What the Papers Say, Feb. 13, 2014

Kommersant

1. Article by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov headlined "In the understanding of U.S. and EU, 'free' choice has already been made for Ukrainians" criticizes the West's stance on Ukraine and urges Western countries to develop partnership relations with Russia; pp 1, 6 (955 words).

2. Irina Nagornykh et al. report headlined "New benefits prescribed to State Duma parties" outlines a new bill of the State Duma elections passed in the second reading on Feb. 12 ; pp 1, 3 (983 words).

3. Svetlana Dementyeva et al. report headlined "Concession for million" says large clients of banks stripped of their licences will be able to get up to 1 million rubles ($28,700) of their deposits back without having to wait, the Russian government has decided; pp 1, 8 (936 words).

4. Alexei Dospekhov article headlined "Golden couple" reports on the victory of Russian figure skaters Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov at the Sochi Olympics; pp 1, 12 (747 words).

5. Anna Pushkarskaya, Viktor Khamrayev article headlined "Constitutional court endorses sacking over fraudulent income declarations" says that according to a recent Constitutional Court ruling, government officials can now be sacked over fraudulent income declarations, p 2 (600 words).

6. Anna Pushkarskaya article headlined "New Chelyabinsk governor abolishes statutory court" says acting governor of the Chelyabinsk region Boris Dubrovsky has abolished the local statutory court leading to dissatisfaction among the local legal community; p 3 (573 words).

7. Article attributed to the paper's political section headlined "Moscow chooses Mikhail Lermontov's heir" reports on Russian regions nominating their candidates to the Public Chamber; p 3 (550 words).

8. Taisia Bekbulatova article headlined "Between city and governor" reports on the work of Petrozavodsk mayor Galina Shirshina who was supported by the Yabloko party in the mayoral election and who is now facing problems in dealing with the local governor; p 4 (2,529 words).

9. Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Schoolboy shooter aimed to take hostages" says official charges have been brought against the Moscow teenager who opened fire in his school killing a teacher and a policeman. The boy admitted his guilt; p 5 (762 words).

10. Sergei Strokan article headlined "Europe drafts amendments to Ukrainian constitution" says the EU and the IMF are developing a stick and carrot policy for Ukraine. Kiev will be offered financial assistance in exchange for radical economic reforms; p 6 (510 words).

11. Natalya Korchenkova article headlined "Russians approve Berkut actions" says most of Russian respondents questioned by the state pollster VTsIOM, condemn the actions of Ukrainian radicals and approve the use of force against them; p 6 (429 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Country depletes energy resource" says President Vladimir Putin calls on the cabinet to look for a new economic development model as the country is entering economic stagnation; pp 1, 9 (919 words).

2. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Ukraine afraid of terrorist attacks" says Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies suspect the radical opposition of plotting terrorist attacks; pp 1, 6 (1,096 words).

3. Alina Terekhova article headlined "Tariffs promised to be linked to inflation" says the government is to give up its earlier plans to freeze monopolies' tariffs. They are to grow in accordance with inflation; pp 1, 4 (638 words).

4. Alexandra Samarina and Yekaterina Trifonova article headlined "Chaika wants to check Bastrykin" says Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has criticised the Investigative Committee's work in his speech in the State Duma. He demanded that prosecutors be granted the right to open criminal cases against investigators; pp 1-2 (927 words).

5. Yury Roks article headlined "Tbilisi ready for dialogue with Moscow looking cautiously at West" says a NATO delegation has visited Tbilisi as Georgia is not going to give up NATO integration plans despite signs from Moscow about the possibility of restoring relations; pp 1, 6 (732 words).

6. Svetlana Gavrilina article headlined "Sergei Kirov has no chances to return" says Communists and members of the liberal Yabloko party in the St. Petersburg parliament have quarreled over a Communist proposal to return Soviet Bolshevik leader Sergei Kirov's name to a stadium in the city; pp 1, 5 (557 words).

7. Editorial headlined "Creation of absurd standards" criticizes the Russian authorities for their plans to introduce standards for energy consumption that the authors say disguises a hike in tariffs; p 2 (476 words).

8. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Four filters against Navalny" comments on a new bill on State Duma elections and says that several barriers are being introduced to hinder opposition candidates' path to parliament; p 3 (1,079 words).

9. Yevgenia Novikova article headlined "Russia and U.S. will save Geneva 2" says Russia and the U.S. are going to influence both sides in the Syrian conflict in an attempt to find a peaceful solution; p 7 (759 words).

Vedomosti

1. Natalya Bianova and Dina Ushakova article headlined "Loan does not grow" says private banks have started to issue fewer loans to individuals. They offer money to the most secure borrowers, but their number is decreasing; pp 1, 14 (640 words).

2. Lilia Biryukova article headlined "Kremlin introducing tradition" says some Kremlin officials are to attend seminars on conservatism; p 2 (600 words).

3. Svetlana Bocharova and Alexei Nikolsky article headlined "The first shall be last " says Russian Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika has called for changing the regulations for defendants who strike plea bargains; pp 1, 3 (600 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Olympics as super effort" says the cost of preparation for the Olympic Games in developing countries is much higher than in developed states due to a lack of infrastructure. The example of Sochi shows that Russia can be considered a developing country; pp 1, 6 (500 words).

4. Another editorial headlined "To make passers-by take alcohol test" criticizes the Interior Ministry's proposal to check the sobriety of people suspected of committing administrative offenses. The measure is to overload the police with useless work, the article says; p 6 (400 words).

5. Dmitry Simakov op-ed headlined "Company of week: Gazprom" comments on the gas giant Gazprom and on plans to relocate its office to St. Peterburg; p 7 (600 words).

6. Igor Tsukanov article headlined "Priority for their own" says State Duma deputies have proposed to restrict the use of foreign communications equipment in Russia; p 16 (450 words).

7. Rimma Avshalumova article headlined "Who is winning in social media?" covers the current situation on the Russian social media market and explores the ways public scandals break out in social media; p 20 (1,200 words).

Izvestia

1. Sergei Podosenov article headlined "Human Rights Council and National Anti-Corruption Committee to develop ideology for country's development" says the National Anti-Corruption Committee and the presidential human rights council are developing a strategy against corruption and have decided to focus on the right ideology for the country; pp 1-2 (1,086 words).

2. Alexei Krivoruchek article headlined "Sergei Shoigu asked to change term of autumn draft" says the Soldiers' Mothers Committee has asked the Defense Ministry to change the time of the autumn call-up campaign so that large groups of young men would not be transported to their military units in late autumn to coincide with the flu season; pp 1, 6 (487 words).

3. Yegor Sazayev-Guryev article headlined "President orders state support for Sochi after Olympics" says Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to subsidize Sochi once the 2014 Olympics are over; p 2 (500 words).

4. Ivan Cheberko article headlined "Prosecutor-General's Office wants Roskosmos heads punished" says the head of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), Oleg Stapenko, may face administrative charges for unlawful diversion of funds over a tender; pp 1, 6 (800 words).

5. Alena Sivkova article headlined "PACE to discuss problems of gay community with State Duma" says a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe wants to discuss the violation of the rights of Russian homosexuals with the State Duma; p 2 (652 words).

6. Pavel Chernyshev article headlined "Klitschko to become Russian brand" says the commercial brands "KLITSCH and KO" and "KLITSCHKO and CO." are being registered in Russia; p 5 (400 words).

7. Maria Gorkovskaya article headlined "Russian deputies accuse Latvians of rehabilitating Nazism" covers Russian lawmakers' reaction to the legislation being debated in Latvia which introduces criminal punishment for "denying Soviet occupation"; p 7 (600 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta weekly

1. Igor Markov article headlined "There will be no casinos in Sochi" says Putin plans to make Sochi a family vacation resort rather than a gambling zone after the Olympics; p 2 (300 words).

2. Lawyer Mikhail Barshchevsky interview with head of the State Duma committee on legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov headlined "Not a private affair" covers Krasheninnikov's work on the country's Civil Code; p 10 (600 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yelena Domcheva article headlined "Countdown" says a survey has found that public utilities tariffs in Russian regions have grown very unevenly from 2.6 to 23.6 percent; pp 1, 7 (600 words).

2. Igor Dunayevskiy article headlined "Who will become new U.S. Ambassador to Russia?" says Washington has not determined a candidate for the post to replace Michael McFaul ; pp 1, 8 (1,100 words).

3. Mikhail Falaleyev article headlined "Show your fingers" says fingerprint information will be included in new Russian biometric passports as of January 2015; pp 1, 9 (1,000 words).

4. Irina Nevinnaya interview with Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova speaking on the medical services for athletes taking part in the Sochi Olympics; p 5 (600 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Yekaterina Pichugina article headlined "Doctor House unable to work in Russia" comments on a lack of modern equipment in Russian hospitals; pp 1, 3 (507 words).

2. Matvey Ganapolsky article headlined "Excuses instead of changes" says officials and deputies claiming to be patriots use their "offended feelings" to get rid of unwanted media or opposition activists; p 3 (1,109 words).

3. Konstantin Smirnov interview with business ombudsman Boris Titov headlined "Russia needs tax revolution" discusses the rights of owners of small businesses in Russia ; p 4 (1,700 words).

RBK Daily

1. Ivan Petrov report "Migrants do Russians out of prison" says that remand centers are overcrowded by 25 percent. The City Court attributes this to a rise in crime committed by migrants. That is why Russians are not sent to remand centers for petty crimes; pp 1-2 (700 words).

2. Alexander Litoy report "Release under assumption" says that eight Bolotnaya case defendants may be released from remand centers on Feb. 24 because of "conflict of laws"; p 2 (750 words).

3. Brief unattributed report says that the State Duma has passed in the key second reading the presidential bill on electing State Duma members. The new law limits participation of small parties in parliamentary elections; p 2 (200 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Veronika Vorontsova report "He will leave watch" says that Yevgeny Vitishko, an environmental activist from the Krasnodar region, has lost his appeal against an earlier court ruling. He will be sent to a prison for allegedly damaging a fence around the supposed property of Krasnodar regional governor Alexander Tkachev; p 1 (400 words).

2. Artem Lunkov report "Guilty, but unpunishable" says that Russians believe that former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is involved in embezzlement, but they believe that his case will not be sent to court; p 2 (500 words).

3. Yana Sergeyeva report "In play again" looks at the future fate of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko; p 2 (850 words).

4. Sergei Putilov report "Wings in dreams only" says that Russia's priorities in aircraft building do not allow it to return the status of the world aircraft building power; p 3 (500 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Alexandr Grishin report "Russian citizenship: Save and buy" says that the Federal Migration Service and the Economic Development Ministry have drafted a bill on a simplified procedure of granting Russian citizenship; pp 1, 3 (400 words).

2. Yelena Krivyakina report "Olympics will end, but Sochi will remain" says that Putin has instructed the government to draft variants of the development of Sochi after the Olympic Games are over; p 2 (300 words).

3. Alexander Boiko report "Sergei Shoigu: 'Rumors about collapse in army are nonsense'" says that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has attended a ceremony for 12 new Su-35S fighters to the Russian Air Forces in Komsomolsk-na-Amure; p 2 (250 words).

4. Brief unattributed report "Prosecutor-General Yury Chaika: 'People jailed illegally for years'" quotes Chaika's statements he has made during a "government hour" in the State Duma; p 3 (250 words).

Trud

1. Pavel Orlov report "VAZ did not stand here" says that Russia's major car plant AvtoVAZ plans to sack 7,500 people in 2014; p 2 (550 words).

2. Olga Nesterova report "Gun sin" says that on Feb. 14 the State Duma intends to approve in the second and third readings a bill limiting the spread of weapons; p 3 (800 words).

3. Georgy Nastenko report "Here is my village, here is my home" looks at the Olympic village in Sochi; p 20 (1,600 words).

Zavtra

1. Ilya Tarasov brief interview with Russian Olympic champion, State Duma deputy and United Russia party member Irina Rodnina who speaks on the Games in Sochi; p 1 (150 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda weekly

1. Alexander Grishin report "America looks for new governors for Ukraine" looks at the situation in Ukraine and says that the U.S. is "pulling strings in Kiev's Maidan and its leaders". The article features comment by a Russian analyst; p 7 (1,400 words).