Sixteen Russian and five Chinese naval ships sailed through an international strait north of Hokkaido from midday Saturday to the Sea of Okhotsk, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Russia and China conducted a joint naval drill off the coast of Vladivostok from July 5 to 12, but the purpose of their passage through the Soya Strait is not known, a ministry official said.
The Russian fleet, including missile cruisers, missile destroyers, a supply ship and a hospital ship, traveled through the strait Saturday afternoon, while the Chinese fleet, comprising two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, passed through the strait early Sunday, the ministry said.

Former U.S. National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden met with Russian human rights activists, lawyers and government officials Friday to seek their support in securing asylum in Russia in order to later travel safely to South America, leaving Russia with little wriggle room to remain neutral.
“I do intend to ask for political asylum in Russia. I believe that the legal means to stay in Russia safely, to attempt to move to Latin America, is to request asylum in the Russian Federation. I can only at this time formally accept asylum in Russia because of the limitations on my ability to travel,” Snowden told his handpicked audience.
The meeting took place in an unidentified room of Sheremetyevo Airport's transit zone, where Snowden has been apparently stuck for three weeks after the United States revoked his passport. Snowden's guests were followed by dozens of frenzied journalists as they made their way to a special door meant for staff only. The drama reached its peak when the overcrowding on the escalator made it malfunction and journalists had to rush up the frozen stairs.
Snowden's plea for Russian protection marks his second attempt to obtain legal status in Russia.  On July 2, he withdrew a request after President Vladimir Putin said he could only stay in Russia if he stopped inflicting damage against “our American partners.”
This time, Snowden reasoned that his request was not at odds with Putin's condition, as he was not actually inflicting damage against the U.S.
“He called on the organizations present to intervene in support of his asylum claim. He also said that he did not find Putin's remark problematic because, as he says, he did not do any harm to the United States and he did not plan to do any,” Tanya Lokshina, senior researcher at Moscow's Human Rights Watch office, said after the meeting, noting that Snowden “looked like a schoolboy.”
Snowden also asked for assistance in convincing international organizations to petition the U.S. and European Union to allow him to travel, since such organizations require applicants to come to them, and he is stuck in the airport, Lokshina said.
The Russian government is clearly watching the situation closely, as representatives of Russia's secret services were evidently present at the meeting, said Sergei Nikitin, head of Moscow's office of Amnesty International.

“If you see men in suits with military bearing and a heavy look on their faces, then who do you think these people are, school teachers?” he said.

Nikitin also said that whoever was taking care of Snowden seemed to be doing it quite well, as Snowden himself clearly stated that the conditions he enjoyed in Moscow were good. At the same time, according to Nikitin, Snowden said he had not yet been able to improve his Russian despite listening to hundreds of airport announcements each day.
The head of Russia's Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, told Interfax on Saturday that the agency had not yet received Snowden's asylum application. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's foreign ministers in Kyrgyzstan on the same day that the government was not in contact with Snowden.
Putin discussed the Snowden situation with U.S. President Barack Obama over the phone Friday, though no details of that conversation have been made public.
All participants of the meeting, including both pro-Kremlin State Duma Deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov and human rights organizations — the offices of which have been raided by government authorities in recent months — agreed that Snowden had a strong case to seek asylum in Russia.
The asylum request leaves Russia with fewer options to remain neutral in the matter. The Kremlin has publicly indicated a desire to be rid of Snowden, whose presence in Russia has hurt already strained U.S.-Russia ties, but signals Friday pointed to a possible change in attitude.
State Duma speaker and strong Putin ally Sergei Naryshkin told Rossia 24 television that he thought Russia should grant Snowden asylum, assuming he fulfilled the condition set by Putin. And lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, a member of the Public Chamber who has represented outspokenly pro-Putin film director Nikita Mikhalkov and United Russia lawmaker Iosif Kobzon, said he had agreed with Snowden to help him in preparing his asylum request, according to Interfax. The application process would take between two and three weeks, he said.
Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said Friday that “providing a propaganda platform for Mr. Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality and [claims] that they have no control over his presence in the airport.”
It was unclear from Snowden's statements regarding his attitude toward the U.S. whether he intended to stop leaking secret U.S. documents, for which the United States wants to charge him with espionage, or whether he believes that he is actually helping the U.S. by leaking the information.
United Russia parliamentarian Alexei Pushkov, who heads the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, said on Twitter that Russia had acted correctly in not extraditing Snowden.
“Russia did the right thing in not giving up Snowden. There are things more important than a momentary gain. Pragmatism in foreign policy is not the same as cynicism,” Pushkov wrote.

Source: The Moscow Times

Former U.S. National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden told Russian human rights activists and government officials on Friday that he would apply for asylum in Russia while determining a way to obtain safe passage to South America, the activists and officials said.

Meeting in a room at Sheremetyevo Airport, where Snowden has been apparently stuck for three weeks after the United States revoked his passport, the world-famous fugitive said receiving political asylum in Russia would be the only way to guarantee his safety because of his inability to travel, the activists and officials told journalists after the meeting.

On June 30, Snowden announced that he had asked Russia for asylum only to revoke his request after President Vladimir Putin said the next day that the former spy agency employee could stay only if he stopped "inflicting damage on our American partners."

The Kremlin has publicly indicated a desire to be rid of Snowden, whose presence in Russia has hurt already strained U.S.-Russia ties, but signals Friday pointed to a possible change in attitude.

State Duma speaker and strong Putin ally Sergei Naryshkin told Rossia 24 television that he thought Russia should grant Snowden asylum, assuming he fulfills the condition set by Putin. And Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, a member of the Public Chamber who has represented outspokenly pro-Putin film director Nikita Mikhalov and United Russia lawmaker Iosif Kobzon, said he had agreed with Snowden to help him in preparing his asylum request, according to Interfax.

According to those present at Friday's meeting, Snowden asked for help in convincing Putin to let him stay in Russia, saying he did not plan any actions aimed at harming the U.S. and therefore met Putin's condition.

"I want the U.S. to succeed," Snowden said, according to Human Rights Watch deputy Russia director Tanya Lokshina, as reported in a tweet by New York Times reporter Ellen Barry.

Snowden also asked for assistance in convincing international organizations to petition the U.S. and European Union to allow him to travel, since such organizations require applicants to come to them, and he is stuck in the airport, Lokshina said, according to tweets by Barry. He also thanked the countries that have offered him asylum already, which include Venezuela and Bolivia, and said his goal was to travel to South America eventually.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax that he had no confirmation of Snowden's latest asylum request to Russia but that the condition for receiving it had not changed.

It was unclear from Snowden's statements regarding his attitude toward the U.S. whether he intended to stop leaking secret U.S. documents, for which the United States wants to charge him with espionage, or whether believes he is actually helping the U.S. by leaking the information.

United Russia parliamentarian Alexei Pushkov, who heads the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, said on Twitter that Russia had acted correctly in not extraditing Snowden.

“Russia did the right thing is not giving up Snowden. There are things more important than a momentary gain. Pragmatism in foreign policy is not the same as cynicism,” Pushkov wrote.

Snowden did not appear before the hundreds of journalists who gathered at Sheremetyevo in anticipation of the meeting and gave few details on his life at the airport to the meeting's participants, saying just that he felt fine and safe, according to Lokshina.

The Moscow Times 

Our trade turnover has reached a new level of $2 billion. Our companies have vast investment plans valued at over $20 billion. Each of our plans is being implemented successfully,” said President Putin about negotiations with Nicolas Maduro in the Kremlin on Tuesday.

A record high in trade was mostly due to Russian export growth of 211.4%. "This is the result of several large contracts concerning military and industrial hardware supplies," said President Putin.

Putin praised Maduro for taking up the baton from his predecessor Hugo Chavez, “one of the most brilliant leaders of Latin America”. “I am very glad to note that you … continue the development of relations between Russia and Venezuela,” he added. Maduro responded by saying he had “inherited” a great love for Russia.

“President Chavez always had a great respect and love towards Russia. And we inherited this love for Russia. And we came here to confirm our wish to strengthen and broaden our strategic alliance with Russia,” Maduro replied.

Joint energy projects are traditionally high on the agenda. Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and Venezuelan national company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) have signed a cooperation agreement for offshore projects. On top of that, the Venezuelan energy giant signed an agreement to build a combined heat and power plant in Venezuela that runs on petroleum coke.

PDVSA has a 60% interest in the Petrozamora joint venture (JV) and Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V. (GPB Global Resources Group) - 40%. The JV is developing the Lagunillas Tierra and Bachaquero Tierra fields, discovered in 1926 and 1938 respectively, in the state of Zulia near Lake Maracaibo. The project to boost oil recovery at the fields was approved by the parliaments of both countries in February 2012. The agreement is for 25 years.

Russia’s third largest bank by assets Gazprombank agreed with PDVSA on $1 billion to finance a scheme for extraction in the South American country, said deputy chief at Gazprombank Alexandr Muranov. This comes under the framework of Gazprombank-PDVSA joint venture Petrozamora – an investment outfit that is already producing.

Joining finance is also in the cooperation pipeline. A Russian-Venezuelan bank and a Russian commercial mission will open in Caracas soon, Maduro said “The Russian-Venezuelan bank will be represented in Beijing. Its Venezuelan office will open shortly,” with its money to be invested in Venezuelan development, Maduro explained.

Source: RT

WASHINGTON (AP) — National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, believed to be in legal limbo in the Moscow airport, is expanding his requests for asylum to another 19 countries, including China, according to WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that has adopted Snowden and his cause, on Monday night posted a statement said to be from Snowden that slammed President Barack Obama for "using citizenship as a weapon."
"Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person," Snowden says in the statement. "Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.
"Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me."
WikiLeaks legal adviser Sarah Harrison delivered the requests for asylum to an official at the Russian consulate at the Moscow airport on Sunday, according to the website. WikiLeaks says some of the requests have already been delivered to the appropriate embassies.
The WikiLeaks statement said requests were made to China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, India and several European countries. Snowden had planned earlier to seek asylum in Ecuador and has requested asylum in Russia.
The asylum requests reported by WikiLeaks and the Snowden statement could not be independently authenticated.
Snowden, who has been on the run since releasing sensitive NSA documents, is believed to have been in Moscow airport's transit zone since his arrival from Hong Kong on June 23. The U.S. has annulled his passport, and Ecuador, where he had hoped to get asylum, has been giving mixed signals about offering him shelter.
After Snowden applied for political asylum to remain in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters in Moscow that Snowden would have to stop leaking U.S. secrets if he wanted asylum there — and he added that Snowden seemed unwilling to stop publishing leaks of classified material.
At the same time, Putin said he had no plans to turn over Snowden to the United States.
The expanded requests for asylum come as the Obama administration contends with European allies angry about the release of documents that alleged U.S. eavesdropping on European Union diplomats.
Obama, in an African news conference with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, said the U.S. would provide allies with information about new reports that the NSA had bugged EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels. But he also suggested such activity by governments would hardly be unusual.
"We should stipulate that every intelligence service —not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service — here's one thing that they're going to be doing: They're going to be trying to understand the world better, and what's going on in world capitals around the world," he said. "If that weren't the case, then there'd be no use for an intelligence service."
The latest issue concerns allegations, published in the German newsweekly Der Spiegel, of U.S. spying on European officials. French President Francois Hollande demanded Monday that the U.S. immediately stop any such eavesdropping and suggested the widening controversy could jeopardize next week's opening of trans-Atlantic trade talks between the United States and Europe.
"We cannot accept this kind of behavior from partners and allies," Hollande said on French television.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin, "Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable." He declared, "We're not in the Cold War anymore."
Even before the latest disclosures, talks at the upcoming free-trade sessions were expected to be fragile, with disagreements surfacing over which items should be covered in or excluded from an agreement. The United States has said there should be no exceptions. But France has called for exempting certain cultural products, and other Europeans do not appear eager to give up longtime agricultural subsidies.
Obama said the Europeans "are some of the closest allies that we have in the world." But he added: "I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders. That's how intelligence services operate."
Nonetheless, Obama said he'd told his advisers to "evaluate everything that's being claimed" and promised to share the results with allies.
Meanwhile, the Interfax news agency said a Russian consular official has confirmed that Snowden had asked for asylum in Russia.
Interfax cited Kim Shevchenko, the duty officer at the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular office in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, as saying that Snowden's representative, Harrison, handed over his request Sunday.
"If he wants to go somewhere and there are those who would take him, he is welcome to do so," Putin said. "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his activities aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners, no matter how strange it may sound coming from my lips."
Obama said "there have been high-level discussions with the Russians" about Snowden's situation.
"We don't have an extradition treaty with Russia. On the other hand, you know, Mr. Snowden, we understand, has traveled there without a valid passport, without legal papers. And you know we are hopeful that the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions that law enforcement has. So I can confirm that."
Putin didn't mention any Snowden effort to seek asylum in Russia, and spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say what the Russian response might be. Putin insisted that Snowden wasn't a Russian agent and that Russian security agencies hadn't contacted him.
Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the Snowden case, said Washington's efforts were focused primarily on persuading Russia to deport Snowden either directly to the United States or to a third country, possibly in eastern Europe, that would then hand him over to U.S. authorities.
In a sign of the distrust generated by the Der Spiegel report, the German government said it had launched a review of its secure government communications network and the EU's executive, the European Commission, ordered "a comprehensive ad hoc security sweep."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he didn't know the details of the allegations, but he still played them down, maintaining that many nations undertake various activities to protect their national interests. Kerry failed to quell the outrage from allies, including France, Germany and Italy.
A spokesman for Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said, "The European Union has demanded and expects full and urgent clarification by the U.S. regarding the allegations."
According to Der Spiegel's report, which it said was partly based on information leaked by Snowden, NSA planted bugs in the EU's diplomatic offices in Washington and infiltrated the building's computer network. Similar measures were taken at the EU's mission to the United Nations in New York, the magazine said.
It also reported that the NSA used secure facilities at NATO headquarters in Brussels to dial into telephone maintenance systems that would have allowed it to intercept senior officials' calls and Internet traffic at a key EU office nearby.
As for Snowden, White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the White House won't comment on specific asylum requests but reiterated its message to all countries that he "needs to be expelled back to the U.S. based on the fact that he doesn't have travel documents and the charges pending against him."
Regarding possible effects on U.S. interactions with Russia, she said it remains the case "that we don't want this issue to negatively impact the bilateral relationship."
___
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Sarah Di Lorenzo in Paris, Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Raf Casert in Brussels, Deb Riechmann in Brunei, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Julie Pace in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

By Michael Bohm

Is Edward Snowden a traitor or hero? While public opinion in the U.S. clearly favors traitor, Russian politicians and the Kremlin-friendly media have turned him into a "hero of democracy" and a "U.S. dissident."

Alexei Pushkov, the State Duma's International Affairs Committee head, perhaps best represented the prevailing government — and, by default, popular Russian — view when he recently wrote on Twitter: "By listening in on phone calls and tracking Internet activity, U.S. intelligence agencies have violated the laws of their own country. In this sense, Snowden, like [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange, is a human rights activist. … They are new dissidents."

If Snowden receives asylum in Russia, he will face a serious moral dilemma: His will be living in a country with a far worse record than the U.S. on government abuse and transparency. 

But Pushkov is wrong on several counts. First, the NSA did not indiscriminately eavesdrop on the private phone calls of Americans without a court order. It tracked "metadata" by sorting general information about calling patterns, not the content of the calls.

Second, the NSA program is fully legal and has been upheld by several U.S. court rulings, which likened it to what the U.S. Postal Service does when it reads addresses that are written on envelopes. The courts ruled that Americans willingly give up this information to third parties to complete their calls and send their letters. At the same time, however, the contents within the envelope, like the content of phone calls, are constitutionally protected against search and seizure without a court warrant.

Although the NSA surveillance program was secret, the U.S. legislative branch (the House and Senate intelligence committees) approved the program, and the judicial branch (the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) provided constant oversight during the seven years of its existence. Since Snowden did not reveal anything illegal on the NSA's part, he would not be protected under U.S. whistleblower-protection laws.

Nonetheless, Pushkov wrote on Twitter that he supports the idea of political asylum for Snowden because he is being "persecuted" by the U.S. government "on political grounds."

This is the same line Pushkov and Kremlin-friendly analysts have used to defend another "U.S. dissident" — Private Bradley Manning, who released 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks, the overwhelming majority of which were also not protected under U.S. whistleblower laws.

Instead of engaging in Assange-like vigilantism by leaking classified information indiscriminately, Snowden should have appealed to U.S. lawmakers, the Freedom of Information Act or the inspector general to declassify the NSA program to achieve his self-proclaimed goal of sparking a public discussion and debate over the program. Manning should have leaked only those documents that revealed true government abuse, certainly not those that revealed the identity of U.S. informants or classified diplomatic cables that had no public service value whatsoever.

In Snowden's case, the leaks looked more like the works of a narcissistic Herostratus. According to statements he made to the South China Morning Post newspaper and published Monday, he joined Booz Allen Hamilton, an NSA contractor, with the express intent of getting a security clearance and leaking classified NSA documents. Meanwhile, Manning's motive was to take revenge on the U.S. for the failures and traumas he incurred in the army as a result of a gender-identity disorder. These are hardly the profiles of a true whistleblower.

By claiming that Snowden and Manning are genuine whistleblowers who have become victims of U.S. government persecution, Pushkov and other Russian opinion makers have flipped the two scandals completely on their heads. This brings back echoes of the "Free Angela Davis!" slogan, a massive Soviet propaganda campaign in the late 1960s and early 1970s to defend U.S. Communist Party leader Angela Davis. Davis faced charges in the U.S. of being an accomplice in a murder case, but the Kremlin claimed she was persecuted exclusively for her political beliefs.

Interestingly, Russia's own top whistleblower — Alexei Navalny — is portrayed by the same pro-Kremlin analysts and media outlets as the subversive leader of a fifth column who is financed by the U.S. State Department to carry out an Orange-style revolution in Russia. Another prominent Russian whistleblower, Sergei Magnitsky, died in 2009 after being denied medical care in pretrial detention and after he exposed a $230 million corruption scheme among officials at the Interior Ministry and tax inspectorate.

If there is anything Orwellian about the Snowden scandal, it is not that the U.S. has become a "Big Brother," listening in on Americans' private conversations. It is the way Russia has lionized two U.S. criminals, while criminalizing Russia's true whistleblowers and opposition leaders. Navalny is being tried on embezzlement charges, while Magnitsky is being tried -- posthumously -- on tax evasion charges.

During a recent meeting with journalists from RT state television, President Vladimir Putin commented on the NSA surveillance program, saying disingenuously that government eavesdropping on its citizens is "acceptable if it is done within the limits of the law."

If Putin was referring to Russian law, he should answer the following questions: Who makes, interprets and enforces Russia's laws? Independent bodies with checks and balances, or Kremlin-loyal organs? How many times do Russian courts approve the warrants after the surveillance has already occurred, and how many times does the FSB listen in on private conversations without a warrant?

Take, for example, the eavesdropping on opposition leader Boris Nemtsov's phone conversations in December in which he used abusive language to criticize several colleagues in the opposition movement. Nemtsov's phone conversations were published by the Kremlin-friendly Life News website three days before a planned protest march in an attempt to split the opposition leadership. Andrei Soldatov and other independent intelligence analysts believe that only Russian intelligence agencies have the equipment to eavesdrop on Nemtsov and other opposition leaders.

This is clearly a violation of Russian law because Nemtsov's conversations were exclusively private. They did not belong to the category of "the public has a right to know" because they did not expose corruption, abuse of power or any other crime.

Thus, while the NSA surveillance program was aimed at finding terrorists in a haystack, the FSB, it would seem, is more interested in smearing opposition leaders. But, then again, as United Russian leader Irina Yarovaya infamously said recently, the country's opposition leaders "do not differ at all from terrorists."

Forty years ago in the U.S., spying on the opposition led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the prosecution of 43 top officials and executors of the crime. In Russia, those who spy on the opposition are, most likely, first in line to receive promotions and big bonuses.

Imagine if there was a "Russian Snowden" who worked in the FSB, leaked classified information to a British newspaper about the agency's massive internal surveillance programs and fled the country. It is doubtful that Pushkov and others would hail him as a political dissident or a brave symbol of democracy, human rights and government transparency.

The irony is that if Snowden ever does receive asylum in Russia, he will be living in a country that has a far worse record than the U.S. in terms of government abuse and transparency. And if Snowden is true to his stated values and wants to continue his mission in Russia as a libertarian and privacy rights activist, he will definitely have his work cut out for him.

Before Russian politicians and the media get too worked up over the U.S. persecution of "dissidents" like Snowden and Manning, they should spend a little more attention to their own dissidents — whistleblowers, human rights activists and members of the opposition who are being harassed, intimidated and jailed by the state. Even Angela Davis would agree with that.

The Moscow Times 

By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - How deep is the divide separating Russia and the United States on Syria? A photo from the recent G8 summit in Northern Ireland says it all - two grim-faced leaders slouched in their chairs, Barack Obama biting his lip and Vladimir Putin staring at the floor.
The awkward photo opportunity, which went viral on the Internet, highlights the increasingly tense relationship between the former Cold War foes who find it difficult to agree on a series of high-profile issues, including Syria and a fugitive U.S. intelligence contractor whom Putin refuses to extradite.
Washington and Moscow have been trying since May to organize an international peace conference to bring an end to the violence. But hopes that such a conference will take place anytime soon - if at all - are fading quickly.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov originally announced that they would try to hold the conference, which is intended to bring rebels and representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to the negotiating table, by the end of May.
But the date keeps slipping. First it was bumped to June, then July. Earlier this week U.N.-Arab League peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who held talks with senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva, ruled out a peace conference before August.
Diplomats at the United Nations in New York say it is unclear whether the peace conference will take place at all.
"It's not looking too good," a senior Western diplomat said.
The point of the conference was to revive a plan adopted last year in Geneva. At that time, Washington and Moscow agreed on the need for a transitional Syrian government, but left open the question of whether Assad could participate in the process.
The United States, like the Syrian rebels, says Assad and his family should play no role in a transitional government, though Russia says there should be no conditions on the talks.
Kerry and Lavrov will discuss Syria again next week on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference in Brunei, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
ASSAD WON'T HAND OVER POWER
There are other sticking points in discussions on how to make what U.N. diplomats have been calling "Geneva 2" take place at all - who will represent Assad's government and the Syrian opposition at the negotiating table. There is still no agreement on the lineup of potential negotiators. Then there is the issue of whether Assad's other key ally Iran should participate, as Russia wants but Western governments dislike.
Recently, Assad's forces have enjoyed some military successes. They recaptured two towns near the Lebanese border, while rebels complain about insufficient arms and ammunition.
This, diplomats say, makes both Assad's government and the opposition more reluctant to seek a compromise and diplomacy in Geneva - Assad because he thinks he can win the war militarily, and the opposition because it does not want to negotiate from a position of weakness and is holding out for more weapons.
Assad's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, told a news conference earlier this week that authorities were ready to form a broad-based government of national unity. But he made clear that they were not planning to give up control of Syria.
"We head to Geneva not to hand over power to another side," he said. "Whoever on the other side imagines this, I advise them not to go to Geneva."
Some diplomats say the ebbing hopes for a serious peace conference highlights the impotence of the United Nations and Brahimi, who for months has threatened to quit the post like his predecessor, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan quit the job last year out of frustration at the way the dispute between Russia, Assad's main arms supplier, and the United States, which supports the rebels and recently announced it would begin providing them with arms, has left the Security Council in a state of paralysis on the Syrian issue.
Russia and China long ago ruled out sanctioning Syria and have vetoed three Western and Gulf Arab-backed resolutions condemning Assad's government for an increasingly sectarian war that the United Nations says has killed more than 90,000.
GRIM PROSPECTS FOR DIPLOMACY
Richard Gowan of New York University predicted that a collapse of Kerry's peace conference plan will increase pressure on Obama to send more and heavier weapons to the Syrian rebels.
"If the Geneva proposal fails, there will be pressure on the U.S. to move beyond its current offer of light weapons to the rebels, especially if Assad's forces score more victories," Gowan said.
"Kerry's bet on Geneva may backfire by demonstrating that diplomacy is really a lost cause, but perhaps Kerry, who has reportedly argued for air strikes, is fine with that," he said.
Washington's cautious move to begin arming moderate Syrian rebels - not Islamist militants who are increasingly present in the conflict - came after it said Assad's forces had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons.
The Syrian government denies the charge and says the rebels have used chemical arms. It also accuses Western and Gulf Arab governments of arming the opposition.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, now in his second and final term, is increasingly worried that he may be remembered as the man who failed in Syria, U.N. diplomats told Reuters. He has even considered stepping in himself to try to broker a peace deal if Brahimi throws in the towel, the envoys added.
Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who will soon take up the post of Obama's national security adviser, said earlier this week that the council's failure to take decisive action on Syria was a "moral and strategic disgrace."
"The repeated failure of the Security Council to unify on the crucial issue of Syria I think is a stain on this body and something that I will forever regret - even though I don't believe that outcome is the product of the action of the United States," Rice said.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant echoed Rice's unusually strong words, which were clearly aimed at Russia and China. He also defended the United Nations against suggestions that the organization itself was somehow responsible for the Security Council's failure to act on Syria.
"People talk about it being a stain on the United Nations but you can't blame the United Nations," he said, adding that the responsibility lies with its member states.
"We have tried very hard over the last two years to secure some leverage for the Security Council in this crisis as it's unfolded," he said. "Unfortunately we've had three resolutions vetoed by Russia and China ... Events on the ground might have unfolded very differently had those resolutions been adopted."
A March 2011 council resolution authorized military intervention in Libya and gave a green light for NATO to mount an operation to protect civilians that led to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's ouster and death at the hands of rebel forces.
No Western nations have called for something similar in Syria, and Russia has vowed to prevent a similar move in Syria.
There may be no swift end to the war. And even if the opposition were to prevail, it is unlikely to bring stability.
"The Syrian civil war is likely to go on for years," said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
"It is not just that it is proving harder and taking longer to oust the Assad regime than many expected," he told Reuters. "It is also that even if the regime were to be removed, what would follow would be a prolonged round of fighting among opposition forces who disagree on just about everything except their opposition to the current regime."

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)

A former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by Washington on espionage charges appeared on Wednesday still to be in hiding at Sheremetyevo Airport, and Russia's national airline said he was not booked on any of its flights over the next three days.
Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong after leaking details of secret U.S. government surveillance programs, then flew on to Moscow on Sunday, evading a U.S. extradition request. President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he was in the transit area of the airport and that Russia had no intention of handing him to Washington.
"They are not flying today and not over the next three days," an Aeroflot representative at the transfer desk at Sheremetyevo said when asked whether Snowden and his legal adviser, Sarah Harrison, were due to fly out on Wednesday.
"They are not in the system."
Snowden has not been seen in public, but Russian officials say he is at the airport, awaiting a response to an appeal for asylum in Ecuador. The logical route to be taken — and one for which he at one point had a reservation — would be an Aeroflot flight via Havana.
The choice of alternative public flights, while the U.S. presses other countries not to take him in or to arrest him on arrival, would be limited.
WikiLeaks said Wednesday that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was "safe and well," a brief statement that gave no indication of how the information was obtained and did little to clear up the mystery concerning his whereabouts.
The group, which says it is helping Snowden to seek asylum, has declined to reveal details about Snowden's plans, citing security concerns.
Putin denied Snowden was being interviewed by Russian intelligence and said any U.S. accusations that Moscow was aiding him were "ravings and rubbish."
That prompted a new extradition demand by Washington, which said there was a "clear legal basis" to do so.
The row threatens to further fray ties between the United States and Russia, which have argued over human rights and Putin's treatment of opponents in a year-old third term and have squared off over the Syrian conflict in the UN Security Council.
Relations between the U.S. and Ecuador are also under threat as the South American nation considers Snowden's request for asylum, a process that the Ecuadorean foreign minister said Wednesday could take months to complete.
Speaking during a visit to Malaysia's main city, Kuala Lumpur, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino compared Snowden's case to that of Julian Assange, the founder of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
"It took us two months to make a decision in the case of Assange, so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Patino told reporters.
Asked if Ecuador would provide protection to Snowden while considering his request for asylum, Patino said through a translator that if Snowden "goes to the embassy, then we will make a decision."
Patino refused to say what criteria Ecuador would use to decide, but added that his government would "consider all these risks," including concerns that helping Snowden would hurt trade with the U.S. and damage his country's economy.
In another development in the Snowden story, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon said Wednesday that he had decided not to represent the leaker. A statement from his law firm provided no further explanation.
Garzon, who has fought on WikiLeaks' behalf, became famous for indicting former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998 and trying to put him on trial for crimes against humanity. He was suspended from office in Spain for overstepping his powers by starting an investigation into killings committed on behalf of former Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.
Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

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The Moscow Times

MOSCOW (AP) — Yes, he's at a Moscow airport, and no, you can't have him.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the first official acknowledgment of the whereabouts of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden on Tuesday and promptly rejected U.S. pleas to turn him over.
Snowden, who is charged with violating American espionage laws, fled Hong Kong over the weekend, touching off a global guessing game over where he went and frustrating U.S. efforts to bring him to justice.
Putin said Snowden is in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport and has not passed through Russian immigration, meaning he technically is not in Russia and thus is free to travel wherever he wants.
After arriving Sunday on a flight from Hong Kong, Snowden registered for a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn't board the plane.
Speculation has been rife that Russian security services have been talking to Snowden and might want to keep him in Russia for a more thorough debriefing, but Putin denied that.
"Our special services never worked with Mr. Snowden and aren't working with him today," Putin said at a news conference during a visit to Finland.
Because Moscow has no extradition agreement with Washington, it cannot meet the U.S. request, he said.
"Mr. Snowden is a free man, and the sooner he chooses his final destination the better it is for us and for him," Putin said. "I hope it will not affect the businesslike character of our relations with the U.S. and I hope that our partners will understand that."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the U.S. wants Russia to show respect for the rule of law and comply with common practices when it comes to fugitives from justice.
Putin's staunch refusal to consider deportation shows his readiness to further challenge Washington at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are already strained over Syria and other issues, including a Russian ban on adoptions by Americans.
"Just showing America that we don't care about our relations, we are down to basically a Cold War pattern: The enemy of your government is our friend," said Masha Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Center.
"The Russian administration has not come that far, but we don't know what it's up to," she said.
Despite Putin's denial, security experts believe Russia's special services wouldn't miss the chance to question a man who is believed to hold reams of classified U.S. documents and could shed light on how the U.S. intelligence agencies collect information.
Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Global Arms Trade and editor of National Defense Magazine, said Snowden would be of particular interest because little is known about digital espionage.
"The security services would be happy to enter into contact with Mr. Snowden," Korotchenko said.
Russia also has relished using Snowden's revelations to turn the tables on the U.S. over its criticism of Russia's rights record.
Putin compared Snowden to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, saying that both men were labeled criminals but consider themselves rights activists and champions of freedom of information.
"Ask yourself a question: Should people like that be extradited so that they put them in prison?" he said. "In any case, I would prefer not to deal with such issues. It's like shearing a piglet: a lot of squealing and little wool."
In an apparent reference to claims that Russia could have played a role in Snowden's exit from Hong Kong, Putin said his arrival in Moscow was a "complete surprise" and dismissed such accusations as "ravings and sheer nonsense."
"He doesn't need a visa or any other documents, and as a transit passenger he has the right to buy a ticket and fly wherever he wants," Putin said.
Snowden, 30, is a former CIA employee who later was hired as a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that he gave to newspapers the Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government.
Snowden also told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive documents in laptops he is carrying.
Russian news media had reported that Snowden remained in a transit zone at the airport, which is separate from regular departure areas. He has not been seen by any of the journalists who have been roaming Sheremetyevo in search of him, furthering speculation that he had been secreted away.
The Interfax news agency, citing an unidentified airport official, said Snowden could be staying in a room in the transit zone normally reserved for flight crews and other personnel.
Legally, an arriving air passenger only crosses the border after clearing Russian immigration checks.
Earlier Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected the U.S. push to turn over Snowden, but he wouldn't specify his whereabouts, saying only that he hadn't crossed the Russian border.
Kerry called for "calm and reasonableness."
"We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice," Kerry said at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport.
A representative of WikiLeaks has been traveling with Snowden, and the secret-spilling organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging asylum. Assange, the group's founder, said Monday that Snowden was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries.
A high-ranking Ecuadorean official told The Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to consider Snowden's request for asylum.
Some observers said Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on opposition and civil activists under Putin.
"They would use Snowden to demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of freedom of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready to open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin Remchukov, the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests in Moscow against his re-election for a third term in March and has taken an anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of industrial workers and state employees.
____

Huuhtanen reported from Naantali, Finland. Associated Press writers Lynn Berry in Moscow and Michael Weissenstein and Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this story.

By Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - China and Russia rejected U.S. accusations they helped a former U.S. spy agency contractor escape prosecution in the United States, deepening a rift between powers whose cooperation may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.

Despite public outrage, however, there was a sense Moscow andWashington sought to limit damage over Edward Snowden, whose flight from justice has embarrassed President Barack Obama. After tough U.S. statements a day earlier, Secretary of State John Kerryurged "calm and reasonableness" on Tuesday.

Snowden, charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, left Hong Kong for Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday. The U.S. State Department said diplomats and Justice Department officials were talking to Russia, suggesting they sought a deal to secure his return to face espionage charges.

An airport source said the 30-year-old American, who has asked for asylum in Ecuador, had flown in on Sunday and had been booked on a flight to Cuba on Monday but had not got on board.

Journalists camped out at the airport have not spotted him inside, or leaving, the transit area, and say a heavy security presence has been relaxed for the past 24 hours. He has not registered at a hotel in the transit zone, hotel sources say.

A receptionist at the Capsule Hotel "Air Express", a complex of 47 basic rooms furnished predominantly with grey carpets and grey walls, said Snowden had turned up on Sunday, looked at the price list and then left.

U.S. officials admonished Beijing and Moscow on Monday for allowing Snowden to escape their clutches but the United States' partners on the U.N. Security Council, already at odds with Washington over the conflict in Syria, hit back indignantly.

"The United States' criticism of China's central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing, also dismissing U.S. criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Snowden leave.

FSB INTEREST?

In the first comment on the affair by a senior Russian officials since Snowden arrived, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied suggestions Moscow had helped Snowden in any way, including by allowing him to fly into Sheremetyevo.

"He chose his itinerary on his own. We learnt about it ... from the media. He has not crossed the Russian border," he said. "We consider the attempts to accuse the Russian side of violating U.S. laws, and practically of involvement in a plot, to be absolutely groundless and unacceptable."

There is growing speculation in the Russian media that Snowden may be talking to the FSB security service, a successor of the Soviet-era KGB, and could be involved in a prisoner swap.

"Lavrov always chooses his words carefully," said a Russian security source. "From his statement you can deduce the following: that he (Snowden) is either outside Russia or still in the transit zone. He is a tasty morsel for any, any secret service, also for ours."

Deputy parliamentary speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has proposed Snowden be exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian jailed in the United States for drug trafficking, requests for whose extradition have been ignored.

Fallout from a protracted wrangle over Snowden could be far-reaching, as Russia, the United States and China hold veto powers at the U.N. Security Council and their broad agreement could be vital to any settlement in Syria.

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday he was pessimistic an international conference on Syria could take place in July as hoped and urged Russia and the United States to help contain a conflict which has killed almost 100,000 people.

Kerry said there was no cause to raise tensions over "something that is frankly basic and normal as this."

"It is accurate there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United states, but there are standards of behavior between sovereign nations," he said, in Jeddah.

Lavrov's insistence Snowden had not entered Russia implies he has not left the airport transit area, used by passengers flying from one non-Russian airport to another without going through passport control or requiring an entry visa.

The transit area is Russian sovereign territory, but it could be argued that in staying there Snowden had not formally entered the country - a move that could implicate President Vladimir Putin in helping a fugitive. Russia appears, at least for the moment, reluctant to take such a step.

REFUGEE DOCUMENT

Interfax news agency quoted a source "in the Russian capital" as saying Snowden could be detained to check the validity of his passport if he crossed the Russian border.

Snowden is travelling on a refugee document of passage provided by Ecuador, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said.

Snowden, whose exposure of the surveillance raised questions about civil liberties in the United States, flew to Moscow after being allowed to leave Hong Kong even though Washington had asked the Chinese territory to detain him.

Snowden, until recently a contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, had been expected to fly to Havana from Moscow on Monday and eventually go on to Ecuador, according to sources at the Russian airline Aeroflot.

There is no direct flight from Moscow to Quito, which has said it was considering Snowden's asylum request. The Quito government has been sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its London embassy for the past year.

U.S. officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence.

(Additional reporting Gabriela Baczynska and Lidia Kelly in Moscow, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Katya Golubkova in Havana, Writing by Elizabeth Piper and Timothy Heritage, editing by Ralph Boulton)

1. Dmitry Butrin article headlined "Left to raise GDP" comments on a reshuffle in the government and the presidential administration: Putin appointed former deputy chairman of the Central Bank Alexei Ulyukayev new economic development minister, whereas current minister Andrei Belousov was made Putin's aide. Belousov is to look for new stimuli for the economic growth, while Ulyukayev is facing the task of reducing state expenses and at the same time maintaining the economic growth; pp 1-2 (845 words).

2. Maria Plyusnina and Irina Nagornykh article headlined "People of labor do not succeed in work on congress" says the movement To Protect Man of Labour, set up by the presidential envoy to the Urals, Igor Kholmanskikh, has postponed its congress due to difficulties with merging with People's Front for Russia, another pro-Putin's movement; pp 1-2 (552 words).

3. Ilya Barabanov and Natalya Korchenkova article headlined "NTV and Russian Investigations Committee to mark Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's anniversary" says experts who took part in the expert examination of the second Yukos case have been summoned by the Investigations Committee for questioning. Meanwhile, NTV broadcast a show alleging that former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovskywas involved in the murder of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov back in 1998; pp 1, 3 (660 words).

4. Yegor Popov and Yevgeny Timoshinov article headlined "Government to reload carriages" says the government is to allocate subsidies to the railway carriages manufacturers as demand for the product is falling. 12.8 billion rubles (around $388 million) worth of funding is to be allocated; pp 1, 9 (621 words).

5. Natalya Pavlova and Artur Asafyev article headlined "Rustem Khamitov heads Bashkortostan United Russia branch" says Bashkortostan head Rustem Khamitov will be on top of United Russia ticket at the parliamentary election in the republic; p 2 (440 words).

6. Alexei Sokovnin article headlined "Life sentence extended for Leonid Nevzlin" says former Yukos shareholder Leonid Nevzlin has been sentenced to six years in absentia for illegal acquisition of the shares of some companies in 1998; p 3 (570 words).

7. Taisia Bekbulatova article headlined "Sergei Sobyanin to be checked by 100 percent" says the Moscow city electoral commission is going to check all of the signatures of supporters gathered by independent candidates including acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin; p 3 (510 words).

8. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Syria closer than motherland for Hezbollah" says the Syrian conflict in which the Hezbollah movement got involved risks growing into a civil war in Lebanon itself as clashes between Sunnis and Shias broke out in the south of the country; p 6 (521 words).

9. Kirill Belyaninov et al. report headlined "He escapes faster than aircraft" says CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden was to fly from Moscow to Havana on 24 June, journalist who bought tickets to the same flight did not find Snowden on board the plane; p 6 (784 words).

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

1. Alexandra Samarina article headlined "Police to be rebuilt again" says First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorovoy has spoken about the shortcomings of the current law on police. Neither the public, no experts are satisfied with the police reform carried out by former President Dmitry Medvedev; pp 1-2 (550 words).

2. Anastasia Bashkatova article headlined "Yet another pension formula transfers people to labour days" comments on new changes in the pension reform announced by the Pension Fund and the Labour Ministry; pp 1, 4 (1,020 words).

3. Ivan Rodin article headlined "Durability test for top-down command structure" says Rostov Region deputies have come up with an initiative to make the regional branches of the federal bodies report on their work to the local parliamentarians; pp 1, 3 (637 words).

4. Mikhail Sergeyev article headlined "Secondary car market falls slightly faster than primary one" says the sale of second-hand vehicles in Russia fell by 4.5 percent in January-May 2013, the sale of new cars also reduced by 4 percent; pp 1, 3 (451 words).

5. Anton Khodosevich article headlined "Plague for two union houses" says Belarus can ban fodder supplies from Russia due to the African pig plague outbreak in the country; pp 1, 6 (622 words).

6. Vladimir Skosyrev article headlined "Intercontinental voyage without passport and visa" says CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden is getting ready to fly to Ecuador from Moscow despite the U.S. demands that he should be extradited; pp 1, 7 (672 words).

7. Vladimir Mukhin article headlined "Generals focused on Afghan direction" says heads of the military headquarters of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states gather for a meeting to discuss security in Central Asia; p 2 (649 words).

8. Editorial headlined "Political storms in Brazil and Turkey" analyses anti-government protests spreading in Turkey and Brazil and compares the reaction of the authorities of the two countries to the new challenges; p 2 (515 words).

9. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Third criminal case as present" says while Mikhail Khodorkovsky supporters are going to stage rallies in his support as the jailed businessman is turning 50, NTV broadcast a film on his alleged involvement in the murder of Nefteyugansk mayor; p 3 (618 words).

Vedomosti

1. Timofey Dzyadko et al. report headlined "Rosneft's new aim" says the oil giant Rosneft plans to takeover the Bashneft oil company; pp 1, 12 (672 words).

2. Editorial headlined "Sobyanin's reconstruction" says the demolition of historical buildings in the center of Moscow is to resume as the city authorities have developed new regulations for construction companies; pp 1, 6 (389 words).

3. Another editorial headlined "Harmful participation" slams the bill on volunteers work drafted by the State Duma; p 6 (302 words).

4. Ksenia Boletskaya and Maxim Tovkaylo article headlined "Channel One to pay less" says Channel one is to pay smaller dividends to its shareholders than other state-controlled corporations, only 5 percent of revenues instead of 25 percent recommended by Dmitry Medvedev; p 18 (612 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Yulia Krivoshapko and Yelena Kukol article headlined "Banking investments" says experts believe that following the reshuffle of the economic ministers, the views of the government and the Central Bank on the country's economy are to be very close; pp 1, 7 (796 words).

2. Yury Gavrilov article headlined "Rejected in accordance with list" reports on changes in the medical examination of young people to be called up to the Armed Forces; pp 1, 8 (807 words).

3. Alexander Gasyuk article headlined "Run, Snowden, run" reports on the "detective story" of CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden who stopped in Moscow on his way to Ecuador; p 6 (566 words).

4. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "Don't get het up" comments on a new bill which, if adopted, will broaden the security services' methods of work with people suspected of extremist activities; p 8 (320 words).

Izvestia

1. Maria Kunle and Anastasia Alexeyevskikh article headlined "Five deputies of Belousov may leave Economic Development Ministry" predicts that deputy economic development ministers will leave the cabinet following their chief Andrei Belousov; pp 1, 4 (1,037 words).

2. Alena Sivkova article headlined "Ex-governor of Vladimir region aims at Federation Council" says former Vladimir region governor Nikolay Vinogradov is to be on top of the Communist Party list at the regional election to be later sent to the Federation Council; pp1, 4 (467 words).

3. Taras Podrez article headlined "Russian officials give Obama and his subordinates presents for $12,700" says the U.S. audit has shown that Russia presented US President Barack Obama souvenirs for $12,700 in 2010; pp 1, 7 (1,636 words).

4. Alexandra Yermakova article headlined "Embezzlement worth 2.5 billion rubles uncovered in Rosreestr" says that large-scale embezzlement has been uncovered in the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography; pp 1-2 (800 words).

5. Yelena Teslova article headlined "Gennady Gudkov and Alexei Navalny to engage in crowd funding" says opposition activist Alexei Navalny standing for Moscow mayor and former State Duma lawmaker Gennady Gudkov planning to take part in the Moscow Region governor election are raising money for their campaigns; p 2 (743 words).

6. Sergei Podosenov article headlined "Political experts forecast gay revolution in Russia" says Russian organizations of homosexuals financed from abroad may try to organize a revolution to bring country to chaos of the 1990s, a report by the Centre of Political Information says; p 5 (821 words).

7. Maria Gorkovskaya article headlined "Moscow not afraid of row with USA over Snowden" says Washington has demanded that Moscow extradite CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden, otherwise the U.S. threatens Russia with worsening of their relations; p 7 (561 words).

8. Eduard Limonov article headlined "Will Spit at America" comments on the CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden story; p 9 (450 words).

Moskovsky Komsomolets

1. Alexei Smirnov article headlined "Kudrin's Alexei" comments on the replacement of "statesman" Andrei Belousov by "liberal" Alexei Ulyukayev in the cabinet; pp 1-2 (831 words).

2. Alexander Minkin article headlined "Rape of history" criticizes the bill drafted by United Russia lawmaker Yarovaya as its ambiguous wordings will allow to punish not only those who support Nazism, but also anyone who questions the official theory of World War II; p 1-2 (969 words).

3. Yulia Kalinina article headlined "Fight of worlds without Z: Snowden instead of Brad Pitt" reports on the intrigue with CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport; pp 1, 3 (583 words).

4. Article by rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva headlined "Non-freedom, inequality, slavery" says that the Russian authorities are leaving people without protection from the arbitrariness of officials as they persecute human rights NGOs; p 3 (1,038 words).

5. Ilya Baranikas and Igor Subbotin article headlined "Slap in Face to Washington" reports on the escape of Edward Snowden from the U.S. secret services; p 3 (1,026 words).

RBC Daily

1. Yevgeny Krasnikov report "Odnoklassniki go to Twitter" says that the number of weekly users of social networks has decreased. The number of Mail.ru Group users decreased from 27.1 per cent in 2011 to 20.4 per cent in 2012 and the number of VKontakte users dropped from 55.9 per cent in 2011 to 55.3 per cent in 2012, article says; pp 1, 8 (750 words).

2. Yulia Yakovleva report "Gravity added to extremism" says that the government has submitted a bill to the State Duma to toughen punishment stipulated in four articles of the Criminal Code dealing with extremism; p 2 (700 words).

Noviye Izvestia

1. Yulia Savina interview with Marina Khodorkovskaya, mother of jailed businessman Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, speaking on her son's life in prison and his plans for the future. The interview is followed by a brief article saying that the authorities' attitude to Khodorkovsky is irrational; pp 1-2 (908 words).

2. Gennady Petrov report "Snowden goes underground" says that the trace of Edward Snowden, who has exposed U.S. special services, has been lost in Moscow. Journalists, who waited for him at Sheremetyevo airport, were disappointed, article says. He arrived in Moscow, but did not go to Cuba as planned and his whereabouts is unknown; p 2 (700 words).

3. Yulia Zabavina report "Staff processing" says that Alexei Ulyukayev has been appointed economic development minister, Elvira Nabiullina has become new head of the Russian Central Bank and Andrei Belousov has been appointed presidential aide. Russia's economic policy is facing serious changes, article says; p 3 (800 words).

Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Dmitry Smirnov report "'I know that you are ready to work in government'" looks at the appointment of Alexei Ulyukayev as economic development minister; p 2 (550 words).

2. Alexander Grishin report "One may get five years in prison for justification for Nazism and blackening Red Army" says that United Russia lawmaker Irina Yarovaya has submitted a bill to the State Duma introducing criminal punishment for justification of Nazism and criticism of the Soviet army during World War II. This has caused hysterics among liberals, article says; p 3 (450 words).

3. Yelena Chinkova report "Give Snowden for us to tear him apart!" looks at U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, who was supposed to fly from Moscow to Cuba on 24 June, but did not turn up for the flight. The article is followed by a brief comment by a Russian pundit; p 6 (700 words).

4. Adam Yermash report "Guy's trace lost..." looks at Edward Snowden's disappearance at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport; p 6 (500 words).

5. Alexander Grishin report "Human rights activist believes in wonder until OMON arrives" says that rights activist Lev Ponomaryov's For Human Rights NGO has been evicted from its office in Moscow with a scandal; p 7 (750 words).

6. Oleg Potapov report "Big oil to go to China" says that Russia's oil company Rosneft is ready to supply oil to China during 25 years; p 8 (1,100 words).

7. Article by general director of the institute for foreign policy studies and initiatives and Public Chamber member Veronika Krasheninnikova looks at functioning of NGOs in the world and says that the "Western funds, which organizations authorized by Washington are distributing in various countries, involve many small public organizations that know nothing about the goals of this financing"; pp 12-13 (1,900 words).

8. Alexander Gamov interview with Igor Kholmanskikh, presidential representative in the Urals Federal District; pp 18-19 (1,700 words).

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The Moscow Times