Today in Russian Business – March 16, 2012

Sberbank is beginning to raise interest ahead of its planned $6 billion government stake sale.  Sergei Mavrodi, the founder of the MMM pyramid scheme, has been sent to jail for five days for failing to pay a small fine.  Mavrodi says his aim in starting the scheme was ‘a financial apocalypse’.  President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that he may hold open competitions to recruit deputy ministers for the next cabinet.  In an amicable move, the chairman of Mail.ru, Yury Milner, is leaving his post.  In the wake of orders from Vladimir Putin, state-owned power distributor Federal Grid Company (or FSK) says it will not fulfil contracts with companies that fail to disclose their owners.  The wife of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev is suing him over the purchase of an $88 million New York penthouse.