Press review: What will Putin highlight at year-end presser and who wins in May’s Brexit

RBC: What issues will Putin raise at his next annual news conference?
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold his annual year-end news conference for Russian and foreign journalists on December 20, two sources close to the presidential administration told RBC. According to Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin will inform journalists about the date of the upcoming news conference "in due time."

Putin has held his annual news conferences to sum up each year’s results since 2001, with a break when he served as Prime Minister from May 2008 to May 2012. The shortest of these news conferences lasted for 1 hour and 35 minutes back in 2001, while the 2008 news conference set the record as being the longest one, lasting for 4 hours and 40 minutes.

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev has described Putin’s upcoming news conference as "an expansion of social optimism." "The president is likely to speak about future accomplishments and demonstrate that he is aware of the current problems and the national agenda," the paper quotes him as saying. In his view, foreign policy and Ukraine will certainly be among the issues raised by the president.

According to Andrei Kolyadin, a political scientist and former presidential administration staff member, the president will take up the issue of pension reform and its implications, but no sensational statements will be made. "No special news should be expected. Due to the difficult pension reform decision, the president should be particularly empathetic, since any sensational news is an unnecessary nuisance now. On the contrary, the president needs to show empathy and understanding," he explained.

Kommersant: May's Brexit deal a lose-lose option for Britian
The final version of the Brexit agreement made public on November 15 has sparked an unprecedented uproar in London, which could result in Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation. The key figures, including UK Brexit Minister Dominic Raab, are leaving May’s Cabinet one after another as an act of protest. The British prime minister was told in the House of Commons that she had to step down too taking cues from her Cabinet members. However, May is adamant and is determined to steer the country out of the EU at any cost, Kommersant writes.

Despite the outburst of emotion in the British parliament, most of the agreements are framework ones and require more detailed work. Nevertheless, the basic conditions for London’s future "divorce" from Brussels have been outlined. In particular, it is assumed that Northern Ireland will retain a single customs territory with the EU, yet the entire UK will remain in it because of that.

If the UK withdraws from the EU, the border has to be closed. However, according to the Belfast deal, it should be opened. "This problem was solved by extending the customs union to the territory of the entire kingdom," Yelena Ananyeva, Head of the UK Studies Center at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe, stressed to Kommersant.

Under these circumstances, the EU can be considered the winner, while in the UK the agreement is disadvantageous for everyone, she went on to say. "This is not a solution for Brexit proponents. It turns out that Britain obeys the EU’s rules but cannot have its say and will always remain in the customs union in this format. Nor does that suit Brexit opponents, because the conditions that Britain had as a EU member were much better than the one it receives now. What were they fighting for then?" she pointed out.

Meanwhile, Johan Verbeke, Director General of the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations, an independent think-tank based in Brussels, believes it is inappropriate to talk about winners and losers in the context of Brexit, since the ultimate goal is to make sure that both parties are winners.

Izvestia: IMF includes statistics on Crimea in data for Russia
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has included data on Crimea in statistics on Russia in its November Regional Economic Outlook report, Izvestia writes. The review focuses on the economic slowdown in Europe. According to IMF analysts, high energy prices, a decline in external demand and the escalation of trade wars are the key factors affecting the European economy’s potential. At the same time, Russia and Norway are mentioned as the main beneficiaries of the regional situation given that they are mainly resource-based economies.

The report states in particular that statistical data on Crimea and the city of Sevastopol "are included as part of the data for Russia." This ‘economic recognition’ of a region politically unrecognized by the West is a universal practice, said the experts interviewed by the paper.

Despite the fact that Taiwan is considered by most countries to be part of China, it is an independent state at the level of business practices, says Alexander Mikhaylenko, Professor of the National Security Department at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Although Taiwan’s business may not be fully legal from a political perspective (since the state itself it not recognized), its importance to the global economy is so great that business circles have to turn a blind eye to relations between governments.

For that very reason, Crimea as part of Russia is a statement of fact for economists and businesspeople, according to Nikolai Mezhevich, Professor of the Department of European Studies at St. Petersburg State University. For the West, ignoring this means distorting the estimates of the prospects for their own economy and harming their own businesses, the expert explained.

"Pragmatic people see, first and foremost, Crimea’s economic potential and regard it as an area for cooperation," Co-Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 5th Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF) Andrei Nazarov told Izvestia.

Kommersant: US cold snap heating up gas prices
Gas prices in the US soared over 40% last week, reaching a new peak since 2014 thanks to the cold spell sweeping across America’s northeastern region, while at the same time gas reserves in storage facilities have been dwindling. That can make Russian LNG supplies to the US very profitable, Kommersant writes.

Despite record high production, gas reserves in storage facilities at the beginning of the heating season amounted to a mere 90.5 bln cubic meters, which is 15% less than last year. This is the lowest figure since 2005.

Given the current gas prices, the US market can be a premium segment for Russian LNG from Novatek’s Yamal LNG project. According to Kommersant’s sources, Novatek, an independent gas producer and LNG developer, will conduct the first transshipment from the Vladimir Rusanov LNG tanker to the Pskov tanker within the next few days, though the Pskov’s point of destination has not been chosen yet.

"Theoretically, cargo from Yamal can be brought to the US thanks to relatively convenient logistics in the North Atlantic and due to the fact that Yamal LNG currently has free cargo that can be sold on the spot," the paper quotes Roman Kazmin from ICIS as saying. "It is easier for those companies with their own vessels, that is Shell, Total and Engie, to arrange such deals," the expert added.

Kazmin stressed that the surge in prices in the US market may last for some time, but that it won’t be a long-term trend. "This situation may last for another month or even three, but certainly not a year," he said.

Izvestia: Recent survey reveals social optimism in Russia on the decline
In spite of the fact that Russians are generally satisfied with their lives, they find the economic situation in the country less comfortable for them, Izvestia writes citing results from a recent poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center.

The survey has shown that 58% of the respondents are satisfied with their lives, while 21% said they were "partially satisfied." In comparison, in 2017, Russians were more optimistic about the country’s future.

The majority of those polled (57%) view the economic situation in Russia as average. As many as 27% said it was bad, while another 13% were certain that the Russian economy was in good condition.

"Despite the fact that satisfaction with one’s life continues to be very high, the proportion of Russians, who have pessimistic outlooks for the their families’ prospects is growing considerably," Oleg Chernozub, Head of the Center for Social and Economic Studies, who took part in preparing the survey, told the paper.

To "remedy" public sentiment, it is necessary to satisfy society’s growing demand for positive and significant events, according to Sergei Volodenkov, Professor of the Political Science Department at Moscow State University. That will help avoid the psychological fatigue effect, he pointed out.

The survey was conducted on October 23, 2018, with 1,600 people interviewed.