Top stories in the Russian press on Wednesday, December 16, prepared by TASS

Izvestia: Democrat Joe Biden officially wins US presidential race

The US Electoral College officially confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory on December 14. The Democrat received 306 votes, while incumbent President Donald Trump secured 232 votes, Izvestia informs, adding that despite this, incumbent US President Donald Trump still has not conceded the election. It seems that Trump plans to contest the election results further. Experts quizzed by Izvestia point out that although the Electoral College has cemented Biden’s win, the political situation will begin to stabilize only in January 2021, when the Congress confirms the results of the electoral college vote.

Meanwhile, on December 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Biden on his win.

That said, the Trump team continues to contest the results of the election in court. President of the American University in Moscow Edward Lozansky told the paper that the incumbent president’s lawyers filed several additional lawsuits, including one submitted to the US Supreme Court.

"However, it is clear at this point that this is useless. While the majority of Conservative members of the Supreme Court think that the election was stolen from them (according to Fox News, 77% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats are of this opinion), they decided to sacrifice their principles and save the country from large-scale riots and violence, as Trump supporters are not known for this, unlike the left. If the Supreme Court took Trump’s side, the country would plunge into chaos," the expert said.

President of the Center on Global Interests in Washington Nikolai Zlobin told the paper that the US public has different opinions on Trump’s behavior. "Some say: he’s doing a great job, he fights like a lion using all legal means, spending money and energy. Some think that the man does not know how to lose, which is a disadvantage for a politician, he needs to move on to a new fight instead of going on about the old one. Many don’t like this, including the Republicans. We have entered uncharted territory. A large share of Trump supporters think that the election was a fraud, and they can consider Biden an illegitimate president," Zlobin stated.

In many ways, the development of the political situation will depend on what Trump thinks the future holds for him. If he wants to stay in politics, for example, and establish his wing within the Republican Party and be the leader of ‘Trumpism’, he needs to act in accordance with US tradition, the expert noted. However, it is unclear so far how his behavior affects the position of Republicans in general.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Bellingcat investigation links Russia’s FSB to Navalny’s alleged poisoning

On December 15, Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny demanded that criminal proceedings be launched into his alleged poisoning attempt after an investigation by The Insider and Bellingcat allegedly linking Russia’s FSB to the case was published, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports, noting that this activity may be timed to coincide with the annual press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin set for December 17.

Earlier, The Insider, Bellingcat and CNN, aided by Germany’s Der Spiegel daily and Navalny himself, published an investigation which claimed that a group of active FSB agents are involved in the opposition figure’s alleged poisoning attempt.

Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party Sergei Obukhov told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that investigations involving accusations against Putin and details of his personal life have become a common affair. "A desacralization and even demonization of the head of state is underway," he said, listing several possible factors behind it. One of the versions is a split within the Russian establishment, he said, while the second version is geopolitical: "It is clear that stability is pinned to the president’s ratings. It is clear abroad as well, and perhaps, there may be special, influential groups that decided to strike at [Putin’s] underpinning. Obviously, the FSB cannot hold such investigations alone," Obukhov stated. The politician added that the investigation into Navalny’s poisoning was published in the run-up to Putin’s annual press conference for a reason. "The liberal opposition simply used this situation to distract from the pro-government agenda. It was clear that the president was planning to reassure the population, and there are accusations of Russia being practically a terrorist state."

For his part, President of the Russian Association of Political Consultants Alexei Kurtov assumed that the timing of the publication may be accidental. "Usually, such things are in the works for a long time, foreign intelligence takes months to prepare, and there were reports about it a couple of months ago." However, if someone did try to time the accusations to the president’s press conference, they might have struck out, Kurtov said, noting that Putin never comments on such matters fast, and the questions during the press conference are "100% scrutinized beforehand, so there can be no accidents." The expert said that he would look for interested parties abroad. "Of course, this is not an initiative of Navalny and the opposition, but Navalny is using the situation for his own PR. If he plans to return to Russia and work in politics, he needs protection, including media protection," the expert pointed out.

Izvestia: EU, US mull widening sanctions against Turkey

Lately, relations between Ankara and its NATO allies have deteriorated sharply, Izvestia reports. Earlier, the EU decided to expand sanctions against Turkey for drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean. Washington also hammered out a set of restrictive measures to punish Ankara for purchasing Russia’s S-400 missile systems. The Turkish government has taken a rather restrained reaction to the unfriendly steps of its allies so far.

In any case, Turkey does not intend to leave NATO, since this is not in its interest, Turkish political analyst Serkan Demirtas told Izvestia. Ankara has no alternatives to NATO, and the Turkish economy has close ties to the West, he noted, adding that the alliance does not want to ruin relations with Turkey completely either. The political commentator added that the looming US presidency of Joe Biden promises a more stable Transatlantic partnership.

According to Demirtas, European leaders noted that the EU would coordinate issues relating to Turkey and the situation in Eastern Mediterranean with the US, which means that Brussels will wait and see how the relationship between Turkey and the US is going to develop under a new administration.

NATO is increasing pressure on Ankara, as it needs a stronger Turkey, Senior Researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations Vladimir Avatkov told Izvestia. "However, at the same time, the increasing independence of Ankara does not mean that it will have a more positive policy on Russia. Moreover, it can act more aggressively due to a lack of resources to carry out an offensive-dominated foreign policy," the expert said.

Kommersant: Armenia, Azerbaijan clash over interpretation of ceasefire agreement

Russian peacekeepers have settled an incident in the Nagorno-Karabakh villages of Hin Tager and Htsaberd in favor of Baku, with the territory marked as Azerbaijanian on a new map. A video published on Telegram channels showed Armenian soldiers handing over their guns. It turns out that the conflict sides have a different interpretation of the statement made by Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on November 10. Baku is confident that the Armenian forces must leave the entire region of Nagorno-Karabakh, while Yerevan thinks that the agreement only concerns the territories around the unrecognized republic, Kommersant reports.

"Yes, there was dissatisfaction with the activity of the peacekeepers," Azerbaijani political analyst and an expert with the Valdai Discussion Club Farkhad Mammadov told Kommersant. "The Azerbaijani public has focused on the fourth provision of the November 10 agreement, which says that "the peacekeeping contingency of the Russian Federation is deployed at the same time as the pullout of the Armenian Armed Forces." We see that the peacekeeping mission has been deployed fully, in addition, a hospital has been opened, and an inter-agency humanitarian center, but there are still armed people [Armenians - Kommersant]. We think that they represent a threat not only to the Azerbaijanis, but first and foremost to the Russian peacekeepers."

Yerevan interprets the text of the agreement differently: according to Kommersant’s Armenian sources, the first provision is the one that should take precedence. The provision says that after a full ceasefire at midnight on November 10, Azerbaijan and Armenia keep their positions. That is, the provinces near Hadrut should remain under the control of the Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh forces.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva told Kommersant that this interpretation is wrong and that Armenia should pull out its forces from the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian political analyst Vigen Akopyan said that the government’s stance on this demand depends on whether it came as a surprise or not. "If this was an unpleasant surprise for them, this is one thing. But if it was a secret agreement, for example, in a package with a prisoner swap, the relations won’t be affected," he noted. On December 14, Azerbaijan and Armenia held a prisoner exchange, with 44 Armenian prisoners swapped for 14 Azerbaijani ones.

However, Akopyan added that "the Armenian government is not in a position right now to change its stance on the Russian peacekeepers."

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Millions of Russians left jobless in 2020

Russia’s unemployment rate has reached a high not seen in a decade, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Millions of unemployed workers have made their voices heard by applying to employment services. The SuperJob recruitment portal told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the real unemployment numbers are much higher than the official picture. Experts note that over 10 mln people in Russia may be jobless. The main lesson of 2020 is that workers should learn to adapt to new work formats, the paper says.

"According to the SuperJob portal, there are twice as many jobless Russians that are not registered at unemployment offices and do not receive benefits than those who are officially unemployed. That is, the number of registered unemployed workers should be multiplied by three to get the real picture on the labor market," representatives of the company told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. That is, there may be about 10.5 mln unemployed people in Russia right now.

"We expect that in 2021, the number of new employment offers will go down, so the search for a new job may take longer. It is likely that many companies will wait for the crisis trends to end before resuming an active search for employees," Anna Mikheeva, an HR director at Hays recruitment company, told the paper. Besides, the situation with working from home has shown how quickly Russian companies have managed to rebuild the process. "One of the key trends that has had a huge effect on the labor market and will continue to have it is the telework format," Mikheeva said. "The approval of the telework law, which has practically cemented the relations between employers and employees, will facilitate it. It is likely that after the restrictions are lifted, a hybrid working format will remain in place, when employees work from the office some days, and some days they work from home."