Kommersant
1. Dmitry Butrin article headlined "Investment Quorum" says companies taking part in the Foreign Investment Advisory Council session chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had no complaints about the business climate in Russia. They do not need competition with other foreign investors who might come to the country if conditions are improved, the author noted; pp 1, 8 (918 words).
2. Vladimir Dzaguto article headlined "Government to Connect Networks" looks into the planned reform of the state-controlled energy grid companies. A managerial structure to control FSK (federal network company) and MRSK holding may be set up; pp 1, 9 (622 words).
3. Olga Shestopal and Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "MFK Finds Club Investor" says Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov's banking project MFK (International Financial Club) may lose some of its shareholders. They are expected to sell their stakes to Maxim Nogotkov, one of Svyaznoy owners; pp 1, 10 (821 words).
4. Pyotr Rudenko and Vitaly Gaydayev article headlined "Initial Public Suspension" says Promsvyazbank has suspended its IPO plans as investors estimate the bank at too low price; pp 1, 10 (768 words).
5. Fedor Zubkov and Maria-Luiza Tirmaste article headlined "Patriots of Russia Reach Peak in Caucasus" says the Patriots of Russia party has managed to get 26 percent of the votes in the North Ossetian local parliamentary election. The party's success is attributed to the charisma of the party leader, Olympic champion Arsen Fadzayev; p 2 (836 words).
6. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Single Day of Exulting" reports on President Putin meeting with the Russian Central Elections Commission head Vladimir Churov informing the president on United Russia's success in the regional elections; p 2 (674 words).
7. Article attributed to the paper's political section headlined "United Russia Becomes Only One" says United Russia will become the only party in half of all regional parliaments where the elections were held on Oct. 14. In general, the party has shown better results compared with the State Duma elections in 2011; p 2 (813 words)
8. Natalya Bashlykova article headlined "Opposition Does Not Acknowledge Defeat" says the Communists have refused to accept the gubernatorial election results in the Bryansk and Ryazan regions and are going to appeal to courts; p 3 (630 words).
9. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Revenge Formula" explains United Russia's victory at the regional elections by the use of administrative resources and party-spoilers distracting the electorate; p 3 (993 words).
10. Taisia Bekbulatova et al. report headlined "United Russia Wins Cities Back" comments on United Russia's victory in the municipal elections held Oct. 14. The opposition is accusing United Russia of fraud, while experts note that United Russia ensured its victory due to a low turnout; p 4 (835 words).
11. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Russia Fails to Pass Passport Control" says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has failed to come to agreement with his EU counterparts on the improvement of the visa regime with Russia; p 7 (701 words).
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
1. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Excommunication From CSTO" says Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet did not include in the federal budget the financing of Russia's peacekeeping activity as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization; pp 1 — 2 (805 words).
2. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Pension Football of President and Prime Minister" says neither the president nor the prime minister want to take responsibility for unpopular pension reform as the rise of the retirement age will inevitably affect too many people; pp 1, 4 (950 words).
3. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "State Duma Thinks About Corruption" criticizes the ill-thought-out bill obliging officials to report on their expenses as well as revenues as it is unlikely to help reduce corruption; pp 1, 3 (734 words).
4. Igor Naumov article headlined "Medvedev Tries to Break Stereotypes" says Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has invited Western investors to take part in the implementation of infrastructure projects in Russia, as he spoke at the meeting of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council session; pp 1, 4 (764 words).
5. Svetlana Gamova article headlined "Moscow Ready to Recognize Transdnestr Republic" looks at the possibility of Moldova's accession to NATO; pp 1, 6 (682 words).
6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Scots to Decide Whether They Need Independence or Not" says Scotland has agreed with London on holding the independence referendum, while many people are convinced that the new state will not be viable; pp 1, 7 (585 words).
7. Savely Vezhin article headlined "United Russia Takes Revenge" says Vladimir Putin's high rating has helped United Russia win the regional elections; p 3 (511 words).
8. Nikolai Surkov article headlined "Virtual War in Persian Gulf" says Iran and its opponents have exchanged cyber attacks, the sides, however, deny their involvement in the cyber war; p 7 (519 words).
Izvestia
1. Anna Akhmadiyeva and Svetlana Povoroznyuk article headlined "Public TV Runs Into Debt Before Launch" says Vneshekonombank granted 600 million rubles (around $19 million) worth of a loan to the newly set up Public TV. The money is to be returned once the government has allocated financing for the Public TV; pp 1, 3 (611 words).
2. Dina Ushakova article headlined "Pension Reform to Drive Trade Unions to Streets" says Russian trade unions plan to carry out protests against the planned pension system reform in 20 cities on Nov. 18; pp 1 — 2 (831 words).
3. Anna Akhmadiyeva et al article headlined "Vechernyaya Moskva Sold to Moscow" says the Bank of Moscow has sold its stake in the Vechernyaya Moskva (Evening Moscow) newspaper to the Moscow Property unitary enterprise; pp 1 — 2 (411 words).
4. Article by political scientist Boris Mezhuyev headlined "One Day for United Russia" welcomes United Russia's convincing victory at the regional elections held on Oct. 14; pp 1, 9 (754 words).
5. Ivan Cheberko article headlined "Alexander Seliverstov to Become Khrunichev Center Head" says deputy director general of the Khrunichev State Research and Space Production Centre of Moscow Alexander Seliverstov is likely to be appointed new head of the enterprise; p 3 (487 words).
6. Yury Matsarsky article headlined "Obama's Supporters Promise to Emigrate if Romney Wins" says thousands of Americans are reportedly going to leave the U.S.A. if Republican candidate Mitt Romney wins the presidential election. At least, that issue is discussed by Obama's supporters in their blogs; p 5 (549 words).
7. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Cluster Bombs With Russian Marking Found in Syria" says the Human Rights Watch NGO has accused the Syrian authorities of using cluster bombs against rebels. Eyewitnesses claim the bombs were marked in the Russian language; p 5 (480 words).
8. Yevgeny Antonov interview with Viktor Uspaskich, leader of the Labor Party which has won the parliamentary election in Lithuania, speaking on relations with Russia; p 5 (523 words).
9. Article by historian Stanislav Khatuntsev headlined "Aircraft of Contention" says Turkey must be bluffing when speaking about military equipment seized from a Syrian plane going from Moscow, otherwise the equipment would have been shown to journalists; p 9 (803 words).
10. Alexandra Sopova article headlined "Orthodox Believers Prepare Radical Art Exhibition" says the Synodal Department for Youth of the Russian Orthodox Church is to select an "Orthodox artist" to hold an exhibition of Orthodox art; p 4 (400 words).
Vedomosti
1. Dmitry Kazmin and Tatyana Voronova article headlined "Bankers — Informers" says the Russian government wants to oblige banks to provide supervisory bodies with more information on their clients as part of a campaign against money laundering; pp 1, 3 (910 words).
2. Maria Zheleznova article headlined "Not Ready to Fight" attributed the opposition's poor performance at the regional elections to their inability to form a new agenda that would make the electorate interested in their parties; pp 1 — 2 (692 words).
3. Ksenia Boletskaya and Ksenia Dokukina article headlined "Meeting at the Cost of $1M" says the affiliate of the state-controlled Sistemnyy Operator company is raising $1 million from other Russian energy companies for a meeting to discuss preparations for winter; pp 1, 10 (717 words).
4. Editorial headlined "Victory of Magic" says low turnout at the regional elections has shown that people distance themselves from voting and mistrust the authorities; pp 1, 4 (533 words).
5. Natalya Kostenko article headlined "Putin and Technologies" says president Putin's authority and the technology of reaching coalition agreement with other parties have enabled the United Russia party to perform well at the autumn regional election; p 2 (500 words).
6. Anastasia Kornya article headlined "Night Election" says that the counting of votes in Bryansk did not start until observers from the opposition were expelled from the poll stations; p 2 ( 400 words).
7. Margarita Lyutova article headlined "He Takes Offence for Reprimand" says Regional Development Minister Oleg Govorun who has been recently criticized by President Putin has resigned; p 3 (570 words).
6. Another editorial headlined "Finger of Citizen" says St. Petersburg drivers beeping and showing their third finger to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's convoy of vehicles showed their real attitude toward the authorities; p 4 (289 words).
7. Alexei Levinson article headlined "Our 'We': From September to September" compares public opinion polls held in September 2011 and 2012 and concludes that people are still displeased with their authorities, however, they are not going to stand up against them; p 4 (428 words).
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
1. Konstantin Novikov article headlined "President's Team" says United Russia's victory at the regional elections has proven people's support for Vladimir Putin's policies; pp 1 -2 (1,036 words).
2. Vladimir Kozlovsky article headlined "Billion: Yellow, White and Gray" says around 30 percent of Russia's wealth is controlled by 97 billionaires; pp 1, 4 (502 words).
3. Vyacheslav Vorobyev article headlined "Dinner With Syria for Dessert" reports on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's meeting with EU foreign ministers to discuss the Syrian conflict; p 8 (661 words).
Moskovsky Komsomolets
1. Mikhail Rostovsky article headlined "Indifference Cult" says indifference of Russian voters helps United Russia win elections at all levels; pp 1 — 2 (808 words).
2. Irina Finyakina article headlined "Stop Astakhov!" laments the bill making regional heads responsible for any incident that could occur with orphans from their regions adopted by foreigners. The bill will not allow many orphans get new families abroad, the author notes; pp 1, 3 (392 words).
3. Anastasia Rodionova interview with opposition politician Vladimir Ryzhkov speaking on his participation in the Barnaul city Duma election and on violations he noticed during the voting; pp 1 — 2 (504 words).
4. Alexander Batushenko article headlined "Faction of Victorious Per Mill" slams United Russia's faction in the State Duma over its zero-per mill decision for drivers as even small traces of alcohol can be found after a person takes some medicines; pp 1, 3 (635 words).
5. United Russia Duma Deputy Andrei Isayev article headlined "Will They Give Udaltsov a Sealed Vehicle?" says opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov's cooperation with foreign agents is a well-known fact and slams the opposition movement for their readiness to accept foreign investments and to serve the West; p 3 (400 words).
RBK Daily
1. Yulia Kalachikhina article headlined "Big Money Goes to Vote" looks into financing of the U.S. presidential election campaign; p 4 (1,200 words).
Krasnaya Zvezda
1. Marianna Yevdotyeva article headlined "Al-Qaida Gains Momentum" looks at the escalation of situation in Libya; p 3 (550 words).
Komsomolskaya Pravda
1. Vladimir Semenov article headlined "United Russia Wins Thanks to Putin" attributes United Russia's win in regional polls to the president's high popularity rating; 4 (450 words).
Oct. 16, 2012/BBC Monitoring/©BBC
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