OJSC Mobile Telesystems (MTS) signed a settlement agreement with the authorities of Uzbekistan, thanks to which the company intends to resume activities in the provision of mobile services in the country as part of a joint venture with the participation of the state, the press service of the mobile operator reported on Thursday, July 31.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, spoke in favor of returning the sales tax, while the ministries themselves opposed this initiative, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday, July 31, citing officials participating in the meeting.

Moscow fears that Kyiv intends to destroy evidence that may indicate its involvement in the crash of a Malaysian Boeing 777 plane in the Donetsk region, Russia's permanent representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin said at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday. Churkin’s statement was published on the website of the Russian Permanent Mission. Churkin recalled that the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (No.

The Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District confirmed the legality of the order of Rospotrebnadzor, according to which the State Unitary Enterprise "Moscow Metro" obliged, when returning a Troika card to a passenger, to compensate not only the collateral value of the card, but also to fully return the remaining funds on it, RAPSI reports on Thursday, July 31 .

The Cukurova group of Turkish billionaire Mehmet Karamehmet Alfa Group (No. 1154 in the global ranking of billionaires according to Forbes, fortune - $1.5 billion) has repaid a debt of $1.6 billion to Mikhail Fridman's reports on Thursday, July 31 , Reuters . For this, as expected , the Turkish company attracted financing from the state bank Ziraat Bankasi. Cukurova refused to disclose the terms of this deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the resignation of Altai Territory Governor Alexander Karlin, reported on Thursday, July 31. the Kremlin press service Putin also appointed Karlin as acting head of the region until a new governor takes office. Alexander Karlin was born on October 29, 1951. He took over as governor in August 2005. Karlin is a member of the United Russia party. The elections for the governor of the Altai Territory will take place on a single voting day - September 14.

The European Council on Thursday, July 31, approved a package of sectoral sanctions against Russia, agreed upon at a meeting on July 29, according to a press release published on the European Council website. The decision to impose sanctions will be formally published in the EU's official journal later on Thursday. The sanctions will officially come into force on August 1, according to the press release.

The list of Russians who received state awards in the Kremlin on Thursday included five billionaires from the Forbes ranking, according to the list of awardees published on the Kremlin website. In particular, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov received the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree.

photo ITAR-TASS Winemakers of Crimea sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking to introduce restrictive measures on the import of alcohol from Europe into Russia, ITAR-TASS reports on Thursday, July 31 , which has a copy of this document.

Minister for the Development of Crimea Oleg Savelyev said that the draft federal target program (FTP) for the development of Crimea and Sevastopol provides funding from the federal budget in the amount of 658 billion rubles, Interfax reported on Thursday, July 31 . Of this amount, 247 rubles are planned to be spent on the construction of a crossing across the Kerch Strait.

The sanctions were imposed for a year and can be reviewed after three months Several Russian banks with state participation fell under the new sectoral sanctions of the European Union - Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank and Rosselkhozbank, according to a message published on Thursday, July 31, in the Official Journal of the EU. The sanctions come into force on August 1 and are valid for a year - until July 31, 2015. However, they can be revised after three months, on October 31.

reports on Thursday, July 31 The Central Bank (CB) is ready to provide support to state-owned banks subject to EU sanctions and provide them with liquidity within the framework of existing instruments, ITAR-TASS .

Bailiff Ekaterina Tarmaeva banned the use of 18 trademarks of the Russian media holding "News Media", including Lifenews, based on court decisions to recover amounts from the company in favor of singer Elena Khruleva (Vaenga), singer Valery Meladze (No. 13 in the ranking of Russian stars according to Forbes, income - $7.3 million), actor Sergei Bezrukov reported on Thursday and his wife Irina, RIA Novosti with reference to the available text of the resolution.

photo ITAR-TASS At the end of the year, economic growth will remain positive, but will not reach the level of 2013 The Russian economy performed quite well in the first half of the year, despite the extremely negative external background. According to Rosstat, GDP growth for the first quarter was 0.9%. We lived through the second quarter with growing optimism, which greatly supported the economy and allowed us to achieve growth of another 0.4% compared to the previous quarter.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said that today in Russia there is no political decision on the introduction of taxes and, most likely, new taxes will not be introduced, Interfax reports on Thursday, July 31 .