Today in Russian Business – July 25, 2008

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has reportedly compared the country’s inflation problem with nuclear war. Read more on what Hermitage Capital is calling a $230 million tax fraud in the FT and Telegraph. Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group has launched a new exploration company, Intergeo, and plans to invest $10 billion in the next five years in various mining projects. Dmitry Medvedev wants to develop measures to attract “scientific personnel” to Russia. Rostelecom, Russia’s biggest long-distance telephone company, may list its shares in London – instead of New York as originally planned. Russia’s first open-pit gold mine has opened for production in Kolyma. First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov has called for more innovative agricultural techniques and said that farm workers are not paid enough.