Nikolai Zobin in today's Moscow Times laments that President Medvedev persistently highlights the level of corruption in Russia, whilst, by all accounts, the problem of graft has increased during his Presidency. (See yesterday's 'corruption blast' for the latest examples).  When the President is nominally one of the most powerful men in Russia, why is it that Medvedev seems incapable of transforming word into deed? Deeds, such as, quite simply, firing people:After all, Medvedev is not only the president of all Russians -- he is the leader of all bureaucrats, who act as his representatives at every level government. He is the only person in the country who has the power to remove anybody at any time. ...

The ever-positive Vladimir Putin is forecasting 8% inflation for the coming year, which would be a 'post-Soviet low'.  The government will sell tons of its gold stockpile this year to cover its budget deficit and help it fund other supporting measures such as Moscow's $570 million federal loan.  Private lender Alfa Bank is working on debt restructuring terms for giants BasEl and RusAl, and threatening to take the latter to court over unpaid debts.  St Petersburg Bank plans to raise up to $150 million selling additional preference shares to cope with its losses.  Reuters has compiled a timeline on Russia's bad loans.  'For all of the vaunted stability of the current regime, Russians still don't believe in the permanence of their system enough to invest into their society,' comments this reporter in a piece about ...

TODAY: Clinton turns attention to civil society and gives speech tackling human rights abuses; Walt Whitman statue unveiled; Putin advises against intimidating Iran; opposition politicians stage Duma walk out.  Memorial to appeal.  Putin turns pop svengali?'In an innovative society, people must be free to take unpopular positions, disagree with conventional wisdom, know they are safe to challenge abuses of authority': Hillary Clinton affirmed her support for dissidence and human rights protection in a speech at Moscow State University.  'That's why attacks on journalists and human rights activists are such a great concern, because it is a threat to progress', she is quoted as saying in the New York Times.  Click here for a video of Clinton ...

TODAY: Lavrov keeps eagle eye on Georgia; Netanyahu's fears about Russian rogue scientists; Chubais takes the fall for hydropower plant disaster.  Litvinenko widow despairs over apparent British moves towards rapprochement.  Luzhkov-Baturina to take Nemtsov to court. UN report pessimistic on Russia's demographic decline; Ban Ki-moon voices approval for ecological care.According to the Moscow Times, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that Russia will survey shipping in the Black Sea to monitor Georgian 'provocations' which are a 'serious concern'.  Jorg Himmelreich in the International Herald Tribune suggests that much analysis of last year's Georgia-Russia conflict has overlooked the crucial matter of President Bush's Georgia policy.  Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko says that he believes that the ratification of the Lisbon treaty would benefit ...

TODAY: Russia relenting on Iran sanctions; calls missile defense decision constructive; arms reductions talks are apparently progressing apace; Medvedev urges for Middle East arms cuts too.  Island cooperation for Japan and Russia; Georgia undecided on Guantanamo guests; Poland - officially - condemns Soviet invasion. Moscow mayor doesn't take criticism lightly. President Medvedev has apparently agreed following talks with Barack Obama to consider sanctions if Iran does not agree to transparency about its nuclear program. 'Sanctions rarely lead to productive results but in some cases are inevitable', the Russian president has said.  'The sanctions Medvedev has in mind might fall far short of those that the White House are thinking of', suggests a piece in the Guardian.  The ...

This column in the Moscow Times argues that the Stalinist renovation of the Kurskaya metro station is an elections ploy by United Russia to win the votes of the elderly.  Interestingly, the author Sergei Obukhov, a duma member from the Communist Party - so the "glory" of Stalin is not in question, just the instrumentalization of it.

The current pro-Stalin PR campaign by the authorities coincides with the campaign for the Moscow City Duma elections on Oct. 11. The United Russia party traditionally has far worse electoral results in the capital than in other regions. But for Mayor Yury Luzhkov, whom the new City Duma will ultimately decide either to reappoint or retire, a strong showing by United Russia would be his

...

Russia's 'unsustainable' budget deficit is reportedly 'a major threat to economic stability'.  Sevastopol market in southern Moscow is the latest market to be raided by police, heightening fears among law-abiding traders that they may be caught up in the clamp down on contraband.  Apparently ruling on timber laid out in the Forest Code is spooking foreign businesses who are deterred by high costs of investing.  Mechel will take over the running of the Zlatoust steel mill in the Chelyabinsk region, which had previously filed for bankruptcy.  Restaurant owner Oleg Tinkov has announced that he is 'bored' with his restaurant business, and will consider offers to buy up his stake sent to his livejournal account.  Alrosa has started up sales of unpolished diamonds again after a seven-month hiatus - demand appears to be slowly regaining momentum in ...

Top bankers have recommended that the Central Bank cut its interest rates by as much as 5 percentage points.  The Economics Ministry has announced that GDP is 9.6% down on this time last year and has warned that at the beginning of 2010 there may be a second wave of the financial crisis.  Apparently the ministry is preparing for a $102.7 billion budget deficit next year and may cut its 2010 sovereign borrowing plans by over 50%, favoring to shore up budget deficit with oil wealth funds.  The Central Bank has made a blacklist of 2,600 bankers who, following involvement in penalized financial institutions, will need special permission to return to executive level in the sector.  Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov is intractable on the plight of recently made redundant Chinese workers from Cherkizovsky Market, saying 'it is ...

TODAY: NATO ministerial level meeting to take place in Corfu; deputies suggests nationalization of troubled Pikalyovo factory; gay rights activist to sue Moscow mayor; blacklisting practice; bribery affecting the poor'We have always had quite good relations with the Korean leadership but what has happened arouses very big concern': says President Medvedev on North Korea.  The Kremlin has stated that it may support economic sanctions against the rogue state to convince it to put a halt to its nuclear program.  US and Russian officials have concluded their talks on strategic arms reduction without comment from Russia, but the US negotiator, Rose Gottemoeller, has called them 'productive'.  NATO and Russia Foreign Ministers are set to meet in Corfu on June 27 in the ...

TODAY: Georgia accuses Russian secret services of fomenting military plot; Kremlin retaliates to NATO spy row with expulsion of Canadian diplomats; Russia extends pork ban to Britain; gay pride march to take place in tandem with EurovisionGeorgia has accused Russia of backing a foiled mutiny at a military base on the eve of the NATO exercises.  The claims that Russia is accumulating troops near the Georgian border are 'libelous' according to the Foreign Ministry.  Armenia has withdrawn from the NATO war games following the attempted 'coup' in a show of support to Russia.  The Foreign Ministry will withdraw accreditation from two Canadian NATO envoys, in retaliation for NATO's expulsion of two Russian diplomats.  Sergei Lavrov will not be attending a ...