Page 112 - RUSRptSept18

propelled by Russia's sanctions on the imports of many Western food products into Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated fortune of $1bn . Norebo controls about 15% of the country's fishing quotas of cod, pollock and herring. Sanctions boosted Norebo's sales on the domestic market, while about 60% of its exports remained intact. Now former deputy head of Russian state fishing agency Goskomrybolovstvo Alexander Tugushev is contesting a 33% stake in Norebo. Previously in August 2017 Tugushev already attempted to sue Orlov and Norebo in the Norwegian court. Tugushev founded the fishing business over 20 years ago together with Orlov and Swedish national Magnus Roth by first importing used Norwegian trawlers to Russia and then establishing Ocean Trawlers fishing holding in Norway. After moving to the state watchdog, Tugushev was convicted for fraud in 2007 and six years in jail. He has tried unsuccessfully to get his 33% stake in Norebo back from Orlov ever since. Orlov claims he bought out Roth's 33% stake in 2016.
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
Russian social media site vKontakte (VK) expanded its privacy functions to give its users more tools to protect them from arrest , the company said on August 13. The Kremlin has been cracking down on online criticism of the government. Vedomosti reports that of 182 criminal cases launched in 2017 for social network posts, 138 were based on VK posts, with another four people prosecuted for posts on Odnoklassniki and 2 for posting on Facebook. The arrests have tarred VK with a reputation for being “too compliant” with the authorities and is now making it harder for them to see what is posted or who posted it. VK Managing Director Andrey Rogozov said the social network had begun implementing new privacy features due to the rise in criminal prosecutions in Russia for reposts and likes. Changes include making photos private by default, allowing only the original poster to see which users had reposted their material, and ultimately leading to the ability for users to make their profile entirely private, BCS Global Markets reports. Rogozov also said that more changes to the social network are in the works. “Ongoing reports about criminal charges for social network posts are likely to lead to changes in features, user behavior, and ultimately law enforcement practice but do not represent a fundamental threat to VK's business, we believe,” BCS GM said in a note.
In a first, Yandex.Video streaming service of could be blocked if it fails to remove links to illegal copies of TV series produced by Gazprom Media holding, communications watchdog Roskomnadzor warned Russian internet major Yandex. This is the first time the large-scale blocking of one of Russia's leading internet players over piracy has been threatened. Russia is the second biggest consumer of digital pirated content in the world with 20.6bn visits to piracy sites in 2017. While Roskomnadzor only plans to shut down specific pages with links to pirated content, the bitter experience of the recent attempt to block messaging app Telegram shows that Yandex.Video risks large-scale disruptions. Initially Gazprom Media sued Yandex in Moscow Court, which ruled to block the pages while the case is being heard. Vedomosti daily reminds that it is not the first time that Yandex has been under fire from content providers that claims that it turns a blind eye to pirated content and allows pirates to earn from its ad revenues. At the same time Yandex also purchases the right for much of the content, such as broadcasting sport events, as well as invests in production of series and feature films. Recently Yandex launched its own online theatre. Content producers demand that Yandex introduces its own internal system of blocking pirated content from its search result, much like its main rival Google, for which the Gazprom Media case could become the first step.
Russia’s Telegram messenger announced it will relax some of its privacy rules in compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), under which the messenger, notorious for its no-compromise
112 RUSSIA Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com