What the Papers Say, Oct. 16, 2013

Kommersant

1. Alexander Gabuyev and Yelizaveta Surnacheva interview with Mayor Sergei Sobyanin headlined "Radical solutions were needed", who gives his version of the Biryulyovo riot, speaks in favour of more control over retailing; pp 1, 4 (967 words).

2. Alexei Dospekhov article headlined "World team" reports on the Azerbaijan vs. Russia soccer World Cup qualifier match; pp 1, 16 (968 words).

3. Tatyana Konishcheva et al. article headlined "State comes after its share in state-owned enterprises" says the Finance Ministry has drafted a bill requiring all state-owned companies to transfer 25 percent of their net profits to the national budget; pp 1, 8 (719 words).

4. Viktor Khamrayev et al. article headlined "Nobody likes migrants" sums up the predominant views of immigration among Russian lawmakers and says that police were able to prevent another "popular gathering", this time near the metro station Prazhskaya, that could have grown into a riot; p 4 (626 words).

5. Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "Police to have its local mandates checked" says an inquiry has been sent to the Russian Constitutional Court as to whether police should be allowed to levy fines and issue tickets for offences stipulated in local laws; p 3 (692 words).

6. Sofya Samokhina and Artur Asafyev article headlined "Bashkir president threatened with dismissal" says the opponents of head of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov are seeking his dismissal on the grounds that he has allegedly broken a number of laws; p 3 (728 words).

7. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "President goes into people's plastic" reports on President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tobolsk where he launched a plastics factory; p 2 (969 words).

8. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Citizens choose 'against all candidates'" says a recent poll by the pollster VTsIOM has shown that 43 percent of those polled would like to have the "against all candidates" option back on ballot papers; p 2 (532 words).

9. Oleg Trutnev article headlined "Main thing is not to take extra from vodka and tobacco" quotes sources in the Russian government as saying that duties on vodka and tobacco may be frozen or event brought down as of 2015 as domestic producers are losing the market to counterfeit alcohol and undeclared imports from Kazakhstan and Belarus; pp 1, 12 (671 words).

10. Tatyana Serbina article headlined "Magas sentenced to double life imprisonment" gives details of the verdict passed by the North Caucasus district military court in the case of Ali Taziyev aka Magas, who is believed to be a close associate of Chechen Islamist militant leader Doku Umarov; p 5 (654 words).

11. Alexander Zheglov article headlined "Killer brought to minister" reports on the arrest of Orkhan Zeinalov, who is suspected of killing Yegor Shcherbakov in Moscow's Biryulyovo district where a riot erupted on Oct. 13; p 4 (523 words).

12. Irina Alexanderova article headlined "Wahhabis take up chemistry" says a terrorist attack has been prevented at the Maradykovsky chemical weapons storage facility in the Kirov region. Two men were arrested in connection with the crime; p 5 (432 words).

13. Olga Kuznetsova article headlined "Britain prevents being treated in Kenyan way" says British security services have prevented a terrorist attack in London that was plotted by four militants from Pakistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan and Turkey; p 7 (441 words).

14. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Pakistan sees partners in Taleban" says the Pakistani army has voiced its support for talks between the country's government and the Taliban movement; p 7 (454 words).

15. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Senators are ready to lend thousand billion" reports on the U.S. Senate's attempt to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling and stop the government shutdown; p 7 (476 words).

16. Alexei Shapovalov article headlined "Industry tells to wait" says industrial growth in Russia in January-September was a mere 0.1 percent; p 8 (304 words).

17. Tatyana Yedovina and Dmitry Butrin article headlined "State loans not for growth" summarizes the IMF's recent report on the state of the economy; p 8 (664 words).

18. Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "VEB digging tunnel to Ukraine" says the Russian state-owned VEB bank may invest in the construction of a new line of the Kiev Metro through its Ukraine-based subsidiary Prominvestbank; p 9 (764 words).

Vedomosti

1. Editorial headlined "European Ukraine" says that Ukraine's planned transition to an all-volunteer army is another step towards the country's integration with Europe and that Russia has failed to come up with an appealing partnership programme for its neighbour; p 6 (354 words).

2. Anastasia Golitsyna article headlined "Yandex switches on movie search" says the Russian search engine Yandex is buying the film review aggregator Kinopoisk.ru; p 17 (508 words).

3. Margarita Papchenkova article headlined "Government to play on wellbeing" details the Finance Ministry's plans to invest money from the National Wellbeing Fund in high-yield, buy fairly risky corporate securities; pp 1, 4 (666 words).

4. Article by Andrei Kolesnikov, Novaya Gazeta observer, headlined "Political economy: (Un)manageable nationalism" says that the tradition and policy of "controlled nationalism" have given the authorities an illusion that they were managing public sentiment, while in fact, they have created grounds for pogroms and fascism; p 7 (408 words).

5. Article headlined "Science reform: Lessons from Nobel" by Anton Oleynik of the Russian Academy of Sciences tries to see a correlation between the Global Peace Index and the number of Nobel Prize winners in the country and supposes that the planned reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences may result in more funding for defense research; p 6 (754 words).

6. Natalya Bianova and Dmitry Kazmin article headlined "Benefits for future pensions" says the Labor Ministry has drafted a bill on tax concessions to encourage companies to introduce corporate pension plans; p 14 (695 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Afraid to scare them off" says the announced closure of the Pokrovskaya wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Moscow's Biryulyovo district should have taken place a long time ago and it is unlikely to solve the issues that sparked the Oct. 13 riot there; pp 1, 6 (388 words).

8. Alexei Nikolsky and Svetlana Bocharova article headlined "Boss won't help" says the tate Duma has approved in the first reading a set of amendments to the Criminal Code that will make it possible to launch criminal proceedings on corruption charges against employees of state-owned companies without seeking permission from their superiors first; p 2 (526 words).

9. Alexei Nikolsky and Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Armaments for old friend" says the last week's visit of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to Angola has brought about a $1-billion contract between Russia and the African country to supply at least 18 Su-30K fighter jets; p 3 (505 words).

10. Bela Lyauv et al. report "Not just warehouse" says that the vegetable warehouse in Moscow's district Biryulyovo, that the Investigative Committee, Rospotrebnadzor and the Moscow city authorities are seeking to close, is not the only asset of the Gadzhyev brothers; p 10 (700 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Special services and troops concentrate in Sochi" says the National Antiterrorist Committee is preparing for yet another major drill in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics. The Russian security services are apparently concerned about terrorist threats in the North Caucasus and are deploying their best trained forces there; pp 1-2 (696 words).

2. Alexandra Samarina and Yekaterina Trifonova article headlined "Visas for migrants proposed to be discussed at referendum" says the Communist Party is reportedly going to initiate a referendum on introducing entry visas for migrant workers from the CIS. Pundit Gleb Pavlovsky says visas will not help address the issues that sparked the Biryulyovo protest as Russia has no means to guard its borders and needs to eliminate corruption first; pp 1, 3 (1,048 words).

3. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Reserve Fund may burst on rainy day" says IMF experts believe Russia does not have enough reserves to sustain another financial crisis; pp 1, 4 (724 words).

4. Alexei Arbatov article headlined "Russian science on minefield" critically reviews the law on the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences, concludes that the reform will only make the academy less independent and strip it of its property, while the issues preventing the development of science in the country will remain; pp 1, 5 (1,613 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article called "Ukrainian army converts to pre-election contract" looks at Ukraine's plans to have an all-volunteer army; pp 1, 7 (815 words).

6. Alexander Malyshev article headlined "Rally in Chelyabinsk may echo Biryulyovo unrest" says nationalist groups in Chelyabinsk are preparing for a Day of Wreath on Oct. 20 in support of the people of Biryulyovo, while local media report that an Armenian cafe was smashed in a Chelyabinsk suburb; p 3 (444 words).

7. Sergei Kazennov and Vladimir Kumachev article headlined "Ukraine: Uninspiring pictures of European integration" paints a gloomy picture of Ukraine's future as part of the European Union: local producers have to shut down; Poland increases its influence in the country; Ukraine turns into a failed state on the periphery of the EU; p 3 (760 words).

8. Artur Blinov article headlined "Migrants cause London to quarrel with Brussels" says that anti-immigration rhetoric in Britain is largely aimed at making people vote for the Conservative Party; p 8 (493 words).

9. Savely Vezhin article headlined "International companies settle down in Samara Region" says the Samara region authorities have been able to attract a number of international investors who are launching production in the region thanks to tax concessions and support from the local government; p 6 (619 words).

10. Sergei Turanov article headlined "Russia's best lobbyists" says head of the Russian presidential administration Sergei Ivanov topped the September ranking of the most influential lobbyists in Russia; p 5 (1,421 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Tatyana Shadrina article headlined "Spam coming to you again" says damage from cybercrime in Russia amounts to $2 billion a year, and Russian legislators, as well as internet companies are taking steps to protect themselves and their customers against spam and malicious websites; pp 1, 4 (588 words).

2. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Less import" describes President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tobolsk where he launched a plastics factory; p 2 (899 words).

3. Vladimir Kuzmin article called "Through fog of integration" reports on yesterday's meeting between Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Azarov in Kaluga; p 3 (588 words).

4. Valery Vyzhutovich article headlined "Indignation of volcano" mulls over the causes of the Biryulyovo riot, forecasts more ethnic clashes in the future amid a lack of a consistent immigration policy; p 3 (707 words).

5. Andrei Isayev, chair of the State Duma committee on labour and social policy, article headlined "Social policy under 'austere' budget" says that despite the government's plan to cap public spending in 2014-16, pensions will increase and minimum wages will grow too; p 3 (501 words).

6. Head of the foreign and defense policy council Fedor Lukyanov article headlined "Moment of Truth" says Russia's unbending determination to establish the Eurasian Union has so far backfired, bringing about trade spats with Ukraine and Lithuania. The common past is too unconvincing an argument for integration to make up for a lack of other incentives, the author concludes; p 8 (709 words).

7. Olga Dmitryeva article headlined "Foreign law enforcers invited to England" seems surprised to report that highly qualified police officers and detectives from the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand have been allowed to join the British police; p 8 (408 words).

8. Yakov Mirkin report "Dancing on edge of abyss" says that on Oct. 17, the U.S. may cover the global economy with a new wave of crisis; pp 1, 4 (2,300 words).

9. Natalya Kozlova et al. report "Fails to run away far" looks at the operation to find and detain the suspected killer of Biryulyovo resident Yegor Shcherbakov; p 7 (1,100 words).

Izvestia

1. Andrei Gridasov et al. report "Assumed killer of Yegor Shcherbakov detained thanks to phone call" looks at the operation to detain Orkhan Zeinalov, suspected of killing Yegor Shcherbakov in Moscow's Biryulyovo district; pp 1, 3 (900 words).

2. Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko report "'Against all' option may return to ballot papers" says that a bill to reinstate the 'Against all' option in ballot papers will be tabled with the State Duma today; pp 1, 4 (500 words).

3. Dmitry Yevstifeyev report "Belarus does not intend to extradite head of Uralkali" says that the issue of extraditing Uralkali head Vladislav Baumgertner from Belarus to Russia has not yet been decided; pp 1-2 (800 words).

4. Dmitry Runkevich report "'Foreign agents' to be revealed among officials" says that the State Duma is drafting a bill that will oblige officials to report on foreign grants they have received; p 2 (500 words).

5. Anna Lyalyakina report "Goods worth billions of roubles seized at vegetable warehouse in Biryulyovo" says that 1,500 lorries with fruits and vegetables have been blocked by law enforcers at the vegetable warehouse in Biryulyovo due to a probe carried out there; p 3 (600 words).

6. Yelena Teslova report "Ethnic topics in mass media to be regulated ethically" says the presidential human rights council will discuss the ethical code of journalists who cover ethnic and religious issues; p 6 (800 words).

7. Gleb Kuznetsov report "Suburbs as way of life" looks at the causes of disturbances in Moscow's Biryulyovo and says that the situation when problems have not been addressed for years is typical of Russia; p 8 (1,100 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Yeva Merkacheva report "Potato in uniform" looks at the situation in Moscow's district Biryulyovo where disturbances have recently occurred. The district is hit by bribe-taking, kickbacks and abuse of office, and the infamous vegetable warehouse in the district is being protected by Interior Ministry high-ranking officials, article says; pp 1, 4 (700 words).

2. Irina Bobrova report "Arrogant and aggressive khan captured" says that it has taken the Moscow police four days to find and detain Orkhan Zeinalov, suspected of killing Yegor Shcherbakov in Moscow's Biryulyovo district; pp 1, 4 (900 words).

3. Yulia Kalinina report "Neither visas nor pogroms will save us from Biryulyovo" looks at the migration problem in Moscow and says that migrants from Central Asia differ from those from the North Caucasus. The former arrive in Moscow to work in difficult conditions and earn little money; the latter arrive in the city to make business on Muscovites; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

4. Marina Ozerova report "Relatives to pay for damage caused by terrorists" says that the State Duma has passed in the first reading the presidential bill that allows to confiscate in favour of the state the property of terrorists' relatives to pay compensations to victims of the terrorist attacks; p 2 (400 words).

5. Kirill Saltykov report "It was pointless to smash vegetable warehouse" says that according to the Moscow police, the residents of Biryulyovo were looking for the killer of a local resident where he never was; p 4 (500 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Konstantin Poleskov et al. article headlined "Sleeping quarters wake up?" reviews the events connected with clashes in Biryulyovo; pp 1-3 (700 words).

2. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Biryulyovolution against Bolotnaya" comments on the recent ethnic clashes in Moscow's Biryulyovo district, saying that authorities face threat from those whom they thought were their supporters; p 2 (500 words).

3. Yekaterina Fomina article headlined "Not fan, not Nazi" says most relatives of Moscow resident Yegor Shcherbakov, whose killing has sparked the clashes in Biryulyovo, do not support using his image for political speculations; p 2 (200 words).

4. Nadezhda Prusenkova article headlined "Alexei Sutuga, anti-fascist: 'Conflict ripened, right-wingers used it" says the Biryulyovo conflict has not been spontaneous; p 3 (200 words).

5. Sergei Kanev article headlined "Statistics of street" reviews police reports from Biryulyovo in 2009-2013; p 3 (300 words).

6. Alexei Polukhin and Yulia Polukhina article headlined "Strife at wholesale and retail prices" says there is no single reason for the Biryulyovo unrest, and tries to identify various factors; pp 4-5 (900 words).

7. Andrei Sukhotin article headlined "Who benefits from vegetables" reviews ownership history of a vegetable storage facility in Biryulyovo that was almost stormed by local residents; pp 4-5 (600 words).

8. Andrei Sukhotin article headlined "Magomed Tolboev: 'I will not allow to close all that'" is an interview with the honorary president of a holding company that owns the Biryulyovo vegetable storage; p 5 (300 words).

9. Nikita Girin article headlined "Summer anti-immigrant campaign plays big role" is an interview with human rights defender Alexander Verkhovsky about peculiarities of ethnic clashes in a large city; p 6 (400 words).

10. Semen Novoprudsky article headlined "Biryulyovo for Biryulyovo residents" says Russian authorities have no clear understanding of what they mean by "local population"; p 6 (500 words).

11. Alexander Mineyev article headlined "Tolerance and cruelty" reflects on why ethnic tensions in Western Europe are more peaceful than in Russia; p 7 (500 words).

12. Maria Yepifanova article headlined "They will be responsible for ethnic conflicts" says the Moscow city parliament is discussing a draft law to make city district managers responsible for peace in their districts; p 7 (300 words).

13. Alexei Levashov article headlined "Tell me who is your enemy" analyses the arrest of Russian CEO Vladislav Baumgertner in Belarus; p 14 (600 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Unattributed article headlined "Where do you expect national enclaves to emerge?" is a selection of comments by notable Russians on an ethnic situation in the country; p 3 (300 words).

2. Alexander Rogoza article headlined "Moscow suburbs turn into ethnic enclaves?" contains a map of Moscow districts where immigrants live; pp 6-7 (1,100 words).

3. Vladimir Vorsobin op-ed headlined "Biryulyovo and empire" says Russians want a clear policy on immigration and a fair justice system; p 7 (400 words).