SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1456 (18), Friday, March 13, 2009
**************************************************************************


TITLE: Bad News For Russia In Richest Rankings
AUTHOR: By Claudia Parsons
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: NEW YORK — Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates is the richest man again, overtaking investor Warren Buffett, as the global financial meltdown wiped out $2 trillion from the net worth of the world’s billionaires, Forbes Magazine said on Wednesday.
It’s been a terrible year for Russia’s richest, however, the magazine reported, and New York City overtook Moscow in terms of the number of resident billionaires.
The number of billionaires in the world fell by nearly a third to 793 in the past year, with large numbers dropping off the list in Russia, India and Turkey.
Gates regained his title as the richest man in the world, with $40 billion after slipping to third last year when he was worth $58 billion. Buffett, last year’s richest man, fell to second place with $37 billion, down from $62 billion. Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim took third place with $35 billion, down from $60 billion.
Collectively, the top three billionaires lost $68 billion in the year to February 13, when Forbes took a snapshot of wealth around the world to compile its annual list of billionaires.
Chief Executive of Forbes Magazines Steve Forbes said that, while few would shed a tear for the plight of a billionaire, it was bad for the economy when entrepreneurs were in trouble.
“Billionaires don’t have to worry about their next meal, but if their wealth is declining and you’re not creating numerous new billionaires, it means the rest of the world is not doing very well,” he told reporters. “The typical billionaire is down at least one third on their net worth.”
The net worth of the world’s billionaires fell from $4.4 trillion to $2.4 trillion, while the number of billionaires was down to 793 from 1,125.
“It’s the first time since 2003 that we have lost billionaires, but we’ve never before lost anywhere near this number,” said Luisa Kroll, senior editor of Forbes.
“It’s really hard to find something to cheer about unless you get some perverse pleasure in realizing that some of the most successful ... people in the world ... can’t figure out this global economic turmoil better than the rest of us.”
New York City replaced Moscow as home to the most billionaires, with 55. Russia, which saw the number of super- rich soar in recent years, suffered among the biggest shocks, with the number of billionaires down to 32 from 87.
Other developing countries that saw fast growth in previous years were hit hard as well, including Turkey, where the number of billionaires fell to 13 from 35, partly due to the collapse in the value of the lira currency, and India.
Indian businessman Anil Ambani, the biggest gainer on last year’s list, was the biggest loser this time, with $32 billion wiped out over the last 12 months. Ranked sixth last year, he fell to 34 with an estimated wealth of $10.1 billion.
“India took a huge whack,” Kroll said, noting that last year Indians held four of the top 10 spots and now only two, and the number of Indian billionaires more than halved to 24.
Of those who remained or returned to the list, 656 saw their net worth fall, 52 held even and only 44 managed to expand their wealth. 
The only person in the top 20 who did not lose money was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose net worth was revised up to $16 billion from $11.5 billion because of a revaluation of his media company, Bloomberg LP, Forbes said. He is now the richest man in New York, jumping from 65 in the world to 17.

TITLE: Georgia’s Eurovision Entry Out of Contest
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: TBILISI — A Georgian pop group said Wednesday it would bow out of the Eurovision Song Contest, refusing to scrap lyrics punning on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s name.
The statements by members and producers of Stephane and 3G could mark the end of a politically charged dispute over Georgia’s entry for the contest, being held this year in Russia in May. Less than a year ago in August, the two countries fought a short war. Tensions remain high, and Putin and Georgia’s pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili have traded barbs in remarks reported by the media.
The selection of Stephane and 3G and its teasing ditty “We Don’t Wanna Put In” as Georgia’s entry raised eyebrows. “We don’t want to put in/the negative mood/it’s killing the groove,” runs the chorus, rendered “poot een” — just like the former Russian president — by the singers’ accented pronunciation.
The Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the flashy annual spectacle, warned Tuesday that “no lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature shall be permitted.” It said Georgia would have to rewrite the song or choose another one.
Nothing doing, the Georgians responded. Producers and the country’s culture minister accused Russia of pressuring the European Broadcasting Union.
“We refuse to take part in the contest because this year’s host country is applying so much pressure,” one of the group’s producers, Georgy Chanturia, told a news conference in Tbilisi.
“I believe that the Eurovision leadership came under unprecedented Russian pressure,” Culture Minister Nika Rurua said.
“We see a political context in the pressure that is being put on us,” Stephane and 3G singer Stepane Mgebrishvili said. “We’re not going because we’re not being given the opportunity to go.”
Vladimir Smirnov, a representative of Russia’s state-run Channel One’s Entertainment department, which will broadcast the contest, said Tuesday that the channel was not responsible for the decision.
Russia won the right to host the annual event after winning last year’s competition.

TITLE: PM Says Ukraine Facing Collapse
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Ukraine was on the verge of bankruptcy but promised Moscow would not push its ex-Soviet neighbor over the edge with high gas bills, local news agencies reported.
The global crisis has battered Ukraine’s economy, with industrial output down more than 30 percent year-on-year, GDP seen shrinking six percent in 2009 and its currency losing 50 percent of its value against the dollar at one point last year.
“They (Ukraine) are on the verge of bankruptcy and as you well know you should not finish off your partners,” Putin said during a visit to a mine in the Siberian town of Novokuznetsk, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine have been strained since Western-leaning leaders overcame pro-Moscow rivals in Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution.
During his second term as president, Putin developed a personal rivalry with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko who spearheaded efforts to pull Ukraine out of Russia’s sphere of influence by joining the NATO military alliance.
But Putin said Russia would refrain from levying fines on Ukraine for violating the terms of gas supply contracts that could contribute to a financial collapse in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is not taking the contracted volumes (of gas) and should pay fines. We will forgive these fines because we recognize the reality — they have nothing to pay with,” RIA quoted Putin as saying.
Russia has also been hit hard by the crisis but Putin said its large financial reserves put it in a stronger position.
He forecast the state would this year be able to spend 12 percent of GDP to ease the effects of the crisis. “Our anti-crisis package is bigger than in other countries,” Putin said in comments broadcast on Vesti-24 television.
Ukraine has appealed to the International Monetary Fund to make up for a budget shortfall caused in part by a collapse in prices for steel, a key export.
The IMF and Ukraine’s government on Wednesday said they were making progress on overcoming differences in implementing a reform program that has delayed the release of a second tranche of a $16.4 billion loan.

TITLE: Alleged Mobster Trial To Be Held in Moscow
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: St. Petersburg’s Kuibyshevsky court ruled on Wednesday that hearings in the case against businessman and alleged criminal authority Vladimir Barsukov (also known as Kumarin) be transferred from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
“A decision was made to transfer the hearings to Moscow. The first hearing in Moscow City Court has been scheduled for April 2,” said Barsukov’s lawyer Sergei Afanasyev, Interfax reports.
Afanasyev described the decision as a “judicial catastrophe.”
“The case is being moved far away from the witnesses, all of whom are located in St. Petersburg, and it’s not at all clear how they’ll be taken to Moscow. We are being deprived of evidence,” Afanasyev said.
The Prosecutor General’s office asked to transfer the hearings in Barsukov’s case to Moscow in early March, claiming that leaders of other criminal groups in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast were plotting to murder the defendants.
Barsukov faces charges of organizing a criminal group, large-scale fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, and murder. 
The prosecution alleges that in 2004, Barsukov and members of his criminal group, some of whom were natives of Tambov Oblast, organized a so-called Tambov criminal group in St. Petersburg.
According to the prosecution’s version of events, members of the group siezed shares, personal property and real estate from several of the city’s large commercial enterprises, ‘laundered’ the illegally-acquired assets and received income from them. They also seized entire companies.
In the period from July 2005 through June 2006, Barsukov and other members of the group committed fraud against 13 commercial enterprises in St. Petersburg, netting a total of five billion rubles.

TITLE: Putin Says Russia Cannot Afford Low Interest Rates
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: Russia cannot afford to cut interests rates to lower levels than inflation, as it would represent a serious threat for the economy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. 
“If inflation is 13 percent, we cannot set the rates lower than that, it will destroy the economy,” Putin said, Interfax reported. 
Many Russian companies and politicians want lower rates to make borrowing more affordable for cash-strapped companies and to help the economy through its first recession in a decade. 
The Finance Ministry and the Central Bank say, however, that official rates must be kept high to bring inflation under control, saying only then will banks be willing to lend again and rekindle the nearly-dead domestic credit market. 
The bench mark refinancing rate has been 13 percent since November, although interbank rates can top 20 percent. Inflation is forecast to average 13 percent to 14 percent this year. 
Vesti-24 also showed Putin as saying the package of measures to ease the effects of the financial crisis may reach 12 percent of gross domestic product this year. 
“Government measures amount to around 4.5 percent of GDP, and if you add the measures of the Central Bank, which is dealing with liquidity, it will amount to 12 percent,” Putin said. 
“Our anti-crisis package is bigger than in other countries,” he added, speaking at a meeting with miners in the Siberian town of Novokuznetsk. 
Russia has been battered by a departure of foreign capital, huge stock exchange losses and an assault on the ruble since its conflict with Georgia in August was followed by a worsening of the global financial crisis last year. 
The government forecasts the economy to shrink 2.2 percent this year. 
Russia’s GDP is expected to amount to about 40 trillion ($1.14 trillion) this year with a budget deficit of about 8 percent after the country revised its revenue forecast following a steep fall in energy and commodities prices. 
“We will cover [the deficit] from past years’ revenues … and this year we will spend around 3 trillion rubles from reserve funds on these aims,” Putin said, Interfax reported. 
The current budget plans for spending 9.5 trillion rubles on revenues of 6.3 trillion. 
Last month, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the government would spend 2.7 trillion rubles from its reserve fund to plug the gap. 
Cash could also come from plans to issue up to 410 billion rubles in OFZ treasury bonds, but demand has been low and the ministry canceled two auctions last month.

TITLE: U.S. To Change Tack
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress could act on legislation this year to establish “permanent normal trade relations” with both Russia and Kazakhstan and to eliminate tariffs on goods from Georgia, a senior Democratic lawmaker said.
“As you know, the administration has signaled that they want to try to review our relationship with Russia. Now, exactly what that means isn’t clear, and it’s a controversial exercise,” said Representative Sander Levin, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means trade subcommittee. 
Levin spoke at a meeting Tuesday with other lawmakers to set out the committee’s agenda for 2009.

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>‘Conman’ Busted</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A man who allegedly posed as the son of a St. Petersburg vice governor to elicit money by promising political favors was arrested Thursday, the Ministry of the Interior announced.
Investigators arrested Alexei Vakhmistrov for presenting himself as the son of Vice Governor Alexander Vakhmistrov in business dealings, according to a press release from the Ministry of the Interior of the Northwest Federal District, Interfax reported. Vakhmistrov allegedly promised investors “assistance” in obtaining and redeveloping land plots.  
The investigation found that Vakhmistrov offered to help investors obtain the rights to repurchase a property at 141 Leninsky Prospekt and rezone 10 hectares from agricultural to residential development use in the Lomonosov region of the Leningrad Oblast. In the first case, the investor paid Vakhmistrov six million rubles ($170,000), and in the second instance, the investor gave one million rubles ($30,000) as a down payment.
To prove his identity, Vakhmistrov allegedly showed a passport that gave his name as “Alexei Alexandrovich [son of Alexander] Vakhmistrov.” He used a rented apartment as his permanent address and changed his cell phone number to avoid investors after he had taken their money, investigators said.
An investigation is currently underway into other crimes possibly committed by Vakhmistrov, Interfax reported.

<b>Material Girl Concert</b>
ST. PETERSBURG, SPT — Madonna will perform on St. Petersburg’s Palace Square on Aug. 2, according to RMI corporation, which is organizing the concert.
The chart-topping pop star will give a concert on the square in front of the Hermitage Museum as part of her “Sticky & Sweet” European tour, said Yevgeny Finkelshtein, head of RMI. Interfax reported. Seating and VIP sections will be ticketed, but fans will be able to stand and listen for free in the rest of the square, Finkelshtein said.
Concert organizers plan to construct two one-meter high platforms for paid seating and a VIP zone around the two-and-a-half meter-high stage on the eastern side of the square. Seats will cost from 2,000 to 10,000 rubles ($57 to $285), and 30,000 rubles ($855) will buy admission to the VIP zone.
Although Kassir.ru began taking ticket orders online Wednesday, tickets officially go on sale Monday and can be purchased at box offices around the city.
For the St. Petersburg concert, Madonna will earn the lowest fee she has ever received for a tour appearance, according to Finkelshtein.

TITLE: Dissenters’ Day Activists Arrested Near City Hall
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Three activists were detained on Thursday near Smolny Institute where St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko and the city’s government reside, as oppositionists came to present Matviyenko with a letter listing proposed anti-crisis measures and what they called an “anti-crisis parcel” as part of Dissenters’ Day, a nationwide series of protests organized by pro-democracy coalition The Other Russia.
The parcel contained half a loaf of black bread, a pack of rock salt and a glass (a reference to “Valka Stakan” or “Valka the Glass,” one of Matviyenko’s nicknames stemming from her past as a Komsomol (Communist Youth organization) leader in Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was still known in the 1980s), as well as a second-class train ticket to Shepetovka, Matviyenko’s home town in Ukraine.
Alexei Yemelyanov, an activist of Garry Kasparov’s United Civil Front (OGF), was detained several minutes after three activists had begun to present the “anti-crisis parcel” to dozens of reporters and cameramen outside Smolny’s gardens. Yemelyanov, who was holding the bread and salt, was seized by two policemen who pushed through the crowd of journalists and took him to a police bus.
Questions from journalists about the reason for the detention were ignored.
Nevertheless, the activists managed to pass through the gates of the Smolny Institute, and Andrei Dmitriyev, the local leader of Eduard Limonov’s banned National Bolshevik Party, submitted the appeal at Smolny’s reception. 
Signed by The Other Russia, Limonov’s supporters, the OGF, the People’s Democratic Union of Youth, the Red Youth’s Avant-Garde (AKM) and the democratic youth movement Oborona, the letter listed six main anti-crisis measures proposed by the opposition.
The letter demanded that Matviyenko discard City Hall’s plans to cut government spending on medicine and education, and that she freeze transport fares and utility fees, increase welfare payments, compensate low-income citizens for the price increases for basic food items and reduce expenditure on bureaucrats.
“Cut salaries at Smolny (City Hall) and district administrations, decrease hospitality expenses, start using public transport — make savings on yourselves, not on ordinary people,” the letter stated.
The oppositionists also demanded the abolition of what they called “ the ban on protests.” 
“City Hall refuses to authorize any action by the opposition, sending hordes of OMON [special-task police] and internal troops to disperse the protesters,” they said in the letter.
“A ruling authority can only be effective when it is capable of taking criticism from its opponents.”
During the delivery of the letter to Smolny, which was heavily guarded by the police and OMON, Dmitriyev said that no attempt to “authorize” the protest had been made, because actions such as submitting a letter to City Hall do not require any authorization.
But 12 minutes later, when most journalists had left, Dmitriyev and Anastasiya Kurt-Adzhiyeva, also of the NBP,  were detained as they were walking away. Two police vans approached the activists on Tverskaya Ulitsa, just across the square from Smolny, and the pair were detained, with no explanation offered, and dragged off to police vans in a brusque manner.
According to the OGF’s press service, OGF activist Konstantin Kuortti, who was present at the protest, found that his car’s tire had been punctured by “unknown men,” when he attempted to drive home after the event.
The activists were detained for “organizing an unsanctioned picket,” police spokesman Elmar Shakherzayev said by phone on Thursday.
After spending three hours at a police precinct, the detainees were taken to court, where after two hours the judge ruled that the police records of the incident had not been compiled properly, and returned them to the police to be redone, according to Dmitriyev.
The pair were released pending a new court hearing, a date for which has not yet been set.
“Of course there was no picket, what’s written in the police records is complete rubbish,” Dmitriyev said by phone on Thursday evening. 
“The police have developed an instinct; if we go out somewhere, then they have to detain us.”

TITLE: Prosecutors Probe Anti-Putin Poster
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Vladivostok prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether a banner reading “Putler Kaput!” used by opposition groups at several recent rallies is a call for violence against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. 
A spokeswoman for the far eastern Primorye region, Irina Nomokonova, said Wednesday that the inquiry had been opened on the request of Primorye Governor Sergei Darkin, Interfax reported. 
Prosecutors were questioning organizers and participants of the anti-government rallies, she said.
A wave of street protests swept through the Far East after the new year, when Putin’s decrees to increase import duties on foreign cars went into effect. The livelihood of thousands of local residents depends on the import of secondhand cars from Japan.
The head of the Vladivostok branch of the Communist Party, Vladimir Bespalov, who helped organize some of the rallies, said the banner was a modification of the popular World War II slogan “Hitler Kaput!” and that it was directed at Putin. But he denied that the banner sought to incite violence against Putin.
“Of course, the authors of this poster aren’t calling for any violence against Putin. It is just a slight irony and simultaneously a reminder to [Putin],” he said, without elaborating, Interfax reported.
Opposition groups, most notably members of the banned National Bolshevik Party, have often played word games with their anti-Putin slogans, calling him Mutin or Vova to avoid possible prosecution.

TITLE: Council of Europe Doesn’t Envisage Use of Sanctions
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe is not threatened by sanctions, despite Moscow’s continued refusal to ratify two key human rights protocols, two of the council’s top politicians said Wednesday. 
Luc van den Brande and Theodoros Pangalos, who monitor Russia’s compliance with its commitments to the council, said talk of sanctions against Moscow was groundless and that they hoped that the State Duma would soon ratify the outstanding protocols. 
“I do not like sanctions. It is important that Russia is not marginalized,” van den Brande told reporters after two days of talks with government officials and Duma deputies. 
Russia has irked many in the 47-member council by being the only country that has not ratified two amendments to the European Convention on Human Rights. Protocol 6 requires signatories to restrict the use of the death penalty to times of war. Protocol 14 stipulates reforms for the European Court of Human Rights. 
Pangalos, a former Greek foreign minister and Socialist member of parliament, complained that Russia’s obstinacy was hampering the development of the whole council. He questioned arguments by Russian officials that public opinion was not ready for a formal abolition of capital punishment by pointing out that it was no longer carried out. 
“Why do you not apply it and at the same time say it is approved by the population?” he asked. 
Russia has maintained a moratorium on the death penalty since 1996, when it joined the Council of Europe. 
Pangalos said the nonratification of the protocol for reforming the European Court of Human Rights was even stranger given that officials in the Justice Ministry told him that they were in favor of ratification. “The ball is in the field of the Duma,” he said. The proposed reforms seek to improve the court’s efficiency by filtering out cases that have less chance of succeeding. 
Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Duma’s International Relations Committee, criticized the protocol as ineffective. “It has many shortcomings and won’t lead to real reform,” he said late Tuesday, Interfax reported.

TITLE: Recovery in Power Sector May Take Years
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russian power consumption has bottomed out at 2006 levels, and it could take years for producers to claw back lost ground after the sharp downturn of recent months, an industry regulator said Wednesday.
Some of Russia’s electricity generators — which have been recently sold off to foreign and local investors — are at risk of operating at a loss as prices tumble, the regulator said.
In February, electricity use fell 4.8 percent year on year after a January decline of 7.7 percent, which corresponded to Russia’s worst drop in industrial output on record.
For the rest of 2009, the decline in power use will stay in the range of 5 percent to 7 percent year on year because consumption in industries such as metallurgy is no longer dropping, said Vladimir Shkatov, deputy head of the Market Council.
“It is possible that we will see another wave to this crisis, but the opinions on this are still quite varied,” Shkatov told a press briefing.
The sharp drop in power prices has meanwhile put electricity production at risk of becoming a loss-making business in the next two or three years, he said.
Prices have fallen by up to a third this year compared with 2008, causing stark irregularities in the market for power.
In many regions, state-regulated power prices paid by the population are higher than the unregulated prices paid by large industrial consumers, said Sergei Popovsky, another deputy chairman of the watchdog.
“This means that the current downturn will very soon impact these firms’ economic efficiency,” Popovsky told the briefing.
Some power stations, particularly in the regions of the Ural Mountains, are already operating at a loss because the price of power on the market has fallen below the cost of producing it.
“Over the next two or three years, some [power generators] will face losses. That is absolutely clear,” Shkatov said.
The former state power monopoly Unified Energy System, which sold the power producers as part of a sweeping reform of the sector, had predicted demand growth of 4 percent to 5 percent every year through 2011.
But the optimistic forecasts of UES have now been turned upside down by the financial crisis, and the power sector will likely spend at least two years recovering, Shkatov said, citing preliminary estimates.
“No one — not the Energy Ministry, not the regulators — can say even roughly what the next three years will hold,” he said.
This uncertainty is especially painful for the power sector, which depends on long-term supply contracts to lock in profits, Svetlana Zholnerchik, also a deputy head of the Market Council, told the briefing.

TITLE: European Embankment Winner Selected
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The St. Petersburg architectural studio, Yevgeny Gerasimov and Partners, in collaboration with Germany’s Sergei Choban Architectural Bureau, has won the international architectural competition to design the Europe Embankment on the Petrograd Side.
The joint design for the construction of the multi-functional complex in the city center won three times the number of votes of their closest competitor, the organizers announced on Tuesday.
The other participants in the contest included Studio Mario Botta from Switzerland, Jose Rafael Moneo from Madrid, David Chipperfield Architects from London, and Studia 44 from St. Petersburg.
Speaking by telephone on Thursday, Gerasimov told the St. Petersburg Times that he was “very pleased” about the result.
“It was a great honor for us to compete with such international stars of the architectural scene as Chipperfield, Botta and Moneo and to win,” Gerasimov said.
“Our architectural approach is based on a combination of a new square around the theater of Boris Eifman, the residential and office blocks that will surround, mainly facing out onto the embankment, and the streets that face onto the Vladimir Cathedral in the north and St. Isaac’s Cathedral in the south,” Gerasimov said.
“According to our conception, each of the different blocks will be created by different prominent Russian and foreign architects,” he said.
According to the competition organizers, the Gerasimov-Choban design was chosen because the architects had done the best job in taking all the stipulated requirements into account.  The design’s focal point is a spacious pedestrian zone on the embankment that stretches from Birzhevoi Bridge to Tuchkov Bridge on the Petrograd Side, the Metro newspaper reported.
The investor’s key demand was that the design transform the embankment into an elite area for living, rest and relaxation.  The area is to have a hotel, a business and shopping center, extensive underground parking facilities, high-class apartment buildings, a pedestrian zone and a harbor for river trams, yachts and motorboats.
In 2015 the developers are scheduled to complete the complex’s first building – the Eifman Ballet Theater, which will be the property of the Russian Federation.
The project is being financed by VTB-Development Company, which is headed by Sergei Matviyenko, son of St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko.  
The company is currently working on the transfer of the Applied Chemistry Institute from the territory.  New buildings for the scientists are currently being constructed in another location, Fontanka reported.
The developer plans to have cleared the site of pollutants left by the Institute by 2011.  It is estimated that this work will cost about 4.5 billion rubles ($128 million).
The total cost of the project is about $2.5 billion.  The project is to be completed by 2016.
Speaking at the announcement of the competition’s result, Governor Valentina Matviyenko called the site of the future construction “the last missing section on the Neva’s embankments.”
Plans to develop the area date back to the Soviet era.  However, the official decree on the transfer of the Institute and the provision of the area for reconstruction was only signed in 2003.
Gerasimov and Partners is also behind another of the city’s major architectural projects, the Nevskaya Ratusha.  This new shopping and business complex is already being constructed in the center of the city, close to City Hall in the Smolny neighborhood.

TITLE: February Car Sales Take Massive Tumble
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW — A collapse in the car market deepened last month, with sales down 38 percent year on year after a 33 percent fall in January, a sign that consumer spending is still far from a recovery.
The Association of European Businesses, which puts out monthly statistics on the car market in Russia, said the downward spiral was set to continue.
“Because of the increased customs tariffs, high loan interest rates and the ruble devaluation, we can expect a further price increase and decline of the automotive market in Russia in the coming months,” AEB vice chairman Martin Jahn said.
The 10 best-selling brands saw sales slump 11 percent to 49 percent in February, with majors GM, Hyundai and Toyota among the biggest losers.
For the full year, analysts expect sales to fall 20 percent to 50 percent, depending on how quickly lending can resume.

TITLE: 1-800-Transparent-Government
AUTHOR: By Esther Dyson
TEXT: I recently returned to Star City, Russia’s spaceflight training center located 30 kilometers northeast of Moscow, and it struck me how much — and how little — has changed since I first came here in the spring of 1989. 
As I passed an ad in the Moscow metro promoting advertising space for sale, I remembered hurtling down one of those same long, fast escalators sometime in the mid-1990s with a pioneering advertising man. “Look at all those empty walls!” he marveled. “Some day they could be full of ads.” Today they are indeed crammed with ads, fulfilling his wildest dreams. A few years ago, I would have been thrilled to see a web site listed within any of those ads. Now URLs are routine. 
In fact, a couple of years ago, the Russian search-engine company Yandex took out an ad gently poking fun at Russia’s old regime of opacity. At the bottom of every escalator in the Moscow metro is a glass booth for the escalator monitor — usually a grumpy-looking woman whose sole job is to turn off the escalator in case of an emergency. There’s a sign on the booth that says in a very Soviet fashion, “The escalator monitor does not answer questions.”
Yandex bought ads in about half the subway cars, saying, “The operator does answer questions ... so please address your questions to Yandex.” Everyone immediately got the reference. Yandex’s ads are gone, but those signs are unfortunately still there — not just in the escalator monitor booths, but in many other places where public servants do not want to talk to the public: police stations, ticket offices and public buildings of many kinds. 
Information has been so scarce in Russia that web sites such as tutu.ru (train and plane schedules) and banki.ru (bank information for consumers) seem like miracles. But while governments may be unresponsive, commercially-driven enterprises are responding to user feedback everywhere. 
Elsewhere in the world, the same trends are already more developed. Both legislation and the forces of competition and consumer demand are driving companies to disclose more about their products and to respond to consumer queries. Ten years ago, you were lucky to find the phone number and address of the manufacturer on a tube of toothpaste. Now you can usually find a web site that will let you find out more and ask questions. 
But that’s from the manufacturer’s point of view. Even more interesting are sites and services such as Twitter and Viewpoints and many other blogs and rating services that offer independent views. 
And then there’s Barcode Wikipedia, a brilliant project still waiting to get off the ground. The idea is that you can scan in the barcode of any product and get third-party information: for example, where it was made, what was used to make it and how much CO2 it created. Of course, there will be arguments about the data, just as there are arguments about Wikipedia’s accuracy. But having a central place to argue about facts, one easily linked from any product, would be a huge step forward for practical transparency. 
Meanwhile, consumers are applying that same curiosity to their governments. If we know how sausages are made, shouldn’t we also be able to find out how laws are made and enforced and what the government officials whose salaries we pay do with their time? 
That’s starting to happen, too. I’m a member of the board of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to government transparency in the United States. Our first initiative was to get the members of the U.S. Congress to post their own schedules online. If some legislator wants to post that an hour is private, that’s fine. People deserve their privacy. But if that hour was really a lunch with a lobbyist, then they (and their aides) would have to lie deliberately to conceal it. 
Of course, there is no way to enforce full disclosure, but by creating explicit processes and expectations, we hope to reset norms. If an official meets with a lobbyist and is not ashamed of it, he can simply say so. Voters can make their own judgments. And if an official meets mostly with lobbyists, at the expense of other types of meetings, voters can make judgments about that, too. 
Sunlight is not alone. It is funding and collaborating with a variety of start-ups devoted to collecting, manipulating and visualizing data from all kinds of public records and other sources. Their tools can be used by anyone, in any country — as long as they can get the data. With luck, the tools will foster demand for the data. 
We want people to expect to see such information, just as they now expect information about a food product or an item of clothing. If people had asked more questions and had expected to understand the answers they were getting, we might not have gotten ourselves into the financial crisis currently gripping the world. If people had really understood what was going on, they might have had the sense to stop borrowing money they couldn’t pay back and buying things they couldn’t afford. 
But this crisis may have one good outcome: People will be less likely to listen to authorities and more interested in finding out for themselves what is going on. 

Esther Dyson, chairman of EDventure Holdings, is an active investor in a variety of start-ups around the world. © Project Syndicate

TITLE: Kremlin Robbed Khodorkovsky and Russia
AUTHOR: By Yulia Latynina
TEXT: I don’t think there is a point in discussing new charges against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. If a thief robs somebody at gunpoint, does it make sense to discuss the robber’s claim that his victim did not pay taxes? 
In the Yukos affair, the robber is the state. On Oct. 25, 2003, police stormed Khodorkovsky’s private jet and “robbed” him at gunpoint by taking him into custody. In May 2005 he was found guilty of fraud in a classic Russian kangaroo court. As a result, Yukos was essentially expropriated by state-controlled Rosneft in a sham auction, and the oil that Khodorkovsky exported before his arrest is now traded by Gunvor, a company co-founded by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s friend, Gennady Timchenko. Does it make a lot of sense, then, to discuss the robber’s claim that Khodorkovsky did not pay of all his taxes? 
In 2003 when Khodorkovsky was arrested, we had a different Russia and a different Putin. During those early Putin years, the Kremlin didn’t fear an Orange Revolution and hadn’t yet befriended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the dictators of Sudan and Zimbabwe. 
Before Khodorkovsky’s arrest, oligarchs hired Western auditors to improve their companies’ transparency because they wanted to launch successful initial public offerings. Putin enjoyed large support from the West and many of the country’s liberals. 
Nonetheless, by 2003 Putin had already surrounded himself with former KGB officials and members of other siloviki organizations — none of whom knew anything about running a business. They didn’t know how to rule the state either. The only thing they were experts in was how to single out “enemies of the state” and destroy them. If there were no real enemies, they created them. 
The obsession with eliminating enemies had two big advantages for the siloviki. First, they got very wealthy by expropriating the enemies’ assets. Second, they were able to turn Putin into their hostage. The siloviki scared Putin with the conspiracy theory that Khodorkovsky was planning to overthrow Putin’s regime. Then the siloviki scared Putin with another conspiracy theory — that nongovernmental organizations, funded by the United States and other foreign countries, were plotting an Orange Revolution in Russia. 
It is no coincidence that Khodorkovsky became the siloviki’s first victim. He wasn’t any sneakier than the other oligarchs, but he was far more strategic. His initial goal was to accumulate capital, but by 2003 he was already thinking about how to increase the value of his assets by improving his company’s transparency. 
Khodorkovsky also understood that the success of his business depended on improving the overall transparency of government — to create a state that was governed by the rule of law and not by autocracy and organized crime. And this is where he crossed the line with the siloviki. He butted heads with the Kremlin elite who wanted to use their power to seize the country’s key assets — even if that meant creating a Russia that was closed and poor instead of one that was open and wealthy. 
In 2003, Putin and Khodorkovsky personified two possible paths for Russia’s development. One fought for a more democratic Russia driven by a transparent government because this increased the value of his assets. The other wanted a submissive population because this increased his power. 
When Khodorkovsky was arrested, he lived in one Russia — one that still had some hope of becoming a democratic society. Now he is sitting out his prison term in a completely different Russia. 

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

TITLE: Corsaire reloaded
AUTHOR: By Elmira Alieva
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: This weekend will see the stage of the Mikhailovsky Theater transformed into flamboyant Ottoman Greece, with white houses and mosques straggling up a mountain slope above the boundless emerald Mediterranean Sea as the backdrop for a new version of the ballet “Le Corsaire” choreographed by Farukh Ruzimatov, artistic director of ballet at the Mikhailovsky Theater.
Ruzimatov, a prominent ballet dancer whose best known roles include that of Ali in “Le Corsaire,” makes his debut as the author of the new version. “I have never felt the necessity to stage choreography, this is my first ‘pancake’ which is going to be baked,” he said in an interview, referring to a Russian proverb which states that the first pancake is always the most difficult. 
“Why did we choose ‘Le Corsaire?’ I consider this ballet to be one of the most spectacular performances, with many dances in which artists can show their worth. Both the audience and dancers like it,” he said.
The popular ballet is based on the poem “The Corsair” by the British poet Byron, though the ballet has a happier ending than the original text. The ballet was originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to the music of Adolphe Adam at the Theatre Imperial de l?Opera in Paris in 1856. Since then the ballet has seen many revisions, but most versions have their roots in revivals staged by the ballet-master Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg through the middle to late 19th century. Petipa introduced new passages such as “Le jardin anime” scene and the “Pas d’Esclave,” which have become some of ballet’s most well known and widely performed excerpts.
Unique choreography, a captivating and dynamic love story with strong characters, wild pirate adventures, impressive images of oriental bazaars and Turkish seraglios make “Le Corsaire” a very popular ballet around the world. 
“The fight between good and evil, the sense of humor, the spicy Orient, variety of colors in decorations, and such scenes as ‘Le jardin anime,’ which is a choreographic masterpiece, have won the hearts of the public,” said Ruzimatov.
The artistic team of the Mikhailovsky Theater spent about three months working on the new version of “Le Corsaire.” During the preparatory period, the eminent ballet-master Nikita Dolgushin was brought in to give advice on the history of the ballet. In the new version of “Le Corsaire,” changes have been made in several solo performances and in the famous Pas de trois of Conrad, Ali and Medora. 
Ruzimatov said that one of the innovations in his version of the ballet is in the number of acts, which has been reduced to two from the conventional three. 
“I’m a ballet dancer and I know that sometimes it is very difficult and boring to dance three-act ballets,” he said. “Besides, in the modern world time is very dynamic, and I want the public to enjoy a spectacular performance; I want to avoid a situation in which the audience would be bored,” he explained.
The leading roles of the new production of “Le Corsaire” will be performed by world famous principals of the Mikhailovsky Theater, including Irina Perren, Yekaterina Borchenko, Artyom Pykhachov and Alexander Omar, while the role of Ali will be danced by a newcomer named Aidos Zakan, a nineteen-year-old dancer from Kazakhstan.
“This is my risk, in trying out this young new dancer,” said Ruzimatov. “He joined us several months ago, and I see good potential in him. I have realized that I don’t feel comfortable without taking risks. To invite a young and unknown dancer to perform one of the leading roles is a good motivation, a drive both for me and for the ballet troupe,” he said.
The sets and costumes for the new production were created by the renowned theater artist Valery Levental, who worked as an art director of Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater for many years. 
“Levental is a brilliant designer,” said Ruzimatov. “He is known to the public of the Mikhailovsky Theater for the colorful children’s ballet, ‘Cipollino’. His decorations are very beautiful. I think that the important quality of Levental is his willingness to create sets and costumes that would attract both experienced and new audiences,” he added.
Ruzimatov said that the fact that he had danced the role of Ali wasn’t reflected in his vision of the ballet. “I was not obsessed with the idea that I had been dancing Ali,” he said. “Our purpose was, on the one hand, to create a more dynamic, bright and showy ballet, and on the other hand, to remain true to the spirit of the original ballet. 
“It is the prerogative of the public to judge the performance, but what I have seen during rehearsals allows me to say that at least the new ‘Le Corsaire’ will not be boring,” he said.
“Le Corsaire” premieres at the Mikhailovsky Theater on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and March 28 and 29. Ploshchad Isskustv 1, tel: 595 4305. www.mikhailovsky.ru.

TITLE: Chernov's choice
TEXT: In response to the massive intolerance and racist violence in Russia and St. Petersburg, a number of organizations and individuals have come up with a <b>No to Xenophobia Campaign</b>, a series of events that will start on Sunday and be held through March 29.
The campaign will start with a <b>Food Not Bombs</b> event and street performances near the Dostoevsky monument on Vladimirskaya Ploshchad at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loosely-knit international collective of punks and anarchists who serve free vegan and vegetarian food to homeless people. 
Timur Kacharava, a punk musician and anti-Nazi activist who was killed by neo-Nazis in the center of St. Petersburg in November 2005, was also active in the FNB movement.
St. Petersburg’s anarchists and representatives of various youth subcultures will hold an open seminar called “<b>Counterculture Against Racism</b>.”
“Despite differences in style, clothes, the music they like and their lifestyles, what representatives of different subcultures have in common is a dislike of xenophobia, racism, homophobia, and so on, and they all struggle against its manifestations — both within subcultures and in society as a whole,” the organizers said in a news release.
As well as Kacharava, other anti-Nazi activists representing various subcultures have been killed by neo-Nazis in the past three or four years, they said, listing skater Stanislav Korepanov from Izhevsk, punks Alexei Krylov and Alexander Rykhin from Moscow, and skinheads Ilya Borodayenko from Nakhodka and Fyodor Filatov from Moscow. 
(Anti-Nazi activists use the term “boneheads” for Nazi skinheads, to distinguish between them and other skinheads, who include anti-Nazis.)
Anti-Nazi skinheads, punks and hardcore rockers will demonstrate their paraphernalia, video and photo materials, publications and music and will talk about the history of the subcultures, the organizers said, adding that the FNB activists will serve vegetarian food after the seminar.
The seminar will be held at the offices of the Russian-German Exchange at 6 pm. on Wednesday.
The organizers said that to get into the events taking place at St. Petersburg State University and the Russian-German Exchange, people must have I.D. with them. 
Also on Wednesday, the Federation of Socialist Youth (FSM) will hold what it called a “Flash Mob Against Fascism.” No time or site has yet been announced.
The No to Xenophobia Campaign will include dozens of other events over the next couple of weeks. Check out http://community.livejournal.com/ksenofobii_net/ for the complete schedule and updates.
Musically, check out some of St. Petersburg’s finest bands: <b>Pep-See</b> at A2 on Friday, <b>Markscheider Kunst</b> at Orlandina and <b>Optimystica Orchestra</b> at Zal Ozhidaniya on Saturday and <b>Posledniye Tanki v Parizhe</b> (PTVP) at Mod on Tuesday. 

<i>— By Sergey Chernov</i>

TITLE: Northern lights
AUTHOR: By Shura Collinson
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Karelia Philharmonic is in St. Petersburg this weekend to perform a concert in celebration of its 75th anniversary. The program will include a work by a British composer, reflecting the background of the Petrozavodsk-based orchestra’s principal conductor, Marius Stravinsky, who is a British citizen.
Stravinsky, who was born in Kazakhstan, moved to Moscow at the age of two and then to London at the age of 10, said the program for Saturday’s concert at the State Academic Cappella had been carefully chosen. The program comprises Sibelius’ Karelia Suite, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. 
“The Karelia Suite was an obvious choice, since we are the Karelia Philharmonic, and Sibelius has a lot of connections to Russia,” he explained in an interview with The St. Petersburg Times.
“The Rachmaninoff was chosen because we are a Russian orchestra, and this is a seldom-played but wonderful work. 
“And the Walton is an attempt to introduce more British music to the repertoire,” said Stravinsky. 
This is an ongoing aim of the conductor, who celebrates his 30th birthday the day before the local concert, making him one of the youngest principal conductors in Russia. The Karelia Philharmonic’s repertoire now includes work by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and the less well-known British composers Dorothy Howell, Maurice Blower and Joseph Holbrooke. The orchestra also recently recorded a CD of little-known British composers.
Stravinsky returned to Russia seven years ago to study under the conductor Vladimir Ponkin in Moscow, after completing his education at England’s prestigious Eton College and the Royal Academy of Music in London. 
It is his second season at the helm of the Karelia Philharmonic, having been selected to take over after entering an open competition for the position.
Stravinsky said he enjoyed the peace and quiet that Petrozavodsk had to offer after living in London and Moscow. “The people are wonderfully nice — this is not a capital city and the rhythm, obviously, is different here,” he said.
The orchestra has already made three tours to mark its 75th anniversary this year, visiting France and Switzerland, Norway and Finland. Another tour to Finland is planned for October.
The local performance is the culmination of the anniversary celebrations, and will be followed by a reception at the Cappella organized by the British Consulate in St. Petersburg in honor of the British flavor of the concert.

The Karelia Philharmonic Orchestra performs at the State Academic Cappella at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Nab. Reki Moiki 20, tel: 314 1058. www.glinka-capella.ru.

TITLE: Eastern promise
AUTHOR: By Alec Luhn
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: “U Prichala,” translates as “on the pier,” and this moniker suits the nautical decor of this undiscovered treasure trove of Indian cuisine located at the far end of Bolshoi Prospekt on Vasilievsky Island. 
The maritime theme hits you over the head as soon as you walk in, with seascapes adorning the walls, twin cannons guarding the entrance and a waterfall behind the stage providing a pleasant background gurgle. The backroom contains a giant aquarium, ready-made for sleazy dinner deals.  
Since the only vaguely Indian artifact was a small bronze Buddha near the coat-check, and since the restaurant also serves Caucasian, Spanish and European cuisine, it’s easy to wonder about its dedication to Indian food. But the huge selection of dishes on the Indian menu — appetizers, soups, tandooris, curries, biryanis, vegetarian dishes, Indian breads and “chef’s specials” – is the most extensive of all, and the chef and head waiter are both Indian.
Upon request, the head waiter helped us order a two-course culinary tour of the subcontinent.  The meal began with complimentary crispy papad wafers accompanied by tamarind and mint chutney dipping sauces. On the papad, the syrupy sweetness of the tamarind chutney was as boring as bubble-gum pop, but the mint chutney revved up our taste buds with its delicate mint spices over a base of sour, full-bodied homemade kefir. The same Indian-style kefir, which the chef brews fresh, provided a rich backdrop to the sweet but filling mango lassi (200 rubles, $5.70) we ordered to drink.  
Next to arrive was the Taza Paneer (250 rubles, $7) — a cold salad of pineapple, red bell pepper and paneer, a traditional Indian cheese. The pineapple and red bell pepper were unusual yet dynamic bedfellows, but a heavy dose of lemon juice leached all flavor from the rubbery chunks of paneer and left a slightly metallic aftertaste.
The hot appetizer, however, more than made up for the paneer’s pale showing. Our Keema Samosa (200 rubles, $5.70) came in the form of two large fried dumplings on a heaping bed of sliced red onion, tomatoes and cucumbers sprinkled with paprika. The deep-fried dough held its form as it was sliced open to reveal minced lamb with peas, but then crumbled easily in the mouth. Meanwhile, the distinctive but weak spices of the meat were livened up by a shot of sweetness to its savory flavor, courtesy of the remaining tamarind sauce.
The next sight on our tour was the Murg Joshina (380 rubles, $11), a traditional boneless chicken curry in tomato sauce with Indian spices, topped with a generous drizzle of yogurt sauce. U Prichila clearly caters to the average sour cream-fed Russian client as far as spicy food goes; the heavy curry was by no means hot but featured a warm kick that was felt right away.  
The Murg Buryani (400 rubles, $11.40), a traditional dish of chicken and vegetables baked in rice, proved to be the perfect soul-mate for the curry. Mixing is the name of the game at U Prichila, and the curry added moistness and tang to the dry, slightly salty Buryani, even as the rice dish provided a textural base to the meaty sauce. 
Judging by our experience, any of U Prichala’s entrees, which range from a 200-ruble ($5.70) lentil dish to the 750-ruble ($21.50) “chef’s prawns,” could fill up a hungry diner on a stingy budget. If that’s not enough, a variety of Indian breads and a dessert menu of Indian milk dumplings and ice creams priced between 65 and 130 rubles ($2 to $4) will easily bridge the gap.  
Nevertheless, the restaurant’s real selling point is its attentive service: The wait staff met our every need, even those we didn’t know we had. From replacing the Enrique Iglesias remix album on the stereo with traditional Indian music to carefully dishing our food onto our plates and packing up the leftovers free-of-charge, the Indian waiter and Azerbaijani host treated us according to the finest traditions of Eastern hospitality.  
In fact, the service was a bit too good: We barely noticed as the waiter wordlessly refilled our glasses with homemade Azerbaijani wine, only to find that we had racked up a tab of 600 rubles ($17) for the alcohol.

TITLE: St. Patricksburg
AUTHOR: By Luke Ritchie
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: People roaming the streets in Guinness hats with painted faces and shamrock accessories between March 14 and 17 can mean only one thing — St. Patrick’s day has come round again. 
Boasting numerous Irish pubs, concerts of Celtic-inspired music, Irish, Scottish and Breton dance schools, and excellent home-grown Celtic-style bands, St. Petersburg is a surprising hub of Celtic culture.  Due to the propagation of Irish-themed establishments, the active promotion of Celtic culture by special interest groups, and the use of Celtic themes by Russian musicians such as the Russian rock group Akvarium, younger Russian generations have been drawn toward Celtic culture, a fact celebrated by this year’s 10th annual festival of St. Patrick’s Day in St. Petersburg.  
Hosted at Glavclub, the large concert venue and club located on Kremenchugskaya Ulitsa, the festival brings together Irish, Ukrainian and Russian Celtic performers, such as Paddy Keenan, Gurt YoGurt, Reelroad, Old Horned Sheep, Otava Yo and Celtic City Experience. Spectators can choose between simply watching these groups perform from the sidelines or actively participate in large, circular chain dances. Carefully choreographed groups from the dance schools also perform skits during interludes between performances. The evidence of the festival’s popularity is overwhelming: 
“My love of Irish culture began five years ago, when a friend of mine invited me to the St. Patrick’s Day festival in St. Petersburg,” said Alina, 21. “There were competitions, live bands, and Russian men in kilts. Even the bagpipes sounded melodious! But it was the dances that drew me into the whole fabric of Celtic culture. Afterwards, I joined a Celtic dance school. Now every year I look forward to St. Patrick’s Day and the festival, and when the news channels show parades from America and Ireland, I feel like I’m participating in something greater than just myself. By the afternoon, my mood is decidedly Irish.”
 Local club Orlandina is also offering its own St. Patrick Day’s celebration with Celtic-style groups Berkana, Sbiten, Tam Lin and Yelena Vedaiko.
If the idea of dancing the night away to Celtic ballads does not appeal, St. Petersburg’s numerous Irish pubs promise a variety of ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Temple Bar on Ulitsa Nekrasova is offering a mix of Irish music, metal and friendly rock, as well as a competition whose lucky winner will receive a year’s supply of Jameson whisky. By contrast, both the Shamrock pub on Ulitsa Dekabristov and Mollies on Ulitsa Rubinshteina promise live performances by Celtic bands, in what a barman at Shamrock termed a “very traditional St. Patrick’s day pub celebration.” All of the Irish pubs promise an inevitable influx of patrons dressed in costumes and partaking in the Irish spirit of loquaciousness and friendliness. 
Glavclub will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday from 6 p.m. til late. Kremenchugskaya Ulitsa 2, tel: 905 7555. www.patrickfestival.ru
 Orlandina will host a St. Patrick’s Day concert on Tuesday from 6 p.m. till 11 p.m. Nab. Reki Karpovki 5/2, tel: 234 8046. www.orlandina.ru

TITLE: Illegal Vodka Set to Account for Half of All Sales
AUTHOR: By Courtney Weaver
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: When the going gets tough, the tough get drinking — bottle after bottle of illicit vodka. 
The sale of illicit vodka is expected to account for nearly half of all vodka sales countrywide this year as people look for cheap, untaxed alcohol as their salaries shrink amid the economic crisis. 
“Illegal vodka production has always been a problem in Russia, and it will be even worse this year,” said Vadim Drobiz, spokesman for the Union of Alcohol Market Participants. 
While 12.1 million liters of vodka was produced legally last year, 17 million liters was sold in stores, according to the State Statistics Service. This suggests that the illegal vodka market totaled 4.9 million liters, or 28.8 percent of all sales. 
The proportion of illicit sales will grow to a projected 43 percent this year, Renaissance Capital said. 
In an early sign that illicit sales are already taking off, legal vodka production plunged by 21 percent in January, compared to January last year, the State Statistics Service said. Vodka production fell by 7.6 percent for all of 2008. 
“Sales aren’t down, but production is falling,” said Pavel Shapkin, chairman of the National Alcohol Association. “This indicates that the state is losing to crime and the consumer is encountering products that are not properly regulated.” 
The government has begun to target the problem, and on Jan. 11 President Dmitry Medvedev handed regulation of the domestic alcohol market over to a new state body. The new system offers more cohesive oversight of a market previously regulated by multiple organizations, including the Finance Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry and the Economic Development Ministry. 
Still, industry players say the state must lower excise taxes to start truly curtailing the black market. Excise taxes on all types of alcoholic beverages rose by a total of 10 percent in 2008. Now, a standard half-liter bottle of vodka carries an excise tax of 38 rubles, while a liter of high-end liquor has a tax of 191 rubles. 
“The higher that the excise fees on alcohol are raised, the more the industry will be turned over to the black market,” Shapkin said. “We asked the state to reduce the level of alcohol fees just for this year but still have not heard an answer.” 
Production of alcoholic drinks other than vodka also started to fall in January, with wine down by 21.8 percent and beer by 7.2 percent, according to the State Statistics Service. The sole exception was cognac, which has enjoyed a surge of popularity on the Russian market and saw output increase by 6.9 percent. 
A half-liter of illegal vodka can cost 50 rubles, while it should cost no less than 85 rubles if all excise fees are paid. The 35 ruble difference spells bad news for legal vodka producers who are already struggling after distributors failed to make good on payments. Distributors operating on commercial credit usually can repay producers within a 30-day period, but many retailers defaulted on payments in the fall and could not pay back distributors. 
“All this led to a partial collapse of the market and a sharp drop in production,” said Dmitry Dobrov, spokesman for the Union of Producers of Alcoholic Products, which represents some of the country’s largest alcohol manufacturers. 
Amid the debt woes, production at Kristall’s Moscow vodka distillery, the country’s second-largest by output, fell by 32.1 percent in January compared to January 2008. 
“Kristall reduced production so sharply that at this point it still remains unclear what will happen to it,” said Yekaterina Andreyanova, a consumer and retail analyst at Rye, Man & Gor Securities. 
“A lot of alcohol companies are facing difficulties right now,” she said. “We are seeing more technical defaults and the bankruptcy of a couple companies.” 
Kristall officials were not immediately available for comment. 
Alexander Mechetin, CEO of Synergy, Russia’s second-largest hard alcohol producer, said he was not worried and believed that the government was doing all it could to assist legal producers. He praised Medvedev’s decision to create the new state body to regulate the domestic alcohol market. 
“All the activities of government are on the right track,” Mechetin said in a response to e-mailed questions. 
Restaurants and bars are likely to be among the hardest hit by the shift to illicit vodka consumption as consumers reject paying three to five times the wholesale price for drinks. 
“More people will choose to drink vodka at home now, like they did during the Soviet times,” said Drobiz of the Union of Alcohol Market Participants. 
The downturn, however, is hitting the liquor stores that refuse to sell illegal products equally hard. 
Svetlana Chinikova, an employee at a liquor store on the Garden Ring, said sales have halved since a year ago. “Customers are buying cheaper drinks and they’re drinking less,” she said, glancing around the empty store on a recent Saturday evening. “Everyone’s scared their money will run away.”

TITLE: Federer Keen to Renew Rivalry With Nadal
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: INDIAN WELLS, California — Roger Federer will shake off the rust following a six-week break from competition by playing in the ATP and WTA Indian Wells tournament which begins on Wednesday.
The world number two’s last competition was the Australian Open final on February 1, which featured a teary trophy ceremony as the Swiss lost to Rafael Nadal.
Federer, who has 13 grand slam titles just one behind the all-time record of 14 held by Pete Sampras, is keen to kick start his spring season.
And he appears to be finally lining up another world-class coach in former Andre Agassi mentor Darren Cahill, who has been working with him over the last week in Dubai.
Federer has lifted three trophies on the trot in the Californian desert, the last in 2006, Since then, rivals Novak Djokovic and Nadal have taken the honours at the Tennis Garden.
The 27-year-old Swiss missed last weekend’s Davis Cup due to a sore back. Switzerland was beaten by the US 4-1.
But his physio Pierre Pagannini says Federer will be ready for a month-long run of US hardcourt play in California and Florida.
The Indian Wells women’s main draw begins Wednesday while the men start action on Thursday.
Top seed Nadal will defend his desert trophy after leading Spain into the Davis Cup quarter-finals over Djokovic’s Serbia.
The Spaniard joined Federer in missing Dubai last month, but showed devastating touch at the weekend. “My game felt much more secure,” Nadal said. Third seed Djokovic comes to the Tennis Garden wondering what went wrong after losing both of his Davis matches.
He is adjusting to a new racket and yearning for the form which saw him win the Australian Open title at the start of 2008.
“I’m more comfortable with the racquet and comfortable on the court,” said the 21-year-old. “I’m just trying to play the tennis that I played in the first part of the 2008.
“If I do so, I think I will be pretty successful.”
British fourth seed Andy Murray is sure to play for the first time since withdrawing before a Dubai match with a mystery virus.
While missing the Davis Cup, the Scot did get the all-clear from doctors as he tries to close the gap on Djokovic.
On the women’s side, number one Serena Williams and fifth-ranked sister Venus will skip the event as they do every year in the wake of a perceived “racist” incident that ocurred at the start of the decade at the venue. Venus has already won in both Dubai and Acapulco this year.
If the WTA takes a firm stand against the boycott, the pair will be slapped with massive fines and possible sanctions under tough new rules which began in January.
In their absence, it will be a fight for superiority between Serbia’s pair of Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic as well as the squad of Russians: Dinara Safina, Olympic gold medal winner Yelena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
After not playing since August due to shoulder surgery, former number one Maria Sharapova will make a partial return, playing doubles with Yelena Vesnina.
The 21-year-old, who has dropped to world No. 23, has been bothered by the problem for two years.
Sharapova will play her first doubles event in four years. “The healing process takes time and requires things to move more slowly than I would like, but I am taking things one step at a time,” Sharapova wrote on her website.
Sharapova won the event in 2006.

TITLE: Teen Gunman Massacres 15 at School in Germany
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WAIBLINGEN, Germany — The 17-year-old gunman who went on a rampage at his former school and killed 15 people before taking his own life warned of his plans in an Internet chatroom only hours before, officials said Thursday.
Suspect Tim K. told others in the chat room that he was “sick of this life” and planned to attack his school in Winnenden, Baden Wuerttemburg state Interior Minister Heribert Rech said.
Rech said the suspect wrote, “You will hear from me tomorrow, remember the name of a place called Winnenden.”
In the first indication of a motive in the shooting, Rech said the teenager told others in the German-language chat room that: “Everyone laughs at me, nobody recognizes my potential.”
“I’m serious, I have a weapon here,” Rech said the youth wrote. “Tomorrow I will go to my school.”
Rech said that the chat had occurred the night before the attack, but a police official, Erwin Hetger, later said it was in the early morning Wednesday, about six hours before the 9:30 a.m. shooting.
A Bavarian man told police about the chat after the school shooting in Winnenden had taken place, Rech said. He told authorities his 17-year-old son only told him about it after seeing the news reports and had not taken the threat seriously.
Despite the high death toll, the shooting could have been worse if the principal of the high school had not been able to warn teachers with a prearranged code over the public address system when the suspect burst into the school.
According to media reports, after the suspect entered the school in Winnenden on Wednesday morning and opened fire, the principal put the emergency plan in effect, quickly broadcasting a coded message to teachers: “Frau Koma is coming,” students said.
“Then our teacher closed the door and said we should close the windows and sit on the floor,” a student, identified only as Kim S., told ZDF television.
In German the word “amoklauf” is used to describe school shootings, and “koma” is the reverse of the word “amok.” Hetger said the coded alert was worked out by German educators after a deadly school shooting in Erfurt in 2002 as a way to warn teachers.
Local media have identified the gunman as Tim Kretschmer and the name on his parent’s home was Kretschmer.
After he escaped from the school Wednesday, he hijacked a car and was eventually caught in a police shootout. The rampage ended with 15 victims slain and the assailant taking his own life, authorities said.
The high school was closed Thursday, still cordoned off by red and white police tape as investigators pored through the building. Scores of candles lit by mourners adorned the grounds amid bunches of flowers and notes with messages and questions like “Why?”
A man carried a sign saying, “God: Where were you?”
The government ordered all federal buildings to fly their flags at half staff, and schools across the country held moments of silence for the victims. Germany’s national soccer league, the Bundesliga, said players would wear black armbands in upcoming games.
Authorities still have not given any indication of the gunman’s motive. His victims were primarily female: eight of nine students killed were girls, and all three teachers were women. Three men were killed later by the suspect as he fled.
Injured student Patrick S., 15, was quoted by Bild newspaper as saying Kretschmer burst into his German class at about 9:30 a.m.
“We flipped over the desks to duck behind for cover. ... Suddenly I saw that I was hit — in the back, in the arm and in the cheek,” he was quoted as saying. “Suddenly he was gone and we barricaded the door. And then I saw my classmate Chantal. She sat at the door. Dead.”
Local police spokesman Nik Brenner said that authorities had found 60 shell casings in the school.
Friends and acquaintances described Kretschmer as a loner who liked guns and violent video games.
Brenner said that authorities had searched Kretschmer’s computer and found violent video games on it, but was not more specific.
The dark-haired teen, shown wearing glasses in pictures on German television, apparently took the weapon from his father’s collection of 15 firearms along with a “multitude of ammunition,” police said. His father, a businessman, was a member of the local gun club and kept the weapons locked away except for the pistol, which was kept in the bedroom.

TITLE: Shoe-Throwing Journalist Given 3-Year Jail Sentence
AUTHOR: By Waleed Ibrahim
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BAGHDAD — An Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush was convicted of attempting to assault a foreign leader on Thursday and jailed for three years, dismaying many Iraqis who regard him as a hero.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, told the Baghdad court: “What I did was a natural reaction for the crimes committed against the Iraqi people.”
Outside the courtroom, Zaidi’s sister Ruqaiya burst into tears when she heard the verdict, shouting: “Down with Maliki, the agent of the Americans.”
Zaidi earned instant worldwide fame in December when he threw his shoes at the visiting U.S. leader, who spearheaded the 2003 invasion to oust Saddam Hussein, and called him a dog at a news conference.
Dhiaa al-Saadi, the head of Zaidi’s defense team, condemned the sentence as harsh and said it would be contested in the appeals court.
The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was standing next to Bush at the news conference and tried to block a shoe, described the incident as a “barbaric act.”
At the start of his trial in February, Zaidi said Bush’s smile as he talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of “the killing of more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of mosques and houses, the rapes of women.”
Enraged, he removed his shoes and hurled them one by one at Bush, shouting “This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog.” Bush ducked, and was not hit by the flying footwear.
Zaidi’s lawyers failed to convince the court to reduce the charge to insulting, rather than attempting to assault, a visiting head of state which would have incurred a more lenient sentence. The journalist, who has been detained since December, could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an Iraqi group that advocates for reporters, said the verdict came as a shock.
“It only remains for us to wait for a presidential or prime ministerial pardon, because we cannot accept an Iraqi journalist behind bars,” said Hadi Jalu, the group’s deputy director.
Opinion about Zaidi, a reporter with al-Baghdadiya television, has been divided in Iraq, where the U.S.-led invasion unleashed years of sectarian bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and displaced many more.
Some said a guest of Iraq should not be insulted, and that the incident embarrassed the country and its journalists.
But Zaidi has also been hailed in Iraq and across the Middle East as a hero. His action against Bush has been adopted by many as an act of protest, and shoe-throwing has caught on at demonstrations around the world.
“The case is politicized and is an attempt to take revenge on Zaidi. I believe the judges were under political pressure from known factions ... the verdict is unfair,” said Ahmed al-Masoudi, a spokesman for parliamentarians loyal to anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
However, Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of Maliki’s Dawa party, dismissed the charge.
“If this case was politicized, the punishment would have been harsher, but it was dealt with legally.”

TITLE: Man United Beat Inter Milan 2-0 In League
AUTHOR: By Angus MacKinnon
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: MANCHESTER — Sir Alex Ferguson demonstrated why he has been Manchester United’s special one for over two decades as he laid into his players in the aftermath of a 2-0 win over Inter Milan that sent them into the last eight of the Champions League.
The victory may have enabled Ferguson to settle at least one score with Inter boss Jose Mourinho, whose Porto side had eliminated United at the same stage on their way to lifting the trophy back in 2004.
But all the Scot wanted to talk about was his irritation at how close his side came to throwing the game away with what he described as their “suicidal” showboating after Nemanja Vidic had headed them into a fourth minute lead.
If Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dejan Stankovic had taken the gilt-edged chances that came their way, the Italian champions would have been ahead by the time Cristiano Ronaldo nodded in United’s second just after half-time.
And, perhaps with one eye on Saturday’s Premier League showdown with Liverpool, Ferguson left his players in no doubt about how furious he had been as he watched his side relinquish their early advantage.
“It was one of those long European nights where you don’t know if you’re watching a game of football or watching a game of suicide,” the Scot said.
“After scoring the first goal, I thought we would go on and kill them. But after going ahead we started trying to put icing on the cake and we were lucky to be in front at half-time.”
Flicking his hairdryer on to full blast, Ferguson added: “I thought we could score a few goals but then we started doing flicks and back heels, hitting balls into space where no one was.
“It was really reckless football and it allowed Inter Milan to get a grip of the game. From the middle of the first half to the end of the first half they were the better team.”
Despite his frustration, Ferguson took heart from the fact that his side had survived to take their place in a quarter-final draw in which he will be hoping to avoid any of the other three English clubs still in the competition as well as Barcelona.
“We changed the system at half-time, closed the door on (Inter playmaker Esteban) Cambiasso and we were a bit better in the second half,” he said. “We played a team at its maximum, potential-wise with all the experience they have. And they played to their maximum.
“To get through that was a big plus for us, because we will be better in the next round. We can play better than that but I am happy to get through it.”
Mourinho famously celebrated Porto’s win here with an ecstatic sprint down the touchline.
Five years on, the self-styled Special One was serenaded throughout by the United fans, “Sit down Mourinho,” giving way to “You’re not special any more,” as it became apparent that Inter were on their way out.

TITLE: Big-Game Player: Ogilvy Set to Defend Title at Doral
AUTHOR: By Tim Reynolds
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: DORAL, Florida — Geoff Ogilvy is a mystery, sometimes even to himself.
All five of his wins since 2006 have come in events with prestige, like a World Golf Championship event, a U.S. Open or the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship. Ogilvy can’t explain why, nor does he grasp his outrageous 18-3 record in head-to-head competition, capped by his second win at Match Play earlier this month.
“I’m not really sure whether I have a better frame of mind in a big tournament,” Ogilvy said. “I definitely enjoy big tournaments. Not that I don’t enjoy all golf tournaments, but I enjoy big tournaments more.”
Here comes another one.
Ogilvy will aim to defend his title in the CA Championship starting Thursday at Doral, where someone in the 80-player, no-cut field will earn $1.4 million. The guy with the most attention, as always, will be Tiger Woods, who has won at Doral in three of the past four years and is in a stroke-play event this week for the first time since outlasting Rocco Mediate in last summer’s U.S. Open.
Ogilvy led virtually wire-to-wire last year, actually sleeping on the lead four times, thanks to rain delays necessitating a Monday finish.
“My best week last year, for sure,” Ogilvy said.
That win, combined with his dominance at Match Play two weeks ago (in Woods’ return event following knee surgery) left the all-time WGC victory standings looking like this:
1. Woods, 15.
2. Ogilvy, 3.
So Woods’ stranglehold atop that list obviously won’t end anytime soon, if ever. If nothing else, Ogilvy has clearly proven that when the stakes are high, he can compete.
“I always said to him, ‘The day that you stop beating yourself up, you’ll be one of the greatest golfers in the world,’” fellow Australian Robert Allenby said of Ogilvy. “And look, about three years ago, he stopped beating himself up.”
And started beating a lot of people.
Ogilvy was the 52nd seed in the 64-man bracket at Match Play in 2006, and went to extra holes in each of his first four matches. He won then all, then beat Tom Lehman and Davis Love III for the title. He won the U.S. Open that summer, won at Doral last year and already has two wins in five starts this season.
“He’s very quiet and unassuming,” said Stewart Cink, who lost to Ogilvy in this year’s Match Play semifinals. “He’s not a loudmouth. He’s not out there. He’s not flashy. His game is real simple, but he’s got power, a good short game, and he doesn’t do anything fancy. ... As far as I’m concerned, he is in the elite group.”
He’ll need to be this week, where the field is a who’s-who of today’s game.
Start with Woods, who rallied from two shots down entering the final round at Doral to beat Phil Mickelson in 2005 and reclaimed the world No. 1 ranking, which he’s held ever since. Woods held off Camilo Villegas and David Toms to win again in 2006, then beat Brett Wetterich by two in 2007. Ogilvy was tied for third that week, four shots behind Woods.
Woods was razor-sharp then. Now, here’s merely sharpening up for the Masters.
“I’ve only played two tournaments in what — 10 months? Not a whole lot of golf,” Woods said. “So for me, I just need rounds under my belt, and this week will obviously be a very positive week for me — four rounds and no cuts, which is exactly what I need.”
Since leaving Doral last year, Woods has played 11 rounds of tournament golf.
Sergio Garcia has a chance to replace him at No. 1 in the world this week if he wins the CA Championship and Woods finishes 27th or worse. Woods has never been out of the top 10 at Doral, but no one really knows what to expect.
“I’m ready to win,” Woods said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Of course, the same goes for Ogilvy.
He didn’t play much golf last week, instead taking a few days off to recover from the grind of Match Play. That hardly meant he wasn’t thinking about the game, though.
Ogilvy is as baffled as anyone why the approach he takes into Match Play doesn’t always carry over into stroke play. The object of the game doesn’t change — getting the ball into the hole with as few shots as possible — but Ogilvy’s mindset at Doral won’t be the same as it was two weeks ago.
Woods put it in these terms: The object of stroke play is giving yourself a chance to win on Sunday, whereas in Match Play, it’s always Sunday, because it’s the final round for the loser. Ogilvy sees it the same way.
“In a stroke-play event, you don’t play against specifically the guys right next to you,” Ogilvy said. “I mean, you are playing against your playing partners, but you’re almost teammates with your playing partners the first few days of a tournament. It’s less intense, I guess. Match play is very intense from the first hole.”
And Ogilvy is a guy who thrives on intensity.
Put it this way: If there’s someone on the treadmill next to him, Ogilvy sets his machine to move 1 mph faster.
“It’s quite a difference in mindset, but not any difference in preparation,” Ogilvy said. “Just try to be playing as good as I can.”
In big events, that’s often good enough.

TITLE: Killings Spark Tension in N. Ireland
AUTHOR: By Carmel Crimmins
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BELFAST — Republicans in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing administration have reassured their Protestant partners by denouncing guerrilla killings this week, but they risk losing support from hard-line nationalist backers.
Sinn Fein, political ally of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), won plaudits from Protestants who want the province to stay part of the United Kingdom by branding pro-Irish splinter groups as “traitors” for their attacks on security forces.
Two British soldiers were shot dead last weekend and a policeman was killed on Monday in attacks by dissident minority republican guerrillas who seek to reunite Ireland by military means.
The comments by Martin McGuinness, once a senior IRA commander fighting British soldiers in the 1970s and now Deputy First Minister of the province, have angered some nationalist hardliners.
“Sinn Fein and the British forces would want to be careful that they don’t inflame the situation by their response,” said Jim McAllister, who was a Sinn Fein councilor during the 1980s and 1990s but is no longer a member of the party.
“I think Martin McGuinness has gone some way toward inflaming it.”
The attacks by the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, the deadliest in Northern Ireland in over a decade, come after a number of botched attempts to kill members of the security forces.
McGuinness’s comments were designed to reassure Sinn Fein’s sometimes reluctant Protestant partners in a power-sharing assembly that they are serious about a 1998 peace deal, which ended the IRA’s decades-long campaign against British rule.
But in his use of language — the word “traitor” is one of the worst insults in the pro-Irish nationalist camp — McGuinness was also sending a signal to hardliners that he will freeze them out to protect the path Sinn Fein has taken.
Former foes have applauded him and his words have helped cool temperatures in Protestant areas, reducing the threat of tit-for-tat violence which once gripped Belfast.
“When we heard Martin McGuinness speak the other day he spoke from the heart,” said Frankie Gallagher, of the Ulster Political Research Group, an organization close to the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), a pro-British paramilitary group.
“Once that leadership was shown, I think it dissipated a lot of anger within our communities.”
The Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have warned their operations will continue until Northern Ireland is no longer part of the United Kingdom.
More violence could yet trigger retaliation from Protestant groups, potentially putting Sinn Fein under pressure from Catholic communities who traditionally look to it for protection rather than the police.
For now, that is a remote possibility.
The Continuity IRA and the Real IRA have a tiny support base and most nationalists support Sinn Fein’s stance.
But beyond the television cameras, the party will have to put its tough words into action by encouraging supporters to give information to the police — a practice still considered taboo in some areas.
During three decades of bloodshed between minority Irish Republicans and pro-British Protestants, the police were viewed by many Catholics as a partisan extension of British rule.
Passing tips to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), as the police was then known, was a dangerous business and so-called “informers” or “traitors” risked execution by the IRA.
The RUC was disbanded and relaunched as the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001 in a bid to provide a more impartial force.
Sinn Fein’s nationalist credentials mean that it is the only party that can encourage Catholics to talk and isolate the extremists.
“If in a year’s time, the threat of dissidents has been contained, then people will say that Sinn Fein faced a test and they came through,” said Richard English, a professor of politics at Queens University in Belfast.
“The new Northern Ireland might turn out to be something which is more secure than people had feared.”