MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian...

MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian businessman currently in custody pending trial published on Monday an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev claiming investigators were pressuring him to testify against his business partner. Vladimir Nekrasov, who owns the Arbat Prestige cosmetics chain, was arrested in Moscow last January on tax evasion charges along with Sergei Shnaider, an alleged mafia boss also known as Semyon Mogilevich. Nekrasov wrote that the prison chief and the investigator in charge of his case told him: "Do you want to get out of here, Nekrasov? Testify against Shnaider, and you"ll walk free tomorrow." Nekrasov, 47, has maintained that Shnaider, 62, is not linked to Arbat Prestige, but said in the letter published in Russian media on Monday that he has come under strong pressure to provide false evidence against Shnaider. In particular, he said his custody has been extended several times without a valid reason. In April, the Moscow City Court refused to release Shnaider despite the offer of a $2 million bail payment, equal to the back tax claim against Arbat Prestige. Shnaider has been wanted by a number of countries, including the United States, for more than 15 years for alleged involvement in organized crime and corruption. Believed to control the largest Russian mafia syndicate in the world, he is suspected of being involved in arms dealing, drug trafficking, the sex trade and money laundering. He served two jail terms in the Soviet Union in the 1970s for currency dealing offenses and fraud. Russian prosecutors allege that Shnaider was behind a tax evasion scheme said to have been used by Arbat Prestige. Arbat Prestige was established in 1989 and opened its first retail outlet in 1998. It now has a network of 64 outlets across Russia.

MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti) - The development...

MOSCOW, March 10 (RIA Novosti) - The development of offshore software programming has become a state priority task in Russia. Participants in the Russian IT market believe that the implementation of measures written into the Conception of the IT Market"s Development in the Russian Federation, that was adopted recently, can make Russia the world"s second country on the IT outsourcing market after India and allow it to outpace China. This information was presented in the Supplement to the Kommersant newspaper. At present, India is the indisputable leader on the IT outsourcing market. It accounts for nearly 40% of this market and accumulates over $11 bln in foreign investments. China is slightly ahead of Russia in terms of turnover on the offshore programming market: last year, this segment of the Chinese market amounted to about $1 bln, whereas the turnover of the Russian offshore programming market should reach $994 mln by the end of this year (by the data of the RUSSOFT Association). In the opinion of Nil Vereshchagin, commercial director of the Russian LUXOFT company, "at present, Russia is trying to take a worthy place in the world industry of ordered programming. High skills of Russian specialists and a developed infrastructure in big Russian cities are the main reasons why Western clients choose our companies." According to RUSSOFT"s forecasts, if the Conception"s provisions are fully implemented, in five to six years the Russian export market of IT services will increase to $10 bln, of which offshore software programming will account for more than a third.

MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - United...

MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - United Co. Rusal, the world"s biggest aluminum producer, has filed an appeal against a Guinean court ruling that overturned its deal to buy the Friguia bauxite and alumina complex.