Top stories from the Russian press on Monday, October 25th, prepared by TASS
Media: Erdogan teetering on brink of conflict with West
A severe political crisis is emerging between Ankara and the West in light of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to expel ten ambassadors representing Western countries, including the US. Experts believe that Erdogan will not go far but his move is likely to have consequences, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.
The countries whose envoys are expected to be expelled from Turkey are in no hurry to take drastic steps. In the meantime, Erdogan's domestic opponents are wasting no time castigating him. Leader of the Republican People's Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu attributed the envoy expulsion scandal to Erdogan's desire to justify the government's mistakes that had led to a difficult economic situation in the country.
Associate Professor at Moscow State University's Institute of Asian and African Studies Pavel Shlykov assumed that the conflict between Erdogan and the West will eventually end in agreements one way or another. "I don't think that things are headed towards a large-scale confrontation. Turkey's relations with Western allies have not been the best for a while and Erdogan has allowed himself to use aggressive rhetoric against them on numerous occasions. However, Turkey in many ways is dependent on its European partners economically, the dependence is clear from the levels of trade and direct European investment. This is why the country is hardly ready to fall out with the EU, let alone to cut ties," the expert pointed out.
According to Shlykov, Erdogan's statement was targeted at the Turkish audience as the rating of the president and the ruling Justice and Development Party has been on a downward trend in recent years. "It causes strong concern among the party's members and encourages its opponents. They anticipate that the ruling party will perform poorly at the next election and a coalition government will need to be formed. In such a situation, Erdogan seems to see no reason to refrain from taking advantage of overseas criticism of human rights violations in order to unite his supporters," the analyst noted.
Director of the Russian State Humanitarian University's International Russian-Turkish Center Alexander Vasilyev is of the same opinion. He told Vedomosti that Erdogan "is losing support amid preparations for the 2023 presidential election" and pointed out that in a similar situation in 2015, Erdogan chose to flare up tensions with Russia. "And now, the Turkish leaders seeks to make voters see that he has the courage to challenge the US, too," the expert said.
Izvestia: Northern Sea Route won't affect Arctic's climate, Russian presidential envoy says
The Northern Sea Route can in no way affect the Arctic's climate since the kind of fuel planned to be used there will have as little impact on the region's environment as possible, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Ruslan Edelgeriyev said in an interview with Izvestia.
"There is no way that the Northern Sea Route can influence the Arctic's climate. The thing is that there is room for reducing emissions," he pointed out. "We mostly use nuclear-powered vessels there and the number of nuclear ships will grow. We also have an agreement on emission monitoring, and the issue is under control. The fuel that will be used there will have as little impact on the regional climate as possible," Edelgeriyev added.
According to him, it is the investment climate that the development of the Northern Sea Route will influence. The Russian presidential envoy was hopeful that the turnover of goods via the route would rise. He noted that a policy had already been adopted that was aimed at making sure there were no sanctions or efforts to deter the use of the Northern Sea Route. "We hope - and there already are some initiatives and interested parties - that we will boost the Northern Sea Route's capacity and will also work on improving related infrastructure facilities based on the latest requirements and the standards that are about to emerge," the Russian presidential envoy on climate emphasized.
In addition, Edelgeriyev stressed that at the upcoming Glasgow-hosted international climate change conference, Moscow intended to raise climate issues that would be "toxic for the West" and would form coalitions with other countries. "I won't specify what issues I would like to put to a vote. They will be toxic for the West but they need to be there as long as we are talking climate. There are some pressing issues that should be raised and discussed," the Russian presidential envoy added.
Kommersant: Foreign investors return to Russian market
Foreign investment in Russian equities reached $190 mln last week, its highest in seven months. International investors are attracted by the Russian economy's dependence on commodities as the Russian market is benefiting from the rising global commodity inflation. Russia's indexes, which showed a record growth this year, remain at the highest levels in years and attract an increasing number of international investors, Kommersant notes.
"Russia's economy is stable and has a safety cushion of high financial reserves and a low foreign debt, which surely attracts potential international investors," Asset Management Department Director at Ingosstrakh Investment Artem Mayorov emphasized.
"The world is coming to realize the long-term paradigm of inflation factors, which leads to a multiple rise in commodity, energy and food prices, as well as to an increase in demand for the related companies' shares," Deputy Director of the TFG asset management company Ravil Yusipov pointed out.
According to UFG WM Investment Managing Director Alexei Potapov, the current situation on commodity markets fuels investor interest in the stock markets of countries such as Russia, Mexico and Colombia.
As a result, the Moscow Exchange index remained near historical highs throughout most of last week. The RTS dollar index passed the 1,900-mark last week, the highest level since August 2011. Since the beginning of the year, the index rose by more than 35%, topping the list of global indicators. The impressive rise of national indexes will make funds invest in Russia, Mayorov noted.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Who is going to benefit from China's energy crisis
While Europe is wailing about high gas and power prices, it is the Chinese people who are being hit by power cuts, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes.
Alexander Kurdin, an expert at the Russian Government's Analysis Center, points out that a cold winter and a hot summer in China increased the use of energy beyond expectations. Problems with coal supplies, caused by Beijing's decision to stop importing coal from Australia and production restrictions aimed at reducing emissions, also played a role. Meanwhile, the active recovery of China's economy led to a dramatic rise in commodity demand.
Russia will raise the delivery of pipeline gas to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline according to plan. The energy crisis may accelerate the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline but construction work has not begun yet. As for liquified natural gas (LNG), Russia will have new facilities in 2023, when the first line of the Arctic LNG 2 plant is going to be launched, Director of Financial Market and Macroeconomy Research at Alfa Capital Vladimir Bragin pointed out.
Russia doubled coal supplies to China in the first half of 2021, the prospects here look bright, Associate Professor at the Financial University under the Russian Government Valery Andrianov noted. Even more so because of Beijing's deteriorating relations with Australia who used to be the top coal exporter importer to China. However, the problem is that Russia's exports to the East are for now limited by the capacity of railways. The work to expand them is planned to be completed in 2024 but China needs energy resources right now. This is where the United States comes to the stage. Information of China's talks with US companies about long-term LNG supplies has already been leaked to the media.
According to Andrianov, China's demand for energy will push global prices up, triggering new waves of the energy crisis. So it will be more logical for China to rely on domestic resources though it won't prevent Beijing from searching for ways to increase the import of energy resources, including Russian pipeline gas, which is cheaper for China than any kind of LNG, including the US one, the expert stressed.
Kommersant: Russia working on technology to prevent shooting attacks at schools
Russian schools are showing interest in IT systems that can help prevent shooting attacks at students. The NtechLab company has launched the testing of a system in the city of Samara that is aimed at detecting people wielding arms approaching schools. The system is designed to identify potential shooters and alert the police, Kommersant notes.
The company's Consulting Manager Gleb Dyakonov told the newspaper that "six major customers, including regional authorities, have expressed interest" in the technology and "a pilot project has already been launched in one of the country's regions." The paper's source specified that testing was taking place at a Samara school.
According to Dyakonov, cameras will be installed in the district where the school is situated, which will be able to detect people carrying arms. As soon as a camera identifies a potential shooter, it will transmit a signal to the school's guard. If the guard fails to respond, the system will automatically block the school's doors, ring the alarm inside the building and report the threat to the police.
Some difficulties may emerge during the implementation of the project in terms of integrating a commercial company's technology into the Interior Ministry's information system, Product Strategy Director at Group T1 Sergey Ivanov said. "Technically, it is possible to implement such a project. It requires high-resolution cameras and a neuronet capable of detecting people carrying arms in crowds," he added. The difficulty is that it's not a person's face that needs to be detected but weapons that aren't usually carried openly, Artezio Executive Manager Pavel Adylin noted.
Nowadays, most people are concerned about the safety of educational facilities, member of the State Duma’s (the lower house of parliament) Information Policy Committee Alexander Khinshtein emphasized. According to the lawmaker, the experience gained at the Samara school could be expanded to the rest of the country.
