What the Papers Say, Aug. 20, 2013

Kommersant

1. Diana Munasipova and Alexander Chernykh article headlined "Education stripped of global outlook" says the educational project Global Education approved by President Putin, with which the state finances education of a certain number of Russian students abroad, has been criticised by the presidential administration. The programme is to be revised despite the fact that 1.5 billion rubles ($45 million) has already been allocated for the programme; pp 1-2 (827 words).

2. Petr Netreba and Dmitry Butrin article headlined "Prime Minister shown heaps of problems" says the cabinet meeting in Pyatigorsk chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has discussed state financing allocated to the North Caucasus. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has acknowledged that Moscow is spending more and more money on the region, however, this does not resolve the existing social problems and hampers the development of market mechanisms; pp 1, 3 (906 words).

3. Pavel Belavin article headlined "Parallel import being written off as losses" says the legalization of the parallel import is threatening the companies that have their production facilities in Russia, and about 40 percent of investors may wind up their Russian business because of that; pp 1, 7 (499 words).

4. Maria Yakovleva et al. report headlined "Second life of Renaissance pensions" says the former shareholder of Globex bank, Anatoly Motylev, is buying one of the largest private pension funds, Renaissance Life and Pensions; pp 1, 8 (623 words).

5. Ivan Safronov article headlined "Air Force park to be renewed by tried-and-tested MiG" says the Russian Defence Ministry has signed a contract with the Russian Aircraft Building Corporation to buy 16 MiG-29 SMT fighters for the Air Force; p 2 (453 words).

6. Musa Muradov article headlined "Traditional choice offered to Dagestan and Ingushetia" says President Putin has nominated candidates for the posts of Dagestan and Ingushetia heads. The incumbent heads of the republics, Ramazan Abdulatipov and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, are among the candidates; p 2 (591 words).

7. Taisia Bekbulatova and Sofya Samokhina article headlined "Alexei Navalny ready to take on legal action" says the opposition Moscow mayoral hopeful has threatened to sue acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin to demand his removal from the election race as Sobyanin allegedly lacks President Putin's written approval of his campaign; p 2 (557 words).

8. Georgy Dvali article headlined "Georgians and Chechens take up axes" reports on a brawl in the Pankisi gorge on the Russian-Georgian border where Chechens fought Georgians. The Georgian Interior Ministry has to interfere to ease the tensions; p 6 (419 words).

9. Maxim Yusin article headlined "Oil separates from Libya" reports on the political crisis in Libya where Islamists and smugglers are fighting over the control of the oil province of Cyrenaica; p 6 (404 words).

10. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "North Korea thaws towards South Korea" says the U.S. and South Korea have started a joint military exercise amid Pyongyang's attempts to improve relations with both countries; p 6 (564 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Agents of influence not found in Federal Assembly" says the ban on foreign assets ownership for officials and parliamentarians has come into effect, but no scandalous exposures followed; pp 1, 3 (860 words).

2. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Dmitry Medvedev takes Caucasus money under control" says the Russian authorities have failed to make visible economic and social changes in the North Caucasus despite huge budget financing of the region; pp 1, 4 (1,154 words).

3. Alexei Gorbachev and Vladislav Maltsev article headlined "Activists from Navalny headquarters accused of financial fraud" says the Interior Ministry has joined checkups of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny's headquarters. The police accuse activists of the headquarters of transferring money for election campaign to their personal accounts; pp 1, 3 (649 words).

4. Igor Naumov article headlined "Moscow capable of getting personal in dialogues with Kiev" says Moscow is considering the possibility of launching a campaign against Ukrainians working in Russia illegally to make Kiev give up plans for the economic integration with the EU; pp 1, 4 (803 words).

5. Yury Panyev article headlined "Brazil gets behind schedule" says the construction of sports facilities for Word Cup 2014 in Brazil is lagging behind the schedule; pp 1-2 (746 words).

6. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Israel and Arab countries find common language on Egypt" says Turkey and Qatar are against the actions of the Egypt military. Israel is asking the EU and the U.S. not to take any actions against the new Egyptian authorities; pp 1, 6 (655 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Single school book for split society" says a single history school book should not be introduced in Russia as there are too many different views on the events of the 20th century; p 2 (498 words).

8. Yury Tavrovsky article headlined "Carte blanche: Abenomics — new threat to America" says the economic and geopolitical success of the Japanese government headed by Shinzo Abe are against the interests of the U.S. establishment; p 3 (710 words).

9. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Southern Kurils again at centre of dialogue between Moscow and Tokyo" reports on the Russian-Japanese talks in Moscow and notes that disagreements over the Kuril Islands remain; p 6 (496 words).

10. Mikhail Sergeyev and Marina Selina article headlined "Scientists find logic in security structures' behaviour" says there is a method in the control of business structures and imitation of amnesty for entrepreneurs on the part of security structures, experts believe. Some people in the Russian ruling elite want to copy the notorious Yukos case, while others are eager to expand the social basis of the authorities at the expense of the medium-sized business; p 4 (900 words).

Vedomosti

1. Alexei Nikolsky et al. report headlined "Air show without Putin" says the is a chance that President Putin is not going to visit the MAKS-2013 air show in Moscow Region. Aircraft construction is not a priority sector for the authorities, experts note; pp 1-2 (688 words).

2. Ksenia Boletskaya article headlined "75Bln Rubles for place" says five leading advertising companies are to pay 75 billion rubles (around $2.2 billion) for the right to place outdoor ads in Moscow. The companies will be able to cover their expenses only by raising the price of ads; pp 1, 18 (543 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Money chooses motherland" says most of the Russian officials have chosen their jobs, and not foreign assets, so the Kremlin's operation for the nationalisation of the ruling elite seems to be effective. The ban on foreign assets ownership for officials came into effect on Aug. 19; pp 1, 6 (348 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "Birth injury" says Russians are divided over the evaluation of the coup attempt in August 1991; p 6 (370 words).

5. Anastasia Kornya and Svetlana Bocharova interview with Ivan Melnikov, Communist candidate for the Moscow mayoral election, speaking on his electorate and loyalty to the Kremlin; p 8 (4,802 words).

6. Svetlana Bocharova and Alexei Nikolsky article entitled "Navalny trusts wrong people" says the Interior Ministry it is probing claims that Navalny's election headquarters received foreign funding. The police will not be able to prove that the law has been violated, Navalny's HQ and experts believe; p 2 (600 words).

7. Anastasia Kornya article headlined " Clones getting closer" says on Sept. 8 voters may get confused looking at ballot papers: next to famous opposition parties there may be new ones whose names and logos look similar; p 3 (400 words).

8. Polina Khimshiashvili article entitled "Obama's successor" looks at the chances of Vice President Jo Biden to become a presidential candidate in 2016; p 3 (350 words).

Izvestia

1. Petr Kozlov and Mikhail Rubin article headlined "Surkov returns to Kremlin" says Vladislav Surkov is to work in the Kremlin again, he will become the presidential aide on innovation development; pp 1-2 (983 words).

2. Maria Gorkovskaya and Tatyana Baykova article headlined "European Union threatens Egyptian military with sanctions" says the EU plans to stop arms supplies to Cairo in an attempt to put the new military authorities under pressure; pp 1, 4 (451 words).

3. Gaydar Batyrkhanov article headlined "Yekaterina Samutsevich demands 2M from her lawyer" says member of Pussy Riot punk group Yekaterina Samutsevich wants her former lawyer Violetta Volkova to pay her 2 million rubles (around $60,600) in compensation of the moral damage caused by the lawyer's publications in social networks; p 3 (583 words).

4. Vladimir Zykov article headlined "Mass media to be punished for information from social networks" on the draft law introduced by a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and Moscow mayoral candidate Mikhail Degtyaryov which — if adopted — will oblige the mass media to verify Internet users — people will have to confirm who they are when they register in social networks; p 2 (400 words),

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Krivoshapko article headlined "Banks to go on sale" says the Finance Ministry has drafted a bill allowing credit organizations to sell the property of their debtors, so Russian banks may turn into supermarkets selling housing, vehicles and home appliances; pp 1, 3 (888 words).

2. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "Now hacking, now imprisonment" says the secret services will protect the electronic systems of power generating facilities, public transport, communications and other spheres which have the greatest value for people's lives. Not only hackers, but also system administrators of the companies are to be held responsible for attacks on electronic systems; pp 1, 6 (891 words).

3. Vladimir Snegirev article headlined "Landscape after battle" reports on security situation in Egypt where the law-enforcement agencies focus on fighting against Islamists; p 6 (713 words).

4. Vladislav Vorobyev article entitled "Pharaoh's comeback" says former President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak may return to save his country; p 6 (500 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Mikhail Rostovsky article headlined "August 1991 as warning to August 2013" says many Russians are indifferent to the events of August 1991 and urges the authorities to teach history lessons to the general; pp 1, 3 (724 words).

2. Tatyana Zamakhina article headlined "Very few people frightened by ban on foreign bank deposits" says only few officials and parliamentarians have stepped down from their posts due to the ban on foreign assets ownership which came into effect on Aug. 19; pp 1 — 2 (568 words).

3. Ilya Baranikas article headlined "It can get worse" reviews problems in the Russian-U.S. relations and warns the two countries' leaderships against returning to a cold war; p 3 (926 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Yulia Savina article headlined "Ideological alpinism" says industrial alpinists are removing posters urging Muscovites to vote for opposition candidate Alexei Navalny from private balconies in the violation of the laws; pp 1 — 2 (700 words).

2. Alexei Lebedev article headlined "Warm-up for G20" comments on the agenda of the upcoming summit of young entrepreneurs G20Y, which is due to be held in St. Petersburg in August; pp 1, 3 (300 words).

3. Dmitry Zavyalov article headlined "'Collective basis wrecked on capitalism's individualism" features pundits' comments on the 19-22 August 1991 coup, when a group of members of the Soviet Union's government attempted to take control of the country from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev; p 2 (500 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Interview with Open Government Minister Mikhail Abyzov speaking on the system of public control over state monopolies; p B4 (1,000 words).

RBC Daily

1. Svetlana Makunina article headlined "Pirates and anti-pirates to make peace by September" says that as of September, the high-profile anti-piracy law will work as a ban on illegal uploads of music, books, design, art and software. To avoid the outrage of the internet community, some amendments and a charter will be implemented; p 2 (750 words).

2. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Shoigu up to his old games again" says that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has played a significant role in the elimination of the flood consequences in Russia's Far East; p 2 (700 words).

Trud

1. Alexander Protsenko article headlined "Cat and mouse play" reports on the ways Russian officials managed to get rid of their foreign assets without losing money in order to save their seats in the parliament; pp 1-2 (1,000 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Nigina Beroyeva article headlined "'I was told when we finish everything in Syria, we'll go to Russia. To kill" features an interview with a Syrian militant, who lived in Russia's Novorossiisk and then returned to Syria to fight against the government; p 5 (700 words).

2. Galina Sapozhnikova interview with economist Mikhail Khazin, speaking on the coup in 1991 and the future of the former Soviet Union; pp 8-9 (3,100 words).

3. Yulia Alekhina article headlined "West sees 'ugly face of homophobia' in Isinbayeva" blames the world media for its reaction over Yelena Isinbayeva's comments on homosexuality, saying that the West has accused Isinbayeva of having her own opinion on the issue; p 27 (600 words).