POLITICS
New papers linked a seaside palace to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
(Moscow Times)
While the government is heralding the scale of its privatization, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov is suggesting that property be confiscated from ineffective owners, beginning with the sites of accidents and terrorist acts: the Raspadskaya mine and Domodedovo Airport.
(Vedomosti, Moscow Times)
The Moscow judge who sentenced ex-Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner to jail in December was pressured and did not even write the verdict he read, the judge's assistant said.
(Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Russia is seeing more billionaires following the financial crisis. Vladimir Lisin earned the most among the country's billionaires last year, retaining his top spot in the latest ranking of the richest Russians by Finance magazine. The number of billionaires surpassed the pre-crisis level for the first time, the magazine said.
(Moscow Times)
The government kicked off its biggest privatization drive since the collapse of the Soviet Union, raising 95.7 billion rubles ($3.26bn) with the sale of 10% in its second-largest state lender VTB.
(Moscow Times, Vedomosti)
Russia's Transportation Ministry will allocate 1.6 trillion rubles ($54.6bn) for the development of Moscow's subway within the next nine years.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Russia’s largest state lender Sberbank doubled bonuses to top managers. As a result, board members in 2010 received more than in 2008.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Nouriel Roubini, a New York University professor of economics, said a new recession could start only if oil prices grow too much.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
New rules supposed to make expatriates' lives easier are to come into force Tuesday, but experts fear that they will actually produce new headaches.
(Moscow Times)
The Federal Security Service said it found artworks by Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt and documents for offshore companies belonging to self-exiled investor Boris Berezovsky in a raid on an illegal gambling operation in Moscow.
(Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Monday fired 25 top engineering service officials responsible for hiring contractors to clear snow from the streets, following poor work to remove snow that resulted in traffic jams unusual for the start of the week.
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Constitutional Court head Valery Zorkin sent a letter to judges explaining his position regarding expert examination of high-profile criminal cases.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
A new Interior Ministry order will simplify registration of cars, allowing motorists to sell and buy cars without having to pursue a double procedure of deregistering and then registering cars replacing their license plates.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Two 19-year-old men died when traveling on the roof of a subway car in Moscow.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moscow Times)
SPORTS
Swedish police suspended the driver’s license of a Swedish Rally driver for speeding on public roads, forcing him to give the wheel to a co-pilot when the rally race started.
(Kommersant)
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