.... "In terms of economics, and politics as well, Belarus and the European Union are important partners to each other." In a jab at Russia, Lukashenko also spoke against large-scale privatizations — one of the conditions of a financial bailout package provided by Russia last year. "Those who hope to make hay on Belarussian privatization are wasting their time," he said. Analysts had expected Russian firms to be the main buyers in future privatization deals, but Lukashenko...

... familiar with the situation said. "The total amount of blocked money amounts to several million Swiss francs." The report did not specify when the accounts were frozen. Following its takeover, Bank of Moscow received a $14 billion government bailout loan after VTB said it had discovered a huge black hole in the bank's loan book. "The initiators and organizers of … the seizure of Bank of Moscow are trying to manipulate the judicial systems of states that function on a principle...

... personal fortune estimated by Forbes at $800 million, has connected President Dmitry Medvedev to the takeover and keeps a link to anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny’s blog on his personal website. VTB received a record $14 billion government bailout after its purchase of Bank of Moscow, the country’s fifth-largest bank, because of the bad loans it discovered in the portfolio. Bank of Moscow was set up to help fund the city government by former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov in 1995. Borodin...

... manufacturer by injecting modern, low-cost vehicle technology developed for Renault's Dacia Logan vehicle family. Painstaking progress was complicated further by the economic crisis of the following year, which hammered sales and sparked a Russian government bailout. AvtoVAZ is only now introducing the first new Lada models based on the Renault vehicle platform. While the tentative accord is a "solid step" toward alliance control of AvtoVAZ, "it should by no means be taken for granted that...

... enough for investors to be concerned," Slynko said in a Friday telephone interview. The MICEX stock index has declined almost 16 percent since March 11, while European investors have been kept on the edge of their seats by the daily updates on bailout news for Greece. In a statement Thursday night, O1 Properties said it was canceling the launch of its IPO "due to adverse market conditions." It had planned to raise about $425 million on the London Stock Exchange with a price range...

... true cost to Russian markets and the economy as a whole. Finally, since 2008-2009, the whole complex of state-owned banks, and banks with owners who are friends of the state, has lurched into a swamp of related-party transactions, consolidations and bailouts that are largely impervious to outside analysis. We've all seen this kind of movie before. The creepy music should clue us all in by now — it's called a horror show. Q: Before switching your bets to Putin in July, you said you thought Medvedev...