VREMYA NOVOSTEI
On Saturday, Moscow hosted the most informal CIS summit. Its programme, it turned out, had been approved on December 30, 2003, when Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed the Race for the Prize of the President of Russia. The decision was kept secret until almost the very beginning of the race held at the Moscow hippodrome, Vremya Novostei points out. The only CIS leaders not to attend were the Belarussian and Turkmen presidents. The former had a valid excuse, as he was taking a parade in Minsk devoted to the 60th anniversary of the Nazis being driven out from the country. The latter was ill as usual.
The debut of the new Georgian president at his first, although informal, CIS summit was rather successful, the newspaper writes. Mikhail Saakashvili shared his impressions with his Russian counterpart. "It was very interesting, I could speak to many of them," he said at a meeting with Mr Putin. Their conversation lasted for more than an hour and half and was perhaps the most important behind-the-scenes event of the race. According to VN sources in the Georgian delegation, the two presidents discussed the entire range of bilateral relations.
They agreed on a "respectful and civilised" approach to the main current problem, the tension around South Ossetia. It was most important for Tbilisi to hear that Russia recognised Georgia's territorial integrity, VN writes. Thus, it believes that South Ossetian leaders' hopes that Moscow will agree to take over the rebellious autonomy are groundless.
The parties agreed to continue talks on the withdrawal of Russian military bases and the opening of a Russian-Georgian anti-terrorist centre instead. They will also continue intensive expert work on preparations of a new "big" framework agreement between Russia and Georgia, the newspaper reports.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
The launch of Ukraine's presidential election campaign coincided with the 10th session of the Russian-Ukrainian cooperation committee held in Moscow on Saturday. On the occasion of the anniversary, the two countries' premiers, Mikhail Fradkov and Viktor Yanukovich, attended the session, NG reports. The Moscow talks were vital for Yanukovich, who is considered to be a presidential frontrunner. To all appearances, he returned to Kiev in a cheerful mood: Russia met Kiev each other halfway on a number of important economic issues. However, the Ukrainian party did not overstate its demands, the newspaper points out. Yanukovich managed to sign the protocol on the terms for Russian gas transit via Ukraine in 2005, which is annually endorsed by the two governments in addition to the measures to ensure Russian gas transit via Ukraine from October 4, 2001. On this occasion, perhaps for the first time, the discussion of such sensitive issues as gas volumes and the transition fees went quite smoothly. The parties agreed that next year Russia would export 112 bln cubic metres of gas via Ukraine to Europe, NG writes.
KOMMERSANT
Today, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov will hold the first session of the Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Council. It should be a formal meeting to form working groups in different areas of activities. However, it is already clear that the Council's main goal will be to create private-state capitalism, Kommersant writes.
This may mean that business will fulfil state contracts, which is quite usual, or will create joint enterprises with the state, which is less typical. Similar joint ventures worked in Russia during the perestroika era, where the partners were Soviet ministries or agencies and private Western capital, the newspaper recalls. Mr Fradkov is evidently betting on the supremacy of the state, it points out.
IZVESTIA
Moscow has hosted two Communist Party congresses. Each of them had a quorum and was attended by Justice Ministry and Central Election Commission representatives, but the decisionswere completely different. Gennady Zyuganov retained power in the party, but Ivanovo governor Vladimir Tikhonov replaced him in this post. Now, it will be up to the Justice Ministry to clear up the mess, Izvestia writes.
According to the newspaper, the ministry may find the Tikhonov-led congress legitimate in a month or two. This will be done only when the reports of the ministry's representatives have been thoroughly analysed.
The Zyuganov wing's attempt to appeal against the decision in court will not bring the desired result and thus, the alternative Tikhonov Central Committee will cease to be alternative and will head the party. Then Zyuganov's supporters will be in for another blow: in autumn the State Duma will pass a law on the "imperative mandate", giving parties the right to revoke the mandates of deputies elected by party lists from parliament and replace them with others. Afterwards all Tikhonov will have to do is replace some deputies with others, Izvestia writes.
GAZETA
A month after the historic triumph of Russia's ladies tennis players - Anastasiya Myskina and Yelena Dementyeva's vying for honours in the French Open final - Russia saw yet another victory, as brilliant and important. 17-year-old Maria Sharapova, who confidently defeated Serena Williams, champion of the last two years, in the Wimbledon final, won the tennis world's leading trophy. "It is surprising, I just don't know what to say," Maria says. "Of course, I dreamt of winning Wimbledon, but I did not think it could come true so quickly," Gazeta writes.
