Welcome to Edward Slavsquat’s weekly Russian media news roundup and open thread-thing. Feel free to share your own URLs in the comments section.
The quote of the week
We have no restrictions on raw materials. From our raw materials it is possible to produce ten times more products than we currently receive in export earnings of crude oil, low-processed metals and chemical raw materials.
The only limitation we face is lack of money. This is a long-term policy of tightening credit, inflating interest rates, and depriving the economy of credit, which is the main way to inject investment into a market economy. That is, from the point of view of supply factors, we have no restrictions on economic growth; we could, based on existing resources, produce 30% of GDP more than we produce today.
— Sergei Glazyev speaking at the 2024 Moscow Economic Forum
And now for some news.
Economy
The number of purchases made by residents of St. Petersburg on online marketplaces in 2023 increased over the year by 54%. [rbc.ru]
Kyrgyzstan has stopped using Russia’s Mir bank card. Mir is currently accepted in Belarus, Abkhazia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Tajikistan, South Ossetia, and Armenia. [quote.ru]
Washington is redoubling efforts to cut Russia off from international payment systems. [vedomosti.ru]
Russia has become the main supplier of grain for Pakistan. In March, Russian companies supplied a record volume of wheat to the country—almost half a million tons, with their share in Pakistani imports reaching 70%. [ria.ru]
The American corporation Intel has sold its largest office in Russia, opened in 2020 in Nizhny Novgorod. [kommersant.ru]
The Runet (Russian internet) economy has grown 3.5 times since 2019, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. [ria.ru]
A ship headed to the US with a cargo of Russian uranium and timber was detained by Germany for violating EU sanctions. [kommersant.ru]
Russia’s trade turnover last year amounted to $710.1 billion. Of this, 51% came from Asian countries, while 23% from European states. [regnum.ru]
Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Romania, Croatia, Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria and South Korea have significantly increased their clothing exports to Russia over the past year; China, Italy, Turkey, Bangladesh and Germany are leading exporters of clothing to Russia in terms of supply. [ria.ru]
Vladimir Putin signed a law that increases fines for spam calls and advertising of predatory loans to 1 million rubles. [vedomosti.ru]
Japan has banned the export of 164 types of goods to Russia, including motor oil and lithium-ion batteries. [ria.ru]
The demand of Russian IT specialists for programs for obtaining residence permits in European countries is rapidly growing: in the first quarter alone, the increase in the number of requests, according to analysts, amounted to 233%. The most popular country was France. [kommersant.ru]
Society
More than 4,000 people have been evacuated due to flooding in Orsk. [regnum.ru]
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country needs to either increase labor productivity or “import labor from abroad”. [kommersant.ru]
Russia should develop “culinary patriotism” to counter Western fast food that has supplanted domestic tea houses, pie shops and other traditional establishments, State Duma Deputy Alexei Govyrin said in a recent interview. [gazeta.ru]
“Interregional inequality” is fueling an outflow of residents from Siberia and the Far East, creating a potential national security risk as the popular becomes increasingly more concentrated in western and central regions, according to a new report published by VEB.RF, Russia’s national economic development institution. [rbc.ru]
The Ministry of Internal Affairs removed all statistics on immigrant crime from its website. The ministry said it was not obliged to publish such information but would share it upon request. [yaplakal.ru]
The person responsible for fire safety at Crocus City Hall became a defendant in a criminal case of negligence initiated by the Investigative Committee. [regnum.ru]
The former head of Moscow’s Kommunarsky police department, Colonel Andrei Turgenev, was arrested by the FSB on suspicion of receiving bribes as part of illegal immigration schemes. [dzen.ru]
Managers of a company accused of supplying low-quality body armor to the Russian military were arrested in Moscow. [tass.ru]
All musical, vocal and choreographic works in Chechnya will have to comply with a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute. The decision was made by Chechnya’s Ministry of Culture with approval from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. [vedomosti.ru]
Ukraine
Russian air defenses shot down more than 40 Ukrainian Armed Forces drones in the Rostov region, according to the region’s head, Vasily Golubev. [ura.news]
Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik said during a briefing that in the first quarter of 2024, the Ukrainian military fired 22 thousand rounds of ammunition at civilian targets in Russian border regions. He said that 201 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year. [kommersant.ru]
12 apartments were damaged in Belgorod after an attack by the UAF. [riamo.ru]
Kiev is prepared to purchase weapons from the West on credit. [topwar.ru]
The Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a kamikaze drone strike on the territory of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, according to the press service of the energy facility. [lenta.ru]
The Russian military says it hit a cement plant in Odessa used by the UAF as a storage site for ammunition. [topwar.ru]
Food, bedding, medicines and other items intended for air defense soldiers were found by a janitor in garbage containers in Belgorod Oblast. Volunteers managed to save 80% of the items and filed a report with law enforcement agencies. [fonar.tv]
Attempts to start “New Istanbul” peace talks have reportedly failed. [katyusha.org]
Gazprom supplies gas to Europe in transit through Ukraine in the amount of 41.3 million cubic meters per day through the Sudzha gas measuring station (GIS), a company representative told reporters on April 7. [tass.ru]
Public Health
The Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) of Russia has received a permanent registration certificate for the anti-Covid drug Mir-19, the agency’s press service told reporters. [tass.ru]
The average life expectancy in Russia in 2023 reached a record 73.5 years, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told lawmakers. [nakanune.ru]
Have a relaxing Sunday,
— Riley
The article about musical tempo enforcement in Chechnya looked like an April Fools joke at first, but seems real. I guess the first part of that beautiful Glinka piece would be forbidden there.
Oh those puppies! Love 'em.
They will be increasing your butcher bill noticeably soon. That's good. we need to support these small butcher shops.