Good news: this year there will be no more hard Mondays and no less hard Tuesdays. We only have one left, but the most awaited day of the week - Friday - and 24 hours to sum up the results of the outgoing year.
Leap year 2016 was only one day too late, but it seems like that much happened in those 366 days historical events, which will change the structure of politics, economics and social life in the world.
But for Russia, and especially for Moscow, the outgoing year has become no less eventful with turning points. We remembered the main things from the world of politics, culture, and sports that the residents of the Russian capital experienced in 2016.
POLICY: Parliamentary elections in Russia
Elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the 7th convocation were held on September 18, 2016 using a mixed system: 225 deputies were elected from party lists and another 225 from single-mandate constituencies.
With a turnout of 47.9%, slightly more than half of the voters cast their votes specifically for the leading party (Dmitry Medvedev), three more - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Gennady Zyuganov), LDPR (Vladimir Zhirinovsky) and A Just Russia (Sergei Mironov) overcame the barrier of 5 %, which other candidate parties did not pass: “Communists of Russia” (Maxim Suraikin), “Yabloko” (Emilia Slabunova), “Party of Pensioners” (Vladimir Burakov) and “Motherland” (Alexey Zhuravlev).
New speaker State Duma of the seventh convocation, which began its work in October, became the first deputy head of the presidential administration.
The speaker of the previous composition of the Duma was. This time he entered parliament in the Kingisepp single-mandate constituency of the Leningrad region and until the last said that he would not give up his mandate. However, on the eve of the elections, Vladimir Putin appointed him to the post of head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, which he had previously headed for almost nine years.
CULTURE: Another phenomenon
Van Gogh set the trend. Van Gogh was replaced by Serov, surpassed by Rokotov, repeated the sad experience with an even louder scandal, the Moscow museums were “fired” with heavy artillery by the trio of the Vatican Pinakothek - Raphael, Bellini and Caravaggio. The queue for exhibitions became a new sociocultural phenomenon in Moscow in 2016.
Frost, heat, rain, thunderstorm, kilometer-long crowds, expensive tickets... This year art fans are not allowed, and for the sake of meeting with the beautiful, visitors to Valentin Serov’s exhibition “On the 150th anniversary of his birth” at the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val (Central House of Artists) when the frost was minus 14 degrees at the end of January they broke it front door museum, created a stampede and chanted “Open!”
In total, several truly interesting exhibitions took place in Moscow this year, which together were visited by almost a million Russians - these are “Ivan Aivazovsky: On the 200th Anniversary of His Birth” and “Valentin Serov. To the 150th anniversary of his birth" in the Central House of Artists, "Raphael. Poetry of the image. Works from the Uffizi galleries and other collections in Italy" in the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, "Masterpieces of the Vatican Pinacoteca. Bellini, Raphael, Caravaggio" and "From Elizabeth to Victoria. English portrait from the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London" in the Tretyakov Gallery.
More than one hundred thousand spectators were gathered by the exhibition “Leon Bakst” at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. A. S. Pushkin, and the “record holder” - 730 thousand - was “Photobiennale 2016”.
Neither those Muscovites who attended exhibitions year after year and now simply cannot get through the queues, nor the organizers know what to do with such a sudden rush, and, consequently, incidents around exhibitions. However, a trend has been set, albeit such a sudden one.
CORRUPTION SCANDAL: Belykh, Ulyukaev and Zakharchenko
The autumn marathon of arrests of high-ranking corrupt officials is also a trend of the outgoing year, although not so sudden. In the middle of summer, the head of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, was caught red-handed in one of the Moscow restaurants, accused of receiving a bribe for .
Residents, and especially those who use commuter trains, have been waiting for the launch of the Moscow Central Circle, and with it at least partial relief of the metro, for many years, because now it is not necessary to get to central transfer stations or wait for ground transport to get to one or another another district of Moscow, remote from the center.
The road is served by 134 pairs of high-speed “Swallows” with an average speed of up to 50 kilometers per hour and a maximum capacity of up to 1200 passengers, so a full circle of such a ring lasts 84 minutes, and the fastest crossings (“Krymskaya” and “Verkhniye Kotly”, “Business” center" and "Kutuzovskaya", "ZIL" and "Avtozavodskaya") take approximately two minutes each.
All trains are equipped to travel low mobility groups citizens, equipped with toilets and Wi-Fi sockets.
But the MCC is not the only transport innovation of the capital’s metro in 2016: in the same September, three new stations were put into operation on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line section. “Butyrskaya”, “Fonvizinskaya” and “Petrovsko-Razumovskaya” became a continuation of the northern section of the line from the station.
By the way, in 2017 it is planned to put into operation the remaining stations under construction on the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line - Okruzhnaya, Verkhnie Likhobory, Seligerskaya.
DISCUSSED: Monument to Prince Vladimir and Pokemon GO!
The main thing about the monument is that it is very... But it caused discontent in Kyiv. During his visit to Slovenia Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko could not even restrain himself and called the installation of the monument an attempt at hybrid appropriation of history: “In the Kremlin, they erected a monument to our Kyiv prince Vladimir,” Poroshenko said.
No matter what anyone says in politics, the monument to the collector of Russian lands, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who baptized Rus', was unveiled on National Day on Borovitskaya Square in Moscow and, according to a survey by VTsIOM, was liked by the vast majority of Russians surveyed, who saw in its installation a preservation historical memory and symbol of the unity of peoples.
Initially, the multi-ton monument was planned to be erected on Sparrow Hills, but after voting on the Active Citizen portal, a more central location was chosen for it, closer to the city’s tourist attractions.
But this summer it became a real sensation on the networks, from which Moscow, like many big cities world, did not stand aside.
Pokemon Go - free game For mobile phones, based on augmented reality technology. The main goal of the strategy is to “catch” virtual monsters that are “placed” in various geopositions of a real city.
The sensational development of the Japanese company Nintendo - the augmented reality game Pokemon GO!, released on July 6 - made couch potatoes and fans computer games get up from the couch to go in search of monsters along the Moscow alleys. In the capital, such is Ilyinsky Square, which was almost entirely attacked by zombified teenagers over the summer.
Especially for fans of the quest Ministry of emergency situations The Russian Federation even issued its recommendations for the safe “catching” of strategy heroes, because during its passage players disconnect from reality, do not pay attention to traffic lights, and gather in places of increased danger and on the roads!
Fortunately, the excitement around Pokemon died down almost as quickly as it did, especially after a number of tragic, scandalous and ridiculous cases, including -. For example, blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky from Yekaterinburg even faces a very real prison sentence because of virtual monsters.
INCIDENTS: Fire in the Otradny printing house
Since the very beginning of 2016, several events have occurred in Russia involving the death of people under tragic circumstances: this is in Vorkuta, a plane crash in Rostov-on-Don, which claimed the lives of 62 people, in which 14 schoolchildren died, a wave of 77 fatal poisonings with Hawthorn and crash of the Russian Ministry of Defense Tu-154 aircraft, which claimed the lives of 92 people.
For Moscow, such a terrible event was the fire in. Early on the morning of Saturday, August 27, a fire that engulfed the Printing Express printing house building on Altufevskoye Highway cut off the escape route for 17 young women, 14 of them were citizens of Kyrgyzstan, who were unable to get out of the building.
The firefighters were able to cope with the fire in a few minutes, but they did not know in which part of the building the printing house employees were locked and could not save them in time: all the girls died, suffocating in the changing room.
During the investigation of the tragic incident, more than 30 administrative cases were initiated; the director of the enterprise, Sergei Moskvin, turned himself in to the law enforcement officers.
SPORT: IIHF World Championship 2016
The doping scandal almost deprived the Russian national team of the main sports festival - Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro - and led to the complete suspension of the country's Paralympic athletes.
But it was this year that our country hosted the 80th anniversary World Hockey Championship 2016 at two ice arenas in Moscow (“VTB Ice Palace” is the main site) and St. Petersburg (“SK Yubileiny”). .
The last time the Russian capital hosted such a sporting event was in 2007. The gold in the final meeting this time went to the Canadian team - it beat Finland with a score of 2:0, which returned home with a silver award. The Canadians took the lead thanks to goals from Connor McDavid and Matt Duchaine. The last one was thrown less than a second before the end of the match into an empty net, and the first one in the 12th minute.
By the way, the “Maple Leaves” have won this championship 26 times already and are very close to the national teams in terms of the number of titles (in total, the teams of the USSR and Russia won the world championships 27 times).
Our team, alas, won only bronze this year, but the athletes were able to beat the US team in the match for third place. Between them, the teams scored nine goals, and the Russians, to the great joy of the assembled fans, scored seven goals.
RECORD: “Circle of Light”-2016
The year 2015 will be remembered by Muscovites for an important patriotic event - the procession of the “Immortal Regiment” on May 9 on the day of the 70th anniversary Great victory, in which more than 500 thousand people took part.
But this year, Moscow became the host city of another large-scale record: the “Circle of Light” festival from September 23 to 27 in Krylatskoye, which became the world’s largest light show, was included in the Guinness Book of Records. Laser video installation on the facade of a complex of buildings of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with an area of 19,099 square meters broke all previously set records.
More than 1,000 lighting devices and 220 video projectors were used at the festival sites - the light output of more than 4.5 million lumens also became a record for such events.
The 2016 festival took place at six venues. in four days the most recognizable buildings of the capital were lit up.
A film about the history of the university was projected onto the building of Moscow State University, VDNKh was decorated with natural ornaments, and the ballets “Carmen” and “ Swan Lake" Almost three million Russians visited the festival over the weekend.
THE GREATEST DEPARTED: Iskander, Krachkovskaya, Popov, Ivanova, Zeldin
“When will this year stop taking away the best,” singer Madonna wrote on Twitter on December 26, the day of the death of the world icon, American lead singer of the band Wham! George Michael.
Unfortunately, the singer turned out to be right: in 2016 there were no more talented actors, singers, performers, writers, and directors. Many of them left at a relatively young age. On January 11, the global music industry lost the singer David Bowie, three days later the actor passed away, after the writer, singer Prince, boxer, singer Leonard Cohen, Israeli politician, Comandante, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, actress, performer of the role of Princess Leia in the film “Starred” war."
Over the course of this year, Russia has lost many legendary and talented names, especially the domestic theater. Honored Artist, the oldest artist in the world, actress died in Moscow at the age of 78 Lyudmila Ivanova, who played the role of Shurochka in the film “Office Romance,” the 87-year-old writer and sculptor passed away Ernest Unknown, human rights activist Elizaveta Glinka.
“Of course, it’s time to break the trend”
“2016 turned out to be harder than the previous year,” the president said at the Kremlin New Year’s buffet. And you can't argue with that.
Only it turns out that 2015 was exactly the same year. And 2014 was harder than 2013. And so on... At least another five years.
This does not add optimism. But “difficulties strengthen”
and the Russians are already world champions in everyday toughening.
Although, of course, it’s time to break the trend of getting heavier each year.
Concert of Russian musicians in Palmyra, liberated from militants.
Theatergoers have a term for "backdrop." This is a backdrop curtain - part of a theater set. The war in Syria was the backdrop of the year.
Fighting on the streets of Aleppo.
Many significant events took place against the backdrop of this war. They were connected with it in one way or another. Flowed from it. Starting with nonsense - with the fact that we stopped going on vacation to Turkey and Egypt. And ending with the terrorist attacks in Europe, nanny Bobokulova, Varvara Karaulova, the murder of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov and the national tragedy - the crash of the Tu-154.
On the morning of December 25, a Tu-154 aircraft of the Ministry of Defense fell into the Black Sea while taking off from Adler airport. The plane was heading to Syria, to the Khmeimim military base, to congratulate our military personnel on the New Year. 92 people died: most of Alexandrov’s ensemble, 9 journalists, Elizaveta Glinka, the crew and military personnel accompanying the flight.
Victims of explosions at Brussels airport. Photo: twitter.com Tabagari
Bloody terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Ankara, Brussels, Nice, and Berlin, carried out during the year, confirmed that among the war refugees who fled to Europe there were indeed terrorists. More than 400 people were killed in the terrorist attacks and more than 1,000 were injured.
Zombified by Islamist propaganda, the mentally ill nanny Bobokulova strangled and beheaded a 4-year-old disabled girl left in her care. In view of mental disorder released from criminal liability and sent to compulsory treatment.
Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, was shot dead in Ankara on December 19 by a member of President Erdogan’s security service. An employee who turned out to be a terrorist committed a public murder as “revenge for Aleppo.”
20-year-old Varvara Karaulova, who fell in love with a Syrian militant through correspondence on the Internet, was punished with a disproportionately long term of imprisonment - 4.5 years. Although she cooperated with security authorities during the investigation, she was convicted of “attempting to join a terrorist organization.” Reposting harmless texts, pictures, photographs and other “thought crimes” were also punished excessively throughout the year.
Money seized from Colonel Zakharchenko.
The fight against corruption in the past year has reached a level where it is better to remain silent about it than to talk about it. Colonel Zakharchenko’s 9 billion amazed everyone. What is going on in the state if a simple colonel has such money in a stack?
Although the Central Election Commission this year was led by the wonderful new Ella Pamfilova, and not the old Vladimir Churov, who was boring everyone, the elections to the State Duma took place as usual. The turnout is low, the advantage of United Russia is overwhelming.
Ksenia Sobchak gave birth to a son in a clinic near Moscow, and until now no one has taken a photo of the baby, hung it up, posted it or shared it. Let him grow up healthy and smart, God bless him.
Ex-minister Ulyukaev in court.
And then how much do the generals have?..The decoration of the list of the best corrupt officials of 2016 was the Minister of Economic Development Ulyukaev. But there are other bright people: the governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh, the head of RusHydro Egeniy Dod, the head of the State Security Service for the Northwestern Federal District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Yuri Timchenko, the mayor of Vladivostok Igor Pushkarev, the deputy head of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Denis Nikandrov, the governor of the Sakhalin region Alexander Khoroshavin, the head of the Federal Security Service for the North Caucasus FO Gennady Lopyrev.
Another shock of the year is the tragedy at Syamozero. 14 children vacationing at the camp drowned because they were caught in a storm that they knew was coming. But the camp was overcrowded, there were no beds for them, so they were sent out on a death march.
Two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva, not allowed to participate in the Rio Games, cries at a reception in the Kremlin.
The muddy story with doping, brewed by the muddy Rodchenkov, who was appointed to stir up doping by muddy sports leaders, led to the fact that our athletes broke through to the Olympics in Rio like partisans from the encirclement. In the end, not everyone made it through. But, even tortured and tormented, our team performed very well, winning 4th place in the medal standings. The Paralympians, unfortunately, were excluded from the Olympics.
In June, British citizens voted to leave the EU - mainly because of the "in large numbers" of migrants who take away jobs and social benefits. It is predicted that other countries will follow the UK, and in the future the collapse of the European Union is inevitable.
Police escort out a hooligan who poured urine on several exhibits at photographer Jock Sturges's "No Embarrassment" exhibition.
The Orthodox community, under the leadership of retired officers and active bikers, monitored cultural events throughout the year in order to prevent offense to the feelings of believers and the destruction of spiritual bonds. When attacks on exhibitions and performances became systematic, Konstantin Raikin called on cultural figures to unite and fight back.
Fight between Russian and English fans in the stands.
The European Football Championship was an expected disappointment. The lack of will of our players on the field and unwillingness to exert themselves was so obvious that the fans demanded to disband the national team. Finally, everyone was finished off by a party in a nightclub in Monte Carlo with champagne worth 250 thousand euros, which was organized by Mamaev and Kokorin after the failure at the Euro.
New Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva.
Education Minister Livanov and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Affairs Astakhov were dismissed. In order to strengthen the spiritual bonds, their positions were taken by Olga Vasilyeva and Anna Kuznetsova, close to the Russian Orthodox Church. They began to strengthen the bonds with what Vasilyeva decided to include in school curriculum astronomy, and Kuznetsova - to create a register of pedophiles.
The biggest surprise of the year was the election of the American President. Nobody believed Trump would beat Clinton. But he won. Trump’s victory, coupled with Britain’s Brexit, marks a turning point for the Western world. Its liberalization, which began after World War II, appears to be ending. The West is entering a new phase - a rollback to nationalism, conservatism and populism.
The area of paid parking in Moscow has increased significantly and their prices have risen.
The long-awaited Moscow opened in September central ring, and moving around the city has become noticeably easier. Here, if something is bad, everyone criticizes it. And if something is good, then they are silent about it. They are silent about the MCC. MCC is good.
Perhaps the most discussed Oscar ceremony in history took place in 2016 - it was all due to Leo DiCaprio and the expectations of millions of viewers associated with him. Nominated for the fifth time, the actor, as was generally believed, was strongly disliked by academics, and the very situation when he was left without a statuette became the talk of the town. This time everything came together - DiCaprio received an Oscar for his not-so-best film, The Revenant, but given his previous merits, almost everyone considered this fact fair.
From June 10 to July 10, the European Football Championship was held in France. For more than a month in 2016, there was no topic more popular than Euro 2016. An absolute sensation was the victory of the Portuguese national team for the first time in the history of the competition: an obvious outsider who miraculously made it out of the group, the team somehow held on to Ronaldo’s charisma alone, and in the final they enchantingly beat the championship hosts without their main star - the injured Cristiano left the field at the very beginning of the game . It seemed that nothing could help Portugal, but the victory, which was pulled out by the teeth, looked more than deserved.
Another sensation that literally shocked the world was the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election. He secured the support of 290 electors - 58 more than those who supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump's incredible and unpredictable victory became a symbol of the collapse of political technology - all factors of the candidates' election campaigns and public opinion polls predicted Clinton's victory.
The biggest sporting event of 2016 was the Summer Olympic Games. The main sports competition was held in Brazil from August 5 to 21. However, the focus of the discussion was not so much the competition itself, but the scandal associated with Russian athletes - who passed more than 3,000 doping tests, many of them were simply not allowed to compete. In Russia, the actions of the International Olympic Committee were called a political provocation.
Exhibitions of Valentin Serov and Ivan Aivazovsky in Moscow
The past year has become a real art breakthrough for residents of the Russian capital. The exhibition of Valentin Serov, held at the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val, caused an unprecedented stir: due to kilometer-long queues, the exhibition had to be extended for a week. Further - more: the collection of works by Ivan Aivazovsky attracted even more visitors. At the end of the year, the interest in art among Muscovites did not fade away - the Tretyakov Gallery had to introduce personalized tickets for the exhibition “Masterpieces of the Vatican Pinakothek” after a crush occurred in the queue to enter.
Cannes Film Festival 2016
The most authoritative and prestigious world film festival ended this year with the awarding of the Englishman Ken Loach, who conquered the authoritative jury with his new drama “I, Daniel Blake.” But, as usual, we showed more interest in Cannes in connection with unprecedented social activities. And there was plenty of room to roam - first everyone was discussing Kim Kardashian’s triumphant appearance at the De Grisogono party, then the incredible appearance of the main model of the outgoing year, Bella Hadid, in a revealing scarlet Alexandre Vauthier dress, in which she appeared at the premiere of the film “The Stranger”. Also, the social level was noticeably increased by pregnant Blake Lively and Tatyana Navka, who suddenly became the most influential Russian star in Cannes.
Venice Festival 2016
The Silver Lion for directing this year in Venice was awarded to Amat Escalante for “Wilderness” and Andrei Konchalovsky for the film “Paradise.” Having won the oldest film festival on the planet, Konchalovsky will represent Russia at the Oscars next year.
Although the world economy will grow by about 3% at the end of 2016, and the Russian economy will fall by about 0.5%, economic results for the world turned out to be generally worse than expected, and for Russia - better. Banki.ru recalls the 10 main events of the past year in the country and the world that influenced the economy.
Brexit: leaving in English, without saying goodbye
On June 23, the referendum on British membership in the European Union, initiated by Prime Minister David Cameron, ended with an absolute sensation. About 52% of those who took part in the vote were in favor of Britain leaving the EU, although even on election day exit polls gave a fairly confident victory to supporters of European integration. Cameron was forced to resign.
Immediately after the referendum, global stock markets began to collapse, and the pound sterling exchange rate reached a 30-year low. However, after a few days, almost all of this decline was won back.
On November 4, the UK High Court ruled that without the approval of Parliament, the government cannot announce the implementation of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which triggers the procedure for leaving the European Union (according to this article, the procedure for leaving the EU must be initiated by the country wishing to leave the union, but not by the European Union itself) . In early January 2017, the UK Supreme Court is due to deliver a verdict on the British government's appeal against the High Court's decision. The current Prime Minister Theresa May announced her intention to begin leaving the EU by the end of March 2017 without consulting Parliament. But in any case, the true scale of Brexit will become clear only after the details and timing of the UK’s exit from the EU are clarified.
Russian banks are profitable again: making money from the crisis
For 11 months of 2016, Russian banks made a profit of 788 billion rubles. This is almost three times higher than the figure for the same period in 2015, which turned out to be the worst for the Russian banking system in many years. The profit of Russian banks for the entire 2016 will clearly exceed 800 billion rubles. Moreover, in the third quarter of 2016, for the first time since the third quarter of 2014, the Russian banking system turned out to be profitable, even without taking into account Sberbank.
As for Sber itself, its net profit for 11 months of 2016 according to RAS reached a historically record high of 483.2 billion rubles. On a general wave of optimism, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel, said that in 2017 the Russian banking system could earn 1.2-1.3 trillion rubles. As soon as the ruble exchange rate relatively stabilized, loan arrears and contributions to reserves stopped growing at a rapid pace. On the other hand, the influx of deposits after a sharp increase in the key rate during 2015 against the backdrop of a collapse and then an extremely slow recovery in lending and not very diverse investment opportunities allowed the banking system to move from a liquidity deficit to a surplus.
At the same time, such a noticeable increase in bank profits has not yet led to either an increase in investment or a new boom in retail and corporate lending.
Inflation record in Russia: lack of money defeated prices
In 2016, annual inflation in Russia will be a record low in post-Soviet history and may drop below 6% for the first time (the previous record was 2011, when prices rose by 6.1%). Based on the results of 11 months, inflation year on year amounted to 5.8%.
When, at the end of 2013, the Bank of Russia first spoke about its intention to make the key goal of its policy to achieve inflation of 4% per annum in 2016, and then in 2017, it seemed like unscientific fiction. Especially against the background of a sharp jump in prices in 2014-2015 due to the devaluation of the ruble and the war of sanctions, when inflation was confidently maintained at double-digit levels, reaching an annualized peak of 17%.
Now, annual inflation of 4% does not seem impossible. However, the record of relatively low price growth is hardly a cause for celebration. main reason Such a slowdown in inflation (during 2016, the rate of price growth fell by half) is a continuous decline in real incomes of the population that has continued since November 2014 and the resulting contraction in trade turnover. Prices began to rise much more slowly, primarily because sellers do not want to lose buyers altogether. The second reason for record low inflation in Russia is much more optimistic - the absence of sharp fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate since the spring of 2016.
Development of the national payment card system "Mir": champions of loyalty
One of the few unambiguously positive economic news for Russia of the outgoing year. Created in response to Western sanctions in record time - almost a year, NSPK not only serves cards of leading international payment systems in Russia, but also rapidly promotes the national card "Mir". It is already issued by dozens of Russian banks.
One of the most important milestones in the development of NSPK was the launch of a loyalty program that is truly unique for the Russian financial market. — National card holders are promised an unprecedented level of cash back - up to 50% - and the opportunity to independently choose the areas of trade and services they are interested in.
Trump-President: they didn’t expect us, but we came
On November 8, a businessman was elected president of the United States, the world's leading economic power and the country with the largest military budget, for the first time in history.
This would not have become a sensation if the winner of the presidential election had not turned out to be 70-year-old Donald Trump, who changed his party affiliation at least six times, went bankrupt several times, and has a reputation as one of the most shocking and inconsistent representatives of the American establishment in his views. During his campaign, built on shocking statements, Trump initially caused protests even within the Republican Party, from which he was nominated. In addition, he was accused of having a “Russian trace” in the election campaign and of having special ties with Russia. However, in the end nothing could stop him.
Although Trump received more than two million votes less in the November 8 election than his rival, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the businessman's victory was ensured by a majority of electoral votes from the states (by law, you need to get at least 270 such votes).
Russia hopes for a possible easing or lifting of US sanctions during Trump's presidency. These hopes intensified after Trump’s decision to give the post of Secretary of State to a longtime personal friend of the Russian president, now the ex-head of the world’s largest oil company, Exxon Mobil, Rex Wayne Tillerson.
In any case, the real consequences of the election of Donald Trump for the Russian and global economy will become clear no earlier than 2017, when his administration begins to work. In the meantime, we can confidently say that Trump is also the oldest first-elected US president - before him, this record belonged to Ronald Reagan, who first won the White House at the age of 69.
Privatization the Russian way: money to the budget, minister to prison
2016 was the year of the largest privatization in Russia this decade. In order to plug the “hole” in the budget, the government was forced to quickly privatize first Bashneft, and then a 19.5% stake in Rosneft. According to official data, the Russian budget received 329.7 billion rubles from the privatization of Bashneft, and 692.4 billion rubles from the privatization of the Rosneft stake.
Bashneft was purchased by Rosneft; there were no foreign investors for this asset. On the night of November 15, shortly before the expected deal to sell a stake in Rosneft, during a special operation by the FSB on suspicion of receiving a bribe of $2 million and extorting money from the same Rosneft (according to some media reports, it was about 40 million dollars, and 2 million was allegedly only the first tranche) the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexey Ulyukaev was detained. Still in the newest Russian history current ministers were not detained. On the day of his arrest, the president signed a decree dismissing Ulyukaev from his post “due to loss of trust.” Currently, the ex-minister is under house arrest by court order, and part of his property has been seized.
The deal to sell 19.5% of Rosneft turned out to be much more mysterious than the privatization of Bashneft. According to Rosneft, the stake was purchased on a parity basis by a consortium of the international private raw materials company Glenkor and the state-owned Qatar Investment Fund (QIA). At the same time, official buyers paid a smaller part of the transaction from their own funds. The rest of the amount was provided to the buyers by banks, the exact composition of which and, most importantly, the real origin of the money involved in the transaction remains a mystery. Of the foreign banks, the media named the Italian bank Intesa as the most likely participant in the deal. The bank itself officially stated that it was only a consultant to Rosneft.
The collapse of Vneshprombank, Peresvet and Tatfondbank: no one will give us relief...
...neither a god, nor a king, nor a hero. On January 21, 2016, Vneshprombank, which at the time of revocation was in the top 30 in terms of assets, lost its license. A “hole” of more than 200 billion rubles was discovered in the bank’s balance sheet, which is comparable to the total size of its officially declared assets - so far this is an absolute record. Vnesheconombank was considered to have strong connections at high state level, among his clients were large departments and state companies, famous media personalities.
However, two more major bank failures occurred during 2016, confirming that proximity to the state is not an indulgence from financial problems. The external administration of the Central Bank had to be urgently introduced first into the Peresvet bank, which was previously owned by the Russian Orthodox Church and which was considered the key bank of the Russian Orthodox Church, and then to the Kazan Tatfondbank, a major shareholder of which is the government of Tatarstan.
Agreement to cut oil production: a triumph of diplomacy
Perhaps the only significant victory of international diplomacy in the past year occurred not in zones of protracted military conflicts, but in the oil market. On November 30, 14 OPEC countries agreed in Vienna to reduce production in the first half of 2017 by 1.2 million barrels per day - from 33.7 million barrels (October 2016 level) to 32.5 million. On December 10, 11 more countries outside The cartel agreed to reduce production to the October level by 558 thousand barrels per day.
Of the countries outside the cartel, Russia, as the largest oil-producing power, will reduce production the most - by 300 thousand barrels per day. Our country will begin to reduce production in January 2017.
Although after the first such large-scale agreement of all oil exporting countries in the last 30 years, world prices have risen significantly, but still have not yet reached the level of 60 dollars per barrel of Brent, having encountered resistance at around 55 dollars. Meanwhile, at the beginning of 2016, most forecasts were that oil would break through $60 per barrel in the summer. Nevertheless, such an increase in prices provoked the maximum strengthening of the ruble against the euro in a year and a half and against the dollar in a year.
Now the fate of oil prices will depend on how honestly the global agreement to reduce oil production by its participants will be implemented (previous similar agreements were invariably violated by someone), and on the implementation of Donald Trump’s intentions to unfreeze oil production by American companies on the Arctic shelf.
Banking supervision reform: revocation of licenses from revokers
In her fourth year of managing the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina attempted to reform what was perhaps the most problematic area of the regulator’s work—banking supervision. On October 3, it was announced that the long-term curator of banking supervision, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Alexei Simanovsky, as well as Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Mikhail Sukhov, were leaving their posts. The supervision of the supervisory unit passed to First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Dmitry Tulin, who until that moment was responsible for monetary policy. PrEP is now supervised by Nabiullina herself. In the official commentary of the head of the Bank of Russia to these resignations, it was stated in plain text that although the Central Bank had done a great job of cleaning the banking sector from unscrupulous and unstable market participants, it became obvious that in order to solve the accumulated problems, “tuning and intensifying work within the framework of existing supervisory practices is not enough “, a deep restructuring of supervision and an update of the entire system is necessary.”
The main supervisory problem is the chronic failure to identify holes in banks' balance sheets before they fail.
In addition, the Central Bank proposed changing the procedure for the blatantly ineffective rehabilitation of problem banks, creating a special fund for these purposes, and establishing a specialized management company under the auspices of the Bank of Russia. Under the leadership of First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Sergei Shvetsov, it was planned to create a department for the liquidation and rehabilitation of financial institutions. As a result, the reorganization was also placed under the supervision of Dmitry Tulin. However, so far no concrete steps have been taken to implement supervisory reform. And at the end of 2016, almost 100 banks again lost their licenses - the revocation is proceeding at the same rapid pace as in 2014 and 2015.
The longest decline in Russia's GDP in the 21st century: bottom after bottom
Record low inflation is not the only record for the Russian economy in 2016. We have also witnessed a record-breaking decline in GDP this century. It has continued for eight consecutive quarters since mid-2014. And only in the third quarter of 2016, GDP finally grew quarter-on-quarter by 0.1%. During this time, the Russian economy lost at least 5%.
Based on the results of the entire 2016, Russia's GDP will most likely decrease by about half a percentage point after falling by 3.7% in 2015. But this time, we can still say with relative confidence that our economy has reached the bottom and is slowly starting to push upward from it, rather than down. However, publicly searching for the bottom in the Russian economy is a thankless task. Ask former minister economic development...
Semyon Novoprudsky
The US presidential elections, the Rio Olympics, the doping scandal, terrorist attacks in Brussels, Nice and Turkey, the crash of a Tu-154 in the Black Sea - these and other main events of the year in Russia and the world in the RBC review.
The first meeting of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Pope
On February 12, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Pope Francis met in Cuba. This was the first meeting in history between the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the pontiff.
Explosions at the airport and metro in Brussels, Belgium
On the morning of March 22, two explosions occurred in the passenger check-in area in the departure hall of Brussels Airport. Later, another explosion occurred at the Maelbeek metro station near the European Quarter. The terrorist group “Islamic State” (banned in Russia) claimed responsibility for the attacks. The reason was the revenge of the alleged organizer of the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015. More than 30 people were killed as a result of the terrorist attacks in Belgium. The suspects were detained.
Aggravation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
On the night of April 2, fighting resumed in Nagorno-Karabakh. The unrecognized republic and Azerbaijan accused each other of provocations. Over the four days that the conflict lasted, Azerbaijan's losses amounted to more than 30 military personnel, Nagorno-Karabakh admitted the death of 20 military personnel, and another 26 military personnel are listed as missing. According to the UN, as a result of the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, 33 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
"Panamagate"
On April 3, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), together with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and several global media outlets, published documents from the so-called Panama Archives. The archive of 11.5 million documents is named so because the company Mossack Fonseca, the leak from which formed the basis of the investigation, is registered in the Panama Islands. According to ICIJ, the company built a business on creating shell companies and corporate structures to hide the ultimate beneficiaries of assets.
The archive revealed data on offshore and foreign companies of Russian officials or members of their families, as well as on companies whose beneficiaries are now former Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, former deputy manager of presidential affairs Ivan Malyushin, Deputy Mayor of Moscow Maxim Liksutov, cellist Sergei Roldugin and the main owner of Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk.
Shooting at the Pulse club in Orlando, USA
On the night of June 12, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, a resident of Port St. Lucie, Florida, broke into the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando and went on a shooting spree, holding more than 300 people hostage for an hour and a half. 49 people were killed and more than 50 were injured. Mateen was shot dead during the assault. The attack on the club was classified as a “domestic terrorist attack.” Matin’s direct connection with the Islamic State, banned in Russia, was not established, but during the attack on the club, he called the rescue service and stated that he had sworn allegiance to the terrorist group.
Death of 14 schoolchildren from the camp on Syamozero, Russia
On the evening of June 18, 14 children from the health camp “Park Hotel “Syamozero” in Karelia died after being caught in a storm during a rafting trip. The Investigative Committee opened criminal cases against the director of the park, Elena Reshetova, and her deputy, Vadim Vinogradov.
Brexit, UK
On June 23, British residents voted in a referendum for the country to leave the EU (Brexit). The country's Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, his successor Theresa May promised that the procedure for leaving the EU would be launched before March 2017. Brexit led to a sharp collapse of the pound and a decrease in the attractiveness of the country for doing business.
Photo: Press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation/TASS
Arrest of Nikita Belykh, Russia
On June 24, in the restaurant of the Lotte Plaza shopping and office center on Novy Arbat, Nikita Belykh, Governor of the Kirov Region, was detained while receiving a bribe of €400 thousand. According to investigators, in exchange for this amount he promised to help the companies JSC Novovyatsky Ski Combine and LLC Forestry Management Company» when implementing investment projects. Belykh himself did not admit the charges, saying that this money should have gone to the needs of Kirov. The investigation continues, Belykh was dismissed and is in a pre-trial detention center.
Terrorist attack at Istanbul airport, Türkiye
On June 28, a terrorist attack occurred at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul near the security checkpoints at the entrance to the passenger arrivals area. The attack involved three suicide bombers who arrived at the airport in a taxi. The attackers first opened fire with weapons and then blew themselves up. More than 40 people were killed and more than 200 were injured. It was later established that the terrorist attack was carried out by persons with citizenship of Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan; Turkish authorities linked the attack to the activities of the Islamic State banned in Russia.
Terrorist attack in Nice, France
On July 14, during the Bastille Day celebrations, on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, 31-year-old Mohamed Boulel drove a truck into a crowd of vacationers and drove almost 2 km before the police managed to shoot him. Five suspects were detained in connection with the terrorist attack. The Islamic State terrorist group, banned in Russia, claimed responsibility for the crime. More than 80 people were killed and more than 300 were injured.
Coup attempt in Turkey
On the night of July 15-16, a military coup was attempted in Turkey. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, the coup was initiated by supporters of Fethullah Gülen, a preacher, philosopher, former supporter of Erdogan, who fled persecution in the United States in the 1990s. A state of emergency was declared in the country, more than 40 thousand people were detained, many media outlets and schools financed by Gülen were closed.
Doping scandal
In July and December, the independent commission to investigate doping in Russian athletics, created by WADA, published two parts of the report on the results of its work. She came to the conclusion that over the past six years the Russian Ministry of Sports has created a system for falsifying doping tests of Russian athletes.
The first report led to the disqualification of the Russian team for the 2016 Paralympics, the suspension of the track and field and weightlifting teams from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the cancellation of international tournaments planned in Russia, and the revocation of international licenses from Russian anti-doping structures. After the publication of the second part, Russia was deprived of the right to host the bobsleigh and skeleton world championships, which were to be held in Sochi, and also lost several major competitions in biathlon and speed skating. Investigations into most Russian athletes are ongoing.
Earthquake in Italy
On the night of August 24, one of the most destructive events occurred in Central Italy. last years earthquakes. A shock of magnitude 6.2 was recorded at the junction of the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Marche, several cities were completely destroyed. More than 240 people died, several thousand people lost their homes.
Rio Olympics and impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
In August, the Summer Olympic Games were held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Russia took fourth place in them, receiving 56 medals, of which 19 were gold.
On August 31, a few days after the end of the Olympic Games, the Brazilian Senate voted for the resignation of President Dilma Rousseff. The reason for impeachment was Rousseff's accusation of budget fraud: allegedly the government, at the initiative of the president in 2014-2015, used the so-called fiscal pedaling - the authorities moved planned spending on social programs to the next financial period to improve performance in the current period. Rousseff denies the allegations.
Arrest of Colonel Zakharchenko, Russia
On September 10, Interior Ministry Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko was arrested. He was accused of accepting a bribe, abuse of power and obstruction of a preliminary investigation. According to the investigation materials, in December 2015 he received 7 million rubles. for "general patronage" from former leader and co-owner of the Rusengineering company Anatoly Pshegornitsky. In recent years, this company has been one of the major contractors of the FGC UES company and has carried out a number of government orders for laying electrical networks.
Another episode is related to the investigation into the theft of funds from Nota Bank. According to the case file, in January 2016, Zakharchenko warned the sister of one of the leaders of Nota Bank about the impending search and summoning of Galina Marchukova for questioning. In the fall of 2015, a financial hole was discovered in the bank’s budget, as a result of which the Central Bank revoked the structure’s license. Now a criminal case has been opened regarding the theft of money, and Nota Bank itself is in the process of bankruptcy.
In addition, during a search in the apartment of Zakharchenko’s sister and in the car he used, an unprecedented amount of money was found - almost 9 billion rubles.
Scandal with exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7
In early September, Samsung suspended sales of the new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after it became known that the phones could overheat during use and explode. The cause was a defect in batteries produced by one of the suppliers. This led to the fact that in November the company's shares fell by 30% in the third quarter, and management announced its readiness to consider a proposal to split the company.
US presidential election
On November 8, the US presidential elections took place. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was ahead of eccentric billionaire Donald Trump. His election sparked protests across the country, but in the end Clinton accepted the election results, and Trump began to assemble a team. The inauguration will take place on January 20.
Arrest of the Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev, Russia
On November 15, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev was placed under house arrest. Previously, he was detained while accepting a bribe of $2 million at the office of the Rosneft company. According to investigators, he received money for a positive assessment of the transaction for the acquisition of Bashneft by this company. Ulyukaev, who was later dismissed, denies the charges. The investigation is ongoing.
OPEC decision to cut oil production
On November 30 in Vienna, representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to reduce oil production for the first time since 2008. They decreased by 1.2 million barrels per day, to 32.5 million barrels. Indonesia, not agreeing with this decision, suspended the action in the organization.
Russian oil workers agreed to reduce production following the OPEC decision. As a result, by the end of the year the cost of a barrel of Brent oil increased from $50 to $55.
Privatization of Rosneft and Bashneft
In early October, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on the sale of a 50.08% stake in Bashneft to Rosneft. The transaction amount amounted to 329.69 billion rubles.
How the privatization of Bashneft was prepared
On December 7, Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin informed President Putin about the completion of the transaction to privatize a 19.5% stake in Rosneft. Investors included Glencore and the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, which received 50% stakes in the consortium that is acquiring the shares. The transaction value was €10.5 billion.
The situation in Syria and Iraq
Throughout the year, the fight against the terrorist group “Islamic State” continued in Syria and Iraq. By the end of the year, the coalition had lost Aleppo to the militants, but Palmyra had been recaptured by terrorists again in December. Iraqi Mosul.
On December 29, it became known that the Syrian government and the armed opposition had signed a ceasefire agreement. Russian President Vladimir Putin that we are talking about a ceasefire, a set of measures to monitor the ceasefire and a statement of readiness to begin peaceful negotiations to resolve the situation in the country. According to him, the signing of the agreements was the result of Russia’s work with Turkey and Iran.
Assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey
On December 19, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was killed during the opening of an exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art in Ankara. The shooter, 22-year-old former Turkish police officer Mevlut Altintas, was killed. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the UN Security Council qualified the incident as a terrorist attack, and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the ambassador to be nominated for a government award.
Tu-154 crash in the Black Sea
A Tu-154 Ministry of Defense plane taking off from Adler crashed on the morning of December 25. The airliner disappeared from radar screens in the second minute of the flight and fell into the Black Sea near Sochi. The aircraft was heading to Syria, with 92 people on board: military personnel, artists from the Alexandrov Ensemble, journalists, and the head of the Fair Aid Foundation, Elizaveta Glinka.
Investigators are considering several versions of the tragedy, including pilot error and technical malfunction. The possibility of a terrorist attack has not been completely ruled out, although it is certain that there was no explosion on board the plane. Preliminary examination data will become known in January, and final conclusions about the causes of the disaster will be made after the flight recorders are deciphered.
Obama Administration's New Sanctions
On December 29, US President Barack Obama signed a decree expanding sanctions against Russia in connection with an investigation into hacker attacks on political parties in the United States. The list included the Federal Security Service, the Main Directorate of the General Staff, the ANO Professional Association of Informatics System Designers, Special Technology Center LLC, and Digital Weapons and Protection LLC.
The list of sanctions against individuals has expanded by six names. It includes the head of the GRU of the General Staff Igor Korobov, his first deputies Igor Kostyukov and Vladimir Alekseev, as well as Korobov’s deputy Sergei Gizunov.
On the same day, the US State Department announced the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the country, who must leave the United States within 72 hours.
