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What the Papers Say, Oct. 12, 2012

Igor Tabakov

Kommersant

1. Yelena Chernenko and Ivan Safronov article headlined "Caught by Turkish" says that Turkey accused Russia of supplying ammunition to Syria after it grounded a plane flying from Moscow to Damascus. Russia denies the allegations; pp 1, 7 (818 words).

2. Maria Yakovleva article headlined "Reform Submitted for Survival" says that the Pension Fund has already included in its draft budget the revenues from the pension reform yet to be approved; pp 1, 10 (924 words).

3. Yury Senatorov article headlined "Fraud Found in 'People's Garage'" says the Investigative Committee has brought charges against former officials of the Moscow city administration Konstantin Korolevsky and Alexander Levchenko over fraud when implementing a targeted program to build garages in the period 2005-07; pp 1, 4 (709 words).

4. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Bryansk Governor Recognized as Eligible" says the Supreme Court has allowed incumbent Bryansk region Governor Nikolai Denin of United Russia to run for re-election. He had earlier been barred from running by a court acting upon a complaint from Communist gubernatorial candidate Vadim Potomsky. As other candidates withdrew from the race in support of Denin, only the United Russia and Communist candidates will compete for the votes; pp 1-2 (792 words).

5. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Institute of Red Button" gives an ironic account of President Vladimir Putin's meeting with business ombudsman Boris Titov and his two colleagues from the regions; p 2 (1,179 words).

6. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Kaliningrad Ready to Win Convincingly" says that incumbent Kaliningrad mayor Alexander Yaroshchuk is sure to get re-elected and may even run for governor; p 2 (770 words).

7. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "Vladimir Kvachkov Backs Down on Crime" says that the Prosecutor General's Office has submitted to the Moscow City Court a criminal case over preparations for a riot by the leader of the organization Narodnoye Opolcheniye Minina i Pozharskogo, Vladimir Kvachkov, and former police officer Alexander Kiselev. The defendants' lawyers plan to file a petition for the dismissal of the case; p 4 (597 words).

8. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Migrants to Be Met With Grill" says that the State Duma has drafted a bill to toughen immigration rules. Human rights activists slam the novelties; p 5 (610 words).

9. Tatyana Yedovina article headlined "Greece to Be Forced to Deficit" says that International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde called for an extra two years for Greece to meet the terms of its bailouts, directly disagreeing with the wishes of Germany and other fiscal hawks; p 6 (634 words).

10. Maria Yefimova interview with Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin headlined "'Russia May Prevent War'" in which he speaks about the possibility of war with Iran and Russia's role in settling regional conflicts; p 7 (468 words).

11. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Suppliers to Account for Russian Citizenship" says that a Texas court has refused to release on bail the defendants in a case on the illegal export of microelectronics to Russia because of their dual citizenship, fearing they may leave the U.S. and destroy evidence; p 7 (548 words).

12. Kirill Melnikov article headlined "Rosneft to Join Mozambique and Zimbabwe" says that Rosneft is discussing the possibility of constructing an oil pipeline from Mozambique to Zimbabwe; p 9 (500 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Election Instead of Street" says that the Supreme Court reinstated incumbent Bryansk region Governor Nikolai Denin as a candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Denin was earlier barred from running because of alleged irregularities in his electoral registration documents; pp 1, 3 (527 words).

2. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Kudrin's Enterprise Lives and Wins" says that defense expenditures will be record-breaking in the next three years. However, it will be virtually impossible to fulfill the tasks President Vladimir Putin put forward in his first decrees in May. In addition, the transition to a professional army is slowing down; pp 1-2 (828 words).

3. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Unemployment Growing in 30% of Regions" says that despite an overall reduction in the unemployment rate across the country, the number of unemployed has been growing in some regions, reflecting the troubles the regions and industries have; pp 1, 4 (817 words).

4. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Insincere Acknowledgements" says that the leader of the Left Front opposition movement, Sergei Udaltsov, who became the target of the latest anti-opposition film "Anatomy of Protest 2" shown by Gazprom-owned NTV television on Oct. 5, denied during questioning at the Investigative Committee on Thursday that he met with members of the Georgian opposition to discuss problems of the Russian protest movement, as was alleged in the film. Udaltsov, however, confirmed during the questioning that he had been in contact with unnamed people in Georgia in the summer of 2012; pp 1, 3 (1,024 words).

5. Sokhbet Mamedov and Viktoria Panfilova article headlined "Uzbekistan Going to Europe Via Azerbaijan" looks ahead at the visit of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov to Azerbaijan. Tashkent is willing to participate in the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway; pp 1, 7 (790 words).

6. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Moscow, Ankara and Syrian Plane" says that a Syrian plane flying from Moscow to Damascus was intercepted by Turkish jets on suspicion that it contained "non-civilian cargo." Ankara's move may be perceived as pressure on Moscow because of its support for Bashar Assad's regime and is sure to aggravate bilateral relations; p 1-2 (538 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Who Will Evaluate Oleg Tabakov and Chulpan Khamatova" comments on the bill drafted by the Culture Ministry to introduce obligatory regular attestation of all staff engaged in creative activities; p 2 (550 words).

8. Viktor Litovkin article headlined "Case of Aircraft Carrier" looks at Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's visit to India, where he tried to mitigate the problems in the technical and military cooperation between the countries, the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya being one of the issues; p 2 (646 words).

9. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Senseless War With Migrants" says that in the near future the State Duma will have to pass quite a few bills to toughen immigration policy; p 3 (730 words).

10. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "State Sector Not to Be Able to Fulfill Vladimir Putin's Instruction" says the budget cannot afford to finance the creation of 25 million new highly productive jobs by 2020 as President Vladimir Putin has demanded in decrees; p 4 (828 words).

11. Vladimir Kotlyar article headlined "Who Is at Fault: Only Damascus, or Ankara as Well?" says that Turkey is partially responsible for the incidents on the border with Syria and the escalation of tension between the countries; p 5 (811 words).

12. Leonid Radzikhovsky article headlined "Historical Rally" says that a rally of Tolyattiazot staff staged by the local trade union on Oct. 4 in support of Vladimir Putin, the State Duma and the Russian Orthodox Church shows that the majority of Russians are still very conservative and do not support drastic changes; p 6 (671 words).

13. Anton Khodasevich article headlined "Belarussian Elite Buys Assets in West" says that although official Minsk finds Western democratic values and ideology in general unacceptable, the Belarussian elite close to Alexander Lukashenko has been buying up property in Europe; p 7 (660 words).

14. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Kiev to Deal With Strengthening Positions of Ukrainian Language" says the Ukrainian authorities are split over a law on regional languages; p 7 (885 words).

15. Nikolai Surkov article headlined "Constitutional Confrontation in Cairo" says that the draft of the new Egyptian constitution has sparked heated arguments. Meanwhile, there is still a possibility that the Constitutional Assembly may be ruled illegal and Egypt will be faced with a major crisis; p 8 (586 words).

16. Mikhail Solopov article headlined "Anti-Nazis to Be United Under Flag of Worldwide Charter" looks at the first General Assembly of the World Without Nazism international human rights movement in Strasbourg; p 8 (587 words).

17. Darya Tsiryulik article headlined "NATO to Leave Rearguard in Afghanistan" says that Nikolai Korchunov, Russia's acting ambassador to NATO, stated that Russia will stop cooperating with NATO over Afghanistan after 2014 unless the alliance gets UN Security Council authorization for its new training mission in Afghanistan; p 8 (474 words).

18. Yevgeny Grigoryev article headlined "Anything but Simple Partnership With Germany" looks at Russian-German relations ahead of the annual intergovernmental consultations to take place in Moscow in mid-November; p 8 (556 words).

Vedomosti

1. Anton Trifonov and Margarita Papchenkova article headlined "Stockbroker Vyugin" says the former head of the Federal Service for Financial Markets and chairman of the board of the bank MDM, Oleg Vyugin, will most likely become head of the Moscow Stock Exchange; p 1 (669 words).

2. Olga Kuvshinova article headlined "Russians Cost 600,000Bln" says the total amount of human capital in Russia stands at 600 trillion rubles based on 2010 prices; pp 1, 3 (642 words).

3. Yevgenia Pismennaya article headlined "Medvedev Going to Kudrin" says that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will attend a presentation of the international expert council on Russia that was set up under the auspices of the World Economic Forum and is headed by former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin; pp 1, 3 (529 words).

4. Editorial headlined "Find Money for Intellect" looks at the program to develop education approved by the government; pp 1, 4 (540 words).

5. Editorial headlined "Dialectic of Faith" looks at polls conducted by the Levada Center that show that 79 percent of those polled say they are Russian Orthodox, but they seldom go to church. Sixty-one percent of those polled back the toughening of administrative punishment for offending religious feelings; p 4 (350 words).

6. Yekaterina Kravchenko article headlined "Contract Syndrome" says that Kiev is demanding that Moscow reduce gas prices for Ukraine, threatening to give up gas imports in the future; p 3 (526 words).

7. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Strong Ones Withdrawn" says the intrigue regarding the outcome of municipal elections in Moscow region remained only until the court ruled to bar the strongest opponents of the authorities-backed candidates from running; p 2 (388 words).

8. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Scandal Instead of Visit" says that amid the escalating conflict between Turkey and Syria, Ankara grounded a Syrian plane with Russians aboard; p 2 (359 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Lev Grishin and Viktor Feshchenko article headlined "Night Landing" says that Ankara grounded a Syrian charter plane flying from Moscow to Damascus, searched it and accused Russia of supplying ammunition to Syria; pp 1, 8 (800 words).

2. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Must Not Lobby" says that President Vladimir Putin met with business ombudsman Boris Titov and his colleagues from the regions Thursday; p 2 (700 words).

3. Article by Yevgeny Primakov headlined "It Is Just the Beginning" looks at Russia's accession to the WTO and problems resulting from it; p 6 (1,000 words).

4. Natalia Yachmennikova article headlined "Turkey Breaks Law" features a brief interview with expert Vitaly Bordunov, who comments on Ankara's grounding of a Syrian plane with Russians aboard; p 8 (400 words).

5. Sergey Ptichkin article headlined "Iskanders Remain in Russia" says that Turkey's suspicions that Russia was trying to deliver some military cargo to Syria aboard the plane it grounded are groundless, as there has been no ban for our country to sell arms to Damascus, hence no need to use a passenger plane; p 8 (470 words).

Izvestia

1. Vladimir Dergachev article headlined "Mikhail Prokhorov Begins Party Campaign" says that Mikhail Prokhorov's Civil Platform party is launching campaigns in the regions; pp 1, 4 (516 words).

2. German Petelin and Yelizaveta Mayetnaya article headlined "Austrians Suspect Owner of Ura.ru of Fraud" says the Austrian company BF TEN, which bought 51 percent of shares of JSC of Ura.ru from its founder and editor-in-chief Aksana Panova, has accused the latter of fraud; pp 1, 4 (1,103 words).

3. Pyotr Kozlov article headlined "Russian Orthodox Church to Launch Worldwide Environmental Campaign in 2013" says the Russian Orthodox Church will start informing people about environmental protection abroad; pp 1, 4 (676 words).

4. Alexandra Yermakova article headlined "Limousine for Russian President May Be Sold to Arab Sheikh" says that limousines designed in Russia for the president may be sold to Arab Emirates; pp 1-2 (730 words).

5. Melor Sturua article headlined "Outcome of U.S. Election Predicted With Help of Cafe" looks at the 7-11 cafe's idea to forecast the outcome of presidential election in the U.S. by offering customers coffee cups with the names of presidential candidates; p 5 (463 words).

6. Yury Matsarsky article headlined "Syria Breaks Economic Ties With Turkey" says that the grounding of a Syrian plane flying from Moscow to Damascus by Turkey has put trade relations between the countries on the verge of collapse; p 5 (6553 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Interview with opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov headlined "I Have Agreed to Pass Lie Detector Test" in which he gives an account of his three-hour questioning at the Investigative Committee in connection with allegations made in the "Anatomy of Protest 2" documentary shown on NTV television on Oct. 5; pp 1-2 (350 words).

2. Olga Bozhyeva article headlined "Wings Not Up to Scratch" contains an interview with the designer of the Ukrainian An aircraft, Dmytro Kiva, in which he gives his view on why the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry is in trouble; pp 1, 6 (1,700 words).

3. Stanislav Belkovsky commentary headlined "Physiology of Protest" looks at the current phase in the Russian opposition's fight with the authorities, in particular in light of the upcoming election of the opposition Coordination Council; p 3 (750 words).

4. Igor Subbotin and Lina Panchenko article headlined "Turkey 'Disarms' Aircraft From Moscow" looks at the grounding by Turkey of a Syrian aircraft en route from Moscow to Damascus; contains comment from pundit Igor Korotchenko; p 3 (350 words).

5. Mikhail Zubov article headlined "United Russia Will Beat Itself in Election" looks at the upcoming regional and local elections that will be held in many parts of Russia on Sunday; p 4 (1,500 words).

6. Igor Karmazin article headlined "Contrabatka Goods" suggests that Russia and Belarus are on the brink of "a new energy war" over duties that Belarus is supposed to be paying to Russia on petrol it exports abroad because the petrol has been produced from Russian oil; p 4 (350 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Svetlana Volkova interview with Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin headlined "On Construction of Mosques, 'Hyde Park' and Dog Killers" to mark two years since he took office; pp 1, 7 (750 words).

2. Alexander Kots article headlined "Turkey Intercepts Aircraft Carrying Russians" contains interviews with a flight attendant and a passenger who were on board the Syrian aircraft on a flight from Moscow to Damascus that was forced to land in Turkey. The article is accompanied by two brief commentary pieces from pundit Yevgeny Satanovsky and a secret service veteran, Valery Malevany; p 4 (700 words).

3. Alexander Kots article headlined "Police Will Be Cleaned to Transparency" sums up a round-table discussion at the Interior Ministry devoted to the next phase of police reform; p 5 (700 words).

4. Interview with Primorye region Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky headlined "We Have Advantages That Will Allow Us to Make a Leap Forward"; pp 12-13 (2,500 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Yelena Kostychenko article headlined "Khimki. 3" looks at the three main candidates running in the Khimki mayoral election: Oleg Shakhov, Yevgenia Chirikova and Oleg Mitvol; pp 3-4 (1,400 words).

2. Natalya Chernova article "Bryansk Passions" looks at the situation in Bryansk region ahead of the Oct. 14 gubernatorial election there; pp 6-7 (1,100 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Interview with a senior officer with the Main Organization and Mobilization Department of the General Staff, Colonel Alexei Knyazev, on the results of the autumn call-up campaign; pp 4-5 (2,100 words).

RBC Daily

1. Tatyana Kosobokova and Anna Reznikova article headlined "Business Unauthorized Agent" says the project of business ombudsman Boris Titov to set up a position of presidential ombudsman for entrepreneurs has been blocked by parliament; pp 1-2 (700 words).

2. Alexander Litoi article headlined "Udaltsov's Principles" looks into yesterday's questioning of Left Front movement coordinator Sergei Udaltsov and says an Investigative Committee spokesman and Udaltsov gave different details after the questioning was over; p 2 (400 words).

3. Yulia Yakovleva article headlined "Show Must Go on" comments on the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate incumbent Bryansk region Governor Nikolai Denin as a candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election in Bryansk region. Pundits say he is likely to win the election; p 2 (500 words).

4. Alexei Kuzmenko article headlined "Hoggish WTO Debut" says the predicted negative influence of Russia's accession to the WTO is coming true as prices for pigs have dropped by 15 percent already; p 9 (400 words).

Oct. 12, 2012/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

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