What the Papers Say, Mar. 12, 2013

Kommersant

1. Roman Rozhkov article headlined "Naspers glues adverts together" says that the South African media holding company Naspers and the Swedish company Avito Holding have agreed to merge their Russian-language Internet services of free adverts; pp 1, 9 (570 words).

2. Nikolay Sergeyev et al. article headlined "Double supervision" says that the first deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, Vladimir Bulavin, has become the presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District. The former envoy to the district, Nikolay Vinnichenko, has been nominated for the deputy prosecutor-general; pp 1, 3 (1,088 words).

3. Kirill Melnikov and Anna Solodovnikova article headlined "Rosneft ousts Gazprom" says that the Russian oil company Rosneft has criticized the Russian gas giant Gazprom's intention to attract its subsidiary Gazpromneft to develop an offshore area. Moreover, Rosneft wants 20 development licences promised to Gazprom by the state; pp 1, 11 (854 words).

4. Maksim Ivanov article headlined "Law on defence of adults" says that the opposition wants more relatives of Russian officials to be obliged to submit income and property declarations following yet another exposure of undeclared property owned by Irina Yarovaya, chairwoman the State Duma security and anti-corruption committee. However, the ruling One Russia party does not see any reason for amending anti-corruption laws; pp 1-2 (664 words).

5. Yekaterina Vyushkova and Sergey Goryashko article headlined "One Russia deprived of candidate" says that the Russian Supreme Court has annulled the registration of Munira Shabanova as an One Russia candidate for the Volgograd Region duma; p 2 (590 words).

6. Anna Pushkarskaya et al. article headlined "Constitutional court does not solve all problems of law on rallies" says that the Venice Commission has officially approved a resolution critical of the Russian law on rallies. According to the commission, the law does not meet international standards and should be revised or annulled; p 2 (645 words).

7. Sofya Samokhina article headlined "One Russia members to recover in morning" says that on 12 March, the State Duma committee on constitutional legislation is to approve amendments to a bill permitting Russian regions to give up direct governor elections; p 2 (524 words).

8. Viktor Khamrayev report "Freedom for mass media to remain until April" says that the amendments to the Civil Code that introduce new restrictions for journalists' work, will be considered in April; p 3 (200 words).

9. Grigory Tumanov and Pavel Korobov article headlined "They decide not to spoil testimonial for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova" says that convicted Pussy Riot punk band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova will not be punished for the allegedly unauthorized visit to a medical unit. Thus, there are no legal grounds for rejecting release on parole for her; p 5 (490 words).

10. Pavel Korobov article headlined "Cardinals get down to ballot papers" looks ahead at the conclave of cardinals in the Vatican to elect the new Pope; p 5 (449 words).

11. Pavel Korobov interview with the Vatican's ambassador to Russia, headlined "'Elections can not be determined by comfort considerations'", who speaks about the election of the new Pope; p 5 (580 words).

12. Vadim Visloguzov article headlined "Money in exchange for depositors" says that the Finance Ministry wants to take advantage of the difficult financial situation in Cyprus to receive from it information about Russian depositors in exchange for loans; p 6 (579 words).

13. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Koreas show military shape" says that the USA and South Korea have begun the joint military exercise Key Resolve, which aims to deter North Korea and strengthen Seoul's security. Meanwhile, North Korea has put the army on alert and has threatened South Korea with a nuclear attack; p 7 (561 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Not subject to investigation" says that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will deliver a report on the government's work in 2012 to the State Duma on 17 April; pp 1, 3 (950 words).

2. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Yanukovych may be charged with same article, like Tymoshenko" says that a Ukrainian legal company plans to sue the Ukrainian government for failure to cancel disadvantageous gas contracts with Russia's Gazprom, and the Ukrainian president for illegal interference in the Naftohaz company's affairs; pp 1, 6 (900 words).

3. Alexei Gorbachev and Aleksandra Samarina article headlined "Undisputed right to keep silence" says that on 14 March, the Constitutional Court will consider the legality of the court decisions rejecting people's complaints about violations at polling stations during the 2011 parliamentary election; pp 1, 3 (800 words).

4. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Chechnya to be cleared of mines in four years" says that a second battalion of field engineers will be set up in Russia to clear Chechnya and other North Caucasus republics from mines; pp 1, 5 (800 words).

5. Gleb Postnov article headlined "Linguistic ombudsman to appear in Kazan" says that the post of a linguistic policy ombudsman is planned to be established in Tatarstan; pp 1, 5 (650 words).

6. Alisa Ganiyeva article headlined "He does not go!" comments on Russian writer Mikhail Shishkin's refusal to join the official Russian delegation to a book fair in New York for political reasons and looks at the effect that the move has had on Russian society; pp 1, 3 (900 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Corruption in state order" says that in Russia, four in 10 officials working in the state purchase sector are morally ready to take bribes; p 2 (500 words).

8. Viktor Litovkin report "Sergey Shoygu promises ships to fleet" says that Russia plans to create a Mediterranean squadron in 2015; p 2 (1,000 words).

9. Sergey Kulikov report "Entrepreneurs disappear as class" says that a rise in taxes has made some 300,000 self-employed individuals close their businesses within three months in 2012; p 4 (1,000 words).

10. Vladimir Skosyrev report "British justice uses Soviet experience" says that Liberal Democrats have come out against a bill on secret courts; p 7 (550 words).

11. Yuriy Paniyev report "US instructors train Syrian insurgents" says that American instructors are providing military training to Syrian insurgents in Jordan; p 7 (950 words).

12. Artur Blinov report "Hamed Karzai does not trust Washington" says that the Afghan authorities suspect Americans of collusion with the enemy; p 7 (1,000 words).

Vedomosti

1. Yekaterina Sobol et al. article headlined "Acquaintance with offshore companies to begin with Domodedovo" says that the Russian government is preparing a bill that will oblige the owners of strategically important facilities registered abroad to re-register them in Russia or reveal the final beneficiary; pp 1, 5 (559 words).

2. Olga Kuvshinova and Margarita Lyutova article headlined "Mission unrealisable" says that Morgan Stanley has studied the fulfilment of President Vladimir Putin's pre-election promises and discovered that the process has been going on not so well; pp 1, 4 (480 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Information and society" comments on two different approaches to reveal corruption in Russia; pp 1, 6 (432 words).

4. Unattributed article headlined "Diamond director for Norilsk Nickel" says that the shareholders of the Norilsk Nickel mining and metals company have re-elected the board of directors. Neither Interros head Vladimir Potanin nor UC Rusal head Oleg Deripaska are in the board; p 12 (507 words).

5. Unattributed article headlined "Lawyer, but not politician" focuses on former presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Nikolay Vinnichenko, who has been nominated for a high-ranking post in the Prosecutor-General's Office; p 2 (612 words).

6. Unattributed article headlined "Sistema stays in India" says that the Indian subsidiary of the Russian corporation AFK Sistema has won a frequency tender there; p 16 (550 words).

7. Unattributed article headlined "Office employees, but not servicemen to be let in" says that the EU is ready for visa-free travel with Russia, but only as regards a certain category of Russian citizens and not servicemen; p 3 (475 words).

8. Unattributed article headlined "Escape from Rosneft" says that not only five top managers, including acting director Herman Han, but all heads of key departments in the company and directors of offshore companies will leave TNK-BP after it is bought by Rosneft; p 10 (526 words).

9. Unattributed interview with Konstantin Malofeyev, chairman of the board of directors at Marshall Group, headlined "'I will never leave Russia'", who speaks about his row with the bank VTB, Orthodox education and censorship in the Internet as well as his quitting the communications company Rostelekom; pp 8-9 (4,661 words).

Izvestia

1. Yulia Tsoy article headlined "One Russia members sell foreign property" says that State Duma deputies from One Russia are going to sell their foreign property. Two One Russia MPs, Andrey Isayev and Leonid Simanovsky, will close property deals shortly; pp 1-2 (776 words).

2. German Petelin and Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Yevgenia Vasilyeva complains about bracelet" says that lawyers of the former head of the Defense Ministry property relations department, Yevgenia Vasilyeva, charged with fraud, plan to ask court to let her take off an electronic bracelet; pp 1, 4 (737 words).

3. Margarita Kazantseva article headlined "Economic Development Ministry demands control over Gazprom's investment program" says that the Economic Development Ministry, which is displeased with natural monopolies' investment programs, has suggested toughening control over state-run companies' investment; pp 1, 4 (804 words).

4. Sergey Podosenov article headlined "Muslims want share in Public TV airtime" says that the Russian Council of Muftis has asked the general director of the Russian Public TV, to be launched in mid-May, to reserve at least 15 per cent of airtime for Islamic programs; pp 1, 3 (429 words).

5. Oleg Vorobyev article headlined "Federal center to determine norms of consumption of housing and utilities services" looks at the Regional Development Ministry's initiative to reduce housing and utilities bills; pp 1, 4 (947 words).

6. Yaroslav Timofeyev and Olga Zavyalova article headlined "Bolshoi Theatre artists collect money for lawyer for Pavel Dmitrichenko" says that the Bolshoi Theatre staff have begun to collect money to support soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko, who is believed to have masterminded an acid attack on the ballet director Sergey Filin; pp 1, 4 (638 words).

7. Vladimir Gusev article headlined "Alternative human rights council to prove innocence of police on 6 May" says that the Russian human rights council is investigating the 6 May 2012 riots on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, aiming to prove that policemen are not to blame for them; p 2 (891 words).

8. Yuliya Tsoy article headlined "One Russia members suggest banning deputies from making foreign trips" says that State Duma deputies want to amend internal regulations so that deputies do not have a right to go abroad without the State Duma speaker's permission; p 3 (668 words).

9. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Americans teach rebels to fight against Al-Asad's tanks" quotes a German newspaper as reporting that US instructors are teaching Syrian Free Army soldiers in Jordan to deal with latest antitank and missile weapons; p 7 (446 words).

10. Anna Akhmadiyeva article headlined "RBK refuses to work with Bloomberg" says that the TV channel RBK has given up cooperation with the US Bloomberg TV; p 8 (543 words).

11. Vladimir Zykov article headlined "FAS to check whether Gmail violates privacy of correspondence" says that the Federal Ant-Monopoly Service (FAS) will check the operations of the Gmail post service by Google for unfair competition; p 8 (552 words).

12. Vadim Levental article headlined "Tolokonnikova, Alekhina, etc" casts doubts that the convicted Pussy Riot punk band members will be released on parole; p 9 (654 words).

13. Vladimir Markin article headlined "Who does not need financial order?" contemplates prospects for the setting-up of financial police in Russia; p 9 (567 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yelena Kukol and Roman Markelov article headlined "Money for barrel" says that according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, oil prices are expected to triple by 2020; pp 1, 5 (602 words).

2. Vladimir Snegirev and Viktor Feshchenko article headlined "To elect in five minutes" says that a presidential election campaign has virtually begun in Venezuela; pp 1, 11 (1,132 words).

3. Kira Latukhina report headlined "To stop transit" gives an account of President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Federal Drug Control Service head Viktor Ivanov; p 2 (656 words).

4. Tamara Shkel report "Reporting time" says that the government will report on its work in 2012 to the State Duma on 17 April; p 2 (450 words).

5. Leonid Radzikhovskiy article headlined "Priests" says that the number of billionaires from a certain country put on the Forbes list is one of the indicators of the economic situation in this country. Many Russian billionaires have been put on the Forbes list, but the country's economic situation is far from being good; p 3 (910 words).

6. Natalya Kozlova article headlined "All among friends" says that a new episode in the infamous company Oboronservis criminal case, involving the former defense minister and his relatives, has been revealed; p 7 (756 words).

7. Vladimir Fedosenko report "They do not wait for those involved in case to appear in court" looks at the Magnitsky-Browder trial; p 7 (700 words).

8. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "Rite to be equaled to rally" says that the Justice Ministry has suggested equaling public religious events to rallies if they are held in streets, but not in specially assigned religious places; p 9 (557 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Dina Karpitskaya article headlined "Maksim Kuzmin's mother declares war on USA" says that Texas investigators have concluded that three-year-old Russian boy Maksim Kuzmin, adopted by a US family, has died as a result of a fall from a slide. Meanwhile, the native mother of the boy is seeking the return of Maksim's brother from the USA; pp 1, 3 (814 words).

2. Mikhail Zubov article headlined "Deputy Yarovaya to be replaced in State Duma by mafia boss?" says that bloggers, who are studying income declarations submitted by Russian parliamentarians, have revealed an undeclared flat in central Moscow owned by chairwoman of the State Duma security and anti-corruption committee Irina Yarovaya; pp 1-2 (624 words).

3. Viktor Gerashchenko article headlined "Who becomes new head of Central Bank not important, main thing is what functions country's main bank will fulfil" looks at probable candidacies for the post of the head of the Russian Central Bank; p 2 (416 words).

4. Marina Ozerova article headlined "Media outlets can be closed for filthy language" says that a bill banning media outlets from using filthy language has been amended for the second reading in the State Duma so that the use of filthy language can become a reason for suspending the activities of media outlets or close them down; p 2 (491 words).

5. Ignat Kalinin article headlined "Fleet to reside in Mediterranean" says that the Russian Defence Ministry has decided to deploy an operational formation of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean on a permanent basis; p 2 (456 words).

6. Yevgeniy Balabas interview with journalist and blogger Sergey Parkhomenko, headlined "Anyone can catch politician or official with forged dissertation", who speaks about how to discover plagiarism by Russian politicians or officials; p 3 (736 words).

7. Jiri Yust article headlined "Schengen visas as challenge to Russia" looks at the Russia-EU visa dispute; p 3 (901 words).

8. Andrey Yashlavskiy and Darya Tyukova article headlined "Cardinals ready for conclave" looks ahead at the conclave to elect the new Pope to be held on 12 March; p 3 (908 words).

9. Tatyana Zamakhina article headlined "Here is workday for you, grandma" focuses on a new pension initiative by the Labour Ministry; p 4 (638 words).

10. Nikita Krichevskiy article headlined "Freebie from heavens" describes how globalization has influenced the Russian economy; p 5 (1,173 words).

Novyye Izvestia

1. Margarita Alekhina article headlined "Non-disclosure and punishment" says that the presidential human rights council has published a report on the findings of a mutiny of prisoners in Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk Region, in November 2012. Human rights activists revealed numerous crimes in the jail and accused the prosecutor's office of covering up them; p 1, 5 (888 words).

2. Nadezhda Krasilova article headlined "Presidential envoy loses duties" says that the presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District has been dismissed; p 2 (541 words).

3. Vera Moslakova article headlined "Issue that marred State Duma deputies" focuses on an undeclared property scandal involving the head of the State Duma committee on counteracting corruption Irina Yarovaya; p 2 (827 words).

4. Yuliya Savina article headlined "'There turned to be about 50 per cent of defective ballot papers'" says that municipal elections have been held in Russia on 10 March. One Russia candidates won the elections practically everywhere, but observers say that these victories were not always fair; p 2 (732 words).

5. Sergey Putilov article headlined "Discount like for brother" says that Gazprom will give Ukraine a discount on gas supplies post factum as from 1 January 2013 if the Ukrainian parliament manages to approve before 1 June amendments permitting Gazprom to lease the Ukrainian gas transport system; p 3 (545 words).

RBK Daily

1. Svetlana Makunina and Yuliya Yakovleva article headlined "Kremlin is to elect" comments on a bill according to which direct governor elections in Russia may be abolished in any region; pp 1-2 (700 words).

2. Yuliya Yakovleva article headlined "To USA without visa" says that the American trip of A Just Russia MP Dmitriy Gudkov has caused outrage of the party's leader Sergey Mironov; p 2 ( 450 words).

3. Yuliya Sinyaeva interview with the Russian president's ombudsman for business rights protection, Boris Titov, speaking on a range of new initiatives aimed at defending the rights of businessmen in Russia; p 3 (1,100 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Viktor Ruchkin article headlined "How to avoid 'Somalization' " analyses the current situation in Syria and points out that the Somalia scenario of 1991 should be avoided; pp 1-2 (920 words).

2. Aleksandr Frolov interview with the head of the Russian Council for International Affairs, Andrey Kortunov, focuses on the prospects of the Russian diplomacy; p 3 (1,400 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Viktor Baranets article headlined "Russia to bring navy back to Mediterranean as in Soviet Union" comments on an initiative to return the Russian Navy ships back to the Mediterranean; p 3 (600 words).

2. Andrey Vasin article headlined "First bast flat, then Yarovaya" focuses on a new undeclared property scandal involving the head of the State Duma committee on counteracting corruption Irina Yarovaya; p 3 (300 words).

3. Grigoriy Pomerants interview with the prominent One Russia MP in St Petersburg and the author of several controversial bills, Vitaliy Milonov, speaking on the latest legislative initiatives, gay rights and the so-called Magnitskiy List; p 10 (1,500 words).

4. Anastasiya Pleshakova article headlined "Real assassin's paymasters live in shadow" says that the ballet staff and the head of the Bolshoi Theatre do not believe that Pavel Dmitrichenko has ordered an acid attack against the ballet director Sergey Filin; p 20 (450 words).

Tvoy Den

1. Nadezhda Gladchenko article headlined "I'll kill him if you want?" says that the acid attacker against Bolshoi Theater ballet director Sergei Filin has offered to kill him several times; p 6 (300 words).