Wildberries pilots a mobile pickup point, an avtolavka, in Tver regio…

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), as Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights. A second decree assigned financial, logistical and organisational support for the commissioner to the ANO "Platform for Handling Entrepreneurs’ Appeals", whose founder function is performed by the Presidential Property Management Directorate. The post had been vacant since 22 June 2022; Boris Titov held it for two consecutive terms before that. Titov said business supports Shokhin and that the ombudsman is needed now more than ever.

Krasnodar Mayor Yevgeny Naumov stepped down early on Monday, 5 October, and explained his decision on his own channel. He thanked residents and colleagues for the trust placed in him when he took office in 2022, saying new schools and kindergartens, landscaped squares, renewed public transport and modernised utilities appeared in the city during that time. "Life is movement, and one must move on," he wrote. The outlet also notes that the former mayor had been criticised for excessive spending on media image and that the city administration failed this year at snow clearing and flood response.

The Meshchansky Court in Moscow found former Sochi mayor Alexei Kopaygorodsky, his wife Yanina and her assistant Alexander Pasunko guilty of corruption and handed down custodial sentences, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported. The court established that between January 2022 and March 2024 Kopaygorodsky, with his wife’s assistance, misappropriated two land plots in Sochi worth more than 26 million roubles, registering them in his wife’s and a controlled person’s names, and between March 2022 and May 2024 received more than 319 million roubles from commercial organisations via his wife in exchange for general patronage, laundering the money through real estate purchases. Kopaygorodsky was sentenced to 15 years in a strict-regime colony with a 500 million rouble fine and three years of restricted freedom, barred from relevant public posts for 14 years and six months and stripped of a state award. His wife received 10 years and a 500 million rouble fine; Pasunko was fined 190,000 roubles.

The Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement, which controls northern Yemen, declared the airspace over Saudi Arabia — except above Mecca and Medina — a zone of its military operations. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e said on Al Masirah TV that all international airlines using Saudi airspace were warned to stop flights, and that the movement would no longer bear responsibility for the consequences of ignoring the warning.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e said on Al Masirah TV that the movement carried out three large operations using large numbers of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones. The first targeted King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, interrupting air traffic; the second hit the Saudi Aramco refinery at Rabigh, where he said a fire broke out; the third struck Abha airport, the air base at Khamis Mushait and the Al-Aqifa military camp in Asir province, plus other sites in Najran and Jizan. The article contains no official Saudi confirmation.

US President Donald Trump told reporters he is discussing Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities: "We are talking about it. I think they are slowing down. They cause a lot of problems." He did not specify with whom or what kind of discussions are under way. Earlier on Truth Social he wrote that rising US fuel prices were caused not by the situation in the Strait of Hormuz but by Kyiv’s strikes on Russian refineries and refinery shutdowns in several US states.

State Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky, commenting on NATO’s reported "theory of victory" strategy for a quick win over Russia, said the alliance must understand that there will be no quick victories over a leading nuclear power. He called the announced plan an escalation in informational warfare and said movement towards a third world war would lead to a planetary catastrophe. He recalled that Russia has repeatedly said it does not intend to attack Western countries.

The Finance Ministry said that from 7 October to 6 November it plans to buy foreign currency and gold under the budget rule for a total of 279.42 billion roubles, with daily operations equivalent to 12.7 billion roubles. For 7 September to 6 October the total was 55.6 billion roubles, or 2.5 billion roubles a day, so purchases will rise slightly more than fivefold. The ministry expects additional oil and gas revenues of 289.46 billion roubles in October; the deviation of actual oil and gas revenues from the expected monthly volume for September was 10.04 billion roubles. Adjusting for this, the Central Bank will raise its FX purchases to 12.12 billion roubles a day from 7 October to 6 November, against 1.92 billion roubles for 7 September to 6 October.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters that the Tax Code amendments submitted to the State Duma introducing a windfall tax for mining and metals companies smooth the impact of sharp price swings: "We met with business and found a compromise on the windfall tax." He declined to comment on an RSPP letter criticising the bill. Under the bill, the tax is the volume of extracted minerals multiplied by the excess of the average price in 2026, 2027 and 2028 over the 2025 average price, with the 2025 base indexed by factors of 1.1 and 1.21 for 2027 and 2028; if the price increase is below 10% no tax applies. The rate is 30%, and 20% for gold, with the total capped at 15% of revenue per mineral after deduction of the mineral extraction tax. Payment is due in 2027–2029 no later than 28 April with instalments possible; expected revenue is about 200 billion roubles a year.

Rospotrebnadzor said the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region and the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is calm. Laboratory tests identified 2 cases of COVID-19 and 2 cases of rhinovirus infection among contacts, with no other infectious agents detected. Based on test results and health status, medical observation has ended for 60% of contacts. The agency said about 16,000 cases of acute respiratory viral infection are registered weekly in the region, with no upward trend in the past two weeks; the incidence rate is 12.6% below the epidemic threshold and in line with long-term averages. Rhinovirus predominates in circulation, and the first influenza cases, mainly A(H1N1), have been registered. As reported on 4 October, a set of measures was carried out after an employee of the Irkutsk anti-plague institute was diagnosed with "pneumonia of unknown aetiology"; extended tests found no microorganisms in the patient’s samples linked to her professional activity.

Deputy Mayor of Moscow for transport and industry Maxim Liksutov told TASS that from 15 October the Moscow Transport Department will require the city’s couriers to pass an annual test on traffic rules and work standards, similar to the existing check for taxi drivers. The test will run on the "Taxi Operations Analytics" integrated information system (KIS ART) created in 2021. Until 14 October the check was voluntary; from 15 October couriers who fail it will not be allowed to work. Passing requires answering at least 80% of questions on service ethics, delivery rules and appearance — both personal and of the vehicle. Liksutov said the department, together with MADI and the traffic police, regularly checks couriers’ compliance with traffic rules.

Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov said on 5 October, at a meeting with laureates of all-Russian teaching contests, that the ministry will create a neural network for education, commenting on a proposal from one of the teachers. "We will certainly implement Alexei Sergeyevich’s proposal and, taking into account the risks you mentioned, will not allow education to be simplified," the minister said. According to the report, at Vladimir Putin’s meeting the same day with contest-winning teachers, Alexei Morozov, an informatics teacher from Tver region and laureate of the "Teacher of the Year 2026" contest, proposed creating a neural network in education; the president supported the idea, calling it absolutely right.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Max that between 1 September and 5 October the Moscow region was targeted by 9,994 drones. He specified that most were shot down by air defences at long range and 862 were destroyed on approach to Moscow. He attached a video with a map showing the drones’ routes.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that air defences shot down four guided aerial bombs, one US-made HIMARS rocket and 861 fixed-wing drones over the course of a day. Operational-tactical aviation, strike drones, missile troops and artillery struck drone storage sites and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian units in 148 areas, the ministry said.

Kursk region Governor Alexander Khinshtein reported that debris from a downed Ukrainian drone fell near a public transport stop on Engels Street in Kursk. An electric bus was damaged and caught fire; passengers were evacuated, one person was injured and received assistance on the spot. He added that a private house in the railway district was damaged and a civilian woman was injured.

President Vladimir Putin authorised the Italian UniCredit group to reorganise its Russian subsidiary bank and carry out transactions with its shares; the relevant order of 5 October was published on the official legal information portal. In early May UniCredit announced plans to split its Russian business and sell part of it to an investor from the UAE: part of Yunicredit Bank’s operations would be spun off into a new legal entity, after which the bank retaining the remaining assets would be sold to the buyer. After the deal UniCredit would own 100% of the "new bank" and the buyer 100% of the "remaining bank". Closing was planned for the first half of 2027 and depends on a binding agreement, asset separation and regulatory approvals. The 5 October order permits the spin-off and the acquisition of UniCredit’s 100% stake without other permits required by law. Exit of foreign banks is complicated by a decree barring persons from unfriendly states from transactions in Russian bank shares; the president retains the right to authorise such deals individually. Yunicredit Bank ranked 23rd by assets in the Interfax-100 ranking at the end of Q2 2026.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting with deputy prime ministers that the government has approved a bioeconomy development strategy through 2036, setting priority production areas. He recalled that the national project "Technological Support of the Bioeconomy", running to 2030, has been in effect since this year. He said the strategy, approved on the president’s instruction, defines priority areas for applying biotechnologies over the next decade and beyond and creates conditions for enterprises producing innovative goods based on biological resources and living microorganisms — for agriculture, medicine, veterinary, energy, utilities and ecology. Under the national project targets, bioeconomy output will almost double (by 96%) by 2030, technological independence will rise to 40%, and the share of domestic biotech products in consumption to 55%. The Industry and Trade Ministry estimated the potential bio-products market at over 700 billion roubles by 2030, against about 450 billion now; plans voiced while the strategy was being prepared put the figure at around 1 trillion roubles by 2036.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to US scientist Karl Deisseroth and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel "for discoveries of light-gated ion channels and optogenetics". The Nobel Committee’s press release says this year’s laureates laid the foundation for a new era in neurobiology: Hegemann and Nagel discovered the channelrhodopsin protein in the single-cell alga Chlamydomonas — blue light opened an ion channel producing an electrical impulse, and cells into which the protein was placed became light-sensitive. Deisseroth turned the protein into a light-controlled switch for nerve cells: in 2005 he introduced the rhodopsin gene into rat neurons and triggered a nerve signal with blue light, and two years later made the switch work in the brains of living mice. The prize marks its 125th anniversary in 2026 and the Nobel Foundation raised the purse by 1 million kronor to 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million). The award ceremony will be held in Stockholm on 10 December.

The NHL club Washington’s press service said Russian forward Alexander Ovechkin told his teammates that this season will be his last with the club. "I love this game very much, but deep down I understand this is the right decision," he said. The 41-year-old has played for Washington since 2005 and is the NHL’s regular-season goal record holder with 929; including playoffs he has 1,006 goals, ten short of the record held by Canadian Wayne Gretzky. He won the Stanley Cup in 2018. His contract expired in 2026 but he signed a new deal in July. It had been assumed that after his NHL career he would return to his home club, Dynamo Moscow. He has played two games in the 2026/27 season, with an assist in the first.

Banki.ru reports that Wildberries has launched, in test mode, delivery via a mobile pickup point, an avtolavka, in Tver region: a buyer orders on the website or in the app, chooses courier delivery and enters a residential address, the order goes to the pickup point in the village of Krasny Kholm, and from there the avtolavka carries it along an approved route and schedule; 12 settlements without standard pickup points are covered. Founder Tatyana Kim said it matters that residents of different settlements have equal access to the marketplace range regardless of the distance to the nearest pickup point; after the trial the company will consider scaling. The text gives no pilot duration, order volume or number of vehicles. For Chinese sellers the inferred reading is that last-mile coverage keeps extending into small villages, but the source does not say whether the pilot is open to third-party sellers' goods or whether commissions or delivery times change - applicability to be confirmed.

Interfax, citing information on the regulator's website, reports that Yandex-owned NewPay has been entered in the register of instalment-service operators. Yandex acquired the company in 2024, when it ran QR-code payments via the Faster Payments System; the NewPay service stopped operating on 10 February 2026, though clients can still accept SBP payments after registering in the Yandex Pay personal account. The new NewPay site listed in the Bank of Russia documents, splitpay.yandex.ru, is still under development. The law regulating BNPL took effect in April 2026: buyers pay in instalments with no overpayment while sellers receive the full amount upfront; if an individual's instalment obligations exceed 50 thousand roubles the operator must report this to a credit history bureau; an operator that is neither a bank nor a microfinance organisation must have minimum capital of 5 mn roubles. The Bank of Russia register now holds 21 instalment operators, including structures of T-Bank, Alfa-Bank and Sovcombank. The confirmed implication for Chinese sellers is that instalments are a regulated payment method under which the seller still receives the full sum at once; the text says nothing about a launch on Yandex Market or its timing.

Interfax reports that the Moscow Department of Transport has launched courier testing in the "Taxi Operations Analytics" integrated information system (KIS ART), similar to the knowledge check already applied to city taxi drivers. Deputy Mayor for Transport and Industry Maxim Liksutov said couriers have been able to take the test voluntarily since 30 September, and from 15 October delivery services will not be allowed to assign deliveries to couriers who have not passed. Couriers must know safe-driving rules - speed limits, cycling and personal mobility devices, mandatory dismounting at pedestrian crossings - as well as job requirements: shift opening procedure, appearance, bag and vehicle, delivery rules and service ethics. At least 80% of answers must be correct; the result appears immediately in the courier's personal account and is valid for one year. More than 135 thousand couriers work in Moscow. The confirmed implication for Chinese sellers is that orders relying on Moscow last-mile capacity may be affected by personnel compliance; the text gives no distinction between a platform's own delivery and third-party delivery and no penalty amounts, so scope remains to be confirmed.

Anton Siluanov said at parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council that control over cash exports prevented 291 cases of cash removal between April and July, worth almost USD 180 mn (about 12.5 bn roubles at the Bank of Russia rate of 3 October). Since 1 April individuals have been barred from taking roubles to EAEU countries in excess of the equivalent of USD 100 thousand at the prevailing central bank rate, while legal entities and sole traders may not take any amount; since May individuals have generally been barred from exporting gold bars weighing more than 100 g in total. In September the restrictions were extended to Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, with the individual limit cut from USD 100 thousand to 1 mn roubles, subject to exceptions; legal entities and sole traders remain barred from taking cash to these countries, one exception being export through government-designated international airports with bank-certified statements confirming cash withdrawal from accounts. Excess amounts are seized from individuals above the 1 mn rouble threshold and in full from legal entities and sole traders. In late September the government was instructed to approve, within three months and together with the central bank, an accounting procedure for exported cash roubles. The confirmed implication for Chinese sellers is that overland cash-export channels are tightening further; the text contains no specific provisions for Chinese citizens or China-registered entities, so applicability remains to be confirmed.

Lenta.ru reports that Anton Siluanov said at Federation Council hearings that the government will fulfil the president's instruction to raise the minimum wage: to 28,935 roubles in 2027 and to 35 thousand roubles by 2030. Citing earlier reporting, the article adds that over a year the average Russian wage rose by 11,700 roubles, or 12%, reaching 109,100 roubles in April 2026; surveys show the desired minimum wage by region is roughly twice the actual level, with Moscow respondents naming at least 64 thousand roubles and Kirov respondents 50,400 roubles. The confirmed implication for Chinese sellers is that staffing costs in Russia - warehousing, delivery and customer support - will rise along with the minimum wage; the text contains no special treatment for Chinese-funded companies or regional detail, so applicability remains to be confirmed.

RBC, citing the Rospotrebnadzor press service, reports that the watchdog has blocked 48.6 thousand web resources offering dietary supplements whose sale is banned in Russia; in early September the figure was 41.1 thousand, meaning about 7.5 thousand more were blocked in a month. Identified products include supplements that have not passed state registration, contain regulated substances in quantities failing established requirements, or pose a danger. Inspectors check advertisements, product cards and online store pages, and advise buying only from official suppliers and verifying registration documents, contacting regional offices or the unified consultation centre hotline if quality or origin is in doubt. Earlier the government imposed a 35% import duty on supplements from unfriendly countries except Hungary and Slovakia; the measure took effect on 2 October and runs through 31 December 2027. The restriction has been discussed since 2023, when rates of 50 to 220% were proposed. The confirmed implication for Chinese sellers is that advertisements, product cards and store pages of anyone selling supplements in Russia are under continuous review; regarding the 35% duty the text names only "unfriendly countries" with Hungary and Slovakia excluded and does not mention China, so applicability to Chinese sellers remains to be confirmed.

Interfax reports that Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko, at hearings on the three-year draft budget, proposed removing the VAT relief on delicacy goods: oysters, lobsters, langoustines and crawfish currently pay 10% instead of the standard 22%. She said scrapping the relief would bring about 6 bn roubles of extra federal revenue, enough to build, for example, two new schools or a children's hospital, adding that lobster lovers "will not suffer much and simply will not notice". She also said the inventory of tax breaks is, in her view, being pursued not very actively. Neither source gives a legislative timetable, the full range of customs codes, or a year-by-year revenue breakdown. For Chinese sellers the inferred reading is a possible higher tax burden in the imported seafood category, but the sources contain only the proposal itself and the two rates - 10% and 22% - with no effective date or application rules, so no specific cost change can be derived; applicability to be confirmed.

Interfax reports that, following the Finance Ministry's announcement that budget-rule purchases of foreign currency and gold will rise about fivefold from 7 October, the yuan on the Moscow Exchange stood at 12.754 roubles at 19:00, up 25.7 kopecks from the previous close; trading was thin because of the Chinese holiday, with the "golden week" running to 7 October and exchanges closed. From 6 October the central bank raised its official dollar rate by 1.45 roubles to 84.9309 RUB/USD and the euro by 1.01 roubles to 95.3349 RUB/EUR; in the Bank of Russia rate set for 06.10.2026 the yuan stands at 12.6491 roubles. The Finance Ministry said it plans to buy foreign currency and gold worth 279.42 bn roubles between 7 October and 6 November, an equivalent of 12.7 bn roubles a day, against 55.6 bn roubles and 2.5 bn roubles a day between 7 September and 6 October; the Bank of Russia will raise its daily purchases to 12.12 bn roubles over the same period, from 1.92 bn roubles earlier. Dmitry Babin of BKS World of Investments expects further ruble weakness, with CNY/RUB possibly attempting to break 12.8. Yury Kravchenko of Veles Capital sees the dollar at 83-84.6 RUB/USD and the euro at 93.8-95.7 RUB/EUR for the week and views the ruble's reaction as mostly short-term. The inferred reading for Chinese sellers is that the same yuan proceeds convert into more roubles as the yuan strengthens, but the text gives no platform settlement rate, conversion timing or crediting delays.

Banki.ru reports that from 1 October individuals can top up their bank account in cash at another bank's ATM using the Faster Payments System (SBP); each bank decides for itself whether to offer the service. The caps are 25 thousand roubles per transaction, 50 thousand roubles per calendar day and 200 thousand roubles per calendar month. Inna Soldatenkova, head of expert analytics at Banki.ru, says demand will depend on how many banks connect and on the fee level; the service will mainly be needed by clients of digital and small banks without a developed ATM network, residents of small towns and those who regularly receive part of their income in cash. Given the limits, the service is designed for everyday top-ups rather than large deposits or savings. For Chinese sellers: the item covers only top-ups of individuals' accounts inside Russia and mentions neither corporate accounts nor cross-border funds, so applicability remains to be confirmed.

Interfax reports that Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said at a session of the Russia-Myanmar commission on trade and economic cooperation that the two countries aim to expand and diversify bilateral trade and that logistics and payments are no longer constraints. He said Myanmar has since last year supplied Russia with beans, furniture and tableware; Russia has started shipping mineral fertilisers, with exports this year up more than 30-fold; Russian companies are ready to increase supplies of energy, vehicles, grain, medical devices and pharmaceuticals and telecom equipment, to begin meat supplies, and to import more from Myanmar, primarily fruit, rice, coffee and spices. He called the memorandum of understanding signed in Moscow between Sberbank and Myanmar's ministry of finance and revenue "an important signal to companies that a reliable settlement channel has appeared". He added that FESCO, which runs container services between Russia and ASEAN countries, is ready to take cargo from Myanmar - "the main thing now is volumes". For Chinese sellers: they are not mentioned in the piece; the inferred reading is that Russia is expanding alternative settlement and logistics corridors in Asia, with applicability to be confirmed.

Citing X-Compliance system statistics, Interfax reports that as of end-September the sanction lists of the UN, the United States, the EU, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Japan, China, Iran and Ukraine directly named 45,383 parties, of which 23,860 were foreign and 21,523 Russian. At the end of the first half the figures stood at 44,237, 23,419 and 20,818 respectively, meaning Russian listed parties grew by about 700 over the third quarter. Russia's entries comprise 11,873 individuals and 9,650 companies. Among listed Russian companies, 15.7% are in wholesale trade, 7.5% in computer, electronics and optics manufacturing, 6.6% in research and development, 5.7% in financial services and 5.4% in software development. Under the "50 percent rule" applied by the US OFAC, the European Union and HM Treasury, sanctions extend to companies not directly listed but owned 50% or more by listed parties; 6,709 Russian companies were exposed to that extension risk at end-September. The inferred implication for Chinese sellers is that Russian counterparties should be screened for exposure, but the piece gives no statistics on Chinese parties, so applicability remains to be confirmed.

Lenta.ru, citing RIA Novosti, reports that Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at Federation Council hearings on the draft federal budget that real incomes will grow 1.4% in 2027 and by about 2.5% a year on average over the following two years. He also recalled that insurance pensions are to be raised twice in 2027: by 6.8% from 1 February and by a further 3.3% from 1 April in line with wage growth. The article adds that in May the Economic Development Ministry forecast real disposable income growth of 0.8% for this year, in September raised its 2026 estimate to 1.0%, and put its 2027-2029 forecast at 1.4%, 2.4% and 2.7% respectively. The inferred reading for Chinese sellers is a modest recovery in purchasing power relevant to gift and home categories, but the text gives no category-level consumption data, so no conclusion about sales of specific categories can be drawn; applicability to be confirmed.