The Moscow Times

Market Matters: As Conflict Ends, Markets on Road to Recovery
After tumbling to its lowest point in almost two years on Tuesday, Russia's MICEX Index began to slowly claw its way back over the rest of the week, suggesting a possible end to the volatility that has plagued the country's markets since tensions erupted between Russia and Georgia on Aug. 8.

News

Airlines Say Zubkov Decree Favors Transaero
By Max Delany, Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writers The government announced on Monday a temporary suspension of import duties on passenger aircraft of 300 seats or more, drawing fire from airlines that say the measure was designed to help just one carrier.

Putin Backs Medvedev as Next President
By Francesca Mereu, Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writers President Vladimir Putin backs Dmitry Medvedev, his soft-spoken first deputy prime minister, as the next president.

Medvedev Takes Early Lead on City's Streets
By Svetlana Osadchuk, David Nowak / Staff Writers While a senior Russian Orthodox Church official noted on Monday that First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was ""as far as one can judge"" an Orthodox Christian, graphic designer Igor Volkov was more than skeptical.

Lavrov Warns Against Independence for Kosovo
The Associated Press Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians would violate international law and trigger a chain reaction across the region.

Karimov Mends Ties With West
By Shamil Baigin / Reuters Uzbek President Islam Karimov has struck a conciliatory tone with the West ahead of next week's presidential election, vowing to improve relations with the United States and Europe.

Bomb Blamed in Stavropol Bus Blast
By Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writer A bus blast that killed two women and injured 14 others in southern Russia over the weekend was the result of an explosive device, investigators said Monday.

Business

Investors Breathe a Sigh of Relief
By Catrina Stewart, Anna Smolchenko, Miriam Elder / Staff Writers President Vladimir Putin's endorsement of Dmitry Medvedev as his preferred successor sent markets soaring to new records Monday, as investors welcomed the move as a victory for the Kremlin's liberal-leaning faction.

Israel's Hapoalim in Talks to Acquire 75% of SDM-Bank
By David Rosenberg / Bloomberg Bank Hapoalim, Israel's second-biggest lender by assets, is in talks to buy at least 75 percent of Russia's SDM-Bank in a transaction that values the lender at as much as $160 million.

VTB Beats Forecasts as Net Rises 29%
Reuters The country's second-largest bank, VTB, on Monday posted a 28.8 percent rise in net profit for the first nine months of 2007, beating analyst forecasts, and said profit for the full year would grow by 10 percent to 15 percent.

Evraz to Pay $565M For Claymont Steel
By Robin Paxton / Reuters Evraz's second U.S. acquisition represents good value, as it will help garner market share, analysts say.

Between the Lines

Working for A Media Revolution
During Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's time, there was a popular saying among journalists: ""Everywhere you look, life is total crap. But when you pause to think a little, life is not so bad after all.""

Business in Brief
November Inflow $3BlnGazprom Gets Libya PermitZubkov's Pipeline PromiseTNK-BP's $2Bln Pipe DealGAZ to Buy Tractor PlantVTB Acquires Copper StakeSeverstal Has Celtic OfferFord Resumes 2nd ShiftEuropean Chevy Sales UpRBC Raises $187MBlavatnik Into ComstarSmarts Silent on BuyoutTele2 Awarded 14 LicensesFaulty Goods Law AmendedKazakhs' WTO Talks

Medvedev's Oil Curse
The emergence of First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as the long-awaited successor puts to rest ominous speculation about President Vladimir Putin's real intensions.

Lost in Communication
By Nataliya Vasilyeva / Special to The Moscow Times As Russians struggle to get a grasp on vague rules of English small talk, English speakers spend years mastering Russian big talk.

Chef's Secrets: Crayfish in Saffron Stock
Leonard Cernko, from Austria, is chef de cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Big Eats for Real Men
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer The recently opened Grande Bouffe brings together some heavyweight players from Moscow's culinary circles.

Cold War Repeats as Farce
Marx has often been attributed with the famous quote that history repeats itself first as a tragedy and second as a farce. I'm not sure if the 40-year Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States can be called a historical tragedy, but the games Russia's leaders are playing now definitely resemble a farcical repetition of the Cold War.

A Weak Medvedev, a Strong Putin
President Vladimir Putin has picked a weak figure with his decision Monday to back Dmitry Medvedev as the next president -- indicating that Putin intends to wield considerable influence after he steps down next year.

News in Brief
Kerimov Made SenatorInviting Election Observers5 Killed in Plane Crash

Sistema-Hals Posts Net Loss of $78M
Reuters Property developer Sistema-Hals on Monday reported a net loss of $77.6 million for the first nine months of 2007, compared with a net profit of $34.3 million in the same period last year.

BasEl, Strabag, DCH to Partner
Bloomberg Billionaire Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element holding, Austria's Strabag, and Ukraine's DCH Group set up a joint construction venture whose projects will include bridges and roads in Ukraine, Strabag said.

Retail Fuels Investment in the Regions
By Maria Ermakova / Bloomberg Investment in Russian commercial property may rise 20 percent this year as consumption rises on the back of economic growth, fueling demand for shopping malls and warehouses, real estate broker DTZ Holdings said.

Teorema Postpones Its IPO
By Maria Kiselyova / Reuters Teorema Holding, the parent company of real estate developer Teorema, said Monday that it had postponed an initial public offering of shares because of poor market conditions.

When Revamping Khrushchyovki Is Best Option
By Andras Gergely / Reuters Polish hip-hop stars sing about them, Hungarians paint them, Germans show them off in a museum, Russians try to ignore their lack of comfort. Millions still live in communist-designed, prefabricated homes.

Business For Business

Tax Blackmail Through the Use of the Taxpayer's Personal Account Card
By Head of Group of Tax Dispute, Galina Akchurina / FBK-Legal All companies are registered with the tax authorities by means of special cards called taxpayer's personal account cards that keep payment records. They usually contain information about the taxpayer's settlements with the budget and the current tax due.

Taxation of International Transactions: Why Foreigners Keep Overpaying VAT in Russia
By Anton Zykov, head of law practice, Attorney-at-law, Irma Nemshevich / HLB Vneshaudit As a general rule, sales of goods, works and services by Russian companies are subject to value-added tax. However, some cross-border services are exempt from VAT.

Thin Cap -- Still an Issue?
By co-head of Russian tax practice, Partner, Evgeny Timofeev / Salans As most countries do, Russia protects its right to tax in a variety of ways. One of them is designed to fight erosion of the tax base of Russian entities by paying excessive amounts of interest to related parties.

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