ISTANBUL — Europe's development bank slashed its 2013 growth forecasts for emerging Europe and North Africa on Friday by almost a full percentage point, saying a sharp slowdown in Russia would drag down the regional economy. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Russia's problems should galvanize the region to pull down barriers to new businesses and investment.

Russia is choosing lead managers for its planned $7 billion bond, the deputy finance minister said on Saturday, adding that there were no details on the timing of the launch. "Some activities took place in view of choosing lead managers, but it hasn't been finalized yet," Sergei Storchak told a news conference on the sidelines of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's annual meeting. More than 20 banks were competing to lead manage the bond, Storchak said.

Cameron, center, with Putin, right, viewing a model of one of the Winter Olympic stadiums in Sochi on Friday. Alexei Nikolsky SOCHI — Britain's security services will renew cooperation with their Russian counterparts for the first time since London suspended such ties after the 2006 killing of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday.

The MT Conferences section did not involve the reporting or the editorial staff of The Moscow Times. Alex Skoblo Partner and Head of CIS Hotel & Hospitality Practice Group Dentons The owner of a property who decides to operate it as a hotel has to make a fundamental business decision early on that can either make or break his burgeoning business: operate under a well-known brand or run the venue as an independently managed property.

The MT Conferences section did not involve the reporting or the editorial staff of The Moscow Times. Alexey Volov General Manager Hotel Best Western Premier MONA In the hotel business it is a far more complicated task to secure consistent guest service — I call this software — than to build and equip a beautiful hotel building (hardware). There are three major reasons for poor or inconsistent service in hotels: 1.

Demonstrators at a January gay rights rally shielding themselves as ketchup is squirted on them. Igor Tabakov The brutal killing of a gay man in the southern city of Volgograd has sparked outrage among Russia's LGBT community, with activists calling authorities "accomplices" in the killing for stigmatizing sexual minorities.

WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency says the Obama administration has discussed declassifying key data on U.S. missile defense to provide it to Russia. The administration has been exploring how to ease Russian concerns that the U.S. missile defense shield is aimed at countering Russia's nuclear arsenal.

A 7-year-old Russian boy told investigators he had shot and killed his 4-year-old brother by accident with their grandfather's rifle on Sunday, law enforcement authorities said. The boy said he and his brother had found the gun under a bed in their grandparents' house in the Siberian town of Bukachacha and were playing with it on the porch while the adults slept, the federal Investigative Committee said.

The MT Conferences section did not involve the reporting or the editorial staff of The Moscow Times. Elena Belashova General Manager Crowne Plaza Moscow World Trade Centre Each year, competition on Moscow's hospitality market continues to increase. Though according to recent surveys, most hotels of similar star ratings are all very much alike with the same cloned services and products. Most hotels do not stand out to guests and are not focused on supporting guests' unclearly obvious needs.

Vladislav Surkov, the one-time gray cardinal of the Kremlin, played a leading role in shaping the current Russian political landscape during President Vladimir Putin's first two terms in office. While Surkov has taken some credit for his behind-the-scenes wizardry, he remains very much a man in the shadows — and he may remain that way after his ouster from the government on Wednesday.

Investigators have detained a police cadet over the shocking killing of the wife and child of a drug control officer in St. Petersburg over the weekend. Investigators classified the killing, which was allegedly committed by Ilya Komarov, 20, a cadet in a college run by the Interior Ministry, as murder, the Investigation Committee's official spokesman Vladimir Markin told RIA Novosti on Monday. Murder charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree waiving the visa requirement for foreign athletes, coaches and other staff attending international sports events in Russia, the Kremlin announced Monday. Athletes are to pour into Russia over the next five years, with next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 football World Cup the two biggest draws.

Alexei Bayer World War II is only a vague recollection in the rest of the world. Three years ago, my wife's cousin, a heroic U.S. fighter pilot and former prisoner of war, was invited to a ceremony in Great Britain marking the 65th anniversary of victory. But most people no longer remember the date of Nazi Germany's surrender. It is as distant as the Napoleonic Wars were in the early 1880s or the U.S. Civil War was in the 1930s.

After marathon meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hinted that Moscow may finally pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave office. "We are not interested in the fate of certain individuals," Lavrov said at a late night news conference last Tuesday.

In early 2005, Gleb Pavlovsky, the Kremlin's top spin doctor at the time, spoke to a small group of political junkies. Standing in for then-presidential deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov, he tried to explain the Kremlin's new strategy to restrict registration for new political parties, introduce party list parliamentary elections and abolish direct elections of governors.