What the Papers Say, Oct. 19, 2012

Kommersant

1. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Front Postpones Advance" gives an ironic account of President Vladimir Putin's meeting with activists of the All-Russia People's Front; pp 1, 3 (700 words).

2. Svetlana Dementyeva article headlined "Central Bank Exposes Western Deposits" says that the Central Bank has started a campaign against the transfer of assets from Russia using deposits in Western banks; pp 1, 10 (600 words).

3. Ivan Buranov article headlined "Rate of Wheel Grows in Capital" says that Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has tabled a bill to increase a transport tax in the capital; pp 1, 5 (600 words).

4. Svetlana Mentyukova and Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "Gennady Timchenko Switches to Fish-Owning System" says that the government is considering a plan of amicable settlement of a conflict with the Hong Kong holding company Pacific Andes suspected of illegal fishing in Russian waters. The company may become part of a joint venture with Gennady Timchenko's fishing company being one of the most probable partners; pp 1, 9 (600 words).

5. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Mikhail Prokhorov Returns to Party of Old Type" says that the Civil Platform party, founded by former presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, will hold a congress on Oct. 27 and present an opposition program criticizing the country's political system; p 2 (650 words).

6. Sofya Samokhina article headlined "Deputy's Business Requires Translation" says that the State Duma commission, checking United Russia deputy Alexei Knyshov for involvement in business activities, doubts that the evidence provided by the Investigations Committee is substantial; p 2 (600 words).

7. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "State Duma to Help Catch Traitors and Spies" says that next week the State Duma may pass in the second reading the controversial bill expanding the notion of high treason; p 2 (650 words)

8. Natalya Gorodetskaya article headlined "Electoral Commissions to Be Depoliticized, Collection of Signatures to Be Prolonged, Registration Not to Be Annulled" says that a round-table meeting to discuss the results of the regional elections and possible changes to the election law has been held at the Federation Council; p 3 (500 words).

9. Taisia Bekbulatova article headlined "CPRF and A Just Russia Decide to Disband Moscow City Elections Committee" says that the Communist faction in the Moscow city Duma and the Moscow branch of the A Just Russia party are going to ask the court to disband the Moscow city election committee as it has consistently refused to register initiative groups on referendum in Moscow; p 3 (550 words).

10. Zaur Farniyev and Maria-Luiza Tirmaste article headlined "'It Is Good That He Has Not Joined Patriots'" looks at the video link that secretary of United Russia's general council Sergei Neverov has had with regional branches. Neverov attributed the party's good performance in the recent elections to the renewal of the party and criticized the party's branch in North Ossetia that caused a tough reaction of the republic's head; p 3 (700 words).

11. Olga Allenova article headlined "Management With 4 Hands" looks at the situation in Bashkortostan where the struggle between the new and former leaders and their teams has revived the republic's political life; p 4 (2,300 words).

12. Grigory Tumanov and Ilya Shepelin article headlined "Anatomy of Arrest" says that Sergei Udaltsov's assistant Konstantin Lebedev has been arrested on suspicion of planning to organize mass disorders in Moscow and in a number of towns; p 5 (600 words).

13. Grigory Tumanov and Pavel Korobov article headlined "Punk Prayer to Be Listened to in Strasbourg" says that one of the Pussy Riot band participants, Yekaterina Samutsevich, has applied to the European Court of Human Rights; p 5 (400 words).

14. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "Vladimir Kvachkov Transferred to Closed Regime" says that the trial of the leader of the organization Narodnoye Opolcheniye Minina i Pozharskogo, Vladimir Kvachkov, charged with preparations for a riot, will be held behind closed doors by a panel of three judges; p 6 (600 words).

15. Kirill Belyaninov and Sergei Strokan article headlined "Law of Retaining Mission" says that Washington and Kabul intend to sign an agreement on strategic partnership, which will enable the U.S.A. to leave its troops in the country after 2014 qualifying them as a mission; p 7 (700 words).

16. Kirill Melnikov article headlined "BP Waiting for Offer" says that experts think that BP will agree to sell its share in TNK-BP to Rosneft; p 11 (600 words).

17. Alexander Reutov article headlined "Ransom to Replace Special-Purpose Forces" says that the Nigerian authorities have denied the reports about an operation to be conducted by special-purpose units to set free Russian seamen captured by pirates; p 7 (550 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Basic Military Training for Officials" says that the State Duma will soon consider a bill aimed at making conscription service more prestigious; banning dodgers from becoming officials being one of the measures; pp 1-2 (600 words).

2. Alexandra Samarina and Ivan Rodin article headlined "President's Stake on Front" says that President Vladimir Putin has called on the All-Russia People's Front to take a more active part in the public life and spoken about turning it into a party in the future; pp 1, 3 (700 words).

3. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Dissident Supported for First Time in China" says that for the first time ever, Chinese newspapers have criticized the authorities' decision to imprison the rural official who posted a call on the Internet to put an end to the party's absolute rule; pp 1, 8 (600 words).

4. Yury Simonyan article headlined "Georgia's New Parliament to Gather in Kutaisi" says that the first session of the new Georgian parliament will take place in Kutaisi, in a building whose construction has not been completed yet; pp 1, 7 (600 words).

5. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Gazprom and Rosneft Slap Private Companies on Wrist" says that heads of Gazprom and Rosneft have written a letter to the president to warn him against permitting private companies to develop the Arctic offshore hydrocarbon deposits; pp 1-2 (600 words).

6. Igor Naumov article headlined "Medvedev Loses Attraction for Motherland's Smoke" says that the government has approved a bill prohibiting tobacco smoking in public places; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Oleg Govorun Breaks Rules of Brothers of the Sword" says that the authorities have been trying three weeks to conceal the fact that Regional Development Minister Oleg Govorun wrote a letter of resignation after a rebuke by President Vladimir Putin; p 2 (500 words).

8. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Russian Elections Diagnosed" says that experts from the Center of Political Technologies and the Higher School of Economics have stated that the results of the recent regional elections were predetermined by participation of spoilers and a lack of competition rather than vote rigging; p 3 (700 words).

9. Vladislav Maltsev and Lidia Orlova article headlined "Training and Nuclear Orthodoxy" says that a department of theology has been set up at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and comments on the reasons behind; p 3 (550 words).

10. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Kyoto Protocol Becomes Subject of Bargaining Again" says that the Russian government is ready to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol unless the EU changes its stance on an anti-monopoly probe into Gazprom's activities; p 4 (800 words).

11. Article by Maxim Grigoryev, member of the Russian Public Chamber and director of the Foundation for Study of Problems of Democracy, headlined "Elections on Oct. 14: Yet Another Victory for the President" says that the majority of candidates supported by the United Russia party have won the regional elections, which shows that voters support President Vladimir Putin's program of the country's development; p 6 (700 words).

12. Anton Khodasevich article headlined "Lukashenko Does Not Even Try to Deceive IMF Any More" says that a mission of the International Monetary Fund to monitor the implementation of a joint program has begun its work in Minsk; p 7.

13. Nikolai Surkov article headlined "Turkey Does Not Find Arms on Syrian Airliner" says that the UN and Arab League envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, is to meet the Syrian foreign minister to discuss a ceasefire for Eid al-Adha holidays; p 8 (650 words).

14. Yevgeny Grigoryev article headlined "EU Heads Thwart Children" says that the idea to have 27 children from all EU member states to accept the Nobel Peace Prize at the ceremony has not been approved and it was decided that three top EU officials would do it instead; p 8 (700 words).

Vedomosti

1. Maria Rozhkova and Dmitry Simakov article headlined "Hush Money" says that Oleg Deripaska has paid $200 million to Mikhail Cherny for him to withdraw his lawsuit at the High Court of London; p 1 (650 words).

2. Dmitry Kazmin article headlined "Without Profit Tax" says that the Regional Development Ministry and the Finance Ministry have drafted proposals to ease tax burden for new investment projects in the Far East; pp 1, 3 (600 words).

3. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Codified Voters" looks ahead at the online election of 45 members of the opposition's Coordination Council to be conducted this weekend; pp 1-2 (600 words).

4. Editorial headlined "New House at Embankment" looks at the transformation of the idea to relocate all governmental offices outside Moscow into the project to build a new governmental block of buildings in the vicinity of the Kremlin; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

5. Yevgeny Gontmakher report "Putin's Doctrine" looks at Putin's policies and says that the current developments in the country will inevitably result in total control of the Internet and the introduction of censorship; p 4 (800 words).

6. Ilya Klishin report "Why They Do Not Switch Off Facebook" looks at the possibility of social networks registered at foreign servers, first of all, Facebook and Twitter, being banned; p 4 (700 words).

Izvestia

1. Ivan Cheberko report "Government Orders Export of Glonass" says that the Russian government has issued instructions to develop steps to sell the Glonass navigation system on foreign markets; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

2. Vladimir Dergachev report "Ilya Ponomaryov Withdraws From Election to Opposition Coordination Council" says that A Just Russia deputy Ilya Ponomaryov has decided not to stand for the Coordination Council because of the imperfect mechanism of the election; p 2 (650 words).

3. Anna Akhmadiyeva report "Lebedev Sells His Mansion to Save Novaya Gazeta" says that businessman Alexander Lebedev, co-owner of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, is trying to sell his mansion in Moscow to help the newspaper; p 3 (600 words).

4. Vladimir Gusev interview with Lyudmila Narusova, a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, and mother of opposition TV presenter and socialite Ksenia Sobchak; p 7 (800 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Roman Markelov article headlined "WTO to Be Hit With Ruble" features experts' opinions on whether devaluation of the ruble will help the Russian economy mitigate consequences of the accession to the WTO; pp 1, 6 (600 words).

2. Konstantin Novikov article headlined "Changes in Federation Council: Who Is Coming, Who Is Leaving" says that following the regional elections, at least three senators will be replaced; p 3 (500 words).

3. Ivan Yegorov article headlined "Udaltsov Reveals Surveillance" says that opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov's assistant Konstantin Lebedev has been charged with preparing mass disorders in several towns, while Udaltsov states that he has been followed; p 7 (400 words).

4. Viktor Feshchenko article headlined "Non-Classified Currency" says that experts see signs of the upcoming changes in North Korea; p 8 (600 words).

5. Yury Snegirev interview with Vitaly Lopota, president and general designer of the missiles corporation RKK Energia; p 17 (1,000 words).

6. Ivan Yegorov interview with new head of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov headlined "Gunned-Down Town Revives," in which he speaks about the August 2008 war with Georgia and its aftermath, as well as the most urgent tasks the republic's leadership is faced with; p 20 (2,000 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Marina Ozerova interview with first deputy head of the State Duma budget and taxes committee Oksana Dmitriyeva headlined "Budget With Noose Around Neck," where she criticizes the government's budget policy; pp 1, 4 (1,816 words).

2. Anastasia Rodionova report "Sergei Udaltsov: I Did Not Meet Targamadze" looks at the prosecution of Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov and his associates; pp 1-2 (500 words).

3. Oleg Smirnov article headlined "Election to Coordination Council Puts Opposition Activists at Odds" looks at the scandals accompanying the election to the opposition's Coordination Council; p 2 (1,017 words).

4. Renat Abdullin article headlined "How Was Gadhafi Killed?" provides glimpses of the report by Human Rights Watch dedicated to the death of the former Libyan ruler and his guards; p 3 (450 words).

5. Stanislav Belkovsky report "Putin Leaves Kremlin" looks at Putin and his policy; p 3 (1,000 words).

6. Nikolai Vardul article headlined "Desperate Oil Men" comments on the deal that Rosneft may sign with BP to buy BP's share in TNK-BP; p 5 (575 words).

7. Ilya Baranikas article headlined "Capitalistic Campaign" looks at smear campaigns and other dishonest methods of campaigning ahead of the presidential election in the U.S.A.; p 17 (852 words).

RBK Daily

1. Olesya Yelkova report "Investors Told About Bolotnaya" says that major companies in their investment projects have warned investors of protests to be staged in Russia; pp 1, 7 (600 words).

2. Galina Starinskaya report "Rosneft Aims at BP's Place" says that Rosneft wants to buy British shareholders' share in TNK-BP; pp 1, 6 (600 words).

3. Alexander Litoi interview with the organizer of the election to the opposition Coordination Council, Leonid Volkov; p 2 (800 words).

4. Article by RBK TV general director Alexander Lyubimov "Anatomy of Television," who tries to answer a question about whether Russian society needs films like "Anatomy of Protest"; p 5 (900 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Polukhina report "Signs of Editing Found in Actions of Special Services" looks at the prosecution of Sergei Udaltsov and his associates; p 2 (800 words).

2. Alexander Panov report "Barack Strikes Back" looks at the results of the second round of TV debates of the U.S. presidential candidates and at the forthcoming presidential election; p 9 (800 words).

Oct. 19, 2012/BBC Monitoring/©BBC? 

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Oct. 18, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Oct. 17, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Oct. 16, 2012