Today in Russian Business – August 6, 2009

President Medvedev has openly complained about the amount of red tape small businesses have to plough their way through to develop.  Medvedev has suggested that small and medium-sized businesses are key factors in economic modernization.  The President has instructed the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and the Economic Development Ministry to increase their controls over the system for placing state purchases.  The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service may also fine fertilizer manufacturer FosAgro up to $16,000 for not submitting information on its production costs.  Billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element has agreed to build a temporary parking lot in Moskva-City on a site formerly designated for the Russia Tower.  UralChem and Acron have announced they stopped production after potash miners cut off their supplies.  Investment bank UralSib’s profits dropped 38.1% in 2008.  RusAl has begun talks on fourth-quarter sales of aluminum to clients in Japan.  Russia’s economy contracted at the slowest rate this year in July as industrial output stabilized.  Hundreds of workers at Russia’s biggest carmaker Avtovaz have staged protests, demanding that the state nationalize the company after management decided to cut wages as sales plummet.