Today in Russian Business – Feb 1, 2010

Russian businessmen attending the World Economic Forum in Davos commented that Lukoil board member and Sberbank CEO German Gref was ‘very bold‘ to speak openly about ‘the mood of fear gripping the private sector‘ in the years since the state takeover of Yukos.  A ‘crusader‘ of corporate rights is questioning Sberbank’s agreement to refinance $2.25 billion of Rusal’s debt.  Oleg Deripaska has no plans to step down as chief of Rusal, despite losing majority control of the company after its IPO.  He also dismissed concerns about Chinese inflation.  ‘In our developing world we have a different inflation sentiment,‘ he said.  Libya and Russia have signed a $1.8 billion arms deal – ‘not just for small arms,‘ according to Vladimir Putin.  Ernst & Young has ranked Russia very low on its list of globalized economies.