Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 41 – Table of Contents

DELEGATIONS ARRIVE IN CAIRO FOR TALKS; ISRAEL AGREES TO WITHDRAW TROOPS IN EXCHANGE FOR HOSTAGES; TRUMP: HAMAS WILL FACE ‘COMPLETE OBLITERATION’ IF FAILS TO CEDE POWER IN GAZA

(By Igor Subbotin. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Oct. 6, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) . . . Indirect talks between the two parties to the armed conflict in Gaza were held in Cairo, which received delegations from Israel, Hamas, Qatar and the US. The main topics were [US President Donald] Trump’s plan to settle the situation in the Gaza Strip and achieve the release of living Israeli hostages, and the return of deceased Israeli hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023 [see Vol. 75, No. 41, pp. 3 5]…

PALESTINIAN POLLS SHOW OPTIMISM FOR VICTORY IS FADING, REFLECT DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT OF SOCIETY; EXPERT: DROP IN SUPPORT FOR HAMAS HAS CREATED A POWER VACUUM AS PALESTINIANS SEEK STABILITY

(By Albert Kalashyan. Izvestia, Oct. 7, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) . . . Public sentiment in Palestine has changed markedly. According to polls conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), the level of support for the Hamas movement and the level of optimism regarding the outcome of the war in Gaza have both fallen significantly…

SULEIMANOV: HAMAS DID WIN MAJOR CONCESSIONS FROM ISRAEL, BUT DEAL IS TRUCE, NOT TRUE PEACE; RADICAL FORCES IN GAZA STRIP MAY NOT LAY DOWN ARMS, BUT ‘HELL’ OF WAR IS OVER FOR PALESTINIANS

(By Ilya Volzhsky and Sofya Kanevskaya. Novaya gazeta Europe, Oct. 9, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/10/09/v-izrail-vernutsia-zalozhniki-v-sektore-gaza-perestanut-bombit. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire deal proposed by US President Donald Trump. This phase includes the return of 48 hostages to Israel – there is hope that 20 of them are alive. In return, Israel intends to release about 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, as well as another 1,700 Gazans detained since Hamas’s terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023. . . …

SHESTAKOV: HOSTAGE DEAL IS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG AND HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH LASTING PEACE; WAR MAY REIGNITE IF TRUMP LOSES INTEREST IN THE ABSENCE OF EASY ANSWERS TO NEXT STEPS OF PLAN

(By Yevgeny Shestakov. Rossiiskaya gazeta, Oct. 10, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) A group of activists are singing Jewish folk songs in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. They are celebrating the signing of a deal between Israel and the Hamas movement that will see the hostages – those who are lucky enough to be alive – and the bodies of the dead returned to their homeland. One of the songs is “Shir LaShalom” or, as it is also known, “A Song for Peace.” This composition was performed by former [Israeli] prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at a rally in honor of the Oslo peace process with the Palestinians in 1995. Less than one hour later, he was killed by a law student at Bar-Ilan University who did not agree with the government’s policies, particularly with Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, an area that both the Jews and the Palestinians have historically considered their own. News about a possible peace agreement on Gaza boosted stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which had been slumping in recent months…

MELNIKOVA: FORMER PRIME MINISTER BABIS’S PARTY WINS PLURALITY IN PARLIAMENTARY VOTE, BUT MUST FORM COALITION, WIN PRESIDENT PAVEL’S APPROVAL, DEAL WITH CRIMINAL CHARGES BEFORE TAKING LEAD

(By Nadezhda Melnikova. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Oct. 6, 2025. p. 5. Complete text:) In Czechia, billionaire and ANO [Action of Dissatisfied Citizens] party chairman Andrej Babis, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021, is celebrating his victory in parliamentary elections. His supporters took 80 seats out of the 200 seats in the country’s main legislature, making them Czechia’s largest political force. Babis’s appointment as prime minister is not guaranteed. President Petr Pavel has just begun to receive the heads of parliamentary parties at his residence, Prazsky Hrad [Prague Castle]. If the ANO chairman does become prime minister, the country will face significant changes in foreign policy…

EXPERTS: ANO WON ON POCKETBOOK ISSUES; UKRAINE AID WILL BE REPLACED BY ARMS SALES; BABIS’S ‘PRO-RUSSIAN’ IMAGE A ‘FANTASY’ CREATED BY HIS RIVALS

(By Ilya Arzumanov. Ekspert, Oct. 6, 2025, https://expert.ru/analitika/kakova-alternativa-povysheniyu-nds/. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – The victory of former Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO movement in the Czech parliamentary elections, announced on Oct. 5, does not bode well for warming relations with Russia, [Europe-watchers tell Expert]. . . …

FEDORINOV: BABIS JOINS ORBAN, FICO IN CHALLENGE TO BRUSSELS’S ‘SUICIDAL POLICY’ ON UKRAINE, PUTS CZECH INTERESTS AHEAD OF ‘BUREAUCRATIC NORMS’

(By Yevgeny Fedorinov. Sovetskaya Rossia, Oct. 7, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) . . . As the results of the elections in Czechia show, EU citizens are also fed up with the bellicose nonsense of EU officials and will do everything to reverse their suicidal policy. Experts believe that all supplies (and Czechia is a very important arms supplier to Kiev) may soon be frozen. This will be another blow to the Kiev regime. . . …

(By Georgy Nedogibchenko and Yana Surinskaya. Vedomosti, Oct. 6, 2025, https://www.vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2025/10/06/1144702-uscherb-po-novomu. Complete text:) Moscow’s Tverskaya Borough Court has granted the investigators’ petition for a measure of restraint in the form of detention in the case against former Open Government minister Mikhail Abyzov, a Vedomosti correspondent reported from the courtroom. The court ruled that [Abyzov] will remain in a Moscow pretrial detention center until at least Dec. 6. Damages in the new criminal case exceed 300 million rubles, a source familiar with the investigation told Vedomosti.

During the hearing, it became known that the former official was charged with large-scale fraud on Sept. 11. The investigation justified the need for Abyzov’s arrest by asserting that a different restraint measure could enable the defendant to obstruct the collection of evidence and to exert pressure on witnesses. The prosecutor supported the investigators’ petition, calling it legitimate and well-substantiated. As Vedomosti reported earlier, Abyzov was transferred from the penal colony where he was serving his sentence to Moscow. The former minister is currently being held at the Kremlyovsky Tsentral pretrial detention center…

(By Ilya Arzumanov. Ekspert, Oct. 9, 2025, https://expert.ru/v-mire/bolshaya-semerka-po-tsentralnoaziatski/. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – On Oct. 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin held bilateral talks in Dushanbe with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev, after which he participated in the second Russia – Central Asia summit. All that took place ahead of the meeting of the CIS heads of state on Oct. 10. Read Ekspert’s report for more details about the Russian leader’s state visit to Tajikistan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to the Republic of Tajikistan began on Oct. 8. The first item on the agenda was the wreath-laying ceremony at the monument to Ismoil Somoni, the founder of the first Tajik state on Dusti (Friendship) Square in central Dushanbe. An informal dinner was also held there, before which the Russian head of state presented Emomali Rakhmon with a painting called “Tajik Friends” by Soviet artist Maks Birshtein and an anthology titled “Tajiks” devoted to the Tajik people, published by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology…

(By Georgy Dvali. Kommersant, Oct. 6, 2025, p. 6. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – The ruling Georgian Dream party won Georgia’s municipal elections by a wide margin. Voter turnout was low at the elections, which were held last Saturday, Oct. 4. The Georgian opposition promised to bring hundreds of thousands of people out onto the streets that day and overthrow the “pro-Russian regime.” But its attempt was not convincing. Kommersant correspondent Georgy Dvali has the details.

The results of Georgia’s municipal elections, which were won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, were entirely predictable, yet also failed to answer the intriguing, unresolved question of what awaits the country…

(By Igor Seleznyov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Oct. 10, 2025, p. 5. Condensed text:) . . . On Oct. 9, a delegation of European Parliament members from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats arrived in Tbilisi. On the eve of the trip, they announced that they were going to express support for Georgian civil society, independent media and democratic forces. They have no plans to meet with the ruling Georgian Dream party, but they are intending to visit ex-president Salome Zurabishvili

As the EP members said in a statement, they distinguish between the Georgian people and their regime. “While we condemn the democratic backsliding, including in the context of the most recent local elections, we will continue engaging with the people of Georgia, and those who defend democratic principles and values,” the statement reads…

(By Sergei Guriyev, dean and professor of Economics at London Business School. Novaya gazeta Europe, Oct. 11, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/10/11/putins-polycrisis-en. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – This article was first published by Project Syndicate. Views expressed in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the position of Novaya gazeta Europe.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, the economic policy debate in Russia has shifted from celebrating war-driven growth to arguing over whether the economy is stagnating or has entered a recession. In the first quarter of 2025, gross domestic product declined by 0.6% compared to the previous quarter and then grew by only 0.4% in the second quarter. Even the most optimistic forecasts expect Russia’s growth to be around 1% in 2025, down sharply from 4.3% in 2024 and 4.1% in 2023…

(By Kirill Fenin. Izvestia, Oct. 6, 2025. p. 1. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – It is impossible to restore the INF [Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate- and Shorter-Range Missiles] in its original form, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia. The ministry stressed that Moscow tried to save this agreement, but US actions forced Russia to abandon the moratorium. At the same time, there is some potential for a different treaty, the New START [Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms]. [US President] Donald Trump has already called [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s proposal to extend this agreement a “good idea.” . . .

Maintaining strategic stability remains one of the key areas of relations between Russia and the US. However, in recent years, arms control, including nonnuclear weapons, has been in crisis, mainly due to unilateral US actions. For example, in 2019, Washington withdrew from the 1987 INF Treaty [see Vol. 71, No. 31, pp. 3-7]. And in 2020, the US left the Open Skies Treaty [see Vol. 72, No. 17, pp. 15-16]. “Obviously, restoring the INF Treaty to its original form is out of the question. It was developed and concluded under different circumstances, and it also contained practical measures and agreements related to the now-abolished nomenclature of land-based INF missiles,” the Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia…

(By Viktoria Kuchina. Krasnaya zvezda, Oct. 6, 2025, p. 6. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Since the wave of decolonization in the 1960s, France has maintained strong influence over its former African colonies through a complex web of informal political, economic, and military ties. However, in recent years, it has seen its sway over the western part of the continent significantly diminish. The recent withdrawal of French troops from Senegal, rising radical sentiments in several countries, and the emergence of new geopolitical players mark the beginning of a new era for the region. What is the true extent of the Fifth Republic’s influence in Africa today, and how was it able to maintain its position for so long? Sergei Fyodorov, senior research fellow of the social and political studies department at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe, offers his insights.

Question. – Sergei Matveyevich [Fyodorov], France recently withdrew its entire military contingent from Senegal after a 65-year presence. What prompted this move?…

(By Dmitry Goncharov. Republic.ru, Oct. 13, 2025, https://republic.ru/posts/116496. Condensed text:) The massive leak of internal documents from the depths of the Great Firewall that happened on Sept. 11 did not just provide compelling evidence regarding the Chinese Communist Party’s extensive cyber operations overseas; it was also a unique opportunity to peek inside China’s censorship and propaganda apparatus. It also revealed that repression in China is both a political imperative and a profitable business, with various players competing for lucrative contracts.

Beijing has created the world’s largest security industry – from tech giants offering state-of-the-art surveillance systems to hundreds of small and medium-sized companies producing countless monitoring apps. Having saturated the domestic market, the industry started exporting its products all over the world. Over 700 cities in more than 100 countries throughout the world use Chinese surveillance cameras. (And these numbers are somewhat dated, so the actual footprint may be even bigger by now.)…

(By Maria Frolova, political analyst. Izvestia, Oct. 8, 2025, p. 4. Complete text:) The political cycle in France has entered a phase of managed crisis, with the Elysée Palace balancing between the need for fiscal consolidation and the impossibility of achieving it without a deal with the center-left. The appointment of a head of government, the 2026 budget, and waves of protests form a triangle of mutual pressure in which any mistake threatens an accelerated loss of control. There is a window for stabilization, but it is narrow and requires a prompt programmatic agreement on the budget and institutional guarantees. Otherwise, there will be protracted protest mobilization and repeated government crises.

One of the main factors behind this was the frequent change of prime ministers: The cabinet of the fifth head of government in two years, [former prime minister] Sébastien Lecornu, fell apart just 14 hours after its composition was announced. Another factor is a severe budget impasse, where a deficit of 5.8% of gross domestic product requires drastic cuts of 44 billion euros, but political forces cannot agree on the necessary measures. The deficit is close to double the EU’s 3% threshold. The large-scale protests that gathered around 195,000 participants in 240 cities on Oct. 2 – coordinated by the trade unions CGT (General Confederation of Labor) and CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labor), which are blocking high schools, and a significant police presence (76,000 officers) – could escalate into mass acts of disobedience…