What the Papers Say, Apr. 2, 2013

Kommersant

1. Khalil Aminov and Anna Perova article headlined "Zone pressing" says Vladimir Potanin is building a ski resort in Sochi and has asked the government to set up a special economic zone with tax benefits there. Krasnodar Territory authorities oppose the plans; p 1 (700 words).

2. Natalya Gorodetskaya and Maksim Ivanov article headlined "Double non-commercial agents" says the Russian government is allocating R3bn (around 100m dollars) to finance NGOs in the country. Human rights NGOs which used to work on foreign grants hope to receive some funding; pp 1, 3 (850 words).

3. Yegor Popov et al. report headlined "Manager found for Rostekh" says Rostekh state corporation is hiring professional investment banker Sergey Skvortsov to manage investment projects of the corporation; pp 1, 11 (1,000 words).

4. Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "Alrosa unfreezes African diamonds" says the Russian diamonds manufacturer, Alrosa, is setting up several joint ventures in Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe; pp 1, 9 (800 words ).

5. Taisiya Bekbulatova article headlined "Money spoil Zhukovskiy mayoral election" says the Civil Platform party demands that Zhukovskiy mayoral election results be cancelled due bribing of voters, registered by observers. Experts call the situation an ideological bankruptcy of the authorities; p 2 (600 words).

6. Natalya Korchenkova article headlined "Volunteering not to replace job training" reviews the Russian ministries' criticism of the new bill on volunteering; p 3 (600 words).

7. Sergey Mashkin article headlined "Military entrench themselves near Anatoly Serdyukov's dacha" says an arbitration court case involving the dacha for former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in Krasnodar Territory has been transformed into a criminal case; p 5 (800 words).

8. Sergey Strokan article headlined "Afghanistan president puts in word for enemies" says Afghanistan president Hamed Karzai has visited Qatar to discuss the possibility of opening the Taleban movement mission in Doha; p 7 (500 words).

9. Aleksandr Kondrashin and Andrey Odinets article headlined "PRC chairman visits suppliers" says Chinese head Xi Jinping has finished his visit to Africa where he signed new contracts on raw materials supply in exchange for loans; p 8 (650 words).

10. Maksim Yusin article in opinion column headlined "Price of issue" says China, which proved to be a good economic partner to African countries, prefers not to get involved in conflicts on the continent. The recent fighting in Mali showed shortcomings of the Chinese policy; p 8 (400 words).

11. Mariya Yefimova interview with Claude Moniquet, head of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, speaking on new threats to European security caused by the Arab Spring and on shortcomings of counter-terrorism activity in the EU; p 8 (500 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Igor Naumov article headlined "Only state companies to be saved at government's expense" says Russian depositors of Cyprus banks will not receive support from the Russian government. Only state companies having offshore assets will be supported by the Russian authorities; pp 1, 4 (700 words).

2. Aleksandra Samarina article headlined "Fight for per mille: second round" says the Russian authorities are imposing stricter punishment on drivers violating safety regulations without changing the rules for so-called privileged drivers, top officials; pp 1-2 (1,000 words).

3. Aleksey Gorbachev article headlined "Opposition preparing single party list for Moscow city duma election" says the opposition forces are going to carry out primaries to form a single list of candidates to take part in the Moscow city duma elections; pp 1, 3 (900 words).

4. Sergey Kulikov article headlined "Tariffs cut for Gazprom" says a 3-per-cent reduction of gas prices in Russia is unlikely to help the domestic economy; pp 1, 4 (700 words).

5. Yuriy Roks article headlined "Prosecutor's office gets interested in Saakashvili's work" says Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili may be questioned in connection with the war with South Ossetia in 2008; pp 1, 6 (600 words).

6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Real estate bubble risks blowing up in China" says restrictions on buying and selling housing have been imposed in China's largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai. Experts compare Russian and Chinese housing markets; pp 1, 7 (500 words).

7. Yuriy Paniyev article headlined "Korean Peninsula stuck in wrangle" says tensions are growing on the Korean Peninsula as both Seoul and Pyongyang are now going to give in the standoff; pp 1, 7 (500 words).

8. Editorial headlined "Steps at opposite lanes" comments on NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow's visit to Russia and expresses slight optimism over prospects for the Russia-NATO cooperation; p 2 (450 words).

9. Viktor Litovkin article headlined "CFE treaty dies, long live Vienna agreement" says Russia has acknowledged that the CFE treaty reached between Russia and NATO back in 1990 is no longer relevant. Russia is guided by other documents, namely ABM reduction treaty signed by Moscow and Washington in 2010 and the Vienna treaty signed in 2011; p 2 (550 words).

10. Yuriy Tavrovskiy article headlined "Carte blanche. Korea: conflict risks going out of control" says only China is now capable of bringing Pyongyang and Seoul to peace; p 3 (800 words).

11. Velimir Razuvayev article headlined "Nothing personal" provides statistics on billionaires in the Russian State Duma; p 15 (800 words).

Vedomosti

1. Irina Kezik article headlined "2bn dollars for increase in extraction" says Lukoil company is ready to pay 2.05bn dollars for Samara-Nafta oil company in an attempt to increase its oil production; pp 1, 12 (562 words).

2. Bela Lyauv article headlined "Moscow without dumps" says Moscow Region is frightening Moscow with the lack of space at landfills. A company belonging to Gennadiy Timchenko may become engaged in the waste disposal business; pp 1, 5 (516 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Making clean ones turbid" comments on the prosecutors' checks of Russian NGOs which have already given rise to foreign criticism of the Russian policy; pp 1, 6 (411 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "Not funny" says the ongoing mistakes in the policy of the Russian authorities make people sad rather than amused; p 6 (306 words).

5 Aleksey Nikolskiy and Polina Khimiashvili article headlined "Russian guns in Mali" reports on the Russian military cooperation with the official regime in Mali; p 3 (461 words).

6. Article by billionaire and head of the Civil Platform party Mikhail Prokhorov headlined "Religion and politics: code for reconciliation" calls for the development of a religious code in Russia to regulate the economic, social and cultural relations between difference religious confessions and the state; pp 6-7 (2,657 words).

Izvestia

1. German Petelin and Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Serdyukov and his brother-in-law reminded about vehicles at General Staff" says former Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov is to be charged with a fraud with vehicles rent which cost R6m (around 200,000 dollars) a year; pp 1, 4 (684 words).

2. Aleksey Mikhaylov and Denis Telmanov article headlined "Combat ships not to be repaired abroad" says President Putin has prohibited the navy to repair combat ships abroad; pp 1, 4 (585 words).

3. Anastasiya Kashevarova article headlined "Ingushetia authorities to be checked for links with militants" says member of the State Duma Shamsail Saraliyev has requested the Prosecutor General's Office to check the information about the handover of large sums of money to militants by the head of the Ingush government following a scandalous report broadcast by Channel One; pp 1, 4 (726 words).

4. Anton Anisimov and Andrey Gridasov article headlined "Dmitriy Gudkov conceals business in Bulgaria from voters" says A Just Russia MP Dmitriy Gudkov engaged in an anti-corruption campaign has failed to provide information on his share in a Bulgarian company; pp 1, 5 (849 words).

5. Svetlana Subbotina article headlined "Ex-officials to have problems with going abroad" says the State Duma is going to consider a proposal by Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov to ban officials, even the retired ones, from travelling abroad; p 5 (545 words).

6. Yuriy Matsarskiy article headlined "Taleban partially returns power in Afghanistan" says the Taleban is going to set up its office in Qatar to use it as a platform for negotiations with foreign delegations. The Afghan president visiting Qatar is discussing the plans with the country's authorities; p 7 (568 words).

7. Svetlana Povoraznyuk article headlined "Kommersant to turn personnel into shareholders" says the personnel of the Kommersant publishing company, including journalists, will be paid part of the company's profit; p 8 (646 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Mikhail Falaleyev article headlined "Not for private security company" comments on the changing relations between the police and private security agencies which will be used to assist the law-enforcement agencies; pp 1, 6 (898 words).

2. Marina Gritsyuk article headlined "Mutant comes in English way" looks at the possibility of spread of the genetically modified food in Russia after the country joined the WTO; pp 1, 11 (1,107 words).

3. Tatyana Zykova article headlined "They will add for poverty" says the Russian authorities are considering the possibility of revising the taxation of sole traders in the country to reduce the tax burden which makes a large number of people wind up their small businesses; pp 1, 5 (571 words).

4. Leonid Radzikhovskiy article headlined "By contradiction" looks into reasons which made the USA give up its plans to build the fourth stage of the European missile defence system. The author also speaks against anti-American rhetoric in the Russian politics; p 2 (801 words).

5. Oleg Kiryanov article headlined "Rockets bristle" says Seoul has responded to the North Korean military threats with a warning to make a preventive strike; p 8 (597 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Aleksey Lazarev and Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "The ones who were of benefit will stay, those who did harm will leave" says newly elected mayor of the Moscow Region town of Zhukovskiy Andrey Voytyuk is set to start resolving the town's problems; pp 1, 3 (632 words).

2. Mikhail Rostovskiy article headlined "Buck stops here or Ramzan Kadyrov as key to understanding Russian statehood" says Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov is aware of the principles of the Russian statehood — that is why he has come up with an initiative to ban top officials from travelling abroad; pp 1-2 (804 words).

3. Nikita Krichevskiy article headlined "Myths about Central Bank" reviews the Russian Central Bank policy; p 4 (1,388 words).

Novyye Izvestia

1. Vera Moslakova interview with Natalya Znamenskaya, editor-in-chief of Zhukovskiye Vesti weekly, speaking on smear technologies used at the Zukovskiy town mayoral elections, namely bribing of the electorate; pp 1, 2 (1,046 words).

2. Nadezhda Krasilova article headlined "Denial of 'troika'" says that Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeniy Urlashov has refused to join again the One Russia party; p 2 (300 words).

3. Yevgeniya Zubchenko article headlined "'Very sorry' but nothing more" comments on the decision of the Russian government not to help individuals who have lost their money in Cypriot banks; p 3 (400 words).

RBK Daily

1. Yuliya Yakovleva article headlined "Mayors to be elected in two rounds" says State Duma deputy Dmitriy Gudkov has submitted a bill introducing a second round in mayoral elections; p 2 (450 words).

Trud

1. Aleksandr Protsenko article "Those who can, save themselves" comments on the Russian government's decision not to help individuals who have lose their money in Cypriot banks; pp 1, 3 (700 words).

Apr. 2, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Apr. 1, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Mar. 29, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Mar. 28, 2012