Another association of video game developers in the Russian Federation, problematic loans in the amount of 700 billion rubles: the main thing March 23

World

• The Czech Republic extended the ban on issuing visas to Russians and Belarusians until the end of March 2024, which has been in force since February 2022. Citizens of Russia and Belarus will not be able to obtain a Czech visa even if they have a second citizenship.

Finance

• Analysts from the Expert RA rating agency estimated the volume of potentially problematic loans in Russia at around 700 billion rubles.

Business

• Russian online hotel reservation services failed to take Booking.com’s positions. Hoteliers now sell almost half of the rooms directly, offering lower prices than online platforms, Kommersant writes.
• The total turnover of the online retail market in Russia in 2022 amounted to 5.7 trillion rubles, Vedomosti learned.
• The minority shareholder of Tochka Bank, of which the Trust can sell 90%, has changed minority shareholders, Kommersant learned: through Catalytic People Limited, 9.9% belonged to the founders of Tochka, and now to the owners from the S7 group, the Filev Family, have received a share.
• One of the largest Chinese operators providing traffic relay services in Russia, China Telecom plans to expand its presence in the country, including increasing brand awareness, Kommersant writes.

Technologies and services

• In Russia, it is planned to create another association of video game developers. Among the objectives is the development of the export potential of Russian projects. One of the initiators of the creation was VK.