POLITICS
Communist Anatoly Lokot may lose his State Duma mandate. He is suspected of lobbying for the commercial interests of his business. Opposition deputy Gennady Gudkov was recently expelled from the lower house of parliament over his allegedly illegal business activity.
(Kommersant)
Moscow’s abrupt decision to kick out the U.S. Agency for International Development raised new worries about a widening crackdown on pro-democracy groups.
(The Moscow Times)
The United States will seek other ways to finance Russian NGOs despite the termination of USAID operations in Russia. U.S. State Secretary HIllary Clinton has sent her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov a letter asking him to extend USAID’s operations until May 2013, but the Russian Foreign Ministry is unlikely to agree.
(Kommersant)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
President Vladimir Putin criticized a budget drafted by the Dmitry Medvedev government.
(Moskovskiye Novosti)
Russian savings bank Sberbank's president German Gref announced the state-owned bank's successful sale of a $5.2 billion stake to domestic and international investors. The conclusion of the long-awaited deal, which leaves the Central Bank with 50 percent plus one share of the nation's largest lender, may help reinvigorate the Kremlin's ambitious program of state sell-offs.
(The Moscow Times)
A Russian insurance company has drawn up a road-safety ranking, a move that could have a bearing on motorists’ insurance premiums.
(The Moscow Times)
TRANSPORT
The authorities plan to suggest drivers in Moscow and the Moscow Region travel by commuter trains rather than ride their cars. The government plans to spend over 7 trillion rubles ($224.2 billion) to develop the transport hub around Moscow until 2020.
(Kommersant)
Representatives of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry signed a protocol in Indonesia in which they agreed with local experts that the crew of a Sukhoi SSJ-100 airliner was to blame for its May 9 crash.
(Kommersant)
SOCIETY
The government slammed parliament’s initiative to restrict officials’ possession of foreign property, saying it violates their constitutional rights.
(Vedomosti)
CRIME
A militant group inspired by ringleader Doku Umarov has been killed in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
(Kommersant)
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