Russia is looking for new allies, expanding ties with traditional partners, relations with whom have been difficult in recent years, and trying to strengthen its position in regions that it considers its sphere of influence. Due to confrontation with the West, worsening relations with Ukraine, and a new round of trade and economic contradictions with Belarus, Moscow is forced to make serious material concessions to its partners.

Maxim Stulov / Vedomosti Corrected version. The original published version can be viewed in the Vedomosti archive (smart version) The already held tender for the right to build and maintain Section 5 of the Central Ring Road has been cancelled following a complaint from Stroygazconsulting, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) reported.

Novatek -Chelyabinsk LLC filed a petition to the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region to declare the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (part of the Mechel Group) bankrupt. As TASS was told in court, the petition was filed on December 11. A claim was also filed to recover 539 million rubles in gas debt from ChMK OJSC. The claims have not yet been accepted for proceedings. As of November 2014, the plant's debt to Novatek-Chelyabinsk LLC for gas amounted to 2.7 billion rubles.

Last week, investors valued limousine and taxi service Uber Technologies at $41 billion. But the good news quickly turned to bad news. On Monday, Uber was banned in Delhi, India, after a female passenger accused the driver of rape. Earlier, the company found itself at the center of several scandals that made many wonder what was going on behind the scenes of the Silicon Valley startup.

According to the Interfax-100 ranking, as of October 1, 2014, nine banks had equity capital in excess of 100 billion rubles, including two banks with foreign capital: Sberbank of Russia, VTB , Gazprombank , Rosselkhozbank , Alfa-Bank , VTB 24 , Bank of Moscow , UniCredit Bank, Rosbank .

M. Stulov / Vedomosti The electronic platform for public procurement "Sberbank-AST" and the German manufacturer of corporate software SAP have created a public procurement service based on the cloud solution SAP Ariba, the companies said in a statement. The partners intend to reduce the procurement cycle from 20-30 days to several hours, uniting about 2 million Russian and foreign companies. The service will be provided free of charge to current clients of Sberbank-AST.

In the Leninsky district of Novosibirsk, unknown persons painted two exhibits of the Glory Monument blue and yellow on the morning of December 12, Interfax reports, citing eyewitnesses. They painted a model of the Katyusha and a T-34 tank. The inscription "Azov" appeared on the memorial stele. The press service of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed this information. "At 8:00 local time, the guard was changed at the monument.

Fewer visitors in cafes and restaurants / E. Egorov / Vedomosti In 2015, 20-25% of all public catering establishments will close in St. Petersburg, predicts Stanislav Stupnikov, head of the retail real estate department at the Best group of companies. According to him, high inflation and competition will have a negative impact on restaurateurs' profitability, which will affect development plans. In 2014, 350 catering establishments opened in St. Petersburg.

Photo gallery / 15 photos

Deputies of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma have cancelled direct elections of the mayors of Yaroslavl and Rybinsk. The bill on changing the system of electing mayors in these cities was supported by 36 people, seven voted against, and three abstained. The adopted law provides for the division of Yaroslavl and Rybinsk into districts with their own budgets.

December 12, 2014, 12:12 / Technology The head of Sony Pictures apologized for jokes about Obama from hacked correspondence Natalya Raibman The chairman of the board of directors of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Amy Pascal, had to make a public apology for statements that she made in private correspondence with Hollywood producer Scott Rudin. According to ABC News, she called her own comments "insensitive" and "inappropriate" and stressed that they do not reflect her true self.

Tim Boyle / Bloomberg Representatives of Abbott in Russia and Veropharm did not respond to Vedomosti's inquiries yesterday. A representative of MKB Capital, which controls Avdeev's assets, declined to comment. American pharmaceutical company Abbott has closed a deal to buy one of the largest Russian pharmaceutical manufacturers, Veropharm, two people close to the participants told Vedomosti.

E.Razumny / Vedomosti On Wednesday, December 10, the board of directors of the American Hearst approved the purchase of a 50% stake in the Russian Fashion Press (publisher of local versions of Cosmopolitan, Esquire, etc.) from the Finnish Sanoma, three sources close to both partners told Vedomosti. Sanoma itself had approved the sale even earlier, they say. The deal, according to Vedomosti's sources, will most likely be signed and announced next week.

December 12, 2014, 02:53 / Finance The ruble may strengthen liquidity constraints with a significant increase in the Central Bank rate The ruble exchange rate has exceeded the equilibrium value by 10-20%, of which 8-10% - due to speculators, and next year will strengthen even at $60 per barrel, says Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina Yulia Orlova Olga Kuvshinova Natalia Biyanova Daniil Zhelobanov John Maynard Keynes warned that “markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain

Olympia Orlova The main part of the reconstruction has been completed at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre. Now this transformable stage is available for festival shows and tours (Katie Mitchell's performance was just performed here as part of the NET festival). The electrotheatre will officially open in January; the current season includes performances by Theodoros Terzopoulos, Romeo Castellucci, and the opera project "Drillers".