Medvedev Warns Governors

President Dmitry Medvedev sent a second warning to regional leaders about wage arrears, saying Thursday that they must use “all means available” to convince factory owners to pay their employees.

“For businesses with income and that aren’t in bankruptcy, you absolutely must seek agreement, use all means available, all powers of persuasion, to get business owners to pay their debts,” Medvedev told Arkhangelsk Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk. (MT)

Hedge Fund Capital Rules

The Federal Service for Financial Markets plans to triple its capital requirements for nonbanking financial institutions, the service’s head, Vladimir Milovidov, said Thursday.

The measure, which would increase the amount of charter capital that hedge funds and other asset management companies are required to have, is currently being prepared by the service, Milovidov said at a Federation Council roundtable.

The state has already raised capital requirements for banks, requiring new institutions to raise 900 million rubles ($29 million) in charter capital before obtaining a license. (MT)

State to Aid Ailing Towns

The government will launch a program to fight unemployment in 20 one-company towns, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said Thursday at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The program will aid businesses that are “still viable” and help unemployed workers find jobs, Zhukov said. (MT)

Mechel Replaces Chairman

Mechel replaced chairman Valentin Proskurnya with board member Alexander Yevtushenko, the company said Thursday in a regulatory filing.

Proskurnya will remain on Mechel’s board, the company said.

At a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, Mechel said it would pay out 5.5 billion rubles ($176 million) in dividends for 2008. Mechel paid 26.4 billion rubles in dividends in 2007. (Bloomberg, MT)

U.S. Poultry Ban Lifted

Russia is lifting a ban on poultry imports from Kentucky, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

Imports will resume immediately, the USDA said. (Bloomberg)

RusAl, RusHydro Sign Deal

RusAl and RusHydro agreed on financing of the Boguchansk power plant in Siberia during the third quarter, the hydropower producer said Thursday in an e-mailed statement.

Aluminium Group, an offshore unit of RusAl, will spend 2.1 billion rubles ($69 million), RusHydro said.

RusHydro said it will invest 1.2 billion rubles. (Bloomberg)

MOL May Lose Field

MOL, Hungary’s largest oil company, may lose the license that its Russian joint venture owns to an oil and gas deposit in western Siberia, Kommersant reported Thursday.

The Federal Subsoil Resources Use Agency may revoke the license to the Zapadno-Malobalykskoye deposit that MOL shares with Russneft because the venture isn’t using 95 percent of the so-called associated gas that is produced when extracting crude oil, the newspaper said. (Bloomberg)