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Press review: Kiev finds new source of income and Syrian cadets start training in Russia

Top stories in the Russian press on Tuesday

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Can Russia and Turkey agree on Idlib?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began his two-day visit to Ankara, which includes participating in the meeting of the Turkish ambassadors and negotiations with his colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu. On Tuesday, the ministers are going to discuss preparations for a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Turkey, Germany and France on Syria and the situation around Idlib, which threatens to become the arena for the Turkish-Syrian conflict, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote.

It is expected that Lavrov will address the meeting on Tuesday. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, it attests to a high degree of mutual trust between the heads of foreign affairs agencies and the parties coordinating positions on key international and regional issues. First, the issues concern Syria: Russia and Turkey, participants in the Astana process, have a special responsibility for ensuring peace and stability in this country. The ministers will consider preparations for the meeting on the Syrian settlement of the leaders of Russia, Turkey, Germany and France planned for September 7 in Istanbul.

"The idea behind the summit in Istanbul is Russia's attempt to resolve the Syrian issue through the prism of a new situation. That is - Presidents Putin and Trump seem to have identified points of contact in Syria in Helsinki, although without any formal documentation - in the spirit of the tacit agreement, designed to become the framework for a future open agreement," Middle East Expert Alexander Shumilin told the newspaper.

According to him, there is a mutual understanding between the leaders of Russia and the United States regarding the preferred scenarios for bringing Syria closer to a political settlement.

"As for the Europeans, now Moscow has a goal - involving them in the restoration of Syria. The basic task is to facilitate the return of refugees as the first step of Europe's participation in the reconstruction of Syria," Shumilin said. "The goal of the Istanbul summit is to mobilize everyone to change the agenda from the civil war in Syria to restoration. Russia’s direct task is to be proactive in Syria and to find mutual understanding with the West," he told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Turkey agrees with this position of Russia, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote, since the largest number of Syrian refugees live on its territory - 3.5 mln, and contribute to growing tensions in the country.

 

Kommersant: Finance Ministry proposes to turn ecology fines into tax

The Russian Ministry of Finance published a draft amendment to the Tax Code, introducing the environmental tax in Russia starting from 2020. It is designed to replace the existing fines for a negative impact on the environment. The new tax does not imply increasing payment rates, but it should greatly tighten the payment regime, Kommersant wrote.

According to the newspaper, the main thesis of the Ministry of Finance is that the fee for negative impact on the environment is a de facto tax, as it bears the respective features, and should become a tax de jure.

According to the data provided in the economic justification for the bill, in 2017, revenues of the consolidated budget from the fee amounted to 14.2 bln rubles ($210.66 mln), and another 11.6 bln rubles ($172.1 mln) are expected in 2018. "Given that the calculation of the environmental tax rate is made from the necessary annual budgetary expenditures for environmental protection, it can be expected that the revenues from environmental tax will be significantly higher than the revenues from pollution charges," the Ministry explained.

Emissions into the atmosphere, discharges into water and wastes from production and consumption from sources of such discharges registered in the Federal Service for Supervision of Use of Natural Resources will be subject to taxation.

According to the newspaper, business representatives, the Ministry of Natural Resources and experts believe that in the current form the project can deprive regions of the revenues that they are now using to compensate for damage to the environment. The Ministry of Finance, in turn, pointed out that the federal budget is already spending taxpayer money on eco-programs. Meanwhile, experts and business noted that the main issue with the document is uncertainty with the future distribution of tax revenues between the federal and local budgets.

 

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Suing Gazprom is becoming a source of income for Ukraine

Naftogaz of Ukraine does not rule out that after 2019, it will lose revenue from the transit of Russian gas to Europe. However, the company’s top management is not discouraged by the situation, and plans to replace the lost revenue by the money from court claims against Gazprom, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote. The goal of Naftogaz is to seize another $12 bln from Gazprom.

The decision of the Stockholm Arbitration on the lawsuit against Russia’s Gazprom on the revision of gas transit tariffs can be expected after 2019, Chief commercial officer of Naftogaz Yuri Vitrenko said earlier. According to him, the arbitration will last more than 18 months. He noted that if the Ukrainian side wins, Gazprom would pay compensation for "economic depreciation".

"It seems that Naftogaz is not certain about preserving gas transit through its system and is seriously considering its options for getting revenue from another business model - recovering money from Gazprom through court," Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote. According to the newspaper, in its accounting reports for 2017, Naftogaz reported a record $1.5 bln in profit after including the arbitration revenue - without it, the company would have reported a net loss of more than $284 mln.

Experts interviewed by Nezavisimaya Gazeta differed on whether Gazprom would have to pay Naftogaz.

"It is possible that Gazprom will have to pay $2.6 bln to avoid the heavy consequences of non-payment," Chairman of the Board of Directors of 2K Engineering Company Ivan Andrievsky told the newspaper. "Ukraine will have to conduct further tough negotiations on transit conditions. Gazprom's position on the construction of Nord Stream 2 is now very confident, so this conflict can deprive Ukraine of solid earnings in the future, and all because of its reluctance to build mutually beneficial relations with Russia," he added.

"There is no chance that Gazprom will pay $11.5 bln or even $2.6 bln," member of the Energy Strategy Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Rustam Tankayev told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. According to the expert, the Stockholm Arbitration’s decision was politically motivated, and Russia would never accept it.

 

Izvestia: Russian military schools start training cadets from Syria

The first group of children arrived in St. Petersburg to begin their training in Russian military schools on September 1, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Center of Russian-Arabic Cooperation Waddah Al-Jundi told Izvestia. According to him, the training will take place within the framework of agreements previously signed by Moscow and Damascus. According to Syrian ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad, enrolment of Syrian children in the Russian cadet corps will be carried out annually.

Waddah Al-Jundi told Izvestia that eight children of Syrian fighters who died in the war came to St. Petersburg. The Syrian embassy noted that the children who have arrived in Russia are now undergoing adaptation.

Syrian ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad told the newspaper that training is carried out within the framework of the military training program in accordance with the Russian-Syrian agreement.

"Undoubtedly, Russia’s training highly professional personnel for the Syrian Arab Republic is a significant investment in the future of a peaceful Syria, and the children of the deceased Syrian heroes who have been trained in Russia will become the future military elite of Syria," Member of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Olga Kovitidi told Izvestia.

She added that this is not a one-time program and it was designed for a long-term cooperation.

 

Izvestia: Habits of Russian car owners changing

Russian car owners are more open to using paid roads, according to Avtodor, the company that runs major infrastructure projects on building, developing and operating the motorway and highway network. Meanwhile, according to Izvestia, Russian drivers have become more used to paying for services and tolls, and their interest towards electric vehicles is cautiously growing.

Avtodor noted growth of traffic on paid routes - 45.8 million cars in six months, which is 26% more than last year. The company explained the increase not only by the generally increasing traffic, but also by the introduction of new paid road sections.

According to Izvestia, approximately one car in five in Russia is an SUV or all-roader. The popularity of such cars is a worldwide trend, in addition, they are well adapted for Russian conditions. The sedan is still the most popular body type in Russia - 45% of the total number of cars. Nevertheless, its share in the sales of new cars is declining.

In 2017, sales of new electric vehicles added 30%, second-hand electric cars - 70%. Meanwhile, the figures are still small - in 6 months of 2018, 52 new electric vehicles were sold, which is 80% more than in the same period of 2017. A small number of charging stations for electric transport, and the only incentive being free parking are among the reasons for such figures, according to the newspaper. Tesla leads the sales, Nissan Leaf is also in demand, and thanks to this model the market of pre-owned electric vehicles is growing, Izvestia wrote.

 

TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in the press review