By Citizen M | Published: July 27, 2010
Wheat prices are
coming back down as the drought spike stabilizes. Nikolai Petrov is unimpressed with the Kremlin’s new, English-language
ModernRussia website: ‘
the Kremlin’s naive goal of trying to create a positive image using Internet PR is absolutely incompatible with its more important goal — attracting investors to Russia.‘ Most Russians are more interested in political than technical reform, according to
Vedomosti. The current buzz around Sukhoi’s Superjet is largely due to ‘
political deals‘, but these do not constitute enough orders to revive Russia’s aviation industry, says the
Moscow Times. Property developer PIK Group wants to sell $300-500 million of its shares to assist with debt payments, but analysts suggest that the shares will not sell at high prices due to
worries about risk and an oversupplied market. The Moscow Times sees investor caution in
this story about Russia’s $29 billion privatization plan, perhaps thanks to analysts speculating on whether or not the program will actually go ahead.
Reuters adds, ‘
Russia may have an uphill battle to ensure the sales achieve the intended results,‘ and
this FT blog echoes suspicions that the announcement is merely a ‘
PR thing‘. US company Pilgrim’s Pride announces that it has received approval to
resume chicken exports to Russia. The FT explains Yevgeny Chichvarkin’s business woes in detail, with some
broader commentary on the perils that large Russian companies are often beset by.