SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1149 (15), Friday, March 3, 2006
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TITLE: Soviets ‘Wanted Pope Dead’
AUTHOR: By Philip Pullella
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: ROME — Leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, an Italian parliamentary investigative commission said in a report. 
A final draft of the report, which is due to be presented to parliament later this month, was made available on Thursday by the commission president, Senator Paolo Guzzanti. 
“This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leadership of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate Pope John Paul,” the report said. 
“They relayed this decision to the military secret services for them to take on all necessary operations to commit a crime of unique gravity, without parallel in modern times,” it said. 
The report also says “some elements” of the Bulgarian secret services were involved but that this was an attempt to divert attention away from the Soviet Union’s alleged key role. 
Both Russia and Bulgaria condemned the report. 
A 36-page chapter on the assassination attempt was included in a wider report by parliament’s Mitrokhin Commission, which probed the revelations of Vasili Mitrokhin, a senior Soviet archivist during the Cold War who defected to Britain in 1992. 
Pope John Paul was shot in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981 by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca, who was arrested minutes later and convicted of attempted murder. 
At the time of the shooting, events in the Pope’s Polish homeland were starting a domino effect which was eventually to lead to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989. 
The Pope was a staunch supporter of Poland’s Solidarity union and most historians agree he played a vital role in events that eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. 
At a trial in 1986, Italian prosecutors failed to prove charges that Bulgarian secret services had hired Agca to kill the Pope on behalf of the Soviet Union. 
“It is completely absurd,” said Boris Labusov, spokesman for Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB’s First Chief Directorate which operated abroad. “We are tired of denying these assertions. 
The report said “Bulgarian authorities at the time lied as did the witnesses they sent” and added that “responsibility of some elements” of Bulgarian secret services “certainly exists”. 
In Sofia, the government rejected the report’s assertions. 
“For Bulgaria, this case closed with the court decision in Rome in March 1986,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsanchev said. He also referred to comments made by the late Pope who said that he never believed in the Bulgarian connection. 
Guzzanti, a senator in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, said the commission decided to re-open the report’s chapter on the assassination attempt in 2005 after the Pope wrote about it in his last book before dying. 
In that book, the Pope said he believed the shooting was not Agca’s initiative and that “someone else masterminded it.” 
Guzzanti said his commission heard from investigators in Italy and elsewhere who had probed both the assassination attempt as well as other Cold War-era crimes. He said the commission had photographic evidence that Sergei Antonov, a Bulgarian cleared of conspiracy at the 1986 trial, was in St Peter’s Square with Agca when the Pope was shot. 
The photos first emerged in the 1980s but lawyers for Antonov, who worked in the Rome office of Bulgaria’s state airline, said the man was a tourist who resembled him.

TITLE: Hamas Talks To Begin
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: GAZA — Hamas embarks on a quest for international legitimacy on Friday with an official visit to Russia, marking the Islamic militant group’s first talks with a major power involved in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Although it deals a blow to U.S.-led efforts to isolate Hamas since it swept Palestinian elections in January, Russia’s mediation is seen by some in the West as a chance to talk the faction into renouncing violence and recognizing Israel.
In Israel, the Russian overtures toward Hamas drew denunciations at first. But the Jewish state has adopted a wait-and-see attitude since Russia emphasized it was sticking to the view of international mediators.
Hamas regards the visit as a chance to push its position on the international stage.
“We will listen to the Russian government’s vision on the Arab-Israeli conflict and we will clarify our own vision,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Thursday.
“The visit in itself is a declaration of the failure of pressures exerted by the United States on the world to besiege Hamas,” he said. “Now Hamas is on the threshold of international legitimacy, thanks to the visit by Hamas leaders to Moscow.”
Hamas, whose charter calls for the Jewish state’s destruction, has masterminded 60 suicide bombings during a Palestinian revolt but has largely abided by a truce declared last year which paved the way for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
While so far ruling out permanent coexistence, Hamas has said it could accept a long-term cease-fire if Israel also quits all of the occupied West Bank and accepts an influx of Palestinian war refugees — both non-starters for Israel.
Russia, among the Quartet of mediators for a “road map” to peaceful Palestinian statehood, is expected to tell a Hamas delegation led by exiled politburo chief Khaled Meshaal they must seek peace with Israel to win worldwide acceptance.
Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters in Jerusalem that Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured him that “he completely adheres to these ... conditions and this is what he will present to the Hamas delegation when they arrive.”
An Israeli official said his government was encouraged by reports Putin would not lead talks with Hamas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to head Moscow’s delegation.
“The international consensus that they (Hamas) are not a legitimate partner for dialogue is still substantively holding, because they are not getting the level (of meeting) that they want,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
By inviting Hamas to Moscow, Putin is seen as trying to boost Russia’s diplomatic clout in the Middle East, which has been on the wane since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Russia has also been key to efforts to defuse the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program, by proposing that Iranian uranium enrichment — a process that can produce bombs — takes place on its soil.
“Everyone seems happy about Russia doing the job no one else dares to,” said Sergei Kazennov, an analyst for Russia’s Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

TITLE: BBC Brings Democracy Debate to Russia
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Democracy in modern Russia was described as “electronic,” “conventional,” and “theoretical,” but still a major step forward from the country’s totalitarian past, by participants in a debate held in St. Petersburg this week.
The event was organized by BBC World Service Radio with the support of the Regional Press Institute. 
As St. Petersburg gears up to host the G8 summit in July, the event, which is to be broadcast on Sunday on the World Service, was the first in a series of discussions focusing on Russia’s commitment to democracy and its place in the world. The local session will be followed by similar debates in Tomsk and Moscow.
The debate, chaired by BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall, attempted to address the concept of “managed democracy,” a term coined to describe the current political environment in Russia.
Is Russia as committed to democracy as the seven other members of the G8 club? How much control do Russians feel they have over their lives? And do Russians in fact want democracy at all? Kendall sought answers to all these questions from top local politicians, business people, journalists, scientists, historians, human rights advocates and students.
Artyom Gordin, a student at the International Relations faculty of St. Petersburg State University, described democracy in Russia as “electronic” alluding to the free exchange of opinions on the internet. 
He claimed this freedom was absent in the mainstream media, especially television. The cut and thrust of debate was not always sharp. In the Russian tradition of rhetoric, a number of participants answered Kendall’s questions obliquely, by giving examples, noting historical parallels or using metaphorical comparisons, rather than giving brief and direct answers. But some of the allusions were compelling. 
Olga Starovoitova, a historian and human rights advocate, and a sister of late democrat politician and prominent State Russian Duma deputy, Galina Starovoitova who was gunned down in St. Petersburg in November 1998, said that while it’s the convention to say Russia has achieved democracy, it exists only on paper. She illustrated her view with her own experience of dealing with the Russian legal system.
“In theory, I had the right to request and examine all the documents in the murder case of my sister Galina. But in reality I haven’t been able to get access to these materials,” she said. “In theory, the court hearings in the case were made open to the media, but the hall was too small and most reporters couldn’t get in.”
Mikhail Tolstoi, one of the leaders of the local branch of the Union of Right Forces, used Russia’s history to explain Vladimir Putin’s high popularity rating, which exceeds 70 percent in a number of regions. The politician said many Russians are longing for a strong leader because it’s in their blood.
In Tolstoi’s opinion, many Russians idolize President Putin just as their ancestors deified Russia’s tsars because people have long been used to living under authoritarian leaders and their own voices being neglected.
Serfdom had was abolished unitl 1861. Until that time, more than 80 percent of the population were slaves. Then after a short interval, Russia was pitched into communism for seventy years, Tolstoi said.
“Russia was a monarchy for almost a millennium, and, in the days of old, [people believed] the tsar was always good but the court always corrupt,” he said. “Similarly, these days people perceive President Putin as being good but the environment surrounding him in the Kremlin as bad. The mentality of most Russians hasn’t changed.”
Viktor Yevtukhov, a United Russia member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, offered another view. 
“Russia has made a big step forward. Remember television reports showing starving miners blocking railroads just ten or fifteen years ago!” he said. “A lot of young people trust Putin.”
Discussion of human rights during the debate was limited to concerns over freedom of speech and the new law on NGOs, which comes into force on April 18. The law, introducing tighter control over foreign funding of Russian NGOs, was severely criticized by debaters representing human rights groups, but strongly backed by pro-Kremlin politicians.
“Foreigners shouldn’t be allowed to fund Russian human rights groups,” said Yevtukhov. He insisted that NGOs had nothing to worry about unless they were funded by foreign spies.
Predictions for the future from participants in the debate varied.
“In twenty years’ time I see Russia as an international superpower, a strong and successful country,” Yevtukhov said.
“I hope that in twenty years’ time we will be living in a state where membership of state-controlled, politicized groups like the Soviet-era pioneers or Komsomol aren’t mandatory, and where people won’t be forced to take part in elections,” said Olesya Turkina, an art critic and modern art projects curator with the State Russian Museum.
Anna Sharogradskaya, head of the Regional Press Institute, said she was thrilled to see students taking a very active part in the debates. “It is encouraging to see they are not indifferent to what is happening in Russia,” she said. “Even participants with extreme views have demonstrated a willingness to make life in Russia better, albeit according to their specific ideas. I also take this discussion’s tolerant atmosphere as a positive sign.”
www.bbcworldservice.com

TITLE: Iran: Deal on Nuclear Power With Russia Blocked by U.S.
AUTHOR: By Judith Ingram
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator on Thursday insisted that bilateral talks should continue on a Russian offer to enrich uranium for Iran and warned that handing over the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council — as the United States has demanded — would kill Moscow’s initiative. 
“America is lying, trying to destroy the Russian proposal,” Ali Larijani said at a news conference. “The Americans’ insistence on handing over the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council means the destruction of the Russian proposal.” 
Larijani said his team had put forward a “package proposal” in Wednesday’s talks in Moscow, denying that the discussions had ended in failure. “We need to give diplomats time to look at it,” he said. 
Russia has urged Iran to freeze its domestic uranium enrichment program as a condition for its offer to create a joint venture to enrich uranium for Tehran on Russian territory. But Larijani reaffirmed Tehran’s refusal to give it up following Wednesday’s talks. The point was reinforced by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said during a visit to Malaysia that “it is very clear that we are not open to negotiating on our inalienable rights.” 
A Russian nuclear agency official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press, said the Moscow talks had snagged over Iran’s refusal to return to a moratorium on enrichment. 
“They are ready in principle to accept our proposal, but we don’t want to discuss it separately” from the need for Iran to return to the moratorium, the official said. 
Talks between Russia and Iran resumed on Thursday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, quoting an unnamed official close to the negotiations. 
“Consultations are taking place,” the official was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass, without specifying who was participating in the talks on either side. The Iranian delegation was to expected to fly out of Moscow later Thursday ahead of talks in Vienna with three European nations due to take place on Friday. 
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that Iran’s persistence in conducting its own enrichment gave reason to hand over the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council. 
“The Americans are saying one thing in words, but then they throw a spanner into the works,” Larijani said. 
Larijani said Tehran will conduct separate talks with Britain, France and Germany — which have represented the European Union in nuclear negotiations with Iran — before a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board on Monday. 
The Vienna-based IAEA board of governors could start a process leading to punishment by the UN Security Council, which has the authority to impose sanctions on Iran. 
Iran insists its nuclear program is only for power, but many in the West fear Iran is aiming to develop atomic weapons. 
Moscow’s offer to have Iran’s enrichment program transferred to Russia has been backed by the United States and the EU as a way to provide more assurances that Tehran’s atomic program could not be used to build weapons.

TITLE: Suspect Arrested for Attack on African Student
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The police have said they have detained a suspect in the case of the Feb. 24 attack on Desire Da Leko, a 33-year-old African man, who spent four days in a coma with severe brain injuries. The suspect has already served four terms in jail, the police said.
Da Leko, a citizen of Ivory Coast, was found on Bogatyrsky Prospekt following an attack and taken to hospital with severe injuries to the head and major blood loss,  Aliou Tunkara, chairman of local African Union organization told The St. Petersburg Times this week.
Da Leko, who regained consciousness on Monday, has arrived in St. Petersburg just days prior to the attack. The African was to take up an engineering course at a local university.
On Saturday, a friend of Da Leko, alarmed by his absence, contacted the police and discovered that he had been taken to Hospital No. 3 in a coma, Tunkara said..
Da Leko’s moble phone and wallet were stolen during the attack, the police press office said this week.
The attack came as African community leaders completed the first phase of a racial awareness campaign aimed at fighting racism.

Lawyers at the St. Petersburg City Court began summing up in the court hearings on the brutal murder of 9-year-old Tajik girl Khursheda Sultanova, who was stabbed to death in February 2004 in central St. Petersburg.
Eight defendants, aged between 15 and 21, have been charged with assaulting Khursheda, her father Yusuf Sultanov and cousin Alabir Sultanov, aged 11 at the time of the attack. Four of the defendants are juveniles and only one of the teenagers is facing murder charges. 
As the case involves juveniles, the hearings are closed to the media. The case is also being tried by jury, a rarity in the current Russian judicial system.
It is expected that the court will give verdict in the case in March.
Sultanova’s murder is mentioned on the Amnesty International web site in a list of the worst racially motivated crimes in the country, next to the murder of Nikolai Girenko, a prominent human rights defender and an expert on racism and discrimination in Russia.

TITLE: Hundreds Mourn TV Reporter
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Hundreds of people paid their last respects Wednesday to NTV journalist Ilya Zimin, whose heavily beaten body was found in his rented apartment over the weekend.
Friends and colleagues, including NTV anchor Mikhail Osokin, former NTV general director Yevgeny Kiselyov and Russian Newsweek editor Leonid Parfyonov, silently filed past Zimin’s open casket and laid flowers nearby at the Ostankino television center, where Zimin had co-anchored the “Profession: Reporter” show.
Police are looking for a middle-aged man who accompanied Zimin, 33, to the apartment at Ulitsa Akademika Korolyova from a bowling alley late Saturday and is believed to be the last person who saw him alive.
Investigators believe the two quarreled after drinking vodka together.
Zimin’s colleagues from NTV found his body when they went to his apartment on Sunday to see why he had failed to show up at work.
Investigators have found a bloody fingerprint that does not belong to Zimin on a light switch in the apartment, according to news reports. A laptop computer and cell phone were stolen from the apartment, the reports said.
Authorities do not believe that the killing was related to Zimin’s work.
NTV anchor Tatyana Mitkova, who also attended Wednesday’s ceremony, has said she has not ruled out the possibility that the death was linked to Zimin’s investigative work for the station, the news web site Polit.ru reported. 
NTV journalist Vadim Takmenev said Zimin recently used hidden cameras to prepare an upcoming expose of health violations at expensive Moscow restaurants, Polit.ru reported.
Zimin’s body will be flown to the Far East city of Khabarovsk, his place of birth, and buried there by his parents, who also attended Wednesday’s funeral ceremony, TV-Center television reported.

TITLE: Italian Killed for Carrying Cash
AUTHOR: By Francesca Mereu
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — An Italian businessman killed in downtown Moscow in January was carrying a briefcase with about $400,000 in cash — down payments for orders of designer Italian footwear.
It was far from the first time that the businessman, Pierpaolo Antinori, 52, had traveled to Russia. Antinori, a senior official in Italy’s Fermo Union of Entrepreneurs, had been organizing shoe exhibitions in Moscow for 15 years, and he often had to cart around bundles of cash, friends and colleagues said. 
The killing casts the spotlight once again on the prickly issue of cash-only payments, a tax-avoidance practice that Russian entrepreneurs insist is necessary to remain competitive but that many foreigners detest because it forces them to carry around a lot of cash.
“Cash payments represent a major problem for foreigners operating in Russia,” Marco Gentile, a colleague of Antinori’s at the Fermo Union of Entrepreneurs, said by telephone from Fermo, in Italy’s central Marche region.
He was echoed by Bruno Scheggia, an Italian shoemaker who was in Moscow when Antinori was killed.
“Little by little, this practice is disappearing, but still some small-business men don’t like bank transfers,” Scheggia said.
“After Antinori’s death, however, we decided to make this practice disappear. Nobody wants to take the risk anymore,” he said.
Small-business owners interviewed for this report insisted that they had to work in cash to avoid what they called double taxation: official taxes and bribes. Most owners would speak only on condition that their last names and places of business not be disclosed.
“If I paid through a bank, the tax authorities would know that I had signed a contract to buy a certain product for a certain amount of money,” said Oleg, who owns two shops that sell women’s apparel in Moscow.
By paying taxes and customs fees, “my product could not compete with that of those who did not pay taxes,” he said.
Oleg’s method of importing clothes appears to be commonplace: He bribes customs officials to allow him to declare that he is importing another product with lower customs duties. Doing so, he said, reduces retail prices and keeps his stores competitive.
“As for the tax police, we just bribe them. It is much cheaper to work in this way,” Oleg said.
Natalya, the owner of two lingerie shops, also cited the need to remain competitive. “With others bribing customs officials and not paying taxes, you cannot compete,” she said.
“Another problem is that if you follow the law, customs and tax officials ask for money anyway; they are so used to taking bribes. But we cannot afford to pay twice,” she said.
Andrei Nagorny, the head of Elips, a small chain of stores that sells sport shoes, estimated that 80 to 90 percent of the shoe market was in the shadows because of bribes to customs and tax officials. “We have to play by these rules, although we don’t like them. But it is not we who choose the rules,” he said.
Bribe-taking is deeply ingrained among police, licensing bodies and state inspectors, and it amounts to $316 billion a year — twice Russia’s annual federal revenues, according to a 2005 report by Indem, an anti-corruption watchdog.
Business owners said some customs and tax officials encouraged cash-only payments because it meant that bribe money was always on hand.
“Corruption is a problem and we admit it,” Federal Customs Service spokesman Alexei Savinkov said Tuesday. “We call for businessmen to report such cases so we can fight against it.”
A spokeswoman for the Federal Tax Service said the service could not comment on the issue. “People say all kinds of things,” she said.
A senior spokesman, Alexander Belyayev, asked a reporter to submit questions by fax and promised a reply in five to 15 days.
Many small businesses prefer to pay bribes because they are significantly cheaper than taxes and duties, said Alexei Yazykov, a consumer goods analyst with Aton, the investment bank. “For example, if you are importing microwaves, you can declare that you are importing sugar and customs taxes are much lower,” he said.
Antinori’s death stunned many Italian businessmen with ties to Russia.
“Antinori was a very important figure for the Italian shoemakers operating in Moscow. He had experience and he would help them to move in the Russian market,” said Leonardo Soana, the director of the National Association of Italian Shoe Factories, speaking by telephone from Milan.
On Jan. 18, a Zhiguli sedan forced Antinori’s Nissan Maxima to stop on Mantulinskaya Ulitsa, near the Ulitsa 1905 Goda metro station. Two men leaped out of the Zhiguli, smashed a window and stabbed Antinori in the leg, severing a major artery. Antinori bled to death.
The assailants made off with his briefcase, which contained some $400,000 in down payments from Russian buyers at Konsumexpo, a major annual exhibition of convenience goods that was taking place at the time, said an Italian businessman and friend of Antinori’s.
“He was not carrying his own money, but money that people had given as an advance at the exhibition,” said the businessman, who would speak about the details of the attack only on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Asked about possible suspects, he said, “Everybody knew that people would give him the cash to send home.”
Antinori — who usually traveled to Russia five or six times a year and was overseeing the Italian shoemakers at Konsumexpo — was taking the money to a bank, he said.
“The atmosphere at the exhibition was really gloomy — he was killed and a lot of people lost their money,” he said.
The killing, which came amid a spate of attacks on cash couriers and currency exchange booths, prompted Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin in February to create a special department to prevent such robberies, Kommersant reported.
Gentile and Soana said that although Italian businessmen were still coming to terms with Antinori’s death, they were determined to regroup and attend the next exhibition, the Obuv Mir Kozhi expo in April.
“Russia is one of the most important markets for us. It is a market that has been steadily growing, and we are not planning to leave it,” Soana said.

Natalya Krainova contributed to this report.

TITLE: Counter-Terrorism Bill Passed
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Federation Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a counter-terrorism bill that would allow the military to fire on civilian airplanes and ships hijacked by terrorists.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will have to issue a secret order to clearly define standard operational procedures and designate responsible officials to deal with such situations, Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee, told reporters after the vote.
“This order will clearly specify procedures for how the armed forces are deployed and use arms and special technical equipment in case terrorists hijack a plane and direct it toward a nuclear power station,” Ozerov said. 
The decision about whether to shoot down a plane will depend upon how many people are in it and where it will hit the ground, he said.
The counterterrorism bill was approved in its first reading three months after the September 2004 Beslan school attack, which left more than 330 hostages dead. But the bill was stalled for more than a year after being strongly criticized by rights groups and the Kremlin over concerns that it would trample civil liberties and give too much power to law enforcement and security agencies. 
Federation Council Deputy Speaker Alexander Torshin praised the bill for introducing personal responsibility for officials handling anti-terrorist operations, which he said was lacking at Beslan.
He said the bill limited civil rights to a lesser degree than similar legislation in the United States, Israel and Britain.
Putin is expected to sign the bill into law by mid-March.

TITLE: Head of Belarus’ KGB Says Coup To Follow Election
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MINSK — Belarus’ security chief said Wednesday that his agency had uncovered an opposition plot to mount a violent coup in the days after this month’s presidential election. 
President Alexander Lukashenko, described by Washington as running the last dictatorship in Europe, is expected to cruise to victory in the March 19 poll. 
Stepan Sukhorenko, head of Belarus’ KGB state security agency, said opposition leaders were planning to set off an explosion at one of their own protests after the election and then blame the authorities for the resulting bloodshed, 
“After that [they will] start seizing official buildings and stations and blocking railway lines with the aim of completely paralyzing the functioning of the state,” Sukhorenko said at a news conference. 
The authorities have accused the opposition of plotting a coup several times before, most recently late last year. But they have not followed up the allegations or prosecuted anyone over the purported plots. There was no immediate response from the opposition to Sukhorenko’s claims. 
Lukashenko has vowed to cut short any upheaval like rallies which helped unseat governments in Georgia and Ukraine in the aftermath of disputed elections.

TITLE: U.S. Giant to Invest $100M In Russia’s Taste For Instant
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The largest U.S. food producer Kraft Foods has said that it will invest $100 million to build a new plant in Leningrad Oblast in a bid to satisfy Russia’s growing taste for instant coffee.
The new production facilities will be located at the Gorelovo industrial zone near an existing plant for instant coffee packaging, Interfax cited Kraft CEO in Russia Michael Boon as saying at a press briefing on Tuesday.
At present, Kraft has two production facilities in Russia: a plant for coffee packaging in Leningrad Oblast and one for chocolate production in Vladimir Oblast. The company has already invested over $100 million in the Russian economy.
The new plant will start operating by the fall of 2007, annually producing 5,000 tons of instant coffee under the brands of Jacobs Monarch, Carte Noire and Maxim.
The existing packaging plant in Gorelovo will continue processing powder and granular coffee under Maxwell House and Jacobs Aroma brands. For that purpose, Kraft imports 10,000 tons of green beans a year.
Russia represents the fastest growing market for Kraft, Boon said at the press briefing. Instant coffee sales increased by over 80 percent last year compared to 2004 figures. According to the Comcon-Spb statistics agency, 55 percent of Russians buy instant coffee while only 19 percent buy ground coffee and coffee-beans.
“Kraft is one of the leaders in the Russian instant coffee market. Since 2002 the number of people buying the company’s products has increased by 15 percent,” said Mikhail Podushko, marketing director of Comcon-Spb.
“However, one and a half times more people buy the instant coffee produced by Nestle (Classic, Gold and other brands),” he said.
The most popular Kraft brands in Russia are Maxwell House and Jacobs Monarch.
“They actively compete with Nestle Classic and Cafe Pele in one price band and with Nescafe Gold and Tchibo Exclusive in the other. In recent years, growth in the number of people consuming Maxwell House and Jacobs Monarch has outstripped that of its competitors,” Podushko said
Kraft already produces coffee in Germany and Great Britain, but the cost of production is lower in Russia compared to other European countries.
Earlier this year Kraft announced the closure of up to 20 plants worldwide and the cutting of 8,000 staff (eight percent of its total) as part of a restructuring plan to decrease annual spending by $700 million. Since 2004 Kraft saved $450 million through restructuring, AP reported, citing a company statement released on Jan. 30.
However, Alexander Bragin, Partner at Deloitte, said that foreign producers are attracted to Russia “mainly by market growth and its potential.”
“In fact, production costs here are not as low as some people used to think. Business costs in Russia are steadily on the rise,” Bragin said.
According to Deloitte, many food producers, including Nestle and Kampomos, as well as soft drinks and beer producers, have already opened production facilities in Russia and many others are considering doing the same.
“Making such a move efficient depends on many factors, including the plant’s location, a particular company’s market segment and the role of locally supplied raw materials in the production process. But most companies obviously increase sales and expect further growth,” Bragin said.

TITLE: New Clothes For Emperor
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Petropol investment and construction firm will invest over $100 million into the reconstruction of what was formerly Emperor’s Factory, transforming it into a multifunctional complex, the company said Wednesday in a statement. 
The disused site, which is situated on the Neva embankment near Proletarskaya metro station, currently comprises 27 buildings, including warehouses, offices and an old printing plant, and occupies a total area of 36,300 square meters.
Most of the site will be demolished to give way to a residential and entertainment complex of buildings ranging from one to 25 stories high, a project approved by the city’s chief architect. Only the main building of the former Emperor’s factory constructed in 1867 will be preserved as an architectural monument.
“Creating a modern residential environment whose style complements the existing historical structures is one of our company’s main principles,” said Mark Lerner, general director of Petropol.
Petropol, a part of Gazstroiinvest, plans to complete about 130,000 square meters of building by 2011, investing its own funds and attracting other resources such as bank loans. Construction and sales will start in 2007.
Petropol considers the district attractive because of its proximity to the city center and the Neva river. It plans to revive the territory adjoining the complex with a pedestrian zone.
“The construction of a multifunctional complex that fits in with the historical and cultural status of the Northern Capital will stimulate the long over-due development of the whole district,” Lerner said. 
However, the reaction of real estate experts to the project was somewhat cooler.
“The location has its pros and its cons,” said Alexei Chizhov, director of the office real estate department at Becar Consulting company. The infrastructure is guaranteed by existent administrative functions, but the company risks leasing out the office and retail space at a much lower rate than was originally planned for this district, Chizhov said.
The pay back period for office and retail space would be about five years. As for residential areas, it depends on sales, Chizhov said, suggesting that Petropol would not embark on creating elite real estate, but rather a  middle to upper range of product.
Another expert was more skeptical. 
“$100 million seems like far too little for the realization of such a large-scale project. $150 million, at the very least, is needed to construct buildings with a 130,000 square meter total area,” said Victoria Kulibanova, development manager at Astera, a consultancy firm for commercial real estate. 
She said that the project’s pay back period, as well as its total cost, will depend on the proportion of functioning areas and the condition of the infrastructure.
According to Astera, the district has brick buildings that date back to the Khruschev era, five-story-high houses built in the 1960s and Stalin-era edifices, generally of three stories and low quality.
“Elite real estate in this district would not be popular. Most investors and operators consider the Proletarskaya and Obukhovo districts the most uncomely in the city,” Kulibanova said.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Finnish Cash
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Finland has allocated 23 million euros for projects with neighboring areas in 2006, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs reported Thursday on its web site.
Most of the funds have been allocated for the environment, nuclear and radiation safety, social services and healthcare, development of cooperation between the administration and the authorities, as well as consolidation of the civil society. More than two hundred projects are being carried out annually with help of the neighbouring area funds.
Of the total, approximately 8.9 million euros have been allocated for projects concerning several areas in North-West Russia. For projects focusing on one area only the allocations are as follows: 1.3 million euros for the Murmansk area, 1 million for the Republic of Karelia, 2.5 million for St Petersburg and 1.3 million for the Leningrad region.

Reksoft Earnings
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) —Reksoft, a local software outsourcing firm, increased its earnings by 87 percent in 2005, with turnover reaching $8.9 million, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Last year the company expanded its customer base, attracting Germany’s most popular TV channel ProSieben, postal service company Francotyp-Postalia, and two of Europe’s largest systems integrators. Reksoft also secured an equity investment from MartinsonTrigon, a Nordic venture capitalist fund.

TITLE: VTB Chief Outlines Expansion
AUTHOR: By Yuriy Humber
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Vneshtorgbank, the country’s second-biggest lender, said Wednesday that it planned to expand into the entire CIS, as well as parts of Africa and Asia by the end of 2006, either through acquisition or opening its own subsidiaries.
The expansion will boost its business and facilitate Russia’s economic ties and trade with the target countries, VTB board chairman Andrei Kostin said at a briefing. “I see 2006 as a year of integration and improvement of our network,” Kostin said. 
Under the plan, VTB — the main asset of state-controlled Vneshtorgbank Group — will move into Vietnam and Angola, as well as expand its presence in Singapore. 
“Our first aim is to support Russian business in Africa. We already credit Alrosa’s activities in Angola, so it’s a logical move,” Kostin said. VTB also said it planned to sell to Sistema its controlling stake in Luxembourg-registered East West United Bank.
Within the CIS, VTB Group already operates banks in Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. Kostin said he would meet with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev next week to discuss setting up shop in his country.
VTB is “creating a commercial entity for trade operations with communist countries that Russia has traditionally had strong ties with,” Richard Hainsworth, head of ratings agency Rusrating, said of the expansion plans. 
The expansion comes as VTB is preparing for an IPO, which Kostin said he hoped would be completed by the end of 2006.
The listing could, however, be pushed back until the first quarter of 2007, depending on how quickly it manages to consolidate Promstroibank. 
VTB Group increased its stake in the St. Petersburg-based PSB to 75 percent plus three shares last year. 
The group now plans to buy out the PSB’s minority shareholders. Depending on how many accept the offer, the stake in VTB held by minority shareholders could rise to around 3 percent from the current stake of less than 1 percent, Kostin said, adding the PSB brand would be phased out.
VTB has previously said the IPO would be either in late 2006 or early 2007. 
VTB’s consolidation of PSB could prove particularly awkward as current legislation prevents individuals from holding stakes in so-called strategic enterprises, including VTB, Hainsworth said.
In January, Kostin told German newspaper Handelsblatt that the bank would float 25 percent of its stock in Moscow and London, raising about $2.5 billion. The flotation will fund acquisitions and help bolster the capital of VTB subsidiaries in Frankfurt, London and Paris, he said at the time.
“We like to have things rounded off within a calendar year, but of course the final decision rests with our principal shareholder,” Kostin said Wednesday, referring to the government.

TITLE: Russian Firms Urged To Invest in World’s Poorest
AUTHOR: By Anna Smolchenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — A World Bank agency on Wednesday urged Russia’s richest companies to take advantage of the booming economy to invest in the world’s poorest countries, and offered to help insure them against political risks.
“This is where you have a huge role to play, as you are growing tremendously quickly,” said Yukiko Omura, executive vice president of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency at a conference organized jointly with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, or RSPP. 
With U.S. and European investors pulling out of some of the world’s poorest economies, major developing countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China — the so-called BRIC countries — can step in to help spur global economic growth, Omura said. 
The MIGA presentation was a sign of how much the Russian economy has improved in recent years, RSPP president Alexander Shokhin told the conference.
Shokhin welcomed the MIGA initiative, noting that the state’s insurance for exports through state-owned Roseximbank had only recently improved. Roseximbank “has started fulfilling its proper role only in the past two years,” Shokhin said.
Recent investments by Russian companies in developing countries could signal a comeback to some of the Soviet Union’s former spheres of influence, ranging from the CIS to Latin America and Africa, said Renova chairman Viktor Vekselberg, who heads RSPP’s international committee. 
Resource-rich South Africa was very attractive for Russian companies, Vekselberg told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. “Soon we will see Russian capital there,” he said. Eastern Africa was another potential magnet for investment, he said, without elaborating.
Among CIS countries, Ukraine “will remain the priority,” he said.
MIGA, which specializes in facilitating investments in high-risk, low-income countries and covering political risks from breach of contract to expropriation, until recently viewed Russia mostly as a risky destination for other countries’ investments. 
But as giants such as Russian Aluminum, Norilsk Nickel and Vneshtorgbank have moved to snap up foreign assets or establish operations abroad, MIGA is now also looking to Russia as a source of investments, not just a net recipient, conference participants said.
While foreign investments from Russia rose to $7.3 billion by the end of last year, the biggest destinations for Russian capital were not developing countries, but Cyprus, the Bahamas and the Netherlands, according to the State Statistics Service. 
However, recent acquisitions by cash-rich Russian companies in Africa could signal a move to more adventurous foreign investments. 
Last month, for example, RusAl bought an aluminum plant in Nigeria for $250 million, and steel billionaire Alisher Usmanov reportedly bid more than $1 billion to buy South African miner Highveld Steel & Vanadium.
Tajikistan is another destination where Russian companies are needed, Kristalina Georgiyeva, the World Bank representative in Russia, told the conference. The earnings of Tajik migrants in Russia account for 28 percent of Tajikistan gross domestic product, she said, citing a World Bank study.

TITLE: Reforming the Military Culture
AUTHOR: By Diederik Lohman
TEXT: Who would not want to see some silver lining to the case of Andrei Sychyov, the conscript who recently lost both his legs due to vicious beatings inflicted on him by older conscripts? There might be one — but only if this tragedy finally spurs the Russian government into taking lasting measures to stem rampant abuses in the armed forces.
Unfortunately, a glance at history does not inspire much hope. The Sychyov case is not the first incident of army brutality to shock the Russian public, and earlier incidents got little enduring response from the government. In the late 1990s, for example, national television showed footage of three conscripts cruelly abusing a large group of new recruits at night in the barracks. The abusers had filmed their orgy of violence as a perverse souvenir of their “good times” in the armed forces. After a public outcry, the government prosecuted the abusers but did nothing to address the larger problem.
Now, the government has gone out of its way to compensate Sychyov’s family and prosecute the people who beat him so badly on New Year’s Eve. But it isn’t taking the steps necessary toward fundamental change to resolve the problem of widespread violence against conscripts, because it has been in denial about the extent of violent abuse in the armed forces. Over the past 15 years, consecutive governments have chosen not to address this very difficult issue, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of a culture of abuse in the armed forces. 
Since at least 1989, soldiers’ mothers groups have been providing the government and public with graphic evidence that these abuses amount not to a few horrible outbreaks of excess but a disease that infects vast parts of the entire armed forces. Nonetheless, governments have consistently sought to downplay the problem, calling the abuses isolated excesses and blaming them on the metaphoric few “bad apples.” As a result, they have fought the symptoms without addressing the disease.
The question now is whether the Sychyov case will prove to be the turning point. At first glance, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov’s speech to the State Duma on Feb. 15 — his major policy statement in response to the case — is not promising.
Where one might have expected a degree of humility in acknowledgement of Sychyov’s ordeal, Ivanov started off his speech with a blistering attack on everyone but the armed forces. He blamed society at large as well as the media for abusive practices in the armed forces, arguing that hazing “starts in Russian kindergartens” and charging that violence and other “subversive” programming on television undermined the moral fabric of Russia society. 
It is cruelly ironic that in searching for the broader causes of violent hazing Ivanov focused on society but not on the armed forces themselves, stating that they are “one of the most law-abiding institutions in our society.” He downplayed the extent of violent hazing, using figures that reveal more about the extent to which army officers ignore evidence of abuse than about the extent of hazing itself.
Ivanov did outline some steps to combat abuses. Among others, Ivanov spoke of measures to improve reporting on incidents of hazing by officers; the creation of joint working groups of the Defense Ministry and the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office to monitor problem units; the introduction of civilian control over the armed forces; the creation of a professional layer of non-commissioned officers; and the reduction of compulsory military service to one year.
These measures could help end abuse, but only if the government makes them a priority and implements them consistently. 
Meanwhile, as soldiers’ mothers committees have been arguing for years, there is evidence the abuse is widespread. In late 2004, Human Rights Watch published the findings of a multi-year research project on abuses in the armed forces. 
We argued that such violent abuses persisted mainly because of a systematic lack of oversight. Commanding officers deliberately ignore evidence of abuses, actively try to avoid coming across such evidence, and routinely fail to take punitive steps against perpetrators. Their superiors ignore these failings and refuse to penalize them for it. Hence, while military prosecutors have taken up some cases, the vast majority go unpunished. Structural problems, such as the absence of professional non-commissioned officers, exacerbate the lack of effective oversight.
The measures Ivanov proposed in the State Duma tackle many of these problems. If they are all effectively implemented, they could help expose and change the culture that contributes to hazing. But the risk is that, as in the past, implementation of these measures will be lackluster at best, or flawed. 
The following steps could help to ensure a break with the past to end this evil:
• The Defense Ministry should implement zero tolerance for officers who fail to carefully monitor their troops for evidence of abuses and address abuses. Officers who fail to do so should be consistently punished, including through demotion or dismissal. The Defense Ministry and other ministries should mobilize resources to monitor the conduct of officers in this respect. 
• The vast majority of soldiers who flee their units do so to escape abuses, but the military responds by returning these men to their units or punishing them for going absent without leave. No effort is made to document and address the abuse that drove them to flee. The joint working groups of the Defense Ministry and Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office should monitor not only problem units but should also investigate all cases of absence-without-leave to determine the reasons for flight. Officers in cases where soldiers fled to escape abuses should be properly punished.
• The government should establish civilian oversight mechanisms that allow representatives from ombudsman’s offices, nongovernmental groups and the Public Chamber to monitor military bases. Information collected by these civilian monitors should be used in assessing whether officers are appropriately enforcing discipline in their ranks.
• Professional noncommissioned officers should receive thorough training on preventing abuses. Their efforts to stop abuses should be closely monitored, and punitive measures should be imposed whenever they fail in this duty.
Abuse in the army will end only when there is a fundamental change in the military culture from the rule of the strongest to the rule of law. These steps are essential to promoting this change and will be effective only if the government commits itself. Anyone who has heard or read Ivanov’s speech will doubt that the government is ready to do so. If these steps aren’t taken, we can expect another gruesome incident to shake us all up again before too long.

Diederik Lohman is a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch and was the director of its Moscow office from 1997 to 2002. He is the author of “The Wrongs of Passage,” a Human Rights Watch report on violent hazing in the Russian army.

TITLE: Roof Collapse Exposes All That Is Rotten
AUTHOR: By Masha Gessen
TEXT: The thing about some structures is, when any one thing gives, it starts a reaction that exposes every other thing that has rotted, broken or cracked. This can happen with buildings, or people, or societies. 
On the morning of Feb. 23, the roof of the Baumansky market collapsed, burying dozens of people under the rubble. The mayor of Moscow immediately made two statements, one of which was probably a lie while the other was certainly a lie. He said that the roof collapsed because of the snow that had collected on it over the winter. 
This was most likely a lie because (1) there had not been nearly enough time to determine the cause of the collapse; (2) the roof was designed not to need snow cleaned off it; and (3) there had not been that much snow this winter. In fact, a far more likely cause of the tragedy was violations of maintenance procedures, for which the market’s administration had been fined in recent years (but, as is customary in Moscow, likely paid the fines without taking any additional measures).
The other thing the mayor said within hours of the tragedy was that there were few Muscovites among the dead. This was definitely a lie — not because it is extremely unlikely that anyone had checked the documents on all the bodies, but because the mayor’s definition of a Muscovite is a lie. It is clear that many, probably most, of the people who would have been present at a Moscow market at 5 in the morning, actually lived here. But the mayor thinks a Muscovite is not someone who lives in this city but a person whom his bureaucrats have allowed to live here by stamping his passport.
A couple of days later the mayor added that the city would make compensation payments to people who were injured in the roof collapse — but only to those who are permanently registered to live in Moscow. This is the most hateful kind of feudal logic. A building collapses, likely because the city’s oversight agencies failed to enforce their own regulations, and the city claims to be responsible only for its own people.
Meanwhile, there has unfolded a vicious campaign against the construction engineer who drew up the original plans for the roof. His name is Nodar Kancheli, and he is an outstanding engineer and designer who, until recently at least, has been a favorite with the mayor. He is implicated in another tragedy: Two years ago, Transvaal, a water park on which he had been the principal construction engineer, collapsed, killing people. There has been no court decision in the case yet, but investigators believe Kancheli is to blame.
People have made the obvious connection between the two tragedies. Most likely, though, Kancheli has just been hit with extremely bad luck: While Transvaal may well have collapsed due to an engineering mistake (though there are other possible culprits, like the use of inferior construction materials), the Baumansky market was 30 years old — an unlikely outcome in the case of an engineering mistake. In addition, it was the kind of construction that requires regular inspections and maintenance.
But the thing that most of those raving against Kancheli in the blogosphere and in some of the media seem to be most interested in is the fact that the man is an ethnic Georgian. If I had a dollar for every degrading remark on this topic that I have read or heard in the last week, I wouldn’t need to be paid for this column.
So there we go. One thing in this huge city breaks, and we immediately see so much that is rotten in it. City services neglect their jobs, putting people’s lives in danger. The mayor thinks everyone who is not a registered Muscovite is subhuman. And his compatriots think anyone who is not an ethnic Russian is subhuman.

Masha Gessen is a Moscow journalist.

TITLE: Antinomy and ambivalence
AUTHOR: By David Stromberg
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Olga and Alexander Florensky, an artist-team who are also husband and wife, opened two exhibitions early this year within one week of each other.
“Russian Trophy” at the State Russian Museum was a large collection of close to 50 self-fabricated war- and violence related objects and documents, including guns, monuments, flags, a submarine, a helicopter, swords, and a series of five short documentary-style films, while “Geographic Maps” at the New World of Art (NOMI) Gallery featured a collection of twelve large scale map-like objects. 
The “trophies,” whose origin and status is unclear — are they trophies that Russians have conquered from someone else, or Russian trophies that someone else has conquered? — are part of a concentrated five-year effort to create a vast array of objects that all fall into a single theme.
The map-like pieces, however, are one in a series of vari-themed smaller exhibitions that all fall under the auspices of “Wilhelm Winter’s Universal Museum,” a curio museum that existed in St. Petersburg in the late 1800s that has inspired Olga and Alexander Florensky.
The objects representing both weapons and maps were assembled by the artists from an array of pre-existing things: bicycle parts, planks of wood, pipes, empty CO2 containers, nuts and bolts, bottles, hoses, pumps, cans — in short, anything and everything they could find that fit their purpose. 
Their purpose? One is hard-pressed to pull it out of them.
“A woman came into the gallery just now,” Alexander Florensky explained to the St Petersburg Times. “She quickly walked around the room, then asked the lady who works here, ‘Who is Wilhelm Winter?’ The woman answered her: ‘Actually, there’s the artist, you can ask him and he’ll explain.’ I said, ‘I can’t explain anything. Everything that’s important to know is written on that flyer there.’ ‘But who is he?’ ‘Everything that the artists wanted to say is written on the flyer, really, and they didn’t want to say anything else if they didn’t say anything else.’ She threw up her arms, said, ‘They hide everything! No one wants to explain anything — no one!’ Then she left. She really wanted to know who Wilhelm Winter was. The exhibition itself didn’t interest her very much.”
Apparently, neither did it interest the artist to explain why it might be interesting to her.
“In Russia there is an over-concern with the ‘message,’ which is rooted in its 19th-century literature and art. Back then art told a story, it explained itself. When you compare the Impressionists and the Peredvizhniki [a movement in Russian painting from the end of the 19th century], you see they were both very forward for their time, but with different focus: the Impressionists on the pure plastic level of painting, the Peredvizhniki on the message. This helped ingrain in Russians the idea that any art is a narrow form used to relay some message.
“A viewer of art has to be educated somehow; I don’t think that someone can just show up and appreciate artwork. 
Some villager might recognize the greatness in a Raphael painting, but to value a Cezanne he already needs some level of education. “
“Russian Trophy” seems to be a critique not just of war, but of international violence and of different ways that nations express physical might. But O & A Florensky, as the artists like to be known professionally, insist that their main relation to politics is one of ignorance.
“Our ‘Trophy Films,’ with all those cliches that we use, express our limited understanding of politics,” said Alexander Florensky. 
“We know things look something like this or that, that people from the Middle East are supposed to wear this kind of hat, and people from Austria that kind of jacket. It looks interesting, but there’s no real politic, there’s something pseudo-political at best. There might be some irony under there. Maybe.”
Why then the seeming timeliness?
“Because there’s no news, and there can’t be,” said Olga Florensky. “This is the main thing we’ve learned from all our trips to war museums all over the world. Everything that’s happening now happened a hundred, 200, 300, or a 1,000 years ago, except with different decorations. Everything happens according to the same script.”
“Times of war don’t really differ from each other,” she added. “You see a repetition of methods of killing, agitation, heroism — which is a patriotic, attractive rendition of the dirty-work of killing people. There’s no need to talk concretely of any single war, because it’s always the same thing.”
So how does the news relate to history?
“If you read Russian history,” she said, “about how the Russian government was established, then you turn around and read the newspaper, it’s exactly the same thing. Except, again, with different decorations. And the pace has changed a bit, with airplanes and the internet.”
The pace has changed in making art too. Many contemporary artists work with technical professionals or master craftsmen who execute their plans or designs, and employ personal assistants to help them with their business arrangements and correspondence. O & A Florensky have each other.
“I don’t think one person could have done all this,” said Alexander about “Russian Trophy.” “Unless he was a metal-smith. We weren’t trained as smiths, but we still do it all ourselves — turning on the drill, the electric screwdriver. We gave an assistant a try, but what we found was that if someone didn’t understand, he did things poorly; or if he was some kind of specialist, he did things too well, so that the object worked wonderfully, but was no longer the artist’s composition, no longer his conception. We’re not so rich that we can afford an assistant, and not so old that we absolutely need one.”
O & A Florensky work together on the creation of their objects from conception to construction, and it’s in the physical toil of building and engineering that they feel the most friction in their relationship.
“I often have to sacrifice,” said Olga, “because I have thin, long hands that can reach very deep and still hold a screwdriver.”
“After the thing is invented, comes a very boring time when you have to engineer and construct it,” said Alexander. “To think up how to actually do it. So we might argue about how to better screw something down, or weld a certain section.”
“Every time a problem arises you have to think up a solution,” he continued. “Complicated systems that are used only once. And then you’ve built this entire thing and realize that you’ve made some wrong decisions, that it doesn’t work, or that it works but not well, or that it doesn’t look good, or it looks good but falls apart.”
“Admittedly, our engineering quality is rising now that we’ve been doing this together for just over 10 years. Involuntarily our skill increases, makes the objects stronger, and we can’t make things worse than we know how, because that would also be false.”
 There’s a lot of back and forth in the planning of their objects. They make sketches, mention observations, discuss ideas, or bring home some metal parts.
“The planning is more like table-tennis,” noted Alexander. “You toss the ball, the person reacts hits it in a different direction. You come across something at a museum or in a book or on television, and you mention it, though you don’t always remember where it came from.”
“It grows like a crystal. Time passes, and you remember things, you save information in files and sub-files. We might even start separate projects, but we’re always thinking about all these things.”
There’s another important practical advantage to working together, the artist said.
“Working as a pair helps to create a sense of convincingness in each piece because it gives a double quality-check, just like in a factory,” said Alexander. “Each tiny decision, even the size of a screw, gets discussed and thought over, because everything makes a difference, every miniscule detail. Sometimes things are too playful, too simple; sometimes they’re too realistic.”
But do they both like the same kind of work?
“It’s difficult to say whether we like or dislike the physical, engineering, metal-smiting part,” said Alexander.
“It’s like a drug,” added Olga. “You get addicted.”
“It’s like asking a pregnant women if she likes giving birth,” continued Alexander. “It’s possible that she doesn’t like it, but who asked her preference? It’s terrible for us every time, all this screwing in things and tightening and making objects, but we don’t have a choice. Though later it’s all very fun to remember how in minus 25 deg C our hands froze as we worked on this Arc de Triomph or the submarine.”
“And left some tool in the barn and started to argue about who had to go out and get it,” reminded Olga.
Although it seems that a lot of work into the objects that O & A Florensky produce, it’s not always clear in each object itself.
“The work that went into making the Arc de Triomph is completely unnoticeable,” said Alexander. “Most people see it and think it’s a plain writing desk with some decorations adhered to the top. In fact it was extremely hard to design and fabricate, but that’s all hidden behind the welding.”
“The viewer doesn’t see this,” he went on, “and shouldn’t. When we see some sculpture or monument on the street, we don’t think about the enormous amount of work that went into it — the sculpting in clay, the pouring of the bronze — no, we just look at it and think, ‘It’s not really that good.’ Because often enough it’s not very good. Or altogether bad. And what’s the sculptor supposed to do? Run after us and say, ‘Hey, what about the work — the bronze, the clay — all that energy!’ A viewer is heartless. And that’s how it should be.”

TITLE: Oscar’s big night
AUTHOR: By Bob Tourtellotte
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LOS ANGELES — For years, the Oscars have catapulted actors and actresses to movie stardom and this year there are many fresh faces among the nominees who could be poised for a big break out of the pack at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood.
Adrien Brody’s best actor Oscar for 2002’s “The Pianist” put him in Hollywood’s spotlight. A year later, Charlize Theron became a movie marquee queen after her role in “Monster” won her the best actor trophy.
Oscar experts say one category loaded with potential for new talent to emerge is the race for best supporting actress and two favorites have much to gain from an Oscar win.
One, Amy Adams in “Junebug,” has raised her profile simply by being nominated — because she was virtually unknown.
Britain’s Rachel Weisz is the odds-on favorite for her portrayal of a social activist in “The Constant Gardener.” She faces her toughest competition from Michelle Williams as a spurned wife in “Brokeback Mountain.”
Weisz, 34, is an established actress in England, but an Oscar could make her a star in the United States. Williams, 25, gained some fame on TV’s “Dawson’s Creek,” but her role in “Brokeback” has made her a movie star.
The 30-year-old Adams, who portrays a sweet-minded pregnant girl in “Junebug,” boosted her career with the nomination because she had previously had only small roles on television and in one major movie, “Catch Me if You Can.” 
Even so, the Oscar category for best supporting actress has seen stardom fade almost as quickly as it rose, according to film critic Richard Roeper of the “Ebert & Roeper” movie review TV show.
“That’s always the category when you get the crazy moment early on when someone wins, then they are kind of never heard from again,” said Roeper.
He cited Mira Sorvino, who after winning supporting actress honors for 1995’s “Mighty Aphrodite,” has worked a lot but failed to become a superstar. 
Another actress who could see a career change is Reese Witherspoon. At 29 she already is a global box office draw after her $100 million-plus “Legally Blonde” movies. But a best actress Oscar for playing singer June Carter in “Walk the Line” would gain her recognition as a dramatic actress, too.
In the best actor race, Philip Seymour Hoffman, 38, who plays author Truman Capote in “Capote.” has built a career as a character actor in films like “Boogie Nights” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
Hoffman faces a strong rival in Terrence Howard, 36, who has elevated his status from supporting player to leading man in big-budget films simply by being nominated.

TITLE: Chernov’s choice
AUTHOR: By Sergei Chernov
TEXT: The Pixies have canceled upcoming concerts in Russia, the Moscow-based promoter Greenwave Music said this week. 
According to the promoter’s press officer, the band’s agent sent an email message saying that its entire European tour had been canceled, without going into further detail. Early last month the promoter said that the band had confirmed the concerts in Moscow and  St. Petersburg scheduled for July. The Pixies web site, www.pixiesmusic.com, has not been updated since Dec. 16 and does not contain any information about the Russian dates.
Depeche Mode made news this week, when it was discovered that a massive number of tickets for the British band’s Moscow concert on Saturday were counterfeits, Kommersant newspaper reported Thursday. 
According to Kommersant, there are about 20,000 fake tickets in circulation — twice as many as legitimate tickets, which sold out two months ago. 
The newspaper said that fans will only be able to get into to the Moscow concert by showing special bracelets after their tickets are checked by “several experts from the printers.”
Local promoter Planeta Plus said that many Moscow fans bought tickets for Depeche Mode’s St. Petersburg concert when they were unable to buy tickets for the Moscow show. Planeta Plus’s press officer said that only a small number of tickets were left in the city’s box offices and record shops this week. 
Unusually, the promoter began selling tickets for the concert, which takes place at the Sports and Concert Complex (SKK) on Friday, as early as last August. SKK is the city’s largest venue, capable of holding 20,000 people. Depeche Mode has been a huge live hit in the city since the band first played here in 1998.
Belgium’s most influential indie band, dEUS, will perform at Platforma on April 15, local promoter Svetlaya Muzyka, or Light Music, said last week.
The band, whose name is pronounced “day-us,” has been touring Europe since last September to promote its new album, “Pocket Revolution.” The band’s  previous album, “The Ideal Crash,” was released in 1999.
A slightly weird city institution, the Leningrad Rock Club, plans to celebrate its 25th anniversary with a party at Kamchatka club on Tuesday.
Launched in March 1983 when rock music was proscribed by the state, the official organization was supposed to help “amateur musicians” develop their skills, but in reality became a means of allowing banned local rock bands perform to a limited public. 
The role of the KGB in launching the Rock Club was revealed later, but the Rock Club was praised for keeping rock music alive through the early and mid-1980s. 
Later this year, in November, a massive concert will be held at the Yubileiny Sports Palace, to celebrate the anniversary.

TITLE: Criminal elements
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: New York’s Fun Lovin’ Criminals are probably better known in Europe than in the U.S., but the quirky trio, which is to play a concert in St. Petersburg on March 11, draws its inspiration from its native city.
“I think the thing about New York City that is universal is that it’s the place where everybody from around the world comes to,” singer and songwriter Huey said recently speaking to The St. Petersburg Times from Bilbao, Spain where he was on a DJ assignment. 
“So we’re lucky enough to have a world view and we’re lucky enough to have exposure to a lot of cultures that a lot of places in the U.S. don’t. That’s why I think New York is a very special place in the world.”
Huey’s full name is Huey Morgan but he prefers to be known by his first name, and the other two members also go by nicknames — founding member “Fast” (Brian Leiser) on bass and the Leicester, U.K.-born “Frank the Rhythm Master” (Mark Reid) on drums.
The Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ most recent album, which the band is promoting on its current tour, is called “Livin’ in the City,” and is full of references to New York, with such songs as the “City Boy” and “I Love Living in the City.”
The group’s previous album, 2003’s “Welcome To Poppy’s,” dealt with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and their aftermath, and was partly written near Ground Zero.
With its over-the-top mix of many musical styles, from rock to blues to Latin to hip-hop, the Fun Lovin’ Criminals unabashed eclecticism and upbeat vibe has found an audience in Russia.
When the band performed in the city in March 2004,  the venue was the pub/brewery Tinkoff, but this time the band is scheduled to perform at the much bigger Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa, a former riding school that can hold up to 3,000 fans — a fact that took Huey by surprise.
“Oh! That’s a lot of people, I hope they’ll all show up,” he said, with a laugh.
Promoters Svetlaya Muzyka, or Light Music, explained the choice of the venue was due to increased demand for the Fun Lovin’ Criminals in St. Petersburg, although whether the venue will be sold out remains an open question.
Formed in 1993, the band is infamous for its posing as Italian suit-wearing mafia types — an image possibly influenced by popular gangster movies, and Huey admits he has had problems with the law earlier in life.
Contrary to some fans’ misconception, the Fun Lovin’ Criminals were not on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film “Pulp Fiction.” 
But the band did use samples from both “Pulp Fiction” and Tarantino’s previous, 1992 film “Reservoir Dogs” in its best-known song “Scooby Snacks” in 1996. Tarantino reacted by demanding around 40 per cent of the royalties for that song. Although the band’s heyday was in the late 1990s, with such albums as its 1995 debut “Come Find Yourself” and the second album “100% Colombian” in 1998, the Fun Lovin’ Criminals seem to have a continuing and devoted following in Russia.
“We didn’t even know we had fans over there, and it was fantastic,” Huey said about the Fun Lovin’ Criminals’ concert at Tinkoff in 2004. “St. Petersburg was a great show.” 
“Afterwards they put all the lights on when we were loading our equipment, there was condensation all over the walls of the place — people were sweating and having good time.”

The Fun Lovin’ Criminals perform at Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa on March 11. www.flcnyc.com

TITLE: Step by step
AUTHOR: By Angelina Davydova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: An exhibition of photographs by Victoria Ukhalova called “The Stroll — Palaces and Parks of St. Petersburg” opens Saturday at the Anna Nova gallery on Zhukovskogo Ulitsa. 
Ukhalova, one of the artists associated with the New Academy of Fine Arts led by the late Timur Novikov (another is Bella Matveyeva who was the last artist to be exhibited in Anna Nova), is presenting a series of portraits of characters on St. Petersburg’s art scene that symbolize seasons of the year. 
Born in the Russian Far East, Ukhalova graduated from the St. Petersburg Art Academy, specializing in architecture. Since then she has worked in various styles and media, including paint and video. Ukhalova lives on the Petrograd side, where, according to her, every time she leaves the house she takes a stroll that inspires her art.
Art historian Ivan Chechot says that taking a stroll is a basic theme in St. Petersburg art.
“A stroll has it’s beginning and it’s end, but in a certain sense it has an ability to last forever,” Chechot said. “Having gone for a walk, we, in our thoughts and feelings, stay there forever. That’s why we can compare taking a stroll with life.”
In the exhibition, Ukhalova presents St. Petersburg landmarks with the participation of living people that contribute to today’s art scene and who walk among the palaces, parks and winter gardens of the city.  The Anna Nova gallery also announced this week that it is running a competition for young artists up to 40 years old inspired by the 15th anniversary of the renaming of Leningrad to St. Petersburg this year. 
“In 1991, we saw the third renaming of the city during its 300 year history and we’d like to draw attention to this fact,” Natalia Yershova, Anna Nova’s director, said. The gallery is inviting both Russian and foreign artists to take part in the competition, entries for which must be received by June 10.
Artists may be inspired by the old city riddle that suggests “I was born in St. Petersburg, I went to school in Petrograd, I lived in Leningrad and I will die in St. Petersburg — without ever moving house.”

See Galleries listing  on page xi.

TITLE: The toy that stole Olympic fans’ hearts
AUTHOR: By Valeria Korchagina and Natalya Krainova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Is it a mouse, a bear or simply a piece of classic totalitarian kitsch? Whatever it is, Cheburashka, the furry creature known to kids throughout the Soviet Union  has staged an astonishing comeback as the official mascot of the Russian Olympic team
As cheering crowds greeted Russia’s returning Olympians at Sheremetyevo Airport on Monday evening, elsewhere in Moscow another unofficial champion of the Turin Winter Olympics — the country’s much-loved furry, big-eared creature, Cheburashka — appeared to have been driven to extinction by his own popularity.
Cheburashka, the Russian team’s official Olympic mascot since the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, was nowhere to be found in stores Monday — either in Moscow or in Turin.
“It’s safe to say up that to 250 people lined up every day in front of the Russia House in Turin, all looking to snap up souvenirs and sports gear,” said Yelena Kravets, a spokeswoman for Bosco di Ciliegi, the luxury clothing firm whose logo was omnipresent in Turin, emblazoned on Russian Olympic uniforms and souvenirs. 
While the national team finished fourth in the medals table behind Germany, the United States and Austria, sports officials appeared even more pleased about the PR impact Russia had made on the Games.
“I have not seen any Olympic Games before where the presence of Russian symbols — the flag, national anthem and uniform — were felt as strongly,” Vyacheslav Fetisov, head of Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports, told Rossia state television on Monday.
But while Fetisov was surely referring to the presence of Russian medal-winners on the podium, in Turin the team’s furry little mascot seemed to have been adopted by thousands of non-Russian fans as the Games’ unofficial champion.
Cheburashkas of all sizes were a huge hit in Turin, Kravets said by telephone from the Italian city on Monday, adding that at prices of between 10 euros and 35 euros they were sold out completely. 
For those cheering on the Russian team from back home, the fluffy stuffed animal — made specially in white for the Winter Olympics — popped up everywhere.
One minute he was being tossed onto the ice rink after a performance by a Russian skater, and the next he was being cuddled by Russian athletes and fans alike. 
In Moscow, eager children and their parents joined the ever-more-desperate hunt for Winter Olympic Cheburashkas, resulting in their complete extinction in BoscoSport stores across the city.
Meanwhile, in Turin, the Russian House had run out days before the games ended Sunday.
In two of Moscow’s BoscoSport stores the furry creatures sold out days ago, said Andrei Shadrin, who manages the firm’s store in the Kalinka-Stockmann shopping center near the Smolenskaya metro station.
“The last Cheburashka was sold five days ago. They were snapped up very quickly: A batch of 200 would go in a day and a half to two days. We would love to order more, but we can’t because no more were made,” Shadrin said. 
“It’s a shame, as we get 50 calls a day asking if we have Cheburashkas, and they get really upset when they learn there aren’t any.” 
Some of the more determined, or desperate, Cheburashka hunters were still out scouring stores Monday.
Unable to resist their children’s pleas, two men, friends from the Moscow region town of Zheleznodorozhny, arrived at the Smolenskaya store Monday afternoon to buy Cheburashkas.
Vladimir Leshchenko said his 8-year-old daughter, Katya, had avidly watched the Turin Games with the rest of the family and rooted for the Russian athletes. 
But alas, no Cheburashkas were left for Katya, or for the 2-year-old son of Leshchenko’s friend Igor Proskurkin, forcing both men to opt for various BoscoSport clothing items covered with pictures of the big-eared fluff. Even store assistants were wearing clothes depicting Cheburashka. 
“A Cheburashka would still have been the best present,” Leshchenko said wistfully. He eventually settled for a T-shirt. 
Shadrin said that the ranks of Cheburashka’s fans were by no means limited to children.
When asked what reasons customers gave for buying a Cheburashka, Shadrin said, “People just said they liked it, or that it was a souvenir to remember these Olympics, or that it was unique and pretty.”
And even at 1,100 rubles ($40) a pop for a 35-centimeter-tall Cheburashka, “only a few customers complained that it was expensive,” Shadrin said. “Many adults bought Cheburashkas as a souvenir for themselves, or as a present for a friend.” 
While Cheburashka turns 40 this year, his Olympic workout seems to be keeping him as youthful as ever.
First created in 1966 by children’s writer Eduard Uspensky as a strange animal who came to Russia from Africa in a crate of oranges, Cheburashka later made the transition from book to film, featuring in countless Soviet-era cartoons. 
The cartoons made Cheburashka and his best friend, Gena the Crocodile, so famous that not only every Russian knew them, but the two became the unwitting stars of numerous, quite off-color jokes.
A new wave of popularity came in the post-Soviet era, when the creatures’ creators — including Uspensky and several animators and book illustrators — began touting the image abroad.
Uspensky registered his Cheburashka copyright in 1997. In 2004, he agreed to lend his Cheburashka to the Russian Olympic team, despite howls of protests from cartoonists claiming their own rights to the image.
“Hey, you’re asking me a silly question when you wonder what it feels like to see Cheburashka now,” Uspensky, 68, said by telephone Monday.
“It’s good to see one of your creations marching across the globe. As for the future of Cheburashka, maybe he’ll replace the national seal?” Uspensky said, referring to Russia’s double-headed eagle.

TITLE: U.S. Diplomat Killed in Pakistan Bombing
AUTHOR: By Zarar Khan
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: KARACHI, Pakistan — A suicide attacker rammed a car packed with explosives into a vehicle carrying an American diplomat in Pakistan’s largest city, killing four people — including the diplomat — ahead of President Bush’s visit to Pakistan.
Bush condemned the attack near the U.S. Consulate and a luxury hotel in Karachi, and said “terrorists and killers” would not prevent him from going to Pakistan on the final leg of his tour of South Asia.
“We have lost at least one U.S. citizen in the bombing, a foreign service officer, and I send our country’s deepest condolences to that person’s loved ones and family,” Bush said at a news conference in neighboring India, without naming the diplomat.
The blast ripped through the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel, about 20 yards from the consulate gate, shattering windows at the consulate and on all 10 floors of the hotel. Ten cars were destroyed, and charred wreckage was flung as far as 200 yards.
Initial investigations showed a suicide attacker deliberately rammed his car into a vehicle carrying the U.S. diplomat, blowing it into the air, across a concrete barrier and into the grounds of the hotel, a Pakistani counterterrorism official and senior investigator said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The driver of the diplomat’s car, a Pakistani working for the consulate, also died. The other fatalities were a paramilitary guard and an unidentified woman.
The attacker was also presumed killed in the attack, the two security officials said. His body was not recovered.
The counterterrorism official said the attacker used high-intensity explosives and it was the most powerful blast he’d seen in Karachi — a hotbed of Islamic militancy.
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement said the bombing was a “horrific terrorist attack” and it expressed “deep sadness” over the deaths of the American diplomat and his local driver.
“This senseless act today further fortifies our resolve to fight terrorism,” the statement said. “We all must work together to eliminate this terrible menace.”
Police initially said two car bombs had gone off, but provincial police chief Jahangir Mirza said that a single bomb may have triggered a second smaller explosion in a burning car.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But previous attacks against Westerners in Karachi have been blamed on Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant groups. Several suspects have been convicted while some are still at large.
Some 52 people were injured, including a young Moroccan girl who was hit by debris, said provincial government spokesman Salahuddin Haider. 
He added that investigators were trying to get video footage from surveillance cameras at the consulate.

TITLE: Bird Flu Detected In German Cat
AUTHOR: By Noah Barkin
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BERLIN — Alarm over the spread of bird flu grew on Wednesday after Germany reported a dead cat infected with the virus, while France sought to curb restrictions on its poultry exports. 
Germany told pet owners to keep their cats indoors and their dogs on a leash in areas hit by bird flu after the discovery of the dead cat on a northern island where the H5N1 virus has been identified in wild birds.
The cat grabbed the headlines in several countries in pet-loving Europe, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said it did not increase the threat to human health from the virus.
“There is no present evidence that domestic cats play a role in the transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses. To date, no human case has been linked to exposure to a diseased cat,” it said.
“Unlike the case in domestic and wild birds, there is no evidence that domestic cats are a reservoir of the virus.”
In Brussels, an EU animal health committee recommended that in areas where H5N1 had been found in wild birds, authorities take further precautionary measures such as informing veterinary authorities when stray cats or dogs were found dead.
It also suggested carrying out examinations on sick or dead cats and dogs that may have had contact with infected birds.
Switzerland became the latest European country to confirm an H5N1 outbreak, saying a duck found dead in Geneva last week had the virus.
The Swiss reported a second case of bird flu in a dead swan found close to the German border, although further tests were needed to confirm it was the H5N1 strain.
Bird flu has killed or led to the culling of some 200 million birds since it re-emerged in Asia in late 2003. It remains essentially an animal disease, although people can contract it through close contact with infected birds.
The fear for human health is that the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.

TITLE: Palestinian Ambassador Hints That Hamas Could Soften Israel Stance
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Palestinian ambassador to Russia said Thursday that Hamas might reconsider its stance toward Israel in order to advance the interests of the Palestinian people, a Russian news agency reported.
Hamas “ties the question of recognizing Israel as a state with the necessity to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories,” Ambassador Bakir Abdel Munem was quoted as saying in an interview with ITAR-Tass news agency. “At the same time, I think that Hamas may revise its stance in the interests of the entire Palestinian people.”
Munem, who is from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, arrived in Moscow about two weeks ago. 
His reported comments came a day before a high-level Hamas delegation was due to arrive in Moscow for two days of talks with diplomats, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russian diplomats have said they will insist that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to existence.
“We would be concerned if Hamas was to get a different message that could undermine the possibility of Hamas reforming itself and changing,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in Israel. 
“That could hurt peace,”Hamas’ exiled political leader, Khaled Mashaal, will head its delegation, the Islamic militant group has said. The Russian side will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov.
The Interfax news agency quoted Munem as saying that there was no set agenda for the talks on Friday and Saturday. “It will be a friendly exchange of opinions, no one will insist on anything,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to Hamas last month was the latest bid by Moscow to invigorate its role in Middle East peacemaking.

TITLE: Video: Bush Given Warning Ahead of Hurricane Disaster
AUTHOR: By Margaret Ebrahim and John Solomon
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON — On the eve of Hurricane Katrina’s fateful landfall, President Bush was confident. His homeland security chief appeared relaxed. And warnings of the coming destruction — breached or overrun levees, deaths at the New Orleans Superdome and overwhelming needs for post-storm rescues — were delivered in dramatic terms to all involved. All of it was captured on videotape. 
The Associated Press obtained the confidential government video and made it public Wednesday, offering Americans their own inside glimpse into the government’s fateful final Katrina preparations after months of fingerpointing and political recriminations.
“My gut tells me... this is a bad one and a big one,” then-federal disaster chief Michael Brown told the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.
The president didn’t ask a single question during the briefing but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: “We are fully prepared.”
The footage — along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by AP — show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.
A top hurricane expert voiced “grave concerns” about the levees and Brown, then the Federal Emergency Management Agency chief, told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren’t enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

TITLE: Ex-UN Official Says Extra-Judicial Killing is Rife in New Iraq
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SYDNEY — Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad now as they were under Saddam Hussein, as lawlessness and sectarian violence sweep the country, the former UN human rights chief in Iraq said Thursday.
John Pace, who last month left his post as director of the human rights office at the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, said the level of extra-judicial executions and torture is soaring, and morgue workers are being threatened by both government-backed militia and insurgents not to properly investigate deaths.
“Under Saddam, if you agreed to forgo your basic right to freedom of expression and thought, you were physically more or less OK,” Pace said. “But now, no. Here, you have a primitive, chaotic situation where anybody can do anything they want to anyone.”
Pace, who was born in Malta but now resides in Australia, said that while the scale of atrocity under Saddam was “daunting,” now nobody is safe from abuse.
“It is certainly as bad,” he said. “It extends over a much wider section of the population than it did under Saddam.”
Pace, currently a visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, spoke as sectarian tensions in Iraq push the country to the brink of civil war.
There has been a surge in religious violence in Iraq since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the mainly Sunni city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, and a spate of reprisal attacks against Sunnis.
The situation has been made worse by extremist Shiite militia operating within the ranks of the Interior Ministry, said Pace, who singled out the Badr Brigade, which makes up a large chunk of the Iraqi security services and military.
He said militia and insurgents are responsible for threatening morgue staff in Baghdad not to perform autopsies on bodies of apparent victims of torture and killings.
“They are told it is not necessary, and not in their interests,” he said, adding that both militia and insurgents were “trying to minimize any chances” that their activities could be investigated and prosecuted.
Pace, who spent much of his two years in the post in Iraq, said he visited the morgue in Baghdad once a week when he was in the city and regarded it as a “barometer” of the level of violence in the country. 
He declined to provide more specific details about the threats, citing fears for the safety of morgue workers.

TITLE: Indians Ink Nuclear Energy Deal With U.S.
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW DEHLI — President Bush got a victory Thursday on his first visit to India, securing a landmark nuclear energy agreement that he says could help ease energy prices in the United States.
Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the deal, which will open most Indian reactors to international inspections and provide the growing nation with U.S. nuclear technology, during a joint news conference after meeting privately to hammer out details.
“We made history,” Singh said of the deal that will aid India’s quest for more global influence.
Under the accord, the United States will share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy. It represents a major shift in policy for the United States, which imposed temporary sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests.
“We concluded a historic agreement today on nuclear power,” Bush said.

TITLE: Germany Humiliated by Italy in Friendly
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: FLORENCE, Italy — Italy and Germany are routinely billed as World Cup favourites going into the sport’s biggest tournament, but on the evidence of Wednesday’s 4-1 rout, this year’s hosts looked far from being regarded a genuine contender.
However, before the dust had settled on a resounding win for the home side, both coaches insisted that nothing much should be read into the result.
While Marcello Lippi pointed out the game was just another step in Italy’s build-up, his German counterpart Juergen Klinsmann denied the result gave him any reason to worry and insisted there was still plenty of time to turn things around.
There was no doubt, however, which of the two left Florence’s Franchi stadium the happier man.
Lippi’s toughest task between now and June will be to stem the rising tide of expectation that can sometimes create an atmosphere of near-hysteria around the Azzurri.
Unbeaten in 16 matches and with Germany’s scalp added to that of Holland, who Italy’s beat 3-1 last November, there is a definite sense that momentum is growing behind their bid to win the World Cup for the first time since 1982.
Wednesday’s win was Italy’s most convincing performance since Lippi took over as coach in August 2004.
He will have taken extra satisfaction because the result was achieved without injured talisman Francesco Totti.

In Berlin, Germany’s top newspapers laid into national soccer coach Juergen Klinsmann and his players on Thursday after their 4-1 humbling by Italy and predicted a debacle for the host nation at this summer’s World Cup.
“Mamma mia we’re bad!” the country’s biggest-selling daily Bild trumpeted on its front page next to a picture of a grim-looking Klinsmann.
“Only 99 days to the World Cup and our national team is playing worse than ever before,” the paper said. “If we play like that at the World Cup we’ll be obliterated.”
A hesitant and toothless Germany never recovered from an opening blitz by the aggressive Italians in Florence, which gave the Azzurri a 2-0 lead inside seven minutes and saw them 3-0 in front at the break.
Bild awarded all Germany’s players its worst rating of six, which stands for “did not earn the money”, while giving the impressive Italians a mixture of twos and threes, the equivalent of “strong” and “average” respectively.
“1:4 - Germany shrinks to a soccer dwarf,” was the headline in Thursday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The paper blamed Klinsmann’s tactic of instructing his defenders to pressure the Italian midfield players higher up the pitch for the loss.
It also criticised Klinsmann for leaving the experienced Christian Woerns out of Germany’s World Cup plans after the Borussia Dortmund defender blasted the national coach’s management style in the media.
“The four-man defensive line played in such a way that the excluded Christian Woerns was the only German winner of the evening, albeit a sad one,” the paper said.
It was Germany’s worst result against Italy since a 5-2 defeat in a friendly in 1939. The 1990 World Cup winners have not beaten a top class side since 2000 in a 17-match winless streak.
“We are all very disappointed,” said Klinsmann. “It was a lesson for us above all in the first half. But it’s over now and we cannot escape it. We have to face the criticism.”
Captain Michael Ballack said the team would be transformed when they took to the pitch to face the United States in a friendly in Dortmund on March 22.
“Thank God the next match is only three weeks away,” Ballack said. “You will see a different German team then.”

Pope Benedict issued a message against racism in soccer at the World Cup warm-up match between Italy and Germany on Wednesday night.
The message was read out by a local clergyman on the pitch at the stadium in Florence before kickoff.
It comes a day after Spain’s football federation fined Real Zaragoza 9,000 euros ($10,750) for its fans’ racial abuse of Barcelona’s Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o and after several racist and pro-fascist displays by fans and players in Italy.
In November, Marc Zoro, Ivory Coast defender for Serie A side Messina, picked up the ball and threatened to walk off the pitch because of racist chants from Inter Milan fans.
Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio has been sanctioned for giving supporters a straight-arm Nazi-style salute. He has reportedly said: “I am a fascist, not a racist.”
In Italy, it is not uncommon for some fans to make “monkey” noises when black players from rival teams take the ball.

TITLE: Sampras To Grace The Courts Again
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Pete Sampras will compete in the World Team Tennis Pro League this season more than three years after retiring, but has ruled out a comeback at the top level.
“The timing is right,” the 34-year-old Sampras said in a WTT news release on Tuesday. “I’ve been busy with my family and enjoying retirement but this feels like the right time to get back on the court and play World Team Tennis.”
The former world number one, who retired after winning the 2002 U.S. Open final against American compatriot Andre Agassi in his last professional match, will be making his Pro League debut.
Sampras won 64 singles titles, including 14 grand slams, and over $43 million in prize money during his 15-year career.
“Pete is a great champion and fans have really missed his talent and character since he retired,” said WTT chief executive/commissioner Ilana Kloss. “His WTT matches will be the hottest ticket in tennis this summer.”
However, Sampras made it clear his return to competitive tennis did not mean he was considering a comeback. 
“I miss playing the game. I miss the majors. I miss competing. But to play at the level I used to play is a whole other animal. I’ve done that, and I know what it takes,” Sampras was quoted as saying by the BBC on Tuesday.
“Me playing a little tennis this year is something I can control. There isn’t any pressure. I can relax and have a little fun. Coming back is not something that crossed my mind.”
The WTT Pro League consists of 12 teams and past players include Agassi, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick and Venus Williams.
His team and match schedule will be decided at the WTT Player Draft scheduled for March 28 in Miami.

TITLE: Was Sven Pushed or Did He Jump?
AUTHOR: By Trevor Huggins
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LIVERPOOL — Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Tuesday it had not been his decision to stand down as England coach, indicating he had been asked to resign after embarrassing newspaper revelations.
Eriksson was asked at a news conference on Tuesday if there was any way he could change his mind about leaving the England job after the 2006 World Cup.
“I could possibly change my mind?” Eriksson asked with visible surprise. “I haven’t taken any decisions. I just listened to what people told me to do.
“So it doesn’t depend on me.”
The FA announcement in January said “the FA and Sven felt it was important to clarify his future” and thanked Eriksson and his advisors for their “tremendous co-operation”. The Swede’s contract had run until 2008.
The 57-year-old Eriksson, who became the first foreigner to coach the England national team in 2000, said at the time he was happy that the situation had been resolved.
The FA acted after the Swede was trapped in a newspaper sting, making embarrassing disclosures about England squad members and saying he might be prepared to leave the England job to take over Premier League Aston Villa.
Eriksson now appears reconciled to moving on and said nothing had changed in his day-to-day dealings with the FA.
“Everyone knows what’s going to happen from now until August 1. From then on, I don’t know what’s going to happen with myself. But that’s not a problem at all,” he said.
“I feel I have the support of the players and think I always have had. It’s a great feeling of respect between me, my coaching staff and the players. There always has been, it’s a fantastic group of players.
“But I feel I have support from the FA as well, I must say — if it’s strange or not I don’t know.
“When I’m not travelling to watch football, I’m in the office in London and nothing has changed there from what I can see or feel.”
England captain David Beckham spoke of the players’ loyalty to Eriksson. “We will support the manager until he leaves at the end of the tournament. That’s clear for the players.”
Beckham was one of a handful of players about whom Eriksson had made embarrassing comments during the newspaper sting operation, where a reporter posed as a wealthy Arab businessman.
“It was a difficult situation and whether you agree with it or not, it’s happened and we have to move on,” said Beckham. “The players don’t hold anything against him. They’re fully supportive, fully behind him as a manager and as a person.”

TITLE: Detroit Suffers Rare Road Loss
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: DENVER — The Detroit Pistons were trying to figure out what went wrong in a rare road loss.
Kenyon Martin had 28 points and 12 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony added 25 points to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Pistons 98-87 on Wednesday night.
“I was trying to provide a lift for us and give us some energy, but it wouldn’t come,” said Denver native Chauncey Billups, who led the Pistons with 27 points. “There were a couple of gimmes that we missed. I made the tough ones and missed the easy ones.”
Richard Hamilton added 19 points for Detroit, which had its six-game winning streak snapped. The NBA’s best road team lost for only the eighth time in 29 games away from home.
There were stretches when Billups and his teammates couldn’t finish uncontested layups let alone wide open 3-pointers.
“We have been playing a lot of games home-road-home-road, so I think we were a little tired tonight,” Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. “We’ll have to give some guys a rest down the stretch.”
Martin had his own take on the what transpired. He pointed to Denver’s 110-89 loss to Milwaukee last Monday as the jumping off point.
“We were embarrassed and came out playing lackadaisical,” said Martin, who made a couple of 3-pointers. “We all knew we could do that against that team.”
And then there was the 59-35 rebounding disparity from a team that had been outrebounded in 13 of its previous 14 games. Marcus Camby grabbed 20 rebounds alone to go along with 12 points for the Nuggets.
“Detroit wins by being physically defensive,” Denver coach George Karl said. “We matched that physical play and went hard to the glass.”
The game turned when the Nuggets dug in defensively to start the second half. Detroit managed only 6-for-24 shooting and went nearly five minutes before getting a field goal, a 3-pointer from Billups that brought them within 63-60.
Anthony and Camby took over the rest of the quarter, scoring five points and four points respectively to give the Nuggets an 82-72 lead going into the fourth quarter, only the 10th time the Pistons trailed heading into the final period.
Martin had two jumpers early in the fourth to put Denver up 88-77, but the Pistons got it back to 88-82 on a 3-pointer from Lindsey Hunter and Rasheed Wallace’s jumper with 5:36 left.
Martin came back with a 3-pointer and Anthony had two dunks to make sure the Pistons never got any closer the rest of the way.
“You saw us playing the way we have to play down the stretch,” Anthony said. “The way we must play the rest of the way.”
Billups had 19 points by halftime, but it took a 3-pointer in the last minute to put the Pistons ahead 56-55 at the break.
Anthony had 14 and helped Denver stay close after falling behind by as many as nine points in the second quarter.

TITLE: Winter Olympics Remain Hot, U.S. Viewers Yawn
AUTHOR: By Adam Pasick
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: NEW YORK — The Winter Olympics are likely to remain a major focal point for advertisers despite falling short with U.S. audiences this year, the chief executive of No. 2 global advertising group WPP Group said on Wednesday.
“The television ratings were, I think, a little bit disappointing, but NBC said they made a good return on it,” Martin Sorrell said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York on Wednesday.
Yet fragmenting TV audiences have paradoxically made big events like the Olympics more important than ever, even with smaller audiences.
“There are very few events that have significant reach anymore. That’s the paradox of Super Bowl advertising — why does a 30-second spot cost $2.5 million?” Sorrell said. “There is a pool of money which has remained pretty much the same that is willing to bid for those programs.”
This year in the United States, the second week of Olympics coverage trailed programming on another network in the key 18-49 demographic for the first time in decades. The event, televised by NBC, did have several big ratings draws, including two strong nights of women’s figure skating.
Sorrell noted that the Turin Olympics’ U.S. ratings were probably affected by the 6-hour plus difference in time zones.
“I find it difficult to believe that an event like the winter Olympics, summer Olympics, the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards would become less interesting,” he said.
WPP expects the “mini-quadrennial” events of the winter Olympics, the World Cup and the U.S. midterm elections to drive an increase of at least 4 percent in 2006 ad spending.
Sorrell predicted the 2008 Beijing summer Olympics would be a blockbuster event in one of the world’s hottest advertising markets, which is set to become the third-biggest as early as this year.
China’s ad spending may have cooled marginally — growth rates last year were in the high teens, compared with rates ofnearly 40 percent in recent years — but it is still an indisputable hotspot for WPP and other major advertising companies.
“Things can’t go upward forever,” Sorrell said. “It’s journalistic excess to say that 15 percent is not fast growth. In western Europe we’re lucky to do 2 or 3 percent.”
As part of joining the World Trade Organization, China is lifting rules that require foreign advertising companies to set up joint ventures with domestic partners.
WPP has more than a dozen Chinese JVs — including an Ogilvy and Mather partnership with the 70 million member Communist Youth League — and it bought 25 percent of top-10 Chinese ad agency Shanghai Advertising Ltd. last year.
“I don’t think the JV structure has been any brake on development,” Sorrell said. “There may be some changes on the margin [after the ban is lifted].”