Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Moscow, Washington disagree over Iran and election 'meddling'
US National Security Adviser John Bolton and Russia’s Security Council Chief Nikolai Patrushev held talks in Geneva, which became the first high-level meeting after the Putin-Trump summit in Helsinki. The parties could not adopt a joint statement, disagreeing on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote. The parties, however, confirmed their desire to return to a joint quest for solutions to key security problems, interrupted by the sanctions.
The main topics of the talks included bilateral relations against the backdrop of growing US sanctions, resuming the dialogue on strategic stability, the Ukraine and Syria crises, and special emphasis was placed on the issue of Iran's presence in Syria. According to Bolton, the goal of the US is to ensure that all Iranian forces return to Iran.
At the end of the meeting, however, Patrushev said that the final statement on its results was not signed because of Washington's position on the alleged Russia’s interference in the US election. According to Patrushev, the US wanted it to have a point that said Russia interfered in the election, and Russia denies it and proposed introducing a provision on the inadmissibility of US interference in the internal affairs of other countries, which, in turn, did not suit the US. At the same time, he noted that the work was constructive.
Doctor of Political Science, Chief Research Fellow at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Shumilin told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the United States and Israel have long exerted pressure on Russia over the presence of Iranian forces in Syria. "The departure of the Iranians and their Tehran-controlled Shia groups from Syria is the official position of the US voiced by the State Department and the Pentagon. Therefore, Bolton's statements on this can hardly be seen as an unexpected ultimatum against Russia. Most likely, in the negotiations he proceeded from the inability of Russia to sway Iran. Taking into account the fact that the interests of Russia and Iran do not coincide on all aspects of the Syrian settlement, the Americans have leverage against Moscow," he said.
In any case, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote, Russia is ready to thrash out all the proposals made by the US in Geneva, and is counting on a reciprocal response. Patrushev said that he invited Bolton to Moscow for new consultations.
Kommersant: Post-Soviet security bloc seeks new partners and observers
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is gearing up for a key reform move. The regional military-political bloc in the post-Soviet space plans to open its doors to additional partners and observers. This will allow the alliance to cooperate more actively with other countries and organizations. For example, this will open up the opportunity for joint exercises. Sources in the CSTO's structures told Kommersant they expect that a number of post-Soviet countries to become interested in getting partner or observer status, for example, such states as Serbia and Afghanistan. By comparison, NATO similarly cooperates with 40 countries, including CSTO members.
A source close to the secretariat of the organization told Kommersant that the document registering the CSTO observer and partner status, in all likelihood, will not have enough have time to pass all the stages of the agreement by November 8, when the CSTO will meet again. "This is an important decision, it is necessary to take into account the comments of all the bloc's member states, so there should be no hurry," the source said. According to another source in the organization's structures, there has been discussion about the CSTO’s need for partners and observers for several years. Belarus offered to formalize this status, but until recently steps toward a decision on this matter have stalled.
According to Kommersant, the case has gotten off the ground thanks to requests from states that do not want, or do not have the opportunity to join the bloc, but are interested in cooperating with it. In particular, Serbia, which already has observer status in the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly. Kommersant's sources in the CSTO's structures explained that Belgrade's potential partner or observer status in the bloc would greatly facilitate bureaucratic legal support for the organization. Kommersant's sources close to Serbian authorities said that that obtaining status would be in the interests of Belgrade, because it would be possible to intensify cooperation with the Moscow-led military-political bloc without violating the principle of neutrality declared by the country's leadership.
Afghanistan is another country that is potentially interested in formalizing ties with the bloc. Kommersant's sources in the CSTO's structures do not rule out that some states in the post-Soviet space will show interest in the initiative. In particular, Uzbekistan, which in 2012 officially suspended its participation in the organization, but did not leave it.
Izvestia: Despite sanctions, Moscow stands for normalizing ties with US
Russia is ready to normalize relations with the United States, but fulfilling the agreements reached at the Putin-Trump summit in Helsinki, now largely depends on Washington, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Izvestia. According to him, despite the ongoing sanctions policy, Moscow is ready to create various bilateral working groups, including an expert council and a high-level economic group. According to him, Russia draws on the need to normalize relations in all spheres of mutual interest, but this requires Washington’s desire to follow this path.
Ryabkov told Izvestia that carrying out any plans for normalizing relations depends entirely on the American side. In his opinion, this is not even about the next round of sanctions, but the absence of Washington's genuine desire to move towards settling mutual differences.
"We are ready for this and we are talking about this with the Americans. However, for some - mostly internal - reasons, the US is not ready to move on to practical action in this area. This is regrettable. Nevertheless, in the end, we proceed from the fact that moving towards normalization of relations between our countries in all aspects, including economic, political, security and others, is in the interests of both sides. This is not a one-way street," the diplomat explained to Izvestia.
The senior Russian diplomat noted that the current situation does not mean that Moscow will refuse to implement the agreements reached in Helsinki.
The landmark Putin-Trump summit was held in Helsinki on July 16. Both presidents discussed global and bilateral issues for more than two hours behind closed doors, and then held a press conference. Despite the general positive assessment of the summit, Washington continues to stick to its hardline anti-Russian rhetoric. In particular, the first package of sanctions over the Skripal incident was recently put into effect, and Congress is reviewing several bills, which threaten Moscow with new economic restrictions.
Vedomosti: Russia’s Central Bank sets out to fight Internet fraud
The Russian Central Bank wants to get the right to block websites that are used for financial fraud without judicial approval. This idea was discussed last week at a conference with Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov, a federal official and a person close to the meeting’s attendees told Vedomosti. The Central Bank developed a draft amendment to the Law on Information, which gives it such powers, regardless of whether websites are located in Russia or overseas, a representative of the regulator confirmed. Now the bill is going through interagency coordination. If the Central Bank gets such powers, it will become the seventh state body, which has the right to blacklist websites.
The Central Bank would like to block four kinds of sites, sources told Vedomosti. This includes websites with names similar to others, which allows them to mislead consumers, and websites that provide financial services without a license. The right to block such websites can be obtained by either Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina or one of her deputies. The Central Bank also wants to block websites that provide access to financial and credit institutions' resources under a pre-action protocol, using blocking as a provisional remedy. Finally, the Central Bank asked authorities to block websites that disseminate false information about the state of financial institutions. However, Akimov did not support this idea. Representative of the Central Bank did not comment on the details of the discussion. A federal official believes the regulator’s criteria for imposing blocks are excessively broad.
The Central Bank can already block websites with phishing and malicious programs without any court order, but only in the Russian domain zones. Now the issue includes adding websites to Russia’s telecom watchdog’s special register, after which IT operators block access to it.
VTB supports the Central Bank’s initiative, considering it an effective method for combatting fraud and malicious software, a bank spokesman said. Out-of-court blocking of phishing websites on foreign domains and websites that provide financial services without a license, can protect the rights of consumers, Executive Vice-President of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB) Elman Mehdiyev told Vedomosti.
Izvestia: Russian oil companies want compensation for tax maneuver
The issue of compensation payments to oil companies after the completion of the tax maneuver in the industry may be discussed at a meeting of the Presidential Commission for Strategic Development of the Fuel and Energy Sector and Environmental Safety, a source in a large oil corporation familiar with the preparations for the event told Izvestia. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the possibility of including this topic in the agenda of the meeting, which will take place at the beginning of next week.
According to the newspaper’s source, at the upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, heads of oil companies are planning to raise the issue of granting budget subsidies due to the tax maneuver. The Kremlin confirmed that it could indeed be hashed over at the meeting. "We do not rule out discussing the topic," Peskov said, answering a question from Izvestia. He also stated that the first meeting of the fuel and energy commission, following a three-year hiatus, would be held on August 27.
Implementing the tax maneuver in the oil and gas industry began in 2015. The legislation include a gradual reduction of the export duty on oil and oil products to zero and a simultaneous uniform increase of the mineral extraction tax for oil and gas condensate. Starting from 2019, the export duty on oil will decrease from 30% to 5% per annum for six years. At the same time, the mineral extraction tax will be raised until 2021.
The government expects to receive additional revenues of up to 1.6 trillion rubles ($23.51 bln) within six years because of the reform.
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