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.
A weekend of policy signals: the Finance Ministry opened the door to restarting rouble bond auctions in September, the diesel export ban stayed shut while refinery upgrade deadlines came under review, and the wheat harvest ran 9 million tonnes ahead of last year even as export logistics kept the grain onshore.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters that the ministry will resume OFZ placements as the market stabilises and did not rule out September, saying the borrowing programme written into this year's budget will be met. He tied the timing to conditions rather than a date: the ministry will return to the market "when we understand that it will be advantageous for the budget", watching volatility and rates in the meantime. OFZ auctions have been suspended since July, when the ministry halted them to damp volatility; a September restart would mark the point at which the government accepts prevailing yields to fund the deficit, and it sets the reference for rouble corporate issuance behind it.
Source: Interfax, 22 Aug 2026
The government has not decided to lift the diesel export ban for producers, which currently runs to 1 September, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday, adding that decisions will be taken as the situation requires. Novak reported no diesel shortage on the domestic market, with agricultural users and the northern delivery programme supplied and jet fuel adequate: "The problems are only with petrol." Separately, he confirmed that the Energy Ministry is preparing proposals to postpone refinery modernisation deadlines fixed in investment agreements with oil companies, without naming a new timetable, and said no decision exists on extending state support for damaged infrastructure to refineries — a combination that pushes Russian refining capacity upgrades further out and keeps European diesel supply from Russian producers off the market for now.
Source: Interfax and Interfax, 22 Aug 2026
Russia has harvested 75 million tonnes of wheat so far, 9 million tonnes more than a year earlier, with yields 8% higher, Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut told Interfax; the total grain crop is approaching 100 million tonnes, against 141.2 million tonnes of grain including 91.1 million tonnes of wheat last year on Rosstat figures excluding the new regions. With export logistics constrained, the ministry is weighing purchasing interventions of between 1 and 3 million tonnes, prolongation of subsidised loans for autumn fieldwork in regions where grain shipment is difficult, and a subsidy per tonne sold; Lut called the loan extension and the per-tonne subsidy the more effective instruments and said the regions for intervention have not been fixed. Purchasing interventions were last held in the first half of 2024, so a return would mark the state stepping back in to stop domestic prices falling under a crop it cannot ship — the gap between a large harvest and constrained export capacity is what will move Russian wheat offers into the autumn.
Source: Interfax and Interfax, 22 Aug 2026
Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said funding for the new civil shipbuilding leasing programme could rise this year to about 15–18 billion roubles (roughly 180–220 million dollars at the central bank rate of 82.92 roubles) from the 8.1 billion roubles originally set aside, with his ministry ready to add 7–10 billion roubles on top. The programme, run by the federal Industrial Development Fund, totals 44.5 billion roubles for 2026–2028 and was sized against plans to build about 30 vessels by 2029; Alikhanov has said that an extra 10 billion roubles would fund four to five more river-sea class ships. For equipment suppliers, the direction of travel is that Russia is subsidising domestic hull construction rather than importing tonnage, and the money is being brought forward.
Source: Interfax, 22 Aug 2026
The container vessel PanStar Acro left Busan on Saturday bound for Europe via the Northern Sea Route, according to South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries as reported by Yonhap, carrying chemicals, used cars, car parts and empty containers. The ship is scheduled to pass Arctic waters around 7 September and call at Felixstowe on 9 September, Rotterdam on 11 September and Gdansk on 15 September, returning to Busan on 5 October for a round trip of about 45 days. It is the first South Korean container ship to test the Arctic route and the first South Korean vessel on it since 2016; at roughly 5,600 kilometres the route is the shortest link between western Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific, and Middle East shipping disruption has revived commercial interest in it — European importers now have a live schedule against which to benchmark Arctic transit times.
Source: Interfax, 22 Aug 2026