Ìý-Six more years with Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin was elected president once again, taking 76.6 percent of the votes in last week's elections.
In Russia, where economic and social difficulties remain unabated, recent developments, especially in the international arena, have contributed to Putin’s victory.Ìý
Experts highlight that Russian voters wanted to show support to Putin out of “citizenship duty� because of the Olympic Games doping scandal and the recent crisis with the U.K. over the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy on British soil.
While other electoral candidates were not seen as creating much excitement, now all eyes are focused on changes to the new cabinet when Putin is sworn in in May.Ìý
Some experts claim that Russia could see new faces in the prime minister’s post, currently held by Dimitriy Medvedev and with the Foreign Affairs Minister’s position that Sergey Lavrov has held for the past 14 years.Ìý
It is also expected that discussions over delayed economic and social reforms will intensify in the coming years.
-Russian Central Bank cuts interest rates
The Russian central bank lowered its interest rates by a quarter point to 7.25 percent on Friday.
In a statement, the bank noted that Russia’s year-end inflation is expected to be below 4 percent and said they would continue to cut interest rates up to the end of 2018.
-Russia plans retaliation against additional new US tariffs
Russia's Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Viktor Yevtuhov said Russia would introduce restrictions on American products due to the U.S.� decision to apply additional customs tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
Yevtuhov stressed that the U.S. is the first World Trade Organization member country to take such a unilateral decision, while only taking into account its national security.
Ìý"Because of this decision our industry and our companies will suffer. We will also introduce restrictions on some American products. I think all the countries that are subject to supplementary tariffs will follow this path,â€� Yevtuhov was quoted as saying by Russian newspapers.Ìý