What the Papers Say, Nov. 19, 2013

Kommersant

1. Sergei Mashkin et al. report headlined "Boeing dropped while being lifted" says a human error must have caused the deadly plane crash in Kazan. Moscow is investigating the crash; pp 1, 6 (1,038 words).

2. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "Yevgenia Vasilyeva not allowed to go to work" says the Moscow City Court has extended the house arrest for former Defense Ministry official Yevgenia Vasilyeva, charged with abuse of office. The court did not allow her to work at a lawyer's firm where she had found a job; pp 1, 6 (790 words).

3. Oleg Trutnev and Pavel Belavin article headlined "Sedmoy Kontinent [Seventh Continent] receives five years" says the owner of the Sedmoy Kontinent food retail network, Alexander Zanadvorov, has given up his plans to sell the chain to X5 Retail Group. The businessman decided to develop the chain himself having received a $1 billion loan from Sberbank; pp 1, 12 (631 words).

4. Maria Yakovleva article headlined "Silent people lose patience" says millions of Russians have become conscious about their pension savings, and 78 percent of the citizens want to transfer their pension savings to private pension funds; pp 1, 10 (437 words).

5. Taisia Bekbulatova et al. article headlined "NGOs to be instructed to raise money" says the All Russian Civil Forum to be held on Nov. 23 is to discuss the future of NGOs. The head of the presidential human rights council, Mikhail Fedotov, would like to draw a distinction between politically-inclined NGOs and others; p 2 (562 words).

6. Ivan Safronov and Taisia Bekbulatova article headlined "Oboronservis reform entrusted to property specialist" says former Moscow city official Anton Poskonin has been appointed CEO of the Oboronservis defense company. His main task will be the reform of the company, Kommersant learned; p 3 (600 words).

7. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Love for motherland drops in Russia" says social scientists have reported a decline in patriotic feelings of Russians; p 3 (200 words).

8. Grigory Tumanov and Vyacheslav Kozlov article headlined "Non-locals for discussions" reviews the districts of Moscow where most migrants work and live; p 4 (1,559 words).

9. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Viktor Bout partner reminded about past" says the trial of former business partner of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is under way in the U.S.; p 6 (767 words).

10. Sergei Strokan article headlined "French President opens Middle East" says French President Francois Hollande has managed to find a way of improving his falling rating by taking the side of Iran's foes, namely Israel; p 7 (587 words).

11. Olga Mordyushenko et al. report headlined "Uralkali sold for quick money" says billionaire Suleiman Kerimov has sold his stake in Uralkali potash producer to another billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov; p 9 (655 words).

12. Roman Rozhkov article headlined "'I am not afraid of cannibalization'" is an interview with Asfisha-Rambler-SUP CEO Petr Zakharov about managing Lenta, Gazeta.ru and other assets within one holding company; p 13 (2,000 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Konstantin Remchukov interview with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking on prospects of the Iranian nuclear talks; pp 1, 7 (3,796 words).

2. Ivan Rodin and Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Prosecutor-General's Office returns to system of checks and balances" says Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika would like his agency to have more oversight powers; pp 1, 3 (1,145 words).

3. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Post office directed to increase motivation" says Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that the Russian Post personnel should get a raise. The challenging problem for the authorities is how to make the post service comply with world standards; pp 1, 4 (620 words).

4. Yekaterina Trifonova article headlined "Migrants try to defend Russian citizenship in courts" says immigrants have started appealing their deportations in courts. Those loosing their cases will not be able to enter Russia again, according to new amendments to the law; pp 1, 5 (775 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Aliyev and Yanukovych revive GUAM [Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova alliance]" says re-elected Azeri President Ilham Aliyev's second foreign trip has been to Ukraine, where the prospects for reviving the GUAM alliance have been discussed; pp 1, 6 (859 words).

6. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Washington to test Libyans for radicalism" says the U.S. is planning to train professional security forces for Libya. The international interference is considered necessary as a conflict between tribes sparks violence; pp 1, 7 (587 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Navalny's party like battering ram" comments on the platform of People's Alliance, headed by opposition politician Alexei Navalny, and notes that the party needs a detailed program on economy and other issues in addition to anti-corruption slogans; p 2 (496 words).

8. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "Francois Hollande declares himself Israel's best friend" reports on the French president's visit to Israel, where Hollande has pledged to take into consideration Tel Aviv concerns during nuclear talks with Iran; p 2 (765 words).

9. Article by Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Dorit Golender headlined "Carte Blanche: High price of empty promises" calls on the powers conducting nuclear talks with Iran, Russia in particular, not to sign an ill-though-out document that could threaten peace in the region; p 3 (785 words).

Vedomosti

1. Sergei Titov et al. report headlined "Finance Ministry finds 1,800 billon rubles ($55 billion)" says Russia has lost1800 billion rubles due to tax benefits, according to the Finance Ministry. The government will decide what benefits can be cancelled next year; pp 1, 4 (961 words).

2. Galina Starinskaya article headlined "percent first" says Russia will have to pay the 2.6 percent interest rate on the advance payment for oil supplies to China, which amounts to $70 billion ; pp 1, 12 (503 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Chinese thaw" comments on political and social changes that have been announced in China recently; pp 1, 6 (403 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "Out-of-court settlement" comments on the Defense Ministry corruption case, noting that former Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has avoided punishment as he belongs to the group of people close to President Vladimir Putin; p 6 (299 words).

5. Article by Carnegie Moscow Center expert Alexei Malashenko "Around Syria: Middle East tangle" looks at the stances of Syria's neighbors and prospects for settling the Syrian conflict through the Geneva-2 peace conference; p 6 (766 words).

6. Yelizaveta Sergina article headlined "Forty-five percent for Rostelekom" says Russian telecommunications company Rostelekom will get 45 percent of shares in Tele2; pp 11, 17 (300 words).

7. Alexandra Terentyeva article headlined "Prokhorov instead of Kerimov" says Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim group and Uralchem owner Dmitry Mazepin will become new owners of Uralkali potash producer; p 12 (200 words).

Izvestia

1. Yelena Teslova article headlined "Foreign websites with dubious content not to be allowed into Russia" says the presidential human rights council wants to pass amendments to close websites on foreign portals if their information violates Russian legislation; pp 1, 3 (465 words).

2. Yelizaveta Mayetnaya and German Petelin article headlined "Tatarstan airline was flying on call" focuses on the investigation into the Kazan air crash; pp 1, 3 (500 words).

3. Ivan Cheberko article headlined "Sea Launch case goes to investigation" says the FSB has passed the case of the construction of the mobile maritime platform, Sea Launch, to the Russian Investigative Committee. The case has revealed financial fraud within the state corporation; pp 1, 4 (646 words).

4. Article by political scientist Boris Mezhuyev headlined "First glow of real politics" criticizes liberals who raised their economic demands during the crisis of 2008-2009 and are now making similar claims while the country's economic situation is deteriorating; pp 1, 6 (765 words).

5. Vladimir Zukov article headlined "E-mail on state services portal to become legally valid" says organizations and individuals will receive notifications from the tax service, the traffic police and other government bodies via e-mail on the state services portal; pp 1-2 (420 words).

6. Sergei Podosenov article headlined "Human rights council demands that law enforcement agencies be tested for corruption" says the presidential human rights council suspects law-enforcement agencies of using Biryulyovo riots to remove unwanted business competition; p 3 (459 words).

7. Olesya Yelkova article headlined "Prokhorov buys Kerimov's share in Uralkali" says Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim group is buying Suleiman Kerimov's share in Uralkali potash producer; p 6 (600 words).

8. Sergei Rogov op-ed headlined "Russia and U.S.: Is it possible to break vicious circle?" says without a constructive cooperation between Russia and the U.S., chaos may emerge in the multi-polar world; p 9 (600 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Vladislav Vorobyev article headlined "Long path of negotiations" is an interview with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking on prospects of resolving the Syrian conflict and reaching a deal over the Iranian nuclear program; pp 1, 8 (628 words).

2. Tatyana Shadrina et al. report headlined "Examination of flight" gives details of the probe into the Kazan air crash; pp 1, 7 (2,111 words).

3. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "Digital cell" says inmates of penal colonies will be allowed to rent digital equipment; pp 1- 2 (2,724 words).

4. Valery Zorkin article headlined "Russia's constitutional vector" is an op-ed by the chairman of the Constitutional Court on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the constitution; p 4 (2,400 words).

5. Oxana Naralenkova article headlined "Volunteers of television" reports on a new show to be produced and broadcast by the Russian public broadcaster, OTR; p 6 (446 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Irina Bobrova article headlined "Flight arrives with identification" reports on the identification of the victims of the air crash in Kazan; pp 1-2 (1,131 words).

2. Marina Ozerova article headlined "Criminal idealism" comments on a bill submitted to the State Duma that proposes a one-year prison term for desecrating the Russian flag, anthem and coat of arms; pp 1, 11 (841 words).

3. Lina Panchenko article headlined "Vasilyeva finds job after Serdyukov" says a former Defense Ministry official and one of the key suspects in the high-profile Oboronservis case, Yevgenia Vasilyeva, has been employed as a lawyer; pp 1, 11 (400 words).

4. Olga Bozhyeva article headlined "Non-landing configuration of disaster" features expert comments on the air crash in Kazan; p 3 (400 words).

5. Nikita Krichevsky article headlined "Hunting the 'green witch'" says a draft law on banning the dollar in Russia has been submitted to the State Duma for publicity reasons; p 4 (700 words).

6. Olga Bozhyeva article headlined "Murderous greed" says the authorities are likely to blame dead pilots for the Kazan crash to avoid raising the issue of old and outdated planes used by airlines; p 2 (561 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Anna Alexeieva brief interview with Igor Deldyuzhov, head of the Sheremetyevo air staff union, speaking about possible causes of the plane crash in Kazan; pp 1, 5 (400 words).

2. Veronika Vorontsova et al. report headlined "Air secret" the Kazan airport staff did not inform the relatives of the crash victims immediately after the tragedy for some reason; pp 1, 5 (900 words).

3. Yekaterina Dyatlovskaya article headlined "People's Alliance's third try" says the People's Alliance party headed by protest leader Alexei Navalny is trying to join the ranks of the systemic opposition; p 2 (600 words).

RBK Daily

1. Ivan Petrov article "Chaika criticizes investigation" says that speaking at the Federation Council, Russian Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has strongly criticized the work of the Investigative Committee. Experts believe that the criticism once again proves that there are certain disagreements between the agencies; pp 1-2 (300 words).

2. Alexander Litoy article headlined "Freedom for ex-pirates" says the St. Petersburg court has started releasing from custody the 30 people involved in the Greenpeace protest at the Prirazlomnaya oil rig; p 2 (450 words).

Krasnaya Zvezda

1. Viktor Ruchkin article headlined "Chemical weapons destruction plan approved" looks at the results of the talks between Russian and Syrian government delegations on preparations for the Geneva-2 conference that were held in Moscow on Nov. 18 ; p 3 (500 words).

Trud

1. Lyudmila Bezrukova and Anatoly Zhurin article headlined "Morning after crash" features ordinary people and experts' reaction to the Kazan plane crash and says the Russian civil aviation is in poor condition; pp 1-2 (1,400 words).

2. Georgy Nastenko article headlined "I wish we lived like Olympians in Sochi!" features a special report from the Olympic village in Sochi; pp 1, 6 (700 words).

Komsomolskaya pravda

1. Igor Kots et al. interview with Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, speaking about the daily problems the city has to deal with; pp 1, 12-13 (2,400 words).

2. Semen Yelenin article headlined "Technical failure, human error or weather after all?" speculates on the possible causes of the plane crash in Kazan that claimed the lives of more than 50 people; p 4 (250 words).

3. Oleg Adamovich and Vladimir Demchenko article headlined "What non-landing configuration is" features experts' comments on the possible causes of the Kazan plane crash; p 4 (300 words).

4. Yelena Odintsova article headlined "How old are planes we fly by?" says the crashed Boeing 737 was over 20 years old and looks at how many companies in Russia are still using old planes; p 5 (400 words).

Tvoi Den

1. Alexei Titov article headlined "Circles of hell" features comments of the Kazan air traffic controller Kirill Kornishin who was talking to the pilots of the Boeing 737 moments before the aircraft crashed; p 2-3 (300 words).