Izvestia: EU to deny visas to Donbass residents holding Russian passports The European Union (EU) is working on recommendations for its member countries on identifying and possibly rejecting Russian passports issued to the residents of Donbass, the press service of the European Commission (EC) told Izvestia. Brussels is extremely concerned about Moscow’s decision to begin its streamlined issuance of Russian citizenship to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and believes that the move undermines the spirit and goals of the Minsk agreements, the newspaper wrote. Thus, the European Union is ready to take measures, going as far as not recognizing the documents. However, according to the EC's press service, the final decision on recognizing these passports would be in the hands of the member countries.

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In turn, the Polish Foreign Ministry told Izvestia that "all members of the European Union" are actively involved in the discussion. The Baltic states have already announced their intentions to not accept the documents. The Foreign Ministries of Latvia and Lithuania told the newspaper that they would deny Schengen visas to "new" holders of these Russian passports even without the EU adopting a unified decision. Moscow views this position as "extremely hypocritical" and hopes that "common sense will prevail in the EU." When speaking to Izvestia, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s (upper house) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev lambasted the EU for putting territory over people. "Let's see if the EU has enough common sense and responsibility for what is happening, where people and their interests, rather than some geopolitical structures, should still be at the center of attention," he said. Vedomosti: Moscow protests point to widening chasm between government and the public Saturday's Moscow rally against the lack of opposition candidates to the City Duma elections and against police brutality at peaceful rallies became the largest mass protest in the Russian capital since the winter of 2011-2012, Vedomosti wrote. According to a non-profit association of volunteers, around 60,000 people came to the protest, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported 20,000 participants. According to Vedomosti, at the moment, the rallies are primarily held in and concern Moscow, although they are based on a larger, growing demand by society for better participation opportunities in politics. At the moment, the protests are primarily focused almost exclusively on the Russian capital, political analyst Mikhail Vinogradov told Vedomosti. So far, the situation, according to the expert, is dead-locked. "The latest rally did not offer a clear strategy of action, but the notion that the authorities had that everything would be resolved by itself or that the protesters could be able to be effectively demoralized through repression is merely an assumption," he said.

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The protests have not died down, because they are based on mounting demands by the public to bolster participation in politics, according to political strategist Sergey Polyakov. "The denial to register independent candidates was perceived by society as a denial of the right to be heard," he told the newspaper, adding that if the authorities do not heed this request, the protests will increase. According to political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, over the past two months, the demonstrations have only grown, which indicate its fundamental nature. "Its reasons are not situational - this is not a short-term outburst of emotions, but a deep internal contradiction between a large social group and political institutions that do not satisfy this group," the expert told Vedomosti. So far, international analysts believe that the Moscow protests do not yet affect the overall domestic political situation, the newspaper wrote. Fitch experts, increasing Russia's rating from BBB-to BBB on Friday, wrote that the increased public activity and willingness to protest remained localized and did not lead to forming a nationwide political movement Izvestia: Chinese carmaker abandons production in Russia China's third largest automaker Changan refused to jointly produce automobiles at a plant in Russia's Lipetsk Region, Izvestia wrote. Sources told the newspaper that the company might have been influenced by recent litigation troubles of another Chinese car manufacturer in Russia. At the same time, experts told the newspaper that despite this, the Russian market remains attractive to automakers, so Changan might look for a new partner in Russia. The Chinese auto producer began manufacturing cars at the plant in 2016, starting off with its compact crossover the Changan CS35. "As for the CS35, there are about 300 vehicles left in the warehouse in Lipetsk. As far as I know, they will be sold and more cars will not be brought from there. All new vehicles will be shipped from China," a source at one of Changan's official dealerships told Izvestia. "We no longer manufacture anything in Russia, all of our cars are Chinese assembled. Yes, there used to be a factory, but now all the automobiles come from China, completely Chinese-made," an employee of the company confirmed to Izvestia.