Leave it to a Russian to invest in Russia. Monday The Associated Press reported that Mikhail Prokhorov would take 50% stock in Renaissance Capital, one of Russia’s leading investment banks.

To invest in Russia by taking control of the large investment bank, Prokhorov’s Onexim Group will pay $500 million, half of which was transferred on Monday, September 29th. On top of Prokhorov’s plan to invest in Russia by funding the bank, he has also promised Renaissance Capital more loans to come.

As part of the RenCap Prokhorov deal to invest in Russia, the parent firm Renaissance Group will maintain management and board control of the bank, with 50% plus one share of the voting rights, and Prokhorov will have the ability to choose three individuals for the board of directors.

Prokhorov on his move to invest in Russia, said, “The rules of the game for investment banking

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Carrefour, the French retail giant, said on Monday that it will invest in Russia $100 million in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia over the next five years. This is part of Carrefour’s plan to expand into the former Soviet Republic.

Seeking to speed growth in high-potential markets, part of Carrefour’s plans to invest in Russia includes building two stores in Russia, one in Krasnodar and one in Moscow. The company hopes to open late this year or early next year and has plans for another five openings in 2009, as further extension of its invest in Russia initiative.

Under the ‘invest in Russia’ project laid out Monday, the local administration will “provide support for Carrefour business development” through finding suitable locations for purchase or lease, which will allow Carrefour to open several hypermarkets and other retail outlets in the region.

Carrefour’s move to invest in Russia comes during tense relations between Russia, …

While the invasion of Georgia, along with Putin’s continued zealous nationalism, has triggered fear from foreign investors of an increasingly depressed Russian market, things aren’t nearly as bad as they may seem. Indeed, it may be an optimal time to invest in Russia, according to several money managers.

Who’s investing in Russia?

Many money managers and Russian experts are certain that as fears are assuaged money will flow back into the Russian market, and stocks will rise. Those who invest in Russia early on, will then cash in.

Portfolio manager John Connor suggests others invest in Russia. He reports that he has recently increased holdings in Russia by 50%, taking full advantage of the massive recent sell-off and says, “There are tremendously undervalued positions in Russia”. Continuing to beat its three- and five-year benchmark, Connor’s Third Millenium Russia Fund (TMRFX) is running strong.

The Russian economy has been growing at a rate of 7-8% …

And he wants you to know about it. From his op/ed in the Sunday Times: First, speaking up clearly and bluntly about what has happened. This is not a time for diplomatic opaqueness. It is a time to distinguish unambiguously between right and wrong. It is a time for democracies to stand together. It is a time for members of our parliament – the seat of one of the world’s oldest democracies – to speak up for one of the world’s newest. Today, in Georgia’s hour of need, this instinct unites government and opposition. Second, we need urgent diplomatic efforts, in which Britain must play a leading role. Russian forces must leave Georgia right away as they are required to do under the ceasefire agreement both sides have signed. Third, Russia must pay a price.

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From the International Herald Tribune: So along with the old-school onslaught of infantry, armor and artillery, Russia mounted joint air and naval operations, appeared to launch simultaneous cyberattacks on Georgian government Web sites and had its best English speakers at the ready to make Moscow's case in television appearances. If the rapidly unfolding events caught much of the world off guard, that kind of coordination of the old and the new did not look accidental to military professionals. "They seem to have harnessed all their instruments of national power — military, diplomatic, information — in a very disciplined way," said one Pentagon official, who like others interviewed for this article disclosed details of the operation under ground rules that called for anonymity. "It appears this was well thought out and planned in advance, and suggests a level of coordination in the Russian government between the military and the other civilian agencies and ...

Everyone is aware that Washington is not about to send the Marines into Georgia to assert its regional interests, but what are the realistic diplomatic and economic penalties that could be leveraged against Russia? The Bush Administration will be looking to save face, but as we have speculated, its range of options is rather limited. The Wall Street Journal elaborates a couple of ways that Russia may find itself punished for the war in Georgia: Western authorities should also explore the vulnerability of Russian assets abroad. At the least, they can make life difficult for the holders of those assets. Post-Soviet Russia allowed the emergence of businessmen and entrepreneurs who indeed wish to function as normal participants in world commerce. Their number, however, assuredly includes the lucky billionaires under Mr. Putin's protection. All of them want to benefit from the West's rules. That privilege should be restricted so long ...

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is getting a lot of interesting press coverage this week - and like his public persona, there are those who hold him in awe, and those who blame him entirely for what's happened (if you haven't yet read what the Russians say about him, hold onto to your keyboards...). Here are some more interesting snippets of how his personality is being portrayed. "Why Americans swoon for the former Soviet Republic of Georgia," by Ilan Greenberg, Slate.com I got to know Georgia—and Saakashvili—when I profiled him for the New York Times Magazine. For almost two months I shadowed Misha. In Slovakia for a regional summit, walking next to Saakashvili along Bratislava's cordoned streets, the Georgian head of state hooked his arm on my elbow and offered to trade gossip about his senior staff. In Tbilisi, Saakashvili gave me ...

Thanks to a lawyer colleague of mine, I have been put into contact via telephone with a high-ranking official from the Georgian government, who has shared some firsthand reports from the ground. The official reports that a contingent of the Russian armored division stationed in Gori has moved on to occupy the nearby town of Kaspi, leaving in its wake hundreds of robberies and looting of stores. This report is consistent with other news reports of the expanded occupation of new Georgian towns, accompanied by theft and looting - and in some cases forced labor, which is the first apparent evidence of humiliation or abuse. According to my source, the details of many of these robberies would lead one to believe there is a psychological motivation. After raiding a warehouse near Gori, he says, dozens of Russian soldiers ...

Although the dust is far from settled in Georgia, and indeed I am getting firsthand reports of ongoing Russian troop movements, we will soon have to begin taking a serious look at the international law implications of this military action, and ask some tough questions about 1) the legal status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia pre- and post-conflict, 2) the status of Russia's "peacekeeping" mission and their range of duty, and 3) the legal basis for the deployment of Russian troops into Georgian sovereign territory. Although the Kremlin PR machine sputtered and coughed in the early days of the war, things are really catching up now (there are three separate articles attacking the Georgian cause in the Washington Post alone today). However one of the earliest and most important pieces was a by-lined article by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov published in the Financial Times back ...