SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1658 (20), Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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TITLE: Film Festival Plans Unveiled
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova

PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The second St. Petersburg International Film Festival that will be held from July 10 to 15 looks set to thrive on contrasts, if not controversies. 
The festival has Alexei German and Alexander Sokurov — two of Russia’s most respected independent filmmakers who have never bowed down to the state — as its founders. It has strong backing from City Hall that comes in the form of both substantial funding and pompous statements from bureaucrats seeking to “restore the reputation of St. Petersburg as an international cultural trendsetter.” It has a “Best of the Best” competition program, showcasing outstanding films that have recently won awards at already established international film forums of the caliber of the Berlin, Cannes and Locarno film festivals. And finally, it has an amateur jury of six people with little connection to the world of cinema who are going to judge that competition.
“We are not trying to overtake Cannes,” said film critic Andrei Plakhov, head of the commission that selected the films for the festival.
Some might judge that to be a sensible sentiment, considering that the festival is only in its second year and its reputation is still being formed.  
“We do not mean for our jury to tower over the professional juries of the other festivals,” Plakhov said. “We would like our award to become a kind of a VIP-spectator prize.”
The list of six “VIP-spectators” presided over by filmmaker Rustam Ibragimbekov will include skating coach Tatyana Tarasova, TV presenter Svetlana Sorokina, artist Vadim Zakharov and Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan, president of the Toronto Russian Film Festival and general director of Walt Disney Company for the CIS.
The jurors will give their opinions about films such as Lisa Aschan’s “She Monkeys,” Denis Cote’s “Curling,” Nikolaj Arcel’s “Truth About Men” and Mike Ott’s “Littlerock.”
The festival will include a second competition program, “New Territories,” judged by a more experienced jury including Dutch filmmaker Jos Stelling, German film historian Ulrich Gregor, French actor Gregoire Colin, Islandic filmmaker Dridrik Thor Fridriksson and the French actress of Russian origin Dinara Drukarova.
“New Territories” will showcase Russian premieres of works that have a pioneering or experimental spirit, either in the form of technologies used or topics touched.
As part of the festival, the internationally renowned filmmaker Sokurov will run a summer school for aspiring young talents taking their first steps in the industry.
Sokurov said the summer classes will include teaching an array of practical skills that he says are worth far more than getting selected gifted youths to learn the profession.
“My key goal is to inspire a sense of resistance in the younger generation, as offering resistance is something that most Russian youths are completely incapable of,” Sokurov said.
The city budget has allocated 30 million rubles ($1 million) — a modest sum compared to the hefty 120 million rubles generously injected from the federal budget into the Moscow International Film Festival — for the event. Funding will also be obtained via sponsorship, although Alla Manilova, deputy governor of St. Petersburg, declined to specify how much money would come from private sources.

TITLE: 50 Arrested at 10th Strategy 31 Rally 
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: About 50 people were arrested during a rally for freedom of assembly in St. Petersburg on Tuesday evening. According to the rally’s hotline, more than 50 people were detained and taken to various police precincts.
One woman named as Alexandra Kachko was taken to hospital to be treated for an injured wrist after being detained by police during the rally, its organizers said.
The rally was held near Gostiny Dvor metro station on Nevsky Prospekt, at a site dubbed “Freedom Square” by the activists.
Traditionally a rally in defense of freedom of assembly, guaranteed by Article 31 of the Russian Constitution and international laws, the demands of Tuesday’s event were expanded to include free elections. State Duma and St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly elections are due in December, and a presidential election is due in March 2012.
As at the previous, March 31 rally, the protesters also demanded the dismissal of Governor Valentina Matviyenko, whom they hold responsible for multiple violations of the law and for corruption.
“People can assess Strategy 31 however they like, but nothing more noteworthy, meaningful or effective has appeared in St. Petersburg and Russian politics,” said Andrei Pesotsky of The Other Russia opposition party.
Strategy 31 was conceived by the Moscow-based author and oppositional politician Eduard Limonov as a civic, non-partisan campaign. Originally launched in Moscow in July 2009, it is held across Russia on the 31st day of months that have 31 days.
Strategy 31’s organizing committee includes members of political parties and movements such as The Other Russia, the Russian People’s Labor Union (RNDS), ROT-Front and the United Civil Front (OGF).
None of the ten Strategy 31 rallies held so far have been authorized by City Hall.
According to the organizers, the grounds for not authorizing the May 31 event were that the rally would obstruct people, and that it is forbidden to hold rallies near metro stations. The site is however occasionally used for non-political events.
The OGF’s local leader, Olga Kurnosova, said that the Strategy 31 rallies would increase in size and build up to larger-scale rallies planned to be held on the day of parliamentary elections on Dec. 4.
“The parties that have tried to get registered will not be registered, we should bear no illusions,” Kurnosova said.
“The elections will be unfree and dishonest, and if we don’t fight these unfree, dishonest elections, we aren’t worth anything.”
“Strategy 31, which has existed for 18 months now in St. Petersburg, has done one important thing — it has proved that St. Petersburgers are not afraid,” said The Other Russia’s local chair Andrei Dmitriyev.
“Our people are not afraid to go out onto the street, even when the authorities break the law by banning them — they’re not afraid of truncheons, arrests or criminal cases.”

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: <b>Controversial Ads</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Controversial outdoor advertisements featuring Russian historical figures alongside United Russia party symbols that were put up for the city’s birthday were dismantled last week.
The United Russia political party said the advertisements were put up legally, but that they had decided to take them down due to complaints from some of the relatives of the people featured in the advertisements.
The party said it would also apologize to the relatives.
United Russia placed advertisements around the city last month with portraits of the poets Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky and Alexander Blok, as well as the composer Dmitry Shostakovich, philologist and scholar Dmitry Likhachyov, and other eminent former St. Petersburg residents.

<b>Floating Nuclear Plant</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Local company Baltiisky Zavod has said that the floating nuclear power station that the plant is constructing for RosEnegroAtom is 50-percent ready.
The station is due to supply electricity and heating to isolated consumers located in remote areas who don’t have access to centralized electricity supplies. In Russia these locations include residential areas and ports along the Northern Sea Route and the coast of the Far East, as well as mining areas and military bases.
The station will cost 9.8 billion rubles ($350 million) with a deadline of 2014 for its launch in the Kamchatka region.
It will be the world’s first floating nuclear power station and the first civil made low-power nuclear power station.
Baltiisky Zavod is one of Russia’s biggest shipbuilding plants.

<b>Smoking Deaths</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — About half a million people die in Russia every year from smoking-related illnesses, doctors say.
An estimated 43 million adults smoke in Russia. More than 60 percent of them are men, and 21 percent are women. On average, Russian smokers smoke 17 cigarettes a day.
According to Russian Consumption Watch (RCW), Russians consume more tobacco than any other country in the world, Interfax reported.
During the last three to five years, the highest increase in tobacco consumption has been seen among women, children and teenagers. More than 40 percent of women continue smoking during pregnancy, which can harm the health of the unborn child.
Low taxes on cigarettes and for tobacco products contribute to the popularity of smoking in Russia, along with advertising campaigns, a lack of information about the harmful effects of smoking and a lack of preventive work and medical assistance aimed at persuading people to quit smoking, according to the RCW.

<b>Better Road to Finland?</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The Skandinavskaya Trassa (highway) that connects northwest Russia, including St. Petersburg, with Finland will be modernized, Interfax reported.
Russia’s federal budget will finance all the necessary developments, said Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin.
The terms and cost of the roadworks have yet to be announced.

<b>Woman Bit Investigator</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A St. Petersburg city court gave a woman a two-year suspended sentence for insulting a court judge and biting an investigator, Interfax reported.
The court found Irina Burovtseva guilty of ten instances of insulting the judge of a St. Petersburg City Court and injuring an investigator.
The woman made repeated calls to the judge from August 2009 through February 2010, leaving insulting messages on the answering machine.
Burovtseva was apparently taking revenge for a ruling by the judge that was not in her favor during a civil case.
While being interrogated in November 2010, Burovtseva hit an investigator 13 times on his arms, neck and head, and also bit him.
For insulting the judge, the court ordered the woman to pay a 20,000-ruble ($714) fine and a further 60,000-ruble ($2,142) fine for disrupting the course of justice.

<b>New Bells for Kronstadt</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The Naval Cathedral in the St. Petersburg suburb of Kronstadt is due to be fully restored by March 15 next year. The bells should be finished by August this year, Interfax reported.
The plan for the renovation of the cathedral was signed on Sunday in St. Petersburg.
Participants of the meeting also decided to rebuild the cathedral’s five-ton bell and cast a new 12-ton church bell and more than ten other smaller bells.
Kronstadt’s Naval Cathedral was ordered to be built in 1903 by the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Russian Navy. In 2013, the Navy will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the cathedral’s consecration. The cathedral resembles the St. Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul. It is one of the biggest cathedrals in Russia, and is included on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.

<b>Museum Night Results</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The city’s Artillery Museum, the Leningrad Zoo and the Peter and Paul Fortress were the most popular museums during St. Peterburg’s Museum Night last month.
More than 36,000 people visited the Artillery Museum, 26,500 went to the Leningrad Zoo, about 12,000 visited the Peter and Paul Fortress and 10,700 explored the Botanical Gardens, the press-service of the city’s Culture Committee said, Interfax reported. 
More than 85,000 people took part in Museum Night.
While calculating the rate of attendance at each museum, workers found a unified ticket whose owner had managed to attend 15 museums during the course of the night.
Last year more than 76,000 people took part in Museum Night.

<b>Liteiny Tunnel Opens</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A new tunnel under the city’s Liteiny bridge opened last week in St. Petersburg. The tunnel connects the Pirogovskaya and Arsenalnaya Embankments.

TITLE: Medvedev Pleads for Internet Freedom at G8 Summit
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev pleaded for more Internet freedom at the Group of Eight summit, taking a more liberal line than some G8 counterparts and raising eyebrows among critics who note that Russian authorities have sought to tighten control over the Internet.
“Today the G8 discussed the future of the Internet. The net must be free, authors’ rights need new defenses,” Medvedev wrote on his Twitter account after talks at the French resort of Deauville.
This year’s two-day G8 summit, which ended Friday, added the Internet to its agenda for the first time after social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter were credited with playing a role in toppling entrenched regimes in Egypt and Tunisia earlier this year.
Just days before the summit, Yandex, the popular Russian search engine, debuted in New York with a heavily oversubscribed initial public offering that is causing investors to take a second look at Russia.
Medvedev, who has carefully honed his image as an Internet-savvy president, seemed to adopt a more liberal stance at the G8 talks than some of his fellow statesmen, first and foremost French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who called for tighter online regulation in the run-up to the summit.
Sarkozy’s plea for a “civilized Internet” has pitched him against leading technology companies including Google and Facebook, whose top executives he invited to discuss proposals to balance freedom on the Internet with protections for privacy and intellectual property.
Speaking at the summit, Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg both warned against tightening regulations, with Schmidt telling reporters that Arab leaders made “a terrible mistake” by cutting off Internet access in their countries.
An Egyptian court on Saturday fined ousted President Hosni Mubarak and two other former officials $90 million for disrupting cell phone and Internet services in an attempt to quell protests.
The Internet leaders drafted a final communique at the G8 talks that calls for a commitment to take action against the violation of intellectual property rights and to protect against personal and data privacy.
Medvedev’s aide Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters at the summit that Moscow backs changes to international and national laws that offer protection from cybercrime and breaches of privacy, but those changes should not limit freedom on the Internet, Interfax reported.
He added that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov was heading a working group compiling Moscow’s suggestions concerning the Internet for delivery to the G8 partners at a later date. Dvorkovich did not elaborate.
Internet freedom is being hotly debated in Russia as parliamentary and presidential elections loom and the Federal Security Service has threatened to close access to services like Skype and Gmail, citing national security concerns.
In February, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin criticized Google for being partly responsible for the Egyptian uprisings.
Observers say Medvedev is the best guarantor that the web can remain the bastion of free speech that it has become in recent years.
“The president’s words are very much in line with the Internet community,” State Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomaryov said by phone Friday.
Ponomaryov, a member of A Just Russia, is pushing for legal amendments that would make it easier to punish cybercriminals.
A large swath of global cybercrime, ranging from spam to hacker attacks, originates in Russia. Russia’s share of the revenue generated in the criminal activity was estimated at $2.5 billion for last year, or 35 percent of the world market, according to a report by Group IB, a Moscow-based computer security firm. At the current rate, that figure is expected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2013.
Ponomaryov said current legislation usually only allows investigators to go after Internet providers, which are mostly innocent.


TITLE: Orthodox Church Seeks To Ban Free Abortions
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Russian Orthodox Church teamed up with conservative lawmakers Monday to push legislation that would radically restrict abortions in a nation struggling to cope with one of the world’s lowest birthrates.
The legislation would ban free abortions at government-run clinics and prohibit the sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription, said Yelena Mizulina, who heads a parliamentary committee on families, women and children.
She added that abortion for a married woman would also require the permission of her spouse, while teenage girls would need their parents’ consent. If the legislation is passed, a week’s waiting period would also be introduced so women could consider their decision to terminate their pregnancy, said Mizulina, a member of A Just Russia.
During the time of the Soviet Union, abortion laws were liberal, and unrestricted termination of pregnancy became virtually the only method of family planning. Sex education was frowned upon.
Russia’s abortion rates are still among the world’s highest, contributing to a fertility rate of only 1.4 children per woman — far below the 2.1 needed to maintain the existing population. The rate has become a serious concern for Russia as it fights to stem a steep population decline.
Mizulina said she wants to see public debate on abortions before the bill is submitted to parliament, an apparent attempt to build support after similar legislation stalled last year.
A bill proposed in late 2010 called for the criminal prosecution of doctors who end late-term pregnancies, but it faced government opposition and was never put up for a vote.
The effort to restrict abortions has strong backing from the Russian Orthodox Church, which has sought a more muscular role in society in recent years. It counts more than 100 million Russians in a population of 141 million as its congregation, although polls show that only about 5 percent of Russians are observant.
“I hope that very soon we will live in a Russia without abortions,” church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin said at Monday’s presentation.
According to a United Nations survey in 2004, Russia had the world’s highest abortion rate: 53.7 per 100 women.
Figures from the Health and Social Development Ministry suggest that the rate may have declined in recent years, though it remains high: In 2009, there were 74 abortions for every 100 births in Russia, a significant drop from 169 abortions per 100 births in 2000.
The total number of abortions recorded by the health ministry in 2009 reached nearly 1.3 million.
Mizulina claims that the official statistics do not include pregnancies terminated at private clinics, or those stopped by morning-after pills, and the true number might be closer to 6 million.
She also proposed that the law be changed to allow women to leave unwanted children at orphanages anonymously without risking criminal prosecution for child abandonment.
It was unclear how much support the anti-abortion measures would receive in parliament.

TITLE: Third of Police Chiefs Fired After Failing Re-evaluations
AUTHOR: By Natalya Krainova

PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — More than a third of the country’s most powerful police chiefs have been fired after they failed mandatory re-evaluations as part of an ongoing police reform.
The dismissals send a signal that even corrupt senior police officials, whose continued tenures apparently gave their superiors additional leverage over them, will not be immune to a wave of looming job cuts in the country’s police force.
A total of 119 of Russia’s 335 most powerful police chiefs had been dismissed as of May 20, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told Militseyskaya Volna radio last week.
Nurgaliyev did not elaborate on why the police chiefs had failed the re-evaluations. But earlier this month, reporting the progress of the police reform to the State Duma, he said some dismissals were connected to “serious problems,” including ownership of real estate abroad.
Both in the interview and before the Duma, Nurgaliyev did not identify the dismissed officials and did not say whether criminal cases had been opened against them.
But he told the Duma that some of the officials had held their posts for five to 10 years.
It was unclear why previous re-evaluations had failed to uncover problems with the dismissed officials. Police chiefs are required to undergo re-evaluations every five years that include performance reviews by their immediate superiors, according to an Interior Ministry document issued in 1999. Those aiming to get the rank of general face additional scrutiny from the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry’s internal security department, which gauges whether candidates for senior police positions might have engaged in corrupt practices but does not prosecute offenders.
Reached by phone, an Interior Ministry spokesman refused to comment on the dismissals.
Mikhail Pashkin, who leads a Moscow police trade union, said the Interior Ministry’s leadership must have known about acts of corruption committed by the dismissed police officials but used this knowledge to keep them in line.
“It is very beneficial to retain these kinds of subordinates — they do as they are told for fear that their transgressions will be brought into the light,” said Pashkin, who heads the Moscow Professional Union of Police Officers.
Most of the dismissed police chiefs held the rank generals, which means the FSB and Interior Ministry’s internal security department examined their activities before they received the titles, Pashkin said. He said the dismissals probably were linked to looming spending constraints more than corruption.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin last week proposed cutting spending at the Interior Ministry by almost 3 billion rubles ($105.3 million) over the next three years. He did not specify the current size of the budget, but said earlier that federal authorities would allocate 216.8 billion rubles ($7.7 billion) for police reform alone in 2012 and 2013.
The dismissals dovetail with an initiative by the police reform to shave 200,000 jobs from the country’s 1.2 million-member police force.

TITLE: Kerimov Invited To Join Prokhorov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The pro-business Right Cause party, which billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov offered to lead this month, hopes to further strengthen its ranks with the addition of billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, Vedomosti reported Monday.
Prokhorov, who has no experience in politics, personally invited Kerimov, who served two terms in the State Duma and now is a Federation Council senator, to join the party, the daily said, citing an unidentified federal government official from Kerimov’s circle.
The official said Kerimov was likely to accept the offer because he shares Right Cause’s ideology.
The two businessmen did not comment on the report Monday.
The liberal pro-Kremlin Right Cause, led by a trio of low-profile politicians, spent months looking for a charismatic leader before the emergence of Prokhorov, who is to be installed as leader at a party congress in June.
Prokhorov, valued at $18 billion by Forbes magazine, has pledged to give the flagging party the second-biggest faction in the State Duma after December elections. A Levada poll held days before his nomination indicated that Right Cause was on track to win 1 percent of the vote, far below the 7 percent threshold to get into the Duma.
The 45-year-old Kerimov, whose wealth is estimated at $7.8 billion, served two terms in the Duma from 1999 to 2007 with the Liberal Democratic Party, but joined the United Russia faction in 2007 and moved to the Federation Council the next year.

TITLE: Khodorkovsky Shown In Unbiased TV Report
AUTHOR: By Alexandra Odynova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — State-owned NTV television broadcast a prime-time report in which jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced that he would seek parole, fueling speculation that the Kremlin might be edging toward a decision to free him.
NTV, which has harshly criticized Khodorkovsky in the past, showed a seemingly unbiased report about the businessman Sunday in an indication that his name was no longer taboo on state-controlled airwaves.
President Dmitry Medvedev stirred some hopes earlier this month when he said Khodorkovsky would not pose a threat to society if he were released. But a lawyer for the tycoon said Monday that he was waiting to see action, not words, from the Kremlin.
“There is one truth — the attitude toward the one whose name shouldn’t be mentioned has been changing,” NTV host Vadim Takmenev said in the eight-minute report on Khodorkovsky on his “Central Television” program late Sunday.
“It’s as if something has changed,” Takmenev said.
The report mentioned, among other things, allegations that a judge had been pressured by his superiors into delivering a December verdict extending the prison sentences of Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev. It noted that former ballerina Anastasia Volochkova said in February that she had been tricked into signing an anti-Khodorkovsky letter in 2005, around the time of the businessman’s first trial.
Takmenev reminded viewers about Medvedev’s statement at a news conference in mid-May that Khodorkovsky “is absolutely not dangerous.”
Khodorkovsky himself was interviewed for the show, answering written questions handed to him by his lawyers. He reiterated his innocence of tax evasion, fraud and other charges in the interview and announced that he would seek parole, which he is eligible for now because he has served half of his 13-year sentence.
“I refuse to accept the courts’ decisions. … But I will definitely use my right for early release,” Khodorkovsky wrote.
Khodorkovsky also said the case against him was fabricated, with the host running a 2003 clip of him saying “prosecutors have run out of legal methods” to jail him.
Khodorkovsky has voiced the accusations before, including in a courtroom speech last week when the Moscow City Court rejected his appeal of the December verdict. Snippets of his speech were also shown in a Sunday evening news program on state-owned Rossia One television.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev claim that the case is revenge by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for Khodorkovsky’s political and business ambitions.
Khodorkovsky requested parole in 2008 but was denied over minor prison violations that his supporters say were fabricated as a pretext to keep him in prison.
NTV, once well-known for its critical coverage, went pro-Kremlin after its takeover in 2001 by state-owned Gazprom, and has served as a government tool amid major political decisions, including the removal of Mayor Yury Luzhkov and a crackdown on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko last year.
Takmenev could not be reached for comment Monday, but on his Facebook page he mocked speculation that his show had been produced on the Kremlin’s order.
A spokesman for the Khodorkovsky’s press center, Maxim Dbar, said by telephone Monday that NTV requested the interview shortly after Khodorkovsky lost his appeal last week, but gave no further details.
Yury Shmidt, a lawyer for Khodorkovsky, confirmed that his client would seek parole soon but could not provide any details, admitting that he learned about the plan from the NTV report.
Shmidt said the report was “not bad” and “a pleasant event” but its purpose remained unclear.
“We always want to believe in positive implications, but in this case I can’t judge yet,” Shmidt said by telephone.
Khodorkovsky’s “early release depends on a single person: you-know-who,” he said, referring to Putin.
Lev Ponomaryov, a prominent human rights advocate, said the NTV report must have been “a political decision,” taking into account the history of state television’s “monstrous reports about Khodorkovsky.”

TITLE: Mikhalkov Caught On Film Breaking Road Rules
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Oscar-winning film director Nikita Mikhalkov on Monday unleashed a barrage of insults at people who had filmed him cruising in the opposite lane in front of a traffic police officer, just days after he was stripped of his road privileges.
A YouTube video shows Mikhalkov in his black Range Rover crossing into the opposite lane on the Garden Ring, not far from Dmitrovskoye Shosse in the north of Moscow.
The incident took place late Saturday, wrote the uploader, only identified by his blogging alias, Ultra_nm. He added that he has asked a nearby traffic cop to intervene, but the officer said he missed the incident because he was busy slapping a biker with a fine.
Mikhalkov was a longtime user of a flashing blue light, a state-issued device entitling motorists to ignore most traffic rules. But he lost it last week after quitting the Defense Ministry’s public council, which had provided the light.
The director admitted to violating traffic rules in a Monday interview with Lifenews.ru, saying he was hurrying to a live television broadcast. He added that he actually asked the traffic cop to stop traffic for him.
Mikhalkov also slammed his critics with harsh words, “sick people” being the only epithet fit for print.
The Interior Ministry’s road safety department said it was looking into the incident, Lifenews.ru reported. Department head Vladimir Shevchenko said Mikhalkov “should be punished” and added that he is “sick and tired of these flashing lights.”
Mikhalkov may be fined 1,500 rubles ($50) or have his driving license suspended for six months over the incident.


TITLE: Intern Fired for Exposing Duma

AUTHOR: By Alexander Bratersky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — A college student who blogged about State Duma deputies playing cards and surfing the Internet during sessions has lost his Duma internship.
Yevgeny Starshov, a student at the Moscow Institute of Management, Economics and Law, started publishing his observations on his LiveJournal blog last week, and he removed them earlier this week — but not before they were read, cited and copied by thousands of bloggers as well as the news media.
“Everyone is walking around, chatting to one another. Some read newspapers and others play cards in the back rows,” Starshov wrote Sunday.
“Are they driving [to the Duma] in the oncoming lane with their flashing blue lights on, endangering the lives of regular motorists, only to sit in the hallway, read papers and play around on their iPads?” he said on his blog, titled “Diary of a Democratic Extremist.”
All deputies are authorized to place flashing blue lights on their cars, which allow them to break some traffic rules. But the practice is often abused by them and despised by ordinary drivers.
In the accounts, peppered with obscenities, which are considered good form in the Russian blogosphere, Starshov also criticized the Duma for its well-stocked shops offering expensive jewelry and liquor.
Starshov, who was interning at the Duma management’s office that oversees travel expenses for lawmakers, also accused deputies of getting reimbursed for nonwork-related trips.
He said Iosif Kobzon, the well-known crooner and a United Russia lawmaker, “flew to Kaliningrad to perform for the regional administration at the Duma’s expense.”
A representative for Kobzon denied the account Wednesday, saying the deputy had traveled to the western exclave on Duma business, not to give a show. The representative only agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, saying she was not authorized to comment on the issue. Kobzon, who was elected to the Duma from the Zabaikalsky region in Siberia, has made no official statement.
Excerpts from the blog posts were reprinted by the opposition-minded Novaya Gazeta newspaper this week.
Starshov announced on Twitter on Wednesday that he had lost his internship.
Starshov did not specify who had ordered his ouster.
He could not be reached for comment Wednesday, with repeated e-mailed requests going unanswered. A spokeswoman for his institute said by telephone that he remained a student there. She refused further comment.
Oleg Shein, a Duma deputy with A Just Russia, said he regretted that Starshov had been punished for his reports. “I’m all in favor of criticism and think that taking revenge for it is stupid,” he said.
Shein said not all of Starshov’s observations seemed accurate, but conceded there was much truth in them. He did not elaborate.

TITLE: 32 Detained At Two Gay Rallies
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW — Police arrested more than 30 people trying to hold two unauthorized gay rights demonstrations in central Moscow on Saturday.
Opponents of gay rights scuffled with the demonstrators and with police. A police spokesman, Maxim Kolosvetov, said 18 gay activists and 14 opponents were arrested.
Activists tried to hold a rally at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin and later outside the Mayor’s Office on Tverskaya Ulitsa.
The attempted demonstration at the first site appeared aimed at connecting gay rights with the Soviet Union’s stand against Germany in World War II.
The demonstration ban “is particularly shocking because during the Second World War, Muscovites stood against the Nazis who thought to exterminate Jews, homosexuals and Communists, but now the mayor of Moscow is colluding with new-Nazis,” said Peter Tatchell, a British gay rights activist who has taken part in several demonstration attempts in Moscow.


TITLE: Work Ends on Passenger Port
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The new Marine Facade sea passenger port was officially handed over to the city government last week after the final construction work was completed.
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko was handed a symbolic key to the port on the city’s birthday last Friday.
Marine Facade is the first specialized passenger port in Russia to conform to international standards. Its construction is aimed at making St. Petersburg a major center for international cruise tourism.
“This port is a dream gift for St. Petersburg,” Matviyenko said at the official ceremony.
“Transport accessibility is one of the major factors for success in tourism, and this port will help us make St. Petersburg an even more attractive destination,” she said.
Matviyenko said that when the city relaxed visa requirements for cruise ferry passengers visiting St. Petersburg, the number of tourists immediately shot up.
Vadim Tyulpanov, speaker of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, said that in 2009, there were around three million visitors to St. Petersburg per year. After the introduction of a new rule in May that year that allows tourists arriving by cruise ship and ferry to stay in the city for up to 72 hours without requiring a visa, that number rose to five million in 2010.
Tyulpanov said that constructing a port of its size at first seemed impossible, especially since in order to include the site within the city’s limits, Vasilyevsky Island had to be artificially increased in size by 400 hectares of reclaimed land.
“This is the biggest and most secure sea terminal in Russia,” Tyulpanov said.
According to official statistics, the number of passengers embarking at the port rose from 248,000 in 2009 to 368,000 in 2010, and the number is expected to reach 440,000 this year.
City Hall hopes the new passenger terminal will help to increase the number of tourists visiting St. Petersburg and thus increase revenue to the city budget. The terminal is equipped to accommodate the most modern passenger ships.
The port was constructed using the principles of a public-private-partnership. The federal budget paid for the dredging work, construction of the approach canal and the reconstruction of the Petrovsky channel. It also financed the opening of border checkpoints at the port and the setting up of navigation equipment.
Private investors financed the construction of the terminal, the docks, the navy stations, the port operations center, roads and engineering infrastructure.
Construction began in 2006 and was completed in three stages. One cruise ship terminal and two docking points were launched in 2008; in 2009 and 2010 three more docking points began operating, and last month, all seven docking points of the port were completed.
Total investment into the project amounted to 18 billion rubles ($643 million), including ten billion rubles of private financing and eight billion rubles of state money.
The port can receive cruise ships and ferries of up to 317 meters long and nine meters deep. 

TITLE: New System for Classifying Mini-Hotels Causes a Stir Among Hoteliers
AUTHOR: By Olga Kalashnikova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A new system for classifying mini-hotels in the city has caused mixed reactions among hospitality industry professionals.
The Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Ministry has launched a new system for classifying accommodation, accordingly to which hotels with five to 15 rooms now fall into the category of mini-hotels. The new rules are aimed at preparing the Russian hotel industry for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. However, if in the Black Sea resort the classification is obligatory, for St. Petersburg hotels it is voluntary.
“Mini-hotels can now officially call themselves hotels. Up until now there was no way of classifying them. Tourists will now know what sort of service to expect,” said Sergei Korneyev, Northwest regional director of the Russian Travel Industry Union.
“It’s quite difficult to decide on a suitable place to stay just from photos and information provided on the Internet. The presence of an official sign speaks for itself,” said Korneyev.
Up until now, the five-star classification system that mini-hotels were using was unofficial and it was up to the owners to decide how to rate their own hotel. However, in the “mini” hospitality business, there’s no reason to try and cheat clients, say hoteliers.
“The official classification system will allow hotels to integrate themselves into the global community, but it is not necessarily a bad sign if the rating was assigned unofficially,” said Tamara Builova, president of the mini-hotel owners’ guild. “There is no reason to mislead the client and then end up with bad references. We had a case in which a hostel in St. Petersburg made itself out to be much better than it really was, but then the tourists were not satisfied and wrote bad reviews.” 
The official classification promotes mini-hotels by listing them as a place to stay in official registers. 
“The criteria for being included on the register should take into account the way these mini types of accommodation have been functioning during the last 10 years,” said Vladimir Vasiliev, president of St. Petersburg’s mini-hotels association.
Most hoteliers do not agree with the current classification demands and insist that the rules should be improved. 
“One problem is the number of rooms criterion: According to the new classification, a mini-hotel contains five to 15 rooms,” said Builova. “So, if there are three or four good quality rooms, the place cannot be regarded as a mini-hotel,” she said.
The most disputed new regulation is the requirement that hotels have two separate entrances: For guests and staff.
“This is simply a mistake. Hotels with 15 to 50 rooms do not need separate entrances, but mini-hotels must provide one,” said Builova.
“Having to provide a separate entrance is almost an unrealistic demand, since most mini-hotels are situated in residential buildings, having been converted from former communal apartments,” said Oksana Stepanova, deputy director of the Nouvelle Europe hotel. “Reconstruction would require a lot of difficult changes.” 
According to Russian Tourism Industry Union data, 80 percent of St. Petersburg’s mini-hotels are located in residential buildings. As a result, they cannot be called hotels.
“While the question of the legitimacy of mini-hotels being located in residential properties hangs in the balance, many mini-hotels will not be able to be included in the register,” said Vasiliev.
Another demand that many mini-hotels are finding difficult to meet is the requirement to contain a cafe. According to hospitality industry experts, it is unprofitable for an establishment with fewer than seven rooms to provide a cafe or restaurant.   
“For 15 rooms, possibly a cafe is necessary, but a cafe would mean the end for smaller yet comfortable five-room hotels, since they are unprofitable,” said Builova.
The requirement to mount neon signs outside the building could also bring some hoteliers located in historic buildings into conflict with demands from another legislative body: The Committee for the State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Landmarks.

TITLE: Apraksin Dvor Investor Reaches Out to President
AUTHOR: By Olga Khrustaleva
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The Swedish firm investing in Apraksin Dvor has resorted to appealing to President Dmitry Medvedev via his blog after running into a brick wall in its attempts to develop the inner-city site.
Ruric investment company bought about 18,000 square meters of the historic market complex Apraksin Dvor, located at 28-30 Sadovaya Ulitsa, back in 2004, and was aware then of the risks: Having invested about 350 million dollars into the St. Petersburg economy, the company’s management has already faced many challenging situations. 
“It’s the most unusual case to date, but not our first,” said Craig Anderson, general director of Ruric. “We negotiated with many high level government representatives in Moscow and St. Petersburg, we knew the process would be slow and that it would have to be done very carefully, but I’ve never come across a case that’s lasted for years like this.”
Located within five minutes walk of Nevsky Prospekt and Sennaya Ploshchad, “Aprashka,” as it is often referred to by locals, is a potentially lucrative investment. During the past ten years, investors have acquired various sections of the market site, becoming the official owners after completing the necessary renovation work. 
Ruric began reconstruction work on the site immediately after signing the contract in 2004, but not long after the agreement with the Committee for City Property Management (KUGI) had been signed and the facilities had been handed over to the investor for reconstruction, a problem arose due to a functioning fire station located in the grounds, and work was called to a halt. According to the investor, the procedure for its relocation wasn’t covered in the agreement, nor had it been mentioned in the technical documentation. KUGI responded by saying that “the investor was familiar with the characteristics of the site when the contract was signed and, according to the transfer and acceptance act, the sale of the grounds included everything within the territory, including the fire station.”
KUGI proceeded to annul Ruric’s contract, and in 2007, Glavstroi, part of Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element holding, won the tender for the development of Apraksin Dvor, but the latter deal yielded no visible results. 
In total, Ruric has spent more than 40 million dollars on the project. The 22 families living there have been relocated, but the investor was unable to find a new site for the fire station. 
“We have contacted all the city’s committees regarding the fire station issue, but have so far — in 2 years — received only formal runarounds, so the situation has dragged on,” said Ilya Sharkov, the general director of Inkom, a subsidiary of Ruric. 
An open session summoned by Governor Valentina Matviyenko failed to resolve the problem, and an alternative site for the fire station has yet to be found.
The case has since been taken to court by KUGI, which claims that the Swedish investors failed to fulfil the conditions of the agreement in the agreed time.
“The responsibility for resolving all property and legal issues associated with the implementation of the project, including all questions with the owners of the premises in the building was, according to the agreement, entrusted to the investor at its own expense,” said Olga Barashkina, KUGI’s press secretary. “So the investor is responsible for resolving property issues regarding the relocation of the fire station.”
The fire station became a bone of contention in a court trial that lasted for more than two years. Ruric won twice at the arbitration court, and KUGI has appealed each time. In the third instance, the judge ruled that KUGI acted within its rights when it terminated the contract with Ruric. Ruric has since lodged an appeal. 
“When the first court case was taken against Ruric, KUGI and Glavstroi seemed to be working together and in a recent court case, Glavstroi was given permission by KUGI and the judge to work in tandem against Ruric — a very unusual state of affairs in any country,” said Anderson. “We have no concrete evidence of any criminal act, but we are working strongly against this ruling.”
Medvedev recently stated that “improving the investment climate is our common task.” In a desperate bid to evoke a response from local officials, RURIC wrote an appeal on Medvedev’s blog that read, “Mr. President! We are Swedish investors who have faced arbitrary rule in St. Petersburg.” 
Ruric still hopes to resolve the issue.
“Everything is possible with negotiation, which we would like to get into,” said Anderson. “Businesses work by negotiating and fulfilling agreements. We are open to negotiation.”

TITLE: Basel Faces Labor Deficits 
AUTHOR: By Grigory Milov and 
Alexandra Terentyeva
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: MOSCOW —  A labor shortage is forcing companies to find creative ways to attract and keep blue-collar workers. Basic Element is ready to double salaries over the next two years, provide assistance for better housing and even dole out equity packages.
There have been dramatic changes to the Russian labor market, said Viktoria Petrova, deputy general director of Basic Element, or Basel. The crisis is over, markets are growing, and demand for workers is colossal. Basel is primarily facing a deficit of engineers, project managers and highly qualified workers.
“There are few such specialists in the country, and the number is not growing. Every year for every significant business category we review the exact same lists of 100 to 150 names,” Petrova said.
Basel has decided to fight this problem by radically altering its human resources policy. “We are abandoning our mentality of cutting costs on personnel,” Petrova said. “Staff is becoming a key resource.”
The new policy is still in the works. But the general principles are already understood: double the average salary for rank-and-file employees by 2013, improve housing and working conditions, and offer workers at all levels shares in the company — this could involve up to 10 percent of total company equity, including shares not publicly traded.
The new policy will benefit 230,000 people, Petrova promised. The company employs a total of 260,000, of which about 30,000 are executives — who already have their own salary and retention programs deployed or in the works, Petrova said.
Basic Element’s RusAl and GAZ Group already have parts of the new program in place, she said.
Yekaterina Nikitina, personnel director at RusAl, said the average salary at her company is 35,000 to 40,000 rubles ($1,200 to $1,400) per month. The goal is to increase that to 60,000 rubles by 2013. Additional spending on staff will amount to $100 million this year, $200 million next year and $300 million in 2013.
The unfavorable demographic situation is also contributing to the labor shortage, said Stanislav Tsyrlin, vice present of human resources at Novolipetsk Steel, known by its Russian acronym NLMK. From 2002 to 2010 the number of school graduates in Lipetsk plummeted from 6,000 to 2,000 graduates per year. Their motivation to work in the industrial sector has also significantly dropped, Tsyrlin said.

TITLE: France Bets $3 Billion on Caucasus Resorts

AUTHOR: By Lena Smirnova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW —  France will help build $2.84 billion worth of resorts in the North Caucasus, according to an agreement the French and Russian presidents signed Thursday ahead of the official opening of the G8 summit in Deauville.
“The presidents have decided to include the project of creating a tourist cluster in the North Caucasus among the priorities of the strategic partnership between the two countries,” Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy announced in a joint statement.
After the meeting Medvedev also announced that the long-awaited 2 billion euro ($2.8 billion) contract for four Mistral-class helicopter carriers would be signed within the next 15 days.
Under the resort agreement, France will help develop and manage ski resorts in the Adygeya, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia and Dagestan republics. French companies will also be involved in building health resorts on the Black and Caspian seas, Interfax reported.
The joint venture to develop the Vysota 5642 tourist cluster is valued at $2.84 billion, Akhmed Bilalov, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said on May 24 in an interview with Ekho Moskvy. Thursday’s statement did not give details on the expected investments.
The agreement also called on French experts to advise their Russian partners on investment plans, marketing strategies and the legal framework.
“France has a unique and multifaceted experience and knowledge in the area of complex development of mountainous regions and the realization of large-scale projects in the tourism area,” the presidents wrote in the joint statement. “France is ready to fully present this experience to the Russian side.”
The French bank Caisse des Depots et Consignations and the Russian state-owned North Caucasus Resorts Company will form a joint enterprise to attract investors to the project, according to the statement.
The partnership agreement between the two companies is expected to be signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.
French companies want guarantees that their investments will be returned in case terrorist acts or military violence disrupt business in the volatile region, Vedomosti reported.
Business is most problematic in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria, said Alexander Skakov, a North Caucasus expert at the Central Eurasia Research Center. But foreign companies will likely get more support than their Russian counterparts.
“It is quite possible that these companies would get more protection than companies from Moscow or elsewhere in Russia,” Skakov told The St. Petersburg Times.
He added that the government could encourage businesses to come to the region by minimizing tariffs, easing passport control for company workers and helping with real estate rentals.
Details on how investments will be protected in the Russian-French deal were not immediately released.

TITLE: Rusnano Launches Store And Database Online
AUTHOR: By Olga Razumovskaya
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: TOMSK — As part of the Tomsk innovation forum Innovus, the Rusnano nanotechnologies corporation launched a new information portal last Thursday that will serve as the first Internet store for nanotechnology products in the country and a source of information on the companies producing them.
The portal, called Effective Nanotechnologies Solutions, can be found at Solutions.rusnano.com. It was created to provide nanotech producers a place to post information about their products and to allow interested companies and people free access to the information.
According to the State Statistics Service, the country produces 300 billion rubles ($10.6 billion) worth of nanotechnology products per year, and that number is expected to triple by 2015.
Rusnano projects alone have received 100 billion rubles in investment, the company said. The world nanotechnology market is forecast to grow to as much as $2.9 trillion by 2015, and Russia is trying not to miss the opportunity to get a chunk of the market.
The portal, which, the company says, will have an English-language version “in the foreseeable future,” lists products in alphabetical order and provides contact information for companies that have used the products listed in the database.
The web site was created at the request of state and private enterprises in several categories, said Alexander Morozov, director of the demand stimulation department at Rusnano.
The enterprises include federal and municipal enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses and large corporations like Russian Railways, Gazprom and Russian Highways, Morozov said.


TITLE: Mayor Says Moskvich Facility Not Being Used as Planned

PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: MOSCOW —  Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is proposing to pass to investigators material from a review of the Moskvich innovation center, whose territory is not being used according to its designation. The mayor also ordered that the head of the small state company responsible for the site be fired.
City authorities plan to create an innovation center on the territory of the former Moskvich factory, which is known by its Russian acronym AZLK. On an earlier tour of the southeast section of the city, where AZLK is located, Sobyanin criticized the speed at which the innovation space at Moskvich is coming on line.
“I was at the Moskvich innovation development area not long ago and saw empty spaces where nothing is being made. I propose that the results of the review [of the site] be sent to the law enforcement bodies,” the mayor said Friday.
The review showed that over the past few years space on the territory, which amounts to about 300,000 square meters, was rented out for use as warehouses and offices.
“There is a bathhouse there, a sauna and some sleeping areas. It’s hard to do innovative development in such an environment,” Sobyanin said.
Alexander Yuzvik, general director of Stroiexpokom, the small state firm responsible for the innovation development, told the mayor during his earlier visit to the innovation development that there are plans to set up a machine shop in the future to make composite materials at the site.

TITLE: Used Car Trader AAA Auto Group to Enter Russian Market
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: MOSCOW —  Czech used car trader AAA Auto Group has rented four hectares in suburban Moscow and plans to start operations at the end of this summer, the company’s business development manager Roman Schubert told Vedomosti.
This is the first market entry by a leading foreign used car trader. 
The company will begin buying used cars in August and selling them in September from its facility in Shcherbinka.
AAA plans to start with a stock of 200 to 300 cars and increase to 1,000 vehicles in the future, AAA executive director Carolina Topalov said. “It’s a good starting size,” said Mikhail Lezhov, head of marketing for Formula 91, a major used car dealer based in Mytishchi.
This is the second attempt by AAA Auto, the largest seller of used cars in Eastern Europe, to enter the Russian market. It first tried in 2008, and even announced staffing, but due to falling demand as a result of the crisis it decided to delay.
In March 2011, the board of AAA decided that the time was right. The company considered a partnership with a local player, said AAA spokesman Dana Pavlushkova. For now the company will operate on its own in Russia, Schubert told Vedomosti.
Foreign players are barely present even on the new car market. Israel’s Inchcape is now a controlling shareholder of Musa Motors and St. Petersburg’s Olymp dealership, while Japan’s Mitsui has acquired two regional dealers of Toyota and Lexus.
In Russia as a whole, only about 5 percent of used car sales go through brand dealerships, and about the same amount through specialized companies (in Germany the figure is 30 percent), while the rest are sold via private transactions, said Andrei Izmalkov, head of the analytical department at Rolf’s used car division BlueFish.
In Moscow, however, competition for used car sales by official retail outlets is high, Izmalkov said. Authorized dealers alone last year sold 52,000 used cars, equaling 20 percent market share. 

TITLE: Gazprom Suggests E.On Join Pipeline
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Gazprom chief Alexei Miller discussed new “major” projects with E.On on Friday, after he suggested that the German company could join the South Stream pipeline project that will run from Russia to Europe under the Black Sea.
E.On is part of a Gazprom-led effort to build Nord Stream, a similar pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
Miller traveled to Zurich to meet E.On chief Johannes Teyssen and its gas unit, E.On Ruhrgas, chief Klaus Schafer, Gazprom said in a statement. They talked about Nord Stream and “issues related to the implementation of new major infrastructure projects,” the statement said without elaborating.
Last week Miller suggested after a presentation of the South Stream for the European Commission in Brussels that E.On could be a partner in the project.
“An E.On representative attended the presentation. It tells you something. A major project like this is unlikely to stay out of sight of a major company like this,” he told reporters. “I don’t rule out that one more participant will appear in the project.”
Apart from Gazprom, South Stream shareholders now include Italy’s Eni. Germany’s Wintershall, a unit of BASF, and France’s EDF have expressed interest in joining.
At the presentation where Gazprom sought the European Union’s political backing for the project, Gunther Oettinger, the European Energy Commissioner, reiterated that the bloc didn’t consider South Stream a priority, but said regulators wouldn’t impose any unreasonable requirements either.
“We will act as fair partners,” he said in a speech.
He also called on Russia to drop the monopoly for Gazprom to export natural gas. Opening access to South Stream for independent Russian gas producers like Novatek, he suggested, could prompt the EU to treat the project more favorably because the pipeline wouldn’t only offer a different supply route but also a choice of counterparties. That would mean a stronger contribution to European efforts at diversifying suppliers, he said.
South Stream construction, estimated to cost 15.5 billion euros ($22 billion), is scheduled to begin in 2013 and be complete by the end of 2015.
In other Gazprom related news, Bloomberg reported that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that the government should reconsider gas taxes as export demand improves, while not creating an excessive burden that hinders investment plans.
The Finance Ministry is proposing to double the gas extraction tax next year for companies that own gas pipelines, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said. The government may decide on the mineral extraction tax for Gazprom this week, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters Friday.


TITLE: The Emerging High-Tech Superpower
AUTHOR: By Chrystia Freeland
TEXT: The Russians are coming.
So far, the invaders are both welcome and unexpected. These aren’t the Cold War comrades who aspired to geopolitical domination or the first wave of oligarchs with their treasure chest of natural resources. These Russians propose to conquer the world’s new frontier — the Internet — and they are every bit as cocky as their predecessors.
Russia’s arrival as a would-be technology superpower was announced last week when Yandex, the Internet search company, made its debut on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the biggest U.S. Internet listing since Google went public in 2004.
With characteristic Russian bravado, Ilya Segalovich, the company’s chief technology officer, told my colleagues Alina Selyukh and Megan Davies that Yandex was superior to the behemoth Google.
“Google is a great company, but we are better,” Segalovich said. Yandex is “very focused on what we are doing, and the focus is technology and search.”
If you think of Russia either as the land of KGB-style repression or that of yacht-owning, supermodel-dating, oil-rich oligarchs, this claim to technological prowess will be surprising. But ever since imperial Russia’s scientific modernization campaign, Russians have prided themselves on their mathematical and engineering skills.
For Yandex’s chief executive, Arkady Volozh, that human capital gives Russia the potential to emerge as a technology superpower. “Russia is famous for its resources,” he said. “But it also has a lot of talent. Russia deserves to have a technology company of a global level.”
Silicon Valley has understood the country’s technological savvy for some time. Right now, the Valley’s hottest investor hails not from Sand Hill Road, the epicenter of the region’s famous venture capital community, but from Moscow. Yury Milner was such an aggressive and pioneering supporter of companies like Facebook and Zynga that he earned his way onto the Forbes billionaire list this year and has an investing approach — lots of cash, no board seat — named after him.
Soon, Milner will be a physical presence, too. Last month, he paid a reported $100 million for an estate in Los Altos Hills in the Valley, though he and his family will continue to make Moscow their main home.
There is a another sign that smart money in the United States thinks we could be at the crest of a Russian technology wave. Earlier this year, New York-based General Atlantic, a fund with extensive emerging market and technology expertise, invested $200 million in Kaspersky Lab, a producer of security and anti-virus software. That was one of the flashiest foreign direct investments in the country’s technology to date and paves the way for another Russian technology offering in three to five years.
All of this is very good news for the Kremlin, particularly for President Dmitry Medvedev, whose big campaign at the moment is an economic modernization drive with Skolkovo as its centerpiece.
That effort tends to provoke skepticism among Russians, who have a cultural affinity for cynicism, particularly when it comes to their government. To be sure, there are good reasons to wonder whether Putin’s Russia can conquer the Internet.
After all, in the great debate about the social effects of digital technology, the Arab Spring has provided pretty powerful evidence that new media and old dictators don’t mix. If you are unconvinced, ask China’s leaders, whose fear of Tunisian contagion prompted them not merely to block online references to the Jasmine Revolution, but also to ban the sale of the flower itself.
Those repressive reflexes have prompted many of the digerati to question — at least in private — whether authoritarian regimes can ever permit the free-spirited, open-ended, often rebellious style of thinking and working that innovating on the Internet requires. Dictatorships might be good at manufacturing iPads, but could they ever invent them?
In the case of Russia, we may be discovering that authoritarianism and invention can coexist more easily than liberal democrats might hope. That is largely because Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s genius has been to devise a form of government you might call authoritarianism lite. State rule in Russia isn’t exactly soft — just ask former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky — but it isn’t Big Brother either.
In the world of ideas, Putin has understood that the state doesn’t need to rule everything — only the mass media, which in Russia is television. On the radio, in many newspapers and on the Internet, the intelligentsia can say pretty much what it chooses. This isn’t entirely new for Russia. Both tsars and commissars allowed the intelligentsia some latitude, on the theory that the chattering class didn’t really count.
As Russian journalist Valery Panyushkin wrote in a May 21 New York Times comment, “In Russia today, journalists are murdered like Anna Politkovskaya, beaten like Oleg Kashin and intimidated like me, but — as terrible as this will sound — that is not the real problem. The real problem is that journalists are ignored.”
The Kremlin has done a similar deal with its oligarchs. They can be rich as long as they don’t seek to influence how their country is ruled. These two bargains — freedom and political impotence for the intelligentsia; wealth and political impotence for the oligarchs — are Putin’s version of the social contract. But for Russia’s rising technology elite, that fragile combination of personal liberty and a lot of money may be good enough.

Chrystia Freeland is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are her own.


TITLE: Medvedev’s Misjudgment
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
TEXT: President Dmitry Medvedev says he is concerned that Russian judges are coming under too much pressure from people who want them to decide cases one way or the other. So last month the Russian leader came up with a proposal aimed at reducing that pressure and making the courts’ business more open.
 Medvedev apparently believes that most of this pressure comes in the form of letters and petitions sent to the courts, because he has proposed publishing all correspondence addressed to the courts and the judges.
 The president argues that it’s difficult for Russian judges to maintain their independence when they receive petitions or appeals, sometimes from “very important people” such as regional governors or parliamentarians asking the court “to be objective.”
 Medvedev suggested that any such request is a hint to the judge to do the exact opposite and, in his words, “to take sides.” Therefore, he argued, all requests and petitions to the courts should be made public.
 Taken at face value, it’s an honorable proposition. It also completely misses the mark.
 For a start his solution is based on the premise that most pressure on judges arrives in tangible form and leaves a clear paper trail.
 That leaves out telephone calls, discreet hints, secret meetings, and verbal attempts at outright bribery. Most such methods would leave little trace but could easily sway a pliable or greedy judge. 
 To counter corruption attempts that are not written down — as most surely aren’t — judges would need to be under round-the-clock surveillance and have their phones tapped, an approach as costly as it would be absurd.
 Such a step might also rebound against the state, for it would surely expose connections between crooked officials and corrupt judges. And that would lead to a tsunami of scandal so great that it would threaten to bring down the entire legal system.  
 Nor would a corrupt payment likely take the form of a suitcase stuffed with banknotes. A well-disguised financial transaction or bank transfer via one or more other parties is surely more likely.
 As for petitions to judges, some are made in sheer desperation and stand little chance of being taken seriously. Others are much better crafted and do at least gain the judge’s attention. However, neither is normally meant to influence the outcome of a trial in some evil or underhanded way.
  In Russia, the culture of mighty leaders doing justice behind the scenes dates back centuries. But these days, a public petition or manifesto coming from a top official is likely to be little more than a gesture — an attempt to suggest to the general public that the bosses care. These tracts are largely symbolic and carry little weight with either the public or the judge who is meant to read them.  
 As for letters that are directly menacing, and are meant to pressure, even intimidate, a judge — these are more the stuff of Agatha Christie mysteries than of everyday reality.
 If Medvedev is serious about the transparency of the courts, he could start by exposing the system of choosing judges to the cold light of day. When the president appoints judges, loyalty to the Kremlin often trumps professional skill and experience.
 For any system to work properly — whether in government or business — surely a certain percentage of employees need to be hired on the basis of professional qualifications and to actually be good at their jobs.
 To be sure, most work environments can carry a small proportion of passengers. But if the ratio of the incompetent to the competent gets above a certain level, the organization, the company, or the country, becomes sclerotic.
 That is what is happening in Russia, where the government often appears largely impotent when faced with any major task, whether it is tackling corruption, creating the environment for fair political competition, or providing proper medical care for all its citizens.
 Incompetence reigns. The Russian authorities spend their time discussing the most absurd solutions to current problems. They debate whether banning Skype and Gmail would make it harder for “anti-government elements” to communicate with one another.
 Publishing petitions to the courts as a way of creating transparency falls into a similar category of absurdity. It’s a combination of noble intentions and naivety that you just know is never going to work.
 To prevent corruption among judges, publicizing petitions sent to them is no help. Scrutinizing their personal spending and comparing that to their income would do much more in this respect.
 What we want is judges loyal not to the boss, the president, but to the state, to decency and honesty, and the real values to which most people still subscribe.
A full version of this commentary is available at Transitions Online, an award-winning analytical online magazine covering Eastern Europe and CIS countries, at www.tol.org.

TITLE: CHERNOV’S CHOICE
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Something is very wrong in Russia.
It’s just not right when one of the country’s leading rock bands supports gay bashing or any kind of mass beatings. 
Take this Sunday. In Moscow, the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender) community attempted to hold a gay pride event — to demand equal rights with other Russians.
They had every right to do so; the right of assembly is guaranteed by the Russian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The constitution also says that all citizens are equal.
The Moscow authorities tried to stop the event, and where they failed, thugs stepped in — some wearing police uniforms, some carrying Orthodox crosses and some simply unidentifiable. Videos from the event show, for instance, a young woman being punched in the head by a well-built man wearing a white shirt. Was he a supporter of “traditional values?” Or was he a plainclothes policeman?
The reaction of Vladimir Begunov, the long-standing guitarist of rock band Chaif, is something I simply cannot understand.
“Hi everybody,” Begunov wrote in his blog after seeing videos of the beatings and arrests of peaceful men and women who dared to come to central Moscow to say that even if they were of a different sexuality, they still have the rights enjoyed by other citizens.
“As for me, I was really happy that the fags got beaten once again!”
In his blog post, Begunov also expressed his views on democracy as far as minorities’ rights are concerned. “It’s more than democratic. So the majority doesn’t want to see intrusive manifestations by this crowd. If the majority doesn’t want it, then what’s the problem?”
Begunov went on to suggest that the gay protesters should be grateful that homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993.
A true “patriot,” Begunov concludes that the rally was organized specifically for the hateful West. “It’s nothing but a provocation intended for all kinds of foreign TV channels to be able to shout about our miserable conditions, where the life of a fag is not so sweet.”
The honor of Russian rock was partly saved by Yevgeny Fyodorov, the founder of Tequilajazzz, who opposed Begunov in comments posted underneath Begunov’s blog entry.
Chaif is an important band for the Kremlin’s PR people. Its members were at the infamous meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian rock musicians in Moscow last year, and have played in many concerts in support of Kremlin initiatives. 
But Chaif’s members still claim to be independent, as do musicians Boris Grebenshchikov and Andrei Makarevich who are also sometimes seen with the Kremlin’s grey cardinal Vladislav Surkov and heard saying that life in Russia has improved under Putin’s rule.
All these so-called rock musicians bring shame on the country.


TITLE: The human face of protest
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Two generations of Russian dissidents met last week when a Soviet underground art collector who was imprisoned for holding nonconformist art exhibitions in the 1980s offered his rooms to host a photo exhibition documenting contemporary political protests. 
Previously, a number of St. Petersburg galleries and art cafes declined to hold the exhibition, titled “Strategy 31,” whose subject was the national non-partisan, civic campaign demanding freedom of assembly, a right that is guaranteed by the constitution but frequently violated by the authorities.
“[The venues] said they supported us, but were afraid for themselves,” said Andrei Pivovarov, local leader of the People’s Labor Union (RNDS) and one of the campaign’s organizers. 
Since it was launched in the city in January 2010, Strategy 31 events have been regularly dispersed by the police, with dozens of people being arrested.
Held on Thursday as a one-night event, the exhibition was put together at the last minute when Georgy Mikhailov, a gallery owner and former Soviet political prisoner, showed his support by offering the premises of the Mikhailov Gallery on Gorokhovaya Ulitsa for the display.
“We often overlook a very important aspect: The images that the outside world gets after our events, from which people who couldn’t come for various reasons form their impressions,” Pivovarov said.
“Sometimes the photographs are even more impressive that what we actually see at the rallies.”
Pivovarov added that photographers run the risk of being attacked or arrested at the rallies, and pointed out that some photos on show at the exhibition were taken by photographer Vladimir Telegin during detention at a police precinct.
According to the RNDS’ Galina Fyodorova, the exhibition’s objective was to show the human face of the demonstrators.
“There’s an opinion — obviously promoted by the authorities themselves — that it’s dangerous extremists who come to the rallies; that’s how they justify violence and the use of truncheons,” Fyodorova said.
“I have heard that from policemen many times, including my district police officer. Their chiefs tell them that they are dispersing ‘extremists.’
“We wanted to demonstrate via these photos that it is in fact normal, good people who attend and participate in these peaceful assemblies that are protected not only by Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, but also by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
Speaking at the exhibition’s opening, The Other Russia’s Andrei Dmitriyev drew attention to the police officers shown on the photos dispersing rallies by pushing demonstrators to the ground, hitting them or even dragging them by their hair, as police officer Vadim Boiko — dubbed the “Pearl Cop” for the religious beads he wore on his wrist — did last year.
“The authorities show every time that what they say about St. Petersburg being a European city is lies, nonsense and deception,” Dmitriyev said.
“They show their true face, and this is the face of the Pearl Cop, depicted in many photos here. This is [the face of] a thug. The face of a thug is the collective face of the St. Petersburg authorities and police today.”

TITLE: The best and brightest of Petersburg society
AUTHOR: By Olga Kalashnikova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: For almost two months, Petersburg residents have been voting on the Internet to select the 50 most outstanding people in the city. Voting stops on the evening of Sunday, 5 June — the same day that the official awards ceremony takes place in the Mikhailovsky Theater.
The list of nominees was compiled in early April by Sobaka.ru magazine and a panel of experts. There are ten categories: Theater, art, literature, film, music, business, social sciences, media, sport and fashion/lifestyle.
The expert panel consists of representatives of various spheres of city life. This year’s panel includes Culture Committee head Alexei Gubankov, director Dmitry Meskhiev, gallery owner Marina Gisich, boxing world champion Nikolai Valuev, writer Ilya Stogov, actress Yelizaveta Boyarskaya and other specialists in their fields.
“The award is unique as it unites ballet dancers and businessmen, scientists and writers, sportsmen and musicians,” said Anna Veklich, media manager of the Sobaka.ru. Top 50 awards. “Every candidate has made a breakthrough in their field during the previous year.” 
In the list of nominees, the mathematician Stanislav Smirnov, who won the Fields Medal, features alongside opera diva Anna Netrebko and showman Ivan Urgant, while football player Alexander Kerjakov is listed alongside director Alexei Uchitel and businessmen who launched new gold mining or created an Internet project through which parents can monitor their children’s marks at school.
The awards are now in their sixth year. More than 800 guests are expected to attend the official awards ceremony at the Mikhailovsky Theater on Sunday. The event will also be transmitted via the Internet.

TITLE: A city built on bones
AUTHOR: By Olga Khrustaleva
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The Museum of the History of St. Petersburg has unearthed more than 100 skeletons while conducting archeological excavations at the Peter and Paul Fortress on the spot where the mass graves of victims of the Red Terror are located. Now, however, the project has been refused financing for the continuation of the work. 
The museum has appealed to various authorities, including the Ministry of Culture, to provide the necessary funding for the excavations, but has yet to receive any reply. Historian and archeologist Vladimir Kildyushevsky says that the two million rubles ($71,300) that are needed to continue the work would cover not the excavation itself, which is usually done by volunteers, but “the processing of materials that have already been discovered, and those that we are planning to find.”
“It is for conservation, restoration, working with bone fragments, anthropological and, if necessary, DNA examinations,” said Kildyushevsky.
So far, seven graves have been discovered, containing the remains of no fewer than 110 people showing traces of violent death — usually bullet wounds. Most of those shot were men aged 25 to 40, but the remains of at least five women and one teenager have also been found. In addition to human remains, fragments of uniforms, belts, buttons, silver and gold baptismal crosses and icons have been found, throwing new light on some of the darkest secrets from the turbulent time following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. 
The term Red Terror is used to refer to the period in which Russian counterrevolutionaries and monarchists were arrested and shot en masse, beginning at the start of September 1918 and ending with dates ranging from the following month right through to the end of the Civil War in 1922. The Peter and Paul Fortress was used as a prison at that time, and locals reported regularly hearing the sounds of gunshots from the fortress.  
The remains of some of the Grand Dukes of the imperial Romanov family may be among the finds, people involved with the project say. Olga Palei, the wife of Pavel Alexandrovich, a younger brother of Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, managed to escape from Soviet Russia after her husband’s death and later published a book of memoirs in which she described her husband’s last moments in detail, as told to her by a doctor who was imprisoned with the Grand Duke and from an old servant who witnessed the murder.
“He [Pavel Alexandrovich] was told that he was going to leave, but that all his luggage was to remain there. They took him in an automobile to the Peter and Paul Fortress; the other Grand Dukes were taken there direct ... They were shut up in the black dungeons of the Trubetskoi Bastion. At three o’clock in the morning, two soldiers named Blagovidov and Soloviev made them go out, stripped to the waist, and led them onto the Place de la Monnaie within the fortress, in front of the cathedral. They saw a huge, deep common grave in which thirteen bodies lay already. The soldiers made them stand in line near the grave and the abominable crime was accomplished. Some moments before, the old servant heard the Grand Duke utter out loud the words: ‘God forgive them, they know not what they do...’ 
“All the radiant happiness of former times passed before my dazed vision,” Palei wrote in her book. “Then the paper arrived, [and] after a long martyrology of people assassinated on January 17/30 [the calendar used in Russia at that time was 13 days behind the one used in the West], I read these words: ‘Shot. . . the ex-Grand Dukes, Pavel Alexandrovich, Dmitry Konstantinovich, Nicholas and George Mikhailovich,’ and I remember nothing more of that day.”
Kildyushevsky says that officials do not seem particularly interested in the issue, and that it appears they believe they have more important things to do. “The museum would like to continue the work, but it does not have the necessary funds,” Kildyushevsky said during an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio station. 
One third of the territory of the graves has been explored so far, and since summer is the most suitable time for excavations, the question is now more pertinent than ever. Resumed work would also involve working in archives, looking through old newspapers and collecting various kinds of data. If such work was undertaken and assembled, the efforts would make it possible to identify at least some of the people buried in the mass graves, the project’s supporters say. 
It is eventually planned to erect a memorial plaque on the site of the mass graves.


TITLE: <i>the word’s worth</i> A Guide to Common Russian Insults
AUTHOR: By Michele A. Berdy
TEXT: On a lovely morning not long ago, I skipped across my courtyard to my car and discovered a note on the windshield. The note began Óðîä! (Freak!) and continued — with to my mind an excessive use of exclamation points and non-normative lexicon — to impart the writer’s overall poor impression of my mental abilities and moral standards. My crime? I parked my car wrong. Since I parked it like everyone else, not blocking any cars or impeding traffic, I chalked this up to âåñåííåå îáîñòðåíèå (spring freak out), tossed the note and went on my merry way.
But later someone asked me: Why óðîä? Why not another derogatory term? And I realized that what the world really needs is a guide to common Russian insults, nasty names and slangy curses.
Well, that and a new world economic order.
But since I can’t do much about the latter, at least I can come up with a good list of names to call those @(*#&$(@#* who are flushing the world’s economy down the toilet.
Óðîä is a fine word to start with. An offshoot of the verb ðîäèòü (to give birth), its primary meaning is a person with some physical or mental deformity or impairment. You can hear this meaning in the expression â ñåìüå íå áåç óðîäà (there’s a black sheep in every family). In literary language you may come across ìîðàëüíûé óðîä — a moral moron, a person whose moral sense is deformed or nonexistent.
In colloquial Russian, óðîä can mean a very ugly person — unattractive to the point of deformity: Ê óðîäàì îòíîñÿòñÿ ñóïåðìîäåëè — ëþäè, íà êîòîðûõ áåç ñë¸ç ñîâåðøåííî íåâîçìîæíî ñìîòðåòü. (Super models are a freak show — people you can’t even look at without weeping.) Or it can mean someone who is a complete imbecile, a freak of nature. That’s apparently what I was in my courtyard — a jerk too dumb to park her car right.
Moving right along, we come to óáëþäîê, a word connected with a different accident of birth. The first meaning, now archaic, is a mutt — a mixed-breed animal. Ó íåãî áûëà ñîáàêà, êàæåòñÿ óáëþäîê èç ïîðîäû áóëüäîãîâ. (He had a dog — I think it was a bulldog mix.) That led to a second, less proper meaning — an illegitimate child. In time that morphed to mean a real bastard — a base, cruel person with animal instincts.
This is the word to reach for when you see kids tormenting an animal or a gazillionaire CEO cutting worker benefits with one hand as he pockets an obscenely large bonus with the other.  ÷¸ì ðàçíèöà ìåæäó àäâîêàòîì è ñâèíüåé? Ïåðâîå — ýòî áåçìîçãëûé, óðîäëèâûé, ãíóñíûé óáëþäîê. À âòîðîå — âñåãî ëèøü äîìàøíåå æèâîòíîå. (What’s the difference between a lawyer and a pig? The former is a brainless, disgusting, obnoxious bastard. The latter is just a barnyard animal.)
If someone is truly a disgusting monster, you can call him a âûðîäîê — but, for your own safety, say it behind his back and very quietly. Âûðîäîê is a degenerate — the kind of creature a mother animal abandons because she knows he’ll grow into something abnormal and monstrous. Îíè âåëè ñåáÿ êàê âîëêè â îâ÷àðíå, ýòè âûðîäêè, îòáðîñû îáùåñòâà. (They behaved like wolves in a sheep pen, those monsters — the dregs of society.)
Examples? Alas, just read the daily headlines anywhere in the world.

Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of “The Russian Word’s Worth” (Glas), a collection of her columns.

TITLE: A meeting of musical minds
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: A well-traveled opera singer and the founder of an internationally established ballet festival who now comprise one of the most striking artistic couples in St. Petersburg had a romantic first encounter. For arts manager Yekaterina Galanova, who runs the Dance Open International Festival, and Mariinsky Theater baritone Alexei Markov literally first met on stage.
Markov first saw Galanova in 2007 at an opera concert she was organizing in Baku as part of the Days of St. Petersburg festival in the Azerbaijani capital. Galanova was looking for a baritone, and Markov, then a promising up-and-coming soloist of the Academy of Young Singers of the Mariinsky Theater, was given the prestigious concert engagement. The two artists knew nothing about one another at the time.
Since their first joint project in Azerbaijan, Markov has been keen to participate in Galanova’s projects as often as his own globe-trotting schedule allows.
One of the leading soloists of the Mariinsky Theater, Markov spends most of the year abroad performing with the company and fulfilling his own international engagements that have included, most notably, the roles of Eugene Onegin (“Eugene Onegin”), Gryaznoi (“The Tsar’s Bride”), Tomsky (“The Queen of Spades”), Giorgio Germont (“La Traviata”) and Renato (“Un ballo in maschera”) with some of the world’s most prestigious opera troupes.
The big international break for Markov, who joined the Mariinsky’s opera division in 2008, came in 2007 when he made a promising debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as Andrei Bolkonsky in Andrei Konchalovsky’s production of Prokofiev’s “War and Peace.”
Anthony Tommasini, the classical music reviewer at the New York Times, compared Markov’s portrayal of the vulnerable and alienated Bolkonsky to the Little Prince from Saint-Exupery’s eponymous novel.
Martin Bernheimer of the Financial Times described Markov’s performance as a revelation. “Tall, dashing and eminently sensitive, Alexei Markov provided a magnetic, melancholic counterforce as Andrei,” Bernheimer wrote. “The baritone from Vyborg conveyed equal parts fervor, elegance and eloquence. When all was sung and roared, one left the house filled with admiration.”
Markov thrives in Verdi operas that feature sophisticated characters.
“My heroes can be brutal, but they are torn by passions, which makes them exciting to perform,” he said. “Renato [in ‘un ballo in maschera’] kills his best friend, but he is overwhelmed by jealousy. When you are working on a certain role, you are destined to immerse yourself in it, fall in love with it, identify with your character, even when they are bastards or cowards,” Markov said. 
“I would find it impossible to single out a character with whom I cannot empathize at all.”
Warrior Khoreb in Hector Berlioz’s opera “Les Troyens,” whom Markov sang to high critical acclaim in 2009, became one of the closest roles to the singer’s heart owing to its deeply romantic nature.
“Baritone roles are usually either bastards or ladies’ men, but hardly ever romantics,” Markov explained. “Khoreb has a genuine love duet with Kassandra. I always envied tenors for their heartfelt repertoire, and in the role of Khoreb, I found that sort of romantic touch that I had missed so much.”
Coincidentally, Galanova is no stranger to the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, where she danced in the corps de ballet for ten years before moving on to start her own project, the Dance Open International festival.
It took several years for Galanova to resolve on quitting the stage, yet she admits that in a way, the penny dropped for her at the very moment she joined the Mariinsky.
“Being in the corps de ballet is really taxing work — not so much in the physical sense, because indeed, soloists work very hard too — but because it is repetitive,” Galanova explained. “If you want to be creative, the corps becomes depressing. After a couple of years you learn everything there is in the classic repertoire, and then it becomes a routine — unless you are promoted to a soloist’s position.”
At one point, the ballerina realized she could take no more of it. “Once I caught myself thinking about cooking dinner while I was on stage,” she recalled. “And then I felt that I was at a critical stage. ‘That’s it; I must go,’ I thought. And I left.”
Galanova’s first years as the head of her own festival were almost sleepless and indeed far more exhausting than dancing in the corps, but her creativity and inspiration that had been hampered for nearly a decade offered a substantial enough refuel.
“I was voracious, unstoppable and euphoric about finally being able to have my own word,” Galanova recalled. “It probably felt like being liberated from jail.”
Her endeavors have paid off. The list of participants of Dance Open shines with the biggest names on the international ballet scene, from Royal Ballet’s Alina Cojocaru to Bavarian State Ballet’s Lucia Lacarra to New York City Ballet’s Maria Kowroski.
This year, Dance Open made the list of the top most attractive arts events in Europe to visit this spring, according to Britain’s The Independent, which included the event in its rating. 
Despite her own back-breaking schedule, Galanova visits all of her husband’s premieres, be it on home soil or abroad. “I always find time for this; it means so much to me and it made me so proud when I saw tears in the audience’s eyes at the Met when Alexei sang Bolkonsky,” she said. “And, besides, about the only time I get for reading is on those long-haul flights,” she joked.
For Markov, being part of operatic and cultural events organized by Galanova goes without saying. 
“I very much respect what she does, and as much as my own work allows me, I am there for her,” he said.


TITLE: Mikhalkov’s Flashing Light
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
TEXT: Last week, officials cruelly invaded the privacy of Russian celebrities. First they stripped epic film director Nikita Mikhalkov of the flashing blue light on his car, forcing him to sit in traffic as if he were an ordinary person. Then they searched the office of doe-eyed Eurovision winner Dima Bilan to check whether he was really declaring all the income from his corporate gigs.
Mikhalkov hit the headlines last week with his harsh criticism of the defense ministry for its handling of the annual Victory Day parade. The president and defense ministry watching from the balcony of the Lenin Mausoleum should have stood up to inspect the troops as a sign of respect, he insisted. And as for this year’s event, my dear, it was simply a “faceless mass of identical uniforms” and a paltry five helicopters “representing all the might of national aviation,” he scoffed in an open letter.
He spoke with the confidence of someone who spent years mustering hundreds of troops in the trenches during the long drawn-out making of his “Burnt by the Sun” trilogy. And he used the letter to dramatically hand in his resignation as the chairman of the ministry’s public committee, a celebrity-heavy watchdog.
But some accused him of a fit of pique since his outburst was published shortly after the defense ministry deprived him of the blue flashing light on his car that gave him the right to zoom around Moscow breaking traffic rules indiscriminately.
Sources in the defense ministry quoted by news agencies said Mikhalkov asked to step down as chairman after he heard he would lose his blue light as part of cuts. Mikhalkov denied this, saying he had written the letter earlier although it was only published in Komsomolskaya Pravda on May 23.
Nevertheless he bitterly stood by his right to use a blue light. “What basis do they have to take this blue light from me now? Have I broken a rule? Or are there bad comments about my driver? There is nothing of the kind,” he told Komsomolskaya Pravda. “How could the defense ministry be dependent on the hysterics in the blogosphere?”
In March, Lifenews.ru phoned Mikhalkov to ask about his blue light and recorded and posted the obscenity-filled reply, the only printable bit of which was: “I am glad that there is only one problem left in our country, the problem of Mikhalkov’s blue light.”
Mikhalkov has become an increasingly pitiful and wacko figure recently, with an ill-advised venture into video blogging in which he called himself the “Exorcist” and the disastrously unprofitable last two films in the “Burnt by the Sun” series. Not that we should worry too much for him, since the films were funded on a “don’t bother paying us back” basis by two huge Russian banks and from the state coffers.
Meanwhile Bilan, humiliatingly, had his office searched by tax inspectors on the very day that he released his latest album, “Dreamer.”
Marker.ru wrote that tax officers were skeptical that he had earned only about two million rubles in 2009, as his tax consultant, Valentina Postnikova, told Komsomolskaya Pravda last year. That was the year after he won Eurovision.
The Russian edition of Forbes magazine in 2010 listed him as the sixth richest Russian celebrity with earnings of $3.7 million. His producer, Yana Rudkovskaya publicly declared earnings of 13.219 million rubles (about $470,000) last year, because her husband, figure skater Yevgeni Plushenko is a deputy in St. Petersburg’s city government.
Bilan certainly keeps himself busy, most recently performing at the opening of what is claimed to be Russia’s largest mall in Moscow. Rudkovskaya told RIA-Novosti of the search that “All is OK. We have nothing to fear.”

TITLE: Close to Home
AUTHOR: By Jacob Gordon
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Given that Teplichnye Usloviya is located just off Nevsky Prospekt in the heart of St. Petersburg’s historic center, is open daily until the last customer and features an extensive cocktail menu, one might expect to find a late-night party atmosphere upon entering. It turns out, though, that the restaurant’s name — a Russian phrase denoting conditions of exceptional (perhaps even excessive) comfort and tranquility — is meant to be taken at face value. The dining space attempts to create the feel of a cozy country cottage. The floors are wooden, the windowsills are strewn with baskets and plants, and the general color scheme is white and light green. It feels more suited to a quiet lunch after work than a party with friends.
The restaurant doesn’t quite manage to bring off the homey feel it strives for. Several unattractive touches — ceiling lamps with what appear to be cloth stockings for shades, plastic flowers and butterflies that dangle alongside them — as well as the space’s general brightness give it the feel of a nursery school playroom. The background music is almost all Beatles melodies, and while this is a step up from the gruesome techno so often inflicted on St. Petersburg diners, it does add to the retro atmosphere. Ultimately, the dining room is more tacky than cozy.
However, thanks to its unusually friendly wait staff, one could never say the restaurant isn’t welcoming. And the food, if not quite as inspired as the best St. Petersburg has to offer, is generally excellent and well worth its modest asking price. The menu consists mainly of simple French dishes; the secret to their success lies not in any “innovative” tinkering, but in solid craftsmanship and the use of fresh ingredients.
We began with the cream of pumpkin soup (150 rubles, $5) and the ceviche in a cheese basket (180 rubles, $6). The mild pumpkin flavor of the soup was well complemented by fresh basil, though it could have used a bit more creaminess. The ceviche, one of the more imaginative items on the menu, was perfect in every way: The shrimp, onions and tomatoes merged into a tangy blend while at the same time preserving their distinctive flavors, and the surrounding cheese basket provided a superbly crunchy finish.
The main courses were on a similarly high level. The baked salmon fillet with hollandaise sauce (370 rubles, $13) was rich and flavorful, if a little on the dry side. The duck breast (310 rubles, $11) was cooked to just the right degree — not too tough, not too flabby — and the fat left on the meat added flavor without overwhelming it. What made the dish really pleasurable, though, was the rich cheese sauce served alongside the duck meat. Both of our side dishes — the grilled vegetables (150 rubles, $5) and the vegetable ratatouille (230 rubles, $8) — were superbly seasoned, generously sized and featured gratifyingly fresh veggies.
With the exception of the ceviche, all of these dishes were potentially ordinary staples made excellent by skill and good taste. If anything, the restaurant displayed even more care when it came to dessert, which proved to be the highlight of the meal. The plum crumble (100 rubles, $4) was airy yet moist, sweet but not at all saccharine. The homemade ice cream (170 rubles, $6) — which, our waitress proudly emphasized, the restaurant really does prepare itself — may be the best reason to pay this place a visit. Anyone who has tried homemade ice cream knows that it has far more freshness and flavor than even the best store-bought brands. This particular example, which was graced with fresh raspberries, was no exception. Both desserts were very generously sized given their low prices.
Feeling highly satisfied by our meal, we couldn’t resist sampling the large cocktail menu, and weren’t disappointed. The strawberry margarita (280 rubles, $10) was especially notable for its use of real strawberries — even those who do not normally take to fruit cocktails may be won over by this touch. 
Ultimately, Teplichnye Usloviya offers affordable, fresh, carefully prepared food and friendly service at a convenient location, all of which more than compensates for its misconceived decor. 

<div class="divider">&nbsp;</div>
<h1>THE GUIDE</h1>
<b>Home Comforts</b>
As the city’s ever-burgeoning fine dining scene continues to think up new ways to impress the weary glamor-loving crowd, another growing trend is to attempt to recreate homely restaurants.

<b>Gastronom</b>
he main dining room of Gastronom, which serves European dishes with the occasional Asian touch, is spacious and very homey. The style is reminiscent of a classic French kitchen, with the walls adorned by rows of dusty wine bottles. Salads are sublime and generously sized, and the main courses do not disappoint, either. 
<i>1/7 Naberezhnaya Reki Moiki. Tel: 314 3849</i>

<b>Kvartira No. 55</b>
If the name Kvartira (Apartment) No. 55 leads you to expect a converted communal apartment packed with Soviet kitsch, have no fear: European-style understatement is the byword at this modestly upscale wine bar. While the decor feels more austere than elegant, the restaurant does avoid the extravagant bombast that plagues so many eateries in Russia, and the food is generally excellent. 
<i>36 1aya Liniya of Vasilyevsky Island. Tel: 327 7444</i>

<b>Istoria</b>
This restaurant is all white painted furniture, raw linens, gauzy curtains and silk floral arrangements. It feels a bit too much like granny’s house, and of the seafood-heavy Italian and Asian dishes on offer, the starters are far more impressive than the mains. 
<i>8 Belinskogo Ulitsa. Tel: 579 8550</i>

TITLE: Golden Opportunities: Kids’ Clubs in Russia Today
AUTHOR: By Olga Sharapova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: As the Russian Federation celebrates Children’s Day on Wednesday, June 1, there is no shortage of heated discussion about education and services provided to children in contemporary Russia.
“Children are our everything” was a widespread slogan during the Soviet Union. Now, in the age of Russian capitalism when parents face lengthy waiting lists to enrol their child in kindergarten and almost always end up paying — whether officially or unofficially — for education, there exists a nostalgia about the Soviet past, when almost every kind of schooling and extracurricular activities were free of charge.    
In reality, however, the situation in the Soviet Union was not ideal, say representatives of the education system. While it may be true that all children, irrespective of the financial and social status of their family, could attend different hobby and sports groups, the choice of activities was more limited than it is today. And if schools or sports clubs didn’t have financial support from patrons such as major factories or well known sports teams, their resources were generally very poor.
But one of the main problems of the Soviet education system was that prestigious schools and groups were scarce, and it was hard to get into them. The most prestigious schools were so-called “English” schools with intensive English lessons, but even if a pupil was a talented, it didn’t necessarily mean that they could study there. 
      Nowadays, if parents have enough money, they can send their children to any school or paid extra-curricular lessons and groups. But if in the Soviet Union it was difficult to get into popular educational and sports institutions, now it can be difficult to find good lessons and groups. 
      According to Sergei Medvedev, an administrator at the Medvedev rowing school, some trainers working at state schools where studies are theoretically free may still ask parents to fund sports equipment and other objects or services. It is very important, said Medvedev, to find a school with professional trainers who are primarily there because they like working with children. 
Sixty-year-old Olga Medvedeva, a trainer of young children at the same school, said she doesn’t like to compare the Soviet past with the modern era. She said she simply likes working with children, and that she and her husband Leonid — who both hold the title Honored Trainer of Russia — buy sports equipment using their own money. Although the Medvedev rowing school is not a state-run organization, studies there are free. The school receives financial support from the Kolpino district sports committee and Kolpino sports school, and students of the school take part in international sports contests.
        The Admiralteisky district of St. Petersburg also sets a positive example of state leisure facilities for children, offering a range of free clubs and groups. The Domostroi club offers free classes in skills such as clothes design and music. 
Marina Berkuta, a teacher at the club, said there is a chance that work by her pupils may be presented at international fashion shows for children in the future. 
“But international connections are a future issue,” she said. “Right now it is important that we get a salary and financial support from the district administration.”
      The Limpik children’s corporation only offers paid activities for children, but according to Anna Amosova, director of Limpik and the Olymp and ALEXfitness sports clubs, the corporation’s primary task is to make sports and development programs accessible to different social groups. 
“We work on a system of bonuses, discounts and special offers,” said Amosova. “We have good resources and that allows us to increase the quality of the studies we offer. In addition, we organize modern sports centers for family activities and different sports contests. Our corporation includes the National Basketball Academy, the Ballet Academy and other sectors.” 
One of the problems of a big city is the large distances between home, school and hobby groups, said Amosova. “To resolve this problem, we try to set up groups in different areas of St. Petersburg,” she said. 
“I think that today, children have more opportunities for development than in the U.S.S.R.” 
Modern parents try to help their children as early as possible, Amosova said. 
“We have special sports and educational programs for babies aged from six months old,” she added.   

TITLE: When Time Stopped for a Fallen Soldier’s Wife
AUTHOR: By Herbert Mosmuller
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: When Pyotr Koval was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the front in 1941, he and his wife, Galina, stopped their watches to show that time stopped for them when they were apart.
They never wound up the watches again. Galina’s was laid in her casket when she died in 1990 — 10 years before Dutch journalist Remco Reiding arrived in her hometown of Alushta, now in Ukraine, to tell her how and where her husband died.
Reiding arrived too late for the Kovals, but there are many other families living across the former Soviet Union waiting to learn the fate of their husbands and fathers. Several hundred of those fallen Soviet soldiers rest in the Russian Field of Honor cemetery near the Dutch town of Amersfoort, and Reiding has spent years tracking their relatives to give them closure.
More than 3.7 million Soviet soldiers who died in World War II are buried outside present-day Russian territory, according to Russian Defense Ministry data. Of them, only about 740,000, or less than 20 percent, have been identified.
The Amersfoort cemetery has 865 graves, and although local archives have data on the soldiers, the information was never passed to the Soviets in the tumult of postwar reconstruction.
Reiding has been tracking down the soldiers’ families since 1998 and has so far found 177 of them. Some have been able to travel to the cemetery thanks to a donation-funded program called “Adopt a Grave,” proceeds of which are used to fund trips to Amersfoort.
Reiding, 34, grew up near the cemetery but never really paid attention to it. Then in 1998 the editor of the local newspaper where he worked as an intern asked him to write a story about the cemetery, and he realized that the letters on the modest tombstones were in Cyrillic.
He soon realized that nobody knew what they meant and delved into the local archives to find out.
As he eventually learned, the first batch of 101 war prisoners was shipped to the town in September 1941, unloaded at a cattle-discharging belt by the railway, paraded across town and locked into an open-air cage of barbed wire in the yard of the Amersfoort concentration camp.
Dutch media reports said at the time that the arrivals had a “Mongolian appearance,” although they were actually from the Turkic nation of Uzbekistan, a Soviet republic at the time. It was all the same to the Nazis, though, because both races were considered “inferior” — “Untermenschen.”
Locals figured that the Nazis planned to use the prisoners, caged “like in a zoo,” for propaganda, said Frans van den Berg, 81, whose father was forced to cook for the prisoners and who saw the premises as a young boy.
At first, though, there was no need to cook at all. Only bread was thrown into the cage from time to time, in hopes that the “Untermenschen” would expose their nature by fighting over it, giving a film crew lurking nearby ample footage for a propaganda movie, Van den Berg said.
But the Nazis were proved wrong by both the Uzbeks and the Dutch. The prisoners took the bread in a disciplined and orderly fashion, and appalled locals attempted to help them. The propaganda plan fell through, and the 77 soldiers who didn’t die of starvation were shot dead in April 1942.
The other 691 inhabitants of the Russian Field of Honor are Soviet prisoners who almost made it back home. All were liberated from concentration camps by the Allies in 1945 but died of health problems in the following weeks.
They were laid to rest in the American Battlefield of Margraten in the south of the Netherlands. But in 1947, as the Cold War was picking up steam, the Americans decided that they wanted the cemetery for their own dead and reburied the remains in Amersfoort.
Nobody ever took the trouble to inform the soldiers’ relatives in the Soviet Union about the fate of their loved ones.
“In the diligence of the postwar reconstruction years, we were simply too busy to care about the fallen Soviet soldiers,” said Bert Prinsen, an Amersfoort resident who has donated money to bringing relatives to the cemetery.
The Soviet side did not put up a fuss either, also because of the Cold War. Efforts to track the families of slain Red Army soldiers were mostly limited to the East European countries of the Warsaw Pact, Moscow’s answer to NATO, said Defense Ministry official Ilya Prokofyev.
Reiding spent two years researching Dutch, German, U.S. and Russian archives before obtaining his first lead — a list of contact addresses for the soldiers, poorly transliterated by the Americans.
He started off with Alusha, a resort town on the Crimean Peninsula. But the house and even the street listed in the 1940s no longer existed.
Reiding arranged a call for help on a local radio show, which brought him together with a surviving neighbor of Pyotr and Galina Koval, who told him the story of the stopped watches.
Reiding pressed on and finally located the first living relative of an Amersfoort-buried soldier — Dmitry Botenko, son of Vladimir Botenko. Two years had passed since Reiding first walked the Russian Field of Honor.
Among other relatives was Lidia Petukhova, 73, a native of the Oryol region who moved to Moscow as a teenager, spending the next half-century working at an army epaulet factory.
Her father, Tikhon Salnikov, was conscripted in 1941 when she was 4. The last thing she ever heard about him before Reiding appeared was that he was taken prisoner on the Smolensk front and interned to Germany in 1943.
Oryol was captured by advancing Nazi forces between 1941 and 1943. When Petukhova and her mother returned to their home village of Privolye, they found their house in ruins and cattle — the staple of peasant wealth — taken away.
The only items she inherited from her father were a picture and a teaspoon. She uses the spoon every day when she drinks tea at her kitchen table.
Petukhova’s eyes still light up when she thinks back to the moment her cousin called her on the phone in 2009 with the news that Dutch journalist Reiding had found her father’s grave. She cried all night, Lidia said in an interview at Reiding’s Moscow apartment.
After the war, she and her mother filed numerous requests for information with the Soviet authorities, but all they learned was that he had gone missing. Her mother never remarried and died in 1983.
U.S. archive data unearthed by Reiding indicated that Tikhon Salnikov was kept at the Stalag VI A, a slave labor camp near the town of Hemer in western Germany. He was moved to a hospital by American soldiers and died on May 23, 1945, 15 days after obtaining freedom.
The news gave her closure — a luxury her cousins, also war orphans, were denied, she said. Moreover, Petukhova was able to visit her father’s grave in 2010, 69 years after she last saw him.It also marked Petukhova’s first trip out of Russia and her first ride on an airplane.
The trip was paid for through the system of “grave adoptions,” Reiding said. Adopting the grave of a Soviet soldier, which can be done through Reiding’s web site, Soldaat.su, costs 50 euros ($70), and the money is used to finance trips for relatives of fallen soldiers.
About 160 graves have been adopted since the system was implemented last year, although only a handful of people have traveled to the Netherlands through it so far. Participation is open to closest relatives only, and 15 children, brothers and sisters of soldiers are currently on the waiting list.