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.
Fresh data confirms a stalling economy: GDP growth of 0.6% over seven months, fixed investment down almost 10%, and headline inflation back above 6% despite a deflationary August. The ruble weakened past 88 to the dollar on the over-the-counter market, the Finance Ministry returned to the bond market with a 1 trillion ruble floater at a steep discount, and Russia-China trade reached $159 billion in January-July.
Russia's GDP grew 0.6% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2026, according to an Economy Ministry report cited by Kommersant. July alone came in at 0.6% after 1.7% in June, industrial output slowed to 0.4% from 0.7%, and construction volumes fell 3.9% over the seven months. The sharpest figure is fixed capital investment at minus 9.9% for January-July, after minus 6.6% in the second quarter — a contraction that points to weak demand for imported machinery and equipment well into 2027.
Source: Kommersant, 2 Sep 2026
Rosstat recorded month-on-month deflation of 0.08% in August, against a 0.4% price decline in August 2025. Because last year's base was steeper, annual inflation still rose to 6.3% from 5.98% in July. Fruit and vegetable prices fell 1.7% in the final week of August while petrol rose 0.9%; the Central Bank expects to hit its 4% target in 2027, and by 2029 even in its risk scenario.
Source: Forbes Russia, 2 Sep 2026
The over-the-counter dollar rate rose 1.8% on 2 September to a peak of 88.35 rubles, the first move above 88 since 11 March 2025, before easing to 86.96 by 15:29 Moscow time. The euro traded at 100.72 rubles after briefly passing 101. BCS analyst Dmitry Babin attributes the move to constrained foreign currency supply, with exports under sanctions pressure while demand stays high for fuel imports and replacement of production capacity; the Finance Ministry is buying currency and gold worth 6.5 billion rubles (about $75 million) a day under the budget rule, with the current cycle ending 4 September.
Source: Forbes Russia, 2 Sep 2026
The Finance Ministry sold 1 trillion rubles (about $11.5 billion) at par of floating-rate OFZ-PK series 29031, maturing 29 July 2042, against demand of 1.424 trillion rubles. Proceeds came to 938.87 billion rubles at a cut-off price of 92.5% of par — a marked discount to the roughly 94% at which the comparable 29029 series traded on 1 September. It was the first auction since July, when the ministry suspended issuance with long OFZ yields near 16%; Yuri Tulinov of T-Investments reads the result as proof the ministry can still raise large sums quickly, but only by paying up.
Source: Forbes Russia, 2 Sep 2026
Trade between Russia and China hit $159 billion in January-July 2026 and could set a full-year record, Zhou Liqun, chairman of the Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia, said at a Kommersant session at the Eastern Economic Forum. More than 15,000 companies with Chinese capital are now registered in Russia, with agriculture and logistics drawing the most interest — a 2025 protocol on a pilot agricultural zone in the Far East has generated additional enquiries. Chinese firms are entrenching in the segments Western suppliers vacated, which raises the bar for any later re-entry.
Source: Kommersant, 2 Sep 2026