What the Papers Say, Feb. 4, 2013

Kommersant

1. Maria Luiza Tirmaste brief interview with children's ombudsman Pavel Astakhov headlined "Ranch does not have status of children's facility" where he speaks about his visit to a ranch in Texas, where some 32 children were reportedly kept; p 1 (367 words).

2. Margarita Fedorova et a. report headlined "Mosindstroy" says that Igor Linshits and Ilya Karpov's company Mosinzhstroy is taking part in a tender for the construction of a subway section in the port of Kochi in India; pp 1, 9 (767 words).

3. Anatoly Dzhumaylo and Denis Skorobogatko article headlined "Rosrezerv beating copper" says that the Federal Agency for State Reserves (Rosrezerv) has accused the Norilsk Nickel company of a lack of cupriferous materials the company was supposed to store; pp 1, 7 (580 words).

4. Kirill Belyaninov in his article headlined "Shelter for incorrigible" talks about his visit to the ranch in the USA where the Russian children adoptive families have given up are kept and interview the woman in charge of the facility; pp 1, 5 (2,582 words).

5. Pyotr Netreba et al. report headlined "Few people willing to work in Sochi" says that the biggest problem in the preparations for the Sochi Winter Olympics is a lack of workers; pp 1, 3 (898 words).

6. Natalya Gorodetskaya and Lyudmila Shcherbakova article headlined "Magadan mayor promoted to governor" says that Magadan mayor Vladimir Pechenyy has been appointed acting Magadan Region governor instead of Nikolai Dudov and looks at the reasons behind Dudov's resignation; p 2 (701 words).

7. Natalya Korchenkova article headlined "Intrigue to be added to gubernatorial elections" says that experts forecast several resignations of governors ahead of time; p 2 (578 words).

8. Andrey Kolesnikov report gives an ironic account of President Vladimir Putin's visit to Volgograd timed to the 70th anniversary of the Stalingrad battle; p 3 (1,136 words).

9. Oleg Sapozhkov article headlined "Zero for satiation" says that the White House is discussing the possibility of annulling import duties for grain; p 3 (540 words).

10. Ivan Safronov article headlined "Brazil looking for Russian Pantsir" says that Brasilia and Moscow are discussing the terms of supplying Russia's Igla and Pantsir air defense missiles to Brazil; p 3 (483 words).

11. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Russia pointed at track" says that U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden has suggested that Russia and the U.S. should start improving their relations with cooperation in the spheres triggering no confrontation, one of them countering the spread of mass destruction weapons; p 6 (696 words).

12. Viktor Loshak interview with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan headlined "Breaking blockade would be great thing" where he speaks about Armenia's foreign policy and prospects of the solution to the Nagorny Karabakh problem; p 6 (493 words).

13. Georgy Dvali article headlined "Georgian prosecutor's office comes to Tbilisi mayor" says that Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava, considered to be the most probable presidential candidate from Mikheil Saakashvili's party, has been questioned in line with the case on the embezzlement of 3.2m dollars; p 6 (441 words).

14. Maxim Yusin article headlined "Egyptian opposition ready for revolution" says that after bloody clashes in several towns the Egyptian opposition demanded an immediate resignation of the president; p 6 (438 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Fear of political mistake" says that it seems that the government has not made its final decision on the bill enabling regions to decide if head of the region should be elected by people or by regional parliaments; pp 1, 3 (789 words).

2. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Nikolai Bordyuzha's special operations" says that Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha has stated that the powers of the CSTO's Joint Staff will be significantly expanded; pp 1-2 (587 words).

3. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Those who undermine and strengthen" says that experts are concerned over President Vladimir Putin's statement that the feelings of believers should be defended not only by the force of public opinion but also by law; pp 1, 3 (952 words).

4. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Transit threatens Gazprom" says that Lithuania will push for a new discount on gas using Gazprom's transit to Kaliningrad Region via the Lithuanian territory as an argument; pp 1, 4 (578 words).

5. Yury Simonyan article headlined "Uncompetitive Serzh Sargsyan" says that the Armenian presidential election may be postponed for two weeks due to an attempted assassination of presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikyan; pp 1, 6 (641 words).

6. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Stalingrad recalled in Munich" says that at the International Security Conference in Munich Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden talked about the reasons for tense Russian-US relations and emphasized that the differences may be settled; pp 1, 6 (833 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Lessons of Stalingrad" looks at the 70th anniversary of the battle under the town of Stalingrad and lessons that should be learned; p 2 (518 words).

8. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Contraceptive for opposition activist" says that opposition activist Sergei Reznikov, who has repeatedly drawn public attention to vote rigging in favor of One Russia, has been charged with heading a criminal group engaged in selling false license plates and possession of drugs; p 3 (567 words).

9. Igor Naumov article headlined "Moscow ready to save Cyprus out of love and convenience" says that as the talks on financial aid to Cyprus have led to an international scandal Russia may have to grant Cyprus a five-year delay in the repayment of its 2.5bn-euro debt; p 4 (728 words).

10. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Sochi-2014 at shocking price" says that since 2007 the cost of the preparations for the Winter Olympics in Sochi has grown fivefold and reached 50bn dollars; p 4 (957 words).

11. Marat Khayrullin article headlined "Negative Energiya of Russian space" says that another failed launch of the Zenit-3SL rocket in line with the Sea Launch project makes one doubt the efficiency of the Rocket Space Corporation Energiya; p 5 (2,992 words).

12. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Iran arms Yemeni tribes with air defense missiles" says that the US has accused Tehran of supplying arms to Yemen; p 6 (464 words).

13. Viktoria Panfilova article headlined "CIS countries: no day without conflict" looks at the latest developments in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine; p 8 (567 words).

14. Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Week in economy: Finance Ministry versus Glazyev's team" says that the confrontation between two major economic groups has aggravated; p 8 (447 words).

15. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Confrontation is not our choice" says that Russian and US diplomats are willing to overcome the cooling-down of relations between the countries; p 9 (1,066 words).

16. Alexei Fenenko article headlined "Russian sleigh on US slides" looks at controversial outcomes of Russian-US relations in 2012; p 9 (603 words).

17. Serge Zhiltsov article headlined "Ambitions get best of Moldovan politicians" looks at the political struggle in Moldova; p 10 (648 words).

18. Artur Blinov article headlined "From Foggy bottom to White House" looks back at former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's performance at the post; p 10 (906 words).

19. Vadim Balytnikov article headlined "Eurasian prospects may expand" says that two integration zones are being formed on the post-Soviet area; p 11 (791 words).

Vedomosti

1. Alexandra Terentyeva article headlined "Independent Chemezov" says that Alisher Usmanov's Metalloinvest has nominated Sergei Chemezov as an independent candidate to Norilsk Nickel's board; pp 1, 12 (558 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Pensions with surprise" says that Russia's economic policy is absolutely unpredictable and refers to recent president's initiative relating to the accumulative part of pension; pp 1, 6 (500 words).

3. Dmitry Kazmin and Natalya Biyanova article headlined "Tax on loyalty" says that owners of premium plastic cards may have to pay 13 per cent off the cost of goods and services the bank has provided to them free of charge; pp 1, 4 (717 words).

4. Kirill Kharatyan article headlined "Man of week: Dmitry Medvedev" looks at rumors about Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's possible resignation; p 7 (359 words).

5. Milana Chelpanova and Maxim Tovkaylo article headlined "EBRD getting closer to rails" says that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development may buy 5 per cent of the Russian Railways; p 10 (532 words).

6. Article by Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak headlined "Russian Financial Agency: how to manage reserves" explains why the agency is vital for the country's economy; pp 6-7 (1,106 words).

7. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Only pragmatics" looks at the bilateral meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden on the sidelines of the International Security Conference in Munich; p 3 (468 words).

8. Editorial headlined "Stalin with them" slams the decision of Volgograd deputies to re-name the town as Stalingrad for six days in the year; p 6 (258 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Unattributed article headlined "List of questions without answers" features a comment by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about his meeting with US Vice President Joseph Biden and prospects of Russian-US relations; p 5 (600 words).

2. Article by president and co-owner of the oil company LUKoil Vagit Alekperov headlined "Oil and patriotism" looks at the situation in the Russian energy sector; p 5 (1, 900 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Mikhail Rostovsky article headlined "How to undermine the basics or Putin and bishops" comments on President Vladimir Putin's speech about relations of the state and the church; pp 1-2 (906 words).

2. Alisa Ganiyeva article headlined "Culture for Dagestan" comments on the replacement of Dagestan's head Magomedsalam Magomedov with Ramazan Abdulatipov as another example of Moscow's strange policy in the Caucasus; p 3 (1,019 words).

3. Andrey Yashlavsky article headlined "Syria recalled in Munich" says that the leader of the Syrian opposition coalition stated at the International Security Conference in Munich that they were ready for talks with Damascus; p 3 (501 words).

Izvestia

1. Ivan Cheberko article headlined "Government offered to buy Sea Launch" says that head of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia Vitaly Lopota has suggested handing over control over the Sea Launch project to the state; pp 1, 4 (666 words).

2. Yelizaveta Mayetnaya article headlined "Interpol to deal with Transaero's assets" says that minority shareholder of the Transaero airline Eskerkhan Mutalibov has complained to Interpol that his 5 per cent of the company's shares were stolen; pp 1, 4 (962 words).

3. Sergei Ispolatov article headlined "Energy companies sick and tired of 'feeding' Caucasus" says that electricity production companies are going to make their retail companies in the North Caucasus bankrupt having abandoned hope to have multi-billion debts for electricity supplies settled; pp 1, 4 (824 words).

4. Mariya Gorkovskaya article headlined "Hollande arrives in Mali to mark victory" looks at the French president's visit to Mali and the situation in the country; p 7 (534 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Larisa Malyukova article headlined "Reject" says that the management of the TV channel 24_DOC has decided to end cooperation with journalist Vera Krichevskaya, speculates about possible reasons behind the move and provides Krichevskaya's and her former colleagues' comments; pp 1-3 (720 words).

Novyye Izvestia

1. Yuliya Savina interview with Russian veteran human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva who speaks about the human rights movement in Russia and its ability to influence the authorities; pp 1-2 (710 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Anastasiya Rafal interview with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan who speaks about economic growth in Armenia, accession to the Customs Union and other things; pp B2-B3 (1,900 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Vladimir Vorsobin interview with a member of the opposition Coordination Council, Maksim Kats, who speaks about the colleagues, the Coordination Council's goals and problems it faces; p 7 (1,050 words).

Feb. 4, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Feb. 1, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Jan. 31, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Jan. 30, 2012