What the Papers Say, Feb. 27, 2013

Kommersant

1. Vladimir Dzaguto et al. report headlined "Administrative energy resource" says the Kremlin is making amendments to the drafts of the boards of directors for the state controlled energy companies made by the government. A large number of officials having connections with Rosneft head Igor Sechin were included in the lists; p 1 (774 words).

2. St Petersburg-based Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "Lawmakers ask for more money" says the Russian Constitutional Court has started hearing an appeal of Arkhangelsk Region deputies willing to keep high bonuses they are supposed to get after stepping down from office. The Russian Supreme court has already cancelled the bonuses, the State Duma and Prosecutor General's Office have also spoken out against the golden parachutes; pp 1, 3 (738 words).

3. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "That is what was supposed be shown" says the former Moscow policemen sentenced to 11 years in prison over his role in the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Dmitriy Pavlyuchenkov, gave evidence on another high-profile murder of the editor-in-chief of the Tolyattinskoye Obozreniye newspaper Aleksey Sidorov; pp 1, 6 (840 words).

4. Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "UABC deviates from privatization plan" says the United Aircraft Building Corporation (UABC) has asked the government to postpone its privatization until 2020. The corporation hopes to reform itself into a holding attractive for investors in seven years; pp 1, 9 (928 words).

5. Andrey Kolesnikov article headlined "It was written at child delivery" reports on President Putin's visit to a private maternity hospital; p 2 (631 words).

6. Natalya Korchenkova article headlined "Senators may follow deputies" says Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko has said that some senators may choose business over their seats and step down from their posts as required by the new anticorruption legislation; p 3 (570 words).

7. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Regional elites deceived with elections" says the Kremlin is choosing regions where governors could be safely appointed rather than elected; p 4 (1,058 words).

8. Article by Boris Nadezhdin, head of the law department of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, in opinion column headlined "Price of issue" calls for more financial and administrative powers for Russian regions; p 4 (442 words).

9. Interview with Dmitriy Badovskiy, head of the Institute of Social Economical and Political Studies, saying the election of the regional heads does not improve the regional economy and living standards of the people; p 4 (627 words).

10. Interview with Vladimir Gelman, professor of European Institute in St Petersburg, who explains why elected governors might cause problems to the Kremlin; p 4 (643 words).

11. Oleg Rubinkovich article headlined "Aleksandr Reimer charged with electronic tags" says that the former head of the Federal Penal Service, Aleksandr Reimer, and his deputy Nikolay Krivolapoc charged with embezzling more than R1bn in public funding for the purchase of electronic tags for convicts; p 5 (1,000 words).

12. Grigoriy Tumanov article headlined "Civil activity of Muscovites directed towards usual route" says the Moscow authorities used a rally organized in support of the ban on foreign adoptions to prevent the opposition from carrying out a demonstration in the center of the city on 2 March; p 6 (439 words).

13. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "US President asked not to start disarmament" says a group of powerful politicians have asked President Obama not to start disarmament talks with Russia, the president, however, sticks to his plans; p 7 (559 words).

14. Galina Dudina and Maksim Yusin article headlined "Romans follow way of Greeks" says the political stalemate caused by the parliamentary election results may trigger a crisis similar to the Greek one in Italy; p 7 (665 words).

15. Sergei Strokan article headlined "John Kerry persuades Syrian opposition" says the US Secretary of State John Kerry has managed to save the US diplomacy from a failure as he persuaded the Syrian opposition not to boycott an international conference on the Syrian conflict; p 7 (592 words).

16. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Falkland conflict reaches nuclear level" says the UK-Argentinean conflict over the Falkland islands has escalated again as Buenos Aires accused the UK of sending nuclear submarines to the region; p 7 (556 words).

Vedomosti

1. Tatyana Voronova et al. report headlined "Government to insure Central Bank" says the Russian government wants to allocate two seats in the Central Bank's board of directors for its candidates; pp 1, 14 (539 words).

2. Roman Dorokhov and Filipp Sterkin article headlined "Occasion in register" says around 1,000 Russian companies had the names of their owners changed due to a mistake in the Russian Single State Register of Legal Entities; pp 1, 16 (420 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Army for summer" looks into pluses and minuses of organizing a short-term summer military training for university students who are obliged to do military service; pp 1, 6 (418 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "Regulation by TV" says corruption in the public utilities sector results in high cost of tariffs; p 6 (284 words).

5. Irina Novikova article headlined "Orphans to be settled in for R1.5 bn" says authorities have put forward certain initiatives to stimulate children adoption in Russia; however, the most important measures have not been proposed yet, an expert says; p 3 (430 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Ambush regiment of Yury Chaika" says the Russian authorities are now considering the possibility of giving prosecutors and judges more powers rather than the Investigations Committee, as a reform of the law enforcement agencies to merge all investigations departments within the committee has been postponed; pp 1, 3 (817 words).

2. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "There will be no great leap" says the Russian authorities have to acknowledge that no significant economic growth should be expected in Russia in 2013; pp 1, 4 (908 words).

3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Federalism undergoing tests in Constitutional Court" says the Russian Constitutional Court has started hearing an appeal by Arkhangelsk Region parliamentarians who want to keep their bonuses despite Moscow disagreement; pp 1, 3 (614 words).

4. Ivan Nekrasov and Velimir Razuvayev article headlined "Kvachkov comrades-in-arms fail to wait to see 'Dawn'" says the Urals supporters of retired colonel Vladimir Kvachkov have been found guilty of plotting a coup and given suspended and real prison sentences; pp 1, 6 (801 words).

5. Andrei Serenko article headlined "Volgograd deputies become personal" reports on scandals involving One Russia and A Just Russia deputies in Volgograd Region duma; pp 1 — 2 (688 words).

6. Viktoria Panfilova article headlined "Moscow starts supporting Bishkek" looks into the changes in Russian policy in Central Asia, as economic support to Kyrgyzstan is likely to urge the country join the Russian-lead Customs Union; pp 1, 7 (692 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Moscow station" reviews the results of the recent meeting of the financial ministers of G20 member states in Moscow and notes that the Russian economy needs international support; p 2 (491 words).

8. Valeria Khamrayeva article headlined "Justice Ministry surprise human rights activists" says that the Russian Justice Ministry has issued a detailed description of the NGO definition. From now on, organizations that are funded from abroad and are involved in political activities, but do not regard themselves NGOs, may defend themselves at court or change the sphere of their activities; p 3 (650 words).

9. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "EU promises much alternative gas to Ukraine" says the EU-Ukraine summit may trigger another dispute in the Russian-Ukrainian relations as Brussels has expressed interest in joining the Russian-Ukrainian gas consortium which is now being negotiated; p 7 (1,102 words).

10. Nikolai Surkov article headlined "Tehran inspired by Pyongyang example" says the beginning of the international talks on the Iranian nuclear programme has shown that Tehran got used to tough sanctions and is now demanding concessions from the West; p 8 (575 words).

Izvestia

1. Svetlana Subbotina article headlined "They want to strip convicted people of right to stand for MPs" reviews a bill on elections drafted by the Russian Central Electoral Commission; pp 1-2 (578 words).

2. Sergey Ispolatov article headlined "Rivals to be created for Gazprom" says the Russian Energy Ministry wants to allow more companies export gas to Europe. Gazprom is unlikely to welcome the plans; pp 1, 4 (779 words).

3. Kristina Botulu article headlined "Documents of Kuzmin could be forged" says a new scandal involving the adoption of Maksim Kuzmin by a US couple has emerged. He could have been adopted by using forged documents; pp 1, 4 (540 words).

4. Petr Kozlov article headlined "Central Electoral Commission gives up plans to set up its own TV studio" says the Central Electoral Commission gave up an initiative by its head Vladimir Churov to set up their own TV studio as it turned out to be too costly; p 2 (610 words).

5. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Bargaining over Iranian programme begins" says experts have expressed slight optimism over the results of the talks on the Iranian nuclear programme; p 7 (308 words).

6. Vladimir Barinov article headlined "State order lets facilities manager of Interior Ministry special forces down" says that Vladimir Gorshukov, the head of Interior Ministry's Directorate for Special Forces and Aviation, has handed a letter of resignation. The move is allegedly related to the latest scandals over the state order contracts in his department; p 5 (500 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Vladislav Vorobyev article headlined "Opened small window in Europe" comments on the talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry, saying that one meeting doesn't allow to resolve controversial issues in Russian-US bilateral ties; pp 1, 3 (600 words).

2. Kira Latukhina article headlined "In family style" reports on President Putin's visit to a private maternity hospital; p 2 (800 words).

3. Tamara Shkel article headlined "Old enough to be father" revises a bill drafted by the parliament envisaging more financial and legal support for Russian citizens willing to become foster parents; p 2 (700 words).

4. Natalya Kozlova article headlined "If jailed than with diamonds" says that Yevgenia Vasilyeva, charged with fraud, has asked investigators to return diamonds seized from her; p 7 (500 words).

5. Yevgeny Shestakov article headlined " Group of Six won't make game" says that the talks on the Iranian nuclear issue are doomed to failure; p 8 (400 words).

6. Interview with pundit Mikhail Gorshkov on the opposition movement in Russia; pp 1, 13 (2,900 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Ignat Kalinin article headlined "They would like not to see video" says a new controversial bill banning the use of video registering devices will allow the police to seize the video recorded by drivers which can be used to protect their rights; pp 1-2 (665 words).

2. Mikhail Rostovskiy interview with Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets speaking on orphans in Russia and measures taken to help them; pp 1, 4 (2,676 words).

3. Tatyana Fedotkina article headlined "Children — trampled flowers of life" speaks on child abuse in Russia and calls for the development of juvenile justice; pp 1, 6 (782 words).

4. Mikhail Zubov article headlined "Matviyenko admitted she was brought up on Indian films" says Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko's visit to India was marked with scandal, as she assured the country's authorities that she would go to Moscow after that, however, she went to Pakistan instead; p 2 (414 words).

5. Matvey Ganapolskiy article headlined "Register me with Depardieu!" slams the new bill on tougher regulations for residential registration in Russia; p 3 (1,142 words).

6. Nikolay Vardul article headlined "Central bank to take control over GDP" says Russian economy might be separated from politics by a new financial regulator that may be headed by a prominent economist Aleksey Kudrin or the head of VTB24 Mikhail Zadornov; p 5 (650 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Kirill Rogov article headlined "Putin's new doctrine" analyses changes in President Putin's policy turning Russia into a police state with state nationalism and "the nationalization" of elite; pp 7-8 (1,044 words).

2. Vasiliy Golovnin article headlined "Country of 'alternative food'" reports on life in North Korea where provincial resident are starving while Pyongyang opens luxurious stores; p 20 (1,090 words).

RBK Daily

1. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Heavy heritage of Reimar" comments on the embezzlement scandal within the Federal Penal Service around the purchase of electronic tags for convicts; p 2 (500 words).

2. Yulia Yakovleva article headlined "Working area" says quotes parliamentary opposition as saying that expelling people from the State Duma is related not to the law banning officials from having property abroad but with the desire to discredit the parliament and clear some space for the People's Front movement; pp 1-2 (600 words).

3. Aleksandr Litoy article headlined "Hatred towards experts" says that criminal proceedings have been launched against Dmitry Rogozin's deputy, a member of the presidium bureau of the Motherland (Rodina) party, Aleksandr Bosykh. Even Bosykh's opponents ask not to send him to jail; p 2 (400 words).

4. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Searches lead to resignation" says that the head of the Care and Maintenance Control joint stock company, which was one of the Oboronservis company's suppliers, has resigned after the searches were conducted in the company's headquarters; p 2 (500 words).

Novye Izvestia

1. Margarita Alekhina and Olga Shmeleva article headlined "Endless circle" says that the status of foreigners trying to obtain political or economic asylum in Russia is often rejected and they are deported under various pretenses; pp 1, 5 (700 words).

2. Vera Moslakova article headlined "'Gone beyond borders set for party'" says that Dmitry Gudkov and Gennady Gudkov will not leave the A Just Russia party even if they are both stripped of their leading posts within the party; p 2 (1,100 words).

3. Yuliya Savina article headlined "Costly detention" says that three companies that supplied food for convicts under the Federal Penal Service order are suspected of embezzling R32m; p 2 (500 words).

4. Nataliya Amanova article headlined "Classifies object revealed" says that Syrian militants have seized the destroyed center of nuclear research; p 2 (400 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Alexei Drobotov and Vitaly Klimov article headlined "Depardieu's free apartment in Groznyy estimated at R15 m" gives a description of the actor's new apartment, given to him in Groznyy, calls it "posh"; pp 1, 6 (400 words).

2. Alexei Duel article headlined "Students to undertake military service during university studies" gives remarks of a representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense on advantages of the experiment in 32 Russian universities; p 4 (320 words).

Feb. 27, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

Related articles:

• What the Papers Say, Feb. 26, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Feb. 25, 2012
• What the Papers Say, Feb. 22, 2012