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Obama, Medvedev Will Cut Stockpiles
By Nikolaus von Twickel / The Moscow Times Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev announced substantial progress in crucial nuclear arms talks and on military cooperation after their much-anticipated first summit in the Kremlin on Monday.

Obama Welcomed With a Photo Album
By Alexandra Odynova / The Moscow Times U.S. President Barack Obama may not want to remember his first visit to Russia in 2005, when an airport dispute grounded his plane for three hours. But President Dmitry Medvedev gave him a memento of that visit anyway Monday.

TV and London Offer Gambling Fix
By Anna Malpas / The Moscow Times A week after gambling was banned in Moscow, viewership for televised poker shows is climbing, a London casino is offering to send private jets for big-spending gamblers and gambling addicts are calling a hotline to complain that they can still find places to bet.

EU to Focus On Russia’s WTO Bid
By Natalya Krainova / The Moscow Times Sweden said Monday that Russia’s WTO accession and fighting the economic crisis would be among its priorities with Moscow during its six months at the helm of the European Union presidency.

Medvedev Pardons 16 in ‘Humane’ Gesture
The Moscow Times President Dmitry Medvedev pardoned 16 prison inmates on Monday, bringing to 28 the number of people he has pardoned this year after a dearth of pardons under former President Vladimir Putin.

Business

Rusnano Pledges to Fund Youth Projects
By Nadia Popova / The Moscow Times The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs said Monday that the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation would co-finance four projects proposed by participants at the Seliger youth forum, although Rusnano later warned the young innovators that it was still too early to celebrate.

U.S. Businesses Arrive With Obama
By Maria Antonova / The Moscow Times Deere & Co., PepsiCo and Boeing are among the major U.S. businesses providing the economic backdrop for U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit this week, with executives meeting government officials and talking up their Russian investment plans.

LUKoil Ponders New U.S. Refinery
Combined Reports LUKoil is considering investing in a refinery with ConocoPhillips to process Russian crude on the East Coast of the United States, the Kremlin said Monday in documents prepared for the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Putin Expands Subsidies for Auto Loans
By Anatoly Medetsky / The Moscow Times Prime Minister Vladimir Putin moved Monday to invigorate flagging car sales by ordering that subsidies be made available to people buying more expensive vehicles, including foreign models produced in Russia.

Overdue Bank Debt Hits 4.6%
Bloomberg Overdue bank loans reached 4.6 percent of all lending in May, compared with 4.2 percent a month earlier, according to calculations based on Central Bank data released Monday.

June Inflation Falls to 18-Month Low
By Oleg Nikishenkov / Special to The Moscow Times Inflation fell to an 18-month low in June, even as statistics showed the economy sliding deeper into recession during the last quarter.

Programmer Held in U.S. Trade Secrets Case
Reuters A Russian-born former Goldman Sachs computer programmer accused of stealing secret trading codes from the investment bank was being held in federal custody Monday, pending the posting of $750,000 bail.

Opinion

In Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Trust
In New York in the late 1990s, I met with a prominent correspondent from The New York Times whose ancestors had emigrated from Russia in the early 1900s.

Arts & Ideas

An Insider’s Guide to Moscow for Mr. Obama
By Kevin O'Flynn / The Moscow Times Tourists who choose to go on organized tours to Moscow always regret it in the end. You may lodge in a nice hotel, say a whole floor in the Ritz-Carlton, and get to bring your own chef and bodyguards, but you are still restricted to seeing the city through the tinted windows of your limousine.

Business in Brief

Business in Brief
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Kudrin Exhorts Graduates / Net Capital Inflows in Q2 / Ministry Predicts Less Grain

/ Kangaroo Meat Banned / Currency Reserves Increase / RusHydro Boss Buys Stock / Grain Shipments May Rise

State to Buy Apartments for Less
By Bela Lyauv, Nadezhda Zaitseva / Vedomosti City Hall is now willing to buy 1,587 one-room apartments for 2.8 billion rubles ($89 million), a figure based on a price of 47,250 rubles per square meter, the press office for the city’s property department said.

State Railways to Offer Retail Space in Stations
By Gleb Stolyarov, Igor Tsukanov, Yulia Schmidt / Vedomosti But potential bidders say the lots are either too large or too pricey given the risky market.

The People Want Direct Elections
According to a poll just conducted by the Levada Center, 60 percent of Russians support the return of direct elections for regional governors, while only 20 percent oppose it.

4 Reasons Why Obama Picked My University
U.S. President Barack Obama’s commencement address at the New Economic School, or NES, on Tuesday has been billed as his third major foreign policy address since taking office, after his Prague and Cairo speeches.

Obama Will Not Shake Medvedev’s Free Hand
U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Moscow on Monday on his first official visit to Russia. But despite his determination to “reset” U.S.-Russian relations, Obama will likely fail in the attempt, leaving supporters of both the “realistic” and the “values-based” camps without any cause for celebration.

Business For Business

Unlocking the Value of State-Owned Companies
By Ovanes Oganesian, Analyst / Renaissance Capital
In 2000-2003, on the eve of privatization, when the government sold its remaining shares in Lukoil, when Slavneft was privatized and divided between TNK-BP and Sibneft, UES was set to be restructured in the 4x4 fashion and Surgutneftegaz had published its last IAS accounts with comments that 60 percent of its shares were treasury shares. The share of the state in the total capitalization for the Russian market then stood at its absolute minimum — just above 20 percent.

Luxury Goods Market Prospects
By Viktoria Klimova, Business Development / The Moscow Times

The U.S. retail networks that specialize in selling luxury brands, such as Neiman Marcus and Saks, were the first to become affected by problems on the luxury goods market. In March 2008, they announced the initial reductions in their financial performance following several years of steady growth. There was a real panic at the end of the year — Christmas discounts in luxury goods stores reached as high as 70 percent. These kinds of discounts on luxury goods had been heretofore unknown to the market.

Accounting in Russia. What Foreigners Should Know
By Rainer Stawinoga, Chartered Accountant, Partner / Russia Consulting Russian accountancy was modernized some years ago and at first look seems to be very close to international standards like IFRS. In practice, however, things are very different. This comes from a conception that is different on a basic level and also from the very strong influence from the tax authorities Basically it should be noticed that in Russia the principle “Form over substance” is applicable.

Review of the Russian Oil Stock Market in June
By Natalia Milchakova, Sr. Equity Analyst Oil & Gas / Otkritie FC June saw month-on-month price increases for Urals (+7 percent) and Brent (+5 percent) blends, which climbed to $69 per barrel and $65 per barrel, respectively. Crude prices remain in the range of $65-70 per barrel, a level at which we expect them to remain for the near future.

Oil Still Calls the Shots
By Ivan Bokhmat, Economics and Strategy Analyst, Karen Kostanian, Oil and Gas Analyst / Bank of America Securities - Merrill Lynch Russia & CIS Oil prices, which have rebounded to the level of $70 per barrel from an average of $49 per barrel in the first half of 2009, have once again made us reconsider the assumption that Russia is purely an oil play. Despite the price rise, the country has not been able to show any signs of macroeconomic recovery in 2009. Furthermore, May’s minus 11 percent year-on-year GDP estimate by the Finance Ministry suggests the economy is still on a recessionary slope.

Gas Tariffs and Taxes on Agenda
By Lev Snykov, Senior Analyst / VTB Capital

While we expect a major recovery in gas sector fundamentals in the second half of 2009, there are two regulatory issues on the risk side of the story to be settled in the coming months. First, the government might increase the gas extraction tax next year. Second, we have yet to face the decision on gas tariff hikes in 2010, which might differ from that which was previously approved (increases of 13% in January and 12% in July 2010), capping gas tariff growth amid a weaker economy.

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