What the Papers Say, Nov. 12, 2013

Kommersant

1. Sergei Mashkin article headlined "Yevgenia Vasilyeva surrenders" says that thanks to the pre-trial cooperation of two persons involved in the Oboronservis corruption case, investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges against the former head of the Defense Ministry's property department, Yevgenia Vasilyeva; p 1 (586 words).

2. Maxim Ivanov and Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "Supreme arbitration condemnation" says the Higher Court of Arbitration has criticized the planned legal reform which envisages a merger between itself and the Supreme Court; pp 1, 3 (998 words).

3. Kirill Melnikov and Yegor Popov article headlined "Oil rig shakes under Lukoil" reports on the problems of the Lukoil on the Caspian Sea shelf, as the United Shipbuilding Corporation has fallen behind the schedule in the construction of an oil rig; pp 1, 9 (764 words).

4. Yulia Gallyamova article headlined "Car market waiting for Father Frost" says that sales of new cars in Russia dropped by 8 percent in October; pp 1, 11 (619 words).

5. Krasnoyarsk-based Dmitry Malkov article headlined "They make a note of Anatoly Bykov" says the presidential administration has responded to a letter by leader of the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Patriots of Russia party, businessman Anatoly Bykov, who criticized regional governor Lev Kuznetsov. Bykov is believed to have gubernatorial ambitions; p 2 (558 words).

6. Yury Senatorov article headlined "Sergei Polonsky detained in jungle" says the wanted Russian businessman, Sergei Polonsky, has been arrested in Cambodia. The country's authorities are to decide whether to extradite him; p 4 (535 words).

7. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Taliban starts revenge" says the killing of the Taliban leader in Pakistan will result in a new wave of terrorist attacks in the region; p 7 (528 words).

8. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Geo-statistic interests" reports on the Yekaterinburg meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and notes that the two leaders have argued over each country's contribution to bilateral trade and business projects; p 7 (756 words).

9. Galina Dudina article headlined "Germany not getting on with St. Petersburg Dialogue" says the Russian-German forum, the St. Petersburg Dialogue, has run into financial problems. Several German companies reportedly cut financingfor the forum due to the souring of the two countries' relations; p 7 (533 words).

10. Galina Dudina article headlined "Non-native overpopulation" says immigration is turning into a common problem of all the EU countries as many of them risk losing their identity due to the influx of migrants; p 8 (911 words).

11. Sergei Strokan interview with Fedor Lukyanov, head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, speaking on reasons that force the EU to impose tougher migration regulations; p 8 (521 words).

12. Sergei Strokan interview with Nadezhda Arbatova, an expert from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, speaking on reasons behind immigration problems in Europe; p 8 (503 words).

13. Article by Boris Tumanov, correspondent of the Moscow bureau of La Libre Belgique newspaper, in opinion section headlined "Price of issue", looks into tensions between natives and immigrants in many European countries; p 8 (412 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Secrecy of investigation with prosecutor's permission" says the Public Chamber has suggested that investigators who violate secrecy of an investigation need to be held accountable. Experts believe that if the new regulation will come into effect, the general public will not be informed about high-profile cases at all; pp 1, 3 (1,333 words).

2. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Yanukovych leaves Moscow to return" says the lack of information about the recent meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents gives rise to speculation that the two countries are discussing an exchange of the jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for U.S. leaker Edward Snowden; pp 1, 6 (1,057 words).

3. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Navalny aims at Moscow City Duma" says the headquarters of former mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny has started getting ready for the City Duma election; pp 1-2 (657 words).

4. Anastasia Bashkatova and Mikhail Sergeiev article headlined "People's revenues in the red" says the economic crisis in Russia has resulted in a decline in people's revenues, which leads to lower consumption; pp 1, 4 (1,187 words).

5. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "Israel disrupts nuclear deal with Iran" says Israel has stepped up pressure on Washington to prevent the country from signing a deal with Iran over its nuclear program; pp 1, 7 (873 words).

6. Alexander Chernyavsky article headlined "Krasnoyarsk mayoral office is under opposition pressure" says the Patriots of Russia party that has a majority in the Krasnoyarsk City Duma is creating problems for officials' work; pp 1, 5 (456 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Suppression of political ambitions — strategic mistake of authorities" says the Kremlin policy of stripping senior officials of political ambitions proves ill-thought-out as President Putin's support alone will not guarantee the election victory to technical candidates nominated by the authorities; p 2 (476 words).

8. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Prirazlomnaya to start oil extraction in spite of pirates" says the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, where Greenpeace activists were detained in September, will start first Arctic oil extraction in December 2013; p 4 (583 words).

9. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Syrian opposition sets conditions to Moscow" says the Syrian opposition may agree to take part in the international Geneva-2 conference and has asked Moscow to explain its stance on the Syrian conflict in writing; p 7 (787 words).

Vedomosti

1. Alexandra Terentyeva et al. report headlined "Chemical contender for Uralkaly" says Uralkhim owner Dmitry Mazepin is ready to join billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in his bid for Uralkaly; pp 1, 12 (594 words).

2. Margarita Papchenkova and Maxim Tovkaylo article headlined "Finance Ministry backs law-enforcement agencies" says the Finance Ministry backs the law enforcement agencies trying to step up their control over businesses; pp 1, 5 (741 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Society and group" says the authorities often explain crimes committed by the law enforcement agencies by the fact that they represent Russian society. The Kremlin, however, does not call senior officials representatives of society; pp 1, 6 (419 words).

4. Anastasia Kornya et al. report headlined "Parties live without sponsors" says half of the 66 political parties that have reported their spendings and revenues did not receive any sponsorship. Even United Russia and A Just Russia have claimed they did not receive any money from sponsors in the last quarter of 2013; p 2 (543 words).

5. Editorial headlined "How to alter police" welcomes the draft on a new police reform developed by Alexei Kudrin's think tank and notes that the authorities use the police as well as other law enforcement agencies as a tool of control over businesses; p 6 (307 words).

Izvestia

1. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Fight for votes at Moscow single-seat constituencies begins" says political parties including the United Russia have started getting ready for the Moscow City Duma election; pp 1-2 (806 words).

2. Lyudmila Podobedova and Yanina Sokolovskaya article headlined "Ukraine's Naftogaz stops buying Russian gas" says that Ukraine's energy firm has stopped buying gas from Gazprom, reportedly due to a lack of funds to pay its debt to Russia; pp 1, 5 (701 words).

3. Dmitry Runkevich and Yelena Malay article headlined "Viktor Yanukovych has doubts about EU" says some experts have attributed last weekend's unexpected visit of the Ukrainian president to Moscow to his doubts about the European integration plans; p 2 (727 words).

4. Oleg Shevtsov article headlined "France plays role of 'bad policeman' in talks with Iran" accuses France of disrupting the international talks on the Iranian nuclear program; p 6 (668 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Mikhail Barshchevsky interview with lawyer Anatoly Kucherena speaking on the Russian life of U.S. leaker Edward Snowden, whose interests he defends ; pp 1, 3 (1,046 words).

2. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "House behind seven seals" says an experimental registration of housing deals by notaries will start in several regions; pp 1, 9 (681 words).

3. Article by State Duma chairman Sergei Naryshkin headlined "Supremacy of law and development of Russia" speaks on the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution; p 5 (1,970 words).

4. Vladislav Rilskiy article headlined "There are fewer and fewer lambs" criticizes the stance of Stephen Sestanovich, an expert from the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations, for reportedly saying that Russia will inevitably change its foreign policy; p 8 (465 words).

5. Yevgeny Shestakov article headlined "Under sign of Iran" reports on a meeting between the Russian, Indian and Chinese foreign ministers in Delhi, where the Iranian nuclear talks were the main topic; p 8 (564 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Yulia Kalinina article headlined "Lawmaker Mizulina threatens with extinction" criticises lawmaker Yelena Mizulina on her harsh statements on surrogate mothers; pp 1-2 (506 words).

2. Olga Bozhyeva interview with Col Gen Viktor Goremykin, head of the main personnel directorate of the Defense Ministry, speaking about plans to extend the term of service of officers by five years; pp 1, 6 (1,993 words).

RBK Daily

1. Alexander Litoy report "Exclusive economic zone" looks at an amnesty for people convicted of economic crimes and says that only some 2,000 businessmen will be amnestied whereas about 100,000 businessmen are criminally prosecuted in Russia; pp 1, 3 (1,400 words).

2. Ivan Petrov report "General of Biryulyovo career" says that head of the Interior Ministry's Main Moscow Directorate Anatoly Yakunin has been promoted despite the recent unrest and ethnic clashes in Moscow's district Biryulyovo; p 2 (600 words).

3. Dmitry Kisterev report "Workforce from market" looks at the problem of illegal migration and says that according to unofficial sources, there are between 10 and 15 million illegal migrants in Russia; p 6 (700 words)

Noviye Izvestia

1. Arina Raskina article headlined "On bread and water" predicts a hike in prices on food in Russia accompanied by the shrinking revenues of consumers; pp 1, 3 (2,538 words).

2. Kristina Krutilina report "They will teach how to love motherland" says that ideology commissioners may appear at higher education institutions in St. Petersburg; pp 1, 5 (650 words).

3. Sergei Putilov report "Victims of progress" says that the efforts to make the country's economy more effective in accordance with President Vladimir Putin's decrees issued in May 2013, will result in a rise in unemployment and mass dismissals as of 2017; pp 1, 3 (700 words).

4. Yekaterina Dyatlovskaya report "It's for the court to decide" says that the Kirov regional Governor Nikita Belykh has demanded that Sergei Mamayev, State Duma member and leader of the region's Communists, pay him 1.5 million rubles in moral damages; p 2 (400 words).

5. Marya Mikhaylova interview with Ashot Dzhazoyan who speaks about the media forum for young journalists from Russia, the CIS and the EU to be held in St. Petersburg on Nov. 19 to Nov. 21 ; p 4 (1,100 words).

6. Margarita Alekhina report "Stick to the point" says that the Greenpeace activists arrested for staging a protest near the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea on Sept. 18, will be transferred from Murmansk to remand centers in St. Petersburg today; p 5 (750 words).

7. Daniil Drynov report "Between 10 years and life in prison for terrorist attack at Domodedovo" looks at the verdict pronounced by the regional court in the case of the terrorist attack at Domodedovo airport on Jan. 24, 2011; p 5 (400 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Dmitry Smirnov report "Russia finds ally of 21st century" looks at the Russian-Kazakh bilateral forum in Yekaterinburg attended by the presidents of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbayev. They signed several economic agreements, article says; p 2 (700 words).

2. Yelena Krivyakina report "One in three Russians dream about tsar" says that according to Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM), about 28 percent of Russians are for the reinstatement of monarchy in the country; p 3 (250 words).

3. Unattributed report headlined "Should people be imprisoned for discussing problem of separatism?" polling experts and politicians about a bill introducing a prison term for publicly calling for separatism in the media and on the internet, which is being debated by the State Duma; p 3 (400 words).

4. Alexander Grishin report "Kudrin invents how to improve Interior Ministry: Simply disband" says that former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has suggested reforming the police. The Russian police should be divided into three autonomous systems, Kudrin's group of experts has proposed; p 4 (600 words).

5. Unattributed report "Stop separating Caucasus?" looks at the new separatism law proposed by the State Duma and features comments by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Liberal Democratic Party leader and a State Duma member, and State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov; p 8 (650 words).

6. Newspaper features comments of political analyst Alexei Vlasov and rights activist Olga Kostina on the separatism bill; p 8 (400 words).

7. Anna Gerasimenko report "Artist nails his dignity" says that artist Petr Pavlensky has nailed himself to the paving stones on Red Square; p 9 (450 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Viktor Ruchkin report "Opposition makes conditions" looks at the situation in Syria and says that the Syrian opposition has agreed to take part in the Geneva-2 conference, but has put forward several conditions; p 3 (900 words).

Trud

1. Sergei Frolov article called "Vietnam and Ukraine's environs" looks at Putin's meetings with the Kazakh and Vietnamese leaders; p 2 (900 words).

Tvoi Den

1. Anton Stepanov report "Decay in prison!" looks at the verdict in the case of a terrorist attack at Moscow's Domodedovo airport in 2011; pp 1, 4-5 (400 words).

2. Vladimir Vasilyev report "Lifenews becomes best information channel in Russia" says that the pro-Kremlin media outlet Lifenews has received the Golden Ray award as the best cable and internet channel; p 6 (250 words).