Today in Russian Business – Dec 13, 2010

The Audit Chamber has apparently discovered that Emergency Situations Ministry officials misused $26 million of federal money over the course of the past three years.  The state of Maryland has opened a trade office in Russia, hoping to improve upon the rather insignificant percentage of US trade which is done with its former Cold War rival (1%).  Truckmaker Kamaz may be looking to acquire a stake in Belarussian rival MAZ.  Why Serbia is hoping that Mikhail Fridman will not gain control of Telekom Srbija, on Bloomberg.  The soon-to-be-introduced U.K. Bribery Act will have a serious effect upon the dealings of British companies on Russian soil, says this article in the Moscow Times (just as IKEA’s founder speaks out on his feelings about bribery scandals surrounding the self-assembly furniture giant’s Russian operations). The Moscow Times reports that VTB has placed the first-ever Russian yuan eurobond, highlighting the attempts by China and Russia to increase bilateral trade in local currencies.