Sberbank's profits, at $594 million, are down 85% from last year.  The central bank have cut interest rates to a record low of 9% in an attempt to stave off the destabilizing effects of speculation and slow the appreciation of the ruble.  Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Renault this week in a bid to lobby for its assistance in rescuing AvtoVAZ.  Nestle is fighting tax officials who want Rossia, its confectionary plant, to be liquidated due to its serious financial problems.  

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin introduced a cash-for-scrap-cars scheme and mortgage support at Saturday's United Russia congress, as he forecasted a 2009 GDP decline of 8-8.5%, 'which would be Russia's worst result since 1994,' notes the Washington Post.  Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov says Russia's first road connecting East and West will be finished next year (over thirty years after construction began?), as part of a project to build 6,000km of federal roads. 'Russia still lags behind its BRIC partners in terms of bilateral trade with Africa, but its trade with Africa is the fastest growing -- at 15 percent annually since 1992.'  Renault may take full control of AvtoVAZ in the next four years - if it hasn't merged with KamAZ to create an autos giant by then.  Two General Motors employees in St Petersburg - one ...

Reports have emerged following yesterday's meeting between 'comfortable' duo Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko.  Bloomberg says Putin's announcement that Ukraine would not be penalized for consuming less gas than was contracted was warmly received by Tymoshenko, who pledged that payments would be made on time.  'It would be very good to meet the New Year without calamities,' Putin said, guaranteeing stable supplies (click here for some transit figures).  This exchange was overshadowed by Medvedev's advisor in Moscow, who reportedly complained about 'political blackmail' in light of Tymoshenko's decision to increase transit fees earlier this week. The Guardian points out that TNK-BP's new chief executive, the choice of its oligarch board, is 'inexperienced', but BP insists that it was not 'steamrollered' into accepting him.  Russia's stepped-up pledge for emissions reductions is drawing positive reports.  ...

Russia's EU ambassador says his country aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 25% through to 2020. Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, has written an open letter to Dmitry Medvedev, asking him to change the terms of agreement on gas supplies.  The move 'appeared designed to embarrass his political rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko', says Reuters, alhough things will likely be tense enough ahead of Tymoshenko's meeting with Vladimir Putin today, as she has already announced that the transit price of Russian natural gas through Ukrainian territory will be doubled as of January next year.  Tymoshenko says the meeting's agenda does not include gas issues.  RusAl is pulling out of the construction side of the Boguchanskaya hydroelectric plant, its joint project with RusHydro, although says it will not withdraw funding. The venture has already been the focus of disputes ...

In spite of recent measures taken to avoid more EU gas disruptions this winter, and a new Russia-EU partnership set to be discussed in detail at this week's Stockholm summit, Slovakia's Prime Minister can't see Kiev being able to pay its gas bills.  A $300 million EBRD loan to Naftogaz, intended to help it manage the import and storage of gas from Russia, has just been delayed after the Ukrainian company failed to implement key reforms.  Gazprom chief, Alexander Medvedev, says the company's 2009 profits are forecasted at around $42.5 billion - and that's in spite of end-of-year export cuts of 10%.  He has also challenged reports that supply will outstrip demand until 2015, forecasting the end of the surplus for either 2011 or 2012, depending on your source.  Speaking as chair of a petrochemicals conference ...

Russia's Energy Minister and the EU Energy Commissioner have signed a memorandum establishing an early warning mechanism to anticipate potential gas cuts and allow time to find solutions to problems before deliveries are physically affected.  But the memorandum may be useless, suggests one analyst, as the decision to cut supplies lies with Gazprom, which has already criticized the European Union for not doing enough to head off another gas crisis this winter.  Russia may participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine's pipeline network, but Yulia Tymoshenko insists that the system will not be privatized.  Iran is not pleased with 'dishonest' Russia, after the latter said that 'technical reasons' were behind its announcement that the Bushehr nuclear plant would not be ready by the end of the year as planned.  The IAEA is continuing to press ...

In what are sure to be the most bizarre and cringe-worthy videos of the week, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin showed up as the featured guest on a popular hip hop TV show in Russia.  According to the AFP, Putin commented "And breakdance is something peculiar. (...) This really is propaganda for a healthy lifestyle because it is hard to imagine breakdancing having anything to do with drinking and dope."Julia Ioffe at RUSSIA! has a good post on the story, and even points to the nice, smooth transition Putin makes from talking about healthy lifestyles to his more familiar tones of nationalism.  However most people aren't going to be able to get beyond the mysteriously compelling sight of Putin nodding his head to the music, with some obvious discomfort, while all the youth around throw their hands in the ...

Uppsala University in Sweden says the IEA's annual World Energy Outlook 'drastically underplayed the scale of future oil shortages'.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has won Slovenia's approval for the South Stream pipeline, 'undermining European Union efforts to reduce dependency on Russian gas supplies'.  A deal was signed late on Saturday, marking the fifth and final signatory of 'all the European partners needed for this project to be completed'.  Gazprom could receive 'exclusive rights' as a supplier of liquefied natural gas to Singapore after the expiry of a current contract with British Gas.  RusAl is planning to sell a 10% stake to help repay its $14 billion debt, and may offer special ventures and access deals in a reported bid to help China take the lion's share.  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country's nuclear rights are 'not ...

TODAY: Medvedev's state of the nation address warns opposition against using democracy to rock the boat; talks up modernization. Media unconvinced President can match word with deed. Topol-M problem for START replacement talks;  Litvinenko suspect Lugovoi willing to speak to London prosecutors?; is Russia really cracking down on nationalists; Putin world's third most powerful according to ForbesIn President Medvedev's second state-of-the-nation address, highlights of which can be found here, he warned opposition politicians not to use democracy as a way to 'destabilize the state and split society'. The fact that the speech emphasized long-term goals, related to cutting time zones, technology and industrial modernization, heralds a call for re-election argues one analyst, quoted in the Moscow ...

Ever come across something so brilliant you wish you had thought of it yourself? Well that's what Seth Hettena has just put together, via sourcing from Vedomosti: an aggregation of the preferred timepieces worn by high-level Russian officialdom as a possible proxy for corruption. There are several questions raised from this little survey, not the least of which is: to those of you contending that Igor Sechin is the real master string-puller, I ask you, have you considered Moscow's Deputy Mayor Vladimir Resin? More importantly, could any of these men hold it together under the mind-bending microscope of Vesper Lynd?

A partial list of who prefers which wristwatch:

Vladimir Putin: Blancpain, Leman Aqualung Grande Date, $10,500

Dmitry Medvedev: Breguet, Classique Moon

...