Top stories in the Russian press on Monday, August 17, prepared by TASS

Vedomosti: Lukashenko supporter rally fails in Minsk as protests grow

Protests continued in Belarus over the results of the recent presidential elections, culminating on Sunday in a historic rally with a reported 200,000 people in Minsk. Meanwhile, the authorities also held a rally in support of President Alexander Lukashenko in the capital. For the first time, Lukashenko himself addressed his supporters, vowing to not "give up the country" to the external threat. Experts told Vedomosti that this unsuccessful pro-government rally would prevent similar future events. Meanwhile, factory strikes could prove to be more damaging to the country’s authorities than opposition protests.

According to Tut.by, the supporters’ rally was attended by at least 10,000 people, the Interior Ministry estimated the number of participants at 60,000. At the same time, the opposition protest in Minsk, which began soon after the pro-government one, gathered, according to Tut.by, around 200,000 people. Meanwhile, the joint opposition headquarters announced that it is ready to negotiate with the authorities about how and when Lukashenko will leave office. The main opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has left Belarus for Lithuania, initiated the creation of a coordinating council for the transfer of power. Protest actions are accompanied by strikes at the main Belarusian enterprises.

Andrey Skriba from the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics told Vedomosti that the rally in support of Lukashenko was not successful. "This is definitely not the kind of crowd and not the kind of crowd activity that is worth using to express support," he said. The expert noted that the ideological machine was unable to mobilize Lukashenko's electorate, passive in nature.

Another serious problem is factory strikes - they will hit the Belarusian economy hard, especially if the striking factories do not have warehouses of unsold finished goods, Skriba noted.

Associate professor of the Faculty of World Economy and Politics Andrey Suzdaltsev told the newspaper he believes that strikes at Belarusian factories pose only a "relative" danger to Lukashenko in terms of the economy, but a huge danger in social terms, increasing the level of instability. He is also convinced that there will be no more rallies in support of the authorities. "50,000 [Lukashenko's supporters] from all over Belarus were taken by buses and trains, and half a million [protesters] were already in the center of Minsk. Every fourth resident of the capital is on the street against Lukashenko," Suzdaltsev concluded.

Izvestia: Turkey boosts military presence in North Africa amid conflict with Greece

Ankara is gradually increasing its military presence in North Africa. While growing its forces in Libya, Ankara agreed on the deployment of a Turkish military base in Niger, sources familiar with the situation told Izvestia. This is taking place against the aggravation of Turkey’s conflict with Athens due to the start of geological exploration on a disputed shelf area. Experts told the newspaper they believe that an armed conflict with Greece is unlikely, but Turkey is using the Libyan foothold to strengthen its influence throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey and Greece are in disagreement over claims to hydrocarbon resources in the region. The dispute escalated recently when Turkey dispatched the Oruc Reis research vessel accompanied by its navy off the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

"Turkey is now the most dynamic force in the region, promoting its interests actively, rigidly, and systematically, not paying attention to the interests of other countries," leading research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Dolgov told Izvestia. "Ankara has significantly increased its influence in Libya, in Syria in the Idlib region, and in the region as a whole. They have military bases in Qatar. Erdogan has consistently pursued a policy aimed at making Turkey not only a regional center of power, but also at strengthening it globally. This is certainly aggravating the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean," the expert added.

Nevertheless, a military clash between Turkey and the European nations of Greece and Cyprus, should not be expected, the expert noted. But there may be conflicts between Turkey and Arab countries. Perhaps in the form of an aggravation of the civil war in Syria and the involvement of other parties in it, primarily Egypt. "How far Erdogan will go depends on how other countries will oppose him: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Greece and, possibly, France," Dolgov told Izvestia.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Trump meddles with Amazon-Alibaba competition

President Donald Trump has pledged to continue ousting Chinese tech companies from the US market. After threatening to ban social network TikTok, the US President chose internet giant Alibaba as the next likely target for the ban. Alibaba's closest competitor, US e-commerce company Amazon, left the Chinese market last summer due to a significant reduction of its share. Experts interviewed by Nezavisimaya Gazeta believe that US policy towards Chinese companies shows double standards.

Chairman of the Board of the Russian-Chinese Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation Sergey Sanakoev believes that the double standards have become habitual policy of the Trump administration. According to him, the existing model of globalism is bursting at the seams along with the institutions created by the West such as the WTO or the IMF.

Using these preliminary tests outside any legislative framework and interstate agreements, the United States is trying to understand how far it can go in narrowing the Chinese zone of influence by non-military methods as of yet, expert in foreign policy, defense and security Grigory Trofimchuk suggested. He argued that the US government has not yet decided whether it is worth it to finally destroy the US-China agreements and how it could end.

Alibaba's US competitor, Amazon left the Chinese market last year due to its market share drop. Amazon and Alibaba remain the largest players in their respective countries, while actively competing in third country markets. In terms of net revenues, both companies are close to $12 bln per year.

Kommersant: Russia plans to expand tax incentives in IT

Russian manufacturers of telecommunications equipment could be included in the tax maneuver for the IT industry. The Council for the Digital Economy under the Federation Council proposed to establish an insurance premium rate of 7.6% and a profit tax rate of 3% for such companies, Kommersant writes. This measure will affect about 70 domestic equipment manufacturers who face pressure from foreign competitors. However, drastic changes in the market should not be expected, experts told the newspaper. Russian companies will, at best, expand their presence in certain segments and increase investment in development by about 20%, the newspaper writes.

In its current form, the tax maneuver announced by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin applies only to software companies, Deputy General Director for Foreign Economic Affairs and Relations with Government Bodies at T8 (manufactures equipment for optical communication networks) Alexei Ivanov said. "We are in favor of such privileges being extended to Russian manufacturers of telecom equipment, which have to compete with such giants as Huawei and Nokia even on the domestic market," Ivanov said.

Market players interviewed by Kommersant assess the new initiative positively, but do not consider it to be a cure-all against prevalence of imported products on the market. "Such a measure would have a positive effect on the companies that manufacture telecom equipment, the impact will be strong. But it won't affect the industry dramatically," Zelix President Sergei Sukhman told the newspaper. Managing partner of AC&M Consulting Mikhail Alekseev is also skeptical about the initiative. "The fact that the tax maneuver will cover telecom equipment manufacturers will not make them more competitive on the market," the expert said.

Izvestia: Russia wants to introduce fines for failure to develop mineral resources

The Russian Government supported the introduction of fines into the Code of Administrative Offenses for failure to develop or meet the deadlines for the extraction of minerals, which are stipulated in the respective licenses, Izvestia writes. The authors of the bill, the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, explained their initiative by the shortfall in taxes to the budget, as well as a significant discrepancy between production plans and actual figures, the newspaper writes. All factions of the State Duma supported the initiative, proposing to make the punishment tougher - to the extent of revoking licenses.

According to the authors of the bill, the budget of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan is seeing a shortfall in taxes on the extraction of minerals in the amount of 81.28 mln rubles ($1.11 mln) per year. The bill proposed to amend the Code of Administrative Offenses and establish fines of 2,000 - 3,000 rubles ($27.38-41) for citizens, 20,000-40,000 rubles ($273.8-547.68) for officials, and 300,000-500,000 rubles ($4,107-6,847) for legal entities, Izvestia writes.

The energy committee of the State Duma reacted positively to the initiative of Tatarstan. "Unfortunately, our economy is mostly resource-based, and the nature of its use is licensed. Therefore, the issue of the efficiency of subsoil use for the state is very urgent," Head of the committee, a member of the United Russia faction, Pavel Zavalny told Izvestia.

Member of the LDPR faction Valery Seleznev told the newspaper he believes that reconsidering or even stripping companies of their licenses would be a more appropriate measure.