Top stories in the Russian press on Tuesday, March 3, prepared by TASS

Izvestia: Terrorists driven out of Syria’s Saraqib ahead of Putin-Erdogan meeting

Russian military police have entered the Syrian city of Saraqib, and have retaken it from militants. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the move is aimed at ensuring security and unhindered movement of vehicles and civilians along the M4 and M5 highways. The deployment of the Syrian army’s anti-aircraft systems to the frontline changed the course of military operations, reducing the number of flights by Turkish combat drones. Without that air support, militants were flushed out of the city in just one night. On Thursday, a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is expected to take place but experts are not sure that it will help the two countries find a conclusive solution to the Idlib issue, Izvestia writes.

"Turkey has been upping the ante all along," military expert Vladislav Shurygin told the newspaper. "And now Ankara, for whom controlling the M5 highway is the main strategic goal, is facing a tough choice: either engage in fighting the Russian military or leave the road to the Syrians. A thing to note is that the Turks cannot attack Russian military police units because they have recently been recognized as a peacekeeping force and the international community will hardly accept such a development," he added.

It is still unclear if Russia and Turkey will be able to resolve the Idlib conflict and secure a long-term ceasefire since there are too many variables in the equation, Vladimir Fitin, a Russian expert on the Middle East, pointed out.

"The two leaders are very likely to agree that everything should remain at its current position, maintaining kind of a status quo," the expert explained. "Given that it was Erdogan who insisted on a summit, one can presume that he seeks to make some agreements. At the same time, these tensions should not have a negative impact on Russian-Turkish cooperation in other areas. One of the reasons why is that the Turks have said themselves that the Syrian crisis does not affect defense deals whatsoever, including those concerning the supply of additional S-400 systems to Turkey, as well as their maintenance," the expert noted.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Democratic Party holds Super Tuesday minus two

The Democratic Party will be holding primaries in 14 US states and the American Samoa caucus is scheduled to take place on March 3, known as Super Tuesday, which also involves overseas voters. The first shocking news came ahead of the vote, as Pete Buttigieg, who was considered to be one of the most up-and-coming Democratic politicians, announced the end of his presidential campaign, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote.

Buttigieg is the second Democrat to drop out of the race in the past few days. Billionaire Tom Steyer - an influential sponsor of the Democratic Party - was the first to drop his presidential bid. Experts say that Buttigieg’s withdrawal will play into the hand of former Vice President Joseph Biden and ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Both of them are centrists and the party’s establishment is betting on them. "The party’s leadership viewed Buttigieg as a trial balloon. They sought to figure out how Americans would react to this sort of centrist candidate - a young mayor of a small town, and an openly gay man on top of that. It turns out that voters did not show enough enthusiasm. Buttigieg failed to become the one to stop Bernie Sanders," Professor of the Faculty of Law at the Higher School of Economics Alexander Domrin pointed out.

According to him, Sanders is rightfully considered to be the Super Tuesday favorite. He is expected to garner the support of many voters in California, where centrists are not that strong. Besides, Sanders has a strong position in Texas. Biden, in turn, can count on moderate voters, though in less populated states. The former vice president’s upside is that he does not trigger negative emotions among African-American voters, who are an important part of the Democratic electorate. While his lack of charisma and failed Ukraine policy during the Obama administration are his drawbacks. In Domrin’s view, his downsides may outweigh the upside.

"Compared to Biden, Sanders surely has more chances against a Republican candidate. I believe that if Elizabeth Warren ended up with him as vice president, Bernie could make an interesting head of state. However, there is still nothing intriguing about his possible battle against Trump. Sanders will lose," Domrin emphasized.

Izvestia: EU needs UN consent to monitor Libyan arms embargo

The European Union is working to establish a new mission to monitor the Libyan arms embargo introduced back in 2011. Russian Permanent Envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told Izvestia that it was necessary to get the United Nations Security Council’s consent before launching such an operation.

The new mission is supposed to take the place of Operation Sophia that the EU launched during the 2015 migrant crisis in order to save refugees shipwrecked in the Mediterranean Sea. There is no information yet on the name of the new mission and its participants.

Third countries may join the mission, a source in the Finnish Foreign Ministry told the newspaper, adding that Brussels had agreements with some countries, which made it possible for them to take part in the European Union’s anti-crisis operations. A Hungarian Foreign Ministry official added that if there were there no such agreements, third countries could join the endeavor after the EU’s top diplomat sends them invitations approved by all 27 member states.

Moscow has called the new EU project ambitious. "A thing to take into account is that no national and regional mechanisms can be used for such purposes simply at the whim of a country or a group of countries. This is why we expect that our colleagues will strictly abide by international law and respect the prerogatives of the UN Security Council in terms of maintaining global peace and security. In other words, they need to turn to the UN Security Council in this regard," Russian Permanent Envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov pointed out.

However, the high-level diplomat declined to answer when asked if Moscow was ready to join the EU mechanism. Russia maintains close contact with all the key Libyan players, encouraging them to seek a sustainable ceasefire, hammer out measures to ensure a long-term de-escalation deal and build a political process in order to unify the country, Chizhov emphasized.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Coronavirus epidemic may not end in spring

The novel coronavirus poses a great danger to most seniors. Adults and especially children may show no symptoms even if they contract the virus, and chances are there will be no consequences for them, said Georgy Bazykin, who heads the Molecular Evolution Sector of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Information Transmission Problems, as cited by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Between five and 20 out of every 1,000 people infected with the novel coronavirus may die, while the rate stands at one death for the common flu, Bazykin pointed out. Many people die of the flu across the world every year, but everyone has gotten used to it, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, researchers from Germany’s Robert Koch Institute have come up with a theory that warm weather may stop the further spread of COVID-19. However, there is no reliable evidence to back up this theory. There is insufficient research on the virus, while previous similar outbreaks did not end with the onset of warmer weather.

Bazykin noted that it was impossible to create a cure in three months. A vaccine against atypical pneumonia could help, as the pathogens causing these diseases have much in common, but its creation was never completed because the outbreak had died out and efforts to develop a vaccine were suspended.

COVID-19, which is rapidly spreading across the world, may create serious economic problems for Europe in the course of a few months. "First of all, we have to deal with the consequences of both real and groundless fears," Acting Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences Alexei Kuznetsov noted. "Quarantines and the lack of a cure won’t stimulate economic activity. The longer the epidemic lasts, the worse it will be for the economy. An economic downturn could begin in Europe as early as in April," the expert added.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Oil exporters search for alternatives to China-bound supplies

Russia’s oil exports to China dropped by more than a third in February in year-to-year terms amid the coronavirus outbreak. Saudi Arabia, in turn, plans to reduce oil supplies to China by nearly one quarter. Major exporters don’t expect that oil demand in China will rebound soon, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports.

"Neither Russia nor Saudi Arabia have alternatives for selling their oil, so their exports will keep declining anyway," AMarkets Analytics Department Chief Artem Deyev pointed out. "All that is happening now is part of a long-term trend. The OPEC+ group, Russia and Saudi Arabia - everyone understands it," he stressed. According to the expert, "Russia will hardly agree to reduce oil production quotas further even if OPEC+ members insist, because it is pointless and may harm the industry."

When speaking about Russia’s prospects for the coming years, he said that "oil exports will drop as a result of the declining global demand and the United States’ efforts to drive Russian oil producers from markets, budget revenues will diminish amid falling oil prices and most oil fields will dry up by about 2025." "In the coming years, much investment will be needed to develop new oil fields and introduce advanced technology, which will raise production costs," Deyev concluded.

"Russian oil exports to China cannot be expected to be fully revived in March," Assistant Professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) Tamara Safonova noted. Oil prices dropped below $50 per barrel at times, though they stood at about $60 in late February. The price decline is affecting all the oil produced in Russia, so losses from a fall in global prices may be higher than those caused by production restrictions, the expert emphasized.