What the Papers Say, Mar. 20, 2013

Kommersant

1. Aleksey Sokovnin article headlined "Yukos cases taken to top level" says that the Russian Supreme Court has demanded that the criminal cases, on which former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and former Menatep head Platon Lebedev have been sentenced, be handed over to it for review proceedings; pp 1, 3 (635 words).

2. Yegor Popov article headlined "Fiat to come to Russia from Serbia" says that a Serbian delegation has arrived in Russia to ask the Industry and Trade Ministry to nullify import duties on Fiat cars in line with a free trade agreement; pp 1, 11 (804 words).

3. Yekaterina Gerashchenko article headlined "Moscow to put market in order" says that the Moscow city authorities have replaced four of 11 heads of city markets; pp 1, 12 (674 words).

4. Dmitriy Butrin et al. article headlined "Ruble does not yield to Cypriots" says that the Cypriot parliament has turned down a bill introducing one-off levy on bank deposits. The bill will be considered again on 21 March; pp 1, 6 (1,255 words).

5. Sofya Samokhina and Maksim Ivanov article headlined "Newspaper passes reading in State Duma" says that the One Russia party and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia have passed a resolution on the conflict between the newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets and One Russia MP Andrey Isayev. It says that the newspaper's editor in chief should not remain a Public Chamber member and should not head the Public Chamber commission for support of media and the Moscow Union of Journalists; p 2 (713 words).

6. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Communist turns down deputy seat" says that Viktor Taranin, a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, has decided to resign ahead of time due to a "complicated situation in the Russian agricultural sector". Experts do not rule out that his business activities could have been the reason behind the move; p 2 (593 words).

7. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Amendment relating to Gennadiy Gudkov's case added to deputies' status" says that the Justice Ministry has drafted amendments to the law on the status of Federation Council members and State Duma deputies, which, among other things, give a deputy, who has been stripped of a deputy seat ahead of time, a right to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court; p 2 (585 words).

8. Vladislav Trifonov article headlined "Final diagnosis made in Sergei Magnitsky's death" says that the Russian Investigations Committee has dismissed the criminal case on Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky's death in a Moscow remand centre in 2009 over absence of a criminal act in it; p 3 (549 words).

9. Sergey Mashkin article headlined "Interior Ministry abandons Zashchita" says that a serious scandal has erupted between the Interior Ministry and the corporation Zashchita, which supplies armored vehicles and outfit for special-purpose units, over the low quality of the goods; p 4 (619 words).

10. Yelena Pushkarskaya article headlined "Solemn publicity" says that the new Pope has officially assumed office; p 5 (587 words).

11. Sergey Goryashko and Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Russian Foreign Ministry has questions to Texas" says that the Russian Foreign Ministry is outraged by the Texas authorities' decision not to prosecute a US family for the death of their adopted Russian boy Maksim Kuzmin. The ministry demanded that all documents be handed over to Russian investigators; p 5 (537 words).

12. Andrey Kolesnikov report headlined "Physical-cultural friendly faces" gives an account of President Vladimir Putin's visit to Kazan, where he inspected the facilities being built for the 2013 World Students Games; p 5 (705 words).

13. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "China and Japan renew conflict relations" says that a change in the leaderships in China and Japan has not only failed to result in the warming of bilateral relations, but is fraught with a new escalation of territorial rows; p 8 (553 words).

14. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Israel gets right of first trip" looks at US-Israeli relations ahead of the US president's first official visit there, which begins today; p 8 (556 words).

15. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Russia and Europe plan to talk on large scale" says that a large EU delegation has arrived in Russia to discuss problems in bilateral relations; p 8 (592 words).

16. Yelena Kiseleva and Vladislav Novyy article headlined "Double-purpose sanctions" says that a US company affiliated with the Russian bank VEB has been put on a blacklist of exporters, whose activity is damaging the USA's national security; p 9 (908 words).

17. Kirill Melnikov article headlined "Rosneft finds lawyer at TNK-BP" says that a number of TNK-BP top managers, who have quitted the company due to its sale to the Russian oil company Rosneft, will receive posts in the state-run company; p 11 (457 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Oboronservis does not sink, but does not give heat either" says that strategically important military facilities are still cut off from heat supplies in a number of Russian regions due to the debt of Oboronservis's daughter company dealing with maintenance, the sole heat energy supplier of the Defense Ministry; pp 1-2 (885 words).

2. Ivan Rodin article headlined "State Duma's acceleration ahead of dissolution" says that the State Duma has recently accelerated consideration and approval of bills. Some experts say that the parliament is in a hurry to fulfill the tasks set before it by somebody, whereas others believe that this is linked to the fact that the time of its dissolution has already been defined; pp 1-2 (1,000 words).

3. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "All-Russia People's Front prepares for fight for justice" says that the All-Russia People's Front will hold a conference in Rostov-na-Donu on 28-29 March to discuss implementation of tasks set by Putin in his pre-election article on social policy; pp 1, 3 (600 words).

4. Igor Naumov article headlined "West gets used to our climate" says that Western investors are quite optimistic about Russia's business climate; pp 1, 4 (713 words).

5. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Entrepreneurs lose contact with banks in Cyprus" says that Russian businessmen have already said that the financial crisis in Cyprus has delivered a serious blow to Russia. Moreover, Cypriot investment in the Russian economy will anyway reduce, which is dangerous for Russian business; pp 1, 4 (1,099 words).

6. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Kiev corrects Moscow's energy plans" says that Russia and Europe have begun to fight for control over Ukraine's nuclear sector; pp 1, 7 (1,000 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Gusev becomes melliferous bee following Pozner" says that following conflicts with journalists, offended Russian lawmakers are changing laws to spite the media community; p 2 (494 words).

8. Sergey Tolstov article headlined "Uncertain Ukraine" says that Ukraine is to decide whether it will integrate with the EU or the Customs Union; p 3 (795 words).

9. Aleksandra Samarina article headlined "Kremlin to listen to first 30 small parties" says that the presidential administration will receive representatives of newly-established political parties by the end of this week; p 3 (523 words).

10. Aleksey Gorbachev article headlined "European rostrum prepared for Dmitriy Gudkov" says that the State Duma commission for deputy ethics will consider today MP Dmitriy Gudkov's speech made during his trip to the USA. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has become interested in the issue and will discuss Gudkov's persecution; p 3 (471 words).

11. Sergey Kulikov article headlined "Gazprom does not yield right to export " says that the Russian gas giant Gazprom is doing its best to preserve monopoly on gas export; p 4 (593 words).

12. Aleksandr Neklessa article headlined "Overcoming Eurasia" contemplates the future of Russia's geopolitical situation in the world; p 5 (2,452 words).

13. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "English people to be protected from annoying media" says that an agency to oversee the media will be established in the UK; p 8 (614 words).

14. Yuriy Paniyev article headlined "US citizen becomes prime minister of Syrian opposition" says that the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has elected US citizen Ghassan Hitu the prime minister of the interim government at a meeting in Istanbul; p 8 (548 words).

15. Yevgeniy Grigoryev article headlined "Berlin prescribes sacrifice of Cyprus" looks at the latest developments in Cyprus; p 8 (711 words).

16. Stanislav Minin report "Pope in favour of poor" looks at the new Pope and at problems that the Catholic Church faces; pp 1-2 of the supplement NG Religions (1,300 words).

Vedomosti

1. Dmitry Kazmin and Yevgeniya Pismennaya article headlined "To Russia for money" says that privatization is the only way out for Cyprus if it fails to introduce the levy on bank deposits; pp 1, 4 (954 words).

2. Margarita Lyutova et al. article headlined "Argument about luxury" says that the Russian government has suggested new criteria to determine luxury cars to be liable to an increased tax; pp 1, 5 (617 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Similar phenomena" comments on the State Duma's resolution on a conflict between the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets and One Russia MP Andrey Isayev; pp 1, 6 (351 words).

4. Liliya Biryukova and Irina Novikova article headlined "Barrier for newcomers" says that the presidential administration has backed the parliamentary parties' initiative to toughen the terms of participation in elections for newly-established political parties; p 2 (431 words).

5. Unattributed interview with Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, headlined "'I am used to relying on myself'", who speaks about social problems in Russia; pp 8-9 (3,311 words).

6. Yelena Khodyakova article headlined "Chinese invited to pipe" says that China and Russia are considering the possibility of China financing the construction of a pipeline to deliver Russian gas to China; p 12 (477 words).

7. Aleksey Nikolskiy article headlined "No guilty of death" says that lawyers of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergey Magnitskiy, who died in custody in 2009, think that the decision to dismiss the criminal case of his death is based on the Russian political leadership's statements; p 2 (555 words).

8. Filipp Sterkin article headlined "Figure of week: 5.8bn euros" looks at the possible consequences of the financial crisis in Cyprus; p 7 (438 words).

9. Editorial headlined "Culture of assistance" says that the Cypriot financial crisis has shown differences in the political cultures of Europe and Russia; p 6 (404 words).

10. Businessman Mikhail Prokhorov article headlined "New surplus-appropriation system" suggests two ways to improve the financial and economic situation in Cyprus; p 7 (439 words).

11. Sergey Aleksashenko article headlined "Political strategies: Putin and Obama are twins" says that the Russian and US presidents have very similar stances on a number of very important issues and very similar principles of political behaviour; p 7 (1,231 words).

Izvestia

1. Yuliya Tsoy article headlined "Mikhail Prokhorov suspected of winning over deputies from One Russia" says that about 50 One Russia deputies in Krasnoyarsk Territory have decided to quit the party. A source says that businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who is registered in the region, could have influenced the deputies' decision; pp 1-2 (310 words).

2. Petr Kozlov article headlined "Golos accused of violating law on foreign agents" says that the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law has prepared a report, which says, among other things, that the election watchdog Golos has received over 3.3m dollars from the USA, the EU and the UK, and additional R2.5m in December 2012 when the law on NGOs came into effect in Russia; pp 1, 3 (470 words).

3. Aleksandra Yermakova article headlined "'Solar project' by Chubays and Vekselberg gets stuck in loans" says that the VEB bank has come to agreement with the Renova group of companies and the Rosnano state corporation on its loan conditions for their joint project in Chuvashia; pp 1, 3 (658 words).

4. Aleksandr Grigoryev and Kristina Botulu article headlined "Case opened over Maksim Kuzmin's adoption" says that criminal proceedings over negligence have been instituted against unidentified officials from guardianship agencies, who dealt with the adoption of brothers Maksim and Kirill Kuzmin by a US family; pp 1, 4 (493 words).

5. Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Business to answer for fight against terrorism" says that the Interior Ministry has suggested toughening responsibility of owners of shops, entertainment establishments and other public places for non-observing counterterrorism security measures; pp 1, 5 (719 words).

6. Yegor Sozayev-Guryev and Alena Sivkova article headlined "Kremlin declares march against clan structure" says that the presidential administration has been displeased with the appointment of former head of Mordovia Nikolay Merkushkin's son as deputy prime minister of the republic and once again instructed all officials to fight against clans in power; pp 1, 3 (721 words).

7. Sergey Podosenov article headlined "Mitrofanov and Zotov not let in A Just Russia" says that practically all State Duma deputies, who were expelled from the A Just Russia party in 2012, may join the party once again by the end of March. However, the party leadership is not going to admit MPs Igor Zotov and Aleksey Mitrofanov into the party; p 2 (507 words).

8. Svetlana Subbotina and Yuliya Tsoy article headlined "Nikonov expected to become head of State Duma education committee" says that the first deputy head of the State Duma committee on international relations, Vyacheslav Nikonov, will head the State Duma education committee instead of Aleksandr Degtyarev, who has led the State Duma commission for deputy ethics; p 2 (407 words).

9. Anastasiya Kashevarova interview with Pskov Region governor Andrey Turchak, headlined "'Shell has fallen into same hole'", who speaks about the criminal case over negligence opened against the local guardianship agencies, who dealt with the adoption of brothers Maksim and Kirill Kuzmin by a US family; p 4 (696 words).

10. Vladimir Zykov report "Mail.ru to resort to code" says that Mail.ru Group has begun to transfer users of the service ICQ to a new encoded standard; p 4 (900 words).

11. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Syrian opposition finds head of interim government" says that the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has elected the prime minister of the interim government at a meeting in Istanbul; p 7 (489 words).

12. Denis Telmanov and Aleksey Mikhaylov article headlined "Russia to modernize anti-pirate fleet" says that Russia will modernize Udaloy-class submarine destroyers, which are patrolling the Gulf of Aden; p 7 (629 words).

13. Mariya Kiseleva article headlined "Six per cent of spare parts on domestic aircraft is counterfeit" says that the Rosaviatsiya air safety watchdog has discovered that up to 6 per cent of spare parts for aircraft does not meet the set requirements; p 8 (577 words).

14. Mikhail Delyagin article headlined "Crisis opens Europe to Russia" says that Russia should take advantage of the financial crisis in Cyprus to improve its geopolitical situation; p 9 (705 words).

15. Boris Mezhuyev article headlined "'Contract with epoch', or enforcement to effectiveness" comments on an article called "From Putin's consensus to contract with epoch", published by expert Vladislav Inozemtsev in the newspaper Vedomosti; p 9 (874 words).

16. Maksim Kononenko article headlined "We, damn, knew this" wonders how opposition activist and blogger Aleksey Navalnyy could be present at a banquet in the Kremlin on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Aeroflot air carrier; p 10 (784 words).

17. Eduard Limonov article headlined "Fight for America" comments on the Texas authorities' decision not to charge a US family with the death of their adopted Russian boy Maksim Kuzmin; p 10 (627 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "Decision is not present" says that Russian officials will be obliged to give valuable gifts to the state; pp 1, 9 (774 words).

2. Aleksandr Yemelyanenkov article headlined "Fourth is intermediate?" says that the St Petersburg-based plant Rubin has begun to develop the fifth-generation submarine; pp 1, 6 (660 words).

3. Yuliya Krivoshapko article headlined "After ball" says that the effectiveness of regional heads' performance will be also estimated by the results of their activity to improve the business climate in their regions; p 2 (589 words).

4. Aleksey Aronov article headlined "Gas for future use" looks at the national oil and gas forum in Moscow, at which a shale revolution and prospects for traditional gas and oil production were discussed; p 5 (1,003 words).

5. Natalya Kozlova article headlined "Go by forest" says that the probe into the so-called Kirovles case, in which protest leader Aleksey Navalnyy is accused of a large-scale embezzlement, has been completed; p 7 (464 words).

6. Yekaterina Zabrodina article headlined "Censorship, sir!" says that British media corporations have been outraged by the government's initiative to set up an agency to control the media; p 8 (670 words).

7. Fedor Lukyanov article headlined "Cinema and life" contemplates US-Israeli relations given the US president's visit there; p 8 (729 words).

8. Vladimir Snegirev and Viktor Feshchenko article headlined "To show for examination" describes journalists' visit to Venezuela for the mourning ceremony of Hugo Chavez; p 14 (3,039 words).

9. Mikhail Barshchevskiy interview with Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko, headlined "Oligarchs discharged from chamber", who speaks about a new mechanism to elect Federation Council members; p 17 (1,598 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Marina Ozerova article headlined "Duma of easy virtue" describes a State Duma meeting, at which a resolution criticizing the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets for publishing an article on "political prostitution" among Russian officials has been passed; pp 1-2 (1,375 words).

2. Mikhail Zubov and Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Lots of screaming, but nothing meaningful in criticism" features experts' comments on the State Duma resolution criticizing the newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets for publishing an article on "political prostitution" among Russian officials; pp 1-2 (1,095 words).

3. Editor in chief Pavel Gusev article headlined "We have nothing to apologize for. It is MP Isayev who should apologize" says that One Russia MPs' reaction to the Moskovsky Komsomolets article on "political prostitution" among Russian officials has shown that the party is facing a crisis and it is One Russia that should apologize for insulting journalists; pp 1-2 (617 words).

4. Aleksandr Minkin article headlined "They should have their brains changed!", written as an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, comments on the State Duma deputies' reaction to the Moskovsky Komsomolets article on "political prostitution" among Russian officials, recalls a number of Putin's juicy and strong phrases and calls on Putin to deal with shameless deputies; pp 1, 3 (1,147 words).

5. Stanislav Belkovskiy article headlined "To dissolve State Duma?" explains why it is advantageous to Putin to dissolve the current State Duma; p 3 (1,037 words).

6. Andrey Yashlavskiy article headlined "Pope in white jeep" focuses on the inauguration of the new Pope; p 3 (509 words).

7. Nikolay Vardul article headlined "Special operation Cyprus" says that the latest developments in Cyprus are meant to save Cyprus's donor states, but not the island; p 4 (538 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Aleksandr Minayev article headlined "Cyprus responds with ruble" says the European Union has taken a bad, but the only possible decision to save the island's economy. It says the country has to come up with another way of attracting investment, as its banking system will never be trusted again; p 3 (1,200 words).

2. Pavel Felgengauer article headlined "This is not about missile defense" says Moscow is not very happy with the USA's announcement to scrap the fourth stage of the anti-missile European Phased Adaptive Approach system. The article says this cuts the possibilities for Russian officials to embezzle funds allocated for missile defense; p 5 (600 words).

3. Semen Novoprudskiy article headlined "I'm not like this, I'm waiting for tram" slams One Russia's initiative to pass a bill on abuse of right to freedom of speech; p 9 (500 words).

4. Sergey Sokolov article headlined "There was no such event" says the closure of the Magnitskiy case and the subsequent Karpov trial in London are aimed at securing the elite's possibility to embezzle funds; p 8 (500 words).

Novyye Izvestia

1. Yevgeniy Zubchenko interview with economist Mikhail Khazin headlined "Banks are no longer reliable place to store savings", who speaks about the fallout of the Cyprus deposit tax decision; pp 1, 3 (550 words).

2. Yuliya Savina article headlined "No crime detected" says Sergey Magnitskiy's relatives want to re-open the probe into the lawyer's death in a remand center; p 2 (650 words).

Trud

1. Sergey Frolov article headlined "Manual decline of One Russia" says the authorities have decided to ditch the party, which has lost credibility and substitute it with the all-Russia People's Front instead; p 2 (775 words).

2. Lyudmila Bezrukova interview with Arctic research institute director Aleksandr Danilov headlined "Key without right to transfer", who speaks about challenges in Arctic exploration for minerals; p 4 (1,700 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Vladimir Vorsobin article headlined "Our people spend billions in Europe and they have this anachronism, visas!" about Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko's visit to the Czech Republic to secure the Temelin nuclear power plant contract; p 4 (380 words).

Moskovskie Novosti

1. Nataliya Berishvili article entitled "No gays or terrorists will be allowed in hyde parks" discusses plans for new public parks in Moscow, specially designated for holding rallies and protest actions; p 2 (250 words).

RBK Daily

1. Yulia Yakovleva article headlined "Parties' weak link" speaks about internal security steps in opposition parties to reveal people loyal to the incumbent authorities; p 2 (475 words).

2. Yulia Kalachihina article headlined "Tax dead-end" says Cyprus still counts on Russia to solve its economic problems; p 4 (800 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Yelizaveta Orlova article headlined "About missile shield again" says Russia expects more details about the US plan to scrap missile shield deployment in Europe in order to announce whether it will change its stance on the issue; p 3 (850 words).

Mar. 20, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Mar. 19, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Mar. 18, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Mar. 15, 2012