Barely a month since sweltering temperatures and rampaging wildfires finally ceased plaguing Moscow, things are starting to heat up again in the Russian capital. Yury Luzhkov, mayor of the city for the past 18 years, and widely regarded as the country’s third most powerful politician, is engaged in a very public spat with President Dmitry… [Read more]
I love January. While most of my colleagues sit around the office complaining about the weather and the extra pounds they’ve put on over the holidays, I sit at my desk staring at the computer screen with a big grin on my face. What’s not to love? In addition to the underlying feelings of rebirth… [Read more]
The economic data from Russia continues to get worse, confirming my view that the country is headed straight for a recession in 2009. The latest comes from state-owned bank VTB, which released its Purchasing Manager’s Index-based GDP indicator on January 7. The reading implied that the Russian economy is already contracting, having collapsed to its… [Read more]