POLITICS
The Presidents of Russia and Ukraine met in Donetsk for the first time since Ukrainian opposition leader and ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison last week. Meanwhile, the European Union has postponed a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych because of Tymoshenko trial. Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the EU is now under question, and it may be a chance for Moscow to bring Ukraine into its customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti, Izvestia, Vedomosti)
The Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States have signed a free trade agreement in St. Petersburg
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
The Just Russia’s party list includes many ruble millionaires. Party leader Sergei Mironov earned 2.4 million rubles
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, Vedomosti)
OIL & GAS
TNK-BP Holding may join in a lawsuit brought by minority shareholders after the collapse of parent company BP's planned alliance with state-run Rosneft
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti)
AEROSPACE
Prosecutors blamed human error for two failed space launches in August, including the loss of a supply ship to the International Space Station.
(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti)
The project to build the Vostochny space center in the Far East stalled as the Russian space agency Roskosmos fails to get government’s approval for the project’s budget
(Izvestia)
A Russian Soyuz rocket will blast off from French Guiana on Thursday. The scheduled liftoff is the first time that a Soyuz, which first flew in 1966 and traces its roots back even further to the earliest Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles, has been launched from outside its former Soviet bases.
(The Moscow Times, Vedomosti)
DEFENCE
The draft budget for the next three years envisages a sharp growth in Russia’s military spending. Average budget spending growth is about 6-10 percent, but it tops 20 percent for national defense spending
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
The Russian Defense Ministry said it would prepare about 1,000 army snipers by 2016
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
SOCIETY
Israeli serviceman Gilad Shalit was handed over to Israel on Tuesday as part of a prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. Under the deal, Israel is to release more than a thousand of political prisoners. Radical Palestinian movement Hamas has already announced that kidnapping of Israeli soldiers will become its “resistance strategy”
(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Moskovskie Novosti, Izvestia)
The average bribe in cases investigated by Russian police stands at 250,000 rubles ($8,000) this year, but could reach six times that amount in major cases, Deputy Interior Minister Sergei Bulavin said
(The Moscow Times)
Russia will introduce obligatory DNA profile registration for inmates convicted for grave and extremely grave crimes
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Flight trials fully confirmed the theory that the Yak-42 plane with Lokomotiv-Yaroslavl hockey team crashed because the pilot braked during takeoff
(Kommersant)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Alexander Sokurov, a film director who won The Golden Lion at Venice Festival for his “Faust”
(Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, Vedomosti)
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