Russia seeks funding for Putin’s ‘genetic database’

June 25, 2021

Earlier this month  Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a series of orders to determine the needed funds and sources for Russia’s national genetic database program. The move followed a visit to the  Kurchatov Institute — a secretive research organization headed by President Putin’s close ally Mikhail Kovalchuk — which is leading Russia’s genetic research program. Putin, who has sought to transform Russia into a world leader in genetic …

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Russian oligarch Deripaska blasts Bank of Russia for ignoring Bitcoin

June 19, 2021

Russian industrial tycoon Oleg Deripaska is the latest figure to criticize the Bank of Russia’s stance on cryptocurrency regulation in the country. Deripaska took to his official Telegram channel on Thursday to blast the Russian central bank for pressuring the crypto industry to avoid getting involved into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The Russian oligarch pointed out …

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Why Russian programmers are among the best in the world

July 26, 2025

Students from Russia regularly win international informatics olympiads. Many Russian programmers work for IT companies all over the world, creating popular software, online games and mobile apps.  Examples of the world’s most popular Russian-made programs are uncomplicated video game Tetris, designed by Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov, with more than 500 million downloads in 2020; Pavel Durov’s messaging service Telegram, used …

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Moscow-based TalkBank raises $3 million to develop “bank in messengers”

June 18, 2021

A Russian neobank called TalkBank has neither physical branches, nor call centers, nor even a mobile app. Its principle consists in offering “a bank in messengers,” i.e. Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp or Viber. “Digital financial assistance” is provided by a smart bot that “understands banking commands in natural language.”  Thus customers will be able to better plan their budget and …

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VTB Capital invests $75 million in Russian carsharing major Delimobil

August 30, 2021

VTB-Capital, a division of the state bank VTB, is in the process of acquiring a 15% stake in the Delimobil car-sharing service. A memorandum of cooperation was signed at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in early June by Yuri Soloviev, First Deputy President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board, and Vincenzo Trani, founder …

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Tinkoff offers virtual phone secretary to all Russian mobile phone users

June 19, 2021

In early June Tinkoff, the Russian digital banking giant, announced the beta version of its free voice assistant ‘Oleg,’ making it available to all mobile users in Russia. ‘Oleg’ is also unique in the world in that “it can be easily activated both in the Tinkoff super app and via popular messengers such as Telegram …

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Otto Group’s myToys shuts downs in Russia after 10 years of activity

June 28, 2021

myToys, an online retailer of children’s goods owned by Otto Group, ceased its activity earlier this month in Russia after more than 10 years of operations on the market.  In recent years, myToys.ru was among Russia’s leading e-commerce sites in its category.  However, according to official data cited by Retailer.ru, the site’s net loss jumped from 34.8 million rubles in 2019 (around …

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BestDoctor.ru attracts $26 million from major Russian, Austrian and Swedish investors

June 17, 2021

In late May Russian insuretech leader BestDoctor closed a $26 million round with an impressive investor consortium. The money was brought in by Winter Capital, a Moscow-based international fund backed, in particular, by billionaire Vladimir Potanin; UNIQA Ventures, which is affiliated to a major Austrian insurance group owned by Raiffeisenbank; and VNV Global, a major …

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High tech reverberations from the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

June 19, 2021

A notable part of this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) was dedicated to IT and digital transformation as well as the state’s role in these fields (see the forum’s topical sessions and its special Innovation Space). This major event took place on June 3-4, gathering much of the country’s political and business elite and some foreign …

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Auchan plans to spend more than $277 million on developing digital service in Russia

June 16, 2021

French retailer Auchan plans to spend more than 20 billion roubles ($277 million) on developing digital services in Russia by 2024 to boost online sales, the company’s country head said. Auchan has faced increased competition from fast-expanding Russian retailers and online delivery firms, including Magnit (MGNT.MM) and Lenta .  Auchan, which started to expand its online delivery …

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Russian travel segment is recovering fast from the pandemic

August 10, 2021

According to Aviasales.ru, Russian travellers booked 15% more tickets through its air ticket online booking platform for this May holiday season than in the same period of pre-covid year 2019.  The company also notes that 95% of the tickets were sold for domestic routes vs. 75% before the pandemic. The most popular international destinations this year were Turkey, …

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