photo by RIA Novosti It won’t be easier in the fall, the former finance minister warned The Russian economy is now “in a full-fledged crisis,” said former Finance Minister and head of the Committee of Civil Initiatives Alexei Kudrin at a Sberbank business breakfast at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “Growth may resume by the end of the year, but statistically we will have a fall in GDP this year - this is a crisis,” TASS quotes Kudrin .

A joint venture (JV) of Rosneft, Sberbank and the Italian Pietro Barbaro will buy out shipping assets in Russia - the Prime Shipping group - from the latter, the reported on Friday, June 19. press service of the Russian energy company The relevant documents were signed by the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, and the co-owner of the Pietro Barbaro group, Giovanni Barbaro, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The European Union has filed its counterarguments to the lawsuit of the Russian VTB, which challenges the sanctions imposed against it in the summer of 2014. Kommersant about this The head of VTB, Andrey Kostin, told . “The European Commission has submitted counter-arguments, the legal process is ongoing, and I think it will take more than one month - there are no results yet,” Kostin said.

The head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Sergei Dankvert, said on Friday, June 19, that the agency is not considering the possibility of introducing a ban on the import of chocolate to Russia, RIA Novosti reports . Thus, he clarified the message that appeared on Thursday that the food embargo would extend to chocolate. “Everything was heard in the wrong context.

Greek depositors withdrew more than €1 billion from banks on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing three banking sources. According to one of the agency's interlocutors, there is no panic and no queues at banks. “This is a calm and gradual phase of withdrawing money. This is due to doubts about whether a deal will be concluded with the country's creditors,” he said. The Central Bank of Greece declined to comment.

Moscow will inevitably react to the seizure of Russia’s property and accounts in European countries and is currently working on appropriate response measures, Interfax reported on Friday , citing Deputy Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Vasily Nebenzya. “Whoever starts this must understand that there will be a response,” the deputy minister assured during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2015).

Forbes at the main Russian economic summit The second day of the international economic forum has arrived in St. Petersburg - the main Russian summit, held for the second year in a row in the context of a new “cold war” with the West. The day before, participants discussed problems of economics, politics, media and other key topics on the national and global agenda. Read more in the first part of our online broadcast and Andrey Litvinov’s material “Political Forum” .

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma (No. 33 in the global ranking of billionaires according to Forbes, net worth: $22.7 billion), who founded the Alibaba Group, admitted on Friday that the current moment is favorable for expansion into Russia, the TASS agency reported on Friday . “I think now is the right, good time,” Ma responded to a question about whether the devaluation of the ruble and the decline in the purchasing power of the population had an impact on his expansion plans in Russia.

The US Senate approved amendments to the military budget for the 2016 fiscal year, including military assistance to Ukraine, the reported on Friday, June 19. Associated Press The amendments were supported by 71 senators, 25 were opposed. The initiator of the document was Senator from Ohio, Republican Rob Portman, the publication notes.

Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Station, part of the En+ Group of the Basic Element (Basel) holding Oleg Deripaska received by Forbes , won a competition for the right to acquire 51% of the shares of ERA Group, which manages the Emelyanovo international airport in Krasnoyarsk, follows from a press report -Basel release.

A unilateral US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty could provoke a “cold war,” President Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, June 19. Putin's speech is broadcast on the SPIEF website. “It is not local conflicts, but global decisions that lead to the Cold War. For example, such as the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty,” Putin said.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby threatened additional sanctions against Russia if militias in eastern Ukraine seize new territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, Reuters reported on Friday, June 19. He stressed that American authorities are concerned about new attacks on Ukrainian army positions in the Marinka area and northeast of Mariupol. A department spokesman said that the militia used weapons that were prohibited by the Minsk agreements.

Rosneft and Skyland Petroleum Group (SPG) at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) signed an agreement on the sale by the Russian company of up to 29% participation in Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha, the Rosneft press service reported on Friday, June 19.

The Kremlin considers it short-sighted to discuss possible financial assistance to Greece from Moscow until Athens has made a request for it, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “To consider such an issue, we must first hear some proposals or some initiatives from our Greek partners,” the Interfax agency quotes his words spoken before Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in St. Petersburg within the framework of the St.

The president and main shareholder of Lukoil, billionaire Vagit Alekperov, denied on Friday the assumption of his influence on the state of affairs in the Moscow football club Spartak, the TASS agency reported . “I have no influence on Spartak,” Alekperov said in response to a question about the appointment of Dmitry Alenichev as the team’s head coach.