When European leaders engineered a harsh bailout deal for this tiny Mediterranean nation in March, they cheered the end of an economic model fueled by a flood of cash from Russia. Wealthy Russians with money in Cyprus’s sickly banks lost billions. But the Russians, though badly bruised, are now in a position to get something that has previously eluded even Moscow’s most audacious oligarchs: control of a so-called systemic financial institution in the European Union, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Russians who used the offshore haven of Cyprus before the collapse of the island’s banking system appear to have shrugged off the Kremlin’s calls to bring back their money to the motherland, instead opting to park their cash in the British Virgin Islands, data from the Russian central bank suggest, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported.

President Vladimir Putin is seeking ways to shore up the economy as corporate credit dries up amid policy makers’ reluctance to cut interest rates in the face of above-target inflation, Bloomberg reported. The economy grew 1.2 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, the slowest pace since 2009, as investment shriveled. That may mean Russia has entered its second recession in five years, according London-based to Capital Economics Ltd.

Personal loans in Russia have reached almost $275bn during the past two years as people take up to 5 loans per person. Some Russian cities see 100% of the economically active population taking out loans, RT.com reported. Russia risks seeing a retail credit default, business daily Vedomosti quotes research by Svyaznoj Bank that examined data from the country’s two biggest credit agencies NBCH and Equifax. The bank studied the credit history of people applying for loans and called the results of the study "depressing", Vedomosti quotes the bank representative.

Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft company – the maker of the Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) – has accumulated $2 bn in debt and failed to meet its credit obligations. The problem needs to be settled by the year end, otherwise the company will default, RT.com reported. Sukhoi Civil Aircraft is now more than $600 million in debt to the State Corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank), with an additional $300 million unsettled to related parties, Kommersant daily reports.

Moscow Commercial Court has extended the receivership at AMT Bank for another six months, thus supporting the receiver's request, RAPSI reported from the courtroom. The Deposit Insurance Agency requested an extension because it has failed to complete all the necessary procedures. The next hearing is scheduled for December 17. The Moscow Commercial Court declared AMT Bank bankrupt on June 20, 2012 after the Deposit Insurance Agency filed for the bank's bankruptcy. The agency was appointed as the bank's receiver in October 2011.

A bankruptcy court on Monday approved Central European Distribution Corp's bankruptcy exit plan, putting Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko on the verge of adding one of the world's largest vodka producers to his stable of companies, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Under the plan, green lighted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Tariko will receive all of the Polish company's newly issued stock in return for $277 million he is providing for the benefit of its creditors.

Russia wants to play a bigger part in talks over solving Cyprus' financial problems but will only restructure its loan to the island if its interests here, especially those related to VTB Bank, are protected, Moscow's finance minister said, CyprusMail reported. Russian banks and companies have poured money into Cyprus since the 1990s, taking advantage of low taxes and relaxed business regulations.

A Russian depositor has filed suit for the seizure of all assets in Russia belonging to Laiki Bank of Cyprus, including its controlling stake in Russia’s Rosprombank, which may now hamper a Cypriot plan to sell off the shares, RT.com reported. Presnensky Court in Moscow has received a lawsuit from ‘Y. G. Borisov’ against Laiki Bank – which operates in Russia under the Cyprus Popular Bank brand – and Rosprombank, in which Cyprus owns a 50.4 percent stake. Borisov has demanded the repayment of money that was seized from his account with the Cypriot bank; the exact sum was not disclosed.

A unit of Russia's Alfa Group said on Thursday it had withdrawn its proposal to acquire Central European Distribution Corp, one of the world's largest vodka producers, through a restructuring of CEDC's finances. Alfa Group unit A1 said in a two-sentence statement to Reuters that it had officially withdrawn its non-binding offer to restructure CEDC. It also said the two other members of its consortium, CEDC investor Mark Kaufman and SPI Group, which owns Stolichnaya Vodka, had been informed of its decision.