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Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, December 30th, prepared by TASS

The value of major Western defense corporations has risen amid the ongoing military activities in Ukraine, Serb protesters in northern Kosovo are beginning to dismantle barricades and China is about to open up to the world after three years of pandemic isolation. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

Vedomosti: Western defense corporations profit handsomely off Ukrainian conflict

The market value of major Western defense corporations rose by 21.5% in 2022 amid Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and rearmament activities in Europe, Vedomosti estimated, based on data from Defense News and Tradingview. Arms manufacturers have turned up probably the main beneficiaries of the political crisis in Europe. As many as 40 countries and over 130 companies are involved in weapons supplies to Kiev, about half of which (60 firms) are American and another 55 are European.

Developments in Ukraine have really increased the capitalization of defense companies, Researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations Dmitry Stefanovich points out. The trend is largely rooted in a changed attitude to the defense industry in general and forecasts about the intensity of military activities.

Defense corporations are benefiting not only from weapons supplies to Ukraine but also from rearmament processes in Europe. Until recently, European Union countries provided weapons to Kiev from stocks, which were mostly Soviet-made, and replenished them with new arms, said Mikhail Barabanov, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. Now, Ukraine is getting more and more new weapons. As a result, military corporations are doing better than the market. The conflict in Ukraine united NATO around the US and brought "American leadership" back, boosting demand for weapons. The purchase of weapons is being viewed as an investment into US-guaranteed security, Barabanov emphasized.

"The West will continue to bankroll Kiev because the Americans need the war to keep their defense industry busy. The process has a multiplicative effect, promoting the entire economy’s growth, which is crucial for overcoming stagnation," Associate Professor at the Financial University Oleg Komolov noted.

Vedomosti: Kosovo Serbs leaving barricades

Serb protesters in Kosovo and Metohija will dismantle barricades in a day or two, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced. According to him, Belgrade received assurances from the West that the Kosovo authorities would not persecute the demonstrators. Pristina promised not to send armed forces to the northern part of the region without the consent of the local population and the commander of NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping troops, Vedomosti writes.

The Serb-Kosovo conflict started to escalate once again on December 10, following the arrest of former Serb police officer Dejan Pantic. In response, Serbs living in the north of the unrecognized state began to erect barricades, while the Kosovo authorities deployed police special forces to the Serb-populated areas. In addition, Pristina applied for Kosovo's admission to the European Union in breach of the Washington Agreement, under which Kosovo cannot join international organizations. On December 27, both Kosovo’s and Serbia’s armed forces were put on high combat alert but a military escalation of the conflict was eventually avoided.

The Serbian president has backed down once again and Belgrade is unlikely to have the same real opportunity to get northern Kosovo back in the near future, Moscow State Institute of International Relations researcher Anastasia Maleshevich noted. Establishing barricades was quite a legal form of protest given Pristina’s violation of the agreement, and the introduction of troops seemed to be a logical response to a possible military action by Albanian special forces.

According to the expert, the dismantling of barricades does not mean a complete deescalation. Pristina has not expressed readiness to implement the Brussels Agreement and the Kosovo Serbs so far have no plans to return to regional government bodies. In such a situation, it is impossible to hold normal elections. Maleshevich believes that talks will continue but another rise in tensions cannot be ruled out.

Izvestia: Germany unwilling to build relations with Russia

Germany does not believe it is possible to build normal relations with today’s Russia, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry. Almost all joint projects between the two countries have been suspended. In late November, news emerged about plans to dissolve the Petersburg Dialogue Russian-German forum, which used to hold annual meetings for almost 20 years, Izvestia notes.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that member of Germany’s Free Democratic Party Alexander Graf Lambsdorff will become the country’s new ambassador to Russia. The news highlights Berlin’s desire to maintain working communication ties with Moscow, said Artyom Sokolov from Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

"However, Russian-German relations can hardly be expected to normalize in the current conditions and improve in the short and medium term. Berlin follows the principles of trans-Atlantic solidarity in the non-critical sense, which is why its diplomatic initiatives are limited. At this point, it is Russian-German relations that are suffering from it the most. After Germany almost fully stopped importing Russian energy, one of the basic pillars of economic cooperation between Moscow and Berlin disappeared," the analyst explained.

Sokolov pointed out that still, a considerable number of German businessmen continued to work in Russia. "Actually, business remains the only area where some traces of constructive interaction between Russia and Germany can still be seen," the expert added.

Senior Researcher at the National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations Alexander Kamkin believes that relations between Moscow and Berlin are currently at an extremely low point. "On the one hand, the business elite realizes how much harm a complete break with Russia could cause but on the other, there are politicians and parties following Washington’s policy trend and are demanding to fully sever ties with Moscow, even at the expense of economic benefits," the political scientist concluded.

Kommersant: China about to reopen to the world despite another coronavirus wave

Beijing has decided to start gradually opening the country after three years of its pandemic isolation. Starting on January 8, 2023, Chinese citizens will be allowed to more freely travel to other countries. The move comes at a time when China, who used to pursue a policy of zero tolerance for COVID-19 and harsh lockdowns, faced an unprecedented surge in cases and a wave of mass protests, Kommersant writes.

According to Professor Alexey Maslov of Moscow State University’s Institute of Asian and African Studies, there are three reasons why Beijing has decided to reconsider its pandemic policy.

"First, a serious economic decline was recorded in the third and fourth quarters, not so much in terms of GDP but in terms of consumption and, consequently, production. This is why the only way out was to restart the economy and lift the lockdown. Second, it’s the protests. However, the Chinese leadership will in no way lose the game here. If another outbreak occurs after the Chinese New Year in February, the authorities will say: ‘This is what you wanted so face the consequences.’ And if there is no outbreak, it will look like the government responded to the people’s aspirations. Finally, third, China used to make a lot of money from the tourism industry, both inbound and outbound. Beijing now expects that the tourism industry, including in Hong Kong and Macao, will bring it several dozen billions of dollars in extra revenue, which will also spell support for small and medium companies," the expert explained.

A new strong coronavirus wave hit China after restrictions had been eased in early December. So it is no wonder that other countries were concerned about Beijing’s decision to return to openness. Before the pandemic, China was the world’s major source of outbound tourism and as soon as the news about the possible arrival of numerous Chinese tourists spread around the world, a number of countries announced mandatory coronavirus tests for passengers traveling from China.

Kommersant: Russia plans to develop new mobile operating system

Yandex, VK, Sberbank and Rostelecom plan to establish a company that will develop a new Android-based mobile operating system and a platform capable of replacing Google Mobile Services (GMS), Kommersant writes, citing sources.

A Russian electronics market source pointed out that VK and Sber were interested in developing a GMS analogue. "So far, there formally is no consortium but major players are willing to unite to develop a platform. All those who want their apps to have adequate capabilities need it," the source said, adding that it would take no more than a year to develop an Android-based operating system.

A government source, in turn, specified that the development of a new operating system by a team of market players was not contrary to digital service provider Rostelecom’s plans to promote a mobile ecosystem based on the Aurora operating system. The source added that the ecosystem would be used by companies and government agencies "for sensitive data processing," while "the new operating system will be targeted at the consumer segment."

One of the newspaper’s sources also pointed out that it would be easier and less expensive to launch a new platform based on Android than the Aurora operating system. Many apps made by Russian developers are already compatible with Android, while adapting them to Aurora will require time and investment, he added. "This is why it was decided to create an Android-based operating system for the consumer segment of the smartphone and tablet market, especially since VK has already launched the main add-on, that is, the RuStore app marketplace," the source elaborated.