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What the Papers Say, Jan. 30

Kommersant


1. Vitaly Gaidayev article headlined "Ruble falls in its own way" looks at the fiscal policy of the Russian authorities that resulted in the cheapening of the ruble; pp 1, 8 (726 words).


2. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "What is to be done consciously may require a three-year wait" reports on President Putin's meeting with the Cabinet and on his decision to suspend financial support to Ukraine until a new government is shaped there; pp 1, 3 (1,067 words).


3. Viktor Khamrayev et al. report "Providers work as umbrellas" says several major cable television providers have dropped independent Dozhd television from their packages over a row triggered by the channel's poll, questioning the reasons for the Leningrad blockade during World War II; pp 1, 3 (973 words).


4. Yegor Popov et al. report headlined "Not to drink and not to drive" says the cheap ruble makes alcohol and vehicles more expensive in Russia; pp 1, 10 (925 words).


5. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Ukraine protected from intervention from two sides" says both Russian and European deputies have passed resolutions blaming each other for the involvement in the political crisis in Ukraine; p 3 (408 words).


6. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Author of virus comes to agreement with investigation" says Russian hacker Alexander Panin has fully admitted his guilt in a U.S. court, where he was charged with developing software SpyEye that helped him to get hold of the personal data of 1.4 million of users worldwide; p 5 (432 words).


7. Yelena Chernenko and Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Russian access to Iran being closed" says Washington is trying to prevent Moscow from reaching a trade deal with Tehran, however, the article adds that U.S. authorities do not pay attention to India conducting similar cooperation talks with Iran; p 6 (700 words).


8. Sergei Strokan interview with Arsen Avakov, deputy chairman of the opposition Fatherland faction in the Ukrainian parliament, speaking on the talks between the authorities and the opposition in Kiev; p 6 (496 words).


9. Ilya Barabanov article headlined "Indignation frees premises" says the Ukrainian authorities are ready to amnesty all detained protesters if opposition activists free government offices they occupied in Kiev. The process has already started, the article says; p 6 (575 words).


10. Maxim Yusin article in opinion column headlined "Price of issue" says the Ukrainian opposition leaders and the authorities became hostages of radical nationalists who do not respect any authority and are willing to spread instability all through the country; p 6 (428 words).


11. Kirill Belyaninov article headlined "Pentagon to check moral readiness" says checks of the U.S. strategic missile forces have started due to bullying allegations there; p 6 (445 words).


12. Olga Mordyushenko and Oleg Gavrish article headlined "Gazprom becomes victim of political instability" says that due to an ongoing political crisis in Ukraine, Kiev is once again unable to pay for the Russian gas; p 8 (500 words).


Nezavisimaya Gazeta


1. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Kiev thinks about federalization" says Moscow has resumed thorough checking of Ukrainian cargoes on the border in an attempt to punish the Ukrainian businesses supporting the opposition; pp 1, 6 (1,685 words).


2. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Platon Lebedev may demand compensation" says former head of Menatep bank and Mikhail Khodorkovsky's former business partner, Platon Lebedev, who has been recently released from prison may demand a compensation for illegal imprisonment. Lebedev's lawyers are also going to demand for acquittal of the former businessman, the article says; pp 1, 3 (711 words).


3. Yekaterina Trifonova and Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "They want to put Browder on international wanted list" says Moscow is trying to persuade Interpol that there is no politics in issuing an international arrest warrant for Hermitage Capital head William Browder; pp 1, 3 (824 words).


4. Yury Panyev article headlined "Obama prefers acting alone" says U.S. President Barack Obama has not found any time for Russia in his state of the nation address; pp 1-2 (675 words).


5. Anton Khodosevich article headlined "Glory of U.S. secret services does not allow Lukashenko to sleep" says the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has allowed the secret services to monitor internet traffic of users in the country; pp 1, 6 (573 words).


6. Svetlana Gavrilina article headlined "Milonov finds Bandera followers in St. Petersburg" says the St. Petersburg parliament has demanded that Dozhd television channel be punished for its poll on the Leningrad blockade during World War II, as it questioned the actions of the Soviet authorities during the war; p 1, 5 (592 words).


7. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Deputies to be obliged not to use swear words" regional parliaments are adopting laws that ban officials from criticizing their colleagues. The so-called "ethics code" was passed in Yaroslavl region, the article says; p 2 (631 words).


8. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Carte Blanche: military factor of Maidan" says the Ukrainian military are monitoring the political situation in the country, however, servicemen are unlikely to be engaged in dissolving protests; p 3 (842 words).


9. Daria Tsilyurik article headlined "Reset of main British secret service" says the head of GCHQ, Britain's electronic intelligence gathering agency, Sir Iain Lobban, is to step down, following the scandal with revelations by U.S. whistle-blower Edward Snowden; p 7 (662 words).


Vedomosti


1. Olga Kuvshinova et al. article "ruble not to flow" analyses the cheapening of the Russian ruble and the impact it might have on the economy; pp 1, 5 (900 words).


2. Margarita Papchenkova and Alexandra Terentyeva article headlined "They not to hide money" says the Finance Ministry is planning to collect taxes from subsidiaries of Russian companies operating not only in the offshore zones but also in the countries with the lowest tax rates; pp 1, 4 (500 words).


3. Editorial headlined "Sociology of Gifts" says that the mass worshipping of the Christian relic Gifts of the Magi should be considered as a sociological phenomenon; pp 1, 6 (200 words).


4. Polina Khimshiashvili and Yekaterina Kravchenko article headlined "Maidan not pardoned" looks at the latest developments with the political crisis in Ukraine; p 2 (400 words).


5. Ksenia Boletskaya article headlined "Dozhd partly blocked" says several major cable television providers have dropped independent Dozhd television from their packages over a row provoked by the channel's poll, questioning the reasons for the Leningrad blockade during World War II. The move is likely to have a great impact on Dozhd, the article says; p 10 (700 words).


Izvestia


1. Anastasia Kashevarova and Svetlana Subbotina article headlined "NGOs to be allowed to take foreign money, but not from everyone" says the Russian authorities will draft a register of foreign organizations whose grants Russian nongovernmental organizations can use without risking of being labelled as a "foreign agent"; pp 1, 3 (608 words).


2. Vladimir Zykov article headlined "Extremist websites to be blocked in one hour" says Russian websites with extremist information will be blocked within an hour as of 1 February. Website owners will have to remove illegal content to reopen their websites; pp 1, 4 (430 words).


3. Alena Sivkova article headlined "Ruslan Gattarov leaves Federation Council" says Chelyabinsk Region senator Ruslan Gattarov is leaving the Federation Council to become deputy governor of the region; pp 1-2 (607 words).


4. Natalia Bashlykova interview with Igor Morozov, member of the Russian delegation at PACE, speaking on the PACE hearing of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky's death in prison; p 3 (555 words).


5. Alexei Krivoruchek article headlined "Russian 'soldiers of the future' to be equipped in accordance with NATO standards" says Russian servicemen are to be supplied with hi-tech equipment allowing them to interact with colleagues from NATO forces; p 7 (456 words).


6. Yury Matsarsky article headlined "'We have betrayed revolution, people'" says that a part of Ukrainian "street opposition" has eventually fulfilled the conditions of the agreement with the authorities; p 8 (600 words).


Rossiiskaya Gazeta


1. Tatyana Zykova article headlined "Total outsiders " says Russian officials brought to account for bribery will be listed in a special state register and made public in an attempt to curb corruption; pp 1, 5 (800 words).


2. Igor Dunayevsky article headlined "Obama does not recall Russia" comments on U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Nation address and notes that he focused on the creation of new jobs, the immigration reform and support to the healthcare system and not on the Russian-U.S. relations; p 8 (600 words).


3. Maxim Makarychev article headlined "All Kiev warriors" reports on the recent developments in Kiev protests and says that some well-known athletes are appealing to opposition activists, many of whom are sports fans, to stop protests at least for the period of the Sochi Winter Olympics; p 8 (400 words).


4. Yevgeny Shestakov article headlined "Bandera did not dream about this" says as talks between the ruling party and the opposition continue in the Ukrainian parliament, nationalists are expected to get seats in the new cabinet; p 8 (530 words).


Rossiiskaya Gazeta (weekly)


1. Yury Snegirev article headlined "Phantom of Maidan revolution" looks at the latest developments with the political crisis in Ukraine; p 6 (1,100 words).


2. Timofei Borisov interview with Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov, in which he sums up the results of work of the ministry in 2013 and draws some plans for 2014; pp 30-31 (1,800 words).


Moskovsky Komsomolets


1. Yelena Yegorova article headlined "Putin assesses relations with Ukraine" says although Russia has suspended financial support to Ukraine due to the political crisis in the country, Moscow has already transferred $3 billion to the neighboring country; pp 1-2 (486 words).


2. Mikhail Rostovsky article headlined "Should be rescued or left alone?" says while supporting the Ukrainian opposition, the West has not provided any financial support to the country. Ukraine has avoided bankruptcy only thanks to Moscow funding. The author comments on recent statements by President Putin on the situation in Ukraine and praises his pragmatism; pp 1, 3 (824 words).


3. Oleg Bazak article headlined "Tough choice of Verkhovna Rada" says the Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada, which started looking for a way out of the political crisis on Jan. 29, has not found any solution so far; pp 1, 3 (547 words).


4. Alexander Melman interview with Mikhail Zygar, editor-in-chief of Dozhd television channel, speaking on a recent scandal triggered by a controversial television poll, questioning the actions of the Soviet authorities who made the Leningrad siege possible during World War II; pp 1, 6 (746 words).


5. Melor Sturua article headlined "'Raise U.S. wages'" says Obama's State of the Nation address was well-written and well-rehearsed, however, it has not succeeded in breaking the ice of mistrust among Republicans; p 4 (1,533 words).


6. Political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky article headlined "To Kiev! To Kiev! To Kiev" looks at the political crisis in Ukraine and speculates on its prospects; p 3 (900 words).


7. Maxim Grigoriyev article headlined "Pull and push for Olympics" says the Emergency Situations Ministry will have "unique equipment" for provision of safety of individuals and vital infrastructure in Sochi during the Olympics; p 6 (500 words).


RBK Daily


1. Alina Yevstigneyeva et al. article headlined "Gazprom assistants" says that the Economic Development Ministry, the Higher School of Economics (HSE) and Sberbank are to set up a centre of expertise on the issues related to the World Trade Organization; pp 1, 3 (750 words).


2. Katerina Kitayeva article headlined "Every fourth button" say that radio stations belonging to Gazprom-Media holding company, namely Ekho Moskvy, City-FM, Relax-FM, Detskoye Radio and Comedy Radio stations, are to fall under the control of the ProfMedia broadcasting corporation from now on; pp 1, 9 (400 words).


3. Ivan Petrov article headlined "Not Moscow traffic officer" says that the head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate Moscow department has resigned right after the Interior Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, voiced his dissatisfaction with the department's performance; p 2 (600 words).


4. Alisa Shtykina article headlined "Formula of $17 million" looks into the Russian Supreme Court decision not to drop a tax claim against the former head of the Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev; p 3 (400 words).


5. Vladimir Barsky interview with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on his work as the head of Russia's Chess Federation; p 12 (500 words).


Noviye Izvestia


1. Elya Grigoriyeva article headlined "Useless billion" says that the powerful financial intervention of the Central Bank to the economic sector has stopped the falling of the ruble rate only for a short period of time; pp 1, 3 (500 words).


2. Anna Alexeyeva article headlined "'No such rioters exist'" says that the defense of the Bolotnaya case defendants continues to note inconsistency in the case materials and witnesses' testimony; pp 1, 5 (850 words).


3. Artyom Lunkov interview with Dozhd television's editor-in-chief Mikhail Zygar headlined "Political campaign launched against us" following some of Russia's major cable television providers dropping Dozhd from their packages amid a row over a World War II poll; p 2 (600 words).


4. Yekaterina Dyatlovskaya article headlined "Wrong degree of doubt" says that the ruling of the European Human Rights Court as regards the violations in the first Yukos case verdict was not enough for Russian Supreme Court to cancel the verdict; p 2 (450 words).


5. Sergei Manukov and Artyom Lunkov article headlined "There came a cold blast" looks at the cooling down in the Russian-EU summit, which was obvious a the recent summit in Brussels, the authors say; p 2 (400 words).


Komsomolskaya Pravda


1. Alexander Grishin article headlined "KP investigation: Siege and freeing of ministries' buildings in Kiev coordinated from U.S. Embassy" accuses one of the U.S. Embassy top officials of orchestrating the Kiev riots; pp 1, 4 (500 words).


2. Yevgeny Arsyukhin article headlined "Central Bank chases ruble" looks into the possible consequences of the ruble rate fluctuations; p 3 (600 words).


3. Writer Alexander Prokhanov op-ed headlined "Will Russians lay under Bandera's knife?" says that having seized the pro-Russian centers in Ukraine, the Ukrainian opposition will start destroying everything Russian and the state will become "a sitting duck" for Europe; p 5 (800 words).


4. Nigina Beroyeva interview with the head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, Igor Artyomyev; pp 14-15 (1,500 words).


Komsomolskaya Pravda (weekly)


1. Alexander Grishin article headlined "Opposition offered power, but does not accept it" calls the Ukrainian opposition "weirdos" for rejecting the offer for Arseny Yatsenyuk to take the post of the country's prime minister; p 6 (500 words).


Jan. 30, 2014 / BBC Monitoring / ©BBC

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