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Russia's withdrawal fr om G8 and the suspension of Russia's credentials in the Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) makes one think about how valuable international organizations are for Russia's economy and policy at present.

The decline of global prices of energy resources, the economic problems in Russia and a tax maneuver make this country less attractive for its partners within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

The Bank of Russia's decision to lower the key rate to 15% from 17% may turn out to be an extremely bad signal of drastic changes in the monetary policy (MP) priorities.

On January 30, 2015 the Bank of Russia Board of Directors made a decision to lower the key rate to 15% from 17%. The interest rate was lowered "due to the shift in the balance of risks of accelerated consumer price growth and cooling economy", explained the Central Bank of Russia.

Standard and Poor's (S&P) downgraded the sovereign foreign currency credit rating of Russia on January 26, 2015 to ВВ+ from ВВВ- with a negative outlook.

In 2014, industrial production growth stood at 1.7% year on year.

The Military-Industrial Commission (MIC) of the Russian Federation held its first meeting this year in Novo-Ogarevo, on the 20th of January.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has slashed its forecast on Russia's economy, expecting it to plunge to 4.8% from 0.2% compared with the previous year (according to the version dated October 2014).

At the end of last year, capital outflow appeared to be 2.5 times that in 2013 – $151,5bn instead of $61bn the year before last.

The subject matter of strengthening a special-purpose capital (endowment) with immovable property is topical nowadays, and the community is being increasingly interested in this for the reason of having to seek for and develop so called alternative investment.

Imposing a temporal moratorium on the introduction of new legislative initiatives relating the brewing industry and putting the beer into a stand-alone category will promote economic growth and improve the alcoholism data.

A panel discussion, Challenges of Eurasian Integration in the Context of Modern Trade and Economic Processes in the Post-Soviet Territory, was held as part of the Gaidar Forum 2015.

A panel discussion, Islamic Finance: Prospects, Opportunities, Risks, was held as part of the Gaidar Forum 2015, at which the issues of Islamic finance as a source of new opportunities and prospects for development of the financial system and economy as a whole were discussed.

A panel discussion, Challenges in the Monetary Policy under New Conditions, was held as part of the Gaidar Forum 2015.

A panel discussion, Pressing Issues of Tax Legislation, was held as part of the Gaidar Forum 2015.

A panel discussion, Russia's Economy in a General Economic Equilibrium Model, was at the Gaidar Forum 2015 by the International Budget Sustainability Research Department of the Gaidar Institute and RANEPA, headed by Laurence Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics at Boston University.