Today in Russian Business – March 22, 2011

A London-based think tank has ranked Moscow 68th out of 75 in its Global Financial Centers Index, and left it off its list of the 10 centers likely to be most significant in the future. The defense industry is to get a $100 billion boost over the next decade, including a plan to double the production of ballistic missile systems from 2013.  Military captains are ‘licking their chops‘, says the Moscow Times, but spending scandals remain rife.  Sberbank has posted a $6 billion profit, a seven-fold increase on last year.  The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service will investigate a tender thought to be linked to the Foreign Intelligence Service, as the price offered to manage a fleet of cars was disproportionately high (1,000 times more than the cost of the vehicles to be managed).  The Kremlin has put Spanish bonds back on its approved list of investments.  Mobile phone retailer Euroset (or Yevroset) is to proceed with a London IPO, expecting to raise over $1 billion.