What the Papers Say, Oct. 22, 2013

Kommersant

1. Vladislav Trifonov et al. report headlined "Vendetta in Belarusian way" says BelaruSsian President Alexander Lukashenko in fact demanded that Uralkali pay $100 million worth of a ransom for the company's director-general Vladislav Baumgertner kept under house arrest in Minsk. Uralkali is not ready to pay the price, so the future of Baumgertner is likely to be decided after the company's ownership changes; pp 1, 3 (1,020 words).

2. Ivan Safrinov and Ilya Barabanov article headlined "Border under ruble" says Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has accepted the resignation of the head of the Federal Agency for State Border Development and Maintenance Dmitry Bezdelov, as an inquiry has found out that 1 billion rubles ($31 million) from the federal programme for the border development were transferred to Agrosoyuz bank, which beneficiary is Bezdelov's father. The findings will be handed over to the law-enforcement agencies; pp 1 — 2 (610 words).

3. Yaroslav Malykh and Yulia Rybina article headlined "Female suicide bomber reaches Volgograd" says seven people including a suicide bomber were killed in an explosion in a bus in Volgograd, over 30 people were injured; pp 1, 4 (834 words).

4. Denis Skorobogatko et al. report headlined "Ground crumbles under Mosfilm" says the Mosfilm film studio is to give 13 percent of its land to developers in exchange for $100 million in investments in the contraction of new facilities for the studio; pp 1, 12 (862 words).

5. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Urban studies to unite all mayors" says the Kremlin is organizing seminars for Russian mayors, including United Russia members and the opposition; p 2 (589 words).

6. Taisia Bekbulatova and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Mikhail Prokhorov ready for Moscow city duma elections" reports on the Civic Platform party congress where the party leader Mikhail Prokhorov spoke on the need for rotation within the party; p 2 (595 words).

7. Natalya Korchenkova and Yana Rozhdestvenskaya article headlined "Critics of verdict in Yukos case searched for in Germany" says the Russian Investigative Committee wants to question University of Hamburg professor Otto Luchterhand over his role in the expert examination of the second Yukos oil company case. The Investigative Committee has asked the German law-enforcement agencies for help; p 3 (553 words).

8. Maxim Ivanov et al. report headlined "They learn lessons from Biryulyovo" reviews the reaction of the State Duma, the presidential human rights council and the presidential ethnic relations council to the recent rioting in Biryulyovo; p 3 (654 words).

9. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Europe does not want to do service in Afghanistan" says NATO members states do not want to leave their troops in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdraws most of its forces; p 7 (534 words).

10. Sergei Strokan article headlined "India carries out sea battle with U.S." says the Indian coast guards have detained a U.S. ship as they claim that the ship entered their territorial water with undeclared weapons on board. The ship provides protection from sea pirates and its owners deny the Indian allegations; p 8 (608 words).

11. Yelena Chernenko and Sergei Strokan article headlined "Spot in Katyn case remains sore" says Poland is dissatisfied with the verdict by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Russia had violated its responsibilities when considering the execution of thousands of Polish prisoners in 1940, however the court did not demand that the case be revised; p 8 (766 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Interior Ministry simplifies investigation" says the Interior Ministry has drafted amendments to the Criminal Code that give more powers to inquiry officers ahead of the planned setting up of a single investigations committee; pp 1, 3 (857 words).

2. Andrei Serenko article headlined "Black widows reach Volgograd" gives details of a suicide bombing at a bus in Volgograd and says that according to the paper's source, there could've been two suicide bombers in he bus; the second woman could have died in the first blast; pp 1, 5 (600 words).

3. Andrei Vaganov article headlined "'Russian Science' has authority to state" says a new information bureau, Russian Science, has been set up to popularize science and fight against pseudo-scientists; pp 1 — 2 (500 words).

4. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Country lags behind developed nations" says the meeting of foreign investors with Russian officials has shown that businesses demand that the state meet some of their requirements, for example, ease sanitary regulations; p 1, 4 (743 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Hungarians want to set up enclave in Ukraine" says Hungary can create problems for Ukraine seeking European integration. Hungary wants Kiev to allow Hungarians set up their autonomy; pp 1, 6 (1,037 words).

6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Beijing presses Moscow out of arms market" says Chinese arms makers have got access to the Turkish market. NATO is worried by Ankara plans to buy a Chinese made air defense system; pp 1, 7 (594 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Accessible internet for FSB" criticizes the Russian authorities who are going to give the Federal Security Service access to all internet traffic in the country despite the fact that Moscow gave refuge to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden; p 2 (509 words).

8. Yekaterina Trifonova article headlined "Prokhorov mobilizes party for Moscow city duma elections" features pundits' comments on the future of the Civic Platform party following its congress; p 3 (700 words).

9. Anton Khodosevich article headlined "Hamed Karzai changes political vector" says the Afghani president is stepping up cooperation with the country's neighbours. Karzai has visited Tajikistan; p 6 (742 words).

10. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Geneva-2 does not wait for Syrian extremists" says the Western countries are urging the Syrian opposition to take part in the international talks on the Syrian problem as more and more countries realize that the use of force cannot help resolve the conflict; p 7 (785 words).

11 Roza Tsvetkova interview with the head of the State Duma ethics commission, Alexander Degtyaryov; p 11 (2,800 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Krivoshapko article headlined "Soviet brand" says the Federation Council is to consider the possibility of making some brands popular since the Soviet times, such as names of chocolates, common property; pp 1 — 2 (497 words).

2. Irina Ivoylova interview with Sergei Kravtsov, head of Rosobrnadzor education watchdog, speaking on tougher regulations for the Unified State Exam for Russian school leavers; pp 1, 11 (2,475 words).

3. Ksenia Burmenko article headlined "Female suicide bomber on route number 29" gives details of the suicide bombing in Volgograd which killed five bus passengers and injured 32 others, saying that a grenade was found under the bus after the explosion; pp 1, 6 (756 words).

4. Mikhail Falaleyev article headlined "Neither let, not rent" says the Russian authorities are stepping control over rented housing in an attempt to reduce illegal migration; pp 1, 3 (633 words).

5. Article by political scientist Leonid Radzikhovsky headlined "Thunder" analyses the recent rioting in Biryulyovo which fortunately has not resulted in human casualties; p 3 (817 words).

6. Vyacheslav Prokofyev article headlined "Too many 'bugs'..." comments on new revelations by U.S. whistleblower Snowden about the U.S. secret services wiretapping telephone conversations of French citizens; p 8 (433 words).

Izvestia

1. Svetlana Povoraznyuk article headlined "Notion 'quality of products' to be crossed out from laws" says the Economic Development Ministry wants the quality of food products not to be regulated by the law; pp 1, 4 (306 words).

2. Anastasia Kashevarova and Alena Sivkova article headlined "All-Russia People's Front opens 11 monitoring centres" says the All-Russia People's Front is setting up 11 centres to monitor vital problems including ethnic relations and migration; pp 1 — 2 (522 words).

3. Dmitry Yevstifeyev article headlined "Bandits respond to secret services operations with terrorist attack" says the suicide bombing in a bus in Volgograd has become Islamists' response to recent successful operations of the Russian law-enforcement agencies in the North Caucasus; pp 1, 3 (1,122 words).

4. Natalya Bashlykova and Sergei Podosenov article headlined "They suggest that Civil Platform should be strengthened with Khodorkovsky" says participants in the Civic Platform party congress have reportedly discussed a possibility for inviting jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to join the party; p 2 (749 words).

5. Yelizaveta Mayetnaya and German Petelin article headlined "She put hijab on three years ago when met Russian" reports on the relative and neighbours of the female suicide bomber who carried out the explosion in Volgograd; p 3 (757 words).

6. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Qatar solicits truce with Syria" says that having failed to topple Bashar Assad's regime Qatar decided to resume diplomatic relations with the Syrian authorities; p 7 (667 words).

7. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Pakistan exchanges influence in Pakistan for U.S. money" says the Pakistani prime minister is visiting Washington to discuss economic and military cooperation with the U.S.; p 7 (513 words).

8. Yelizaveta Mayetnaya and German Peteling article headlined "Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to go to Urals to serve rest of her term" says that following a chain of scandals, jailed Pussy Riot punk band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is to be transferred to a penal colony either in Sverdlov region or Krasnoyarsk region; p 4 (900 words).

Vedomosti

1. Natalya Bianova article headlined "Sberbank takes one third from loan" says Sberbank reduces interest rates for loans by one third, down to 14.5 percent a year; pp 1, 14 (515 words).

2. Sergei Titov article headlined "Parking tax" says Moscow businesses will pay higher real estate tax for two years, experts believe the planned hike violates the constitution; pp 1, 4 (379 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Hired 'Big Brother'" comments on the FSB plans to monitor Russian internet traffic and notes that with the level of corruption in the Russian law-enforcement agencies, the move may result in wrong people getting access to confidential information; pp 1, 6 (377 words).

4. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "India getting closer" says that at a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the possibility of setting up a free-trade zone with the Customs Union was discussed; p 2 (350 words).

5. Another editorial headlined "Old song about main one" says First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has once again acknowledged that high oil prices hamper innovative development in Russia, however, he did not offer any solution to the problem; p 6 (338 words)

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Igor Karamzin and Ignat Kalinin article headlined "Terrorists launch Olympic fire?" says the suicide bombing in Volgograd can be a part of the extremists' plan to disrupt the Sochi Olympics; pp 1 — 2 (1,141 words).

2. Yulia Kalinina article headlined "To beat up or not?" criticizes the law-enforcement agencies for beating up the Azeri suspect, Orkhan Zeinalov, during the detention and notes that this practice is widespread when the police makes a suspect confess; pp 1, 3 (524 words).

3. Melor Sturua article headlined "In what way FSB copies NSA" compares the two security agencies' policy amid the recent news on the Russian authorities who are allegedly going to give the Federal Security Service access to all internet traffic in the country; p 7 (600 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Margarita Alekhina article headlined "To cover themselves" says that following the riots in Biryulyovo, the authorities have started playing up to nationalist moods. There are concerns that nationalist marches planned for Nov. 4 may result in public disturbances in Moscow and other cities; pp 1, 5 (1,096 words).

2. Diana Yevdokimova and Alexandra Nemirova article headlined "They work until last 'agent'" reports on a new wave of prosecutors' inspections of NGOs that have already been checked during a similar campaign earlier this year; pp 1, 5 (607 words).

3. Sergei Putilov report "Working twilight" says that employment in the shadow sector of the Russian economy has reached record high since the crisis in 2008; pp 1, 3 (650 words).

4. Vladimir Vodo report "They did not find inhumane treatment" says that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has dismissed Poles' complaint about the way Russia has handled an investigation into the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish prisoners-of-war by the Soviet secret police; p 2 (500 words).

5. Yulia Savina report "'We give away our rights drop by drop'" says that the Russian special services may receive even more authority to control the data of Internet users; 450 words).

6. Sergei Manukov article "Asked to table" comments on a meeting of the Syrian opposition with foreign ministers from the London 11, the core group of Friends of Syria, to be held in London today to prepare for an international conference on Syria; p 2 (600 words).

7. Yulia Savina interview with the head of the TV and radio company MIR, Radik Batyrshin, who speaks about the work of the company; p 2 (1,100 words).

RBC Daily

1. Ivan Petrov report "Status bias of justice" says that according to experts from the institute of law enforcement, the Russian criminal justice is working against "marginal elements" first of all. On the other hand, judges are indulgent in relation to the civil servants who have committed crimes; pp 1-2 (800 words).

2. Stepan Opalev report "Biryulyovo intersects Manezhka" says that the newspaper's correspondent has spoken with a man, who in 2011 spent three months in the same cell in the Matrosskaya Tishina remand centre with Azerbaijani national Orxan Zeinalov suspected of murdering Yegor Shcherbakov in Moscow's district Biryulyovo on 10 October. The man shares his impression of Zeinalov; pp 1-2 (1,100 words).

3. Unattributed article "Terrorist attack in Volgograd. Chronicle of events" gives details of the terrorist attack in Volgograd where a bus has been blown up by a female suicide bomber; p 2 (400 words).

4. Alina Yevstigneyeva report "People's friendship" says that the Russian Audit Chamber and the U.S. General Accounting Office are setting up a special group to audit state purchases; p 3 (500 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Tatyana Alexeyeva et al. report "Female suicide bomber's husband was Russian Wahhabi from Dolgoprudny" looks at a terrorist attack in Volgograd; pp 1, 3 (1,000 words).

2. Dmitry Smirnov report "'Hearts conqueror' arrives in Kremlin" looks at the meeting of President Vladimir Putin and the Indian prime minister in Moscow; p 2 (700 words).

3. Unattributed report "What hinders fight against terrorism?" features experts' comments on the fight against terrorism in Russia; p 3 (450 words).

4. Semen Yelenin report "Female suicide bomber's husband was Russian Wahhabi from Dolgoprudny" looks at Dmitry Sokolov, husband of the suicide bomber who blew up a bus in Volgograd on Oct. 21, and says that he may be the executor of another two explosions; p 4 (400 words).

5. Alexander Gamov interview headlined "'Except FSB, no-one is fighting against extremists'" with the head of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov, who comments on the explosion in Volgograd and says that the fight against terrorists and extremists is not being carried out effectively. "'Except the Federal Security Service (FSB), I do not see any other organization that would consistently carry out this work," he said; p 5 (500 words).

6. Alexander Grishin interview "'This is attempt to show that bandit underground is still alive"' with former head of the FSB public relations centre Alexander Zdanovich, who comments on the terrorist attack in Volgograd; p 5 (300 words).

7. Article by Roman Silantyev, expert in Islam, headlined "'Young people are being recruited right here, under our nose"' who says that Wahhabis are very actively recruiting young people in higher educational institutions; p 5 (250 words).

8. Yelena Arakelyan report "General director of Uralkaly arrested again. This time, in Russia" says that a court in Moscow has remanded in custody in absentia Vladislav Baumgertner, general director of Uralkali; p 7 (250 words).

9. Alexei Kuznetsov report "New Su-35 aircraft to enter country's service" says that the fighter jet S-35 is being supplied to the Russian Armed Forces; p 9 (600 words).

Moskovskye Novosti

1. Leokadia Drobizheva report "'It is impossible to predict next outburst"' looks at the problem of migrants and diasporas in Russia; pp B2-B3 (2,100 words).

Trud

1. Sergei Rusev article headlined "The bus was packed full" says that Caucasus terrorists have reminded of themselves in Volgograd, where a bus has been exploded by a suicide bomber; p 1 (500 words).

2. Yana Pryamilova report "Actually, Russia needs only one migrant in 10" says that according to experts, only one migrant in 10 working in Russia is a qualified worker; p 4 (500 words).

Tvoy Den

1. Andrei Muravyev report "Total web" says that the FSB intends to get access to all the data of Internet users in Russia; p 2 (600 words).

2. Unattributed report says that Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky believes that the terrorist attack in Volgograd may be revenge for recent violence in Moscow's district Biryulyovo; p 4 (200 words).