Vremya Novostei
Moscow Blames Tbilisi For One-Day War
Yesterday, a full-scale war broke out in South Ossetia, Vremya Novostei reports. Georgian troops even tried to storm Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway republic. In the middle of the day, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili announced he was ready to withdraw unneeded forces from the conflict zone and cede the strategic heights around the Ossetian capital to peacekeepers. Ten minutes later there were killed and wounded on both sides. The parties involved in the conflict continue to accuse each other of provocations.
Moscow blames Georgia for the sudden escalation of the conflict. "Tbilisi has to understand that such attempts are unacceptable. Tough measures should be taken against those who consciously violates the existing agreements and treaties and return to the legal field," reads a Russian Foreign Ministry's statement posted late on August 19 on its website.
Some experts believe that it will be enough for Georgia to seize Tskhinvali to declare victory. However, Alexander Sharavin, director of the Russian Political and Military Analysis Institute, argues that this will not be the case. He believes that although South Ossetia's military capabilities are weaker than Georgia's, the help of "North Caucasian volunteers will be enough to turn the conflict into a continuous one, so hostilities should be stopped as quickly as possible".
Izvestia
Saakashvili Should Not Rely On US Too Much
Mikhail Saakashvili is under a romantic illusion that he will be able to quickly restore Tbilisi's control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia deftly playing on American-Russian contradictions. However, the US is unlikely to risk its good relations with Russia because of Georgia, Izvestia writes, and Mr. Saakashvili should think of a more moderate policy to unify the country that would not jeopardise its economy and democratic reforms.
Even when theUS and the Soviet Union were sworn enemies, America never crossed the red line and quickly left its friends to the mercy of fate if they had gone too far. Hungary rebelled against the Soviets in 1956 and openly called for American help, but help did not come. The Czechs and Slovaks also hoped for US support in 1968, but President Johnson defiantly went to his Texas ranch. The US stopped supporting Soviet dissident Gamsakhurdia and State Secretary James Baker's best friend Eduard Shevardnandze as soon as they began creating trouble. Mr. Saakashvili risks following this path if he does not tame his ardour and does not become a cold-blooded and predictable politician. In the real world, unchecked emotions seldom help to solve problems, the newspaper concludes.
Kommersant
China seeks Yukos affiliate
Fang Chunyong, an economic counsellor at the Chinese embassy to Russia, announced yesterday that China was interested in purchasing Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos's largest oil producing company, which the Russian authorities intend to sell to ensure the payment of the parent company's tax arrears.
Experts at investment companies surveyed by Kommersant believe China will not be allowed to buy the Yukos asset. "The Russian authorities did not want Yukos to be sold to American corporations, and they will certainly not want the Chinese to own its largest oil producing asset," said Sergei Suverov, an analyst at Zenit bank. The failure of China's CNPC to buy Russia's Slavneft oil company and the Russian government's rejection of plans to build an oil pipeline to China only testify to that, according to the expert.
Oleg Maksimov, an expert at Troika Dialog, believes most foreign companies will not take part in an auction for Yuganskneftegaz because of the scandals surrounding its parent company. The expert suggested that Russia might choose to sell the company directly rather than selling it through an auction.
Russia's Federal Anti-trust Service (FAS) is believed to have received at least one application for the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz. The FAS has not disclosed the bidder's name, as it is a commercial secret.
Vedomosti
The Central Bank has for the first time announced how many deposits were lost by banks in the recent crisis. The official data appeared to be less gloomy than bankers' estimates. Central Bank chief Sergei Ignatyev said yesterday that deposit outflow from all banks, except the state-backed Savings Bank, totalled 30 billion roubles between June 15 and August 1.
Experts believe the outflow was not that dramatic as the figure is only 4% of banks' overall deposits, excluding those of the Savings Bank. However, the figure does not give an idea of the crisis' genuine scale as deposit outflow primarily hit large retail banks, according to Natalia Orlova, a senior expert at Alfa Bank. The figures of individual banks' losses are much greater. Alfa Bank, for example, lost about 20% of its deposits and BIN Bank nearly 25%. Moreover, many of banks' corporate clients moved their accounts to the Savings Bank.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Notebooks depicting monsters, gangsters and semi-naked girls go on sale for the new school year
Parents are having a hard time buying school things for their children ahead of the new school year. Apart from having to find appropriate school uniforms they are desperately looking for decent stationary goods. Parents complain that robots with terrifying smiles or Britney Spears with her hair loose or the like are depicted on the covers of the majority of exercise books. The profile of Sergei Bezrukov (an actor who played the role of a mobster in the popular "Brigade" TV serial) on schoolbooks' covers is the novelty of the season. The word "Brigade" is written on notebooks instead of "exercise book." A lit cigarette in the actor's hand adorned with golden rings is clearly visible on the exercise book's black background. This kind of exercise book is more expensive.
"We take an extremely negative view on such school goods," said Yelena Gadzhieva, deputy director of grammar school No 1. "However, we are unable to stop the avalanche of such products that often border on pornography," she added.
