Russia’s grain-export ban will be allowed to expire on July 1 thanks to optimistic outlooks for this year’s harvest. But with no plans in place to renew it, leading experts speculate that it could play havoc with supplies that are already falling short. Russian banks VTB and Sberbank apparently have their eye on European acquisitions at the moment due to current capital weakness. On the burgeoning gap between rich and poor in St. Petersburg. President Dmitry Medvedev used the G8 as a platform to call for greater Internet freedoms. Following Yandex’s successful float last week, many are wondering whether Russia is on the crest of an international technology wave. Rusnano has launched a new information portal that will serve as Russia’s first online store for nanotechnology products. $24 million worth of Swiss assets belonging to Boris Berezovsky have been frozen over a fraud lawsuit.