What the Papers Say, Feb. 3

Kommersant

1. Ksenia Leonova article headlined "Alexei Kudrin goes to exchange" says that former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has agreed to run for the chairman of the supervisory board of the Moscow Stock Exchange; pp 1, 8 (697 words).

2. Yegor Popov et al. article headlined "Kalashnikov to be sent by Aeroexpress" says that Alexei Krivoruchko, the soon-to-resign head of the Aeroexpress company which manages commuter trains between Moscow and its airports, has been appointed head of the Kalashnikov arms manufacturer; pp 1, 9 (746 words).

3. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Unavoidability of orders" says that the State Duma has drafted amendments to the electoral laws, under which people are banned from standing in elections after they are cleared of criminal records during 10 years if the crime committed is grave and during 15 years if the crime committed is particularly grave; pp 1, 3 (651 words).

4. Sofia Samokhina and Maria-Luiza Tirmaste article headlined "RPR-Parnas will not bear three men" says that three co-chairmen of the RPR-Parnas party will meet today to discuss an inside conflict that may cause a group of republicans, led by Vladimir Ryzhkov, to leave the party; p 2 (525 words).

5. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Communists refuse to take lessons from Kremlin" says that Communist Party deputies have refused to attend training sessions held by the presidential administration; p 2 (542 words).

6. Sergei Goryashko et al. article headlined "United Russia and Nikita Belykh avoid public alliance" says that the United Russia party will most likely back acting Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh at the governor election in autumn. Belykh says it is too early to discuss the upcoming election; p 2 (420 words).

7. Sergei Mashkin article headlined "Commander's case becomes legal" says that a military court has found it legal to prosecute the former commander of the Ground Troops, Vladimir Chirkin, charged with bribe-taking, thus rejecting a complaint filed by the defendant; p 4 (774 words).

8. Grigory Tumanov article headlined "Strasbourg gets interested in prison transport" says that the European Court of Human Rights will study the system of prisoner transportation in Russia's prisons; p 4 (556 words).

9. Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Dagestan's policemen return to work via court" says that high-ranking officers from Dagestan's interior ministry, who were dismissed in the course of a probe into crimes committed by a group of law-enforcers, have decided to return to their former jobs through court; p 4 (638 words).

10. Alexander Chernykh article headlined "Procession along boulevards does not turn into Maidan" reports on an opposition rally in support of the defendants in the Bolotnaya Ploshchad mass riots case in Moscow on Feb. 2. Protests in Ukraine and the blocking of the Dozhd television channel were also mentioned in the course of the rally; p 5 (461 words).

11. Yelena Chernenko interview with Russian ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan, headlined "'Only the lazy have not yet visited Iran'", speaking about Russian-Iranian relations and prospects for their development; p 6 (662 words).

12. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Ukrainians hurried up to future" focuses on the key points discussed at the Munich Security Conference; p 6 (974 words).

13. Galina Dudina article headlined "U.S. Republicans treat illegal migrants democratically" says that the U.S. Democrats and the Republicans may compromise over reforms in the immigration law, which was one of U.S. President Barack Obama's pre-election promises. The article also features a Russian expert's comment on the issue; p 6 (362 words).

14. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Ukraine ushered into the future" summarizes the 15th Munich Security Conference with a focus on Russia-European relations, p 6 (1,200 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Governors and mayors trained to be independent" says that the Kremlin has been preparing for the autumn election season: presidential officials have already met 12 governors and will meet three more before the end of February. Kremlin officials say the state policy on regional authorities has radically changed, but experts doubt the changes will be effective; pp 1-2 (685 words).

2. Yury Panyev article headlined "European missile Defense in marine format" says that despite Russia's objections, the U.S. has started to deploy elements of the sea-based anti-missile system in Europe. The head of the Foreign Ministry's security and disarmament department, Mikhail Ulyanov, says that Russia may withdraw from the START treaty; pp 1-2 (756 words).

3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Authorities do not forget about 'their people'" says that the government is considering a program of social support measures for Russians who have independently entered leading foreign higher education institutes. Experts are skeptical about the move because children of officials and well-to-do Russians will likely take advantage of the program; pp 1, 3 (795 words).

4. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Shadow of civil war over Ukraine" says that the incumbent Ukrainian authorities have called on the West to admit Russia to talks on the future of Ukraine, whereas the opposition has opposed the move. A split among the Ukrainian population complicates the situation in the country; pp 1, 6 (1,165 words).

5. Editorial headlined "Central Bank's risky games" criticizes the state policy on weakening the ruble against the dollar and the euro; p 2 (498 words).

6. Gleb Postnov article headlined "Unfresh case prepared for Tatar nationalist leader" says a leader of Tatar nationalists is facing investigation for calls to boycott the 2013 Universiade in Kazan; p 2 (600 words).

7. Article by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin headlined "Defense industry specialists could stay for housing" focuses on problems facing the Russian defense sector; p 3 (799 words).

8. Yekaterina Trifonova article headlined "In 2013, 40,000 people expelled from Russia" says that according to the Federal Migration Service, more than 550,000 foreigners were denied entry to Russia over law violations and about 40,000 people were expelled from Russia. Nevertheless, the authorities are planning to organize training centers and provide employment to migrants; p 3 (504 words).

8. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "RPR gets ultimatum from Parnas" looks at disagreements in the RPR-Parnas party; p 3 (580 words).

Vedomosti

1. Mikhail Serov and Yelena Khodyakova article headlined "Ukraine burns in credit" says that Ukraine's debt for Russian gas supplies increased by 25 percent to $3.35 billion in January; pp 1, 12 (700 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Zero visitor" says that the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre, or VtsIOM, has learnt that zero percent of Russians will attend the Sochi Winter Olympics events in person; pp 1, 6 (420 words).

3. Polina Khimshiashvili article headlined "Front against Maidan" focuses on the latest developments in Ukraine; p 2 (500 words).

4. Maxim Glikin article headlined "Orphan's share" says that according to a public opinion poll conducted by the independent pollster Levada Centre, 33 percent of Russians think that adoption of Russian orphans by U.S. and Western Europe citizens should be completely banned, which is eight percent more than a year ago; p 2 (400 words).

5. Editorial headlined "Bosses and artists" comments on the recent changes in Russia's migration policy; p 6 (400 words).

6. Anastasia Golitsyna article headlined "Three directors for VKontakte" says the owner of Russia's most popular social networks is looking for backup candidates to run VKontakte in case its current director Pavel Durov quits or is sacked; p 16 (500 words).

7. Olga Kuvshinova article headlined "Ruinous ruble" says that the weakening of the ruble rate will not benefit the Russian economy; pp 20-21 (1,750 words).

Izvestia

1. Anastasia Kashevarova article headlined "United Russia was hiding Alexei Kudrin's party membership" says that the ruling United Russia party has concealed for almost 10 years that former Finance Minister and the head of the Civil Initiatives Committee Alexei Kudrin is its member; pp 1, 3 (533 words).

2. Pavel Panov and Yulia Tsoi article headlined "Five opposition parties divide capital city" says that the RPR-Parnas, Yabloko and Civil Platform parties, as well as the unregistered parties People's Alliance and the December 5 Party will share municipalities and districts of Moscow in the Moscow city duma election in September; pp 1, 4 (771 words).

3. Viktor Loginov article headlined "Severstal financier to head Tele2 Russia" says that top manager from the steel company Severstal Mikhail Noskov will become the new director-general of Tele2 Russia; pp 1, 4 (498 words).

4. Yelizaveta Mayetnaya article headlined " Former Federal Penal Service director Reymer becomes guard" says that former head of the Federal Penal Service Alexander Reymer, who resigned in summer 2012, has gone into security business; pp 1, 3 (776 words).

5. Sergei Podosenov article headlined "Alexei Zhuravlev to back Russian nationalists in Crimea" says that the chairman of the Rodina party, Alexei Zhuravlev, will become an honorary guest at a congress of Russian nationalist organizations in the Crimea, who want to establish a public movement called the "Slavic antifascist front" on Feb. 4; p 2 (702 words).

6. Yelena Malai article headlined "Kremlin to train nonparliamentary opposition" says that nonparliamentary parties will attend training sessions organized by the presidential administration; p 2 (605 words).

7. Alexandra Bayazitova and Anna Kaledina article headlined "Thirty-eight percent of Russians would not release Pussy Riot" says that a public opinion poll conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM) has shown that 38 percent of Russians do not approve of the release of Pussy Riot punk group members Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova; p 3 (440 words).

8. Galina Kokryakova article headlined "To be able to forgive" comments on the recent scandal involving the Dozhd television channel and speaks against closing it; p 6 (658 words).

9. Dmitry Runkevich article headlined "Community of survivors of Leningrad siege to sue Dozhd television channel" says that the community of survivors of the Leningrad siege by Nazis during World War II will file a lawsuit against the Dozhd television channel over a controversial poll on that event; p 6 (529 words).

10. Svetlana Povoraznyuk article headlined "Sixty percent of Russians sure that media outlets regularly deceive" says that a poll conducted by the Telecommunications and Mass Communications Ministry has shown that 43 percent of Russians are media-literate, which is 12 percent more than five years ago. Some 60 percent of respondents think that media outlets deceive very often; p 6 (574 words).

12. Konstantin Volkov interview with the head of the national council abroad of the Damascus declaration for reforms in Syria, headlined "'Our aim is to make Syrian opposition independent from foreign states'", speaking about a split in the Syrian opposition; p 7 (627 words).

13. Yulia Kozlenkova article headlined "Security measures to be strengthened during Olympics" says that the strongest security regimes will be enforced in Moscow and Sochi during the 2014 Winter Olympics, which starts on Feb. 7; p 8 (459 words).

14. Anna Fedorova article headlined "Romanticism of popular violence" looks at how Russian media outlets are covering protests in Ukraine; p 9 (746 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Vladislav Vorobyev article headlined "Conspiracy in Munich" gives an account of the Munich Security Conference, focusing on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's performance there; pp 1, 8 (1,097 words).

2. Yevgeny Shestakov article headlined "For how much will they sell Ukraine?" says that the Ukrainian opposition has endorsed with the U.S. steps to overcome the political crisis in Ukraine. Washington has obtained a good opportunity to subordinate Kiev by bringing a pro-American government to power there; pp 1, 8 (764 words).

3. Tatyana Zykova article headlined "Ten years without tax rights" says that according to Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, the weakening of the ruble is not so dangerous for the Russian economy; p 5 (637 words).

4. Tatyana Shadrina article headlined "Prosecutor's veto" says that this week the Roskomnadzor media watchdog will practice cooperating with prosecutors in blocking extremist information in the internet; p 6 (300 words).

5. Maxim Makarychev article headlined "It is divided. Who will conquer?" says that the public union Ukrainian Front has been established in Kharkiv to fight against the Maidan protesters advocating Ukraine's integration with the EU; p 8 (607 words).

6. Yelena Yakovleva interview with writer Alexei Varlamov, headlined "In epoch's turbulence zone", who speaks about the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, who was enthroned five years ago; p 9 (792 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Kirill Saltykov article headlined "LiveJournal dies for some time" says that the LiveJournal website has fallen the first victim to a new law allowing to block websites for extremism without a court ruling. But the website was blocked only for several minutes; pp 1-2 (369 words).

2. Yelena Gamayun article headlined "Klitschko beats Right Sector" says that while visiting Munich, the leader of the UDAR party, Vitaly Klitschko, has severely criticized the Right Sector radical movement; pp 1, 3 (651 words).

3. Yeva Merkacheva article headlined "Work is no prisoner, it will not run away" says that the Audit Chamber has revealed gross violations in Russian prisons as regards prisoner's work; p 2 (701 words).

4. Andrei Yashlavsky article headlined "John Kerry: Russia or whole world?" reports on the Munich Security Conference; p 3 (638 words).

Novaya Gazeta

1. Semen Novoprudsky article headlined "Minus 34 [years]" looks at differences between the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and the 2014 Olympics in Sochi; p 11 (578 words).

2. Dmitry Gnap article headlined "Viktor Yanukovych: Everything to family" looks at business that is run by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's family members; pp 2-3 (2,237 words).

3. Yulia Polukhina article headlined "Zamoskvoretsky court. Rush hour" looks at the trial of participants in the so-called Bolotnaya case of the May 6 2012 riots on Moscow's Bolotnaya Ploshchad; pp 12-13 (2,346 words).

4. Nina Petlyanova article headlined "'Poll conducted by television channel does not offend. But reaction from above insults'" features comments by survivors of the Leningrad siege during World War II on the scandal over the Dozhd television channel; p 7 (1,219 words).

5. Vasily Golovnin article headlined "Hunting Chinese dogs" says that the North Korean section of the border with China is being reinforced. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has launched an attack on pro-Chinese government officials; p 5 (664 words).

6. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Unfortunately, connection lost" says that the mobile phone operator and internet provider Beeline has blocked access to the Dozhd television channel; p 10 (462 words).

7. Yelena Racheva report "Kiev awaits trouble" says that a guerrilla war has begun in Kiev against Maidan, the people supporting and taking part in pro-EU, anti-government protests; pp 8-9 (1,700 words).

8. Natalia Fomina report "How is VAZ doing?" looks at the situation in Tolyatti and the AvtoVAZ car plant and says that 7,500 people employed there will be sacked until the end of 2014; p 16 (1,300 words).

9. Vera Chelishcheva report "How to make sensational case from high-profile one" looks at the trial of Anna Politkovskaya, prominent Russian journalist and a Kremlin critic, murdered in 2006; p 17 (1,000 words).

RBK Daily

1. Yevgeny Krasnikov report "Shcherbovich looks for backup person for Pavel Durov, while Usmanov does not" says that the foundation UCP, the largest shareholder of the social network VKontakte, has made a list of potential candidates to replace the network's general director Pavel Durov; pp 1, 9 (750 words).

2. Ivan Petrov report "Extremists to be caught thanks to declaration" says that according to a government draft resolution, in addition to the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry, customs employees will also fight against extremism; p 2 (800 words).

3. Alexander Litoi report "Audit from Kudrin" says that Alexei Kudrin's Committee of Civil Initiatives will present the project "State expenses". The new portal will aim to reveal officials' links with business and dubious contracts; p 2 (750 words).

4. Alisa Shtykina report "Navalny to work for state" says that the Economic Development Ministry has invited representatives of Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption project RosPil to the ministry' expert council to work on amendments to the law on state procurement contracts; p 6 (450 words).

5. Irina Uzbekova report "LiveJournal harmed for extremism" says that on Feb. 1 the Telecommunications and Mass Communications Ministry, using the recent amendments to the law on information, limited access to four websites. LiveJournal.com was among these websites; p 9 (750 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Margarita Alekhina report "Discord observed" looks at confrontation between security agencies and human rights activists in regional public supervisory commissions; pp 1, 5 (900 words).

2. Vardan Ogandzhanyan report "No trial, no record" says that a law on blocking websites for extremism has come into force; pp 1-2 (700 words).

3. Artyom Lunkov report "Cable censorship" says that rights activists and journalists have asked the prosecutor general to check the legality of disconnecting the broadcasting of the television channel Dozhd; p 2 (350 words).

4. Yana Sergeyeva report "Informational rally" says that the opponents of the Ukrainian president are waiting for Europe's help and the split among the presidential majority in the parliament; p 2 (650 words).

5. Sergei Manukov report "No one convinces anyone" comments on the negotiations between the Syrian authorities and the opposition in Switzerland; p 2 (550 words).

6. Yekaterina Dyatlovskaya report "Not obstacle-free sphere" says that the State Duma has agreed on the criteria for participation of political parties in the next parliamentary election; p 2 (750 words).

7. Elya Grigoryeva report "Not enough for everyone" says that 100 billion rubles ($2.8 billion) has been earmarked to support single-industry towns; p 3 (950 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Alexander Kots report "Why Russians have Wahhabi sadness" tries to answer a question about why Slavs find themselves among Wahhabi militants; pp 10-11 (2,700 words).

Tvoi Den

1. Andrei Muraviyev report "Devil's assistance" says that North Caucasus armed groups have sent four combat instructors to Ukraine to train radical protesters; p 2 (500 words).

Feb. 3, 2014 / BBC Monitoring / ©BBC