Page 18 - bne IntelliNews Russia Country report May 2017

year) intends to visit Moscow on 17 May. The stream of discussions with G7 leaders represents a marked picked up in the intensity of the dialogue ahead of the G7 Summit on 26-27 May in Taormina, Italy.
Some 20,000 to 60,000 Muscovites protested against housing demolitions in Moscow in a program initiated by the Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, to demolish Soviet-era homes. The turnout was much higher than anticipated. First, the development program, which is expected to affect nearly 13% of Moscow’s population, will entail the demolition of Khrushchev-era buildings and the construction of new ones; however, it is likely to be seriously amended or even stopped. This would have negative consequences for the construction sector and, subsequently, for growth. Second, the active protests may influence the cabinet to reinforce its already passive approach and take a wait-and-see stance about the current economic situation, thus postponing reforms.
Foreign policy remained prominent in the first week of May, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visiting Washington , where he had a ‘very, very good’ meeting with US President Donald Trump. The intention to cooperate in Syria was reaffirmed. President Vladimir Putin gave an impromptu interview to CBS, saying that the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey would not impact US-Russia relations. CPI printed at a fresh historical low of +4.1% YoY in April, on track to move below the CBR’s 4% target in the coming months. Otherwise, Russia voiced objections to the EBRD’s freeze of lending since 2014, the President requested that the government and the CBR ease, or remove entirely, the procedural hurdles for exports which have been in place since the 1990s currency controls era, while adjustments to the state’s procurement practices might be delayed by half a year.
EU Council President Tusk ‘not sure’ that EU and US have a ‘common position’ about Russia. In comments after US President Donald Trump’s visit to Brussels for the NATO summit, EU Council President Donald Tusk said that he was “not sure that we can say 100% today that we have a common position, common opinion about Russia.” In related headlines, the US President’s national economic advisor, Gary Cohn, confirmed that sanctions on Russia were a prominent topic at the NATO Summit, but that Trump had so far not taken a position either way. Meanwhile, the President’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, came under FBI scrutiny as part of the Russia investigation. His lawyer said that Kushner would co-operate with any inquiry.
18 RUSSIA Country Report May 2017 www.intellinews.com