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COUNTRY INSIGHTS

Zoom backs down on ban on Russian State
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 08 Apr 2021

On April 8 Kommersant reported Zoom retracted its policy of not selling to the Russian government. Moscow has urged Russian companies to boycott Zoom in reprisal for the sale. Zoom has therefore revoked the ban.

Russia's Central Bank urges an end to price controls
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 07 Apr 2021

On April 7 the bank chief said that government caps on comestible prices have a delterious effect on the economy. The price limits were introduced in 2020. Market distortion has resulted. Opinion polls show that the Russian Number 1 concern is the cost of living. The government will be loath to r...

Zoom forbids sales to Russian State
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 07 Apr 2021

On April 7 Kommersant reported that the video conferencing platform banned its distributors from selling services to the Russian government and parastatal entities in Russia and some other former Soviet nations. Zoom's partner in Russia is RightConf. Sales licenses have been revoked from state ag...

Russian currency sliding
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 07 Apr 2021

On April 7 the RUB continued to lose value. It has lost 2% of its value since the beginning of the week and trades at 77.7 to the USD. That is its lowest since November 2020.The probable explanation for the RUB's fall is the heating up of the Ukrainian Conflict. This could lead to more Western sa...

Turkmen currency falling drastically
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 06 Apr 2021

On April 3 the Turkmen Manat (TMT) fell precipitously, losing 5% in one day. It is 40 to the USD on the black market. That is 50% lower than in January 2021. The TMT has slid since March 2020. Turkmenistan is heavily dependent on remittances from Turkmens who are guestworkers in other countries. ...

Foreign share of Russia's debt is lowest since 2015
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 06 Apr 2021

Statistics published by the National Settlement Depository on April 6 showed that less than 30% of public debt is foreign owned. Foreign investors have sold their holdings of Russian public debt in 2021 because they fret that a tightening of sanctions might impact them. The reduction of foreigner...

Twitter fined USD 117,000 by Russia
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 05 Apr 2021

On April 12 a court fined the social media giant for not taking down forbidden content. Cases against Facebook and YouTube are ongoing.In January 2021 these companies allowed posts to be published calling on people to demonstrate in favor of Navalny. Roskomnadzor accused those who posted these me...

Russia moves more troops to the border with Ukraine
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 05 Apr 2021

On April 2 the Russian government acknowledged that it has deployed additional forces to Crimea and on Ukraine's eastern border. Moscow maintains that this is not menacing. Ukraine is alarmed by this. The US government has affirmed its unstinting support for Ukraine. There has been an uptick in e...

Turkmenistan's president elected to its senate
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 03 Apr 2021

On March 28 elections were held for the newly created senate. No opposition candidates ran. Berdymukhamedov won 100% of the vote. The whole country voted in 2 hours at only 6 polling stations.

Sugar prices rising in Russia
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 03 Apr 2021

On March 31 Izvestia reported that sugar factories have suspended sales and deliveries to supermarkets as the sugar sector waits for a state subvention. Food prices have gone up 7.7% in the last 12 months. That is the steepest annual rise since 2016. Living standards are at their lowest in 10 yea...

Goldman Sachs thriving in Russia
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 02 Apr 2021

On April 2 Goldman Sachs announced that 2020 was a year of record profit for it in Russia. There were several major corporate deals.Investment banking, global markets and the asset management arm all grew significantly in 2020. The bank made a total profit of USD 9 million in Q1, Q2 and Q3 in 202...

Russian payday loans are dangerously in arrears
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 01 Apr 2021

On April 1 data released by Equifax showed that as of February 2021 some 5.4 million payday loans were behind. That is a huge number in a country of 145 million.USD 2.2 billion is owed to microfinance firms. These very short term loans have exorbitant rates of interest. A third of these loans are...

Italy declares 2 Russian diplomats PNG
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 01 Apr 2021

On March 31 Rome expelled two Russian diplomats whom it assessed to be undeclared intelligence officers. This was because the police arrested an Italian naval commander allegedly in the act of handing over classified intelligence to a Russian military diplomat. Russia has seldom engaged in espion...

Russian venture capital market fell sharply 2020
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 31 Mar 2021

Data from Dsight showed that in 2020 venture capital investment fell from USD 869 million to USD 703 million. This is put down to the pandemic and the search for safer investments. The number of deals was up 14% YoY. There were more startups as well. Q3 and Q4 were much better than Q2 2020.Invest...

China sending more goods via Russia than ever before
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 30 Mar 2021

On March 27 the Financial Times reported that China is increasingly transporting its products to the EU via Russia and Central Asia. This is due to the increased cost of seaborne transport. Over 2 000 freight trains from China crossed Russia in January and February 2021. That is a 100% YoY increa...

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