Today in Russian Business – September 8, 2009

The Chief Financial Officer of VTB, Nikolai Tsekhomsky, has resigned. He will be replaced by Herbert Moos.  Microsoft claims that the Federal anti-monopoly service’s probe into its activities, which has now closed, found no breach of ant-trust laws in regard to the Windows XP operating system.  The owner of Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin, has argued that the ruble must weaken to help Russia’s exporters.  An article in Bloomberg suggests that the currency will fall 10% by March as the government fails to stem its deficit and continues to prioritize liquidity.  GM is unlikely to sell Opel to Magna because the carmaker is unwilling to give its intellectual property over to Russia, says the head of a pro-business group in Angela Merkel’s party.  Mobile operator Megafon has posted a 4% increase in profit in the first six months of the year.  Gazprom has lambasted the Bank of Moscow and engineering company E4 as ‘irresponsible’ as the state oil company tries to recover more than $300 million in investment.  Russie-sur-mer? – a group of Russia investors are about to hit the South of France.