What the Papers Say, Aug. 5, 2013

Kommersant

1. Maria Yakovleva article headlined "Pension money change employer" says Russkiye Fondy, or Russian Funds, hands over control over the First National Pension Fund to the former co-owner of the Sistema financial corporation, Yevgeny Novitskiy. Increasing number of businessmen realize that private pension funds are a good source of money for business; p 1 (770 words).

2. Irina Nagornykh et al. report headlined "Municipal filter shows capacity" comments on the regional election campaign and notes that the Civil Platform party has become the leader in the number of refusals to register its candidates at regional elections. Meanwhile, new small parties strip large opposition parties of their traditional electorate; pp 1, 3 (1,042 words).

3. Anna Balashova and Vladimir Lavitsky interview with Deputy Communications Minister Denis Sverdlov speaking on his decision to leave the post as he owns foreign assets; pp 1, 10 (2,362 words).

4. Oleg Trutnev article headlined "Rustam Tariko adds Gancia" says billionaire Rustam Tariko has bought additional stake in his Italian wine business, Gancia; pp 1, 8 (508 words).

5. Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "NTV demands exclusive right to 'speak and show'" says NTV is trying to strip the State Duma deputy, Valery Seleznyov, of the "It speaks and shows" Soviet times slogan, which he currently owns; p 3 (628 words).

6. Yulia Rybina article headlined "Dagestan losing religious figures" reports on the murder of prominent Muslim cleric Ilyas Ilyasov in Dagestan; p 4 (515 words).

7. Alexander Chernykh article headlined "Tent discipline" reports on the campaign against illegal migrants in Moscow and notes that there are not enough places in special detention centers for migrants. A tent camp was set up in the city and similar places for temporary detention of illegal migrants may be set up all over Russia; p 5 (642 words).

8. Vyacheslav Kozlov and Anton Arsenyev article headlined "Nationalists get involved in trade relations" reports on actions by nationalists in Moscow and St. Petersburg where activists tried to assault migrants selling food at local markets p 5 (497 words).

9. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Terrorism level raised up to embassy one" says U.S. diplomatic missions in the Northern Africa and the Middle East have suspended their work following the escape of hundreds of al-Qaida militants from prisons p 6 (456 words).

10. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Barack Obama being limited in his visit" says Washington is revising its plans over G20 summit in St. Petersburg over the Snowden asylum case. The Russia-U.S. relations will be affected, experts warn; p 6 (507 words).

11. Kirill Belyaninov interview with Kevin Ryan, expert from Harvard University, speaking on Washington reaction to Moscow's decision to grant asylum to Snowden; p 6 (275 words).

12. Article by Igor Ivanov, former Foreign Minister, headlined "Talks with Tehran get second chance" tries to predict the future of the Iranian nuclear program and Tehran's relations with the world community as new President Rouhani came into power; p 6 (671 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Russian-Ukrainian chocolate war may split CIS" says Russia's partners within the Customs Union, Kazakhstan and Belarus have supported Moscow in the "Chocolate war" with Ukraine. However, some CIS states took the side of Kiev; pp 1, 6 (1,257 words).

2. Andrei Vaganov article headlined "Reform of academy begins without prior arrangement" says the Russian Academy of Sciences is trying to prevent the reform which ruins the institution, in the opinion of academicians. Meanwhile, President Putin has already instructed the government to consider the issue of the legal status of 15 scientific institutions by Sept. 1; pp 1 — 2 (987 words).

3. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "USA lock embassies' doors" says the U.S. authorities are getting ready for possible al-Qaida terrorist attacks on their missions in Muslim countries in the North Africa and the Middle East in August; pp 1, 6 (487 words).

4. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Bolotnaya [square disturbances] case alters" says one of the defendants in the Bolotnaya square disturbances case has been freed from custody to be kept under house arrest. The move gives hope to other defendants; pp 1, 3 (687 words).

5. Igor Naumov article headlined "Borrowers not afraid of credit default ghost" says one in five Russian borrowers have debts to banks which they are unable to pay from their wage. Experts are warning about the risk of a credit default; pp 1, 4 (776 words).

6. Svetlana Gamova article headlined "Basescu to turn Dniester Region into Kaliningrad Region" says Romanian President Traian Basescu has made it easier for Moldovans to enter Romania; pp 1 — 2 (780 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Why is Gazprom so severe towards Russia?" says the Russian gas monopoly is reducing prices on gas in Europe under the pressure of the EU consumers and at the same time raising domestic prices for Russian buyers; p 2 (537 words).

8. Alexander Malyshev interview with Lyudmila Shvetsova, the head of acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin's election headquarters, speaking on Sobyanin's election campaign; p 5 (1,084 words).

9. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Iranian President Rouhani not to give up nuclear program" says the new Iranian president who officially came into office pledges to stop anti-Israel rhetoric and to turn to the West; p 6 (666 words).

Vedomosti

1. Alexandra Terentyeva and Vitaly Petlevoy article headlined "Destruction of market" says Uralkali director general Vladislav Baumgertner believes that the potassium market is facing the consolidation of assets; pp 1, 13 (753 words).

2. Dmitry Kazmin et al. report headlined "Small first-class borrower" says the Central Bank is looking for ways of making bank loans affordable for small businesses; pp 1, 14 (686 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Only European" comments on President Putin's statements at Seliger youth summer camp; pp 1, 6 (462 words).

4. Kirill Kharatyan article headlined "Person of week: Vladimir Yakunin" speaks on the Russian Railways plans to build new railway infrastructure; p 6 (349 words).

5. Maria Zheleznova et al. article headlined "Navalny pays in wrong way" says State Duma lawmakers want the Prosecutor General's Office to check the legality of Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny raising money for his campaign via the Yandex.Money internet payment system; p 2 (636 words).

6. Polina Khimiashvili and Maxim Glikin article headlined "Kremlin waiting for Obama" says Moscow is getting ready for the visit to U.S. President Barack Obama although Washington is now in doubt over the plans due to Snowden's case; p 3 (489 words).

7. Another editorial headlined "To reliable hands" says the Kremlin is looking for ways of financial control over municipal authorities; p 6 (289 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Krivoshapko and Anna Roze article headlined "Russian villa races" says Russians are buying more housing abroad. The Central Bank has said that $414 million were spent by Russians on buying housing abroad in the first three months of 2013 only; pp 1, 3 (1,133 words).

2. Lyubov Protsenko interview with Vladimir Petrosyan, head of the social department of the Moscow mayoral office, speaking on social support to Muscovites; pp 1, 9 (1,715 words).

3. Roman Markelov article headlined "Business on vacation" says the government is developing measures of support to small businesses, sole traders are to get tax holidays; pp 1, 3 (669 words).

4. Kira Latukhina article headlined "By lake" features a report on Vladimir Putin's visit to the Seliger summer youth camp; p 2 (1,200 words).

5. Maxim Makarychev article headlined "Holiday spoilt for Obama" reports on the state of alert U.S. diplomatic missions found themselves with due to terrorist threat; p 5 (443 words).

6. Vladislav Vorobyov article headlined "Many-sided Rouhani" looks into possible political changes in Iran as new President Rouhani came into power; p 5 (660 words).

Izvestia

1. Lyudmila Podobedova article headlined "Government wants to cut petrol exports" says the Energy Ministry and the Federal Anti-monopoly Service have instructed oil companies to reduce petrol exports due to growing fuel prices in Russia; pp 1, 5 (1,047 words).

2. Viktor Sokirko article headlined "Serdyukov continues using Defense Ministry's car" says former defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is still using the defense Ministry's transport; pp 1 — 2 (371 words).

3. Ivan Cheberko article headlined "Roscosmos resumes Rokot booster rocket launches" says Russia resumes Rokot rocket launches after a six month break caused by a failure at a launch in January; pp 1, 4 (376 words).

4. Anastasia Kashevarova and Alena Sivkova article headlined "United Russia becomes outsider in number of gubernatorial candidates" say that the United Russia party has nominated the least number of candidates to run in gubernatorial and mayoral election across Russia. Instead, the party has placed its stake on coalitions with opposition parties and self-nominees; p 3 (600 words).

5. Andrei Gridasov article headlined "Bloodhound Gang scandal brings Russian law enforcer to deadlock" says that the Investigative Committee, Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor's General Office are still undecided on how to probe into the incident in Ukraine, where one of the Bloodhound Gang musical band members treated the Russian flag with extreme disrespect during the gig; p 5 (500 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Mikhail Zubov article headlined "Who trips Prokhorov up?" tries to find reasons for the failure of the Civil Platform party headed by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov at the current regional election campaign; pp 1-2 (675 words).

2. Tatyana Fedotkina article headlined "Rally against rallies" says many internet users who attend opposition rallies do not have any political stance and are far from real problems Russians face; p 1 (464 words).

3. Yelena Gamayun et al. report headlined "Last tour of idiots" reports on a scandal over Bloodhound Gang's defiling the Russian flag at a concert in Odessa; pp 1, 3 (909 words).

RBC Daily

1. Inga Vorobyova and Yulia Sinyaeva article headlined "And yet again back to land reform" says that the presidential envoy, Andrei Belousov, is expected to push through the land reform, the adoption of which has been hampered by the State Duma so far; pp 1, 7 (900 words).

2. Alexander Litoy interview with Yury Buzin, the representative of mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny in the Moscow Election Committee; p 2 (800 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Vera Moslakova and Anna Kumitskaya article headlined "Political prisoners divided into categories" reports on an authorized rally held in Moscow in support of the Bolotnaya case suspects; p 2 (500 words).

2. Vera Moslakova article headlined "Fight simulation" says that the most recent polls have shown the highest level of mistrust towards the elections in Russia in the last 1 1/2 years; p 2 (500 words).

Moskovskiye Novosti

1. Andrei Tatarinov article headlined "Black magic session" features an extensive report on the political activity of Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny ; pp B2-B3 (1,300 words).

2. Vasily Zharkov article headlined "Navalny and emptiness" says that Navalny 's mayoral election program lacks consistency and is not well-planned; p B4 (700 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Yekaterina Fomina and Andrei Sukhotin article headlined "Cherkizon 2.0" looks into the situation in the temporary tent camp set up for illegal immigrants at the outskirts of Moscow, saying that people are kept in prison-like conditions; pp 2-3 (2,000 words).

2. Unattributed interview with Nikolai Levichev, the chairman of A Just Russia and mayoral candidate, on his plans as Moscow mayor; p 10 (900 words).

3. Yulia Latynina article headlined "Nation" looks into Russia's national problems, illegal migration and the over-exaggerated reaction to the recent incident with a native of North Caucasus beating up a policeman in Moscow; pp 7-8 (1,600 words).

4. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Not our skunk" says that the Snowden case has marked the end of the so-called reset in the Russian-U.S. relations; p 10 (400 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Yelena Chinkova interview with the Russian Railways chief, Vladimir Yakunin; p 4 (1,300 words).

2. Semen Shapkin article headlined "America's 'friendly fascism'" says that judging by the transformation of the U.S. political course, the country is turning from a 'flagship of democracy' into a totalitarian state, the author says; p 8 (600 words).