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The State Duma passed the 2027–2029 federal budget draft in the first reading at a plenary session, with 372 deputies in favour, none against and 51 abstentions. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at the session that the three-year plan is sustainable under any scenario and contains resources for national development goals, macroeconomic stability and growth in Russians' incomes. The second reading is scheduled for 19 November, by which time the Finance Ministry will have reviewed all deputies' proposals and set out amendments and funding.

At its plenary session on 29 October the State Duma passed in the first reading a bill setting the main parameters of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund budget for 2027 and the 2028–2029 planning period. Fund revenue is projected at RUB 5.04 trillion for 2027, 6.9% above the 2026 figure; RUB 5.4 trillion for 2028 and RUB 5.65 trillion for 2029. Compulsory medical insurance contributions are the main revenue source, accounting for 90.9% in 2027. Expenditure for 2027 is set at RUB 5.2 trillion, 8.6% above 2026.

Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev said at the Kazan Digital Week 2026 forum on 29 October that his ministry proposes blocking not only fraudsters' accounts in the Max messenger but also the SIM cards belonging to them. He said the messenger currently blocks the account when fraud is detected, preventing further activity from that number; the next step is to extend blocking to the telecom operator level, possibly covering all SIM cards registered to that owner rather than only the one used.

At a press conference following the Russia–Africa forum, Vladimir Putin said Moscow wants no war with Europe but is ready for one — "if anyone wants it, let them prepare". He said the West had failed to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia and is unlikely to achieve it by 2030, adding that "if it goes too far, there will be no winners at all". He said Russia remembers the lessons of the two world wars and is doing everything to prevent a repeat.

At a joint press conference with African Union chairman and Burundian leader Évariste Ndayishimiye, Vladimir Putin said Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called him "in a national capacity". He said they stressed at the very start of the conversation that they did not represent the EU as an organisation, and that the call was at their initiative. He said the two sides raised "a whole range of issues", and that subsequent criticism of them in Europe was "not for us to judge — I think it was right". He added that Moscow supports any steps aimed at restoring full-format relations with European countries, whether through the EU or bilaterally.

At a joint press conference with African Union chairman and Burundian leader Évariste Ndayishimiye, Vladimir Putin said the current Russia–Africa trade turnover of $27bn is "far from the limit" and that the two sides are "at the beginning of the path". He said Russian investment is measured in "tens of billions of dollars". He said Russia and African countries intend to work together to remove remaining trade barriers and increase supplies of Russian industrial goods, machinery, equipment, fertilisers and agricultural products, and that Russia is open to buying more African-made goods. He added that deeper alignment of integration processes in Africa and across Eurasia would help stimulate mutual trade.

Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov said the government proposes cancelling the customs fee on internet-trade goods so that it is not charged alongside VAT. He said charging VAT and the customs fee simultaneously is not planned, and that the government will most likely table an amendment before the second reading exempting internet-trade goods from the fee. The report recalls that measures to formalise the economy and foster competition had earlier proposed a fixed RUB 100 fee on each parcel worth up to EUR 200 sent from abroad for personal use.

According to a European Central Bank statement, ECB President Christine Lagarde has informed the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa that she will leave her post on 7 February 2027. Lagarde confirmed this on social media, saying she was proud of her work at the ECB and thanking those who supported her over seven years of service. Costa wrote that the European Council had immediately begun the procedure to appoint a successor to ensure a smooth transition to new ECB leadership. Lagarde has held the post since November 2019; her eight-year term expires on 31 October 2027.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, presenting the 2027–2029 federal budget draft in the State Duma, said the average old-age pension will reach RUB 29,904 by the end of 2027. He recalled that insurance pensions will be indexed twice in 2027 — in February based on 2026 inflation, currently put at 6.8%, and in April by a further 3.3%, adjusted for wage growth. He said that if actual inflation and income growth differ from the forecast, the indexation will be adjusted, and stressed that social policy remains one of the authorities' priorities.

The Russian Health Ministry press service said the ministry has drafted the state guarantees programme for free medical care for 2027 and the 2028–2029 planning period, proposing to include a separate in-depth medical examination for combat veterans comprising more than 14 tests and 7 doctor consultations. The draft also proposes requiring justification and coordination with the Health Ministry and the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund for changes to regional programmes regarding volume and unit-cost norms. The ministry said the programme aims to improve access to care, including through high-tech and breakthrough technologies.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that air defences downed another 24 drones heading for the capital, bringing the total since the start of the day to 49. He said emergency service specialists are working at the debris impact sites. The capital's Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports suspended flight operations.

The Russian Knights aerobatic team's press service reported that pilots Oleg Yerofeyev and Vladimir Kochetov died on 21 October, with the funeral held on 27 October at the "Pantheon of Defenders of the Fatherland" military memorial in Mytishchi, Moscow Region. The press service said the weather was good that day and flights followed plan, but did not disclose the circumstances. According to media reports, their Su-30SM entered a spin during a training flight and the crew could not recover due to insufficient altitude; no official investigation findings are given in the article.

The death toll from the mass attack on Leningrad Region has risen: news of the death of one of the wounded came from a TASS report. Initially one death and five injured were reported. According to that report, a man hospitalised after the attack was diagnosed with severe burns and could not be saved; a source said the injuries were "incompatible with life". The report recalls that 126 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over Leningrad Region on the night of 17–18 October, with a VK data centre among the targets.

The bankruptcy manager of Google's Russian LLC, Valery Talyarovsky, told a court hearing that as of 20 September this year slightly more than RUB 16.7bn had been received into the company's account, of which about RUB 14.7bn was debited by the Federal Bailiff Service to cover administrative fines levied on Google LLC. He said a further RUB 2.1bn-plus was transferred by the bailiff service to Google under enforcement accounts. Total receipts into the bankruptcy estate exceeded RUB 18.8bn, with the remainder going, among other things, to current Federal Tax Service payments and over RUB 400m in wages to former Google employees.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at the State Duma plenary session examining the 2027–2029 budget draft in the first reading that around 106 new aircraft will be handed to Russian airlines over the next three years, with industry manufacturing them and the aircraft going to major carriers. He said these aircraft are more expensive than serially produced ones in service, so the budget sets aside RUB 220bn to discount part of their cost and keep flying affordable.

Presidential adviser Elena Yampolskaya told reporters that Russia plans to choose its own colour of the year. She said a working meeting after that day's briefing will define the approach, adding "we should stop using other people's colours". She said Russia has a rich heritage and many talented designers and artists who could contribute, and that it would be good to announce the country's own colour or colours each year. The report notes that in mid-October Alexei Zharich, deputy head of the presidential directorate for public projects, proposed that the National Centre "Russia" announce the annual choice.

British actor Patrick Stewart, known for the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, has died aged 86. A statement on his page said Sir Patrick Stewart died "yesterday" at his home in Los Angeles, noting he had suffered from Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia. Stewart was born on 13 July 1940 in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. He was best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a role he played from 1987, and as Professor Charles Xavier. He was knighted in 2010.

Kommersant reports that Wink, the streaming service of Rostelecom, and Wildberries have launched a joint project: WB Club subscribers get Wink's main film and series catalogue plus 130 TV channels, with an extended version including Wink Originals premieres to follow. WB Club is Wildberries' paid subscription launched in September 2024, priced at RUB 199 a month or RUB 159 a month when paid yearly; its subscriber base grew fourfold last year to over 5 million. A consultant cited by the paper expects 7–8 million subscribers this year. Sources say Wildberries has dropped the plan to build its own streaming service.

In its third-quarter report Yandex said it had restored all services for users and businesses, with key functions available while engineers continue to bring full capabilities back. The company is still assessing the consequences of the attacks and plans to move to a more distributed infrastructure model. Owing to the aftermath of the drone strikes, Yandex dropped its previously published 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance and will only consider resuming guidance from the next quarter. It had previously guided to around 20% year-on-year revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA of about RUB 350bn. Outages hit Yandex services including Yandex Pay, Yandex Go and Kinopoisk, as well as third-party platforms.

The Ministry of Digital Development is preparing a requirement to register the IMEI (a unique 15-digit number assigned to each mobile device at manufacture) for smartphones brought into Russia without customs clearance, sources told RBC. Registration is to take two weeks, after which the device will no longer be served by mobile networks; it can be done through the Gosuslugi portal. The ministry said it applies to those who bought a phone abroad and brought it in personally, or bought a counterfeit device. Devices already operating on Russian networks before April 2027 will keep working without registration regardless of how they were imported. A ministry representative stressed the draft is still under discussion in the government apparatus and its provisions may change.

Alexei Sazanov, State Secretary and Deputy Finance Minister, said during a State Duma session that VAT and the customs fee will not be introduced together: most likely, before the second reading the government will table an amendment under which the customs fee will not be charged on online trade goods, so that both do not apply at once. He said the 22% VAT on online trade is an "equalisation of trading conditions by channel", since that VAT is payable regardless of where the goods are sold, and the authorities do not expect price increases. In late September the ministry proposed a standard 22% VAT from 2027 on goods bought online from abroad, with electronic trading platforms acting as tax agents, plus a RUB 100 per-parcel fee on personal-use goods worth up to EUR 200. The amendment text and the second-reading date are not given in the article.

The same report cites market participants saying the measure changes nothing for legal retail, since officially imported devices enter the database automatically; experts estimate that up to 70% of sellers working with grey imports could leave the market, and individual models could cost up to 40% more than the cheapest offers. The article also notes the ministry's draft is still under discussion in the government apparatus and may be adjusted.

The Bank of Russia said that, given business needs and dialogue with market participants, it supports raising the amount of a single Faster Payments System transaction to RUB 30m for B2B scenarios and for payments to the budget. The current limit for transfers between legal entities is RUB 1m, and anything above it has to be split into several transfers. The regulator says implementation requires technical work, including on the part of participating banks; amendments to the payment system rules and technical implementation are scheduled for 2027.

On Thursday's Moscow Exchange session the rouble weakened against the yuan on profit-taking after hitting its strongest level since early August. By 19:00 the yuan was up 17.15 kopecks at 12.2005; earlier in the session it slipped just below 12 for the first time since 5 August. A bank markets head said the market is waiting for the Finance Ministry's decision on November's foreign-currency purchases under the fiscal rule, due next Thursday, 5 November. PSB analyst Yevgeny Loktyukhov expects a move towards RUB 12.3–12.5 per yuan from Friday.

The Bank of Russia's official rates effective 30 October are USD 80.6761, EUR 89.8167 and CNY 12.0844 roubles. The previous set, in force on the coverage date (dated 29.10.2026), was USD 80.8664, EUR 90.1660 and CNY 12.0816. The dollar was cut by 19.03 kopecks and the euro by 34.93 kopecks. Figures were cross-checked against the central bank's official XML rate interface (date_req=29/10/2026) and the rate block on its homepage; the interface returns no publication time.