What the Papers Say, Oct. 23, 2013

Kommersant

1. Alexander Gabuyev and Kirill Melnikov article headlined "Advance payment for raw materials" outlines the results of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to China, lists contracts signed and notes that the loans that Russia was able to get from China will probably come at a big cost because the Chinese will want discounts on oil prices; pp 1, 11 (1,076 words).

2. Maxim Yusin article headlined "Smaller leaders expected in Georgia" reports on the current presidential election campaign in Georgia, "the most unusual one" in the history of the country; pp 1, 8 (1,319 words).

3. Petr Netreba et al. article headlined "Gennady Onishchenko banned from Rospotrebnadzor" says the announced dismissal of Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko might have been due to a conflict over the division of power between Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection) and Rosselkhoznadzor (Federal Service for Veterinary and Plant Control); pp 1, 6 (683 words).

4. Yevgenia Pertseva and Pavel Belavin article headlined "Walt Disney realizes big retailing" says Walt Disney Co. is to open three Disney Stores in Moscow and St. Petersburg next year; pp 1, 12 (686 words).

5. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Vladimir Putin holds pogrom on nationalists" reports on a meeting of President Vladimir Putin and leaders of the Russian Muslim community in Ufa and a session of the presidential council for interethnic relations in the wake of the Biryulyovo riot; p 3 (1,408 words).

6. Maxim Ivanov et al. article headlined "Rethinking electoral system" says the Russian State Duma has passed in a second reading a bill that would establish the percentage of lawmakers elected in single-seat constituencies and by party lists as well as dispose of electronic vote counting machines; p 2 (635 words).

7. Anna Zanina and Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "Supreme Court of Arbitration suffers first casualties" says seven judges of the Higher Court of Arbitration have resigned in the run-up to the court's merger with the Supreme Court; p 2 (550 words).

8. Sofya Samokhina article headlined "United Russia will not let migrants sit still" lists amendments to migration legislation that will, if passed, introduce more stringent control over immigrants in Russia; p 3 (540 words).

9. Olga Churakova article headlined "School drug tests come out negative" says doctors are strongly opposed to a law on testing schoolchildren for drug use that comes into force in December 2014. Health professionals believe that children and college students will be forced to undergo the test under the threat of expulsion; p 4 (490 words).

10. Timur Samedov article headlined "Militants used taxi to shoot chekists" gives details of an armed attack on a group of FSB (Federal Security Service) staff members in the Kabardino-Balkaria on the night of Oct. 21 to 22; p 4 (408 words).

11. Yulia Rybina article headlined "Terrorist offered place" reports on the course of an investigation into the Volgograd bus blast; p 5 (853 words).

12. Sergei Goryashko article headlined "People in Russia giving fewer bribes" summarizes a poll by VTsIOM that shows 80 percent of people in Russia point to a high level of corruption in the country and the same percentage of the interviewed say they have not paid a bribe over the past year; p 5 (448 words).

13. Alexei Kudrin column "Rules of the game" highlights the risks of the further growth of the U.S. national debt; p 6 (589 words).

14. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Bashar al-Asad comes to terms with himself" says Bashar Assad's determination to run for re-election in 2014 might disrupt the Geneva-2 peace conference because the Syrian opposition would never agree to it; p 7 (587 words).

15. Olga Kuznetsova et al. article headlined "Russia and NATO to present united front" previews today's meeting of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with his counterparts from the NATO member states in Brussels; p 7 (725 words).

16. Pavel Tarasenko article headlined "Britain does not want to accept migrants for nothing" looks at a bill under discussion with the House of Commons that would make it harder for immigrants to make use of the British health care system and easier for authorities to deport illegal immigrants from the country; p 7 (523 words).

17. Business observer Anatoly Dzhumaylo op-ed "Rules of the game" looks at the obstacles preventing Russian-Chinese cooperation in coal mining; p 9 (393 words).

18. Vladislav Novy article headlined "Customs asking for one tenth" says the Russian customs service is lobbying for a duty on items purchased by Russian shoppers online from abroad; p 13 (456 words).

19. Yekaterina Gerashchenko et al. article headlined "Chinese to build Russia" says China's largest developer China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) is to build 1.5 million square metres of housing in Khabarovsk; p 12 (588 words).

20. Yury Barsukov and Alexander Gabuyev article headlined "Gazprom tied up to Singapore" says Russia's gas giant Gazprom and China are still far from reaching an agreement on gas prices for China; p 11 (656 words).

21. Natalya Skorlygina article headlined "Electrical declaration" says power grid companies of Russia and China keep signing deals on joint projects that seem unlikely to bring profit or take off at all; p 11 (591 words).

22. Kirill Melnikov article headlined "Rosneft to pour more to China" says the Russian oil company Rosneft is to sell 100 million tonnes of oil to China's Sinopec, but will have to transport it by sea as pipelines are running out of capacity; p 11 (556 words).

Vedomosti

1. Galina Starinskaya article headlined "Rosneft finds billions in the East" says the Russian oil company Rosneft is to sell 720 million tonnes of oil to China before 2037; pp 1, 12 (613 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Chinese fight" is not encouraged by China's approach to eradicating corruption because the methods used seem lawless and lack transparency; pp 1, 6 (395 words).

3. Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "Shoigu does not sell" says under a new asset management strategy of the Defense Ministry, its unwanted property will be handed over to local authorities free of charge rather than sold at auctions; pp 1, 3 (404 words).

4. Svetlana Bocharova and Lilia Biryukova article headlined "Panacea for migrants" says Russian lawmakers have come up with a set of legislative initiatives that are supposed to bring immigration under control, but experts expect the number of illegal immigrants to rise as a result; p 2 (561 words).

5. Editor of Dozhd TV website Ilya Klishin column headlined "Extraterrestrial Biryulyovo" says the Biryulyovo riot was peculiar because it had ripened in the outer space, so to say, that is, in the Russian social network Vkontakte.ru. Despite Vkontakte.ru being an open networking platform, the authorities failed to respond timely to the public gathering on Oct. 13 that grew into a riot; p 7 (426 words).

6. Roman Dorokhov and Anastasia Golitsyna article headlined "Court blocks torrents" says the Moscow city court has upheld lawsuits filed by copyright holders and blocked access to TV series on two Russian torrent websites; p 16 (516 words).

7. Natalia Bianova and Oleg Salmanov article headlined "Loans by post" says Russian Post is planning to enter banking market by offering loans at discount rates through its vast chain of offices; p 10 (592 words).

8. Editorial headlined "People's sanitary inspector" says head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko might be dismissed from his post after almost 20 years in service. Through his bans on potentially hazardous food imports, he has gained a reputation as the main fighter for Russian people's health, but may not longer be needed by the country leadership because Ukraine is going to join the EU regardless of trade wars with Russia; p 6 (358 words).

9. Maxim Solyus column "Figure of the week: Zero percent" says the Russian government is taking away people's pension savings under the pretext of a pension reform; p 7 (456 words).

10. Margarita Papchenkova article called "Dismissal for bankruptcy" says many regions of Russia are struggling to make ends meet, while Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has suggested that heads of the regions with outstanding debts might face dismissals; p 5 (429 words).

11. Igor Bunin and Alexei Makarkin essay headlined "Political course: Between reaction and liberalization" analyses inconsistencies in Vladimir Putin's policies; pp 6-7 (1,366 words).

12. Margarita Papchenkova and Sergei Titov article headlined "American law for Russia" says Vedomosti has got hold of a draft agreement between Russia and the U.S. on sharing tax information. The agreement is almost an exact copy of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act); p 4 (725 words).

13. Yulia Gribtsova et al. article headlined "What Gennady Onishchenko can be sacked for" looks at the controversial dismissal of Russia's chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko; pp 11, 18 (543 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article called "National gangrene" discusses recent initiatives for more control over immigration; pp 1, 3 (1,089 words).

2. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Very expensive collective defence" says Russia will have to slash funding for KSOR (Collective Rapid Reaction Force) amid recession, while OSCE member states are short of money to buy modern hardware for their armies; pp 1-2 (786 words).

3. Andrei Serenko article headlined "Suicide bomb of distractive nature" voices a theory that the suicide bomb attack on Volgograd on Oct. 21 might have been aimed at distracting the police and other law enforcers and enabling terrorists to smuggle something or someone to Central Russia; pp 1, 6 (804 words).

4. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Kiev apprehensive about migrant inflow from Russia" says Urkraine might face an increased inflow of labour migrants from Central Asia as Russia is tightening up on immigration rules. Russians might also be interested in settling down in Ukraine as the country seems safer and might actually become an EU member; pp 1, 7 (1,084 words).

5. Editorial headlined "Regional solution for Afghanistan" says a rapprochement between Pakistan and the U.S. will help the latter to safely evacuate its troops from Afghanistan. However, to ensure stability in Afghanistan, more regional players need to be involved; p 2 (502 words).

6. Viktoria Panfilova article headlined "Customs Union gaining pace" previews tomorrow's meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk. The council will consider the prospects of Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Customs Union, while Kazakhstan is unhappy with the expansion of the organization, the article says; p 2 (869 words).

7. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Petrol prices to outpace inflation" says petrol prices might grow 8 to 10 percent next year, well above the projected inflation rate; p 4 (710 words).

8. Igor Naumov article headlined "Strange character sacks Gennady Onishchenko" looks at the controversy over the announced dismissal of Russia's chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko. The latter doubted the decision-making ability of Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, who said he was leaving the post; p 4 (515 words).

9. Yury Tavrovsky article headlined "West pushing Russia to East" says the West is seeking to take over Ukraine, putting Russia on the brink of a geopolitical disaster. Russia proposed a package agreement to China on joining efforts to resist forces that want to eliminate the Russian and Chinese threats to their global monopoly; p 5 (1,541 words).

10. Sergei Turanov article headlined "Fifty most influential Russian business people" reviews the standings of Russia's top business people in the newspaper's influence rating; p 5 (1,080 words).

11. Svetlana Gavrilina article called "St. Petersburg Uzbeks outlawed" says the Finance Ministry has filed a lawsuit to close down the Uzbek ethnic community organization Umid, the largest one in Russia; p 6 (467 words).

12. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Medvedev shows interest in anti-corruption fight in China" says over 20 deals were signed during Prime Minister Medvedev's visit to China., while experts point to a slowdown in the Russian-Chinese trade; p 8 (534 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Tatyana Zykova interview with head of the risk management and operation control department of the Russian Customs Service Vyacheslav Goloskokov headlined "To know where the blind is". He speaks about the key smuggling concerns for the services; pp 1, 17 (2,392 words).

2. Vladimir Kuzmin article headlined "Beijing-style contract" reports in detail on Dmitry Medvedev's visit to China; p 3 (919 words).

3. Natalya Kozlova et al. article headlined "Suicide bomber fails to make it to Moscow" shares information that has become available to investigators about Naida Asiyalova, a suspected suicide bomber who supposedly blew herself up on a bus in Volgograd on Oct. 21; p 7 (3,226 words).

4. Yevgeny Shestakov article headlined "Al Qaeda asked not to interfere" previews a meeting of the Friends of Syria Group in London today and says the Geneva-2 peace conference is doomed to failure because too many countries are interested in the civil war in Syria as it keeps Al Qaeda busy; p 8 (657 words).

5. Fedor Lukyanov op-ed headlined "What Lukashenka is talking about" suggests that recent statements by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko about sovereignty should be interpreted as a tip for Russia to make integration economically interesting to its partners rather than to force them into joining supranational organizations such as the Customs Union; p 8 (735 words).

6. Yury Medvedev interview with head of the Space Research Institute Lev Zeleny headlined "Whose apple trees will blossom on Mars?" on the prospects of the Russian space exploration programme; p 13 (1,366 words).

Izvestia

1. Dmitry Yevstifeyev article headlined "Sixteen killed by accomplices of Volgograd suicide bomber" says special services have identified accomplices of suspected suicide bomber Naida Asiyalova; pp 1, 4 (500 words).

2. Anastasia Kashevarova article headlined "Ending term of Gennady Onishchenko" says the reports about dismissal of Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko have been denied by a prime minister's spokesperson; pp 1, 3 (300 words).

3. Ivan Cheberko article headlined "'We need to learn again to land on Moon'" is an interview with Viktor Khartov, director-general of the Russian aerospace company NPO im. Lavochkina; pp 1, 4 (1,100 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Alexander Minkin article headlined "Day of ferret" addresses President Vladimir Putin over a recent attack on Moskovsky Komsomolets' editorial office, doubting that the incident will be properly investigated; pp 1, 3 (500 words).

2. Unattributed article headlined "Moscow authorities outraged by incident in Moskovsky Komsomolets office" says deputy Moscow mayor Alexander Gorbenko has slammed the attack on the newspaper's office; p 1 (100 words).

3. Unattributed article headlined "Real passport of suicide bomber" says the Investigations Committee has provided journalists with photos of "the real passport" of terrorism suspect Naida Asiyalova. The origin the photos of a different supposed passport of Asiyalova remains unknown, the article says; p 1 (100 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Margarita Alekhina interview with Sergei Goncharov, head of the association of veterans of the Alpha counter-terrorist unit, commenting on the latest terrorist attack in the southern city of Volgograd; pp 1, 5 (400 words).

2. Arina Raksina article headlined "To keep pocket wide open" looks at the latest initiatives of Russian legislators aimed at replenishing the state budget at the expense of citizens; pp 1, 5 (1,000 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Alexander Grishin brief interview with the secretary of the Antiterrorist Committee in Dagestan, Rastivan Bekov, on the latest terrorist attack in the southern city of Volgograd and reasons for frequent failures of anti-terrorist barriers; p 6 (250 words).

2. Dmitry Steshin article headlined "Children playing war games against migrants" looks at the recent anti-migrant rallies in St. Petersburg and Moscow; pp 10-11 (1,300 words).

3. Pundit Georgy Bovt comment on the recent anti-migrant raids by police which he says will not solve problems; p 11 (250 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Irina Gordyenko article headlined "Terror attack with identity card" looks at the controversy surrounding the passport of the alleged suicide bomber in the Volgograd bus explosion; p 6 (700 words).

RBC Daily

1. Yulia Yakovleva article headlined "To start from the other end" says the State Duma will consider a number of amendments toughening migrant legislation; p 2 (450 words).

Trud

1. Alexander Dmitriyev article headlined "Friendship squinting at East" looks at the latest visit of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to China, which "gave a new impetus to our economic cooperation"; p 3 (800 words).