Author Archives: Citizen M

The Unfortunate Gift of Foresight

By Citizen M | Published: May 24, 2012

In popular culture the year 2012 is charged with impending apocalypse, largely thanks to its apocryphal significance in the Mayan calendar.  Could this be the year that sees Putinism lurch towards a grizzly end?  A new report today from the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Research portends doom and gloom: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post [...]

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Energy Blast – May 24, 2012

By Citizen M | Published: May 24, 2012

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Iran is ready to negotiate on its controversial nuclear program.  Gazprom, which plans to raise investment even further this year, has again delayed crude production at Russia’s first delve into offshore Arctic oil, the Prirazlomnoye field.  Apparently the energy monopoly is reconsidering the composition of the consortium to develop [...]

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Today in Russian Business – May 24, 2012

By Citizen M | Published: May 24, 2012

Bloomberg describes how the Greek exit from the euro could send Russia into a financial quagmire.  Russia’s economy would apparently shrink 2.1% in a worst-case scenario, with as much as $95 billion in capital leaving the country in the event of the ‘Grexit’, says the chief economist at Sberbank.  President Putin has ordered the government [...]

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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – May 24, 2012

By Citizen M | Published: May 24, 2012

TODAY: Putin refuses to veto new bill raising protest fines; Navalny and Udaltsov released from jail but faces new pressures; Russia test fires ICBM successfully; military jet crashes; Russia’s new health minister Kremlin human rights council head Mikhail Fedotov has been scolded by President Putin for publicly criticizing the new bill raising fines for protests, [...]

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Energy Tsar Returns to Rosneft

By Citizen M | Published: May 23, 2012

The Kremlin’s anointed energy tsar, close Putin ally and siloviki overlord Igor Sechin, who will not serve in the new cabinet, has apparently had his loyalty to the regime rewarded with the directorship of Rosneft.  This was a role he once enjoyed, but had removed from his clutches in 2011 when then President Medvedev ordered [...]

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Energy Blast – May 23, 2012

By Citizen M | Published: May 23, 2012

The director of the UN nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, has told the press that he expects to sign a deal with Iran to facilitate investigation into suspected work on atom bombs, ‘soon’.  President Putin has signed a decree adding four key energy companies and Rosneft to the list of Russian strategic enterprises that will, most [...]

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Today in Russian Business – May 23, 2012

By Citizen M | Published: May 23, 2012

First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev has told the press that Russia’s economy may expand faster than the government estimates this year, as the country proves relatively insulated against the euro-region debt crisis.   The OECD believes now is no time for Russia to rest on its laurels, despite giving it a higher forecast for GDP [...]

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RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – May 23, 2012

By Citizen M | Published: May 23, 2012

TODAY: ‘Energy tsar’ Sechin regains to directorship of Rosneft; Putin draws ex-ministers into presidential circle; bill on greater fines for protestors tentatively approed; Moscow city authorities start turf war with protestors; Poland cautions Russia on NATO’s European defense plans; population growth It has been reported that Prime Minister Medvedev has signed a decree to appoint [...]

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Putin’s Cabinet of Cronies

By Citizen M | Published: May 22, 2012

Vladimir Putin has announced his new Cabinet, stuffed with long-term loyalists.  Igor Shuvalov is second-in-command.  Arkady Dvorkovich is the new deputy prime minister, replacing Igor Sechin.  Vladislav Surkov, Dmitry Kozak, Dmitry Rogozin and Alexander Khloponin all keep their existing positions as deputies.  Here’s a selection of what various sources are saying about the Cabinet of [...]

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Russia to Outgrow EU Economies

By Citizen M | Published: May 22, 2012

Mark Adomanis at Forbes calls out the Economist for repeatedly making news out of Poland’s economic performance, and pulls up some figures indicating that in fact it is Russia that looks to be the star performer this year.  Even by its own estimates, the country is on track to outgrow every European economy in 2012.  [...]

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