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Sat, 4th Feb -- The third popular protest went off without a hitch on Saturday, February 4 and moves the fight between the disgruntled middle class and the Kremlin into a new phase: a war of attrition has begun.

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Fri, 3rd Feb -- The Turkish treasury has launched a study on issuing a sukuk bond, or Islamic debt certificate, to be linked to the toll revenues of a planned third bridge over the Bosphorus, claims a local media report, as the country increasingly looks east for investment capital amidst disenchantment with western investors.

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Fri, 3rd Feb -- Hungary's flag carrier Malev failed in its bid to overcome a chronic cash shortage and ceased operating on February 3. Analysts fret the airline's failure could have big knock-on effects for the country's economy, including a possible doubling of the projected budget deficit for the year.

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Fri, 3rd Feb -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his boldest pledge yet on February 2 that he will liberalise the Russian economy, telling delegates at the Troika Dialog investment conference in Moscow that he if he's elected president come March, then his administration will push for Russia to rise a full 100 places on the World Bank's "Doing Business" survey to 20th.

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Fri, 3rd Feb -- Gazprom is reportedly close to attaining one of its most cherished dreams - control over Ukraine's gas transit system (GTS). Ukraine seems ready to cede Russia parity control of the GTS in exchange for a big gas price rebate, as the country finds itself between a rock - Russia - and a hard place - the IMF.

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Thu, 2nd Feb -- Russia's Deposit Insurance Agency has obtained a French court order to seize a chateau near Nice owned by bankrupt oligarch Sergei Pugachev, French paper Le Monde reported on February 2.

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Thu, 2nd Feb -- Central Europe reported lowered gas imports on February 1 after Gazprom announced it had diverted extra flows to its domestic market amidst the sudden cold snap. While Poland and others downplayed the news, the fact that Russia has cut volumes as temperatures dip will do little to improve Europe's view on it as a reliable supplier.

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Wed, 1st Feb -- In his first major interview since he was moved into the post full-time in December, Russia€™s little-known Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov has pledged to continue the conservative fiscal policies of his former boss and predecessor Alexei Kudrin. He makes all the right noises for the markets and Russia's liberals, but critics would point out that's the fashion in the government right now.

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Wed, 1st Feb -- Santander is in talks to take over an unnamed Polish bank, Chairman Emilio Botin announced to reporters on January 31, as the Spanish giant looks to take advantage of the crisis for a second time to increase its presence in one of Europe's choice growth markets.

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Wed, 1st Feb -- Georgia's success in fighting corruption illustrates that it is not an "inevitable" product of particular environments, and shows other countries that it is possible to deal with, a new report from the World Bank says.

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Tue, 31st Jan -- Global car giants look set to take control of the heart of Russia's dilapidated automotive industry, with reports on January 31 suggesting Daimler could take a controlling stake in legendary truck maker Kamaz, while Renault-Nissan is set for a similar role at Lada-builder Avtovaz. The news offers hope that the Kremlin is serious when it says it is ready to let foreign investors revamp its ailing industrial base.

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Tue, 31st Jan -- With speculation mounting Malev could fold any day, Budapest has declared the troubled flag carrier a "strategically important firm," protecting it from bankruptcy claims. The move suggests that while cash-strapped governments across CEE are looking to pull back on funding national carriers, Hungary is heading the other way.