What the Papers Say, Oct. 29, 2013

Kommersant

1. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Railway station serves president's arrival" reports on President Vladimir Putin inspecting the new facilities built for the Winter Olympics in the Krasnodar region and notes that the president has guaranteed the comfort of those with a non-traditional sexual orientation during the Games; pp 1, 5 (963 words).

2. Alexander Igorev article headlined "Interior Ministry minimizes results of reform" says the Interior Ministry has had to acknowledge that the recent police reform has exacerbated problems of the police. The ministry is now looking for ways to restore people's trust and respect; pp 1, 4 (374 words).

3. Yekaterina Gerashchenko article headlined "Future forecast for markets" outlines the plans of the Moscow mayor's office to reconstruct 27 agricultural markets in the city; pp 1, 13 (680 words).

4. Alexei Shapovalov report "With sense of unprecedented upsurge" says that Russia has for the first time significantly improved its Doing Business rating; pp 1, 8 (1,000 words).

5. Natalya Korchenkova et al. report headlined "Vladimir Zhirinovsky denies extremism" says the chairman of the Duma's committee for affairs of nationalities has asked the Prosecutor-General's office to check the recent statements of LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky criticising North Caucasus natives; p 2 (659 words).

6. Sofya Samokhina and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Property of Russian Academy of Sciences falls into untied hands" says Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the statute of a federal agency for Scientific Organizations that will manage the property of the Academy of Sciences. The head of the agency will have broad powers; p 2 (424 words).

7. Maxim Ivanov and Sergei Goryashko article headlined "Corrupt officials to be checked without fail" reports on anti-corruption bills submitted to the State Duma by United Russia deputies; p 2 (612 words).

8. Grigory Tumanov and Vyacheslav Kozlov article headlined "Rights activists fail to divide cell" says a scandal has broken over the formation of the Moscow public supervisory commission whose job it is to monitor the city detention centres. More than a dozen rights activists threaten to leave the organization over disagreements with the commission head Valery Borshchev; p 4 (677 words).

9. Pavel Tarasenko and Ivan Safronov article headlined "Russian-Ecuadorian relations to be freed from banana addiction" says that Putin will receive his Ecuadorian counterpart in Moscow to discuss energy cooperation and arms supplies; p 7 (635 words).

10. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Even threat to land not to stop Ukraine" says that Putin has spent five hours trying to prevent his Ukrainian counterpart from entering into agreement with the EU. However, Kiev has not changed plans for European integration; p 7 (711 words).

11. Georgy Dvali article headlined "Facing choice after election" comments on the situation in Georgia and tries to predict its further political development after Mikheil Saakashvili has lost the presidential post; p 7 (756 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "President to be told history pleasant in all respects" says the final draft of the Russian history schoolbook is to be shown to Putin this week despite the fact that some of the views on historic events give rise to controversy; pp 1, 3 (930 words).

2. Igor Naumov and Ivan Shvarts article headlined "Stroud lines of golden parachutes cut" says the government wants to impose a limit on the so-called golden parachute compensations paid to sacked heads of state-controlled corporations; pp 1, 4 (713 words).

3. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Bolotnaya [square protest] case goes beyond borders" says a Russian court has issued an arrest warrant for Anastasia Rybachenko who has immigrated to Estonia. She is charged as part of the Bolotnaya square protest case; pp 1, 3 (650 words).

4. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Labor Ministry considers withdrawal of pension savings to be legal" says Labor Minister Maxim Topilin has justified the government's seizure of Russians' pension savings. He claimed that people have a right to pension, but do not control the sums they paid as part of social taxes; pp 1, 4 (591 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Kiev hopes for truce, while Moscow rolls out barbed wire" says Russia is stepping up control on the border with Ukraine, as Kiev is getting ready to sign an association agreement with the EU; pp 1, 6 (1,075 words).

6. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "Bottomless pit for American billions" says NATO is sending managers and administrators to monitor the way U.S. investment is spent in Afghanistan; pp 1-2 (525 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Prisoner is criminal forever" says the Constitutional Court has ruled that the law, prohibiting people with convictions from taking part in Russian elections, contradicts the constitution. United Russia is getting ready to impose a limit on election participation for convicts; p 2 (460 words).

8. Yekaterina Trifonova report "Fifteen steps to deputy chair" says that billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, leader of the Civil Platform party, is building his Moscow Duma election campaign on Muscovites' problems. He intends to solve 15 main problems facing Muscovites; p 3 (500 words).

9. Sergei Kulikov report "Expenses for football to be driven into frame" says that the authorities are setting up a special centre to prepare for the 2018 FIFA World Cup; p 4 (600 words).

10. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Syrian opposition boycotts Geneva-2" says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called on the West and the East to take measures and make sure that the international peace conference on Syria is held as planned; p 7 (609 words).

11. Yury Solomonov interview headlined "Authorities, society and information" with analyst and Committee of Civil Initiatives member Ivan Begtin, who tries to answer a question about whether it is possible to build an open state from a country which is "for official use only"; pp 9, 11 (4,300 words).

Vedomosti

1. Margarita Papchenkova article headlined "Taxes in morning, benefits at night" says the Finance Ministry has found a way to fight against offshore schemes. Companies will be able to get tax benefits only after the full amount of taxes is paid and tax collectors find the benefits justified; pp 1, 5 (609 words).

2. Anastasia Kornya and Maxim Glikin article headlined "Article for budget" comments on the anticorruption law drafted by United Russia lawmaker Irina Yarovaya; pp 1-2 (564 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Abroad to Ukraine" says Russia and Ukraine are drifting apart as Moscow will not allow individuals with domestic passports to cross its border. Russia has started installing barbed wire and border checkpoints on the border with Ukraine; pp 1, 6 (367 words).

4. Maria Zheleznova report "Strangers not to be let into remand centres" says that a conflict is likely to break out in Moscow between the candidates to the new supervisory committee who have access to remand centres; p 2 (800 words).

5. Another editorial headlined "Georgian transition" says the fact that the Georgian president is capable of losing the presidential election shows the country's elite is mature enough to have long-term goals; p 6 (368 words).

6. Vladimir Ashurkov report "|Society does not cope with inflow of migrants" looks at the migration problem in Russia; pp 6-7 (2,100 words).

7. Kirill Kharatyan report in the column "Quote of the week" quotes Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who commented on the situation with Greenpeace activists arrested in Russia; p 7 (400 words).

8. Milana Chelpanova report "Rosatom will build nuclear power plant in Jordan" says that the Rosatom state corporation may receive a contract to build and manage a nuclear power plant in Jordan worth $10 billion ; p 10 (700 words).

Izvestia

1. Dmitry Runkevich and Yelena May article headlined "State Duma to seat officials in cars in accordance with their rank" says the State Duma is to determine the maximum amount of money that Russian officials of different rank will be allowed to spend to buy vehicles; pp 1, 3 (842 words).

2. Anastasia Alekseyevskikh article headlined "Servicemen afraid of armed competition" says that commanders of military units do not want to allow armed cash collectors to enter the territory of the military units. That is why a lot of servicemen receiving their salary on bank cards cannot withdraw cash as the nearest cash dispensers are located miles away; pp 1, 4 (582 words).

3. Yelena Nikitina report "They suggest that marines be rearmed" says that marines units will be equipped with modern weapons and military hardware; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

4. Yelena Teslova report "Political blocs to be allowed in parliaments" says that it has been suggested that political parties set up blocs after they are elected to legislative assemblies; p 3 (1,500 words).

5. Petr Kozlov article headlined "Prosecutor-general asked to check legality of journalist's arrest" says that St. Petersburg senator Vadim Tyulpanov has asked the prosecutor-general to free photographer Denis Sinyakov arrested together with Greenpeace activists at the Prirazlomnaya oil rig; p 6 (428 words).

6. Konstantin Volkov article headlined "Syrian Islamists reject Geneva-2" says 19 rebel groups belonging to the Syrian opposition forces have refused to take part in the international peace conference on Syria in Geneva; p 7 (539 words).

7. Mikhail Vignansky article headlined "Plato's fan becomes Georgian president" reports on the Georgian presidential election results; p 7 (618 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Vitaly Petrov article headlined "Olympic station" reports on Putin inspecting a new railway terminal in Adler built for the Winter Olympics; pp 1-2 (1,000 words).

2. Nikolay Dolgopolov interview headlined "Green light for us everywhere" with Deputy Regional Development Minister Yury Reilyan speaking on the preparation for the Sochi Olympics; pp 1, 15 (2,900 words).

3. Yelena Kukol article headlined "Get into one hundred" says Russia for the first time has been listed among 100 countries with best conditions for doing business in the Doing Business-2014 rating. Russia was listed 92nd, which is 10 points up compared to the previous rating; pp 1, 4 (600 words).

4. Marina Aleshina article headlined "Dream leads to president's seat" says the Georgian presidential election has put an end to Mikheil Saakashvili's rule; p 8 (600 words).

5. Anna Fedyakina article headlined "Advice from Kissinger" says U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger has received an honorary doctor award at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry; p 8 (700 words).

6. Eduard Gushchin article headlined "ABM reaches Romania" says NATO is getting closer to Russia's borders as the work to deploy a new U.S. missile defense system has begun in Romania; p 6 (250 words).

7. Vladislav Vorobyev article called "Decision in Kiev's way" looks at the meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with his Ukrainian counterpart; p 8 (650 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Marina Perevozkina article headlined "Georgia has its own Medvedev" says that a former guide has defeated the presidential candidate backed by outgoing President Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia; pp 1-2 (837 words).

2. Alexander Minkin article headlined "State Duma thinking of money" comments on the recent statements of LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky about the need to reduce birth rate in the North Caucasus; pp 1-2 (724 words).

3. Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Oxana Dmitryeva pestered with proposals" says that A Just Russia member Oxana Dmitryeva, who has been recently ousted from the party leadership, is allegedly being invited by United Russia and the Communists to join their parties; p 2 (516 words).

4. Alisa Ganiyeva report "Ward for violent ones" says that separating the North Caucasus from Russia is profitable only for skinheads and Wahhabis; p 3 (850 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Gennady Petrov interview with Moscow's Carnegie Centre expert Alexei Malashenko speaking on the effect of the Georgian presidential election results on the relations between Moscow and Tbilisi; pp 1-2 (500 words).

2. Vera Moslakova article headlined "Not related to fight against corruption" looks into the initiative of United Russia lawmaker Irina Yarovaya, who filed a draft law toughening control over officials' spendings and envisaging 15 years behind bars for stealing budget funds. However, this will not help reduce the number of corruption crimes, pundits say; p 2 (500 words).

RBK Daily

1. Inga Vorobyeva article headlined "Putin promised comfortable Olympics for gays" looks into the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and new head of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach; p 3 (400 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Mikhail Yuzhniy article headlined "Former mayor of Makhachkala wanted to blow up passenger aircraft" says that according to investigators, former mayor of Makhachkala Said Amirov was planning to bring down a passenger aircraft in order to kill his political opponent, making it look like a terrorist act; p 4 (250 words).

2. Vladimir Vorsobin article headlined "Tbilisi speaking Russian again" looks into the profile of a newly elected Georgian president; p 7 (600 words).

Trud

1. Igor Chernov article headlined "Sochi got new symbol" says that a new modern train station has been opened in Sochi; p 1 (350 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Alexander Alexanderov article headlined "'Gangneva' in desert" reports on an active phase of the joint Russian-Indian military exercise Indra-2013; p 3 (400 words).

Tvoi Den

1. Sergei Vasilyev article headlined "Air terrorist" says that former Makhachkala mayor Said Amirov was planning to use the Strela air defence missile system to bring down a passenger aircraft with his political opponent onboard; pp 1, 4-5 (400 words).