SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1472 (34), Friday, May 8, 2009
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TITLE: Tax Police Investigate City's Top Museums
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Federal Tax Police are accusing two of Russia’s most important cultural institutions — the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum — of tax evasion and of misappropriating millions of rubles.
For the Hermitage alone, the list of alleged misappropriations amounts to 149 million rubles ($4.57 million). On top of that, the authorities claim the museum never paid taxes on that sum.
The money in question was spent, among other things, on foreign trips by the Hermitage’s director Mikhail Piotrovsky and a number of its curators to Milan, London, Paris, Berlin and other international cultural Meccas. Exchange programs, visits by foreign experts, private medical treatment, private dinners, banquets and entertainment costs were also listed among the inappropriate expenses. The central accusation is that that the scale of the expenses was too immodest for them to have been for professional purposes alone.
The Hermitage press office said that the museum had been fighting with tax officials in earnest through the Arbitration Court for some time and has already won one case, but the battle is not over. The museum is currently facing another serious court case, set to be heard on 25 May, as the Federal Tax Police has appealed the verdict in the hope of overturning the original judgement. The Hermitage has argued that the focus should not be on the evaluation of individual expenses — judging whether or not they are justifiable — but on the optimization of museum expense auditing procedures as a whole.
The museum community has reacted to the accusations with shock and bewilderment, branding them both petty and unfair. Top curators from both museums made harshly-worded statements arguing that no gallery can function without exhibitions and international exchanges. The State Russian Museum stands accused of misappropriating 7 million rubles ($215,000) in a manner similar to the Hermitage.
“If museum curators are deprived of the chance to communicate, integrate, exchange their knowledge and organize exhibitions outside their hometowns then it will render their very existence totally pointless,” said Alexander Borovsky, head of the Newest Trends Department of the State Russian Museum. “Why not just get rid of us altogether in that case?”
Foreign trips are indeed a sensitive issue. Unlike the Hermitage and Russian Museum, another world-famous St. Petersburg-based cultural institution, the Mariinsky theater, normally travels abroad at the expense of the inviting venue. At the same time, the Mariinsky can self-sponsor its visits to charitable events, including, for example, the Baltic Sea Festival, but the money comes exclusively from the company’s own profits rather than state subsidies.
The Russian Museum has already filed a series of lawsuits seeking to invalidate the tax police’s decision. Museum officials stress that their top priority is to prevent tax inspectors withdrawing money from their accounts on Federal Tax Police warrants before the issue is legally settled.
If either of the museums lose, they face having to repay the money to the state according to the courts’ rulings.

TITLE: No Kremlin Policy Shift One Year On
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev and Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — After President Dmitry Medvedev was elected last year, then-President Vladimir Putin made a rather telling promise about his chosen successor. 
“Medvedev is no less a Russian nationalist than I am, in the positive sense of the word, and I do not think that our partners will have it any easier with him,” Putin said at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 
One year after Medvedev’s inauguration on May 7, 2008, many observers agree that Putin was right, even though the new president has been sometimes labeled as a liberal reformer, albeit a cautious one. Medvedev has not initiated fundamental changes in Russian foreign policy — a realm where the Constitution clearly says the president is in charge. 
All of Putin’s foreign policies, with exception of the declared “reset” of relations with the United States, remain in place or have been further developed during Medvedev’s first year in office. 
“While he has stepped out from Putin’s overcoat, both definitely remain members of the same team,” said Viktor Mizin, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. 
As Russia pushed to dominate other former Soviet republics, Medvedev’s first 12 months saw Russian soldiers crossing the country’s borders for combat, when troops poured into Georgia during the conflict in South Ossetia last August. West-leaning Ukraine again briefly lost Russian gas supplies over the New Year’s holidays, and Kyrgyzstan was rewarded $2 billion after it pledged to close a U.S. military base on its territory. 
Moscow has not bent an inch on its opposition to plans developed by the previous U.S. administration to install elements of a missile shield in Eastern Europe. 
Moscow’s attempts to control energy flows — often described in the West as Russia’s new geopolitical tool — got a new boost under Medvedev last fall when he signed a key policy document in which Russia claims rights to vast oil and gas fields in the Arctic. Medvedev also ordered the Security Council to develop a detailed plan on how to attain those resources. The move has irritated the United States, Canada and Scandinavian countries. 
Russia’s atomic energy cooperation with Iran continued, while sales of sensitive military systems to the Islamic republic remained only suspended and could be resumed at any moment. 
In other major global problems, such as North Korea’s nuclear arms program and the Arab-Israeli conflict, Moscow did little, letting other players such as the United States, the European Union and China carry most of the burden. 
Under Putin, who adopted belligerent rhetoric at home and abroad against those whom he said threatened Russia’s interests, foreign policy with the West increasingly became a zero-sum game in which the Kremlin retaliated against any perceived loss. A push by NATO and the EU toward Russia’s borders fixed the perception of the country as a “besieged fortress” among Russian foreign policy makers. 
Yet some foreign observers still hope that Medvedev will break up Putin’s zero-sum game. 
Gert Weisskirchen, a German lawmaker and spokesman on foreign affairs for the Social Democrats, said the most promising sign was Medvedev’s proposal for a new European security pact. 
“He has promoted alternative thinking, both overcoming Putin and existing international structures,” Weisskirchen said by telephone from Berlin. 
Medvedev’s proposal, introduced during a visit to Berlin last June, calls for a remodeling of the Helsinki accords of 1975 that resulted in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It has received little international support so far. 
But Weisskirchen said it was “an intelligent and bold impulse to think beyond Putin.” 
Still, hopes of a liberal shift under Medvedev — who lacks Putin’s experience in the secret services and who looks remarkably liberal next to the man he beat for the presidency, hawkish former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov — appear to have been far too high. 
After Russian tanks rolled into Georgia in August, troubled ties with the West worsened as Moscow and NATO suspended their regular contacts. Their resumption last week was quickly threatened by the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from NATO’s headquarters in Brussels and the consequent expulsion of two NATO officials from Moscow. 
Weisskirchen argued that Medvedev should not be blamed for the war in Georgia. “He was driven into that conflict. It was imposed on him,” he said. 
But Weisskirchen conceded that he was unsure who was the driving force behind the war. “Maybe it was an unholy alliance between [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili and forces inside Russia,” he said. 
Tensions were aggravated further when Moscow decided to recognize South Ossetia and Georgia’s other breakaway republic of Abkhazia as independent countries — a decision that has been followed by no nation except Nicaragua. 
Medvedev said from the start of his presidency that relations with other former Soviet republics would be a foreign policy priority, choosing Kazakhstan and China for his first trip abroad. 
Despite the fact that the financial crisis has put unprecedented pressure on the state budget, the government has recently engaged in some conspicuous spending to strengthen Moscow’s position in key post-Soviet states. 
Earlier this year, it negotiated the $2 billion aid package for Kyrgyzstan, which in turn notified Washington that it should close its air base there. Moscow has also promised to lend at least $2 billion to Belarus, whose government has inched toward rapprochement with the EU after years of isolation. 
Rihards Piks, a former Latvian foreign minister and a deputy in the European Parliament, cautioned that Moscow’s strategy of power projection onto former Soviet states was detrimental to European security. “Unfortunately, Russian foreign policy still keeps an eye on former Soviet territories. I think that this policy from Cold War times … is not good for long-term relations [in Europe],” he said by telephone from Riga. 
He complained that the Kremlin is regularly identifying “enemies” in an apparent bid to achieve domestic policy goals. “Sometimes they are in the Caucasus, sometimes in Ukraine,” Piks said. 
Other than the financial crisis, the main driver of global change over the past year was the election of U.S. President Barack Obama. But Medvedev did not mention Obama at all in his first state-of-the-nation address, delivered the day after the U.S. election, and instead threatened to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad against the planned U.S. missile defense system. 
Medvedev later said he “completely forgot” about the U.S. election when delivering the address. He sent Obama a congratulatory telegram several hours after the speech. 
Both Moscow and Washington have pledged to improve relations, which neared Cold War lows in the months before Medvedev and Obama came to office. But Medvedev — unlike his predecessors Putin or Boris Yeltsin before him in their first years in office — has not made a single concession to the United States during his first year in the office. Putin helped the United States and NATO at the start of their operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Yeltsin accepted NATO’s expansion into the former Soviet bloc. 
It is hard to say whether Medvedev has decided not to follow a popular Russian foreign policy maxim that every Russian leader begins pro-American and ends fiercely anti-American or whether he is being directed by Putin on this issue. 
Thierry de Montbrial, president of the French Institute of International Relations, said that while Medvedev’s style was “gentler and perhaps more likable,” there was no change on the substance of foreign policy. 
He pointed out that Medvedev owed practically everything to his predecessor. “It should not be forgotten that Medvedev was Putin’s personal choice as successor. Putin could have easily remained president,” Montbrial said at a recent speech in Moscow. 
Marek Menkiszak, an analyst at the Polish Eastern Studies Institute, said the Putin-era foreign policy is nearly impossible to change because it has the broad support of the country’s ruling elite. 
“There might be discussion on tactics, but Moscow’s strategic goals are not the subject of disagreement,” he said by telephone from Warsaw. 
Menkiszak said any departure would be interpreted as a sign of weakness. “Medvedev has made an effort to underline the continuity of Russian foreign policy rather than to send signals of disagreement,” he said.

TITLE: Officials Back Colleague in Channel Five, City Hall Standoff
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: In a conflict between a high-ranking City Hall official and TV Channel Five over the official’s allegedly insulting statements about the channel’s staff, Smolny officials are standing firm in support of their counterpart and clear his of all the embarrassing charges. 
 The scandal arose when Sergei Bodrunov, the head of the City Hall’s Economic Development Committee, appeared on Channel Five’s live discussion show “Peterburgsky Chas” (“The St. Petersburg Hour”) on April 8. The show was focused on the Smolny anti-crisis plan and involved a number of economic topics, including unemployment. Host Tatyana Alexandrova was shocked by Bodrunov’s labeling of unemployed citizens as “bydlo,” which means “scum” or “cattle.”
 After the show, Bodrunov complained about Alexandrova and other program journalists for “utter incompetence,” calling them “bad journalists.” 
“What grounds did you have to question my professionalism?” Bodrunov said in a tirade directed at the journalists, promising to close the program altogether and get everyone responsible for the show fired. “What does this halfwit know?” he asked, referring to Alexandrova.
After Bodrunov’s words, Governor Valentina Matviyenko started an internal investigation into the incident that eventually cleared Bodrunov of any wrongdoing. 
At a recent news conference devoted to the results of the internal probe, Vice-Governor Mikhail Oseyevsky claimed “no video or audio evidence that would confirm the media accusations has been found.” 
Bodrunov published an apology on the website of his committee but denied using the “human scum” phrase about unemployed people and even threatened a court case. Alexandrova refused to accept the apology, calling his statement “a joke of an apology” and “made in an inappropriate form.” 
Alexandrova was temporarily dismissed from hosting the show, although Channel Five’s press-office continues to deny that she will be fired. In the meantime, the St. Petersburg branch of the opposition party Yabloko issued a statement calling for the return of Alexandrova to the position of host. 
The liberals also called for Bodrunov to resign and held a series of protests against the official. No reaction has followed from City Hall. 
“There was hope that the broad resonance of the incident would at least appeal to Matviyenko’s self-preservation instinct and persuade her to fire such a rude official,” said Maxim Reznik, the head of the local branch of Yabloko. “Now it is clear that Smolny has prioritized its narrow clan interests over respect for the media and city residents.” 
Internet information sites like lenizdat.ru have been booming with discussion of the scandal. Copies of written communications between Channel Five and City Hall have been published on various Internet forums. 
 One such quote posted on lenizdat.ru cites Bodrynov as saying, “What about these 25,000 unemployed? It’s nothing, a drop in an ocean. They won’t die!”

TITLE: Drunk Ukrainian Minister Detained at Airport
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW — Ukrainian Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko was detained by police at the Frankfurt airport and prevented from boarding his flight because of drunken and disorderly conduct, police said Wednesday.
Lutsenko, 44, was prevented from boarding a flight to Seoul, South Korea, on Monday after airport officials noticed that he and his 19-year-old son, with whom he was traveling, were severely drunk, a Frankfurt police spokesman said.
When they were stopped, both passengers flew into a rage, shouted and threw their mobile telephones, police said.
Three male police officers and one female officer were hurt in the altercation, the police spokesman said, describing the incident as an “ugly situation.”
The minister’s son, Oleksandr, was subsequently led away in handcuffs, and the two men spent more than five hours in police custody at the airport before they were released and caught a later flight to Seoul, the German newspaper Bild reported Wednesday.
In Kiev, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko ordered an investigation into the incident involving Lutsenko, one of the leading figures in the 2004 Orange Revolution that swept him to power. 
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry earlier denied that Lutsenko had been intoxicated and attributed his departure on a later flight to “an unfortunate misunderstanding.”
It said in a statement carried by Interfax that there were “no handcuffs and no drunken conflict whatsoever.”
A Lufthansa spokesman said a Ukrainian passenger who appeared to be “seriously” drunk and who was “very loud” was barred from the flight, the German news agency DPA reported. The passenger became physically confrontational and “clearly rowdy” after not being allowed to board, the spokesman said. “For that reason, the decision not to let him board and to call in the police was absolutely correct,” he said.
He declined to give the name of the passenger. 
Lutsenko was once a close ally of the president but in recent months has supported Yushchenko’s rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. 
(Reuters, SPT)

TITLE: 2 Americans Convicted of Spying on Gazprom
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — A Moscow court has convicted an American who once worked at oil firm TNK-BP and his brother of spying on Gazprom and handed them suspended sentences, the Federal Security Service said Thursday. 
Ilya Zaslavsky and his brother Alexander received one year suspended sentences and two years probation on charges of industrial espionage, filed last year during a high-profile power struggle between the Russian and British owners of TNK-BP. 
Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court ruled that the brothers, who also have Russian citizenship, had collected classified information about state energy giant Gazprom, an unidentified FSB official told Interfax. 
 The official said the FSB had been tipped off by the employee of an energy firm who said the Zaslavskys had tried to buy company secrets from him. 
 “The court found that the evidence provided by the FSB about Ilya and Alexander Zaslavsky’s criminal behavior fully confirmed their guilt,” the official said. 
 It was unclear Thursday when the ruling had been made. Calls to the court’s press office were not immediately answered. 
 The brothers were arrested in March last year as TNK-BP’s owners fought over their 50-50 ownership structure. Around the same time, the company came under scrutiny from law enforcement agencies — a development that some observers said suggested that one side was playing dirty by unfairly enlisting state assistance. But other observers linked the law enforcement scrutiny to a long-running dispute between Gazprom and TNK-BP over control of TNK-BP’s flagship Kovykta gas field, saying Gazprom was trying to take over TNK-BP as well. 
The Zaslavsky brothers both graduated from Oxford University, and Ilya still heads the Moscow Oxford Society. 
At the time of his arrest, Ilya Zaslavsky, then 29, worked as a manager in TNK-BP’s international affairs office. Alexander Zaslavsky, who is three years older, worked as an independent energy consultant and headed the British Alumni Club, a graduate network run by the British Council. 
The British Council at the time had been forced to close most of its offices in Russia because of a dispute that the Foreign Ministry has linked to British demands that State Duma Deputy Andrei Lugovoi be extradited to face murder charges in the poisoning death of former security services officer Alexander Litvinenko.

TITLE: City Adopts Swine-Flu Prevention Measures
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: St. Petersburg will buy 5,000 sets of the anti-flu medicine Tamiflu and equip the city’s Pulkovo airport with thermal imaging devices to protect against the spread of swine flu to Russia.
The emergency anti-epidemic commission of the St. Petersburg city government commissioned Smolny’s core committees to buy more than 5,000 Tamiflu sets, Interfax reported last week. Although no swine flu cases have been confirmed in Russia, the Russian government has stopped the import of meat products from all Central American and Caribbean countries and some U.S. states, as well as the import of raw pork and pigs from Spain, Great Britain, and some Canadian provinces.
Zakhar Golant, deputy head of the city’s health committee, said the clinical effectiveness of the medicine was already proven. Currently the city’s Botkin Infection Hospital holds 400 sets of Tamiflu, and 1,700 sets are on sale in the city’s drug stores. The medicine costs 1,700 rubles, Golant said.
“The city will buy an additional 5,000 sets of the medicine. This is the amount of the medicine needed to prevent N1H1,” he said, referring to the strain of swine flu that can infect humans by its medical name, influenza A (N1H1) virus.  
The planned purchase will cost between five and 7.5 million rubles.
At the same time, St. Petersburg Vice-Governor Lyudmila Kostkina ordered Pulkovo authorities to outfit the airport with thermal imagers – devices that measure human body temperature without skin contact – to help screen for swine flu.
“I don’t understand why the airport still has not bought such equipment,” Kostkina said. “The cost of one thermal imager is 50,000. I think the airport can afford it.” 
As part of the swine flu anti-epidemic plan, the city government will provide the necessary storage for defense measures including special costumes, no-contact thermometers and various means of disinfection, Kostkina said. It also plans to teach medical workers preventive measures as well as treatment of the disease. 
The Botkin Infection Hospital is ready to provide 500 places and Fifth Children’s Hospital is ready to provide 300 places in case of an emergency situation, according Deputy Head of the city’s Health Committee Vladimir Zholobov.
Zholobov also said the city would include swine flu in future vaccinations.
“In 2009 we’re planning to vaccinate 800,000 people. The strain of ‘pig flu’ will be obviously included in the vaccine. We suppose that such a vaccine will be developed within half a year,” Zholobov said, Interfax reported. 
In order to produce a vaccine against swine flu for animals in Russia, medical experts need to obtain a strain of the disease, said Sergei Dankvert, the head of Russian Agriculture Watch.   Currently, Russia is considering two possible ways of making the vaccine: to get the strain from the U.S. and develop the vaccine independently, or to do thisresearch together with European Union countries. 
Dankvert said it would be hard to forecast the time needed to begin producing the vaccine, but he said that during the avian bird flu outbreak they managed to begin production within two months of the disease’s appearance.
Alexander Lesnichenko, the head of Pulkovo airport’s health stations, said that so far this year passengers with a high fever have not arrived in St. Petersburg from countries where swine flu is prevalent. Passengers from the U.S., Mexico and Canada, the countries where the most cases have been reported, could arrive in St. Petersburg on Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, Rossiya or EL AL airlines, Lesnichenko said.  
“Every day, about a thousand passengers arrive in the city using these flights,” he said. “When flu symptoms are discovered, we provide a medical examination for every passenger.”
The city has advised tourism agencies to inform their clients about the possible risk of swine flu in certain foreign countries. 
Meanwhile, Tatyana Golikova, head of the Russian Health and Social Development Ministry, said that Russia has taken all necessary measures to prevent swine flu from spreading to Russia and that the disease does not present a real risk to Russian residents at the moment. 
“It’s hard to forecast today how strong the threat of swine flu is,” Golikova said last week, as reported by Izvestia. 
“If we speak about the arrival of potentially sick people and potentially infected meat, we’ve taken all the measures needed to stop such possibilities,” she added. 
Meanwhile, last Friday the World Health Organization raised the threat level of swine flu expansion from four to the five on its six-point scale, saying countries should prepare themselves for a possible pandemic. Earlier the WHO warned that the situation with the ‘swine flu’ was getting worse despite different measures taken by the authorities of many countries.
As of Thursday, the WHO counted 2,099 officially reported cases of swine flu around the world and 44 deaths from the illness.

TITLE: Diplomats Expelled in Spy Feud
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that it is expelling NATO’s top representatives in the country as a tit-for-tat retaliation for the expulsion of two diplomats from its representation at the alliance amid accusations of espionage. 
Isabelle Francois, head of the NATO Information Office in Moscow, and her deputy, Mark Opgenorth, will have their accreditations revoked, the ministry said in a statement on its web site. 
Francois and Opgenorth are both Canadian citizens and accredited as attaches at their local embassy. Canadian Ambassador Ralph Lysyshyn was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, where he was officially informed of the decision, the ministry statement said. 
The Canadian government in Ottawa summoned the Russian ambassador for an explanation. “Canada strongly regrets Russia’s decision,” Andre Lemay, a spokesman for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, said in e-mailed comments. 
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called the expulsions “counterproductive” to efforts to restore cooperation with Moscow. 
“NATO very much regrets the Russian action and does not consider there to be any justification for it,” he said in a statement posted on the alliance’s web site. 
But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the measure was a logical response and suggested that the spy allegations that sparked the spat had been engineered by a group of NATO members, whom he did not name.

TITLE: Suspects Detained in Murder Of Frenchman and His Family
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — A suspect in the slayings of a French winemaker and his family in central Moscow last month was detained Thursday in Kazakhstan, investigators said. 
Frenchman Thierry Spinelli, his wife and their daughter were murdered in their apartment April 20 in central Moscow in what investigators described as a case of homicide and arson. 
The Investigative Committee said in a statement Thursday that a suspect, Khurshid Normuradov, was detained Thursday in Kazakhstan and that the whereabouts of a second suspect had been established. 
Neither the name nor the current location of the second suspect was given in the statement. 
An Investigative Committee spokeswoman told The St. Petersburg Times on Thursday that Russian authorities are working to have Normuradov extradited. 
The bodies of Spinelli and his wife, Olga, were discovered in their burnt-out apartment on 3rd Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa, and forensic experts said the couple had been strangled. 
Investigators believe that the killers set fire to the apartment to destroy evidence of the crime.

TITLE: GAZ to Sell LDV to Malaysian Company
AUTHOR: By Maria Antonova
PUBLISHER: The Moscow Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Oleg Deripaska’s GAZ Group said Wednesday that it would sell its British van maker, LDV, to Malaysian company Weststar after the British government stepped in to help finance the transfer. 
GAZ agreed to sell the company to Weststar after the British government said late Tuesday that it would provide a short-term loan of $7.5 million to the Malaysian vehicle importer to keep LDV operating while the terms of the deal are finalized. 
“There are still terms to be determined in the deal,” a GAZ spokeswoman said, declining to elaborate. 
GAZ bought the van maker for 22 million pounds sterling in 2006 from investment fund Sun Capital. The loss-making LDV, whose Birmingham-based manufacturing facility employs about 850 people, was planning to file for administration Wednesday after four months of stoppage. 
LDV has been a partner of Weststar Group since 2007, and the franchise had exclusive rights to market and assemble LDV Maxus vans in 20 Asian countries. 
“This investment opportunity was brought about by the economic turmoil in Russia and brings into Malaysian hands ownership of an international brand, first-rate products and access to European markets and technology at an affordable price,” Weststar Group CEO Syed Azman said, Malaysian news agency Bernama reported. 
Azman said GAZ offered LDV and its associated supplier company, Birmingham Pressings, to Weststar on Monday and that Weststar would have four weeks to complete the deal, according to the term of the bridge loan. 
The government’s decision to help the company was reported on LDV’s corporate blog late Tuesday. “It would have been irresponsible of the government not to support it going forward,” Business Minister Ian Pearson said in a statement. He said the loan was a one-off bridge loan that could not be extended. 
A court hearing scheduled for Wednesday about LDV entering administration has been postponed a week, company management said in a follow-up blog post. 
“Selling LDV will take the responsibility for a foreign asset away from GAZ,” said Mikhail Pak, an auto analyst with Metropol. Supporting a British carmaker while simultaneously asking for money from the Russian government would likely eventually draw criticism from the authorities, Pak said. 
Deripaska’s Basic Element holding company appears to be also eyeing another European company, however. A source at GAZ, which BasEl controls through its Russian Machines unit, told Handelsblatt newspaper that the company might participate in a bid for Germany’s Opel, currently owned by ailing U.S. automaker General Motors. 
GAZ Group, also heavily in debt, will not take on any financial commitment, instead offering production lines and a servicing network in Russia, the source said. 
Sberbank, GAZ’s main creditor, could be singling out the carmaker as a possible consultant for the Opel purchase, despite GAZ’s relatively small involvement in the car segment of the market, said Metropol’s Pak. 
GAZ’s main plant in Nizhny Novgorod produces 5 percent of Russia’s cars, about 56 percent of its cargo vehicles and nearly 48 percent of its buses, according to company data. The LDV purchase was supposed to lead to localization of LDV’s Maxus vans in Russia and an eventual launch of a new generation of the ubiquitous GAZelle van based on the Maxus. The financial crisis interrupted the strategy, GAZ said statement said. 
Given the latest market drop, LDV does not seem to have been a very helpful investment for Deripaska: while GAZ has sold 80,000 vans in the first six months of 2008, it sold only 4,500 Maxus vans and only 409 of them in Russia. 
GAZ defended the purchase, however. “The partnership with LDV allowed GAZ to master the architecture and the introduction of new technologies into making commercial vehicles,” deputy chairman Yelena Matveyeva said in the statement.

TITLE: President Slams State Purchases
AUTHOR: By Ira Iosebashvili
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Direct government support of the country’s stock market did not accomplish anything, President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday in a meeting with deputies from the party A Just Russia, where he also urged caution in making changes to the country’s tax code. 
“We should admit, in all honesty, that direct government support of the stock market achieved nothing,” the president said. “The stock market develops according to its own laws.” 
As the liquidity crisis snowballed and stock markets faltered last autumn, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the state had allocated 175 billion rubles ($5.3 billion) for investing in “secure, high-yield” Russian securities. 
As of last month, it had spent 167 billion rubles of those funds, according to information posted on the Finance Ministry’s web site. 
Analysts said that while it would be next to impossible for any government to reverse a market decline by buying stocks, the strategy could have had other positive effects. 
“It’s hard for a government to step in front of the market and drive up prices,” said Ronald Smith, head of analytical research at Alfa Bank. “But there were some very large buyers who had margin calls, and without government buying, providing liquidity, we could have seen much more of a rout.” 
“And, if they bought at the right time, the state could have gotten some really good deals,” Smith said. 
The benchmark MICEX Index is up 54 percent on the year and is 86 percent off last year’s lows. The market was currently showing “not bad growth,” although it was too early to say that a trend had developed, Medvedev said. 
He also addressed several tax-related topics, including a proposal to lower the value-added tax and income taxes, as well as the introduction of a unified property tax. 
Extreme caution should be used in making any changes to taxation legislation, especially during a crisis, Medvedev said. 
A unified property tax, however — an idea that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin revived last week and was brought up again by A Just Russia deputies on Tuesday — is worthy of discussion, he said. 
Putin said last week that the measure, which would charge property owners a single tax for land and for the building standing on it, would increase revenue for city governments. 
Medvedev also said a proposal to cut value-added tax was still on the table, “despite what various bureaucrats have said.” 
“The topic of lowering VAT has been discussed for quite a while, although without any results,” Medvedev said. “Everybody seems to agree that it should be done, yet something always gets in our way.” He added that it was too early to discuss repealing the flat tax. 
The A Just Russia meeting was the second in a series of discussions with the leadership of the country’s four main political parties. He met with United Russia last month and plans to hold sessions with the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communist Party. 
Speaking at the meeting, Medvedev said a lowering of the entry barrier for political parties to participate in elections was possible.

TITLE: Azeri Businessman Slain in Center of Moscow
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — An Azeri businessman was gunned down in full view of pedestrians as he sat in his Mercedes in a trendy neighborhood in central Moscow, the victim of an apparent contract murder. 
Two unidentified assailants riddled the man’s car with bullets at about 10 p.m. Tuesday outside the restaurant Sherbet on Ulitsa Pokrovka, a street packed with restaurants and bars near Chistiye Prudy metro station, the Investigative Committee said Wednesday. 
Investigators identified the 44-year-old victim by his last name, Nadzhafov. The web site Life.ru gave his full name as Igbal Tahmaz Nadzhafov. 
Law enforcement sources said the assailants were armed with a pistol and a Kalashnikov assault rifle, which was left at the scene, Gazeta.ru reported. Passers-by saw the brazen attack but were unable to give a clear description of the gunmen, who managed to escape, the web site said. 
In addition to the Kalashnikov rifle, police found 12 cartridges at the scene. A police source told Interfax that one of the attackers was wearing a mask. 
Life.ru published photographs of the victim’s black SUV parked outside Sherbet with a shattered side window. The vehicle was registered in the name of a 28-year-old woman, Life.ru said. 
The victim may have had links to organized crime, a police source told Interfax. Nadzhafov was investigated as a murder suspect in 1995, but the charges were later dropped, the source said. 
The victim, who lived in the Moscow suburb of Lyubertsy — a hotbed of criminal gangs in the late 1980s and early 1990s — had been previously detained in the Moscow region and had at least one conviction, Interfax cited a police source as saying. 
The killing could signal the beginning of a clan war among Azeri criminal groups operating in the Moscow region, a police source told Interfax. 
Investigators have launched a murder investigation, and the killers could face life in prison if arrested, charged and convicted.

TITLE: Medvedev Raps Rusnano Model For Large State Corporations
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday criticized the country’s strategy of developing its technology sector through state-owned corporations, singling out the State Nanotechnology Corporation, or Rusnano, as an example.
Speaking at a meeting with the winners of a worldwide programming contest, Medvedev said developing the country’s IT industry through the creation of large, state-owned companies like Rusnano, which is currently headed by former Unified Energy System chief Anatoly Chubais, was “unlikely” to prove successful.
“[Rusnano] is the kind of instrument that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t work at all,” Medvedev said. He called the company a “large structure that has a lot of money and that still has to understand how to correctly spend it” so that it is not blamed for wasting it in the future.
He added that the IT industry would not develop without the success of small and midsize companies.
Rusnano was formed in 2007 to stimulate the country’s nanotechnology industry by offering cheap loans to promising, up-and-coming companies in the sector. 
The government expects that Russia will capture about 3 percent of the global nanotechnology market by 2015.

TITLE: Creating Good Neighbors in Russia’s Backyard
AUTHOR: By Andrew Wilson and Nicu Popescu
TEXT: European Union policy toward its neighbors to the east is in trouble, despite the launch of its new Eastern Partnership. European public opinion is increasingly introspective and sporadically protectionist. So what is to be done about the “gray zone” to Europe’s east — the six countries that now lie between the EU and Russia? Inaction is unacceptable. The region has been badly hit by the economic crisis, made all the worse by internal political turmoil and serious security dangers.
The idea for the Eastern Partnership came from a Polish-Swedish initiative early last summer. So, by EU standards, it has been rushed through on a very fast track. The new initiative is exclusively for the region to the union’s east — Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan — and is designed to complement the European Neighborhood Policy. It has few new resources and a limited budget for technical projects. The idea is that the Eastern Partnership will provide a positive signal to these countries, change the climate in which the region is discussed in the EU and slowly help pull it into the EU’s orbit.
The offer has annoyed Russia. But the EU has its own problems with the initiative. For example, it had a lot of trouble persuading leaders to turn up in Prague on Thursday. And those who agreed to come are not a good advertisement for the region. 
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s popularity ratings are below 5 percent after steering his country from crisis to crisis since the Orange Revolution in 2004. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is dealing with domestic protests after his disastrous military misadventure in August. Armenia also faces protests, following the controversial election of President Serzh Sargsyan in February 2008, which led to the killing of 10 people. In March, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev staged a constitutional referendum that opened the way for his lifetime presidency. Most controversial of all has been “Europe’s last dictator,” Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. Previously, Belarus was not even in the European Neighborhood Policy. 
Five years after the EU’s “big bang” expansion took in eight former communist countries to its east, the union is in danger of losing the hearts and minds of its eastern neighbors because of its complacency and long-winded approach to crises. The eastern neighbors are not like the Central European states that negotiated EU accession in the 1990s. Their statehood is weak, their leadership often weaker, and they lack the consensus about their European destiny that enabled difficult reforms in Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic States to be pursued.
By an accident of bureaucratic timing, the Eastern Partnership is seen by many in the east as merely the EU’s response to the global economic crisis, not as a strategy tailored for the region. Indeed, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin dismisses it as “candies.”
To be sure, the EU’s technocratic focus on structural reforms is having some effect in the region. All six states, except Belarus, now trade more with the EU than with Russia. But the political relevance of these changing economic realities is close to nil. If anything, the region has been moving in the wrong direction, with security tensions and even war (in Georgia) increasingly frequent. Fake elections are rapidly become the norm. The six states do not have the time or the inclination to swallow the EU’s bureaucracy in one gulp.
Russia has managed to revamp the way it operates in the region since it got its fingers burned by interfering so crudely in Ukraine in 2004. It now uses a broad range of hard and soft power, some incommensurate to that of the EU — for instance, the military bases that it has managed to secure in each of the six states. Moreover, it does things that the EU does and does them better, a notable example — until recently — being its more open labor market. Russia is also using less coercion and more carrots, offering economic assistance, security guarantees and an ideology of “sovereign democracy” that appeals to many post-Soviet elites.
The Eastern Partnership is a typical long-term EU technocratic instrument. The EU pledges to help set up “Western-type public institutions” and to transform the Eastern economies through comprehensive free-trade agreements.
That’s all good, but the EU needs to be quicker. It needs to show that its mission is to build up weak states, help them overcome short-term crises and nurture democracy rather than treat them as empty vessels for the export of EU policy. As a follow-up to the Eastern Partnership summit, the EU must initiate lower-level meetings of interior ministers to discuss migration, visas and counterterrorism and should seek to integrate Ukraine and Moldova into the European energy market. 
The alternative is a wall of instability in what is, after all, Europe’s neighborhood. As with the United States and Mexico, the consequences of growing gaps in living standards, good governance and the rule of law will inevitably flow across borders. The EU’s eastern policy should not be seen as philanthropy but as a strategy promoting clear-cut pan-European interests.

Andrew Wilson and Nicu Popescu are policy fellows and experts on Eastern Europe at the European Council on Foreign Relations. © Project Syndicate

TITLE: Anti-Fascists at Our Gates
AUTHOR: By Yulia Latynina
TEXT: On April 21, a judge made an unprecedented ruling when he sentenced a man to one year in prison for fighting fascism. 
Your first thought is that this case happened in Latvia, where former Waffen SS members march freely on their favorite holidays commemorating Latvian veterans who fought alongside the Nazis in World War II. But the sentence was actually handed down in Moscow’s Tagansky District Court, where anti-fascist Alexei Olesinov was convicted.
When I write that he was sentenced for “fighting fascism,” I do not mean this metaphorically. Officially, he was sentenced to prison for causing a fistfight with a security guard outside a Moscow nightclub — although the guard and the club owners withdrew their complaints against Olesinov in court. 
But, in reality, Olesinov was convicted for his anti-fascism. The prosecutor’s intention in this case was clear. His indictment stressed that Olesinov’s biggest offense was leading the Antifa (an abbreviation for anti-fascism) movement, the goal of which “was to oppose the interests of individuals promoting fascism.”
As we all know, Russia is surrounded by enemies. Why so many enemies? The bourgeois from all Western nations are burning with envy because Russia is building the most advanced society in the world. This is something that the Kremlin propagandists particularly like to pound into the heads of the members of Nashi, the Kremlin-supported youth movement.
Fascism asserts that a given people or race are superior to others and that enemies surround the state. If the ideology taught to Nashi is not fascism, then what is it? 
We tend to associate the word “fascism” with a fighting a war with an external enemy. But fascism involves fighting a war against internal enemies as well. That is why Russia’s state ideology has a distinct warlike component. 
In domestic affairs, this manifests itself in the war against business. This is not simply a matter of confiscating the private property of others. Expropriation is an important part of a larger ideological-based campaign, and it is considered a legitimate way of strengthening the siloviki and their hold on power.
Moreover, since Russia’s elite keep their assets in the West, they understand very well that it is better to battle their own businessmen than try to fight Western armies. What’s more, such conquests fill them with a feeling of importance and strength.
Fascism is by no means the ideology of heroes. It is an ideology that allows any scumbag to consider himself a hero. Take, for example, the March 31 attack on 68-year-old human rights leader Lev Ponomaryov, who was beaten up outside his Moscow home by a group of young thugs. Driven by a fascist ideology, I am sure they felt like true national heroes.
There is a simple, unwritten agreement between Russia’s ruling elite and the siloviki who protect them: The authorities closest to the Kremlin have a free reign to rob the wealthiest Russians, while other law enforcements agencies get to plunder the rest. The problem is that this agreement collapsed when the crisis hit. 
If the economic situation deteriorates and the people start staging massive uprisings, the police, who have acted like an occupying force toward the people, will no longer risk their necks to protect the authorities from the angry hordes. They will join the mob and start marauding for themselves.

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

TITLE: A cut above
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Magic and gaiety reigned on stage on Saturday at the premiere of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” at the Mariinsky theater’s concert hall. Responsible for the cheery new production was guest director Alexander Petrov from the Zazerkalye theater, and the recruitment of Petrov, who went away with two top prizes — his rendition of Cinderella won him the best operatic show award — in the opera section at this year’s prestigious Golden Mask Awards, has been a triumph for Valery Gergiev, the Mariinsky’s artistic director.
Petrov brought flirtation and frivolity without travesty or any sign of camp into his interpretation of one of the world’s most admired and frequently revisited operas. The director chose to delicately downplay the opera-buffa element by muffling the buffonade and offering sublime humor.
Susanna, one of the opera’s most charming characters, was performed beautifully by vivacious Karina Chepurnova, a possessor of a pure, bright and flexible soprano voice, she produced splendid duets with Anastasia Kalagina (Rosina), whose melting, soaring sound and languid, vulnerable looks were thrilling. 
Artistically, Kalagina was grace personified — despite plotting with her maid to catch her husband, a man infamous for his roving eye, she avoided reducing herself to caricature, which was a winning approach.
Count Almaviva (Yevgeny Ulanov) brought masculinity and power to his take on a character who is frequently portrayed as a simple-minded, light-hearted womanizer — an original solution that played very much to the show’s advantage.
Thankfully, Petrov avoided turning a production that revolves around suspicions and attempts at infidelity into a juicy vaudeville, the common plight of this opera in Russia. Instead, he told the jolly story with a fresh take, youthful fun and elegant taste.
The show was full of amusing theatrical tricks, including the hunting of Count Almaviva (Yevgeny Ulanov). The Count snooped around a toy-shaped deer with a wooden dog, his face a stony picture of serious engagement and concentration. The scene of sending Cherubino (Yelena Tsvetkova) to the army had the audiences in fits of laughter as it ended with the poor young man in a full gas.
“Mozart and Beaumarchais make for some sort of a mystical contemporary style,” the director said before the show. “All those issues that the playwright touched upon in his work and which were later raised by Mozart in the opera are still highly resonant today. 
We can see and hear Bergman and some signs of Strindberg, we hear the absolutely modern Fellini, we sense an enormous number of creative, modern people who almost breathe with this amazing and profoundly touching story.”
Designer Yelena Orlova chose Viennese-style art nouveau sets for the show, complete with a miniature swimming pool, a greenhouse and a seesaw, all put to good use. 
This unorthodox solution appeared most natural and was very well received.
The cast, already well-rehearsed with the opera which has become a mainstay in the Mariinsky repertoire, employed its finest ensemble. The orchestra, under the baton of Valery Gergiev, had the desired light touch and flair.
Another highlight of the production was Marina Mishuk’s magnificent harpsichord accompaniment of the opera’s many challenging recitatives — performed impeccably with razor-edge precision.
Le Nozze di Figaro first played at the Mariinsky in 1901 but the show did not last long as the opera was banned by censors appalled by what they saw as excessive light-heartedness and shallowness. 
The next production followed only in 1998 when director Yury Alexandrov indulged in vulgarity and farce amidst sumptuous and lavish designs.
Le Nozze di Figaro was sung in Russian — for the first time on the Russian stage.
Curiously, ten years ago Gergiev’s strategy was to turn the Mariinsky into a genuinely international company, and the conductor boosted the international element by producing all foreign operas in their native languages, from Wagner to Rossini to Janacek.
Now, in a dramatic twist, the maestro is focusing on the younger and less devoted opera-goers who might be wary of reading subtitles, preferring the opera to be in Russian. 
This has led to a series of Russian-language shows that began with Alain Maratrat’s attempt at Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” which first saw the stage in December 2007.
Petrov’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” is undoubtedly one of the Mariinsky’s most successful shows in recent years, and is bound to attract sophisticated and unitiated audiences alike.

TITLE: Chernov’s
         choice
TEXT: Sometimes it is good to have Western labels’ representatives in Russia. This week, Moscow-based S.B.A/Gala Records, which represents E.M.I., caught some crooks trying to pass of another band as <b>Enigma</b>. 
Two concerts at the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army in Moscow later this month are advertized as “Mega-Show Enigma ‘Coming’” (with “Enigma” written in the largest type), but Gala distributed a message signed by Michael Cretu, the creator of the Enigma project, and Suzanne Flug of Enigma Music S.L.
“We, the Enigma artist management, officially declare that neither Enigma nor Mr. Michael Cretu personally is coming to Moscow on May 29-30 in order to take part in the Enigma mega-show ‘Coming’ in the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army.
“The Enigma management has not given any kind of permission and has no knowledge of this show.”
It is impossible to tell who will be performing at the concerts promoted by the company, calling itself “International Producer Center Leg & Sat,” because Google search failed to give any results either for the name of the show or for the promoter.
Meanwhile, some internet box offices continue to sell tickets for the show advertizing it as Enigma. For instance, website www.moscow-tickets.ru advertizes it as Enigma showcasing its new album and illustrates it with a portrait of Cretu himself.
In other news, EM, the local company that received some notoriety for attempting to pass off ex-UB40 singer Ian Campbell as his former band, and Over the Rainbow, a newly-formed band of former Rainbow members, for the now-defunct Rainbow itself, is bringing the <b>Pet Shop Boys</b> to the city. 
At least they don’t have to deceive the public into thinking that it will be some bigger band. The Pet Shop Boys are indeed due to perform at Ice Palace on June 10.
Meanwhile, the controversy around a scheduled concert by <b>Madonna</b> on Palace Square has settled down as the State Hermitage and the PMI promoter signed an agreement last month.
For some reason, the Hermitage’s director Mikhail Piotrovsky insisted on including a paragraph stating that “the company (PMI) guarantees that Madonna’s performance will not contain elements insulting traditional morals and religious sentiments.” Tickets will cost 2,000 to 10,000 rubles.
As it became known this week, <b>Britney Spears</b> will come to St. Petersburg, too, and will perform at an as-yet-unknown venue on July 19.
This Sunday, the British electronic pop band Ladytron will perform at Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa. <b>I Was a Teenage Satan Worshipper</b>, hailing from Tampere, Finland, are due to perform at Achtung Baby on Saturday.
““I thought this was black metal but instead it was some f*cking bubblegum,” the band said about its music on its MySpace page.
“Bloody soap bubbles come out of my ears when I hear this, for Christ’s sake!”

<i>By Sergey Chernov</i>

TITLE: Going for gold
AUTHOR: By Luke Ritchie
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: From the depths of dark-green-lined peer the empty eyeholes of ancient objects. Antiquity stares directly into the face of Hermitage visitors, and offers only questions and wonder.
That, at least, is the theme that the Hermitage has chosen to showcase their latest exhibition, centered around a golden mask found by the Russian archeologist Anton Baltazarovich Ashik 170 years ago in Kerch (in modern-day Ukraine). Discovered in a tomb supposedly belonging to a female tyrant of the Bosporan kingdom, along with various other treasures, this discovery has caused much controversy among scholars in Russia and abroad. 
Is this actually a woman’s mask, or that of a man? If it belongs to a woman, why does the tomb include male symbols of power, such as a ceremonial sword, and if it is belongs to a man, why does the tomb include women’s clothing and a mirror? Further, why are some items in the tomb datable to the 2nd-3rd century AD, while others date to the 4th-5th century AD? And if this is either the tomb of Rhescuporis or his wife, to which of the six Rhescuporis does it belong? Few answers are available for those visiting the museum, though the Hermitage does offer one interesting theory: “Two successive burials were made in the tomb, one of a female and the other of a male. One burial occurred in the 3rd Century AD, and the other at the beginning of the 4th Century AD. This was quite common at that time.” The Hermitage emphasizes, however, that this is just one hypothesis, and that the masks still contain many secrets.
Masks from the adjacent territories of Pontic Olbia and Samatia are also on display, along with a number of death and war masks from burial sites in Ancient Egypt, Tashtyk Central Siberia, and the Cuman Khanates (Polovtsy in Russian).   
“There’s a big interest in this sort of exhibition right now,” says the exhibition’s curator, Alexander Butyagin.
“We achieve four aims by showcasing this exhibition: greater awareness of this period, items from this period, Russian archaeology and theories as to the secrets held by such objects as this golden mask. This exhibition is accessible to all.” 
The primary golden mask, presented to Tsar Nicholas I by Ashik along with the rest of his finds, brought romance and interest to the sphere of Russian archaeology. One hundred and seventy years on, the romance burns just as brightly in the beautiful golden mask dedicated to that final moment encased forever in gold…

“Secret of the Golden Mask” is on display at the State Hermitage Museum, until Sept. 6. Open: 10.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday; 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. on Sundays. The Hermitage is closed on Mondays. All temporary exhibitions at the Hermitage are closed 30 minutes prior to the closing of the museum. Website: http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/

TITLE: The big bird
AUTHOR: By Tobin Auber
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Summer is almost upon us, and so we’ve ventured well off the beaten track, 100 kilometers up the coast to be precise. There, at the 47th kilometer along the road from Zelenogorsk, with a little help from the management’s map (to be found on their internet site listed above), you’ll find the Australian Farmstead, home to an ostrich and a flock emus. This is a really fun day out for the kids – not only do they get to feed these cute feathered friends, they also get to eat them. So, educational and nutritious - what more could you want?
A couple of warnings. Firstly, there’s a massive road construction project underway on the A-123, leaving a 10-kilometer stretch of gravel that you’ll have to take slowly. Secondly, the Farmstead isn’t geared up for those who don’t speak Russian. The tour of the farm begins with a very amusing half-hour talk about the big birds themselves (they have a flock of emus as well as an African ostrich) given by the owner, Vladimir Alksnis, which would be a shame to miss, but for advance bookings the management said they could provide an interpreter. 
Following the talk, where you’ll learn that ostriches are incredibly stupid (their brains weigh just 30 grams) and very good fighters, you’re taken out to meet the birds themselves. There are numerous other animals to be seen on the farm – cows, pigs, boar, various breeds of geese, ducks and chickens – but the tour only takes about an hour to an hour and a half. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful, but this isn’t Disney World and the farmstead hasn’t been overly adapted for the convenience of visitors.
Following the tour, it’s back into the farmhouse itself for an ostrich snack (included in the entry price of 300 rubles ($10.50) for adults, 250 rubles ($9.10) for kids. The ostrich julienne with toast was a salty concoction and went down very well, though you’d be hardpressed to describe the taste of ostrich meat having eaten one. For an additional 350 rubles ($10.60) you can try the homemade ostrich pelmeni (wild boar pelmeni come at the same price), but again, they really don’t give you the taste of the meat. Some would argue that all pelmeni have a tendency to be devoid of taste, and these were no exception, having been slightly overcooked.
The ostrich steak, however, at 750 rubles ($23) answered any remaining questions. The taste was much as described by Alsnis in his talk on the tour – a cross between beef and duck – and it had an incredibly tender texture. Highly recommended, then, but the real taste sensation of the meal was in fact the farm’s homemade mors – this traditional Russian drink made from berries was everything the drink should be, thick without bits of berry skin floating about in it, a rich, fruity taste and not too sugary. 
The Australian Farmstead, then, isn’t easily accessible, but makes for an excellent day out in the country. In addition, it comprises a mini-hotel, should you wish to try an ostrich fry-up for breakfast.

TITLE: The Meryl Streep 
Of The Russian Language
TEXT: <i>×òî</i> is one of Russian’s wonder words. It has a number of meanings and plays several grammatical roles. And it can be combined with a variety of other one-syllable words – and then pronounced in various intonations – to express just about every emotion known to human beings. Think of it as the Meryl Streep of the Russian language. 

As everyone recalls from first-year Russian class, <i>÷òî</i> can mean “what” when standing alone or in the first full sentence we foreigners learned: <i>×òî ýòî?</i> (What’s that?) And it’s a conjunction in about the third sentence we learned: <i>ß äóìàþ, ÷òî ïîíèìàþ</i> (I think that I understand). 

In colloquial speech, <i>÷òî</i> can play the role of <i>êîòîðûé</i> (that or which), <i>÷òî-íèáóäü</i> (anything) or <i>ïî÷åìó</i> (why). <i>Âîçüìè ñóìêó, ÷òî ëåæèò íà êîìîäå</i> (Grab the bag that’s on the dresser). <i>×òî òû ñòîèøü?</i> (Why are you just standing there?) <i>Åñëè ÷òî ñëó÷èòñÿ, ïîçâîíè</i> (Call me if anything happens). This is a handy grammatical construction. When you toddle from your friends’ place at 3 a.m. after drinking them out of house and home – and especially when you have a dim memory of a lascivious interlude in the kitchen – you can say: <i>Èçâèíè, åñëè ÷òî</i> (Sorry if I did anything to offend; literally, sorry if anything). 

Once you master these basics, you can start mixing and matching with other little words, for example, the particle <i>æå</i> (or <i>æ</i>). <i>×òî æ</i>, often preceded by <i>íó</i> (well), can be the verbal equivalent of a semicolon: All’s well; let’s move on. When you hand over a pile of documents to the traffic cop who’s stopped you, he’ll study them for a moment and then say: <i>Íó ÷òî æ. Âñ¸ â ïîðÿäêå</i> (Well, then, everything’s in order). In other contexts, it can be a verbal sigh. When you find out that you haven’t gotten the promotion you were expecting, you can say: <i>Íó ÷òî æ. Âñ¸ åù¸ âïåðåäè.</i> (Oh, well. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me.) 

But if you add the word è to the phrasal mix, the whole meaning changes. <i>Íó è ÷òî</i> is a question you spit out in a fit of righteous indignation or as a challenge. <i>Äà, ÿ çàø¸ë â áàð ïî äîðîãå äîìîé. Íó è ÷òî?</i> (Yes, I stopped in a bar on the way home. What of it?) 

Another handy combination of little words is <i>÷òî ê ÷åìó</i> (what’s what, literally, what to what). <i>Îí ðàáîòàåò â íàøåì îòäåëå âñåãî òðè íåäåëè è åù¸ íå çíàåò, ÷òî ê ÷åìó</i> (He’s only been working in our department for three weeks and still doesn’t know what’s what). 

And then there’s my favorite: <i>÷òî âû</i> (literally, what you), a multipurpose exclamation. It can be a generic expression of surprise or fright: <i>Ñåãîäíÿ ÿ óâîëèëñÿ. – Äà ÷òî âû?!</i> (Today, I quit my job. -- You did what!?) Or it can mean “No, not at all”: <i>Âû äàâíî çäåñü æèâ¸òå? – ×òî âû! ß òîëüêî ÷òî âúåõàë â ýòó êâàðòèðó.</i> (Have you lived here long? -- Not at all. I just moved into the apartment.) In another context, it can be a polite, if coquettish, reply to a compliment or favor. <i>Êàê âû ñåãîäíÿ õîðîøî âûãëÿäèòå! – ×òî âû! ß æå ñîâñåì íå âûñïàëàñü.</i> (You look great today! -- My heavens, no! I didn’t get much sleep last night.) And it can also be also used to console or commiserate: <i>Æàëü, ÷òî ìåíÿ íå ïðèíÿëè íà ðàáîòó. – ×òî âû! Âû èùåòå ðàáîòó òîëüêî îäíó íåäåëþ.</i> (Too bad I didn’t get hired. – Don’t let it get to you! You’ve only been job-hunting for a week.) 

<i>Íó ÷òî æ. Äàëüøå áóäó èñêàòü.</i> (Oh, well. I’ll keep looking.) 

<i>Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter</i>

TITLE: General Motors Posts $6 Bln
 1Q Loss
AUTHOR: By Tom Krisher and Kimberly Johnson
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: DETROIT — General Motors Corp. posted a $6 billion first-quarter loss and said it spent $10.2 billion more cash than it took in during the first three months of the year as revenue plummeted by $20 billion.
Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said talk of the company going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection appeared to have scared some consumers away from buying GM vehicles. 
GM faces a June 1 government deadline to finish a restructuring plan or face the prospect of going into bankruptcy protection.
GM’s loss for the quarter amounted to $9.78 per share, compared with a loss of $3.3 billion, or $5.80 per share in the year-ago period.
Revenue dropped sharply — 47 percent — from $42.4 billion to $22.4 billion in the quarter because of declining sales worldwide, mainly in North America and Europe, the company said.
Although the company cut structural costs by $3 billion, Young said that wasn’t enough to offset plunging revenue.
“We cannot cut costs fast enough to offset that revenue loss,” he said. “People are concerned about bankruptcy, and that’s the reason why we want to avoid it if at all possible.”
Young said a U.S. government guarantee of GM and Chrysler warranties was not revealed by the Obama administration until March 30, so during most of the quarter, consumers were afraid that GM would not be around to honor its warranties.
He said people should be reassured by the warranty guarantee, but it might take time to get the word out.
“I think it takes time for the news to get out to consumers,” he said.
GM’s cash burn for the quarter was offset by $9.4 billion in U.S. government loans GM received in the first quarter. GM got another $2 billion in April and received $4 billion in December, bringing total government loans to $15.4 billion.
As bad as the results look, analysts were expecting worse. Excluding special items, GM’s fourth-quarter adjusted loss was $5.9 billion, or $9.66 per share, beating Wall Street’s expectations. 
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a quarterly loss of $11.05 per share on revenue of $20.2 billion.
The company reported an operating loss of $3.2 billion from its North American operations alone.
GM posted an operating loss of $2 billion in Europe while it squeezed out a small profit in Latin America. 
Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Italy’s Fiat SpA, is in talks to take over GM’s operations in Europe — Germany’s Opel, Britain’s Vauxhall and Sweden’s Saab, and Fiat confirmed Thursday that it is also interested in the Latin American operations.
Young would not comment on Fiat’s interest in GM’s European or Latin America units. Fiat will have a 20 percent stake in Chrysler when that automaker emerges from bankruptcy protection.

TITLE: Chelsea Backs Drogba as UEFA Put Under Pressure
AUTHOR: By Angus MacKinnon
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: LONDON — Chelsea on Thursday rallied behind Didier Drogba as the striker came under fire for his furious confrontation with a referee in the wake of the club’s Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona.
Captain John Terry and manager Guus Hiddink both voiced their support for the Ivory Coast international but that will not help him avoid potentially severe sanctions from UEFA in the aftermath of a match which can only have tarnished the image of football.
Referee Tom Henning Ovrebo had to be smuggled out of Britain on Thursday by police who feared for his safety in the wake of the previous night’s semi-final second leg.
Ovrebo turned down four strong penalty appeals by Chelsea, who lost on the away goals rule after Andres Iniesta scored in the 93rd-minute of the second leg to level the scores at 1-1 on the night and on aggregate.
At the end of the game, the Norwegian official was confronted by a furious Drogba and had to be escorted down the tunnel by a group of Chelsea stewards who had difficulty restraining the striker.
Fearing reprisals from furious fans, police changed Ovrebo’s hotel before organizing his exit from the country, according to former international referee Graham Poll.
Poll revealed: “This morning he’s being smuggled out of our country under police escort — this is a referee of a football match. That is a disgrace.
“When he booked in a hotel they had to change the hotel he was staying at because of the fear that maybe fans would find him.”
Ovrebo’s situation has worrying echoes of the hounding of Swedish referee Anders Frisk, who retired from the game in 2005 after receiving death threats in the wake of another ill-tempered meeting between Chelsea and Barcelona.
Drogba’s extremely intimidating behaviour towards Ovrebo was aggravated by the fact that he went on to scream obscenities into a television camera, forcing some broadcasters who were carrying the match live to apologise to viewers.
“Are you watching this? It is a disgrace. It is a fucking disgrace,” Drogba shouted.
Hiddink, who attempted to restrain Drogba, acknowledged that the striker’s conduct was close to the limit of what is acceptable but said he understood his frustration over what he described as the worst refereeing performance he had seen in his long career.
“”People say he should be in control. The moment a player starts hitting then he is going beyond where he should go,” Hiddink said.
“I can understand his emotion and his behaviour after the game. I will protect that.”
Hiddink added: “There is an overall feeling of being robbed, of there having been an injustice. That’s why they were so hot and angry.
“Of course the players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and referees can make mistakes, that’s why we talk about giving the benefit of the doubt.
“But if you have seen three or four situations waved away, then it’s the worst I have seen.”
Terry appeared to suggest that Ovrebo’s handling of the match was influenced by a perceived desire by UEFA to avoid another all-English final.
“The word conspiracy is maybe the wrong one. It’s difficult when players are so high on emotion after a game. People are saying we should not have reacted the way we did but the fact is that six decisions went against us. For the ref not to give one of them is unusual.”
Terry added: “I’m fully behind Didier. The fact is the referee is the one who should face the consequences.”
UEFA will wait until they see Ovrebo’s match report before deciding what action to take.

TITLE: Phelps Ready 
To Start Training
AUTHOR: By Paul Newberry
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BALTIMORE — Michael Phelps heard all the jokes, dealt with all the criticism, read all the tabloid reports about his supposed party-boy lifestyle.
Now, it’s time to get even, in the one place where he has the last word.
The pool.
After resisting the urge to quit and serving a three-month suspension handed down by USA Swimming after an embarrassing picture showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe, Phelps is preparing for his first competition since winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.
When he competes at a meet in Charlotte, N.C. next week, he’ll certainly have plenty of motivation. Phelps is still seething a bit about how an admittedly “stupid mistake” led to such a dramatic fallout — and plenty of ridicule for an athlete who was celebrated after his record showing in China.
“When you find out things that have been said and done, for me it is sort of a factor,” Phelps said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, coinciding with the end of his suspension. “When you say something about me, more than likely I’ll be able to overcome whatever you say. I know I’ll be more satisfied than you’ll ever be at the end.”
Phelps didn’t always feel so defiant. When he was at his lowest, unsure if he wanted to return to swimming, he sat down with a pen and a piece of paper.
“I wrote out the pros and cons of swimming,” he said, “and quitting.”
In the end, swimming won out.
“What am I doing even thinking about quitting?” Phelps asked himself. “I’m 23 years old. I’m not retiring at 23. I have four more years to my career. I still have things I want to accomplish.”
He called longtime coach Bob Bowman on March 1 — Bowman remembers the day vividly — and said simply, “I’m doing it.”
“I was not really concerned whether he would quit or not,” Bowman said. “I was concerned that if he did quit, that he did it for the right reasons. Otherwise, it would just be a joke. I have told him, ‘You’ve done all there is to do. If you quit today, you’re the greatest of all time. You can walk away.’ But I did think it would be bad if he walked away because of this thing. He should go on his own terms.”
Always one to needle his most famous athlete, Bowman couldn’t resist making a joke about the end of the suspension, which limited Phelps to training only and made it tougher to stay motivated.
“Oh, good,” Bowman said. “He can go to a meet tonight.”
Phelps looks ready to race. He’s lost about 20 pounds of post-Beijing weight and gotten back into a six-day-a-week training regimen. He went through a rigorous three-hour workout Tuesday at Loyola College in his native Baltimore — two hours in the pool, another hour in the weight room.
“I’m happy to have some structure back in my life,” Phelps said.

TITLE: Taliban Trap Civilians in Pakistani War Zone
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MINGORA, Pakistan — Taliban militants blocked roads with rocks and trees, preventing terrified civilians from fleeing a Pakistani valley Thursday as the army stepped up a ground and air assault on the guerrillas that has been applauded by the U.S., witnesses said.
Destabilizing violence is flaring in Pakistan just as its embattled president is appealing in Washington for more help to reverse the extension of Taliban-held territory to within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the capital. The U.S. is particularly concerned by the unrest because its troops are fighting an increasingly virulent insurgency in Afghanistan fed from militant havens in Pakistan’s lawless border area.
Officials are bracing for a mass exodus from the Swat Valley, a former tourist destination where fighting has resumed after the breakdown of a controversial peace deal earlier this week. The military claimed to have killed more than 80 militants in the region on Wednesday. There has been no official word on civilian casualties.
More than 500,000 Pakistanis driven out by fighting in other regions of the northwest are already living in makeshift camps or with relatives, adding a growing humanitarian crisis to the country’s daunting security, economic and political problems.
With Taliban militants roaming the streets of Mingora, Swat’s main town, on Thursday and troops launching artillery and airstrikes on militant targets from helicopter, many residents hunkered down in their homes.
The army announced it was relaxing its blanket curfew in the area, but some of those who tried to make a swift exit said militants blocked their way.
Ayaz Khan, a 39-year-old from the Kanju area of Swat, said he loaded his family into his car early Thursday but that rocks, boulders and tree trunks has been laid across the roads, forcing him to turn back.
“I am helpless, frustrated and worried for my family,” he told an Associated Press reporter by telephone from his home. He appealed to authorities to clear the barriers and let people move to safety.
A health worker living in Mingora said militants had warned her to stay in her home.
“During the whole of last night, I heard firing, and again this morning,” said the woman, who would only give her first name, Maryam, for fear she could be targeted for speaking with a reporter.
“I don’t know when some weapon will hit our home and kill us,” she said.
Washington has said it wants to see a sustained operation in Swat and surrounding districts, mindful of earlier, inconclusive offensives elsewhere in the Afghan border region. Eight years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the area remains a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters blamed for spiraling violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But uprooting the insurgents from the valley will mean civilian casualties, property damage and massive disruption which could sap the resolve of the government, which is struggling to convince the nuclear-armed Muslim nation that fighting the militants is in its interests as well as those of the U.S.
President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Wednesday in Washington to explore ways to boost the country’s anti-terror fight, seen by many as the most pressing foreign policy issue facing the U.S. administration.
“Pakistan’s democracy will deliver,” Zardari said in Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the military offensive against the Taliban was a positive sign.
“I’m actually quite impressed by the actions the Pakistani government is now taking,” she said. “I think that action was called for, and action has been forthcoming.”
The Swat accord began unraveling last month when Taliban fighters moved from the valley into the nearby district of Buner, even closer to Islamabad, prompting an operation that the military says has killed more than 150 militants but has yet to drive them out.
The Swat Taliban are estimated to have up to 7,000 fighters — many with training and battle experience — equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, explosives and automatic weapons. They are up against some 15,000 troops who until recent days had been confined to their barracks under the peace deal.

TITLE: British Man Wins Dream Job On Australian Island
AUTHOR: By Kristen Gelineau
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SYDNEY — A bungee jumping, ostrich-riding British charity worker was named the winner Wednesday of what’s been dubbed the “Best Job in the World” — a six-month contract to serve as caretaker of a tropical Australian island. Ben Southall, 34, of Petersfield, beat out nearly 35,000 applicants from around the world for the dream assignment to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef for while writing a blog to promote the area.
He was selected for the 150,000 Australian dollar ($111,000) gig by officials from the tourism department of Queensland state.
Southall and 15 other finalists spent the past four days on the island for an extended interview process, which required applicants to snorkel through crystalline waters, gorge themselves at a beachside barbecue and relax at a spa. The finalists also had to demonstrate their blogging abilities, take swimming tests and sit through in-person interviews.
The job is part of a AU$1.7 million tourism campaign to publicize the charms of northeastern Queensland, and officials say that it has already generated more than AU$110 million worth of publicity for the region, as the campaign became an internet viral hit.

TITLE: Kobe's 40 Helps Lakers Top Rockets in Testy Game
AUTHOR: By Beth Harris
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LOS ANGELES — Two ejections. A handful of technical fouls. One bloody cut on Derek Fisher’s shaved head. Oh yeah, the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets actually played some basketball, too.
Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, Pau Gasol added 22 points and 14 rebounds and Los Angeles won a rough-and-tumble Game 2 111-98 on Wednesday night to even the Western Conference semifinal series.
“It was a good physical game. The intensity is elevated because a lot is at stake,” Bryant said. “It’s good for us.”
Ron Artest, one of two players ejected in the game, scored 25 points and Carl Landry added a career playoff-high 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who overcame a 14-point deficit in the first half only to trail most of the second.
The series resumes Friday in Houston.
Emotions boiled over in the second half, with Fisher and Artest getting ejected and technical fouls assessed to Bryant, Artest, Luis Scola, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom, who had 11 rebounds.
“It’s the playoffs,” Bryant said, “this is what it’s about.”
Artest was sent off the court by referee Joe Crawford with 6:57 remaining in the game after he pointed across the court at Bryant and made a gesture near his throat. Artest complained that he was elbowed in the throat by Bryant under the basket.
“We are playing basketball, there is a lot of contact taking place,” Bryant said. “If you are going to be physical you have to expect to get physical back.”
But Bryant didn’t think Artest deserved to be ejected for what he called “good playoff basketball.”
Neither did Artest.
“I knew I was going to get a technical foul. The point was to let the refs know this guy was elbowing me,” he said. “I know I went over there with no punches, no shoves to the face, just a confrontation. I’m not retaliating, I’m done with that.”
In the final 30 seconds of the third quarter, Scola, Odom and Walton all were hit with technicals after they jawed at the Lakers’ end of the court.
“Lamar went to the hole and he’d come down. Scola was tugging his jersey even more to pull him down,” Fisher said. “That’s why Luke and I stepped in.”
Moments later, Fisher was called for a flagrant foul when he collided with Scola, who was setting a pick, as the Rockets brought the ball up the court.
Scola fell to the court and Fisher received a bloody cut on his head near his right ear. Scola made both free throws and Houston retained possession.
Fisher said he wasn’t retaliating for the earlier incident.
“I knew they were going to run a high screen roll and we had a foul to give,” he said. “My intent was to run through the pick hard. I don’t agree with an ejection, but I understand Joe’s position and wanting to get the game under control. Hopefully there won’t be any suspensions involved.”
There was sideline drama, too. Houston’s Von Wafer was escorted to the locker room at the end of the third quarter after he was seen exchanging words with coach Rick Adelman.
“That’s a team situation,” Adelman said.

TITLE: Brazil Struggles to Get Aid to Flooded Areas
AUTHOR: By Alan Clendenning
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SAO PAULO — Brazilians huddled with livestock in shelters, paddled swollen rivers in search of food and complained that government aid was slow to arrive in a vast region stricken by some of the worst rainfall and flooding in two decades.
Authorities reported at least 32 deaths from drowning and mudslides and said more than 200,000 people have fled swamped, ramshackle homes. Rain continued to fall across a huge swath stretching from the Amazon jungle to the northeastern Atlantic coast, and meteorologists predicted the bad weather could last for weeks.
Rivers were rising as much as a foot (30 centimeters) a day in the hardest hit state of Maranhao. The surging torrents wrecked bridges and made it too dangerous for relief workers to take boats onto some waterways.
“There are some places where the water is so high that not even a boat can get to people,” said army Lt. Ivar Araujo, the commander of 200 soldiers trying to help two towns where tiled roofs barely poked above swirling waters and hundreds of people packed into gyms and schools on higher ground.
Television images showed hundreds of people with pets and chickens crowded inside an abandoned hospital turned into a shelter with only one working bathroom. 
Some victims paddled canoes to retrieve belongings from inundated homes, and children said they had no food. Isolated cases of looting were reported in communities cut off by high water.
In three Amazon states, at least 3,000 Indians living near rivers were chased to higher ground or into the jungle when flood waters gushed in and destroyed their crops of manioc, bananas and potatoes, said Sebastiao Haji Manchiner, executive secretary of the Brazilian Amazon Indigenous Organization.
Authorities worried about a worsening health toll because many areas have been isolated for days without getting any food or water.
Protests began emerging late Wednesday from flooded communities that aid wasn’t coming fast enough. In the Maranhao city of Bacabel, population about 70,000, officials said the displaced needed mattresses, blankets, personal hygiene products and drinking water.
“We’ve only had 13 shipments and there are still a lot of isolated people in rural areas,” Bacabel civil defense coordinator Roseane Silva told the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency.
Officials said the flooding hampered the aid effort.
Civil defense workers used army helicopters to ferry supplies in to some places. But trucks crammed with emergency food and water were stopped by many highway washouts and aid workers had to transfer the loads onto boats for delivery, said Abner Ferreira, a spokesman for Maranhao’s civil defense department.
Unusually heavy rains have been falling for two months on an area three times the size of Alaska, stretching across parts of 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, from the normally wet jungle to coastal states known for lengthy droughts. Meteorologists blamed an Atlantic Ocean weather system that typically moves on by April but hasn’t budged this year.
For some parts of the affected zone, it has been the worst rain and flooding since 1989, officials said.
In the Para state city of Altamira, more rain fell in three hours than the jungle city of 90,000 normally gets in two months, Mayor Odileida Sampaio told Agencia Brasil. 
About 5,000 buildings were damaged, and nearly a third of the city’s people were forced from their homes — many of them rickety shacks atop stilts.
“It’s a complicated situation that is affecting mainly the poor and the business owners,” Sampaio said. “Normally the Xingu River rises slowly, but this year it happened really quickly.”
Some victims said floodwaters rose so fast they barely managed to escape.
“I didn’t have time to get my things from the house, I lost everything,” Francisca Antonia Gomes told Globo’s G1 Web site in the state of Piaui, where high waters left 41,000 people homeless after the state had twice the normal amount of rain in April.
Globo TV said planes were unable to land in remote areas of Piaui to deliver aid and roads were impassable, leaving boats as the only option because helicopters were not available.