PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Jan 20
MOSCOW, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Russia is considering launching a diamond exchange in its Pacific gateway Vladivostok and is conducting talks with Chinese experts regarding this, the presidential representative in Russia's far east, Yury Trutnev, says in an interview.
- Gasoline prices in some Russian regions are growing despite a plunge in world oil prices.
- Anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny has lost another lawsuit launched against him by senator Dmitry Sablin, the daily reports. It quotes the opposition activist as saying that by holding opening such ;awsuits the authorities aim to riun him financially.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Police have completed investigating the activity of a criminal group of businessmen and lawyers in Vladimir in central Russia, who had been involved in "raider" seizures of companies partly owned by the state. The police estimate the damage at 1 billion roubles ($12.60 million), the daily reports.
IZVESTIA
www.izvestia.ru
- Russia's space agency Roscosmos has decided to drop its plan of creating a space shuttle. The government had originally planned to spend up to 12.5 billion roubles ($157.49 million) on building such a vehicle.
- Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov writes in the daily that his calls to fight the "jackals" criticising President Vladimir Putin targeted "those Western hirelings who left Russia ... and are now slinging mud at it, spreading slander".
($1 = 79.3700 roubles) (Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova)
