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What the Papers Say, Apr. 30, 2013

Editor's note: Due to the May Day holiday, the next edition of What the Papers Say will be published on Monday, May 6.

Kommersant

1. Alexander Voronov article headlined "Go through square" says the Moscow city authorities have reopened Triumfalnaya Ploshchad, which was closed due to construction of an underground parking and archeological work there; p 1 (560 words).

2. Anna Pushkarskaya et al. report headlined "Uralvagonzavod attached to St. Petersburg" says the investment council under the St. Petersburg governor is to consider two investment projects of the Uralvagonzavod corporation; as much as 18 billion rubles (around $580 million) is to be invested; pp 1-2 (660 words).

3. Yevgeny Timoshinov article headlined "Rosneft goes to new way" says the Rosneft oil giant is to carry out a tender for oil transportation. The article mentions the companies that will be interested in transporting Rosneft oil; pp 1, 9 (691 words).

4. Sergei Sobolev article headlined "They hurry to rescue tour operators" publishes the rating of Russia's largest travel agencies; pp 1, 12 (722 words).

5. Natalya Gorodetskaya article headlined "Khanty-Mansiisk senator gets rid of foreign accounts in advance" says several lawmakers have left the State Duma and the Federation Council after the anti-corruption campaign began and only one senator has reported on the closure of his foreign accounts so far; p 2 (718 words).

6. Anastasia Mitkovskaya article headlined "Omsk governor switches TV channel off" says the Omsk region administration has suspended the accreditation of journalists from Omsk TV Company and the regional news agency Omsk-Inform after they reported on disagreements between the city and the regional authorities following President Vladimir Putin's phone-in session; p 2 (482 words).

7. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Single Supreme Court instead of three courts" says Mikhail Prokhorov's Civil Platform has come up with an initiative to reform the Russian legal system: to set up a single supreme court and stop the practice of appointing judges by the president; p 2 (620 words).

8. Natalya Korchenkova and Sofia Samokhina article headlined "Phone-in session fails to gather everyone" says that research by TNS Russia has found out that only half of Russians watched Putin's phone-in session; p 2 (670 words).

9. Grigory Tumanov article headlined "Political conclusion given to Agora" says the prosecutor's office wants human rights NGO Agora to get registered as a foreign agent. Prosecutors believe that the NGO is involved in political activity as it protects opposition activists for free, article notes; p 3 (568 words).

10. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Taliban brought to life" says that states in Central and South Asia have expressed readiness to help the Afghan regime as the Taliban is planning an assault on Kabul; p 8 (542 words).

11. Article by Dmitry Polikanov, vice president of PIR-Center, in opinion column headlined "Price of issue" says an international conference held in Astana has shown differences in the approach to the Afghan problem; therefore, the international community cannot adopt a single plan on Afghanistan; p 8 (374 words).

12. Sergei Strokan interview with Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, speaking on prospects for the development of Russian-Indian relations; p 8 (706 words).

13. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Venezuelan president keeps course towards Cuba" says the newly elected Venezuelan president has visited Cuba where he signed numerous cooperation agreements with the Venezuelan ally; p 8 (481 words).

14. Vladimir Dzaguto et al. report "Gazprom to turn on light in Dominican Republic" says the Russian gas monopoly plans to build electric power plants in the Dominican Republic; p 9 (537 words).


Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Information shadow covers Mikhail Prokhorov" says Russian leading TV channels have shown little interest in businessman Mikhail Prokhorov. Meanwhile, his political party, Civil Platform, has chances of getting seats in the Moscow city parliament in 2014; pp 1, 3 (929 words).

2. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Shoigu cuts Oboronservis by one-third" says Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has reduced the functions of the ill-famed company Oboronservis which used to be in charge of all outsourcing work for the armed forces. Around 40 maintenance enterprises, which previously belonged to Oboronservis, will be handed over to state-controlled defense plants; pp 1-2 (538 words).

3. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Surgery prepared for Gazprom" comments on the Russian leadership plan to dissolve Gazprom and divide its assets between several companies. Rosneft and Novatek are willing to strip Gazprom of its monopoly in Russian gas export, article says; pp 1, 4 (875 words).

4. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Europe in fever over Magnitsky list" says several EU countries want to bar entry to the Russian citizens connected with the so-called Magnitsky list; pp 1, 7 (701 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Tymoshenko's hopes wrecked" says the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights considering a complaint by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is unlikely to help free the politician; pp 1, 7 (660 words).

6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "CIA secret weapon: Cash in bags" says that bribery of Afghan officials, which the U.S. forces resorted to to have more influence over the country leadership, has, in fact, given rise to greater corruption and instability. Article notes that this may affect the positions of Afghan President Hamed Karzai; pp 1, 7 (518 words).

7. Ivan Rodin article headlined "May 1 and May 6" predicts that more people will take part in official demonstrations organized during May Day holidays than in opposition rallies on 6 May; p 3 (883 words).

8. Sergei Nikanorov article headlined "Russian Foreign Ministry to show soft power to whole world" says an international conference of leftist forces will be held in Moscow as part of the new Russian "soft power" policy; p 3 (457 words).

9. Unattributed article headlined "100 leading politicians in Russia in April 2013" says Putin remains the most powerful Russian politician; p 6 (1,880 words).


Izvestia

1. Anna Lyalyakina article headlined "Russian Post no longer divided" says the Communications Ministry has developed a project to reform the Russian Post; the company will not be split into two parts as previously planned; pp 1, 4 (547 words).

2. Yegor Sozayev-Guryev article headlined "Ministers of education, labor and regions look worst in media" reviews the image of ministers in Medvedev's Cabinet created by the Russian media; pp 1-2 (585 words).

3. Alexander Grigoryev and Alyona Sivkova article headlined "Interior Ministry checks information about Bilalov's poisoning" says the Interior Ministry is to check the information alleging that former head of the company Resorts of North Caucasus Akhmed Bilalov has been poisoned with mercury; pp 1, 3 (556 words).

4. Alexander Yunashev article headlined "Putin and Abe agree on peace treaty" says an agreement to resume peace treaty talks has become the main result of the meeting of Putin with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; p 2 (439 words).

5. Alexei Mikhaylov article headlined "Defense Ministry to get transport amphibian on base of T-80 tank" says the Russian Defense Ministry wants to commission a floating armored vehicle. The vehicles are expected to be included in the state defense order for 2014; p 5 (464 words).

6. Igor Yavlyansky article headlined "Convoy of Syrian prime minister could have been exploded by insurgents of al-Nusra Front" gives details of the bombing in the Syrian capital, Damascus, which targeted the country's prime minister; p 7 (435 words).

7. Yekaterina Maximova article headlined "U.S. social services take away baby from Russians" says that US social workers in California have removed a 5-month-boy from his Russian parents after they wanted a second medical opinion; p 7 (450 words).

8. Viktor Loginov article headlined "Konstantin Ernst fights against 'fourth generation'" says Channel One head Konstantin Ernst has asked the Russian government to cancel amendments to the Communications Ministry's decree on distribution of broadcast frequencies in Russia. Otherwise, the TV channel will be unable to provide viewers with high-definition video; p 8 (680 words).


Vedomosti

1. Margarita Lyutova article headlined "Roads kicked off" says the Russian government is to focus on the construction of a new road linking Moscow with St. Petersburg and Minsk for World Cup 2018 and to wind up other toll road construction projects; pp 1, 4 (647 words).

2. Yury Nekhaychuk article headlined "Car insurers lag behind" says car insurance payments grew faster than the money collected by insurers in the first quarter of 2013; pp 1, 14 (462 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Tolerant Russia" looks at Russians' attitude to religion in the past and notes that the present authorities are imposing laws that are less democratic than there used to be 100 years ago; pp 1, 6 (403 words).

4. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Peaceful future" says no breakthrough in Russian-Japanese relations should be expected in the near future despite the fact that Tokyo and Moscow have agreed to resume peace treaty talx during the visit of the Japanese prime minister to Moscow; p 3 (558 words).

5. Another editorial headlined "Subbotnik in White House" says that an upbeat report on the fulfillment of the presidential instructions by the Russian cabinet contradicts the real situation in the Russian economy; p 6 (301 words).

6. Maxim Tovkaylo article headlined "Ultimatum for economy" features comments of the Russian minister of economic development, Andrei Belousov, on the prospects and problems of the Russian economic system; p 4 (550 words).


Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yevgeny Shestakov article "In whom rockets flew?" says that for the first time a Russian passenger aircraft has been shot at over Syria; p 1 (100 words).

2. Kira Latukhina, Vitaly Petrov article headlined "Hieroglyph of understanding" says Moscow and Tokyo have resumed peace talx as the Japanese prime minister visited Russia for the first time in 10 years; p 2 (403 words).

3. Igor Dunayevsky article headlined "FBI finds Misha" says the FBI is still looking for possible accomplices of Tsarnaev brothers although it is believed that the two young men have organized the Boston bombings by themselves; p 8 (479 words).


Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Alexander Minkin article headlined "Spiritual clip" looks at the problems with making a single history book for Russian schools without any contradictory theories as ordered by Putin; pp 1, 5 (1,636 words).

2. Matvei Ganapolsky article headlined "Housing for crooks" speaks on unaffordable prices on housing in Moscow; p 3 (761 words).

3. Andrei Yashlavsky article headlined "They find mysterious Misha in U.S." says that a possible accomplice of Tsarnaev brothers has allegedly been found in the U.S.; however, he denies being a mentor of the Boston bomber; p 3 (400 words).


Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Dmitry Smirnov report "Japanese guest arrives in Kremlin for peace" looks at negotiations that President Vladimir Putin has held with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; p 2 (1,000 words).

2. Article by deputy secretary of the United Russia general council Andrei Isayev headlined "May Day is holiday with demands" says that on May 1, thousands of activists and supporters of United Russia will take part in trade unions' demonstrations across the country; p 5 (1,900 words).

3. Asya Khovanskaya report "Americans look for Tsarnaevs' accomplices" says that U.S. law enforcers believe that Tsarnaev brothers, suspected of organizing a terrorist attack in Boston, have not acted on thrir own; p 6 (300 words).

4. Dmitry Steshin report "Batka will take fighter aircraft, but will think about Russian base" says that according to an agreement between Russia and Belarus, a Russian air regiment is to be deployed in Belarus in 2015. However, President Alexander Lukashenko may ban the regiment's deployment in the republic; p 6 (450 words).

5. Yevgeny Belyakov report "Was former head of Resorts of North Caucasus poisoned with mercury or arsenic?" says that Russian businessman, former head of the company Resorts of North Caucasus Akhmed Bilalov, has left for Germany for treatment because, according to him, elevated levels of mercury have been found in his body; p 6 (650 words).

6. Unattributed interview headlined "All my predecessors were eaten by clans" with acting head of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov; p 10 (2,100 words).


Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Yelizaveta Orlova report "Shinzo Abe in Kremlin" looks at the visit of the Japanese prime minister to Russia and at his talks with President Vladimir Putin; pp 1, 3 (900 words).

2. Viktor Ruchkin report "According to Iraqi scenario" looks at Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statements on the situation in Syria. Lavrov reiterated Russia's stance on the conflict in that country; p 3 (850 words).


Noviye Izvestia

1. Olga Churakova report "Hundred thousand people cannot abandon 27" says that during May Day holidays, the opposition will hold rallies to support people imprisoned as part of the so-called Bolotnaya case; p 4 (1,000 words).


RBK daily

1. Alexander Litoi report "Prison speaker" says that Alexei Gaskarov, member of the opposition Coordination Council, has been arrested over his participation in the unrest on Bolotnaya Ploshchad in Moscow on May 6, 2012; p 2 (800 words).


Tvoi Den

1. Alexander Popov report "Checked web" says that the Kremlin plans to introduce criminal punishment for publishing "harmful" material in the internet; p 2 (450 words).


Trud

1. Sergei Rusev report "they lived without Kuril Islands and will go on living without them" looks at the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Russia; p 2 (600 words).


Apr. 30, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

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