PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Feb 29
MOSCOW, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- President Vladimir Putin will meet heads of Russia's oil companies on March 1, and lower oil output may loom large on the agenda.
- Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has raised to 30 percent his stake in Arsenal soccer club and became its second biggest shareholder.
- The new CEO of Vnesheconombank (VEB), Sergei Gorkov, will get 150 billion roubles ($1.99 billion) to help keep the state-supported creditor afloat.
- Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, whose term expires in April, has suggested the Kremlin should find a new candidate for his post, and he can step down.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Russia's economic crisis has not yet hit its middle class which still accounts for 40 percent of the population, according to a survey of the Sociology Institute of the Academy of sciences.
- Russian television channels have filed lawsuits to the Court of New York against some U.S. distributors, including Infomir, Panarama TV, Goodzone TV for illegal distribution of their programmes at dumping prices.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
www.rg.ru
- President Vladimir Putin called on Russia's security service, FSB, on Friday to prevent any attempt of foreign interference in Russia's parliamentary election in the autumn.
- Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday that the development of the Northeast shipping passage in the Arctic zones is one of the key aspects of securing national transport independence.
- Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev urged the cabinet last week to speed up work on measures aimed to provide advanced growth of the economy of the Kalinigrad region.
- Russia has tripled to 50 tonnes its exports of sturgeon caviar, while the price for the delicacy is unlikely to drop on the domestic market, the daily writes.
IZVESTIA
www.izvestia.ru
- Russia is working on a mobile communications programme which will alert parents via SMS messages if their children are tempted into reading banned Islamic State resources posted in the Internet.
- Between 60 and 70 percent of Russians support sanctions against Turkey, while 78 percent of those polled said they are against any compromise with the Turkish leadership until it apologises for the shooting down of the Russian warplane, VTsIOM pollsters reported.
MOSKOVSKY KOMSOMOLETS
www.mk.ru
- Wage arrears have grown to 4.3 billion roubles by February due to a generally negative economic situation in the country, official statistics show.
- Tatyana Golikova, the head of Russia's Accounts Chamber, has accused some Russian companies of pocketing billions of roubles by depositing state funds in commercial banks instead of spending them on state-sponsored projects.
($1 = 75.3196 roubles) (Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova)
