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.
Trade and external-sector data dominated the day: first-half foreign trade returned to growth, the National Wealth Fund shrank in July, and exporters sharply cut foreign-currency sales, while a Kazakh fund took a stake in developer Samolet and e-commerce kept expanding.
Foreign trade turnover rose 11.4% year-on-year to $365.6 billion in January–June, according to Federal Customs Service data, reversing a decline a year earlier. Exports grew 11.9% to $219.5 billion and imports 10.8% to $146.1 billion, lifting the trade surplus almost 14% to $73.4 billion from $64.4 billion. Asia accounted for 74.9% of turnover (72.2% a year earlier), driven by a renewed jump in trade with China, underlining how far Russia's commercial flows have reoriented eastward.
Source: Kommersant, 10 Aug 2026
The National Wealth Fund declined by 383.3 billion rubles in July to 12.72 trillion rubles ($159.3 billion), or 5.4% of GDP, after a June increase, per Finance Ministry data. Liquid assets edged up to 3.693 trillion rubles ($46.2 billion), equal to 1.6% of projected 2026 GDP, leaving the fiscal buffer thin relative to a budget planned around a 3.8 trillion-ruble deficit. Holdings stood at 189.68 billion yuan and 141.2 tonnes of gold, with the monthly swing driven largely by currency and gold revaluation rather than spending.
Source: Interfax, 10 Aug 2026
The largest exporters cut net foreign-currency sales 3.5-fold in July to $2.2 billion from $7.6 billion in June, near the March low of $2.4 billion, according to Bank of Russia figures. Non-financial companies as a whole reduced sales 19.9% to $22.2 billion from $27.7 billion. The central bank flags the broader non-financial measure as more informative now that top exporters' share of the currency market has fallen; weaker supply of hard currency is a factor foreign investors watch for ruble direction.
Source: Interfax, 10 Aug 2026
Fonte Capital, a fund registered at the Astana International Financial Centre, acquired a 17.58% stake in Russian homebuilder Samolet from the heirs of co-founder Mikhail Kenin, worth roughly 4 billion rubles (about $48 million) at Friday's Moscow Exchange price. The shares rose almost 20% on the news before paring gains; analysts cited by the report said the deal removes a share-overhang risk that had weighed on the stock, down 62% year-to-date. The transaction is a rare inbound equity investment from a Central Asian institution into a large Russian developer.
Source: Interfax, 10 Aug 2026
Online retail reached 7.2 trillion rubles (about $87 billion) in January–June, up 18.7% year-on-year, according to the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT). Domestic stores and platforms made up 96.6% of the total, with cross-border purchases just 3.4%, and e-commerce rose to 22.2% of all retail sales from 20.9% a year earlier. Regions generated nearly 80% of volume, signalling that online channels are increasingly filling gaps in traditional retail outside Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Source: Interfax, 11 Aug 2026