SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1446 (8), Friday, February 6, 2009
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TITLE: City Hall Announces Budget Cut By a Quarter
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: St. Petersburg’s budget will be cut by about one quarter to just under 100 billion rubles ($2.7 billion) in 2009, it was announced on Tuesday, with education and investment, capital repair and housebuilding programs receiving less money.  
It will be the first time in the history of the city that the annual budget will be smaller than the year before.
Income will shrink by 109 billion rubles to 268.2 billion rubles, while expenditure will be cut by 90.5 billion rubles to 306.7 billion rubles, said Eduard Batanov, chairman of the city’s Finance Committee, Interfax reported.
Revenue has fallen because of shortfalls in income tax, excises, lease income and sales of city property in November and December compared to the first ten months of the year.
Average income tax revenue was reduced three times during November and December.
The city is also losing income because of sharply decreased payments to the budget from oil and gas companies. In 2005 this sector paid five billion rubles to the budget but in 2008 this figure was 33.2 billion rubles. A drop in the price of oil by more than three times then led to a suspension of payments from the sector in November and December.
In addition, about a hundred of the city’s big enterprises declared delays in paying salaries and are laying off staff. They included Silovye Mashiny, the Leningrad ElectroMechanical Plant, Obukhovo Plant, a number of banks, and other leading city companies.
Staff at the city administration itself have had their salaries cut by 10 percent. The city budget will also allocate less money for bureaucrats’ business trips and mobile phone and travel expenses.
The city hopes to save one billion rubles this way.
However, the main reduction in city expenditure will be in investment programs, capital repairs and housebuilding programs.
The education budget has also shrunk by 1.9 billion rubles to 3.8 billion rubles. Previously free breakfasts for schoolchildren at city schools must now be paid for from the beginning March, except for families with more than two children.
Among city projects that  have been affected by the budget crisis are Okhta Center, which City Hall is no longer part-financing and a new zoo, the construction of which will not begin this year. Construction of the Orlovsky Tunnel has been suspended while the cost of the construction of the soccer stadium on Krestovsky Island has been reduced by 2.7 billion rubles. 
The planned construction of three ambulance substations and the reconstruction of Hospital No. 40 in Sestroretsk and four clinics in the Primorsky, Krasnoselsky, Kurortny and Frunzensky districts has been postponed.  Expenses on sport and physical training projects have been cut down by 4.3 billion rubles down to six billion rubles.
The budget for re-settling people in temporary accommodation following emergencies or disasters has been reduced to 936 million rubles.
Financing for the development of St. Petersburg’s metro has been reduced by 1.5 billion rubles, affecting work on the Right Bank Line and completion of the Frunzensky Radius. The city will also purchase fewer trams and trolley buses in 2009.
However, a tax service building in the Kirovsky district, the Businessman House development, and a building for housing foreign citizens subject to deportation are still due to open.
Payments to veterans and handicapped people will remain unchanged. 
No cuts will be made in the funds allocated for the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II, known as Victory Day, in May.

TITLE: Russia, Allies to Aid U.S. in Afghanistan
AUTHOR: By Lucian Kim and Ken Fireman
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: Russia and four former Soviet republics offered to help the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan on Thursday even as one, Kyrgyzstan, moved forward on a decision to cut off American access to an air base used for war supplies.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the five countries, including the Central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, are ready for “full-fledged and comprehensive cooperation” with NATO forces in the region. He spoke on state broadcaster Vesti-24 today.
At the same time, Kyrgyz Security Council Secretary Adukhan Madumarov said on the same channel that the U.S. air base at Manas airport near Bishkek must cease operations within 180 days. The base would be crucial to President Barack Obama‘s plans for a buildup of troops to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Kyrgyz Parliament will likely vote Feb. 6 on legislation formally renouncing the agreement allowing U.S. operations at the base, the Interfax news agency reported from Bishkek.
Andranik Migranyan, a Russian institute director with ties to senior officials in Moscow, said Russian cooperation on Afghanistan may be linked to progress on resolving differences over issues such as missile defense and NATO expansion.
“I am absolutely sure the Russian side is going to cooperate,” said Migranyan, director of the New York-based Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, in an interview. “But Russia needs some security guarantees. Not guarantees about dominance, but about its own security.”
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev disclosed the move to close the base in Moscow on Wednesday after receiving a Russian pledge for more than $2 billion in economic assistance.
The U.S. hasn’t received any notification from Kyrgyz officials about a base closure and still hopes to negotiate a way to preserve American access, spokesmen for the State and Defense departments said. “We’re having discussions with the Kyrgyz about this and we’ll continue to do so,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
There may be basis for the hope of keeping the base accessible to the U.S., said an expert on the region, Stephen Larrabee of the RAND Corp. policy research organization in Arlington, Virginia.
“It is not clear if this is a final and formal decision or whether they’re playing hardball to try to get more money out of the United States,” said Larrabee, who is head of European security at RAND. “It’s just not clear whether the game is over.”
Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Said Jawad, said that based on recent history he thought a solution could be found to preserve U.S. access to the base.
“In the past we have had these ups and downs with some of the northern neighbors, but always a solution was found,” Jawad said in an interview on Wednesday. “Usually they ask for more money or some kind of concession. In the end they will come forward.”
Russia’s role and motive in the base closure are also open to interpretation, said Larrabee and Paul Saunders, a Russia expert at the Nixon Center in Washington.
Saunders said that, while Russian pressure was a factor in the Kyrgyz move to close the base, Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian governments have grown increasingly wary of a U.S. presence in their region.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told reporters Thursday that the base closure was Kyrgyzstan’s independent decision and not connected to the Russian aid package.
Saunders said the main message Russian leaders are trying to deliver is that they insist on playing a brokering role between the U.S. and the Central Asian nations.
“The message is that they really want us to take into account their interests in that part of the world, and we’re going to need to deal with them,” he said. “We can’t just go directly to all these governments and get what we want if they’re not involved.”
Jawad agreed, saying Russia was concerned about Western influence in Central Asia. “Russia is trying to push some of our northern neighbors not to be too cooperative with the U.S. and NATO,” he said.
Larrabee said Medvedev’s statement about cooperation on Afghanistan was an effort to “keep their options open with the United States.”

TITLE: ‘Goth Butcher’ and Accomplice Allegedly Ate Girl in Pie
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: Two young men — one of them a butcher — have been arrested on suspicion of killing and dismembering a 16-year-old girl and eating parts of her body, Russian prosecutors said Wednesday.
Media speculation has suggested that the suspects styled themselves as “Goths” or were part of the “emo” youth culture in which young people dye their hair, have face piercings and wear hoodies and drainpipe trousers. 
“Goths ‘ate girl in a pie’” was a headline in Britain’s Mirror tabloid on Thursday.
The girl disappeared after leaving her home in St. Petersburg for school on Jan. 19, city prosecutor spokesman Sergei Kapitonov said. He said she was killed that night, and that body parts believed to be hers were later found in plastic bags scattered around the city.
Police arrested Yury Mozhnov, a florist, and Maxim Golovatskhikh, a street-market butcher and one-time psychiatric patient, Kapitonov said. Prosecutors believe they drowned the girl in a bathtub, cut her body into pieces and ate some of her internal organs.
“The arrestees said they ate the girl’s body parts because they were hungry,” Kapitonov said. They told investigators they baked some of her insides with potatoes in a stove, he said.
They allegedly then bagged up her remains and disposed of them in garbage containers and bodies of water. He said both men are being held on suspicion of murder.
The suspects, both 19, knew the victim, and she accompanied them voluntarily to an apartment rented by another acquaintance on the day she went missing, Kapitonov said.
They were arrested Saturday, a day after plastic bags — one containing a girl’s head and others holding other body parts — were found in at least two separate locations, he said.
St. Petersburg news web site Fontanka.ru cited a top city prosecutor, Andrei Lavrenko, as saying investigators believe the suspects decided to kill the victim after an argument erupted between her and Golovatskikh.
Prosecutors referred to the body parts as the girl’s, but Moscow-based tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda on Wednesday cited a department head at the St. Petersburg forensic medicine office, Vitaly Sysoyev, as saying they had not been positively identified as hers and that the alleged victim was still officially listed as missing. “Her father could not recognize her,” Sysoyev was quoted as saying.
Kapitonov said he was unaware of such information.
Without citing a source, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the suspects at first denied involvement. But, the newspaper said, after investigators found suspicious evidence at the apartment, they acknowledged drowning her and eating a calf muscle and part of her left hip — supposedly a Satanic practice.
Lavrenko said investigators found traces of blood when they ripped out plumbing and floorboards in the apartment, Fontanka.ru reported.
Mozhnov was convicted of robbery in 2005, while accusations against Golovatskikh of murder threats and cruelty to animals were subsequently dropped, Kapitonov said. He said Golovatskikh had been treated in the past at a psychiatric hospital.

TITLE: Gunners Sign Andrei Arshavin
AUTHOR: By Sonia Oxley
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Russia forward Andrei Arshavin completed his transfer to Arsenal from Zenit St. Petersburg on Tuesday, the English Premier League club said.
The move had been awaiting confirmation from the Premier League after the clubs failed to announce an agreement before Monday’s 5 p.m. transfer window deadline.
“We are delighted to have signed Andrei Arshavin, he is a player I have admired for a long time,” manager Arsene Wenger told the club’s web site (www.arsenal.com).
“He is a versatile player with great experience, who will add real quality to our squad. Andrei is an exciting impact player with a huge amount of ability and has been an influential force with both Zenit St. Petersburg and the Russian national team in recent seasons.”
The club said Arshavin, who won the UEFA Cup with Zenit last season and shone in Russia’s run to the Euro 2008 semi-finals, had joined on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.
British media reported he had agreed a three-and-a-half-year contract and had cost Arsenal around $21.35 million.
Television pictures showed a smiling Arshavin appearing in front of fans at the Emirates stadium holding a shirt with the number 23 and signing autographs.
“It was very hard days for me but now it doesn’t matter, now I am a ‘Gooner,’ it’s important,” Arshavin told Sky Sports News, showing that despite his nervous English he had already mastered some important Arsenal jargon. 
Because it is named for an “arsenal” or weapons store, the team’s nickname is The Gunners. 
Arshavin had been linked with several top clubs since lighting up last year’s European championship in Austria and Switzerland with his nifty footwork and had even offered to take a pay cut to play abroad.
Arshavin, who holds a diploma in fashion design, usually plays the role of second striker but can also operate as an attacking midfielder.
Possessing creative flair and excellent ball control skills, he has been described by Russia coach Guus Hiddink as a player who “makes something out of nothing.”
Arshavin could make his debut for fifth-placed Arsenal in the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, although he cast doubt over his match fitness because the Russian season ended in November.
“I am not fit now. It will be decided by Arsene if I can play or not,” Arshavin said.

TITLE: Aeroflot Issues Apology Following Pilot Incident
AUTHOR: By Ira Iosebashvili
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Aeroflot said Wednesday that it mishandled an incident where a pilot was removed from a plane after passengers accused him of drunkenness, and the airline offered an apology. 
The company said tests after the incident showed that Alexander Cheplevsky was not intoxicated. Aeroflot said several weeks later that the pilot possibly suffered a stroke before takeoff. 
When reached for comment on Tuesday, Aeroflot representative Irina Dannenberg told a St. Petersburg Times reporter to “read about it on the Internet.” On Wednesday, however, the airline struck a more conciliatory tone.
“We accept that his physical condition was not good. We acknowledge the mistake and apologize to passengers,” deputy chief executive Lev Koshlyakov said in a telephone interview.
Passengers were alarmed after hearing the pilot’s slurred announcement before a Moscow-New York flight.
“The first thought that occurred to me was, ‘This guy is drunk,’” said passenger Khatuna Kobiashvili. “His speech was so slurred it was hard to tell what language he was speaking.”
As passengers, including a St. Petersburg Times reporter, related their concerns to the flight crew, they were told to “stop making trouble” or get off the Boeing 767. After a chaotic hour during which passengers pleaded with flight crew and several Aeroflot representatives who boarded the plane, unexpected help came from socialite and TV host Ksenia Sobchak, who also was on board. All of the pilots were eventually replaced.
Passengers said Cheplevsky, when he finally emerged from the cockpit, was red-faced and unsteady on his feet.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in Russia who doesn’t know what a drunk person looks like,” said Katya Kushner, who was one of the first to complain. 
Koshlyakov, however, gave other causes for the pilot’s condition.
“He was in an extreme state of stress when he went out to talk to the passengers,” he said. “He normally doesn’t speak very clearly as it is, and he apparently spoke even worse now.
“Our pilots aren’t trained for direct contact with passengers.”
Although pilots are given a preflight checkup, including a “visual examination” by a doctor, tests for intoxication are not administered, he said. 
“Each of our pilots is a highly qualified professional, and we trust them completely,” Koshlyakov said. “No airline in the world subjects its pilots [to blood-alcohol tests].”
But the incident could prompt a review of Aeroflot policy to better deal with similar situations in the future.
“The incident is, without a doubt, highly unpleasant for us,” he said. “We’ll definitely draw conclusions from it.”
The pilot is being treated for an unspecified condition. “His future with the company will be decided when he completes his treatment.”

TITLE: UN Rights Group Assails Russia Over Racist Attacks
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: GENEVA — Russia must do more to stop violence against minorities, torture by the police and army, and the murders of journalists, delegates to a UN rights body said Wednesday.
“We are concerned at the trend of racism and xenophobia, which is resulting in a continuing rise in racial attacks,” a delegate from South Africa, which often backs Russia, said during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
Other issues raised at the first Russian appearance for a review process of the 47-nation council included political abductions in the North Caucasus, Internet child pornography and limits on independent civil society bodies. Russian officials agreed that racism was a problem but said they were tackling it through education and monitoring of extremist groups and noted that such violence was not always fatal.
Russia is a democratic state “based on the rule of law,” and its people enjoy equal rights, according to a report by Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov that was presented to the council.
Every effort was being made to combat extremism and ethnic violence, Konovalov said, and a special police unit had been set up to track activities of such groups under a law on fighting extremism and terrorism.

TITLE: Belarus, Russia Sign New Air Defense Agreement
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Isachenkov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia and Belarus agreed to form a joint air defense system, the Kremlin said Tuesday, strengthening military cooperation between the two uneasy allies.
The agreement — announced after talks between President Dmitry Medvedev and his Belarussian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko — would create a joint force consisting of Russian and Belarussian air force squadrons, missile batteries and radar facilities.
The deal reflects a deep mistrust of Western intentions by both countries, as well as their shared opposition to NATO’s expansion into former Soviet turf and U.S. plans to build missile-defense sites in Belarus’ neighbor, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Medvedev hailed the deal during the talks, saying it “will significantly increase the defense capability of Russia and Belarus.”
Air Force commander Alexander Zelin has said the joint system would help Russian and Belarussian militaries to strengthen monitoring of airspace. The system will include five air force units and 10 air defense missile units, Zelin was quoted by news reports as saying.
The agreement has been in negotiation for years, with Belarus reportedly lobbying for better terms and more generous Russian aid.
Kommersant reported that as conditions for striking the deal, Lukashenko had demanded new Russian weapons at subsidized prices and Russian orders from Belarussian defense industries.
Lukashenko appeared to corroborate that report, saying Tuesday that the creation of a joint air defense field should be part of a package toward “deepening military-technical cooperation.”
Independent military analyst Alexander Golts said the deal carries little military meaning and is mostly aimed at adding some substance to a weakening Russia-Belarus alliance.
Lukashenko also may use the deal to push the Kremlin for more aid, he said.
“When Russia demands that Belarus pay off its debts, Lukashenko may point at this deal and say, ‘How can you talk about money with us who protect you?”‘ Golts said in a telephone interview.
The Kremlin has been a key sponsor of Lukashenko — dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” by the United States and the European Union for his crackdown on dissent. But the Belarussian leader made efforts last year to improve relations with the West, releasing opposition activists and making other overtures.
Russia has backed Belarus with cheap energy supplies and loans, and the former Soviet neighbors have a union agreement that envisages close political and economic ties, though in reality it has amounted to little.
Belarus’ Soviet-style, centrally planned economy has been hard hit by the global financial crisis, and Lukashenko secured a $2 billion loan from Russia last fall and pushed for another credit tranche equivalent to $3 billion.
Russia on Tuesday promised to consider the request but would not say how much money it could give.
Lukashenko also last fall secured a deal for the supply of Russian natural gas at a price much cheaper than other former Soviet nations.
In a sign of improving ties between Belarus and the West, the International Monetary Fund last month approved a $2.46 billion loan to Belarus. Belarussian officials also voiced hope that they may get a $1 billion loan from the World Bank.

TITLE: Trade Spats, Visas to Top Talks
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW — European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and a team of key commissioners will hold difficult talks in Moscow this week over old and new trade disputes and a new visa feud, diplomats said Tuesday. 
Ties with Brussels have worsened considerably after the Ukraine gas war last month, and European lawmakers said they expected some plain talk about Russia’s reliability as an energy provider, especially since Moscow’s position has weakened because of the deepening economic crisis. 
Barroso and nine commissioners will meet on Friday with their Russian counterparts, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, Marc Franco, the head of the EU’s delegation in Moscow, said Tuesday. 
The visit is the first in this format since 2004 and was originally planned for last summer but postponed because of the August war in Georgia. 
But while the political dispute over the Georgia conflict has become somewhat muted, foreign investors have encountered vexing new tariffs and bureaucratic problems. 
The Federal Migration Service late last month ended a policy of issuing work permits and visas to foreigners in one procedure, requiring companies to engage in extra rounds of tedious application work. 
Calls to the migration service went unanswered Tuesday, but Alexei Filippenkov, the director of the Visa Delight agency, confirmed the change. ‘They ended the ‘one window’ policy for visas and work permits, so now you have to go to at least two departments,’ he said. 
He said he suspected recent management changes at the migration service to be the reason for the change. ‘New department heads want to follow the law more strictly,’ he said. 
Franco said that regardless of the reason, the issue would feature in the talks between Barroso and Putin. ‘It is important that this will be raised at the highest level,’ he said, speaking at a conference with the Association of European Business. 
Also, investors are angered about a road charge for foreign trucks that came into effect this week. Diplomats said the charge of 60,000 rubles ($1,700) per year, or 400 rubles per day, is discriminatory because it is levied on European-registered vehicles but not on Russian ones. 
The government has said the fee will only apply to trucks from countries that charge Russian trucks, but European officials point out that EU member states with similar tolls, like Germany, apply them on all trucks regardless if they are domestic or foreign. 
Franco also voiced concern about a lack of progress in negotiations over Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization. He said recent Russian hikes in tariffs for timber exports and car imports had complicated negotiations. 
Putin announced in the fall that the last round of hikes for timber exports would be put off temporarily, but Franco said ‘the tariffs are still there.’ 
He said the lack of progress on WTO membership bodes ill for negotiations on a new partnership and cooperation agreement between Moscow and the EU. While negotiations on the agreement’s political aspects were going quite well, it will be very hard to have a meaningful discussion on trade as long as Russia remains outside the WTO, Franco said. 
Moscow has been negotiating to join the Geneva-based trade body for more than 15 years, but tariff disputes and other issues have delayed talks. 
‘The message we are receiving is that Russia is not very clear yet as to whether it wants to join or not, and this is possibly because of the [economic] crisis,’ a senior EU diplomat said Tuesday under condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter. 
Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said last month that the country should ascend to the WTO in 2009. Yet officials have stressed that Moscow would only join if it deemed the conditions satisfactory. 
Energy policy will also be high on Barroso’s agenda Friday after last month’s suspension of Russian gas supplies left millions without heating in eastern EU member states. 
Some European lawmakers voiced concern that the commissioners might be too soft on the issue. ‘We need a serious dialogue that includes critical issues such as Russia’s reliability as a natural gas provider,’ Alexander Lambsdorff, a deputy in the European Parliament for the German Free Democrats, said by telephone from Brussels. 
But Frazer Cameron, head of the EU-Russia Center, a Brussels-based think tank, said the Europeans would probably make a tough showing. ‘There will be some plain speaking because energy security is such an important subject,’ he said by telephone. 
He said EU leaders would be more cautious than at previous meetings. ‘They recognize that the policy needs to be based on the realities and that illusions about Medvedev’s presidency leading to a more open and liberal Russia have not materialized,’ he said. 
Moscow, on the other hand, can no longer afford to maintain its blustering foreign policy because of the effects of the economic crisis, he said.

TITLE: Lower Rent Good News for Food Outlets
AUTHOR: By Olga Kiselyova and Yelena Dombrova
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: The crisis has presented new opportunities for chains of restaurants and cafes, which can now afford to rent premises that were previously too expensive.
In the middle of January, SPB Bar, a chain of beer halls, opened a branch at 8 Nevsky Prospekt — premises which were previously leased out as an office. Since last summer the chain, which comprises seven bars, has opened four new establishments, and plans to open several more this year, said a representative of the company.
In the middle of December, Ginza Project opened Charlotcafe — which its management claim will have an average bill of 500 rubles — in the former MCM clothes shop on Kazanskaya Ulitsa, while Khalyal, an oriental cuisine cafe, has opened in the premises of a former pharmacy on 1aya Krasnoarmeiskaya Ulitsa.
The real estate market has become more attractive to public eateries, said Denis Radzimovsky, general director of Vkus, which manages the Mikc chain.  Prices that were previously sky high have now decreased by an average of 20-30 percent, and in some locations by 50 percent, he said. The cost of opening an establishment has not decreased however, because fittings and equipment have become 20-30 percent more expensive during the same period, he added.
The Dve Palochki chain of Japanese restaurants is currently completing a new establishment at 4 Moskovsky Prospekt. Yakov Pak, the chain’s marketing director, said that investment overheads have not decreased significantly, but it is possible to negotiate significant delays in payment and discounts on work. In January even the most sought-after premises dropped in rental value by 35-40 percent compared to December last year, he added.
Sergei Fyodorov, development director at Praktis CB, said that supply exceeds demand in the street retail sector. At the peak of rental prices in summer 2008, premises on Nevsky Prospekt were being let for $15,000 to $20,000 per square meter, while now many owners have slashed their rates in half, he said.
Many jewelry stores, clothes stores and electronics retailers have left the rental market, and they occupied premises in prime locations where many people pass by, and such premises are very interesting for restaurateurs, said Alexei Fursov, president of the Yevraziya holding. Now landlords are offering prices at half the previous rate, and are sometimes even prepared to renovate the premises at their own expense, he added.
As a result of the crisis, people are eating out less frequently. In the premium sector, sales have decreased by 30 percent, Anna Nikandrova, a consultant at the St. Petersburg office of Jones Lang LaSalle estimated. The food and beverages sector is very diverse, and the most stable outlets are fast food chains, said Fyodorov.
Previously, landlords were put off food establishments by the fact that they are subject to a whole range of health and sanitation requirements and fire-prevention measures. Now many premises are standing vacant, and their owners are becoming more open to offers from restaurateurs, said Olga Kornilova, director of the commercial real estate brokerage department at ARIN.

TITLE: Mariinsky II To Get Less Cash
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: The financing of the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater will be cut by 1 billion rubles ($27.5 million) this year. Of the 5.6 billion rubles ($154 million) earmarked for the federal project for 2009, only 4.6 billion ($126.7 million)will be provided, Valery Gutovsky, head of the Northwest Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration, which is responsible for the project, said Wednesday. According to him, the directorate plans to economize thanks to lower cement prices and by substituting imported materials for Russian ones, as well as simplifying the architecture of the building’s facades.
The total cost of the project has not changed, and stands at 9.5 billion rubles at 2006 prices, said Gutovsky.
The question of who will find an architectural solution for the building instead of the Frenchman Dominique Perrault, whose contract was annulled last year, has not yet been decided. Gutovsky said the issue would be resolved in the next few months, but did not elaborate on the decision-making process. 
The first stage of the planning will be carried out by the General Construction Corporation, which won the tender for the contract in 2007.
Alexei Chizhov, consulting director at Praktis CB, said this was the first major federal building project to say it would not receive as much funding as planned. Money can also be saved since Perrault’s project was scrapped entirely, and no one knows what the new building will now look like, the expert said.

TITLE: Banks Get Extra $11 Billion,   State VTB Stake May Grow
AUTHOR: By Paul Abelsky and Alex Nicholson
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved 400 billion rubles ($11 billion) of aid for banks on Thursday and told them to channel it toward unlocking corporate and consumer lending.
The injection, which comes on top of $200 billion handed to banks and industrial companies since last year, may result in the government increasing its stake in VTB Group, the nation’s second-largest lender.
“This could involve participation in tier 1 capital,” Putin said at a government meeting in Moscow on Thursday. “In other words, the state could increase its presence in these banks. The pace of lending growth is so far insufficient.”
Russia has pledged more than $200 billion in emergency funding to fight its worst economic crisis since the government defaulted on $40 billion of domestic debt in 1998. Plunging prices for oil, the country’s main export earner, will push the economy into recession and the federal budget into deficit this year for the first time in a decade, according to the government.
Russia will inject 200 billion rubles in the capital of VTB, while state development bank VEB will get 100 billion rubles, Putin said. A further 100 billion rubles will go to non-state banks in the form of subordinated loans that are contingent upon the owners of those banks matching the funding,” he said.
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, “hasn’t been forgotten” Putin said. The central bank, Sberbank’s biggest shareholder, will decide whether the bank needs more capital.
Funds for the subordinated loans will come from Russia’s three trillion-ruble National Wellbeing Fund, Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina told reporters after the meeting.

TITLE: Fitch Lowers Russia’s Ratings to BBB
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Fitch downgraded Russia’s sovereign rating on Wednesday, prompting scorn from Russian investors over whether international agencies could offer credible ratings in view of their apparent miscalculations before the global crisis. 
Fitch lowered Russia’s foreign and local currency ratings by a notch to BBB — two rankings above junk — over concerns about dwindling foreign exchange reserves, falling oil prices and corporate debt refinancing. 
It was the first time that Fitch has cut the country’s rating since 1998, when Russia devalued the ruble and defaulted on its domestic debt. Standard & Poor’s downgraded Russia in December. 
Reserves have shrunk by more than a third to $386.5 billion since August as the Central Bank has defended the ruble amid lessening oil export revenues.

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>Ruble Could Lose 18%</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — The ruble may slide as much as 18 percent against the dollar by the middle of this year as falling oil prices and declining reserves force the central bank to widen the currency’s trading band, Morgan Stanley said.
The currency, which is managed against a dollar-euro basket to limit swings that hurt exporters, could slide to 44 per dollar as “the current basket floor is clearly unsustainable,” Morgan Stanley analyst Oliver Weeks wrote in a research note Thursday.
The 41 level will hold in the first quarter and then break in the second, Weeks wrote. Assuming the oil price recovers in the second half, the ruble may end 2009 at 36.6 per dollar, he added.

<b>Gas Prices Investigated</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia’s competition watchdog will investigate oil companies’ gasoline prices in 50 regions of the country to end overcharging.
Gasoline prices in Russia are “still unacceptably high” compared to other countries after the steep decline in prices for crude oil, Anti-Monopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev said in remarks broadcast by state television Thursday.
Artemyev said that probes at 251 retail companies will start in two weeks with the aim of bringing gasoline prices down. He said that one liter of gas should not exceed 20 rubles ($0.55) and can retail only “slightly” higher than 20 rubles in Russia’s Far East.

<b>Lenta Stake Up for Sale</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Lenta, Russia’s third-biggest food retailer, said a 35 percent stake is for sale after an attempt to sell the whole company was scrapped.
Five private equity funds are in talks to acquire the shareholding, Chairman Stephen Ogden told reporters at a forum in Moscow on Thursday, without identifying the seller. Two of the buyout firms are based in Moscow, two are located in New York and one is a global fund, Ogden said, adding that the sale is planned to be completed in the next few months.

<b>Unilever Sees Slowdown</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Unilever said there is some evidence of a consumer slowdown in Russia, while the country remains a priority for the company.
 “Retailers and distributors don’t want to hold stock,” Patricia O’Hayer, vice president for communications, said in an interview in Moscow on Thursday. “There are out-of-stock issues. We do see a slowdown as a result,” she said.
The consumer-product maker plans to continue investing in its seven existing Russian sites and to begin operations at a plant in the Tula region within five years, O’Hayer said.  

<b>Aeroflot in Czech Bid</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Aeroflot, Russia’s biggest airline, said it will bid for Czech Airlines AS with a local partner to comply with a European Union prohibition on companies from non-member states gaining a controlling stake.

<b>Minerals Under Review</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia’s government is reviewing a list of mineral deposits that state companies will be allowed to develop without a tender, Interfax reported, citing a Natural Resources Ministry official.
The list of more than 15 locations, including fields off the Kamchatka peninsula, will be confirmed “soon,” Darya Vasilevskaya, a deputy department head with the ministry, said at a conference Thursday in Moscow, the news service reported.
Another list of more than 1,500 fields designated as having “federal significance” will be published shortly, Vasilevskaya said. Government agencies have until April 1 to draw up Russia’s offshore strategy until 2020, Interfax cited her as saying.

<b>Federal Grid Seeks Loan</b>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Federal Grid Co., Russia’s power distribution monopoly, needs to borrow as much as 20 billion rubles ($550 million) this year, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Chistyakov said at a Troika Dialog forum in Moscow on Thursday.
The company is in talks with the state on issuing  infrastructure bonds with a maturity of at least three years, a term existing bonds can’t provide, he said. Federal Grid will review all borrowing to prevent an increase in debt next year.

TITLE: Gradual Devaluation Saved Russia
AUTHOR: By Alexei Moisseev
TEXT: Since the ruble began its dramatic slide in value in August, I have been bombarded with the same question from nervous investors, confused journalists and even my mother: What is happening to the ruble?
As an economist (and a good son), I told them that the devaluation of the ruble is the natural result of the new realities of the world economy and the sharply lower price of oil. We’re in a global recession and the prices of commodities, Russia’s big exports, have nose-dived. That, along with the machinations of currency speculators who are betting on its decline, is causing the ruble to lose value relative to other currencies. So you might have noticed that, for instance, your ruble salary isn’t going to buy you nearly as nice a vacation in Paris or New York that it might have a few months ago.
Then I quickly launched into a critique of the Central Bank’s approach of step-by-step devaluation of the ruble, which has cost the country $100 billion in reserves, raising the total reserve loss since the beginning of the crisis to $210 billion. What is needed, I and other economists insisted somewhat self-righteously, is for the Central Bank to step aside and allow a dramatic one-off devaluation. I proposed knocking perhaps an additional 20 percent off the value of the ruble, which, by the time the Central Bank began its policy of gradually letting the ruble slide, had already lost 15 percent versus the dollar on the back of the euro’s tumble.
Almost two weeks ago, Central Bank chief Sergei Ignatyev gave in and called an end to the gradual devaluation policy. He set the bank’s new basket band at 26 to 41, which at that time represented an additional depreciation allowance of 10 percent. It meant that the bank was “drawing a line in the snow,” as one analyst put it, and committing to not allowing the ruble-dollar exchange rate to fall below 36.20 at the then-prevailing euro-dollar rate.
Ignatyev made the important argument at that time: The current exchange rate balances the country’s current account. Although that is basically true, it is key to remember that Russian companies have significant foreign debts coming due this year, and they will clearly not be refinanced across the board. The $130 billion net capital outflow from Russia over the fourth quarter of 2008 stands in marked contrast with the $83 billion inflow recorded in 2007. The ruble’s 11 percent devaluation against the dollar in the fourth quarter did not stop speculative capital outflows from Russia, but it did reduce import growth. We expect further devaluation to have the same effect in 2009. Therefore, the Central Bank will still have to sell reserves to cover foreign exchange purchases by corporations repaying their external debt. Even if this is done through the existing Vneshekonombank facility, it will still deplete the Central Bank’s foreign currency reserves.
As we look ahead, the financial system looks like it will remain short rubles for now, and I expect the ruble to push the new upper limit of the Central Bank’s band in a matter of days. Thereafter, the Central Bank will be forced to conduct moderate-sized interventions, as the capacity for banks and investors to short more rubles remains limited. There is also likely to be some additional short covering, as the Central Bank will likely continue to take occasional punitive action and — with no obvious immediate upside — holding short positions will be too risky and too expensive for some investors. 
This situation, I believe, can be sustained for two or three months, assuming that there isn’t a significant dip in the oil price. For a variety of reasons we can say with confidence that the oil price in the medium term will return to roughly $70 a barrel. The problem is that it is much harder to predict with any certainty what the oil price will do in the short term. Earlier this week, it was down below $40. If it dipped close to $30, the Central Bank would effectively be forced to abandon its defense of the ruble.
We expect oil to recover, and the exchange rate to recover along with it — to 29 rubles to the dollar by the end the year. If, however, the oil price recovery takes longer than we expect, or worse, if it declines further, a free float of the ruble will become hard to postpone. At present, Ignatyev is targeting a free float of the ruble in 2011, which in these chaotic times is so far off it feels like never.
Some effects of the devaluation are still to be felt, particularly for Russian industry and businesses — what economists call “the real sector.” The devaluation makes the country’s producers of products, such metals, food and even automobiles, significantly more competitive on both the domestic and international markets. But it is clear that the benefits to industry will not be nearly as large as what we saw following the 1998 devaluation. Russian industry is much closer to running at full capacity today than it was a decade ago, thus precluding any big pickup in production.
Today more and more economists, including myself, are eating our words to a certain degree. We have to admit that the Central Bank’s gradual devaluation policy has largely been vindicated. Yes, it has been costly in terms of reserves, but it looks to have succeeded in insulating the population from the kind of economic shock and pain they have experienced more than once in Russia’s modern history. The fact that people have not been changing out of rubles aggressively is proof that it has worked, at least to some degree. 
Gradual devaluation has also given people, banks and corporations time to prepare for new economic realities. Most of reserves spent went into the pockets of ordinary Russians or dollar accounts of those better off. They also went to Russian corporate treasuries and banks. Contrary to popular opinion, only a small share left the country in the hands of Western speculators.
This is the first crisis in Russia that hasn’t been accompanied by a runs on banks, a collapse of the banking system or the bankruptcy of large corporations. True, we still haven’t reached the bottom of the crisis, but barring a prolonged and deep recession that keeps commodity prices low, it looks as if Ignatyev’s cool hand may succeed.

Alexei Moisseev is head of fixed income research at Renaissance Capital.

TITLE: Trading Military Secrets for a Big Mac
AUTHOR: By Yulia Latynina
TEXT: In 1975, Soviet Navy officer Valery Sablin led a mutiny onboard the Soviet destroyer Storozhevoi and came close to diverting it to Sweden. A year later, Soviet Air Force pilot Viktor Belenko flew his MiG-25 to Japan and then defected to the United States. 
Sergeant Alexander Glukhov did not rebel against Soviet authority, take over command of a warship or flee to the West on a MiG fighter. He had no plans to defect to Tbilisi to make a political statement. Glukhov claimed he left the Russian army because of unbearable conditions in the military. Apparently, he was not allowed to take a shower. Poor kid. 
It is difficult to imagine an Israeli soldier deserting to Hamas because he couldn’t get a decent bath or wasn’t given kasha. That couldn’t happen because Israeli soldiers are treated well. But even if an Israeli soldier was denied his shower privileges, this would never be a reason to desert to the other side. 
The Glukhov case is a purely Russian phenomenon. We have heard so much over the past years from our leaders about how Russia has gotten up off of its knees. As a reborn superpower, Russia was able to defeat the formidable Georgian army after Tbilisi launched its attack on Tskhinvali. Several months later, a hungry Glukhov, craving McDonald’s, shows up in Tbilisi, more than willing to reveal Russia’s military secrets in return for a Big Mac. And Glukhov’s secret was indeed a whopper — that he had been on training maneuvers in South Ossetia since June, when Russian forces first started digging entrenchments in preparation for the August war against Georgia. 
This is the first time in history that somebody has traded military secrets for a Big Mac. This would never have happened in Soviet times. For one, the borders were sealed tight; Belenko pulled it off only because he was able to maneuver his MiG just 100 meters above ground level, dodging hills, to evade radar. Second, Soviets would never think of selling out their Motherland for a greasy hamburger. 
If Russia has, in fact, risen from its knees, why couldn’t its army feed Glukhov? If Glukhov ever returns to Russia, he’ll be given a long prison term for sure. But I am confident that the military officials who stole the money allocated for feeding the troops will never face charges. 
The Kremlin claims it was forced to fight Georgia to protect Russians in South Ossetia. But Glukhov is also a Russian citizen. And so was Private Pasko, who was killed in battle but never buried. How am I supposed to believe that we were defending our fellow citizens in South Ossetia when Pasko’s corpse was forgotten and left lying in a body bag in the morgue and Glukhov defected because he wasn’t being fed? 
It remains unclear if Georgia will grant Glukhov political asylum because if every Russian soldier starts defecting there for a shower or Chicken McNuggets, the struggling, young democracy in Tbilisi could face acute water and food shortages. 
There is nothing to fear, however, because I have a great plan for conquering Georgia. Russia can send wave after wave of new troops to South Ossetia. From there, thousands of lice-infested, undernourished and scrawny privates make a mad dash for Tbilisi in search of the nearest McDonald’s and a place to take a shower. When their numbers are sufficient, they stage a coup and topple Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. 
Don’t laugh at this. These “deserters” are not the scrawny, hungry conscripts they appear to be; that is just a cover so the Georgians don’t suspect anything. Beneath that facade are our elite Alpha forces on a clandestine mission to overthrow the Georgian government. 
Now, how’s that for a plan? 

Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.

TITLE: The Church Is More Democratic Than The Government
AUTHOR: By Yevgeny Kiselyov
TEXT: Kirill was enthroned on Sunday as patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although most Russians consider themselves Orthodox, only about 13 percent of them regularly attend church. Nonetheless, the election of a new patriarch is truly an historical event, no less significant than the election of a new president.
The patriarchate was restored in 1917 following the fall of the Russian monarchy. Russia was proclaimed a secular country with a division of church and state. Since that time, the Local Council, a congress consisting of clergymen and laypersons from all over Russia, has gathered only six times to elect the head of the church. 
It is interesting that in 1917, Tikhon of Moscow, the first patriarch elected in the 20th century, was chosen by the old custom of drawing lots for one of the three candidates receiving the most votes from the Local Council. Of the three, the favorite at the time was Archbishop Anthony — extremely active and popular in religious circles and stridently opposed to the Bolsheviks. But when an elder, blind monk drew the winning name from a special urn, it was the outsider Tikhon who took the throne. Then, for many long decades under the communist regime, the Kremlin essentially appointed the patriarch, selecting individuals for their loyalty to the Soviet authorities. Only under former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was the late Patriarch Alexy II chosen by a somewhat more democratic election process. 
There are conflicting opinions regarding Kirill’s election. Some say it was a profanation of the electoral process and that everything had been decided in advance. Others claim that Kirill’s win was the result of a protracted struggle that began long before the former patriarch had left this world.
The liberal opposition members of the church claim that the Kremlin is still pulling the strings of the Moscow Patriarchate and that the Kremlin still decides who will become the new patriarch. But “the Kremlin” is a conglomeration of various groupings, not a homogenous entity. Demonstrations by the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth group, which took place outside Christ the Savior Cathedral as the Local Council was electing the patriarch, proves that Kirill relied on Kremlin resources — to be more precise, he relied on the Kremlin’s spin doctors. 
Some observers sincerely felt that Kirill was actually a liberal and a modernist. Skeptics caustically said Kirill was merely skillful at packaging conservative church ideology in a glamorous wrapper. Others justly pointed out that the Orthodox community — particularly in the outlying provinces — is so obscurantist that even the slightest trace of liberalism would be considered anathema.
And that was precisely Kirill’s biggest problem. He came across as too modern, too erudite and too Western. It is no coincidence that the Russian church has “orthodox” as its middle name. It stands upon the pillars of traditions and rituals that have remained unchanged for centuries. Adherents of traditional orthodoxy assert that, if those rituals and traditions were eliminated, if the church services now delivered in the old Slavic language were translated into modern Russian, the church as an institution would surely die. This is why Kirill constantly repeated in his election campaign, “I am opposed to any church reforms.”
Metropolitan Kliment was Kirill’s main rival for the patriarchal throne. Kliment is the manager of the Moscow Patriarchate’s affairs, a graying cardinal, church apparatchik and a favorite among church fundamentalists — in particular, Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, abbot of the Sretensky Monastery. Rumor has it that Shevkunov is Putin’s closest religious adviser and confidant. Shevkunov is also thought to have very close ties with top leaders of the siloviki, including Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Federal Drug Control Service chief Viktor Ivanov and Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin, as well as conservatives such as State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov. 
One interesting fact: Of all the people in the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, Putin chose only Kliment to be a member of the Public Chamber. What’s more, there was a lot of talk that first lady Svetlana Medvedeva favored Kliment. So, although Medvedev and Putin both distanced themselves from the struggle for the patriarch’s throne, Kirill’s main rival clearly enjoyed support from top-ranking authorities.
Kliment received 169 of the 702 possible votes cast by the Local Council. In addition, a close associate of that electoral body suggested in all earnestness that the patriarch be chosen by lots, as Tikhon was in 1917. That was a last-ditch effort to level the playing field in the face of Kirill’s clear lead. 
Kirill was the favorite in the race. First, he dominated the television airwaves. It was more Kirill’s longstanding connection with the world of television than assistance from the authorities that helped. Kirill has hosted the weekly “Pastor’s Word” program on state-controlled Rossia television since 1994. But this was not his only advantage. Kliment and his supporters stepped out of the public eye to get involved in backroom intrigues, where they also lost. The Church Synod elected Kirill as the interim leader after Alexy II passed away. This reminded me of the Soviet era, when the person chosen to oversee the burial of the deceased Communist Party general secretary invariably became the next general secretary himself.
Second, Kirill’s supporters convinced Metropolitan Vladimir, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the division of the Ukranian church that is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, to step out of the race. In theory, Vladimir could have garnered one-third of the Local Council’s votes because the Ukrainian delegation was the most numerous. Kirill apparently promised Vladimir something in return, perhaps greater autonomy from Moscow.
Finally, Kirill managed to convince the other candidate, the aging Metropolitan Filaret of Belarus, to withdraw from the contest at the last minute. Filaret’s votes swung to Kirill.
In short, Kirill won like a politician and a skilled apparatchik. It is a curious side note that during these elections, the Russian Orthodox Church, with all its shortcomings, appeared more lively and democratic than the secular government. The battle for the patriarchal throne was incomparably more dramatic than the race for the presidential post in the Kremlin, and therefore it attracted greater public interest.
It is interesting that in his first speech from the patriarchal throne, Kirill, contrary to all of his pre-election promises to resist reform, strongly urged the church to get in step with modern life. Now this is possible under Kirill’s leadership. 
Kirill won the contest decisively. But more important, Kirill has returned the sense of what it means to be a public politician.

Yevgeny Kiselyov is a political analyst and hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.

TITLE: Buyer beware
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Russian promoters have used dubious tricks to lure fans into buying tickets for a newly formed band of Western hard-rock veterans, altering the band’s official logo and printing misleading statements on the posters. The band’s management company claims the logo it sent to the Russian promoter was correct and denies any involvement with the advertising campaign.
The act in question is Over the Rainbow, a new band that features four former members of Rainbow and Jurgen “J.R.” Blackmore, the son of ex-Deep Purple guitarist and Rainbow founder Ritchie Blackmore. Ritchie Blackmore, who formed Rainbow in 1975 as Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, quit in 1984, returned in 1993 and finally left in 1997. Since then he has performed with Blackmore’s Night and has nothing to do with Over the Rainbow.
As the advertising campaign for the show began late last year, posters and smaller advertisements for the upcoming local concert had a different version of the band’s logo. The word “Rainbow” was in the largest type, while the words “Over the” are inexplicably hidden in small type somewhere below. 
With the show, scheduled on Feb. 16, approaching, some posters have been changed for ones with the proper logo in the past couple of weeks, but the old billboards with the altered logo were still to be seen this week.
The posters claim “Together Again!,” but, because Rainbow was notorious for its frequent lineup changes, only two members of the five, vocalist Joe Lynn Turner and drummer Bobby Rondinelli, ever played together in the 1980s version of the now-defunct band, between 1980 and 1983. 
Keyboard player Tony Carey, who replaced original keyboardist Micky Lee Soule, was the earliest Rainbow member, performing with the band between 1975 and 1977. Bassist Greg Smith played with the reformed Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow between 1994 and 1997.
Guitarist Jurgen Blackmore never performed in the band formed by his father.
The posters also describe Over the Rainbow as a “Legenda Roka” (the Russian for “A Legend of Rock”), even though the band’s formation was officially announced in a press release only in December. (“Legends of Rock,” in plural, perhaps would be correct, as related to some of the members, but “A Legend” in singular over the word “Rainbow” implies that it will be a concert by none other than Rainbow itself.)
The posters also state “Only Original Members” (in English), while the newly formed band does not feature any original members of Rainbow, as Blackmore disbanded the original band soon after the debut album had been recorded in 1975. Vocalist Ronnie James Dio was the only original member who remained with the band after the split. He quit in 1978.
The words “World Tour” are typed on the posters, while judging by Over the Rainbow’s MySpace page, it appears that the upcoming tour, which starts in Minsk, Belarus on Feb. 14, only encompasses Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. (Three concerts in Japan due in April were recently added to the band’s schedule, but they come two months after the current tour ends in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine on Feb. 27, and are not promoted by Prestige Concert.)
EM, the promoter of Over the Rainbow’s upcoming local concert, even went as far as to call the band “Rainbow (Over the)” on its web site. EM’s reputation has already been marred by last year’s concert by UB40 former vocalist Ali Campbell, with an advertising campaign that misled the public into thinking that it was a UB40 concert. Some posters displayed the huge letters “UB40,” while the singer’s name was in very small type, the press release was vague, misleading and illustrated with a photo of UB40, and many publications and web sites listed Campbell as UB40.
An advertising campaign for Over the Rainbow in Moscow also raised some questions when the band was reportedly misrepresented on the website of the tour’s Moscow venue, B1 Maximum. According to The Highway Star, the Deep Purple fan site, the band was announced, misleadingly, as “Rainbow featuring Jurgen Richard Blackmore,” not “Over The Rainbow,” as tickets went on sale in Moscow in late November.
Prestige Concert, the Moscow-based promoter responsible for Over the Rainbow’s tour in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, described it as a “mistake” on its web site. Currently, B1 Maximum’s site lists the band properly as “Over the Rainbow,” but Livejournal.com had the band simply as “Rainbow” on a web ad, complete with logos of Livejournal.com and B1 Maximum, this week. 
Over the Rainbow’s management said it was not responsible for the band’s advertising campaign in Russia in an email to The St. Petersburg Times last week.
“Over the Rainbow’s management sent specific instructions to the promoter that the band should be advertised and billed as, ‘Over The Rainbow,’” read a message representing the band management’s official commentary on the matter received from Lisa Walker, Assistant to Over the Rainbow’s management.
“All materials that we have sent out from the band’s management office refer to the band as ‘Over the Rainbow.’ ‘Over the Rainbow’ is the official name of the band. This logo was sent to the promoter. If you visit the band’s MySpace website, you will see the logo: http://www.myspace.com/overtherainbowrocks.”
“Promoters for concerts often have to advertise a show as soon as the show is contracted. This means that they may not have time to wait for the band or management to approve every ad for every venue in every city. We provide the logo and photos. We have to trust the promoter will use their best judgment and experience to present the band in a way that will be legitimate and also help tickets sales.
“The band does feature four past members of the band known as ‘Rainbow’ and/or ‘Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.’ This band was popular in the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. The guitarist is indeed the son of Ritchie Blackmore, who founded Rainbow. It is important that the band members’ past historical ties to Rainbow are mentioned often as this tells the fans that when they go see ‘Over The Rainbow’ they will be seeing four members of the band, Rainbow, who either co-wrote or played on original recordings by the band, Rainbow.”
Over the Rainbow’s MySpace page was created on Dec. 7, while the press release declaring that the band was formed was posted on Dec. 12. The forthcoming tour in three post-Soviet countries will be the band’s first.
But the rumors about some former members of Rainbow starting a new band (the name of Blackmore’s son was not mentioned) first appeared on Deep Purple-related fan sites in the summer. According to The Highway Star’s news item posted in June, the band was to be called Purple Rainbow and was looking to book concerts in 2009.  
“On the balance of things, it could be half-interesting,” the web site concluded.

TITLE: Word's worth
TEXT: Hey, all you translators out there — ever notice that the people writing about translation are mostly people who have never translated a word in their lives?
I can’t figure it out. A dance critic may never have danced Giselle, but he knows something about the art of dance. 
Translation theorists don’t seem to have ever tried rendering a text into another language. In fact, they might tell you — in the words of one memorable theorist — “the text doesn’t exist at all.” Try telling that to your client.
Translation theory gets screwy on the subject of “translatable” and “untranslatable” words. Since there are no exact equivalencies between languages, nothing is really translatable. 
And since it’s all relative anyway, nothing is really untranslatable. Oh, right. Tell that to a translator who has spent the afternoon on one word that defies translation. 
Take, for example, the lovely word <i>îòêîñ</i>. If you are buying new windows for your Russian apartment, you will be offered the service of <i>îòäåëêà îòêîñîâ</i> — finishing work on the something-or-others. You flip open your dictionary and find that <i>îòêîñ</i> is a slope, which doesn’t fit. Then you open specialized dictionaries and find jamb and reveal. 
Then you open your English architectural dictionaries and read definitions like “the outer side of a window frame.” 
Then you smoke three cigarettes trying to envision the outer side of a window frame. 
By now you have figured out that in deep-set Russian windows, <i>îòêîñ</i> is the inner wall stretching vertically from the sill to the top of the window enclosure and horizontally from the window to the room wall. 
You have also realized that the windows in your U.S. home don’t have any <i>îòêîñ</i> because the walls are a measly five centimeters thick and the windows are set flush into them. 
In desperation, you start calling English-speaking friends who might know something about architecture. 
By this time the sun has set, you’re not taking calls from your client, and it’s time for another cigarette run (and since it’s after 5 p.m., make that a cigarette and booze run). Finally, you decide that whatever an English-speaking architect would call <i>îòêîñ</i>, a nonspecialist would call it the “inner wall of a recessed window.” 
You hate it, but you have just calculated that, due to one word, you are now earning 14 cents an hour for this translation. You type it in, attach the translation to an e-mail, and hit “send.” 
And then you curse translation theorists down to the 12th generation. 
Then you fantasize about making one of those theorists translate your window company text.

<i>— Michele A. Berdy</i>

TITLE: Meet The Tolstoys
AUTHOR: By Tobin Auber
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Local composer Sergei Yevtushenko was in the recording studio this week recording the soundtrack for a new feature film starring Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer that will focus on the relationship between writer Lev Tolstoy, played by Plummer, and his wife Sofiya, played by Mirren. Shooting for the film, “The Last Station,” began in April 2008 and has been completed. The film is due to be released in the autumn.
“This is a very proud moment for me, very moving,” said the film’s German producer, Jens Meurer, speaking at the recording session at the Documentary Film Studio in St. Petersburg. “My first day of work in film was at this very studio, also working with musicians, 20 years ago.” 
Back then, Meurer had come to Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was then known, to work on a series of documentary films about Russia, and he went on to produce “Russian Ark,” directed by St. Petersburg director Alexander Sokurov.
“The Last Station,” which also stars James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff, was filmed in Germany and on locations in Russia including Yasnaya Polyana, south of Moscow, where Tolstoy was born, lived and is buried. The author of “War And Peace” and “Anna Karenina,” who died in 1910 aged 82, married Sofiya in 1862 when he was 35 and she was 18. 
Meurer said that “The Last Station,” adapted from Jay Parini’s 1990s novel and directed by Michael Hoffman, centers around Tolstoy but is not a standard biopic. 
“Silly as it sounds, it’s about love, it’s about Tolstoy the writer and his wife, the equally strong character Sofiya who bore him 13 children. There’s also a younger love story — it’s almost Chekhovian.”
The production of the film has been carried out with the participation of local film company Hermitage Bridge Studios and producer Andrei Deryabin, who also co-produced Sokurov’s “Russian Ark.” 
Meurer said that he was particularly happy about the casting of Dame Helen Mirren, the British actress who won an Oscar in 2006 for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen.” Mirren, whose father was a Russian emigre and whose given name is Elena Mironov, has long had an interest in Russian themes.
“In many ways Sofiya’s role has been neglected, so it’s great to have one of the world’s best actresses performing the part,” Meurer said.

TITLE: Haute cuisine
AUTHOR: By Shura Collinson
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Rumors abound about the origins of Kukhnya — whose name can mean both kitchen and cuisine in English — an elegant French restaurant that opened on the corner of the Fontanka and Gorokhovaya Ulitsa at the end of last year. Local legend has it that Oleg Deripaska, the most obscenely wealthy of all Russia’s oligarchs, was so pleased with the service of a waitress at another local eatery that he opened a new restaurant especially for her to run. Whether or not there is a grain of truth in the gossip, Kukhnya is certainly graced with a very pleasant and professional hostess.
Despite describing itself as a French restaurant, the menu at Kukhnya is eclectic. The afternoon menu, served from noon to 6 p.m., features French classics such as Croque Monsieur, Croque Madame and omelettes, as well as sandwiches and atypical “fusion pizzas” topped with Gorgonzola, salmon and other little luxuries.
The daily specials menu included rarities such as lobster and rabbit that will no doubt delight local gourmands. For those with less exotic tastes, there are plenty of salads, several pasta and risotto dishes, a range of fish and seafood and the classic option of steak with a choice of sauces for 1,100 rubles ($30).
Whoever the real face behind Kukhnya is has done an excellent job. The interior is decorated in gentle shades of cream and beige, but avoids falling into the category of dull, IKEA-style restaurants that continue to mushroom around the city by virtue of some decorative lamps, three large pastel-green dressers lining one wall and, actually, a certain je ne sais quoi. The three rooms are spacious and uncluttered, and the overall impression is one of simplicity and extreme understatement, though it also manages to convey an element of French charm. This illusion of France may, however, be ruined by looking out through the windows onto the frozen Fontanka, and the somewhat less romantic sight of the car-clogged embankment.
Kukhnya does not yet have a wine menu for what can only be described as legal reasons; in true Russian style, however, that is not to say that it is off the menu altogether. The immediate provision of a wine cooler is something not always observed in Russia, but the wait service was assiduous and quick off the mark at Kukhnya. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar were brought to the table, allowing guests to customize their food to their hearts’ content. Not much tampering is needed, however — the chefs certainly seem to know what they are doing. 
Salad with duck confit in a Japanese style (320 rubles, $9) was a heavenly heap of lettuce, ruccola, sesame seeds and succulent duck in a tangy, ever so slightly spicy sauce. Lentil soup with red wine (170 rubles, $4.70) was less spectacular but perfectly satisfying, with a surprisingly rich, almost meaty flavor.
Stewed rabbit with olives and fennel confiture (470 rubles, $13) was served crowned with a nest of uber-fresh ruccola, and made a great impression on one seasoned and notoriously difficult-to-please diner, while risotto with broccoli and tomatoes (390 rubles, $11) is equally likely to convert even the most reluctant with its rich, creamy and distinctive taste.
Portions at Kukhnya are generous, but the dishes so delectable that some diners may find it hard to resist the temptation of the dessert menu, which along with a classic creme brulee includes tiramisu (200 rubles, $5.50) and chocolate mousse (170 rubles, $4.70). Despite the high standards set by the rest of the meal, these did not disappoint. The tiramisu was more than a cut above the dish masquerading under the same name served up by many other restaurants around the city, while the chocolate mousse was so rich and decadent it was almost too much. 
Kukhnya offers incomparably more enjoyable cuisine and gratifyingly generous portions at far more reasonable prices and in a refreshingly less artificial setting than many of the latest and most fashionable additions to St. Petersburg’s dining scene, and if it maintains its current standards, deserves to do very well indeed.

TITLE: Milking it
AUTHOR: By Leo Mourzenko
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: There are films that are cornerstones of modern Russian mainstream culture and, to a degree, mentality. One such film, the made-for-television romantic gem “The Irony of Fate” (1975) is relentlessly watched by half the population every New Year. Last year a big-screen sequel was released and while a usual blockbuster makes about $15-20 million, “The Irony of Fate 2” reaped around $50 million at the box-office. This feat was achieved not because the film possessed outstanding artistic qualities, nor was it the result of a pompous ad campaign. Rather, the film managed to pull in a crowd that hadn’t set foot in a movie theater for years and most likely won’t again for years by using this formula: take an old franchise to arouse nostalgia and throw in a few young celebs to make it desirable for the young. Success is almost guaranteed, regardless of how much the actual film sucks. 
The people behind “The Return of the Three Musketeers,” in cinemas this week, are after the same effect. And boy they did get the sucky part right. 
“D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” (1978) was a Soviet television colossus that spawned two sequels that sank without trace but a career for the ubiquitous, mustachioed bard Mikhail Boyarsky.
Here’s the plot of the new film. All the original musketeers die in one day. Their children — a nun, a cross-dresser, a potential basketball player and a Dima Bilan lookalike — are summoned by Queen Anne (Alissa Friendlikh) to help her retrieve some jewels from the evil Cardinal Mazarini (Anatoly Ravikovich) who has stolen a whole chest of them and taken them to England to hide in a hay barn. The nun does a cartwheel. The ghosts of the original musketeers sit around and make comments. 
Amid this havoc, an imbecilic-looking Louis XIV (Dmitry Kharatyan) takes a bath, the Queen’s treacherous Chief of Staff plot a conspiracy, and did I mention they break into song every so often? The heroes set off on a journey across a stream chased by a dedicated captain Leon. After some hardly describable events all five of them, plus a bitchy woman in a green dress and a pack of jihad ninja-monks fight for the chest of jewelry in a setting that is supposed to represent a tavern. Then one of the kids dies. Then the original musketeers come to life. Just like that, they come to life.
Hopefully this film won’t end anyone’s career during a time of financial collapse, so let’s not put anyone in the spotlight for taking part. But the main question remains: why is everything so poorly executed? The settings are tacky, the acting is poor, the songs are boring, the fights and explosions are past the point of civil criticism and the overall impression is that the film crew worked blindfolded. Where does this unity in bad work come from? All for one and one for all?

TITLE: British Oil Strikers Let Refineries  Reopen
AUTHOR: By Luke Baker
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: NORTH KILLINGHOLME, England — British workers voted on Thursday to end a week-long unofficial strike over the use of foreign labor at a French-owned oil refinery that sparked sympathy protests across Britain.
Maintenance and construction workers at the Total-owned Lindsey plant in eastern England will return to work on Monday after accepting a union-backed deal that will give British skilled workers 102 new jobs at the site.
“We’ve no grievance against the foreign workers, it’s the laws that need to be sorted out properly from the bottom up to create a level playing field,” said Stewart Roe, a 61-year-old pipe fitter from the nearby city of Hull.
Industrial unrest is intensifying across Europe as fears grow over the impact of the economic downturn, putting politicians appealing against protectionism at odds with workers worried about job security.
The European Union executive said there was no need to tighten up labor laws across the 27-country bloc.
“Let’s not move the goalposts,” European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told reporters. “It’s not free movement that is causing problems.”
The dispute over the use of Portuguese and Italian contractors at a time of surging unemployment triggered several sympathy protests across Britain. Workers complained that foreign companies were overlooking skilled British workers.
“We would like to highlight that we have not, and will not, discriminate against British companies and British workers,” Total said in a statement.
Although they have not organized the strikes, British unions hope most of the sympathy protests will wind down.
But they have said there could be more action at other sites where foreign skilled workers have been drafted in, especially where the foreign workers are accepting lower pay than Britons.
There is a danger of copycat protests in Europe, where laws enshrining the free movement of labor have allowed millions to migrate to work.
The left-wing leader of Italy’s biggest union said such labor disputes could spread and become racist.
“I understand it (the British strike), but I think we have to be careful, because if unemployment is used against workers from other countries — never mind if they are Italian or not — this is a very delicate issue,” Guglielmo Epifani of the General Confederation of Italian Workers told Reuters.
“It would mean Italians could only work in Italy, English in England and the French in France,” he said.
The Lindsey dispute started last week when British contract workers in the welding and machine-engineering trades launched protests against the employment of about 200 Italian and Portuguese on the construction of a new plant.
The strike has embarrassed Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who pledged “British jobs for British workers” in 2007. 
Many protesters held placards bearing that slogan.

TITLE: Russia Readies For Fed Cup
AUTHOR: By Pritha Sarkar
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — Adjusting to the wintery conditions in Moscow will be Russia’s main concern as they begin the defense of their Fed Cup title against China this weekend.
Captain Shamil Tarpishchev has the luxury of relying on two top 10 players — Olympic champion Elena Dementieva and world No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova — to spearhead the Russian campaign as they target a fifth title in six years.
Even though the tie will take place on an indoor hard-court, Tarpishchev hoped his players would not suffer any ill affects after being greeted by sub zero temperatures in Moscow having toiled in temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius at the Australian Open last week.
“My main concern is how we adapt from the heat of Melbourne to the cold and time difference of Moscow. If we do that, then we should have little problem,” Tarpishchev told Reuters.
“We’ve been the world’s best team for a number of years now, winning Fed Cup four times in the past five years, so we know what we’re capable of.”
His Chinese counterpart Zhang Qi has a more realistic goal for the tie after he was forced to travel to Russia without his number one player, Zheng Jie.
Zheng, ranked 20th, had to retire from her Australian Open fourth round match against Kuznetsova with a left wrist injury and lost her battle to regain fitness.
As a result, China will be relying on an understrength team of Yan Zi, Zhang Shuai and Sun Tian-tian to upset the formbook.
“We know that Russia is very strong, so we will focus more on improving ourselves through learning from them,” the Chinese Tennis Association’s deputy director Gao Shenyang told Reuters.
The contest in Moscow is one of four World Group ties taking place this weekend.
The United States will face Argentina, France host Italy and Spain travel to the Czech Republic.
The United States’s chances of adding to their record 17 titles look slim this year since their top two players — world number one Serena Williams and her elder sister Venus — have both opted out of the tie in Arizona.
Captain Mary Joe-Fernandez instead has to rally a squad led by 75th-ranked Jill Craybas.
Australian Open giant-killer Carla Suarez Navarro, who stormed to the last eight at Melbourne Park after claiming the scalp of Venus Williams en route, will be hoping to capitalize on her run of form against the Czechs.
While Spain aim to extend their 2-0 record over the Czechs, Amelie Mauresmo and her French teammates will be gunning for revenge when they face Italy.
France hold a commanding 6-2 advantage over 2006 champions Italy but came off second best in each of their two previous meetings.
Meannwhile, former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova has pulled out of next week’s Paris Open after failing to fully recover from a shoulder injury, organizers said on Wednesday.
“I confirm she will not be there, she will not be taking part in the Dubai tournament the following week,” a tournament spokeswoman said.
The 21-year-old Russian has been sidelined since August and was not able to defend her Australian Open title last month, dropping to 17th in the WTA rankings released on Monday.
World No. 1 Serena Williams of the United States has confirmed she will take part in the tournament starting on Monday, organizers added.

TITLE: Somali Pirates: We're Freeing Arms Ship
AUTHOR: By Malkhadir Muhumed
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NAIROBI — Somali pirates said Thursday that they were freeing a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and other heavy weapons after receiving a $3.2 million ransom. The U.S. Navy said it was watching the pirates leaving the ship.
The MV Faina was seized by bandits in September in one of the most brazen acts in a surge of attacks on shipping off the Somali coast. Vessels from the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet surrounded it after it was seized to make sure the cargo did not get into the hands of Somali insurgent groups believed to be linked to al-Qaida.
A spokesman for the owners said that the pirates had received a ransom but it was far below their original demand of $20 million.
Mikhail Voitenko said the pirates were leaving the ship in small groups on boats carrying portions of the ransom. U.S. seamen were inspecting the departing boats to make sure they weren’t taking weapons from the Faina’s cargo, Voitenko said.
Commander Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the Navy was not taking action against the pirates because it did not want members of other crews still in captivity to be harmed.
“Even when you release Faina, there are still 147 mariners held hostage by armed pirates,” Campbell told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We’re concerned for their well-being.”
Pirate spokesman Sugule Ali told the AP by satellite phone that the pirates were leaving the ship slowly because the waters are “a bit turbulent.”
“The whole thing is practically over and done with,” Ali said from the central Somali coastal town of Harardhere, near where the MV Faina is anchored. “Our plan is to abandon the ship today [Thursday], by early evening at the latest.”
Ali said his group was paid a ransom of $3.2 million, which he said was dropped by plane.
“We are not holding it [the ship] now anymore,” Aden Abdi Omar, one of the pirates who left the ship said from Harardhere. “But our men should disembark first for it to move to wherever it wants.”
The MV Faina was loaded with 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks and crates of small arms. In the past, diplomats in the region have said that the cargo was destined for southern Sudan, something the autonomous region has denied.
Spokesman Alfred Mutua repeated the Kenyan government’s claim to the cargo Thursday.
Nina Karpachova, Ukraine’s top human rights official, said the ship will go to Mombasa, Kenya. If the crew is able to start the main engine, the ship will sail under its own power; otherwise it will be towed. The U.S. Navy will help provide security for the ship, she said.
Karpachova confirmed that the crew onboard the MV Faina is comprised of 17 Ukrainians, two Russians and a Latvian.
As soon as all the pirates have left the ship, Ukraine expects the U.S. Navy to send doctors onboard to provide first aid to the sailors.
“It’s understandable that their health is poor and they are psychologically exhausted,” she said.
Piracy has taken an increasing toll on international shipping in the key water link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Pirates made an estimated $30 million hijacking ships for ransom last year, seizing 42 vessels off Somalia’s 3,000-kilometer coastline.
Analysts say although attempts to hijack ships remain steady at around 15 a month, the pirates are proving less successful. The pirates took two ships in December and three ships since the beginning of the year, compared with seven in November and five in October.
Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd., said the drop was partly attributable to activity by nations that have sent ships to deter attacks and partly to unseasonably bad weather. Most of the 16 attempted hijackings in 2009 occurred in the first two weeks of January, when the weather was good.
But the pirates were showing a worrying new sophistication in their attacks, he said, jamming emergency frequencies with Arabic music or sending out false distress calls to lure warships away.
Somalia does not have a coast guard or navy because it has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, reducing Somalia to anarchy and chaos.

TITLE: Beckham Says He’d Like To Quit L.A. For Milan
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON — A rejuvenated David Beckham, who has made a big impact in Serie A on loan with AC Milan, sees a permanent move to Italy as giving him every chance of playing one more World Cup with England in South Africa next year.
Beckham, 33, said for the first time in Glasgow on Wednesday that he would like to quit Los Angeles Galaxy, where he appeared to have put himself out to grass in U.S. soccer in 2007, and turn his loan deal with Milan into a permanent move.
“I have expressed my desire now to stay in Milan and hopefully the clubs can come to some agreement,” the former England captain told reporters after a friendly between Rangers and Milan at Ibrox.
“I expected to enjoy it [in Milan], but I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much and play in every game like I have.
“I have said that my intentions are to stay here. Now it is out of my hands so I have to wait and see,” added Beckham, who has played at the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
“My main objective is to stay at this club and I enjoy playing here and at the highest level and it would give me more of a chance [of playing in the 2010 World Cup].”
Earlier in the day in Milan, the Italian giants said Beckham’s lawyers were discussing with Galaxy the possibility of extending the player’s loan spell, due to end on March 9.
The midfielder moved to Italy during the U.S. close season on a two-month loan to try to stay in contention for a place in the England side he captained at the previous two World Cups.
Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani has said he wants Beckham to stay. For technical reasons, Beckham’s loan is actually until June but there is an agreement that he goes back to the United States in March.
Milan have not yet made an offer for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player, Galliani said.
“To enter a negotiation and eventually close a deal we have time until March 8,” he said.
Calls for Beckham to stay at Milan have grown since he surpassed expectations with his performances. He has scored two goals in his first five starts for the Serie A side.
Milan, who are six points behind Serie A leaders and city rivals Inter, have included Beckham in their UEFA Cup squad.
Galaxy told Reuters in Los Angeles that they would make no immediate comment.

TITLE: Sweden Changes Tack on Nuclear Power Legislation
AUTHOR: By Karl Ritter
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government agreed Thursday to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors, saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases.
Sweden is a leader on renewable energy but is struggling to develop alternative source like hydropower and wind to meet its growing energy demands. If parliament approves scrapping the ban, Sweden would join a growing list of countries rethinking nuclear power as a source of energy amid concerns over global warming and the reliability of energy suppliers such as Russia. Britain, France and Poland are planning new reactors and Finland is currently building Europe’s first new atomic plant in over a decade.
The agreement was made possible after a compromise by the Center Party, a junior coalition member which has long held a skeptical stance toward nuclear power.
“I’m doing this for the sake of my children and grandchildren,” said party leader Maud Olofsson. “I can live with the fact that nuclear power will be part of our electricity supply system in the foreseeable future.”
Lawmakers decided after a 1980 referendum to phase out nuclear power, which provides about half of Sweden’s electricity.
The 1980 referendum came about at time of mounting concerns about nuclear safety in the wake of a partial meltdown a year earlier at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
Only two of the 12 reactors have been closed and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said he didn’t feel bound by the referendum because it didn’t specify how to replace nuclear energy.
The center-right coalition government’s proposal, which needs approval from Parliament, calls for new reactors to be built at existing plants to replace the 10 operational reactors when they are taken out of service.

TITLE: Top Nazi's Body Sought in Egypt
AUTHOR: By David Rising
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BERLIN — German investigators who have hunted Nazi war criminal Aribert Heim for decades said Thursday that new information indicating the former concentration camp doctor died in Egypt in 1992 appears credible and that they will attempt to find his body.
The Baden-Wuerttemberg state police unit that investigates Nazi-era crimes is preparing a request that Egyptian authorities allow them to pursue the case in Cairo, unit spokesman Horst Haug said.
“We want to attempt to find the body,” Haug told The Associated Press.
Heim was accused of taking part in experiments on Jewish prisoners at Mauthausen camp in Austria, such as injecting various solutions into their hearts to see which killed them fastest. He was indicted in Germany in absentia on hundreds of counts of murder in 1979.
Heim’s son Ruediger told Germany’s ZDF television that his father fled to Egypt after authorities tried to arrest him at his Baden-Baden home in 1962. The younger Heim contradicted previous statements that he had never had any contact with his father since that time, telling ZDF that he had met with him several times in Cairo, starting in the mid-1970s.
Asked about the discrepancies, Heim said on Thursday that the ZDF interview was the correct version.
“You can trust this interview,” he said.
Heim would not elaborate on why he decided to speak now, or why he kept his silence for so long.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s head Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, said Aribert Heim has previously been linked to Egypt, but the story raises “more questions than it answers.”
“There’s no body, no corpse, no DNA, no grave — we can’t sign off on a story like this because of some semi-plausible explanation,” Zuroff said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.
“Keep in mind these people have a vested interested in being declared dead — it’s a perfectly crafted story; that’s the problem, it’s too perfect.”
ZDF reported that Heim was buried in a cemetery in Cairo, where graves are reused after several years and so it is unlikely remains will be found.
Aribert Heim, born in 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was annexed by Germany. He later joined the Waffen SS and was assigned to Mauthausen, near Linz, Austria, as a camp doctor in October and November 1941.
While there, witnesses told investigators, he worked closely with SS pharmacist Erich Wasicky on such experiments as the heart injections.
Karl Lotter, a non-Jewish prisoner who worked in the Mauthausen concentration camp’s hospital, said he remembered the first time he saw Heim kill.
An 18-year-old Jew had been sent to the clinic with a foot inflammation and Heim asked the boy why he was so fit. The young man said he had been a soccer player and swimmer before he was imprisoned, Lotter said.
Lotter said Heim anesthetized the teenager and began operating on him but instead of treating the inflamed foot, he cut the young man open, castrated him, Lotter said. The victim’s head was then removed and the flesh boiled away so that Heim could keep it on display.