SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1511 (73), Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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TITLE: Chechen President Under Fire In Australia
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has come under fire in Australia after it was revealed that two of his elite racehorses would participate in high-profile races in Melbourne this fall.
Australian Green Party leader Bob Brown said neither Kadyrov nor his horses should be let into Australia because of the Chechen leader’s brutal politics.
“If this nasty character were to get his hands on the Melbourne Cup, it would be the lowest point in Australia’s sporting history,” Brown said, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.
Kadyrov is sending Mourilyan, a gelding that won this summer’s March Stakes race in Goodwood, England, to contest the Melbourne Cup on Nov. 3, the report said.
The contest is the country’s most prestigious race, with the winner’s prize money worth $3.3 million.
Australian media reports said victory for Kadyrov’s horse would be a public relations disaster because the cup is awarded personally by the governor-general, the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II in Australia.
His other horse, thoroughbred Bankable, will start in the $750,000 LKS Mackinnon Stakes race, held Oct. 31.
Kadyrov’s spokesman, Alvi Karimov, declined to comment on the reports Monday. “I simply do not know anything about these things,” he told The St. Petersburg Times by telephone from Grozny.
Brown, who is also a member of the Australian Senate, said the Chechen president should be denied an Australian visa for a number of reasons.
“Mr. Kadyrov has no criminal record as such because he runs the secret police. But his opponents have been gunned down at home and abroad — including assassinations in Vienna and Dubai in recent times,” he said in a statement published on his party’s web site (greens.org.au/aggregator/sources/4).
A spokeswoman for Australia’s Foreign Ministry said Kadyrov had not applied for a visa, but if he did, it would be hard to imagine him being granted one, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Yet it would be difficult to ban the horses from entering, the report said.
Human rights activists say Kadyrov is running Chechnya as his personal fiefdom with the Kremlin’s consent. They accuse him of torturing and killing opponents in Russia and abroad. In January, Umar Israilov, a former Kadyrov bodyguard, was murdered in Vienna, and in March, political rival Sulim Yamadayev was gunned down in Dubai.
Yamadayev’s shooting coincided with the Dubai World Cup horse race on March 28, and local police later arrested Kadyrov’s horse trainer on suspicion of involvement in the killing.
Police also issued an international arrest warrant for a relative of Kadyrov, State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov.
Delimkhanov and Kadyrov have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
Kadyrov reportedly has a horse stable in Dubai, and Mourilyan was trained by South African Herman Brown in Dubai earlier this year, Britain’s Racing Post newspaper reported.
Kadyrov’s passion for racehorses has raised little public interest so far, even after he sent a record 11 of them to compete in the president’s cup in Moscow this July.
His prizewinning stallion Bronze Cannon came a disappointing fourth in the Moscow race, where Kadyrov mingled with President Dmitry Medvedev and other leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Bronze Cannon was bought from British diamond magnate Anthony Oppenheimer, and experts told The St. Petersburg Times that the horse is worth ?500,000 to ?1 million ($809,000 to $1.6 million).
Kadyrov, who is also known for collecting fancy cars, said in his first public income declaration in May that he earned 3.5 million rubles ($110,000) last year and that his only personal property consisted of a tiny 36-square-meter apartment and a VAZ-21053 car.
“I am a poor Chechen,” he told Komsomolskaya Pravda in an interview published last week. 
But he added that he did not refuse “anything that the Almighty gave me.”
In an earlier interview with the newspaper, Kadyrov said the horses belong to the Chechen Republic rather than to him personally.

TITLE: Putin Links ‘Brave’ U.S. Shift to Trade
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that Washington’s decision to abandon plans to build a missile defense system in Europe give him hope that the United States would take further, trade-related steps to improve ties.
Moscow is counting on Washington to remove restrictions on the transfer of high technology to Russia and to assist Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus in joining the World Trade Organization, Putin said at an economic forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
“The latest decision by President Obama … suggests good thoughts, and I very much hope that this very right and brave decision will be followed by others,” Putin said.
Obama abruptly announced Thursday that he would scrap plans by former President George W. Bush to install elements of a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama said Sunday that Russia’s complaints about the proposed shield had not influenced his decision. 
President Dmitry Medvedev indicated in comments published Friday that Moscow would now be more receptive to U.S. concerns, but he stopped far short of offering to help Washington in its attempt to dissuade Iran from developing a nuclear program. The Bush administration had maintained that the program represented a threat to the United States and its European allies and that the shield was needed to counter it.
“The fact that they are listening to us is an obvious signal that we should also attentively listen to our partners, our American partners,” Medvedev said in an interview with Swiss media.
But Russia will not make “primitive compromises,” he added.
In an interview aired on CNN on Sunday, Medvedev said Russia would not supply Iran with offensive missile systems.
The military, meanwhile, said Obama’s shift on missile defense meant that it would no longer need to deploy Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region next to Poland, as Medvedev had threatened to do on Nov. 4, the day Obama won the U.S. presidential election. “Finally, reason has won over ambitions,” Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said Saturday on Ekho Moskvy radio. 
At the Sochi conference, Putin said Obama could go a long way toward further improving ties by abandoning CoCom lists, which banned high-tech exports to the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War. CoCom stands for the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls created by NATO after World War II.
“This causes damage to Russia’s cooperation with its partners, first and foremost the United States,” Putin said. “This causes damage to U.S. businesses as well because it hampers them in developing ties with Russia.”
Putin urged U.S. participants of the Sochi forum to try their best to promote the eradication of such “vestiges of the past epoch” as soon as possible. U.S. attendees included David Bonderman, founding partner of TPG, one of the world’s largest private equity firms; General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt; and John Mack, whose term as CEO of Morgan Stanley expires at the start of 2010.
In addition to the trade barriers that Putin mentioned, Russia has been urging the United States for years to repeal the Jackson-Vanik amendment, Cold War-era legislation that still prevents Russia from obtaining the status of a country that enjoys “normal trade relations” with the United States.
Russia desperately needs investment as it emerges from the economic recession, Putin said. The government will soon begin drafting a crisis-exit strategy that will focus on modernizing the economy by offering investors the “most favorable terms and prospects of growth,” he said. Officials realize that the “era of easy, cheap money is, of course, over” and competition for investment will be “extremely tough,” Putin said.
Foreign investors, meanwhile, have not modified their Russia wish list much over the past decade or more, said Torbj?rn Becker, director of Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics, a center for research and policy advice in transition economies. At the top of the list is a corruption-free business environment and a strong, independent legal system, he said.
“I am not sure we will see it, but that’s certainly what we would like to see,” Becker said.
Some of the key industries that will require investment are transportation, energy, telecoms and digital television, Putin said. He talked in more detail about the need to manufacture top-of-the-line car parts in Russia, given that some leading global carmakers, including Renault, operate assembly lines here.
“It’s time to take the next step,” he said. “It will be economically viable.”
Renault is already in talks with Russian car parts makers to create a network of suppliers for itself and partners Nissan and AvtoVAZ, Renault’s chief of Eurasia division said earlier this month in an interview with The St. Petersburg Times.
Russia is interested not so much in foreign money as in expertise that comes with global investors, Putin said.
Alexandra Odynova contributed to this report.

TITLE: Investigators Unload ‘Piracy’ Evidence from Arctic Sea
AUTHOR: By Alissa de Carbonnel
PUBLISHER: Agence France Presse
TEXT: MOSCOW — Russia on Friday unloaded evidence from the Arctic Sea ship onto a Russian warship, as mystery still surrounded the identity of its cargo one month after it was recovered from alleged pirates.
Russian investigators said aevidence, including arms and masks which showed the vessel was prey to piracy, was now on its way to Russia for use in a trial against the suspected hijackers.
“The evidence will be delivered to a Russian port, where the warship Ladny and its escorting vessels will dock,” the investigative committee said in a statement posted on its web site.
“It includes ammunition used by the suspected pirates to capture the ship and the speedboat from which they boarded it. The boat was camouflaged on board the Arctic Sea under a wood frame and canvas,” it said.
Speculation has raged that the Arctic Sea — which vanished for several weeks after being allegedly hijacked by pirates in July — may have carried a secret cargo, including missile systems covertly bound for Iran.
While investigators said last week that they had completed their search of the ship, which carried a stated cargo of timber for delivery to Algeria, they have yet to release the results.
The vessel has yet to go to port since its recovery by the Russian navy off the coast of Africa in August.
Russian officials said it would be taken to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, but then, without explanation, they said it would be taken to the Canary Islands instead.
Spain on Friday confirmed the vessel was in international waters off its Canary Islands, near the port of Las Palmas, waiting to dock. But it later said Russian authorities did not want the ship to stop in Spain.
“Russian authorities have just informed us that they do not need the Arctic Sea to stop in Spain, in Las Palmas,” a Spanish foreign ministry source told AFP.
The port authority on the island of La Palma had earlier granted permission for the ship to dock at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) but Spain’s merchant shipping department had objected for reasons it did not specify, a representative for the authority said.
Meanwhile, the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted a military-diplomatic source in Madrid as saying the evidence unloaded from the Arctic Sea also included documents which could provide clues to the Arctic Sea’s mission.
“All the documents which could shed light on the investigation were loaded onto the Black Sea Fleet tanker ship Iman,” the source was quoted as saying.
“Everything the investigation considered necessary to seize as material evidence has been sent to Russia,” he added.
Moscow has said nothing suspicious was found aboard the ship in initial inspections after its recapture and has vehemently denied reports that the Arctic Sea was smuggling arms to Iran.
Officially, the ship was carrying a load of timber worth 1.16 million euros (1.7 million dollars) from Finland to Algeria.
But its mysterious seizure in a busy European shipping lane, the huge international effort to recover it and Moscow’s detention of the crew after their return to Russia have fuelled speculation of an illicit cargo.
Eight suspects -- including Russians, Estonians and Latvians -- have been accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged vessel with a 15-man Russian crew, in Swedish waters in late July.
The suspects have denied the charges of piracy and kidnapping and are now awaiting trial in Moscow.

TITLE: First Russian Killed by Swine Flu Virus
AUTHOR: By Natalya Krainova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The first Russian to die after contracting the swine flu virus passed away in a Moscow hospital last month, just a day after being diagnosed with the illness, the Health and Social Development Ministry said Monday.
The woman, who wasn’t identified, was diagnosed with swine flu in late August with “unlicensed” medical equipment and had several other illnesses that could have caused her death, Deputy Health and Social Development Minister Veronika Skvortsova said at a news conference.
“The main diagnosis regarding the main cause of the patient’s death was acute pneumonia, respiratory failure amid a congenital heart disorder and associated illnesses,” Skvortsova said, Interfax reported. 
Skvortsova added that it wasn’t possible to establish whether the woman had died from swine flu because of her other illnesses.
The woman was already ill when traveling from Bulgaria to Moscow on Aug. 3 and died in a city hospital on Aug. 19, Skvortsova said.

TITLE: Some Call U.S. Move Betrayal
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WARSAW, Poland — Poles and Czechs have voiced deep concern at President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield planned for their countries.
“Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back,” the Polish tabloid Fakt declared on its front page Friday.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he was concerned that Obama’s new strategy leaves Poland in a dangerous “gray zone” between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.
Recent events have rattled nerves throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including the war last summer between Russia and Georgia and ongoing efforts by Russia to regain influence in Ukraine. 
“Russia is testing us. It is testing how much we are afraid of it. It’s pity that we won’t be able to complete the test,” said former Czech President Vaclav Havel.
Former President George W. Bush’s missile defense plan would have been “a major step in preventing various disturbing trends in our region of the world,” Kaczynski said in a guest editorial in Fakt that also was carried on his presidential web site.
Lithuania also expressed regret over Obama’s decision. Defense Minister Rasa Jukneviciene said the shield would have increased security for Lithuania and she hoped that missile defense would not be excluded from future talks on NATO security.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he still sees a chance for Poles and Czechs to participate in the redesigned missile defense system. But that did not appear to calm nerves in Warsaw or Prague.
Kaczynski expressed hopes that the United States would now offer Poland other forms of “strategic partnership.”
Later Friday, U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe stressed that “the United States counts Poland among its closest allies and friends.”
“Consultations on the way forward for missile defense will continue between our two governments,” Ashe said in a statement. “The role Poland would play in the new, phased, adapted approach is as crucial now as in the past.”
In Prague, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said he made two concrete proposals to U.S. officials on Thursday in hopes of keeping the U.S.-Czech alliance strong: for the United States to establish a branch of West Point for NATO members in Central Europe and to “send a Czech scientist on the U.S. space shuttle to the international space station.”
An editorial in Hospodarske Novine, a respected pro-business Czech newspaper, said: “An ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia, of which we are rightly afraid.”
The move has raised fears in the two nations that they are being marginalized by Washington even as a resurgent Russia leaves them longing for added American protection.
The Bush administration always said the planned system was meant as defense against Iran. 
But Poles and Czechs saw it as protection against Russia, and Moscow too considered a military installation in its backyard to be a threat.

TITLE: Obama Denies Russia Shaped His Decision
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: U.S. President Barack Obama sharply dismissed criticism that Russian opposition influenced his decision to scrap a European missile defense system, calling it merely a bonus if the leaders of Russia end up “a little less paranoid” about the United States.
“My task here was not to negotiate with the Russians,” Obama told CBS’s “Face the Nation” in an interview Sunday. “The Russians don’t make determinations about what our defense posture is.”
The president’s comments were his first on the matter since he abruptly announced Thursday that he was scuttling plans to deploy a defense shield proposed by President George W. Bush.
Obama’s decision immediately raised a political question of whether it was done in part to appease Russia and win its help in other areas, mainly in confronting the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran. That point was underscored when Russia lauded the change.
In an interview with CBS News that was taped Friday, Obama was pressed on why he did not seek anything in exchange from Russia. “Russia had always been paranoid about this, but George Bush was right. This wasn’t a threat to them,” Obama said. “And this program will not be a threat to them.”
He added, “If the byproduct of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid and are now willing to work more effectively with us to deal with threats like ballistic missiles from Iran or nuclear development in Iran, you know, then that’s a bonus.”
                                             (AP, SPT)

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <strong>Okhta Center Approval</strong>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The Okhta Center, a 400-meter skyscraper to be built by Gazprom Neft in St. Petersburg, has been approved by the city's commission on construction, Deputy Governor Roman Filimonov said.
“Today, during the session of the commission, we reached a positive decision regarding the issue of Okhta Center,” he said Thursday. 
The commission's report will serve as a recommendation and the final decision to allow Gazprom to build the skyscraper, which exceeds the city center's 100-meter height limit, will be made by St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko. 
“Now everything depends on Valentina Ivanovna — whether she will sign it or not,” said Sergei Malkov, a deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly.
Matviyenko is a chief advocate of the project. UNESCO has threatened to remove St. Petersburg from the UN World Heritage list if the tower is built.

<strong>Tinkov Finds Buyer</strong>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Oleg Tinkov, owner of the beer restaurant Tinkoff, announced Friday that he was about to sell his share in the restaurant to Mint Capital.
“We’ll close it [the deal] in two or three days,” he said, Interfax reported. He did not disclose the deal’s price.
A spokesperson for Mint Capital confirmed that the firm was in talks with Tinkov, but would not disclose any other details.
Tinkov announced his plans to sell his restaurant business earlier in August, posting the offer in his blog.
“My restaurant business is 11 years old now. I’m bored with it,” the 41-year-old restaurateur said via his Twitter account. “I want to sell my share — [which equals] approximately 70 percent, including the brand name.”
Tinkov asked interested parties to send offers to his LiveJournal account, but it was not clear whether the major Scandinavian company had contacted him that way.
The Tinkoff chain consists of nine restaurants located in 10 cities throughout the country. It is not known how much Tinkov’s stake is worth. In 2008, the businessman sold a 25 percent share in the business to a Danish company for $10 million and estimated the value of his chain at $25 million in 2007.
The businessman opened his first Tinkoff restaurant in 2001, along with a beer brand that he sold to Sun InBev for $201 million in 2005.

<strong>Road Repairs</strong>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg will reconstruct three of its main thoroughfares next year with the support of Gazprom, said Oleg Virolainen, head of the city’s Municipal Maintenance and Public Roads Commission, Interfax reported on Monday. 
Repair work will be carried out on Chernyshevsky Prospekt, Liteiny Prospekt and Vladimirsky Prospekt, all located in the city center. According to Verolainen, a timeline for the reconstruction work will be drawn up after the city has conducted a preliminary engineering assessment later this year.
The repairs will cost an estimated 200 million to 220 million rubles ($6.6 million to $7.3 million) for Chernyshevsky Prospekt and a combined total of 340 million rubles ($11.2 million) for Vladimirsky Prospekt and Liteiny Prospekt. The projects will be funded by City Hall and Gazprom, providing 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

<strong>Dean Investigated</strong>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Investigators searched the office of St. Petersburg State University’s dean of journalism, Marina Shishkina, on Monday, Interfax reported. 
The investigation is part of a criminal case that was opened against Shishkina last Wednesday. The dean faces charges of embezzling university funds and abusing her position. 
According to a source on the investigative team it is alleged that at least half a million rubles ($16,500) have been embezzled, Interfax reported. 
Another source linked to the investigation described Monday’s search as “standard procedures necessary in such a case.” The source did not provide additional details regarding the investigation.

TITLE: Fraudster Mavrodi Gets a Movie Makeover
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — In the early 1990s, Sergei Mavrodi, an unassuming, bespectacled mathematician, persuaded millions of Russians to put their savings into his MMM pyramid scheme. 
Now the story of Mavrodi’s rise and fall is being turned into an action film, “Pyramid,” with a $2.5 million budget.
Last weekend, stuntmen fixed fuses into a plywood mock-up of a Chaika limousine as they prepared a scene showing an attempt by bandits to blow up the lead character’s car.
The lead actor, Alexei Serebryakov, moodily smoked cigarettes as he waited for his next scene, dressed in a drab brown raincoat, blue jeans and white sneakers. 
The film is based on an autobiographical novel by Mavrodi, also titled “Pyramid,” and is scheduled to hit movie theaters next spring.
In a series of e-mails, Mavrodi, 54, described his excitement about the film. 
“I’m very positive about the making of the film ‘Pyramid,’ specifically about the fact that they are making a film about me. I guess most people would like that,” he said.
Although he wrote prompt e-mails punctuated with smiley faces, Mavrodi declined to meet for an interview, explaining that he prefers to write because he is afraid he will forget something if he speaks. 
Even the film’s director, Eldar Salavatov, has never met him. Mavrodi said there was no point in meeting with Salavatov, while Salavatov said meeting Mavrodi would ruin the film because he would lose his impartiality to the story. 
The movie is moving ahead after stalling for two years as filmmakers retooled the screenplay away from Mavrodi’s book, which they said lacked action and needed to be substantially rewritten. The car attack attempt that was filmed last weekend, for example, doesn’t appear in the book.
Mavrodi offered an alternative take on the film’s faithfulness to his book. “They made some cosmetic corrections and changed the authorship for reasons that are very clear — because of the notoriety of my name,” he said.
But he talked of his fears that the book would be dumbed-down on screen. “The film could be really very artistically strong. But it could sink to the level of an ordinary, average action film,” he said.
The story of MMM is worthy of a psychological thriller.
Mavrodi was a mathematician who became one of the country’s first computer programmers. He got involved in selling pirated videos and cassettes in the 1980s.
In the late 1980s, he set up MMM with two partners. As controls on the market fell away, the company began selling “vouchers,” promising a 10 percent return — per week.
A crew member on “Pyramid” held out a wad of green-toned notes, decorated with Mavrodi’s bespectacled, pudgy face. “That was the price of five apartments,” he said.
The vouchers were promoted with one of Russia’s first television ad campaigns, showing blue-collar characters boasting of the money they made on MMM. “I’m not a freeloader, I’m a partner,” one investor, Lyonya Golubkov, said proudly.
“The ordinary viewer says, ‘Well, if these idiots made money, then I definitely will. I won’t get fooled.’ It’s a classic con trick that works with everyone,” said Salavatov, the film’s director.
“Pyramid” will recreate the filming of the famous Lyonya Golubkov ad, including the original actors, said Salavatov, a 33-year-old ad director whose film credits include the little-known 2007 comedy, “Semeyka Ady”, and the soon-to-be-released gangster sequel, “Anti-Killer 3.”
A teenager at the time of MMM, Salavatov expressed little sympathy for the investors, saying it would be “madness” to attempt to return their money now.
“We aren’t making the lead character a black-and-white villain,” he said. 
The lead actor, Serebryakov, who has starred in the TV detective series “Banditsky Peterburg” and more than 20 films over the past three decades, including the acclaimed 1996 drama “Bolse Vita,” also spoke contemptuously of MMM investors. It was “a great scheme in which you could do nothing, sit on the couch and receive 25 percent interest per month on the sum that you invested, not even suspecting that you might be deceived,” he said.
A lean thoughtful man, Serebryakov looks nothing like Mavrodi and said he won’t attempt to imitate him.
“I’m not playing Mavrodi, I don’t bear the least resemblance to Mavrodi and therefore it’s pointless,” he said. “I’m not playing a concrete historic figure. I’m playing a kind of compilation of a successful businessman-wheeler-dealer of the mid-1990s.”
The director said he wanted to capture the feeling of the era, and the appeal of MMM at a time of overwhelming grayness and poverty. The colorful vouchers “simply fascinated” people, he said. “The vouchers should be the brightest thing in the film.”
At its height, MMM had so much cash that it literally counted its wealth in rooms, Salavatov said. “We will have huge spaces scattered with money.”
The storm clouds began to gather over Mavrodi in 1994 when he was handed a huge tax demand. Investors tried to sell their vouchers en masse, and the company went bankrupt. 
Mavrodi was arrested but walked free after getting himself elected as a State Duma deputy, although he was later stripped of the seat for nonattendance. In 1996, he mounted a bid for president.
In 1997, after he was added to Interpol’s wanted list, he went into hiding and was only arrested more than five years later, in 2003. It turned out that he had holed up in a shabby apartment near Moscow’s Frunzenskaya metro station.
Mavrodi said he spent most of the pretrial detention in a special federal prison called IZ 99/1. “After a year, people start going mad. They bark at the guards and so on. I was held for four,” he said. 
He said writing helped him survive the experience. He managed to get permission to have a desk lamp and spent his time writing a mammoth, yet-unpublished book called “The Son of Lucifer,” of which his published novel “Pyramid” is a chapter. 
In 2007, Mavrodi was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for fraud. As he had been in detention since 2003, Mavrodi spent less than a month in jail. He was met outside with a bouquet of lilacs from well-wishers, although a pro-Kremlin activist threw a container of sour cream at him.
The court examined the cases of 10,000 people who lost 110 million rubles ($4.3 million), although millions of people lost money in the scheme. Mavrodi was ordered to pay some 20 million rubles to compensate victims of the scam. Some of the money has been returned. 
In 2008, the courts released 18 million rubles belonging to Mavrodi. 
On Tuesday, the head of the Moscow court marshals said they would sell a parking shelter in Moscow and a house in the Tver region belonging to Mavrodi, but the property would cover only about 15 percent of his debts, Interfax reported.
Mavrodi said he had sold the rights to his book to the Leopolis production company, which is bankrolling the “Pyramid” film, but the money had been seized by court marshals. He would not say how much he had been paid.
Leopolis general director Georgy Malkov also would not say how much Mavrodi had been paid. He added that one of the film’s other producers, Sergei Livnev, knew Mavrodi personally because he had been among his campaign staff when Mavrodi was elected to the Duma.
Mavrodi continues to insist that he broke no laws, despite his conviction. 
“I don’t think that I committed a crime. I didn’t break any laws. And all this talk about a pyramid isn’t worth a bent penny,” he said. “On the whole, I think I acted correctly and absolutely don’t regret anything.”
Amazingly, he still has supporters. People ask him for autographs on bank notes, Mavrodi said. “The only negative reaction in all this time was from a madam in an expensive Mercedes, all in diamonds, who stuck her head out of the window and shouted, ‘Swindler!’” he said.
He said he still lives at Frunzenskaya and spends time writing. He has a blog where he publishes poetry, and freely gives out his e-mail address. He also makes occasional public appearances.
The big question is where the MMM millions went, and no one seems to be able to provide an answer.
“Mavrodi knows but he won’t say,” quipped the director. “Go to the Kremlin and ask there.”

TITLE: Chubais: Rusnano to Sell $5.9Bln in Bonds by '15
AUTHOR: By Nadia Popova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — It took Chubais less than 20 seconds to accept his position at Rusnano.
Rusnano will issue up to 180 billion rubles ($5.9 billion) worth of bonds by 2015 in a bid to make up for lost government investment, chief executive Anatoly Chubais said Friday. 
The state nanotechnology corporation may issue bonds for up to 53 billion rubles in 2010, 39 billion rubles in 2011 and 88 billion rubles from 2012 to 2015, Chubais said in a report on two years of Rusnano’s work.
The money raised on the market will enable Rusnano to boost its spending and help replace the state funds that it will return to the federal budget in December. 
The government ordered Rusnano in March to return 85 billion rubles out of the 130 billion rubles it had received from the state when it was created in 2007 to help plug a gaping federal budget deficit. Chubais negotiated the figure down to 65 billion rubles earlier this month. 
The state corporation will get back the funds used to fill the budget gap in the form of a 35 billion ruble tranche in 2011 and another 30 billion ruble injection in 2012, the report said. 
Rusnano has invested 52.4 billion rubles to date in 36 projects, including LED lamp production in the Sverdlovsk region and solar batteries in Chuvashia, while the firm dismissed 446 requests for financing, the report said.
Overall financing for the projects will total 286 billion rubles by 2015. Rusnano forecasts profits of 2 billion rubles next year and 145 billion rubles by 2015. 
Once the company becomes profitable, the government will be able to withdraw its funding and in effect privatize the company, Chubais said, Interfax reported. 
“The government can take the 130 billion rubles it has invested in Rusnano back after 2015, and that will mean privatization — I’m apologize for using 'the bad word,'” Chubais said. 
Nevertheless, privatization as such shouldn’t be the goal, he said, adding that he was willing to accept state funding to start the investing process, but not as a permanent business strategy. 
Chubais was one of the main architects of the privatization of state-owned assets in the 1990s, meaning that he is widely hated among Russians. He oversaw the privatization of state-owned power monopoly Unified Energy System from 1998 to 2008.
Chubais said he agreed that there were failures in the privatization of the power industry. “When UES was dismantled, its management set tasks to be fulfilled. They haven’t been completed yet. … The state regulates the sector today. Why doesn’t it look after it?” he said.

TITLE: In Brief
TEXT: <strong>AvtoVAZ/Opel Deal? </strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — AvtoVAZ expects to gain access to Opel’s technology after Magna International and Sberbank buy the German carmaker, chief executive Igor Komarov said Saturday, Interfax reported. 
Magna and Sberbank may use AvtoVAZ to build a budget car for the Russian market, Sberbank CEO German Gref said, Interfax reported. 
Sberbank and Magna are interested in working with AvtoVAZ on possible car parts production, the service said. 

<strong>Shipping Iraqi Gas </strong>
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey and Iraq have discussed signing a memorandum of understanding to ship Iraqi gas to Europe via Turkey through the Nabucco pipeline, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Saturday, Reuters reported. 
Turkey and four EU countries signed a transit deal in July for the $7.9 billion euro ($11.6 billion) EU-backed pipeline to carry Caspian and Middle Eastern gas to central Europe, aiming to cut dependency on Russia. 

<strong>Rosneft on Turkey </strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Rosneft may supply oil to Turkey via BP’s Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, chief executive Sergei Bogdanchikov said, Sabah newspaper reported.   
Turkey is Russia’s second-biggest energy customer after Germany, and Rosneft would be willing to provide crude for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline if it’s in the interests of the two countries, Bogdanchikov said. 

<strong>Russian Help for OPEC</strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — OPEC needs to improve its cooperation with Russia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, as the cartel seeks to limit output and keep crude prices stable, the group’s president said Sunday. 
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should maintain a constant dialogue with nonmember producers, said Ecuador Mines and Oil Minister Germanico Pinto, who currently holds the oil cartel’s 12-month rotating presidency. 

<strong>Novolipetsk Bonds </strong>
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Novolipetsk Steel said its board approved the sale of 50 billion rubles ($1.65 billion) of bonds to refinance short-term debt. 
Proceeds will also be used by the company for “general corporate purposes,” it said Friday in a statement. The three-year bonds will be sold in seven portions, the company said in a separate statement. 

<strong>For the Record </strong>
Severstal said it successfully closed the book for a bond issue with a nominal amount of 15 billion rubles ($495 million), with a coupon rate set at 14 percent per annum.  
(Bloomberg)
 
*? General Electric plans to build a plant in Russia to make gas turbines “soon,” chief executive Jeffrey Immelt said, Reuters reported. 

*? LUKoil may sell its Venezuelan assets to a Russian oil consortium in which it is a member, chief executive Vagit Alekperov said, RIA-Novosti reported.  
 (Bloomberg) 

*?Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller discussed the Sakhalin-2 energy project with his counterpart from Royal Dutch Shell, Peter Voser, Gazprom said in a statement Sunday.   
(Bloomberg)

TITLE: Surging Stock Prices Put World on Notice
AUTHOR: By Ira Iosebashvili
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — This month’s rally in stocks put the rest of the world on notice that Russia is once again a place to receive hefty profits on equity investments. 
As the markets soar to new highs this year, however, investors are left wondering whether the upswing is a signpost for a turning point in the economy or simply a temporary reprieve.
September — a month that has brought with it no small amount of volatility in the past — has so far been kind to equity markets. The MICEX and RTS are up 10.7 percent and 16.8 percent for the month, respectively, with 2.8 and 4.1 percent of the gains coming in the last week, when both markets broke through old year highs, which were set in June. 
The MICEX is now up 95 percent on the year, closing last week at 1208.35, while the RTS is up 97.1 percent on the year, finishing at 1245.56. 
Optimistic comments on the economy from top officials gave investors plenty of reasons to cheer. On Wednesday, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the worst of the recession had passed and the economy was moving into a recovery phase. Shuvalov’s sentiments were echoed Friday by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who said the government would soon roll out an exit plan to help the country emerge from the crisis. 
Oil has also played a hand in driving stock prices higher. Crude spent the month hovering in the low $70 range, near a year high of $74.95 per barrel it set in June, and finished last week at $69.95 per barrel. Indeed, the resurgence of oil, the country’s main export, had a major role in luring investors back to Russia’s equity markets, analysts said. 
“Investors were very pessimistic about Russia in the first half of the year, but that all changed as oil prices rebounded,” said Yulia Tseplyayeva, chief economist at Merrill Lynch.
But while oil pushed stocks higher as it soared to current levels from a low of $40 per barrel in December, it also has the potential to bring the party to a screeching halt.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin warned Thursday of a correction in oil prices in two to three months, when the Federal Reserve may shrink the supply of dollars because of the threat of inflation. 
Oil will probably slide to between $57 and $60 per barrel and stay there for the next three years, dropping to as low as an inflation-adjusted $50 per barrel by 2103, the minister predicted. 
The government is basing its budgets for the next two years on oil prices of $58 and $59, respectively, for Urals crude, Russia’s main export blend.
Despite the uncertainty ahead, analysts and traders remain confident that equity markets have not yet finished their run.
The markets’ recent behavior is in keeping with the nature of Russia’s economic cycles, said Renaissance Capital’s Roland Nash.
“Russia has always been a boom or bust type of play. We’ve seen the bust, now we’re seeing the boom,” he said. “The big question is not whether there is a recovery, but the speed and nature of that recovery.”
Nash said the market would go higher in the medium term, despite the spectacular run it has already had this year. As the equity rally matures, he recommended taking profits in blue chips that have had a big run and shifting over to domestic stocks. 
“Evraz might have doubled, but it’s still down 70 percent from its peak. If it doubles again, it will still be down significantly off its all-time high,” he said.
Steelmaker Evraz’s London-traded Global Depositary Receipts finished the week up 11.25 percent at $26.70 per share, despite the fact that 400 workers staged a strike at one of the firm’s South African mines. 
The rally has attracted players that have long been absent from Russia’s equity markets, said Anatoly Darakov, head of equities at Citibank.
“While the market was left in the hands of local money at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, now we are seeing many new types of investors coming in, including global market funds and hedge funds. The picture is becoming much more complicated and more interesting,” he said. 
Darakov recommended investing in stocks with “Russia-specific stories” whose performance will not be entirely dependent on moves in global equity markets, like Pharmstandard and retailers X5 and Magnit.
Shares of Pharmstandard closed up 20.6 percent on the week at 1499.31 after reports that the drug maker was considering buying rival Ingavirin. Retailer X5 Group’s London-traded Global Depositary Receipts closed up 6.4 percent at $23.95, while competitor Magnit closed down 4.5 percent at 1615.76 on the MICEX.

TITLE: Lebedev: Put My Kid On Board At Aeroflot
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Tycoon Alexander Lebedev has proposed that his newborn son replace him on the board at Aeroflot in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to highlight what he says is continued weak corporate governance at state-run corporations, Reuters reported.
Lebedev, who made his fortune in banking, said he believed that corrupt officials and state executives have pocketed $500 billion in bribes over the last few years. The situation is not improving, he said, as the state has failed to implement a mechanism to control its bureaucrats and executives.
“Can I put my 3-month-old son, Nikita, on Aeroflot’s board in place of myself?” said Lebedev, who owns 30 percent of state-run Aeroflot.
“Guys, you don’t need me. Let my son work there. It wouldn’t be a problem — he’s a clever guy,” Lebedev said, quoting from a letter he sent to Aeroflot’s new president, Vitaly Savelyev.
Lebedev said he was angered by Aeroflot’s decision to shun dividend payments while splashing millions of dollars on noncore projects.
The airline has rented an expensive new office in central Moscow and sponsored the football team CSKA Moscow and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

TITLE: For the Benefit of All
AUTHOR: By Alexander A. Pikayev
TEXT: U.S. President Barack Obama’s cancellation of the deployment of a silo-based missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic represents one of those rare cases when a decision meets the interests of all players. Many commentators hurried to portray the Kremlin as the biggest benefactor. Indeed, after the decision, the silo-based interceptors will not be deployed just dozens of kilometers away from the Russian border. And there is no longer the threat that the silos could be transformed into launch pads for surface-to-surface medium-range ballistic missiles with the capability to hit Moscow within minutes from liftoff. Some people are even expressing concern that such a big unilateral decision by the United States might be interpreted as an indicator of U.S. weakness and provoke a more belligerent policy by Russia.
It would be certainly wrong to deny that the Russians have good reason to celebrate. The decision, however, was made by a U.S. administration whose first consideration is American interests. 
Even in the planning stages, the now-abandoned missile defense system hurt trans-Atlantic ties by placing enormous pressure on individual U.S. allies in Europe and provoking a new split within the European Union. Some observers say that the lieutenants of former U.S. President George W. Bush intentionally decided to deploy the system — widely criticized for being based on unproven technology and aimed against nonexistent threats — to drive a wedge between Old and New Europe in order to control the emerging EU giant. 
Therefore, the Obama administration made an important reconciliatory gesture to its European allies by abandoning Bush’s plans to deploy the missile defense shield through bilateral agreements and by circumventing NATO, the cornerstone of the United States’ influence on the world. Instead of following the obsolete — and self-damaging  — “divide and rule” strategy of the Bush era, Obama has promised to follow a multilateral approach in his administration’s missile defense policy and will probably abandon attempts to undermine the EU. Therefore, like the Russians, European federalists in Paris, Berlin and Brussels have good reason to pop open the champagne. In a rare coincidence, NATO’s leadership joined them in celebrating.
It is true that the Poles and, to a lesser extent, the Czechs deserve sympathy in their complaints about being mistreated by the United States. Why did Obama call the Czech prime minister at 1 a.m. to inform him about the decision? Did the White House staff not know about the six-hour time difference between Washington and Prague? Or did it simply not care about inconveniencing the leaders of that small country? 
On a more serious note, Warsaw and Prague received an important lesson on the danger of building political leverage on a negative agenda — trying to capitalize on playing one friend (Washington) against another (Brussels). Bilateral relations can change direction very quickly, and there might simply not be enough time to reap the desired fruits of the friendship. Moreover, it can take years if not decades to win back one’s damaged reputation and respect. 
Quite frankly, the Poles and other Central Europeans won with Obama’s decision. The end of the United States’ “divide and conquer” strategy helped them avoid the awkward position of being accused of being the Bush administration’s Trojan horse inside the European Union at a time when their best hopes for development and prosperity are firmly associated with the EU and subsidies funded by the union’s taxpayers. From now on, they have a better environment — and motivation — to build their European identity.
The missile defense drama is not over yet. Warsaw wants “compensation,” including the deployment of U.S. troops on its territory. Together with other countries, it has launched a campaign against the possible withdrawal of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons from Europe. It is unlikely that these efforts will improve Poland’s security. The emergence of any new weapons and troops near Russia’s borders would not go unanswered by Moscow. We can only hope that the debate around the Bush missile defense system in Europe has provided a sufficient antidote against repeating the dangerous mistakes of the past there.

Alexander A. Pikayev is a security analyst with the Institute for International Affairs and Global Economy.

TITLE: Musical Chairs for Bankers
AUTHOR:  Anna Shcherbakova
TEXT: We all know the rules to musical chairs. The kids circle the chairs until the music stops, at which point they all dash for a seat. The last man standing, if you’ll forgive the expression, is out, and so on until two kids are left circling just one chair. 
Russia’s banks appear to be playing this game, time after time. A couple of years ago there was stiff competition to provide money to corporate and private clients. Construction companies, for example, were eager to buy plots of land for new residential buildings or shopping and business centers. People weren’t prepared to wait to buy an apartment or the latest model of some expensive car. The volume of loans steadily grew. And now it’s time to pay them all back. 
According to Central Bank statistics to Aug. 1, arrears on loans among St. Petersburg banks amounted to 4.4 percent of their private portfolios and 8.8 percent of their corporate portfolios. The real figures may be worse because banks are in the habit of transferring overdue loans to their subsidiaries or collector agencies in order to beef up their stats. 
Some borrowers, unable to make their mortgage payments, are giving the keys to their apartments back to the banks. According to bankers in St. Petersburg, such cases are the exception rather than the rule, but all the same it’s certainly bad news for the banks in view of the falling real estate prices. 
Corporate clients with huge loans can cause far more serious problems. Banks are struggling to get their loans back and are elbowing each other out of the way in the search for their clients’ cash flows. Or they are urgently appraising the collateral on loans to find out if it will be enough to cover debts due. The larger state-owned banks or local operations with strong administrative connections usually have advantages — it’s an unwritten rule among the debtors that they shouldn’t be messed with. Those without such unofficial protection are hiring tough lawyers who file smart claims or investigate any dubious reregistering of property by debtors with third parties. 
Money loves silence. That’s why many conflicts are resolved before they can make it to court. Bankers prefer not to parade their problems in court until there is a hope that the debtor will be able to settle up. Only in desperate situations where clients aren’t prepared to compromise or there is a total lack of any assets do they find themselves forced to sue. Bankruptcies rarely take less than 18 months to be processed by the courts. 
There are at least six companies with debts of between 2 billion and 7 billion rubles ($66 million and $231 million) that are currently being sued for bankruptcy in St. Petersburg. Three importers of food, a chain of gas-stations, a meat processing factory, a shipping company and a construction firm have been unable to repay combined liabilities of about 30 billion rubles ($990 million) owed to dozens of banks. The few that have been cautious and aren’t affected can breathe a sigh of relief, their directors having sensed that there was something fishy about these borrowers. But back in 2007, when the Russian economy was flourishing on credit, most bankers switched off their intuition and expertise. Now the music has stopped. 
Like the kids circling the chairs, the banks now have to struggle to find themselves a place among the ever decreasing number of seats. As unlucky creditors, the banks will find the going tough. 

Anna Shcherbakova is the St. Petersburg bureau head of business daily Vedomosti.

TITLE: Art and a Bored Judge at the Trial of Khodorkovsky
AUTHOR: By Winnie Agbonlahor
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Over the last couple of months, artists have headed to Moscow’s Khamovnichesky District Court to capture one of the biggest trials in Russia’s history: the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the country’s wealthiest man.
Thirty-five artists have been to the courtroom, producing a total of 400 sketches, portraits and caricatures of the trial and the best of them can now be seen at the Central House of Artists in Moscow.
One of the winners, British artist Davina Garrido De Miguel, was the only foreign participant in the competition.
“Being part of this competition was an amazing experience,” she said. “My personal highlight was when I had to show my sketches to Khodorkovsky, who seemed so miserable in his glass cage. When he saw them, he laughed and asked to see more.”
The winning drawings are all very different. Some try to capture the whole courtroom process in one picture, a snapshot of the moment; others focus on the lawyers, the judge or even gossiping journalists watching the trial. A few are openly sympathetic to Khodorkovsky.
Sergei Kuznetsov Content Group, one of the biggest Russian web studios, launched the contest, which invited anyone to submit drawings of Khodorkovsky’s trial. The six winners will be sent to New York to study art.
The competition is an attempt to revive the art of courtroom drawings. Russia has a history of courtroom artists going back to the trials of anti-tsarist revolutionaries in the late nineteenth century. Cartoonist Boris Yefimov produced powerful drawings from the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals after the Second World War, but courtroom drawings are little used these days.
“When we decided to do a competition of this kind, we chose the Khodorkovsky trial as it is a very prominent case,” said Zlata Ponirovskaya. The contest was organized without the participation of Khodorkovsky and his lawyers, she said.
Ponirovskaya said she was very surprised that none of the artists expressed an anti-Khodorkovsky view with their drawings.
“If not a single participant sided with the accusing party, that means 100 percent of all artists consider this trial a sham,” Ponirovskaya said.

“Risuyem Sud” or “Drawing the Court” runs till Sept. 28 at the Central House of Artists in Moscow: 10 Krymski Val. Metro Oktyabrskaya, Park Kultury. Tel. 495 230 1782, Risuemsud.ru.

TITLE: India's Golden Triangle: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur
AUTHOR: By Shura Collinson
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: India is often described as a subcontinent rather than a country. The largest democracy in the world is home to 1.2 billion people of staggering diversity. Religions ranging from Jainism to Judaism have dedicated followings in India, and 18 different languages are spoken respectively by one million people or more, while many others are spoken by smaller groups across the country. The diversity of India’s people and culture are mirrored by its geography, which ranges from snowy mountain peaks to lush tropical vegetation, and in its astonishing and ever present array of wildlife. 
Nature is never very far away in India, even in the sprawling cities inhabited by millions, where it is not unusual to see cows grazing on traffic islands. In smaller towns and villages, hairy black pigs foraging for scraps and goats with comically long ears skipping atop corrugated iron roofs are also a part of the everyday landscape. Between cities, elephants decorated with colored powder serenely plod amid the whirlwind of auto rickshaws, lorries and buses, while brazen monkeys are a frequent sight at many of the forts and other tourist attractions. 
The unending array of the nation’s contrasts and contradictions, along with its image of romantic exoticism in the West, have long tempted travelers and explorers from around the world. The first port of call for many is India’s Golden Triangle of cities — Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.  Crowded and chaotic, exhausting yet enthralling, the Golden Triangle cities contain some of India’s historical and cultural jewels, and present a good way to become acquainted with India as a travel destination before venturing to its less visited — though no less rewarding — regions.

DELHI
As the gateway to the expansive plains of the River Ganges, Delhi has always been at the center of events in India. Old Delhi, built in 1639 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, had long been the center of political activity, even before it gained the status of capital (from 1799 to 1857) of the Mughal Empire that ruled India for more than three centuries. 
The heart of the bustling old city is the Chandni Chowk — a maze of improbably narrow, malodorous streets, where tiny shops and outdoor hawkers sell everything from silver and fabrics to bloody animal parts, people in auto-rickshaws and mopeds whizz past tourists in bicycle-rickshaws, skeletal dogs lope past monkeys on leashes, and the smells of people, meat, fish and urine mingle.
Looming over the chaotic alleys of the Chandni Chowk is the Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque in the country. This historic place of worship, built in red sandstone and white marble between 1644 and 1656, still functions as a working mosque, and on holy days even exceeds its capacity of 25,000 worshippers.
It is also open to tourists, who are provided with full-length, long-sleeved gowns to put on over their clothes, while entrepreneurial youngsters sell socks at the entrance (as is customary, visitors must remove their shoes before entering the mosque, and the stone floor can become painfully hot in the sun). The serene atmosphere inside the walls and the shade of the cloisters are a welcome respite from the heat, noise and bustle of the Chandni Chowk.
The entrance to the old walled city lies beyond a sprawling book market, whose predominance of medicine and science textbooks and other educational literature reflects India’s vast, enthusiastic brainpower. 
New Delhi was built to the south of the city in the 1920s after George V of the United Kingdom moved the capital back there from Calcutta. The broad leafy boulevards and copious verdant roundabouts of the new city, planned by the British architect Edwin Lutyens, could hardly be a greater contrast to the ancient, narrow streets of Old Delhi.

THE RED FORT
Outside of the old city lies the sprawling Red Fort, one of Delhi’s trio of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Imposing and military from the outside, it was a veritable pleasure garden after its completion in 1647. The marble interiors were inset with thousands of precious stones, and the jewel in the fort’s crown was the legendary Peacock Throne. Today, only its marble stand remains — the throne was taken by the Persian king Nader Shah in 1739 when he ransacked the palace and city, as were most of the precious stones. 
Narrow channels running through the halls and grounds of the fort were once filled with scented water, while fountains dominated the pool. From a verandah facing the pool, the maharajah would recline, drinking wine, listening to music and watching his more than 150 concubines dance. The floors were richly carpeted, and curtains enclosed the halls.
Not for nothing is the couplet “If there be a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this” inscribed in the ornamentation of the palace’s walls. 
In 1857 the fort was captured by the British, who destroyed some of the palaces and made the territory the headquarters of the British Indian Army. 
Today, the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort is the site from which India’s prime minister addresses the nation on Independence Day (Aug. 15). The tradition dates back to the original Independence Day in 1947, when Nehru unfurled the independent nation’s flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
A short distance outside the center of New Delhi lies the Qutub Minar — the world’s tallest free-standing minaret and another World Heritage site. The 72.5-meter tapering tower is made of red sandstone and covered with carvings and verses from the Qur’an. The tower was erected in the 13th century to mark the Muslim victory over the Indian king — the first monument built by a Muslim ruler in India. The crumbling pile of bricks nearby is all that remains of a second planned minaret, which never grew beyond the first story. 
Beside the Qutub Minar are some carved pillars — the remains of a Hindu temple that was later turned into a mosque. As the portrayal of people and animals is forbidden in religious buildings under Islam, the heads and faces of the intricate sculptures of people and animals have been chipped away. In the center of a nearby courtyard lies an object of mystery — an iron pillar that despite dating back to the 7th century has not rusted during all this time.
MONUMENTS TO THE DEAD
The third World Heritage Site in India’s capital is Humayan’s Tomb, which was built by the wife of the second Mughal emperor in the mid 16th century. Humayan’s tomb is often described as a precursor to the Taj Mahal, with many clear architectural similarities but on a more modest scale. The tombs on display are in fact replicas and do not contain the remains of Humayan and his family — the real tombs lie in the crypt below, but this is closed to visitors.
One of Delhi’s more poignant monuments is Raj Ghat, the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi. An eternal flame set in a simple, elegant black marble slab surrounded by incense lies at the heart of a pleasant park. Gandhi’s memorial is highly revered among Indians, and this is reflected in the solemn, peaceful setting and the immaculately kept gardens through which visitors respectfully file after removing their shoes.
The India Gate is a large arch inscribed with the names of more than 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in the Afghan wars and World War I. Surrounded by gardens, the monument stands at one end of the Rajpath — a sweeping boulevard that is crowned at the other end by the Presidential Palace, built by the British for the viceroy in 1929. Combining elements of Mughal and Western architecture, it is flanked by two colossal secretariat buildings — the ministries of finance and external affairs.
MOVING AROUND
Visitors to the capital are spoilt for choice in deciding how to get around. Alongside the bicycle rickshaws and stuffy buses, Delhi’s young metro is impressive and a very comfortable way to travel. Built just a few years ago, there are several more lines still under construction. It is delightfully cool and uncrowded, not to mention safe — passengers must pass through metal detectors (men and women go through separate channels, as is customary in India) before reaching the platform. 
Security is tight all over India — a constant reminder of the devastating terrorist attacks that killed at least 173 people in Mumbai in November last year. The country is visibly trying to prevent such a wide-scale tragedy from occurring again, with bags, car trunks and guests all checked upon arrival at 5-star hotels.
AGRA
The city of Agra, the second destination in the Golden Triangle and most famously home to the Taj Mahal, was made the capital of the Mughal Empire by the emperor Akbar in 1558.
The city’s most popular attraction is of course the Taj Mahal, situated on the banks of the Yamuna River. Its majestic image and silhouette are familiar all around the world, and the monument was voted one of New Seven Wonders of the World. Such fame puts a lot of pressure on the fabled mausoleum, but it cannot disappoint.
Built between 1631 and 1653 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj is made of white marble inlaid with thousands of precious and semi-precious stones. Passages from the Qur’an adorn the walls throughout, including over the entrance arch, where the size of the lettering is imperceptibly increased toward the top of the arch so that it appears the same height everywhere and remains legible from the ground.
Just as at Humayan’s Tomb in Delhi, the tombs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan, who was buried beside his wife upon his death in keeping with his wishes, are replicas. The reflecting pool situated inside the tranquil green gardens is surrounded by tourists jostling to take a picture of the Taj’s reflection in the water, while loitering photographers will provide instant snapshot souvenirs for a moderate price.
The four graceful minarets that surround the mausoleum lean imperceptibly outwards so that in the event of their collapse, they would fall away from the building and not onto it. Of the pair of mosques that flank the ensemble, only one was and remains a functioning place of worship — the other was erected to continue the flawless symmetry that characterizes the Taj and was used as a guest house. 
It is said that the best time to see the white marble mausoleum is by moonlight, when its splendid dome appears to change color. Failing moonlight, sunset is also recommended, when in clear weather the dome appears to turn pink with the setting sun.
Motor traffic is not allowed within a 500-meter radius of the Taj Mahal in order to protect the monument from pollution and prevent its translucent white marble from becoming discolored, so visitors usually arrive by bicycle rickshaw or on foot.
While excluding traffic may have proved easy, separating the wild from the manmade has turned out to be more of a challenge at the Taj, where visitors may be entertained by dogs frolicking on the well-kept lawns or cooling off in the channel of water that leads from the entrance gate to the building itself.
Agra’s other World Heritage Site is its fort, which is bigger than the Red Fort in Delhi. Begun in 1565 by Emperor Akbar, it now swarms with tourists and monkeys.
It was in this red sandstone citadel that Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb, who overthrew his father and had all of his brothers killed in order to ensure his succession. Shah Jahan spent his last seven years under house arrest in the fort, gazing out of his window at the Taj Mahal that he had built for his wife.
The area surrounding the fort’s Pearl Mosque — so named because of the iridescent sheen of its white marble — is teeming with particularly persistent beggars and sellers, and can be overwhelming. It is nevertheless well worth the effort to visit the small, exquisite mosque.
THE ABANDONED CITY
One of the most fascinating and poignant attractions of the Golden Triangle is the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri, located about 35 kilometers from Agra. The emperor Akbar began building the fortified city in 1570, and it was capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585, when the empire’s headquarters were moved back to Agra Fort because the water supply on which Fatehpur Sikri depended had dried up. 
Yet another World Heritage Site, the abandoned city boasts some beautiful and impressive buildings, many of which reflect Akbar’s famed tolerance. In the center of the compact Hall of Private Audiences is a large column atop which Akbar would sit, surrounded by four bridges leading to the corners of the edifice’s second floor. In each corner would sit an adviser, all four of whom would represent different faiths. The emperor also had wives of different faiths, including Hindu, Christian and Muslim, all of whom had their own temples and quarters decorated in keeping with their religion. Here, however, the animal kingdom has outlasted mankind: Now the rooms of the former palaces are inhabited only by bats.

JAIPUR
The famously pink city of Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan, is arguably the jewel in the crown of the Golden Triangle. 
If it were to be twinned with a Russian city, that city would certainly be St. Petersburg. Jaipur was founded in 1727, less than a quarter of a century after Russia’s northern capital, as India’s first planned city. Like Peter the Great, Jaipur’s founder, Maharajah Jai Singh II, was personally interested in town planning, and the city was built along regular geometric lines — just like St. Petersburg.
The city was first painted pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales (in India the color is associated with hospitality), and it is still the overwhelming prevalence of the color in the old city that strikes the first time visitor to Jaipur. The second impression visitors are likely to take away with them is the hordes of monkeys leaping across the roofs of the houses in the old walled city, whose windows are barred to stop these streetwise creatures from entering homes and raiding fridges — a feat of which they are more than capable. 
Jaipur offers as much interest and history as would be expected from the capital city of a state whose name means “the land of the kings.” The City Palace, traditionally home to Rajasthan’s royal family, is now open to the public as a museum and can even be rented out for spectacular weddings, though the royal family — an elderly king, his wife, their daughter, her husband and son — still inhabit a seven-story section in which each of the levels is decorated in a different color and style. 
Some of the palace’s highlights include the Chandra Mahal courtyard flanked with four gates — one for each season — the most photographed of which is the Peacock Gate, adorned by a magnificent sculpture of a peacock — India’s national bird. 
Inside, a pair of enormous silver bowls that are said to be the biggest objects made out of sterling silver in the world were taken by Maharajah Sawai Madho Singh II when he went to London in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII. As a devout Hindu, the maharajah had to confront the taboo that existed about undertaking a voyage overseas. He overcame his dilemma by filling the vast urns with holy water from the River Ganges in which he bathed while he was abroad.
Jai Singh II’s keen interest in astronomy is attested to by another of Jaipur’s marvels, the Jantar Mantar observatory situated beside the City Palace. Despite its resemblance to an outdoor modern art installation, the construction of the observatory began in 1728, and it was continually added to and improved over time. At first, small-scale models were used, and when an accurate model had been created, a full size version was built. The instruments were impressively accurate for the time, enabling astronomers to predict eclipses in the 18th century. 
Along with a giant sundial and various complex hollowed out globes into which the astronomers would climb in order to read the measurements, there is one instrument for each horoscope, though these do not correspond to Western birth signs. The observatory is considered to be a treasure of Jaipur, not only for its historic and scientific interest, but also because it represents a rare combination of art, science and religion.
AMER FORT
Just outside of Jaipur lies Amer Fort (also known as the Amber Fort), which is no less impressive than the Red Fort in Delhi or Agra Fort. On the contrary, it is a masterpiece of engineering in which it seems that everything was thought of and carefully planned, from giant water tanks that functioned in a way that ensured not a single drop was wasted, to the practice of hanging damp rushes at the windows to create a cooler, slightly damp breeze. 
The apartments were built in such a way as to create wind tunnels to keep the corridors cool. The various halls and living quarters, from the breathtaking mirrored hall decorated with thousands of tiny mirrors that would create a million spots of light when the curtains were drawn and candles lit, to the Hall of Pleasure — the women’s quarters — fronted with latticed stonework in a honeycomb style through which the women could see out without being seen, surrounded a garden of rare and expensive scented flowers, which is now planted with herbs and fragrant plants. 
The narrow corridors of the fort were built with defense in mind, complete with huge boulders positioned on strategic landings ready to be rolled down the corridors, crushing invaders and blocking off their access to the rest of the fort. Unsurprisingly, the fort, which is situated high up in the hills overlooking a seasonal lake for some of the year, was never taken.
Construction of the fort began in 1592 but various rulers were to make their own additions and modifications to it for the next 150 years. The older part of the fort is occupied by snake charmers and small stalls selling jewelry and souvenirs, but also contains an early model of a Jacuzzi in which the queen would take her bath. 
Also of note inside the fort are the exquisitely carved silver doors to the Kali Temple, crowned by an image of the elephant god Ganesha carved from a single piece of coral.
Religions ranging from Jainism to Judaism have dedicated followings in India, and 18 different languages that have one million or more fluent speakers, while many more are spoken by smaller groups across the country. The diversity of India’s people and culture are mirrored by its geography, which range from snowy mountain peaks to lush tropical vegetation, and in its astonishing and ever present array of wildlife. 
Many travelers enthuse about the “special energy” that sets India apart from other destinations, and gain spiritual satisfaction from visiting a land that is teeming with life in all of its multiplicity. Others return shocked by the poverty and sanitation, haunted by images of begging children. Most are agreed that India is not only a holiday; it is an experience. It is impossible to experience the country and return home without gaining something, whatever those memories and impressions may be, and it is easy to see why people keep going back there.
Crowded and chaotic, exhausting yet enthralling, the Golden Triangle cities contain some of India’s historical and cultural jewels, and present a good way to become acquainted with India as a travel destination before venturing to its less visited — though no less rewarding — regions.

Information
How to get there
Aeroflot operates daily flights from St. Petersburg to Delhi via Moscow. See www.aeroflot.ru for prices and timetables.
Where to Stay
Delhi: Ashok Hotel. Behind the magnificent fa?ade of the elegant Ashok, the rooms are a little dated, but this is more than made up for the attentive service and spectacular South Indian cuisine served up in the basement restaurant. Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakayapuri, 110021, tel: +91 11 26110101, www.theashok.com

Agra: Hotel Yamuna View (Formerly Hotel Agra Ashok). A slightly shabby but perfectly comfortable hotel run by friendly, helpful staff. 
6B Mall Road, 282001, tel: +91 562 2462990, www.hotelagraashok.com.

Jaipur: Gold Palace and Resorts. A top-notch luxury hotel set in vast grounds between Jaipur and Amer with excellent facilities and stunning interiors. 
8th Mile Amer Fort, Jaipur-Delhi Highway, Kukas, tel: +91 1426 515500, www.hotelgoldpalace.com

***The St. Petersburg Times was a guest of the India Tourism Office in Frankfurt. Tel: +49 69 2429490. www.incredibleindia.org***

TITLE: Airlines Adapt to Weather Crisis
AUTHOR: By Olga Kalashnikova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The global airline industry will make a loss of $11 billion in 2009, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The main reasons for the loss are rising oil prices, faltering demand and intense competition. The IATA also forecasts that in 2010, airlines will post a loss of $3.8 billion. 
The number of passengers carried by Russian airline companies fell by 10.7 percent compared to the previous year, according to statistics from the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Transport Clearing House. 
Even the second quarter — usually the strongest season for airlines, accounting for half of their annual profits — did not bring the expected profit, with carriers around the world losing about $2 billion.
KD Avia reported a loss of more than 2.8 billion rubles ($92 million) for the first half of 2009. The Kaliningrad-based airline owed money to its staff, leasing companies, Russian and European airports, air navigation services and the Pension Fund of Russia. According to an official Federal Transport Agency announcement, in such financial conditions KD Avia could not provide uninterrupted air transport and fulfill all its obligations before passengers. On Sept. 14, the airline’s certificate was annulled. 
Ten Russian airlines have begun providing alternative transport to the bankrupt company’s passengers. The Federal Transport Agency has advised KD Avia clients to transfer their existing tickets to other airlines before Oct. 25, 2009, or try to get their money back. Offices have been set up in all the airports that formerly served as destination points for the airline, where information is available about the conditions for transferring or returning their tickets.
Most of the alternative flights are provided by Aeroflot, the country’s largest carrier, which controls more than 45 percent of regular international transportation in Russia. Yet even this aviation giant has felt the impact of the crisis. 
Last week, the company announced its decision to cut 2,000 jobs during the next six months. If passenger demand continues to decline, the airline may make a further 4,000 employees redundant. Aeroflot currently employs 15,500 people.
It is not the first time reductions have been made at Aeroflot. Five hundred employees have already lost their jobs since the onset of the crisis. 
Transport Minister Igor Levitin said in an interview with Vesti 24 TV channel that the reductions at Aeroflot were caused by the decreasing number of passengers using air carriers.
“The job cuts will not affect the flight crews, because Aeroflot will soon get 30 SuperJet planes, and Aeroflot has a special retraining program,” said Levitin.
“Everything will depend on the growth or fall of passenger volumes,” the minister added.
During the first seven months of 2009, Aeroflot’s passenger volume was 16.5 percent less than last year. 
“The trend of declining demand is going to stabilize now,” said Dmitry Lobach, head of brand management at Rossiya airline.
Few airlines have managed to avoid the impact of declining demand. A fall in passenger numbers does not necessarily means less profit, however. Large airlines like Rossiya and Lufthansa have been able to adapt in time to the new market situation and optimize their work to retain their leading positions in the air transport industry and make a profit.
“In recent years, we have improved our ability to react flexibly to volatile operating conditions,” said Bart Buyse, regional manager for Lufthansa in St. Petersburg and Russia’s northwest. “At the same time, we have systematically bolstered our financial strength and made adequate provision for the airline to negotiate difficult times,” he said.
One of the measures taken to optimize operations is changes to flight schedules. Operations on the most popular routes have not changed; nor have the major destinations. But some flights that did not enjoy popular demand all year round have been reduced or even canceled.
“Flights to seasonal destinations like Athens or Venice ground to a halt,” said Rossiya’s Lobach. “Due to declining demand, airlines have made some insignificant reductions in flight frequencies on specific routes.”  
Lufthansa has also been forced to cancel flights to a handful of destinations, including Alexandria and Bratislava.
“Lufthansa tailors its timetable to suit customer demand,” said Buyse. “It operates routes only when they are economically profitable.
“With demand declining, we are adapting our flights to the ongoing situation, as needs dictate. At the same time, we are doing our best to minimize the effect on customers of canceling flights in the medium term. So far, cut-backs have come from reducing flight frequencies on specific routes or from canceling services that are duplicated in isolated cases at specific destinations, for example destinations that are served by flights from both Munich and Frankfurt hubs,” he said.

When reducing capacities, most large companies aim to retain destinations wherever possible and keep the network structure intact.
Another option to optimize operating costs is reconfiguring the airline’s fleet. Lufthansa has scaled back business class in some aircrafts in favor of a larger economy class section. Another measure is the demand-dependent deployment of aircraft, when smaller planes are used on some routes due to lower demand.
In times of economic crisis, purchasing new aircraft is more profitable than servicing old ones. Carriers have therefore continued the process of updating their fleets even during difficult times in the aviation industry.
“Since 2005, the Airbus Boeing 737-500, A319 and Airbus A320 have been introduced into airlines,” said Lobach. “The Il-86 and Tu-134 are not used anymore, and flights on the Tu-154 will be canceled in November,” he said. (All airlines, or just Rossiya?)
The Airbus A330-300 and Airbus A320 are popular now with many carriers, including Swiss International Air Lines.
“Foreign technology is not only more convenient; is characterized by good indicators of operating and fuel efficiency,” said Lobach. “It makes its usage more profitable for the company, and allows companies to make flights more affordable for passengers.”
No major airlines have reduced their renovation budgets, partly due to safety considerations, and partly because they are often conditional on long-term contracts that were signed years ago. 
“Despite ups-and-downs in the industry, air traffic will in the long run continue to grow,” said Buyse. “We are adhering to our investment plans even in the present challenging environment. In 2009, we are expecting the delivery of 51 new planes to replace existing aircraft.  
“We need aircraft in order to further modernize our fleet and operate more efficiently,” he continued. “When oil prices go up again, the discussion about fuel-efficient aircraft will come up again.”
High fuel costs are an important factor in airline losses. Fuel costs account for up to a third of an airline’s overheads, and special fuel taxes often inflate ticket prices. 
Although most airlines say that they are not changing fares, the International Air Transport Association predicts airline passengers will benefit from lower ticket prices as the carriers continue to lose billions of dollars in the recession. For example, Europe’s largest short-haul carrier Ryanair has forecast a 20 percent decline in fares as it cuts prices in order to fill an expanding fleet.
Fares will however return to their usual prices as soon as demand begins to increase. According to Rossiya’s Lobach, demand for regular transport within Russia is on the increase.
“In August, domestic airlines were used by 8 percent more passengers than during the same period last year,” he said.
Airlines are generally optimistic about the future. 
“In the present challenging economic environment, it is very difficult to make forecasts,” said Lufthansa’s Buyse. “We are however convinced that the demand for travel will grow again, but this may take until the middle or even the end of next year.”

TITLE: Estonian Capital Blends Ancient, Modern History
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Many things have changed since visiting Tallinn in May 2007. Back then, there was still the occasional broken window — evidence of the riots that ensued after the Soviet-era Bronze Soldier war monument was relocated to a military cemetery from the center of town by the Estonian authorities. This year, it was quiet and beautiful.
Estonia has now become part of the Schengen zone (from Dec. 21, 2007). It has yet to adopt the euro, but Jan. 1, 2011 has been set as the formal target date. There are no more trains between St. Petersburg and Tallinn, but there are still plenty of coaches as well as a new addition — Estonian Air flights.
When visited in May, Tallinn’s central square, Vabaduse vuljak (Freedom Square) was undergoing repair work that lasted for a year in total, but it has since reopened, complete with a new Freedom Monument — a 26-meter structure built from imported Czech glass and unveiled on June 23. The official opening ceremony of the square, which culminated in a fireworks show, took place on Aug. 20.
The monument, which is dedicated to the Estonian War of Independence that lasted from 1918 to 1920, was modeled on the Cross of Liberty, the first Estonian state decoration. Established in 1919, Winston Churchill and King George V of the U.K. were among those awarded the honor.
This manifestation of independence (“the biggest and most substantial monument of the independent Estonian state,” as Mayor Edgar Savisaar described the Freedom Square ensemble) might have annoyed some people in the Kremlin, but not as much as the relocation of the Bronze Soldier. 
Estonian Tourist Board statistics show a rise in the number of tourists from Russia, after the 2007 nadir caused by anti-Estonian propaganda in the Russian media, and the country has demonstrated that they are welcome by taking steps such as abolishing from July 30 the requirement that Russians obtain official invitations for any visit lasting for more a few days. 
The St. Petersburg-Tallinn GoRail train stopped operating on Sept. 14, 2008 after several years of struggling to attract more passengers, even without any politics being involved. Even after changing its schedule to nighttime for the convenience of potential passengers, it was still half-empty at best and finally lost out to Eurolines Baltic buses, which shuttle passengers to the Estonian capital and back from seven to nine times a day for $34 to $37. 
The Estonian Air flights were added on July 27, and judging from the company’s web site, are considerably more expensive, but take just an hour to reach Tallinn’s airport, which is located close to the city center.
The bus seems the optimal way to get to Tallinn and is popular with Petersburgers — and is a guarantee against surprises that may lie in wait at the border for people travelling in their own cars. One bus passenger admitted that he had chosen to take the bus after spending six hours in his car on the Russian side of the border — a complaint that is frequently heard.
Eurolines Baltic, the largest operator of international express coach routes in the Baltic region, has a fleet of 44 modern tourist buses, including Eurolines Lux Express, which offers free Wi-Fi, hot drinks, newspapers and other comforts. 
The notoriously bad Russian roads (the difference can be felt almost immediately as soon as the bus crosses the border) are, it seems, a constant nuisance for the company, with buses on the Tallinn-St. Petersburg route unlikely to last as long as their counterparts within the Baltics. It is 360 kilometers between the two cities by road; the bus takes some eight hours to cover the distance.
It will still be possible until the end of next year to appreciate the Estonian senti and krooni, whose banknotes feature portraits of poets, composers and scholars on the front and historical views on the back. Reintroduced as the national currency on June 20, 1992, the Estonian currency replaced the Soviet ruble after the country regained independence on August 20, 1991. Originally pegged to the German mark, the kroon is now pegged to the euro (at 15.6466 kroons per euro.)
Tallinn’s population of 400,000 consists mainly of Estonians (52.2 percent) and Russians (39 percent), with most of the latter remaining in the city from the second Soviet occupation period, which lasted from 1944 to 1991. The first Soviet occupation, from 1940 to 1941, was followed by the German occupation of 1941-1944.
Those dark years, when thousands of Estonians were repressed (imprisoned, deported, executed or forced to join either the Soviet or Nazi armies) are remembered in the Museum of Occupations, located at 8 Toompea (www.okupatsioon.ee). 
A wooden boat like the ones used by Estonians to escape to Sweden, objects from Soviet camps, old photographs, prison doors, Soviet monuments and products are featured among the displays. One of the most intriguing objects is a Soviet-era steam-based device, based on the principle of a kettle, which was used by the KGB to open and inspect private letters. The device was found at Tallinn’s main post office soon after Estonia regained independence in 1991.
Documentaries in English covering the different periods of Estonia’s recent history can be watched on several screens. There is also a selection of literature and paraphernalia on sale.
Since such a large percentage of the local population is Russian, Tallinn has a Russian Drama Theater (Vene Teater) — the only professional Russian drama theater in Estonia (www.veneteater.ee).
At a recent performance, however, many members of the audience were Estonian (translation was provided via headphones). Alexander Chatsky, the protagonist of Alexander Griboyedov’s 1823 play “Woe from Wit,” was presented, rather irritatingly, as a long-haired biker-type with a portable stereo. The staging was reminiscent of the Soviet theatrical experiments of the 1970s, but the public’s reaction was generally positive.
Located at 5 Vabaduse vuljak in the center of the city next door to the Scandic Hotel, the Russian Drama Theater was founded during the Soviet occupation in December 1948, on the premises of a former cinema, and is interesting enough to warrant a visit.
Other notable reminders of the Soviet occupation include the ominous KGB Headquarters building (1 Pagari, on the corner of 59 Pikk). The plaque on the building reads in English: “This building housed the organ of repression of the Soviet occupational power. Here began the road to suffering for thousands of Estonians.”
The 314-meter-high Soviet television tower built for the 1980 Olympic Games has been closed to visitors since Nov. 26, 2007, but is a reminder of both the occupation and the fight for freedom. At the base of the tower, some bullet holes can reportedly still be seen, dating from an attempted Soviet takeover on Aug. 21, 1991 — one day after Estonia declared independence. 
Tallinn’s main sights and attractions are concentrated in and around the Old Town, which is divided into the Lower Town and the Upper Town. The Town Hall Square and Toompea Castle with its wall, gates and towers and medieval churches are certainly not to be missed. The website www.tourism.tallinn.ee can be a good starting point for touring objects of interest. 
General architecture deserves a mention, too: There are interesting buildings all over the town, including brick buildings from the 1930s and wooden architecture right in the center — something that can hardly ever be found in modern cities anywhere, including in St. Petersburg.
As Estonia’s cultural center, Tallinn is home to 31 museums, 47 galleries and exhibition halls, 13 concert halls, 13 theaters and 34 libraries. The city has 40 square kilometers of parks, gardens and forests. 
Current events in Tallinn include Credo, an international festival of Orthodox music that started last week and runs through Sept. 29, while the future promises Festival Trialogs, performances and debates on science, theater, music, art, poetry and liturgy (Sept. 27 to Oct. 3); NYYD ’09, an international New Music festival concentrating on music theater and multimedia projects this year (Oct. 21 to 25); and the St. Martin’s Day Fair, featuring national handicraft workshops accompanied by traditional culinary delights, folk music and Martinmas costumes organized by the Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union (Nov. 5 to 8).
Alternatively, there is still nothing like walking around the medieval Old Town, taking a moment to drop into its snug, inviting cafes  — something visitors have not tired of doing in decades.
The St. Petersburg Times was a guest of the Estonian Tourist Board, Enterprise Estonia (Liivalaia 13/15, 10118 Tallinn, Estonia. Tel: +372 6279 770). www.eas.ee, www.visitestonia.com

<strong>INFORMATION</strong>
<strong>How to Get There</strong>
Eurolines buses depart eight times a day from Baltiisky Station, from 7.15 a.m. to 11.45 p.m. $34-$37. www.eurolines.ee
Now there are also Estonian Air flights from St. Petersburg to Tallinn four days a week (Mon., Wed., Fri., Sun.). $150 to $1,022. www.estonian-air.ee
<strong>Where to Stay</strong>
Scandic Palace, a 4-star hotel, restaurant, bar and leisure complex with a sauna, wireless Internet access and meeting facilities, located on the main square next to the Tallinn’s Old Town. The Rolling Stones and Russian pop diva Alla Pugachyova have stayed there, as testified to by photographs on the wall. $70 to $430 per room per night. 3 Vabaduse vuljak. www.scandichotels.com
Meriton Conference & Spa Hotel, a new 4-star hotel close to the Old Town and the Parliament House. Opened on April 28, it has a gym, an aqua and sauna center and free Wi-Fi connection. $118 to $368 per room per night. 8 Paldiski maantee. www.meritonhotels.com
<strong>Where To Eat</strong>
Olde Hansa, a three-story medieval restaurant offering game (wild boar, bear, hare, elk), fish and poultry. Vana turg 1. www.oldehansa.com