By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile, 05/14/2012Despite the government's best efforts, Russian logistics services continue to be slow, bureaucratic and unpredictable, a new World Bank report has found. The quality of Russia's trade and transport related infrastructure is subpar even when compared to infrastructural facilities in other former Soviet states, according to the bank's Logistics Performance Index report published on Friday. Russia not only received declining scores in the survey's “ease of arranging competitively priced shipments to international markets” category, but also ranks low in the ability to track and trace such consignments or confirm whether shipments reach their destination.![]()
Editorial Comment by Russia Profile Staff
05/11/2012Russia Profile brings you some of the best analysis on top stories in Russia today. But there’s always more behind them. Each Friday, our writers provide their own take on the news, offering unique commentary to put events into a different perspective. This week, Dan Peleschuk probes the Russian opposition's changing tactics, and Tai Adelaja explains the Russian government's strategy to contain the Eurozone crisis.![]()
Introduced by Vladimir Frolov
Russia Profile, 05/11/2012Now that Dmitry Medvedev has handed over power to his friend Vladimir Putin and has taken his place at the helm of the Russian government as prime minister, it’s time to take stock of his one-term presidency and his historic legacy. Will he go down in history as a great visionary, or a weak and pretentious leader who provided liberal political cover to perpetuate the personal-cult regime of Vladimir Putin? Has Medvedev been a genuine modernizer or was he simply faking modernization to let the steam out? Was he ever president?![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile, 05/10/2012While Russia's newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin may be facing a myriad of complex issues, ranging from the brain drain to unfavorable demographics, he has, for the time being, zeroed in on fixing the country's broken immigration policy. In one of his sweeping executive orders issued on Monday, Putin said federal and regional authorities must introduce mandatory testing for migrant workers in subjects like the Russian language, Russian history and the basics of Russian legislation. Highly qualified foreign workers will be exempt from the tests, which Putin said must take off by November 2012 at the latest. Putin also instructed the Russian government to prepare draft laws that will toughen punishments for violating Russia’s immigration laws and submit them before December 2012.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile, 05/08/2012Hours after he took the oath of office on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a raft of decrees sure to set him apart from his predecessor and project his image as an active, energetic and business-like leader. Putin, who has promised to continue the modernization and business-friendly policies of former President Dmitry Medvedev, spent the rest of his inauguration day approving an unwieldy list of economic and social policies. Part of the measures decreed by the once-again president would improve the country’s business climate, while others, like wage increases, could punch holes in the budget, analysts say.![]()
By Andrew Roth
Russia Profile, 05/08/2012In the span of one day, Moscow went from the brutality of violent, massive street clashes between young, mostly male protesters and riot police to the pomp and circumstance of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, held in the gilded Kremlin State Palace.![]()
Vladimir Putin was sworn in as Russian president on Monday in a glittering Kremlin ceremony that took place less than 24 hours after protesters opposed to his rule had battled police in downtown Moscow.
“I swear on the power invested in me as president of the Russian Federation to respect and protect the rights and freedom of its citizens,” Putin said, his right hand placed on a red-bound copy of the Russian Constitution.
Russia’s nuclear suitcase was handed over to Putin immediately after his inauguration.![]()
Dmitry Medvedev has outlined the future government\s action program at the State Duma
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By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
05/15/2012Several economists have questioned the Kremlin's new ambitious plan to jumpstart economic growth over the next six years, with most describing it as flawed or fuzzy. In a raft of decrees signed last week, Russia's newly-inaugurated President Vladimir Putin laid out an ambitious plan to attract businesses, promote investment and spur economic growth. But economists who analyzed the president's ambitious economic agenda said Russia has neither the necessary preconditions to stimulate economic growth nor the wherewithal to accelerate productivity – both of which are crucial to the success of Putin’s plan.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
05/14/2012Despite the government's best efforts, Russian logistics services continue to be slow, bureaucratic and unpredictable, a new World Bank report has found. The quality of Russia's trade and transport related infrastructure is subpar even when compared to infrastructural facilities in other former Soviet states, according to the bank's Logistics Performance Index report published on Friday. Russia not only received declining scores in the survey's “ease of arranging competitively priced shipments to international markets” category, but also ranks low in the ability to track and trace such consignments or confirm whether shipments reach their destination.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
05/10/2012While Russia's newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin may be facing a myriad of complex issues, ranging from the brain drain to unfavorable demographics, he has, for the time being, zeroed in on fixing the country's broken immigration policy. In one of his sweeping executive orders issued on Monday, Putin said federal and regional authorities must introduce mandatory testing for migrant workers in subjects like the Russian language, Russian history and the basics of Russian legislation. Highly qualified foreign workers will be exempt from the tests, which Putin said must take off by November 2012 at the latest. Putin also instructed the Russian government to prepare draft laws that will toughen punishments for violating Russia’s immigration laws and submit them before December 2012.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
05/08/2012Hours after he took the oath of office on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a raft of decrees sure to set him apart from his predecessor and project his image as an active, energetic and business-like leader. Putin, who has promised to continue the modernization and business-friendly policies of former President Dmitry Medvedev, spent the rest of his inauguration day approving an unwieldy list of economic and social policies. Part of the measures decreed by the once-again president would improve the country’s business climate, while others, like wage increases, could punch holes in the budget, analysts say.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
05/07/2012Despite the prevailing bleak economic outlook, there is a silver lining for investors willing to brave the odds to do business in Russia, a new report found. Russia continues to shine among the world’s high growth economies, despite a steady stream of bad economic news about the country's investment climate, according to KPMG’s Competitive Alternatives 2012 report released on Saturday. The report, which helps businesses make informed decisions on where their operation will have the best opportunity, found that Russian leaders may have indeed been hard at work to retain current investors while trying to attract new ones.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
05/03/2012With concerns mounting over Russia's budget shortfalls, the government has been trying to maneuver its way out of some extravagant election campaign promises made by President-elect Vladimir Putin. A major part of the government's effort is directed toward slashing entitlements and cutting social spending while increasing spending on defense and defense-related programs. In addition to pumping taxpayer money into the military-industrial complex, about a third of funds allocated to the federal targeted programs this year will be spent on the country's struggling space industry and the development of Siberia and the Far East, according to a priority list prepared by the Economic Development Ministry.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
04/30/2012As workers around the world prepare to celebrate International Workers Day, their Russian peers may be about to lose one of the enduring gains of worker solidarity. The Russian government may gradually abolish a number of job categories deemed hazardous enough to merit retiring early, Health and Social Development Deputy Minister Alexander Safonov said on Friday. Under current Russian labor law, workers engaged in occupations that expose them to health hazards have the right to retire with a full pension at age 50 for women and 55 for men. Russians working as miners, lumberjacks, pilots, cosmonauts, as well as those in a dozen of other professions who are entitled to retire even earlier, could lose the privilege if the new measure is approved, analysts say.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
04/26/2012Russia’s outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev probably never wished to end his term this way. His economic achievements, after four years in office, were minimal, and often had no visible impact in peoples' day-to-day lives. Innovation driven modernization, the cornerstone of his policies, remained largely a pipedream. So was the promised diversification of the country's resource-based economy. Despite his rhetoric around turning Moscow into an international financial center, the city remains at the bottom of the list of the world's financial centers. Even the well-orchestrated war against rampant corruption has, by Medvedev’s own admission, been lost. These damning assessments were part of the conclusion reached last week by a group of economists, who have been dissecting the Russian president’s economic legacy.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
04/24/2012Facing a Pension Fund deficit of more than $50 billion this year, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed bending the rules to invest pension savings in long-term construction projects. Taking such an extraordinary step would prevent retirement payments from "evaporating" and bring in guaranteed yield, Putin told senior Ministry of Economic Development officials on Monday. One of the key issues with the country’s ballooning Pension Fund deficit, Putin said, is lack of sufficient financial instruments for investing pension savings.![]()
By Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile
04/23/2012Ever since being kicked out of office by President Dmitry Medvedev last September, ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has continued to provide the Russian government with a wide range of economic advice for free. In an article published in the journal of Economic Policy on Friday, the former deputy prime minister challenged Russia's incoming government to provide vital solutions to ten key problems, ranging from tax and fiscal reforms to public administration and corruption. Some observers have pointed out, however, that some of Kudrin's latest economic and policy recipes are all about grandstanding that may harm his own chances of joining a new government.![]()
© Russia Profile, 2011