Today in Russian Business – Sept 15, 2011

Trade between Russia and China could hit $70 billion this year, with Vladimir Putin anticipating exponential growth until 2020.  Russian Railways is nearing completion of a tender for four international consortiums to build a high-speed rail link from Moscow to St Petersburg: ‘It’s like polishing an Easter egg.’  The Supreme Court is working to make taxes simpler: ‘The truth in a conflict between a taxpayer and a tax collector is often found in the courts.’  Russia will write off 90% North Korea’s $11 billion debt, putting the remaining 10% towards joint projects.  Lawyer Daniel Rothstein writes on the case of CAIB, a division of the Bank of Austria that ran into trouble with its Russian business and ended up in ten years of litigation.  Russia may swoop to Cyprus’ rescue with a €2.5 billion loan. ‘Favoured by oligarchs because of its low taxes, Cyprus is a popular destination for Russian capital,’ says The Guardian.  On the new laws that will restrict beer sales as of January next year.  JP Morgan anticipates that Sberbank and VTB increasingly will work against each other to win bigger slices of the same pie.  Economic turmoil is good for private banks, at least, says the CEO of UniCredit.  Metals tycoon Vladimir Potanin is calling for a crackdown on corruption.