This fall, Russia suddenly had a lot of sanctions risks: we evaluate their probability and danger In the fall of 2020, Russia faced an unexpectedly wide range of sanctions risks, which provide more and more pressure on the ruble and stock market.

Hello! This week our top story is on high-level damage control by the Kremlin after a crude online joke by a Russian official outraged the Serbian government. We also look at how Russia is supporting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as opposition protests enter their second month, and why ex-PM Medvedev is championing Universal Basic Income .

The ban on Tiktok in the USA is beneficial to Instagram in the short term, but this benefit is not worth the risk of “Internet fragmentation”, said the head of the service Adam Moseri. “If the authorities begin to isolate the Internet within the country, we will not be able to work. I think this will become a problem that will block any short -term benefit [for Instagram], ” said Adam Mosseri in an interview with CNBC.

The shares of one of the largest manufacturers of Nikola electric trucks collapsed by 13% and continue to fall. One of the shareholders accused the company of fraud. At the beginning of the week, it became known that the General Motors (GM) concern will receive 11% of the shares of the American manufacturer of Nikola Motors electric loaders for $ 2 billion. On this news, the Nikola stocks went up by 34%.

Almost half of Russians (45.6%) claim that they will never be vaccinated against coronavirus neither Russian nor foreign production, it follows from the survey conducted by the Higher School of Economics. The number of those who are skeptical of the vaccine from the COVID-19 is only growing over the summer. HSE interviewed 9,000 people. They were asked the question: if in the coming months a vaccine from coronavirus appears, whether they will be vaccinated.

In the past three months, 76% of small businesses in Russia and 86% in Moscow have reduced spending on salaries and offices, according to a survey by Raiffeisenbank. A total of 962 business owners or managers from different regions completed the survey. Entrepreneurs from Rostov-on-Don turned out to be record holders in savings (95% of companies). Most often, entrepreneurs cut wages, first of all for themselves (48%), and then for employees (30%).

The American startup PandaDoc spoke about the blocking of accounts in Belarus. Earlier, the leaders of the Minsk office of PandaDoc were arrested. The company attributes this to the fact that the founder of PandaDoc publicly opposed Alexander Lukashenko. Nobody named the reasons for blocking PandaDoc accounts. It is likely related to the criminal case against four PandaDoc employees.

British-Australian mining concern Rio Tinto announced the resignation of chief executive officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two other leaders after the scandal over the destruction of a historic monument in Australia. Jacques will leave his post on March 31, 2021, or when he finds a successor, if earlier. On December 31, 2020, Iron Ore CEO Chris Salisbury and Head of Corporate Relations Simone Niven will leave Rio Tinto.

The American authorities do not intend to extend the deadline for the Chinese video service TikTok, which means that its fate will be decided in the coming days. US President Donald Trump said he would not move the deadline for the sale of the service, set by his decree. “I will not extend their deadline. September 15 and that's all <…> Let's see what happens. The service will either close or be sold,” he told reporters.

The assessment of the economic situation in the country among Russians has returned to the pre-crisis level: 49% assess it as average, 12% as good, follows from a survey by VTsIOM. At the same time, more than a quarter of the respondents called their financial situation bad. The same number of respondents expect further deterioration. In August, when VTsIOM conducted this survey, 34% of respondents called the state of the Russian economy poor.

The chairman of the Moscow City Court, Olga Egorova, filed an application for termination of office on October 23. She headed the court for 20 years. Olga Egorova has headed the Moscow City Court since 1999. She was re-elected three times. The competition for her position was announced in mid-April, but did not take place due to the lack of participants. Egorova herself refused to participate in the competition.

The Polish authorities have launched a relocation program for Belarusian IT companies and Poland Business Harbor specialists. They promise to help with offices, investors, and relocation of relatives, and even on the official website, the application form for companies is titled: "Poland is a safe harbor." Several dozen technology companies from all over Poland have already prepared special job offers for Belarusian specialists, the said Polish government in a statement.

The IPO of the Chinese fintech company Ant Group, which is supposed to be the largest in history, attracts the largest participants: Temasek state fund of Singapore with a portfolio of $ 300 billion is eyeing the investment. According to Reuters, citing its sources, Temasek and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC are considering the possibility of investing in a subsidiary of Alibaba Group. At the end of August it became known that Ant Group filed for an IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The meeting of the current President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko with Vladimir Putin will take place on Monday, September 14, confirmed Dmitry Peskov today. The meeting will take place the day after the massive Sunday protests in Belarus. Lukashenka's visit will be a working visit, it does not involve signing documents or a final press conference. The press will be invited only to the opening speeches of the presidents.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved a draft protocol to amend the Double Taxation Convention with Malta. As in the case of Cyprus, it concerns an increase in the tax on offshore dividends and interest to 15%. The protocol defined a list of exceptions, according to which a preferential rate of 5% is set for institutional investments, as well as for public companies with at least 15% of shares in free float.