What the Papers Say, May 21, 2014

Kommersant

1. Sergei Strokan and Yanina Sokolovskaya article headlined "Rinat Akhmetov separates from 'Donetsk people's republic'" says that Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov has stepped in the confrontation between Kiev and "Donetsk people's republic" by blaming leaders of the self-proclaimed republic for violence. If Akhmetov succeeds in de-escalation of tension in the southeast, he will be regarded as the main peacemaker, if he fails he may lose all his property as a result of the nationalization the republic's leaders have announced as retaliation; pp 1, 10 (736 words).

2. Olga Shestopal and Svetlana Dementyeva article headlined "Plastic flexibility" says that Russia may make concessions to prevent international payment systems from leaving Russia; pp 1, 10 (952 words).

3. Kirill Melnikov and Anna Solodovnikova article headlined "Gunvor leaving after its co-owner" says that Gunvor, once the biggest exporter of Russian oil, is to be put up for sale. One of its founders, Gennady Timchenko, has already sold his share in the company to his partner; pp 1, 11 (772 words).

4. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Gas pressure on China growing" gives an ironic account of President Vladimir Putin's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and explains why the ambitious gas contract has not been signed; pp 1, 6 (1,114 words).

5. Alexandra Larintseva article headlined "'Man with shoulder straps' introduced to North Caucasus leaders" says that a new presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District and a minister for North Caucasus Affairs have been introduced to the region's leaders; p 2 (454 words).

6. Vadim Nikiforov article headlined "Tatars' representative may be replaced in Crimean government" says that the Crimean state council may dismiss acting Deputy Prime Minister Lenur Islyamov, who is in charge of adaptation of repatriates in the peninsula, for conducting "destructive policy" of Crimean Tatars' representative body; p 2 (613 words).

7. Sofia Samokhina and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Rallies being included in Criminal Code" says that the State Duma has passed in the first reading amendments toughening punishment for breaking rules of mass rallies organization; p 2 (582 words).

8. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Constitutional court instructed to be prompt" says that the State Duma has promptly passed in the first reading amendments which establish supremacy of the Constitutional Court's rulings over the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights; p 2 (587 words).

9. Nikolai Sergeyev piece headlined "Interior Ministry will keep troops and investigation" says that the head of the ministry Vladimir Kolokoltsev has introduced to the ministry two new deputies: the new commander-in-chief of the internal troops, Viktor Zolotov; and the deputy head of the investigations department Alexander Savenkov; p 3 (400 words).

10. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "One leniency for five" says that jurors have found guilty all the defendants in the Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya murder case; p 5 (524 words).

11. Vyacheslav Kozlov and Pavel Korobov article headlined "Drug addicts to be returned to society under law" says that the Federal Service for Control over the Trafficking of Narcotics has got down to setting up a national system of drug addicts rehabilitation; p 5 (461 words).

12. Alexei Shapovalov et al article headlined "Ukraine replacement" says that in April industrial growth in Russia was on the rise; includes experts' comments; p 6 (600 words).

13. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Cyber charges brought against China" says that Washington has brought charges against five Chinese servicemen suspected of cyber espionage; p 7 (550 words).

14. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Egyptian Islamists preparing for election" looks at the situation in Egypt which has aggravated ahead of the upcoming presidential election; p 7 (435 words).

15. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Blog authorized to declare" says that the Russian Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Department of State are actively using social networks such as Twitter, YouTube and LiveJournal in their cyberstruggle for Ukraine; p 8 (723 words).

16. Yury Barsukov article headlined "Gazprom fails to strike right note with Beijing" says that despite Putin's political support, Gazprom has failed to sign a gas contract with China; p 9 (614 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Arbitration courts may become 'foreign agents'" says that the Justice Ministry is drafting a bill to turn arbitration courts into NGOs. The novelty will make it easier for the ministry to control them, experts say and warn that arbitration courts may be pressed to register as "foreign agents"; pp 1, 3 (400 words).

2. Madina Shavlokhova article headlined "Many foreign specialists are leaving country" says that the number of qualified specialists from the EU working in Russia has dropped by 4.6 times since 2008; pp 1, 4 (913 words).

3. Alexander Shapovalov article headlined "Cossacks occupying Donbass" says that the Cossacks national guard has begun to create a government of people's trust in the Ukrainian border town of Antratsyt; pp 1, 6 (409 words).

4. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Rinat Akhmetov goes on strike" says that the Ukrainian tycoon is trying to regain control over the situation in the region. Despite Akhmetov's efforts to put the situation to rights in Donbass, the third round of the discussion on stabilization of the situation in Donetsk is most likely to be moved to another town for security reasons; pp 1, 7 (1,031 words).

5. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Ukraine hopes for NATO's military support" says that today NATO defense ministers are to give a go-ahead to step up military cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia. The presidential election will not avert the collapse of Ukraine, experts say and wonder what NATO will do in the situation; pp 1, 7 (593 words).

6. Artur Blinov article headlined "Gazprom's Chinese blunder" says that Putin's visit to China has not resulted in the signing of a contract on Russian gas supplies to China as the sides have not agreed on the price yet; pp 1, 8 (557 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Who is delaying de-escalation of Ukrainian crisis" comments on NATO's refusal to take part in the Moscow conference on international security to discuss the problem of "color revolutions" amid escalating tension in Ukraine and says that NATO and Russia differ in their vision of cooperation; p 2 (508 words).

8. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Summer exacerbation becomes tradition" says that the State Duma has discussed a number of toughening initiatives against Russia's "fifth column"; p 3 (890 words).

9. Grigory Zaslavsky article headlined "Two steps away from ministry of truth but with contemporary art atilt" reviews changes in the Russian state cultural policy; p 3 (689 words).

10. Ivan Shvarts article headlined "Worst year of current decade" looks at Russia's economic growth forecast published by the Higher School of Economics; p 4 (600 words).

11. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Currency liberalism wears off in Russia" says that as mass outflow of capital is becoming a key factor for the Russian economy, the authorities are beginning to tighten currency control; p 4 (923 words).

12. Svetlana Gavrilina article headlined "Poltavchenko demonstrates St. Petersburg modesty" looks ahead at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to open on May 22; p 6 (573 words).

13. Viktoria Panfilova article headlined "Bishkek's railway projects" says that Kyrgyzstan has suggested that China should join the construction of the railway line Russia-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran. The proposal is definitely a signal to Moscow: if it does not finance the construction of the railway, China will gladly do it; p 7 (668 words).

14. Anton Khodasevich article headlined "Lukashenko to name those to blame for economic problems" says that as the Belarusian prime minister has acknowledged a number of economic problems in the country and the government's inability to solve them, experts forecast the cabinet's dismissal; p 7 (613 words).

15. Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Discord proved too severe" says that Gazprom's failure to sign a strategic agreement on gas export to China is a huge blow to Gazprom; looks at the differences hampering the signing of the gas contract with China; p 8 (414 words).

16. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Washington imposes sanctions against Chinese military" says that amid Putin's talks with Chinese leaders, another cyber espionage scandal has broken between Beijing and Washington; p 8 (608 words).

17. Roman Silantyev article headlined "Majlis holds Muslims hostage" says that the Crimean Muslim spiritual authorities have lost their independence to Majlis; p 2 of NG Religions supplement (800 words).

18. Vladislav Maltsev article headlined "Churches bent to be loyal to Ukraine" says that the Moscow Patriarchate is now a hostage of political struggle; p 4 of NG Religions supplement (1,200 words).

Vedomosti

1. Natalia Byanova et al. report headlined "Pension money may be withdrawn again" says that a Central Bank top official has warned that the government may take use of pension assets next year as well; pp 1, 14 (600 words).

2. Andrei Sinitsyn op-ed headlined "Internet 0.0" comments on the change in Putin's rhetoric on the internet and says that Putin is trying to intercept control over this important tool from the U.S.; pp 1, 6 (400 words).

3. Olga Churakova article headlined "Mitrofanov gets under inquiry" says that deputy immunity of the chairman of the State Duma information policy, information technologies and communications committee, Alexei Mitrofanov, may be lifted as he is suspected of attempted fraud; p 2 (600 words).

4. Polina Khimshiashvili and Dmitry Kamyshev article headlined "Anti-U.S. summit" says that the first day of Putin's visit to China resulted in signing almost 40 economic agreements and the joint condemnation of the American policy; p 3 (550 words).

5. Olga Kuvshinova and Margarita Lyutova article headlined "Weather-political growth" says that the industrial growth in April reached 2.4 percent due to weather conditions and the Ukrainian crisis, which made the industry increase production to compensate for Ukrainian imports; p 4 (600 words).

6. Pavel Aptekar op-ed headlined "Labour and economy" comments on how the labor market in Russia reacts to economic changes; p 6 (300 words).

7. Article by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov headlined "About fiscal policy" looks at the current state of the Russian economy; pp 6-7 (1,900 words).

8. Ilya Klishin article headlined "Likes to West" says that the Kremlin is trying to manipulate public opinion in the U.S. and Europe via the internet, but foreign users are suspicious of pro-Russian comments; p 7 (500 words).

8. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "'I do not want to begin war'" is dedicated to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her chances in the presidential election; p 8 (1,000 words).

9. Darya Trosnikova and Darya Borisyak article headlined "Visa for six weeks" says that the Visa payment system has announced its withdrawal from the Russian market. Experts do not take the statement seriously and regard it as a lever to speed up talks with the Russian authorities on making the law on payment systems milder; p 10 (550 words).

10. Galina Starinskaya article headlined "Putin opens window to China" looks at the first day of Putin's visit to China and says that amid the U.S. and European sanctions, Russian business is expanding ties with Chinese companies; p 12 (450 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Silk way" says that Putin's visit to China has opened new opportunities for Russia; pp 1-2 (900 words).

2. Igor Zubkov article headlined "Let's roll!" features experts' comments on expanding cooperation between Russia and China; p 2 (700 words).

3. Article by foreign policy expert Fedor Lukyanov headlined "Logical partnership" says that amid deteriorating relations with the West, Putin's visit to China is a landmark in the history of Russia-China relations; p 2 (700 words).

4. Vladislav Kuzmin article headlined "To calm down Ukraine" provides highlights of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's interview with the Bloomberg TV channel on the current Ukrainian crisis and Western sanctions; p 3 (1,000 words).

5. Timofei Borisov and Irina Rybnikova article headlined "Crash" says that five people have been killed and 50 injured when a derailed cargo train collided with a passenger train outside Moscow; p 5 (600 words).

6. Alexander Samozhnev article headlined "Mopping up in Kiev way" says that two journalists working for the LifeNews television channel have been detained near Ukraine's town of Kramatorsk and charged with terrorism; p 8 (600 words).

7. Ariadna Rokossovskaya article headlined "Europe's hands to be bound" looks ahead at the election to the European Parliament, where unprecedentedly low turnout and record-breaking support of Euro-skeptics are expected; p 9 (300 words).

8. Igor Dunayevsky article headlined "Americans in Crimea" forecasts that U.S. companies working in Crimea will continue operating there despite the fact that the peninsula has joined Russia; pp 1, 9 (600 words)

9. Yaroslav Nikolayev article headlined "French stash" says that the Russian Central Bank keeps its international reserves in the European securities, rather than the U.S. ones; p 4 (550 words)

Izvestia

1. Alena Sivkova article headlined "Students take up cudgels for LifeNews journalists" says that students all across Russia have staged rallies to highlight the detention of two Russian journalists in Ukraine; pp 1, 3 (348 words).

2. Yegor Sozayev-Guriyev article headlined "Russia, China to strengthen friendship with hydrocarbons, weapons" looks at the results of the first day of Putin's visit to China; p 2 (608 words).

3. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Some 800 Russians to monitor election in Kiev" says that Russian public organizations are going to send some 800 observers to the presidential election in Ukraine; p 8 (661 words).

4. Alexander Chalenko article headlined "End of epoch" says that billionaire Rinat Akhmetov has entered an open confrontation with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic, which can destroy him both economically and politically; p 9 (729 words).

5. Alexander Birman article headlined "Akhmetov's bear hug" comments on Rinat Akhmetov's call to stage a preventive protest against the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic; p 9 (716 words).

6. Sergei Podosenov and Yelena Klimacheva article titled "Lawmakers demand new inquiry into Serdyukov's case" says that the Russian Communist Party has started collecting signatures in order to bring up for discussion the creation of a parliamentary commission to launch a new inquiry against the former minister of defense, Anatoly Serdyukov, who was charged with negligence, but later amnestied; pp 1-2 (800 words).

7. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Mikhail and Irina Prokhorov quit Civil Platform" says that the founder of the Civil Platform opposition party, tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, has decided to pull out of the party, and his sister may soon do the same; p 2 (350 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Natalya Vedeneyeva article headlined "Proton's case in pipe way" looks at the preliminary results of a probe into the crash of the Proton-M rocket; pp 1, 5 (536 words).

2. Igor Karmazin article headlined "Siren for Rinat Akhmetov" features experts' comments on Ukraine's richest businessman Rinat Akhmetov's call to stage a preventive protest against the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic; p 3 (625 words).

3. Matvei Ganapolsky article headlined "Who will not become Ukrainian president" looks at the chances of Ukrainian presidential candidates; p 3 (922 words).

4. Anastasia Gnedinskaya article headlined "Marat never held gun in his hands..." comments on terrorism charges brought against LifeNews journalists detained in Ukraine; p 3 (504 words).

5. Yelena Yegorova article headlined "Putin's Chinese puzzle" looks at the outcomes of the first day of Putin's visit to China and the joint drill; pp 1-2 (500 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Alexander Mineyev report "Two days later" says that the Russia-NATO Council will meet on the ambassador level on May 27 to discuss the situation in Ukraine; p 4 (500 words).

2. Andrei Kolesnikov report "Russian-Chinese pole" looks at the change in Russia's policy towards China; p 7 (500 words).

3. Alexei Tarasov report "China grows through Siberia" looks at Russian Chinese relations; p 8 (1,200 words).

4. Olga Musafirova interview headlined "'Miners do not support separatists'" with Mykhaylo Volynets, head of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, who speaks about pro-Russian activists, the presidential election in Ukraine and the Russian television; p 10 (1,400 words).

RBK Daily

1. Alexander Artemyev report "Election under fire" looks at the forthcoming presidential election in Ukraine and says that voting may be disrupted at least at half of polling stations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions; p 2 (900 words).

2. Mikhail Rubin report "Patriotism near lake and sea" says that the Russian Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, or Rosmolodezh, is organizing two major youth camps this summer: on the Lake Seliger and near Sevastopol; p 2 (650 words).

3. Mikhail Rubin et al. report "Mitrofanov loses immunity" says that State Duma member Alexei Mitrofanov may be stripped of his deputy immunity over fraud charges; p 3 (1,300 words).

4. Irina Yuzbekova report "Rostelekom launches state search engine on May 22" says that the national search engine Sputnik developed by Russia's largest government-owned telecommunications company Rostelekom will begin to operate on 22 May; p 8 (700 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Sergei Yezhov report "To leave quickly to stay" says that Russian governors are resigning en masse to be re-elected; pp 1-2 (1,000 words).

2. Yekaterina Dyatlovskaya report "'Five' for protesters" says that the State Duma has passed the first reading of a bill introducing criminal responsibility for violations at rallies and demonstrations. Article features Russian lawyers' comments; p 2 (800 words).

3. Anatoly Stepovoi report "Insult to profession" looks at problems of Russian journalism following recent incidents with Russian journalists in Ukraine; p 2 (600 words).

4. Sergei Putilov report "Geopolitical deposits" says that the international payment system Visa has confirmed it may wind up its business in Russia; p 3 (750 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Dmitry Smirnov report "Moscow, Beijing get ready to sign 'contract of century'" looks at Putin's visit to China and says that the Russian and Chinese leaders have agreed the details of a contract to deliver Russian gas to China; p 2 (1,00 words).

2. Unattributed report "Politicians need sanctions, while latter are like sharp knife to business" publishes excerpts from Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's interview with Bloomberg; p 3 (700 words).

3. Yelena Krivyakina interview with Dmitry Medvedev who speaks about his office in the government building and how his work is organized; pp 1, 4-5 (2,400 words).

4. Viktor Baranets interview headlined "To me most important rating is people's respect in army" with defense Minister Sergei Shoigu; p 6 (1,200 words).

5. Alexander Grishin report "NATO takes Ukrainian nuclear power plants under control" says that NATO has sent its experts to Ukrainian nuclear power plants; p 7 (400 words).

6. Yevgeny Chernykh interview headlined "Will chocolate hare jump into presidential chair in Ukraine?" with Mikhail Delyagin, head of the Globalization Studies Institute, who looks at the forthcoming presidential election in Ukraine; p 9 (1,500 words).

Trud

1. Sergei Frolov report "'Orient express' departs on big journey" comments on the results of Putin's visit to China; pp 1-2 (1,100 words).

2. Oleg Shevtsov report "'No reason for opening champagne...'" looks at Putin's visit to China and says that the West is concerned over the strategic rapprochement of the two countries; p 2 (650 words).

Tvoi Den

1. Anton Stepanov report "Freedom to guys!" says that "people in the whole world demand that LifeNews correspondents captured by Ukrainian security forces be released"; pp 1, 4-5 (350 words).

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