[Quote of the Week] “We have no idea how to build roads, milk cows or pour metal…We’re finance professionals.”

Vladimir Tatarchuk, Co-Head of Corporate Finance at Alfa Bank, discussing the rationale for selling off unusual assets taken as collateral for loans. According to a Moscow Times article, Russian lenders are seeking to recoup losses by accepting a range of collateral - everything from farm animals to stakes in lingerie retailers - and are now finding themselves with a host of curious assets as non-performing loans increase.

[Quote of the Week] “Titanic of Kazakhstan’s banking sector…”

“You as a manager of Sberbank of Russia, Mr. Gref, obviously know that any newspaper, regardless of how popular and influential it is, is incapable of shattering the financial position of such a large bank as BTA deems itself. Thus, the current management boggles in an effort to shift the responsibility to our publication. Please buy this ‘Titanic’ of Kazakhstan’s banking sector faster! We’d rather deal with you than with these managers!” Read more »

[Quote of the Week] “A huge number of businessmen do nothing. Their businesses don’t do anything other than sell raw materials. We need to change the business model, the business mentality.”

President Dmitry Medvedev issues a rather harsh opinion on Russian business at the Valdai discussion group..

[Quote of the Week] “We have removed all of the gas problems … We feel that all the crisis-like occurrences in this sphere have gone.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko gives a rather optimistic outlook after reaching yet another agreement with Vladimir Putin to end the on-going disputes over Russian gas supplies.

[Quote of the Week] “We can say that risk appetite is returning.”

On August 20, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia Alexei Ulyukayev offered an upbeat outlook for the ruble against foreign currencies. “Exiting the crisis means lower demand for safer assets and increased demand for riskier, more profitable ones,” he added. Ulyukayev noted that he supported indications that the dollar will weaken against the ruble in the short term as soon as risk appetite returns. That same day, the CRB announced that Russia’s international reserves had declined by $2.8 billion to stand at $400.6 billion during the week ending August 14.

[Quote of the Week]: “We can’t develop like this any further. It’s a dead end.”

In one of the Kremlin’s most strongly worded statements since the beginning of the crisis, President Dmitry Medvedev warned of a “dead end” unless the economy reduces its dependence on raw material exports. Speaking to a meeting of United Russia leaders in Sochi he stated, “Russia needs to move forward, but there hasn’t been this kind of movement yet … “We’re hovering in place, and the crisis clearly brought this home.” Medvedev’s comments followed news of a GDP shrink of 10.9% in the second quarter.

[Quote of the Week] A Bear Hug?

“The Russian bear needs to be attractive to be respected by the rest of the world and it cannot become stronger without good foreign relations,” said President Medvedev in an interview with NTV television. He added that the caricatured image of Russia as a bear was one close to his heart. Read more »

[Quote of the Week] “It’s not our job to find new trading areas for our Chinese friends.”

“It’s not our job to find new trading areas for our Chinese friends,” said Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov after China protested his city’s closing of the sprawling Cherkizovsky market. Police shut down the market on June 29 after a lengthy smuggling investigation. While officials cited health and safety violations as the main reasons for its actions, the smuggling and sale of contraband goods were the larger issues involved.

[Quote of the Week] “It is always better to have ten small Gazproms than one big one.”

“It is always better to have ten small Gazproms than one big one,” says Yevgeny Fyodorov, head of the Duma Committee for Economic Policies. He commented on a new bill restricting the purchase or lease of additional trade space from retailers with annual sales of more than 1 billion rubles ($31.21 million) or market share of more than 25% in Moscow, St Petersburg, or any given city district.

[Quote of the Week] “Obama appeared ‘tired’ in Moscow, mispronouncing the name of Russian President Medevdez several times”

The Huffington Post, wearily and inadvertently highlighting just how tricky those Russian names are to spell…

[Quote of the Week] “Europe’s quest for diversification is understandable but it should not become a fetish.”

Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller discussing the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project to access non-Russian gas.  Russia supports the competing South Stream project.

[Quote of the Week] Rogozin on Kazakhstan, Courtship and NATO

Speaking to journalists at a two-day meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in Astana on June 24, Russia’s Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said, “A faithful wife has her admirers who give her flowers … That is NATO — an admirer of Kazakhstan who gives her flowers. Kazakhstan is nevertheless linked … to the nucleus of the former Soviet Union and, as before, to Russia. It is impossible to compare the close, kindred, family relations between Kazakhstan and Russia with relations with other families who come and visit, bringing cakes.”

[Quote of the Week] “Discussion has been brought down to the level of a bazaar skirmish.”

Sergei Mikheyev, an analyst with the Center for Political Technologies, discussing negotiations between Russia and Belarus over dairy imports. In June Russia stopped importing Belarussian dairy products, saying they didn’t meet the packaging guidelines laid out in legislation passed in December 2008.

[Quote of the Week] “Why was everyone running around like cockroaches before my arrival? Why was no one capable of taking decisions?”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chastising Russian metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska for “lack of professionalism” and “trivial greed” in Pikalyovo, a town near St. Petersburg. Pikalyovo residents called for government intervention after all three of the town’s factories halted work and stopped paying full wages. Two days earlier, angry crowds had blocked a major highway in protest, causing a 250-mile traffic jam.

[Quote of the Week] “I don’t think we are more scary than German investors. Believe me, we are not that scary. Furthermore, we will not shirk our responsibilities.”

German Gref, chairman of Sberbank, which has won preferred bidder status to take a stake in Opel together with Canada’s Magna, emphasized that the bank will respect the rights of other investors in the venture. According to the Financial Times, Gref said that Sberbank and Magna would commit €500 million to the General Motors European spin-off, but that Sberbank eventually planned to sell its stake.

[Quote of the Week] “As opinions on this document in the ‘Our Ukraine - People’s Self-Defense’ faction differ, as the communists will not vote, and as members of the ‘Party of Regions’ will not vote as a matter of principle, there could be lack of votes.”

Ukrainian Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn speaking about the hurdles facing the government’s anti-crisis plan, which is being considered by the parliament on June 4.

[Quote of the Week] “I have lost the sense of day and night.”

…said one unnamed, jetlagged EU diplomat after arriving at this week’s EU-Russia Summit in Khabarovsk. There is a 9 hour time difference between Brussels and the city in Russia’s Far East.

[Quote of the Week] “I have nothing left to be afraid of, I have feared enough already.”

Sergei Khokhlov, Chief Executive, Amurmetal Group, whose company has 11 billion rubles of debt due for repayment this year and which is considering laying off up to 1,600 employees. Khokhlov spoke with journalists after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the steelmaker’s plant and promised millions of dollars in state guarantees.

[Quote of the Week] “There are 120 people who are ready to sacrifice themselves for Germans who are not allowed to work.”

In the week in which Russia marks the Soviet Union’s victory in WWII, Alexander Lebedev explains that there will be a delay in paying journalists at Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper which he owns. Lebedev blamed his cash flow problem on the German aviation authority, which grounded his German budget airline Blue Wings in April, causing a loss in revenue.

[Quote of the Week] “What is crystal clear is that somebody has been placing big bets on whether or not the banking equivalent of Borat will blow up.”

Gillian Tett, Assistant Markets Editor of the Financial Times, discussing Morgan Stanley’s dealings with BTA Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest banks.  When institutions including Morgan Stanley demanded repayment on loans issued to BTA, BTA was forced into partial default.

[Quote of the Week] “Now you see, Dmitry, that the nation is not working, the nation is sitting and chattering on LiveJournal.”

A comment posted on President Dmitry Medvedev’s new blog on Russian website LiveJournal. The blog, which went live on Wednesday morning, had some 1,250 comments after only one day.

[Quote of the Week] “You never sucked up to anybody”

President Dmitry Medvedev explaining to Novaya Gazeta why he gave them his first major interview with a Russian newspaper. The interview was published on Wednesday.

[Quote of the Week] “Most of Russia’s economy is so inefficient that it doesn’t run the chance of surviving the next decade.”

… said Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich at an economic conference. He added, “We should create new, efficient businesses and technologies. We should not lend to obsolete, inefficient businesses, which can only be done in the short term; instead, we should provide money only for the creation of new, efficient niches in the economy.”

[Quote of the Week] “I would not like to see the Regions party act in the same way as Somali pirates” …

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko on Thursday after MPs from the main opposition party barricaded the doors of parliament and stormed the podium in an attempt to stall a vote on a the economic measures needed for Ukraine to qualify for additional IMF funding.  The blockade was lifted on the condition that the government present its comprehensive anti-crisis plan by April 14.  Meanwhile, the IMF has said it will resume its mission next week despite the delay, with the assurance that relevant legislation will be passed the week of April 13.

[Quote of the Week] “I am exhausted, primarily from the stress of the crash”…

… Lance Armstrong, Team Astana.

State-owned groups have fared better than most in the current crisis: Russian lenders Sberbank and VTB are likely to pay 2008 dividends, and Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Kazyna Fund has taken stakes in the country’s leading privately-owned banks. But this week, a state funded organisation suffered from a very different type of crash. Team Astana cyclist Lance Armstrong broke his collarbone in four pieces, disrupting preparations for his attempt at a record 8th victory in the Tour de France.  Armstrong hopes to be back in the saddle in good time for the summer’s events - economic recovery, however, may not be quite as swift.