POLITICS
A Minsk court on Thursday sentenced Belarusian opposition activist Vasily Parfenkov to four years in prison for participating in mass protests following the December 19 presidential elections. A total of 42 people, including five former presidential candidates, are facing trial for taking part in the protests.
(Kommersant)
The European Parliament issued on Thursday a resolution criticizing Russia's judiciary over its lack of independence and impartiality, and expressed concern over politically motivated trials. Sources say the initial variant of the resolution was softened as a result of Russia’s pressure on European Social Democrat MPs.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti, Izvestia)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid on Thursday his first visit to the Vatican and met the pope.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Moscow is concerned that the new Kyrgyz authorities have been ignoring its interests - much like ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The Kremlin attached great importance to a trip by General Secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Nikolai Bordyuzha to the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
(Kommersant)
SOCIETY
New registration rules for expatriates are intended to reduce bureaucracy, and the government is working on more reforms to bring conditions for foreign employees in the country in line with Europe.
(The Moscow Times)
The Russian government has approved a plan for implementing the second stage of the country’s demographics policy concept until 2025. The concept stipulates that life expectancy in Russia should increase to 71 from 69 years and the population reach 142-143 million (the figure currently stands at 141.9 million). Meanwhile, the demographic situation in the country continues to worsen.
(Kommersant)
London has been well known as a destination of choice for wealthy Russians for many years, but the demand for luxury properties shows no sign of falling.
(The Moscow Times)
The new head of Moscow road police shares his ideas on how to introduce order on the capital’s roads and fight bribery among road police officers
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Although the situation in Egypt has stabilized since President Hosni Mubarak left his office, the Russian Federal Tourism Agency has still been warning tourists against traveling to Egypt. The number of holidays to Egypt sold by Russian travel agencies has decreased by 10 percent since the outbreak of the unrest: some Russian tourists preferred to travel to Goa, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
(Kommersant)
Russian’s living standards have improved significantly over the past decade, the Russian Statistics Service believes.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
Terrorist attacks have killed a total of 12,000 Russians over the last 15 years. Terrorism is not just a result of religious extremism, but a systematic problem, says Mikhail Zalikhanov, a political and public activist and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
European parliamentarians have been invited to attend a workshop on the state of Russia’s electoral system, organized by Russian opposition leaders Mikhail Kasyanov and Boris Nemtsov, which will take place in Moscow on March 11.
(Kommersant)
BUSINESS
Russia may introduce criminal punishment for legal entities, Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin said Thursday, claiming that it is needed to lure foreign investors - though experts believe it will work the other way around.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Russian flagship airliner Aeroflot has threatened the government to stop buying domestically produced planes if it fails to meet several demands, including the cancellation of import taxes for spare parts produced abroad and the provision of guarantees for plane production terms.
(Kommersant)
Israel’s AFI Development will build a spa-resort outside Moscow worth an estimated $300 million.
(Kommersant)
Russia’s pharmaceutical industry may begin switching to the international good manufacturing practice (GMP) standard as early as this year instead of 2014, as it was originally planned.
(Vedomosti)
The start of the development of the Stockman gas condensate field in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea may be postponed again for two years until 2018, sources say. The Federal Agency for Natural Resources (Rosnedra) has denied the rumors. Stockman, with estimated reserves of 3.8 trillion cubic meters, is to feed Nord Stream, a planned gas pipeline to link Russia and the European Union via the Baltic Sea.
(Kommersant)
Russian largest truck producer KamAZ has been lobbying another postponement of the introduction of the Euro-4 emission standard in Russia.
(Kommersant)
ENERGY
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin is seeking to provide independent gas producers with a priority access to the energy giant Gazprom’s pipeline network.
(Vedomosti)
CRIME
About 13 billion rubles ($440 million) illegally obtained from the Bank of Moscow was discovered in the personal account of Yelena Baturina, the billionaire wife of ex-Mayor Yury Luzhkov, investigators said Thursday.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
A Moscow court sanctioned on Thursday Alexander Ignatenko, the Moscow Region's deputy prosecutor who is accused of overseeing illegal gambling activities with suspected links to organized crime. An arrest warrant was issued despite a protest from the Moscow Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
SPORTS
Russia may have to spend 5.5 trillion rubles ($188 billion) to introduce high-speed trains between cities intended to host the 2018 European Football Championship matches, the country’s Finance Ministry has calculated.
(Vedomosti)
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