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What the Papers Say, July 26, 2013

Kommersant


1. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Kremlin prays for entire Syria" reports on President Vladimir Putin's meeting with representatives of the Orthodox Church from different countries in the Kremlin. The situation in Syria was one of the topics on the agenda; p 1 (706 words).


2. Anna Pushkarskaya et al. report headlined "Yukos case sentenced to revision" says the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the prosecution of former Yukos oil company head Mikhail Khodorkovskyand his business partner Platon Lebedev was not politically motivated. However, the court raised concerns over violations of the rights of the defendants during the trial. The Russian Supreme Court is now to decide whether the verdict to the men should be revoked and they tried again; pp 1, 3 (1,025 words).


3. Nina Vlasova et al. report headlined "Moscow starts dealing with fines" says the Moscow city authorities want to take charge of fines for drivers levied over their violations of traffic safety rules as the traffic police have failed to register fines paid by drivers at some banks; pp 1, 7 (556 words).


4. Yelizaveta Kuznetsova and Sergei Sobolev article headlined "Aeroflot takes cheap decision" says that Russia's biggest airline Aeroflot will set up a low cost air carrier whose tickets will cost 30-40 percent less than the average price on air tickets in Russia; pp 1, 9 (426 words).


5. Maxim Ivanov et al. report headlined "Moscow Region unfastens from capital" says that around 150,000 absentee ballots will be used in Moscow Region governor election. Meanwhile, acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has called for giving up "grey" schemes in the Moscow mayoral election; p 2 (666 words).


6. Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "United Russia enters turbulence zone" says a recent public opinion poll has shown that United Russia's popularity is fluctuating. Experts note the trend is not favorable for the party; p 2 (564 words).


7. Petr Netreba report "Competition environment on Thursdays" says that the discussion of the annual report of the Federal Antimonopoly Service on competition in Russia in 2012 at a government meeting has nearly resulted in a public conflict over the powers of the government members; p 2 (700 words).


8. Sergei Goryashko and Ivan Safronov article headlined "Public TV ready to go into debts" says the bank Vneshekonombank is to allocate an additional 300 million rubles (around $9 million) to help the Russian Public TV channel resolve its financial problems; p 3 (643 words).


9. Vladislav Trifonov article headlined "Person involved in Magnitsky List reaches London court" says that former Moscow policeman Pavel Karpov is suing Hermitage Capital fund head William Browder for defamation. The former policeman believes the businessman has lied about his involvement in the theft of budget funds and the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitskiy; p 4 (498 words).


10. Olga Kuznetsova et al. report headlined "Fight for Ichkeria shifts to Syria" says the Foreign Ministry has in fact acknowledged that Chechen militants are taking part in the Syrian conflict. Over 100 Chechen insurgents are reportedly fighting in Syria; p 5 (596 words).


11. Kirill Belyaninov et al. report headlined "Barack Obama caught between the devil and the deep sea" says the U.S. authorities cannot decide whether President Barack Obama should visit Russia or not due to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden's case. Obama is said to be under pressure from those who say the visit should be cancelled as it may spoil the president's relations with the U.S. Congress; p 5 (669 words).


12. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Syrian war splits Iraq" says the Syrian conflict has caused clashes between Sunni and Shi'i in neighboring Iraq. Baghdad cannot keep the security situation in the country under control after U.S. troops left Iraq. The article features a Russian pundit's comment on the problem; p 5 (511 words).


Nezavisimaya Gazeta


1. Alexandra Samarina and Ivan Rodin article headlined "Tolerance-2020" says the Russian government plans to spend 4.58 billion rubles on teaching Russians to be tolerant to migrants. Experts believe the plans will be waste of money as Russians daily see how the authorities violate their rights and the rights of migrants; pp 1-2 (1,022 words).


2. Igor Naumov article headlined "Russia may suffocate with petrol products" looks at the government plans to develop the oil sector and notes that oil companies may face an overproduction crisis in a few years; pp 1-2 (582 words).


3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Peculiarities of family corruption" says Russian officials attribute their failure to declare their income correctly to problems in relations with spouses. The Labor Ministry has issued an instruction as to how to check officials in such cases; pp 1, 3 (748 words).


4. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Hacker Hell against blogger Navalny" says the electoral headquarters of Moscow mayoral hopeful and opposition activist Alexei Navalny have denied the information spread by hacker nicknamed Hell alleging that Navalny has U.S. bank accounts; pp 1, 3 (612 words).


5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Kiev expects scandals" outlines Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to visit Ukraine to celebrate the 1,025th anniversary of Russia's baptism; pp 1, 6 (1,038 words).


6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Abe recruits allies into anti-Chinese coalition" reports on the Japanese prime minister's South Asian tour. He is to visit Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines; pp 1, 7 (540 words).


7. Editorial headlined "Should Sobyanin take part in debates?" urges acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin to take part in television debates with other mayoral candidates; p 2 (520 words).


8. Eduard Lozansky article headlined "Carte blanche: Firmness test of Barack Obama" slams some U.S. congressmen over their willingness to punish Russia over its stance on Syria and the presence of U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden at a Moscow airport; p 3 (703 words).


9. Alexandra Samarina report "Justice Ministry backs lawyers of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev" says that the Russian Justice Ministry believes that the first criminal case of Yukos may be revised; p 3 (750 words).


10. Savely Vezhin report "People are not used to fight against corruption" says that hundreds of criminal cases dealing with corruption have been opened in Russia over the last few years. A new term has appeared in Russia's politological circles: "Navalny's casus", article says; p 5 (550 words).


11. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "Barack Obama rescues intelligence" says Barack Obama's administration is trying to stop the discussion over the work of the U.S. secret services following the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden, and features a Russian expert's comment; p 7 (555 words).


Vedomosti


1. Darya Borisyak et al. report headlined "Central Bank wants to meet bank owners" says the Central Bank is taking measures to stop capital outflow via Kazakhstan. The financial regulator intends to question bank owners and their clients suspected of money withdrawal; pp 1, 14 (705 words).


2. Editorial headlined "Russian Rome" reports on the celebration of the 1,025th anniversary of Russia's baptism and the geopolitical ambitions of the Russian Orthodox Church; pp 1, 6 (425 words).


3. Yekaterina Sobol article headlined "Business instead of police" says Russian businesses are to provide antiterrorism protection of their facilities, the Russian government has decided. The new requirements will become especially costly to transport infrastructure; pp 1, 12 (606 words).


4. Svetlana Bocharova report "Eight years without right to stand in elections" says that Putin has signed a law that will postpone the return to politics of Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and blogger Alexei Navalny in case a law banning convicts from standing in elections is canceled; p 2 (850 words).


5. Maria Zheleznova report "Yukos case: They tried them unfairly, but no politics involved" says that the Strasbourg court has not found political motives in the Yukos case; p 2 (650 words).


6. Anna Gallay report "People against verdict" says that according to a poll by Levada Center, most Russians, who know about the trial of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, believe that the verdict passed on him is unfair; p 3 (500 words).


7. Another editorial headlined "Doctors' competition" compares the Russian economy with a sick person who has not been diagnosed on time and does not receive proper treatment; p 6 (273 words).


8. Andrei Babitsky report "Luxury of elections" says that there is a tradition in Russia: the authorities believe that every election in the country is an emergency situation; p 7 (650 words).


9. Yelena Khodyakova report "Rust from Gazprom" says that Europeans are complaining about the poor quality of gas supplied by Gazprom; p 12 (600 words).


Izvestia


1. Alexander Grigoryev article headlined "Fraudsters receive personal data of one million Russians" says the Russian affiliate of the Swiss insurance company Zurich has got involved in a scandal. Its client database including a million people has been stolen; pp 1, 4 (1,049 words).


2. Anzhelika Kutnyarticle headlined "Lawmaker Mizulina wants to block websites for foul language" says the State Duma is to consider the possibility of blocking websites over publication of swear words in them; pp 1, 4 (801 words).


3. Svetlana Subbotina article headlined "Finance Ministry cuts funding of space by 63Bln Rubles" says the Finance Ministry has cut funding of the space sector by 63 billion rubles; pp 1, 4 (609 words).


4. Alexander Yunashev report "Heads of churches discuss war in Syria with Putin" looks at Putin's meeting with heads of Orthodox Churches from various countries in Moscow; p 2 (650 words).


5. Yelena Teslova interview headlined "Volkov was bargaining for two hours" with Alexei Shaposhnikov, head of the council of Moscow's municipal organizations, who denies the statement of Leonid Volkov, head of Alexei Navalny's election headquarters, that signatures of United Russia municipal deputies have been imposed on Navalny; p 2 (1,700 words).


6. Yulia Tsoy report "Business refuses to support opposition in elections" says that business elites have ignored the September elections in the country's two key regions: Moscow and Moscow Region; p 2 (1,200 words).


7. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Both Koreas celebrate 60th anniversary of their victory" reports on celebrations of the victory in the Korean war held in North Korea and South Korea, and features Russian experts' comments; p7 (494 words).


Rossiiskaya Gazeta


1. Irina Nevinnaya interview headlined "Passions for old age" with Deputy Labor Minister Andrei Pudov speaking on the pension reform; pp 1, 6 (2,246 words).


2. Nikolay Zlobin report "Eat the dust" looks at opposition activist Alexei Navalny's election campaign; p 2 (850 words).


3. Valery Vyzhutovich article headlined "Maximum possible" says Ingushetia's president Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has stepped down from the post to take part in the election of the republic head in September; p 3 (694 words).


4. Anna Poltavtseva report "Rospil will not prevail" looks at the complaint of blogger Alexei Navalny's foundation about the organization of tenders submitted to the Federal Antimonopoly Service; p 5 (550 words).


Moskovsky Komsomolets


1. Andrei Yashlavsky article headlined "How Snowden spends this summer" urges U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden to leave Sheremetyevo Airport to allow journalists watching him to have summer holidays; pp 1-2 (541 words).


2. Igor Subbotin report "Outside legal field" looks at what document should former CIA employee Edward Snowden receive from the Russian authorities to be able to leave Sheremetyevo Airport's transit zone; p 2 (450 words).


3. Lina Panchenko report "Do you need me here dead or alive?" looks at the trial of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya; p 3 (60 words).


4. Article by political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky headlined "If I were mayor" comments on the Moscow mayoral election and the platforms of mayoral candidates; p 3 (1,213 words).


5. Zurab Nalbandyan report "Name given to future king" says that the U.K.'s royal baby has been named George; p 4 (650 words).


Novaya Gazeta


1. Unattributed article headlined "TV network for fishermen" looks at financial problems of the Russian Public TV; p 24 (907 words).


2. Nadezhda Prusenkova article headlined "He tore four volumes. And asks for new ones" says the children of journalist Anna Politkovskaya have refused to participate in the hearing of her murder case as they do not trust jurors; p 4 (700 words).


RBC Daily


1. Alexander Litoy and Yevgeny Novikov article headlined "Khodorkovsky's first case examined" features expert comments on the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights concerning the first case against Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky; pp 1-2 (600 words).


Komsomolskaya Pravda


1. Natalya Ostrovskaya article headlined "Komsomolskaya Pravda searches for two nuclear bombs lost by Soviet Union 40 years ago" writes about geologist Vyacheslav Fedorchenko who claims he has located a Russian bomber with two nuclear bombs on board that crashed near the Sakhalin Island in 1976 and some other nuclear sites. The Defense Ministry has denied the claims; pp 1, 14-15 (1,900 words).


2. Maria Semenova article headlined "Does Navalny protect fly-by-night companies?" criticizes anti-corruption activities of opposition activist Alexei Navalny in Moscow; p 4 (600 words).


3. Sergei Titov article headlined "Moscow rules Khodorkovsky jailed not for politics" features an expert's comment on the European Court of Human Rights ruling on a complaint by jailed Russian businessmen Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev; p 5 (300 words).

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