What the Papers Say, Aug. 9, 2013

Kommersant

1. Anna Balashova article headlined "Megafon mobilizes totally" says that the mobile phone operator Megafon is going to buy LTE-operator Scartel for $1.18 billion; pp 1, 7 (600 words).

2. Dmitry Butrin et al. report headlined "Police ask for city increment" says that Interior Ministry has drafted amendments to the law on police to return subsidy-free regions and municipalities the right to make their own additional payments to police staff; pp 1, 2 (500 words).

3. Ksenia Dementyeva et al. article headlined "Svyaznoy for Oneksim" says that Mikhail Prokhorov's Oneksim group is negotiating the purchase of 50 percent of shares of the mobile retailer Svyaznoy; pp 1, 8 (600 words).

4. Yelena Kiseleva article headlined "For sake of platinum" says that consortium consisting of Vitaly Mashchitskiy's Vi Holding, the state-run corporation Rostec and Vneshekonombank are closing a deal to purchase 40 percent of shares in the Russian-Zimbabwean joint venture Ruschrome Mining to develop the world's second biggest platinum deposit; pp 1, 9 (800 words).

5. Dmitry Butrin article headlined "Let it be gun, if not 1,000Bln" looks at yet another attempt by the Far East Development Ministry to expand its powers, namely to obtain powers to coordinate the activities of federal ministries and law-enforcement bodies in the region; p 2 (600 words).

6. Taisia Bekbulatova article headlined "Sergei Sobyanin to rely on Civil Platform" says that Civil Platform's leader Mikhail Prokhorov has accepted the acting Moscow mayor's proposal to nominate their candidate for Moscow business ombudsman. Experts regard Sobyanin's move as an attempt to counter mayoral opposition candidate Alexei Navalny's 'social contract' with internet entrepreneurs; p 3 (400 words).

7. Vyacheslav Kozlov and Diana Munasipova article headlined "Fines raised for labour migrants" says that amendments to migration legislature toughening sanctions for illegal migrants enter into force today; p 3 (300 words).

8. Sergei Strokan et al. report headlined "2+2 to work for two" mentions U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to cancel the September meeting with President Vladimir Putin, quotes sources "close" to the Kremlin and the U.S. Department of State and says that today's meeting of the U.S. and Russian defense and foreign ministers has a challenging task of preventing further deterioration of relations; p 5 (600 words).

9. Olga Kuznetsova et al. report headlined "Egypt seeking new mediators" says that Moscow has already established contacts with Egypt's new leadership and may step in as the USA and the EU have failed to help solve the Egyptian crisis; p 5 (400 words).

10. Ivan Safronov and Anna Balashova interview headlined "Defense Ministry remains our main client" with the new head of the Voentelekom company, Alexander Davydov, speaking about the company's strategy; p 10 (1,700 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Geopolitical storm in Caspian" says Russia and Kazakhstan are conducting military drills in the Caspian Sea and features an expert comment; p 1 (400 words).

2.Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Putin not to exchange Assad for Saudi Arabia's $15Bln" says that Saudi Arabia has suggested buying up to $15 billion worth of Russian weapons and to ensure that the Persian Gulf gas would not challenge the Russian gas sales to Europe in exchange for Moscow reducing its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. Moscow is not going to agree to the proposal, though; pp 1, 7 (1,000 words).

3. Darya Garmonenko and Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Fight not for chair but for percentage" says Moscow mayoral candidates are planning to spend 30 million rubles (about $900,000) on average on their campaigns and looks at their tactics; pp 1-2 (700 words).

4. Igor Naumov article headlined "Reduction demanded from Nabiullina" wonders if the Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina is planning to softening monetary policy; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

5. Editorial headlined "Business returning to politics" says that a "social contract" between Moscow mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny and internet entrepreneurs is a breakthrough, but the risk is that the entrepreneurs cannot really control Navalny; p 2 (400 words).

6. Darya Tsiryulik article headlined "Military in Egypt running out of patience" quotes a Russian expert as saying that Egypt is facing a civil war; p 2 (600 words).

7. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Reduced fine for honest eyes" looks at amendments to the controversial law on rallies; p 3 (400 words).

8. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "War of lists of most polluted cities" says that the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has criticized rankings of cities with most polluted air by the RIA Novosti news agency, ranking Moscow the second; p 4 (800 words).

9. Oksana Skripnikova article headlined "Sergei Sobyanin undecided on debates yet" says that Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has not announced yet whether he will take part in televised debates with his opponents. Some experts say there is no point in him participating; p 5 (400 words).

Vedomosti

1. Olga Platonova and Boris Safronov article headlined "VTB's new goal" says VTB bank is considering the purchase of Petrokommerts bank; pp 1, 15 (751 words).

2. Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "Soldier of Kovalchuk and Rogozin " says that the Foundation for Prospective Studies and Initiatives has chosen the first project to finance: creating a soldier of the future; pp 1, 3 (200).

3. Editorial headlined "Theater of cold actions" says that U.S. President Barack Obama's refusal to meet President Putin in Moscow was to be expected and adds that demonstrative unfriendliness is a very convenient political tool; pp 1, 6 (400 words).

4. Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "Missiles made but not sent" says that some of the C-300 complexes for Syria have been produced but their delivery is postponed until 2014 as Syria is unlikely to need them in the current situation. Russia is unlikely to agree to Saudi Arabia's proposal for a huge military contract in exchange for scaling back its support for Bashar Assad's regime due to a lack of trust; p 2 (618 words).

5. Maxim Glikin article headlined "Increasingly less charming leader" looks at results of polls showing changes in people's assessment of Vladimir Putin's personality and performance; p 3 (397 words).

6. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Sochi not for everyone" says that an international campaign aimed at boycotting the Sochi Olympics over alleged discrimination of LGBT community in Russia is gathering pace; p 3 (462 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Case of humanizers" says that several high-ranking officials from the presidential administration and State Duma deputies who dealt with Medvedev's humanization of criminal legislature may be questioned in line with the case initiated against the experts who have analyzed Yukos' 'second case'. The law-enforcers are trying their best to pave the way for another case against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, this time for bribing experts and officials. At the same time, the questioning of high-ranking officials is aimed at intimidating the moderate wing of bureaucracy; p 6 (285 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Lyubov Protsenko interview with head of Sergei Sobyanin's election campaign headquarters, deputy speaker of the State Duma Lyudmila Shvetsova headlined "Without empty promises" where she speaks about the headquarters, campaigning and televised debates; p 6 (1,000 words).

2. Viktor Feshchenko article headlined "Beach, banana, war" says that another international attempt at settling the Egyptian crisis has failed and features experts' comments on the reasons; p 8 (400 words).

Izvestia

1. Svetlana Subbotina et al report headlined "Degtyaryov accuses head of Navalanyy's campaign headquarters of ripping off election fund" says that LDPR candidate for Moscow mayor, Mikhail Degtyaryov, has accused Navalny's campaign headquarters of a rip-off when ordering promotional materials; pp 1, 6 (577 words).

2. Vladimir Zykov article headlined "FSB wants 10 year sentence for hackers" says the Federal Security Service (FSB) has drafted an internet security law; pp 1-2 (400 words).

3. Boris Mezhuyev article headlined "Obama takes revenge for disobedience" says that U.S. President Obama will not meet Putin in September to save face after an attempt to force Moscow to extradite U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden failed; p 5 (942 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Mikhail Rostovsky article headlined "Obama will not come? Well, God be with him!" comments on Barack Obama's decision to cancel a one-on-one meeting with Putin; pp 1, 3 (500 words).

2. Ivan Solomin article headlined "How frightful fights terrible" is an interview with former Russian fraudster Sergei Mavrody, who says the financing of the opposition candidate Alexei Navalny is not transparent; pp 1, 3 (400 words).

3. Mikhail Zubov article headlined "Secret of mayoral election" is an interview with chairman of the Moscow Electoral Commission Valentin Gorbunov on details of the Moscow mayoral election scheduled for Sept. 8; p 4 (1,700 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Sergei Titov article titled "Three of four Russians are against migrants" looks at a poll on Russians' attitude to migrants; p 3 (350 words)

2. Sergei Semushkin article titled "CIA realizes: 'Deposing Bashar al-Asad is bad for the USA'" comments on an interview by the deputy chief of the CIA in which he spoke about the implications of Assad's ouster for the U.S.; p 5(500 words).

3. Alexander Grishin article "'Mr. Fry declares war" criticizes British actor Stephen Fry's call for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics; p 5 (500 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Andrei Kolesnikov piece titled "We all came out of Jan-Jacques" comments on a group of Moscow businessmen publicly declaring their support for protest leader and Moscow mayor hopeful Alexei Navalny; p 2 (400 words).

2. Andrei Sukhotin article titled "'If this is the opposition, then opposition to what? To absurdity? I'm against absurdity!'" rounds up comments from the businessmen who are backing Navalny; pp 2-3 (1,200 words).

3. Pavel Orlov article titled "Can't make our own Protons?" considers Deputy lawmaker Dmitry Rogozin's plans to consolidate the space and aviation industries; p 6 (700 words).

4. Semen Novoprudsky article headlined "Oba-ma!" comments on Barack Obama's decision to cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin in September; p 7 (400 words).

5. Yulia Latynina commentary titled "Tore flag with the seriousness of animals" looks at the reaction of the Russian authorities to the desecration of the Russian flag by rock band Bloodhound Gang at a concert in Odessa; p 14 (400 words)

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Anna Potekhina article titled "Betting on innovations" summarizes an interview with Deputy Defense Minister Oleg Ostapenko; p 2 (1,300 words).

2. Yury Belousov article headlined "Towards the active phase" recaps on the Sino-Russian anti-terror drills in the Urals; p 3 (300 words).

3. Dmitry Semenov article titled "Hot August of 2008" features recollections from Russian troops who fought in the 2008 five-day war between Russia and Georgia; pp 12-13 (2,000 words).

4. Yaroslav Yastrebov article headlined "'It not intentions that matter, but potentials...'" looks at a study by the Moscow Carnegie center on military reform in Russia; p 15 (1,600 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Ilya Komarov article titled "Pioneers of concentration camp" reports on the conditions at a temporary detention camp for illegal migrants in southeast Moscow; p 4 (550 words).

RBC Daily

1. Svetlana Makunina article titled "'Deputy House-2'" says that 40 offices in the State Duma will be fitted out with video cameras that will broadcast what happens at the Duma on-line; pp 1-2 (450 words).

2. Ivan Petrov and Alexander Litoy article titled "Returning to Hungarian trade chamber" looks at a probe into the 2008 purchase of a building in central Moscow by the Regional Development Ministry; p 2 (250 words).

Trud

1. Vadim Karpov article headlined "Behind iron curtain made of cardboard" features the author's take on the temporary detention camp for migrants in Moscow; pp 1, 3 (1,200 words).

2. Sergei Frolov article titled "'Obama is acting like a clown...'" comments on Barack Obama's decision to cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow; pp 1-2 (500 words).

3. Pavel Orlov article headlined "Rogozin takes charge" says Deputy lawmaker Dmitry Rogozin yesterday announced that the implementation of the state defense will be controlled manually; p 3 (300 words).