Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 24-25 – Table of Contents

(By Andrei Pertsev. Translation by Kevin Rothrock. Meduza, June 18, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/06/18/spief-s-propaganda-pivot. Complete text:) The next St. Petersburg Economic Forum kicks off today, June 18, and runs for four days through Saturday [June 22]. Before the invasion of Ukraine, SPIEF served as one of Russia’s main platforms for interactions between state officials and international business representatives. As has been the case for the past two decades, the main event this year will be a panel discussion led by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin. Meduza has learned that Russia’s state-run and Kremlin-loyal media outlets have already received instructions from the presidential administration on which events to cover in their reporting…

(By Mikhail Sergeyev. Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 18, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The SPIEF has turned into a ceremonial event where our officials often ignore feedback signals from entrepreneurs, industry specialists and regional representatives, instead preferring to repeat the details of their long-stated positions. This feature of the country’s main economic forum creates real problems for Russian citizens, who are suffering today from high food inflation, wage cuts, falling production and the inability to obtain a mortgage. Experts warned officials about the risks of these current problems at last year’s forum [see Vol. 76, No. 23, pp. 3 – 7]. But the lack of real feedback from the authorities leads to quandaries of public administration: Government agencies are only now starting to think about benefits, loans and other anticrisis measures, after the collapse of production in the auto industry, agricultural machinery and housing construction, and after the explosive rise in prices for potatoes and onions for borscht. It would be a shame if in 2025, serious discussions of future economic problems are replaced by reports about thousands of contracts worth trillions allegedly concluded at the St. Petersburg Forum…

(By Alyona Nefyodova and Maksim Bazanov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 20, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine are in touch and are already discussing a new meeting, which may take place after June 22. Kiev should hurry to reach agreements with Moscow in Istanbul before the situation for the Ukrainian Armed Forces worsens. Vladimir Putin said this at a meeting with the heads of the world’s leading news agencies at SPIEF-2025 on June 18. Moscow also wants to end the conflict as soon as possible, preferably peacefully. Vladimir Putin also announced his readiness to meet with [Ukrainian President] Vladimir Zelensky at “some final stage,” but the question of Kiev’s signatories to a peace document remains open. Other topics include the escalation in the Middle East [see the second feature in this issue], where Russia is ready to safeguard Iran’s interests in the area of peaceful nuclear energy while addressing Israel’s security concerns. As usual, CIS countries and a number of Asian countries remain important partners for Moscow……

(By Olga Anasyeva. Izvestia, June 20, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) The tone for the main [business] day at SPIEF-2025 was set by a discussion about [Russia’s] economic slowdown: Nabiullina, [Finance Minister Anton] Siluanov and Reshetnikov argued about whether [Russia’s economy] is at risk of overcooling or whether, on the contrary, it will soon warm up……

(By Maria Kolobova and Pyotr Marchenko. Izvestia, June 20, 2025, p. 4. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Not a single Western company has left Russia of its own free will, VTB [Foreign Trade Bank] Board chairman Andrei Kostin said in an interview with Izvestia at SPIEF-2025…. In the interview, Andrei Kostin also called the current strengthening of the ruble harmful and called for “steering away.”

Question. – One of the key events of the forum was a discussion between the heads of the Central Bank and the Economic Development Ministry about the prospects for economic growth. However, the “Ode to Joy,” with which Elvira Nabiullina recently compared the economic situation, was not heard often today. What is the forecast?…

(By political analyst Georgy Asatryan. Izvestia, June 16, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) The first days of the US-Israel war against Iran did not provide any answers about the future of this long and bloody confrontation. We are only at the beginning stage of the conflict. The sides still have not been able to determine whose military and technical capabilities dominate. There is also no clear understanding of whose social and political systems are capable of withstanding painful losses. The nature of the confrontation indicates that it will be quite a long conflict, with pauses for the parties to reorganize, tally their losses, move military equipment and replenish their arsenals. It is too early to draw conclusions about the results…

(By Mikhail Morekhodtsev. Republic.ru, June 17, 2024, https://republic.ru/posts/115941. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. -. .. The war between Israel and Iran caught many by surprise. We recorded this interview with Nikolai Kozhanov, research associate professor at the Gulf Studies Center of Qatar University, on June 13, a few hours after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an attack against Iran’s nuclear and military facilities – in other words, before it became clear that the IDF operation might last a couple of weeks. On the night of June 15, the expert answered a few additional questions…

(By Roman Babenko and Yekaterina Karasyova. Izvestia, June 19, 2025, p. 4. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – … Maria Zakharova, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department of information and the press and the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, spoke with Izvestia at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum [see the first feature in this issue] about why nuclear facilities are being attacked, how the balance of power is changing in the world and whether Russia will improve relations with the EU in the future…

(By Ivan Rodin. Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 20, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) Yaroslav Nilov, a deputy from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, remains the State Duma lawmaking champion. On June 19, he presented yet another proposal, joined by a group of long-time colleagues….

Eleven State Duma deputies and a senator from LDPR coauthored a bill introducing separate criminal liability for staged crashes. The Russian Federation government and Supreme Court are not on board with this, which does not seem to bother the established lawmaking team in the LDPR “old guard.”…

(By Yevgenia Pertseva. Izvestia, June 17, 2025, p. 6. Condensed text:) A proposal has been made to institute mandatory compensation of consumer losses for foreign brands if they return to Russia. The proposal’s authors envision transferring the money to a special fund, which should total at least 400 billion rubles. This proposal was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by the Public Consumer Initiative (PCI)….

The PCI is convinced that foreign companies should provide compensation for losses incurred by [consumers], according to the organization’s letter to the government, which Izvestia has reviewed. After all, in multiple cases our former partners – manufacturers and importers – violated consumer rights as they left the country…

(By Yury Borodin. Krasnaya zvezda, June 10, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Military and special equipment on the front line often sustains damage and “contusions” during combat. The mission of the technical Dr. Dolittles of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division’s 10th Guards Tank Regiment, a part of the Yug (South) group of forces, is to heal their “patients.” And these medics are doing an excellent job.

Logistics support units don’t storm enemy strongholds or destroy defensive lines with precision strikes. But their work is no less critical or important…

(By Igor Seleznyov. Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 19, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, owner of Tashir Group, has been put on trial in Armenia. Forbes estimates the businessman’s fortune at $3.2 billion. He ranks 44th on the list of the richest people in Russia. The reason for the detention was Karapetyan’s promise to fight the Armenian government over attacks on the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) [see Vol. 77, No. 23, p. 15]. The businessman has been accused of calling for a seizure of power. For this he may be sentenced to imprisonment (from one month to five years), a fine, and community service (from 150 hours to 270 hours), says Karapetyan’s lawyer Armen Feroyan.

Readers are reminded that, over the past few weeks, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Karekin II of having an illegitimate child and called for the election of a new Catholicos with the participation of the state…

(By Konstantin Skorkin. Meduza, June 17, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/06/18/the-president-s-rival. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko have been at odds for more than five years. Klitschko, an ambitious former boxer, has so far managed to keep the president’s team from bringing the Ukrainian capital to heel. Their rivalry has ebbed and flowed, but it’s flared up again in recent weeks. “I once said our country smells like authoritarianism. Now, it reeks,” Klitschko told The Times in late May 2025. The president’s office has yet to respond publicly to the jab. Journalist and researcher Konstantin Skorkin explains what’s really at stake in the fight between Zelensky and Klitschko.

Klitschko’s path to the Kiev mayor’s office was a long one. In 2005, after retiring from boxing, he decided to try his hand at politics. The following year, he ran for mayor for the first time. Though popular among young voters and the pro-European middle class, Klitschko came in second with 23.7% of the vote, losing to the eccentric populist banker Leonid Chernovetsky, who won 32% of the generally conservative electorate…

(By Aleksei Yeliseyev. Republic.ru, June 11, 2024, https://republic.ru/posts/115878. Condensed text:)… The quarrel between Gogol’s Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich came as a surprise. The breakup between [Elon] Musk and [US President Donald] Trump, however, seems to have been anticipated by everyone, with the only question being how quickly it would happen. Most journalists and political analysts thought the relationship would last until fall, but the bromance ended much more quickly. Relationships between billionaires and their “friends” in power almost always end in a similar fashion, but, even so, businesspeople continue to place their bets on authoritarian leaders.

The first leaks from the White House about Musk’s displeasure with many of Trump’s loyal associates began almost immediately after Musk took over the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But Trump publicly supported Elon, who had spent almost $250 million on the 47th president’s election campaign. The schism became more serious when it came to the imposition of “draconian tariffs”: Musk asked Trump not to impose the tariffs, but the president paid no heed to the billionaire. The rift remained out of the public eye – sources spoke about the disagreements, while Musk and Trump continued to display a “strong male friendship.”…

(By Viktoria Zhuravlyova, expert with the Primakov Readings [international] forum. Izvestia, June 16, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) One of the important topics of discussion at the 11th Primakov Readings scientific and expert forum devoted to global turbulence will be relations between the three leading powers – Russia, China and the US. They will largely determine the kind of new world order that will emerge from the current turbulence. Each of the three countries has its own interests, expectations, priorities and ideas about how these relations should develop. [These countries] share leadership ambitions [and] the desire to play a meaningful role in the emerging world order. Each of them believes in its special global mission and role in the international arena. This inevitably leads to a competition of ideas; socioeconomic and political models; [and] military, technological and economic potentials, which will most likely constitute the foundation of a new world order.

To the US, foreign policy is a very important tool for forging a national consensus. The American political process is based on a combination of conflict and compromise between key players. Building blocks of a consensus are laid on several levels at the same time: between [political] parties; the branches of government; the federal government and the states; the government and society; [and] the government and the business sector. Together, they form a national consensus…

(By state councilor Pavel Igorevich Sevostyanov, associate professor at the Plekhanov Russian Economic University. Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 19, 2025, p. 3. Complete text:) What is happening in California – be it mass protests, the push for greater autonomy, sharp political stratification, migration debates or economic turbulence in the technology sector – is too complicated to explain solely as a reaction to US President Donald Trump’s policies. It is worth taking a deeper and somewhat broader look: California has long been living in the logic of a domestic crisis.

California is the world’s fifth largest economy [and] a center of technological progress, the film industry and environmental reforms. However, lurking behind this façade are internal contradictions: a lack of affordable housing, growing social inequality, overloaded infrastructure and environmental challenges. The abundance of innovations has not rid the state of old problems: rising prices [and] gentrification. California is one of the most multiethnic states in the US, but this wealth has in effect become a battlefield for resources, rights and identities. The social contract that has long kept the state in balance seems to be cracking. The gap between liberal urbanized centers (San Francisco, Los Angeles) and more conservative rural areas has widened. Domestic political pluralism is transforming into an intense confrontation. California is the largest [net] donor state in the US. Governor Gavin Newsom recently said: “We pay over $80 billion more [in taxes] than we get back.”…