What the Papers Say, Oct. 1, 2013

Kommersant

1. Dmitry Butrin et al. report headlined "After us even budget" reviews the federal budget for 2014-2016 submitted to the State Duma; pp 1, 6 (993 words).

2. Makhachkala-based Yulia Rybina article headlined "FSB accumulates evidence against fund" says the Federal Security Service (FSB) has carried out searches at the Dagestan directorate of the Pension Fund headed by a powerful politician in the republic Sagid Murtazalyev. The searches aimed to replace the politician, one of the theories says; pp 1, 4 (527 words).

3. Yegor Popov and Yelizaveta Kuznetsova article headlined "Domodedovo to be handed over to new owner" says Rosneft oil giant and Novaport holding are said to be among would-be buyers of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport; pp 1, 9 (670 words).

4. Svetlana Mentyukova article headlined "Caviar market frozen in Alaska" says red caviar prices are going to decrease as some Russian manufacturers bought 1,500 tonnes of frozen caviar in Alaska; pp 1, 13 (645 words).

5. Alexandra Larintseva et al. report headlined "New Stavropol head 'fiercely gets down to work'" says newly appointed acting Stavropol Regional Governor Vladimir Vladimirov has threatened local officials with dismissals as he plans to implement a new "action plan"; p 2 (638 words).

6. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "NGO development strategy to be offered to president" says a new competition for Russian NGOs willing to receive presidential grants begins today; p 3 (580 words).

7. Maxim Ivanov and Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Vladimir Putin to express his attitude to United Russia" says that, according to the paper's informed sources, President Putin may take part in the congress of the United Russia party due on Oct. 3-5; p 3 (250 words).

8. Oleg Rubnikovich article headlined "Sergei Stepashin doll sealed after searches" says that the case on embezzlement in the Audit Chamber turned out to contain a number of episodes; p 4 (600 words).

9. Alexander Tchernykh article headlined "Protection of dissertations enhanced" says that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a regulation toughening the procedure of granting academic degrees; p 5 (450 words).

10. Sergei Strokan article headlined "U.S. and Iranian presidents asked not to speak to each other" says positive changes in the U.S. relations with Iran may be disrupted as U.S. allies in the Middle East, namely Israel, are dissatisfied with the move; p 8 (623 words).

11. Article by Andrey Baklitsky, expert from PIR-centre, in opinion column headlined "Price of issue" says Israel is facing a tough choice: To continue fighting against Iran together with Sunni monarchies of the Persian Gulf or to join the U.S. and Russia willing to start a dialogue with Tehran; p 8 (447 words).

12. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Russia to reply to Europe" says State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin is to make a speech at the PACE session which opened in Strasbourg; p 8 (482 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Budget of dying economy" says Russia has to learn to live within its means as some social spending is to be cut to reduce the federal budget deficit in 2014-2016; pp 1, 4 (791 words).

2. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Russian political immigrants take offence at UN" says a growing number of Russian opposition activists are seeking political asylum in Ukraine. The process, however, takes long and Kiev is not willing to give shelter to all Russian activists; pp 1, 3 (687 words).

3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Point system not to stop illegal migrants" reports on a new bill stipulating procedures for foreigners willing to receive Russian citizenship. Experts note that the new legislation will not affect illegal migration; pp 1, 3 (955 words).

4. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "Tel Aviv exposes Obama as reaching deal with Tehran" says U.S. President Obama is to meet with the Israeli prime minister to explain the U.S. stance on the Iranian nuclear programme; meanwhile, Vice President Biden is working with the pro-Israeli lobby in the Congress; pp 1, 7 (743 words).

5. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Prime Minister Erdogan makes step towards Kurds" reviews democratic reforms drafted by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan who seeks re-election; pp 1, 7 (750 words).

6. Alexander Chernyavsky article headlined "Krasnoyarsk battle between bulls and bears" says the Patriots of Russia party cannot make use of its victory at the Krasnoyarsk city duma elections due to a stand-off with United Russia; pp 1-2 (559 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Against all politicians" says public opinion polls show that 78 percent of Russians back the idea to have the "against all" section back in ballot papers, however, surveys also show that Russians lose interest and trust in representative democracy in general; p 2 (484 words).

8. Article by political expert Fedor Lukyanov headlined "Russia has to face challenges which Europe responded to decades ago" compares the Russian and European electorate and their disappointment with ideology and notes that President Putin called on opponents to look for possibilities for a dialogue at the recent meeting of the Valdai club; p 2 (1,370 words).

9. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Pills from protest" says the tough stance of the Russian authorities against Greenpeace activists will make the general public sympathize with the activists; p 3 (799 words).

10. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Tory to make unemployed work" reports on the British Conservative Party congress and notes that a rift between members of the ruling party is growing, as not everyone is satisfied with the work of its leader David Cameron; p 7 (582 words).

Vedomosti

1. Yelizaveta Sergina et al. report headlined "Information patriotism" says the Communications and Press Ministry wants to declare large Russian IT companies strategic to prevent foreigners from buying them; owners of IT companies dislike the idea; pp 1, 17 (600 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Rob Peter to pay Paul" comments on the Russian fiscal policy and notes that the authorities do not plan to limit the growing appetite of Gazprom, Rosneft or Russian Railways, they want to take money from the Pension Fund instead; pp 1, 6 (426 words).

3. Another editorial headlined "Amnesty to plagiarists" says the new procedures for receiving scientific degrees in Russia provide officials and businessmen suspected of plagiarism with amnesty as their degrees received long ago will not be questioned; p 6 (288 words).

4. Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "There may not be enough contract servicemen" says the Defence Ministry plans to reduce the number of servicemen to be called up to the military service next year, the plans will depend on the number of young men willing to do contract-based military service; p (470 words).

Izvestia

1. Alexandra Bayazitova article headlined "Finance Ministry does not agree to limit interest rates" says the Finance Ministry has not backed the Central Bank proposal to ban excessive interest rate for bank loans. The government believes the proposal contradicts the market economic principles; pp 1, 4 (499 words).

2. Alena Sivkova article headlined "United Russia's Young Guards accuse providers of giving access to banned websites" says activists from the Young Guards movement of United Russia have checked websites with links to banned content in 43 regions and concluded that from 18 to 39 percent of illegal content was not blocked by the largest providers, MTS, Vympelkom and Megafon; pp 1, 3 (608 words).

3. Pundit Boris Mezhuyev article headlined "Philosophical dispute at top international level" welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to speak out against the U.S. "colonialism" and urges other countries to support Moscow; pp 1, 7 (904 words).

4. Andrei Yakovlev article headlined "Shortened Pecheneg to make special task forces stronger" says a shorter version of the Pecheneg machine gun has been developed for Russian special task forces; p 2 (469 words).

5. Alena Sivkova and Dmitry Runkevich article headlined "Federation Council to block grey foreign financing schemes for NGOs" says the Federation Council together with the Prosecutor General's Office are developing amendments to the law on NGOs which will prevent organizations from using grey schemes for receiving foreign financing; p 3 (533 words).

6. Kirill Yakovenko and Tatyana Baykova article headlined "U.S. budget crisis enters threatening stage" comments on the budget argument between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress; p 7 (975 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Kura Latukhina interview with the head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, speaking, among other things, about senior officials' income declarations; pp 1, 4 (2,400 words).

2. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "Personality cult" comments on the amendments to the Civil Code, which come into effect today and aim to protect private life of Russians; pp 1, 5 (550 words).

3. Article by political scientist Leonid Radzikhovsky headlined "Black October" recalls the standoff between former president Yeltsin and the parliament in 1993 and notes that the court should have ruled who was to blame for the conflict; pp 1, 7 (900 words).

4. Eduard Gushchein and Anna Fedyakina article headlined "Unemployed work as demonstrators" says over 50,000 people have taken part in a protest in Manchester where the Conservative Party is holding its congress, as a large number of people are dissatisfied with the austerity policy; p 11 (400 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Navalny chooses his court himself" says opposition activist Alexei Navalny will not go to Kirov on 9 October where the local court will hear his appeal against the verdict in KirovLes case, Navalny will be present at a different court hearing in Moscow instead; pp 1-2 (598 words).

2. Olga Bozhyeva article headlined "Call-up going back to past" comments on the resignation of deputy chief of the general staff Vasily Smirnov; pp 1-2 (583 words).

3. Igor Subbotin article headlined "Splendour and misery of UN expertise" comments on the UN investigation of chemical weapons attacks in Syria; pp 1, 7 (650 words).

4. Yeva Merkacheva article headlined "Will give billions in good hands — 2" continues investigating the origin of some 20 billion euros allegedly found in a plane at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport; pp 1, 6 (1,100 words)

RBC Daily

1. Inga Vorobyova article headlined "Sometimes I am cunning" is an interview with the head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, speaking on a wide range of political issues, such as opposition, Syria etc. The interview was given to newspapers RBC Daily, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Rossyskaya Gazeta and website Gazeta.ru; pp 1, 5 (2,500 words).

2. Alexander Litoy article headlined "We suspect worst" is an interview with the head of the human rights Agora association, Pavel Chikov, about the state of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, the jailed member of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot; p 2 (500 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Dmitry Smirnov article headlined "Kremlin is currently not thinking about president for 2018" is an interview with the head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov; pp 1, 8 (2,700 words).

2. Yevgeny Arsyukhin and Yevgeny Belyakov article headlined "Which path will Russia choose?" features expert comments on the new economic line of the Russian government; pp 3-4 (2,000 words).

3. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Ecological Hamas" slams the recent action of Greenpeace activists against a Russian oil platform; p 10 (1,000 words).

4. Maxim Volodin article headlined "Prisoners do not want Tolokonnikova to use them for publicity purposes" quotes a fellow inmate of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from the punk band Pussy Riot, Yevgenia Khasis, as criticizing Tolokonnikova for complaining about the prison's administration; p 15 (400 words).

Trud

1. Vadim Karpov article headlined "Report from unrecognized border" speaks about the situation on the border between Georgia and Abkhazia; pp 1, 3 (900 words).