POLITICS
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev dismissed suggestions on Friday that a host of controversial new laws were part of a “repressive trend” aimed at stifling political opposition, in a wide-ranging interview aired live on nationwide TV and online.
(Kommersant)
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Dublin to participate in a conference with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), warned about what she said was the danger of growing repression among the governments of the former Soviet Union.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Russia will respond to the Magnitsky Act, approved by US legislators last week, by banning entry to Americans violating human rights, particularly those violating rules governing the adoption of Russian children.
(Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, The Moscow Times)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Russians will be taxed in Russia for incomes they receive from their accounts in foreign banks.
(Vedomosti)
S&P lowered Ukraine’s long-term sovereign rating from BB- to B with a negative outlook.
(Vedomosti)
The EurAsEC Anticrisis Fund on Friday approved the disbursement of a fourth $440-million loan tranche for Belarus.
(Kommersant)
The United States called on Russia on Sunday to lift restrictions on American meat imports, saying the new requirement on American beef and pork supplies contradicted Russia’s obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
(Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
OIL & GAS
Welding work formally started on Friday on South Stream, a Russian-led pipeline project designed to link Russia's gas fields to the markets of southern Europe via the Black Sea.
(Vedomosti, Kommersant)
Rosneft signed a $300 million agreement with US energy giant ExxonMobil to consider the possibility of commercial production of Siberian tight oil, opening up access to geological formations that could yield billions of barrels of crude.
(The Moscow Times)
WORLD
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti announced on Saturday his plans to resign after former premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PdL) party withdrew its support for the government.
(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on national television late on Saturday that he was flying to Cuba for cancer surgery and named Vice-President and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as his possible successor.
(Kommersant)
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found dead by police on Friday morning near the King Edward VII hospital in central London, where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton was being treated.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has decided to annul his constitutional declaration expanding his powers.
(Kommersant)
ENVIRONMENT
Russia reaffirmed its decision to withdraw from the second period of commitment to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but said it would stick to its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent in the next decade.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
St. Petersburg prosecutors are investigating allegations that an exhibit by British artists incites religious hatred by displaying Ronald McDonald and a teddy bear nailed to a crucifix.
(The Moscow Times)
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