Kommersant
1. Oleg Rubnikovich et al. report headlined "Welcome for Questioning" says the police have questioned Rostelecom head Alexander Provotorov and minority shareholder of the company Konstantin Malofeyev as part of the probe into embezzlement of the VTB bank loan worth over $200 million. Provotorov risks losing his post, the authors say; pp 1, 4 (1,499 words).
2. Olga Mordyushenko article headlined "Independence Goes Beyond All Borders" says that Novatek has asked the Energy Ministry to allow the company to export gas without Gazprom having gas export monopoly. Novatek wants to export LNG produced in Yamal; pp 1, 9 (692 words).
3. Alexandra Bayazitova et al. report headlined "Presidential Rate Does Not Work" says the mortgage rate introduced by the Russian president, which equals inflation rate plus 2.2 percent, did not last long. The rate will grow in 2013; pp 1, 10 (890 words).
4. Pavel Belavin article headlined "Everyone Can Offend Copyright Holder" says the head of the Russian Union of Copyright Holders and film director Nikita Mikhalkov has asked First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov to get involved in the development of a new copyright agreement within the Customs Union; pp 1, 12 (600 words).
5. Irina Nagornykh and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "New Protest Wave Ends" says the Fund for Democracy Development will mark the one-year anniversary of December protests by a report that comes to the conclusion that the protest movement has stopped in Russia; p 2 (716 words).
6. Anna Pushkarskaya report "Gennady Gudkov's Case Becomes Constitutional" says that the Constitutional Court has discussed the status of parliament members in Russia to determine whether the State Duma and the Federation Council have a right to strip its members of deputy mandates; p 2 (650 words).
7. Maxim Ivanov report "Human Rights Council Feels Not Quite Presidential" says that new members of the presidential human rights council have suggested that President Vladimir Putin should personally head the council; p 2 (600 words).
8. Maxim Ivanov and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Russian Democracy Not Reason for Being Proud" says public opinion polls have shown that Russians are mostly proud of their history, literature and scientific research of the past, rather than of present-day developments; p 4 (406 words).
9. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Stars Do Not Shine for American Generals" says the Pentagon has started fighting for morality of its generals after two scandals involving the former CIS head and the commander of the NATO forces in Afghanistan; p 7 (688 words).
10. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Syrian Opposition Needs 2 States" says the Western scenario to resolve the Syrian crisis is in jeopardy as jihadists and Salafis have refused to obey the newly set up opposition coalition; p 7 (385 words).
11. Roman Yanushevskiy article headlined "Tel Aviv Puts Sirens Into Combat Readiness" reports on the situation in Israel as the country has got involved in a conflict with Hamas; p 7 (682 words).
12. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "They Decide to Make Suppliers Classified" says the trial of "Russian spies" charged with smuggling high technologies from the U.S.A. into Russia will be closed for the public; p 8 (457 words).
13. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Russia and U.S.A. Sort Out Relations in Whisper" says Russia and the U.S.A. have not succeeded in coming to agreement on the Syrian crisis and the missile defense plans in Europe, as the two countries' foreign ministers met in Cambodia on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit; p 8 (760 words).
14. Article by Dmitry Polikanov, vice-president of the PIR centre, in opinion column headlined "Price of Issue" urges the Russian and U.S. leaders to look for cooperation spheres and suggests that the two countries should work together in Asia; p 8 (368 words).
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
1. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Moscow-Voronezh, Then Everywhere" says that tough anti-protest laws are being drafted in the Voronezh region. Similar laws are expected to be developed all over Russia; pp 1, 3 (788 words).
2. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Azarov Should Be Dismissed, Tymoshenko Freed" says the Ukrainian parliament cannot pass the 2013 budget, the prime minister wants to sack half of the Cabinet; p 1, 7 (954 words).
3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Dissatisfied Citizens Invited to Courts" says the State Duma has approved a bill on administrative courts allowing people to complain about unlawful actions of the authorities; pp 1, 3 (775 words).
4. Igor Naumov article headlined "Way to East Shown to Gas" says Gazprom should focus on Asian markets rather than on European ones, an international gas forum held in Moscow has said; pp 1, 4 (834 words).
5. Viktor Litovkin article headlined "General Shoigu's Beijing Visit" says Russia's new Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is visiting China to familiarize himself with military-technical cooperation with foreign partners; China will also get acquainted with the new minister; pp 1-2 (681 words).
6. Nikolai Surkov article headlined "Patriots to Cover Syrian Opposition" says the EU is ready to supply the Syrian insurgents with three missile defense systems Patriot, which are to be deployed on the Turkish-Syrian border; pp 1, 8 (435 words).
7. Editorial headlined "Going, Going Along Capital..." looks into the role of Cossacks in maintaining order in public places in Moscow and notes that the Kremlin's new project does not seem to be working; p 2 (523 words).
8. Ivan Rodin report "Capture of Volgograd" says that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has begun to collect signatures demanding that Volgograd's previous name Stalingrad be returned to the city; p 3 (600 words).
9. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "U.S.A. and China Share Spheres of Influence in Asia" says Russia is only watching the fight for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region carried out by the U.S.A. and China; p 8 (543 words).
10. Lidia Orlova report "Schools in Shade of Altars" says that the Moscow Patriarchate is lobbying the religion subject and prayers to be allowed at schools; pp 1-2 of the supplement NG Religions (1,300 words).
Vedomosti
1. Yelizaveta Sergina et al. report headlined "Witness Malofeyev" says Rostelexom head Konstantin Malofeyev has claimed that his questioning as part of the VTB bank loan theft was a well-planned attack on his company; pp 1, 14 (1,086 words).
2. Yekaterina Sobol report "Closed Sky" says that the government has failed to increase Russia's competitiveness on the international air transport market; p 1 (600 words).
3. Filipp Sterkin et al. report "6% for Each" says that Russian deputies have amended the law on the accumulative part of pensions, following Putin's instructions; pp 1, 3 (600 words).
4. Irina Novikova report "Mikheyev is Next" says that A Just Russia member Oleg Mikheyev may become the next State Duma deputy to be deprived of deputy immunity; p 2 (600 words).
5. Alexei Nikolsky report "Redistribution of Case" looks at the conflict of the Investigations Committee and the Interior Ministry over the way the Defense Ministry's corruption case is being covered; p 2 (500 words).
6. Irina Kezik article headlined "Shelf for Rosneft" says that despite the fact that the Natural Resources Ministry is displeased with the way Rosneft is working on the Arctic shelf, two more oil fields in the region were handed over to the oil giant; p 11 (425 words).
7. Editorial headlined "Project Principle" looks at the list of costly projects drafted by the Far East Development Ministry and notes that the authorities plan to develop ports and transport infrastructure in the region; pp 1, 4 (556 words).
8. Another editorial headlined "Truce Without Peace" says hostilities between Israel and Hamas are unlikely to resume as powerful diplomats such as UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has intervened in the peace talks; p 4 (350 words).
Izvestia
1. Yury Matsarsky and Alexander Davashkin article headlined "War and Victims of Middle East" report on the situation in Gaza as Israel continues firing missiles at the Palestinian territory; pp 1, 5 (779 words).
2. Denis Telmanov interview with designer Valentin Yudashkin saying that the military have distorted his initial project of the new uniform he has developed, which resulted in the poor quality of military clothing; pp 1, 7 (1,000 words).
3. Vladimir Dergachev article headlined "Kremlin to Purge State Machine From Corruption Post-Factum" says that the new anti-corruption law will make Russian officials report on all property they bought in 2012; pp 1, 4 (597 words).
4. Sergei Podosenov article headlined "All-Russia People's Front Loses One of Its Leaders" says that a member of the coordination council of the All-Russia People's Front Andrei Andrianov may be expelled from the organization as he is suspected of having received a scientific degree illegally; p 2 (372 words).
5. Vladimir Gusev article headlined "President to Be Offered to Privatize State TV Channels" says the human rights council under the Russian president is to come up with an initiative to privatize state-controlled TV channels; p 2 (497 words).
6. German Petelin interview with the mother of Yekaterina Smetanova, head of an expert company engaged in assessing the price of the Defense Ministry's property, who is now kept in custody as part of the probe into the Oboronservis company corruption case. The woman claims that her daughter is innocent; p 3 (780 words).
7. Mikhail Vignansky article headlined "Russian Spies May Be Freed in Georgia" says the new Georgian authorities have acknowledged that there are political prisoners in the country. Eight people jailed for alleged spying for Russia are among them and may now be freed; p 5 (541 words).
8. Igor Yavlyansky report "Americans Block Anti-Israeli Resolution in UN Security Council" says that Russia has prepared a draft resolution to settle the crisis in the Gaza Strip; p 5 (600 words).
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
1. Marina Gritsyuk interview headlined "To Live on Salary" with Deputy Prime Minister in charge of social policy Olga Golodets speaking on a planned rise in salaries for doctors and teachers; pp 1-2 (747 words)
2. Fedor Lukyanov article headlined "Israeli Zugzwang" says Israel will not benefit from a large-scale war with the Palestinian Authority; p 2 (666 words).
3. Ivan Yegorov report "PR Is Over" says that a Moscow district court has begun to hear a case to recognize the video of the Pussy Riot group as extremist; p 7 (700 words).
4. Vladislav Vorobyov article headlined "From Gas to Tete-a-Tete" reports on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Cambodia; p 8 (829 words).
5. Anna Fedyakina article headlined "Not to Lose Face" says Israel and Hamas have only 24 hours left to reach an agreement on truce. Article provides political analysts' comments on the matter; p 8 (1,103 words).
Moskovsky Komsomolets
1. Alexander Khinshtein article headlined "6 Months Without Nurgaliyev" says the situation in the police has not improved in the first six months of the work of new Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev; pp 1, 4 (1,376 words).
2. Alexander Melman article headlined "Was There a Boy?" mocks the anti-corruption campaign waged by Russian TV channels that seem to be indifferent to the topics they are covering; pp 1, 3 (717 words).
3. Marina Ozerova report "Revolution for Victims" says that a bill has been tabled with the State Duma aiming to defend the rights of crime victims; pp 1-2 (600 words).
4. Olga Rakhimdzhanova article headlined "Opposition Activist Tells Moskovsky Komsomolets How He Was Tortured" says leader of the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Solidarity movement Denis Styazhkin claims that he has been tortured by unknown people who looked like law-enforcement officers; p 2 (811 words).
5. Alexander Rozenzaft article headlined "To Make It in 15 Seconds" reports on the situation in Israel as Hamas is firing missiles at the Israeli territory; p 3 (687 words).
6. Katerina Kuznetsova interview headlined "Russia May Break Up by 2030" with Georgy Malinetsky, deputy head of Russia's Nanotechnology Association, who says that Russia has failed to create the economy based on high technology; p 6 (1,300 words).
Novaya Gazeta
1. Lilia Shvetsova article headlined "To Break Up in Order to Unite?" says a conflict inside the opposition Coordination Council on strategy and tactics of its further activities has become public; pp 2-3 (1,250 words).
2. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Session of Connecting to Unconscious" says recent public statements by President Putin show that he is misinformed by people surrounding him about events happening in Russia and abroad; p 5 (706 words).
3. Maria Yepifanova article headlined "There Are No Spies Among Us" says the controversial law on foreign-funded NGOs comes into effect in Russia today; p 9 (388 words).
RBK Daily
1. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Police Cannot Do Without Report System" reviews the results of the first six month in office of Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and notes that although he managed to improve discipline in the police, he could not change the old system of reporting on the results of policemen's work; p 2 (400 words).
Komsomolskaya Pravda
1. Alexander Grishin interview with chair of the National Anti-Corruption Committee Kirill Kabanov and deputy of the State Duma anti-corruption committee Boris Reznik headlined "Corruption Scandals: Clannish Wars or President's New Course?" in which experts discuss the latest corruption scandals in Russia; p 7 (1,100 words).
Krasnaya Zvezda
1. Viktor Ruchkin article headlined "Illusive Hopes for Truce" looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and says none of the parties is yet ready "to accept conditions of the opposite side"; p 3 (450 words).
2. Marianna Yevdotyeva interview with deputy head of the Far East Institute Sergei Luzyanin headlined "Strategic Course to Remain the Same"; in which the pundit analyzes the situation in China following the recent party congress and change of leadership; 3 (1,400 words).
Nov. 21, 2012/BBC Monitoring/©BBC
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