Today in Russian Business – Feb 27, 2012

A new Moscow City Hall council has been formed in order to accommodate foreign business, and has appointed the president of the American Chamber of Commerce as one of its members in order to address concerns about PepsiCo and Coca-Cola sales.  Transaero Airlines has set up a third base of operations at the Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, with a long-term aim of transporting 2 million passengers through the airport per year.  Anti-corruption measures by Vladimir Putin will not have any effect without fundamental reform, analysts say: ‘While Putin has an electoral interest in preventing further such scandals — or at least being seen to do so — skeptics doubt he is serious about taking on vested interests with which he is himself closely.’  Severstal plans to invest $1.7 billion in its existing assets this year.  Italy’s Fiat looks set to form a joint venture with Sberbank to produce and sell Jeep-branded vehicles.  On the rise and U.S. expansion of RTP Ventures.  Russia says it will pay the $15 million it owes to Kyrgyzstan for leasing its military bases, following a complaint by the Kyrgyz President that Russia hadn’t paid its lease for four years.  The President also called for the base to be closed, saying that it does nothing but ‘flatter the vanity of Russian generals’.  WTO membership will allow Russia to protect the interests of its businesses, says Vladimir Putin.