What Kommersant, RBC, Vedomosti, Interfax and Forbes Russia report — selected and summarized in English every morning, for readers who don't read Russian. Analysis-grade sourcing, no wire rehash. Data context in the Russia Terminal. Regional wires: Central Asia · Caucasus.
Treasury data put the consolidated budget deficit at 5.4 trillion rubles for the first half, Urals discounts narrowed sharply on all routes, and the ruble hit its weakest level against the yuan since February 2025.
The consolidated budget ran a deficit of 5,447.7 billion rubles (about 64 billion US dollars at the central bank rate of 85.01 rubles per dollar) in the first six months of 2026, according to Federal Treasury figures. Revenue came to 37,885.9 billion rubles against 43,333.7 billion rubles of spending; the federal budget alone accounted for 5,865.4 billion rubles of the gap, while regional budgets were close to balance at a combined 134.2 billion ruble deficit. The monthly pattern is the more useful signal for planners: after a 4,959.1 billion ruble shortfall through May, June added only 488.6 billion rubles at the consolidated level and the federal budget posted a 61.5 billion ruble surplus.
Source: Interfax, 17 Aug 2026
Discounts on Russian crude fell 1.1 to 1.7 dollars a barrel at western ports in the first half of August and by 1.3 to 6.2 dollars on Asian deliveries, according to Argus data reviewed by Interfax. The Urals FOB Primorsk discount to North Sea Dated came to 24.52 dollars a barrel against 26.21 dollars for July, while the discount on Urals delivered to India's west coast collapsed by 6.2 dollars to 2.23 dollars and the ESPO discount to Dubai fell 2.1 dollars to 6 dollars. The fiscal effect is direct: the price used to calculate the mineral extraction tax is running at 66.17 dollars a barrel in August against 59.02 dollars in July, above the 59 dollar cut-off in the 2026 budget rule.
Source: Interfax, 17 Aug 2026
The yuan closed Monday at 12.6145 rubles on the Moscow Exchange, up 7.95 kopecks, after touching 12.689 rubles intraday — a level last seen on 12 February 2025. The central bank raised its official dollar rate for 18 August by 46.87 kopecks to 85.0136 rubles and the euro rate by 82.11 kopecks to 98.3352 rubles. The regulator attributes part of the weakening to exporters: net foreign currency sales by non-financial companies fell almost 20 percent in July against June, an analyst at TKB Investment Partners told Interfax, while analysts at Pervaya expect the August tax period to hold the currency within 83 to 85 rubles per dollar and 12.3 to 12.6 rubles per yuan absent a shift in conditions.
Source: Interfax, 17 Aug 2026
A company called KS Logistika has asked President Vladimir Putin to place five Nestlé structures under temporary management, including Nestlé Russia, Nestlé Kuban and Cereal Partners Rus, sources told Kommersant. The petition, now with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev's office for a response due by year-end, argues Nestlé has no plans to expand capacity and has stopped exporting Russian-made goods; Nestlé's Moscow office says all six plants continue to operate and that 2022–2025 investment went into supporting production. Infoline-Analytics values the Russian business at 160 to 170 billion rubles (roughly 1.9 to 2.0 billion US dollars), M&A consultant Ivan Peshkov at 130 to 150 billion rubles, with the lower end applying if a buyer does not obtain Russian rights to the brands. KS Logistika, registered in 2015 as a holding company, reported 2025 revenue of 1.63 million rubles and net profit of 82,000 rubles.
Source: Forbes Russia, 17 Aug 2026
Russian companies raised wages by less than they had planned in 2026, the first time in several years, according to a Regroup survey of nearly 200 enterprises reported by Kommersant. The share of employers benchmarking against market pay levels jumped from 43.9 percent in 2025 to 77.1 percent, and 52 percent now list labour productivity among their top priorities for the coming twelve months, with automation cited by 52 percent as a driver. The gap they are addressing is wide: pay rose 25.3 percent over 2022–2025 while productivity gained 4.6 percent, and in the first quarter of 2026 real wages grew 8.7 percent against a 1.7 percent year-on-year rise in Rosstat's productivity proxy. The Higher School of Economics puts labour costs at 55.4 percent of GDP in the first quarter, five percentage points above the year-earlier level and above gross corporate profit.
Source: Kommersant, 18 Aug 2026