[Update] Some advertisers paused campaigns in Yandex Direct after the…

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing Vietnamese citizens to enter Russia without a visa and stay up to 30 days. The document was published on 12 October on the official legal information portal, takes effect on 15 October and runs until 15 October 2027 inclusive. It lists guest and business visits, tourism, and participation in scientific, cultural, socio-political, economic and sporting events, as well as transit and exit, on the basis of an ordinary Vietnamese passport.

Kommersant reported that President Vladimir Putin met with Delovaya Rossiya chairman Repik. Gazeta.Ru reported the same day that Putin called for helping Russian business deal with current challenges. Neither outlet disclosed further details of the meeting.

Interfax reported that the State Duma plans to hold three 'government hours' during its autumn session. The report does not give the dates or topics of the sessions.

Interfax reported that US President Donald Trump said he is confident his decision on Russian diesel is the right one. Gazeta.Ru reported at 17:38 that Trump made a new statement on the US–Russia diesel deal. Neither report gives further detail.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Vladimir Putin would be ready to order a halt to strikes on Ukraine on election day, should elections be held. Peskov also said the 60-day truce requested by Volodymyr Zelensky is needed by Kyiv not to hold elections but to 'gather strength, heal its wounds and continue the war', and claimed the Ukrainian authorities are not interested in presidential elections.

RIA Novosti, citing flight-tracking portal Flightradar's operational notice to pilots, reported that the closure of Riyadh airport has been extended by another 24 hours. The report also notes that Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority had earlier reported a new strike on the airport, casualties and the resulting closure. Interfax reported at 22:52 that the Houthis said they struck Riyadh airport and the airbase at Khamis Mushait.

Gazeta.Ru, citing a Council of the EU decision published in the EU Official Journal, reported that the EU imposed sanctions on 1,569 companies and individuals linked to Russia's military-industrial complex. The decision says the EU used the list of Russian defence-industry organisations eligible for subsidies to identify targets. The list also includes 77 Russians linked to the September State Duma election, with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, former acting Ukrainian prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov, Yalta mayor Yanina Pavlenko and members of the Central Election Commission named.

Central Bank deputy chairman Alexei Zabotkin told the State Duma budget and tax committee that the government's planned substantial reduction of the structural primary deficit in 2027 and its return to zero in 2029 is an important, though not the only, condition for room to cut the rate in 2027. He said covering additional spending growth with tax revenues would reduce the impact of that spending on demand and interest rates. At its 11 September meeting the Central Bank kept the key rate at 14%, with a baseline scenario of 6–7% annual inflation and a return to 4% in 2027; the next rate meeting is on 23 October.

Interfax reported that Russia's foreign trade surplus in January–August rose 25% year on year to $91.6bn. The report does not break down exports and imports.

Kommersant reported that at 14:09 Moscow time the December Brent contract rose 1.35% to $106.13 a barrel; Brent last traded above $106 on 29 September 2026. The November WTI contract was up 1.25% at $93 a barrel at the same point. The paper attributes the move to the escalation of the Middle East conflict, in particular Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia.

Interfax reported that Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov told the Federation Council's science, education and culture committee that the number of paid places across 40 regulated specialties fell by almost 97,000 over the year. He said the specialties were determined manually, with engineering and technical profiles untouched and natural sciences only minimally affected. In 2025, 351,000 people enrolled in such programmes, while 235,924 paid places are set for 2026. He added that university finances depend heavily on paid intake in non-core fields.

Gazeta.Ru reported that online booking for UK visas has been suspended in Russia. Interfax reported the same day that the suspension is due to technical work. Neither outlet gave a date for resumption.

Interfax reported that Murmansk Region plans to ban the sale of vapes from March 2027. The report does not specify product categories or penalties.

Interfax reported that more than 40 drones heading for Moscow had been shot down; it had earlier put the number of drones flying towards Moscow on Monday at 26. Gazeta.Ru reported that Moscow's Vnukovo airport moved to a special operating mode. Later in the evening restrictions were imposed at Cherepovets and Krasnodar airports, and Tambov airport suspended operations.

Interfax reported that two enterprises in Belgorod Region were attacked by drones; it had earlier reported damage to an enterprise and an infrastructure facility in drone attacks in the region. No casualties were reported.

Kommersant reported that the prosecutor's office of Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug has opened a check into a diesel spill on the Solovetsky archipelago. Preliminary findings are that on 11 October a contractor punctured a fuel pipeline during earthworks in the settlement of Solovetsky, with 400 litres reaching the soil and another 300 litres the water. The leak has been stopped, booms have been deployed and contaminated water is being pumped out with vacuum equipment.

Kommersant, citing Rosstandart's press service, reported that unscheduled inspections led to restrictions on sales in Russia of certain Chinese trucks: DONGFENG DFRZ-35, FOTON 77N5BJ, XCMG XCT50G5-1S and XCA200G7-1S, JAC K7, plus vehicles of types 77ADJL, SE27, TD-001, N382a-A2 and KFN332. The agency says the identified violations of mandatory requirements 'pose a danger to the health and life' of drivers and other road users, concerning braking systems, visible pollutant emissions, seat belt anchorage points, cab protective properties, emergency call devices and light signalling. All representative offices and plants have notified the suspension of sales.

Kommersant reported that Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said Russian Post's commission for delivering pensions and other social payments will rise to 1.5% in 2027, from 1.17% now, helping the company avoid losses and fund development; he said the Social Fund will pay the commission so consumers will notice no change. He added that cutting postmen's headcount is not currently possible. Russian Post's 2025 RAS revenue was RUB 215bn, down 1.8%, with postal service income down 4.1% to RUB 151.3bn.

Interfax reported that in 2025 the Russian authorities allocated almost RUB 15bn to the production of national films. The report does not give the number of films or how the funds were allocated.

RIA Novosti reported that the film 'Bitva motorov' topped the CIS weekend box office. No revenue or admissions figures were given.

Compared with the 10 October item on Yandex adding drone attacks to the force-majeure clause in its user terms, this update adds the concrete fallout. Kommersant, citing two advertising-market sources, reports that after the drone attacks on Yandex data centres that began on 8 October some advertisers halted campaigns outright — named examples include Pyaty Kanal, Dom.ru and developer Dogma — while businesses shifted to alternative channels, with VK Ads auction prices up 15-20% in the broad, normally cheapest audience categories. Yandex press service said the affected ad products include Yandex Direct, Yandex Metrica, Yandex Business, the Yandex Advertising Network and AppMetrica, with some functions unavailable since 10 October: users cannot log into product interfaces, manage campaigns or view current statistics. Market sources said some clients kept being charged while unable to change bids or stop ads. The report also notes that the 2 October version of the Yandex Direct offer added a force-majeure exemption covering "the use of munitions, their parts and military equipment", a clause absent from the 22 September version.

Compared with the 11 October item on the M.Video outage caused by a cloud provider failure, this update adds the recovery. M.Video announced that its website and mobile app are working again, while some services may still run "slightly slower than usual"; the company said it would clear the remaining slowdowns shortly. The outage was attributed to a cloud provider failure, which the retailer flagged on Sunday. The report also notes that Yandex's Vladimir data centre was fully stopped after drone damage — the third Yandex facility hit in recent days, after Ryazan and Kaluga.

The South Korean container ship PanStar Acro completed the country's first-ever commercial round voyage to Europe and back via the Arctic on 11 October. The vessel left Busan on 22 August and returned after 50 days; on the outbound leg it called at Felixstowe in the UK, Rotterdam and Gdansk, and returned via the Arctic route as well. The company had told Reuters it planned to carry about 1,300 TEU but sailed with 737 units plus empty containers. South Korean authorities say the Arctic route can cut typical sailing time by roughly a third and hope to launch regular services by 2030; the route runs along Russia's Arctic coast, and Seoul consulted Moscow on transit matters including assistance if the ship were to run into ice trouble. Industry experts say the value of the route depends on schedule reliability, the cost of slowing down to avoid icing, special insurance premiums and extra fuel consumption.

The Association of Beer, Malt and Beverage Producers wrote to the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies (AKORT) on 12 October warning that IT infrastructure failures linked to the attacks on Yandex data centres may delay deliveries; its members account for about 70% of the market. The letter says service provider Utrace's software runs on Yandex cloud infrastructure, and the failures disrupted production sites, paralysed business processes and made it difficult to apply marking codes and transmit data to the state monitoring system, delaying product release and shipments; Baltika and Napitki Vmeste were hit first. Utrace confirmed to RBC that its Utrace HUB service was disrupted by the Yandex Cloud failure and is partially restored; the association says the provider expects to restore service by 16 October, with producers switching to manual shipment mode in agreement with the system operator meanwhile. AKORT said it received the letter, that the difficulties are isolated and concern individual producers, that retailers report no problems interacting with the marking system and that there is no basis for a shortage; the association's executive director added that processes are running smoothly and shipments have not stopped.

Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev told the State Duma that one of the 2027 support measures for Russian Post is an increase in the pension delivery commission paid by the Social Fund: the current rate is 1.17% and will rise to 1.5% next year, with the decision reflected in the Social Fund budget bill submitted to the Duma as part of the overall package. He explained that the percentage is tied to the size of pensions, which are indexed, but "the problem is different — the number of people receiving cash pensions is falling, while we believe we cannot reduce the number of postmen." He also said Russian Post is to receive a "standard" five billion roubles a year, with several regions providing co-financing that raises the total by about one billion.

Rosstandart said that following unscheduled on-site inspections of official representatives and special-equipment manufacturers it has barred from the Russian market Dongfeng DFRZ-35, Foton 77N5BJ and JAC K7 trucks as well as XCMG XCT50G5-1S and XCA200G7-1S equipment; similar measures were applied to makers of special vehicles of types 77ADJL (JAC-based), SE27 (KIA-based), TD-001 (Shacman-based), N382a-A2 (FAW-based) and KFN332 (Ford-based). The restrictions cite violations of the Customs Union technical regulation on wheeled vehicle safety, listing non-compliance in braking systems, visible pollutant emissions, external projection injury safety, seat belt anchorage points, cab protective properties, emergency call device fitment, external and internal noise, lighting and light-signalling devices, and side and rear protective devices for freight vehicles. The agency issued orders to carry out recall campaigns; all representative offices and manufacturers notified Rosstandart that they had suspended sales of the affected products and started drafting remediation programmes. The statement also notes that last year trucks from Dongfeng, Foton, FAW, Sitrak and Shacman were banned, including the SX3258 model, whose restrictions were recently lifted after the violations were remedied.

The marking system operator, Operator CRPT, says that from 1 May 2027 the volumes of honey put into circulation in the marking system will be cross-checked against data from the state veterinary control system. "If the discrepancy exceeds 5%, such a batch will be blocked. This makes it impossible for honey of unconfirmed origin to reach the market," said Yulia Kuzmina, head of the non-excisable food products department. Mandatory marking of consumer-packaged honey started in Russia on 1 September this year; in the first month more than 721 thousand kg of marked honey entered circulation. The operator explains that honey production is strongly seasonal, so the main risk signal is when more finished honey is put into circulation than is confirmed by veterinary documents for the raw material. According to Roskachestvo data cited by CRPT, the share of honey showing signs of adulteration fell from 75% in H1 2024 to 19% in H1 2026; in a check of honey sold under federal retailers' own brands, only 3 of 11 samples were found to be fully natural. The operator also said integration with the veterinary system in the dairy industry cut the share of counterfeit product from 30% to 0.002%, while in the caviar market the gap between raw-material and finished-product data fell from 52% to 0.86%.

Compared with the 6 October item reporting a 6.2% year-on-year drop in September sales to 115,100 units, this update carries the revision. Autostat revised September new passenger car sales from an initial estimate of 115,100 units (-6.2% y/y) to 122,800 units (+0.1% y/y), after delayed data were updated and recalculated. On the new figures September is the market's best result so far in 2026, up 7.4% from August; for January-September, 967,800 cars were sold, 8% more than a year earlier. Lada leads with 30,300 units (+14.8%), followed by Haval at 14,300 units (-14.5%), with Tenet third at 13,400 units (a fivefold increase). The best-selling models are Lada Granta, Tenet T7 and Haval Jolion.

Most dealers polled by Kommersant said demand for Russian-made electric cars and hybrids began to fall in early October, attributing this to the suspension of subsidised car loan and leasing programmes — the loan subsidy is 35% of the price but capped at 925 thousand roubles per car, while the leasing subsidy runs up to 500 thousand roubles. The article names Evolute and Voyah, built in the Lipetsk region, as primarily affected. The manufacturer said applications dipped slightly in the first days after the subsidy was scrapped but traffic picked up after it announced its own support programmes, including discounts on the Evolute i-Space hybrid and so-called eco-subsidies; in spring and summer these models were in significant short supply with a combined queue of over 1,000 cars, with the situation "more or less levelling out in September". According to Autostat, new PHEV sales rose 2.3-fold in the first half to 30,700 units, while new electric car sales rose 4.7% to 4,600 units. Nikolai Ivanov, new car sales director at Rolf Group, puts the odds of support returning in its previous form next year below 30%, adding that in 2027 prices will also be affected by the exchange rate, external factors and inflation, so cars will "most likely get more expensive".

Compared with the 11 October item noting that the CBR's 10 October rates remained in force through 12 October (dollar at 84.9048 roubles), this update carries a new set. Interfax reports the yuan traded at 12.5125 roubles at 19:00 Moscow time, down 16.85 kopecks from the previous session's close, linking the stronger rouble to news of agreement between the Russian and US presidents on Russian diesel supplies. The CBR cut its official dollar rate for 13 October by 98.95 kopecks to 83.9153 roubles and the euro rate by 93.9 kopecks to 94.0355 roubles; the CBR's official endpoint for 13 October also gives the yuan at 12.5360 roubles. The regulator explains that because daily direct calculation of the euro-rouble rate has lost representativeness due to low turnover in the pair, since 8 June the official euro rate has been derived from the dollar-rouble rate and the ECB's euro-dollar rate as of 15:30 Moscow time. Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BKS Mir Investments, notes that if CNY/RUB settles below 12.5 roubles and accelerates lower, the next target could be the 12.28-12.32 rouble area.

The Bank of Russia decided to add Sberbank to the register of organisations exchanging digital currencies, according to a statement on the regulator's website. Besides Sber, the crypto exchange register currently lists eight organisations, including VTB and T-Invest Lab (part of the T-Technology group together with T-Bank). Earlier in October Sber was included in the register of digital depositories, which has five players including VTB and Atomize; the bank said the status would let it provide digital currency circulation services in interfaces customers already use, with the launch of the first products scheduled for 1 December. Russia's law on digital currencies and digital rights took effect on 1 September, creating a comprehensive framework for crypto circulation: transactions can be carried out through existing infrastructure such as exchanges, brokers and trustees, with new participants — crypto exchangers and digital depositories. Banks and other organisations could file applications with the CBR from 5 October, and some existing players qualify for a simplified, notification-based admission within one day.

Vedomosti, citing customs statistics, reports that Russia's foreign trade turnover in January-August 2026 rose 13.8% to $505.5 billion, with exports up 14.2% to $304.2 billion and imports up 13.1% to $201.3 billion. Mineral products accounted for 56.1% of exports, while machinery, equipment and other goods made up 48.5% of imports. The largest partners were Asian countries, at 75.5% of turnover, up 18.1% over the year; Europe accounted for 17.5% (+4%), the Americas 3.6% (-4.9%) and Africa 3.4% (+1.5%). Interfax, citing Federal Customs Service data the same day, reported the January-August trade surplus rose 16.4% to $102.9 billion (against $88.4 billion a year earlier); it also cited CBR balance-of-payments methodology showing a 25% rise in the surplus to $91.6 billion, with the August surplus up 61.4% to $11.7 billion.

Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev, at a joint meeting of the State Duma committee on information policy and the committee on digital development and artificial intelligence, said the ministry will draw up additional support measures for building data centres outside Moscow by the end of this year, including considering subsidised lending mechanisms. Priority will go to regions with an energy surplus; the Urals and Eastern Siberia are among the options being considered. He said more than 80% of Russian data centre capacity is currently concentrated in the Moscow region, with 42 projects at various stages from fundraising to completion, and that the ministry plans to give them dedicated support. Shadaev also called the recent drone attacks on Yandex data centres unprecedented and said the ministry is discussing protection measures with the Defence Ministry.