Today in Russian Business – July 15, 2011

Medvedev’s privatization drive has echoes of the policies of Boris Yeltsin –  but will it help him to gain a second term as President? wonders the FT.  The recent spate of transport disasters has seen the President take a firm stand on grounding Soviet-era aircraft, but, says this article, provided little in the way of plan for developing alternative methods.  The Moscow Times has a Q and A with Viktor Semyonov, former head of Belaya Dacha, a greenhouse farming company that set up a partnership with Macdonalds, on the path from business to politics.  According to Reuters, Oesterreichische Volksbanken has agreed to sell its eastern European arm VBI to lender Sberbank which hopes to use the acquisition as a springboard to expansion into Europe. Russia’s largest iron ore and steel producer Metalloinvest has raised $750 million via a five-year Eurobond.  The forecast for the domestic grain harvest continues to grow.