Today in Russian Business – May 13, 2010

President Medvedev is reportedly hoping that bilateral trade turnover between Russia and Turkey will reach $100 billion a year within several years.  Sugar company Rusagro has postponed its IPO, due to ‘recent market volatility’.  The Russian State Duma lower parliament house has rejected a controversial luxury tax bill.  Sales of new cars in Russia are on the up for the first time since the crisis began.  Oleg Deripaska has been questioned by a Spanish Judge over a $5.5 million international laundering scheme which he has been alleged to be connected with.  Brokering business deals between Russian oligarchs can be a lucrative activity, this article implies.  Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko’s Russian Standard Corp. is, according to Bloomberg, in talks to buy Ukrainian vodka producer Nemiroff.  Risk-management adviser Maplecroft has stated that the developing nations with the fastest-growing economies such as Russia and Nigeria are also the most ‘hazardous’ for business investment.  First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has denied plans for capital controls.  Wal-Mart is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire Russian retailer Lenta.  The idea behind a softer foreign policy approach, as outlined in the leaked foreign policy paper published in Russian BusinessWeek, is to attract greater foreign investment to Russia, the Moscow Times suggests.