The Political And Economic Results Of November 2013

The top news story of November was the indirect polemical dispute between Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, centered on the RF Investigative Committee’s attempt to restore at least one of its previous established powers – the right of investigators to open tax fraud cases without a request from the tax authorities. So far, Putin has promised to take into account the business community’s views on that matter. However, much depends on whether or not both society and businessmen are able to be outspoken on that matter, because experience has shown that the authorities seldom implement their agreements concluded behind the scenes. Also, November saw a steady rise in anxiety over the numerous challenges that Russia’s financial system is faced with. Thus, a lot of worry was caused by the new losses suffered by Vneshekonombank (which is forced to increasingly abandon its role of a development institution, and to become instead a source of politically-motivated irretrievable loans designed to finance gigantic and wasteful vanity projects), the cancellation of the license of Master Bank, one of Russia’s top 100 banks, etc..