Author: Inga Friedelhaus

Global property adviser Cushman & Wakefield gets a new CEO for Russia

The CEO designate, who has worked at C&W Russia since 2003, will succeed the current CEO, Mark Stiles, the co-founder along with Sergey Riabokobylko of Stiles & Riabokobylko firm acquired by C&W in 2005...

A landmark bank loan for Tatneft and the whole of Russian business

The loan, offered in two tranches for 3 and 5 years, will attract interest rates of LIBOR+5.85% and LIBOR+6.85%, respectively, will be used to finance the construction of Tatneft’s Taneko oil refining and petrochemical factories complex in Nizhnekamsk...

Major Events of the Month

President Medvedev plans to make Russia a leader on the global nanotechnologies industry

Specifically, the Russian president noted that his government has already made a series of vital systematic decisions aimed at achieving the set objectives in the near future...

Major Events of the Month

Moscow and Brussels finalizing the New Partnership Agreement terms

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, says the process is evolving in a constructive manner, as the negotiators are now working on the concrete wording of the agreement...

Major Events of the Month

Government outlines its privatization plans and programs for 2010-12

Commenting on these decisions, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin noted that privatization is one of the key tools for executing structural reforms in the real economy...

Major Events of the Month

Taxes, demand slump and other negative factors strangling the SMEs

Expert says that the SMEs have been plagued by a number of problems since the beginning of the year, with the most stringent being high tax rates and cutthroat competition...

Major Events of the Month

Officially confirmed swine flu cases cross a critical threshold

Gennady Onishchenko, the state’s chief sanitary medical officer, noted that seasonal outburst of the traditional flu has exacerbated the situation with the new infection...

Major Events of the Month

CEC chairman says there are no legal grounds for his resignation

In response to opposition parties discontented with the October 11 elections results, Vladimir Churov, chairman of the Central Election Commission, said there were no legal basis for his resignation...

Crocus International threatens to bankrupt Millionaire Fair over debt issues

The bone of contention is the estimated cost of over Rub7mln of services rendered to the Fair organizers and their star visitors in 2008...

Burevestnik Group managing partner detained on yachts contraband charges

According to the official charges, Lomakin and other top AG Marin and Burevestnik yachts club officials, FTS former and present employees had been involved in illegal yachts importation...

Defamation lawsuit between Prokhorov and TMT finally ends in a peaceful agreement

The protracted reputation damage lawsuit finally ended in September with the signing of a peaceful agreement between the two parties...

ICR Partners with Presidium Communications to extend IR Services to Russia

Commenting on the partnership agreement, Presidium CEO Maria Erokhova lauded ICR as one of the best firms in the IR-services industry with a strong reputation in the entire global investment community...

Ingosstrakh and Bupa Intl launch an international medical insurance services program

Commenting on the project, Ingosstrakh CEO and Board Chairman Alexander Grigoriev noted that the company’s goal is to offer clients the world's best medical insurance services...

Tatneft’s conformity to ISO and OHSAS standards confirmed by independent auditors

The positive results of the random inspections were announced by Alexander Nasonov, the head of the auditing group at Bureau Veritas Certification...

Russia and Turkey deepen mutual cooperation on energy with new agreements

Moscow and Ankara finally tidied up the loose ends in their energy cooperation issues last month via penning joint agreements that will allow a new strategically vital Russian oil pipeline project planned for the region to go ahead...

Russia pledges to continue to protect South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s sovereignty

Russia reiterates ‘humanitarian reasons’ for its swift intervention in the Georgia-led attacks on South Ossetia and its eventual recognition of the republic and Abkhazia’s independence from Tbilisi at the first anniversary of the new states’ long-awaited political sovereignty last month...

Russia and EBRD appraise past achievements, map out new plans for the future

With its over $11bln investments into the strategic sectors of the Russian economy, EBRD President Thomas Mirow and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have outlined more ambitious plans that will enable the bank to retain its leading investment role in the country...

OPK and Hyundai Heavy Industries pen a protocol on joint shipbuilding cooperation

Top executives of Russia-based United Industrial Corp. and South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. have recently penned a strategic agreement on joint shipbuilding cooperation...

EDB and EuroChem outline cooperation parameters for operations in Kazakhstan

The managements of the Eurasian Development Bank and EuroChem have signed an MoU on the possibility of pooling efforts together to execute the latter’s large-scale project in Kazakhstan...

Hotels & Restaurants Guide

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Olga Shults, asst. director, catering and conference services, The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow, speaks to TRCW on the key advantages of hotels over non-hotel facilities as venues for holding business events...

Major Events of the Month

Russia has more than sufficient reserves to overcome current crisis

Russia First Deputy Premier Igor Shuvalov tries to boost leading domestic and foreign investors’ faith in the local economy, as lingering global economic crisis continues to dampen CEOs’ moods...

Major Events of the Month

Skeptical attitude to forecasts on ends of crisis

Rosnano CEO Anatoly Chubais has advised investors and laymen not to trust experts, who claim they know when the present crisis will end, as it is difficult to correctly predict the exact termination dates of global crises...

Major Events of the Month

The Russian political system attains maturity

Addressing young State Duma legislators in June, Vladislav Surkov, first deputy head of Presidential Administration, noted the maturity of the Russian political system, evident in its ability to express the whole spectrum of opinions in society...

Major Events of the Month

Kudrin calls on Russians to diversify savings in crisis

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has advised Russians to refrain from keeping all their savings in one currency, but rather spread them across several currencies so as to boost their security during crisis...

Major Events of the Month

Russian State Duma speaker stars as ‘political Batman’ in comics

Another side of State Duma speaker was presented to the Russian society in June, when he was depicted as a superhero in a comics titled, ‘Gryzlov the Man,’ who indulges in ‘Batman-like heroics,’ saving people and cities from harm...

Major Events of the Month

Moscow advertisement market nosedives 45% since January

Vladimir Makarov, chairman of the City Hall’s Advertisement Committee, has blamed the global economic crisis for the 45% decline of activities on the Moscow advertisement market since January...

Interviews

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Timur Kyazimov, sales director at Martin Translation Services, speaks to TRCW about the importance of quality translation for businesses and his company’s role and plans in the industry...

Interviews

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Stepan Grabovsky, CEO, Fonetix Translation, speaks to TRCW on the importance of quality technical translation in ensuring the success of business events and his company’s unique services...

Hotels & Restaurants Guide

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Anastasia Makarova, banquette services sales manager, Korston Hotel Moscow, speaks to TRCW on conference services and Korston’s competitive offers for organizers of business events...

Interviews

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Mikhail Bulygin, CEO, Alpha & Omega translation bureau, speaks to TRCW on the Russian professional translation services market and his company’s market position and vision for the industry...

Hotels & Restaurants Guide

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Elena Krivonosova, head of sales department, Turris Hotel Management Group, speaks to TRCW about her company’s unique facilities and services for business events...

Hotels & Restaurants Guide

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Olga Rafikova, director of marketing, Turris Hotel Management Group, speaks to TRCW on St. Petersburg MICE services market and her company’s leading role in the industry...

Interviews

The Russian MICE services industry: Expert's view

Kim Waddoup, CEO, Moscow International MICE Forum, speaks to TRCW on the state of the Russian MICE services market vis-a-vis other European MICE services markets...

Hotels & Restaurants Guide

Tours operator Inturist freezes major investment hotel projects

The global economic crisis has significantly changed the Inturist's plans, forcing it to freeze its ongoing constructions of over 50 hotel projects in the economy category...

Hotels & Restaurants Guide

Hotels come under fire for greedy pricing policy during Eurovision Songs Contest

The hoteliers, circumventing their ‘gentlemen agreements’ with the Mayor’s Office, hiked prices, at least, by 20-30%, making accommodations unaffordable for most of the Eurovision Songs contestants and fans...

Major Events of the Month

Hockey players again in the Kremlin with the World Championship title

Following the existing victory traditions, President Medvedev invited the triumphant national hockey team to the Kremlin for official congratuations...

Major Events of the Month

State Duma plans to make the work of court marshals financially self-sufficient

The amendment stems from the fact that court marshals currently receive just 7% of the collected debts, which is often too small to compensate the collection efforts...

Major Events of the Month

Government attaches a price tag to a square meter in its ‘affordable’ housing projects

Such housing projects are to meet a number of criteria, including having all modern facilities and being built with the most advanced energy-saving technologies...

Major Events of the Month

New deadline set for the dawn of the second wave of the ‘toxic bank loans’ crisis

The director of the nation's Deposit Insurance Agency has called on Russian banks to make emergency plans to deal with the looming second wave of ‘bad loans’ crisis...