Marketplace sellers union asks to amend the platform economy law: com…

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg in talks lasting about three hours. Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters afterwards that the Kremlin believes the Ukraine conflict is moving towards completion, adding that he did not know how close the sides were. He said the situation in Ukraine was the central topic of the conversation.

The State Duma approved five cabinet nominees: Anton Siluanov (deputy PM and finance minister), Oleg Kozhemyako (deputy PM and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District), Irina Okladnikova (deputy PM and head of the government staff), Andrey Nikitin (deputy PM) and Dmitry Yadrovo (transport minister). All were approved with 430 votes in favour. The nominees were submitted to the Duma on 19 October by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Vladimir Putin held talks in St Petersburg with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Putin said the two had already met three times this year and could meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November. He stressed that bilateral ties do not depend on the international climate and are not directed against anyone, naming energy, information technology, space and peaceful nuclear energy as promising areas, and noting a 34% rise in agricultural trade over the first eight months. The 31st regular meeting of the Russian and Chinese heads of government was also held in St Petersburg.

Oleg Mikhailov, head of the Communist Party branch in the Komi Republic, was detained in Moscow. According to the party press service, he is accused of justifying terrorism (Article 205, Part 2 of the Criminal Code) over a 2024 post about sociologist and publicist Boris Kagarlitsky; the maximum penalty is up to seven years imprisonment. A hearing on the preventive measure is set for 22 October. Mikhailov has led the Komi branch since 2014 and was a deputy of the eighth State Duma.

US President Donald Trump told reporters in Washington that the United States is holding difficult talks with Russia on Ukraine and that stepping up sanctions pressure at such a time would not be appropriate. "We are negotiating with Russia. And when you are in tough negotiations, you don't impose sanctions," he said.

US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian presidential investment and economic cooperation envoy Kirill Dmitriev met released US citizen Stephen Hubbard at Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg. It was reported earlier that Putin had decided to release the convicted American as a gesture of goodwill; Trump said Hubbard was on his way home.

Latvia's charge d'affaires in Russia was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry and given a firm protest. The ministry's website said the step followed Latvia's demand that all staff of the social security unit at the Russian embassy's consular section in Riga be dismissed, which it said jeopardises pensions and social security for almost six thousand Russian military retirees and their families living in Latvia. Moscow said this contradicts the 1994 intergovernmental agreement and handed over a note.

Rosstat data: consumer prices in Russia rose 0.05% over 13-19 October after 0.11% the previous week; 1.06% since the start of the month and 6.15% since the start of the year. On the economic ministry methodology, annual inflation as of 19 October slowed to 7.15% from 7.22% on 12 October; on the central bank methodology, to 6.84% from 7.02%. Over the week fruit and vegetables rose 0.7% (tomatoes +6.3%, cucumbers +2.4%), eggs +2.3%, sugar -0.7%, petrol -0.7%, although petrol is up 20.5% since the start of the year.

Rosstat data: Russian producer prices rose 2.5% month-on-month in September 2026 after a 0.9% increase in August. Mining prices jumped 10.5% (1.9% in August), including 14.7% for oil and natural gas extraction; manufacturing rose 0.8%; electricity, gas and steam supply 0.7%. Analysts polled by Interfax in early October had expected a 0.6% rise.

The dollar and euro fell noticeably on the Russian market, with the rouble strengthening against major currencies for a fourth straight session. The Bank of Russia official rates for 21 October 2026: USD 82.8879 roubles, EUR 93.0417 roubles, CNY 12.3708 roubles.

Deputy digital minister Dmitry Ugnivenko said at the Spektr forum that the ministry is preparing a reform of telecom licensing, with requirements on operators' capital, network coverage, channel speeds and proper network functioning. He said Russia has several thousand telecom operators, but some do not treat network development as a priority and skimp on modernisation, leaving subscribers with low speeds and no coverage. The new rules will need a transition period; the ministry discussed the reform with associations of small operators last Friday.

Reports say Russian banks will block transfers made from devices on which malware is detected. The item is brief and gives no implementation date, no criteria for identifying such devices, and no technical standards.

A Su-30 multirole fighter crashed in the Kaliningrad region, coming down in an unpopulated area. The Russian defence ministry said the accident happened on 21 October during a scheduled training flight, that the aircraft carried no munitions, and that the crew ejected and was evacuated by a ground search-and-rescue team, with no threat to the pilots' lives.

A drone struck a bus used to carry staff of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, killing the driver. The plant's press service said the bus had dropped off day-shift employees and was returning to the depot. The plant said its buses had been attacked by drones for a second consecutive day, which it said indicates the strikes are deliberate.

Air defence units on duty destroyed 51 Ukrainian drones between 8:00 and 20:00 on Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry said. The listed areas include the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Pskov, Tver and Leningrad regions and the Black Sea.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control extended to 21 November a licence due to expire on 22 October. The licence permits negotiations and contingent agreements with Lukoil for the sale of LUKOIL International GmbH, which holds the group's foreign assets, or any controlled company; individual transactions still require separate OFAC approval.

Reports say Naftogaz obtained the seizure of a Russian property in Oslo; earlier, at the company's request, a vessel was detained. The item does not specify the property concerned, its location details or its value.

Roscosmos said that besides Russia and China, 14 other countries and two international organisations take part in the International Lunar Research Station project — 16 countries in total. Russia has one of the key roles: building a nuclear power unit to supply the station with electricity. Russia and China signed an intergovernmental memorandum on the station in March 2021 and presented a roadmap that June.

An exhibition of works by winners of the Stenin contest opened in Moscow. The item is brief and does not give the run dates, the number of works or venue details.

Kommersant has seen a letter sent on 16 October by Andrey Pasynkov, president of the Marketplace Sellers Union (SPM), to the Russian presidential administration, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the State Duma committee on economic policy, asking for amendments to the platform economy law to "remove the imbalance in legal relations, curb unfair competition and protect the rights of e-commerce market participants". The proposals: split the fees platforms charge sellers — storefront placement versus logistics and advertising — and make them transparent; let sellers choose the delivery method to the buyer; ban search demotion of sellers using the FBS model (sale from the seller's own warehouse) and demotion for refusing to process orders on official days off and public holidays; end the practice of forcing sellers' goods into platform marketing campaigns; fix the seller's exclusive right to set the retail price; and ban competitor ad blocks and "Similar items" / "Find cheaper" buttons inside a product card. The union argues major marketplaces have moved beyond the classic agency model into closed ecosystems, imposing onerous terms on sellers and pickup-point owners, concentrating margin at the platform while cutting profitability in the real sector. The antimonopoly service told the paper it would consider the letter; the Duma committee said it had not received it; Ozon and Wildberries declined to comment and Yandex Market did not respond; the internet trade companies association said it takes any signal about market imbalances seriously. Lawyers interviewed note most of the issues are not currently regulated by law; some add that banning "Similar items" and "Find cheaper" would restrict competition and consumers' access to price information rather than protect it. The text contains no provisions specific to foreign sellers and no commission figures.

Kommersant, citing an internal memo obtained by Reuters, reports that eBay CEO Jamie Iannone told employees the company will cut 9% of its workforce, about 1,100 people; he said the move is part of "simplifying operations and redirecting resources into the fastest-growing parts of the business". An eBay spokesperson later confirmed the layoffs to Reuters. The paper recalls this is not eBay's first reduction this year: in February it let go about 6% of staff, or 800 people. As part of an anti-crisis restructuring, one of the pioneers of online trade has decided to bet on authenticated luxury goods, collectibles and refurbished products. The article says eBay shares have risen almost 40% since the start of the year on the back of this, far ahead of the roughly 12% gain in the S&P 500. The text says nothing about effects on the Russian business, cross-border sellers or third-party seller fees.

Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov, at a session of the State Council commission for Industry, said price dumping by importers is one of the long-term challenges for Russian industry and that the problem spans "all stages — raw materials, components and finished goods". He named three lines of response: cutting costs through greater volumes and product unification; unifying raw materials, materials and components at sector level (which he said would also benefit suppliers); and responding at the customs tariff level — "for every position where we have already mastered production, we should not be shy about raising rates to the WTO bound level", i.e. introducing prohibitive duties. He also said the ministry will tackle the marking-up of Russian industrial goods by intermediaries, with recommended price lists as one instrument. The session took place on 21 October at the Tekhnopolis Moscow special economic zone as part of the second Moscow Investment and Industrial Forum. The article lists no specific goods, duty rates or implementation dates; the effect on Chinese sellers is an inference and applicability is unconfirmed.

Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said at the same State Council Industry commission session that the ministry wants to speed up adoption of amendments to the platform economy law on equalising conditions for foreign and Russian sellers on marketplaces, above all on the size of platform commissions — in his words, the requirement is that "commissions for Russian producers must not exceed those set for imported goods". He recalled that part of the package took effect on 1 October — the marking system and a number of items that must now be integrated with marketplace and control/supervision systems — while the rest of the proposals are being discussed at government level. "We consider it extremely important to launch a number of these amendments this year and send them to the State Duma… there may be several stages of amendments to this law, but there are positions on which the agencies have reached full agreement… the whole package is ready and all our differences have been removed." The text gives no commission caps or entry-into-force dates and does not clarify whether "imported goods" covers goods sold cross-border by Chinese sellers — applicability to Chinese sellers is unconfirmed.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told a State Duma session that the ministry is studying a new way to allocate the profit tax paid by marketplaces among regions — based on sales in each region rather than on the location of large divisions and head offices as today. The issue was raised by a deputy from the New People faction, who said that in mid-year the president instructed the finance ministry to prepare amendments to the Tax Code. "We do have such instructions and we are working on them together with the Federal Tax Service, because the tax service is now preparing information on the distribution of sales points of such online platforms, since no such statistics exist yet. After that it will be possible to see in which regions additional revenues would be concentrated and in which, on the contrary." Total profit tax received by regional budgets is RUB5.3tn, while receipts from marketplaces "amount to tens of billions" and are not that significant against that backdrop, the minister said, "but one always has to look at the regional geography". Not all regions support the idea: "of course those without marketplace head offices are in favour, while those that receive the marketplace taxes are against." The piece contains no bill text, timeline or allocation formula.

According to NF Group data for the end of Q3 cited by Vedomosti, about 60 Russian retailers have started optimising their store portfolios this year. A company representative said the number of such players rose 54% versus April–June; he did not give a year-on-year change, noting the firm has only counted this since the start of 2026. The study defines optimisation as cutting the number of outlets, abandoning the offline format, or companies running into financial difficulties. Of the brands that revisited their development strategy this year, 37 sell apparel and footwear, four each sell home goods and cosmetics/perfume, three are food service companies, and the rest sell household appliances and electronics, jewellery and so on. The reasons given are the rising cost of maintaining outlets and the active growth of online trade. The text gives no total number of closed stores, no brand list and no quantification of the effect on online supply or prices.

The Bank of Russia official rates endpoint (cbr.ru/scripts/XML_daily.asp) published on the coverage day a group dated 22.10.2026: USD 81.9739, EUR 91.9337, CNY 12.2806, with a nominal of 1 unit for all three. Versus the 21.10.2026 group still in force on the coverage day (82.8879 / 93.0417 / 12.3708), that is a fall of 91.40, 110.80 and 9.02 kopecks respectively. The yuan rate fell below RUB12.3, one of the lower levels of recent sessions; at the dollar rate, USD100 is worth about RUB8,197.39. The endpoint gives only the rates and the effective date — no explanation of the move and no exchange traded prices. For Chinese sellers sourcing in yuan and collecting revenue in roubles, the group means less rouble revenue for the same yuan goods value; the actual effect depends on the settlement rate and the platform payout cycle and is unconfirmed.

The Russian interior ministry warned that when a buyer transfers prepayment for an online purchase there is no guarantee of a refund or of receiving the goods. The ministry listed as fraud indicators excessive persistence by the seller and the absence of any contact information about the seller. It specified that a deal carries risk for the buyer if the seller wants prepayment, especially via anonymous payment systems, electronic money, or a bank transfer to a card issued to a private individual. Other signs of potentially dangerous online shops: an excessively low price, no courier delivery or pickup, and inaccuracies in product descriptions. The ministry said it regularly reports new schemes, noting that criminals can fake payment platform pages to steal money, and that other common scams include transfers to a "safe account" and cryptocurrency investments. The text says nothing about marketplace seller obligations, case numbers or loss amounts.

Rosstat data show Russian inflation at 0.05% for 13–19 October, after 0.11% in 6–12 October and 0.96% in 29 September–5 October (the "tariff week" following the 1 October housing and utilities indexation). Prices rose 1.06% over the first 19 days of the month and 6.15% since the start of the year. Converted from average daily data for the whole of October 2025 (the economic development ministry method), annual inflation at 19 October slowed to 7.15% from 7.22% at 12 October (end-September: 6.35%); using weekly dynamics, the method the central bank usually follows, it was 6.84% versus 7.02%. The article explains that October 2025 weekly dynamics were highly unrepresentative (pointing to 0.84% when actual October inflation was 0.50%, the gap mainly due to outbound tourism services not then covered by weekly monitoring and falling sharply). Fruit and vegetables rose 0.7% on the week: tomatoes +6.3%, cucumbers +2.4%, bananas +0.9%, potatoes +0.5%, while apples fell 1.7%, carrots 1.3%, onions 1.0% and cabbage 0.9%. Chicken eggs rose 2.3% and chicken meat 0.8%; sugar fell 0.7% and wheat flour 0.3%. Petrol fell 0.7% on the week and diesel 0.1%, but since the start of the year petrol is up 20.5% and diesel 13.4%. The Bank of Russia board kept the key rate at 14% on 11 September after ten consecutive cuts, retaining a neutral signal; the central bank confirmed its 2026 inflation forecast of 6–7%, the economic development ministry raised its own forecast to 6.8% from 5.2% in late September, and the consensus of economists polled by Interfax in early October is 7.0%; analysts unanimously expect the rate to stay at 14% this Friday, with some expecting a harder signal.

A survey by inFOM commissioned by the Bank of Russia shows household inflation expectations falling to 13.2% in October from 14.2% in September, close to the February 2026 level of 13.1%. In July 2026, against fuel price rises, the indicator jumped to 14.7%, its highest in recent years, before easing to 13.7% in August. Perceived inflation fell from 15.1% to 14.5%, back to the February 2026 level. Five-year-ahead expectations moved the other way, rising from 10.7% to 12.2%, returning to around the August 2026 level of 12.4%. The latest poll was conducted on 5–15 October. Among respondents without savings, expectations fell from 15.4% to 14.6%; among those with savings, from 12.8% to 11.6%. Perceived inflation among those without savings was unchanged at 16.3%, while among savers it fell from 13.6% to 12.4%. Inflation expectations are usually influenced by prices of marker goods and housing and utilities tariffs; in the first week of October inflation rose sharply because of the scheduled utilities indexation (0.96% over 29 September–5 October, annual 7.08%), followed by 0.11% over 6–12 October (annual 7.22%). Household and business inflation expectations are among the factors the central bank weighs in monetary policy decisions; business price expectations fell in October after rising since July but remain above the Q2 2026 level. The next Bank of Russia board meeting on monetary policy is this Friday, with consensus expecting the key rate to stay at 14.0%.