What the Papers Say, June 18, 2013

Kommersant

1. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Overcareful summit" reports on the talks between the Russian and the U.S. presidents and notes that they both were cautious in their assessment of international events and agreed that the two countries' relations were developing. The article is accompanied by a compilation of comments from politicians and pundits on the current state of Russian-U.S. relations; p 3 (517 words).; pp 1, 3 (1,700 words).



2. Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "Gazprom skyscraper goes under" says St. Petersburg activists have won a victory over Gazprom as a court reinstated a special protection status to archaeological monuments located on the plot of land where the gas monopoly planned to build its skyscraper; pp 1, 5 (700 words).



3. Olga Shestopal article headlined "Loans to be written off accounts" says the widely used practice of granting bank loans to corporate clients if they transfer their assets to a certain bank has been questioned by the Federal Antimonopoly Service; pp 1, 10 (593 words).



4. Sergei Sobolev article headlined "Video International passes addition exam" says Video International company has managed to prove that its share of television ads market is smaller than 35 percent so it does not violate the antimonopoly legislation; pp 1, 12 (738 words).



5. Taisia Bekbulatova article headlined "Sergei Sobyanin starts working as candidate" says acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has submitted his documents to the electoral committee and become the ninth candidate for the mayoral post; p 2 (704 words).



6. Natalya Korchenkova et al. article "Moscow is worth mandate" looks at developments inside the Liberal Democratic Party faction in the State Duma, as it first deputy head Vladimir Ovsyannikov, who at some point intended to run in the Moscow mayoral election but not was not nominated by the party, is now giving up his seat in parliament; p 2 (500 words).



7. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "State Duma remembers package agreement" says the State Duma has decided on the six candidates for the Audit Chamber to be submitted to President Putin for approval. Three candidates were nominated by United Russia and the other three, by the opposition factions; p 3 (547 words).



8. Maxim Ivanov article "Human rights council lacks rules" says the presidential human rights council has still not adopted its internal regulations, which, according to experts, may result in that its viability may come under question; p 3 (600 words).



9. Ivan Buranov and Yevgeny Timoshinov interview with the head of the Moscow transport department, Maxim Liksutov, speaking on the development of public transport in the city; p 4 (2,634 words).



10. Alexander Chernykh article headlined "Vladimir Medinsky closes chapter on history" says Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has said there will not be a single history textbook for Russian schools; single principles of teaching history will be developed instead. He has also suggested that history textbooks should not cover modern Russian developments of the past 20 years; p 5 (593 words).



11. Vyacheslav Kozlov article headlined "Law-making approach to fight against drugs" says the Federal Drug Control Service has drawn up a draft law that expands its functions considerably; p 5 (800 words).



12. Oleg Rubnikovich report "Cadet college was furnished through connections" says that yet another former senior Defense Ministry official who used to be close to the former minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, may face criminal charges; p 6 (1,000 words).



13. Alexander Zheglov and Ivan Safronov article "Extra hundred million poured into cement for Glonass plant" looks at a criminal investigation launched in the Moscow region town of Korolev in connection with a machine engineering plant involved in the Russian satellite navigation project, Glonass; p 6 (400 words).



14. Olga Kuznetsova and Sergei Strokan article headlined "Gezi Park defenders risk being put in jail" says that having failed to reach an agreement with opposition protesters, the Turkish authorities plan to treat them like terrorists; p 7 (453 words).



15. Alexander Kondrashin and Yelena Chernenko article headlined "USA finds whose mill information leaks are grist to" says U.S. program Edward Snowden who made information about US secret services' large-scale surveillance effort public is suspected of having ties with the Chinese intelligence. Beijing will benefit from the surveillance scandal most, the article says; p 7 (682 words).



16. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin commentary piece in the "Rules of the game" column looks at President Putin's budget address delivered to the cabinet of ministers last week and concludes that Russia lacks strategic planning; p 8 (600 words).



17. Olga Khvostunova feature in the Oil and Gas supplement, headlined "Energy danger for Russia", looks at Russia's positions on the global energy market; p 20 (1,100 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Financial diet prescribed to science and education" says Russia's science and education remain underfinanced, but the government does no find this situation alarming; pp 1, 4 (953 words).



2. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Mousetrap for opposition" says this week the State Duma will pass a regulation that makes it possible to strip MPs of their seats without a court ruling. The opposition is worried that the regulation could be used against lawmakers unwanted by the parliamentary majority; pp 1-2 (795 words).



3. Yury Paniyev article headlined "G8 has Syria for dinner" says Syria is to become the main topic on the agenda of the G8 summit, which has opened in Northern Ireland; pp 1, 7 (830 words).



4. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Mayors to be linked to top-down command structure" says mayors of Russian cities will be invited to attend seminars in Moscow after the September election campaign. The seminars will be similar to the recent training organized for Russian governors; pp 1, 3 (906 words).



5. Anton Khodasevich article headlined "Alyaksandr Lukashenka breaks dishes" says Belarusians have either to get rid of their satellite dishes or sign a contract with the local authorities and pay to have the equipment registered; pp 1, 6 (620 words).



6. Yevgeny Grigoryev article headlined "Czech prime minister framed-up by lady" report on the political crisis in the Czech Republic; pp 1, 7 (554 words).



7. Editorial headlined "It is impossible to evaluate scale of Single State Exam falsifications" says the large number of scandals surrounding school leavers' exams in Russia shows that officials have failed to develop an effective examination system; p 2 (550 words).



8. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Americans are spying, while the English are taking the rap" says new revelations from CIA whistle-blower Edward Snowden show that the U.S. and UK authorities intercepted conversations of the Russian, Turkish and South African leaders during the G20 summit in London in 2009; p 7 (472 words).



9. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Tehran is sending fighters to help Assad" says Iran is sending 4,000 servicemen to fight on the side of the Syrian authorities. The Syrian conflict is growing into a regional war, the article says; p 7 (576 words).

Vedomosti

1. Olga Kuvshinova et al. report headlined "Finance Ministry's currency reserve" says the Finance Ministry will be in charge of the economic growth instead of the Central Bank. The ministry's recipe is a weaker ruble; pp 1, 4 (801 words).



2. Editorial headlined "Turkey in smoke" looks into reasons for the ongoing anti-government protests in Turkey; pp 1, 6 (417 words).



3. Alexei Nikolskyand Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Smerch goes to Baku" says Russia has begun arms supplies to Azerbaijan. Baku has bought $1 billion of ground weapons; p 2 (560 words).



4. Maxim Tovkaylo and Olga Plotonova article "Minister from Gaydar's school" speculates on who may be appointed new economic development minister after Andrei Belousov is appointed presidential economic adviser, which is expected to happen in the next couple of days; p 4 (400 words).



5. Another editorial headlined "To control uncontrollable" criticizes State Duma lawmakers for attempting to develop laws regulating moral values and sexual relations; p 6 (303 words).

Izvestia

1. Alena Sivkova et al. report headlined "Livanov loses another deputy" says the deputy education minister in charge of school education, Igor Remorenko, has resigned; pp 1, 4 (493 words).



2. Yegor Sozayev-Guryev and Vladimir Zykov article headlined "Federation Council to demand that Google be checked" says the Federation Council wants the Federal Security Service and the Roskomnadzor communications watchdog to check the work of the Russian branch of Google following the U.S. secret services internet surveillance scandal; pp 1, 4 (645 words).



3. Article by political scientist Boris Mezhuyev headlined "Yabloko and divided opposition" criticizes the opposition for their unwillingness to unite around Yabloko party leader Sergei Mitrokhin in the upcoming Moscow mayoral election; pp 1-2 (909 words).



4. Alexander Yunashev article headlined "Russian-American summit to be held in Moscow" says the Russian and U.S. presidents have agreed to hold talks in Moscow in early September; p 2 (694 words).



5. Alexei Mikhaylov report headlined "Nuclear missiles to have their targets changed in flight" says the Russian Defense Ministry has started purchasing an advanced digital automatic control system for the Strategic Missile Troops to counter U.S. missile defense systems; p 3 (400 words).



6. Denis Telmanov article headlined "Defense Ministry disbands district financial centers" says the Defense Ministry has dismantled one more initiative of the former minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, and ruled to close down four inter-regional financial centers that were meant to handle the ministry's settlements with the outside world; p 5 (500 words).



7. Pundit Kirill Benediktov commentary piece headlined "Thin red line" looks at the current state of developments in and around Syria; p 6 (700 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Tatyana Shadrina article headlined "Hands up!" reports on security measures to be introduced at Russian railway stations: passengers will undergo security checks similar to those that are in place at airports; pp 1, 5 (650 words).



2. Pundit Leonid Radzikhovsky comment, headlined "For silent majority", looks at political prospects of the All-Russia Public Movement People's Front for Russia; p 2 (500 words).



3. Vladislav Vorobyev article headlined "Will they shower Syria with missiles?" says the Middle East seems to be getting ready for a full-scale war in Syria, the issue is the main topic of discussion at the G8 summit; p 8 (733 words).



4. Article by chairman of the Senate of the Kazakhstan parliament, Kayrat Mami, headlined "Kazakhstan and Russia in Eurasian project" considers prospects for Russian-Kazakh economic integration; p 8 (1,209 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Andrei Yashlavskyand Yeva Merkacheva article headlined "Summit with ears" reports on the scandal with wiretapping of conversations of foreign leaders, including the Russian president, at the G20 summit in London in 2009; pp 1-2 (550 words).



2. Yekaterina Pichugina article headlined "No payment for entering the country" sums up a news conference given by head of the Moscow directorate of the Russian Federal Migration Service Olga Kirillova; pp 1, 6 (400 words).



3. Mikhail Rostovsky commentary piece headlined "Putin, Virgil and incident with ring" comments on a scandal over reports that President Putin mistakenly pocketed a Super Bowl ring belonging to a U.S. tycoon during a 2005 visit, has which turned out to be a foolish joke; p 1 (400 words).



4. Economist Yevgeny Gontmakher commentary piece headlined "Micromanagement will lead country nowhere" looks at issues facing the Russian authorities in the way they govern the country; pp 1, 3 (700 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Gleb Bryansky interview with chairman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia Alexander Shokhin, who heads the so-called B20 (business 20) at the G20 summit; p B8 (600 words).

RBC Daily

1. Yulia Yakovleva article headlined "Sergei Sobyanin and black folder" says that acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has officially registered as mayoral election candidate. He has called on his competitors to sign a fair election memorandum; however, many believe that the voices of municipal deputies have already been shared between the "right" candidates; pp 1-2 (550 words).

2. Inga Vorobyeva article headlined "Cameron rolls up G8 sleeves" reports on the first day of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland; p 2 (450 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Mikhail Bely article headlined "They know where they belong to" says that Russian officials reject the surveys on freedom of speech, business climate or political rights conducted by international organizations as they place Russia on low positions; pp 1, 5 (1,000 words).

2. Gennady Petrov interview with president of the Middle East institute Yevgeny Satanovskiy, who comments on the latest developments in Turkey; pp 1-2 (600 words).

3. Dmitry Selyavin article headlined "They have sentence in mind" looks into the latest developments in the trial of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who has submitted documents in order to run for Moscow mayor; p 2 (300 words).

4. Grigory Volf article headlined "Not private matter" says that the State Duma has considered amendments to the law protecting honor, dignity and business reputation. The amendments will introduce a ban on collecting and spreading information on personal life without a person's consent, which will put an end to journalistic investigations, the author says; p 2 (250 words).

5. Alexei Aronov article headlined "Anti-offshore front" comments on the agenda of the G8 summit; p 3 (500 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Viktor Baranets article headlined "Dished on furniture" says that yet another head of one of the Defense Ministry departments may face criminal charges; p 6 (400 words).

2. Opinion column by Oleg Matveychev headlined "Prokhorov and emptiness" comments on tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov's decision not to run for Moscow mayor; p 7 (900 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Andrei Garavsky article headlined "In sky above le Bourget" features a report on the international air show in the vicinity of Paris, where Russian Su-35 aircraft and Ka-52 helicopters have been presented to public; p 3 (600 words).