US sanctions against a number of Russian citizens may disrupt the concert schedule of singer Justin Timberlake (No. 5 in the ranking of the most expensive concert tours according to American Forbes), writes the Financial Times. Timberlake's concert in Helsinki, scheduled for May 12, is scheduled to take place at the Hartwall Arena, which is owned by Arena Events Oy of businessmen Gennady Timchenko , Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg , who are subject to American sanctions.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has decided to recall Russia's chief military representative to NATO, Colonel General Valery Evnovich, to Moscow for consultations, deputy head of the military department Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Thursday. “We do not see the possibility of continuing military cooperation with NATO as usual.

Russia and Iran have made progress in negotiations on the supply of Iranian oil in exchange for various Russian products; the deal could amount to $15-20 billion, Reuters reported, citing sources. The Russian source said that the parties have not yet agreed on the price of Iranian oil, but the deal is expected to be up to $20 billion and will be paid in several stages with an initial tranche of $6-8 billion. The amount of $20 billion was confirmed by two Iranian government officials .

photo Reuters Russian citizens and companies keep assets worth several hundred billion dollars in Swiss banks. What does the announced deoffshorization course threaten them with? Russian citizens and companies are believed to have hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets in Swiss banks.

photo Corbis What should you pay attention to when receiving bank guarantees? Legal advice Today, no company can receive a state or municipal order without a bank guarantee. Since April 2014, the register of bank guarantees comes into force and the new law “On the Contract System” provides that the state customer may refuse to accept a bank guarantee of a bidder if it is not officially listed in the register.

The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has adjusted its estimate of Russian economic growth in the first quarter to 0.8% due to Rosstat's revision of quarterly GDP dynamics for 2013, Prime reports on Thursday, April 3, with reference to Deputy Minister of Economic Development Andrei Klepach . “Rosstat has greatly revised all previous dynamics for 2013, and this greatly increases the expected results for the first quarter.

Ukrainian billionaire Petro Poroshenko (No. 1307 in the global ranking of billionaires according to Forbes, net worth $1.3 billion), who is running for the presidency of Ukraine in the May 25 elections, called on Germany to boycott Russian gas supplies. Poroshenko expressed his proposal in an interview with the German publication Bild . “A boycott of Russian gas would be a real sanction and would bring Russia to its knees. Germany and Europe can jointly use alternative forms of energy supply.

The Russian sanitary service has imposed a ban on the sale of products from the Omsk cheese plant LLC Trading House Cheese, where employees bathed in a technological bath with milk, the press service of Rospotrebnadzor reported on Thursday, April 3. The turnover of products from this plant has been suspended throughout Russia .

The founder of the social network decided to retain the post of CEO so as not to create “unnecessary risks” for the company The founder of VKontakte, Pavel Durov, who announced his intention to leave the post of general director of the social network on April 1, sent a letter to members of the board of directors on Thursday night, withdrawing his resignation letter. The text of the letter, written in English, is available to Forbes .

On April 2, the US National Aerospace Agency (NASA) announced the suspension of cooperation with Russia on a number of issues “due to Russia’s ongoing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” A statement about this was published on the NASA blog. “At the same time, NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to ensure the safe and uninterrupted operation of the International Space Station,” the statement said.

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has decided not to deprive Russia of the right to participate in the 2014 World Cup, as previously requested by US senators, The Wall Street Journal reports , citing a letter from the association's secretary general Jerome Valcke.

McDonald's Ukraine Ltd. on Thursday suspended operations at all three McDonald's fast food restaurants in Crimea, citing production reasons, according to a statement published Thursday on the company's website. “Due to operational reasons independent of McDonald’s, the activities of the establishments located in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta were temporarily suspended,” the press release says.

The American bank JPMorgan Chase, which the Russian Foreign Ministry accused on April 1 of illegally blocking a money transfer from the Russian embassy in Astana to the Sogaz insurance company, announced its decision to make the payment, Reuters reported on Thursday. This decision was made by JPMorgan after consultations with American regulators, according to the bank’s message.

The founder of VKontakte, Pavel Durov, wrote on his personal page on Thursday that he specifically chose April 1 to publish information about his letter of resignation from the post of general director, in order to “try to hint” that this decision was not final and “was necessary to collect information." Durov also explained why he withdrew his resignation letter. “In recent days, I have been able to learn a lot about what could have happened to VKontakte after my departure.

The State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption recommended that the lower house of parliament adopt in the second reading a bill that would toughen punishment for organizing mass riots, RIA Novosti reported .