Vedomosti
www.vedomosti.ru
- Three crises await Russia. Andrei Belousov, the head of the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-term Forecasting, says in a report that the crises will hit in 2007-2008, 2011-2012 and 2015-2017. The expert is concerned that disproportions are growing within sectors.
- How to beat inflation. The authorities have failed to hit their inflation targets. Presidential economic advisor Andrei Illarionov provides the paper with his view on how to stop it.
- One of Russia's richest men, steel magnate Oleg Deripaska, is continuing to buy up agricultural assets in the south of Russia, which is also his homeland. Analysts cannot remember similar investment in the region.
- According to the paper, the Hilton hotel chain could take over Moscow's Hotel Ukraine, one of the city's famous Stalin-era skyscrapers.
Izvestia
www.izvestia.ru
- The Volcker commission's report into the UN's Oil-for-Food program continues to be the source of scandal in Russia with accusations of forged signatures. All the Russians involved - the list ranges from ultra-nationalists to communists - have in essence accused the UN of defamation.
- A country of lies. According to a survey conducted by ROMIR Monitoring, 52% of Russians do not see a single institution of state power as being honest, including the president.
Kommersant
www.kommersant.ru
- The paper has seen proposals from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to slap a ban on the import of nickel-containing stainless steel.
- A list of local oil major NIKoil's shareholders has been put up for sale on the Internet after being stolen. Hundreds of companies may now face hostile takeovers, and minority shareholders could lose their stakes completely.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
www.ng.ru
- Urgent measures are needed to maintain the environment of Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake.
- Despite Japanese protests, the energy sector in Siberia and the Russian Far East will continue to develop in the interests of China.
- The real standards of living in the regions are far removed from bureaucrats' brave claims.
Novaya Gazeta
www.novayagazeta.ru
- Laws that the State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, adopted in the past six years have no legal force. The slogan that democracy is a procedure has been forgotten. Why do the legal mechanisms fail to work for the good of people? Boris Zamai, a lawyer, a member of the first parliament, and an expert in election law, says why.
- Ivan Starikov, the former head of the former campaign HQ of jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who at one point wanted to run in a parliamentary by-election, was beaten up near his house. Starikov's colleagues in the Union of Right Forces connect the attack with his political activity.
- "Everyone who supported me, still supports me," Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the ex-head of oil major Yukos, says from his prison cell.
- A war between the United States and the UN. Who will control the global network and will there be several Internets at one time? Representatives of all countries and entire regions have attacked the United States for control over ICANN, a public organization that oversees the domain system on the Internet.
- Igor Pototsky, the former presenter of the Big Money program on television, suggests tough measures to stabilize the economy. He said his program enjoyed the highest rating in 1998, when the financial crisis struck the country. But he would not like to repeat the 'success'.
