SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1032 (98), Friday, December 24, 2004
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TITLE: Putin Lambastes West for Fomenting Revolutions
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of using double standards to pressure Russia's allies in other former Soviet republics and foment velvet revolutions there, saying he wondered whether Western countries are trying to isolate Russia.
Putin spent most of a 3 1/2-hour news conference answering questions about domestic policies, but he reserved his strongest language for foreign policy issues, blistering at what he described as an attempt by the West to put pressure on Russia over its policies in the so-called near abroad.
The president took a total of 51 questions, ranging from his plans beyond the second and final term of his presidency to the future of his two daughters. Putin reiterated his position that he would not seek a third term and will step down as required by the Constitution in 2008.
As usual, he appeared to have done his homework for the annual news conference, readily churning out numbers to outline macroeconomic trends in Russia, bilateral trade balances and even the unemployment rate in Poland.
While more or less at ease with questions on domestic policies, he turned more emotional and blistering when defining Russia's foreign policy. In his criticism of the West, Putin mostly focused on the European Union and particularly Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who said in a recent newspaper interview that "Russia without Ukraine is better than Russia with Ukraine" for the United States.
"If we interpret this [statement by Kwasniewski] as striving to limit Russia's ability to develop relations with its neighbors, then it means a desire to isolate the Russian Federation," Putin said.
"If that is the case, then the [Western] policy toward Chechnya becomes more understandable ... [as] a policy aimed at establishing elements that would destabilize the Russian Federation," he said.
Putin said Kwasniewski's assertion may mean that the Polish leader is looking beyond his presidency for a new job and said he will use a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in Slovakia in February to find out whether Washington is seeking to isolate Russia. Putin said he hopes the Bush administration does not have that intention.
The disputed election in Ukraine has emerged as a divisive issue in Russia's relations with the United States and the EU. Putin has backed outgoing President Leonid Kuchma's once-chosen successor, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, while the West offered tacit support for opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko.
Hardliners in Russia have accused Kwasniewski - who helped mediate talks between Yushchenko and Yanukovych - of being Washington's proxy in a covert battle being fought over Ukraine. The two candidates square off in a repeat vote Sunday.
Kwasniewski told reporters in Warsaw that Putin's criticism was unfair and a "price that Poland and I must pay for our involvement in solving the political crisis in Ukraine."
Putin denounced "dangerous attempts of solving political issues through nonlegitimate means," in a reference to Ukraine's so-called Orange Revolution - the well-organized opposition street protests that helped lead to the repeat vote - and the Rose Revolution in Georgia last year that brought a U.S.-trained lawyer to power.
The president said revolutions in those former Soviet republics had been planned "in other places" and noted that U.S. billionaire philanthropist George Soros is now bankrolling the salaries of senior officials in the Georgian government. Putin said the refusal of OSCE observers to recognize the results Ukraine's runoff on Nov. 21 combined with their willingness to endorse elections in Afghanistan and Kosovo show that the West is pursuing a policy of double standards.
Those double standards are also applied to human right issues, he said, pointing out that the EU has pressured Macedonia to set aside a quota for ethnic Albanians in the legislative and executive branches of power but spurned Moscow's requests for a similar quota for the sizeable Russian diaspora in the Latvian capital, Riga.
While critical of the EU, Putin was careful not to antagonize the United States and Bush. Putin described the United States as one of Russia's most important economic partners and an ally in the struggle against terror. He praised the Bush administration for being guided by national interests rather than "momentous, semi-scandal ... tactical issues" in its policy vis-a-vis Russia, and said the Kremlin reciprocates in the approach.
Putin called Bush "a consequential and decent man" who he keeps his word and whom he "fully trusts," even though the two sometimes differ in their positions and assessments.
He asserted Russia's right to pursue policies to bring neighboring countries closer to Moscow and said the Kremlin will continue to push forward on a pact to create a common economic space between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
He also made it clear that Moscow will continue to maintain contacts with separatist regimes in neighboring countries. Asked by a Georgian TV reporter whether trips by Russian officials to mediate talks between rival presidential candidates in separatist Abkhazia was also a case of double standards, Putin said Russia supports Georgia's territorial integrity but only if Tbilisi accommodates the wishes of ethnic groups.
In between his forays into foreign policy issues, Putin vowed to press ahead with domestic priorities such as the consolidation of power by the federal government, administrative reform and wage hikes.
Most of Putin's domestic policy answers, however, were a reiteration of what he has said before, including his assertion that the elimination of gubernatorial elections will not turn Russia into an unitary state and there is no crackdown under way on media freedoms.
"A decent girl must resist, while a true man must keep insisting," he said, resorting to a phrase he has used before to explain why the authorities keep insisting that some restrictions must be placed on the media.
He repeated earlier statements that media outlets can be independent but only if they are profitable and that their economic independence should be guaranteed by law.
As earlier, Putin said a program to convert Soviet-era social benefits for the the disabled, veterans and retirees to cash payments next year will help eradicate the corruption that has consumed money earmarked by the state for the needy but failed to reach them. Using similar arguments, president defended the reform of utilities, which will see the state stop subsidizing electricity and gas and shift the burden to consumers.
Paradoxically, not a single question was asked about Chechnya at the news conference, even though Putin mentioned the volatile North Caucasus region in his comments.
Weak applause greeted Putin when he arrived in the Kremlin Grand Palace Round Hall for the news conference, which was to last 90 minutes.
Putin, wearing a dark suit and a red tie, spoke for several minutes about the country's economic advances in 2004, using notes and firing out figures, before putting his papers away and inviting questions from the 500 gathered journalists.
Answering the first question about how his assessed the year's political developments, Putin made his only mention of the Beslan terrorist attack. His voice trembled as he promised to remember the tragedy but then gained in strength as he turned to the issue of the accountability of regional leaders.
As reporters were asking questions, Putin interrupted them several times and cracked jokes. He declining an invitation to visit the northern Nenetsky autonomous district, saying it was now too cold for him there.
The audience cheered only once, after a Japanese journalist asked about an offer last month by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to pass over to Japan two of the four disputed Kuril islands. "Lavrov has not offered any islands," Putin said to loud applause, and then asked why everyone had clapped.
The time allotted for the news conference expired after 27 questions, and Putin's spokesman Alexei Gromov, who had been mediating the questions, started wrapping up the event. But Putin then began calling on journalists.
Most of the tough questions about Russia's foreign policy, the scrapping of gubernatorial elections and the acquisition of Yukos' prize asset Yuganskneftegaz by state-owned Rosneft were asked in the first half of the news conference. Provincial journalists dominated the second part, quizzing the president about social problems and - almost without exclusion - inviting him to visit their regions. When a BBC reporter asked the 50th question, Putin said the last one should come from a Russian journalist.
TITLE: Ferry Firm Tallink Suspends Service to City
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Estonian ferry operator Tallink has suspended its services to and from St. Petersburg that had been intended to continue year round.
Citing unexpected and significant rises in port fees, it announced Wednesday that it will cease the service it began in April between St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn on Jan. 2.
Tallink Group, a leading player in the eastern Baltic shipping industry, announced it will refund tickets to all passengers and compensate all expenses that would-be passengers may have spent on obtaining visas to Estonia.
Tallink's chief executive Enn Pant said a decision whether to resume operations will be made in spring and for that reason the company will not close its representative office in the city.
"There are very few passengers in winter, while harsh weather conditions force us to drastically increase fuel consumption," Pant said in a press release. "We aren't very optimistic that the visa regime will be eased [soon]. The last straw came two days ago when Morskoi Vokzal, the city's sea passenger terminal, told us they will double their fees from Jan. 1, and we definitely can't afford that."
Russia requires visas of almost all citizens except those from some CIS countries, while Russians need visas to almost all other countries, including Estonia and Finland.
Travel industry professionals were upset by Tallink's decision.
"I am not sure that the fees alone would be sufficient to make them suspend their services," said Sergei Korneyev, head of Northwestern branch of the Russian Union of the Tourism Industry (RST). "It is possible that their market forecasts were a bit more optimistic than realistic, and the fees became a formal excuse."
Vladimir Malik, director of Morskoi Vokzal, denied port fees are to double, but said that like many local hotels and companies involved in tourism, the port has decided to switch from billing clients in dollars to euros.
With the current exchange rate of $1 to 1.35 euros, this represents a 35 percent increase.
Vladimir Salikhov, general director of the St. Petersburg branch of Intourist Co., said the tendency to switch to euros and inflation are working against the fragile local tourism industry in general. He suggested a special commission, like one that regulates prices in the energy sector, be created to regulate pricing policy in tourism sphere.
"Reasonable market regulation can bring only positive results," Salikhov said. "We can only stop a decline of visitors by introducing an appropriate pricing policy, but not by charging our guests more than they can afford."
The lowest fare on Tallink to Helsinki is 25 euros per person. It costs 50 euros to take a car on board but four people traveling together can take a car on board for free. Cruise tickets allowing passengers to continue to the triangular route Tallinn and back to St. Petersburg are available for 40 euros. Since it started its service on April 1, Tallink's ferry Fantaasia, which can carry up to 1,200 passengers, has carried around 100,000 passengers on the St. Petersburg route.
Pant said the company's wish to continue serving St. Petersburg is emotional rather than rational.
"We aren't just going to forget about the St. Petersburg market because it has potential, but our partners will have to seriously consider the price-quality ratio, while neighboring countries should think about easing the visa regime for travelers," Pant said.
Korneyev admitted the port's infrastructure leaves much to be desired but said things are sure to improve with construction of the new passenger terminal, which is expected to receive first passengers in 2007. The up-to-$500 million, 400,000-square-meter terminal is to be built on reclaimed land covering 49 hectares. It will be able to process 1.2 million passengers a year.
"Despite the ailing infrastructure, I am convinced that if they had enough passengers on the route, it would have mattered to them less, but Fantaasia was getting at best a 50 percent occupancy in high season," he said. "It is a well-known fact that a new tourist product takes about three years to become profitable because time is needed for the customers to get used to it. I, just like many of my colleagues in the tourism industry, hope that Tallink will return in spring."
Earlier this year major Finnish shipping company Silja Line suspended its passenger ferry services between St. Petersburg and Rostock, Germany, via Tallinn until April, owing to a lack of passengers. When the company launched the route in spring it had announced that its Finnjet boat would operate year round. But the city is pinning its hopes on the ferry business.
"According to World Tourism Organization standards, a 3 percent to 4 percent growth is considered good," said Viktor Pakhomkov, deputy head of City Hall's external relations and tourism committee. "But the ferry and cruise ship business in St. Petersburg has demonstrated a stunning 30 percent growth over the past year."
Pakhomkov said next year, a high-speed catamaran will link St. Petersburg and Kotka in Finland, one hour's drive from Helsinki. The ferry ride is expected to take just 3.5 hours.
TITLE: Huge Blaze at New Holland
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A warehouse at the New Holland complex on an island in the west of city burned last night in what NTV described as a suspicious event just days before the military were due to vacate it and hand it over to the city for redevelopment.
Interfax reported that 3,000 square meters of the three-story brick warehouse, whose ownership could not be established, were on fire and that at 10:30 p.m. there were 35 fire appliances at the scene. No one was thought to have been in the warehouse when the fire broke out.
Emergency services said they feared that the fire could spread to neighboring buildings. The fire was first reported at 20:34 p.m. and by 21:13 it had been described as a category five blaze, the most difficult to extinguish.
Firefighters were prevented from entering the blazing building by barred windows.
Television pictures showed vast walls of flame towering over the complex.
New Holland, an historical monument is located on an island bounded by canals.
TITLE: Report: Matviyenko
May Resign Early
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko may be the first regional leader to resign and invite President Vladimir Putin to nominate her for the post, newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets said Wednesday.
The move becomes possible with the new law on regional leaders coming into force on Jan. 1. It means governors will no longer be elected. Instead, the president will nominate candidates that will be subject to approval by regional parliaments.
The newspaper suggested that the governors have been encouraged to step down before the terms for which they elected expire as a sign of their loyalty to Putin.
Matviyenko was elected late last year for a four-year term.
"A considerable number of regional leaders have decided to avoid quarreling with the Kremlin," Moskovsky Komsomolets wrote. "St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko is expected to start the en masse resignation campaign, either at the end of 2004 or at the start of 2005.
"A pack of gentlemen will follow the lady," it added.
Matviyenko said Thursday that it was too early to comment on the matter.
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and at least two other governors are refusing to resign early.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party introduced a clause allowing the governors to step down early and seek Putin's nomination in order to "raise the issue of confidence" in them.
Luzhkov, who has the status of a governor, said he will not step down to seek Putin's confirmation for the job because he has "obligations to Muscovites," according to an interview published in Izvestia last week.
"I don't think the president needs such a procedure in Moscow," he said.
He said he is not interested in a new term after his current term ends in 2007.
Krasnoyarsk Governor Alexander Khloponin and Chelyabinsk Governor Pyotr Sumin also said they do not need to seek Putin's blessing. "I have formed reliable working relations with the presidential administration and the Cabinet," Izvestia quoted Khloponin as saying.
"I wouldn't say that as a popularly elected governor I don't feel some responsibility to the president," Sumin was quoted by Novy Region, a local news agency, as saying. "But I also feel responsibility to my electorate."
Arkhangelsk Governor Nikolai Kiselyov has indicated he might step down early. " If you consider this as ... a confidence-building procedure, it will, of course, take place," he was quoted by the Regnum news agency as saying.
A Kremlin source said the presidential administration will not push for a wave of early resignations, Izvestia reported.
But the governors might want to resign en masse on their own, the source said.
TITLE: Ex-OMON Sought in Grozny
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Chechen prosecutors are demanding that a former St. Petersburg OMON special police officer be sent to Grozny to face questions of whether he killed civilians during a federal attack, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Wednesday.
The suspect, Sergei Babin, said he was shocked when police showed up at his apartment on Dec. 16 and detained him, saying a federal warrant for his arrest had been issued a year earlier.
"When I heard this I started stammering, 'How? What for? Why?' I had more questions than the answers that they gave me," Babin was quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda as saying.
Babin served in Chechnya in a platoon of St. Petersburg OMON officers stationed in the Vedensky district.
"Allegedly, I fired my gun and killed some old man in front of an old woman, whom I robbed, in 2000," Babin said.
"They [the police] let me glance at some sort of paper, took my documents and put me in a monkey room," he said, using slang for a jail cell.
Babin was released a day later at the urging of his friends.
The Chechen prosecutor's office declined comment Wednesday. "The name sounds familiar but, unfortunately, I can't say anything about it," acting Prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko said by telephone from Grozny.
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Extradition Imminent
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A key suspect in the trial of those accused of murdering State Duma Deputy Galina Stolyarova in 1998 will be extradited from Belgium on Friday, Interfax reported Thursday.
Pavel Stekhnovsky will be extradited under a federal search warrant. He was questioned about the slaying and signed a pledge to stay in the the country, but went abroad, the report said. The trial has been going all year in St. Petersburg.
Christmas Services
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The Catholic St. Catherine's of Alexandria church will hold Christmas services on Friday at 8 p.m. (Russian). On Saturday services will be held at 9:30 a.m. (English), at noon (Russian), at 1:30 p.m. (Polish), at 3 p.m. (Korean or Russian) and at 7 p.m. (Russian).
Other Christmas Day events are listed in All About Town.
New Border Crossing
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The European Union's Tacis program will provide 5.7 million euros ($7.7 million) for the construction of a new crossing on the Finnish-Russian border at Suopera in Karelia, Interfax reported Thursday.
Construction is to start in the first quarter of next year and be completed by December. The crossing is expected to open early in 2006.
Kaliningrad Transit
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Residents of the Kaliningrad region should have few problems transiting Lithuania between the region and the rest of Russia from Jan. 1 when they will be required to have a foreign passport, Itar-Tass quoted Sergei Yastrzhembsky, presidential envoy for the development of relations with the European Union, as saying Monday.
Lithuania joined the European Union in May and is part of the Schengen visa regime.
More than 47.5 percent of the Kaliningrad's population, or almost 90 percent of those needing these documents, the report said.
New Capital Dial Code
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The long-distance calling code for Moscow will change from 095 to 495 next year, Interfax quoted Andrei Beskaravainy, deputy head of the Federal Communications Agency, as saying Wednesday at a news conference.
"Throughout the world '0' is used as a prefix to international calls," he said. "We will begin to change the '0' in the 095 code to a '4,'" he said.
New Holland Handover
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will hand over a symbolic key to New Holland to Governor Valentina Matviyenko on Tuesday, Interfax reported Wednesday, citing Vice Governor Yury Mochanov.
The New Holland complex, an architectural monument, occupies a small island in the west of the city and has been used by the Baltic Fleet.
Molchanov said Swedish and Russian investors had shown interest in restoring the complex. "I think that we need to attract a single investor ... who will be able to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars," he added.
Woman Shot Dead
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The 45-year-old female secretary at a law firm was killed and the 42-year-old female head of the office was hospitalized after a shootout in an office in the Moskovsky district about 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Fontanka.ru reported.
The killers also set fire to the office before fleeing. Police are investigating, the report said.
The same evening the headless body of a businessman was found in a car park in the Vyborg district, the agency reported.
City Funds for Film
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A film about Roman emperor Hadrian starring Spanish actor Antonio Banderas and is to be shot in Tunisia, city production company Nikola Film reported Wednesday.
Based on a book by Marguerite Yourcenar, it is expected to cost $40 million and will be shot by a British, German, French, Italian and Russian crew. It is to premiere in Russia in 2006.
New Suspect in Slaying
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A seventh suspect has been arrested by prosecutors investigating the murder of 9-year-old Tajik girl, Khursheda Sultanova, on Feb. 9, Fontanka.ru said.
TITLE: $2Bln Pledged for German Trains
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: SCHLESWIG, Germany - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Vladimir Putin announced a 1.5 billion euro ($2 billion) deal Tuesday to bring German high-speed trains to Russia.
The news comes less than a week since Russia was considering proposals from the Spanish government to finance a feasibility study on the construction of a Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railroad.
In addition, Russia was looking at Spanish-made double-decker trains for the route and the Russian Railways press office went as far as announcing intentions to run the Spanish trains from 2006.
Now, under the new agreement in Germany, industrial conglomerate Siemens will provide Russia with 60 InterCity Express, or ICE, trains for the same route: between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Putin and Schroeder also talked about the 14 billion euros debt that Russia owes Germany, and Schroeder said a deal had been worked out about an early repayment.
"Trade between Germany and Russia is developing very dynamically," Schroeder said, capping two days of talks between the leaders. "Russia is an enormously important market, in which German companies must be present."
The trains will be partially built by Russian locomotive manufacturer NTT, and the agreement includes an option for 90 more trains, Siemens CEO Heinrich von Pierer said.
Schroeder gave Putin a firsthand look at the trains earlier in the day, taking him on a 112-kilometer trip from Hamburg to the northern town of Schleswig for the final stop in two days of German-Russian talks focused on boosting economic ties.
Schroeder said he expected Russia to make early repayments in 2005 of debt owed to Germany, a move that would bring major relief to Berlin as it strives to keep its budget under European Union borrowing limits.
"There will be an early repayment," Schroeder said. "I can't yet say anything about the amount and the details. But I expect that the early repayment will start next year."
German government sources have said Moscow could repay as much as $5 billion to $6 billion in 2005.
The cash for the repayments is to come from Russia's stabilization fund.
(Reuters, AP, and SPT)
TITLE: Policies Hurting Growth, Gref Says
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Lashing out at the government for following unclear and inconsistent policies, two liberal ministers warned on Wednesday that economic growth is slowing down and that the Cabinet is unlikely to meet President Vladimir Putin's goal of doubling the economy by 2010.
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref told the Cabinet that economic growth will shrink to 5.8 percent in 2005 from the 6.8 percent expected this year.
"Despite all of our wishes, we have not succeeded in the goal set by the president - that was a growth rate of 7.3 percent to 9 percent a year," Gref said in televised remarks after the Cabinet meeting.
He said annual growth will average 6.1 percent through 2008, and the economy will probably only end up expanding by 85 percent by 2010 - 15 percent short of the goal set by Putin in spring 2002.
Gref also said the government's auction of Yukos' main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, should not shake investor confidence in the long run if the veil of secrecy over the sale is lifted. "The way that investors see this deal will depend on its transparency and the market's understanding of the situation," Gref said.
He acknowledged, however, that he had no idea about who owns Baikal Finance Group, the mystery company that submitted the winning bid Sunday. "I have no clue on who is behind Baikal," Gref said. "I never lie. I would rather decline to answer the question if I knew. But I don't know."
Putin is the only state official who has said he knows who really bought Yugansk, but he has not identified the new owner.
Rather than blaming jitters over the legal assault against Yukos, Gref said investors are discouraged that the government has dragged its feet on reforms. He stressed that some key areas in need of reform are out of his ministry's hands, including the court system, law enforcement agencies and the military.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin also blamed the government for hurting investor confidence, saying it has failed to pursue clear and transparent policies.
As a result, the equity market will show zero growth this year, compared to 57 percent in 2003, and 37 percent in 2002, he said.
"At midyear there was an upward trend," he said. "This means that all of the investors did not believe in our proposed policies or we failed to explain them clearly," he said, Interfax reported.
Kudrin said the performance of Gazprom shares serves as a good example of the government's policymaking failures. In September, shares in the state-controlled gas giant jumped by $12 billion in the two days after it announced a merger with state-owned Rosneft, and by Nov. 18 its capitalization reached $69 billion.
"But since then the market has been falling, and today Gazprom is valued at $62 billion," Kudrin said.
The merger announcement led many investors to believe that the government was finally taking action to bring down its ban on foreigners buying domestic Gazprom shares, which are sold at a significant discount to its shares traded abroad.
Gazprom shares also took a plunge in the aftermath of Sunday's sale of Yugansk - which the company had been expected to win, but it failed to enter a bid.
TITLE: Managers Take Over MMK
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The management of No. 2 steel producer Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, or MMK, appeared to take almost total control of the company Wednesday after a key rival abruptly backed out of an auction for the state's remaining 23.8 percent stake.
What was expected to be a bruising battle between steel rivals had a surprisingly soft ending, as steelmaker Mechel retreated from the auction at the last minute and a company called UFGIS Structured Holding Ltd. snapped up the stake at the starting price of $790.15 million.
MMK management said UFGIS represented the interests of investors linked to Magnitogorsk. Management previously controlled 58 percent of the firm.
The buyout marks an important milestone in the ongoing consolidation of Russia's steel industry and could pave the way for the eventual public listing of Magnitogorsk, analysts said.
"Unlike other Russian auctions, this is kind of an ideal outcome," said Rob Edwards, a metals analyst with Renaissance Capital. "All in all, I think it's good, and reasonably civilized."
Mechel, the country's No. 5 steelmaker, had been preparing for the auction for weeks. In October it held an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $291 million. The Chelyabinsk-based company, which already held a 17 percent stake in MMK, said that it was willing to pay up to $2.15 billion for the stake.
But late Tuesday Mechel announced that it had sold its entire stake in MMK for $780 million to UFGIS Trading Ltd., which it said was acting for a consortium of investors. UFGIS is a venture of Moscow-based brokerage UFG. A UFG spokeswoman did not return calls on Wednesday.
But a spokeswoman for MMK general director Viktor Rashnikov hinted that Magnitogorsk management was behind the acquisition of both the state's stake and Mechel's stake, meaning management had secured direct or indirect control of over 90 percent of the firm.
"The people who bought the stake [at auction] are friendly to the management of Magnitogorsk," Yelena Azovtseva told Bloomberg on Wednesday. "People who bought the stake from Mechel are possibly also friendly to the management."
UFGIS paid an extra $90 million for Mechel's shares in return for a waiver in which Mechel gave up all potential claims on MMK and its shareholders.
Analysts called the waiver a dead giveaway that the investment group that bought shares from Mechel was acting on behalf of MMK management.
However, Mechel spokeswoman Irina Ostryakova said Mechel signed the waiver because the company had "experienced mistreatment as a minority shareholder [of MMK], mainly in respect to dividends. The buying party was willing to compensate for that."
The auction was the final sell-off of a large government stake in a steelmaker.
TITLE: Jaguar Drops Prices in Russia
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Poor sales of Jaguars in Russia have prompted the car brand's owner Ford Motors Co. to drop prices by more than 15 percent after designating a single Jaguar-Land Rover office to import the high-end cars directly from Britain, it was announced earlier this month.
"Formerly Jaguar cars had to be imported to Russia through Finland, and that involved all the extra customs costs plus transportation fees," Jaguar Land Rover Russia's marketing and PR manager Sergei Gyuardzhian said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
"Now people will get a product at a fair price and quicker, and with Jaguar directly involved in the action, we expect the brand to develop much more actively next year."
A more than 15 percent price drop will mean, for example, that the standard Jaguar model X-Type, formerly priced at $47,100 in Russia, will cost $32,900. In another attempt to boost poor Russia sales, prices for Jaguars will now be displayed in U.S. dollars, not euros, which industry insiders say makes a difference on the Russian car market.
"Dollars are what Russian consumers are used to and with inflation cars priced in dollars are more attractive than those in euros. Furthermore, last year Peugeot suffered enormously when they converted prices into rubles - can you imagine being told you have to pay half a million," said Anatoly Tyomkin, an auto specialist at Vedomosti business newspaper, in an interview.
Sales of Jaguars in Russia have been slow with only about 100 models sold in the whole of Russia this year, said Alexei Bezobrazov, director of Aksel, a Land Rover dealership in the city.
"Firstly, the reason has been the high price, and secondly, there has been no help from the manufacturer in the brand's promotion. It was up to individual dealers to push through some kind of advertising - if they were able."
Jaguar Land Rover Russia hopes to sell 400 Jaguar vehicles in Russia next year and make the brand much more competitive against German cars also on the middle-management market, as well as in its more familiar luxury car sector, Gyuardzhian said.
"That's rather ambitious," said Bezobrazov in a phone interview Thursday. "To quadruple their sales from the current 2004 levels next year, they'll have to work quite hard, and a lot depends on support from the distribution company, and from Ford ZAO too.
"For Jaguar to find its niche on the Russian market, we are talking about a mass-scale promotion, like that carried out by Toyota at present: press, TV, outside banners, the lot," Bezobrazov said.
With the still-developing Russian car market, good advertising can mean a doubling of sales in a year, said Tyomkin, but he pointed out that a lot depends on the brand's distribution network and after-sales service.
"Apart from the advertising, Toyota have been successful exactly because of an excellent services package, and well-thought-out distribution system," he said.
Gyuardzhian agrees that Jaguar has problems, but says they are linked to the brand's past and praises Ford Motors Co.'s flexible attitude towards the promotion and development of Jaguar.
"Ford doesn't interfere with the creative process, it doesn't try to foist its visions of how a car brand should be managed, which gives the people in the U.K., those who know Jaguar and are passionate about it, the chance to promote their product themselves," Gyuardzhian said.
However, those people interested in cheaper Jaguars will have to wait awhile. Jaguar and Land Rover have as yet been united only in a legal sense, and not in practice. Direct shipments of Jaguar from the U.K. factories will start no sooner than late January.
"In fact, the dealers have not yet received the official price list either," said Bezobrazov, adding that Jaguar prices will not be lowered until that time.
Meanwhile, the price change will not extend to Land Rover models, since direct imports of the British-made off-roaders have been in place for the last four years.
Sales of Land Rover in Russia are expected to double in 2005 from their 2003 level: 3,000 vehicles are prepared for next year, after this year's sales figure topped 2,300 vehicles.
TITLE: Motorola Headhunts Top Staff in Tight Job Market
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Expecting a 50 percent increase in orders next year, Motorola announced plans to up its staff levels in St. Petersburg accordingly, putting pressure on smaller software development companies trying to retain staff.
"I cannot state the volume of orders for 2005, but in terms of staff numbers, we estimate that we will need about 150 new employees next year," director of Motorola's software development center in St. Petersburg Vladimir Polutin said Tuesday.
After a slight decline in 2001-2002, Motorola sees the Russian IT market developing at a gallop, with orders in 2004 jumping by 60 percent and orders for the first three quarters of 2005 already confirmed, Polutin said.
This year Motorola increased its staff number in the city by 120 employees to a total of 350 which worked on 66 projects. The addition of 150 staff in 2005 will mean that the company's operations will have doubled since 2003
RECRUITMENT TROUBLE
Despite Motorola's cooperation with the city's top technical colleges in picking out potential new employees, Yekaterina Serebrenikova, the company's HR manager in St. Petersburg, acknowledged that much less than half of the 150 new workers will be recent graduates.
"Training a fresh graduate to the strong contributor level for our company takes about one year," Serebrenikova said. Motorola denies its plans to "poach" staff from other companies but figures indicate that the majority of its new computer programmers will come from firms operating in the field.
"Motorola's area is very specific and it limits who they can pick. They can take some graduates, but mostly they need specialists who already have a spectrum of knowledge, and who are working in this field," said Natalia Chisler, an IT and telecoms consultant at Ancor recruitment agency in St. Petersburg.
Tatiana Oreshkina, project assistant at the International Finance Corporation in St. Petersburg which supports smaller and medium-sized IT companies in the city, said: "Motorola is involved in headhunting in a big way, and they will be going after programmers already working in St. Petersburg at other companies. Because 150 programmers - that's quite a lot."
"For the smaller firms in the city to lose just one or two employees is drastic. Most of them tell me, they are not even trying to compete on clients at the moment, they are competing mainly on retaining staff," Oreshkina added in a telephone interview Wednesday.
General director of local IT company Arcadia, Arkady Khotin, said he was not worried about losing staff to Motorola because like other large companies it also works with hardware, which smaller firms cannot afford to do.
He believes, however, that Motorola will have problems finding experienced quality staff, even with direct recruiting, adding: "they'll have to search all the nooks and crannies."
In contrast, Anya Brasky, director of Sun Microsystem's high-tech center, remained positive saying promising talent from the regions can ease the staff shortages on the market.
"The staff numbers are always fluctuating," said Brasky. "Russia's mathematical education system is generally very good; there are good potential employees not only from the two main cities, but also from Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, and Novosibirsk among others."
WHO IS INTERESTED
While Ancor, one of the recruiting agencies that works with Motorola, sees the task of finding 150 new staff as "very tough, a challenge," Chisler adds that the electronics giant is attractive because of its name, world-wide profile, and leading position in the industry.
"They are one of few who are working on the edge of new developments in the industry. There are research centers and institutes who also work in the same direction, but Motorola can offer better wages and conditions than those institutions," Chisler said.
Yury Mikhailov of Consort Petersburg recruitment agency, disagrees, and sees Motorola as proving attractive to primarily young candidates.
"The younger programmers will be interested, but as for programmers with 4-5 years experience - they are looking for something more, not just a big-name company," Mikhailov said.
"For example, a Swedish IT company was recently considering a wage rise for its staff. My recommendation was that the staff needs to get about 40 percent more or they will leave very soon, and I could name the companies where they'd go. But, whether they would they choose Motorola or, say, Digital Design... I think they are more likely to go to the latter."
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: LUKoil Buys Baltrade
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - LUKoil has purchased 37 Baltrade fuel stations in the city and the Leningrad Oblast, Interfax reported Wednesday.
The presence of LUKoil-Severo-Zapadnefteproduct, the regional sales operator for LUKoil, will increase from 40 to 77 gas stations.
The company paid around $600,000 per fuel station, LUKoil president Vagit Alekperov said to AK&M news agency.
The overall deal is expected to cost $20 million.
RZD to Net $607M
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) - Russian Railways, or RZD, the country's rail monopoly, predicts net income will total 16.9 billion rubles ($607 million) next year, after it ships more cargo.
Moscow-based RZD will increase cargo shipments by 5.5 percent in 2005, slowing from 8 percent growth this year, Gennady Fadeyev, the company's chief executive, said at a management meeting Wednesday. Operating revenue should reach 759 billion rubles next year.
The company plans to invest 174.5 billion rubles next year, 36 percent more than this year, as it upgrades rail links, builds new railways, and adds to its rolling stock.
City Port Auction
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The Federal Agency for Managing State Property will auctions 20% of the St. Petersburg Marine Port, with a starting price of 119.5 million rubles ($4.3 million), gateway2russia reported.
The auction is planned for January 18, 2005 at the MSK in Moscow, but the submission date for interested parties has been set as January 13.
The expected bidding increments are 1 million rubles ($36,000).
TITLE: U.S. Didn't Bankroll Yushchenko
TEXT: Events in Ukraine have inspired most people living in the free world. Ukrainian democrats stood together in the freezing cold to demand from their government what we citizens of democracies take for granted: the right to elect their leaders in free and fair elections. But not all observers of Ukraine's Orange Revolution are so elated. Instead of democracy's advance, some see a U.S.-funded, White House-orchestrated conspiracy to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty, weaken Russia's sphere of influence and expand Washington's imperial reach. These skeptics range from presidents Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela to Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas, columnist Patrick Buchanan, and left-wingers in The Nation and The Guardian.
This odd collection of critics is a little bit right and a whole lot wrong.
Did Americans meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine? Yes. The U.S. agents of influence would prefer different language to describe their activities - democratic assistance, democracy promotion, civil society support - but their work, however labeled, seeks to influence political change in Ukraine. The U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy and a few other foundations sponsored certain U.S. organizations, including Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Solidarity Center, the Eurasia Foundation, Internews and several others, to provide small grants and technical assistance to Ukrainian civil society. The European Union, individual European countries and the Soros-funded International Renaissance Foundation did the same.
In the run-up to Ukraine's presidential vote this autumn, these U.S. and European organizations concentrated their resources on creating conditions for free and fair elections. Western organizations provided training and some direct assistance to the Committee of Ukrainian Voters, Ukraine's first-rate election-monitoring organization. Western funding agencies pooled resources to sponsor two exit polls. Western foundations also provided assistance to independent media. Freedom House and others supported Znayu and the Freedom of Choice Coalition, whose members included the high-profile Pora student movement. And through their conferences and publications, these U.S. organizations supported the flow of knowledge and contacts between Ukrainian democrats and their counterparts in Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Serbia. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe coordinated with several other European, U.S. and Canadian organizations to put together a major international monitoring effort of the election process. Formally, this help was nonpartisan, because the aim was to aid the electoral process. Yet most of these groups believed that a free and fair election would mean victory for Viktor Yushchenko. And they were right. Did the U.S. government fund the Yushchenko campaign directly? Not to my knowledge. Both the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute conducted training programs for Ukrainian political parties, some of which later joined the Yushchenko coalition.
But in the years leading up to the 2004 votes, U.S. ambassadors in Ukraine insisted that no U.S. government money could be provided to any candidate. Private sources of external funding and expertise aided the Yushchenko campaign. Likewise, U.S. and Russian public relations consultants worked with the Yushchenko campaign, just as U.S. and Russian public relations people were brought in to help his opponent, Viktor Yanukovych. In future elections Ukrainian officials might enforce more controls on foreign resources. But this kind of private, for-profit campaign advice occurs everywhere now, and Americans no longer control the market.
Did U.S. money bring about the Orange Revolution? Absolutely not. The combination of a weak, divided and corrupt ancien regime and a united, mobilized and highly motivated opposition produced Ukraine's democratic breakthrough. Westerners did not create or control the Ukrainian democratic movement but rather supported its cause on the margins. Moreover, democracy promotion groups do not have a recipe for revolution. If the domestic conditions aren't ripe, there will be no democratic breakthrough, no matter how crafted the technical assistance or how strategically invested the small grants. In fact, Western democracy promoters work in most developing democracies in the world, yet democratic transitions are rare. Do these U.S. democracy assistance groups carry out the will of the George W. Bush administration? Not really. One of the greatest myths about U.S. democracy efforts is that a senior White House official carefully choreographs the efforts of the National Endowment for Democracy or Freedom House. While they are perhaps supportive philosophically, policymakers at the White House and the State Department have had almost nothing to do with the design or implementation of U.S. democracy assistance programs. In some countries, they clash with one another. I witnessed this as the National Democratic Institute's representative in Moscow during the last days of the Soviet Union: U.S. policymakers supported Mikhail Gorbachev, while we worked with Democratic Russia, Gorbachev's opponents. The same divide is present in many countries today.
Does this kind of intervention violate international norms? Not anymore. There was a time when championing state sovereignty was a progressive idea, since the advance of statehood helped destroy empires. But today those who revere the sovereignty of the state above all else often do so to preserve autocracy, while those who champion the sovereignty of the people are the new progressives. In Ukraine, external actors who helped the people be heard were not violating the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people; they were defending it.
Michael McFaul is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and an associate professor of political science at Stanford University. This comment first appeared in The Washington Post.
TITLE: The Kremlin Is Too Fond of The Green Stuff
TEXT: In the Boris Yeltsin era we lived in a more or less friendly world. Now we seem to be under threat from all sides: Islamist terrorists, international Zionism and U.S. imperialism.
Inside the country, the oligarchs are fighting tooth and nail to fend off the Kremlin's efforts to bolster the so-called power vertical, or executive chain of command. As the oligarchs' real power wanes, their struggle becomes all the more desperate. You can draw an analogy with class warfare, which, as Comrade Stalin taught us, grows ever fiercer as communism draws near.
Why are Russia's enemies multiplying? To find the answer to this question, take a look at Dagestan. There is no business in Dagestan apart from the government. Relatives of Dagestani leader Magomedali Magomedov fill all the best positions, and government officials are blown up more frequently than in Chechnya. The mayor of Makhachkala alone has survived 15 assassination attempts, and locals say that all 15 were payback.
Dagestan is a multi-ethnic republic where Kumyks, Lezgin and especially the largest ethnic group, the Avars, aren't terribly happy with the favoritism shown by Magomedov to his fellow Dargins. The Kremlin summoned the leader of the Avar opposition, the mayor of Khasavyurt, to Moscow last summer and prodded him to hold a protest rally. He complied. Shortly thereafter, Magomedov caught a flight to Moscow and convinced the people who matter that his policies were justified. I'm inclined to think that his arguments were distinctly green in color, but unrelated to Islam. The mayor was then summoned again to Moscow and told to cease and desist.
These people aren't just their own worst enemy; they're shooting themselves in the foot. Consider another example. The price of meat is rising, and quotas and bans imposed by the government are partly to blame. Back in September, the price of pork shot up 40 percent because imports from Brazil were banned. On Sept. 13, Brazil registered a case of foot-and-mouth disease in the state of Amazonas. The Agriculture Ministry immediately slapped a ban on Brazilian pork, but import quotas continued to be sold at auction. Someone who knew when the ban would be lifted could clean up. Sure enough, the day before President Vladimir Putin visited South America in November, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev visited Brazil, talks were held and the ban was lifted.
It's incorrect to say that Russia is rife with corruption. After all, corruption is when criminal charges are brought against you, you pay someone off and the charges are dropped. Here they bring charges against you, you pay the right people, but a week later the charges are filed again because somebody wants even more.
Russia once had laws - back in the days of Yaroslav the Wise, I believe. Under Yeltsin we had understandings. Now we have neither. What we do have is arbitrary rule.
At some point the regime has to explain to people why the price of food is going up, and why terrorist attacks are on the rise. When that time comes, the regime begins to look for enemies. It then emerges that Arab terrorists are to blame for the attacks, and the oligarchs are to blame for rising food prices because they have jacked up the price of gasoline. And Viktor Yushchenko won because he was helped by the CIA.
But it seems to me that the CIA, the Arabs and the oligarchs are beside the point. The problem is that the people in the Kremlin are overly fond of the color green though they do not believe in Allah.
Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.
TITLE: Sympathy for the National Bolsheviks
TEXT: It's nothing new to say that the court system acts in favor of the authorities, whether it is dealing with so-called tax violations allegedly committed by Yukos management or the latest openly unconstitutional presidential initiative to take away the right of the population to elect the heads of regions. In both cases, the Kremlin has mixed rational arguments with humbug, in effect tossing the Constitution out the window.
But from now on, those who dare to do the same to a portrait of President Vladimir Putin can expect to face serious consequences. The National Bolshevik Party members that intruded into the Health and Social Development Ministry in Moscow threw a portrait of Putin out the window as part of a protest against government plans to eliminate various social benefits. They were sentenced to five years in jail Monday.
Actions of this kind should be punished in some way, such as a fine. But five years in prison is completely out of hand. If someone told me in 1999, before Putin came to the Kremlin, that this kind of punishment would be introduced for people who found an unusual way of expressing their views, I would never have believed it. I also agree with certain human rights activists that "this verdict was a perfect present for Stalin's birthday," which was marked on Tuesday.
The authorities did absolutely nothing to punish those who destroyed an exhibit at the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center called "Caution, Religion" in 2003. A crowd of violent "Russian Orthodox activists" defaced the exhibit and destroyed most of the items on display. There was no portrait of Putin there, and this might be why all the vandals were let off the hook.
Until recently, I did not have much respect for NBP members, whom I saw as followers of dying communist traditions. But this year, NBP activists seem to be some of the most active members of society and practically the only people protesting the violations of the Constitution.The party joined and led protest actions against in-fill construction in St. Petersburg. They blocked roads in St. Petersburg, causing traffic problems. But what else could they do if authorities do not heed the concerns of the very voters who brought them to power?
Unfortunately, there is another trial coming with perhaps even more serious consequences for the 40 young people who broke into the presidential administration headquarters on Dec. 14. This group is not only charged with hooliganism, but also with attempted violent seizure of power. For distributing leaflets calling on Putin to resign, the NBP members are facing life in jail. Sadly, harsh sentences for these protesters would come as no surprise. Society no longer needs the open-minded.
TITLE: Do they know it's Christmas?
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Western visitors to Russia during the Holiday Season are often surprised when Dec. 25 comes - and goes - without anything actually happening. For visitors from predominantly Christian countries, this date marks Christmas Day. But Russia's unique historical circumstances have resulted in a festive calendar which is confusing to the uninitiated.
Christmas in Russia is celebrated on Jan. 7, rather than Dec. 25 (when it is observed by Western Christianity), because the Russian Orthodox Church adheres to the ancient, Julian calendar rather than the modern, Gregorian calendar.
Before the creation of the Soviet state the Russian empire used the Julian calendar which ran 13 days ahead of the Gregorian calendar in use everywhere else. When the new government brought the calendar in line with the rest of the world in 1918, the lag was abolished and Jan. 31 was followed by Feb. 14 (which explains why the October Revolution of Oct. 25 1917 was thereafter celebrated on Nov. 7).
But the situation is still more confusing. Under the atheist Soviet regime, religious observance was banned and the traditional trappings of Christmas, such as the Christmas tree or yolka, were effectively bundled in with the secular celebrations of New Year on Jan. 1. The Russian Santa Claus, Ded Moroz was rescheduled to disperse gifts on New Year's Eve, and does so to this day. When the Soviet Union collapsed, and Christmas began to be celebrated once more, New Year remained the center of the Christmas holiday season. That is why, in Russia, New Year remains far more like Christmas Day than either Dec. 25, or Jan. 7.
This means that a visitor to Russia expecting a celebration on Dec. 25 might be surprised to find out that here it is just a typical day. Luckily this year it falls on a Saturday, but if it falls on a weekday Westerners working in Russia can expect no special treatment.
One British journalist fondly remembers his first Dec. 25 in Russia.
"I was working at the time and was the only non-Russian guy in the office. Someone who remembered it was 'West Christmas' came up to me and said, 'Hey, what are you going to do to celebrate?' I thought about it for a minute, but, what was I supposed to do? Sit there with a silly hat on and pull a cracker by myself? You can't celebrate Christmas Day on your own, can you?"
This sort of experience is not unique among foreigners experiencing their first Russian Yuletide. It isn't at all unusual to find oneself working on Dec. 25, while, a few time zones away, friends and family are unwrapping presents and contemplating an enormous Christmas dinner.
Faced with the prospect of either clocking in for just another working day or finding one's festive mood dampened by prevailing incomprehension on Dec. 25, some foreigners prefer simply to flee.
An American who has been living in St. Petersburg for four years said that she always attempts this tactic.
"I always try to go away to America. Unfortunately, this year we can't afford it. I mean it's so depressing - everybody just works on Dec. 25, there's just nothing going on!
As for the Russian Christmas on Jan. 7, well nobody seems to celebrate that either! In four years of being here, I've never been invited to anything on that day."
However, there is one Christmas tradition that's almost guaranteed in Russia, whenever you celebrate it - it's almost certain to be white. Tobin Auber, a journalist from Britain who has lived in St. Petersburg for a number of years, remembers his first Dec. 25 here.
"I went out with a friend who knew a family in the suburbs. We went out in the street after midnight and there was an enormous snowball fight with about 400 people. I thought it was just the most amazing thing ever."
Some expats remaining in Russia for the Christmas season manage to retain the customs of their home country.
John Varoli, an American Catholic working in Russia for more than 10 years, relates his experience of celebrating Christmas.
"When I moved to Russia in 1992, for the first few years I tended to ignore [Western] Christmas even though it had always been an important holiday for me. I always celebrated Orthodox Christmas. Now, however, I tend to side with celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25. I want my Russian-born son, who is also Catholic, to understand that Dec. 25 is the day when Catholics all over the world celebrate the holiday. First we go to mass at St. Catherine's of Alexandria on Nevsky Prospekt. Then we go home and I make a dinner - usually something Italian and give him a present."
Vanessa Bittner, a translator living and working in St. Petersburg for several years also celebrates Christmas on Dec. 25.
"In the States, I would normally go to a late night service at a Lutheran Church on Christmas Eve, but they don't have those here, so I go in the daytime. I have Christmas on Dec. 25, just like I always have. Russians give and receive presents here at New Year, but at Christmas time, with friends coming and going, and possibly working, you just tend to give people a present as and when you see them."
Bittner says that some Russians are beginning to mark Christmas on Dec. 25, just like they do in other countries.
"Maybe it's a result of more information coming from the West, I don't know, but I meet more and more Russians who are interested in celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25."
To cater to this growing demand, as well as to the legions of expats who are missing the traditional trappings of Western Christmas, many hotels and restaurants offer Christmas lunch menus and entertainment programs on Dec. 25.
Some Christians might be surprised to learn that the actual date of Christmas has nothing to do with the birthday of Jesus Christ.
Although the Bible describes the birth of Christ in great detail, it does not state the exact date of the birth of Christ. According to most scholars, there was an existing pagan celebration on or around Dec. 25 marking the winter solstice. The Roman Catholic Church chose that day as the Feast of the Nativity, hoping to attract pagans to their religion by permitting them to observe a traditional holiday while at the same time honoring the birth of Jesus.
For the Orthodox Church, which acknowledges Dec. 25 (in the Julian calendar) as the date of Christ's birth, Christmas is, in any case, a less important date in the church calendar than Easter.
So, for Christians, the exact date on which Christmas is celebrated is perhaps not as important as making sure the true religious meaning of Christmas is observed as well as spending time with family and friends.
Varoli says: "I prefer to avoid any of the excesses that now accompany the Christmas holiday in America. Most importantly, I explain to my son what the holiday is about, its true spiritual meaning." But for those who wish to make sure that they are observing the correct date for Christmas, as well as acknowledging the traditions of the country in which they happen to find themselves during the Christmas season, there is perhaps one clear solution - to celebrate Christmas continuously from Dec. 24, Western Christmas Eve when many festivities begin, straight through to Orthdox Christmas Day on Jan. 7.
And if you want to continue partying like the die-hards in Russia, there's always Jan. 13 - a day in the old-style Julian calendar celebrated in this country nowadays as "Old New Year."
TITLE: CHERNOV'S CHOICE
TEXT: Leningrad will are to play its first local stadium show since May. The band's concerts are usually based on its 2003 album, "Dlya Millionov" (For Millions), and include older hits, but as a band member revealed, a few new songs will be performed this time - something that Leningrad has not done for months. Natalya Pavlova, a female vocalist who sang on songs "Manager" and "Paspizdyai," is said to join the band in the concert.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited album "Huinya," a collaboration between Leningrad and cult London band The Tiger Lillies recorded in Sept. 2003 and expected to come out by the time of this concert, has been once again postponed until Jan. 15.
Leningrad concerts habitually draw people from all walks of life and are frequently interrupted by fights. One fan complained that he was struck three times during the Leningrad concert in May, and frontman Sergei Shnurov stopped the show to calm down the crowd. The seats that are divided from the main crowd in the arena are relatively safe.
Leningrad perform at Yubileiny Sports Palace on Friday. Some of Leningrad's former musicians will play as Pisk Gada at Griboyedov on Saturday.
Dva Samaliota will launch its album "Poo!" which was recorded in Aug. 2002 with its late vocalist Vadik Pokrovsky.
Due to contractual reasons the album was not released then but a number of copies were pressed to give away to friends.
The album is simple and fun, representing the band much more adequately than "Kar-Ra-Bas," Dva Samaliota's first album in four years, which was released in June.
The band was deprived of any artistic control by its then Moscow-based label to the extent that the record's title was conceived by its Moscow production team.
Having regained freedom after the contract was dissolved earlier this year, the band has finally released "Poo!"
"Our recording history has become a little confused now," said Dva Samaliota drummer Mikhail Sindalovsky.
"'Kar-Ra-Bas' was released first, and now we are putting out 'Poo!,' but in reality both the albums were recorded at Dobrolyot studios at the same time."
The album contains 12 songs, plus one bonus track, the band's original version of "A Vy-to Kto?" (Who Are You?). The song had fallen victim to the Moscow producers' zeal and was cut from "Kar-Ra-Bas."
Dva Samaliota will perform at Griboyedov on Friday.
Roots Sound System, a group of DJs, will mark its fifth anniversary with a special program at Griboyedov on Tuesday.
Specializing in ska, roots and reggae, the team includes Dim Dimych and Filya of the dub band Caribace, DJ Sunshine and Denis "Kashchei" Kuptsov, the drummer with Leningrad, Spitfire and The St. Petersburg Ska Jazz Review, who spins vinyls under the moniker "Ska Messer."
Kuptsov, also performs as a DJ at Datshcha, on Wednesdays and Saturdays when he is not on tour, offering a wider range of music including rock and punk.
- By Sergey Chernov
TITLE: Underwater adventure
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Triton, 67 Nab. Reki Fontanki, Tel: 310 9449.
Menu in Russian and English. All major credit cards accepted except for American Express.
Open daily from 12 p.m. through 2.a.m.
Dinner for two with two glasses of wine: 3,520 rubles ($126)
In Vienna there's a building which from the outside is just an unsightly concrete block, but within there's a breathtaking fairy tale world. As a child, I spent numerous hours at the "House of the Sea," a huge aquarium with all kinds of marine fauna which makes you feel like you are down in the depths of the deep blue sea - and not in a museum in the center of Vienna.
I have always been fascinated by the endless expanse of the oceans and last week, memories of "The House of the Sea" came again to my mind when I dined at a swish new fish restaurant called Triton next to the Bolshoi Drama Theater. Curious passers-by can catch a glimpse of the restaurant's splendid interior by glancing through aquarium-like windows, each framed by two sea horses and a relief featuring Triton with his horn.
As I was told by my friend, who seems to be far better informed about Greek mythology than I am, Triton is the son of the sea god Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite, and lives with them in the depths of the sea. Triton is a sea creature; the upper half of his body is human and the lower half is fishlike. Legend has it that he carries a twisted shell, which he blows to stir up or smooth the sea at Poseidon's command.
The marvelous entrance area of the restaurant offered a foretaste of what guests dining at Triton can expect in terms of cuisine, service and atmosphere.
Translucent stones reveal a big aquarium with fish swimming in it underneath the floor. After passing through an automatic sliding door, we entered Triton's pompous realm. Again, I had the feeling of being transferred back to the fascinating atmosphere of my favorite aquarium in Vienna. Water falls from a stone in the middle of the room while the walls feature mythological figures and decorations in the form of various shells. Above the guests' heads painted sharks circle hungrily and the sound of Triton blowing his horn resounds from afar. The tables are laid in classical white and the chairs are covered with white cloth. During our meal, a musician played a harp from time to time.
We were seated at a table close to the sliding door and handed two shell-shaped menus. Love for detail is another distinguishing feature of this restaurant; even plates and bowls have the form of clams and scallops, adding to the underwater scenery.
We were also impressed by the restaurant's first-class service - the staff at Triton seems to know their trade. As soon as we had put aside the menus, our waiter hastened to our table to take our order, or rather, to give us a short introduction into seafood and fish cuisine. The menu itself read like a poem, describing the individual dishes in little appetizing verses.
We also had to take our time when it came to deciding what wine we would choose with our meal. Triton boasts an extensive wine card, offering exclusive wine from all over the world. Eventually, I decided to try one glass of white German Rheingau Riesling, vintage 2003 (350 rubles, $12.50), while my friend opted for a glass of dry Toscanini Tannat Roble (350 rubles, $12.50), vintage 1999.
I was pleased to find one vegetarian selection on the menu, an excellent Greek salad (350 rubles, $12.50) made of sliced red and yellow peppers, onions, cucumber, olives, capers, tomatoes, and soft feta cheese. The vegetables were fresh and crisp, and marinated with two different kinds of salad dressing: one based on soy sauce, the other on raspberry sauce with red wine. As my friend loves mushrooms of all kinds he could not resist the mushroom pie in truffle sauce (300 rubles, $10.71), which did not last long.
Before our starters arrived, we had been given a free treat from the chef: aspic-preserved artichoke with clamshells. We received a second surprise from the chef before our main course: this time it was a melon and citron sorbet.
For a main course, I selected sea bass with mussels and clamshells, garnished with fresh zucchini, peas, and basil, and served with rice (1,100 rubles, $39.29). Although I had sworn not to go for my usual choice, salmon, and instead to try something new, I had a twinge of regret when I saw my friend's dish. The crispy grilled piece of Scottish salmon in thick cream sauce, served with baked potatoes (950 rubles, $33.93), made my mouth water, and my friend finished it before I could count to three.
I would have liked to taste one of the desserts offered on the two last pages of the menu but we decided against tiramisu etc., when we started considering the mounting check. Some consolation was offered in theform of another little surprise from the chef - glasses of delicious cranberry juice.
Before leaving, we also threw a glance at the restrooms, which were in perfect tune with the overall design of the restaurant: the breaking of the waves is transferred via two loudspeakers and an aquarium with real fish swimming in it rests above the toilets.
Outside, we could still hear the noise of waves from a distance; and after taking a last glance through one of the aquariums we slowly walked away from the watery idyll. Although the meal was superb, the staff were top-class, and the interior was stunning, we were not sure whether we would ever take a second plunge into Triton's realm.
Perhaps we felt like small fry among the big fish attracted by this palace; or perhaps there is a bit too much glimmer and glitter about the place; or perhaps we felt that the reality outside on the street is too sharp a contrast to Triton's fairy tale world.
TITLE: Unknown
TEXT: éÌ++ Ô@ËflÚÌ++fl o/ooÂ'Û-Í++ - Ë Ó~ÂÌ, o/oo++Ê ÌË~Â"Ó. She's a nice young woman - and really quite attractive.
çË~Â"Ó is one of those little words that foreigners learn right away, if only because we hear it so often from our Russian friends. In addition to meaning "nothing" (fl ÌË~Â"Ó Ì Òo/ooÂÎ++Î - I didn't do anything), it is one of the standard Russian answers to the question ä++Í o/ooÂÎ++? (How are you?) and means "not bad," "pretty good." There are no less than nine meanings of ÌË~Â"Ó, depending on context and intonation. As usual - just to make life interesting for us non-Russian speakers - the meanings range from high praise to strong objection, with a philosophical shrug in between.
Often you hear it in response to a query about the general condition of people or things. í(o) Ì Û-Ë.Òfl? - çË~Â"Ó. êÛÍ++ .ÓÎËÚ, ÌÓ .(o)ÒÚ@Ó Ô@ÓÈo/oofiÚ. ("Did you hurt yourself?" "It's nothing. My hand hurts, but it will be fine.") You can also use it when someone apologizes for something. It means "don't worry about it," "never mind." àÁ'ËÌËÚÂ, ÔÓÊ++ÎÛÈÒÚ++, ~ÚÓ fl ÓÔÓÁo/oo++Î. - çË~Â"Ó. ("I'm sorry that I'm late." "Don't worry about it.") It can also be a gracious response to an expression of gratitude: ëÔ++ÒË.Ó, ~ÚÓ ÒÓ"Î++ÒËÎËÒ, '(o)ÒÚÛÔËÚ, Ì++ ÍÓÌÙÂ@ÂÌ^ËË. - çË~Â"Ó, ÌË~Â"Ó. ü @++o/oo Ô@Ë"Î++-ÂÌË,. ("Thank you for agreeing to speak at our conference." "It's nothing, nothing at all. I'm delighted you invited me.")
You can also use it to ask permission to do something: çË~Â"Ó, ÂÒÎË fl ÒÂÈ~++Ò ÔÓÂo/ooÛ o/ooÓÏÓÈ? í(o) Á++ÍÓÌ~Ë-, ÓÚ~fiÚ .ÂÁ ÏÂÌfl? ("Is it okay if I go home now? Can you finish the report without me?") It can also be the answer to the same kind of question: çË~Â"Ó - ÔÓÂÁÊ++È. íÛÚ Ï++ÎÓ ÓÒÚ++ÎÓÒ,. ("Sure, you can head off. There's not much left to do.")
Then there's ÌË~Â"Ó as a kind of general word of consolation, three little syllables that convey the sense of "this too shall pass." This is my favorite use of the word; instead of tea and sympathy, it's tea and ÌË~Â"Ó: å(o) Ò ÇÎ++o/ooËÍÓÏ @Â-ËÎË @++Á'ÂÒÚËÒ,. - çË~Â"Ó. ëÌ++~++Î++ .Ûo/ooÂÚ Ú@Ûo/ooÌÓ, ÌÓ Ú(o) ÒÔ@++'Ë-,Òfl. ("Vladik and I decided to get divorced." "It will be fine, you'll see. It will be hard at first, but you'll manage.") Here it has the sense of ÌË~Â"Ó ÒÚ@++-ÌÓ"Ó - nothing terrible.
But listen carefully to intonation; when said with a harsh tone of voice, ÌË~Â"Ó can mean objection to what was said. Sometimes this is accompanied with a hand gesture of pushing something away, as if the person were showing "enough already": Ç@flo/oo ÎË ËÏ Ûo/oo++ÒÚÒfl Á++ÍÓÌ~ËÚ, ÓÚ~fiÚ ÒÂ"Óo/ooÌfl. - çË~Â"Ó, ÌË~Â"Ó! èÛÒÚ, ÒËo/ooflÚ o/ooÓ o/oo'ÂÌ++o/oo^++ÚË! ("They probably won't be able to finish the report today." "Don't give me 'late!' It can take until midnight for all I care!")
And then there's ÌË~Â"Ó ÒÂ.Â. Sometimes this can be a variant of the "just fine, thank you" response to "how are you?": çË~Â"Ó ÒÂ.Â. É@Âi Ê++ÎÓ'++Ú,Òfl. (Not bad; can't complain.) But if said in tones of astonishment, with each syllable of ÌË~Â"Ó stressed and an upward lilt at the end, it means "I'm flabbergasted."
Finally there's Ó~ÂÌ, o/oo++Ê ÌË~Â"Ó - literally, "very even not bad." This is one of those Russian double negatives that is stronger than a positive and means "really great." ü Ô@Ó~ËÚ++Î Â"Ó ÍÌË"Û - Ó~ÂÌ, o/oo++Ê ÌË~Â"Ó. (I read his book - it's really quite good.) éÌ++ Ô@ËflÚÌ++fl o/ooÂ'Û-Í++ - Ë Ó~ÂÌ, o/oo++Ê ÌË~Â"Ó. (She's a nice young woman - and really quite attractive.)
And if you find this confusing at first, well - ÌË~Â"Ó.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
TITLE: Living through a revolution
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: KIEV, Ukraine - As the citizens of Ukraine prepare to head to the polls again Sunday to most likely elect opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko president, the most overt manifestations of what has become known as the Orange Revolution have largely disappeared from the country's capital city.
The winding down of the revolution is a direct result of the fact that, in the weeks since the second round elections were first held held on Nov. 21, opposition goals have been met: Parliament voted for a no confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich; the Supreme Court ruled that the elections were marked by massive fraud, annulled them, and set the date for a repeat poll; and Parliament voted for election reform that is expected to reduce falsified votes on Dec. 26.
But even after the massive demonstrations ended, the weeks following the original run-off vote have left in their wake a changed city. This is because the Orange Revolution was not only a political event, but one which had a distinct social impact on the city's three million residents which "hosted" the revolution.
Kiev hosted this revolution, but Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) was its epicenter, politically and culturally, and it was here where the revolution's character emerged.
As a place to hold a revolution, the Maidan is perfect. Roads lead from it directly to the president's office, the Central Bank, government headquarters and Parliament. The square itself can hold hundreds of thousands of people; the steep slopes leading up to Pechersk which overlook it form a natural amphitheater. Underneath the square is a network of pedestrian tunnels and escalators leading to the metro system which provides shelter when the weather gets too bad and can help feeding in fresh protesters from all over the city.
From the moment the preliminary election results were announced on the evening of Nov. 21, tens of thousands of Ukrainians - first, Kiev residents, then citizens from all over the country - gathered in the square to protest that it was fraudulent and to express their support for democracy in an atmosphere of extraordinary joy, restraint and decorum. Although the crowds swelled to over one million in the week following the election, no one was drunk or violent. Thousands of people moved into and out of the square in orderly lines, and the whole area was distinguished by the absence of police; the only law-enforcement officials to be seen were traffic police just off the square, and a number of police officers who streamed into the square wearing orange armbands to join the protesters. According to the city government, Kiev's overall crime rate actually dropped by 30 percent during the protests.
People organized themselves almost instinctively, and even as the sheer number of participants caused protesters to bump into one another, kindly apologies could be heard.
Daily visits to the Maidan became a ritual for large numbers of Kiev residents. During the day, employees left their places of work in shifts to "stand duty" for several hours in the square; in the evening, restaurants, clubs and theaters were nearly empty as the city's citizens forsook them for trips to the square. Opposition figures and national heroes, such as champion boxer Vitaly Klitschko, gave speeches. Ukrainian musicians and pop stars, among them this year's Eurovision Song Contest winner Ruslana, treated the protesters to free marathon concerts.
The square was full of people through the evening and into the early morning. The focus of the evening was always a speech by Yushchenko, who buoyed the crowd by recounting the day's opposition victories and its plans for the next day. As the crowd swelled to hear Yushchenko speak, the breadth of the protest became clear: not only was the square filled with students and young people, but representatives of every demographic group from children to the elderly, were there.
Over the entire course of the revolution, not one case of physical assault or crime was reported on the Maidan.
A tent city occupied by protesters who arrived from other towns and cities to support fair elections appeared just beyond the Maidan. Those arrivals were dependent on Kiev residents for food and clothing to ward off plunging temperatures, and locals obliged with timeliness and generosity.
Restaurants and private citizens donated food, drink and articles of clothing. The protesters refused to accept money. The food drive created the amusing picture of piles of kvashenaya kapusta (canned cabbage) and pickles donated by the city's babushki and there was more food than the protesters could possibly eat. Some of these old women lived through the Soviet-engineered famine of the 1930s.
The comradely atmosphere of the tent city (which is still standing) was such that more than one couple who met there have eventually married. Friendships formed among residents who shared a bond of purpose.
The support of Kiev's population extended beyond material generosity and participation in the protests. When protesters streamed in from other regions of the country, Yushchenko called upon city residents to take in protesters who had nowhere to stay.
"When Yushchenko did that, we thought that maybe we would receive 40 or 50 offers of accommodation," said a volunteer organizing the home-stays. "In the end, more than 300 people opened up their homes, sometimes taking in more than five protesters at a time."
Throughout the city, vast numbers of people wore orange (whether armbands, scarves or buttons) in support of Yushchenko, and even dogs and cats sported orange bows, collars and coats. Flags sprouted up in stores and restaurants, and the revolution's momentum generated feelings of respect and courtesy. Horns were heard on the streets constantly as drivers with orange ribbons and flags on their cars acknowledged each other. From the first days of the protests, almost every article of orange clothing available in city stores was purchased, and the color disappeared from the shelves. Every high-end store on Khreshchatik was emptied.
For those that could not make it to the Maidan or who were taking a break from the protests, this revolution was televised.
Whereas the national television networks reported on the basis of strict instructions from the government, during the Orange Revolution hundreds of journalists stood up against censorship, some leaving their posts while others boycotted news and other programs, demanding they be given the chance to present two sides rather than one, pro-government view. Media managers have since backed down, and Ukrainian television has for the past several weeks come to resemble its Western counterparts in terms of relative objectivity.
The avalanche of protests from within the media began a few days after the election, when an interpreter for the deaf on government-owned UT-1's news program did not translate what the announcer was saying, but rather signed "what is being said is a lie. Yushchenko is our president."
For several days after the defection of journalists from the major networks, news could only be seen on Channel 5, which is owned by Yushchenko supporter Petro Poroshenko.
Bars and restaurants which normally show football or music videos switched to Channel 5, which then jumped to third place in the national ratings.
Restaurants, bars and clubs began to fill once again just after the Supreme Court decreed new elections, and now the Maidan stands practically empty. However, the stage used to inform and entertain the protesters still stands, and could be used for Yushchenko's victory celebration if he wins on Dec. 26.
Although street-level protests are over, those who lived through the Orange Revolution are profoundly affected by the experience.
"I feel more Ukrainian now than I did three weeks ago," said one young man, who is of Russian origin.
Another young man, Sergei Perun, standing in the tent city several days ago said "I made a choice for Viktor Yushchenko, and I came here to defend my right."
Perun, a 22-year-old ecology student from Zhitomir, west of Kiev, continued "Everyone has the right to insist on their voice being heard. First and foremost, I'm here for honesty. I'm not so much for Yushchenko because I don't really like him, but because I'm for honesty without falsification. Our rulers thought that, once again, they'd be able to do what they wanted. But they've deceived us so much that the people simply couldn't take it any more. Nobody forced me to come here."
TITLE: EU Court: Microsoft
Must Divulge Secrets
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BRUSSELS, Belgium - A European Union court ruled Wednesday that Microsoft Corp. must immediately share some trade secrets with competitors and produce a version of its Windows operating system stripped of a program that plays music and video.
The ruling thwarts the software giant's attempt to delay implementation of an EU antitrust decision designed to have a deeper impact than Microsoft's settlement with the U.S. government.
Microsoft said it would restrict its compliance to the European market, and analysts said the financial impact would be minimal.
The company's stock was barely nicked, trading down 10 cents to $26.97 a share in late afternoon trading on NASDAQ.
EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said the ruling "preserves the effectiveness of antitrust enforcement, in particular in fast-moving markets."
Implementation of the March decision will benefit computer users by expanding their choice of media players and workgroup servers and will stimulate innovation, Todd said.
Seattle-based RealNetworks Inc., maker of a rival to Microsoft's digital media player and Microsoft's last big commercial opponent in the case, praised the decision. The company's deputy general counsel, Dave Stewart, said his company can now compete "based on the merits of products and services rather than the power of Microsoft's monopoly."
The order only requires Microsoft to distribute the alternative version of Windows in Europe; Microsoft said it has no plans to distribute it elsewhere.
Existing users of Windows, the world's dominant operating system, won't be affected. The version stripped of Windows Media Player will cost the same as the regular product.
Brad Smith, Microsoft's top lawyer, said the company would supply the alternative version to computer makers in January and retail distributors in February. Analysts doubted consumers would embrace it.
"Even if you give people the choice, the odds are very high that they're going to choose the Microsoft solution," said Paul DeGroot, an analyst with independent researchers Directions on Microsoft.
Under the court order, any company in the world can license the software blueprints, Smith said. But companies can only use that information to develop and distribute software in Europe, not worldwide.
TITLE: Mom Says Smallest Baby 'Great Blessing'
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: CHICAGO - A premature infant believed to be the smallest baby ever to survive was called "a great blessing'' Tuesday by her mother, who is preparing to take the little girl and her twin sister home from the hospital.
The baby, named Rumaisa, weighed 240 grams - less than a can of soda - when she was delivered by caesarean section Sept. 19 at Loyola University Medical Center.
That is 37 grams smaller than the previous record holder, who was born at the same hospital in 1989, according to hospital representative Sandra Martinez.
Rumaisa, her twin, Hiba, and their parents were introduced Tuesday at a news conference at the hospital in suburban Maywood. The girls were bundled in identical striped blankets.
Their mother, Mahajabeen Shaik, said she didn't "have the words to say how thankful I was'' when she first got to hold her children in their second month.
"It's a blessing. It's a great blessing,'' she said.
Hospital officials said they are doing so well that Hiba, who weighed one pound, four ounces at birth, could be released from the hospital by the end of this month, with Rumaisa following as early as the first week of January.
Rumaisa now weighs 1.2 kilograms. Her twin weighs 2.3 kilograms.
TITLE: U.S. Agrees to $25M Gold Train Settlement
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MIAMI - A $25 million humanitarian fund would be created in a U.S. settlement with Hungarian Holocaust survivors who blamed Army officers for plundering a trainload of Jewish family treasures seized by Nazis, but no payments to people who lost family possessions are contemplated, sources said Wednesday.
The money would be distributed to needy Hungarian Holocaust survivors under a concept used in previous settlements of reparations claims, sources close to the talks said on condition of anonymity. Details were first reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The settlement is secret and details are still being negotiated, sources said. The U.S. government has not committed to an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.
A final package is due before a federal judge Feb. 18.
Participants in the mediated talks have signed confidentiality agreements, and the Justice Department and attorneys for Hungarian Jews had no comment.
In the waning days of World War II, the Nazis sent 24 train cars toward Germany carrying gold, silver, paintings, Oriental rugs, furs and other household goods seized from Hungarian Jews. French troops intercepted a separate cache. Nazis, Hungarians and Austrians stole from the train along the way.
TITLE: SKA Beats
Sibir 4-1 In
Ice Palace
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: SKA St. Petersburg scored three goals in the third period and picked up three much needed points with a 4-1 victory over Sibir Novosibirsk in front of 3,500 people Wednesday night at the Ice Palace.
Sibir, next to last in the standings, collapsed in the third period. David Nemirovsky drove the nail into Sibir's coffin, picking up two points in the space of 27 seconds in the closing minutes. He first scored at 58:30 and then was credited with an assist when Alexander Cherbaev scored at 58:57.
Things got off to an passive start with neither team being able to score until Sibir took a 1-0 lead when Andrei Subbotin scored with a power play at 25:32. SKA's Alexander Golts tied the game back up at 32:48. Alexei Akifev scored the game-winner at 51:20.
The low level of attendance showed this was a game for die-hard fans, with its only notable feature was the presence of Russian-Canadian brothers SKA's David Nemirovsky and his older brother Mikhail.
David has made a much better name for himself than his brother playing in some of the top teams in Europe, while his brother has featured in lesser-known teams in North America and Europe.
Most important for SKA was that the win keeps them a mere 3 points shy of 7th and 8th place, for the coveted final play-off spots.
It was a good start for the St. Petersburg team, which resumed the regular season following a break for the RESO Cup held in Moscow earlier this month.
During the break the SKA spent time at their training camp in Lahti, Finland, working in newly signed players including stalwart NHL center Michael Nylander. The Swede played for the Boston Bruins last season after spending seven seasons in the NHL shuffling around from the Hardford Whalers, the Calgory Flames, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Washington Capitals. He started this season playing for Karpat in Oulu, Finland. SKA's current NHL holdout, goaltender Garth Snow, will be heading back to the United States because his wife just had a baby. His contract runs through Jan. 1, 2005. SKA tapped netminder Sergei Belov from their farm team Spartak, and signed Finnish goalie Markus Korhonen. Korhonen has spent the last 10 years in the Finnish Hockey League, but started the season in Sweden playing for Brynas IF Gaule. SKA also signed Avangard Omsk forward Sergei Korolev.
TITLE: Italy's Rocca Wins World Cup
Slalom After Miller Crashes
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: FLACHAU, Austria - Italy's Giorgio Rocca won the men's World Cup slalom on Wednesday after American Bode Miller crashed and failed to qualify for the second run.
Rocca finished with a combined time of 1 minute, 34.86 seconds, beating Austria's Rainer Schoenfelder by 0.24 seconds. German Alois Vogl was third, 0.31 seconds behind for the first podium finish of his career.
Miller still leads the overall standings with 858 points after 15 events. Austria's Benjamin Raich, who finished sixth Wednesday, is second with 546 points, followed by Hermann Maier with 482.
Miller was on pace for one of the fastest times in the opening run when he crashed. It was the fourth career slalom victory for Rocca, who made his World Cup debut at Flachau eight years ago.
"The atmosphere was exciting and fighting it out with Rainer in front of such a crowd was incredible," Rocca said after his best result this season. "To come out the winner is of course the best possible Christmas present."
Schoenfelder, the defending World Cup slalom champion, disappointed the 15,000 home fans after taking the lead following the opening run.
"I'm content with the runner-up spot, although winning in front of our home fans would have been even better," he said.
To get acquainted with the icy conditions, Schoenfelder and his Austrian teammates squeezed in extra training sessions on the hill Monday.
Vogl was the biggest surprise of the day, posting the best result for a German man in the slalom since Peter Roth's win at Mount Hutt, New Zealand, in 1990.
"I don't really know what to say. I just skied down at full risk twice and it paid off," the 31-year-old said "I finally showed everybody that I can do the trick twice. It's a great present to me right before Christmas and that on my favorite slope."
Swiss skier Sylvain Zurbriggen, who won at Sestriere, Italy, last week, failed to cope with the icy conditions and didn't qualify for the second leg.
Canada's Thomas Grandi, who won two giant slaloms in a row earlier this week, finished 12th.
TITLE: James' Fumbles Cost Cavaliers
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey - LeBron James made many, many mistakes in the final 2 minutes, the last of which helped cost the Cleveland Cavaliers the game.
Richard Jefferson capped the highest scoring night of his career by sinking an alley-oop layup off an inbounds pass with 0.8 seconds left, giving the New Jersey Nets a 92-90 victory Wednesday night.
Jefferson scored 42 points, the final two coming when he rolled free of James, caught Jabari Smith's lob pass and dropped the ball through. No defender was within 10 feet of Jefferson when he scored.
"It was a lack of communication, that's all," coach Paul Silas said. "We were supposed to switch everything and didn't switch it."
It was a frustrating finish for the Cavs, and especially for James.
Despite scoring 23 points with nine rebounds and nine assists, in the final 2 minutes he committed two traveling violations, drew a technical foul, missed a foul shot and a field goal attempt, and didn't stick with Jefferson on the crucial inbounds play.
"It's disappointing because we fought so hard to get back in this game," James said. "I don't want to take anything away from them, because they played well, but this was another one we let slip away."
Jefferson shot 12-for-20 from the field and 16-for-17 from the line for the Nets, who also got a career-high 22 points from Rodney Buford. Vince Carter, acquired last week from Toronto, was sidelined by a sore Achilles tendon. He expects to make his Nets debut Monday against Detroit.
James was livid that referee Marc Davis whistled him for two traveling violations and a technical foul.
"Those are great moves, I don't care what anybody says. I've been doing those moves since I've been playing basketball. I thought they gave you an extra step in the NBA, even though I didn't take one," James said.
James had a dunk and then made one of two free throws to tie it at 90 with 43.6 seconds left. A missed jumper by Buford led to a jump ball with 17.5 seconds left, and the Cavs controlled it.
James missed a 10-foot runner, and New Jersey rebounded and called timeout with 1.5 seconds remaining to set up an inbounds play on which Jefferson lined up near the free throw line.
"He winked at me, and I knew he was going to go," Smith said.
Jason Kidd set a pick on James, and Jeff McInnis failed to pick up Jefferson when James didn't fight through the screen.
"I should have switched, I didn't switch. Blame it on me. That's what everybody else said," McInnis said.
Cleveland had a final chance, but ex-Net Lucious Harris' 3-point attempt was long.
New Jersey held Cleveland to 10 points and had an 18-0 run in the second quarter, and Buford ended the half with a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 49-38 lead. The Cavs made their comeback in the third quarter, and James ended the period with a 3-pointer to pull the Cavs to 68-67.
TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: South Korea Bid
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Pyeongchang was selected Thursday as South Korea's bidder for the 2014 Winter Olympics, winning a second chance to try for the games.
The Korean Olympic Committee called its Standing Committee on Thursday to choose between Pyeongchang and Muju as the bidder for the Winter Games, and unanimously voted for Pyeongchang, said Kim Choon-ki, a committee spokesman.
Pyeongchang's selection won't become official until the Standing Committee's decision is endorsed by the Korean Olympic Committee's general assembly Dec. 29 in a procedure largely considered formality.
Schumi Snubs Awards
BERLIN (AP) - Formula One champion Michael Schumacher drew sharp criticism by some German athletes on Wednesday after he skipped this past weekend's German sports awards ceremony.
Schumacher, who was chosen the male sportsman of the year for the second time, sent a video to the nationally broadcast program on Sunday instead of appearing in person.
"He disrespects all of us," said Birgit Fischer, the eight-time Olympic gold medalist in canoeing who won the women's award.
Bertuzzi on Trial
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - National Hockey League star Todd Bertuzzi appeared in court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to an assault charge stemming from a brutal on-ice incident last season.
Bertuzzi, of the Vancouver Canucks, will plead guilty in exchange for a conditional discharge that will require him to do community service but leave him without a criminal record, CBC News reported, citing unnamed sources.
Latif Ban Shortened
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Former Pakistani captain Rashid Latif on Wednesday had his six-month ban from first class cricket reduced to one month, and said he was hopeful of returning for the triangular one-day series in Australia next month.
The 36-year-old wicketkeeper was expelled from first class cricket and fined 15,000 rupees ($250) earlier this month for refusing to continue a domestic match. He refused to send his team out onto a pitch he said was too dangerous to play on.
The Pakistani Cricket Board had reviewed the case after appeals from Latif to do so, and chairman Shaharyar Khan decided to reduce the ban to four weeks, spokesman Abbas Zaidi said.
ManU Raps Player
LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester City have begun disciplinary proceedings against a first-team player who poked a lit cigar into a trainee's eye at a Christmas party.
Media reports said midfielder Joey Barton pushed the cigar into trainee James Tandy's eye after Tandy tried to set fire to his shirt with a cigarette.
"I can confirm that the club is aware of an incident involving two members of our playing staff that occurred on Sunday evening," said Paul Tyrrell, a spokesman for the Premier League club.
"An immediate investigation has been completed and the matter is being dealt with internally. A disciplinary process will be conducted appropriately and promptly."
Tennis Drug Suspension
LONDON (AP) - Stefan Koubek of Austria was suspended for three months by the International Tennis Federation on Wednesday for failing a drug test at the French Open.
Koubek tested positive for the banned substance triamcinolon acetonid, the ITF said. Koubek, who finished the season ranked 60th, attributed the test to an injection he received May 15 as treatment for an injured wrist.
The ITF said it rejected his defense but does accept that there was no intent on his part to enhance performance. It also disqualified his results from the French Open and took away his ranking points and prize money.
Oklahoma State Win
STILLWATER, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Joey Graham and John Lucas each poured in 21 points as third-ranked Oklahoma State pasted NW Oklahoma State, 92-35, in a college basketball game in Stillwater.
Jameson Curry added 14 and Ivan McFarlin chipped in nine points for the Cowboys (9-0), who have won nine straight overall and six in a row at home to start the season. Oklahoma State shot a blistering 15- of-22 from beyond the arc - a school record - in a mismatch of monumental proportions against the NAIA school.
Tramain Davis paced the Rangers with 12 points.