Kommersant - the situation with ban of the import of vegetables from Europe

Kommersant says president Dmitry Medvedev in his residence in Gorki on Friday received Nenashevo villagers (Tula region ), who wrote him a letter describing their serious problems in their village. Medvedev met with informal leader Sergei Mironov, who during a short conversation managed to make several party proposals concerning the upcoming elections. The shareholders of two leading state-controlled banks--Sberbank and VTB - on Friday held their annual meetings. These banks in 2007 conducted the people's placements of shares. The shares of Sberbank since the holding of IPO have gone up in price by almost 7 percent, and the shares of VTB have gone down in price by 38 percent.
Former head of MENATEP Platon Lebedev in the Moscow Basmanny District Court on Friday spoke as a witness on the case of Spanish citizen Antonio Valdes-Garcia, ex-head of Yukos-controlled company Fargoil (Sp.) Lebedev defended the convicted in absentia Spaniard. See story in Kommersant. The situation with Russia's ban of the import of vegetables from Europe imposed is becoming the political rather than the consumer issue. The European Union believes that the embargo contradicts the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO), directly reminding of Russia's wish to join it already this year. The business community too asks authorities to lift the bank or to impose other forms of control, predicting a shortage of vegetables and as a consequence ,high inflation rates in the summer of 2011. The gvt puts down a counter-ultimatum to the European Union. Kommersant details the case.