M.Video marketplace turnover triples to 22.8 billion rubles in nine m…

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, discussing the development of bilateral cooperation. The Kremlin press service said the cooperation is of a strategic and mutually beneficial nature. They also discussed the diesel supply arrangements reached following Putin's telephone call with US President Donald Trump, and the prospects for a peaceful settlement of the situation in the Persian Gulf, agreeing to continue personal contacts.

At the State Duma plenary session on 13 October 2026, 11 items were on the agenda; three bills were examined in third reading and a number of personnel resolutions were adopted. Among the laws passed was the 2025 federal budget execution report: revenues of 37.3 trillion roubles and expenditures of 42.9 trillion roubles; the minimum wage was raised 16.6% and the subsistence minimum 14.8%, with all social benefits and payments indexed to actual inflation of 9.5%. Compulsory health insurance fund revenues in 2025 were 4.45 trillion roubles and expenditures 4.37 trillion, of which 3.6 trillion went to financing medical care under the state guarantees programme. The Social Fund budget had revenues of 16.4 trillion roubles and expenditures of 17.6 trillion.

At its Tuesday session the State Duma elected Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin as co-chair of the Russian interparliamentary group for participation in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and deputy Yevgeny Popov as deputy co-chair. Duma international affairs committee chairman Pyotr Tolstoy said at the session that, by established practice, the co-chairs are the chairmen of both houses of the Russian parliament. The Inter-Parliamentary Union was founded in 1889, has 180 member states, 15 international parliamentary organisations hold associate member status, and its headquarters is in Geneva. The Duma also appointed Konstantin Zatulin as special representative for migration and citizenship, and Oleg Matytsin as special representative for sport development in international interparliamentary and public organisations.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the ability to export Russian diesel fuel will support the country's balance of payments. OFAC had earlier issued a temporary general licence valid until April 2027 permitting Russian diesel supplies to the world market. Siluanov said companies will gain the opportunity to export diesel and earn foreign currency revenue, which matters for the balance of payments and above all for the companies themselves. The budget will not receive direct additional revenue, since no export duty is levied on this fuel, but it will show up in companies' financial results and hence in taxes paid into the budget system. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak had earlier said Russia is ready to supply 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and other partners in October, rising to 3–3.5 million tonnes a month by year-end.

The Moscow Exchange index peaked at 2431.1 points during trading on 13 October, 1.6% above the previous day's close. The indicator last rose above this level on 19 June 2026. As of 16:19 the index had corrected to 2420.5 points (+1.12%), while the RTS index was up 1.12% at 908.67 points at the same moment.

Central Bank of Russia deputy chairman Alexey Zabotkin said the annual increase in Russian GDP in 2026 will overall be slightly less than in 2025. He gave two reasons: the state of full employment observed for a third year running, and the parameters of the government's socio-economic development forecast. He said current credit and demand dynamics reflect decisions taken a year to eighteen months ago. He had earlier said preliminary data for September and the third quarter as a whole indicate Russian economic growth accelerated in July–September compared with the first half, and there are grounds to believe growth has passed its low point and will gradually pick up.

Belgium's ambassador to Russia, Michel Gerebtzoff, was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a statement on the ministry's website. The ministry said Moscow's position was conveyed to the diplomat, firmly rejecting the increasingly frequent accusations by Belgium's military-political leadership about alleged growing hybrid, sabotage and direct military threats from Russia against Belgium and Europe. Russia described these claims as unsubstantiated and linked them to the kingdom's anti-Russian rhetoric. The statement said openly aggressive remarks by individual Belgian officials deliberately portraying Russia as an enemy foster further escalation and risk the confrontation spinning out of control. Belgian defence minister Theo Francken had earlier claimed Russia was opening a western front and pressuring Ukraine's allies, saying escalation would intensify both on the battlefield and in Europe.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said restrictions on free navigation in the Baltic Sea by the EU and NATO are aimed at containing Russia and countering its foreign trade activity. She said Moscow views the provocative actions of Swedish authorities in detaining, arresting and inspecting vessels passing through Swedish territorial waters as part of an overall strategy coordinated within the EU and NATO to restrict free navigation in the Baltic. She stressed that Russia is ready to respond in kind to any attempt to seize or detain vessels acting in its interests anywhere in the world's oceans. Commenting on the release of the Sea Owl 1 tanker detained in March, she noted it was seized in Swedish territorial waters on charges of falsifying registration documents and sending a technically unfit vessel to sea; it sailed under the Comoros flag with ten Russian citizens aboard, including the captain. The captain was released in May and the last Russian national left the vessel in October; after re-registration under the flag of Equatorial Guinea, the tanker left Swedish waters on 12 October.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on 13 October that Moscow's and Washington's contacts on the Ukraine settlement were never interrupted, but were conducted on a non-public basis. "We have never interrupted these contacts. As for the specific subjects being worked through in them, that is a non-public matter," the diplomat said. He said Russia approaches the issue as responsibly as possible and will not allow leaks: "What matters to us is the result, not the media effect." He also said the next round of Moscow-Washington consultations on removing mutual irritants could take place before the end of 2026, although exact dates have not yet been set.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said the number of large families in the country has risen 30% over the past two years. "Quite recently the president signed a decree defining the status of a large family, and today we can already say that over the past two years the number of large families in Russia has grown by 30%; today it is more than 3 million people," she said at the all-Russian "Family of the Year. 2026" contest on Tuesday. She said all the main family support measures have been retained in the budget submitted to the State Duma. She added that for the first time maternity capital for the first and second child will in 2027, after indexation from 1 February, exceed 1 million roubles: maternity capital for the first child will rise to 778,000 roubles next year, and the payment for the second child will be 250,000 roubles.

The Accounts Chamber found violations in the healthcare sector when auditing the government's 2025 federal budget execution report. The Health Ministry was among the three agencies with the largest unspent balances, at 9.8 billion roubles; the Finance Ministry had the largest unspent amount (162 billion roubles), followed by Roscosmos (10.9 billion). Total federal budget expenditure was 42.9 trillion roubles, 456.8 billion roubles, or 1.1%, below the volume set by the revised budget schedule. Compared with 2024, unspent appropriations rose by 58.6 billion roubles, or 14.7%; auditors attribute the increase mainly to balances earmarked for payment under state procurement contracts. Federal budget expenditure execution reached 98.9% of the revised plan in 2025. Auditors also found that the Health Ministry and the Federal Medical-Biological Agency missed deadlines for submitting and approving reports on targeted subsidies and data on transactions involving those funds.

Rospotrebnadzor reported a seasonal rise in community-acquired pneumonia in Russia, with adults mainly affected. Agency head Anna Popova said at a meeting with heads of regional bodies, subordinate institutions and research organisations that the autumn season is developing actively and the situation must be kept under control, with particular attention to the epidemiological situation for community-acquired pneumonia. The agency also said the situation with acute respiratory viral infections, influenza and COVID-19 in Russia is developing in line with forecasts. Virological monitoring shows non-influenza viruses still predominate among circulating respiratory viruses, led by rhinoviruses and parainfluenza viruses, while the share of influenza viruses is gradually increasing, with A(H1N1) predominating. No specific case numbers were given.

Krasnodar Krai authorities introduced a high-alert regime after an attack by unmanned boats off the Black Sea coast, due to the threat of an oil product spill. The order signed by regional head Veniamin Kondratyev was published on 13 October on the official website of the krai governor and administration. The document states that accidents occurred as a result of unmanned boat attacks on sea vessels in the Black Sea on 6 October 2026, creating a threat of a regional emergency within the boundaries of the resort city of Gelendzhik and the hero city of Novorossiysk, with the source being an oil product spill. The regime takes effect on 13 October, strengthening monitoring of the environment, hazardous natural phenomena and technogenic processes. The Azov-Black Sea branch of Morspassluzhba was advised to take measures to prevent oil products from washing ashore. The Kuban operational headquarters had earlier said Morspassluzhba specialists found no confirmation of an oil product spill off the krai's coast. On the evening of 6 October, a Liberia-flagged vessel carrying oil was attacked by unmanned boats off the Black Sea coast, causing open burning of oil on the sea surface; on 7 October the Transport Ministry said the open fire had been extinguished.

Zaporizhzhia NPP director Yuriy Chernichuk told reporters that over the past six months nine station employees have been killed as a result of Ukrainian armed forces attacks, with more than 50 others seriously injured. He said the situation around the plant has become very tense over these months and no fundamental change towards de-escalation has yet occurred. Earlier strikes hit the plant's laboratory and amenity building No. 2, located 200 metres from power units 4 and 5, as well as the radioactive waste processing building. At the same time, in the Melitopol area, a Ukrainian drone attacked a van carrying cargo for the plant to Enerhodar; the driver died at the scene and the vehicle burned completely. Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear plant in Europe, located near Enerhodar on the left bank of the Dnieper; an IAEA monitoring group has worked at the station since September 2022.

Temporary restrictions on the acceptance and departure of aircraft were introduced at the airports of Saratov and Penza, Rosaviatsiya reported. The reasons for the restrictions and the timing of their lifting were not stated.

The roof of a two-storey evacuated building on Kronstadtsky Boulevard in Moscow collapsed during firefighting over an area of 700 square metres, a representative of the city's emergency services told RIA Novosti. "The roof collapsed over an area of 700 square metres," the source said. No information on casualties was given.

OPEC cut its forecast for global oil demand growth by 180,000 barrels per day, with the expected figure for the year now 105.72 million barrels per day, according to the organisation's October report. The revision was driven by a cut to the growth outlook for OECD Americas, from 290,000 to 200,000 barrels per day; analysts also expect China's demand growth to decline by 60,000 barrels per month. According to OPEC, in September the organisation's members raised output by 920,000 barrels per day to 25.097 million barrels per day, while Russia cut output by 38,000 barrels per day to 8.6 million barrels per day. Analysts consider military conflicts the main economic influence; the demand growth estimate has been cut almost eightfold since the start of the year, when it stood at 1.4 million barrels per day. World oil demand in 2025 reached 105.5 million barrels per day.

The failure of Russian Railways to approve applications to ship ferrous metals towards north-west ports threatens to halt plants in the near future because finished products cannot be shipped out, according to a letter from the Russian Steel association to Deputy Transport Minister Alexey Shilo, seen by Interfax. Reasons cited include low unloading rates at a number of north-west ports, including a shortage of port capacity, and a lack of locomotives and locomotive crews preventing the timely removal of empty rolling stock from port stations. According to the association, in January–August rail shipments of metallurgical products through Azov-Black Sea basin ports fell 21% to 6 million tonnes from 7.2 million tonnes a year earlier; in July and August alone the volume fell 54% to 860,000 tonnes from 1.86 million tonnes. Redirecting to north-west ports raises costs: slab shipment costs $30 more per tonne than via southern ports, and low acceptance rates prevent companies from forming vessel parcels and chartering ships. The association asks for regular rail dispatch and consideration of temporary priority for continuous-cycle plants. A source at a large metallurgical holding confirmed to Interfax that shipping steel products via the north-west costs on average 20–30% more than exports through traditional ports.

The leaders of Russia's women's artistic gymnastics team did not receive visas to compete at the world championships in the Netherlands: Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova, and European champion Anna Kalmykova, will miss the tournament in Rotterdam. The Russian Gymnastics Federation described the Dutch authorities' actions as a deliberate removal of the strongest gymnasts from the contest for world championship medals and Olympic quotas, and will ask the IOC and World Gymnastics to assess the situation. The world championships will award the first team quotas for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with the three best men's and women's teams qualifying. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said the Russian Olympic Committee will soon demand that the IOC and World Gymnastics strip the championships of qualifying status and take measures to ensure equal participation of Russian athletes in Olympic qualification. On 12 October, Alena Glotova, Daniel Marinov, Sergey Naydin and Arseniy Dukhno received entry permission; decisions on the applications of Lyudmila Roshchina, Milana Kayumova, Ilya Zaika, Savely Sedin and Mukhammadzhon Yakubov are still pending.

The Litfond auction house will offer a batch of rare books and maps in St Petersburg on 15 October. Among the lots is an incunabulum of Aristotle — the fourth volume of the five-volume collected works printed in Venice on 1 June 1497 under the project of Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (1449–1515), with a starting price of 250,000 roubles. The top lot is a hand-coloured copy of Aleksey Kruchenykh's Vzorval, with artwork by Kazimir Malevich, Nikolai Kulbin, Olga Rozanova, Natan Altman and Natalia Goncharova; the total print run was 450 copies, with a starting bid of 1.2 million roubles. The geography section is led by Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia, reprinted 46 times up to 1650, with a starting price of 700,000 roubles; also offered are Auguste Cadolle's Views of Moscow album printed in Paris in 1825 (800,000 roubles) and, for the first time on the Russian auction market, Gerard Mercator's Description of the Northern Lands (Amsterdam, 1609).

The M.Video marketplace posted 22.8 billion rubles in turnover for the first nine months of 2026, against 7.55 billion rubles a year earlier — a threefold increase. Assortment grew sevenfold to 1 million SKUs and now covers furniture, apparel, home, children, pet, sports, beauty and everyday goods alongside electronics. Seller count exceeded 15,000 as of 30 September, with more than 1,600 new sellers joining in each of July and August; the company says the pace continued in September. Furniture turnover rose 15.5x, apparel and pet products 9.5x each, hobby/craft and beauty 8x each, children's goods 7.2x. Digital-technology turnover under the 3P model grew 6x, electronics almost 3.5x, small appliances 3.2x; large appliances more than doubled and remained the largest category by turnover. The food category launched on 30 April entered the platform's top ten.

Yandex Ads restored the ad-network partner dashboard, core Adfox functionality and the agency dashboard: the agency dashboard now shows bonus information and certification results, the partner dashboard retains impression and revenue data, and September payouts are running on the normal schedule. Personal dashboards for Direct and Yandex Business remain temporarily restricted — campaigns cannot be managed, settings changed or reports viewed — while already-running campaigns continue, the system keeps counting impressions, clicks and conversions, and daily and weekly budgets set in campaigns are observed; the company says restoring full access to Direct and Business is the priority. In October drones struck three Yandex data centres — Sasovo in Ryazan region, Kaluga and Vladimir — causing large-scale outages across Direct, Metrica, Business, the ad network and AppMetrica, with some advertisers beginning to pull out of Direct and move to other platforms. Outages also hit third parties including Dodo Pizza, M.Video, Lenta and Magnit, and were recorded in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. New versus the 12 October report: the specific list of restored services and what remains unavailable.

Yandex B2B Tech announced on its Telegram channel that, amid the widespread outage, it is waiving fees for Yandex Cloud and Yandex 360 for all existing clients, saying: "We understand that right now it matters to focus on your own tasks, so we are taking the cloud and collaboration-tool costs on ourselves." The statement notes Yandex Cloud and Yandex 360 continue to run with restrictions — some services are unavailable and certain features were deliberately switched off to preserve core platform capability. No timeline for full restoration is given, nor the billing period covered by the waiver. The company says priority number one is restoring the full operation of services needed by businesses and users, with teams not directly tied to data-centre infrastructure also involved. On 8 and 9 October drones struck Yandex data centres in Sasovo and Kaluga; the company then agreed accelerated migration of affected clients with Selectel, K2Cloud and VK Cloud. After the 11 October strike, the Vladimir data centre was shut down entirely, Yandex Cloud moved to emergency mode and advised clients to use alternative recovery methods.

The Russian Steel association of ferrous metallurgy enterprises, in a letter to Deputy Transport Minister Alexey Shilo, said Russian Railways has been declining applications to ship ferrous metals toward North-West ports, putting plants at risk of halting soon because finished product cannot be moved out. Cited causes include slow unloading at several North-West ports due in part to insufficient port capacity, and a shortage of locomotives and locomotive crews to clear empty rolling stock from port-adjacent stations in time. According to association data, January–August rail shipments of metals through Azov–Black Sea basin ports fell 21% to 6 million tonnes from 7.2 million tonnes a year earlier; July and August alone fell 54% to 860,000 tonnes from 1.86 million tonnes. Redirecting to the North-West makes slab shipments $30 per tonne more expensive than via southern ports; a source at a large metals holding told Interfax that delivery via the North-West costs on average 20–30% more than exports through traditional ports, calling it an extra cost not offset by price amid global oversupply. The association asks for regular rail dispatch toward North-West ports (including locomotive and crew provision), consideration of temporary priority for continuous-cycle plants, and temporary acceptance of metals cargo on presentation; it also notes that, unlike grain, metals products have no comparable priority-dispatch or reduced-tariff arrangements.

According to a BigMint review, in the week to 9 October offers for Russian steel billet to Turkey for November delivery rose $15 to $530–535 per tonne CFR; billet delivered to plants in Izmir and Marmara was offered at $545–550 per tonne. Sellers are almost entirely abandoning Novorossiysk FOB terms in favour of CFR sales to Turkey, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Per BigMint, exports via the North-West are complicated by congestion at Baltic ports and competition from agricultural cargo; GMK notes that rail priority and freight discounts for grain make handling steel at Russian ports harder. Turkish buyers consider $520–525 per tonne CFR acceptable. Citing Turkish Statistical Institute data via SteelOrbis, August Russian billet shipments to Turkey fell 76% year on year to 18,800 tonnes, the steepest drop among major suppliers; China shipped 107,900 tonnes, Oman 85,500, Pakistan 27,000 and India 20,000. Over eight months Russia supplied 935,300 tonnes, up 45% year on year; China was second with 800,300 tonnes (+53%) and Malaysia third with 426,400 tonnes (-39%). MMI director Mikhail Golenkov says September port shipments of square billet recovered to near-July levels but moved only via Far East and Baltic ports, with no Black Sea shipments since August and none expected in October; the agency estimates Baltic freight is $25–30 per tonne more expensive than Black Sea ports were in the first half of summer. T-Investments lead analyst Ahmed Aliev suggests the displaced volumes may be redirected to domestic buyers, creating a risk of oversupply on the home market.

Under a joint notice from China's Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration, effective 1 April 2027 the VAT refund rate on exports of new-energy vehicles (fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids) falls from 13% to 9%, as part of measures to optimise the export tax refund policy. Xinhua notes China is the world's largest NEV producer; the sector has grown rapidly and Chinese manufacturers increasingly look to overseas markets for further growth. The piece also cites September exports of 1.053 million vehicles, up 61.4% year on year, including 571,000 NEVs — more than double September 2025 — with NEVs accounting for over half of total Chinese vehicle exports for a fourth consecutive month. Domestic demand is softening: per the China Passenger Car Association, September retail sales of passenger cars fell 28.1% to 1.63 million units, with NEV sales down 16.7% to 1.08 million. Dow Jones Newswires says the reduced rebate will hurt automakers' profits and may accelerate industry consolidation (this is Dow Jones's assessment, not a Chinese official statement). The text does not address the impact of the change on the Russian market; applicability to Chinese sellers in Russia is unconfirmed.

The National Fitness Community (NFS), in a letter dated 1 October to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev, asks for unified requirements on verification, recording and contesting of user reviews on digital platforms and geo-services. It proposes splitting user feedback into three categories — verified purchase, verified user and anonymous review — with only the first two counting toward the overall rating and anonymous reviews remaining readable; identification would run through the unified state identification system and banks. The NFS says a rating drop from 4.9 to 3.8 can cost up to 40% of traffic. FitnessData head Maxim Borovikov says 35–50% of potential visitors look at reviews, but 90% of users choose a place primarily by location. The NFS also proposes a fast-track complaint mechanism on a notice-and-take-down basis, with platforms required to remove ratings they cannot confirm within a few days, and suggests the rules could extend to other service segments — restaurants, hotels and retail. Internet trade association president Artyom Sokolov says review moderation relies on continuously improving machine-learning and AI models. Digital Platforms Association president Oraz Durdyev argues existing controls are sufficient and that mandatory verification requirements would create excessive barriers, complicate the user journey, raise operating costs and could reduce useful feedback. The Digital Development Ministry said the letter has been received and will be considered in the established manner. Fitness industry operators association president Olga Kiseleva notes customers look at reviews on Yandex Maps and 2GIS. The piece gives no legislative timeline or draft text.

According to the Association of Omnichannel Retail Trade Companies (AKORT), the minimum cost of the basic food basket at large Russian retail chains fell 0.7% month on month and 1.6% year on year in September. The steepest annual declines were butter (almost 24%), rice (19%) and pork (18%). Millet fell 15% and wheat flour 10%, with bread, eggs, vermicelli and milk also cheaper. September saw marked falls in borscht-set vegetables: carrots 24%, potatoes 19%, white cabbage 14%, beetroot 12.5% and onions 11%. Seasonal apples fell 5.3%, mutton 2.9%, with sunflower oil and granulated sugar also down. AKORT says the average retail margin on lowest-price-tier goods was minus 0.3%, and in 15 of 25 socially significant categories goods sold below purchase cost, including millet, buckwheat, eggs, sunflower oil and vegetables.

According to data from martech company First Data provided to Vedomosti, from January to October Russian consumers bought more than 5.7 million packs of functional drinks for sleep, weight loss and immunity, spending 2.2 billion rubles. Demand for teas and herbal blends "with an effect" rose 84% year on year: sleep and calming teas grew fastest at 140%, accounting for 31% of all purchases; anti-parasite blends rose 83% but hold only a 7% market share; weight-loss teas rose 78% and make up 43% of the functional tea market. The average price fell from 505 to 302 rubles per pack; the most expensive purchase of the year was a premium Indian detox digestion tea at 14,700 rubles. Kombucha purchases rose 63% year on year, collagen drinks 42% and electrolyte drinks 13%, with the average basket falling from 790 to 724 rubles. Women account for 69% of purchases; by age the 35–45 group leads at 32%, followed by 25–35 at 24%.

Yandex fintech head Dmitry Pirogov said Yandex Pay has restored transfers and payments for some users; transfers to savings accounts, via the Faster Payments System and by account details are gradually returning, while payment by plastic cards and payment stickers works in full. He explained access is being opened in stages so the service can handle the load, and warned it still runs unstably, with some functions unavailable and occasional errors on individual operations. Per RBC, because of the short-term outage Yandex raised the rate for all current savings-account holders to 20% per annum for one week, 11–17 October inclusive; users unable to pay a Super Split instalment or loan because the service was unavailable will not be marked overdue, repayment terms are unchanged, and support should be contacted if penalties were charged. Pirogov attributed the long recovery to the infrastructure being built so that transaction data replicates simultaneously across several data centres: after the drone strikes, engineers had to rebuild it entirely to preserve that principle. New versus the 12 October report: the concrete scope of restoration, the temporary rate increase and the waiver of overdue status.

Visa announced it has received People's Bank of China approval to officially begin preparations for establishing a domestic bank card clearing organisation in China. CEO Ryan McInerney called it an important step within Visa's long-term commitment to China and noted the role of US and Chinese leadership in developing constructive, stable relations; he said the company will take the necessary steps in line with the regulator's requirements. Xinhua, citing People's Bank of China data, reports Visa must complete preparations within one year before it can apply for final approval; once licensed to operate it may provide RMB bank card clearing services and issue RMB bank cards, whereas today in China it may only provide such services in foreign currency. Reuters, citing Chinese regulator data, notes 2025 bank card transactions in China totalled 4.6 trillion worth 963.6 trillion yuan, with state-owned UnionPay still dominant. American Express began operating in the country in 2020. Per Interfax, Mastercard received approval for clearing operations in China in 2023 through a joint venture with NetsUnion Clearing, while Expert says Mastercard entered the market in 2024 — the sources do not reconcile the difference. Neither text addresses the impact on settlement for Chinese sellers in Russia; applicability is unconfirmed.

The Central Bank of Russia set official rates effective 14 October: 83.8675 rubles per US dollar (down 4.78 kopecks), 93.7723 rubles per euro (down 26.32 kopecks) and 12.5028 rubles per yuan, all at face value 1. On the Moscow Exchange the yuan stood at 12.564 rubles as of 19:00, up 5.15 kopecks from the previous close. The Bank explained that, because daily direct calculation of the euro/ruble rate from actual conversion operations has lost representativeness due to low ruble/euro turnover in the domestic market, since 8 June the official euro rate has been derived from the ruble/US dollar rate and the ECB's euro/dollar rate as of 15:30 on the current business day. New versus the 12 October report (rates from 13 October: 83.9153 / 94.0355 / 12.5360): a fresh set of rates and intraday yuan movement.

Central Bank Deputy Governor Alexey Zabotkin, speaking in the State Duma, said Q3 inflation came in slightly above the regulator's expectations and will be reflected in the October forecast update. He said it would "probably be inappropriate" to speak of stronger inflationary pressure in September: the persistent component of price growth and the seasonally adjusted headline index in September were both lower than in July–August, though relative to the July forecast the third quarter as a whole ran somewhat higher in terms of the inflation background. Per Rosstat, annual inflation accelerated to 6.35% in September from 6.33% at end-August, versus analyst expectations of a slowdown to 6.26%. The Bank's July medium-term forecast assumed inflation of 6.3% at end-Q3 and a 6–7% range for 2026 as a whole.

Central Bank Deputy Governor Alexey Zabotkin said 2026 GDP growth will be slightly below last year's, when the economy expanded 1%. He explained that the key rate affects credit and demand gradually, with effects showing up after 3–6 quarters, i.e. with a one-to-one-and-a-half-year lag: "What we are seeing now in credit and demand dynamics is the reflection of decisions taken a year to a year and a half ago." The Bank's current forecast range is 0–1%, with the baseline scenario to be refined after the October board meeting using all incoming information. He noted the economy has been at full employment for a third year, meaning scope for further growth is almost entirely determined by how fast productivity rises; productivity-led growth always takes longer than growth driven by more people working. Structural government measures and the achieved level of investment support a gradual rise in labour productivity: investment grew substantially from 2021 to 2024 and remains near historic highs.