women’s Day is an official public holiday in Russia and CIS countries, but also in Macedonia, Mongolia and Vietnam. Hungary, Poland and Romania also obey the tradition of giving flowers to women on this day, although it is no longer an official holiday there. Read the rest of this entry »

Putin Wins Presidency, but Opposition Calls for New Election

Mar. 5 – Putin, who has been at Russia’s helm for 12 years including the last four as prime minister, won another six years in the Kremlin with 97.63 percent of votes counted, according to the preliminary data from the Central Electoral Commission.

The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTSIOM) said Putin got 58.3 percent of the vote, citing an exit poll of 159,161 people. Putin got 59.3 percent, according to an exit poll by the Public Opinion Foundation.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov is second with 17.15 percent, while billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov comes third with 7.61 percent, Russian state television said. Read the rest of this entry »

What Will March 4 Bring to Foreign Investors?

Mar. 2 – The general assumption remains that Vladimir Putin – whom independent polls promise 48 percent support in the March 4 election, with no other candidate likely to get as much as 10 percent – will win the presidential election. Foreign investors have no doubt about the winner. The main question for them is whether the election will provoke new mass protests and what it’ll bring for them?

After the elections, Russia will be flooded with investment, said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a vehicle created last year to reduce investment risks and attract investors. Read the rest of this entry »

French Vostok to Become Pioneer in Russian Electricity Market

Feb. 29 – French grid company Vostok has been contracted to run the Tomsk Distribution Company of Russia’s grid firm MRSK for an initial 18-month probationary period, the companies announced on Tuesday. It’s the first time a foreign entity has been permitted to manage an operating entity in Russia.

“This is the first instance of such cooperation with Western partners. The French party has made the right decision by choosing Siberia for its operations,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin noted.

Tomsk is a city in the southwest edge of the great Siberian Taiga, the administrative center of Tomsk Region, located about 3,500 kilometers from Moscow. Read the rest of this entry »

Loophole to Keep Putin Away from Corruption Fight

Feb. 27 – An old loophole discovered by the Ministry of Education and proved by St. Petersburg prosecutors may become a hitch to Vladimir Putin’s plans to achieve student support ahead of this year’s presidential elections.

Presidential Decree Number 560, which Dmitry Medvedev issued in 2009 as one of his flagship anti-corruption initiatives, requires the heads of all state-affiliated organizations to disclose publicly their own and their spouse’s income each year.

In line with the law, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of obliging university rectors to declare their incomes as part of his re-election campaign, and the idea has proven popular among students. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian Capital Continues to Enter the Latvian Banking Market

Feb. 23 – Russian entrepreneur Igor Kim has become the sole shareholder of Latvian LTB Bank, the Latvian lender has said in a press release. The Financial and Capital Market Commission of the Republic of Latvia on January 26, 2012 issued permission to Igor Kim to hold a qualifying holding in the Bank.

Relevant changes in LTB Bank’s shareholder register were made on February 9, 2012.

In November 2011, Kim sold his equity stake in MDM Bank, a top 30 lender in Russia. It was also wired that MDM Bank shareholders and management made a decision to sell 100 percent of LTB Bank to Kim. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia-China Venture to Build Aircraft Plant in Inner Mongolia

Feb. 17 – A joint Russian-Chinese venture will invest US$1.27 billion towards the construction of an aircraft factory in the town of Ordos located in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Xinhua reported yesterday citing a company agreement.

Construction on the plant will begin later this year and it will eventually be equipped to assemble small general aviation aircraft.

China Oriental Sciences Group will hold 52 percent of the venture, China-Russia International Investment Co. will hold 38 percent, and Russian aircraft designer “Modern Aircraft Technology” will hold 10 percent, Xinhua said. Read the rest of this entry »

Sberbank to Buy Austria’s Volksbank

Feb. 16 – OAO Sberbank closed a US$661 million deal to buy the international arm of Austria’s Volksbank International AG (VBI) on Wednesday.

The Volksbank acquisition will serve as a springboard for further expansion in Europe, RIA Novosti quoted Sberbank CEO German Gref as saying in Moscow.

Russia’s biggest lender bought VBI from Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG, which owned 51 percent of VBI, while France’s Banque Populaire Caisse d’Epargne and Germany’s DZ Bank/WGZ Bank own 24.5 percent and Groupe BPCE owns the remaining 24.5 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

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