Ford has marked the start of a new venture with Sollers to produce Explorer SUVs in Tatarstan. The U.S. carmaker is reportedly confident that sales growth in Russia will continue despite economic turbulence. Norilsk Nickel may borrow as much as $3.5 billion from lenders including Citigroup to finance a planned share buyback this year. Budget airline Avianova, which has been the subject of an acrimonious shareholder dispute between its U.S. and Russian partners, plans to file for bankruptcy. Georgia’s ambassador in Geneva has told the press that Russia, in an unprecedented gesture, has threatened to ignore Tbilisi’s veto on its entry into the World Trade Organization. In a threat to the Kremlin’s plans for economic growth, Russian manufacturing slowed last quarter as foreign demand for the country’s goods weakened. What does London have that Moscow doesn’t as a destination for IPOs, wonders the Moscow Times. ‘Despite the almost farcical nature of his departure, Kudrin’s reputation stands’, says this op-ed, so the Kremlin will find it difficult to locate a worth successor to Russia’s long standing Finance Minister. Russia Profile reports on Russia’s newly installed ‘electronic government.’