11.06 Russian Press at a Glance, Tuesday, June 11, 2013
POLITICS
Billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov will announce a candidate for Moscow mayoral elections on June 14. Souces close to his Civil Platform party believe that he will either run himself or put forward his sister Irinas candidacy. Prokhorov has announced plans to work with former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov in the upcoming city elections.
(Kommersant)
President Vladimir Putin is expected to take the reins of the All-Russia People's Front on Tuesday at the organization's founding congress in a move some experts say is aimed at distancing himself from United Russia.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moskovsky Komsomolets)
The Russian authorities will consider political asylum for Edward Snowden, who risks prosecution in the United States for his recent blockbuster spy leaks, if he sends a proper request, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
(Kommersant)
An inspection by the audit commission, unprecedented in scale in recent years, has revealed that under former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, large bonuses worth a total 140 million rubles were paid to a group of senior advisors in the two years before his resignation.
(Izvestia)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Russias energy giant Gazprom pulled out of bidding for the privatization of Greek natural gas firm DEPA, citing the financial instability of the Greek company.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
The purchase of TNK-BP will allow Rosneft to form a second giant oil-producing cluster in East Siberia. The company is planning to produce about 15 million tons of oil at the Verhneochonskoe and adjacent fields by 2017.
(Vedomosti)
Russian insurance brokers have attempted to penetrate West European markets. The Malakut broker has secured a business license from the Swiss government and is planning to insure trade loans in the country.
(Vedomosti)
According to estimates by Russian experts, only 5 percent of farms in the country produce organic products. Russia does not have legislation regulating ecological aspects of farming.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Sales of new cars dropped by 12 percent in May. Experts believe the long holidays in May were the cause.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
The Russian State Archives Service is launching a website dedicated to the documented history of the Soviet Union. The site, dubbed The Documents of the Soviet Era will post some 400,000 official documents from the Politbureau Fund and Josef Stalin archives on the sovdoc.rusarhives.ru portal.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Russia has banned smoking of electronic cigarettes in public places along with natural tobacco. Lawmakers in State Duma apparently believe that the most popular tool used by people who are trying to quit smoking is not effective.
(Izvestia)
DEFENSE
Russias Airborne Forces have ordered a parachute-drop capable version of the Pantsir-S gun-missile air defense systems to ensure mobile protection from enemy aircraft and missiles. The parachuted version is being developed by Pansir's developer, the Tula-based KBP company.
(Izvestia)
WORLD
The recent deaths of seven Georgian soldiers in Afghanistan have prompted the opposition to demand the withdrawal of the entire Georgian contingent in the war-torn Central Asian country. Georgia, which is actively seeking NATO membership, is the largest non-NATO contributor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan with over 1,500 troops deployed in Helmand province and in the capital, Kabul. (Kommersant)
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