POLITICS
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's All-Russia People's Front proposes to develop and adopt an entirely new Criminal Code that should be “the fundamental ideological and legal basis for forming a modern penal policy” in Russia. (The Moscow Times, Moscow News)
Russia’s Communist Party has posted its election program on its website. The program, “To return our Motherland that has been stolen from us,” stipulates the renationalization of natural resources, widespread nationalization of industry and combating corruption among the measures aimed at restoring Russia’s superpower status. (Kommersant)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Russia is planning to replace Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of energy giant Gazprom, with Zarubezhneft in a desperate bid to retain the possibility to develop the Azar oil field in Iran's western region of Mehran. (Kommersant)
Russia’s Vneshtorgbank intends to lay off one-third of its employees by 2013 in order to cut expenditures by 20-25 percent. (Kommersant)
Russia’s Trade and Industry Ministry is planning to introduce by 2012-2014 measures to support exports by domestic automakers. The ministry’s officials expect the saturation of the domestic car market by that time. (Vedomosti)
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd, the world's largest accounting and consulting firm, has concluded that Russia has enough hotel facilities to accommodate the participants and viewers at the 2018 World Cup. However, their quality must undergo extensive improvement, experts say. (Vedomosti)
The volume of mergers and takeovers in Russia approached $60 billion in the first nine months of 2011. It is the second best result in the last decade, following the record in 2007.
Russia’s LUKoil company revealed a new strategy for the next decade, which focuses on a steady increase in production. The plan could require annual investment of over $10 billion. (Vedomosti)
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has launched a probe into suspected price fixing by mobile service providers Beeline and MTS on sales of iPhones in Russia.
DEFENSE
The United States has for the first time officially recognized an impasse in missile defense talks with Russia. U.S. President Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, said Washington would never give Moscow legal guarantees that the European missile shield would never be used against Russia. (Kommersant)
WORLD
The Ukrainian security service (SBU) launched a new criminal case against Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday, accusing her of attempting to embezzle $405 million during the 1990s. Kiev says the prosecution of the alleged crimes will continue as long as necessary, regardless of criticism from the West and Russia. (Moscow News, Kommersant)
New Belarusian legislation on the national security bodies makes them literally “omnipotent.” (Moscow News)
SOCIETY
Russian human rights organizations have appealed to President Dmitry Medvedev to abolish military draft and military legal system in the country. (Kommersant, Moscow News)
The majority of Russians believe that the economic situation in the country deteriorated in the past few months. More than half of the Russians are convinced that the second wave of the economic crisis is going to hit the country in the near future. (Kommersant)
Russian weather experts predict an average winter in the country this year. January is expected to be the coldest month. The first snowfall could hit central Russia in the next few days. (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
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