Page 91 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Russia Dec17

Twitter has agreed to store the personal data of Russian nationals on servers located within Russia in order to comply with a data security law, a state agency has claimed. The San Francisco-based social media company sent a letter expressing its “readiness to localise databases on the territory of Russia by the middle of 2018”, the Russian state communications oversight agency told Izvestia newspaper. The 2015 data security law requires companies to store Russians' “personal data” in Russia, ostensibly to reduce dependence on foreign technology.
Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom announced that it will inject RUB6bn ($100mn) in a corporate venture fund , East-West Digital News reported on October 30 citing the announcement of the company. The announcement follows President Vladimir Putin’s call on Russia’s largest corporations, including Rosatom, “to create subdivisions that will work closely with startups and small innovative companies, as well as venture funds, to finance such projects.”
Russia’s state-controlled development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) announced that it has signed an agreement with the Export–Import Bank of China (China EximBank) for an “up to $3bn” credit line, E ast-West Digital News reported on November 7. As a part of the ongoing pivot to the East, this past summer several Russian state-owned funds and banks, including VEB, signed agreements with Chinese counterparts to support Russian projects for the combined amounts of over $12bn.
9.1.7 Tourism sector news
The number of Russians holidaying abroad has recovered and has almost passed its pre-crisis peak. In January-June 17.1mn Russian tourists went abroad, up by 30% year-on-year, Rosstat reported on November 8. Russian outbound tourist trips peaked at 42.9mn in 2014, before dropping by 19% and 9% y/y in 2015 and 2016 due to ruble devaluation, geopolitical turmoil, and closure of main destinations of Egypt and Turkey. Turkey is regaining its status of Russia’s most popular destination with 4.1mn tourists having already visited it this year, or almost 25% of total flow, according to another report by Interfax. The largest tour operators surveyed by Vedomosti said that Turkey accounted for two thirds of all tour sales this year. Following Turkey are Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and Spain, as well as Montenegro and Croatia.
9.1.8 Transport sector news
Moscow will build a new underground system that will be developed by Russian Railways (RZD) , President Vladimir Putin said on November 16 . Russia’s capital has been looking for a way to improve its mass transport systems to alleviate the pressure on the car-clogged roads. The Moscow metro is already one of the largest and most heavily used in the world and has little capacity for expansion. The alternative has been to look at the “Elektrichka” local overground trains that serve the surrounding region, but run into the heart of the city. "With Russian Railways, we came up with a scheme that would connect disparate pieces of suburban railways and create through diameters," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said presenting the plan to Putin. The new system may run up to 50km of new track and carry 42mn people, Sobyanin
91 RUSSIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com