PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Jan 17
MOSCOW, Jan 17 - The following are some of the stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport is ready to receive FIFA World Cup fans thanks to the building of a new terminal and modern inter-terminal connections, among other projects, Sheremetyevo co-owner Alexander Ponomarenko says in an interview.
- The government has decided to subsidise the export of Russian-made cars, a move that could allow local carmakers to offer discounts to foreign buyers, the daily says, referring to a draft statement by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Kremlin strategists are travelling across the country coming up with ways to get people to turn out and vote in the upcoming presidential elections, from arranging polls on local issues alongside the ballot, to hosting tests and games for kids and families at polling stations.
IZVESTIA
www.izvestia.ru
- The Khrunichev state research and production space centre, a Moscow-based producer of such spacecraft launching systems as Proton and Rokot, is suffering a shortage of lathe and milling-machine operators, head of the company Alexei Varochko says in an interview.
- Russia is planning to launch five or six Proton boosters with military and commercial satellites this year, Varoshko says, adding that the Khrunichev centre will also provide the military with a new Angara heavy-lift launch vehicle this year.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
www.ng.ru
- Only 20 percent of Russians support the way the government spends its budget. At the same time, 57 percent of those asked by the Public Opinion Foundation say that the state should spend more on healthcare and 48 percent complained about insufficient funding for education, the daily says.
- Russian opposition leaders have not supported popular anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny's call to boycott the presidential election, the daily says, adding that the opposition has so far failed to reach an agreement on a joint approach to the upcoming vote.
KRASNAYA ZVEZDA
www.redstar.ru
- Russia's 4th air defence army, a branch of the Russian air force deployed in Russia's south, has launched military exercises in the regions of Rostov and Krasnodar Krai. The military will be training combat helicopters, Sukhoi fighter jets, and S-300 and S-400 "Triumph" missile systems, the daily reports.
MOSKOVSKY KOMSOMOLETS
www.mk.ru
- Russian lawmakers will discuss a draft bill on banning surrogate child-bearing in Russia, the daily says. Commercial surrogacy is similar to prostitution, member of parliament Anton Belyakov, who proposed the bill, is cited as saying.
(Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova; Editing by Polina Ivanova)
