Word: russia
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...global economic meltdown is flattening Russia. In the first week of February alone, some 72,000 jobs vanished, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov. Some government agencies predict that the number of unemployed may reach 2.8 million by the end of this year, up from 1.5 million at the end of 2008. The ruble has lost a third of its value since last September. Two weeks ago, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach predicted a 2.2% contraction in the economy this year, the first official admission that Russia was facing a recession. (See pictures of Russia's rich aristocracy...
...some analysts buy the government line and argue that the worst may be passed. "Generally, there is hope that Russia can come out of the turbulence a lot faster than the rest of the world," says Richard Hainsworth, CEO of RusRating, a Russian credit ratings agency. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and whilst severe recession-related problems remain, they appear manageable. In the financial sector, a turn-around is beginning to be seen." (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
Hainsworth says that Russia is already through the most difficult period - the run on banks at the end of 2008 - and that "now it looks as if the system has sufficient solvency and capital to deal with overdue loans...
...Khodorkovsky, then Russia's richest man, was arrested in 2003 at a time when he had been funding Kremlin-opposition groups, and had been vocal about his disdain for Putin. The charges for tax evasion and fraud on which he was convicted may have applied to many of Russia's leading businessmen at the time, say critics. "The only difference between [Khodorkovsky] and any other large-scale business at the time was his anti-Kremlin stance," says Tatiana Lokshina, deputy director of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch. "He frequently denounced Putin." Lokshina says that a further conviction...
...Lipman sees the new charges against Khodorkovsky as politically motivated. "The main meaning of this trial is an attempt to demonstrate that they [Russia's rulers] have the capacity to keep Khodorkovsky in jail for many more years...