Top stories in the Russian press on Tuesday, May 28, prepared by TASS

Kommersant: US not seeking regime change in Iran, Trump assures

Washington is not looking for regime change in Iran, US President Donald Trump has said. His remarks came as a surprise, considering the previous threats against Tehran and the decision to send an additional military contingent to the Middle East, allegedly to counter Iran more effectively, Kommersant writes.

Some experts and diplomats even started talking about the start of a possible war with the Islamic Republic, which prompted the Saudi leadership to urgently convene Arab summits scheduled to be held in Mecca on Thursday. Even Qatar was invited to Mecca, despite the fact that Riyadh broke off diplomatic relations with Doha almost two years ago, particularly because of its close ties with Tehran.

"If tough statements on Iran are made at the Arab summits, that could be a powerful blow to Tehran. It could potentially be left without any allies in the region," Vladimir Sazhin, Senior Researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, told the paper. However, the Arab countries are unlikely to agree to take drastic steps against Iran without Washington’s blessing. Besides, they will be sure to take Trump’s recent statements into consideration. Moreover, there is no unity on the issue among the Arabs, and Tehran is taking advantage of that fact.

"Due to strong economic pressure exerted by the United States on Iran, some people in the country, lawmakers included, believe it is essential to conduct negotiations with Washington. When the country’s leadership says that there will be no talks unless the US respects Iran, all that is nothing more than eloquent political statements," Sazhin stressed. According to the expert, Washington’s desire to restrict Tehran’s nuke program and its influence in the region in general creates additional problems.

"The situation is explosive, and no one understands what to do. Trump first says that’s Iran’s end and then he is ready to negotiate with it (Tehran)," Yulia Sveshnikova, Research Fellow at the Higher School of Economics, told Kommersant. In reality, it is hard to imagine that conditions can really be created for any negotiation process between Washington and Tehran, she pointed out.

RBC: Voters show more interest in European parliamentary elections

Voters demonstrated a high turnout during the elections to the European Parliament held on May 23-26. According to preliminary data, it stood at 51%, which is the highest figure since 1994, RBC writes. Eurosceptics and ultra-right parties have improved their results and are likely to control at least 115 of 751 seats in the new parliament, according to Politico Europe. On the other hand, the European People’s Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the two long-time favorites, will no longer have the majority of seats in the European Parliament for the first time since 1979. That means that they will have to negotiate with other parties, primarily with the liberals, in legislative activities.

The fact that the ultra-right forces have consolidated their position in the European Parliament will not have a profound impact on dialogue with Russia, Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, told RBC. The ‘traditional’ parties will continue to control most seats there, he said, adding that the European Parliament does not play an important role in European institutions.

Lukyanov noted that the issue of Russia has now become a tool for domestic political struggle, citing as an example the situation regarding the right-wing populist Austrian People’s Party whose leaders called for a pragmatic approach in relations with Moscow but fell victim to a media scandal.

The election of such figures as Silvio Berlusconi to the parliament will have no substantial impact on relations between the European Union and Russia, the paper quotes Alexander Tevdoi-Burmuli, Assistant Professor at the Integration Processes Department of MGIMO University (the Moscow State Institute of International Relations), as saying. Even if the former Italian prime minister remains in the European Parliament and works in one of its committees, the committee’s decisions will depend on the stance of all its members. The expert believes that there will be the same balance of forces there as in the parliament as a whole, that is, Eurosceptics and proponents of changing relations with Moscow will constitute a minority.

Izvestia: Envoy stresses Russia committed to abiding by European Court’s decisions

Russia is complying with decisions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) despite its current dubious situation in the Council of Europe, Russian Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky told Izvestia.

"That’s a highly essential institution, and Russia is determined to abide by the ECHR’s decisions," the diplomat stressed.

He noted that the situation in the Council of Europe had changed for the better psychologically. "The organization needs to return to the partially forgotten provisions of its Charter, that is, achieving unity of all European countries and creating a common European legal and humanitarian space. Once the basic statutory provisions are restored, the remaining issues that have been highly politicized recently can be resolved, if there is a political will to do so," he said.

Soltanovsky also hoped that Russian lawmakers would take part in future PACE sessions. "The final decision on whether to send a delegation will be made by the top officials of the Federal Assembly (parliament). We are working to ensure that worthy equal conditions are created for our parliamentarians at the upcoming session. We want the decision to be positive not only for Moscow, but for the whole organization as well," he explained.

Commenting on Russia’s Council of Europe fee payment predicament, he emphasized that Moscow had always honored its commitments to pay off its debt after the end of the discrimination of its delegation.

"The countries that are aware of the severity of the crisis and are interested in preserving the Council of Europe as a pan-European organization, adhere to their foreign policy, which is not pro-Russian but takes into account international political realities," he went on to say.

"There are quite a few delegations from large and small countries that realize that a solution to key European problems is impossible without Russia’s involvement. That concerns not only issues affecting our country. The understanding that it is impossible to build European security without Russia is gradually beginning to prevail," Soltanovsky concluded.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Amid falling global car sales, Russia shows slight growth

Automobile sales are seeing a plunge that has been picking up steam and is on par with the sharp downturn of 2008, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes citing data provided by Bloomberg. The reasons for that are not only trade wars. Consumers may be acting more cautiously because of the growing supply of electric cars and the rising car sharing market, which is growing in popularity. People in big cities prefer to rent a car for a brief period of time instead of buying their own.

Meanwhile, Russia seems to have a reverse trend. Last year, car sales in the country grew over 12%. However, the growth was far more modest from January to April 2019 - a mere 1%.

"Regarding the Russian automotive market, sales reduction is affected by a decline in the population’s purchasing power rather than a slowdown in sales in the global market," Denis Petrunin, Director General of AvtoSpetsTsentr, told the paper.

"The segment of mass low-cost companies, specifically, car sharing and taxis, increases the mobility of the population and makes trips more accessible and cheaper, which is certainly a benefit for society. Of course, they change the automotive businesses, but they do not affect the overall number of sales in the global market," he stressed.

For his part, Dmitry Baranov, leading expert at Finam Management, recalled that the current sales stagnation was by no means unique. "This is not the first sales slowdown in the history of the global automotive industry. That has happened before, and the current one is not new and unexpected for manufacturers," he explained.

Izvestia: Donbass expects Zelensky to resume POW swaps

Donbass is urging Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to move from words to action on prisoner exchanges, Human Rights Commissioner of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Darya Morozova told Izvestia.

"In his inaugural speech, the newly-elected Ukrainian president called the cessation of hostilities in Donbass a priority. According to Zelensky, the first step for this is the return of prisoners. That inspires some hope that a constructive dialogue on the issue within the [Contact Group’s] humanitarian subgroup will resume. However, public statements alone are not enough to resume efforts. We are looking forward to specific actions from Kiev," she emphasized.

Morozova assured that Donetsk was prepared for an ‘all-for-all’ exchange and expects the new Ukrainian leader to appoint those responsible for exchanging individuals and agreeing on POW swap lists.

Donetsk is waiting for its counterparts from Kiev to come to the next meeting with a formal stance, and be ready to discuss specific solutions, she went on to say. The ombudsperson added that Kiev should provide a full list of the detained individuals for the ‘all-for-all’ swap, as envisaged by the Minsk agreements.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian lawmaker Tatyana Bakhteyeva stressed to Izvestia that Ukrainians hope that Zelensky would be able to resolve the discord in society and consolidate the nation. In her view, 73% of the votes cast for him attest to that.