Russia, being a member of the anti-smoking convention of the World Health Organization (WHO), may increase the excise duties on tobacco nearly twofold, which will raise the average price of a pack of cigarettes up to 216 roubles, as compared with the current price of 64 roubles.

Russia-IC brings you a collection of five bills that have shaped the last week's legislative agenda here in Russia.

China lent out more than $ 4 billion to Russia for the purchase of Chinese goods. Being unable to borrow money on the financial markets of the EU and the USA due to the sanctions, the Russian state-owned banks found money in China.

As VKontakte is marking its 8-year anniversary and leadership in the Russian social media ecosystem, Russia-IC looks at the changes the company has been through.

MPs are now fighting to bring Russian capital back home from offshore jurisdictions, to stem the spread of new synthetic drugs and offering a helping hand to sanctions-hit oligarchs.

This time, we have bills sponsored by the Economic Development and Finance ministries and a draft law to help home owners defend themselves against burglars.

Russia may soon put a lid on transactions involving cryptocurrencies, says a new bill drafted by the Finance Ministry, amid a growing trend towards tighter regulation of the new financial phenomenon.

Gazprom is now building a pipeline to fulfill its 30-year contract for the supplies of 38 billion cubic meters of gas that could bring Russia some $400 billion. This project has become known as the Power of Siberia.

Moscow has hosted VTB Capital’s fifth annual RUSSIA CALLING! Investment Forum, attended by over 1,800 guests, including more than 360 international and Russian investors, as well as heads of major Russian companies and government ministries and agencies.

Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s Sistema has lost two thirds of its capitalization in the past weeks, which now totals 124 billion roubles, or some $3 billion. What's next?

Bashneft is heading towards one of the worst crisis in its history, and the outcome of the scandal is impossible to predict.

Foreign policy risks and the situation around the “Sistema” JSFC may trigger the acceleration of capital outflow from Russia.

Russia’s economy will fall by 0.6% next year, the prices will rise by 7.6%, and the annual average dollar rate will make up 40 rubles. This will be possible if oil prices fall to $ 91 per barrel, as it is clear from the final version of the macroeconomic forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development.

Russia-IC looks at the most ridiculous steps suggested by Russian policymakers as a response to Western sanctions, including a ban on iPhone 6.

Experts from the World Bank revised Russian GDP growth forecast from 1.1 to 0.5% and increased inflation expectations for the year down to 8% (the latest forecast of the Central Bank is 7.5%). In the future, the projected growth of the economy in line with the baseline scenario of the international credit organizations will be even lower: 0.3% in 2015 and 0.4% in 2016.

Despite a glooming economic scenario and political pressure by some of the Western countries, this year’s event proved a success.

The government has laid out plans to survive a period of slackening growth in the economy and restrictions imposed by the West.

There’s been a flood of contradictory reports on the joint Arctic project by ExxonMobil and Rosneft, and so Russia-IC has decided to find out what’s really happening to the drilling operations in Russia’s Kara Sea.

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the arrest of one of Russia’s richest men, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the owner of the country’s largest publicly traded holding Sistema. Click here for conspiracy theories.

The Russian Parliament is back from its summer hiatus, with a new menu of exciting bills aimed to 'improve' taxi services, the rental and the media industries.