Top stories in the Russian press on Friday, December 18, prepared by TASS

Izvestia: Putin focuses on post-COVID recovery, relations with CIS, West, during annual press conference

Around 70% of Russia’s budget is not based on oil and gas revenues, the country will reach the pre-pandemic level by the end of 2021, a lockdown is not planned, and neither is any government reshuffling, these were among some of the most important statements made by President Vladimir Putin at his annual year-end press conference. In roughly four and a half hours, Putin managed to answer 68 questions, the overwhelming majority of them in one way or another related to the pandemic and its consequences. The emphasis was placed on the domestic agenda and even international topics in one way or another were reduced to Russia or the post-Soviet space, Izvestia writes.

Experts noted the state's course for social support. "Digitalization is worth noting, which today has begun to develop as a mechanism for interaction with the state," Chairperson of the Commission on Social Policy, Labor Relations, Cooperation with Trade Unions and Veterans Support Natalya Pochinok told Izvestia.

The head of state also noted that Russia’s financial system is safe and sound, as evidenced by banks’ profits. In 2020, it amounted to 1.3 trillion rubles ($17.75 bln). The decline in the country's GDP in 2020 was 3.6%, which less than almost all leading European countries, and even the United States, Putin stressed. At the same time, economists, interviewed by the newspaper, pointed to several positive trends despite the pandemic.

As for the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, Putin said that he had not yet been vaccinated against coronavirus due to his age. The Russian leader, however, promised that he would be vaccinated as soon as possible.

The question about the situation around Alexey Navalny was raised several times. Putin said he believes that if someone wanted to poison the blogger, then "probably they would have finished" the job. In the actions of the opposition figure, he saw political machinations and just more of the same attention-seeking antics.

The topic of international relations was focused on Belarus, Nagorno-Karabakh, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan. Touching on the steps by the Ukrainian leadership to resolve the conflict in Donbass, Putin noted that Russia will not only continue, but will bolster its support for Donbass. As for Nagorno-Karabakh, Putin said that the situation there erupted not as a result of outside interference.

At the same time, First Deputy Head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov told Izvestia that the war was terminated with Russian mediation. "Now Russian peacekeepers are stationed there, and it is clear that they are making a real contribution. While everyone was talking about whether to recognize Karabakh or not, or whether to condemn the military actions or not, we acted and helped to stop the bloodshed," he stressed.

Speaking about a "new arms race", the president made it clear that this race has been going on for a long time - since the US withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002. The only arms control agreement that is still in effect is the New START Treaty, and even that, according to Putin, will end in February 2021. Moscow is ready for a dialogue on this topic with the new US administration, Putin concluded.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: White House plans to reconcile Armenia and Azerbaijan while bypassing Russia

Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper considered the presence of the Russian Armed Forces in the zone of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict to be a destabilizing factor. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, this statement indicates that Washington is seeking to play a more active role in the Karabakh settlement. However, Washington's capabilities in this area are limited.

Cooper represents the position of the outgoing White House administration, the newspaper writes. The incoming Biden administration’s policy course on Karabakh is not yet clear. The Democrat did not offer any of his own ways to resolve the conflict. That said, the confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan was not among the most important topics of his election campaign.

On the other hand, Trump and his team still do not recognize the legitimacy of Biden's victory in the election and are trying to delay the transfer of affairs to the incoming White House administration as much as possible.

Meanwhile, the "destabilizing" Russian military presence in the region, as Clarke put it, will soon increase. The Press Service of Armenia’s Ministry of Defense reported that Russian border guards will soon appear on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, where transport links are going to be set up between the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan and the rest of this country.

Vedomosti: US embarks on sanctions offensive against Turkey over its purchase of Russia’s S-400s

Washington took the unprecedented step of imposing sanctions on its NATO ally by blackballing Head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) Ismail Demir and three other leaders of this organization to penalize Turkey for its acquisition of Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. These sanctions have a very deep and symbolic meaning, Vedomosti writes.

The SSB is a powerful and privileged organization directly subordinate to President Erdogan of Turkey. Therefore, according to the newspaper, the US sanctions are essentially directed against the Turkish head of state personally. This is an ominous signal that the United States is ready to launch a sanctions offensive against the Turkish defense industry.

Washington’s sanctions, even symbolic ones, can cause significant damage to the SSB. The defense industry of Turkey, which has been created over the past three decades is highly dependent on foreign licenses, technologies, systems and components. Even a looming American or European embargo can paralyze virtually all major Turkish military projects, according to the newspaper.

As a result, America’s current anti-Turkish actions put the Turkish defense industry at a fork in the road for further development. Until very recently, its main focus was integrating into the Western defense-industrial "ecosystem". However, now Turkey faces the prospect of a complete collapse of the entire former defense-industrial orientation.

The alternative for the Turkish defense industry is obvious, it would have to reorient towards cooperating with non-Western players. The US restrictive measures strike against Turkey and Erdogan widens the window of opportunity for Moscow. Rosoboronexport already has a stable presence on the Turkish defense market, Vedomosti noted.

Kommersant: CAS relaxes sanctions against Russian sports

The main sports proceedings of the year ended with an outcome that can be interpreted in different ways, including a victory for Russia, Kommersant writes. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), through its verdict, confirmed the legality of the package of super-strict sanctions from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) imposed on Russia due to manipulations with the database of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory. However, their validity period has been cut in half - from four to two years. During this period, Russian athletes will have to take part in all major competitions, including the two Olympics and the World Cup, under a neutral status. At the same time, the provisions concerning this status have been softened: the word "Russia" and the colors of the national flag are allowed on the uniform of athletes.

Chairman of the supervisory board of RUSADA Alexander Ivlev said that the organization’s decision of not accepting the claims of WADA was absolutely correct, they managed to answer them with rather straightforward and specific arguments. RUSADA, in its statement after the results of the process, noted some more indulgences - for example, the possibility of Russian officials being present at the Olympic Games, including the Russian president. According to RUSADA, the key victory was that CAS "did not limit" clean Russian athletes in their right to participate on a common basis in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as in the world championships, as required by WADA.

President of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov highlighted the same topic, commenting on the verdict. In his opinion, the "most important result" of the process is the fact that "CAS did not support WADA on the issue of collective responsibility measures and did not begin to introduce additional requirements for the admission of athletes."

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee responded to the completion of the process by stating that it will carefully examine the CAS decision and its implications for the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics and that it will work with international sports federations to form a coherent approach for its implementation.

Vedomosti: Bank of Russia may not reduce key rate until mid-2021

Rising prices on food and non-food products will not allow the Bank of Russia to lower the key rate to a new minimum, Vedomosti writes. Analysts are completely unanimous in believing that it will remain at the level of 4.25%. Further rate cuts are also not expected soon. The current figure may remain unchanged at least until mid-2021.

"The only argument in favor of lowering the rate right now is the stabilization of the situation in the foreign exchange market, but this calm may be short-term, and this is not the main factor that the Bank of Russia is currently looking at," Head of analytical research at Alfa-Bank Natalia Orlova told the newspaper. "The main thing is that the inflation forecast for 2020 at the level of 3.9-4.2%, which the Bank of Russia updated only in October, will be significantly exceeded. Most likely, by the end of the year inflation will be 4.5-4.7%," she predicted.

The current figure will remain unchanged at least until mid-2021, Head of the personal brokerage department at BCS World of Investments Sergey Kuchin noted. "Rising inflation does not allow to lower the rate. If the current trend continues, the consumer price index may reach 5% year-on-year at the end of January - February," he said.

In the absence of external shocks, Russia will be able to avoid further inflation growth, so that the Bank of Russia will not have to raise the rate, according to Head of the Trade Operations Department at the Russian Stock Market at Freedom Finance Georgy Vaschenko. A positive scenario is more likely, in which the oil price will remain above $50 per barrel in Q1, and inflation will begin to decline as foreign trade and the domestic market grow. "The trade balance will rise above $10 bln a month. The Finance Ministry will buy currency for reserves. Then, perhaps, there will be a window open at the end of the first quarter to reduce the rate to 4%. But so far it is impossible to furnish a confident forecast," he told Vedomosti.