POLITICS
President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on Wednesday to allow public discussion of draft federal laws. He alone will be responsible for choosing bills for public discussion.
(Kommersant)
The Moscow authorities have made public road construction plans, which in particular envision replacing overhead power transmission lines with underground power cables.
(Kommersant)
The scandal surrounding the expulsion of Luke Harding, a Moscow correspondent for British paper The Guardian, could darken Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to London on February 14-15.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The Trade and Industry Ministry on Wednesday joined businesses in forecasting a rapid recovery of the country's auto market in 2011, as confidence builds that Russia is back on track to become the largest car market in Europe.
(Moscow Times)
Roman Abramovich has sold a 25 percent stake in Channel One television to Yury Kovalchuk, majority shareholder in Bank Rossiya.
(Moscow Times)
The Economic Development Ministry has drafted a macroeconomic forecast defining Russia's development until 2030 on the basis of two main factors: innovation and raw materials. A focus on innovation would provide higher GDP growth at the expense of increased state debt.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
A subsidiary of Russia's largest lender Sberbank has received 15% of Moscow subway builder Mosmetrostroy.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Britain's Marimba Trading wants to increase its already large stake in the Bank of Moscow. It is ready to pay 91 billion rubles ($3.1bn) for the Moscow government's stake in the bank.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
The much-contested bill to outlaw contract labor needs to be amended to accommodate market concerns before the State Duma can consider it, Health and Social Development Deputy Minister Alexander Safonov said on Wednesday.
(Moscow Times)
Several officials of the Federal Customs Service may be fired for filming a glamorous music video that depicts them singing and dancing to R&B music in the office, agency spokesman Vladimir Zubkov said on Wednesday.
(Moscow Times)
A bill scrapping some 15 articles of the Criminal Code regarding entrepreneurs has been presented in the State Duma.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
OIL & GAS
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to open an anti-monopoly investigation into instances of unfair fuel price hikes.
(Kommersant, Moscow Times, Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
CRIME
Investigators discovered that suspected suicide bomber Magomed Yevloyev returned to his village a few days before the deadly Domodedovo Airport bombing to get hold of explosives. Traces of hexogen were found on his relatives' hands.
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow Times)
TECHNOLOGY
Hollywood's five largest motion picture studios have accused file sharing service Hotfile, apparently owned by a Russian national, of piracy. They assessed damages from the distribution of each movie at $150,000.
(Vedomosti)
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