SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1280 (46), Friday, June 15, 2007
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TITLE: Russians Concerned About Large Wealth Gap
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A wealth gap between rich and poor and a city-country split are the two key alienating factors in modern Russia, according to a new study compiled by a group of sociologists, historians and journalists which was presented to the media on Thursday.
Titled “Russia — delete?,” the book is based on a series of sociological research projects and psychological and ethnic studies and aims to address issues that divide and unite the country today.
“The word delete in the title refers to the dangers, risks and pitfalls the country is facing today,” co-author and journalist Tatyana Chesnokova, said. “It is a question of whether the country will eventually split up, or not.”
The research revealed that the Russian language is perceived as the strongest instrument of consolidation among Russian citizens, ahead of history, traditions, the state and what the sociologists called “a national character.”
Zinaida Sikevich, a doctor of sociology and head of the Laboratory for Ethnic Sociology and Psychology, whose research was used in the publication, said the survey hoped to identify what brings the Russian people together as a nation, what divides them and whether attitudes vary between a major city and the provinces.
“In countries with an imperial past, history typically serves as a crucial factor of national consolidation,” Sikevich said. “France, like Russia, is a country where an ‘imperial attitude’ is common but the two main differences are that in France they know their history much better and that in Russia the attitude has an escapist character, meaning that the majority of people tend to see Russia as a fallen, destroyed country, no longer powerful.”
A surprising result of the research was that it indicated that people in Russia are more concerned about the gap dividing the capital and provincial cities than they are about divisions resulting from financial inequality, political views, religion or social status.
Political persuasion and religious beliefs are not seen as dividing factors by majority of Russians, experts said.
“Politics tend sooner to unite Russians, but this is only because most of our citizens are apolitical,” said Roman Mogilevsky, head of the St.Petersburg-based Agency for Social Information.
The level of political activity among ordinary Russians is low. Apathy and inertia are the two predominant moods in Russian society today. During the past century, almost every family suffered from Russia’s changing regimes: Russian citizens perished in Stalin’s purges, lost their lives in wars and ethnic conflicts and their money during the economic reforms after the downfall of the U.S.S.R. For many people, defective Communism followed by an unfulfilled democracy complete with bungled economic reforms was more than they could bear. They have learned to watch out for themselves and be selfish, to mind their own business and not to mess with politics.
The difference between Russia’s richest and its poorest citizens has exceeded the 15 times of December 2006 and is now pushing 17 times.
This year, Russian ombudsman Vladimir Lukin called the gigantic wealth gap the country’s most urgent problem in his annual report.
“Most people in the provinces described the regions as being alienated from the center,” Sikevich said. “They consider themselves neglected. This is what annoys them the most, even more than that other people are richer or have unorthodox political views or a different religion.”
One of the book’s co-authors, St. Petersburg editor Natalya Cherkesova, who wrote a chapter about the formation and evolution of the new Russian elite, said the country’s ruling class has become — apart from getting wealthier — more patriotic and less individualistic.
“A greater share of the new elite have come to realize that all those fortunes they built in Russia do not automatically buy them respect and a place for themselves and their businesses outside of their home country,” she said. “It has been a painful experience but it helped them to look differently at their native land. And some of them have begun to learn the art of sharing.”
TITLE: NATO Considers Affiliation to U.S. Shield
AUTHOR: By Paul Ames
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO ordered its military experts Thursday to draw up plans for a possible short-range missile defense system to protect member nations that would be left exposed by proposed U.S. anti-missile units in central Europe.
A final decision on building the NATO system is not expected until next year, but the agreement by defense ministers to launch the study indicates a growing acceptance of Washington’s plans among the 26 allies, despite initial skepticism in some European nations and opposition from Russia.
“The NATO road map on missile defense is now clear. It’s practical and it’s agreed by all,” said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s secretary general.
Ministers also considered the impact of Russia’s offer to cooperate on using a radar base in Azerbaijan as part of a missile shield. Diplomats said Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed the Russian offer as a basis for discussion, following Moscow’s furious reaction to the U.S. missile defense plans for the Czech Republic and Poland.
Gates told the closed meeting, however, that Washington would continue its negotiations to install its 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and the main radar base in the Czech Republic, the diplomats said.
Washington says the addition of the European bases to anti-missile installations in North America would protect most of Europe from the threat of long-range attack from Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East. But it would leave Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and parts of Romania exposed.
To fill that gap, de Hoop Scheffer said NATO experts would produce a report by February on a short-range anti-missile defense “that can be bolted on to the overall missile defense system as it would be installed by the United States.”
Russia has threatened to retaliate against the U.S. plans by pulling out of a key arms control treaty and pointing warheads at Europe for the first time since the Cold War. However, at last week’s G-8 summit, President Vladimir Putin seemed to take a more open approach, suggesting Russia could cooperate with the West on an anti-missile radar base in Azerbaijan.
“I will certainly underscore our interest in exploring with them President Putin’s proposal with respect to radar in Azerbaijan,” Gates said Wednesday on his way to the NATO meeting.
During a stop in Germany, Gates said he was pleased Putin had acknowledged “that Iran does represent a problem that needs to be dealt with in terms of potential missile defense.”
NATO ministers will seek more details of the Russian proposal from their Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov. But alliance experts said complex technical issues meant it was too early to say if the Azerbaijani radar could effectively replace or supplement the planned U.S. installations in central Europe.
“The trouble with missile defense is that it is rocket science,” said John Colston, NATO’s assistant secretary-general for defense policy.
The NATO ministers also agreed to step up work to prevent attacks on alliance members’ computer systems, following a sustained cyber assault on Estonian web sites at the height of a diplomatic dispute between the Baltic nation and Russia in May.
The ministers were due to meet their Afghan counterpart Friday to likely discuss U.S. claims that Iran is helping arm Taliban insurgents fighting NATO’s 36,000-member military force there — a claim Afghanistan’s defense minister played down Thursday.
TITLE: High Security, Wild Nights, Jacked-Up Prices
AUTHOR: By Simon Shuster
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: They came. They struck billion-dollar deals. And they partied.
After the hard work of the forum was done each day, the 9,000 delegates were treated to nighttime cruise-liner parties and riverside serenades by a full symphony orchestra. Topping it all off was the midnight unveiling of a former military island with dancers, acrobats and fireworks.
“An event like this is successful only when it has a leader,” said St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko at the forum’s final news conference. “And that leader is German Gref.”
Gref, the economic development and trade minister, complained of two stains on the forum’s program, however. The first was former U.S. Vice President Al Gore crying off at the last minute, which forced organizers to call off Sunday’s first plenary session, even though final schedules had already been printed.
“He did not even call me to explain himself,” said Gref, who had personally invited some of the biggest names, including nine presidents and four prime ministers. “It is very disappointing for all the forum’s participants.”
The other glitch was the shortage of hotel rooms, which led the city’s hotels to “jack up prices,” Gref said. “I don’t even want to say how much they cost, because it’s just obscene.”
Apart from the hotels, the city’s roads were clogged the entire weekend, as whole neighborhoods were cordoned off for official events. Nonetheless, the response from local residents was overwhelmingly positive.
“You’ve got all these brains converging on the place. You’ve got all this money flowing in. I don’t see anything wrong with that,” said the owner of a grocery store near Lenexpo, the business center that hosted the forum.
An official poll found that 80 percent of the city’s residents supported the event this year, Matviyenko said. On Friday, the Scorpions and one of the Bee Gees gave free performances near the city center, “to let the people feel like they’re a part of this,” she said.
Some 80,000 local residents came out for the shows.
Perhaps the most embarrassing logistical goof, given the recent Russia-Estonia memorial dispute, was the fact that the Estonian cruise ship hosting the nighttime parties had the word TALLINNK written across its hull in black letters 10 meters high. Hours before the guests arrived, forum staff covered the letters with a giant Coca-Cola banner, and the Estonian crew members were kept out of sight on the lower decks.
Gref’s first thanks went to the event’s security services, which allowed the forum to go on “without excesses, thank God.”
Indeed, security was tight.
Thousands of law enforcement officers, mostly uniformed traffic cops, were on duty on the city’s streets all weekend, with a truck full of OMON riot police posted outside most of the forum’s events.
The 1,400 members of the press were herded about in small groups by sometimes catty chaperones.
“Don’t leave my side,” one of them told her gaggle of reporters. “If you are seen walking around alone in the conference center, you will be taken for an outsider or a spy, and appropriate actions will be taken.”
Things were not much more relaxed during the late-night parties on the deck of the Estonian liner. About one-fifth of the male guests on the upper deck Friday were grim, dark-suited men, who scrutinized the other guests from the back of the room. The watchers stayed stone cold sober until the parties wound down at about 3 a.m.
Asked whether he was with any of the state security services, the largest and most sullen of them said, “I’m here by myself.”
He was seen in a security detail the next day.
The heavy security appeared to affect one of the forum’s speakers, Yevroset CEO Yevgeny Chichvarkin, who took a swipe at regulators and security firms in general in his speech Saturday, saying, “Several million adult men are effectively engaged in the industry of distrust.”
About half of the female guests on the cruise liner Friday night appeared to have no visible connection to the forum, except that they were escorting foreign delegates. “What forum?” one of them said.
Rumors circled about secret VIP parties around the city for the more distinguished guests, and the highest-profile personage seen at Friday’s party was billionaire Rustam Tariko, the head of the vodka-and-banking conglomerate Russky Standart.
Just in case the bar ran dry, he brought with him a bottle of his own vodka, even though a dozen uniformed waitresses stood about, carrying laden trays of the stuff.
After the forum’s final news conference Sunday, Gref and Matviyenko rushed off to a gala dinner on the banks of the Neva River that featured the entire orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater, 12 grand pianos, a fireworks display, a performance by teen pop trio Serebro and an open bar made entirely of ice.
Gref held court with Matviyenko at the top table, and got up to dance, albeit stiffly, with award-winning singer Larissa Lusta.
About 1,000 guests, including most of the forum’s speakers and panelists, were in attendance. Gentlemen in shiny suits gave 1,000 ruble tips to the waiters, and young women emerged in pairs from bathroom stalls with men who seemed to have the sniffles. Along with their sea scallops, crab legs and whiskey, some of the Japanese guests enjoyed the company of Russian girls who hung on their arms and laughed a lot, without having a language in common.
Following the dinner, guests were shuttled to the unveiling of New Holland Island, where they listened again to the Mariinsky Orchestra. They then watched a synchronized boat show in the canal as about 100 dancers and acrobats cavorted around and swung from the rafters in white, 19th-century outfits.
The island, which will be turned into a “multicultural and business center,” was opened to the public for the first time on Sunday after 285 years as a military base.
“There is no doubt that St. Petersburg is the most beautiful city in the world,” First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told guests in a 1 a.m. welcome speech. “This is the greatest event for our city, and probably for the entire world.”
Staff Writer Anna Smolchenko contributed to this report.
TITLE: Moscow Police Seek Strangler of 2
PUBLISHER: The Moscow Times
TEXT: Police were looking Wednesday for an Uzbek citizen suspected of strangling two young women to death on the shores of a Moscow region lake popular among swimmers and sunbathers.
The bodies of the victims, aged 20 and 22, were discovered at around 4 p.m. Tuesday on the shores of Lake Senezh, near the town of Solnechnogorsk, 60 kilometers northwest of Moscow, regional prosecutors said in a statement.
The women both had head wounds and had likely been strangled Monday, a law enforcement source said, RIA-Novosti reported.
Only the 20-year-old victim, a resident of Podolsk, has been identified, although her name is not being released to avoid compromising the investigation, the source said.
The source said authorities were searching for a 22-year-old Uzbek citizen suspected of killing the women, adding that he has been living in Russia without registration.
A conviction on double homicide charges carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
TITLE: Belarus Opposes Russian Candidate
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Belarus has unexpectedly vetoed Russia’s candidate for the post of executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States, apparently because he criticized Belarussian elections.
At an informal CIS summit last weekend, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko told Presidents Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, which holds the rotating CIS presidency, that he would not endorse former Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov for the post, Kommersant and Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
The Belarussian government declined to comment on the matter Wednesday, Interfax reported. But a source in Minsk told Interfax that Veshnyakov had made biased remarks about Belarus and its electoral system while he headed the Central Election Commission.
In December 2002, Veshnyakov criticized Minsk’s refusal to sign a CIS convention on election standards.
But Nikolai Cherginets, chairman of the international affairs committee in Belarus’ upper house of the parliament, said the reasons for Lukashenko’s objection were unclear, telling Vedomosti that Veshnyakov knew nothing about Russian-Belarussian relations.
Veshnyakov, who lost his job as elections chief in March, had been tipped to replace Vladimir Rushailo, whose term as CIS secretary runs out on Thursday.
Veshnyakov’s departure from the elections commission has been linked to his criticism of Kremlin-backed electoral laws and political tactics, but he has denied the link.
Lukashenko’s surprising move comes as relations between Russia and Belarus are increasingly strained.
TITLE: Belarus Criticized at UN Council
AUTHOR: By Eliane Engeler
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: GENEVA — Human rights violations in Belarus have been worsening with no sign that the government will improve its record under international pressure, a UN-appointed rights expert said.
Representatives of Belarus and Russia dismissed the report as politically biased.
“During 2006, the situation of human rights in Belarus constantly deteriorated,” Adrian Severin told the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, citing abuses such as imprisonment of political opponents, torture, excessive use of police force and severe restrictions on the news media.
“All my efforts to engage in constructive dialogue with the government of Belarus were fruitless,” Severin said, adding that the government failed to allow him to visit the country for a third consecutive year in 2006 and has yet to respond to a request this year.
Just as the government has dismissed a barrage of international criticism in recent years, it has ignored all his previous calls to put an end to abuses, Severin said. “In fact, the political system of Belarus seems to be incompatible with the concept of human rights as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations” and in the rights treaties that Belarus has ratified, he said in a 19-page report.
Severin — who encouraged Belarussian civil society activists to continue their work toward democratization — called on the UN to set up a legal expert group to investigate whether the country’s government was responsible for the disappearance and murders of several politicians and journalists and help to put an end to impunity.
Russia and other neighboring countries should join in travel sanctions for Belarussian officials imposed by the EU and the United States, he said in his report. At the same time, countries should condition trade with Belarus on human rights criteria, he said. “Russia could exercise a very important role in supporting any international strategy meant to improve the situation of human rights in the country,” he said.
The report contained false allegations and “absurd conclusions,” said Belarussian Ambassador to the UN Sergei Aleinik, calling Severin an “incompetent and politically engaged expert” who wanted to create a negative image of the country.
“The special rapporteur is misusing the human rights mandate ... to put forward a political model for interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” he told the council.
Oleg Malginov, who heads the human rights division of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told the council that the report was politically biased and said it demonstrated why the mandates of UN rights experts on specific countries should be abolished.
TITLE: President Presses For New Economic Order
AUTHOR: By Anna Smolchenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: President Vladimir Putin has called for the creation of a new global economic order that would diminish the importance of the WTO and the IMF — and at the same time asked eight U.S. business leaders to help get Russia into the WTO.
Putin criticized the World Trade Organization and similar institutions as “archaic, nondemocratic and unwieldy” during a speech Sunday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The president, speaking in the presence of WTO head Pascal Lamy and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, said the organizations should be overhauled to take into account the might of emerging economies like Russia, India and China.
“It’s obvious that a world financial system tied to one or two currencies and a limited number of financial centers no longer reflects the current strategic needs of the global economy,” Putin said.
Russia, he said, could emerge as a new financial center and the ruble should become an alternative to the dollar and euro.
“It would be timely to raise the question of switching to ruble payments in export operations from Russia,” Putin said.
Accusing the developed economies that established the WTO of protectionism, he said regional economic institutions could become an alternative.
But in a sign of the importance that the Kremlin places on WTO entry — and perhaps in a tacit acknowledgement that there are no real alternatives to the bloc — Putin on Saturday met with eight U.S. executives to offer Kremlin support for their work in Russia in exchange for their assistance in speeding up Russia’s accession process.
The eight executives were Scott Carson, chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola president and CEO; Michael Klein, CEO of global banking at Citigroup; David O’Reilly, Chevron chairman and CEO; Gregory Brown, Motorola president and CEO; Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical president and CEO; James Mulva, ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO; and John Faraci, International Paper’s chairman and CEO. U.S. Ambassador William Burns also participated in the meeting.
O’Reilly said Putin encouraged U.S. investment and called the meeting “very constructive.”
Andrew Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said the main reason for the 30-minute meeting was to secure support from businessmen who could “urge Congress to abrogate Jackson-Vanik,” the Soviet-era trade provision that the United States must lift before Russia joins the WTO.
Putin, speaking to more than 100 foreign CEOs later Saturday, said it was in the U.S. interest to let Russia into the WTO as soon as possible. “I’ve just met with several of our American colleagues and drew their attention to the fact that ... our partners in the world’s leading economies are interested in Russia’s entry into the WTO no less than we are,” he said in opening remarks.
Also Saturday, Somers announced the creation of a working group of Russian and U.S. executives to lobby for Russia’s accession.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters at the forum Sunday that it would make sense to raise the issue of lifting the Jackson-Vanik amendment when Russia reaches the final stages of the accession process. She said the process could technically be completed by year’s end.
Somers said the time frame meant U.S. and Russian business leaders would step up pressure on U.S. officials in the late fall.
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref and Schwab discussed Russia’s entry into the WTO on Sunday and “agreed to seriously speed up the talks” to wrap up the accession process by year’s end, Gref said.
Asked to comment on Russia’s entry into an organization that Putin had criticized, Gref said the WTO needed a more “democratic” structure but Russia had to join for lack of a better alternative. “There are a lot of imperfect things in life, but nevertheless we participate in them,” Gref said. “If somebody knows another way, then offer a suggestion.”
Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, expressed hope that Russia would not backtrack on the progress it has made in the WTO accession process. “I hope the whole of the Russian government, and in particular President Putin, remain firmly behind Minister Gref’s efforts,” he said on the sidelines of the forum. “He works so hard, he commands the trust of his counterparts in the WTO, and he deserves his government’s support.’’
He promised to help speed up Russia’s entry.
Schwab declined to comment on Putin’s criticism, saying she first needed to see a transcript of his speech.
“The sooner Russia is in the WTO, the better,” Schwab told forum participants. “And I think that’s the message we need to convey to our Congress and the administration.”
Also Saturday, Putin said Russia welcomed foreign investors and expected other nations to be open to investment from Russia.
A total of $13.5 billion worth of deals were signed at the forum, Gref told reporters Sunday evening. Foreign investment accounted for $4 billion of that amount.
TITLE: Ex-Volgograd Mayor Convicted and Freed
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Former Volgograd Mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko walked free from jail Wednesday after being sentenced to one year time served and banned from holding public office for four years.
A Volgograd court convicted Ishchenko, 34, of illegal participation in business activities and illegal possession of ammunition. A charge of abuse of office was thrown out.
Since Ishchenko had been jailed in a pretrial detention center since last May, he was released shortly after the verdict.
“I am glad that I am free. I am very glad that I can hug my wife and children,” Ishchenko said, Interfax reported.
He said he still maintains his innocence.
Ishchenko’s case was among a series of investigations opened against mayors in what political analysts see as a campaign by the Kremlin and governors to instill greater loyalty in mayors.
In Arkhangelsk, Mayor Alexander Donskoi is being investigated on suspicion of abuse of office for purportedly dipping into city coffers to pay for bodyguards for himself and his family. Tolyatti Mayor Nikolai Utkin was detained last month on suspicion of demanding a multimillion-dollar bribe.
There are dozens of criminal cases being conducted against deputy mayors, small-town mayors and former mayors.
Ishchenko resigned as mayor in October, and Communist candidate Roman Grebennikov won an upset victory over the United Russia candidate in an early election held last month.
The charge of abuse of office followed an investigation by Volgograd prosecutors that found Ishchenko had used his influence to gain privileges for a company he owned in renting offices and land. In addition, a search of his apartment turned up 94 rifle cartridges.
Ishchenko told the court in a 25-minute closing statement on June 6 that he had been framed.
“I have lived through many hardships over the year I have been in custody. I declare my full innocence, and I am asking you to declare me not guilty,” he said, Itar-Tass reported.
“I will never be involved in politics again.”
TITLE: EU Warns Serbia About Russian Hug
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BRUSSELS — The European Union, at odds with Serbia over the future of Kosovo, warned Belgrade on Wednesday to beware of the bear hug of Russia.
Speaking after restarting negotiations with Serbia on closer ties, European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said everyone wanted good relations with Moscow.
“But it is important to recall that one has to be careful that when hugging even a friendly big bear, one wouldn’t be suffocated,” the Finnish commissioner told Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic at a joint news briefing.
Russia has been Serbia’s closest ally in opposing Western-backed independence for the breakaway Serb province of Kosovo, under United Nations stewardship since 1999.
Rehn stressed that the EU talks with Serbia — resumed after Belgrade boosted cooperation with a UN war crimes tribunal — was a separate process from that on the final status of Kosovo.
“I don’t think it would be fair that we would expect Serbia to make concessions on Kosovo because of achieving or returning to the European track,” he said.
TITLE: Tax Service Launches Eight Russneft Lawsuits
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Pressure on Mikhail Gutseriyev’s Russneft grew as the Federal Tax Service on Wednesday announced eight lawsuits against the midsized oil producer’s current and past shareholders.
The lawsuits against 11 companies, filed in April over share sales, may allow the government to confiscate these shares and take control of Russneft.
The announcement of legal action is the latest blow to Gutseriyev, whom police charged with fraud last month after authorities accused Russneft of exceeding its production quotas. Gutseriyev, previously believed to have Kremlin connections, denied that he was charged.
As the onslaught on Russneft and its majority owner Gutseriyev widened, the company’s production slumped in the first five months of this year, compared with the same period last year, apparently due to a lack of investment, an oil analyst said.
Shareholders are now facing accusations from the Federal Tax Service that they bought and sold their shares contrary to “foundations of the rule of law and morals,” a tax service spokeswoman said, declining further comment.
It was not clear Wednesday why the Federal Tax Service was challenging the share deals.
Russneft spokesman Eduard Sarkisov did not return repeated calls seeking comment. Earlier this month, Gutseriyev said through Sarkisov that he would agree to interviews only after the situation surrounding the company returned to normal.
The Moscow Arbitration Court said Thursday that it had accepted the lawsuits, Interfax reported.
Russneft’s troubles are believed to originate from its refusal to fold into a state-run oil and gas major such as Rosneft or Gazprom. Another reason could be its purchase of Yukos assets that were apparently coveted by state-run firms.
If tax officials prove that Russneft acted with malicious intent, they will be able to confiscate the shares, said Nikolai Averchenko, a lawyer at law firm Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners.
“Everything will depend on the ... judge’s discretion,” Averchenko said. “Lawyers call these criteria of rule of law and morality bendable.”
Prospects for the lawsuits are uncertain, he said, because courts normally throw out similar claims by the tax service. On the other hand, a Moscow court ruled in favor of the taxmen in the latest such case, brought against PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Russian unit, but that ruling has not taken effect yet and is being appealed.
TITLE: Finns to Pull Out of Lenenergo
AUTHOR: By Yekaterina Dranitsyna
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Finnish energy concern Fortum is planning to sell its stake in St. Petersburg power network operator Lenenergo. If the Finnish investor can’t own a controlling stake, then it’s not interested in holding shares, Fortum chief executive said to Bloomberg news agency Wednesday.
Mikael Lilius, president CEO of Fortum Oy, said the company could sell its stake in Lenenergo to City Hall. The city authorities have insisted on playing a more active role in local power infrastructure and Fortum has no objections, Lilius said.
The Finnish company will change its investment strategy and focus on power generation assets in other regions of Russia and not just in proximity to the Finnish border. Fortum will apply to buy shares of the respective companies including OGK-4, Lilius said.
Fortum currently holds a 35.5 percent stake in Lenenergo. A new share issue that is currently underway means Fortum’s stake will decrease to 23.7 percent.
Though Fortum is allowed to buy new shares in advance, Russian stakeholders asked the Finnish company not to exercise its right and allow Smolny to become a Lenenergo shareholder and accumulate over 25 percent of shares.
“It would be reasonable for us to own a blocking package of about 25 percent of shares. Otherwise we are leaving. It’s a purely commercial deal,” Bloomberg cited Lilius as saying.
An expert said the Finnish company would do better to invest into Russia’s non-strategic power assets. Meanwhile Fortum faces trouble returning the invested funds.“Lenenergo was overvalued by investors in the fund market, and it will be difficult for Fortum to sell its stake at the current market price,” said Semyon Birg, analyst at FINAM investment company.
“Fortum can allow a reduction in its stake because Lenenergo is not a priority asset for the Finnish company. Fortum is interested in power generation companies,” he added.
The OGK-4 share offering is scheduled for the end of this summer. The company will issue shares worth 46.8 percent of its authorized capital stock.
“The Finnish company could be interested in buying shares in TGK-2, TGK-4, OGK-4 and OGK-6. Fortum has more chance to get control over some of the OGK companies than over TGK-1. Leningrad Oblast and Moscow Oblast are considered strategic regions, and foreign companies are not welcome in those areas,” Birg said.
However Fortum is still trying to play a part in the management of TGK-1 (TGK-1 unifies the assets of Lenenergo and a number of other energy companies.)
On Wednesday, Fortum suggested six candidates for director on the board of TGK-1, comprised of 11 people in all, Interfax reported Wednesday. The election is scheduled for June 19.
Birg suggested that companies affiliated with the St. Petersburg government or with Gazprom could be interested in buying out the Fortum shares in Lenenergo.
“RAO Unified Energy Systems and City Hall are planning a joint investment of $11 billion into the development of power infrastructure in the city by 2010. The most expensive part of the project is the modernization of the distribution networks which needs $3.7 billion – four times the current capitalization of Lenenergo,” Birg said.
“It will be financed jointly by Unified Energy Systems, the federal budget and the city budget as well as other sources of funding and private investors,” he said.
According to Mikael Lilius, Fortum is continuing negotiations with UES and City Hall to come up with a solution.
TITLE: Reiman Backs Asset Transfer
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russian Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman said he supports a plan to transfer assets of national fixed-line phone monopoly Svyazinvest to long-distance operator Rostelecom.
The government is considering alternatives for developing Svyazinvest. On June 11, Denis Askinadze, an official at the Economy Ministry, said Rostelecom may issue shares and swap them for stakes in regional units of Svyazinvest.
“It’s a good variant,’’ Reiman told reporters in Moscow on Monday. “It’s possible.’’
The government has said it would sell its remaining 75 percent of Svyazinvest almost every year since 1997, when it auctioned a 25 percent stake now held by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s AFK Sistema. A group of investors including George Soros bought the stake for $1.88 billion.
TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: Mortgage Mayhem
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — CIT Finance investment bank has issued mortgages for two billion rubles ($76.7 million) in St. Petersburg since the beginning of this year, Prime-Tass reported Wednesday.
The total number of mortgages issued by CIT Finance in the city reached 2,300. Over 20 percent of borrowers used the money to invest into construction.
Powerful Investment
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — TGK-1 will invest about 6.5 billion rubles ($250 million) into power infrastructure in the Leningrad Oblast by 2011, Interfax reported Wednesday.
The project was part of the agreement between Unified Energy Systems and the Leningrad Oblast government signed on June 9.
TGK-1 will modernize the power generation equipment and develop schemes of power supply to particular areas in the Leningrad Oblast. The total volume of investment by UES in the Leningrad Oblast will be 70.7 billion rubles ($2.7 billion).
More Coke
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Slantsy plant in the Leningrad Oblast, one of the largest coal and oil refining enterprises in Europe, will almost triple the production of coke this year increasing it up to 77,577 tons, Interfax reported Wednesday.
The increase in production will need about 12 million rubles worth of investment. Renova group owns 35 percent of the company.
Trusting PSB
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — PSB managing company is to launch four new trust funds to invest into equities in popular industries, the company said Wednesday in a statement.
The new unit funds, to open June 22, will include Stoik Oil and Gas, Stoik Telecom, Oplot Energy and Oplot Metallurgy. VTB bank will be the depositary for the new funds. Shares in the funds will be sold up to Aug. 31, 2007.
Frozen Funds
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia’s Dalnevostochnyi Bank will participate in transferring North Korean funds frozen in a Macao bank because of U.S. sanctions, Ekho Moskvy radio reported, citing Garegin Tosunyan, the president of the Association of Russian Banks.
TITLE: Union: AvtoVAZ Faces 1,500 Job Cuts
AUTHOR: By Tai Adelaja
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — Up to 1,500 workers at carmaker AvtoVAZ could be facing the axe by August, Pyotr Zolotaryov, leader of the Yedinstvo independent trade union at the company, said Wednesday.
Company representatives downplayed the claims, however, saying the staff cuts were a result of natural wastage that would optimize efficiency at the carmaker.
“We are gradually letting go people who have reached the age at which they can claim their pension,” AvtoVAZ spokesman Ivan Skrylnik said in a telephone interview.
Skrylnik said downsizing measures — which will see an approximately 1.5 percent reduction to the company’s 120,000-strong workforce — have been planned for several years and are intended to increase efficiency at the firm’s Tolyatti plant.
Skrylnik denied media reports that AvtoVAZ plans to use the 75 million ruble ($2.9 million) reduction in annual labor costs resulting from the cuts to fund a general increase in wages at the carmaker by around 5 percent.
Skrylnik also rejected claims that the measures were related to AvtoVAZ’s plans to scale back production for 2007 in response to lower sales in the first five months of the year. Kommersant reported last Wednesday that AvtoVAZ was set to produce 720,600 vehicles and 164,100 car assembly kits this year, a decrease of 6.6 percent and 12.7 percent respectively on original output targets.
Zolotaryov was dismissive of the company’s claim that downsizing at the company could improve the working conditions of current employees.
“Talks of salary increases for those left after job cuts are a fairy tale. ... We are still being paid a meager 6,000 rubles to 8,000 rubles,” Zolotaryov said.
“The management is letting go of experienced workers through natural wastage, while young workers are leaving the company in droves because of poor working conditions.”
With its 120,000 employees, AvtoVAZ still remains Tolyatti’s main employer.
“However efficient the move is, in a city of 700,000, laying off workers — even those of pension age — by the main employer smacks of tragedy,” said Andrei Lyapin, leader of the 1,300-member Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers.
Lyapin said AvtoVAZ’s move was a panic measure, a reflection of its inability to compete with smaller and better-organized firms, such as SKD Auto.
AvtoVAZ currently produces around 730,000 annually, while Renault plants have an output of 2.5 million cars with only 130,000 workers.
TITLE: Rosneft Offers $190 Million For Yukos Southern Power
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: MOSCOW — Rosneft, Russia’s state-run oil producer, offered to buy Yukos Oil Co.’s assets in southern Russia for 4.9 billion rubles ($190 million) after regulators blocked the winner of a May auction from acquiring them.
Rosneft made the offer for Yukos’s stakes in regional power utilities and an oil and gas exploration unit on June 9 and is waiting for an answer, spokesman Nikolai Manvelov said in a phone interview from Moscow on Thursday. Yukos’s bankruptcy manager must reply to Rosneft’s offer within 10 days, he said.
Rosneft has become the country’s largest oil producer and refiner after buying Yukos assets at forced auctions this year. The government dismantled Yukos after claiming more than $30 billion in back taxes from the company and jailing former owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud and tax evasion.
As the second-highest bidder in the May 3 bankruptcy auction, Rosneft was given another chance to buy the assets when the anti-monopoly authorities refused to allow the winner, Promregion Holding, to buy more power units in the region.
TITLE: Shtokman Field Under Icy Threat
AUTHOR: By Dmitry Zhdannikov
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Shtokman gas field, one of the world’s most challenging offshore projects, will face even greater problems as global warming unleashes vast icebergs into the Arctic, a senior scientist says.
Even if icebergs are unlikely to halt the world’s largest single energy development as the global hunger for resources grows, they will make the $30 billion-plus project by Gazprom yet more expensive.
“Our studies show that, as the Arctic climate gets milder, the risks of huge iceberg formation and ice storms in the Barents Sea will grow significantly by 2015,” said Alexander Frolov, deputy head of the Federal Meteorological and Environmental Monitoring Service.
“When we talk about such a large project as Shtokman, we can’t just ignore these risks,” he said.
Gazprom, the world’s largest gas producer and supplier of one-quarter of Europe’s needs, says it realized that Shtokman would be one of the world’s most tough and costly developments immediately after discovering the field in 1988.
Located 550 kilometers from the shore, the field cannot be reached by helicopter from continental bases. With water depths of 600 meters, installing a platform in the stormy sea will be hard. Freezing winds and six months of winter darkness add to the many challenges.
The stakes are high, as the field contains more than enough gas to supply the world for a year.
The field was meant to come on stream in 2003, but its launch has been repeatedly postponed due to a lack of funds and Gazprom’s inability to agree with Western partners.
Analysts had expected a breakthrough in the development last year, when Gazprom came close to teaming up with U.S. Chevron and ConocoPhillips, Norway’s Statoil and Norsk Hydro and France’s Total.
But the deal collapsed amid what experts said was the cooling of political relations between Moscow and Washington and the Kremlin’s unwillingness to share the country’s natural resources.
Gazprom has resumed talks with the same partners, this time to bring them in as possible contractors, as experts say the Russian company lacks the offshore expertise to go it alone.
“The project foresees a system of iceberg monitoring and the use of special technologies to chase them away,” Gazprom spokesman Denis Ignatyev said.
Frolov said Russia had no such experience and the threat from ice formations, which can be more than 100 kilometers long and equal the size of Jamaica, should not be underestimated.
“It was an iceberg that sank Titanic. A platform can’t just dodge icebergs. So we need to create a proper iceberg monitoring system, like the one in Canada,” he said.
While warmer temperatures may cause larger icebergs to break off polar ice, many experts have said global warming may also help develop Arctic resources, as melting ice will make once inaccessible reserves attractive to oil and gas firms.
n Gazprom is likely to form a joint venture as part of the Shtokman project. The new company will work on technical matters of the project, but Gazprom will retain full control of the oil field, Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy CEO of the Russian energy company, told journalists Thursday. He added that Gazprom was in talks with various foreign companies on their possible participation in the project. However, he did not reveal the names of the holding’s potential partners.
Bloomberg
TITLE: Channeling Energy in the Wrong Direction
AUTHOR: By Robert Skidelsky
TEXT: Russia’s integration into the world economy has been based on energy. Energy is predominant both in its domestic economy and foreign trade. In 2006, oil and gas made up 40 percent of gross domestic product and 60 percent of exports. Since 2000, rising oil export revenues have been the main driver of growth, as the price of Urals oil rose from below $10 per barrel to more than $60.
Who would have predicted such an outcome 100 years ago? Russia started to industrialize at the end of the 19th century, and industrialization was the core of Soviet development strategy. The aim was to catch up with and overtake the United States, showing the superiority of central planning over the free market.
In fact, the Soviet Union never caught up with the United States. Its economy today is only one-seventh the size of the United States’. This was because Soviet-style development was dictated not by comparative advantage, but by military imperatives. Most Russian products could not be sold on world markets.
Despite high levels of scientific and technical expertise, this lack of marketability forced the economy back to its natural-resources base. It is more dependent on resources now than it was in Soviet times — a unique type of de-industrialization.
It is clear that Russia needs to diversify away from excessive reliance on extracting energy. It has started to do so. Investment is increasing by 10 percent per year, most of it in the nonenergy sector. Extraction is yielding to investment in downstream projects like liquefied natural gas, refineries and petrochemicals. This should improve the export balance between raw materials and value-added products. But there are definite structural obstacles to diversification, and unless these are overcome, they will destroy any prospects of Russia becoming a normally developed economic power.
The chief obstacle arises from the “curse” of natural resources — the belief that you can live forever off nature’s bounty. The curse, and the way it has manifested itself in Russia, involves the following:
• Dutch Disease. Cash inflows from energy exports weaken the competitiveness of nonenergy sectors by strengthening the domestic currency. The gains from the 1998 ruble devaluation have been exhausted and the ruble has appreciated against the dollar by 15 percent in real terms since 2003. This has been reflected in the deceleration of economic growth since 2002. Growth is set to slow further as the economy becomes steadily less competitive. The overvalued exchange rate is an important factor — though only one — preventing the growth of the small and medium-sized manufacturing industry. This sector — the seedbed of future growth — contributes only 25 percent of GDP, the lowest share among emerging markets and well below the European Union average of 60 percent to 65 percent.
• Volatility. Commodity prices are more volatile than industrial prices, so a country that depends on these exports is much more vulnerable to terms-of-trade shocks. The volatility of oil prices is a huge potential weakness. As long as oil and gas prices remain buoyant there will be favorable spillover effects on the economy. But these could turn into burst bubbles if there are sharp energy price corrections. Remember what happened in the 1980s? Oil prices, in 2004 dollars, fell from $78 per barrel in 1982 to $40 in 1990. This ruined Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika program and contributed to his fall from power and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• State monopoly. Natural resources are viewed as part of the nation’s “patrimony” and have to be kept under state control for use as a foreign policy instrument. Policy focuses on consolidation of production into giant pseudo-state companies. Foreign investment is deterred. President Vladimir Putin’s policy of preserving this “strategic sector” of the economy under government control has led directly to the drive to consolidate and renationalize companies privatized under Boris Yeltsin. This doctrine of a vaguely defined strategic sector keeps property rights and business governance opaque, but gives Russia clout as an “energy superpower.”
• The struggle for control of monopoly rents. An abundance of natural resources can divert political and economic energies from the struggle to create wealth, including the replacement of existing resources, toward the struggle to redistribute rents flowing from them. Russian political life is dominated by the struggle for rents. These windfalls are shared among the government (in revenues and bribes), the owners of oil and gas companies and the consumers (in the form of subsidized prices). The real issue at the heart of the Yukos affair was the redistribution of Russia’s oil assets and windfall profits. Little thought is given to increasing productivity even in the energy sector, much less to ensuring its reproduction in the future as existing fields are depleted.
• Authoritarianism. The government has a revenue base outside the income tax system, and thus has less need for popular support for its policies. Oil and gas account for 40 percent of state budget revenues. This helps to explain the growing authoritarianism of Putin’s system.
• Struggle for control of territory. The uneven distribution of resources within a resource-rich country either encourages resource-rich regions to break away or encourages resource-poor regions to establish control over the whole country by authoritarian means. The oil boom has increased gaps, most markedly in per capita gross regional products and life expectancies, between regions. The rise in the Gini coefficient, which measures economic inequality, is an important consequence of the lack of an adequate distributional formula to redress regional inequality.
So the task of building a broadly based economy cannot be shirked. There is widespread agreement that the government’s top priority should be to improve the private investment climate. In macroeconomic policy the government has basically followed this prescription by cutting taxes, amassing a huge budget surplus, liberalizing capital flows, and accumulating foreign exchange reserves. It has used the surpluses from the stabilization fund to buy foreign securities. All of this follows sound financial dictates. It has led to a boom in the retail sector and in residential construction and property values, not only in Moscow. The microeconomic picture is more unsettling since, as I have argued, it is in the interests of the political elite to keep property rights and business practices as opaque as possible.
The alternative policy would be to use the bounty from oil and gas exports to repair badly damaged state institutions and restore public goods like law and order, education, health care and obsolete infrastructure. Belatedly, the government has committed some revenues from the stabilization fund to kick-start the “knowledge economy.” But implementation of the national projects has lagged well behind the rhetoric.
The state is clearly ambivalent about diversifying. The energy economy provides elites with too many incentives for short-term enrichment and national posturing. They see energy as the way back to superpower status. Russia is Europe’s main supplier of gas and gas-for-trade deals, and foreign acquisitions and control of its “near abroad” seem to be at the core of the country’s European economic policy. Oil is also its main source of leverage with China. As Christopher Weafer wrote, developing the oil and gas economy further has superseded the goal of diversification.
This choice would be disastrous. I believe that the clock is ticking on Russia’s oil bonanza. No one can tell when it will end — or whether the agony will be sudden or long and drawn out. The hydrocarbon windfall can help build a better future, but it is not that future. Russia desperately needs a new generation of leaders who do not regard the patrimony as a source of plunder and nationalist posturing. Unless it develops a public-spirited ruling class, the curse will have the last word.
Lord Skidelsky is chairman of the Center for Global Studies and professor of political economy at the University of Warwick.
TITLE: No Ethnic Policy — No Ethnic Problem
AUTHOR: By Yulia Latynina
TEXT: An angry crowd trashed Stavropol city buses, hundreds of shouting demonstrators chanted “Russia,” and riot police held the mob at bay. As far as I know, only RTVi cable television and Ren-TV broadcast this chaotic scene.
State television stations ran footage of Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev saying “there was no disorder” in Stavropol and that the ministry had opened nine criminal investigations and 51 people had been detained in connection with the nonexistent disturbance. State television quoted the presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, as calling it “an ordinary fight,” while rushing off to Stavropol himself.
The contrast couldn’t be greater. The authorities simply maintain that nothing special happened. Mobs of Russians scream that Chechens killed two students, while the Interior Ministry produces a composite photo of a murder suspect with freckles and blond hair. We can be sure that the police will haul in a suspect with freckles and blond hair, regardless of his actual guilt or innocence, and that angry mob will refuse to accept that the real offender has been apprehended.
Getting to the truth of what actually happened is of no interest to anyone involved.
Life was worse under Boris Yeltsin than it is under President Vladimir Putin: With Yeltsin there were miners’ strikes, lean budgets and war in Chechnya. But at least there weren’t pogroms. Nobody blamed the 1998 default crisis on people from the Caucasus. Now that Russia is better off, people are ready to go after non-Russians.
The Soviet Union collapsed along ethnic lines, and these conflicts are now resurgent in Russia.
There are two points here. The first is that Chechens are implicated in every major interethnic disturbance. Chechens from the village of Novoselskoye fought with Avar villagers from neighboring Moksob, with Kabardintsy in Nalchik, and with Russians in Kondopoga. The second point is that, apart from conflicts with other groups from the Caucasus, the Chechens always come out the winners despite being outnumbered. In Kazakhstan a furious crowd couldn’t even take a single home from which a Chechen had supposedly fired a hunting rifle. In Kondopoga, six Chechens allegedly attacked a mob and somehow managed to stab its leader to death.
Russia’s current course is doomed to strengthen interethnic rifts, the most dangerous of which is between Russians and Chechens. Russians see it as a conflict between wild animals and civilized humans, but Chechens view it as a wolf pouncing on a flock of sheep. Moscow’s hands-off approach only contributes to the problem. Instead of an appropriate government response, all the authorities provide is unofficial crisis management and spin.
The Kremlin is knowingly cultivating hatred. “They have offended us” has now become the leitmotif of the daily news. Russia has been insulted by the Poles, the Georgians, the Estonians, the Americans, the Norwegians, the Central Asians, the Jews and anyone who supports a unipolar world. Somehow the Eskimos have managed to avoid coming in for approbation. And when Putin climbs up on the presidential podium and talks about the need to “protect ethnic Russians,” mobs respond by burning market stalls owned by foreigners. No direct order is necessary — the president’s words are translated into action anyway.
But now the authorities are panicking. Phrases like “an ordinary fight” and “the murderer has freckles” are just attempts to solve problems with the age-old practice of denying their existence. It’s like treating a stroke patient by maintaining that he or she is perfectly healthy.
The ironic result is that, while the Kremlin continues to take control of more business assets and cash flows and to reduce personal freedoms, its control over the country continues to ebb.
Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.
TITLE: The second coming
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The iconic art-punk band that astounded many Russian fans and musicians with its sheer inventiveness when it came, out of the blue, to the city then known as Leningrad in 1989 returns to St. Petersburg this week.
But the members of Sonic Youth thought that the show they gave then was a disaster. Guitarist Thurston Moore was unhappy about the bland opening band — Russian rockers NEP — saying that they wanted to be supported by a “good punk band,” but ended up with some friends of the promoter instead, and the band cancelled a scheduled second concert due to the poor sound quality.
However, the band impressed many with its attitude and, most importantly, inspired the then-jobless ex-Akvarium cellist Seva Gakkel to launch TaMtAm, Russia’s first alternative rock club. TaMtAm supported innovative music and fought Russian rock clichÎs, and many acclaimed local acts, from Markscheider Kunst to Tequilajazzz, took their start from there. On a European tour that starts in Interlaken, Switzerland, on Friday, Sonic Youth, which features Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo on guitar, Kim Gordon on bass and guitar and Steve Shelley on drums, will be backed by Pavement bassist Mark Ibold. In St. Petersburg, support comes from the local band Tequilajazzz, which performed its first show at TaMtAm in 1993.
Steve Shelley spoke to The St. Petersburg Times by phone from his home in Hoboken, New Jersey this week.
What are your memories of the Russian concerts in 1989?
Yeah, I remember, it was a real new thing for us to be coming over, a really special thing to be able to play… I remember being a little disappointed at all the shows because each night we didn’t have… we didn’t get to bring all of our own instruments. We brought the guitars but we didn’t bring amps or drum set. I remember being a little disappointed each night — “Oh, I wish they could really see us.”
With “Daydream Nation” re-released as a 2CD deluxe edition and you playing the album on your upcoming European tour, do you feel a bit like rock legends?
Oh no. We just did a series of deluxe editions; we did “Goo” and “Dirty” and now “Daydream.” It’s just a nice format to put this stuff out, to remaster it, because mastering has gotten more subtle. … You can just get the record sound closer to what you really made in a studio, closer to your tape. And you know, these double CDs are just a good way to put out a kind of little timeline, a musical timeline of things that were happening at the time of that album, whether it’s “Dirty” or “Daydream Nation.” I don’t really think about the “rock legend” side of things too much. We just do these projects because we just think they are going to be fun, or some people might be interested. We keep a tape archive of all the things we’ve done through the years, whether it’s a live concert or a practice session or unreleased music. You keep it to do something with it some day, so that’s what these projects are good for.
“Daydream Nation” probably sounds more accessible, more pop than the band’s earlier work. Or maybe it seems so now because music has changed so much since then.
Yeah, I think maybe it’s just because music has changed. Back then it was still kind of weird. I don’t know, all the record people say “Oh, this is your pop record.” I’ve heard so many people telling me that “Goo” or “Dirty” or “Rather Ripped” is “your pop record,” so I really don’t know. It doesn’t matter to me. We just make these records and hope that someone else enjoys them besides just us. It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a pop record or not. I’m just trying to make music that we enjoy.
In 2005, “Daydream Nation” was listed in the U.S. Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry among recordings “that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important and/or inform or reflect life in the United States,” next to such entries as the first official transatlantic telephone conversation. What did they like about the album?
I have no idea. That was such a strange thing to have the Library of Congress mention “Daydream Nation” and include it in its list of recordings. So I don’t know, I guess they think it represents something that happened in the eighties, which I guess you could say it does.
How does it feel to perform the album in its entirety?
We’ve only done it once and that was last weekend, in Barcelona. Yeah, we never did it like that, although of course we did it throughout 1988 and 1989, but I don’t think we’ve ever played it from start to end in sequence. It was fun. It was really strange. It was a big audience, it was at this Primavera festival in Barcelona. It was a big audience of 40,000 people, and they all kind of knew “Daydream Nation.” So you’re playing this album on stage and everybody knows what song you’re going to play next, so it was a little scary, maybe. It was scarier than the usual festival concert. But I think it was fun, it was challenging, and we’ll do it 10 or 12 more times this summer in Europe.
But not in Russia.
No, we’re just doing Sonic Youth concerts in Russia, but last time we were in Russia, we were playing “Daydream Nation.” (Laughs) I don’t know [what we’ll be performing]. We won’t know until the day of a show. What do you want us to perform?
It’s been a while since “Rather Ripped” was released in June 2006. Have you recorded the next album?
No, we haven’t started yet. We’ve just put the finishing touches on this “Daydream Nation” double CD, which comes out today in the States, and comes out in a few weeks in Europe. Thurston just finished a solo album. It’s going to come out in the fall, so some time later maybe we’ll work on some Sonic Youth music.
Sonic Youth has influenced generations of musicians, paving the way for bands like Nirvana. Do you hear the influence in contemporary music?
I don’t know, that’s not for me to answer, I don’t know the answer. I don’t know how we affected other people. They know how we affected them. Maybe you can say as a writer, but as a musician I don’t. I don’t really think about that.
In an interview Thurston Moore referred to Sonic Youth as to “punk rock,” while critics use the word “art,” when speaking about your band.
I am sorry, but I don’t have any opinion, I don’t think about it. We just sort of do it. I don’t call it anything. I am sorry not to have a better answer for you, but that’s the truth.
The band was seen as epitomizing the indie, punk ethic but then you signed to major record label Geffen?
We were having a hard time getting our records sold around the world, so one way to do it at that time was to be on a major label. Who knows now because the music business has changed so much since the time we signed to Geffen.
Artists frequently complain about pressure from the majors. Have you experienced any from Geffen?
You mean as far as to music we were making? No, never. We were in a different position, because we already had a track record, and we’d gone into this thing agreeing that they won’t be telling us what to do. But even if you agree that they’re not going to tell you what to do, they can still do it, so we were lucky being able just to make our records and hand them in. We didn’t have to explain ourselves to Geffen. They were good to us in that respect, that they let us do what we want.
However, Sonic Youth has its own label as well, SYR, or Sonic Youth Recordings.
SYR, that’s our own label, and we have a couple more things to come out on SYR this year, one vinyl record and one CD.
Have you used it to release more unusual Sonic Youth music than Geffen did?
Yeah, I guess you could say “unusual.” Yeah, it’s recordings we don’t feel we would need to release on a label like Geffen. Maybe recordings they wouldn’t really know what to do with. You know, half of them were sort of instrumentals and more abstract recordings… It wouldn’t serve either of our interests to give it to Geffen.
What is the difference between SYR and your own label, Smells Like Records?
It goes through the office of my label, but it’s totally different, because the whole band is involved with it, while with my label I’m the only one involved with it. I started it in 1992. I was friends with Lou Barlow [Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh] and he was sending me cassettes of this project that he was doing called Sebadoh or Sentridoh, and there were two songs that I really, really liked that he had sent to me on a cassette, so I asked him if I could put them out as a single, a 7-inch record. So that was the first one that I released, with Lou Barlow, “Losercore,” a 7-inch. And then from there I just kept putting out things that I liked. You know, I was traveling a lot, so I felt like I met a lot of musicians or met a lot of bands. Sometimes I would put their records out. And sometimes it’s friends of mine. Sometimes you’ll just hear a tape or a CD that you like, and you put it out.
So you’re in a position to recommend some new exciting bands.
Oh, I don’t know. There’s so many bands so it’s hard to recommend. I don’t know what to tell you.
Patti Smith was very political when she came to Russia in 2005, speaking against President George Bush and the U.S. politics. What about Sonic Youth?
Well, we may be not as outspoken as Patti Smith is, but yeah, we’re all involved in our own way with this sort of thing in the States and elsewhere where we can be. You know, we are not fans of our government at all right now, we have a lot of criticism for the U.S. government. We wish we were in more peaceful times, and I wish that the United States were helping more people rather than getting caught in another conflict. I’d rather be feeding these people in Iraq, rather than have all this military power going on.
I was impressed by the number of guitars you used in concert in the city in 1989; Thurston had 12, Lee eight and Kim four. Why do they need so many?
They use more than that, but they do use a lot of guitars because they work a lot in different tunings, where they make up different tunings that are not standard for a guitar, so they keep the guitar in that tuning, otherwise we’d have to tune for five minutes between every song. That’s why they carry so many guitars. I think for Russia we can’t fit so many guitars on the airplane, so we’re bringing just as many as we can, so we can have a good show.
What about the current New York music scene?
There’s so much music here, and there’s so much music of all kinds here. It’s not just indie rock, there’s music from all over the world. No, it’s an amazing place for music. You know, you go on the street and there’s music, you go on the subway, there’s music, it’s everywhere.
Hasn’t it changed with CBGBs closing and some other clubs moving out of the center?
Yeah, a lot of places are moving to Brooklyn, and that’s where a lot of younger people are these days. When Sonic Youth plays New York this summer, we’re going to play in Brooklyn. But CBGBs doesn’t really change things. It was bad to see it go but people who’re really doing current music, they didn’t play at CBGBs anymore. There were other places. There’s a place that we miss more, called Tonic, that just went out of business last month. That was a really great club, where a lot of our friends played.
Which is the single most important place?
Important… I don’t know. Here, where I live, there’s still Maxwell’s, which has been here since the late 1970s or early 1980s, and everyone has played there, from Nirvana to REM to Sonic Youth, you know, everybody through the days has played there. In the city… I don’t know, there’s no CBGBs-type place anymore. We played at a place called the Bowery Ballroom, or there’s a place called Mercury Lounge, and there’s kind of bigger places. And Irving Plaza is still around. But there’s a lot of clubs in Brooklyn, and a lot of people do like loft parties, which are sort of unofficial clubs. And those are cool. I think a lot of people like to go to that type of thing. So the music scene is kind of all over the place right now, which can be good.
SonicYouth performs at Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa on Monday. www.sonicyouth.com
TITLE: Chernov’s choice
TEXT: Tequilajazzz will be opening for Sonic Youth at Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa on Monday. A member of the latter’s support act in Moscow 18 years ago, Igor Mosin, remembers the gig.
“They played two concerts in Moscow, and we went there, upon the recommendation of [music critic and promoter Artyom] Troitsky, I guess,” said Mosin, who played drums with the local band Bad Influence at the time.
“There were a lot of Moscow bands before us, [the promoter] probably thought that [Sonic Youth] wouldn’t pack the theater. I remember there were bands like Brigada S and Nogu Svelo, they all wore sailor’s striped shirts, played Russian garmoshkas [a kind of button accordion] and behaved foolishly on stage.”
The public did not react particularly well in either city, according to Mosin.
“It started in Leningrad, when punks in the audience started to sing ‘God Save the Queen!’ and Thurston Moore said, ‘Guys, it was 20 years ago,’ but nobody understood him and went on. I even felt that they wanted to outscream [the band] and ask them to perform this song.
“They came to listen to the punk rock that they had already heard, but it turned out to be something totally new, something noisy, a strange combination of harmonies, strange blend of sounds, very powerful. Especially at the last concert in Moscow, they adapted a little to [the lack of equipment and poor acoustics], and it was that big wave, an avalanche, and the audience just sat deafened.”
The differences between the band and the audience even got physical during the second show in Moscow, according to Mosin.
“It was again a punk-type of audience, they tried to interrupt their playing, to grab their feet and at one point somebody grabbed Kim’s leg and started to pull her from the stage.
“The public was somewhat aggressive, and the times were more aggressive than today: there was a certain grabbing reflex.
“Thurston Moore ran to them, somebody sort of hit him, he hit him back and then people tried to climb on the stage to beat them, sort of. The rumor was that after the show, some people tried to break into their dressing room, and smashed the nose of one of the organizers. So they left for the hotel pretty quickly.”
Musician and promoter Seva Gakkel was impressed by how Sonic Youth sounded.
“It was a total revelation for me; it was the first time that I came into contact with a different sound, absolutely unique in the environment where I was developing,” he said.
“Even if I had been to a considerable number of concerts by then, I’d never ever heard such sound, and it was a discovery I got from this band.”
“Keeping this reserved, cool attitude, they have had incredible energy, without any elements of making a show, of impressing the viewer. And with that they have an effect, say, on me.”
— By Sergey Chernov
TITLE: On your bike!
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A new take on traditional sightseeing that combines a traditional method of transport with modern technology was introduced in St. Petersburg last week, said Velocity, the company behind the project.
“The idea is quite simple,” Irina Smurovskaya, one of the founders of Velocity, said. “We give you a bike, a map with a suggested route and an mp3 player with a recorded tour. Places of interest along the way are numbered and those marks correspond with the tracks on your mp3 player.”
The package is intended to give the independent-minded tourist an opportunity to explore the town on their own terms and presents an innovative approach to getting to know the city.
“Let’s say, Palace Square is track number two,” Smurovskaya said. “We suggest you stand at a certain spot on the square to get the best of our lefts and rights. You listen to the explanations and then stay there taking pictures for as long or as short a time as you want.”
Unlike many European cities, St. Petersburg’s main sights are spread too far apart to make it possible to see all of them on foot. The city is also built on unusually flat ground so a bike ride presents a great opportunity to see most of the historical landmarks in one day.
“We planned the route so that it covers all the greatest highlights but doesn’t exhaust you completely,” Smurovskaya said.
Aaron Tilton, a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and one of the masterminds behind the project, said Velocity tried to “put as much character as possible into the recorded tour to make it educational yet entertaining.”
“Tourism in St. Petersburg is very traditional and is mainly targeted towards the organized groups. We tried to offer something interesting to those who like to play by their own rules,” he added.
A native of Dubuque, Iowa, Tilton now teaches at a university in St. Petersburg. Velocity is his attempt to make the city friendlier for both short-term visitors and expatriates.
“There’s so much to know about St. Petersburg but often the history is hard to get to, even if you stay here for a while.”
Velocity not only tries to make the city’s past more accessible, but catches up with its present as well, said Smurovskaya.
“Biking culture is on the rise right now,” she said. “We want to include as many people as possible, both foreign and local, in this emerging trend.”
Mass Friday night rides have become popular in the city and Velocity is inviting the city’s guests to take part. Throughout the summer, the company works around the clock on Fridays and Saturdays to supply bikes and mp3 players to potential riders during the White Nights when the raising of the bridges across the River Neva traditionally draws crowds.
“Those bridges are really something you can’t miss,” Tilton said. “Each one has a different character and on a bike you can see all of them raised in one night!”
Velocity claims the combination of a bike and a recorded tour is practically unprecedented in the world. But what about the apparent danger of listening to a headset while biking through St. Petersburg’s traffic-clogged, pot-holed streets?
“We are quite concerned with our clientele’s safety,” Smurovskaya said. “We provide all the necessary instructions and the equipment to make sure the bikers stay out of trouble. The main route is laid out to avoid potentially dangerous or overcrowded areas as much as possible. Even though our office is on Nevsky Prospekt, it’s right at the beginning of the avenue across from Palace Square and it’s not too bad out there. We try to make the journey as enjoyable as possible.”
Velocity, 3 Nevsky Prospekt. Tel. 922 6383. Email: info@velocity-spb.ru, www.velocity-spb.ru
TITLE: Seeking to impress
AUTHOR: By Brian Droitcour
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: When the organizers of Russia’s entry to the 52nd Venice Biennale announced in March that their exhibition would be titled “Click I Hope,” skeptics were quick to mock their optimism. Russia’s pavilion in Giardini, the park where 30 countries send their national achievements in art, was in a state of serious disrepair, and curator Olga Sviblova’s ambitious program involved lots of sophisticated equipment. She had just a few months to put together a project that would ordinarily take a year to produce. But when the biennale opened last week, the enthusiastic buzz about the Russian pavilion proved that the hope was not in vain.
Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale is the oldest periodic exhibition of contemporary art, and every odd year in early June it transforms the city’s look. Not only are the streets dotted with red posts and maps advertising the event, the population noticeably changes as well. As the week of previews and receptions builds up to the official opening, the uniform of Venice’s transient swarm switches from tank tops and cargo shorts to black slacks and designer eyewear. Usually marked by the breezy anonymity of a resort town, Venice begins to feel like a close-knit community as artists, dealers and curators from around the world bump into each other in the toy town’s maze of alleys.
The make-up of the event is international — 30 countries have national pavilions, and several more set up exhibitions in other venues — and every country sends a substantial delegation. Aeroflot’s flight to Venice last week carried so many art professionals that it might as well have been the corporate jet of the Moscow House of Photography, which provided the administrative support for this year’s Russian pavilion. (This journalist was also flown out with the delegation.) Commissioner Vasily Tsereteli, who headed the organizational effort, said that he arranged housing for 90 travelers from Moscow, and that does not include Russian dealers and artists who organized their trips independently, or characters like Ksenia Sobchak and Ulyana Tseitlina, the society girls flown in by the Moscow salon-cum-gallery RuArts to add glamour to the opening of its exhibition “Winter of the Soul,” running parallel to the biennale.
Russia’s pavilion in Giardini is lodged between Venezuela and Japan, opposite France. It was built in 1914 by Alexei Shchusev, the architect of iconic Moscow buildings such as Lenin’s mausoleum and the Moskva hotel. In an interview outside the pavilion Thursday, Tsereteli said that the pre-revolutionary building’s only renovations were in the 1950s, with some minor repairs in the early 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union gave Russia a new impulse to join the international art community.
This year, the Russian Avant-Garde foundation — an organization that made news last year when it purchased the hive-like house of Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov — gave Tsereteli a $336,000 grant to provide the pavilion with much-needed renovations. “There were bums living there; if you put garbage outside, no one would take it away,” Tsereteli said.
The pavilion’s sleek new interior provides a suitable setting for the high-tech art. The tone for the exhibition is set by “Click I Hope,” the exhibition’s title work, which stands outside the entrance. A screen installed in a 4-meter-tall mirrored console broadcasts the content of www.clickihope.com, a web site where visitors can click on the words “I hope” as they float across in several languages. When clicked, the phrase flashes and gives a count of how many people have clicked it in that language, and the font size grows in proportion with the number of clicks. A counter at the bottom tallies the overall click total.
The artist behind “Click I Hope” is Yulia Milner, a 25-year-old former fashion model who has previously shown her experiments in mobilography, or photography with a mobile phone, at photography festivals organized by Sviblova. “I started with classical photography, fashion photography,” Milner said Thursday. “But I’m interested in the big online world, where people can communicate, put up their videos and now play this game where I have created the rules.”
Milner noted some other advantages of her medium. “A photograph or a painting can burn or be destroyed, but a web site is forever,” she said. “And although the exhibition opened today, my work has been open to the public for two weeks already.”
Inside, a corridor leads viewers to “Last Riot” by AES+F. The video continues an ongoing project by the group that started with photographs of teenage models wielding baseball bats and samurai swords, engaged in a bloodless battle without sides or reason. The latest installation uses morphing technologies to animate the photo shoot, and bring to life the background, a dystopian pastiche of computer-game scenery where volcanoes erupt and trains derail.
Like “Click I Hope,” “Last Riot” draws on the world of computers and communication, but takes a darker stance. “It provides a counterpoint to the sunny optimism of Milner’s work,” Yevgeny Svyatsky, a member of AES+F, said. “It introduces an element of irony.”
Andrei Bartenev, an artist known for his elaborate performance pieces and extravagant costumes, contributed the third piece on the pavilion’s first floor. Called “Connection Lost/Field of Lonely Hearts,” Bartenev’s installation consists of 40 LED spheres, each with the words “Connection Lost” orbiting a glowing heart in the center. Situated in a mirrored box, the spheres extend into an infinite whirring and twinkling field.
In her statement, Sviblova called Bartenev’s work “a metaphor for the alienation of virtual, simulative communities that exist to give constant hope of an encounter,” linking it to the online community of “Click I Hope.” But the artist said he was more concerned with the visual effect. “It is abstract expressionism,” said Bartenev, wearing a leotard, red high heels and a towering hat. “It’s just a canvas that flies and sparkles.”
Alexander Ponomaryov, a former sailor whose work deals with nautical themes, like the brightly colored submarine that surfaced near Kamenny Bridge during this year’s Moscow Biennale, contributed three works to “Click I Hope.” While they are separate from the works of the other artists, displayed on the pavilion’s second floor, they all engage ideas of mass media and communication. “Shower: Dedicated to Nam June Paik,” a collaboration with designer and publisher Arseny Meshcheryakov, is a shower stall tiled with television sets. They pick up hundreds of channels that cascade down the shower walls. In the next room, “Wave” features a video of the artist blowing toward the camera; as he does so, an 8-meter-long tunnel filled with water is rocked by a wave that ripples toward a door open to the balcony, showing a view of the Venetian lagoon. “Windshield Wipers” is another variation on the theme of water and video; windshield wipers pass over television footage on five screens, switching the image to a view of Venice at sunset.
The spectacle of flashing lights, animation and television certainly helped make the Russian Pavilion a popular attraction on the biennale’s opening day. But perhaps the buzz had more to do with surprise. As long as any biennale-goer can remember, the Russian pavilion has featured low-budget projects in a shoddy setting, and as a result the artists’ efforts went unnoticed. “Everyone is saying, ‘This is the first time Russia has shown something important,’” Tsereteli said about the reaction. Minutes later, Norman Rosenthal, a curator at London’s Royal Academy, emerged from the pavilion and repeated his words exactly.
Sviblova said it was her intention to change perceptions of Russia through art, and the Venice Biennale, which gathers ministers of culture, wealthy art collectors and other influential types, is one of the best platforms to do that. “Everyone says that Russia has nothing but mineral deposits and raw materials,” she said. “Our exhibition proves that is not true. Russia has artists thinking up very sophisticated projects, and teams of theater designers, computer programmers and other highly skilled people working to realize them.”
TITLE: In the spotlight
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Severed heads, corpses that lie for months in locked apartments, drunken stabbings and attempts to dispose of the remains down toilets—these kind of crimes usually merit a small brief in Tvoi Den tabloid. But when something truly serious happens, the paper knows how to roll out the red carpet.
So far, the tabloid has got two front pages and many, many inside ones out of an incident that happened last month, when the well-known actor—and campaigner for privacy against paparazzi—Alexander Abdulov and his friend Leonid Yarmolnik, also an actor, had a run-in with a Tvoi Den photographer.
On May 31, the paper printed a picture of the photographer, Marat Saichenko, with blood running down his nose and bruises around his eyes. His T-shirt was ripped and he had smears of blood on his hand. The headline read: “Abdulov and Yarmolnik, Drunk as Stoats, Brutally Beat Up a Tvoi Den Journalist.”
The paper wrote that Abdulov was celebrating his birthday at the Central House of Writers, while the photographer was waiting outside—although an interior shot used in the article suggests otherwise. The report says Yarmolnik tried to grab Saichenko’s camera, and then hit him in the face. At that point, Abdulov joined in, dealing three blows. Then Yarmolnik hit him again as he got into his car.
The article ends with a note saying that Tvoi Den wants it to be considered an official statement to the prosecutor’s office.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that Gazeta.ru tells a slightly different story, even though it says it’s quoting Saichenko. According to Gazeta.ru, it was Abdulov who tried to snatch the camera and started the fight. It adds that a colleague of Saichenko’s took the inside shot at the restaurant.
Abdulov is known for his dislike of the tabloids. Last year he sued Express Gazeta for a story that claimed he had a secret wife and ended up winning 100,000 rubles ($3,900). He also signed an open letter to President Vladimir Putin in May 2006 in which celebrities asked for a law on the mass media that would protect the privacy of public figures.
Last week, Tvoi Den juxtaposed a picture of bloodied Saichenko with a quote from that letter. Hoping to bring a blush to the thespian’s cheek, it printed words about how “people of creative professions” try to promote “culture in its best, brightest and highest sense.”
The actor has not always had such a bad relationship with Tvoi Den. When his wife had a baby in April, Tvoi Den was hanging around outside the maternity ward and published an article quoting the proud father.
Since the birthday party incident, Abdulov and Yarmolnik haven’t been talking to the tabloid, which reported that they also declined to appear on the scandal-raking television show “Let Them Talk.” But Yarmolnik gave his version to Gazeta.ru, admitting that he did hit Saichenko.
Tvoi Den is still on the rampage. In its Thursday June 8 issue, it issued a request for Yarmolnik and Abdulov to take part in a lie-detector test, even enclosing the mobile number of the paper’s lawyer. It is also engaging in a more subtle campaign against Abdulov, one of the most popular actors of his generation.
A comment piece on May 31 about Putin’s recent attack on low-quality foreign shows on Russian television suggests that he should turn his attention closer to home, and specifically to Abdulov’s performances.
Referring to the president’s criticism of foreign mass culture as a “surrogate,” the tabloid appeals straight to Putin, who evidently must be an avid Tvoi Den reader. “Vladimir Vladimirovich, have you seen our drama series? At least the ones that Abdulov acts in? That really is a surrogate!”
TITLE: Italian addiction
AUTHOR: By Evgenia Ivanova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Sardina // 6 Rubinshteina Ulitsa. Tel: 314 0597. // www.sardinabar.ru // Restaurant open daily noon until the last client leaves // Bar open Sunday to Wednesday from noon to midnight; Thursday to Saturday from noon to 5 a.m. // Major credit cards accepted. Menu in Italian and in Russian. // Dinner for two with alcohol: 2,390 rubles ($92)
A new addition to the gourmet heaven that is Rubinshteina Ulitsa, the Italian restaurant Sardina is poised on the fine line between cheap and chic. Its spacious and luminous interiors are said to be designed by Mikhail Barkhin, the man also behind the dIcor of the fashionable Moskva restaurant, Korova Bar steakhouse and Griboyedov nightclub. Its Sicilian chef, Mario Lopes, regularly leaves the kitchen to wander between tables and greet customers in Russian. And its simple yet balanced food is served by attraction, efficient and friendly waiters. The 240 ruble ($9) tuna salad was a good example that plain can be good if the ingredients are fresh and the proportions (and portions) are right.
There were some exceptions however. The 140 ruble ($5) freshly-squeezed tomato juice looked and tasted as if it was partially diluted with water, and the selection of Italian bread and breadsticks (which is not by the way complimentary, as normally expected in the majority of places that proudly call themselves restaurants) had seen better days. In our case however, this little bread incident was to our advantage, as we were quickly compensated by a free liter of a lemon vodka-like drink. It’s unclear whether the entire episode was a clever publicity trick to lower our defenses, but while we were filling up on the magical on-the-house lemon tincture and delicate and fruity Trebbiano D’Abruzzo for 150 rubles ($6) a glass, the food went from simply good to excellent. The mouth-watering Lasagna alla Bolognese (280 rubles, $11) unpredictably received the highest acclaim from my ever-complaining companion, who has tried every lasagna served in St. Petersburg with comments like “too dry” or “not enough meat.” Costata d’Agnello (lamb chops) for 640 rubles ($24), accompanied by a giant baked potato and boiled green beans for 90 rubles ($3.5), had only one downside — the portion was far too big. But even with the dish’s more than generous serving, it was gone from the plate extremely fast as it was tender, succulent and perfectly spiced.
By the end of our meal we were so delighted with our culinary experience that we managed to forget some of our belongings, which were saved by attentive staff who promised to return them when we came back. And with such quality food on offer it is no doubt we will return soon, perhaps to have a glass of Italian wine from the carefully-selected list on offer and see the newly-opened Sardina bar next door, which displays much cozier interiors and a menu which is cheaper and slightly differs from the restaurant one. Business lunch: 300 rubles, available from noon to 6p.m.
TITLE: Flag Day competition
TEXT: The American Corner library and study center at the Mayakovsky Library has announced the winners of its Flag Day competition. The winning essay on the subject of the Stars and Stripes was written by American Corner visitor Igor Panov, while the winning picture was by Maria Ushakova (picture right).
The American flag in my mind:
What I think and know about the official flag of the USA
By Igor Panov
The American Flag seems to me the most remarkable between flags of all other countries. The majority of other state flags consist of two or three stripes. Many of them seem to be too buried. But the United States flag looks very original. That’s why it is easy for me to keep in mind his appearance.
In my childhood in the former Soviet period the American flag was associated in my mind with capitalism and racism because of the official propaganda. But now I regard it above all as symbol of freedom and human rights. Now I know that 50 stars in the left upper corner of the flag represent the states of the USA and 13 stripes represent the original 13 English colonies in America. When the USA was founded, there were only 13 States (equal to the number of the former English colonies). One of the first American flags had only 13 stars in the blue rectangle in the corner. They were arranged in the circle. This flag was sewn by the American woman Betsy Ross. She was commissioned with this work by the first American president George Washington. During the time the number of states in the USA grew. So grew the number of stars in the blue rectangular too. The last changes were made in 1960 when Hawaii became the 50th American state.
The blue rectangle with the stars in the left upper corner was used alone as the naval jack called “Union Jack.”
Now the Flag Day is celebrated in USA on June 14 of each year because on June 14, 1777 the Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution. I think that each state needs a flag because each state wants to be some different from the others countries. And each state wants to show things, with which this country wants to be associated. These things are shown very concentrated in the state flags. I think that the most important thing in the USA flag is the rectangle with stars. These stars underline the federalism of USA, because USA consists of independent states.
More information about American Corner events from www.amcorners.ru
TITLE: Lucky for some
AUTHOR: By Manohla Dargis
PUBLISHER: The New York Times
TEXT: Ah, bliss, the gang’s all here, well, the guys anyway, looking fighting trim and Hollywood beautiful, at your disposable pleasure as well as mine. There’s George, of course, as in Mr. Clooney, lovely and lean and a touch more gray, smiling and gliding his way through the shimmer and gleam. Brad, henceforth known as Pitt the Elder, looks a wee tired around the eyes, like a baby-bottle warmer on 3 a.m. call, while Matt Damon looks handsomer, somehow more adult, now that he has a lucrative action franchise to call his own. The third time really is a charm.
“Ocean’s 23,” oops, “Ocean’s Thirteen,” is also a gas; it’s lighter than air, prettier than life, a romp, a goof and an attentively oiled machine. Our master of ceremonies, Steven Soderbergh, having come down the mountain of his own grandiose ambitions (more on that later), is working it hard here and working it very well. The screenplay, from the new team members Brian Koppelman and David Levien, moves fast and makes you laugh, partly because the elaborate plot often makes no seeming sense. But sense can be awfully overrated at times, particularly with an enterprise like this, which pushes at the limits of conventional narrative filmmaking, forcing your attention away from the story’s logical bricks and mortar toward its fields of dancing colors and a style that is its content.
This third time around, Clooney’s Danny Ocean has returned to Las Vegas to bail out his old buddy and former mentor Reuben (Elliott Gould as the spirit of 1970s cinema idiosyncrasy), who has recently been taken for a pricey ride down chump avenue by a Vegas villain named, nicely, nicely, Runyon-style, Willy Bank. Played by a tamped-down, amused and amusing Al Pacino, Willy Bank is a pint-size Trump in oversize eyeglasses and a burnt-orange tan that makes him look like a HermIs handbag, especially when he’s keeping company with his second-in-command, Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin, ropy, ripe and oh-so-ready). Pacino and Barkin, who once steamed up the screen together in the 1989 thriller “Sea of Love,” sweeten the pot without making it boil.
But that’s how everything rolls in Soderbergh’s Vegas: smoothly and sleekly and low to the ground, without obvious effort and, most important, without ugliness. America’s playground has never looked more glamorous and seductive than it does in the first and most recent “Ocean’s”; it’s no wonder the casinos play along with whatever nonsense Soderbergh puts into gear, whether it’s a blackout (as in the first film) or an absurdly contrived disaster (the third). When Danny Ocean and his Boy Friday, Rusty Ryan (Pitt), stroll across a casino floor, you never see the cigarette burns on the carpeting or the middle-aged men quietly weeping after the night and their savings are long gone. When they’re in town, the promise of Vegas burns as bright as the city’s gaudy lights.
That promise may be a lie, but because all three “Ocean’s” are also self-consciously about the smoke and mirrors and glamour of movies — their elaborate cons can sound a lot like film-financing schemes — it is the kind of lie that nurtures and sustains. These movies bewitch precisely because they exist outside the prison house of realism that Soderbergh sometimes seems overly anxious to lock himself — and his audiences — into, as witness his unfortunately punishing last effort, “The Good German.” In the “Ocean’s” trilogy, you enter an enchanted realm where Clooney and Pitt are the world’s loveliest, luckiest hucksters and sparring partners, heirs to Paul Newman and Robert Redford in “The Sting,” as well as to Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in “His Girl Friday.”
You also enter a world of visual enchantments. Working under the name Peter Andrews, Soderbergh again shows what an exceptional cinematographer he can be, whether shooting on celluloid or in video, with a particular sensitivity to the narrative and graphical uses of color. Many of the casino scenes in this “Ocean’s” look as softly burnished as gold ingots, as if they had been dipped in a 24-karat finishing bath. Perhaps in homage to the mid-1960s Jean-Luc Godard or just because the results look so extraordinary, Soderbergh occasionally saturates the image with an iridescent red that makes everything inside the frame look as if it were gently vibrating. At other times, he floods the image with a piercing blue that summons up twilight on the CUte d’Azur.
To watch Clooney, Pitt and Damon in the “Ocean’s” films, along with those other merry men — Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison and Shaobo Qin — is to realize that it’s a mistake to separate Soderbergh’s personal visions from his professional commitments. All the films are strictly personal; it is just that some, like “The Good German,” have been made more for Soderbergh’s pleasure than for ours. Part of what makes the “Ocean’s” films, even the self-indulgent second installment, so enjoyable is that they’re not only about Soderbergh’s obsessive aesthetic investment in every single shot, but they’re also about him trying to make the audience love his images every bit as much as he does.
TITLE: Yankees Chops Away at Red Sox’s Big Lead
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: Watch out, Red Sox, there’s a buzz building in the Bronx: Alex Rodriguez and the streaking New York Yankees are chopping away at Boston’s big lead.
Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 25th homer, Mike Mussina earned his first win in more than a month and New York beat the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2 on Wednesday night for its eighth straight victory.
Hideki Matsui added a three-run shot and Jorge Posada also connected to help the Yankees move within 8 1/2 games of the AL East-leading Red Sox, who lost 12-2 to Colorado at Fenway Park.
In a little more than two weeks, the resurgent Bronx Bombers has sliced six games off their startling deficit. New York was a season-worst 14 1/2 games behind Boston after games of May 29.
“There is a lot of confidence in this clubhouse,” Rodriguez said.
The Rockies roughed up Curt Schilling in his first start since his near no-hitter, getting four RBIs from Todd Helton and a three-run homer by Brad Hawpe.
Boston’s 8 1/2-game cushion in the division is its smallest since the Red Sox led by nine after games of May 16. They still own the best record in the major leagues at 41-23.
“You get blown out like that, you can deal with it - not like a 4-3 loss,” first baseman Kevin Youkilis said. “It’s one of those nights when you want to get the game over.”
In the only NL game, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Mets 9-1.
Schilling (6-3) followed perhaps the best start of his career with one of his poorest since he came to Boston before the 2004 season. Last Thursday, he beat Oakland 1-0 and allowed one hit - a single by Shannon Stewart with two outs in the ninth.
On Wednesday, the right-hander gave up an infield single to the first hitter he faced, Willy Taveras, and left after five innings trailing 6-2. He allowed nine hits. It was just the 11th time in 87 starts spanning four seasons that Schilling yielded at least six runs.
“I had a manageable, winnable game in the fifth and I gave up a three-run homer,” Schilling said.
The Yankees (32-31) has won 11 of 13 to move above .500 for the first time since it was 8-7 after losing at Boston on April 20.
Mussina (3-3) allowed two runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings to earn his first win since beating Texas on May 9. He finished with a season-high seven strikeouts in his 242nd win, moving into sole possession of 50th place on the career list. Juan Marichal is 49th with 243 wins.
“Threw a lot of strikes, got a lot of breaking balls over, and when you get seven runs to work with, you don’t worry so much about the solo home runs,” Mussina said.
Rodriguez drove a pitch from Livan Hernandez (5-4) off the facade of the upper deck in left for a two-run homer that made it 3-1 in the third. Rodriguez, who also singled in a run, is batting .357 (15-for-42) with six homers and 21 RBIs in 12 games this month.
In other interleague games, it was: Philadelphia 8, the Chicago White Sox 4; Toronto 7, San Francisco 4; Pittsburgh 8, Texas 1; Milwaukee 3, Detroit 2; Cleveland 7, Florida 3; Washington 9, Baltimore 6 in 11 innings; San Diego 9, Tampa Bay 0; the Los Angeles Angels 6, Cincinnati 3; the Chicago Cubs 3, Seattle 2; Oakland 7, Houston 3; Minnesota 6, Atlanta 0; and St. Louis 7, Kansas City 3.
TITLE: Mosques In Iraq
Targeted
AUTHOR: By Sameer Yacoub
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BAGHDAD — A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned Thursday, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of a prized Shiite shrine.
Wednesday’s attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra, which was blamed on Sunni extremists, stoked fears of a surge in violence between Muslim sects. A bombing at the same mosque complex in February 2006 that destroyed the shrine’s famed golden dome unleashed a bloodbath of reprisals.
The U.S. military said Iraqi forces had arrested the Emergency Service Unit commander and 12 policemen responsible for security at the shrine at the time of the explosions.
“We must condemn the bad actions of terrorists, and the sons of all tribes must come together and forgive each other,” the military quoted Brigadier General Duraid Ali Ahmed Mohammad Azzawi, deputy commander for the National Police in Samarra, as saying.
Increased U.S. and Iraqi military patrols crisscrossed the streets of the capital, and additional checkpoints were set up along roads leading to Sadr City. Hundreds marched peacefully through the streets of that teeming neighborhood, a stronghold of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia. Demonstrations also took place in Kut, Diwaniyah, Najaf and Basra — all predominantly Shiite cities in the south.
A ban on vehicular traffic was expected to remain in place in Baghdad until Saturday.
In the mid-afternoon, explosions rocked central Baghdad, and smoke billowed over the American-guarded Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies, as well as the offices of the Iraqi government.
A witness inside the zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his job, said about half a dozen mortar rounds fell in the area. The U.S. military said it had no immediate information about the attack.
At least one rocket also fell near the entrance to the Rasheed Hotel, about 150 yards from Iraq’s parliament. Scattered, broken concrete littered the area. Several military and plainclothes officials were gathered around the impact site, wearing rubber gloves and sifting through rubble. There was no evidence of any casualties.
Attacks on Sunni mosques began within hours of Wednesday’s bombings in Samarra.
Police in the southern city of Basra said four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on the Kawaz, Othman, al-Abayshi and Basra Grand mosques on Wednesday, all involving rocket-propelled grenades that also damaged the buildings.
Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings, police said.
One of those mosques, which had been only partly destroyed, was a target again Thursday, police said. Around 4 a.m., attackers broke into the Hateen mosque in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, and planted bombs inside.
Flames from a huge explosion destroyed most of the building, and a woman and child in a nearby apartment were wounded, an Iskandariyah police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
TITLE: Hamas Overruns Rival Fatah’s Key Posts
AUTHOR: By Diaa Hadid
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas fighters overran two of the rival Fatah movement’s most important security command centers in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, and witnesses said the victors dragged vanquished gunmen into the street and shot them to death execution-style.
Meanwhile, an Israeli tank shell struck a group of siblings near the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on Thursday, Hamas security officials said. Hospital workers said five children, all under 16, were killed.
They identified the children as members of the Abu Matrok family.
Hamas security officials said they were from the Bedouin community of Showka, east of Rafah.
The army said it would look into the report.
Hamas also seized control of Rafah in the south, Gaza’s third-largest city, according to witnesses and security officials. It was the second main Gaza city to fall to the militants, who captured nearby Khan Younis on Wednesday.
Hamas captured the Preventive Security headquarters and the intelligence services building in Gaza City, major advances in the Islamic group’s attempts to take over Gaza.
After the rout at the Preventive Security headquarters, some of the Hamas fighters kneeled outside, touching their foreheads to the ground in prayer. Others led Fatah gunmen out of the building, some shirtless or in their underwear, holding their arms in the air. Several of the Fatah men flinched as the crack of gunfire split the air.
A witness, who identified himself only as Amjad, said men were killed as their wives and children watched.
“They are executing them one by one,” Amjad said in a telephone interview, declining to give his full name for fear of reprisals. “They are carrying one of them on their shoulders, putting him on a sand dune, turning him around and shooting.”
Fatah officials said Hamas shot and killed seven of its fighters outside the Preventive Security building. A doctor at Shifa Hospital said he examined two bodies that had been shot in the head at close range. The officials and the doctor spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Militants and civilians were looting the compound, hauling out computers, documents, office equipment, furniture and TVs.
The moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, for the first time in five days of fierce fighting, ordered his elite presidential guard to strike back. But his forces were crumbling fast under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Islamic fighters.
In all, 14 fighters and civilians were killed and 80 wounded in the battle for the Preventive Security complex, bringing the day’s death toll to 25 by mid-afternoon, hospital and security officials said. About 90 people, mostly fighters but also women and children, have been killed since a spike in violence Sunday sent Gaza into civil war.
The two factions have warred sporadically since Hamas took power from Fatah last year, but never with such intensity. Hamas reluctantly brought Fatah into the coalition in March to quell an earlier round of violence, but the uneasy partnership began crumbling last month over control of the powerful security forces.
Hamas had been tightening its ring around the Preventive Security complex for three days, stepping up its assault late Wednesday, with a barrage of bullets, grenades, mortar rounds and land mines that continued until the compound fell. Electricity and telephone lines were cut, and roads leading to the complex were blocked. Hamas claimed it confiscated two cars filled with arms sent as reinforcements.
As Hamas took this major battle spoil, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s top body recommended that Abbas declare a state of emergency and dismantle Fatah’s governing coalition with Hamas. Abbas said he would review the recommendations and make a decision within hours, said an aide, Nabil Amr.
“We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return,” Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas’ militia, told Hamas radio. “The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived.”
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, heralded what he called “Gaza’s second liberation,” after Israel’s 2005 evacuation of the coastal strip.
Israel was watching the carnage closely, concerned the clashes might spawn attacks on its southern border. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a weekly meeting of security officials that Israel would not allow the violence to spread into attacks on southern Israel, meeting participants said.
The European Union said it suspended humanitarian aid projects in the Gaza Strip, citing the escalating violence there.
The Islamic group also had its sights on two other key command centers in Gaza City on Thursday.
In a broadcast on Hamas radio, the Islamic fighters demanded that Fatah surrender the National Security compound by mid-afternoon. Light clashes were under way there when the ultimatum was delivered.
Rocket-propelled grenades were fired toward Abbas’ Gaza compound, provoking return fire from his presidential guard. For the first time since the fighting began, Abbas ordered his guard to go on the offensive against Hamas at the compound, and not simply maintain a defensive posture, an aide said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation was fluid.
Earlier Hamas fired dozens of rocket-propelled grenades at the intelligence services building. When they captured it, the fighters raised the green Islamic flag.
In Rafah, Hamas took over the Preventive Security building, according to witnesses, said Colonel Nasser Khaldi, a senior police official.
“I can see the Preventive Security building in front of me. Hamas has raised its green flags over it,” a civilian resident, who identified himself only as Raed, said by telephone.
“There are men carrying away equipment from inside. ... (The Fatah-allied) National Security men ran away.”
Gaza hospitals were operating without water, electricity and blood. Even holed up inside their homes, Gazans weren’t able to escape the fighting.
Moean Hammad, 34, said life had become a nightmare at his high-rise building near the Preventive Security headquarters, where Fatah forces on the rooftop were battling Hamas fighters.
“We spent our night in the hallway outside the apartment because the building came under crossfire,” Hammad said. “We haven’t had electricity for two days, and all we can hear is shooting and powerful, earthshaking explosions.
TITLE: Woods Primed For Oakmont’s Green Test
AUTHOR: By Mark Lamport-Stokes
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: OAKMONT, Pennsylvania — Twice champion Tiger Woods, hunting a third major victory in four starts, will have to cope with the toughest greens he has ever seen at this week’s U.S. Open.
Although Woods usually dominates the storylines going into the big events, he has played second fiddle to Oakmont Country Club’s daunting par-70 layout in the build-up to Thursday’s opening round.
Oakmont’s 667-yard 12th hole will become the longest par five in Open history and the 288-yard eighth will take over as the longest par three.
The tight, hilly course has few flat lies but is renowned for its slick, undulating greens which have been described by the players as scary fast.
“They are by far the most difficult greens I’ve ever played,” world number one Woods told reporters.
“Winged Foot’s were pretty tough and Augusta’s are pretty tough,” he added, referring to last year’s U.S. Open venue and to Augusta National, permanent home of the Masters.
“But both those golf courses have flat spots. Augusta may have these big, big slopes but they also have flat shelves where they usually put the pins on. Here, I’m trying to figure out where a flat shelf is.
“On this course, it depends on how the pins are set. If they go crazy, they can make it impossible. But if they put pins in generous spots, I think it will be just a fantastic test.”
The players did, however, receive a helping hand from Mother Nature on Wednesday when just under half-an-inch of rain fell, softening greens and fairways that had firmed up under scorching sunshine.
Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy, the defending champion, also pinpointed Oakmont’s greens as a major obstacle.
“The greens here are the obvious challenge to me,” the 30-year-old said. “Everything else out there is similar to other U.S. Opens.
“It has narrowish fairways, pretty good rough and bunkers but the greens here are something different. They are amazing and they run a bit faster than maybe they should in spots.”
Asked to predict this week’s winning total, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington replied: “I would take four 72s.
“I wouldn’t be putting my house that eight over par is going to win this tournament, but I certainly think it’s got a chance.”
As ever at a U.S. Open, the ability to grind out pars and stay patient when the going gets tough will be crucial.
Woods, a three-times PGA Tour winner this season, unquestionably fits the bill, as do twice winners Retief Goosen and Ernie Els of South Africa.
Another candidate is Phil Mickelson, who won last month’s Players Championship in only his third tournament since switching allegiance to swing coach Butch Harmon.
However, the American left-hander pulled out of the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago after injuring his wrist.
TITLE: Ex-Chief of UN Waldheim Dies Aged 88
AUTHOR: By William Kole
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: VIENNA, Austria — Former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, whose legacy as head of the world body was overshadowed by revelations that he belonged to a German army unit that committed atrocities in the Balkans in World War II, died Thursday. He was 88.
Waldheim, who was hospitalized in Vienna last month with an infection, died at home of heart failure, with his family at his bedside, state broadcaster ORF reported.
Austrian President Heinz Fischer issued a statement expressing his “deepest condolences,” and officials lowered the flag outside his office to half-staff.
“We have lost a great Austrian,” Vice Chancellor Wilhelm Molterer said.
Waldheim, who served as UN chief from 1972-81, was first confronted with purported evidence of his personal implication in wartime atrocities when he ran for the Austrian presidency in 1986. He consistently denied any wrongdoing, defending himself against disclosures made by his main accuser, the World Jewish Congress, and by foreign media.
But his initial denial of serving in the German army unit — and then assertions that he and fellow Austrians were only doing their duty — led to international censure and a decision by Washington to place him on a “watch list” of persons prohibited from visiting the United States. That ban was never lifted.
Waldheim’s ascendancy to the presidency led to a bruising controversy at home, and it damaged Austria’s reputation abroad. During his tenure from 1986-92, Austria was largely shunned by foreign leaders, and he never honored his pledge to be a strong president.
In Austria, Waldheim’s backers saw him as an innocent victim of a smear campaign launched from abroad but triggered at home. But his opponents kept clamoring for his resignation because of the huge loss of prestige for the country caused by his election.
In February 1988, a government-appointed international commission of six historians investigating his wartime service said it found no proof that Waldheim himself committed war crimes. But it also made clear that his record was far from unblemished.
The panel declared that Waldheim was in “direct proximity to criminal actions.”
TITLE: Hamilton Puts the Pressure On Alonso After Canada
AUTHOR: By Alan Baldwin
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton can stretch his championship lead and add to the discomfort of McLaren team mate Fernando Alonso in Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old Briton is on a high after celebrating the first victory of a debut season in Formula One that is already exhausting the stock of superlatives with just six races completed.
“Going into Indy, obviously I go there with great confidence,” said Hamilton after winning in Canada last weekend. “We have to try and continue with the performance that we have and I have no doubt we can do that.”
Hamilton has never raced at Indianapolis before but Alonso knows the same applied to Montreal, where the youngster led from pole position. The double world champion is eight points behind and, judging from comments to Spanish reporters this week, not enjoying the experience.
Indianapolis has done Alonso no favors in the past and is the only circuit on the current calendar where he has yet to stand on the podium.
Last year’s fifth place was the first time the Spaniard had finished at The Brickyard but McLaren are dominant at present and Hamilton, with six podiums from his first six races, expects his team mate to be fired up.
“At the end of the day, he’s the two-time world champion and he’ll bounce back without a doubt and I’m sure he’ll be extremely quick in the next race,” said the Briton.
Indianapolis last year also heralded the start of an aggressive fightback by Ferrari and now-retired seven times champion Michael Schumacher, who went on to wipe out a 25-point deficit before Alonso prevailed. Ferrari finished one-two last year but Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen is now 21 points behind Hamilton while Brazilian Felipe Massa is 15 adrift.
TITLE: Rogge Praises London’s Progress, Controversial Olympic Logo
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — London 2012 chiefs have been given a timely boost by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge as a three day inspection of the city’s progress concludes.
“The reports I am getting show that in the initial period of two years, London is ahead of every host city we have had in the past. That includes Beijing,” Rogge said in an interview in the Daily Telegraph. “Beijing is now almost ready, which means they have done a tremendous job since the beginning, and now we are one year from the Games. “I think I will be able to say that again in 2011 because London is progressing extremely well.”
Rogge even gave his support to the controversial logo — a graffiti style “2012” which has come in for severe criticism. “It appealed to me but I can understand why other people don’t like it.”
TITLE: Chirac’s Immunity Due to be Removed
AUTHOR: By Jon Boyle
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PARIS — Jacques Chirac’s presidential immunity expires at midnight on Saturday, allowing judges to question him over a string of investigations into alleged corruption in France.
During two terms as president from May 1995, Chirac benefited from a constitutional bar on the prosecution or investigation of a serving head of state by the examining magistrates who conduct criminal investigations in France.
Chirac, 74, is not widely expected to face any charges. The prosecution of a former head of state could damage the standing of France’s presidency.
But as an ordinary citizen, Chirac could face a summons to answer questions in a series of cases, many of which date back to the 18 years when he was mayor of Paris until 1995.
TITLE: Alshammar Sets World Mark
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MADRID — Sweden’s Therese Alshammar set a world record of 25.46 seconds for the 50 meters butterfly in the “Mare Nostrum” international trophy event in Barcelona on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old shaved 11 hundredths of a second off the previous long course record of 25.57 set by compatriot Anna-Karin Kammerling in July 2002 in Berlin. Alshammar, a gold medalist in the 50m butterfly at the recent world championships in Melbourne, said the relaxed nature of the event had helped her set a new mark.
“In Melbourne I set off really fast and won the event and I was very close to the world record,” she told reporters. “But here I had less pressure and was calmer after some very good preparation.”