Court Orders Fugitive Russian Property Tycoon’s Arrest in Absentia

A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for fugitive Russian real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky, who is currently living in Israel and has submitted an application for Israeli citizenship. Polonsky, the former head of the Mirax Group construction firm (now renamed Potok), is wanted in connection with the embezzlement of over 5.7 billion rubles ($176.2 million) from private investors in Moscow's Kutuzovskaya Milya residential construction project. Moscow's Tverskoi court also heard Tuesday that Polonsky has been officially put on an international wanted list, the RAPSI legal news service reported.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130813/182737891/Court-Orders-Fugitive-Russian-Property-Tycoons-Arrest-in-Absentia.html

Russian Gunmaker Izhmash Renamed Kalashnikov

Russia's Izhmash arms factory, manufacturer of the legendary Kalashnikov assault rifle, has been renamed the Kalashnikov Concern and will soon integrate several other defense plants into the new holding, the enterprise said Tuesday. “Based on the decision by Rostech state corporation [the controlling shareholder in Izhmash], Izhmash has been renamed the Kalashnikov Concern. A relevant entry was made in the single state registry of corporate entities,” the enterprise said in a statement. The renaming of Izhmash into Kalashnikov Concern is another step towards creating a vertically integrated small arms holding company, a move championed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees Russia’s arms industry.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20130813/182743286/Russian-Gunmaker-Izhmash-Renamed-Kalashnikov-Concern.html

Russian Surgeon Stole Heroin from Patient's Stomach

A surgeon who operated on a drug mule in an East Siberian town stole heroin from his stomach and was detained while high, regional police said Tuesday. Police found a bag containing 5 grams of heroin in the surgeon’s clothes after he had performed surgery on a drug mule in the Bogotol town hospital in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region, regional police said in a statement. A video posted on the police website shows the surgeon – a burly man dressed in a dark blue training suit – being locked in a small detention cell. A woman can be heard asking “what are you being detained for?” and the surgeon says he will not comment without his lawyer. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in jail, the police statement said.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130813/182740811/Russian-Surgeon-Stole-Heroin-From-Drug-Mules-Stomach--Police.html
http://www.rg.ru/2013/08/13/reg-sibfo/hirurg-anons.html (video)

Prosecutors: Navalny Accepts Illegal Foreign Donations

Russian prosecutors said Monday that Moscow mayoral candidate and opposition leader Alexei Navalny has accepted illegal donations from abroad to fund his electoral campaign. The allegations were immediately denied by Navalny, while Yandex.Money, the online electronic payments system used by the Navalny campaign, said that it had not been contacted by prosecutors over the issue. “The information about foreign funding for Navalny’s electoral campaign was confirmed during checks,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in an online statement published Monday. “More than 300 foreign individuals and organizations, and anonymous donors from 46 countries (including the United States, Finland, Britain, Sweden and Canada) from 347 IP addresses have sent money to the electronic fund of Navalny and members of his campaign headquarters,” the statement said. Navalny ridiculed prosecutors in a subsequent blog post, pointing out that a foreign IP address does not mean that a donation was made by a foreign citizen and adding that all donations to his campaign were approved by Moscow’s Election Commission or were returned to the donors.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130812/182718858/Navalnys-Moscow-Mayor-Bid-Took-Illegal-Foreign-Cash---Prosecutors.html

Ex-Wife Sues Russian Billionaire over Hawaii Property

Elena Rybolovleva has sued her estranged husband, Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev, in Hawaii over allegations that he had used a “sham” company to purchase a $20 million Kauai property in contravention of a freeze order issued by the Supreme Court of Switzerland. Last year, Rybolovleva sued Rybolovlev over his $88 million purchase of a penthouse in New York City, maintaining that her husband had purchased the apartment through a shell company, despite the Geneva court’s imposition of a provisional freeze on his shares and assets pending the completion of divorce proceedings. According to a Forbes profile, which listed his net worth as of March 2013 at $9.1 billion, Rybolovlev amassed much of his fortune through his stake in Russian fertilizer producer Uralkali, which he sold in 2006 for $6.5 billion.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130808/268496680.html

US Court Rejects Stolichnaya Trademark Dispute

A US federal appeals court affirmed a lower court’s decision Monday dismissing a lawsuit disputing US-trademark rights to the Stolichnaya vodka brand for lack of standing. The appeal was filed by the government-chartered Russian entity Federal Treasury Enterprise Sojuzplodoimport (FTE) and its licensee OAO Moscow Distillery Cristall (Cristall) (appellants) against SPI Spirits Limited and a long list of “other related individuals and corporations” (appellees). The appellants claimed that the appellees had infringed certain Stolichnaya trademark rights in violation of US law. A lower federal district court dismissed the case for lack of standing to sue. On appeal, the court found that under US law, FTE is neither an assign nor a legal representative of the Russian Federation. In the words of the opinion, “Even accepting, based on the May 2011 letter… that the Russian Federation endorses FTE’s authority to bring this suit and is willing to be bound by this litigation – propositions that we have questioned – plaintiffs cannot… bypass the standing requirement… which permits only ‘registrants’ to bring actions for infringement of registered marks.”

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130807/268482143.html

Obama Cancels Meeting with Putin

President Barack Obama is canceling plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next month. The move is in retribution for Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. But it also reflects growing U.S. frustration with Russia on an array of other issues, including missile defense and human rights. The White House says Obama still attends to plan the Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but has no plans to meet with Putin there one-on-one.

http://world.time.com/2013/08/07/obama-cancels-meetings-with-putin-amid-tensions/
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/president_obama_cancels_plans_putin_H2jPisAVBma2RMojxJz3FP

Obama: Russia Slips Back into Cold War Thinking

President Obama said in an interview that he was frustrated by Russia’s decision to grant Edward Snowden asylum but said the two countries must work together. “I was disappointed,” he said of Russia’s decision. “Even though we don’t have an extradition treaty with them, traditionally, we have tried to respect if there’s a law breaker or alleged law breaker in their country, we evaluate it, and we try to work with them.” Despite this, Obama confirmed he would attend the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg in September. “There are times when they slip back into Cold War thinking and Cold War mentality,” Obama said on air Tuesday evening. “What I continually say to them and to President Putin, that’s the past.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/08/06/obama-frustrated-by-russias-decision-to-grant-snowden-asylum/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/07/us-obama-leno-idUSBRE97600720130807

37 Business Leaders Back Navalny in Moscow Mayoral Race

A group of 37 CEOs and entrepreneurs from Russian internet companies and start-up businesses have announced their backing for opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s bid to become mayor of Moscow in a rare intervention in favor of opposition politics by Russian business. Their support for Navalny at the upcoming election, in which he is aiming to unseat incumbent Sergei Sobyanin, will be logistical, as well as financial, according to a “social contract” signed by the business leaders and published by Navalny on his blog. Russian business has largely avoided backing the opposition since billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed in 2003 and his oil company, Yukos, was broken up. Khodorkovsky remains in prison.

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130807/182625362/37-Business-Leaders-Back-Navalny-in-Moscow-Mayoral-Race.html