Russia
Head of State
Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev became president on 7 May 2008, replacing Vladmir Putin whose term in office had expired. Before entering politics, he worked as a legal expert and a lawyer. He was officially endorsed as a candidate for the presidency on 17 December 2007 by Russia’s largest political party United Russia, and by then Putin as well. He served as deputy prime minister of Russia from 2005 to 2008.He was born in Leningrad - now St. Petersburg, on 14 September 1965. He earned a degree in law in 1987 and a PhD in private law in 1990 from Leningrad State University. He is married to Svetlana Medvedeva
Source: www.g20.utoronto.ca
Latest
3/04/2009
KP, a daily newspaper, headlines that G20 will end liberal capitalism, and lists main decisions taken yesterday. The newspaper credits the organisers of the Summit for choice of good location (ExCel) and the police work that prevented disorder, which was easier given that protesters were tired.31/03/2009
Kommersant – citing a briefing with Presidential aide Arkady – says Russia will no longer insist on its idea for the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights to be used a reserve currency or on an energy security dialogue at the London Summit. However Russia will continue to pursue proposals on financial market regulation and harmonisation of macroeconomic policies of G20.
30/03/2009
Radio Rossii radiostation quotes Presidential Aid Arkady Dvorkovich saying that a final communique to be accepted by the London Summit will address important topics highlighted by Russia: reforming the financial system; initiating discussion about a new financial system; reforming, and additional financing for, the International Monetary Fund.
Interfax newsagency reported the World Bank's position on new world currency debate: the Bank had said the decision should be taken by markets, not countries. The head of the World Bank's Moscow office said more than 10 years would be necessary to introduce a new international currency – not a topic for the near future given that markets need stability during a crisis.
Vedomosti daily compiles various facts about, and quotes on, the London Summit preparation, such as Dvorkovich's forecast – also reported by RIA Novosti newsagency - that no new world currency will spring from the Summit.
Izvestia daily reports that Russia will join the Financial Stability Forum.
27/03/2009
Vedomosti daily carries a column from the Financial Times, which argues that – whilst the summit is not the place for agreeing on specific trade policies – the language in the communiqué will send very important verbal signals which will act as barriers to countries ability to implement protectionist measures.
Gazeta daily covers Russia's call to convene an international conference on a new global reserve currency after the London Summit and the UN conference in June. A similar innovation would be regional reserve currencies - Russia and China back both ideas, it says.
Argymenti i Fakty, a weekly tabloid gives a brief and comprehensive profile of the G20 – its history, a list of London Summit participants and a summary of Russian expectations of the meeting already voiced by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, such as a new financial architecture and a new energy charter.
Finanz magazine gathers expert opinion on US opposition to the proposal for a new global reserve currency.
25/03/09
Dailies Nezavissimaya Gazeta and Vremya Novostej write about China's proposal for an international reserve currency - special drawing rights, issued by the International Monetary Fund. Dependency on a single currency makes world too vulnerable at crisis times, China had stressed on the eve of the London Summit.
24/03/2009
Radio Rossii state radio station quotes UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's view, given during a meeting with foreign journalists, that the London Summit, among other things, will be a place and time for improving UK-Russian relations. He mentioned his continuous contacts with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Russia's contribution to the Summit preparations.
Also, Radio Rossii state radio station writes about international support for the Russian suggestion to assign the IMF the task of creating an alternative to a US dollar as an international currency. China and Ecuador backed this proposal.
Rossijskaya Gazeta reports on the arrangements for the London Summit, noting that catering for the G20 leaders will be low-budget and no-nonsense, which it says is quite justified. The newspaper, as well as popular KP daily, lists some courses of traditional English dishes that will be offered to the gathering.
12/03/2009
There was extensive press coverage of the article by Lord Malloch-Brown in Vremya Novostej in which he said that to build a more prosperous global future, the world must learn from the mistakes of the 1930s and take international and inclusive action.
Interfax-Economics (part of Interfax newsagency) interviewed a set of Russian financial experts who expressed varied levels of scepticism regarding about the chances of achieving consensus at the London Summit, with different agendas in the US and Europe. They predicted there would be no breakthrough, though they expected the summit would be hard on protectionism. The main problem was seen as the need for co-ordinated action by national governments on credit policy.
10/03/2009
Rosbalt newsagency publishes a column on a recent report by the World Bank comparing the depth of current recession with the Great Depression of the 1930s. The columnist lists the perils of the current situation and closes with an expression of hope that leaders of G20 will manage to reach some solutions at the London Summit.
Finanz weekly magazine reports initiatives by the European Parliament related to economic crisis. The Strana.Ru website reports the UK's initiative to help Eastern European countries.
26/02/2009
Trud daily reported that President Medvedev would be visiting Spain, where topics for discussion would include the London Summit agenda.
26/02/2009
Prime-Tass news agency suggests that the principles for combating crisis that US President Obama voiced on Wednesday in Washington will form a core of American position at the London Summit.
In an editorial Nezavissimaya Gazeta warns that it will be more difficult to achieve a consensus of the full European Council than it was in Berlin as 27 participants are less likely to agree their positions given that each of EU countries survives more or less on its own.
25/02/2009
A columnist in RIA Novosti says the results of the weekend’s meeting of European G20 members in Berlin were similar to those expressed by the Russian leadership. Russia is likely to support EU initiatives in London.
Vremya Novostej, the daily newspaper, says that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has put financial regulation in the spotlight. The measures agreed at the Berlin meeting are ‘a step forward’ in comparison with the Washington Summit. 'European leaders undertook an effort to save the G20 in London,' the newspaper writes.
24/02/2009
The Russian press reported the outcome of the Berlin summit, with KP – a popular daily – focusing on the French President's call to re-build capitalism 'from scratch' and make it more moral.
20/02/2009
In an article in Vedomosti, a former Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak, said leadership was needed to tackle the current crisis – not by politicians fearful of political consequences but by corporations in the private sector actively participating in international financial relations, He fears that only the façade of the global financial system, not its deeper elements, will be repaired at the London Summit.
19/02/09
Vremya Novostej daily said UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plan for a global deal in The Road to the London Summit is ambitious but the G20 has not shown itself able to co-ordinate its activity sufficiently.
18/02/09
In an article in Nezavissimaya Gazeta, Professor Yury Roubinsky, of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, compared the present economic crisis with similar events of the past such as the Great Depression and the crisis of the late 1970s and said the solution required a new economic paradigm, not a patchwork of neo-liberal and neo-Keynesian policies.
17/02/09
Regnum newsagency said President Medvedev's had called for intensified preparation work for the London Summit in telephone conversations with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and said Russia would pass its suggestions for the agenda soon.
16/02/09
Vladimir Mau, a leading economist, said in Vedomosti that the G20 should think not only about economic recovery but also, and mainly, about the shape of a post-crisis world. He said key areas for global discussion should be issues of legitimisation of private property after nationalisation processes across the globe, financial regulation, new form of G20, development of health services and education systems.
Vremya Novostej said the anti-protectionist rhetoric at the G8 summit in Rome contrasted with the actions of various countries. It argued that there was little common ground for discussion on the London Summit, and that reforming the IMF could emerge as the only subject where there was consensus that it should be on the agenda.
13/02/09
Russia, which is a member of the G8 and an observer at the G7, will have an active and extensice participation in this weekend’s G7 finance ministers meeting in Rome, according to Interfax Economics.
Nezavissimaya Gazeta - a broadsheet newspaper, reflects on forthcoming Russia-US summit in London saying: Russia-US relations are intensifying. It mentions that when led by Obama, the US didn't hold usual post-inauguration pause before a first meeting with a Russian leader.
12/02/09
Russkij Zhurnal online magazine, said the financial crisis had highlighted the failings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. It added that their financial credentials were undermined by the political agenda they bring to bear on the countries they help.
10/02/09
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that at the London Summit, new agreements on financial market regulation and bank auditing standards could be reached.
Interfax, 09.02.09, 14:01, РФ приложит усилия для вхождения в Форум финансовой стабильности – Кудрин
09/02/09
Russian media continue to follow preparations for the London Summit across the world. Vzglyad online newspaper highlighted the IMF forecast that the financial crisis could last until 2010 and affect both developed and developing countries. KM online portal questioned whether the global community was able to shape a governance structure adequate to the new situation.
Vzglyad online newspaper, 06.02.09, 09:29, Прогноз ушел в 2010 год//МВФ предупредил об опасности распространения кризиса на государства G20
KM online resource, 06.02.09, 14:34, Мир на пороге глобальной дезинтеграции
04/02/09
President Dmitry Medvedev called on participants in the London Summit to prepare concrete documents to sign and said there was not much sense in attending the meeting, if there were no agreements to make. He promised to represent not only Russia's position at the summit, but also those of Russia's close partners who do not attend it.
04/02/09
03/02/09
The Russian mass media are anticipating the London Summit of the G20 with genuine interest, hoping that participants can find a way out of the world economic crisis. Trud, a federal daily newspaper, Труд (Москва), № 17, 02.02.2009, Войну с кризисом отложили до весны saw last week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos as a help in voicing concerns and opinions and discussing fresh ideas ahead of the London summit. Gazeta, another daily, Gazeta newspaper, 31.01.09, 16:48, Гордон Браун призвал к расширению диалога для борьбы с кризисо was interested in Gordon Brown’s call for wider dialogue including Eastern Europe and Africa, and for institutional reform involving the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Russia
- Russian Proposals to the London Summit (April 2009)
- Вопросы и ответы (FAQ)
- Цели Саммита
- Примите участие в обсуждении
Recent news and events
Gordon Brown - London Summit press conference
06/04/2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown answered questions from the media at the end of the London Summit, 2 April 2009.
David Miliband on the success of the London Summit – and the challenges ahead
03/04/2009
Miliband on the challenges facing the G20 and the new digital diplomacy
Global plan for recovery and reform
02/04/2009
The official communique issued at the close of the G20 London Summit.
See Also
Russian proposals to the London Summit
Russia sets out its proposals to the London Summit on a new financial architecture and reform of the financial regulatory system.
Editors' blog
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Time for reflection
05/04/2009 -
The morning after
03/04/2009
Position papers
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African perspectives/ recommendations to the G20
- Brazil - The future of human beings is what matters
- India - Key issues for the London Summit
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Netherlands - Key tasks for the London Summit
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Russia - Proposals to the London Summit April 2009
- Spain - Posición de España
- Thailand - Thai Government priorities for the London Summit
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Turkey - Civil society recommendations to the London Summit
Ministers' Answers
Foreign Secretary David Miliband answers questions posed by senior journalists from Brazil, Russia, India and China in a round-table discussion ahead of the London Summit.
