POLITICS

* Opposition-supporting United Russia lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov, who gained notoriety for his exposure of fellow party members attempting to conceal information about their bank accounts and business assets abroad, has been accused of having a stake in a Bulgaria-based business.

(Izvestia)

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

* The Russian economy has given foreign investors another reason to withdraw capital from the country. The first three months of 2013 registered plummeting bourse indexes and falling trade volumes.

(Vedomosti)

* Russia’s diamond-mining giant Alrosa is planning to revive its business in Angola. The company is in talks with the Angolan authorities to launch a joint prospecting venture in addition to the existing Katoka project in which it has a 32.8 percent stake. (Kommersant)

* Foreign financial players continue to abandon Russia. Swedbank has announced plans to leave the Russian banking market after three years of restructuring.

(Kommersant)

* Russia has started the second and final round of inspections to determine whether to lift the 2006 ban on imports of Georgian wine and mineral water. Russian experts will visit 40 Georgian companies in the next five days.

(Izvestia)

* LUKoil, Russia's second-largest crude oil producer has acquired Samara-Nafta, an oil producer based in the Samara and Ulyanovsk regions in southwest Russia for $2.05 bln, in a bid to increase production after years of dwindling output at its main fields.

(Kommersant, Vedomosti)

* The Russian Nanotechnology Corporation (Rosnano) has reserved 21.8 billion rubles ($701 mln) for a potential write-off of investment in failed projects. The possible losses are attributed in large part to investment in solar energy.

(Vedomosti)

WORLD

* The fifth BRICS summit in Durban has clearly showed the five leading developing economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are seeking to become a new global center of influence with their own development bank and reserve fund.

(Moscow News)

* The Japanese government is planning to boost budget revenues by an additional $900 million annually by recycling scrapped electronics and household appliances for precious and rare metals. The Japanese reportedly dispose of 650,000 tons of outdated personal gadgets every year. (Izvestia)

DEFENSE

* President Vladimir Putin has rejected a proposal by the Defense Ministry to send some of its naval ships to foreign shipyards for refits. Russian shipyards cannot guarantee timely and efficient overhaul of aging warships, newly-appointed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported after a series of inspections.

(Izvestia)

SOCIETY

* A revision of traffic rules in Russia due to be introduced in May will raise the speed limit to 130 kmh on some highways.

(Kommersant)

* Russia will soon increase the minimum fine for traffic violations from 100 rubles ($3.22) to 500 rubles ($16.08). Each registered violation will incur a point on the driver’s license,eventually leading to revocation of the driver’s license.

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

* Private security guards may soon be allowed to assist police in crime investigations and hunting criminals. Draft proposals by the Interior Ministry are aimed at using the experience of former special forces operatives, who mostly end up in private security firms, to enhance the fight against crime in Russia.

(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

* The Russian authorities have set the lower limit of the price range which defines the “luxury” status of a car for taxation purposes at 5 million rubles (about $161,000). (Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

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