Russian Press at a Glance, Wednesday, June 29, 2011

POLITICS

St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko announced she would run for the speaker's seat in Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council. (Kommersant, Vedomosti)

A bill banning entry to Russia for foreign officials who have violated the rights of Russian citizens was introduced to the State Duma on Tuesday. (Kommersant)

An advisory council to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will submit a report into the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 who was in custody at the time. The document claims the death was a result of either foul play or negligence on the part of investigators and prison officials. (Moskovskie Novosti)

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has asked domestic oil companies to cut fuel prices in the wake of a decision by the International Energy Agency to release oil stocks to bring global oil prices down. (Vedomosti)

Russia’s MICEX and RTS stock exchanges are likely to finalize their $4.8 billion merger in the coming days with the goal of floating the joint company in an IPO before 2014. (Moscow Times)

Russia is gradually lifting a ban on vegetable imports from the European Union put in place over fears of E. coli infection, starting with the Netherlands and Belgium. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Russian fertilizer holding company PhosAgro has set the price guidance for its stock flotation in an initial public offering in London at $13-16.5 per Global Depository Receipt (GDR) or $390-495 per share. This puts the value of the company in a $4.8-6.1 billion range, or 25 percent less than market expectations. (Vedomosti)

Russian farming company Valinor is considering an initial public offering of $200 million to $300 million on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. If successful, it would be the first listing of a Russian company on the Warsaw exchange. (Vedomosti)

Russia cut off electricity supplies to Belarus at midnight on Wednesday until Belarus fully repays its 1.2-billion ruble ($43 million) debt. (Vedomosti)

BANKING

American GE Money Bank and Swedish Handelsbanken are closing their business in Russia after failing to find effective business strategies on the local market. (Kommersant)

Fitch has downgraded Bank of Moscow on fears of poor performance following a conflict between the banks new owner - state-run Vneshtorgbank - and the former management of the bank. (Kommersant)

WORLD

With Russia’s support, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde was elected Tuesday as the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund. (Moscow Times, Vedomosti)

A 48-hour general strike began in Greece on Tuesday to protest against the possible austerity measures in exchange for a much-needed $17 billion tranche of the $156 billion EU and IMF bailout package. (Vedomosti, Kommersant)

DEFENSE

Russia resumed tests of its troubled Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile with a successful launch on Tuesday. Four more launches are expected this year before the missile could be put in service with the Russian Navy. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

SOCIETY

Moscow authorities have not yet decided what to build on the site of the demolished Rossiya hotel on the bank of the Moskva River in downtown Moscow, Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnullin said in an interview. (Kommersant)

Private investigators in Russia will work from now on under strict control from government bodies. Their activities will exclude covert videotaping and phone tapping. All private detectives will have to take professional training courses. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Alexander Novikov, the former deputy head of the Moscow administration under ex-mayor Yury Luzhkov has committed suicide after being sacked from his post in a wake of Luzhkov’s departure. Relatives claim the official suffered from deep depression. (Izvestia)

CRIME

Russia’s Interior Ministry has asked the Cabinet to allocate 280 million rubles ($10 million) per year to pay for information that will allow police investigators to solve crimes. (Izvestia)

For more details on all the news in Russia today, visit our website at http://en.rian.ru.