MOSCOW (Reuters) – The sudden political exit of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in a feud with the Kremlin has sent a warning that politics and business still do not mix well in Russia.

It has also set back hopes that the metal tycoon’s entry into politics in June as the head of the small Right Cause party heralded more freedom in Russian politics, and has raised questions over Prokhorov’s future in business.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The sudden political exit of billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in a feud with the Kremlin has sent a warning that politics and business still do not mix well in Russia.

It has also set back hopes that the metal tycoon’s entry into politics in June as the head of the small Right Cause party heralded more freedom in Russian politics, and has raised questions over Prokhorov’s future in business.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will likely return as president next year and appoint a reformist prime minister, Russia-based economists, bankers and businessmen said.

A poll of more than 20 participants in this week’s Reuters Russia Investment Summit also found about half the respondents thought economic growth in Russia will slow next year because of global financial problems.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday he was ready to stay in government in any role after elections to push through economic reforms but declined to be drawn on speculation that he would become prime minister.

Kudrin, 50, is popular with foreign investors for guiding Russia through the global economic crisis of 2008 and is widely seen as a front runner to become prime minister if Vladimir Putin runs in the presidential election in March.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will launch a reform drive next year regardless of who wins parliamentary and presidential elections, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.

He was addressing the concerns of investors who are staying out of Russia until they know who will be running the world’s largest country and biggest oil producer, and want assurances that the next government will embark on reforms.

MOSCOW, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Russia will launch a reform
drive next year regardless of who wins parliamentary and
presidential elections, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on
Tuesday.

He was addressing the concerns of investors who are staying
out of Russia until they know who will be running the world’s
largest country and biggest oil producer, and want assurances
that the next government will embark on reforms.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday he was ready to stay in government in any role after elections to push through economic reforms but declined to be drawn on speculation that he would become prime minister.

Kudrin, 50, is popular with foreign investors for guiding Russia through the global economic crisis of 2008 and is widely seen as a front runner to become prime minister if Vladimir Putin runs in the presidential election in March.

YAROSLAVL, Russia, Sept 8 (Reuters) – President Dmitry
Medvedev demanded a rapid reduction in the number of domestic
airlines on Thursday and said Russia may have to buy foreign
aircraft to improve safety after a plane crash killed 43 people,
including an ice hockey team.

“The government has to take a very tough decision. We cannot
go on like this,” he said as he inspected the wreckage of the
Yak-42 passenger plane which slammed into a river bank near the
city of Yaroslavl on Wednesday.

YAROSLAVL, Russia (Reuters) – Candles flickered beside mounds of red carnations at the stadium of one of Russia’s top ice hockey teams on Thursday after almost the entire team was wiped out in a plane crash that killed 43 people.

Fans and players across the world paid tribute to the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, the day after the Soviet-designed Yak-42 passenger plane slammed into a river bank just outside Yaroslavl, 250 km (150 miles) north of Moscow.

TUNOSHNA, Russia (Reuters) – A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on Wednesday, killing 43 people and plunging the Russian and international sports world into grief.

The Yak-42 aircraft slammed into a river bank near Yaroslavl, home city of the Kontinental Hockey League team Lokomotiv, whose Russian and foreign stars were on board flying to a match in Minsk, Belarus.