Russia ready to buy IMF bonds worth $10 bn: Putin

October 13th, 2009 BEIJING - Contracts worth $3.5 billion have been signed at a Russian-Chinese business forum here, Russia's deputy prime minister said Tuesday. The bilateral business forum coincided with a visit to China by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

September 12th, 2009 LONDON - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is strongly considering to become President again and swap places with present incumbent Dimitri Medvedev, which will allow the former KGB spy to remain in power till 2024. Putin insisted that swapping places with Medvedev was no more sinister than the Labour leadership agreement in which Gordon Brown took Tony Blair's job.

July 30th, 2009 Russia to run 7.5 pct budget deficit next yearMOSCOW — Russia will next year run a budget deficit equivalent to 7.5 percent of annual economic output, the highest deficit the country can afford, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Russia is facing its biggest economic test in a decade and is this year running a budget deficit of 9.4 percent of gross domestic product — its first deficit in a decade.

July 30th, 2009 Russia to run 7.5 pct deficit in 2010MOSCOW — Russia will next year run a budget deficit equivalent to 7.5 percent of annual economic output, the highest deficit the country can afford without hurting economic stability, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Russia is facing its biggest economic test in a decade and is this year running a budget deficit of 9.4 percent of gross domestic product — its first deficit in a decade.

July 7th, 2009 Putin says Obama meeting went wellMOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says his first meeting with President Barack Obama went "very well." The former Russian president called the two-hour meeting "substantive, informative and collaborative." Putin told reporters he and Obama "covered the issues from previous years" and found "many positives" and "many points in common." Obama also had good things to say about their meeting Tuesday, and said he found Putin's views similar to those of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev. Before heading to Russia, Obama had described Putin as still having a confrontational Cold War mentality, while the younger Medvedev seemed to understand that it was time for a new approach to U.S.-Russia relations.

July 7th, 2009 MOSCOW - US President Barack Obama began his first meeting with Vladimir Putin Tuesday morning at the Russian prime minister's country residence outside Moscow. Obama, on his first visit to Russia since becoming president, held extensive talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Monday, resulting in a framework agreement for a new strategic arms reduction treaty.

June 26th, 2009 LONDON - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently visited a Moscow supermarket and pointed out that the sausages were too expensive. In an impromptu visit to a branch of supermarket chain Perekrestok, Putin expressed his annoyance with the high price of packet of sausages, The Telegraph reports.

June 16th, 2009 Russia may put some reserves in BRIC bondsYEKATERINBURG, Russia — The Kremlin's top economic adviser says Russia may put part of its currency reserves in bonds issued by Brazil, China and India. Arkady Dvorkovich says Russia could make the move if the other three nations reciprocate.

June 12th, 2009 Putin sends 85th birthday wishes to Bush Sr.MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram wishing former U.S. President George H.W.

June 10th, 2009 Russia to sell US Treasuries, eyes IMF bondsMOSCOW — Russia's Central Bank says it plans to cut reserves it holds in U.S. Treasuries and invest in International Monetary Fund bonds instead, a senior official said Wednesday.

June 10th, 2009 Russia might abandon nukes if other countries doMOSCOW — Russian news agencies are quoting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia is willing to abandon nuclear weapons if the United States and all other countries that have them do the same. State-owned RIA Novosti quotes Putin as saying that, "if those who made the atomic bomb and used it are ready to abandon it — like, I hope, other nuclear powers — of course we will welcome and facilitate this process in all ways." Interfax and RIA Novosti reported that Putin made the comments during a meeting Wednesday with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

May 11th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has hinted that he wants to comeback as president of the country in 2012. Putin said there was no decision as yet on whether he or his close ally Dmitry Medevedev, the current president, would run for office when Medvedev's four-year-stint in the job expires.

April 23rd, 2009 MOSCOW - There is outrage in the ruling United Russia party over a new brand of ice cream bearing the name of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The local branch of the party in Lipezk is angry about what it called the lack of political good taste and the profanation of his name, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported Wednesday.

March 31st, 2009 CHENNAI - The city-based bulk drug manufacturer Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals has purchased $12.1 million worth of bonds from the market and is in the process of extinguishing them to save on interest costs. This is the second such purchase in recent times by the company, which March 26 announced it had bought $25.7 million worth of bonds.

January 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia and Ukraine settled their contractual dispute over gas supplies early Monday morning, bringing an end to a week-long embargo on transits to gas-starved Europe. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in a joint televised statement they would sign a new supply contract for 2009 Monday, immediately freeing gas supplies via Ukrainian pipelines to Europe.