Russia
Putin increases personal income tax for the first time in two decades
Russian President Vladimir Putin hiked personal income taxes from their flat 13% for the first time in two decades with a decree signed on November 22.
Ex-official’s electric vehicle start-up valued at $5.4bn
The UK-based Arrival electric vehicle start-up, founded by Russian businessman and ex-Deputy Minister of Communications Denis Sverdlov, announced this week that it intends to IPO on Nadaq with a $5.4bn valuation, reports The Bell.
Rosatom's €12.5bn nuclear plant expansion in Hungary moves forward
Hungary's energy regulator MEKH issued an electricity implementation licence for the construction of two new blocks at the Paks nuclear power plant in a fast-track procedure.
Russians get ready to spend the holidays at home as Xmas tree sales soar 23-fold
Russians are getting ready to celebrate a COVID-19 Christmas at home and have been laying in supplies for the holiday season that saw artificial Christmas tree orders on Russia’s biggest e-commerce site Wildberries soar 23-fold.
Russia’s Watcom shopping index down again in November but stabilising
Russia’s Watcom shopping index continued to slide in early November. Although lower than at any time since the survey's launch in 2014, its decline rate is slowing. The fall was less than feared and the levels of foot traffic seem to be stabilising
Attack of the Debt Tsunami: global debt soars to a new all-time high
The coronacrisis has sent already record-high levels of global debt soaring to giddying new levels, reports the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in a note released on November 18.
KAZ Minerals says risks around Baimskaya copper project in Russia up due to new government infrastructure plan
Complex submitted development plan for Chukotka "has resulted in higher infrastructure costs and a delay to the bankable feasibility study".
After raising $2.1mn, this Russian truck driving startup wants to become a unicorn
Fura, a Moscow-based startup offering high-tech services to truck drivers, has raised 160mn rubles ($2.1mn at the current exchange rate) in a Series A round led by an unnamed Swiss-Russian fund.
Twice as expensive as Elon Musk’s Starlink, Russia’s satellite Internet project still awaits state funding
Russia has plans to develop its own cluster of at least 500 “next-generation, multi-spectrum satellites,” starting from next year that will provide internet across the country's vast territory
Kremlin publicly condemns Belarusian police brutality in hint of growing frustration with Lukashenko
There have been a string of signs from the Kremlin that it is slowly losing patience with Belarus' self-appointed President Alexander Lukashenko as the brutality of his repressive tactics continues to ratchet up.
COMMENT: Moscow's new rules
Three decades on from the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia is learning to be just Russia. Its imperial ambitions have evaporated and its relations with its neighbours have become more pragmatic, as Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Nagorno-Karabakh events show.
Rural Russians are moving to cities to escape the impoverished regions
The coronavirus (COVID-19) story in most of Russia’s regions is bleak and Russians are increasingly moving to the cities looking for a better life.
STOLYPIN: Hawks in DC risk empowering their counterparts in Moscow
There has been a rash of commentary ahead of the Joe Biden presidency calling for a hardening of foreign policy towards Russia, whereas the leading analysts in Moscow see the possibility of a less confrontational Kremlin.
Coronacrisis to get worse before it gets better forecasts wiiw
Most of CEE is heading for a double-dip recession this year as the latest wave of the crisis will result in fresh contractions in 4Q20, say wiiw economists.
Russia's GDP decline moderates to 3.6% in 3Q20
Russia's GDP declined by 3.6% year on year in 3Q20, marking a notable improvement after an 8% y/y fall in GDP seen in 2Q20.
MOSCOW BLOG: START II is a chance to renew relations between Russia and the West
The Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II (START) missile treaty is due to expire in February and is a golden opportunity for the West to actually force some change on the Kremlin.
Russia goes Big Pharma in the fight for the coronavirus business
Russia was widely criticised when it was the first in the world to register the Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine in August, accused of rushing through the approval for political gain. Now it is a front-runner to win about $1bn in vaccine sales.
Russian petrochemical major Sibur spearheads digital transformation
Russian petrochemical major Sibur told East-West Digital News it has developed a technology which allows high-precision modelling of physicochemical processes in petrochemical production.
MegaFon invests in fast-growing challenger on Russian online video market
MegaFon, a major Russian mobile phone operator, is to acquire 33.8% of Digital Media Holding LLC (DMH), the parent company of the Start video service.
#BREAKING: Russia’s Supreme Court lifts most of US fund manager Michael Calvey’s house arrest restrictions
Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered most of the restrictions on US fund management Michael Calvey and his colleagues from Baring Vostok be lifted on November 12.