Today in Russian Business – July 10, 2012

Deputy Finance Minister Tatiana Nesterenko has told the press that should oil prices average at around $100 a barrel, Russia’s federal budget will fall short of $3 billion.  VTB Chairman Andrey Kostin admitted to BBC’s HARDtalk that he agrees with Oleg Deripaska’s assertion that imprisoned Yukos founder Mikhail Khordokovsky has been punished ‘enough’.  The Guardian reports on Mr Deripaska’s high court battle with businessman Michael Cherney, which is shedding some light on the seamy underside of 1990s privatizations.  Nigeria’s supreme court has apparently ordered Deripaska’s RUSAL to have its ownership of the former state-owned Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria revoked.  Armenia’s national airline Armavia will not be buying a second Sukhoi Superjet 100, Russia’s latest aircraft, one of which crashed in Indonesia on a demonstration flight in May.  The Constitutional Court has reportedly concluded that the accession protocol for Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization does not violate the constitution.   According to the Moscow Times, property magnate Sergei Polonsky has become the full owner of real estate group Potok, formerly known as Mirax Group.