POLITICS
Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov took charge of the Russian state commission on religious affairs
(Kommersant)
As thousands of high school graduates enter universities on Saturday, a hotly debated bill to reform the nation's education system is inching forward.
(The Moscow Times)
Moscow Region Governor Sergei Shoigu seeks 170 billion rubles from the federal budget for reconstruction of roads in the region
(Vedomosti)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The world's biggest aluminum producer RusAl plans to attract $800 million in order to partly repay its debts
(Vedomosti)
Strong and soft. Light and dark. Robust but elegant. The Lada of the future is a creature of carefully chosen contrasts, with a lovely line and lots of LED lights behind the dashboard to make it look like a space ship.
(The Moscow Times)
Moscow’s oldest hotel, the Metropol, was sold Thursday for 8.874 billion rubles ($275 million) at an auction organized by the Moscow city government as part of the national privatization program
(Vedomosti)
OIL & GAS
According to a forecast from the Russian Economic Development Ministry, Russia is unlikely to lower prices on its natural gas deliveries to Ukraine until 2015
(Vedomosti)
DEFENSE
Uzbekistan has said it will not host any foreign military bases or other military objects on its soil, Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said
(Kommersant)
WORLD
The Syrian delegation to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran on Thursday walked out in protest during a speech by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy
(Kommersant)
The pirates who hijacked an oil tanker with a Russian crew in the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa left the vessel after pumping out 3,000 tons of fuel
(Kommersant)
SOCIETY
A survey conducted by the NewsEffector monitoring agency in partnership with the Regions of Russia research fund placed Grozny as the happiest city in Russia
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
More than a half of Russians believe sending three members of the punk group Pussy Riot to prison was fair punishment, according to a survey by the Kremlin-connected pollster Public Opinion Foundation
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
CRIME
A special services officer convicted of organizing the kidnapping of Russian software tycoon Yevgeny Kaspersky’s son was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison on Thursday
(Kommersant)
The bodies of a 76-year-old mother and her 38-year-old daughter were found in their Kazan apartment near a wall daubed with the words "Free Pussy Riot," apparently in the victims' own blood.
(The Moscow Times)
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