SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1473 (35), Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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TITLE: Experts Cool On Gains In Markets
AUTHOR: By Ira Iosebashvili
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Resurgent oil prices have helped ignite a major rally in Russia’s equity markets and given the commodity-dependent economy some breathing room. Market players, however, are cautioning that while there are many factors driving the increase in oil prices, fundamentals are not one of them. 
World oil prices hovered around $57 per barrel on Thursday and Friday, a level not seen since Nov. 17 and a breakout from the $40 per barrel to $55 per barrel trading range that they have been in since early March. The gain represents an 8 percent rise on the week, a 27 percent increase on the year and a 70 percent gain from a low of $33.50 per barrel reached in February.   
But the rally does not reflect the reality in the supply-and-demand dynamic of the global oil market, said Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief economist at UralSib. 
“Anybody in the oil industry will tell you that the price of oil is too high right now,” Tikhomirov said. “Demand remains weak, and there is far too much supply. This is a rally based on hope.” 
Some analysts said it was capital inflows rather than inherent fundamentals that were driving oil prices higher. 
“People could be using crude as a hedge against currency fluctuations,” said Artyom Konchin, an analyst at UniCredit. “Otherwise, the fundamentals are hardly bullish, and there has not been any data to show that demand will be increasing in the near future.” 
Nevertheless, Konchin said the strength in oil could continue. “The people buying oil right now are speculators,” he said. “We can remain detached from the supply-and-demand model for quite a while.” 
The rally in oil prices was sparked in part by hopes that the recession might end sooner than expected, as governments across the world, led by the United States and China, introduced massive fiscal stimulus packages aimed at breathing life into stagnant economies. Prices were also spurred by better-than-expected unemployment numbers in the United States and a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. oil stockpiles. 
Russian investors applauded the rally in crude, the country’s main export, pushing the benchmark MICEX Index past 1,000 for the first time since Oct. 1. The RTS Index ended the week up more than 12 percent at 938.27. 
The ruble joined in as well, surging to 32.51 against the U.S. dollar, its highest price since Jan. 15. 
The strength in oil prices was no doubt a relief for the government as well, which based this year’s budget on an average price of $41 per barrel for Urals crude, Russia’s main export blend. In April, the Economic Development Ministry said it raised its 2009 average forecast for the blend to $45 per barrel amid signs of steadying global demand. 
Part of the rally in oil has been based on what could prove to be an overly optimistic interpretation of economic news, said Ronald Smith, head strategist at Alfa Bank. 
“Unemployment numbers may be better this month than last month, but it still doesn’t mean they are good,” said Smith, who thinks that a fair price for oil would be in the $40 range. 
“The weak U.S. economy couldn’t support more than that,” he said. 
UniCredit’s Konchin was also quick to point out that for oil companies, crude’s price strength was being offset by a resurgent ruble, a phenomenon that, ironically, is a partial result of higher oil prices. 
“We are seeing the ruble gaining against the dollar, negating at least some of the profits the oil companies would see,” he said.

TITLE: Shortage of Airline Pilots Sets Off Alarm Bells in Industry
AUTHOR: By Maria Antonova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: SASOVO, Ryazan Region — With its neat rows of houses surrounded by lush greenery, the state-run Sasovo flight school is a bucolic place, graduating up to 300 pilots a year in Soviet times. Today, students occupy only two out of the six dormitory buildings, and the graduating class this spring will total about 40. 
A growing shortage of pilots, one of the industry’s most pressing problems before the economic crisis, has been masked partially by falling passenger numbers. But aviation experts expect it to re=-emerge in full force. 
The average age of a Russian pilot is 50, and 900 pilots are forced to quit every year after failing to pass strict medical tests, according to Federal Aviation Agency statistics. The government has launched a program that aims to churn out 1,000 new pilots nationwide every year, but even that measure will not fill the gap overnight. 
Meanwhile, the fallout of last year’s high jet fuel prices and the collapse of the AiRUnion coalition of airlines are still ricocheting through the industry, exasperating the situation both for pilots and those who hire them. 
“If a house has not been renovated in 15 years, a restart of financing can only be used for repairs,” said Sasovo director Yevgeny Smolnikov, sitting in his spacious office decorated with rural Russian landscapes and a portrait of President Dmitry Medvedev above his desk. 
“Government support has been increasing for the past three years, but the assistance should have come 10 years ago,” he said. “We are still lagging behind.” 
In the blackest period of the flight school’s history, the 1990s, graduates could not receive their pilot’s license for years. To become pilots, students had to accumulate 60 flight hours, but the school did not have enough fuel to fly its planes. Former students recall taking apart old aircraft to sell as scrap metal in order to pay for fuel and get enough flight hours to graduate. 
One such student, Alexei, eventually gave up and dropped out. Now 31 and still wanting to fly, he is getting a commercial pilot license through expensive private lessons. He is too old to apply to state flight schools. 
“In a state school, you are completely dependent on whether the government chooses to pay for fuel and have no way to predict or influence the process,” he said in an e-mail when contacted though a pilots forum. “I chose the more expensive but more reliable way.” 

High-Flying Plans 
Those days are behind Sasovo, Smolnikov said, and all pilots who have graduated over the past four years had the necessary 60 flight hours. The school is also receiving 19 new planes this year, as well as flight simulators, and the airfield is to be renovated in 2010. 
Sasovo doesn’t have enough flight instructors, whose monthly pay of 10,000 rubles is a tenth of what pilots make.
It is also increasing admissions to meet government targets. Still, because the school had to catch up on flight training for past graduates, it has not been able to admit many new students. 
The government’s target of 1,000 new pilots a year will only be reached in about five years, provided that state financing remains stable, Smolnikov said, adding that about 70 percent of applicants don’t even pass the medical check — an indication that Russia’s youth today is not as healthy as their Soviet peers were. 
There are six state schools in Russia that train pilots for civil aviation. Two of them have the status of university-level institutions, and four, including Sasovo, are academies. 
The government has promised 34.3 billion rubles (about $1 billion) to flight schools through 2015, and the bulk of the money has been earmarked for new planes, airfields and flight simulators. 
Flight instructors, however, seem to have gotten the short end of the stick. Some 30 percent to 40 percent of flight school instructors are over 60, and there is a severe shortage of candidates to fill their positions when they retire, Federal Aviation Agency chief Gennady Kurzenkov said at an industry meeting in December. 
Sasovo has only 66 percent of the flight instructors it needs, said director Smolnikov. 
Sasovo instructors say the reason for this is simple — commercial pilots earn 10 times more than instructors. But experienced pilots like Fyodor Lyashchenko said they are not leaving the school because they enjoy its tight-knit community and the opportunity to teach. 
“Flight instructors get paid about 10,000 rubles” a month, he said. “Every year there are fewer and fewer of us because of so-called natural selection: age and health.” 
The situation is even worse with plane mechanics, whose starting salary is only 3,500 rubles. So even though the government is ready to allocate 18 million rubles to buy each new Yak trainer plane, soon there may not be anyone to look after them. Sasovo mechanics currently have to maintain two or three planes simultaneously, a nearly impossible feat now that the school’s flight season has started in earnest after the snowy winter months. 

Dissatisfied Pilots 
Commercial pilots who have jobs with major Russian airlines are also not entirely satisfied with their working conditions. Salaries have increased by 150 percent on average since 2006, so pilots are no longer leaving Russia in droves to work for foreign airlines, said Miroslav Boichuk, head of the Cockpit Personnel Association of Russia, the pilots’ trade union. But the pilot shortage is pushing airlines to extend working hours and lobby for a change in legislation that sets working conditions. 
Boichuk estimated that there are 18,000 to 20,000 commercial pilots working in Russia right now. 
Problems in the industry started a year ago when fuel prices began growing rapidly. Some industry players, like AiRUnion, an alliance of five regional airlines, did not make it. Now, faced with falling passenger volumes, some companies believe that one way out of the crisis is to amend “Work and Rest” legislation to make pilots’ work more efficient. 
“The inefficient use of flight personnel is one of the main hurdles for the industry right now,” said Andrei Martirosov, CEO of UTAir, one of the five largest airlines in Russia. 
“The system bears the imprint of the socialist era,” he told The Moscow Times at a recent industry forum. 
“Pilots receive competitive salaries, so the system of using labor in aviation should also follow international practice,” he said, offering as examples an increase of maximum monthly flight time from the current 80 hours, or an adjustment of the length of the flight shift. In other countries, like the United States, maximum monthly flight time can be set as high as 100 hours. 
But pilots call such demands hypocritical. “Pilots essentially sell their health, and a failed health check can leave them out of a job at any given moment,” said a source in one of Russia’s largest airlines’ trade unions, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of unnecessarily stirring up a conflict between management and employees. 
“In other countries, companies provide insurance of up to $750,000 in such cases, guarantee employment on the ground or lay out other safety nets,” he said. “If Russian airlines want pilots to work longer hours, they should do the same.” 
Right now, such insurance is only available in rare cases and is equivalent to about two months’ work, he said. 
Still, many pilots are opting to bite the bullet and wait for the turbulent times to pass. “We are in this crisis together with our employers,” said Boichuk of the cockpit association. “When the boat starts to draw water, we should be united in bailing it out. Conflict can only destabilize the situation further.” 
Russia’s Air Code allows only Russian citizens to work as pilots for Russian airlines. Although the airlines are lobbying to amend the legislation to lift the barrier, doing so without simultaneously improving working conditions and health insurance might only draw the worst pilots from other countries. “Opening the gates now will hurt flight safety,” Boichuk said. 
The list of compromises accepted by pilots has grown as several of the largest airlines have started to switch from Russian planes to more fuel-efficient foreign aircraft. In November, S7 said goodbye to its last 33 Russian planes, which collectively employed 600 people. 
Aeroflot announced a plan late last year to phase out its older Russian planes over the next two years. Currently it has a total of 33 Ilyushin and Tupolev planes. Aeroflot has said it will include the new Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 in its fleet. 
Despite the overall shortage of pilots, plans to retrain the pilots of Russian planes to fly foreign-built planes look increasingly unattainable for cash-strapped airlines. 
In addition to pilots, Russian planes employ flight navigators and engineers, which are not needed on the foreign craft. Upgrading them to become pilots will cost 3 million rubles per person under a government program announced by Transportation Minister Igor Levitin in March. Levitin said 300 people would be retrained under the 1.3 billion ruble program. 
The program’s criteria are very strict, requiring the candidates to speak fluent English and be under 45, the trade union source said. “Right now, there are a lot of middle-aged men sitting at home cramming for their English tests,” he said. 

Fewer Russian Planes 
The industry’s trend away from Russian planes will eventually force the government to choose between helping the airlines or helping the Russian airplane-building industry, said Sasovo director Smolnikov. Although the flight school plans to phase out the “morally obsolete,” fuel-inefficient Antonov jets used to train students, the planes replacing them will also be Russian, he added. 
“Airlines using Boeings and Airbuses would like future pilots to train on Cessnas or Pipers, which would make the transition smoother,” Smolnikov said. “They sometimes say they want to invest in the school, but then they come here and see our Russian planes.” 
Sasovo has no foreign aircraft, and most of its planes are not airworthy, parked in neat rows in a section of the airfield and jokingly referred to as “Jurassic Park.” 
“This is a problem that needs to be solved by the government,” Smolnikov said. “Planes are just an instrument for us — we’ll work with whatever is given to us.” 
The Federal Aviation Agency declined to comment for this article, saying that many of the newest measures related to pilot training are still being hammered out. 
Russia’s largest users of foreign planes — Aeroflot, S7 and Transaero — also refused to provide answers to questions about their training programs and hiring practices. 
Even if the government successfully retrains 300 navigators and engineers, the new pilots would only make a small dent in an industry that has lost 2,500 flight personnel in the past few months, Boichuk said. 
About 550 of these people are pilots, some of whom flew on Russian planes in existing airlines and others for the defunct AiRUnion. 
“People who have been left out on the street right now are a very expensive resource. If we lose them, we’ll have an even bigger deficit once passenger volumes pick up again,” Boichuk said. 
But many months after AiRUnion disintegrated, few pilots formerly employed by its airlines have found jobs. The same goes for Khabarovsk-based Dalavia, which employed about 2,800 people and ceased operating in October because of its debts. 
Only one of the 150 pilots who flew for Domodedovo Airlines has found a job, said Vladimir Akinshev, a former Domodedovo employee and the coordinator of the airline’s trade union. The airline was part of AiRUnion. 
Since September, its pilots have not been working and are receiving an industry pension of about 6,000 rubles. 
“People are filling out applications and going from airline to airline, but nobody is hiring during the crisis,” Akinshev said. 
A long period of unemployment makes the prospect of finding a new job less likely because the airline would have to spend more money on training before letting the pilot fly again, Akinshev added. 
“Pilots will take any job out of despair, but flying is the only work experience that most of us have,” he said. “Eventually we will give up and go to work as drivers or doormen.”

TITLE: Fans Leave Soccer Game In Protest
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
TEXT: Thousands left a soccer match to protest the police’s arbitrariness after the OMON special-task police attacked fans and seized a banner saying “Soccer Is Not for the Police” in St. Petersburg on Sunday.
By raising the banner, the fans were attempting to demonstrate solidarity with fans in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, where police refused to let a large group of fans into a stadium on April 30.
A video clip on YouTube.com shows fans throwing dozens of plastic chairs and two smoke bombs at the retreating OMON officers. After the incident some 6,000 fans occupying sectors 12, 13 and 14, which are intended for Zenit fans, left in protest while the game continued, Fontanka.ru reported.
Part of the Championship of Russia, the match held in Petrovsky Stadium was between the local football club Zenit and Krylya Sovetov from Samara, a city in the southeastern region of European Russia.
Zenit’s Dutch coach Dick Advocaat criticized the police’s treatment of fans during Sunday’s game.
“The problem is that the policemen sometimes think that they are more important than normal people,” he was quoted as saying on Monday by Sovetsky Sport.
Several detentions were reported. When reached by telephone on Monday, a police spokesman said he would only have details on Tuesday.
Earlier on Sunday, the police stopped a small rally the United Civil Front (OGF) and Yabloko Democratic Party held to demand that police respect the constitutional right to assemble, detaining its participants. The activists have held six such protests since March, gathering on Sundays.
City Hall denied authorization for all six of the rallies due to a “high density and intensity of passenger traffic” and similar reasons in the area and similar reasons, but nearby events received authorization, including a 150-strong Hare Krishna gathering held close to the site on Sunday.
Three activists on Nevsky Prospect displayed posters with quotations from the Russian Constitution, the Russian Law on the Police and a classic verse by 19th-century poet Alexander Pushkin. They had been standing there for less than 20 minutes when a police van arrived and all three were seized by policemen and thrown into the vehicle.
After spending about three hours at a precinct police station, activists Yelena Popova, Denis Vasilyev and Igor Andreyev were charged with “unsanctioned picketing,” Vasilyev said on Monday.

TITLE: Crisis Hits Russians’ Plans for Travel
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: As the financial crisis threatens the tourism industry in Russia just as everywhere else, vacation plans have become the first thing people are ready to change in order to save money.
More than 30 percent of Russians are ready to economize on their vacation plans, according to the latest research conducted by the Romir company of the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research.
In the past three months, at least 36 percent of Russians decided not to travel in order to save money, the results showed. 
However, the world average of travel-economizers was higher, with 45 percent of people making such a decision. The highest numbers were seen in Mexico (80 percent), Iceland (72 percent) and Argentina (60 percent). Meanwhile, only 22 percent Swiss citizens avoided traveling. 
In Russia the majority of those who cut expenses on vacation and travel are residents of Northwestern region (60 percent) and Siberia (36 percent).  
For 47 percent of Russia’s rural residents, travel is not an option at all. Meanwhile, only 20 percent of big cities’ residents are ready to cut expenses on it.
At the same time, people are spending less on entertainment. Forty-three percent of Russians economized on entertainment in the last three months, as compared to 48 percent of people around the world. 
Americans were among the most careful on the matter, with 69 percent cutting expenses on entertainment, while only 32 percent of Saudi Arabians did the same.
Sergei Korneyev, vice-president of Russian Union of Travel Industry, said the number of Russian residents willing to spend their money on traveling has decreased significantly across the board.
“However, the figures on this tendency are rather contradictory because it also depends on the region that people come from,” Korneyev told The St. Petersburg Times. “Thus, in general the Russian tourism flow was reduced by 15 to 20 percent, but in St. Petersburg this index was 10 to 15 percent.”
Korneyev said another worrying tendency of the Russian tourism market was a significant decrease in the number of travelers buying tours in advance.
“Today people tend to buy tours at the last minute, when they are already sure of their current financial situation and see that they really can afford it,” he said.
Korneyev said the Russian tourism market will likely undergo a 20 to 25 percent drop in sales this summer. The most vulnerable destinations are the most expensive and distant, in which case sales may decrease by 40 percent, he said.
“Despite rather gloomy predictions, Turkey and Egypt will remain the favorites of the Russian tourism market,” Korneyev said. However, vacationers in these places will change their spending behavior, going for shorter trips and staying in cheaper hotels, he said.
Meanwhile, countries like Turkey and Greece have been cutting prices on their tourism offers by 20 to 25 percent, Korneyev said.
At the same time, Eastern Europe may become a more popular tourist destination for Russians this summer.  Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro will offer more attractive prices because their currencies also suffered devaluation, he said.
Cheap options like bus tours to Scandinavia and Europe, as well as trips to Finland, will suffer the least, Korneyev said. Specialized travel, such as a trip to go scuba diving, will also be less affected by the crisis because those trips involve not only travel, but also personal hobbies.
Korneyev said the tourism market had expected that vacation costs on Black Sea in Russia and Ukraine would drop, but this expectation was not fulfilled.
“Our recent research showed that traveling to Russian resort city of Sochi will be more expensive than a trip to Turkey or Bulgaria,” Korneyev said.
According to Korneyev, Abkhazia may become another option for Russian tourists, because the republic is willing to host them for less.

TITLE: Chopper Crash Kills Governor of Irkutsk
AUTHOR: By Alexandra Odynova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Irkutsk Governor Igor Yesipovsky and three other people died when their helicopter crashed over the weekend in the Siberian region, authorities said Monday. 
Yesipovsky and the others took off on a private helicopter from Irkutsk late Saturday afternoon but did not return as scheduled, investigators said. 
 The wreckage of the U.S.-made Bell 407 helicopter was discovered only Sunday some 100 kilometers southeast of Irkutsk, the Investigative Committee said in a statement Sunday. 
The cause of the crash was unclear, and officials could not be reached for comment Monday, which was a national holiday. 
Authorities have opened a criminal investigation into possible air safety violations. 
President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday appointed Deputy Irkutsk Governor Sergei Sokol as the region’s acting governor, the Kremlin said in a statement. 
Both Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed their condolences to Yesipovsky’s family. 
As president in April 2008, Putin appointed Yesipovsky as the region’s acting governor, and Yesipovsky was subsequently confirmed for the post by the Irkutsk legislature. 
 Transportation Minister Igor Levitin arrived in Irkutsk on Monday to personally oversee the crash investigation, RIA-Novosti reported. 
Sokol, the acting governor, said the helicopter was new and had been “in good condition,” Interfax reported. 
Killed in the crash along with Yesipovsky were the governor’s first deputy, Mikhail Shtond, Yespiovsky’s bodyguard, Alexander Shostak, and pilot Viktor Kunov, Interfax cited Sokol as saying. 
The Irkutsk administration announced that Tuesday would be a day of mourning in the region. 
Helicopter crashes have claimed the lives of several senior officials and prominent public figures in the past decade. 
In January, the Kremlin’s envoy to the State Duma, Alexander Kosopkin, and several other federal and regional officials died when their helicopter crashed during a hunting trip in the Altai region. 
Prosecutors are now investigating whether the expedition was engaging in poaching when their helicopter went down. 
In 2002, Krasnoyarsk Governor Alexander Lebed and seven others died when their Mi-8 helicopter crashed. Sakhalin Governor Igor Farkhutdinov was killed along with 17 others when their Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Kamchatka in 2003.

TITLE: Minister Called Police ‘Nazi Swine’
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Ukrainian Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko hurled racist insults at German police during a drunken brawl at Frankfurt airport last week, German media reported. 
The minister called the police officers “Nazi swine,” among other pejoratives, when the prevented him from boarding a flight to Korea on May 4 because of drunken and disorderly conduct, the German weekly Focus reported over the weekend, citing an official police report of the incident. 
The minister and members of his delegation, including his son Oleksandr, physically resisted police intervention in a scuffle that left four officers at the Frankfurt airport with injuries, including bruised testicles, the report said. 
Lutsenko also swore at officers in English, shouting “You are Hitler children” and “I kill you,” the German tabloid Bild reported Monday, citing the police officers’ statements. 
Lutsenko’s ministry has said the media reports of the incident are untrue, explaining that he missed his flight due to “an unfortunate misunderstanding.”

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <b>Gay Parade Banned</b>
MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow City Hall said Thursday that it would not allow a gay pride parade that activists organized to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest final.
“There have never been gay parades in Moscow, and there never will be,” City Hall spokesman Sergei Tsoi said.
Gay rights activists said the May 16 parade would go ahead. 

<b>New Police Chief</b>
MOSCOW (SPT) — Former St. Petersburg police chief Mikhail Vanichkin could be tapped to take over as head of the Moscow police, an Interior Ministry source told the Rosbalt news agency.
Vanichkin, chief of St. Petersburg police from 2002 to 2006 and currently an aide to Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, is “the most appropriate candidate for the post,” the source said, Rosbalt reported Wednesday evening.
A new Moscow police chief could be appointed at the end of the month, Interfax reported in April. 
Former Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin was fired by President Dmitry Medvedev after an armed rampage last month by a Moscow police officer, who killed three people at a local supermarket. 

<b>Rally Funding</b>
MOSCOW (SPT) — An Interior Ministry investigation into anti-government protests in the far eastern Primorye region earlier this year has determined that they were not sponsored from abroad, local Communist leader Vladimir Grishukov said Thursday, RIA-Novosti reported.
The United Russia-led State Duma had asked the Interior Ministry in March to check whether grants from foreign human rights groups had funded street protests by Communist supporters and the grass-roots group TIGR. Thousands of people protested a government decision to hike tariffs on imported used cars. 

<b>New Missiles</b>
MOSCOW (SPT) — Russia will put its first regiment of new multiple-warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles into service this year, the chief of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, said Thursday.
“We plan to put the first regiment of mobile RS-24 missile systems equipped with multiple re-entry vehicle warheads into service by the end of the year,” Solovtsov told reporters at the Vlasikha military base outside Moscow, RIA-Novosti reported.
Solovtsov also said the Strategic Missile Forces would test-launch at least 14 missiles in 2009. In the meantime, he said, the space forces will dismiss 16,500 officers this year as part of ongoing military reforms.

TITLE: Eurovision Opens in Style, Feathers
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Eurovision Song Contest officially opened Sunday with a flamboyant party featuring Russian pop star Filip Kirkorov encased in ostrich feathers and the greatest hits of German band Genghis Khan and Israeli transsexual Dana International. 
The contest was earlier given the seal of approval by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who made a surprise visit to the Olimpiisky Sports Complex on Friday and dropped in on a rehearsal by the Azeri duo, AySel and Arash. 
Putin toured the press center and then walked on stage. In a photo sent by the band, Putin is shown shaking the hand of singer Arash, who is wearing ripped jeans and still holding a microphone. 
 “I was so nervous that I accidentally called Putin ‘Mr. President,’” Arash said in an e-mailed comment. “But I hope that Vladimir Vladimirovich will forgive me this slip and send a text message [vote] for us.” 
 Putin may have already promised his Eurovision vote elsewhere, however. He met the composer of the British entry, Andrew Lloyd Webber, in November and said that he was “ready” to vote for Britain. 
 The opening party at the Central Manezh Exhibition Center on Sunday began with delegations from the 43 countries making their way up a red carpet, waving their respective national flags. 
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov then gave an opening speech in his characteristic barnstorming style, shouting and waving his arms as he declared the contest — “the world’s greatest holiday of song” — officially open. 
 The contest’s chief organizer from the European Broadcasting Union, Svante Stockselius, then gave a speech calling the Moscow preparations “overwhelming.”  
The emcees for the event were Channel One host Andrei Malakhov, resplendent in a tight white suit, and pop star Alsou, who seemed a little uncomfortable and kept looking at her script. 
Malakhov will host the semifinals on Tuesday and Thursday with Natalia Vodianova, a Russian-born top model, while Alsou will host the final on Saturday with Ivan Urgant, a comedian and Channel One talk show host. 
The ceremony kept speeches to a minimum and moved swiftly on to the music. 
Introduced as “Russia’s king of pop,” Kirkorov bounded on stage in a leather suit and performed two disco numbers. 
His act culminated with dancers whipping out ostrich feather fans and burying Kirkorov in a cloud of fluttering feathers.

TITLE: Putin Seeks Nuclear Agreement in Japan
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold talks in Japan on Tuesday aimed at signing a long-delayed deal to supply more nuclear fuel to the country and cooperate in making equipment and building reactors. 
Officials are wrapping up preparations for an agreement between the Russian and Japanese governments on nuclear power cooperation that has been in the works since 2007, Putin said in an interview with Japanese news media before his visit to Japan, which is to kick off later Monday. 
“We see how successful Japan is in developing high technology,” Putin said in the interview posted on the Cabinet’s web site Sunday. “And, of course, coupling the possibilities of Russia and Japan in these areas, I think, would be very important.” 
He added that he thought the countries would sign the nuclear agreement during his visit to Tokyo. 
Japan’s ambassador to Moscow, Masaharu Kono, was less optimistic, saying Friday that the countries had yet to reach a final agreement on the matter, Interfax reported. 
The deal would open the way for Russia to almost double its nuclear fuel exports to Japan, conduct joint research and create partnerships to make equipment in Russia and pursue reactor-building contracts worldwide. Russia now supplies 15 percent of Japan’s market but is aiming to increase its share to 25 percent in the next few years, Putin said. 
Talks took longer than expected to complete, missing deadlines at the end of 2007 and in mid-2008 over Japanese concerns that its technology might be leaked to the Russian defense industry.

TITLE: Neighbors Sign Deal With EU
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PRAGUE — The European Union extended its hand to six former Soviet republics on Thursday at a summit meant to draw them closer into the EU orbit despite Russia’s deep misgivings.
Presidents, prime ministers and their deputies from 33 nations were signing an agreement late Thursday meant to extend the EU’s political and economic ties. Moscow, however, has eyed the EU’s Eastern Partnership plan with mistrust, seeing it as yet another way to intrude into its traditional sphere of influence.
The EU will offer its eastern neighbors free trade, millions in economic aid, regular security consultations, economic integration into its single European market, technical expertise and visa-free travel. The partnership obliges the neighbors to commit to democracy, the rule of law and sound economic and human rights policies.
“The Eastern Partnership will seek to support political and socioeconomic reforms of the partner countries, facilitating approximation toward the European Union,” says a draft of the summit’s final statement.

TITLE: Firtash’s Firm Fights To Recover Emfesz Gas
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — A company controlled by Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash said Thursday that it was fighting to recover control of Emfesz, a major Hungarian gas distributor, from a mysterious firm called RosGas that has been linked to Gazprom. 
Mabofi Holdings Limited, registered in Cyprus, said it discovered Wednesday that its 100 percent interest in Emfesz had been “fraudulently” transferred to the Swiss-registered RosGas. 
“There is no information available as to the beneficial ownership of RosGas,” Mabofi director David Brown said in an e-mailed statement. 
Emfesz managing director Istvan Goczi said last week that Gazprom controlled RosGas, Reuters reported. 
A Gazprom spokesman declined comment Thursday. Gazprom has previously said it had “nothing to do with” RosGas. 
Mabofi, part of the Group DF that holds Firtash’s business assets, accused Goczi of pulling off the transaction by using his power of attorney, given to him in October 2004, to buy Emfesz. 
“Neither Mabofi, Group DF nor any of the senior management of the group had any knowledge of this transaction and have given no approval whatsoever,” Mabofi stated. 
The Hungarian authorities registered the deal, the company said. 
Mabofi is taking steps in Hungary, Cyprus and Switzerland to defend its rights to the shares and “is confident that the ownership of Emfesz will be restored to its rightful owner as soon as possible,” it said. 
Group DF is also in the process of removing Goczi from its board of directors. 
Mabofi said one of RosGas’ directors was Tamas Gazda, a Hungarian lawyer formerly employed by Emfesz. 
RosGas first surfaced last week when Emfesz, which controls 20 percent of Hungary’s gas market by importing some 3 billion cubic meters of the fuel per year, identified the company as its new supplier. The previous supplier, RosUkrEnergo, had difficulties getting gas out of Ukrainian storage facilities, Emfesz said. 
Firtash owns 45 percent of Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo, where he is a partner with Gazprom, which holds another 50 percent of the trader. Gazprom, however, excluded RosUkrEnergo from the trade with Ukraine starting in January. 
Ukraine seized more than 11 bcm of RosUkrEnergo’s fuel following a January dispute with Russia over gas transit to Europe. Afterward, Poland also stopped receiving deliveries from RosUkrEnergo, which insists that it still owns the gas in Ukraine. 
The Emfesz affair could be another sign of a strain in relations between Gazprom and Firtash. Goczi helped Gazprom to take Emfesz away from Firtash, a Gazprom source said, Vedomosti reported Thursday. Gazprom is eyeing Bulgaria’s Overgas, which it owns 50-50 with Bulgarian businessman Sasho Dontchev, as a new owner for the Hungarian trader, the source said.

TITLE: Beer Producers Hit by Slump in Sales
AUTHOR: By Jessica Bachman
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The largest players on the Russian beer market, Baltika and Anheuser-Busch InBev, saw their domestic sales drop in the first quarter as consumption declined for the first time since 1996. 
Russia and Eastern Europe are key growth markets for global brewing giants, who have been actively scooping up strong domestic brands in recent years. 
Baltika, owned by Denmark’s Carlsberg Group, said first-quarter sales by volume were down 5 percent year on year, the first fall since 2003. 
Anheuser-Busch’s first-quarter sales by volume in Russia fell by 9.3 percent compared with the same period last year, more than in any other country where drops were recorded in the company’s earnings report. 
The fall in sales was not quite as bad as expected, however, as customers stayed true to their brands despite a tough economic environment. 
“We had more pessimistic forecasts for the quarter,” said Natalya Kolupayeva, an analyst at KIT Finance 
“Baltika increased its prices this year, but the consumer stuck with them, and volumes declined only slightly. This customer sensitivity is a good indicator for the rest of the year.” 
Despite the downturn in demand and dip in sales volumes, both companies’ earnings were up. Baltika’s first-quarter profit rose 18.5 percent year on year to 2.5 billion rubles ($77 million), the company said in a press release on Thursday. And Anheuser-Busch InBev saw its first-quarter profit jump 92 percent year on year to $716 million. 
Baltika was able to offset a fall in demand because of an 11 percent price increase on its brews and savings on ingredients, Carlsberg said in its earnings report. 
Russian beer production in the first quarter fell 6 percent year on year, according to data from the State Statistics Service, while Baltika put the contraction at about 7 percent. 
“The current economic crisis undoubtedly affected the purchasing power dynamic of the population and the volume of production and consumption,” the company said. 
But the company’s president, Anton Artemyev, said he expected the beer market to recover from the low first-quarter results by the end of the year. 
“Regardless of the current 7 percent decline in the first quarter, we are sticking to our forecast that the market will decline by 2 percent for the year and basing this expectation on a slight acceleration in consumption,” Artemyev said. 
Baltika’s market share rose 1.5 percent during the quarter to reach 40 percent of the Russian beer market, eating into that of Anheuser-Busch, whose market share fell to 16.8 percent in the first quarter from 19.1 percent in the same period last year. 
In its earning report released Thursday, the company attributed the contraction in Russia to “weak industry volumes and a share loss in the value segment.” 
Kolupayeva from KIT Finance said the brewers are right to expect higher consumption and sales volumes in upcoming quarters. 
“The first quarter is a weak indicator for the year because it is composed of winter nonholiday months, where demand for beer is low,” Kolupayeva said by telephone on Thursday. 
“The second and third quarters are peak consumption seasons, and sales will do better.”

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <strong>VEB to Sell Bonds</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Vneshekonombank, or VEB, plans to sell $10 billion of foreign-currency bonds in five issues under closed subscription, Anna Lyamina, a spokeswoman, said by telephone Thursday. That’s up from the $5 billion in bonds the company said it would sell earlier.
The bank also approved 19.2 billion rubles ($590 million) in loans to 10 banks, VEB said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. 
The largest loan, for 4.96 billion rubles, was given to Russian Standard Bank, VEB said. 

<strong>3G Go-Ahead</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — The Communications and Press Ministry gave three mobile-phone companies permission to provide third-generation services in Moscow and other regions of central Russia, a spokeswoman for the ministry said Thursday. 
Mobile TeleSystems, VimpelCom and MegaFon were given permission to use frequencies after tests showed that they didn’t interfere with military operations. 

<strong>Russians Anti-Debt</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Most Russians are unwilling to borrow or lend money, according to a poll published Thursday by the VTsIOM. 
VTsIOM said 84 percent of respondents “never” or “rarely” borrow money, while 85 percent “never” or “rarely” ask for loans. 
The poll of 1,600 Russians was conducted between March 28 and March 29. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points. 

<strong>CB Eases Support</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — The Central Bank reduced its support for the banking system by about 400 billion rubles ($12.2 billion) last month as lending decreased on industry’s slump and waning consumer demand, according to Alfa Bank. 
State funds accounted for 12.5 percent of the industry’s total assets at the end of March, Natalya Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank, wrote in a research note Thursday. 

<strong>Export Exceptions?</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — The Energy Ministry plans to submit proposals to the Economic Development Ministry on excluding eastern Siberian oil fields from the export duty on crude by the end of this week. 
The proposal may call for companies to be exempt from the export duty for as long as three years, said an official with the Energy Ministry, who declined to be identified in line with official policy. 
The Economic Development Ministry will send the proposals to the government for final approval, the official said.

<strong>Transneft’s Charity</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Transneft made more than 1 billion rubles ($30 million) in charitable contributions last year from sales of extra oil in the pipeline system, Vedomosti said. 
The recipients included Kremlin-9, a fund for members and veterans of the Kremlin guard service, the newspaper reported. 
Transneft’s charitable contributions in 2008 fell to 1.1 billion rubles from 7.2 billion rubles the previous year, Vedomosti reported, citing a bond prospectus. 

<strong>Severstal’s U.S. Plant</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Severstal said steelmaking at its Severstal Wheeling unit will stay idled and cold rolling and coating there will be temporarily idled in coming weeks.  Severstal will also idle indefinitely all production and finishing operations at Severstal Warren, Ohio.

TITLE: Sanoma’s Q1 Profits Fall 85%
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: HELSINKI — Newspaper and magazine publisher Sanoma saw first-quarter profit plunge 85 percent to 8 million euros ($10.6 million) because of a rapid drop in advertising sales, the Nordic region’s largest media group said Thursday. 
Revenue in January through March fell 7 percent to 636 million euros ($847 million), from 683 million euros a year earlier, Sanoma said. Net profit in the same period last year was 54 million euros. 
The Finnish company cautioned that it would cuts costs in 2009 with layoffs, saying it expects sales to continue to fall and operating profit to decline. 
Sanoma’s stock fell 2 percent in Helsinki to 10.38 euros ($13.83) in early afternoon trading. 
The Helsinki-based group said it had closed loss-making kiosks in Russia, discontinued some 20 magazine titles and plans to “strongly increase the efficiency of its operations in all markets.” 
Sanoma has strong interests in Central Europe and last year launched new magazines and increased digital and online operations in Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. It employed 18,000 people at the end of the period — up 5 percent on 2008. 
Sanoma owns Independent Media Holding, a leading Russia-based publisher of magazines, including local editions of Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, FHM, and the English-language newspapers The Moscow Times and the St. Petersburg Times. In 2001, it bought the magazine operations of Dutch publisher VNU. 
Sanoma is one of the five largest magazine publishers in Europe, with 220 titles and operations in more than 20 countries. It publishes the Nordic region’s largest broadsheet, Helsingin Sanomat, with a daily circulation of some 425,000.

TITLE: Ukraine Central Bank Fires Back
PUBLISHER: Bloomberg
TEXT: KIEV — ZAO Alfa-Bank’s reason for missing a bond payment this week is “artificial” and may destabilize Ukraine’s currency market, according to Ukraine’s central bank.  
Alfa, a unit of billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group, said Wednesday that it didn’t make a $100 million bond payment due May 4 because of a lack of U.S. dollars supply in the Ukraine interbank market.  
“This is an artificial reason to avoid scheduled payments and a dangerous precedent to destabilize Ukraine’s internal currency market,” the central bank said Thursday in a statement on its web site.  
Natalia Ilnytska, a spokeswoman for Alfa-Bank, said the lender declined to comment on the statement.  
The central bank imposed restrictions on foreign-currency trading last month to arrest a 40 percent slump in the hryvna in the past year.  
Policymakers banned trading currencies for future settlement and required banks seeking dollars and other currencies to prove the money is being used to repay loans that were converted into hryvna when they were originally received.

TITLE: Razing Russia’s Fourth Estate
AUTHOR: By Christopher Walker
TEXT: In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly designated May 3 as World Press Freedom Day in order “to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom.” But in Russia, there is little to celebrate.   
Using a range of restrictive measures and methods, the authorities have continued to shrink the space for independent journalism. The repressive methods used by the Kremlin has made the country an exceptionally dangerous place for journalists to work. 
Last week, an unknown assailant beat Yaroslav Taroshenko, editor-in-chief of Korruptsiya i Prestupnost based in Rostov-on-Don, into a state of unconsciousness. In April, Sergei Protazanov of Grazhdanskoye Soglasiye, was killed in Khimki, in what some believe may have been a pre-emptive strike to silence him from producing critical reporting on election misconduct earlier this year. In January, Anastasia Baburova of the weekly Novaya Gazeta was gunned down with human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov in broad daylight on a Moscow street. While we are only five months into 2009, it has already been a brutal and bloody year for journalists. 
If recent history is any guide, it is unlikely that any of the perpetrators of these crimes will be brought to justice. Of a string of journalists’ deaths, including notable cases such as Paul Klebnikov, editor of Forbes magazine in Russia, Anna Politkovskaya of Novaya Gazeta and Ivan Safronov of Kommersant, none has been solved. 
The impunity with which these crimes have been committed is telling. This dysfunctional arrangement creates a chilling effect that extends to all corners of Russia’s media landscape. 
Beyond the violence and intimidation there are other examples in which the independent media are squeezed. Freedom House’s 2009 Russia media freedom report said the government owns two of the 14 daily newspapers, more than 60 percent of the 45,000 registered newspapers and periodicals and holds partial or full control of all six national television stations and two national radio stations. 
The power of the state exerts its most important influence through control of television. This dominance allows the government to shape the news and the perceptions of those who consume it. Most Russians rely on television as their prime source of information, and they don’t hear the criticisms of Kremlin opponents because networks, with Kremlin prodding, have placed these opponents on their blacklist. At a time when critical analysis of government policies is sorely needed, it is worrisome that media oriented toward entertainment and propaganda has gained such a foothold. 
True, the Internet has become an increasingly important alternative outlet for informing and engaging Russian audiences, but as Internet penetration has increased, so have the authorities’ measures to interfere with users’ rights. These were among the principal findings from Freedom House’s recently released study, “Freedom on the Net.” 
The authorities have also sought to muzzle foreign media outlets, including the programming of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the BBC and Voice of America. The Kremlin has undertaken a systematic intimidation campaign in which RFE/RL’s Russian partners have been subjected to harassment. In a span of eight years, a total of 26 RFE/RL affiliates have been knocked off the air. Today, only seven remain. 
While the slide is unambiguous in our findings, one of the distinct features of Russia’s modern authoritarian model is that, unlike the Soviet model, it does not attempt to control every medial outlet. Instead, the authorities have adapted their approach and now seek to prevent or disrupt only what its politically consequential, either through direct control or indirect interference. Where the state does not have direct control, proxies like government-controlled Gazprom Media — which owns television networks, radio stations and newspapers — perform a similar function, with the possible exception of Ekho Moskvy radio. 
By using and abusing the law, the authorities have despoiled the environment for independent media. Today, independent reporting on sensitive issues occurs as an exception to the rule. When it does occur, it often comes at a great cost. The courageous journalists at Novaya Gazeta can attest to this harsh reality. 

Christopher Walker is director of studies at Freedom House, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization and research institute.

TITLE: Naming FSB Sources And Measuring Trust
TEXT: In response to “The Jason Bourne of Russia,” a column by Yulia Latynina on April 30. 

Editor, 
I can’t help but respond to Latynina’s vitriolic attack in her St. Petersburg Times column regarding my article that appeared in The Independent. She takes issue with a long story I published the previous week about an Interior Ministry operative and a Russian-British playwright. As the last sentence of my story admits, “the case throws up far more questions than it answers.” 
Several months of investigation and interviews, a trip to the courthouse and long nights reading court documents led me to draw some tentative conclusions and offer up some possible questions. Latynina, on the other hand, is happy to rely on “a story told to me by acquaintances from Makhachkala 1 1/2 years ago” that apparently completely destroys my story and sets the fact straight. 
When Latynina quotes a passage from my story, she inserts words that were never there and omits the clause “It is impossible to know” at the beginning of one quoted sentence, giving it the opposite meaning to my original. 
Finally, she also writes that the Interior Ministry operative was an “FSB major.” According to the court documents, a stamped and signed letter from his former employer, the information given to me by his friends and his testimony, he worked not for the FSB but for the Interior Ministry. Presumably, Latynina’s acquaintances in Makhachkala are better informed. 
Shaun Walker 
Moscow


<strong>People Still Trust Putin</strong>
In response to “Over Half Of Russians Slam State’s Direction,” a St. Petersburg Times article on May 5. 
Editor, 
The St. Petersburg Times wrote that the number of Russians thinking that the country is moving in a positive direction fell to 43 percent in April, down from 59 percent last May. It also hints at a significant loss of trust in the president and prime minister. 
But I would note that the 43 percent who think that the country is following a positive direction is still larger than the 36 percent who think that it is following a negative one. 
Second, the lower ratings for President Dimitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin are in line with their historical norms. Their slight fall over the past months was probably a result of the cooling down of fervor after the Georgia war in August rather than any underlying loss of trust. 
Anatoly Karlin 
San Francisco

TITLE: Four F’s for the Four I’s
AUTHOR: By Vladislav Inozemtsev
TEXT: Thursday marked the one-year anniversary since President Dmitry Medvedev took the oath of office. He came to power promoting the doctrine of “Four I’s” — that is, to develop the country’s institutions, infrastructure, innovation and investment. But Medvedev was hostage to a system that had been created over the preceding eight years by his mentor, former President Vladimir Putin. What has come of Medvedev’s Four I’s after a year in office?
1. Innovation. With the scientific potential of the Soviet era heavily weakened and the country’s educational system in a shambles, innovation has been on a steady decline for the last nine years. One simple way of measuring the scientific decline is by reading a few recent doctoral dissertations that are archived in the State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles. You will quickly see that most of them are devoid of any academic merit at best and incoherent at worst. It should not surprise anyone that the Russian economy used 60 percent fewer domestically produced technologies in 2008 than it did in 2000. The share of foreign patents issued to Russians fell from 4.6 percent in the early 1990s to 2.6 percent today, and the combined circulation of all scientific journals published in this enormous country have fallen by about 95 percent and amount to about half of the total published in tiny Belgium. 
2. Investment. In 2007, investment in Russia totaled 6.6 trillion rubles ($200 billion) from domestic sources and $120 billion from foreign investors. But in 2008, this flood of investment turned into a panicked flight of capital from all projects that carried the slightest degree of risk. Foreign investors pulled a record $129.9 billion out of the economy in 2008, while domestic basic capital investment dropped by more than 15 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Huge loans borrowed from foreign banks were spent on senseless mergers and acquisitions between Russian companies, and the enormous aggregate debt has become a crippling burden on the economy. Banks — the main sources of investment — ran to the state to be bailed out. The crisis has sharply reduced demand and driven up credit rates, making long-term investments unlikely. 
3. Infrastructure. This remains one of the weakest elements of the country’s economy. Russia, with a population of 142 million and a land mass of 17 million square kilometers, has 62 percent fewer roads than Canada, with a population of just 32 million and a land mass of 9 million square kilometers. All of Russia’s air travel needs could be served by just one British economy airline, EasyJet. Moreover, half of Russia’s railroads were laid before 1916, and the aggregate depreciation of the country’s apartment buildings is more than 70 percent.
In any country with such problems, infrastructure improvement should be a top priority, but the bureaucrats during Putin’s presidency spent most of their time and energies on matters other than infrastructure. If this was the case during the oil-boom years, what can we expect during the crisis years? In 2009, when the government will run a budget deficit of at least 7 percent of gross domestic product, it is clear that we will see little improvement in the country’s infrastructure.
To make matters worse, 1 kilowatt hour of electricity costs 40 percent more in Russia than in Germany, and 1 square meter of Moscow retail or warehouse space costs about three times more than similar space in Paris and Rome. Laying 1 kilometer of asphalt on a four-lane highway costs four times more in Russia than the average price in the European Union. This is largely a result of the high degree of monopolization and corruption in the country. 
4. Institutions. These are in critical condition. Putin’s power vertical is incapable of effectively distributing the funds allocated for fighting the crisis, policemen shoot people on city streets, and the percentage of funds lost to corrupt practices on state orders is growing rapidly. Painstaking work is needed in fighting corruption and reforming the civil service system. 
Russia should draw lessons from what other countries have accomplished — starting with how France controls its traffic jams to how South Korea is able to control corruption. Only if Medvedev can adopt successful measures used by other nations will he be able to say in 2012 that his four years as president were not wasted. 

Vladislav Inozemtsev is the director of the Research Center for Postindustrial Society and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Svobodnaya Mysl magazine. This comment appeared in Vedomosti.

TITLE: Cultivating Potatoes and Hysteria
AUTHOR: By Alexei Pankin
TEXT: You have no idea how difficult it is to train a lap dog to attack people,” an old friend recently told me. 
“Why would you want your dog to attack someone?” I asked. 
“Seven million people are already out of work,” he explained, “and that number will grow. It’s time to start thinking about how to protect myself when all the new criminals start roaming the streets.” 
Along with the warmer weather I have noticed a surge of apocalyptic premonitions in the media. From morning until night, we hear endless details about the shooting rampage by a disturbed Moscow police officer. In addition, we are bombarded with news of an imminent swine flu pandemic that is sweeping the world and approaching Russia. One of the most popular themes on morning television is how many more Russians are cultivating potatoes this year at their dachas. 
Last week, Vedomosti published a study by U.S. consulting company Eurasia Group that predicted the increasing likelihood of an uprising in Russia. Commentators on Ekho Moskvy radio discussed the same theme throughout the next morning. I imagined dacha-goers listening to the news and plowing up their flowerbeds to plant potatoes to tide them over during the hard times ahead. 
But what I found most disturbing was a series of three articles published in Novaya Gazeta in April that contained correspondence between jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and science fiction writer Boris Strugatsky. The theme: The world’s hydrocarbon reserves are running out, no viable alternatives have been found and the planet faces an imminent acute global energy shortage. Within the next 10 to 15 years, people everywhere will reject democratic values, and regional wars will break out over access to oil fields and fresh water. But there was one optimistic note amid all of the gloom and doom: The human race will survive as a species. 
Those predictions make my hair stand on end. You have to agree that an all-out war for every kilowatt-hour of electricity is far worse than any financial crisis. 
In this regard, I recalled former Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov, whose fate mirrors that of Khodorkovsky’s. Both have been charged with embezzlement. 
In addition, Adamov wrote a series of long articles in his own defense that were published in Izvestia. I therefore turned to Adamov for commentary as a “colleague” of Khodorkovsky’s in the sense that both worked in the energy field, published articles and have been serving prison terms on charges they insist were trumped-up.
“We have enough oil for at least 100 years,” Adamov said. “Although it will become increasingly expensive to extract. But we have sufficient coal for 500 years,” he said. “If humanity can get by for the next 500 years, what’s the point in getting worked up about an apocalypse?” he asked. Adamov added that new nuclear technologies could provide sufficient energy to both rich and poor countries for the next several thousand years. 
After finally hearing the opinion of a specialist, I was able to relax for the first time in recent weeks. I also gave myself a pat on the back for not caving in to the mass hysteria by sending my 7-kilogram West Highland terrier to training school to protect me against the enraged mobs of unemployed workers. Nonetheless — just to be on the safe side — I decided not to go to my dacha this weekend. Had I gone, I may have been tempted to tear up my lawn and plant potatoes, as all my neighbors are doing. 

Alexei Pankin is the editor of IFRA-GIPP Magazine for publishing business professionals.

TITLE: The Continuing Dream of Modernization and Innovation
AUTHOR: By Yevgeny Kiselyov
TEXT: After British writer H.G. Wells met Vladimir Lenin in the Kremlin in 1920, he described the visit in his book “Russia in the Shadows.” Wells referred to Lenin as “the Kremlin dreamer” after listening to Lenin’s utopian plans for rapidly developing a country in ruins after the Bolshevik Revolution and civil war. 
Wells returned to the Soviet Union in 1934 to meet with Lenin’s successor, Josef Stalin. Although Wells acknowledged that some of Lenin’s industrial plans had indeed been realized, he understood that they were achieved at a tremendous human cost through Stalin’s brutal tyranny that included the gulag and forced labor. In the end, Wells was convinced that Stalin was no better than Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini and that the West should never align itself with the Soviet Union. 
In this sense, Wells bucked the trend among leading intellectuals in the early and mid-1930s to support communism — more accurately, Stalinism — as an acceptable alternative to fascism. Leading Stalinist sympathizers and apologists included Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and German novelist Lion Feuchtwanger. They were impressed with Stalin and his so-called “industrial miracles.” Feuchtwanger even found justification for Stalin’s repression of political opponents, as evidenced in his book “Moscow, 1937.” 
Even today, it is not difficult to find modern-day Feuchtwangers who give valuable support to “new Kremlin dreamers” among the country’s political elite. A number of U.S. and Western European journalists and political analysts who, after receiving first-class, red-carpet treatment by the Kremlin — for example, the exclusive annual Valdai Club meetings with the Russian president and other leaders — return home to write fawning, superficial articles about Russia. The Kremlin PR spin doctors know how much these VIP junkets mean to foreign guests, whose consulting fees automatically increase by a fat, double-digit percentage after they can boast to their clients that they had an exclusive, face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or President Dmitry Medvedev. 
But as far as Wells’ coined phrase about “Kremlin dreamers” is concerned, I don’t believe that it applies to high-ranking officials in Medvedev’s administration and Putin’s Cabinet. They are not the type of people to sing patriotic lyrics from the Soviet past, such as “We were born to turn fairy tales into reality,” which was sung by all communist believers (and nonbelievers) at summer camps and during holidays. Rather, today’s leaders strike me more as cold and cynical pragmatists who never believed the overblown propaganda of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s time — and they don’t believe it today, even as they develop similar propaganda campaigns from their Kremlin and White House offices. Today’s so-called “Kremlin dreamers” are the same people who, in answer to the pro-Communist lyrics “We were born to turn fairy tales into reality,” sang in their kitchens a diametrically opposed ditty that was popular in the Brezhnev era: 
The Soviet emblem — a beautiful sight, 
With a hammer on the left and a sickle on the right. 
But it doesn’t matter how much you forge or how much you mow, 
You’ll get screwed wherever you go. 
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov’s latest promise made in Voronezh in late March to transform Russia into the most desirable country to live is an attempt by high-ranking officials to distract the people from their real problems and from thinking too much about whether the government’s anti-crisis measures are really effective. 
But empty promises are nothing new for Russians. We were promised communist prosperity by 1980 for all Soviet citizens, but in its place we got the war in Afghanistan and a U.S.-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics. We were also told that along with the Olympics we would receive full shelves of meat and other deficit foodstuffs to replace the perpetually empty store shelves that made everyday Soviet life in the Brezhnev era a tremendous struggle. (By the way, those shelves remained barren for another 11 years after the 1980 deadline passed; they started filling up only after the Russian flag replaced the Soviet one and only after then-President Boris Yeltsin began implementing necessary — albeit painful — economic reforms.) 
I also recall during perestroika when then-President Mikhail Gorbachev promised to build enough apartments to give one to each family by the year 2000, but the housing shortage remains one of the most critical problems facing Russia today. 
A decade ago, we learned about former Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref’s grandiose plan to modernize Russia within 10 years. At that time, Gref headed the Center for Strategic Development think tank. Under the banner of Gref’s strategic plan, Putin won the presidential vote in March 2000. But it didn’t take long for everybody — Gref included — to forget all about those lofty promises and goals. 
Shortly after he was elected president, Putin pledged that Russia would reach the standard of living of Portugal — “the poorest country in [Western] Europe”-- in 10 years. If you measure “quality of life” in terms of per capita gross domestic product for both countries in 2008, it is obvious that Russia ($15,800) has no chance of catching up to Portugal ($22,000) by 2010. 
Even when the military-industrial strength of the Soviet Union made it a superpower on par with the United States as nuclear missiles rolled off factory assembly lines like sausages, the quality of life lagged woefully behind Europe and the United States. That was obvious to anybody who traveled outside of the Soviet Union — not necessarily to the United States or Western Europe, but also to the so-called “more advanced” Warsaw Pact countries like Poland, Hungary or East Germany. That is why the Soviet borders were locked and guarded and why only select individuals were permitted to travel to the West. 
It is interesting that even superloyal, pro-Kremlin observers today admit that “Strategy 2020” should not be viewed as a set of concrete economic goals that Russia should be held strictly accountable for, but a set of far-reaching political and economic principles to provide assistance to the poorest citizens and to invest in the country’s development, innovation and modernization. What a deal! Under the guise of a “highly refined strategic plan,” we have learned that our leaders have really only pledged to fulfill the basic obligations that any responsible government has toward its citizens in every civilized country of the world. 
Medvedev’s upcoming address to the State Duma and the Cabinet concerning the 2010 federal budget may give us some clues whether the government is truly committed to modernizing the country’s political and economic institutions, or if we should be prepared for another decade of Kremlin dreaming. 

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

TITLE: Fateyev Discusses Mariinsky’s Direction in Ballet
AUTHOR: By Kevin Ng
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Yuri Fateyev, in his mid-forties, was appointed by Valery Gergiev, head of the Mariinsky, as the acting artistic director of the theater’s ballet nearly a year ago in, June 2008. A former dancer of this greatest of classical ballet companies, he was a good character dancer and one of his memorable roles was the jester in “Swan Lake.” Fateev was also the main repetiteur for the Mariinsky’s large repertory of ballets by Balanchine, and is a valued teacher to many male dancers including the Mariinsky star Igor Zelensky. He has also taught at overseas companies including the Royal Ballet in London.
I interviewed Fateyev last month in his spacious office in the Mariinsky Theater, not far from the office of his predecessor Makhar Vaziev, who has since become the director of La Scala Ballet in Milan. 
Fateyev began by praising the achievements of his predecessor, “I think that everything that has been done by Mr. Vaziev was not bad. I was actually working in Mr. Vaziev’s team. And according to his orders, I was working on the projects that he gave me to do, teaching the new ballets. We were working on the new premieres by Balanchine, Roland Petit and John Neumeier. I was assisting him. The major issue for me now is to keep the company in a good shape, and to achieve the highest standard of performance that has been the norm here for centuries. The other major issue is to bring up new young dancers, which has also been done before by Mr. Vaziev. It’s also most important to me.”
“There are three major policies that have been established for the artistic development of the company. The first is to keep up the classical repertoire as we have it, and to maintain it to the highest standards. The second is to find new choreographers, to introduce new choreographies for the company. The third is to look into the past artistic history of the Mariinsky Theater, and to consider which ballets deserve to be restored or restaged.”
But what new choreographers does he have in mind, besides the in-house choreographer Alexei Miroshnichenko who has created a number of ballets for the Mariinsky? “It’s very difficult to say for choreographers working for only half a year. It takes a very long time to bring up a choreographer. And it’s very difficult to find a good choreographer. I’ve got some names in mind, but I’d rather not say anything till I’ve seen some real results of their work.”
Last autumn, Fateyev promoted Alina Somova to a principal. It was a controversial decision, as there has been a lot of criticism of Somova distorting the classical line in her dancing. Fateyev explained, “I thought that by that time Somova had really grown and deserved the status of a principal.” Fateyev also brought into the Mariinsky earlier this year the star couple from the Mikhailovsky Theater – Denis Matviyenko and his wife Anastasia Matviyenko.
Lately there have been rumors circulating that the Mariinsky Theater has fired some dancers due to the current economic crisis. Fateyev denied this, however. “No, nobody has been fired at present. We’ll never fire a good dancer. The main task during a crisis for any official of any level, starting from President Medvedev down to the lowest level, is to keep and preserve all the good staff under his control, as well as their working environment, and to protect them from external conditions. It may be remnants of the Soviet system, when we have people in the company who are covered by certain law and we cannot fire them. It’s happening not just in our Theater but also in other companies overseas as well. This is not fair on a company, because they are taking away financial resources from the company. This crisis has made us think more about every detail of the administrative and artistic management.”
The production of “The Sleeping Beauty” that is being danced this season is the 1952 version by Konstantin Sergeyev. In Russia, this Soviet version is more popular than Sergei Vikharev’s reconstruction of the original 1890 Imperial Ballet version which has been acclaimed in the West. Many are worried Vikharev’s reconstructions of Petipa’s 19th century classics have been dropped. 
“We have ‘Le Reveil de Flore’ in our repertory in May. This year we are taking Sergeyev’s production of “The Sleeping Beauty” for our overseas tours to Taipei, London, Baden Baden, and Washington next year. So in order to keep it to the highest standard, we have to keep it in our repertory.”
But shouldn’t performances of the reconstructed original version of “The Sleeping Beauty” be kept up in the Mariinsky Theater, which is after all where Petipa created his masterpiece in 1890? As a matter of fact, Vikharev has just reconstructed “Coppelia” for the Bolshoi Theater which has recently taken an interest in the reconstructions of the classics. 
Fateyev, in what may come as a relief, mentioned the good news that Vikharev’s reconstructed original version of “The Sleeping Beauty” will continue to be performed. “As you know, we did present Vikharev’s version of “The Sleeping Beauty” at the beginning of the season. We’ve already scheduled this ballet into our repertoire for next season as well. However, I have to say that I’ve not seen the original version, because it was such a long time ago. But, frankly speaking, there is nobody here now who can confirm whether the reconstructed version is really the original version.” 
In fact, Stepanov’s choreographic notations of the ballet can be seen in a manuscript kept at Harvard University. But Fateyev commented, “I think one can read the notations in different ways and it’s impossible to reconstruct the original ballet with the notations.”
Moving on to the subject of dancers, does he agree that there is a lack of stars in the Mariinsky nowadays compared to the recent past? Diana Vishneva, for instance, gives more performances overseas nowadays than in St. Petersburg. “Vishneva has actually danced eight performances this season. During this season Uliana Lopatkina is giving two or three performances here every month. Igor Zelensky has done four performances with us here and on tour. Svetlana Zakharova has danced three performances here.” The Bolshoi star Zakharova has indeed guested more frequently with the company since Fateyev took office.
“Besides these world-famous stars, we also have other great stars: Andrian Fadeyev, Leonid Sarafanov, Viktoria Tereshkina, Alina Somova, Vladimir Shklyarov, and Ekaterina Osmolkina.” All these stars should certainly be a big treat for the audiences attending the ballet programs in the upcoming Stars of the White Nights Festival.

The Stars of the White Nights Festival will open on Thursday 21 May with Ratmansky’s ballet “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, premiered in the Mariinsky Festival in March, and will continue till 19 July.

TITLE: In the Spotlight: ‘17 Moments of Spring’
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: This week, the country’s newspapers have been obsessing over the 1970s spy series “17 Moments of Spring,” which the clever people at Rossia television have carefully changed from the original black-and-white film to color. We’re only talking a small dash of gray to Shtirlitz’s eyes and scarlet to his Nazi armband, but the new look has caused wails of outrage. Not to mention a new crop of impenetrable Shtirlitz jokes.
The show is set in Germany during the last months of World War II. The hero, Shtirlitz, is an undercover Soviet agent who is trying to outwit the Nazis and stop them from holding secret talks with the Western powers. 
It’s hard to understand why “17 Moments” is so popular at first glance, despite the stylish photography and stunningly handsome lead actor, Vyacheslav Tikhonov. The show is heavy on long dialogues and scenes of the hero gazing into the distance. The spy story is also pretty confusing, given that the Soviet agents and the Nazis all wear the same uniform — and are all speaking Russian. 
If you do manage to watch the whole show, though, it will be a passport to understanding punning headlines playing on the phrase, “Shtirlitz, I’ll ask you to stay behind” — no, me neither — as well as countless jokes involving Shtirlitz and his Gestapo nemesis, Muller. It also might help to explain Russians’ affection for a certain former Soviet agent in East Germany.
You have to be careful about the comparisons you make, however. A Saratov newspaper was threatened with court action after it published a collage showing Vladimir Putin in the noble role of Shtirlitz — perhaps forgetting that showing the then-president in a Nazi uniform was not the best idea.
The show gets a regular airing round Victory Day, but this year Rossia decided to spice things up by showing a new colored-in version, which apparently took three years to complete. A nice change, you might think, but Komsomolskaya Pravda even devoted a front page to disgusted comments about the hero’s “brown makeup” and the “terrible, childish coloring-in.”
KP also printed a topical joke about a new book of Shtirlitz jokes — “The jokes are still the same, but the letters are multicolored.
“Looking at Shtirlitz’s face, which is usually a noble pearlish-gray color, but is now covered in a light colonial tan, as if the Standartenfuhrer had got addicted to a tanning salon, you think that you might as well paint a marble statue with foundation and blusher,” Kommersant wrote.
Goblin, the famous translator of Western films into Russian, who likes to add his own jokes, went even further in his blog, saying Shtirlitz’s appearance reminded him of the colored-in photographs that they put on grave stones.
One blogger, Yefim Diky, even suggested that the whole coloring project was actually an attempt to divert attention from the Mikhail Khodorkovsky trial.
The Communists of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region also announced one of their regular campaigns against popular culture — this youth group has already attacked the Russian characters in the last “Indiana Jones” and “James Bond” films as perverted Western propaganda. This time, they are calling for viewers to just say no to the colored version.

TITLE: Local ‘Beast From the East’ Boxer Prepares for Title Bout
AUTHOR: By Johannes Berendt
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Nikolai Valuev will be looking to erase the darkest hour of his career when he comes face-to-face with Ruslan Chagaev on May 30. The first-ever heavyweight title fight on Finnish soil will certainly be a special one as the two rivals go back a long way. Back in April 2007, Chagaev shocked the boxing world by clinching a close majority decision to hand the Russian Giant the first — and only — loss of his glorious career. It killed Valuev?s dreams to tie Rocky Marcioano?s unbeaten record of 49 fights without a loss. “The defeat was a major blow to everyone,” his promoter Kalle Sauerland said. “Nikolai is a gentle giant but I know that deep down this loss really haunts him. For two years, he has been waiting to set the record straight. We are glad that he will finally get the chance to make amends.”
The first defeat in 48 fights changed Valuev?s life completely. He parted company with long-time coach Manuel Gabrielian, replacing him with Alexander Zimin. The Russian trainer has since altered Valuev?s training routine, making him a faster, more mobile and last but not least a better fighter. Zimin?s training methods paid off in February 2008 when Valuev destroyed former world champion Sergej Liakhovich in a title eliminator. Valuev won every single round on every scorecard, shutting out the “White Wolf” in impressive fashion. “I am ready for the rematch with Chagaev,” he announced at the post-fight press conference. 
“I cannot wait to get in the ring with him”.
Little did he know that February 2008 marked the beginning of a long waiting period. As the new mandatory challenger, Valuev was set to take on Chagaev on May 31. However, shortly before the fight, Chagaev turned sick. The showdown was postponed to July 5 but Chagaev picked up an Achilles injury in the last sparring, forcing him to cancel the second meeting. “I was very disappointed”, Valuev recalled. “I was very keen to win my title back from the only man who defeated me.”
Valuev got his wish — at least half of it — when the WBA vacated the belt and set up an August clash between the two top-challengers, Valuev and John Ruiz. Just like he had done in their historic first meeting in December 2005 when he became the biggest and tallest champion of all time, Valuev again defeated the “Quietman” on points to notch the WBA heavyweight title. “It is an incredible feeling to be the champion again,” he enthused. “But I still have something to make up for. I want to make amends for the loss against Chagaev and show the world that I am the true WBA heavyweight champion.”
Instead of stripping injured Chagaev of his belt, the WBA made the Uzbek “champion in recess,” ordering him to fight Valuev on his return from injury. However, Chagaev was granted a special permit to take a tune-up fight against Carl Davis Drumond in February. He defended his version of the belt, which left the WBA not just with one but with two rather active champions. “It is about time to end all the confusion,” Valuev said. “Right now, we have a champion and a champion in recess, but after May 30, there will be just one title-holder – me!
”I have been waiting for a long time to make amends for the loss in 2007. I have become a different fighter. I have a new coach, new training methods and new tactics. And I have the incredible will to settle the score with Chagaev. He did well in the first fight, but on May 30, I will leave the ring as the winner.”
Even though he is known for his giant size and weight, Valuev is one of the nicest and friendliest persons you could meet. He is polite, open-minded and relaxed during interview sessions, immediately winning the hearts of everyone around him. Needless to say, it is his family that matters most to him. “I try to spend as much time as possible with my wife and my children,” he said. “Without them, I could never be so successful. They are everything for me.”
The gentle giant even reluctantly admits to winning his wife, Galina, over with poetry, but prefers not to discuss it. “The poems were written for Galina.  They are personal and I don’t like to discuss them.  I’m a boxer, not a poet.”  And he added with a smile: “All I will tell you is that Galina didn’t throw them back at me.  She has all of the poems still.”  Valuev married his sweetheart in 2000. Their son, Grisha, was born in 2003. In March 2007, Galina gave birth to their second child, Irina. “Having a family helps to put things into perspective,” he added.
Galina will not have to travel far to see her husband in action on May 30. Valuev has drawn sell-out crowds all over the world — from Chicago, where 16,000 fans witnessed his KO victory over Monte Barrett in October 2006, to Zurich, where he edged living legend Evander Holyfield in front of 12,500 fans in Zurich?s Hallenstadion — but has never defended his title so close to home. “I am thrilled that the fight will take place in Helsinki. Finland is a great country and I hope that many fans will come over from St. Petersburg. I want to deliver a good show.”
Valuev fights under the promotional banner of Sauerland Event, one of Europe?s leading boxing stables, and is co-promoted by Don King. On May 30, Sauerland teams up with Pekka Makki?s P3 boxing to deliver a special night of boxing at Harwall Arena. Apart from what has been dubbed “The Revenge of the Giant”, also in action will be WBA/WBC Ladies Welterweight World Champion Cecilia “First Lady” Braekhus, the gifted Finnish heavyweight hopeful Robert “Nordic Nightmare” Helenius as well as Finnish super lightweight boxer Juho “TNT” Tolppola, who challenges European Union super lightweight champion Giuseppe Lauri. Sauerland Event deliver up to 12 boxing shows all over Europe per year.
It was in 2003 that Wilfried Sauerland and his son Kalle signed Valuev to a promotional agreement. “I told Niko that I thought he had been promoted as a circus act but he could be much more than this,” Wilfried Sauerland said.  “He had spent his entire career never improving or progressing in the rankings because the people he was with did not believe he was a real fighter with ability.
“I was not thinking world titles at first but the ease with which he destroyed Paolo Vidoz for the WBA European title made me think again.”
Vidoz was an Italian Olympian, Italian heavyweight champion, and a legitimate heavyweight contender with a record of 17-1 when he faced Valuev on Oct. 9, 2004. Although Vidoz succumbed to Valuev via a ninth-round technical knockout, he went on to win the European Boxing Union heavyweight championship.
Valuev never looked back, soon claiming the scalps of more big-name fighters. He eventually edged Larry Donald in a title eliminator before writing boxing history with his first success over Ruiz shortly before Christmas 2005. “It is an unbelievable feeling to be world champion,” Valuev said. “It is the recognition for all the hard work in recent years. But there are still goals to be accomplished and titles to be won.”
Fellow heavyweight champions Wladimir, who holds the IBF/WBO titles, and Vitali (WBC) Klitschko are keen to get in the ring with the Russian Giant as they try to unify all four belts in their family. “I have been asked this questions 1,000 times and my answer is always the same: I am ready to fight the Klitschkos at any time,” Valuev said. “I am sure my promoters will work something out.”.
First things first, though, as Valuev (50-1, 34 KOS) has shifted his full attention on the rematch against Chagaev. “Right now, my whole focus is on him. After May 30, we will see what happens,” said the 35-year-old, while his opponent also remained confident of success. “I have beaten him once and I will beat him again,” Chagaev (25-0, 17 KOs) said. 
“I don?t care where this fight takes place. Helsinki is fine with me. I would beat him on the moon. I don?t understand what all the fuss is about – I am the true champion and I’ll be happy to prove it in Helsinki.”

Remaining tickets for the hotly-anticipated fight night at the Hartwall Arena are available at www.lippu.fi as well as +358 600 900 900. VIP packages can be purchased at www.revengeofthegiant.com.

TITLE: Russia Beats Canada, Takes Championship
AUTHOR: By Graham Dunbar
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BERN, Switzerland — Russia defended its gold medal at the hockey world championship Sunday, beating Canada 2-1 in a rematch of last year’s final.
Oleg Saprykin had a tying, power-play goal in the first period and Alex Radulov scored late in the second for Russia. The Ottawa Senators’ Jason Spezza gave Canada the early lead.
Sweden won the bronze medal, beating the United States 4-2 earlier Sunday.
Russia, which went unbeaten through the tournament despite trailing in six of its nine games, holds a 25-24 edge over Canada in total world titles. Russia had gone 15 years without a world championship victory before winning in 2008.
Canada dominated in shots, forcing Ilya Bryzgalov to make 37 saves. Dwayne Roloson made 15 stops for Canada.
“We’ve got silver and they have a gold. Sometimes hockey is a cruel sport,” Canada coach Lindy Ruff said. “Bryzgalov was very good and didn’t make the mistake that was going to allow us back into the game.”
On his first shift after returning from an interference penalty, Canada captain Shane Doan assisted on the opening goal when he backhanded a pass across the crease to Spezza, who scooped the puck into the net at 5:37. It was Spezza’s seventh, equaling the tournament best.
Saprykin scored 13 seconds into a delay of game penalty on defenseman Braydon Coburn.
Saprykin got in front of Roloson and diverted Vitali Atyushov’s slap shot into the net low to the goalie’s left at 12:59.
In the second period, Canada was outshooting Russia 2-1 and keeping Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk in check, yet Russia took the lead at 14:30 on a breakaway set up by Saprykin’s pass back through his legs along the left boards.
Kovalchuk logged more than 30 minutes of ice time and was kept in check by Nashville Predators defensemen Dan Hamhuis and Shea Weber.
Konstantin Gorovikov fed Radulov and the youngest player on the Russian roster cut in through the right circle and fired left-handed past Roloson.
In the third, Steven Stamkos wristed a shot just over the net, and Dany Heatley’s drive from between the circles struck the crossbar.
Russia protected its lead and was helped with seven minutes left when Mike Fisher was called for tripping.
Canada’s best late chance came when Doan had a breakaway, off a pass from Spezza with under two minutes to go, but he slipped crossing the blue line.
“That one will still stick with me for a very long time,” Doan said.
Kovalchuk, the tournament MVP, was joined in a leaping embrace by Radulov, who escaped suspension from the tournament after breaking his contract with the Predators last summer to return home.
His walkout sparked an ongoing transfer dispute between the NHL and the Russian KHL league, but the IIHF governing body said it didn’t have the authority to discipline him.
“It’s in the past and we will see what is going to happen next year,” Radulov said. “I’m happy that I’m in the national team.”
In the bronze-medal game, Sweden scored all four goals on power plays, with Loui Eriksson and Tony Martensson netting in the second period and Carl Gunnarsson adding a third with 11 minutes left. Johnny Oduya scored into an empty net in the final seconds.
The Americans took the lead on Jack Johnson’s power-play goal in the second, and tied the game on Joe Pavelski’s tally early in the third.
“I’m very proud of this young team. They played their hearts out and probably deserved a better fate over the last two games,” said U.S. coach Ron Wilson, whose team gave up a late power-play goal in a 3-2 semifinal loss against Russia.
Stefan Liv had 37 saves for the win, and Robert Esche made 24 stops.

TITLE: U.K. PM Apologizes For MPs’ Excesses
AUTHOR: By David Stringer
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LONDON — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the leader of the country’s main opposition party apologized Monday over lawmakers’ excessive expenses claims, pledging to overhaul the allowance system and win back public trust.
The apologies follow days of embarrassing revelations about claims made by British legislators and government ministers, who used public money to pay for items including porn movies, horse manure and a memorial wreath for fallen soldiers.
According to documents published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph in recent days, several lawmakers have taken advantage of lax existing rules to claim thousands of pounds (dollars) to renovate homes across the country.
“We must show that, where mistakes have been made and errors have been discovered, where wrongs have to be righted, that is done so immediately,” Brown said Monday, addressing a conference of nurses in Harrogate, northern England.
The newspaper reported that Brown paid his brother Andrew Brown 6,500 pounds (US$9,800) for cleaning between 2004 and 2006. Andrew’s wife, Clare Brown, said Monday the money was used to pay a cleaner the two men shared.
She wrote in The Guardian newspaper that, before he married, the prime minister was a “brilliant but extremely busy bachelor,” who had little time for domestic chores, and needed paid help.
Brown had “streams of people trudging through his flat, usually leaving dirty mugs and takeaway cartons in their wake,” she wrote. “He definitely needed a cleaner when in London.”
The Telegraph published Monday details of claims made by leading Conservative lawmakers, including allies of party leader David Cameron, who is thought likely to defeat Brown in a national election that must be called by mid-2010.
Tory lawmaker David Willetts claimed around 100 pounds ($150) after he called in workmen to replace 25 light bulbs in his home, the newspaper reported. Conservative election coordinator Oliver Letwin spent 2,000 ($3,000) to repair a pipe under his tennis court.
Michael Gove, the party’s education chief, spent thousands of pounds (dollars) furnishing two different homes in quick succession, under rules that allow lawmakers to claim the costs of running a second home close to Parliament.
“It is the responsibility of those we elect to behave properly. Not just legally, not just within the rules, but to the highest ethical standards,” Cameron told the nursing conference, which he attended after Brown.
Parliamentary authorities said they plan to allow outside auditors to check expenses claims in future. Both Brown and Cameron say widespread reforms are needed to the entire allowance system.
The Telegraph has also published expense claims from the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, which has five House of Commons members from Northern Ireland who refuse to participate in the London Parliament because they do not want to swear fidelity to the British monarch.

TITLE: Barcelona Fails to Win  League
AUTHOR: By Phil Seery
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: MADRID — Barcelona must wait another week to clinch the Spanish title after Jose Llorente scored a dramatic 90th-minute equaliser as Villarreal gatecrashed the party with a 3-3 draw at Camp Nou on Sunday.
Barcelona were on course to win their 19th title in front of their fans when they held a 3-1 lead, but Villarreal scored twice in the final 12 minutes to put the celebrations on hold.
Barcelona need just one point from the final three matches, with the next league match at Real Mallorca, to win their first league title since 2006.
Real Madrid’s 3-0 defeat at Valencia on Saturday meant Barcelona could have won the title in front of their own fans and they came so close.
“It is a real shame we couldn’t celebrate the title with all the people who came to the stadium today,” admitted Barca coach Pep Guardiola.
“We did the same thing (scoring a late goal) at Stamford Bridge (in the Champions League semi-final) with (Andres) Iniesta and today it was Llorente.
“We have to pick ourselves up quickly, put a smile on our faces and prepare for the Kings Cup final on Wednesday.”
A 28th goal of the season from Samuel Eto’o and a Dani Alves free-kick built on Seydou Keita’s opener as Barcelona held a 3-1 advantage at half-time.
However, Eric Abidal was sent off for Barcelona late on after conceding a penalty which Matias Fernandez converted and the hosts were hit with the sucker punch in stoppage time as Llorente scored his second goal.
Barcelona fans were understandably disappointed and must now wait for the title while the players need to concentrate on Wednesday’s Kings Cup final against Athletic Bilbao at the Mestalla Stadium.
Andres Iniesta will miss the game after suffering an injury to his right thigh and Barcelona will hope it is not serious enough to rule him out of the Champions League final against Manchester United on May 27.
The Barca players were on a high after thumping Real 6-2 last Saturday and then edging past Chelsea in their Champions League semi-final and Guardiola resisted the temptation to rest stars for the domestic cup final.
Barca got off to a flying start when Keita saw his deflected shot loop in on 12 minutes.
Villarreal, still without injured captain Marcos Senna, equalised through Llorente on 22 minutes after Yaya Toure lost possession.
Eto’o restored Barcelona’s lead after 36 minutes and Alves, suspended for the Champions League final, curled in a free-kick seconds before half-time to make it 3-1.
Frenchman Abidal was sent off for the second time in a week, after being dismissed against Chelsea, for giving away a spot-kick and Fernandez converted to ensure a tense final 12 minutes.

TITLE: Pope Calls for Creation of a Palestinian State
AUTHOR: By Victor Simpson
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JERUSALEM — Pope Benedict XVI called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian homeland immediately after he arrived in Israel Monday, a stance that could put him at odds with his hosts on a trip aimed at improving ties between the Vatican and Jews.
The pope also took on the delicate issue of the Holocaust, pledging to “honor the memory” of the 6 million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide at the start of his five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Benedict touched down in Israel on the second leg of a weeklong pilgrimage to the Holy Land, after spending three days in neighboring Jordan. He is using the tour to reach out to both Muslims and Jews.
In his first public comments upon arriving, Benedict urged Israelis and Palestinians to “explore every possible avenue” to resolve their differences.
“The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace,” he told a welcoming ceremony at Israel’s international airport. “In union with people of goodwill everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own within secure and internationally recognized borders.”
While Benedict has spoken in favor of a Palestinian homeland in the past, the timing and location of his comments were noteworthy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in the audience, has pointedly refused to endorse the two-state solution since his election. But he is expected to come under pressure to do so when he travels to Washington next week. Netanyahu did not speak at the ceremony, then flew to Egypt for talks on regional issues with President Hosni Mubarak.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor played down the pope’s comments, saying he was voicing a long-standing position shared by the U.S. and European countries.
“At any rate, discussing this is not the purpose of the visit,” he said.
Parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin conspicuously skipped the airport ceremony, though his office said he would join the pope at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
The pope has tried to improve interfaith relations throughout his four-year papacy, and as a cardinal, had a long record of promoting dialogue with other faiths. But Benedict has had to tread carefully on his Middle East visit because of past gaffes.
Benedict angered many in the Muslim world three years ago when he quoted a medieval text that characterized some of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.” He later expressed regret that his comments offended Muslims.
Before leaving Jordan, he said he had a “deep respect” for Islam.
The Vatican has also been widely accused over the years of not doing enough to stop the Holocaust — a charge it rejects. And the German-born pope himself has faced questions for his involvement in the Hitler Youth corps during the war. Benedict says he was coerced.
The pope outraged Jews earlier this year when he revoked the excommunication of a British bishop who denies the Holocaust. Ties were further strained when a senior Vatican official said during Israel’s recent military campaign in Gaza that the territory resembled a “big concentration camp.”
Later Monday, Benedict was scheduled to lay a wreath at Yad Vashem.
“It is right and fitting that, during my stay in Israel, I will have the opportunity to honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish victims of the shoah,” he said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. He said he would “pray that humanity will never again witness a crime of such magnitude.”
Israel and the Vatican are also at odds over the legacy of World War II pontiff Pius XII, a candidate for sainthood. At Yad Vashem, Benedict will not visit the main part of the museum, where a photo caption says Pius did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely “neutral position.”
Dignitaries and religious leaders greeted the pontiff at a red-carpet ceremony at the Tel Aviv airport. Yellow and white Vatican flags fluttered alongside blue and white Israeli banners as an honor guard played in the background.
The pope smiled as he walked along the carpet, flanked by Israeli President Shimon Peres on one side and Netanyahu on the other. Other political leaders, along with black-robed Christian clergymen and Muslim religious leaders, stood in line to shake his hand.

TITLE: Lawyers: Iran 
To Free U.S. Journalist Soon
AUTHOR: By Ali Akbar Dareini
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: TEHRAN, Iran — An American journalist jailed in Iran will be freed Monday and can leave the country immediately, her lawyers said after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence.
Roxana Saberi, a 32-year-old dual American-Iranian national, was convicted last month of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Her case has caused tension between the United States and Iran at a time with President Barack Obama had said he wanted to engage Washington’s longtime adversary in a dialogue. 
The U.S. has called the charges against her “baseless” and demanded she be freed.
Iran’s judiciary announced that the appeals court, which heard her case on Sunday, had reduced her jail term to a suspended two-year sentence, said one of her lawyers, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi. He told The Associated Press that Saberi will be “released today.”
Her other lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said she is “entitled to leave Iran immediately.”

TITLE: Hiddink Doesn't Mince Words as Chelsea Defeat Arsenal
AUTHOR: By Steve Griffiths
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: LONDON — Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink delivered a damning verdict on the gap between Arsenal and the rest of the ‘big-four’ after his side handed the Gunners their heaviest home league defeat for 32 years.
Hiddink believes Chelsea’s impressive response to the agony of their Champions League defeat against Barcelona was in stark contrast to Arsenal’s faltering effort following their European exit to Manchester United.
The Dutch coach is not the kind of man to gloat unnecessarily and his words carried no hint of glee but his message following Sunday’s 4-1 rout must be worrying for Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
Just five days after Arsenal were brushed aside with contemptuous ease by United, it was Chelsea’s turn to emphasise just how far the north London team have fallen behind their rivals at the top of the Premier League.
Alex opened the scoring with a header from Didier Drogba’s free-kick, then former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka lashed home a stunning second.
Kolo Toure’s own goal put the result beyond doubt and, although Nicklas Bendtner got one back, Florent Malouda confirmed Chelsea’s biggest win at Arsenal since 1960 and the Gunners’ biggest home league defeat since Ipswich won 4-1 at Highbury in 1977.
Hiddink made it clear Chelsea’s battle-hardened players have much more character than the Arsenal’s fragile young talents, who are now 15 points behind leaders United.
“I think it (the score) is a good reflection on the gap between the teams. We are a team that likes to react. We have had some set-backs but we are real men who like a challenge,” he said.
“When you have big players you must discover if they want to work for each other. Everyone has ego but it is important that they help each other with the dirty work no matter the name of the player.”
Although Chelsea’s European challenge ended in disappointment, Hiddink can still take pride in his efforts when he returns to manage Russia on a permanent basis in June.
The Blues are now guaranteed a top-three finish in the Premier League and have sealed their place in the Champions League group stages next season - an achievement which was far from certain when Hiddink replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari in February.
“It gives me great satisfaction considering where we were in February,” he said.

TITLE: Mexico’s Schools Cleaned, Ready to Reopen
AUTHOR: By Kent Kilpatrick and Juan Carlos Llorca
TEXT: MEXICO CITY — Scoured and disinfected, most of Mexico’s primary schools and kindergartens stood ready to welcome back millions of students Monday after a nationwide shutdown ordered to help put a brake on the spread of swine flu.
Children who turned up with symptoms of the illness would be turned away, education officials said.
But it wasn’t the countrywide restart that leaders had hoped for. Six of Mexico’s 31 states put off reopening schools for another week amid a rise in suspected flu cases in some regions, and a seventh ordered a one-day delay. Some parents were worried about sending their children back so soon.
While Mexicans are feeling a little more relaxed, the swine flu outbreak is continuing to spread around the globe, with international health authorities reporting more than 4,500 confirmed cases in 29 nations. There are 53 deaths tied to the virus — 48 in Mexico, three in the U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.
The United States now has the most confirmed cases — 2,532 in 44 states, more than 900 ahead of Mexico’s total, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday.
In Mexico, crews worked through the weekend to cleanse school buildings and make sure they were stocked with sanitary supplies as 25 million children prepared to resume their studies after a two-week break that began when authorities ordered schools closed in the Mexico City region on April 24 and then the whole country three days later.
“We have cleaned the windows, classrooms, blackboards, floors, bathrooms, everything,” Flor Carpio, whose husband is the custodian at Mexico City’s Horacio Mann grade school, said Sunday.
At the Rosaura Zapati day care center in central Mexico City, Miguel Sanchez cleaned a staircase with bleach even though he was not totally convinced that swine flu existed.
“To me, it only exists in the mind of (President Felipe) Calderon and the WHO. It is a vile lie,” said Sanchez, the center’s caretaker.
The federal Education Department said Sunday that 88.9 percent of the nation’s estimated 250,000 schools had been cleaned and disinfected.
A day earlier, Secretary of Public Education Alonso Lujambio urged parents not to send their children back to school if they were sick and told teachers to be on guard for possible swine flu cases.
“School life will return to normal as long as the safeguards we have put in place are effective. Help us in this,” Lujambio said.
His department said Sunday that groups of teachers and parents would be waiting at entrances to identify any students who showed up with flu symptoms. 
Any who did would be sent back home, but “without stigmatizing the children or violating their rights,” it said.
Mexican health officials say swine flu has been confirmed in 1,626 people, of whom 48 have died. 
Suspected cases were reported after those numbers were released Saturday, but the government offered no new count on confirmed cases Sunday.
Because of the new suspected cases, the states of Jalisco, Hidalgo, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Chiapas and Zacatecas postponed the resumption of classes until May 18. Michoacan said its schools would reopen Tuesday.
High schools and universities restarted last Thursday.
The reopening of kindergartens and primary schools is the latest step in Mexico’s efforts to restore a sense of normality after the flu scare. Businesses, restaurants and bars gradually resumed operations over the past week, and except for public servants and restaurant workers, it is less and less common to see people wearing surgical masks.