Today in Russian Business – Sept 21, 2011

The IMF has delivered a gloomy prognosis for Russia’s economy, lowering growth estimation in 2011 and 2012 as capital flight continues and oil prices look likely to tumble.  Russia must make fundamental changes to its fiscal and monetary policy or it will fail to maximize its economic potential, an International Monetary Fund official has apparently told Reuters.  Too bad that the Finance Ministry’s budgetary optimism is based on prices of $100 a barrel for Urals crude.  Last weekend’s investment forum in Sochi was less success and more ‘circus’ says an article in the WSJ: ‘This forum is a good reflection of life in our country, with lack of order and respect for people’, commented one disgruntled CEO.   Russia’s loan to Cyprus represents one step forward on Moscow’s path to becoming a major international creditor, says the FT.  High hopes for the transformation of Russia’s Far East into an economic powerhouse have been marred by corruption, says Christan Science Monitor.  Alexei Kozlov, the businessman who gained mass media attention for blogging about his experience of three years behind bars, has won a major victory, as the Supreme Court has ordered that his case be sent back for trial.  Russia’s largest producer of coking coal, Mechel, has reportedly delayed a plan to raise as much as $2 billion selling shares in a mining unit.  The Moscow Times reports that digital investment whizzkid chairman Yury Milner is seeking as much as $60.7 million in a share sale of Mail.Ru.