What the Papers Say, Sept. 2, 2013

Kommersant

1. Dmitry Butrin and Pyotr Netreba article headlined "Show is over" says the dismissal of presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev shows that the Kremlin has adopted a different approach to the development of the region. Moscow is to implement the idea promoted by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, to set up several growth areas in the region to attract investments; pp 1, 3 (854 words).

2. Sergei Strokan and Yelena Chernenko article headlined "War in Syria put to vote" says the Congress is likely to support U.S. President Barack Obama's plans to launch a military operation in Syria; pp 1, 6 (639 words).

3. Sergei Mashkin article headlined "Anatoly Serdyukov hands in last episode" says the brother-in-law of former Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has handed over the elite cottage, built at the ministry's expense by the order of Serdyukov, to the state. It was the only episode in the ministry's corruption case that directly involved Serdyukov; pp 1 — 2 (839 words).

4. Yegor Popov and Ivan Safronov article headlined "Meeting at shipyards" says Rosneft and Gazprom will take control over the shipyard facility being built in the Maritime Territory. The consortium of the two hydrocarbon giants is to take at least two more Russian Far Eastern shipyards under control; pp 1, 7 (658 words).

5. Alexei Shapovalov article headlined "Vladimir Putin ready to live within income" says President Putin has approved the government plans for budget cuts. He attributed Russian economic problems to the global economic slowdown; p 2 (551 words).

6. Yevgenia Sycheva and Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Viktor Ishayev drowned by his heavy-weightiness" recalls the achievements of former presidential envoy Viktor Ishayev, the politician of the 1990s; p 3 (624 words).

7. Taisia Bekbulatova and Maxim Ivanov article headlined "They will be able to rewind Moscow mayoral election" says activists from the public centre for Moscow mayoral election monitoring will watch the video from polling station live. They will be able to rewind the video recordings to have a closer look at possible violations; p 3 (446 words).

8. Ilya Barabanov article headlined "Basis of compromising regime" recalls the anti-corruption campaign launched by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin 20 years ago; p 4 (2,229 words).

9. Natalya Skorlygina article headlined "General Electric hit by Russian electricity" says Viktor Vekselberg's KES-Holding has complained about General Electric delays with the installation of new equipment which resulted in fines for the U.S. company; p 7 (638 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Presidential tuning of White House" says the replacement of presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev by presidential aide Yury Trutnev and his promotion to the level of the deputy prime minister shows that President Putin is going to take the government under control; pp 1, 3 (1,104 words).

2. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Nobel Prize winner Obama asks Congress to authorize war" says Russian experts disapprove U.S. President Obama's plans to carry out a military operation in Syria; pp 1 — 2 (900 words).

3. Igor Naumov article headlined "Government ordered to save money on spending" says President Putin has acknowledged the need to cut budget. He attributed the plans to the global economic crisis. Experts, however, note that economic news from the U.S., the EU and China shows that demand for Russian oil will grow; pp 1, 4 (989 words).

4. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Steep growth of tariffs above energy ration" says an experiment to introduce energy consumption limits has begun in seven Russian regions. The prices of electric energy consumed above the limits grew from 65 to 90 percent; pp 1, 4 (810 words).

5. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Problematic garrisons trouble Kremlin" says during his visit to Vladivostok, President Putin has raised the issue of military towns and garrisons, many of which are still not ready for the upcoming winter; pp 1 — 2 (664 words).

6. Sokhbet Mamedov article headlined "Baku needs submarines" reports on the Slovenian Defence Minister's visit to Azerbaijan; the two countries discussed military technical cooperation; pp 1 — 2 (569 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Price of barrel as indicator of mood in society" analyses the effect of oil prices on political situation in Russia and notes that recent public opinion surveys have shown that people are uncertain about their future and are ready to take to the streets; p 2 (468 words).

8. Dmitry Orlov article headlined "100 top Russian politicians in August 2013" says President Putin remains the most powerful politician in Russia. Meanwhile, opposition Moscow mayoral hopeful Alexei Navalny was listed 96th in the rating; p 5 (1,617 words).

9. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "Washington launches cyber attack" says that according to Washington Post publications of the material leaked by Edward Snowden, the U.S. carries out cyber attacks on Iran, Russia, China and North Korea; p 6 (671 words).

10. Anton Khodosevich article headlined "Lukashenka gets into fight" says Minsk refuses to make up with Moscow over potassium scandal even at the risk of a trade war with Russia and large losses to its economy; p 6 (705 words).

11. Nikita Krichevsky article headlined "Yet another Russian-Belarussian move without estimated consequences" names seven reasons why the arrest of Vladislav Baumgertner, the head of the major Russian potash producer Uralkali, is troublesome both for Russia and for Belarus; p 5 (500 words).

Vedomosti

1. Margarita Papchenkova article headlined "Russia borrows money in very schematic way" says the foreign debt of Russian companies is growing while the economy is slowing down; pp 1, 4 (743 words).

2. Editorial headlined "How to accept help" compares this year's floods in the Russian Far East with last year's deadly flood in the Krasnodar Territory; pp 1, 6 (413 words).

3. Yekaterina Sobol article headlined "SSJ plays drawn game" says the Russian United Aircraft Building Corporation signed contracts for $7.5 billion at the MAKS air show, half of them went to Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes and another half to MS-21; pp 1, 13 (462 words).

4. Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "$54.6Bln for espionage" comments on the latest revelations by Edward Snowden, which show that Russia is one of the high-priority countries on the list of U.S. secret services; p 3 (400 words).

5. Maxim Tovkaylo and Lilia Biryukova article headlined "Kremlin finds deputy for Medvedev" says that the just appointed presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev is to persuade the government to boost financial support for the region; p 4 (600 words).

6. Editorial headlined "To acknowledge the obvious" says President Putin had to admit that Russia needed budget cuts. However, his explanation of the problems by the global economic situation alone are not true, as businesses are taking money out of Russia; p 6 (309 words).

7. Tatyana Lysova and Maxim Glikin interview with Alexei Navalny, opposition candidate at the Moscow mayoral election, speaking on his election campaign, money raised and the persecution by the law-enforcement agencies; p 8 (5,110 words).

8. Konstantin Sonin article headlined "Stability warrantor" says that in case Alexei Navalny wins Moscow mayoral election, this will weaken his chances to take part in presidential election; p 7 (500 words).

9. Mari Mesropyan article headlined "Chechnya temporary unavailable" says that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has publicly criticized Vimpelkom and Megafon mobile operators, thus promoting a new local operator Vainakh Telecom; p 10 (500 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Kira Latukhina article headlined "Not to leave for floods" reports on President Putin's visit to the Russian Far East where he inspected the way the federal and local authorities dealt with the aftermath of powerful floods; pp 1-2 (900 words).

2. Yelena Kukol et al. report headlined "Autumn per capita" polls experts who try to predict further changes to the Russian economic situation; p 1 (600 words).

3. Vitaly Petrov article headlined "G20: notes on sidelines" outlines economic and political issues to be discussed at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg; p 3 (500 words).

4. Yury Gavrilov article headlined "They can see everything from the bottom" reports on the improvement of the missile defence system around Moscow; p 4 (400 words).

5. Article by Igor Ivanov, former Russian Foreign Minister and current president of the Russian Council for Foreign Affairs, headlined "Mistake after mistake" calls on the U.S. and its allies not to launch a military operation in Syria; p 6 (800 words).

6. Vladislav Vorobyov article headlined "He opens 'friendly' fire" looks into the political situation in the U.S. Congress which is to decide whether to authorise a military operation against Syria planned by President Obama or not; p 6 (500 words).

7. Kira Latukhina article headlined "No proof" doubts the legitimacy of the U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to carry out a strike on Syria; p 6 (700 words).

8. Lyubov Protsenko article headlined "Levada Center: Sobyanin to win in first round" quotes the figures of the most recent poll conducted by Levada Center, adding that acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin is the only "indisputable leader" in the election race; p 10 (200 words).

Izvestia

1. Svetlana Subbotina interview with State Duma lawmaker Yelena Mizulina speaking on new legislative initiatives regarding abortions and alimony; pp 1, 4 (2,100 words).

2. Mikhail Subbotin article headlined "Far East leaves Dmitry Medvedev" says the reshuffle in the Russian Far Eastern envoy post shows that Prime Minister Medvedev's positions in the region are becoming weaker. The strategy supported by Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov is to be implemented in the region; pp 1 — 2 (1,100 words).

3. Article by political scientist Andranik Migranyan headlined "Humanitarian interventions end up in humanitarian catastrophes" warns the U.S. against carrying out a military operation in Syria; pp 1, 7 (1,400 words).

4. Anna Akhmadyeva article headlined "New information TV channel starts broadcast" reports on the launch of Life News television channel that will focus on breaking news and exclusive scoops; p 3 (600 words).

5. Yury Matsarsky article headlined "This is where Last Judgement begins" reports on the developments around Syria, saying that government forces have grown in strength and successfully fight the opposition; p 7 (1,200 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Melor Sturua article headlined "U.S. to strike Syria with Congress authorization" says President Putin has made a serious mistake when he called U.S. charges of the chemical weapon use brought against the Syrian regime foolishness as Moscow has no evidence to prove the opposite; pp 1, 3 (1,000 words).

2. Yulia Kalinina article headlined "Ramzan Kadyrov, forgive us!" mocks at Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov's disappointment when a Chechen mosque lost in the poll for Russia's most important symbols organized by mobile phone companies, which resulted in the disruption in the work of the companies in the republic; pp 1 — 2 (300 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Yelena Shafran article headlined "Siege of Obama and barrack of Assad" looks into the situation in Syria and tries to predict the outcome of air strikes on the Syrian territory; p 2 (1,193 words).

2. Vladimir Pastukhov article headlined "Divorce in Euroasian style" says that tensions between Russia and Ukraine are "irrational hysteria" rather than economic disagreements; p 3 (1,000 words).

3. Irina Khalip article headlined "Baumgertner in return for goods" says that it is unlikely that the Belarussian law-enforces will set the CEO of major Russian potash company Uralkali, Vladislav Baumgertner, free soon; p 5 (900 words).

RBC Daily

1. Inga Vorobyeva and Yulia Sinyayeva article headlined "Minister of Far Eastern resources" says a source in the Kremlin noted that the decision to replace presidential envoy Ishayev by Yury Trutnev had been made long ago. It was only announced during President Putin's visit to the region; pp 1, 3 (800 words).

2. Alina Yevstigneyeva article headlined "Benefits, baths and roads" compares election platforms of the candidates standing for the Moscow mayor; pp 1 — 2 (2,400 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Veronika Vorontsova interview with Novosibirsk region governor Vasily Yurchenko speaking on the economic development of the region and its attractiveness to investors and skilled labor; pp 1, 5 (800 words).

2. Mikhail Nikiforenko article headlined "'Retirees' announce gathering" says that around 5,000 people took part in a communist rally on Saturday Aug. 31, demanding that the parliament be dissolved; p 2 (500 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Viktor Baranets article headlined "Financial damage caused by suspects in Oboronservis case equals to budget of Volgograd" features a detailed report on every episode in the high-profile corruption case related to the Defence Ministry-controlled company; pp 1, 22 (800 words).