The Russian government has renominated a number of key officials to the boards of state companies, including Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin and Kremlin deputy chief of staff Igor Sechin. For the first time in the history of Russia’s mobile communication, its subscriber base has dropped – by 8 million since January. The country’s biggest Internet firm, Yandex, plans to float shares in an IPO on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange later this year. Russian high-tech firm Sitronics will pay $116.9 million to raise its stake in subsidiary Kvazar-Micro to 87%, and intends later to take full ownership of the IT firm. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has built up a 10 to 15% stake in Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan’s largest bank.