Current Digest of the Russian Press, Vol. 77, No. 35-36 – Table of Contents

REPRESENTATIVES OF 26 STATES CONVENE IN TIANJIN FOR SCO SUMMIT; JOINT DECLARATION URGES BROAD COOPERATION, CREATION OF BANK, CONDEMNS GAZA WAR AND STRIKES ON IRAN; PUTIN HAILS GDP GROWTH

(By Tatyana Zamakhina in Tianjin. Rossiiskaya gazeta, Sept. 2, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China, is the largest in history. . . …

KOLESNIKOV: MODI TAKES PUTIN BY HAND, LEADS HIM TO XI’S EMBRACE IN SHOW OF SOLIDARITY; SHIPMENTS OF OIL IN DEFIANCE OF TRUMP TARIFFS TOPIC OF CHAT IN PUTIN’S STATE CAR; MULTIPOLARITY A KEY THEME

(By Andrei Kolesnikov. Kommersant, Sept. 2, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – In China on Sept. 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping voiced the idea of global governance of the world order, an idea that Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov considers not only unexpected, but also extremely ambitious for the leaders of the SCO countries…

MEDUZA BREAKS DOWN PUTIN’S CLOSING PRESSER: LITTLE MOVEMENT ON UKRAINE; SIBERIAN MIGHT 2 TO TURN PROFIT; ALIYEV’S FRIENDSHIP TO RETURN

([No author indicated.] Meduza, Sept. 3, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/09/03/let-zelensky-come-to-moscow. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – Vladimir Putin wrapped up his four-day visit to China on Wednesday. During the trip, the Russian president attended an SCO summit, held talks with a range of foreign leaders, and attended Beijing’s largest-ever military parade, where he appeared alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. At his closing press conference, however, he focused primarily on the war in Ukraine and his grievances against the West. Meduza sums up Putin’s statements…

IVANOV: WEST DECRIES ‘CHALLENGE’ LED BY THREE LARGEST SCO STATES; XI PROPOSES VISION FOR NEW SYSTEM OF GLOBAL RELATIONS, WHICH PUTIN BACKS

(By Gleb Ivanov. Argumenty i fakty, Sept. 3, 2025, p. 2. Condensed text:) . . . “We’re going to have some rough days,” Yury Ushakov, the president’s aide for international affairs, said before the trip, referring to the president’s very busy schedule. . . …

CSDF: ‘NEW NORMAL’ SHAPED BY SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION ENSURES ‘LOYALIST’ VOTER BEHAVIOR, ‘RALLYING AROUND THE FLAG’ THAT GUARANTEE WINS FOR UNITED RUSSIA IN UPCOMING ELECTIONS

(By Grigory Leiba. Kommersant, Aug. 26, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) According to a forecast made in a report by analysts at the Civil Society Development Foundation (CSDF) published three weeks ahead of the fall 2025 elections, all current regional governors, including acting governors, will win convincing victories in the elections…

NGE: RFCP’S PREVIOUSLY STRONG STANDING AS TRUE OPPOSITION PARTY HAS DIMINISHED OVER THE YEARS TO THE POINT THAT IT HAS LOST ‘DISTINCT IDENTITY’ AMID UKRAINE WAR, INCREASING AUTHORITARIANISM

(By Alyona Itskova. Novaya gazeta Europe, Sept. 4, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/09/04/vytsvetshee-krasnoe-znamia. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – A few days ago, police came to the Communist Party’s local headquarters in Lipetsk to serve a subpoena to Sergei Tokarev, the Communist leader in the province’s legislative assembly. The charge is organizing “an unsanctioned gathering” – which is how the authorities describe Tokarev’s meeting with his constituents. Tokarev was fined for a similar offense in early August [see Vol. 77, No. 32, pp. 8 10]. Earlier, officers of the Interior Ministry’s “E” Center [units of the Internal Affairs Ministry’s Chief Administration for Countering Extremism – Trans.] raided his office, seizing electronic devices and campaign materials. Back in August, police launched the inquiry after local United Russia activist Andrei Frolov filed a complaint, claiming that the Lipetsk chapter of the Communist Party demonstrated “certain signs of extremist behavior.” The Communists described the raid as a “common occurrence for the province,” saying the local authorities have been persecuting left-wing opposition forces there on a regular basis. The inquiry may indeed be politically motivated, as Lipetsk is about to hold municipal elections, with the vote scheduled for Sept. 14 – the single day of voting…

([No author indicated.] Meduza, Sept. 2, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/09/02/it-wasn-t-my-decision. Condensed text:) Editors’ Note. – The Anticorruption Foundation (FBK), the investigative organization founded by late Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, has a new director. The departure of Ivan Zhdanov, who had led the group since 2018, was announced on Sept. 1. His successor, Vladislav Romantsov, first joined the FBK in 2013 as a volunteer and has served as its IT director since 2020. The shakeup confirms months of media speculation about Zhdanov’s impending dismissal, and comes amid an extended identity crisis for the organization following Navalny’s death in early 2024 [see Vol. 76, No. 7, pp. 3 4]. Meduza spoke to Ivan Zhdanov about his ouster, his relationship with his comrades in the anti-[Russian President Vladimir] Putin opposition, and what comes next. . . .

It wasn’t my decision. There are only three people who can call for the director to resign: me, Leonid Volkov and Maria Pevchikh – the board of directors. They’re the ones who appoint the director, the CEO of the organization. The decision to dismiss me was made by Leonid Volkov and Maria Pevchikh. I wasn’t part of it. They never gave me any specific reason. They offered me to stay on the team, but I decided that was no longer possible for me…

(By Yevgeny Mezdrikov. Vedomosti, Aug. 26, 2025, https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2025/08/26/1134114-zyuganov-prizval-odnopartiitsev-obostrit-temu-filma-o-lenine . Condensed text:) Russian Federation Communist Party (RFCP) top officials should speak more often and sharply in their speeches concerning the movie “The Mummy,” which is about Vladimir Lenin’s Mausoleum and has aired on the TV channel Spas, party chairman Gennady Zyuganov said at a meeting of the Central Committee secretariat focused on the 2025 election campaign. According to him, if this film continues to be shown, the Communists will not win, two sources in the Central Committee told Vedomosti.

“By releasing ‘The Mummy,’ they have unleashed murderers against our country. This is a topic you don’t have in your speeches. This topic should be put on the table.*** They betrayed the country, they are betraying the guys who are at the front [in Ukraine], they are betraying our idea, they don’t understand the president, they oppose his policy.” These were the talking points Zyuganov gave to his fellow party members as a basis for their speeches…

(By Yana Surinskaya and Yevgeny Mezdrikov. Vedomosti, Aug. 25, 2025, https://www.vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2025/08/25/1134111-verhovnii-sud-s. Complete text:) The post of Supreme Court chief justice is one of the most important positions in the state governance system, but Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov is the only candidate who has dared to run for it. He submitted his application literally at the very last moment: Aug. 25 was the application deadline announced by the High Certification Board of Judges following the death of chief justice Irina Podnosova.

The Supreme Court chief justice is nominated by the president subject to endorsement by the High Certification Board of Judges and confirmed by the Federation Council by secret ballot for a six-year term, Senator Andrei Klishas recalled on his Telegram channel…

([No author indicated. Novaya gazeta Europe, Aug. 28, 2025, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2025/08/28/breaking-with-convention-en. Complete text:) The Russian government has proposed withdrawing from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture after a resolution recommending Russia “denounce” the convention and all its provisions was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. In recent years, Moscow had not complied with its obligations under the convention in any case, failing to grant inspectors access to the country’s penitentiaries.

The Council of Europe adopted the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture in 1987. Russia became a member of the council in 1996 and signed the convention in 1997. This ultimately led to the creation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). As human rights NGO First Department points out, the committee’s experts are entitled to carry out inspections without prior warning at prisons, penal colonies, psychiatric hospitals and any other site where people are deprived of their liberty…

(Andrei Dudenko. Krasnaya zvezda, Sept. 5, 2025, p. 1. Complete text:) As part of the 10th Eastern Economic Forum under way in Vladivostok, [Russian] President Vladimir Putin visited the Far Eastern branch of the Rossiya National Center, which is set to open in Vladivostok on Sept. 7. The president toured an interactive exhibit dedicated to the Two-time Hero of Russia Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov 155th Separate Guards Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet – awarded the Orders of Zhukov and Suvorov. He also met with young members of the Voin [Warrior] Center for Military-Sports Training and Patriotic Education.

President Putin became the first visitor to the new museum dedicated to the Maj. Gen. Gudkov 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet. The exhibition highlights the brigade’s role in the special military operation [in Ukraine] and honors the heroism of its soldiers who gave their lives for the Motherland. A film about the brigade’s feats was shown to the president. Leon Volodin, director of the Military-Patriotic Education Center at Far Eastern Federal University – and a former serviceman in the brigade – led a personal tour for the head of state…

(By Dmitry Taratorin. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Aug. 29, 2025, p. 1. Condensed text:) . . . On Thursday, [Belarussian President Aleksandr] Lukashenko went out into the fields again. During a working trip to Kirov District in Mogilev Province, he not only listened to reports from various bosses but also went up in a helicopter to survey the croplands with a master’s eye.

The president admitted, “This year, if they’re not lying, it may come as a surprise, but the sowing was done on time. And on a tight schedule! And in general, the farmers are working well this year compared to years past.”…

(By Yelizaveta Gritsenko and Polina Berlyand. Izvestia, Sept. 1, 2025, p. 3. Condensed text:) Last weekend, former Supreme Rada speaker Andrei Paruby, who was one of the coordinators of the 2013-2014 European Union rallies, was shot in Lvov. . . .

The news of his death was soon confirmed by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky, who commented that “every effort and resource” had been deployed to find the killer…

(By Natalya Prikhodko. Nezavisimaya gazeta, Sept. 2, 2025, p. 5. Condensed text:) . . . Athens has no plans to provide security guarantees for Kiev on a military basis, but will continue to provide humanitarian aid, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said in an interview published Monday. He also remarked, “Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO and its own defense industry, which gives it more opportunities to take part in such initiatives.”

His statement seems to align with the recent trend of Western states desiring to replace their own military guarantees to Ukraine with someone else’s…

([No author indicated.] Meduza, Aug. 27, 2025, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/08/27/very-un-christian. Complete text:) Editors’ Note. – Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, has vetoed a bill that would have extended support for Ukrainian refugees. The conservative politician, who was sworn in earlier this month [see Vol. 77, No. 32, p. 20], argues that after three and a half years of full-scale war, it’s time to scale back their access to social benefits, particularly child allowances and free medical care. Polling suggests many Poles agree – some see Ukrainians as freeloaders, even though economic data show otherwise. Meduza looks at Nawrocki’s decision, which could push nearly a million Ukrainian refugees in Poland into a legal gray zone.

Ukrainians are by far the largest group of foreigners in Polish society, making up 78% of all foreign citizens in the country. About 1.55 million Ukrainians hold either temporary or permanent residency permits in Poland. Of these, 993,000 received legal status under the refugee protection program launched after the start of the full-scale war. The only country with more Ukrainians holding comparable status is Germany, with 1.2 million. In total, 23% of Ukrainian refugees in Europe have settled in Poland…