Russia agrees 40% rise in energy prices

Russia signed off on the 6 May 2008 on a series of steep price rises for domestic gas, power and railway services for the next four years on the eve of Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration as the country’s new president, 7 May 2008. Mr Medvedev will inherit a potentially poisoned chalice of increasing economic and political risks as inflation surges to as much as 14.3 per cent.