What the Papers Say, Aug. 14, 2013

Kommersant

1. Alexei Shapovalov article headlined "Central Banks separates itself from economy" comments on a report by the Central Bank on Russia's fiscal policy and notes that problems of the economy are caused by the lack of demand for Russian products and the stagnation of budget spending; p 1 (695 words).

2. Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "Russian with Chinese — pilot forever " says Russian arms manufacturers will finance the first performance of the Chinese piloting group at MAKS air show in Moscow Region. The Chinese will pilot J10 fighters; pp 1-2 (612 words).

3. Oleg Rubnikovich article headlined "FSB fills cyberspace" says the Federal Security Service (FSB) is going to take control over criminal cases against hackers. The relevant bill has already been submitted to the State Duma; pp 1, 5 (529 words).

4. Yegor Popov article headlined "Shipbuilding tested for breakup" says the government has approved the appointment of Andrei Dutov for the post of chairman of the United Shipbuilding Corporation board of directors. Dutov and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin have different views on the development of the sector; pp 1, 9 (568 words).

5. Maxim Ivanov and Sofya Samokhina article headlined "Regions ask for help with amnesty" says the number of people who have received amnesty for economic crimes has proved smaller than expected; only 205 businessmen have been released so far; p 2 (400 words).

6. Taisia Bekbulatova and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Nikolai Levichev mistaken with flat" says the law-enforcement agencies have opened a flat in Moscow where, according to A Just Russia allegations, illegal headquarters of the Yabloko party were located. The information proved to be false; p 3 (569 words).

7. Maria Plyusina article headlined "Alexei Kudrin's committee checks elections for withdrawals" says the Civil Initiatives Committee, headed by former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, has published a report, which says a growing number of candidates in regional elections are being denied registration; p 3 (450 words).

8. Vyacheslav Kozlov article headlined "Left Front forces its way to Switzerland" says one of the leaders of the Left Front movement, Alexei Sakhnin, has asked for political asylum in Switzerland. He left Russia after he had received information about plans to arrest him; p 5 (558 words).

9. Nikolai Sergeyev article headlined "Russian hacker pleads not guilty in American court" reports on the beginning of the trial of Muscovite Dmitry Smilyanets in the U.S. court. The man has been charged with organizing the largest hacker attack in U.S. history; p 5 (415 words).

10. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Israel and Palestine chose words for talks" says direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority resume amid protests and missile attacks; p 6 (500 words).

11. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Spain and Argentina to unite in fight for territory" says the U.K.-Spanish disagreements over Gibraltar has reached the UN level. London threatens to sue Madrid over stepping up on border control in the region, while Spain wants to attract Argentina to its side; p 6 (539 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Igor Naumov article headlined "Rouble condemned to devaluation" says experts believe the Central Bank is pursuing the policy of rouble devaluation; pp 1, 4 (789 words).

2. Andrei Vaganov article headlined "Two presidents speak about science without witnesses" says President Putin has received the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Fortov, to discuss the academy reform; pp 1, 3 (528 words).

3. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Police do not abuse migration" says the ongoing campaign against illegal migration in Moscow has not revealed any abuse of office by the police and other law-enforcement agencies; pp 1, 3 (908 words).

4. Anastiasia Bashkatova article headlined "Doctors speak out against impoverishment of healthcare" says doctors have staged a strike in Vladikavkaz over wage cuts. The lack of financing of the healthcare sector results in a situation where one in five Russians cannot get medical treatment; pp 1, 4 (1,198 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Moscow and Kiev on verge of diplomatic scandal" says poaching charges brought against A Ukrainian fisherman by the Russian authorities may result in a new standoff between Moscow and Kiev over the border in the Azov Sea; pp 1 — 2 (1,001 words).

6. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Militants in Syria overthrow president with Chinese arms" comments on a report by The New York Times alleging that Qatar is paying for the Chinese arms supplied to the Syrian opposition from Sudan via Turkey by Ukrainian aircraft; pp 1, 7 (621 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Rogozin to treat rocket makers with lie detector" comments on findings of a probe into the Proton rocket crash and notes that judging by the probe into the incident, Russian plants are incapable of manufacturing reliable equipment and the government is incapable of controlling their work; p 2 (478 words).

8. Alexei Mukhin article headlined "Carte Blanche: Debates -2, or Girls, this is boring!" welcomes Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin's decision to ignore the election debates as they turn out to be a dull political show; p 3 (905 words).

9. SavelyVezhin article headlined "Vorobyov's HQ in no hurry to celebrate victory" says candidates for Moscow Region governor, including acting governor Andrei Vorobyov, have started their canvassing campaign; p 5 (250 words).

10. Eduard Lozanskyarticle headlined "Scandal over Snowden initiated not by Russia" criticizes U.S. President Barack Obama over his decision to cancel the bilateral summit meeting in Moscow after Russia granted asylum to U.S. whistle-blower Snowden; p 6 (811 words).

11. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Fight for Gibraltar" says the U.K. has sent warships to Gibraltar in protest against Spanish border control in the region; p 7 (692 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Roman Markelov article headlined "Barrel for way" reviews the Finance Ministry's plans to spend the National Welfare Fund. The money will be used to buy Canadian and Australian dollars, Swiss franc and Japanese yen, part of the funds will be invested in the development of road infrastructure; pp 1, 4 (908 words).

2. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Friendship on all fronts" reviews Vladimir Putin's visit to Baku, Azerbaijan; p 2 (500 words).

3. Vitaly Petrov article headlined "Coercion to honesty" says the election campaign in Moscow Region is proceeding calmly and sets example for other regions; p 2 (400)

4. Adilya Zaripova article headlined "Circle of madness" says Jewish organizations of Russia have criticized U.K. actor Steven Fry over his comparison of Russia with Nazi Germany due to anti-homosexual legislation; p 5 (470 words).

5. Lyubov Pyatiletova article headlined "Debates are like candidates" says the first television debates of hopefuls for Moscow mayor have proved boring; 6 (300 words).

6. Article by Fedor Lukyanov, chairman of the presidium of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, headlined "Snowden. Afterword" says the Snowden scandal has proved that the U.S. and Russia do not have serious cooperation plans. The author also notes the role of China in the conflict and assumes that Beijing is interested in the deterioration of Russian-U.S. relations; p 8 (736 words).

Izvestia

1. Yelena Malay article headlined "They suggest that election falsifiers be jailed for 15 years" says the Communists have drafted a bill making vote rigging a grave crime; pp 1-2 (588 words).

2. Lyudmila Podobedova article headlined "Blame for growing petrol prices being shifted on Belarus" says the Energy Ministry and the Federal Antimonopoly Service are trying to find out the reason for a 20-30 percent hike in wholesale prices on oil products; pp 1, 4 (1,130 words).

3. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Iran plans to agree with Russia about new reactors" comments on Tehran plans to sign an agreement with Moscow on the construction of a new atomic power plant in Iran; p 4 (642 words).

4. Pundit Gleb Kuznetsov article "Show must end" comments on the first television debates of Moscow mayoral hopefuls; p 5 (550 words).

Vedomosti

1. Editorial headlined "Medical handwriting" comments on the Healthcare Minister Veronika Skvortsova's plans to free doctors from paper work and replace hand-written copies with computer printed ones; pp 1, 6 (404 words).

2. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Moscow notices debates" says the first television debates of Moscow mayoral hopefuls have sparked interest among Muscovites, judging by viewing figures; 2 (350 words).

3. Another editorial headlined "Marks to academicians" comments on a proposal by Nobel Prize winner Andrei Geym to carry out the audit of the Russian Academy of Sciences by international experts in order to determine what kind of reform the organization needs; p 6 (306 words).

4. Maxim Glikin and Svetlana Bocharova article headlined "Not admitted to elections as before" looks at the latest report of the Civil Initiatives Committee, which says that a sharp increase in the number of political parties has not resulted in more competition; p 2 (550 words).

5. Boris Safronov article headlined "Figure of week: 33 rubles per dollar" looks at reasons for devaluation of the Russian currency; p 6 (454 words).

6. Alexander Verkhovensky article "Competition for 'xenophobic majority'" looks at results of a May poll on Russians' attitude to migrants and comments on the ongoing campaign against migrants initiated by acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobaynin; pp 6-7 (800 words).

7. Olga Proskurnina and Lilia Biryukoa interview with Moscow mayoral candidate from the A Just Russia party Nikolai Levichev speaking on his view on the work of the Moscow mayoral office and migration policy; pp 8-9 (6,286 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Mandate or life" outlines schemes to be used by Russian lawmakers to hide their foreign assets; pp 1, 6 (1,000 words).

2. Ignat Kalinin article headlined "Biathlon competitors, Shoigu gives order!" reports on an international tank biathlon competition held in Moscow Region; pp 1, 3 (300 words).

3. Yulia Kalinina article headlined "Olympics of single-sex love" reports on the international gay lobby calling for boycotting the Sochi Olympics due to the Russian anti-homosexual legislation; pp 1-2 (350 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Vladimir Pastukhov article headlined "Moscow zugzwang" comments on the election campaign for Moscow mayor, saying that opposition candidate Alexei Navalny will benefit no matter what the result is; pp 7-8 (1,100 words).

2. Semen Novoprudskyarticle headlined "Economy goes into opposition" says the economic crisis in Russia has been caused by political problems. The country's businesses have in fact started voting for new power; p 9 (626 words).

3. Maria Yepifanova article headlined "Looking for article against Navalny on Yandex" says the Office of the Prosecutor-General has learned to look for foreign funding of Russian NGOs and is now trying to prove that campaign of Moscow mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny is being financed from abroad; p 11 (821 words).

RBC Daily

1. Ivan Petrov article headlined "For those in tank" has Lieutenant-General Ivan Buvaltsev describing international tank biathlon competitions in Russia; pp 1-2 (600 words).

2. Alexander Litoy article headlined "Square of remaining ones" says the election headquarters of opposition mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny are planning to finish their election campaign with a rally on Sept. 6. Other opposition candidates are also planning their rallies; p 2 (500 words).

Argumenty i Fakty

1. Yekaterina Andriyevskaya article headlined "Unexpected platform" says Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has started dialogue with opposition politician and tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, thus trying to show citizens that democratization will start in Russia's capital; p 41 (400 words).

Tvoy Den

1. Anton Stepanov article headlined "Candidate from underground" says police have broken into the supposed unofficial headquarters of opposition candidate for Moscow mayor Alexei Navalny, finding "illegal campaign materials" there; p 2 (300 words).