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What the Papers Say, Apr. 17, 2013

Kommersant


1. Kirill Melnikov article headlined "Rosneft pumped in big way" says Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has criticized the work of Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, in the republic. He became the first official to speak out against the work of the company after Igor Sechin became the head of Rosneft; pp 1, 11 (863 words).

2. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "They have to run hard after terrorist" says the U.S. law enforcement services are following only one lead in the Boston marathon explosions. They suspect an individual bomber of organizing the blasts; pp 1, 8 (881 words).

3. Sergei Mashkin article headlined "Sergei Shoigu takes side in Oboronservis case" says the Russian Defense Ministry has been recognized as an aggrieved party in the case of Oboronservis and has claimed 277 million rubles ($8.9 million) in compensation. Real estate belonging to former Defense Ministry official Yevgenya Vasilyeva serves as a pledge for the compensation of the losses; pp 1, 3 (798 words).

4. Yevgeny Timoshinov et al. article headlined "Developers invited for transfer" says the Moscow city authorities are looking for investors to build transport infrastructure and are offering land to build commercial facilities in return; pp 1, 11 (991 words).

5. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Mixed system causes confusion" says the State Duma opposition is displeased with the new bill on the parliamentary election allowing independent candidates to take part in the voting; p 2 (644 words).

6. Sofia Samokhina and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Raids against migrants to be authorized bypassing prosecutor's office" says the Federal Migration Service will be able to check entrepreneurs hiring migrants without the relevant authorization by the prosecutor's office; p 3 (612 words).

7. Vyacheslav Kozlov article headlined "Foreign agents need political capital" reports on amendments to the law on foreign-funded NGOs drafted by the human rights council under the Russian president which define the term "foreign agent"; p 5 (574 words).

8. Grigory Tumanov article headlined "Prosecutor's office cracx down on roundtable" says an NGO from Kostroma has been labelled as a foreign agent after it held a roundtable discussion on Russian-U.S. relations; p 5 (486 words).

9. Alexander Voronov and Pavel Korobov article headlined "Orthodox construction written into schedule" says Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has pledged support to the Russian Orthodox Church which complained about problems with the implementation of its plan to build 200 new churches in the city; p 5 (644 words).

10. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Rusty pipe calls" reports on President Putin's visit to the Kalmyk Republic where he raised the issue of dilapidated housing. He suggested that a program to re-locate people from old housing into new flats should be extended until 2017; p 6 (1,045 words).

11. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Russia to remain Venezuela's friend" says the victory of Nicolas Maduro at the Venezuelan presidential election will help Russia keep its positions in Latin America. Meanwhile, the opposition is displeased with the election results and is planning protests; p 8 (664 words).


Nezavisimaya Gazeta


1. Grigory Zaslavsky article headlined "Minister Medinsky rejects Marxism-Leninism" says the Russian Culture Ministry's decision to merge two large libraries has given rise to a controversy in Moscow: there are concerns that the merger will result in the closure of one of the facilities; pp 1-2 (976 words).

2. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Liberal electorate left to their own devices" comments on a bill on State Duma elections passed in the first reading and notes that the liberal electorate, which accounts for 30 percent of the voters, is not represented by any political forces now; pp 1, 3 (890 words).

3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Mixed election system approved in first reading" says the parliamentary opposition has spoken out against proposed amendments to the law on parliamentary elections, opposing single-seat candidates and calling for the right to form electoral blocs; pp 1, 3 (862 words).

4. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Opposition getting ready to assault Kirov" says protests are expected in Kirov as the local court is to open hearings into the case of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny; pp 1, 3 (523 words).

5. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "CSTO umbrella to be upgraded in Kant" says Russia is planning to upgrade its air base in Kyrgyzstan to use it in possible operations by the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states; pp 1-2 (837 words).

6. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "FBI starts dealing with ore in Guinea" says a French businessman has been arrested in the U.S. on suspicion of offering a $12 million bribe for an iron-ore deposit in Guinea; pp 1-2 (591 words).

7. Editorial headlined "From Magnitsky List to Obama's message" calls on Moscow and Washington to set aside their respective blacklists of personae non-gratae and work on an agenda which could help the two countries develop their relations; p 2 (495 words).

8. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Beijing suspects that U.S. wants to split China" comments on the Chinese military doctrine published in Beijing; p 8 (492 words).

9. Vladislav Maltsev article published in the Religion supplement of the paper and headlined "Inspector going to church" looks into the checks of religious NGOs in Russia conducted by law enforcers; pp 1-2 (1800 words).


Vedomosti


1. Vladimir Shtanov article headlined "Lada to go on without Vardanyan" says businessman Ruben Vardanyan is selling his 20.53 percent stake in the AvtoVAZ car manufacturer for around $600 million; pp 1, 13 (531 words).

2. Another editorial headlined "Hunting for conscripts" says the call-up campaigns in Russia are turning into a hunt for conscripts with mass violations of laws and human rights; p 6 (285 words).

3. Irina Novikova and Lilya Biryukova article headlined "State Duma's zero question" says State Duma deputies are to use Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's report on the work of his cabinet to criticize his ministers. Education Minister Dmitry Livanov is expected to be criticized most; pp 1, 3 (503 words).

4. Editorial headlined "Run, Forrest, run" says some experts believe U.S. radicals displeased with the country's government to be behind the blasts in Boston; pp 1, 6 (440 words).

5. Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "Explosive finish" says U.S. special services are investigating the Boston explosions while Russian law enforcers say they will beef up security ahead of the Sochi Olympics following the tragedy in the U.S.; p 2 (600 words).

6. Olga Proskurnina and Yekaterina Kravchenko article headlined "She will not go rusty" recalls the legacy of Margaret Thatcher as British prime minister, ahead of her funeral today; pp 8-9 (2,380 words).


Izvestia


1. Alexander Grigoryev article headlined "Interior Ministry to arrest Hermitage head William Browder in absentia" comments on Russian plans to put businessman William Browder on an international wanted list; pp 1, 4 (595 words).

2. Anastasia Kashevarova and Alyona Sivkova article headlined "Skolkovo pays lawmaker Ponomaryov over 22 million rubles [$750,000]" says opposition Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov received large sums of money from the Skolkovo fund for two years but he did not list all of them in his recent income declaration; pp 1-2 (752 words).

3. Alexei Mikhailov article headlined "Defense Ministry replaces lead bullets with steel ones" says the Russian Defense Ministry is ordering new steel bullets to replace old lead ones; pp 1, 4 (490 words).

4. Vladimir Loginov article headlined "Secret services to monitor change of mobile phone operator" says Russian mobile phone companies will be obliged to provide secret services with information on their subscribers changing operators while keeping their phone numbers; pp 1, 3 (419 words).

5. Yelena Teslova article headlined "Rights activists propose to Putin and Obama to set up joint fund" says Russian human rights veteran Lev Ponomaryov has suggested that a joint Russian-U.S. fund to support NGOs should be set up; p 2 (439 words).

6. Igor Yavlyansky article headlined "Nationalists or Shi'is may be declared responsible for blasts in U.S." says the blasts in Boston have become the first failure of the U.S. secret services following the 9/11 attack; pp 1, 8 (737 words).


Rossiskaya Gazeta


1. Roman Markelov and Yelena Kukol article headlined "Transparent hint" says Russia may join the EU countries which will put an end to the banking secret in a campaign against money laundering and corruption; pp 1, 7 (665 words).

2. Roman Markelov interview with Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev speaking on new pension savings schemes; pp 1, 5 (1,668 words).

3. Yevgeny Shestakov article headlined "Bombs instead of prizes" gives details of the blasts in Boston; pp 1, 8 (647 words).

4. Tatyana Smolyakova article headlined "Three days and residential registration ready" says new regulations compel migration officials to provide people with residential registration in three days; pp 1, 17 (617 words).

5. Olga Dmitryeva article headlined "Big Ben sees Maggie off with silence" says not all Britons are expressing condolences on Margaret Thatcher's passing; p 8 (492 words).

6. Fyodor Lukyanov article headlined "Exhausted agenda" comments on the pragmatic U.S. approach to relations with Russia demonstrated during the recent visit of the U.S. president's adviser for national security, Thomas Donilon, to Moscow; p 8 (705 words).

7. Susanna Alperina article headlined "Dirty jokes" loox into a scandal provoked by a controversial joke made by Russian TV-presenter Ivan Urgant in a program on state-controlled Channel One; p 7 (400 words).


Moskovsky Komsomolets


1. Andrei Yashlavsky and Irina Kuxenkova article headlined "Deadly finish" loox into the main theories for who is behind the blasts in Boston; pp 1-2 (989 words).

2. Marina Ozerova article headlined "State Duma with pockets up" reviews income declarations submitted by the State Duma deputies; pp 1, 4 (1,674 words).

3. Alexander Rostarchuk article headlined "Breathe deeper, you are to blame!" slams the Russian authorities' stance on the ban of any traces of alcohol in the blood of drivers; pp 1, 3 (600 words).

4. Mikhail Zubov, Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Kirov becomes opposition capital" focuses on preparations for the upcoming trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a regional court and features comments on the issue from the court's secretary; p 5 (800 words)


Novaya Gazeta


1. Alexander Panov article headlined "Obama to answer for everything" says the twin blasts in Boston have become a challenge for the U.S. security system developed after the Sept.11 attacks; p 2 (804 words).

2. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Terrorist attack in Boston will be solved" says the U.S. law enforcement services have enough resources to find the organizers of the Boston explosions, however, it will be hard to prevent similar attacks; p 5 (633 words).


RBK daily


1. Yulia Yakovleva and Valery Perevozchikov article headlined "Dog's life of Olympics" says that as part of preparations for the 2014 Olympic Games 2014, the Sochi authorities have announced a tender for getting rid of stray dogs and cats, which has caused protests by local environmentalists; pp 1-2 (500 words).


Noviye Izvestia


1. Unattributed article "Bugayev-Africa admits existence of anti-opposition art project" is based on a story by the Lenta.ru website and says that artist Sergei Bugayev has confirmed that there is a developing art project aimed at discrediting opposition; p 4 (200 words).


Tvoi Den


1. Unattributed article "Finger in pie" accuses opposition lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov of not declaring some of his income; p 2 (100 words).


Komsomolskaya Pravda


1. Tatyana Reut article headlined "Retired colonel Sergei Shestov: 'This could have been done by Americans themselves'" is an interview with a former Russian colonel, in which he comments on the Boston blasts; p 5 (600 words).


Krasnaya Zvezda


1. Vadim Astafyev and Yevgeny Pavlov article headlined "Rostvertol: To catch up with and surpass Apache" is an interview with the director general of a helicopter factory in Rostov-on-Don, Boris Slyusar; p 2 (800 words).


Apr. 17, 2013/BBC Monitoring/©BBC

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