What the Papers Say, July 7, 2013

Kommersant

1. Alexander Zheglov and Alexei Tarkhanov article headlined "Alexei Kuznetsov to be returned from resort" says Russia expects to extradite former Moscow Region Finance Minister Alexei Kuznetsov from France over embezzlement of public funds; pp 1, 4 (939 words).

2. Yury Senatorov article headlined "Anatoly Serdyukov sells even general's lake" says the chief military prosecutor's office has started a probe into land fraud in Moscow Region where former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov ordered to sell 140 ha of forests to two companies for a suspiciously low price; pp 1, 4 (868 words).

3. Olga Shestopal and Grigory Tumanov article headlined "Banks sent to car impound" says Moscow has made public a list of banks which have problems with informing the traffic police about the fines paid by drivers; pp 1, 8 (655 words).

4. Oleg Trutnev article headlined "Regions have bottle corked" says alcohol manufacturers in Russian regions will no longer be able to receive tax benefits due to the law signed by President Vladimir Putin; pp 1, 10 (544 words).

5. Taisia Bekbulatova and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Yevgeny Urlashov to go to elections from detention center" says the Civil Platform party has listed Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov, who is under arrest now, the first in its ticket for Yaroslavl Region legislative assembly election; p 2 (795 words).

6. Petr Netreba interview with Deputy Finance Minister Mikhail Kotyukov speaking on the Russian fiscal policy; p 2 (426 words).

7. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Kremlin to teach party reserves" says the Kremlin is to hold seminars for candidates of the parliamentary parties personnel reserve in autumn; p 2 (689 words).

8. Irina Nagornykh et al. report headlined "Conservatism to every screen" says Spas TV belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church is to be reformatted into a conservative TV channel to be included in the second digital TV channels package; p 4 (755 words).

9. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Interesting undertaking" reports on the opening of the World University Games in Kazan attended by Putin; p 5 (926 words).

10. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Muhammad Morsi opponents will have to deal with Brotherhood" says the refusal of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to recognize the new president may result in a civil war in Egypt; p 6 (596 words).

11. Kirill Belyaninov et al. report headlined "Stay incompatible with visit" says the delayed stay of CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden at Sheremetyevo airport may further spoil Russian-U.S. relations. U.S. President Barack Obama may even cancel his visit to Moscow because of that; p 6 (805 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Military field sequestration" says the Russian Armed Forces reform is to be held in a difficult economic situation: the threat of further budget cuts and the reduction of military personnel; pp 1-2 (1,084 words).

2. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Sentenced to protests" says the trial of opposition activists, such as Moscow mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny and Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov, makes opposition protesters more radical; pp 1-2 (949 words).

3. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "State Banks had their ratings lowered due to budget problems" says Russia's growing budget deficit has resulted in the state-controlled banks losing their ratings. The Finance Ministry is expected to spend some of its reserve funds on current fiscal problems; pp 1, 4 (728 words).

4. Mikhail Sergeiev article headlined "Moscow Region authorities hope for finance miracle" says the Russian authorities have welcomed the arrest of former Moscow Region Finance Minister Alexei Kuznetsov. They expect to return the money he stole to the budget; pp 1, 4 (866 words).

5. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Party and government make efforts on behalf of Communist" says the authorities want to present a state award to deputy chairman of the Communists Party central committee Vladimir Kashin; pp 1, 3 (767 words).

6. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Islamists take revenge" says Egypt is on the brink of a civil war as the military are unable to form a new government. Muslim Brotherhood refused to cooperate with the new authorities; pp 1, 6 (623 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Not mentioned figure" questions the Russian Interior Ministry's plans to set up special groups to fight against ethnic crimes; p 2 (516 words).

8. Natalia Savitskaya interview with Vladimir Fortov, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, speaking on the planned reform of the academy; p 3 (721 words).

9. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Britain gets rid of Bin-Ladin's comrade-in-arms" says the UK has finally extradited Jordanian cleric, Abu-Qatadah, who used to be protected by court; p 6 (506 words).

Izvestia

1. Viktor Loginov article headlined "Proton crash to delay digital TV development" says the recent Proton-M rocket crash will make it impossible to start digital TV broadcast in Russian regions as previously planned; pp 1, 4 (508 words).

2. Yury Matsarskiy article headlined "Egyptian Islamists call for 'fighting and dying for democracy'" reports on the situation in Egypt following the military coup; pp 1, 7 (713 words).

3. Alexandra Yermakova article headlined "Rosreyestr accused of disclosing state secrets" says the Russian Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreyestr) reportedly has not received the authorisation from the Federal Security Service and the Defense Ministry for the maps it planned to publish on its website for general access; pp 1, 4 (696 words).

4. Maria Kunle article headlined "Presidential administration drafts blacklists" says the Russian federal bodies have been ordered to make a list of officials whose spendings exceed their revenues; the officials are to lose their jobs; pp 1, 4 (761 words).

5. Anton Mardasov interview with Civil Platform party leader Mikhail Prokhorov, who speaks about the situation with arrested Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov; p 3 (700 words).

6. Anna Akhmadiyeva report "TV channel Pyatnitsa reanimates Ksenia Sobchak" says that opposition figure and TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak returns to TV; p 3 (700 words).

7. Dmitry Yevstifeyev interview with businessman Sergei Shmelev speaking on the bribe allegedly extorted from him by arrested Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov; p 5 (1,796 words).

8. Anna Akhmadiyeva report "TV channel Ekspert-TV escapes from creditors to Ivanovo" looks at financial difficulties facing the TV channel Ekspert-TV; p 9 (650 words).

Vedomosti

1. Irina Kezik and Filipp Sterkin article headlined "Sechin finds who to shift taxes to" says the growing oil giant Rosneft wants taxes on oil extraction to be reduced pp 1, 12 (618 words).

2. Maxim Tovkaylo and Olga Kuvshinova article headlined "Main people of country" says budget difficulties have not prevented the Finance Ministry from planning to raise officials' salaries by 2.6 times; pp 1, 4 (644 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Cyber arms race" says that the surveillance scandal provoked by CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden is to give rise to a new arms race in cyber technologies; pp 1, 6 (348 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "Poverty on credit" looks into the bank loans policy in Russia and notes that the authorities' plans to impose punishment on debtors will hit the poorest people most; p 6 (376 words).

5. Olga Kabanova article headlined "Person of week: Irina Antonova" reviews the results of the work of Irina Antonova who has resigned from the post of Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts director; p 7 (379 words).

6. Lilia Biryukova interview with Sverdlovsk Region governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev speaking on the regional development plans, energy tariffs for UC Rusal and criminal cases opened against his opponents; p 8 (4,701 words).

7. Anastasia Kornya report "Voice from under custody" says that pronunciation of the verdict to opposition activist Alexei Navalny may coincide with his registration as a Moscow mayoral candidate; p 2 (750 words).

8. Maria Zheleznova report "Bolotnaya left without parties" says that the Justice Ministry does not register the parties set up by activists of the protest movement; p 2 (550 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Krivoshapko interview "Remote measures" with Regional Development Minister Igor Slyunyayev speaking on development plans for single-industry towns, the maintenance of facilities built for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok and the policy of tolerance; pp 1, 6 (1,900 words).

2. Vladimir Fedosenko article headlined "Interpol helps" gives details of the arrest of the former Finance Minister of the Moscow Region government, Alexei Kuznetsov, in France; p 4 (450 words).

3. Vladimir Snegirev article headlined "Blitzkrieg fails" says political instability continues in Egypt as Islamists refuse to obey the new authorities; pp 1, 5 (2,500 words).

4. Olga Dmitryeva article headlined "Abu-Qatadah sent with peace" says the UK has extradited Jordanian cleric, Abu-Qatadah; p 5 (300 words).

5. Kira Latukhina report "Shield and digit" says that Putin has called on the Armed Forces to be ready to repel information attacks; p 2 (600 words).

6. Lyubov Protsenko interview "News from Sergei Sobyanin" looks at the problems that acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin regards as the most acute for the city; p 3 (750 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Natalia Rozhkova article headlined "Prokhorov takes bit between his teeth again" says billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has expressed support to Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov arrested on bribery charges; pp 1-2 (600 words).

2. Sergei Pashkov article headlined "Revolution has no end" tries to predict further developments in Egypt which is on the verge of a civil war; p 3 (1,000 words).

3. Melor Sturua article headlined "Ethical hacker" analyses CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden's background and says that failure of U.S. secret services to find out about the real plans of his work has shown their poor security policy; p 3 (600 words).

4. Melor Sturua article headlined "They wait for Edward Snowden in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua" looks at the situation Edward Snowden has found himself in; p 3 (400 words).

RBC Daily

1. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Russian police" says Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev is using the 1970s New York police as a model while reforming his agency; p 2 (600 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Alexei Polikovskiy article "Day in torture room" is a report from a courtroom where the case of the 2012 mass riots, the so-called Bolotnaya case, is being heard; pp 2-3 (1,600 words).

2. Yevgeny Feldman article headlined "'Innocent need no indulgence'" reports on a trial of opposition activist Alexei Navalny; p 4 (900 words).

3. Olga Prosvirova article "Some day in December..." reports on a trial against former editor in chief of the Ura.ru news agency Aksana Panova; p 5 (1,000 words).

4. Andrei Kolesnikov commentary headlined "Academic exchange" says the scandal over the Russian Academy of Sciences reform shows that the Kremlin is deaf to public opinion and the State Duma is carrying out all presidential orders regardless of their meaning; p 12 (462 words).

5. Pavel Kanygin article headlined "Who betrays chief?" says that Yaroslavl mayoral office officials are likely to be put under pressure to testify against mayor Yevgeny Urlashov; p 11 (1,349 words)

6. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Riot" reports on the recent disturbances in Voronezh Region where the locals attacked a camp of geologists exploring local mineral resources; pp 18-19 (2,025 words).Defense

Noviye Izvestia

1. Vera Moslakova article headlined "To execute on workers' request" says a group of enthusiasts has demanded that opposition activists Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, Sergei Mitrokhin and others be stripped of their Russian citizenship; pp 1-2 (897 words).

2. Yulia Savina article headlined "In prison environment" says Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov will run for governor while staying in a remand program; p 2 (400 words).

3. Vladimir Vodo interview with the Georgian defense minister speaking on prospects for restoring relations with Russia and the Georgian defense policy; p 2 (797 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Alexander Kots and Dmitry Steshin article headlined "Revolution with sticky sludge" says sexual violence is on the rise in Cairo; p 6 (1,100 words).

2. Alexander Kots and Dmitry Steshin article headlined "Islamists go for revenge" says supporters of Egypt's deposed president are not going to give up; p 6 (300 words).

3. Oleg Matveychev article headlined "Political vacuum cleaner" criticizes the Civil Platform party; p 12 (1,100 words).

4. Maria Semenova article headlined "Navalny ready to take United Russia's voices" says opposition candidate Alexei Navalny has agreed to use the ruling party's help to get backing of municipal deputies during the mayoral election in Moscow; p 12 (400 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Svetlana Babayeva article headlined "Year of horse" looks at the current developments in the Russian politics, such as election campaigns and difficulties facing NGOs; pp B2-B3 (1,500 words).

2. Nikita Ivanov article headlined "Digits in glass house" is an interview with Russian senator Nikita Ivanov on the current intelligence trends and CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden; pp B4-B6 (2,000 words).

3. Fedor Lukyanov article headlined "Dull flat world" comments on U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden; p B7 (800 words).

4. Alexandra Beluza article headlined "Many small internets" is an interview with Russian security experts Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan about internet operations of Russian and US intelligence services; pp B10-B12 (2,500 words).