PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Feb 17
MOSCOW, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev is worried that a strengthening of Russia's rouble currency could affect Russian exports.
- Environmental activists have complained to local prosecutors that a project allowing Russian citizens to acquire a free hectare of land in Russia's Far East has led to at least one bid being placed on a piece of land in a nature reserve on the Pacific island of Sakhalin.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Russia will start exporting food to China in March using empty train containers on their way back to China from the Western part of Russia. The move is part of a big project to boost trade with China, the daily says.
RBC
www.rbc.ru
- The deputy prime minister in charge of sport does not rule out the possibility that political pressure could be put on national soccer associations to make them boycott the 2018 World Cup hosted by Russia.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
www.ng.ru
- The leader of activist group "Polite farmers" has accused the authorities of attempting to open criminal cases against members of the movement, which protests against the illegal seizing of farmland in the southern Russian region of Kuban. The farmers were planning to take part in the All-Russia Congress of farmers in Moscow on Feb 21, which is expected to decide if a 'tractor march' to Moscow should take place on March 28, the daily says.
IZVESTIA
www.izvestia.ru
- Russian elderly people's access to medical services has shrunk, the daily says, citing statistics that the number of visits to the doctor by older citizens has fallen by 26 percent in the last five years. This has resulted in an increase in hospital visits by almost 8 percent, the daily says.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
www.rg.ru
- The number of cyber attacks on Russian state assets tripled last year, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday during a meeting with the officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
(Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova)
