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What the Papers Say, Feb. 7

Kommersant


1. Stanislav Kuvaldin article "Peace to factories, war to supermarkets" says that the Federal Consumer Protection Service has drafted amendments to sanitary rules and norms to be applied to production and infrastructure facilities; pp 1-2 (538 words).


2. Denis Skorobogatko et al. report headlined "Vladimir Potanin gives away everything" says that Vladimir Potanin, the owner of the Interros holding company worth $15 billion, has given most of his funds to charity. His wife, however, suspects that he is trying to hide his assets amid a divorce suit; pp 1, 9 (796 words).


3. Pavel Belavin article headlined "Russians get lost in books" says that book sales in Russia have finally grown, for the first time in the last five years; pp 1, 10 (602 words).


4. Alexei Dospekhov article headlined "Torch found" says that the Olympic torch relay has reached Sochi; pp 1, 12 (587 words).


5. Petr Netreba and Yelena Kovaleva article headlined "Far East seeks shareholder" looks at the prospects of initiatives put forward by the Far East Development Ministry: to set up the joint stock company Far East and remove the JSC Far East Development Fund from the bank Vnesheconombank's property; p 2 (578 words).


6. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "State Duma knows how it should be elected" says that the draft bill on parliamentary elections is ready for the second reading. The bill imposes new filters to help remove non-parliamentary parties from the competition and introduces advantages for parliamentary parties; p 2 (777 words).


7. Sofia Samokhina article headlined "Public control may become less public" says that the presidential administration has not approved the amendments on public control drafted by the presidential human rights council; p 3 (640 words).


8. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Russia blamed for Ukraine and for no nothing in particular" says that the European Parliament has passed a resolution on Ukraine where it blamed Russia for interference in the affairs of a sovereign state. Meanwhile, the EU itself is going to draft smart sanctions against Ukrainian officials; p 3 (583 words).


9. Svetlana Dementyeva and Oleg Rubnikovich article headlined "Anonymous payments to be supervised" says that the Central Bank has launched a campaign aimed at countering operations via anonymous payment systems with the use of the so-called crypto-currency; p 4 (515 words).


10. Yury Senatorov article headlined "Prosecutors defend deputy's immunity" says that the Prosecutor General's Office has refused to strip State Duma lawmaker Alexei Mitrofanov of deputy immunity for investigators to question him in line with a fraud case; p 4 (547 words).


11. Andrei Kolesnikov report "When ministers run" says that the Olympic torch has arrived in Sochi and the foreign and defense ministers were its bearers in the city; p 1 of Kommersant Boscosport supplement (850 words).


Nezavisimaya Gazeta


1. Igor Naumov article headlined "Sochi finishes countdown" looks ahead at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi; pp 1-2 (732 words).


2. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Kremlin in contact with dissatisfied electorate" says that the presidential administration is discussing the setting up of a new structure to deal with citizens' complaints about officials; pp 1, 3 (580 words).


3. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Viktor Ivanov does not give investigation to Alexander Bastrykin" says that the Kremlin seems to have given up the idea of setting up a single investigations committee and prefers to control elites "from different platforms" instead; pp 1, 3 (987 words).


4. Alina Terekhova article headlined "Budget manouvre trips healthcare sector" says that Russian doctors have warned that the curtailing of financing for the healthcare sector is to ruin it completely; pp 1, 4 (765 words).


5. Tatyana Ivzhenko and Yury Roks article headlined "Kiev's Maidan makes hryvnya collapse" says that the Ukrainian authorities are blaming anti-government protests for the collapse of the national currency, which is bound to aggravate the crisis in the country. Meanwhile, both Russia and the West offered help to Ukraine, but put forward certain conditions on the make-up of a new government; pp 1, 7 (1,226 words).


6. Svetlana Gamova article headlined "Moldovan president regards Russia as enemy" says that the Moldovan authorities have threatened those who have participated or are going to participate in the referendum on the integration with the Customs Union versus the integration with the EU; pp 1, 7 (831 words).


7. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Russia seeks response to global strike" says that the Defense Ministry is getting down to working on new forms of countering a "disarming instantaneous global strike" that a probable enemy is preparing; p 2 (605 words).


8. Editorial headlined "Authorities return to party design" comments on the initiative to introduce a filter for nonparliamentary parties: those willing to participate in federal elections will have to collect at least 200,000 signatures; p 2 (465 words).


9. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "They know, but do not trust" says that 68 percent of Russians rank leader of the LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky as the most well-known opposition politician, but only 12 percent trust him; p 3 (634 words).


10. Alexei Kontorovich article headlined "Carte blanche. Challenge of Arctic" advocates the need to develop the Arctic, especially its hydrocarbons deposits; p 3 (850 words).


11. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Economic crisis affects two-thirds of Russians" looks at the polls conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre, or VTsIOM, which show that 65 percent of the polled think that an economic crisis either has already begun or will begin really soon; p 4 (935 words).


12. Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Milk hunger in country maintained artificially" says that Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich has mentioned the possibility of protective measures against European and Belarusian dairy products; p 4 (688 words).


13. Daria Tsiryulik article headlined "Baghdad to rely on Sunnis in struggle for Fallujah" says that the Iraqi authorities have promised 3.4m $s to Sunni tribes for fighting against jihadists in the western Al-Anbar Governorate and in the town of Fallujah; p 8 (535 words).


14. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Syrian chemical weapons get new term" says that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has stated he was confident Syria will meet the June 30 deadline to eliminate all of its chemical weapons under the U.S.-Russian plan; p 8 (612 words).


15. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Row in Pacific Ocean aggravates" doubts that Chinese and Japanese leaders will meet in Sochi for talks as the tension over the territorial dispute between the countries is escalating; p 8 (454 words).


Vedomosti


1. Tatyana Voronova and Olga Kuvshinova article headlined "Sberbank pays for president's decrees" says that Sberbank's corporate credit portfolio grew by 4 percent in December; loans to regional and local municipalities account for the biggest share; pp 1, 14 (900 words).


2. Editorial headlined "Far Far East" looks at the initiatives aimed at speeding up the development of the Far East and comments on the factors impeding the progress; pp 1, 6 (600 words).


3. Lilia Biryukova and Polina Khimshiyashvili article headlined "Putin's third capital" says that the Winter Olympics with the G8 summit and the president's numerous meetings help strengthen Sochi's status as a third, unofficial capital of the country; p 2 (600 words).


4. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Ryzhkov without backup" says that the organizing committee of the party Republicans of Russia set up by members of the RPR-Parnas party and Vladimir Ryzhkov's supporters in late 2013, has stopped its operation a few days before a session of the federal political council of the RPR-Parnas party expected to deal with the party's internal crisis; p 3 (450 words).


5. Oleg Salmanov and Natalya Bondareva article headlined "Olympic hackers" says that correspondents of the NBC television channel have warned guests arriving for the Olympics about risks of working in Russian Wi-Fi networks; p 16 (400 words).



6. Alexander Rubtsov report "Borderline 'Olympics'" looks at the way the Sochi Olympics are organized and at the atmosphere ahead of the Games; p 6 (900 words).


7. Maxim Solyus report "Thing of week. Selection of cakes" looks at the stances of opponents and supporters of the Sochi Games; p 7 (400 words).


Rossiiskaya Gazeta


1. Mikhail Falaleyev article headlined "Go out to shoot" says that the number of crimes committed with the use of arms grew by 60 percent in 2013; pp 1, 8 (800 words).


2. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Olympic horse" says that President Vladimir Putin has met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Sochi; p 2 (900 words).


3. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Basic element" gives account of Putin's meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Sochi; p 2 (800 words).


4. Pavel Petrovsky article headlined "Let's go!" features a report on the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi; p 3 (850 words).


5. Alexander Gasyuk interview with Ukraine's Kharkiv Region governor headlined "Maidan's opponents keep up" where he speaks about the economic situation in Kharkiv and what he expects of Russia amid the political crisis in the country; p 11 (600 words).


6. Vladislav Kulikov report "Court day" says that the newspaper publishes the text of the laws on setting up the combined Supreme Court of Russia; pp 1, 9 (800 words).


Izvestia


1. Svetlana Subbotina interview with the head of the Audit Chamber Tatyana Golikova headlined "'We send materials of 24 audits to the Prosecutor General's Office, Investigative Committee, Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service" where she speaks about checks of state monopolies and corporations and about cooperation with law-enforcement agencies; pp 1, 5 (2,400 words).


2. Anastasia Kashevarova article headlined "Ramzan Kadyrov invites AvtoVAZ specialists" says that head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has decided to offer employment at a car plant to be built in Argun to the staff sacked from the Russian car giant AvtoVAZ; pp 1, 4 (553 words).


3. Yegor Sozayv-Guryev article headlined "Vladimir Putin meets Chinese leader in new house" gives a brief account of the meeting of Russian and Chinese leaders in Putin's Sochi residence; p 2 (404 words).


4. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "CNN has to apologize for memorial in Brest" says that the CNN company had to apologize for including the memorial in Brest in the list of the ugliest sculptures of the world after a wave of indignation in Russia and Belarus; p 11 (384 words)


5. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Syrians called to observe 'Olympic truce'" says that the Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement urging the warring sides in Syria to declare "Olympic truce"; p 11 (413 words).


6. Ivan Cheberko report "Roskosmos not to launch French satellite at expense of state" says that the Federal Space Agency believes that the state company Kosmicheskaya Svyaz (Space Connection) should launch foreign satellites at its own expense, not at the expense of the state; pp 1, 5 (1,100 words).


7. Yelena Malai report "Internal security departments to be set up at state bodies" says that internal security departments will be set up in each ministry and federal service to monitor the work of officials; p 3 (500 words).


8. Alena Sivkova report "Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and Interior Ministry to check Rosmolodezh leadership" says that law enforcers will check information on possible violations by the leadership of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs; p 3 (750 words).


9. Alexei Bayev report "Russia brings Pantsir, Tor, Tunguska and Igla to Delhi" looks at what Russia has brought to the weapons exhibition Defexpo 2014 in India; p 11 (950 words).


Moskovsky Komsomolets


1. Tatyana Melikyan article headlined "Dairy war to be declared on Lukashenko" says that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered to draft measures to protect the domestic dairy market against Belarusian and European competitors; p 2 (477 words).


2. Natalya Vedeneyeva interview with the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Fortov headlined "When will Russian Academy of Sciences heal?" where he speaks about the recent reform of the science; p 5 (1,707 words).


3. Yekaterina Petukhova interview with a deputy of Crimea's supreme council headlined "Crimea to ask Russia to defend it from nationalists" where he says that the council is going to appeal to the Russian president and ask him to defend Crimea from Ukrainian nationalists; p 6 (720 words).


4. Irina Stepantseva report "Let's do it our way!" from Sochi ahead of the Olympics; pp 1, 17 (1,300 words).


5. Marina Ozerova report "Games of deputies' team" looks at what Russian lawmakers are going to do in Sochi; p 2 (600 words).


Komsomolskaya Pravda


1. Yelena Odintsova article headlined "Energy rations to be introduced in two years" says the government has decided to work thoroughly on the bill introducing social norms for energy consumption; p 3 (250 words).


2. Vladimir Vorsobin report about "revolutionary barricades" in Poltava, Ukraine; p 9 (750 words).


Noviye Izvestia


1. Valery Yakov article headlined "Dear envoy" comments on the decision of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to vest his deputy Yury Trutnev with responsibility of preparing proposals on the transfer of a number of government bodies and state corporations to the Far East; pp 1, 4 (600 words).


RBK Daily


1. Anastasia Dulenkova and Alexei Sinyakov article headlined "Stake on Bear" says bookmakers have started accepting bets on the Olympics; p 1 (250 words).


2. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Pension without feast" says a former Moscow high-ranking police official, Vladimir Morozov, who resigned in January, may become a suspect in the case on abuse of office; p 2 (250 words).


3. Alina Yevstigneyeva article headlined "Industry and Trade Ministry to compete with Economic Development Ministry in WTO" says the government has decided to set up special centers to support Russian exporters in the WTO; p 3 (300 words).


Trud


1. Ivan Dmitryenko article headlined "Key to start!" reports about the Olympic Games opening in Sochi today; pp 1-2 (800 words).


2. Alexander Protsenko article headlined "Wanderlust" comments on Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's proposal to have certain government bodies transferred to the Far East; p 3 (500 words).


3. Sergei Ilchenko article headlined "Yulya from prison demands war" comments on the developments in Ukraine hit by protests; p 4 (450 words).


? Feb. 7, 2014 / BBC Monitoring / ©BBC

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