In the Russian Federation they proposed to ban the “hamster explosion”, Citibank will suspend the conversion of Russian receipts: the main thing on July 19

World

• Russian companies were largely spared from the global Windows failure, one of the largest in the world, due to sanctions, experts told RB.RU.

Finance

• They called for the creation of a mutual payment system with Russia in Turkey. They believe that the SWIFT system has become a “bad dream” for many countries and want to restore Turkish exports, which have already decreased by 22%.
• Starting from August 1, the American Citibank will stop converting Russian bills. This applies to five Russian issuers: Lukoil, En+ Group, Tatneft, Rostelecom and Phosagro.

• At the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia on July 26, a decision will be made to raise the key interest rate by 2 percentage points to 18% per annum. This is stated in the consensus forecast of RB.RU, based on the opinions of nine analysts and experts surveyed. It is expected that a reduction in the key interest rate will be possible only from 2025, and that inflation targets will be raised.

• Against the backdrop of a global Windows failure, the Russian T-Bank (formerly Tinkoff) experienced difficulties with operations in applications for a small part of clients. Application users reported the failure on the evening of July 19. T-Bank RB.RU confirmed problems with work that lasted about half an hour. The application is currently working in full mode.

Business

• There has been a large-scale outage of Windows devices around the world. In many countries, TV channels have been interrupted and problems have arisen at airports. Problems are observed with Visa, Amazon and other services.
• Meta* is in talks to buy a 5% stake in eyewear maker Ray-Ban. If the acquisition goes through, it will help deepen the partnership between the companies.
• Iran has awarded Novosibirsk Cyberia Nova (formerly Cyberia Limited) another grant of up to 100 million rubles for the development of add-ons for the computer game “Troubles”. They will touch on the history of Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl.

• The Ministry of Industry and Trade has filed a lawsuit against the owner of the Megapolis tobacco distributor. The company is included in the list of economically important organizations, which allows the courts to unilaterally deprive the owner of corporate rights.

• Online gaming payment acceptance service Xsolla has acquired gamer recruitment platform LF.Group from the founder of photo publisher Prisma Alexey Moiseenko. Following the transaction, the companies will focus on developing the Xsolla Mall business solution.

• HeadHunter will move into the AFI2B business center near the Belorusskaya metro station in Moscow in 2026. A source in the commercial real estate market estimates the rental price in AFI2B at 38,000-41,000 rubles per sq. m. per year.

• The India Friendly standard will be developed in Russia. The standard will be created by Roskachestvo and the Center for Strategic Research. The Muslim Friendly and China Friendly standards are already in force in the country.

• FAS issued an order to a manufacturer of hygiene products to copy AX packaging. Arvitex started producing deodorants and shower gels, the packaging and name of which imitate the design of AX products. The FAS considered that such actions could contribute to the illegal use of the brand’s reputation.

• Bloggers, including authors of Telegram channels with an audience of 10 thousand subscribers or more, must provide information about themselves to Roskomnadzor. The amendment will be considered in the State Duma next week.

• The Ministry of Digital Development has extended state accreditation to 18,000 Russian IT companies. 13,000 companies on the list receive government benefits. About 2,000 companies were excluded from the list of accredited companies because they did not apply for confirmation of accreditation.
• In 2024, small and medium-sized businesses applied to banks for an average of 11.4 million rubles for development and received just over 4 million rubles. At the same time, only 2.5% of applicants were approved for a business development loan, and the average loan rate for them was 27%.
• The Axevil Capital platform has launched a venture AI advisor. It will answer questions about venture investments, market structure and trading metrics. The assistant’s answers are generated based on the platform’s knowledge, market analysis and statistics.

Services and technologies

• The chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, Anatoly Aksakov, has called for the banning of the Hamster Kombat game on Telegram. He is convinced that the game has a negative impact on Russians and may turn out to be a trick of scammers.
• Insider Henderson said the launch of the PlayStation 5 Pro could be delayed until 2025. The new device promises to be ideal for Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the most anticipated and potentially most hardware-intensive games of the decade.
• Apple has announced the launch of a foldable iPhone with a shock-resistant display. The new model will be equipped with an 8-inch internal display and a 6-inch external display. Engineers described a technology for creating foldable screens with a composite structure of glass and a flexible matrix.
• In Russia, the demand for Chinese smartphones has increased significantly. The growth leaders were the Infinix and Tecno brands, but Apple remains the most popular. Both mid-priced devices and flagships are popular, but Samsung has fallen significantly.

• The largest fan fiction site, Fikbook, will close some of its content to Russians in order to lift the Roskomnadzor blockade. Users will not have access to the sections with the addresses “slash” and “femslash.” The founder of the service said he was “incredibly proud of everyone who was brave enough to publish their stories, despite the fear of the new, the fear of criticism and the unknown.”

• Telegram has enabled monetization of Russian channels, funds will be paid in the local Stars currency. This option is only visible to channel owners; it is not available to admins.

• Pavel Durov partially anonymizes public accounts on Telegram. Account information will display the country and registration date. The founder of Telegram explained the decision in the fight against scammers.

*recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.