POLITICS
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko moved a step closer towards Russia's third-highest political post as the Russian parliament's upper house speaker on Monday, when President Dmitry Medvedev accepted her resignation, allowing her to run on the ballot from the Krasnenkaya Rechka district. (Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The Russian air transport regulator Rosaviatsiya may suspend the activities of Russia's budget air carrier Avianova, which is experiencing difficulties due to a dispute between shareholders. (Kommersant)
Volkswagen says it’s ready to showcase a new one-person electric car featuring increased energy economy. (Vedomosti)
Ukrainian Nemiroff has stopped supplies of alcoholic beverages to Russia due to a shareholders’ conflict. The company’s main owners are planning to start production in Russia. (Vedomosti)
Russia produced enough rice in 2011 to satisfy domestic demand and even exported part of the harvest for the first time in history. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
BANKING
Russia’s Sberbank, which has recently announced the purchase of Volksbank, continues to show interest in buying assets in Eastern Europe. Russia’s largest bank is now considering the acquisition of Polish Millennium and Kredyt banks. (Kommersant)
China’s second largest bank, China Construction Bank, is planning to open a subsidiary in Russia, investing about $150 mln mostly in retail mortgage business. (Kommersant)
Russia’s Central Bank will most likely delay the sale of 7.6 percent of Sberbank shares due to falling prices on Russian exchanges. (Vedomosti)
About 200 insurance companies may disappear from the Russian market next year after the minimum charter capital will be set four times higher than before, according to new legislation. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
DEFENSE
The Russian government has set up a special commission, involving officials from the Defense Ministry, the Industry Ministry and the United Shipbuilding Corporation, in order to resolve in two weeks all conflicts over prices on naval equipment supplied under the 2011 defense order. (Kommersant)
The Russian Defense Ministry has decided to hire civilian companies to supply food for the Russian military. (Izvestia)
“The T-50 feels lighter and smaller than it really is.” Famous test pilot Sergei Bogdan shares his first impressions of Russia’s fifth-generation fighter. (Izvestia)
WORLD
The international community is yet to see the true face of the Libyan opposition after the Gaddafi regime is gone, Russian experts believe. (Moscow News, Izvestia)
SOCIETY
Dagestan remains the most dangerous part of Russia. A twin terrorist act in Makhachkala on Sunday injured dozens of people. (Moscow News)
Moscow authorities may stop regulating prices on medicines sold in the Russian capital, except drugs essential to health. (Vedomosti)
For more details on all the news in Russia today, visit our website at http://en.rian.ru.
