What the Papers Say, Nov. 23, 2012

Kommersant

1. Alexander Chernykh interview with Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov headlined "'Fortunately, I Have Not Acquired Double Consciousness'," in which he speaks about higher education reform and what awaits inefficient universities; pp 1, 4 (2,796 words).

2. Oleg Rubnikovich article headlined "Stanko-Hunt" says Moscow City Court has started hearing a criminal case against former head of the territorial directorate of the Russian Property Ministry for Moscow Tatyana Naidenova and her deputy Vladimir Polyutov, who were charged with abuse of power during the privatization of Stankoimport in 2004. The investigation estimates the damage to the state at 2.5 billion rubles; pp 1, 5 (975 words).

3. Pavel Belavin article headlined "Vladislav Surkov Lost in Contemplation of Cinema" says that Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov has announced that state financing of Russian cinema will be changed next year to increase the share of Russian films in cinemas; pp 1, 12 (559 words).

4. Maxim Ivanov and Natalya Korchenkova article headlined "WWW.Putin.DA" says President Vladimir Putin has suggested setting up a special fund to finance interesting Internet projects. Putin is trying to take control over the Internet, experts comment; pp 1, 3 (934 words).

5. Natalya Gorodetskaya and Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "Andrei Vorobyev Becomes Absolute Acting [Head]" says that the Moscow region legislature has amended regional regulations to unite the positions of governor and head of the regional cabinet; p 2 (618 words).

6. Ivan Safronov and Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "Anatoly Serdyukov Excluded From List for Good" says that President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a reshuffle in the supervisory board of the Russian Technologies state corporation, appointing Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov as head of the board instead of former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov; p 2 (530 words).

7. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Globalization on All Fronts Recommended for Russia" looks at the All-Russia congress of political analysts held in Moscow; p 3 (717 words).

8. Natalya Bashlykova and Maria Plyusnina article headlined "Democrats Getting Ready for Elections" says that former presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov's Civil Platform party is to discuss its electoral strategy in 2013 on Friday. On Saturday, the political council of the RPR-Parnas party will also discuss participation in the 2013 elections; p 3 (519 words).

9. Ilya Shepelin article headlined "Book Ascribed to Pussy Riot" says the Algoritm publishing house, which published a book about the Pussy Riot punk band allegedly written by one of its members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, has provided Kommersant with letters proving that Tolokonnikova has nothing to do with the publishing of the book but that Pussy Riot's lawyers conducted talks on behalf of the participants; p 5 (526 words).

10. Pyotr Netreba and Oleg Sapozhkov article headlined "Defense Ministry's Lands Given to Cooperative Ostrov" says that Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Thursday ordered that over 382 military towns and 100,000 hectares of land in Primorye region be handed over to municipalities; p 6 (579 words).

11. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Israel Preparing for Victory in Truce" says a truce between Israel and Hamas left Palestinians jubilant and Israeli people disappointed and indignant; p 7 (479 words).

12. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Palestine to Be Recognized State Without Money" says the U.S. Senate is ready to freeze the program of financial aid to Palestine if its leadership goes forward with its planned statehood bid at the United Nations; p 7 (438 words).

13. Natalya Skorlygina article headlined "Localization Awaits Green Energy Sector" says the government has drafted measures to stimulate the development of the green energy sector; p 9 (806 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Investment Growth in Country Virtually Stops" says that despite all the authorities' efforts to improve formal indicators of conditions for doing business, investors keep fleeing Russia; pp 1, 4 (804 words).

2. Igor Naumov article headlined "They to Assist Seeder to Become Daily-Breader" says that agriculture in Russia is in a terrible condition and looks at the reasons behind; pp 1, 4 (759 words).

3. Nikolai Surkov article headlined "Egypt Wins in Conflict Between Israel and Hamas" says that although both sides in the Israeli-Hamas conflict claim victory, only Palestinians are rejoicing over it. As for Israeli people, they feel vulnerable and seem to have lost the information war; pp 1, 8 (652 words).

4. Yury Roks article headlined "Bidzina Ivanishvili's Surprises" says that at his first news conference as prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili surprised journalists by saying that his visit to Washington would be postponed and his visit to Russia was impossible; pp 1, 7 (979 words).

5. Tatyana Dvoinova article headlined "Hit Lists Ready in Primorye Region" says the government has demanded that Primorye region Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky ensure the commissioning of two five-star hotels in the first half of 2013. The hotels were to have been completed by the 2012 APEC summit in September; pp 1-2 (783 words).

6. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Alexander Sidyakin Wants to Fight On" says the initiator of the controversial law on tougher punishment for violations during rallies, Alexander Sidyakin, will concentrate on determining a national idea and struggle against Internet idlers aiming to provoke an "Orange Revolution"; pp 1-2 (412 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Eternal Bolshevism Versus Eternal Menshevism" looks at the conflict between members of the opposition Coordination Council Ksenia Sobchak and Andrei Piontkovsky over their vision of the opposition's goals and methods; p 2 (478 words).

8. Kirill Velikanov article headlined "Dissidents and Protesters" wonders if there are any similarities between human rights activists of Soviet times in the 80s and today's opposition activists; p 5 (2,856 words).

9. Alexander Shapovalov article headlined "Chieftains Demand People's Recognition" says that in January, Cossacks plan to stage a large-scale rally and demand that the authorities recognize Cossacks as a stand-alone ethnic group; p 6 (672 words).

10. Sergei Nikanorov article headlined "Zone of Alienation" looks at the reasons hampering the launch of a gambling zone in the Altai region; p 6 (633 words).

11. Anton Khodasevich article headlined "Belarus Does Not Agree With UNO" says that at a session of the UN General Assembly, Minsk denied that human rights in the country are broken; p 7 (523 words).

12. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Ukraine Plays for Time" looks at the talks between Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Azarov, in which Azarov made controversial statements regarding Ukraine's membership in the Customs Union; p 7 (914 words).

13. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Karzai Demands That U.S. Hand Over Prison" says that Pentagon chief Leon Panetta said U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Meanwhile, Washington and Kabul are bargaining over the number of U.S. servicemen and bases; p 8 (534 words).

14. Gleb Postnov article headlined "National Concept of Decline" on ways to restore the Tatar national identity. The author believes that declarations and programs alone can be of no help here; p 3 (600 words).

Vedomosti

1. Anatoly Kazmin and Anastasia Kornya article headlined "Some 50% Off for Consent" says Higher Arbitration Court head Anton Ivanov has suggested that those who agree to pay a fine on the spot may pay only half of it, while those who challenge the fine in court will have to pay the total amount; pp 1, 3 (898 words).

2. Timofey Dzyadko and Dmitry Dmitriyenko article headlined "Hint Worth $2Bln " says that Gazprom may increase gas transit via Belarus by 30 percent and is ready to invest some $2 billion in gas infrastructure to achieve that; pp 1 (671 words).

3. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Citizen Billionaire" says the founder of the Svyaznoi chain of companies, Maxim Nogotkov, has launched a social network aimed at uniting active citizens in solving the most burning issues in the country; p 1 (432 words).

4. Editorial headlined "Unfinished Higher [Education]" looks at what awaits the universities and institutes that turned out to be inefficient according to a recent rating; pp 1, 4 (496 words).

5. Natalya Kostenko article headlined "Party's Name Day" says the United Russia party is to hold a party forum in Moscow on Dec. 18 to sum up the results of the reform that started in May after Dmitry Medvedev was elected its chairman; p 2 (498 words).

6. Milana Chelpanova article headlined "Permit to Sky" says Indonesian authorities have certified the Sukhoi Superjet-100 despite its crash during a demo flight back in May and permitted its export to the country; p 8 (424 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Their Own Internet" says the authorities are trying to use the stick and carrot policy once again: the law on the blacklist of websites containing content harmful for children and the president's idea to set up a fund with a capital of 1 billion rubles aimed at supporting socially important initiatives on the internet; p 4 (291 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yelena Shulepova article headlined "Revenge of Co-Inventor?" looks at developments in the probe into the murder of Vyacheslav Trukhachev, deputy designer-general of TsKIB SOO, the Central Design and Research Bureau of Sports and Hunting Weapons, which is affiliated with the Instrument-Making Design Bureau, a leading Russian arms producer; pp 1, 7 (900 words).

2. Ivan Yegorov article headlined "We Have Forces, but Do Not Need War" looks at a joint session of the council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and secretaries of security councils of CSTO members, where the participants discussed what measures should be taken after the international contingent leaves Afghanistan; p 6 (320 words).

3. Andrei Shitov article headlined "Prison From Inside Out" provides glimpses from a letter from Viktor Bout, sentenced to 25 years in prison in the U.S., in which Bout slams the U.S. situation with human rights; p 8 (400 words).

Izvestia

1. Vladimir Dergachev article headlined "Opposition Gives Up March of Millions Rally" refers to Dmitry Gudkov as saying that most members of the opposition Coordination Council say the next protest should be in the form of a march rather than a rally with numerous speeches; pp 1, 3 (507 words).

2. Vladimir Voloshin interview with State Duma Defense Committee chairman Vladimir Komoyedov headlined " They Should Serve for 18 Months From the Age of 19!" in which Komoyedov speaks about his proposal to increase the term of service to 1 1/2 years for conscripts; p 3 (1,416 words).

3. Oleg Vorobyev and Taras Podrez article headlined "Italy to Allocate Another 275M to Manage Atom" says Italy has decided to prolong an international program of cooperation with Russia on nuclear and radiation security; p 5 (806 words).

4. Yury Matsarsky and Alexander Davashkin article headlined "Israel and Gaza Prefer Bad Peace" looks at the situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip; p 5 (727 words).

5. Igor Yavlyansky article headlined "Turkey to Get Patriot Complexes From NATO" says NATO has promptly approved Turkey's request to provide Patriot missile complexes to be deployed at the border with Syria; p 5 (558 words).

6. Article by political analyst Kirill Benediktov headlined "Headache" ponders a recent proposal to increase the term of service for conscripts to 18 months; p 9 (875 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Melor Sturua article headlined "Gaza and Brake" says the truce signed between Israel and Hamas hangs on a thread and looks at the reasons behind it; p 3 (561 words).

2. Alexander Rozenzaft article headlined "Legalization of Terror" looks back at the recent military conflict between Israel and Hamas and its consequences for the sides; p 3 (368 words).

RBC Daily

1. Inga Vorobyeva, Anastasia Litvinova article "Igor Sechin's 'Mothers and Daughters'" says the heads of leading state-owned companies, including Rosneft president Igor Sechin, have been asking the presidential administration and the government to reduce the list of state companies and their subsidiaries that must comply with the federal law on state procurement as, according to state companies, it puts them at a disadvantage against their competitors from the private sector; pp 1-2 (650 words).

2. Anastasia Novikova article "Facelift for Party" says the ruling United Russia party plans to expand the list of its members who outline the party's position to the media; p 2 (400 words).

3. Yulia Sinyaeva article "Miscalculations" looks at an economic forecast put together by experts from the Higher School of Economics that suggests that the Economic Development Ministry's forecasts may be too optimistic and Russia may find itself in an economic crisis as early as in 2014; p 3 (450 words).

Trud

1. Alexander Protsenko article "Whose Money Is in Migrant Workers' Pockets" comments on the World Bank's findings that 47 percent of Tajikistan's GDP is made up of money transferred to the country by Tajiks working as migrant workers abroad, mainly in Russia, and argues that jobs that are currently occupied by migrant workers from Central Asia could have been taken up by Russians from depressed regions; pp 1, 3 (550 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Boris Pasternak and Viktoria Voloshina material headlined "Council and Discord" looks at the first session of the new presidential human rights council chaired by President Vladimir Putin and contains comments from some of the council members, including Maxim Shevchenko, Alexander Brod, Sergei Karaganov and others, on why they have joined this body and what they hope to achieve there; pp B2-4 (2,200 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Vladimir Vorsobin article headlined "Yes, Members of the Opposition Have Supported Me. But I Have Not Promised to Get Married to Them!" about the first steps of Yaroslavl Mayor Yevgeny Urlashov, described as the first "liberal" mayor in Russia. Urlashov talks about his plans for the future as well as explains why he has supported United Russia in a municipal election given that it was the opposition that brought him to power in the first place; pp 8 — 9 (1,500 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Part two of Alexei Tarasov article headlined "What You Could Hear During Trial in London, but Failed to," gives further details of a pre-trial agreement reached between businessman Mikhail Chernoi and aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska; pp 2 — 3 (2,600 words).

2. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Milk Rivers" makes an attempt at finding out what milk factories from Nutritek International Corp, pedophiles, Rostelecom and the largest minority Rostelecom stakeholder, who has nearly become a senator, have in common; p 4 (800 words).

3. Yelena Masyuk interview with State Duma Deputy Alexander Sidyakin, the author of the controversial bills on NGOs and rallies, headlined "With Mahatma Gandhi I Talk About the Fate of the Russian Nation." The deputy speculates about the Magnistky list — incidentally, he believes the investigation into the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in prison should be seen through to the end —State Duma elections, opposition rallies and other topical issues; pp 6 — 7 (2,800 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Irina Aleksidze interview with Georgian politician Nino Burjanadze entitled "There Is No Room for [President Mikheil] Saakashvili's Party in Georgian Society" on the anniversary of the Rose Revolution, marked on Friday, about the future of Georgia, the conflict between the powers-to-be and the opposition and Saakashvili's fate; p 12 (800 words).

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Nov. 22, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Nov. 21, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Nov. 20, 2012