INDIA: A day after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was awarded with Bharat Ratna, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the ailing leader describing him as an eminent statesman and a man of enormous knowledge.

In a message to wish Vajpayee on his 90th birthday, Putin said, "a whole epoch in India's modern history was associated with Vajpayee's name." Vajpayee and Putin were the main architects of the Declaration of Strategic Partnership agreement which the two leaders signed in 2000. The agreement paved the way for annual summit meetings between the two countries.

"At home and abroad, you deservedly enjoy esteem not only as an eminent statesman and political figure who headed government of India for many years but also as a talented poet, a man of enormous knowledge and highest cultural standards," said Putin in his message.

"Your contribution to the development of Russian-Indian cooperation can hardly be overestimated. The declaration of strategic partnership between our countries signed during your term as Prime Minister has elevated bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level and has predetermined their further fruitful development," he added, as he wished Vajpayee good health and long life.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/An-epoch-in-Indias-history-associated-with-Vajpayee-Putin/articleshow/45656314.cms

India’s long-held position as the world’s top diamond polisher is being challenged by soaring output from China, compelling the south Asian country to seek help from ally and top rough diamond supplier Russia to defend its market share.

India has traditionally relied on the middlemen in trading hubs of Antwerp, Tel Aviv and Dubai for its supply of rough diamonds, which mainly come from Russia or Africa. Most of the world’s diamond output is sent to India for cutting and polishing before being retailed around the world.

But China has managed to break the established trade route by getting diamonds directly from African mines in which Chinese companies have a stake. This has boosted the value of China’s net exports of polished diamonds by 72 per cent in the past five years to $8.9 billion.

While India’s exports, supplied by firms such as Asian Star, Gitanjali Gems Ltd and Venus Jewel, rose 49 per cent to $14 billion over that time, shipments have seen a sharp drop this year.

http://www.asianage.com/business/china-threatens-india-s-diamond-market-282

In his annual year end press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is in fact mentally unhinged. For three hours, by turns he demonstrated signs of schizophrenic paranoia, pathological dishonesty, deep seated passive-aggressive tendencies, woeful ignorance of world affairs and economics, and delusional confidence in Russia’s future prospects.

Putin evokes the national self-image of the Russian bear. Putin’s bear is a natural hunter contentedly chasing pigs and boars, but otherwise minding his own business in his own sovereign forest. But somebody wants this bear to have a makeover, and to give up manly boar hunting for meekly picking berries and eating honey. But even that won’t be enough for this bear’s implacable adversaries. No, they want to chain up this proud bear, and remove his teeth and claws. And once he’s been defanged, he’ll be stuffed and put on display by the mantle.

Putin makes clear that as long as he’s in charge, the bear’s going to keep his teeth and claws - otherwise known as nuclear weapons. And if the bear didn’t have nukes, his enemies would take over his forest, with all of its oil and gas. Putin is the only world leader other than Kim Jong-un to so blithely menace the world with nuclear Armageddon.

http://townhall.com/columnists/marknuckols/2014/12/27/putin-is-mentally-unhinged-n1935681

MOSCOW: Vladimir P. Yevtushenkov, not long ago one of Russia's richest men, walked free on December 17 after 92 days under house arrest. He was held by prosecutors on charges of laundering money from the purchase of an oil company in 2009 - charges that President Vladimir Putin ultimately acknowledged could not be substantiated.

By then, the legal case against him had stripped him of his shares of the oil company, Bashneft, and returned them to the property of the state. In a matter of months, his legal odyssey drained as much as 90 percent of Yevtushenkov's fortune, leaving him scrambling to salvage what he could of companies and subsidiaries that trade on the London and New York stock exchanges.

The swift, unexpected and still largely unexplained expropriation of Bashneft is the latest case to highlight the darker corners of the political and economic system that Putin has developed during his 15 years as Russia's paramount leader.

Even as he has wielded the virtually unchallenged power of government and legal bureaucracy to reward a new class of oligarchs, friends and allies from his years in St. Petersburg, he has also used the same instruments to punish those whose political or economic interests fall afoul of the Kremlin's. For each winner in Putin's system, there are inevitably losers.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/loyalty-is-no-guarantee-of-economic-success-in-putins-russia/articleshow/45659090.cms

US internet companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google are currently at odds with the Russian government, which wants the social networks to censor all talks with regards to an opposition rally.

This isn’t the first time the Kremlin is asking major internet players to comply with its wishes, as the Russian government has issued numerous takedown requests over the years. This is, however, one of the few times that the companies involved are not complying with the regime.

Rallies in support of Alexei Navalny, a household name to those opposing Vladimir Putin’s reign, are set for next month with word spreading on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and tens of thousands of people claiming they will attend.

These, obviously, have the authorities worried, and were the target for takedown requests sent to all major players on the Russian internet. After initially complying with the order, Facebook came under public scrutiny and quickly reversed its decision. After getting its lawyers involved, the social network has left all pages and posts uncensored.

http://www.neowin.net/news/google-facebook-and-twitter-battle-russia-over-censorship

The Russian government says it will spend $2.5bn (£1.6bn) bailing out one of its largest lenders, five times what it originally expected to spend, after the plummeting rouble caused its foreign-denominated debts to shoot up.

The bank said on Friday it is planning to inject $2bn in direct aid into Trust Bank, with another $550m in the form of a six-year loan provided to an investor bank that will take control of the lender.

Trust Bank, which is famously advertised by Bruce Willis, is the first major lender to be bailed out by the Russian government.

Although Trust Bank's bailout will be the second-largest ever in Russia, finance minister Anton Siluanov has said it is likely it will need to inject $2bn into VTB, the country's second-largest lender by asset value, and $1.4bn into Gazprombank.

http://www.cityam.com/206231/yippee-ki-yay-russian-government-spends-bailing-out-bruce-willis-favourite-bank

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent remarks at an annual press conference showed that his country will stick to a tough stance in protecting its national interests, in defiance of mounting external political pressure and Western sanctions.

During his 10th year-end press conference, Putin reiterated Russia's hardline foreign policy and the urgent need to restructure the Russian economy.

It is also for sure that Russia will continue steadily intensifying its military strength and national defense to safeguard the country out of the current predicament.

http://www.china.org.cn/world/2014-12/26/content_34418389.htm

BRUSSELS - Dominant figures on the right and left in Berlin have voiced different views on how the EU should handle Russia’s rouble crisis.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, the finance minister from the centre-right CDU party in the grand coalition, showed little sympathy in an interview with the Rheinische Post daily on Christmas eve (24 December).

“Of course, we are concerned about the developments in Russia … But that doesn’t mean we accept that Russia can impose its interests by military means. The annexation of Crimea and Russia’s permanent violation of the ceasefire in Ukraine cannot remain without consequences. I hope every day that Russia will return to co-operation with the West, but until then we are sticking to the sanctions”, Schaeuble said.

Asked what consequences a Russian default could have for Europe, he said only that: “It is up to Moscow to prevent them”.

http://euobserver.com/foreign/127048

Russia's ruble crisis and international sanctions imposed after the Kremlin forcibly annexed Ukraine's Crimea territory earlier this year could push the country into a deep recession in 2015.

The collapse of the ruble - which has halved in value against the dollar, despite a brief rally following a mid-December panic - will mean slimmer profits for Hollywood blockbusters.

Box office overall - set to be close to last year's total of $1.37 billion, according to data collated by Russian trade journal Kinobusiness Today - may be much the same in ruble terms next year, but dollar takings will be in line with the value of the local currency, experts say.

Russian exhibitors, many of whom rent dollar or euro denominated cinemas in the swanky U.S.-style shopping malls that mushroomed during the boom year in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and other major cities, are already pressing to renegotiate contracts in rubles.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russias-economic-crisis-bodes-ill-760389

Trade between the United States and Russia spiked by 7% despite the economic sanctions levied by the US on the country, President Vladimir Putin said.

Both countries were surprised by the trade stats. Data from the US Commerce Department show that US exports to Russia increased by 1% in 2014. However, imports from Russia are down 13%, The Washington Post reported.

"When I looked at the statistic today .?.?. [it] even surprised me a little," Putin told Interfax, the Russian news agency.

The report does come as a surprise because Western sanctions against Russia have been tight and that has strained relationship between the two countries.

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/us-russia-trade-improves-despite-sanctions-618439