Top stories from the Russian press on Monday, February 1st, prepared by TASS

Vedomosti: Biden to drastically revise Trump’s foreign policy

US President Joe Biden will deliver a speech at the State Department on February 1 to lay out his forthcoming foreign policy. The main challenges for the new administration on this track will be interaction with China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, Vedomosti writes. In addition, the new White House will have to solve the problems associated with the war in Afghanistan. During his presidential campaign, Biden sharply criticizedTrump's foreign policy, promising to shift its trajectory by expanding interaction with US allies and more vigorously opposing its enemies, among them Russia.

According to Director of Programs at the Russian International Affairs Council Ivan Timofeev, Biden will indeed subject his predecessor's foreign policy to careful scrutiny and revision. The new president will reverse some of Trump's most controversial decisions on China and the 78-year-old US leader will resume trade talks. At the same time, Timofeev noted that the strategic containment of China will continue. Also, under the Biden administration, Washington’s collaboration with NATO will expand, and also the US will focus more on human rights in international affairs.

Concerning Russia, according to the expert, Biden will focus on Alexey Navalny, which the State Department will use in its agenda. At the same time, there will be some advantages, for instance, the topic of Russian interference in US affairs will lose its edge. "They can’t assert that Putin helped Biden gain the presidency," Timofeev noted.

Senior Research Fellow at Institute for US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Pavel Koshkin, agrees that under Biden, America’s foreign policy will be radically revised. According to the expert, this administration will end the tech and trade wars with China. Also, Washington fears that Beijing may team up with Moscow, and so the US seeks to prevent this. Therefore, the expert explained, economic factors prevail over political preferences in relations with China. The same cannot be said about relations with Russia. "I believe that the United States can pass legislation regarding Navalny, and a law on sanctions for human rights violations in Russia. We will be constantly reminded that we are on the wrong side of history," the expert concluded.

Izvestia: Unauthorized protests continue in Russia, drawing fewer crowds

The unauthorized Navalny protests continued in Russia on January 31, this time attracting fewer participants than last week. In some regions, however, the demonstrations seemed to take a more violent turn. According to experts interviewed by Izvestia, the trend towards the radicalization of these protests has been noticeable for a long time. People really have something to be dissatisfied with, which can be used to someone’s advantage, Russia’s Human Rights Council and the State Duma warned.

Chairman of the Human Rights Council Valery Fadeev told Izvestia that the illicit rallies themselves pursue a completely different goal than the defense of human rights and freedoms. "It is necessary to differentiate among the protests, they can vary. Nobody canceled the peaceful processions, rallies, and demonstrations, which are stipulated in the Constitution. Nobody invalidated the opposition either. What we have now concerning Navalny is not about upholding rights and freedoms, this is not a struggle for a better life - it is something completely different. This is a movement to destroy the state, which is extremely dangerous," he said.

According to First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov, there is every reason to believe that Western intelligence services want to whip up unrest in Russia. He believes that attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs come from Poland, among other places. "The authorities must show resolve in their desire to protect the people in general, and not a small group of people who are trying to undermine the situation in the country," he told the newspaper.

According to the Moscow police, 2,000 people participated in the unauthorized protests on January 31 in Moscow. The official information on the number of people who attended the rallies in St. Petersburg has not yet been announced. In addition, the number of those taken into custody, according to the estimates of human rights activists, were more on Sunday than on January 23. A week ago, more than 1,600 administrative protocols were submitted to the Moscow courts alone. Dozens of criminal cases were initiated over the use of violence against government officials, hooliganism, and violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules.

Izvestia: India not afraid of US sanctions after deliveries of Russian aircraft

India intends to complete a deal to purchase MiG-29s and Sukhoi Su-30MKIs from Russia by the end of the year, India’s Ambassador to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma told Izvestia. According to him, the price and technical features of the aircraft are currently under discussion. As soon as it is completed, the parties will start deliveries. The ambassador noted that India is not afraid of Washington’s CAATSA sanctions, which may follow after the purchase of these Russian weapons.

The Indian envoy confirmed to Izvestia that Moscow and New Delhi are actively negotiating the purchase of aircraft, and noted he believes that the contract will be signed soon to begin deliveries in 2021.

The purchase of Russian fighters comes against the backdrop of Pakistan acquiring US-made F-16 Block 52 fighters in 2019, and China bolstering its air force with the fifth-generation J-20 fighter.

India could face US sanctions for the purchase of the Russian fighters, based on the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which has been in effect since 2017. However, India is not afraid of the threat of sanctions, Venkatesh Varma told Izvestia.

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Andrey Krasov told Izvestia that pressure from the United States is nothing more than unfair competition and a desire to sell India its fighters instead of Russian ones. "This is nothing more than an example of unfair trade. The United States is thus trying to force other countries to buy only American-made products," he stressed.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Turkey duplicates Russia's peacekeeping move in Karabakh

A joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center that opened on Saturday in the Agdam region of Azerbaijan, located 8 km from the contact line of the parties to the Karabakh conflict, almost completely duplicates the functions performed by Russian peacekeepers in the region at 27 observation posts, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. At the same time, Ankara's representatives are not hiding the fact they are ready to support their allies by force, and the events in Syria demonstrated that the Turkish military is not inclined to take into account the interests of its Russian colleagues in conflict zones.

A number of experts believe that Turkey is determined to carry out more economically and geopolitically profitable projects in the South Caucasus. "Ankara continues to use its ‘soft power’ and socio-economic projects to strengthen its influence on Karabakh’s soil," military expert Yuri Netkachev told the newspaper.He spotlighted the fact that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s head of state Ilham Aliyev, were discussing the opening of a monitoring center in the region, and spoke about the participation of Turkish companies in restoration work in the territories that came under Baku's control.

Another important project for Turkey, according to Netkachev, is related to the creation of new transportation routes from the region to the Caspian Sea, which were discussed in Moscow last Saturday by representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Netkachev also highlighted the increase in anti-Russian rhetoric among Armenian news agencies, associated with the position of Pashinyan, who two years ago had already proposed withdrawing the 102nd Russian military base from Armenia.f

Vedomosti: Rostec plans to become main player in Russia’s 5G market

Rostec is setting up a consortium of developers of equipment for 5G networks, and all interested Russian developers will be invited to participate in it, a market participant familiar with the plans of the state corporation told Vedomosti. The press service of Rostec confirmed the information.

"The interaction will consist of the use of private technical specifications for the development of individual elements of systems for 5G networks, and the most effective and commercially attractive ones will be used," Director of Special Projects at Rostec Vasily Brovko told Vedomosti.

At the moment, 10 leading Russian companies - manufacturers of radio-electronic equipment have expressed their readiness to participate in the cooperative venture, Rostec reported, without naming specific enterprises.

Now no one can cope with the development and production of base stations in Russia alone, General Director of Telecom Daily Denis Kuskov told Vedomosti. "Rostec, as the main beneficiary of production localization in Russia, apparently thought that it would not be able to cover the entire range of works on its own," he said.

At the same time, today there are no competencies and technologies for the production of such equipment in Russia, Head of Content Review Sergey Polovnikov believes.