Several countries want to change their status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and work more closely with the association, Putin calls to expand the use of the digital ruble, and Venezuela’s Maduro believes he's a shoo-in to be re-elected as president. These stories topped Thursday's newspaper headlines across Russia, according to TASS News Agency.

Izvestia: Several countries seek closer ties with SCO

Several countries would like to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the group’s Secretary-General Zhang Ming told Izvestia. The newspaper has learned that Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Armenia and Azerbaijan applied to change their status from dialogue partner to observer. This change is usually considered a stepping stone on the way to full-fledged membership in the organization. Additionally, Bangladesh would like to become an observer. Earlier, Israel was interested in this status as well but the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu specified that at this time, the country is not interested in joining the group.

According to National Coordinator of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the SCO Secretariat, Mehrdad Kiaeei, the organization is ready to consider this issue and come to some conclusion after coordination with the applicants and member states.

Li Xin, director of the Center for Russia and Central Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, told Izvestia, that for these countries, more active participation in an organization like the SCO means political respect, ensured security as well as additional opportunities for economic development.

"The participation of Armenia and Azerbaijan, located in the Caucasus region, in an integration project like the SCO, could positively impact the structure of the region’s security in general and the Eurasian region in particular. Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Southeast Asia are considered rather important regional countries and, given that the situation is unstable in a number of their neighboring states, they can add to security and stability in the region. If the security component continues to expand within the SCO framework, it is possible to launch joint security projects, such as, for example, establishing military bases in these countries," Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia.

Media: Putin wants Russia to embrace digital ruble

The digital ruble has proven its viability and it is time to move on to a wider use of the currency, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting about the economy. The Russian leader did, however, acknowledge that there are some risks related to the active mining of cryptocurrency, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

Digital currency works much the same way as national currencies used by central banks of various countries, making transactions more transparent and easier to track. Russia is not the first country to think about going digital; the leader in this sphere is China, which was among the first nations to widely introduce digital currency with the digital yuan, Natalya Milchakova, lead analyst at Freedom Finance Global, explained to Izvestia. Only a few countries have fully switched over to using digital currencies, mostly countries in the Caribbean, such as the Bahamas and Jamaica.

"Russia wants to be at the cutting edge of modern technologies, including financial services. The DFA (tokens) market is already taking off in the country, including those issued by major industrial enterprises in order to inject money into promising projects," Milchakova explained.

Putin wants to take this a step further: to move on to a wider large-scale implementation of the digital ruble in the economy, business and finance. This may help the government in terms of controlling the budget, cutting the cost of budget payments and easing trans-border transactions, said Natalya Poluyanova of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Small and Medium Enterprises. For the financial market, this will increase competition and create new services and new payment infrastructure.

"The digital ruble has a chance to become a full-fledged payment instrument for individuals and companies but to make this a reality, the government has a lot of work to do, and it must learn from past mistakes made by other countries when implementing such currencies. There, people saw certain risks for financial confidentiality or restrictions of financial freedom," the legislator noted in a conversation with Izvestia.

Izvestia: Maduro certain of his election victory in Venezuela

More than ten Russian observers will monitor the presidential election in Venezuela, the Russian Embassy in that Latin American country told Izvestia. Less than two weeks remain until the July 28 vote, and incumbent President Nicolas Maduro believes he has the election in the bag: he has already vowed that the day after the election he will sign a decree on launching national dialogue with the opposition on contested issues. Experts noted that, regardless of who wins the election, civil unrest is a real possibility in the country, because the opponents won’t recognize Maduro’s victory, while officials in the current government are unlikely to accept opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.

"As of today, the approval rating of the opposition’s single candidate is quite high, higher than Maduro’s, so even if the incumbent president wins seemingly fair and square, the opposition may lash out and say that the election was rigged, and people will take to the streets," said Dmitry Rozental, director of the Latin American Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

That said, the expert insisted that at this moment, it is difficult to predict what would happen if Gonzalez won, but chances are the existing political system would cease to exist in its current form.

Moving to the topic of Russia, the expert said that there is no consensus among the opposition as to how to move forward with bilateral relations. Opposition stalwart Juan Guaido and his political mentor Leopoldo Lopez used to say that Venezuela must observe its international obligations, including with regard to Russia, but the more radical part of the opposition thinks that many concluded contracts must be reconsidered, Rozental noted.

"Yet in general, it is important for Venezuela, which is in a tough spot, to maintain good relations with all major players in global politics. And Russia is undoubtedly among them," the expert concluded.

Vedomosti: Baku hosts opponents of French colonialism

A meeting of 15 political parties and movements for the independence of Corsica, Melanesia, Polynesia and a group of Caribbean and Antilles islands, affected by French colonialism, kicked off in Azerbaijan’s capital on July 17. Three organizations from the islands of Bonaire and St. Maarten, belonging to the Netherlands, are also attending the meeting as guests of honor. The event is organized by the People's Union for the Liberation of Guadeloupe with support from the Baku Initiative Group and will run for two days. The meeting aims to create a single platform for political movements in France’s overseas territories in order to "overcome French colonialism" and unite in the fight for independence.

The meeting of separatist movements in Baku is the response of the Azerbaijani government to France’s policy in the Caucasus, explained Stanislav Pritchin of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO RAS). The expert reiterated that after Armenia’s defeat in the second Karabakh war in 2020, Paris adopted an extremely anti-Azerbaijani stance and has been promoting this agenda at all international venues. Despite Baku promoting the primacy of territorial integrity in international politics, this principle is inapplicable with regard to French overseas territories, Pritchin thinks. "Objectively, these lands are the remnants of the French colonial empire. So, from the point of view of the Azerbaijanis, lobbying the interests of the island peoples’ separatist movements does not contradict their agenda."

The anti-France meeting in Azerbaijan fits in with the global trend on reshaping the security architecture away from the West-centric world order toward multipolarity, noted Sergey Fedorov, leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe. According to the expert, in response to Azerbaijan’s actions, Paris will attempt to introduce sanctions against Baku. "Possibly, this is why lately the French media has begun to publish more often pieces on Azerbaijan’s corruption schemes in the EU and France," the expert added.

Kommersant: Iran strikes major deal with Russia’s Gazprom

Iran has disclosed the preliminary details of its agreement on gas supplies with Gazprom signed in June. According to Iranian Minister of Oil Javad Owji, the contract is for 30 years and stipulates a volume of up to 300 mln cubic meters per day or about 110 bln cubic meters annually. This is approximately 45% of Iran’s current gas consumption, almost covered by its own production but restricted by sanctions in re-export. It is planned to build a pipeline over the Caspian Sea which will require coordination with Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Analysts question the viability of such plans.

Vitaly Yermakov of the Higher School of Economics (HSE University) thinks that the volumes named by Owji are "absolutely outlandish." He noted that many years will pass until the practical implementation of Iran and Russia’s plans and the volumes are unlikely to be substantial, especially in the beginning.

Yevgeniya Popova from the Implement consulting company concurs that the project is overwhelmingly ambitious and extremely difficult to implement. According to her estimates, in order to deliver these volumes, the construction of three-four gas pipeline strings is necessary, as well as the expansion of the existing gas-supplying infrastructure in all the countries involved. "From the point of view of capacity, the project is comparable to two Nord Streams at once," she said.

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