The Central Bank is spending about $200 million a day buying foreign currency to slow the ruble's best start in at least 19 years, according to estimates by Citigroup, as a stronger currency helps spur record demand for the...

American television channel Comedy Central is set to make its debut in the Russian market in April. American television channel Comedy Central is set to make its debut in the Russian market in April, Kommersant reported Tuesday. The U.S. channel already broadcasts in many European markets...

Russia will create its own central depositary by April after the merger of the country's two main bourses last month, Economy Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said at a government meeting Tuesday. The National Depositary Center, which settles trades on the MICEX exchange...

Organizers of a Feb. 26 opposition rally called "Farewell to Putin's Political Winter" said their application to hold the event on Ploshchad Revolyutsii next to the Kremlin was rejected by City Hall. Organizers of a Feb. 26 opposition rally called "Farewell to Putin's Political Winter" said their application to hold the event on Ploshchad Revolyutsii next to the Kremlin was rejected by City Hall. City officials told organizers Wednesday night that the protest could not be held...

The Central Bank held back from cutting interest rates Friday and again stressed its commitment to fighting inflation that is at a record low, ahead of presidential elections in March. The Central Bank held back from cutting...

The Central Bank is unlikely to cut interest rates in the near term and will find it difficult to meet its 5 percent to 6 percent inflation target in the second half of this year. DAVOS, Switzerland — The Central...

... largest economies and significantly less than the $169 billion for Brazil or the $121 billion for China. What Russia owes this year amounts to less than 3 percent of last year's exports or of the current stock of foreign exchanges reserves held by the Central Bank of Russia. It is almost as if the tables have turned 180 degrees from the world we knew just a decade ago. The point of immediate interest is what can we expect now? Russia, a debt-financed fiscal basket case of the 1990s, is now a poster...

State-controlled telecoms operator Rostelecom might give up its plans to proceed with listing on the London Stock Exchange after a central securities depositary is launched in Russia by 2013. State-controlled telecoms operator Rostelecom might give up its plans to proceed with listing on the London Stock Exchange after a central securities depositary is launched in Russia...

Liberal stalwart Grigory Yavlinsky faces exclusion from the March 4 presidential election after many signatures submitted to register his candidacy were ruled inadmissible by the Central Elections Commission. Liberal stalwart Grigory Yavlinsky faces exclusion from the March 4 presidential election after many signatures submitted to register his candidacy were ruled inadmissible by the Central Elections Commission. Yavlinsky...

Mikhail Shishkhanov is in talks with Georgian businessman Boris Ivanishvili to repurchase the InterContinental and Central Hotels, Vedomosti reported Friday. Mikhail Shishkhanov is in talks with Georgian businessman Boris Ivanishvili to repurchase the InterContinental and Central Hotels, Vedomosti reported Friday. Structures close to Bin Group co-owner Mikail Shishkhanov...

Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky is accusing the Central Elections Commission of being overly harsh in its interpretation of the law when it removed him from the presidential race for having collected too many invalid signatures. Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky is accusing...

... Andrei Vorobyov, suggested that the members of the other parties give up their seats. They ignored his suggestion, although earlier they had said they were ready to do so for the sake of a rerun of the elections. For his part, Churov, chairman of the Central Elections Commission, reproached the parliamentary parties for sending only 269,000 monitors for the elections instead of the 1 million that they had promised. Churov also called the removal of monitors from polling stations a problem that needed...

... the euro, two of these channels of response were closed off. The franc could no longer decline relative to other euro-zone currencies. The interest rate in France — and in all other euro-zone countries — is now determined by the European Central Bank based on demand conditions within the monetary union as a whole. So the only countercyclical policy available to France is fiscal: lower tax revenue and higher spending. While that response implies a higher budget deficit, automatic fiscal...

... Nezavisimaya Gazeta and the third in Vedomosti, Golos official Arkady Lyubarev told Russian and foreign journalists at the Moscow Independent Press Center. By law, presidential campaigning starts for each candidate after they have registered with the Central Elections Commission. But candidates cannot start campaigning in the mass media until Feb. 4. Putin also has been promoting his bid through the All-Russia People's Front movement, which was founded on the basis of his public offices, which amounts...

Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev has published a book of poetry, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on its website. The volume is titled "Someone's Coast" and features poems on life and youth, according to the newspaper. While...

... by New York- based Moody's Investors Service in 2008 to Baa1, the third-lowest investment grade, one level ahead of Brazil and four below China. "Political uncertainty increases the risk of capital flight, which could put greater pressure on the Central Bank of Russia's reserves and the ruble," the ratings company said. "A government under popular pressure may be less inclined to carry out a fiscal adjustment, to reduce the nonoil fiscal deficit towards its pre-crisis target of 4.7...

Bankas Snoras, the failed bank seized by the Lithuanian state in November, allegedly bought securities worth 1.03 billion litai ($380 million) that were later transferred to private Swiss bank accounts of people related to former shareholders, Lithuanian central bank governor Vitas Vasiliauskas said Tuesday in the parliament in Vilnius. Former Snoras owners Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas were arrested on Nov. 24 in London after Lithuanian authorities issued European arrest warrants over claims...

After weeks of haggling, City Hall and the opposition struck a compromise deal early Thursday that would allow tens of thousands of protesters to march in central Moscow on Feb. 4. After weeks of haggling, City Hall and the opposition struck a compromise deal early Thursday that would allow tens of thousands of protesters to march in central Moscow on Feb. 4. But the event might face competition...

... Authorities have launched an investigation into a bank that holds accounts related to anti-government blogger Alexei Navalny, one of the organizers of protests against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin before next month’s presidential election. The Central Bank said the investigation at the midsized Vyatka bank was intended to establish whether it was financially viable, and made no mention of Navalny. But the bank’s owner, Gennady Guselnikov, said inspectors were asking for details of individual...

... progress from an average standard of living and level of development to a more advanced model of growth. What could the authorities do now to make the March 4 election legitimate? At this point, only symbolic gestures are an option, such as firing Central Elections Commission chief Vladimir Churov and his direct reports. Because of its tarnished reputation, any election results the current commission announces will be rejected by many Russians, including some who are actually planning to vote for...