What the Papers Say, July 2, 2013

Kommersant

1. Sergei Khodnev article headlined "Elegant retirement art" dedicated to Irina Antonova who has left the post of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts director in Moscow; pp 1, 11 (1,226 words).

2. Maria Semendyayeva interview with new Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts director Marina Loshak speaking on plans for the museum work; pp 1, 11 (741 words).

3. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Newest Russian" comments on CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden's decision to seek political asylum in Russia. The move is quite logical as Russia is one of the few countries ready to start confrontation with the U.S. over Snowden, the author notes; pp 1, 3 (504 words).

4. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Gas lacks firmness" reports on Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow and notes that at the event, President Vladimir Putin has compared Edward Snowden with well-known Soviet dissenter Andrei Sakharov; pp 1, 3 (1,099 words).

5. Maria-Luiza Tirmaste interview with business ombudsman Boris Titov speaking on the amnesty for people sentenced for economic crimes, proposed by Putin; pp 1, 6 (2,663 words).

6. Alexander Chernykha and Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Science of condemning" says academicians oppose the government's plans to reform and, in fact, disband the Russian Academy of Sciences. Scientific researchers all over the country plan to stage protests against the reform; p 2 (636 words).

7. Article by Alexei Kudrin, former finance minister and present chairman of the Civil Initiatives Committee, in opinion column headlined "Rules of game" reviews the recent reforms announced by the authorities: the merger of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court, the economic amnesty and plans to reform the Academy of Sciences; p 2 (629 words).

8. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Communists full of mistrust in government" says the Communist faction in the State Duma has decided to vote no-confidence in Dmitry Medvedev's cabinet due to the plans to reform the Academy of Sciences; p 2 (716 words).

9. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Russia deals with Asian security" reports on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's participation in the Russia-ASEAN meeting in Brunei. Moscow is interested in the regional security, the author notes; p 3 (541 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Academy of Sciences being reformed slowly but persistently" says that State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin has said that the government's bill on the Academy of Sciences reform will not be passed without amendments. Academics oppose the reform; pp 1-2 (883 words).

2. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Crimea may turn into Tauria Region" says Ukraine's Freedom party wants to hold a referendum to strip Crimea of its special autonomy status; pp 1, 6 (760 words).

3. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Migrants to say their word in elections" says the Central Electoral Commission is to discuss the possibility of former Soviet citizens having residence permit in Russia taking part in Russia's elections. Experts are afraid that migrants will be used in vote rigging; pp 1, 3 (768 words).

4. Anastasia Bashkatova and Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Statistic tricks to reduce inflation" says prices are on the rise in Russia, and the ruble losing its value makes the situation worse; pp 1, 4 (748 words).

5. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "America can no longer stop dissenters" says WikiLeaks website founder Julian Assange has said that the U.S. will not be able to stop the publication of information leaked by CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden; pp 1, 6 (672 words).

6. Darya Kurdyukova and Grigory Zaslavsky article headlined "To presidents with lower status" comments on the resignation of Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts director Irina Antonova; pp 1-2 (927 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Snowden stumps Russia" says Edward Snowden's asylum request has put Russia in an uneasy position, as the Kremlin does not want to deal with this problem; p 2 (482 words).

8. Darya Garmonenko article headlined "Gay contradictions among radical opposition" says the so-called "party quotas" may be canceled for the opposition Coordination Council, as some activists want to oust nationalists; p 3 (492 words).

9. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Vladimir Putin defends basic principles" says the gas forum in Moscow has not turned into the gas OPEC, as gas importers expected. Some exporters are ready to sell gas at exchanges, while Russia insists on long-term contracts; p 4 (963 words).

10. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Syrian crisis sponsors panic due to Assad's success" says the Syrian government forces are storming the city of Homs; however, the talks on the peace conference to resolve the Syrian crisis are not over yet; p 6 (643 words).

Izvestia

1. Svetlana Subbotina and Yulia Tsoy article headlined "LDPR suggests that Moscow mayoral candidates be polygraph-tested" says Moscow mayoral hopeful nominated by the LDPR party Mikhail Degtyarev wants all candidates to undergo a lie detection test; pp 1, 4 (488 words).

2. Alexei Mikhaylov article headlined "General Staff to get mobile headquarters for war" says the Defense Ministry General Staff has commissioned a mobile headquarters facility to control warfare from any part of the country; pp 1-2 (456 words).

3. Alexander Yunashev article headlined "Russia never extradites anyone anywhere" says President Vladimir Putin has noted that U.S. secret services could have eavesdropped on the Russian authorities, like on the European ones; p 2 (704 words).

4. Maria Gorkovskaya article headlined "Leaks get to senior military officers in U.S." focuses on scandals with whistleblowers and features a comment by pundit Maxim Minayev; p 4 (600 words).

5. Anna Akhmadiyeva article headlined "Former editor in chief of Kommersant FM Dmitry Solopov to launch radio in Ukraine" reports on plans of former top managers of the Kommersant FM radio station Dmitry Solopov and Alexei Vorobyev to launch a news talk show radio in Ukraine; p 8 (451 words).

Vedomosti

1. Maxim Glikin et al. report headlined "Roman Abramovich to leave post" says Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is to leave the post of Chukotka Region's legislative assembly chairman due to a ban on foreign assets ownership of Russian parliamentarians and officials; pp 1-2 (544 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Propaganda of mistrust" says the Russian authorities are doing their best to make people afraid of NGOs and their work; pp 1, 6 (367 words).

3. Svetlana Bocharova et al. article headlined "Science for Medvedev" says scientists and opposition lawmakers are outraged by the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences; p 2 (750 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "Social network of authorities" says a new cottage village in Moscow Region built for the ruling elite shows the clan-based nature of the Russian politics; p 6 (375 words).

5. Yelena Khodyakova article headlined "Not to give in to Europe" says Putin has criticized Europe's attempts to review conditions for gas supplies; p 12 (350 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Article by former Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoy headlined "Continuation of legend" says Irina Antonova has resigned as the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts director and has chosen a successor; pp 1, 13 (924 words).

2. Tatyana Zykova article headlined "Laundry being closed" says Russian tax collectors will be able to call to account company founders and owners instructing their managers not to pay taxes; pp 1-2 (563 words).

3. Natalya Kozlova article headlined "Brought to life" says the law on the protection of religious feelings has been published; pp 1, 6 (393 words).

4. Vladislav Vorobyev article headlined "Bugs bite European house" says both Europe and the U.S. do not need the scandal over the United States eavesdropping on the EU leaders; p 8 (472 words).

5. Nikolay Dolgopolov article headlined "'Postscriptum': 15 years later" features an interview with Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, speaking about Russia's relations with the U.S. and the UK; p 17 (2,700 words).

6. Boris Yamshanov article headlined "Verdict in English" features an interview with member of the Federation Council's Committee on Constitutional Law Alexander Savenkov speaking about the designed legal reform; p 18 (2,200 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Isayev has never been so close to failure" says the All-Russia Public Movement People's Front for Russia (All-Russia People's Front) has called for dismissing United Russia lawmaker Andrei Isayev from the post of the State Duma labour committee chairman; pp 1-2 (448 words).

2. Olga Bozhyeva article headlined "Companies of scientists to be set up from gifted soldiers" says a new detachment of young scientists will be set up from conscripts in Voronezh; pp 1, 3 (451 words).

3. Yulia Kalinina commentary headlined "All-Russian dummy" says the authorities are exploiting the issue of homophobia to distract people's attention from real problems; p 1 (496 words).

4. Melor Sturua article headlined "U.S. National Security Agency was engaged in wiretapping in EU countries, Snowden tells the press" says the European leaders are demanding explanations from Washington following the information on internet surveillance of the EU governments by U.S. secret services, leaked by CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden; p 2 (1,165 words).

5. Ignat Kalinin article headlined "Navalny speaks Western-style" says the campaign of the opposition candidate for mayor of Moscow Alexei Navalny is based on the fight against corruption; p 2 (300 words).

RBC Daily

1. Svetlana Makunina report "Communists against Medvedev" says that the Communist faction in the State Duma wants to start the procedure of expressing no confidence in the government due to the proposed bill on the Russian Academy of Sciences; p 2 (400 words).

2. Yulia Yakovleva report "Change of audit" says that the State Duma has suggested three candidacies for the post of the head of the Audit Chamber to President Vladimir Putin; p 2 (350 words).

3. Brief unattributed report "Navalny promised Muscovites sense of dignity" says that Alexei Navalny, standing for Moscow mayor from the opposition RPR-Parnas party, has published his election program on his website. The main points of the program are the fight against corruption and more financial rights for municipalities, article says; p 2 (150 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Diana Yevdokimova interview with academician Alexander Nekipelov speaking out against the planned reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences; pp 1, 5 (1,775 words).

2. Yelena Ryzhova interview headlined "It is unreal to find sponsors for political programs today" with writer Dmitry Bykov, who comments on the decision of Dozhd TV to close its program "Gospodin Khoroshiy". The main reason for closing the project is that businessman Mikhail Prokhorov will no longer finance it; pp 1, 4 (650 words).

3. Yulia Savina report "Main roles" says that the State Duma has asked for some 9 million rubles ($270,000) to make a documentary dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament; p 2 (850 words).

4. Vera Moslakova report "One of few who permitted herself to criticize" says that member of the Federation Council Larisa Ponomaryova, the mother of the opposition State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, will not stand in the election again after her term in office expires in September; p 2 (450 words).

5. Brief unattributed report quotes Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev as saying that Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama have agreed that the Federal Security Service and the FBI will cooperate to solve the situation surrounding former CIA employee Edward Snowden; p 2 (100 words).

6. Brief unattributed report says that Sergei Dorenko has quit as editor in chief of the Russkaya Sluzhba Novostey (Russian News Service); p 2 (100 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Yelena Krivyakina report "'Russia never extradites anyone'" quotes Putin at his news conference at the end of Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow, saying, among other things, that former CIA employee Edward Snowden, who is currently in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, "is not our agent and our special services have never worked with him"; p 2 (1,100 words).

2. Andrei Yegorov report "EU's raid on American bugs" says that according to fugitive American Edward Snowden, the U.S. has eavesdropped on 38 embassies, including 28 embassies of EU countries; p 2 (300 words).

3. Yelena Chinkova report says the Culture Ministry and the State Library intend to go to an arbitration court to ensure that the U.S. Congress returns seven books from the Schneerson Library; p 2 (450 words).

Trud

1. Sergei Frolov report "All gentlemen do it..." says that according to Edward Snowden, U.S. special services are eavesdropping on EU missions and hack their computer networks; p 2 (800 words).

2. Alexander Dmitryev article headlined "Vladimir Putin calls for solidarity among Moscow forum participants" looks at Putin's speech at Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Moscow; p 4 (600 words).

3. Alexander Tikhonov report "Turns of UAVs" says that Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu has inspected unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at a testing range in Alabino, Moscow Region; pp 1-2 (2,700 words).

4. Alexander Frolov interview headlined "What is behind protests" with expert Viktor Nadein-Rayevskiy, who comments on protests in Turkey; p 3 (1,300 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Anastasia Petrova interview with Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the party Yabloko, who is standing for Moscow mayor; pp 4-6 (3,100 words).

Tvoy Den

1. Yulia Tsoy interview with Yury Dudayev, the father of former Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov; p 2 (500 words).

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, July 1, 2012
• What the Papers Say, June 28, 2012
• What the Papers Say, June 27, 2012