What the Papers Say, Apr. 3, 2013

Kommersant

1. Viktor Khamrayev and Ivan Safronov article headlined "State service both transparent and difficult" says President Vladimir Putin will personally control the spending and revenues of all top officials via his presidential administration. Experts expect some officials to leave their posts; pp 1-2 (1,004 words).

2. Sergei Mashkin and Nikolai Sergeyev article headlined "'Jihad tax' cancelled in Dagestan" says that the leader of militants, who has been extorting money from many entrepreneurs and officials in Dagestan, has been killed in the course of a special operation near Makhachkala; pp 1, 6 (534 words).

3. Mikhail Serov et al. report headlined "Nord Stream enlargement to start in the Netherlands" says Gazprom has started forming a new consortium to enlarge the Nord Stream gas pipeline project. The Dutch company Gasunie is likely to join the project; pp 1, 11 (714 words).

4. Alexandra Bayazitova article headlined "Bankruptcy in district" says district courts will hear individual bankruptcy cases instead of arbitration courts as it was initially planned in Russia. The changes proposed by Putin will require additional work on the bill on bankruptcy; pp 1, 10 (612 words).

5. Natalya Gorodetskaya article headlined "Responsibility to be added to governors" says governors will be responsible for ethnic and religious relations in their regions. Governors' work in these spheres will become one of the criteria of their effectiveness assessment; p 2 (551 words).

6. Sofya Samokhina article headlined "Undeclared shares shown to Dmitry Gudkov" says it turned out that opposition State Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov had failed to report on his stake in a foreign company when declaring income in 2011. The State Duma is to decide how to punish the deputy; p 2 (660 words).

7. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Public initiatives launched online" outlines the Russian Public Initiative portal work, which will gather people's signatures in support of certain initiatives to be later transformed into laws; p 2 (629 words).

8. Grigory Tumanov and Maksim Strugov article headlined "Maria Alekhina corrects prison" says the prosecutor's office wants member of Pussy Riot punk group Maria Alekhina to be transferred to a different prison due to security threats at the prison in the Perm fregion where she is currently serving her sentence; p 3 (524 words).

9. Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Vladimir Putin starts dealing with expected matters" says a public opinion poll shows that most Russians expect Putin to start an anti-corruption campaign; the respondents, however, doubt that the measures taken will be effective; p 3 (489 words).

10. Ilya Barabanov and Ivan Sinergiyev article headlined "Race of teams" reports on career of first deputy head of the Russian presidential administration Vyacheslav Volodin and on the people from his team; p 4 (2,477 words).

11. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "Chechen criminal boss becomes engrossed in reading Anna Politkovskaya murder case" reports on the progress in the investigation of the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya; p 6 (518 words).

12. Sergei Strokan and Yelena Chernenko article headlined "North Korea launches defense reaction" says Moscow has to acknowledge that it is unable to influence North Korea as Pyongyang has announced the reopening of the Yongbyon nuclear facility; p 7 (646 words).

13. Roman Yanushevsky and Alexander Reutov article headlined "Israeli neighbors feel gas leak" says Lebanon opposes the gas extraction launched by Israel in the Mediterranean Sea claiming that Israel is working in other countries' waters. Turkey is also displeased with the project; p 7 (505 words).

14. Georgy Dvali article headlined "Georgia cancels prison for Russians" says the Georgian authorities will introduce a more lenient punishment for "illegal" visits to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Tbilisi is going to fine foreigners visiting the regions instead of sending them to prison; p 7 (491 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Igor Naumov article headlined "Authorities in grip of pre-election populism" says the Russian government is unable to fulfill Putin's election promises and has to invent reasons explaining their failure to carry out social changes; pp 1, 4 (841 words).

2. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Andorra to shelter funds fleeing from Cyprus" says tiny Andorra is likely to turn into a new offshore haven after the financial crisis destroyed the Cypriot banking system; pp 1, 8 (650 words).

3. Alexandra Samarina and Ivan Rodin article headlined "Elites informed about rules of game" says the presidential administration head, Sergei Ivanov, has detailed the procedure of declaring income and spending to be followed by the Russian officials; pp 1, 3 (891 words).

4. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Gloomy future predicted for Gazprom" says despite the fact that Gazprom head Alexei Miller has claimed that the shale gas extraction was like a soap bubble, the company will have to take into consideration new trends on the global energy market and change its pricing policy; pp 1, 4 (631 words).

5. Sokhbet Mamedov article headlined "Nabucco tries to bypass South Stream in Caucasus" says Baku has been offered to develop a new project of gas transportation to Europe bypassing Russia; pp 1, 7 (480 words).

6. Gleb Postnov article headlined "Hijab argument spreads to Tatarstan" says Muslims of Tatarstan's town of Nizhnekamsk want to have a right to send their daughters to school in hijabs; pp 1-2 (381 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Dangerous crescendo on Korean Peninsula" says North Korea as well as South Korea and the U.S. are responsible for escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and calls on all sides in the conflict to calm down; p 2 (498 words).

8. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "U.S.A. completely ignores investment climate improvement in Russia" says that judging by a recent report by the United States Trade Representative, Washington has not noticed any improvement in the Russian business climate despite the ongoing anti-corruption campaign in the country; p 4 (988 words).

9. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Chavez's image works for Maduro" says the presidential election campaign in Venezuela will be held for 10 days. Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's successor Nicolas Maduro is to benefit from the popularity of his former chief; p 8 (589 words).

10. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "English intelligence involved in murder of Lumumba" looks at Britain's involvement in the death of Patrice Lumumba, the elected leader of Congo, in 1961; p 8 (572 words).

11. Andrei Melnikov article headlined "Russian church with Vatican view" says the Russian Orthodox Church does not highly appreciate the results of a dialogue with the Catholic church headed by the new pope; pp 1-2 (1,200 words).

Vedomosti

1. Margarita Lyutova and Maxim Tovkaylo article headlined "Money from future" outlines budget spending plans aiming to develop the Russian Far East. The Russian Railways company is to get most funding; pp 1, 4 (679 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Useful saboteurs" says large-scale corruption cases launched by the law enforcement agencies may be beneficial to a number of officials as they can attribute their failure to implement certain projects to corruption; pp 1, 6 (407 words).

3. Another editorial headlined "Punishment for selected ones" says the system of checking officials' spending and revenues adopted by the Russian presidential administration is not transparent and may be used as a political control tool; p 6 (313 words).

4. Article by Andrei Kolesnikov headlined "Putin's shell closing" calls recent proposals by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to ban foreign trips of top officials having access to state secrets ridiculous and notes that the Russian regime resorts to wrong measures when protecting itself from the opposition; p 6 (400 words).

5. Ksenia Boletskaya article headlined "Kommersant to hand over revenues" says the Kommersant publishing company has decided to distribute 50 percent of the company's revenues among its staff in an attempt to keep skilled professionals; p 18 (573 words).

Izvestia

1. Alexei Mikhaylov article headlined "Army to repaint tanks" says Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu has adopted new regulations for painting military hardware; pp 1,4 (504 words).

2. German Petelin, Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Ex-head of Federal Penal Service gets into criminal case over bracelets" says that the former head of the Russian Federal Penal Service and his aide may be accused of large-scale fraud since several people gave testimony against them; pp 1,4 (650 words).

3. Svetlana Subbotina interview with Alexei Afanasyev, Novgorod Region deputy governor, speaking on the detention of his colleague, first deputy governor of the region Arnold Shalmuyev; p 5 (488 words).

4. Maria Gorkovksaya article headlined "Fate of Cuba being decided in Venezuelan presidential election" says oil supplies to Cuba depend on the outcome of the presidential election in Venezuela; p 7 (539 words).

5. Yury Matsarsky article headlined "Fight for power becomes fiercer in Palestine" reports on a standoff between rival groups Fatah and Hamas in the Palestinian Authority; p 7 (427 words).

6. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "DPRK allows itself to develop nuclear bomb and space sector" says North Korea has responded with a decision to reopen its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon after a U.S. destroyer was deployed near South Korea; p 7 (582 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Krivoshapko interview with Deputy Economic Development Minister Vladimir Simonenko speaking on new regulations for state purchase and luxury items allowed to be bought by some officials; pp 1, 5 (1,293 words).

2. Vitaly Petrov article headlined "Relations in any weather" reports on the talks of President Vladimir Putin with his Yemeni counterpart Abd-Rabbuh Mansur Hadi visiting Moscow; p 2 (665 words).

3. Tatyana Zykova article headlined "BRICS to cure" speculates on the prospects of the world economy saying that it will be in decline for two more years; p 4 (800 words).

4. Fyodor Lukyanov article headlined "Not to frighten, but to scare away" calls for cooperating with North Korea as a way to influence Pyongyang and prevent a new war on the Korean Peninsula; p 8 (700 words).

5. Maxim Makarychev article headlined "Caroline in country of sakura" says the daughter of former U.S. President John Kennedy, Caroline, will become the U.S. ambassador to Japan; p 8 (436 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Alexander Minkin article headlined "Colonoscopes of fatherland" comments on LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky's criticism of his colleague, State Duma Deputy Alexei Mitrofanov; pp 1, 4 (1,443 words).

2. Lina Panchenko interview with Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov speaking on spring floods, road accidents and other emergencies situations in the country; pp 1, 6 (2,686 words).

3. Olga Boguslavskaya article headlined "Half-defender of children" looks at the problem of child abuse in Russia and criticizes children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov; p 5 (1,100 words).

4. Alexander Melman interview with Vladimir Solovyev speaking on his TV show with acting head of Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyev; p 7 (926 words).

5. Konstantin Smirnov article headlined "Putin's elite not to be nationalized" features experts' comments on Vladimir Putin's recent initiatives to ban Russian officials from having foreign bank accounts, saying that if not modified, the measures will be ineffective; p 8 (1,100 words)

Novaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Latynina article headlined "They insert plug" says that the outdated technological standards used by a number of government bodies in Russia are hampering economic development of the country; p 5 (684 words).

2. Vera Chelishcheva report "Magnitsky has a great deal to say" looks at the trial of Hermitage Capital head William Browder and the late lawyer Sergei Magnitsky; pp 8-9 (2,300 words).

3. Irek Murtazin report "Urals's running knot" looks at the criminal case opened against the chief editor of the Ura.ru news agency, Aksana Panova; p 10 (1,100 words).

4. Yevgeny Titov report "Other shores" looks at the Oboronservis fraud case and the illegal seizure of a land plot on the Black Sea coast; pp 16-17 (1,900 words).

RBK Daily

1. Yulia Yakovleva report "Non-childish politics" says that civil activists have stepped up their activities after the State Duma passed two "juvenile" bills. The activists do not rule out they may appeal to the Constitutional Court and stage mass protests to protect children; p 2 (700 words).

2. Yury Dombrovskiy report "Swedes leave in the English way" looks at the purchase of Tele2 by the state-controlled VTB bank; p 5 (800 words).

3. Natalya Starostina interview with the president of the Association of Russian Banks, Garegin Tosunyan; p 8 (2,000 words).

4. Sergei Khayruk report "Internet lets down" says that Russia's remote regions are lagging behind the country's central regions in terms of speed of Internet access; p 9 (750 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Diana Yevdokimova interview with Oleg Orlov, member of the council of the human rights center Memorial, headlined "Instruction to carry out mass checks of NGOs comes from above" looks at checks on NGOs carried out on a large scale in Russia; pp 1, 5 (1,600 words).

2. Veronika Kogan report "Deadly lawlessness" says that the Russian Federal Service for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Rospotrebnadzor) intends to close 1,500 websites on the pretext of fighting against suicide; pp 1, 5 (850 words).

3. Sergei Manukov report "To scare with 'peaceful atom'" says that a nuclear reactor has been relaunched in North Korea; p 2 (450 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Boris Andreyev report looks at the confrontation between North Korea and South Korea; p 4 (600 words).

2. Mikhail Ozerov report looks at Boris Berezovsky's funeral to take place in Britain soon; p 6 (1,200 words).

3. Alexander Gamov interview with Telecommunications and Mass Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov; pp 8-9 (2,500 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Lidiya Glazko report "Prosecutor goes to see them" looks at mass checks on NGOs recently carried out in Russia; p 4 (1,100 words).

2. Yelena Barysheva interview with activists Fyodor Gorozhanko and Dmitry Levenets, who speak about the future of the Russian opposition, among other things; pp 6-7 (1,900 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Yelizaveta Orlova report "ABM-Star Wars" looks at the United States' ABM plans and how they affect Russian-U.S. relations; p 1 (750 words).

Tvoi Den

1. Alexander Yunashev report "You must be joking" looks at Vladimir Putin's visit to a Moscow youth center; p 2 (350 words).

Apr. 3, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Apr. 2, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Apr. 1, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Mar. 29, 2012