The Moscow Times

In response to "Cyprus, Not WTO, May Modernize Russia," a comment by Daniel Klein on April 25.

On April 3 this year, a draft amending the Civil Code of the Russian Federation — one of the cornerstones of Russia's legal system — was introduced into the State Duma. The draft represented the work of more than 4 years for teams of legislators and lawyers, running to 461 pages, encompassing the most significant revision to civil legislation in a generation, with the introduction of new institutions and rules, as well as amending and updating many existing ones.

Auchan's banking unit and Dutch Credit Europe Group have embarked on establishing a joint bank in Russia to  provide a broader range of services to corporate clients.

Listing just a few of his current jobs, including a board seat at steelmaker MMK and a post at a Moscow restaurant, takes Bernard Sucher about a quarter of an hour.

Russia will confront a persistent protest movement and a steady decline in oil revenues over the coming years.

In June, 500 of Sberbank's top managers will complete an advanced training course developed by INSEAD and the New Economic School. When they finish, another 500 will take their places. The bank foresees that no less than 85 percent of its management will participate in the program.

The governors of the Samara and Leningrad regions resigned Thursday as the Kremlin pushed ahead with a campaign to replace unpopular regional leaders before the first direct gubernatorial elections this fall.

Banks are reporting a sharp increase in ATM skimming, a fraud in which perpetrators steal information from bank cards to make fake cards.

The denial of bonuses to Alfa Bank's investment-banking arm was confirmed Wednesday as the outfit became the second major privately owned investment bank to reveal its suffering in less than a week.

A financial company related to Swedish furniture retailer IKEA said Friday that it was setting up a bank in Russia.

DLA Piper is pleased to announce that Steffen Kaufmann has joined its Moscow office as a partner in the Corporate group.