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Press review: Putin’s shift towards Asia and takeaways from Palermo’s Libya conference

Top stories in the Russian press on Wednesday

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Moscow pivots towards Asia, as European ties sour

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Singapore to participate in the Russia-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) conference and the East Asia Summit (EAS). The Singapore-hosted events have brought together the prime ministers of China, Japan and India, while US President Donald Trump is nowhere to be seen, substituted by Vice President Michael Pence. The media’s attention is focused on the Russian leader, which will give him an opportunity to call on partners to invest in projects in Russia’s Siberia and Far East, as well as strengthen regional stability, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

Having faced US and EU sanctions, Russia announced plans to turn to the East. It means that the importance of the ASEAN track for Russia is bound to grow.

According to the South China Morning Post, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin failed to appreciate the economic growth of the Asia and Pacific Region and placed high hopes on Europe as its main economic and political partner. However, following Crimea’s reunification with Russia and a dramatic downturn in relations with the European Union, Putin has been making changes in his policies.

Leading Research Fellow at the Center for Vietnam and ASEAN Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Far Eastern Studies Grigory Lokshin told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that "the decision concerning our president’s participation was a correct and long-overdue one." "For years, we sought East Asia Summit membership and eventually joined the group through Vietnam’s assistance. We were admitted together with the United States though there were some who did not wish to see us there. Since then, our president hasn’t been participating for eight years, which was surprising, as symbols are important in the East. If a state’s leader is not present, it triggers talks about ASEAN being underestimated," Lokshin pointed out.

This is why participants in the Singapore-hosted events will carefully listen to what Putin has to say and it will influence relations between Russia and ASEAN.

That said, when US President Donald Trump announced he was not going to attend, America’s soft power was immediately affected. Particularly because Trump had earlier withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has been taking protectionist steps, the expert noted.

The Washington Post said Trump’s decision not to go to Singapore was a mistake, given that Washington is vying with China for influence in the region. In addition, there is another threat to America’s prestige as ASEAN countries have been more often turning to Russia for weapons supplies and diplomatic support.

However, these states are unwilling to take part in the confrontation between the great powers, preferring to maintain good relations with all.

 

Kommersant: Libyan parties stay on their sides of fence

A high-level international conference on resolving the Libyan conflict has been held in Sicily’s Palermo. The Russian delegation was led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who addressed the event hinting that EU members and the United States had played a role in the eruption of the Libyan crisis. He also said that "uniting the country’s security forces as soon as possible" was one of the key objectives. Meanwhile, the conference has shown that differences between the parties to the conflict are still there, Kommersant notes.

The conference’s purpose sounded promising - to facilitate a full settlement to the Libyan conflict by making sure that the opposing political parties within the country come to an agreement. However, the meeting’s participants did not set any specific tasks to reach agreements. It seemed to be sufficient that all those who were expected and those who weren't came together in Palermo, including representatives of Libya, Italy, Egypt, Tunisia, France, Germany, as well as the European Union and the United Nations. In all, there were a total of 38 delegations.

There was a lot of obscurity surrounding the participation of Libyan National Army Head Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control the country’s east. His major domestic rival, Fayez al-Sarraj, who leads the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in western Libya, had confirmed his participation from the very start. In addition, President of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh Issa and President of the High Council of State Khalid Al-Mishri also attended the Palermo conference. In the end, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar took part in a closed-door meeting involving a number of delegations’ heads but skipped a dinner and the conference’s plenary meeting. At the same time, GNA members headed by Fayez al-Sarraj walked out when a member of the field marshal’s team was addressing the event.

"Holding elections is only possible through political dialogue in case the army unites and safe conditions are created across the country, provided that all the parties involved in the settlement process agree on that," Head of the Russian contact group on resolving the Libya issue Lev Dengov told Kommersant.

"The Palermo meeting first and foremost helped bring closer the positions of the international community concerning the activities of United Nations Special Envoy on Libya Ghassan Salame and his idea to arrange a national dialogue conference, which he plans to hold in January," Near East and North Africa Director at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue Romain Grandjean told the paper. According to him, the Libyan people are disappointed with those in power and by the way the country’s resources are being used. "We hope that a national conference will give impetus to the political process and pave the way for elections," he said, adding, however, that if there was no national consensus, elections might further destabilize the situation.

 

Media: Russia working to bring children home who lived under IS nightmare

Several thousand Russian women, taken by their husbands to areas controlled by the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia), still remain in Syria, member of Chechnya’s Human Rights Council Kheda Saratova said. The Russian Foreign Ministry and Children’s Rights Commissioner for the Russian President Anna Kuznetsova are working to bring home the children of Russian female citizens, convicted in Iraq of cooperation with the Islamic State. Exit ‘tolls’ will have to be paid for each of the 115 kids, Kommersant writes.

According to Saratova, the Russian authorities haven’t brought a single woman back in 2018. She explained that Chechnya’s representative to the Federation Council Ziyad Sabsabi was tackling the issue last year "but now intelligence agencies - the FSB - tell us that it’s wrong."

Talks began on the need to bring back Russian women and children from Syria in the summer of 2017, when Chechnya’s Head Ramzan Kadyrov mentioned a request by the mother of four-year-old Bilal Tagirov, whose father had taken him to Syria. It turned out that Bilal was only one of such kids. Eventually, more than 90 women and children were brought back to Russia before the end of 2017. The women arrived in Grozny’s airport, gave written confessions and headed to their native regions. According to Saratova, the women returning to Dagestan were charged with participation in illegal armed groups under Article 208 of the Russian Criminal Code. Courts sentenced them to five to eight years and six months in prison, suspending their sentences until their children reached the age of 14.

A special commission under the children’s rights commissioner has been dealing with issues concerning the return of these convicted women. Children’s Rights Commissioner Anna Kuznetsova told Kommersant that the Russian Foreign Ministry and other agencies were also involved in these endeavors. Documents are currently being put together for the return of 115 underage minors coming from 16 Russian regions, 55 of whom are under four years of age.

"The kids have been kept in prisons under inhuman conditions and need urgent medical treatment," Kuznetsova noted. "There is evidence of all the children’s relationship to Russian citizens, which makes it possible to continue paperwork for their return to Russia," she added.

More than 700 Russian nationals have reliable information about their family members being kept in prisons and camps in Syria and Iraq (they sometimes make telephone calls from there), Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes. They are asking to be returned home though they understand they may face sentences for illegal border crossing at the very least.

 

Izvestia: Nearly 4 mln Ukrainians visit Russia in first half of 2018

Nearly four mln Ukrainians visited Russia in the first half of 2018 for personal, business and tourist purposes, Izvestia wrote, citing the Russian Federal Security Service’s (FSB) data. A thing to note is that more and more Ukrainians choose to spend their vacation time in Russia. A Verkhovna Rada member told Izvestia that despite Kiev’s attempts to cut all ties with Moscow, Ukrainians still travel to Russia.

While Kiev continues its anti-Russian rhetoric, about 3.6 mln Ukrainian nationals made personal trips to Russia, around 310,000 went on business and more than 13,500 came to the country as tourists.

These statistics will be there for quite a long time, Verkhovna Rada MP Tatyana Bakhteyeva told Izvestia.

"Most Ukrainians go to Russia to work. According to the United Nations, 60% of people [in Ukraine] live below the poverty line. Their fridges are empty, they don’t have money to pay utility bills. Some try to implement their business projects in Russia. Our country’s economy does not work, there are no jobs and wages are very low," the parliament member noted.

In the same period for 2017, about 4.2 mln Ukrainians visited Russia. The reason for the difference in numbers is that many Ukrainians have been moving to other places in the past several years with the country providing the largest number of migrants to Russia. According to the Russian National Statistics Service, as many as 638,200 Ukrainian nationals moved to Russia in 2014-2017.

Many Ukrainians come to Russia to organize their lives, Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov told the newspaper.

"We are always happy to welcome guests from Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine share a common language, culture and history. They are our fraternal people," he said. "Often times, Ukrainians come to work or to visit their family members, but eventually they decide to stay for good. It is easy to understand them because if things go wrong at home, people always try to find a place where they will feel better," Kalashnikov added.

 

Kommersant: Bright prospects for ‘Black Friday’ sales revenue

This year, retailers expect Russians to spend unprecedented amounts of money during the Black Friday retail campaign. According to market participants, their Black Friday revenues may grow by 57% compared to last year, reaching 52 bln rubles ($764.2 mln). However, experts warn against overblowing expectations, as Russians’ real incomes have started to decline once again, while the Central Bank’s move to raise the key rate hinders purchases on credit, Kommersant points out.

Last year, more than 20 mln people made purchases during the Black Friday sale, spending over 30 bln rubles ($440.9 mln). Organizers said that 3,500 retailers had jointed the Black Friday campaign. According to the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AITC), this time, there will be at least 1.5 times more companies, which means over 5,000. "Three to five years ago, the sale was popular mostly with people living in big cities, but now we see that nearly 70% of customers taking part in online sales come from Russia’s regions," AITC President Artyom Sokolov noted.

Compared to last year, Russians were more active during the November 11, 2018, global shopping event, AliExpress Russia Spokesman Anton Panteleyev said. According to him, in some categories, trade turnover grew by 20% or even more. The company expects the trend to continue during the Black Friday sale.

The Ozon.ru company is confident that the sales of certain goods, including clothing and kids’ supplies, may surge by more than 57%. Head of the Ozon.travel sales department Yelena Volkova added that sales of tickets to destinations across Russia soared during the Black Friday campaign, as customers "often purchase more expensive tickets as well."

Marketing gimmicks along with large-scale investment in advertising, reduced retail margins and high customer demand will propel Black Friday’s sales, said Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at the Otkrytiye brokerage firm. However, he does not rule out that the sales growth may prove to be below expectations, reaching only 20-30%. "On the one hand, there is nothing new about the sale as the campaign has been taking place in Russia since 2013 and customers are well aware of it. On the other hand, people’s real incomes started to decline again after a period of moderate growth, dropping by 1.5% year on year in September," the expert said, adding that the Central Bank’s move to raise the key rate would limit the growth of purchases on credit.

 

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