In Belarus, protesters took the day of rest, but Vladimir Putin devoted all day negotiations on the situation with Western leaders The protests against Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus have been going on for the tenth day - and today, it seems, was the most calm day for all the time. Opponents Lukashenko took up political self -organization, forming a coordination council for transferring power.

The main political event of the day in Belarus was the formation of a political body similar to the Council of National Salvation - the Coordinating Council of the Opposition. Incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko immediately accused the council of trying to seize power. What happened On Tuesday, August 18, the Coordinating Council, formed by the opposition headquarters, held its first press conference; it starts working on August 19.

The Russian economy could recover by 95% of its pre-crisis level by the end of August, predicts the British consulting company Oxford Economics using a specially developed index. At the same time, experts urge to treat the indicator with caution, writes RBC.

Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin brought the first oil produced from the new Vostok Oil project to a personal meeting with President Vladimir Putin and called it “the best in the world.” He promised that it would be sold at a large premium to Urals. The oil produced at the 31st well of the West Irkinskoye field, according to Sechin, has “amazing characteristics” - containing only 0.02% sulfur and a density of 0.826 grams per cubic centimeter.

The Moscow City Court removed the arrest from the bonds of the ex-minister of the Open Government, Mikhail Abyzov, RIA Novosti writes with reference to the press service of the court. “The court ruled that the decision of the Presnensky Court of June 23 to extend the period of arrest for property in the form of documentary bonds on the company’s accounts is canceled, the material is sent for consideration to the same court in a different composition,” the court employee told the agency.

"Business youth" is closed. Over 10 years, more than 300,000 people have gone through paid business community programs, creating 16,850 businesses from scratch, according to his website. However, the project itself with an ambiguous image ends its life almost “to zero,” The Bell found out. What happened One of the founders of the "Business of Youth" (BM) Petr Osipov announced the closure of the project on Instagram.

The Norwegian Pension Fund, the world's largest ($1.2 trillion) national wealth fund, announced that it lost $21 billion, or 3.4%, in the first half of the year. The losses will not overshadow the extremely successful 2019, when the fund earned $180 billion. For every Norwegian, about $190 thousand of the fund's funds are accounted for. The fund lost the most (7%) on stocks (70% of the portfolio).

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel talked about the situation in Belarus. The Kremlin said that the conversation took place at the initiative of Merkel. “The situation in Belarus that has developed after the presidential elections has been thoroughly examined. The Russian side emphasized the unacceptability of any attempts to interfere from outside in the internal affairs of the republic, leading to a further escalation of the crisis.

In July, the number of non-purpose consumer loans issued by banks increased by 11% compared to June, the volume - by 10%. The total cost of a loan (TCB) was a record low of 16.1% per annum, experts from the United Credit Bureau (UCB) told Vedomosti. In July, banks issued 1.2 million of these "cash" loans for a total of 409 billion rubles, the OKB calculated. However, experts recorded a decrease in TIC by 0.4% compared with April and May (16.5%), back in January the figure was 16.7%.

Gazprom is selling part of its famous building on Vernadsky Prospekt in Moscow - according to Vedomosti sources, Tverskaya Usadba LLC won the auction, offering 1 billion rubles for the lot. The total footage of the building of the state corporation is 41,163 sq. m, half is for sale - 20,107 sq. m. The lot also included the right to lease a plot of 7000 sq. m. m.

The Liechtenstein prosecutor's office is investigating Georgy Bedzhamov, co-owner of Vneshprombank, and his sister. He is suspected of money laundering: their accounts in local and Swiss banks received $143 million, RBC wrote , citing Liechtenstein intelligence materials.

The July drop in industrial production was formed from the collapse of some industries and the recovery of others According to Rosstat, industrial production fell again in July, and the recession continued. In fact, the overall decline was formed from two trends: a noticeable recovery in industries close to the end consumer, and a failure in the oil industry and investment sectors, writes . Kommersant Industrial production in Russia decreased by 8% yoy in July.

It is not enough to produce a coronavirus vaccine: billions of doses must be packaged, stored and administered to people. At each of these stages, non-obvious bottlenecks will arise - for example, the effectiveness of a vaccine may even depend on the catch of sharks, writes Bloomberg. Ampoules For guaranteed storage of vaccines, glass of increased strength, inertness and chemical resistance is needed, while mass-produced and not too expensive.

Energy Minister Alexander Novak has contracted the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said. This is the sixth member of the Russian government who fell ill with covid. “Unfortunately, Alexander Valentinovich Novak fell ill with the coronavirus,” Mishustin said. He added that Novak flew to Blagoveshchensk and “in fact, flew to Moscow without taking part (in government events. - The Bell). God bless him," the Prime Minister said.

The founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has risen to fourth place in the ranking of the richest people in the world according to Bloomberg : due to the ongoing growth of Tesla shares, his fortune has reached $84.8 billion. On Monday, the company's shares jumped 11%, crossing the threshold of $1,800 per common share. At the same time, Musk's capital increased by almost $7.8 billion.