Today in Russian Business – August 20, 2009

The Interior Ministry’s $755,900 tender for luxury furniture including a 24-carat gold painted bed has raised outcry among ordinary Russians losing sleep over money worries.  The bond is apparently part of a cost-crunching drive, to save money on hotels when foreign officials come to stay.  Aeroflot has become a Tier One sponsor of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, having signed a $100 million deal with the Black Sea city.  Diamond giant Alrosa will invest $500 million for developing homes, schools, and dams in Angola, where it has two mines.  The Finance Ministry has suggested that its plan to sell $58.5 billion of bonds in the next three years may be hindered by competition between the state and the private sector. Germany’s economy ministry is reportedly prepared to make €4.5 billion in credit available to Magna-Sberbank to bolster its bid for Opel.  Suleiman Kerimov’s Nafta Ko holding has become the main owner of the landmark Voyentorg department store in central Moscow.  Migration officials have reported finding 65 illegal Vietnamese migrants living in a Moscow region forest, having been made redundant by the Cherkizovsky Market closure.