SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #1676 (38), Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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TITLE: Central Heating Comes Early
AUTHOR: By Olga Kalashnikova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: St. Petersburg residents are to have their state-controlled central heating turned on slightly earlier this year than in previous years, with the heating being turned on periodically from last Thursday. 
Last year, the central heating season began on Oct. 1, while in 2009, apartment buildings began being heated on Sept. 29.
The first buildings to have their heating turned on are, as usual, kindergartens and other educational establishments, hospitals and other social care establishments. 
Initially, residential buildings are being heated for several hours per day. The heating will be left on when the city sees average temperatures of no higher than 8 degrees for five days in a row, in keeping with the city’s policy on central heating.
According to Sergei Tomashevsky, deputy head of City Hall’s Housing Committee, there are 22,375 buildings that required maintenance work to prepare them for the winter. The local district administrations have carried out the necessary repair work on 22,304 buildings, of which 21,779 had been inspected by a technical commission by Sept. 22, according to a report presented by Vladimir Zyabko, head of the state housing inspectorate, at a meeting of an inter-departmental commission devoted to preparations for the winter.
But only 21,024 of the buildings inspected were certified by the commission. The other 755 buildings are officially ready for the winter season, but were not certified because of some violations that need to be corrected. The total sum of the fines incurred by these violations is more than 6 million rubles ($190,000). 
Only 40 percent of residential buildings did not have any problems this year, according to Zyabko. Every second roof had some damage, he said.
One of the main problems of St. Petersburg is the city’s worn out central heating networks. After being turned off for the summer months, 97 percent of the pipes are in working condition, according to Tomashevsky. Three districts, however, are not completely ready. These are the Tsentralny, Vyborgsky and Petrodvortsovy districts. All repair works in these districts are due to be completed by Oct. 1.
In spite of the optimistic reports from all the departments, the authorities predict that problems could arise during the winter because of the city’s antiquated, worn-out heating systems.
“According to the reports, everybody is ready,” said Sergei Kozyrev, deputy governor of the city, at a meeting of the inter-departmental commission. 
“As for me, I’ll do my best and will sleep for two hours a day in order to work all the rest of the time. Of course, I’m not a magician, but I will do everything that I can.”

TITLE: Court Orders Former Cop to See Psychiatrist
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The trial of former police officer Vadim Boiko, who was captured on video hitting a man in the face with a truncheon during a peaceful rally last year, took a surprise turn Monday when — during the 16th hearing of the case — the court ordered Boiko to undergo a psychiatric examination.
Boiko is charged with exceeding authority with the use of police equipment while dispersing a rally in defense of the freedom of assembly near Gostiny Dvor on Nevsky Prospekt on July 31, 2010. The court began hearing the case on Feb. 9. 
According to victim Dmitry Semyonov, the state prosecutor ordered the psychiatric examination as the result of Boiko’s behavior during last week’s hearing. 
Semyonov said Boiko reacted aggressively and rudely to questions posed by both Semyonov and the prosecutor. 
During a Sept. 19 hearing, Boiko refused to answer the prosecutor’s question as to whether he had sustained any head injuries during his military service in conflict zones in the North Caucasus, and reacted rudely when Semyonov asked him whether he had a license for his truncheon, Semyonov said.
On Monday, the court upheld the prosecutor’s request, thus prolonging the trial for another month.
“I totally disagree with it,” Semyonov’s lawyer Yelena Napara said Tuesday.
“I believe that his rude answers to the questions asked in court do not indicate insanity, but simply indicate a poor upbringing.”
At the Sept. 19 hearing, Boiko’s police instructor was questioned about what type of truncheon Boiko used — a long rubber truncheon, which can inflict more damage, or a lighter plastic one.
From the video, the instructor concluded that Boiko was holding the plastic type, although Semyonov believes that it was impossible to define the type from the footage.
During the course of the hearing, the police instructor revealed that police officers are allowed to buy police weapons for themselves, without regulation.
Boiko denies hitting Semyonov with a truncheon, despite the footage that clearly shows him doing so.
Early last month, Boiko stated in court that he had since retired from the police force.
According to witness Galina Fyodorova, the lengthiness of the trial has resulted in an increase in the support group for Boiko, while Semyonov’s support has dwindled.
“Last time, I noticed that there were about ten supporters for Boiko, who — judging by their conversations — were policemen who work together, while oppositionists have stopped coming to hearings,” Fyodorova said Tuesday.
“There remained only journalists and cops.”
Boiko’s is the only known case of a policeman being held accountable for violations committed while dispersing a rally in Russia. He has taken a written oath not to leave the city.
The law governing the police forbids the use of truncheons on people’s heads and genitals. If found guilty of the charges of exceeding authority, Boiko faces three to 10 years in custody.
But many participants of the trial do not believe that Boiko will be punished. 
“They have been [hearing the case] for more than a year, while Boiko simply smiles and looks like he is fully aware of his impunity,” witness Vladislav Fassakhov said Tuesday.
“That’s because he knows that they will drag it out until there’s some amnesty or until he’s certified insane, and he will avoid responsibility. If he had been taken into a pretrial detention center, nobody would be prolonging the trial, I’m sure.”
At the end of Monday’s hearing, Boiko’s lawyer Anna Myurrei asked the court to send Semyonov, the victim of the attack, for a psychiatric examination too. The judge said that her request would be heard at the next hearing, scheduled for October 26.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: <b>Businessman Shot Dead</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The general director of the city’s City Wholesale Market, Sergei Sosnovtsev, was shot dead by unknown assailants in St. Petersburg on Monday night.
The attackers, who drove a Mercedes, shot at Sosnovtsev 20 times with a Kalashnikov gun while he was driving his Porsche Cayenne.
Investigators are considering various possible reasons for the murder, including a connection with the victim’s commercial activities, Interfax reported.

<b>Judge’s Life Threatened</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg investigators have uncovered evidence that a former member of a special forces unit, Andrei Malyugin, was plotting the murder of the judge prosecuting a nationalist gang in the Borovikov-Voyevodin case. Malyugin was acquitted by the jury in that case, Interfax reported.
Investigators entered as evidence substances alleged to belong to Malyugin that could be used to make an explosive device.
Malyugin, who is currently under arrest, was charged with the murder of a Korean native and may still be charged with additional criminal activities, Interfax reported.

<b>New Holland to Close</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — New Holland island will close to visitors from Oct. 2 to facilitate work due to be carried out on the island’s historic buildings.
New Holland was first opened to visitors on July 16, following 300 years of being off-limits. On the newly accessible island, locals were able to play sports, lease an allotment, or simply sunbathe. 
New Holland Development, which is affiliated with Roman Abramovich’s Millhouse company, plans to invest $400 million in developing the island as a multi-functional complex.

<b>Mail Order Drugs</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Customs officials in Russia’s northwest have disrupted an illegal drug trafficking route from China to St. Petersburg.
Two Russian citizens were involved in the delivery of drugs from China using the international postal system.
They allegedly ordered the synthetic drug JWH and had it delivered to various post offices in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast by mail. 

<b>Moscow Vs St. Petersburg</b>
MOSCOW (SPT) — Moscow residents consider St. Petersburg natives to be a virtuous lot, while the inhabitants of St. Petersburg tend to see Muscovites as rather unpleasant people, according to new research.
People from the Russian capital said the main characteristics of St. Petersburg residents included good manners (54 percent), hospitality (46 percent) and patience (33 percent), Interfax reported, quoting sociologists from the Levada Center.
In their turn, St. Petersburg residents see Muscovites as arrogant (52 percent), rational (47 percent) and energetic (48 percent).
Inhabitants of the northern capital emphasized the negative when assessing Moscow’s residents, citing egotism (37 percent), a love of power (36 percent) and envy (25 percent) in the poll.

TITLE: City Hall Contemplates Underground Car Parks
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: City Hall is considering the construction of automated underground parking lots.
According to a plan developed by the city’s Transport Infrastructure Committee, officials hope to solve the lack of parking space in the city center through the construction of underground parking lots, Fontanka reported.
The parking facilities may be located as deep as 33 meters below ground, but are projected to be only 16 meters wide. 
Preliminary calculations, which assume a 13-level structure that can accommodate ten cars per level, foresee the new underground parking facilities holding up to 130 cars each. 
The project concept envisages that car owners would be able to leave their cars in a special elevator on the upper level of the new lots. After that, the automated system would carry the car down to the appropriate level and leave it there. When the owner returns, the system would return the car to the surface.
In this way, the project’s creators hope to provide relatively spacious parking lots compared to those located at ground level and to single-level underground spots that hold fewer vehicles.
Plans call for 10-15 such automated parking lots to be constructed under squares and alleys in the center of the city. Possible sites include under Ploshchad Rastrelli near the city’s administration building; in front of the Mariinsky Palace where the Legislative Assembly is located, at Birzhevaya Ploshchad on Vasilyevsky Island, Senatskaya Ploshchad between St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the Neva, beneath Arts Square in front of the Russian Museum, in front of the Astoria hotel, and in other places.
For the time being, the plans are only at the preliminary stages, with no working version yet available. As a result, both the exact figures and locations are subject to change, Fontanka reported. However, fears about the expense and possible negative impact that such construction projects may have on the historic center, where subsidence is a very real concern, look certain to play a role in their future development.

TITLE: Airport Union Calls for Change
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ST. PETERSBURG — One of two ground services trade unions at the city’s Pulkovo Airport plans to hold a meeting on Oct. 3 to demand the improvement of working conditions, Interfax reported last week.
The Sotsprof trade union intends to demand a raise in salaries for its members. With a current average salary of 20,000 to 25,000 rubles ($630 to $788) per month, the last review of salaries took place three years ago, Fontanka cited Vladimir Makarov, deputy head of the trade union, as saying.
The trade union, which represents about 650 members, also plans to demand that the workplace undergo a safety inspection.
The trade union plans to hold the meeting in front of the airport’s administration building, Makarov said.
The labor rights of the airport’s ground workers have been seriously violated but the workers’ appeals to the State Labor Inspection had no effect, he said.
“I am a rescue worker. Every day, dozens of planes fly near us, exposing us to extreme amounts of vibration and toxic fumes,” Interfax reported Makarov as saying. “In our room there are sacks filled with chemicals and we inhale all of that. My medical certificate lists at least eight harmful factors present in the workplace, but none of them are reflected in my salary.” 
Makarov said the airport’s work schedule is violated when Pulkovo employees are required to work extra hours due to increased passenger numbers and the opening of new checkpoints. 
“Many of our employees have to stand for 12 hours a day, especially the women who screen the luggage. They stand near the X-ray machines and are not given any radiation detectors. Once we measured the radiation, and the levels from those machines could even be detected outside,” Makarov said.
Vyacheslav Zhuiko, head of Pulkovo’s Sotsprof union, said that the main aim of the industrial action “is to have the workers’ needs listened to, and to have essential care taken of their health.”
Pulkovo Airport is operated by the Vozdushnye Vorota Severnoi Stolitsy (VVSS) consortium, which said it always tries to build a constructive dialogue with the trade unions. However, representatives of Sotsprof did not present the company with detailed demands regarding the improvement of working conditions for the employees, VVSS’s press service claimed.
“At the moment, members of Sotsprof do not want to meet with representatives of VVSS,” it said.
The press service said that Sotsprof had not advised VVSS of any events planned for Oct. 3. 
“Strikes in the transport industry are prohibited by law. Holding a meeting near active facilities at the airport may violate operational codes and negatively influence flight safety, which is inadmissible,” the press service said.
Zhuiko said the trade union was not planning a strike, but rather a meeting outside airport terminals, which would not violate the law.
VVSS claimed that the average salary of employees during their first years with VVSS increased by eight percent. In 2011, VVSS also began the process of rating the workplace on safety. Based on its findings, the company will adjust the current plans for improvements, and has allocated 26 million rubles ($820,000) for the improvement of working conditions in 2011, the press service said.
“At the same time, we must understand that these problems have been building up for dozens of years and are related to the old-fashioned infrastructure of the terminal,” VVSS said. “They can’t all be solved at once. The projects focusing on the construction of new terminal complexes, reconstruction of the current airport buildings and the purchase of new equipment are the company’s top priority. Completion of these projects will have a positive effect on labor conditions and passenger comfort.” 
Valery Teslenko, chairman of Pulkovo’s Aviation Workers trade union, said that Sotsprof’s plan to hold a meeting was too extreme.
“There is always an opportunity to hold peaceful negotiations instead of involving the workers,” Teslenko told The St. Petersburg Times.
“Especially when they plan to hold the meeting in a very awkward place that can lead to crowds of people,” he added.
Teslenko said that his union had recently negotiated a salary review in April 2012 with VVSS.
He said the main reason for the absence of salaries being indexed to inflation was the global financial crisis. In one of his talks with the airport management on the matter, he was told that they could either provide indexation or retain staff, he said. The airport employs 4,000 people.
“At that time we all understood that it was more important to save jobs,” he said.
Teslenko said the average salary of Pulkovo’s employees is about 31,000 rubles ($980), higher than the figures provided by Sotsprof.
Teslenko said that an independent commission was currently working at Pulkovo to assess workplace safety.
“The main task is not to provide compensation for unsafe conditions, but to make the working environment less dangerous. Incidentally, the construction of new airport facilities will allow that environment to be improved immensely,” he said.


TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: <b>Anti-Icing Issues</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko has expressed concern over the composition of anti-icing mixtures used on the city’s streets. 
Poltavchenko said that city residents have complained that the substances used for the purpose in the city have a negative effect on footwear, cars and vegetation, Fontanka.ru news portal reported.
The head of the city’s Redevelopment and Roads Committee, Andrei Podobed, said the major component of the anti-icing mixtures used in St. Petersburg include salt. Podobed recognized that salt was harmful but said that the costs of alternative substances were prohibitive.
Poltavchenko reacted by saying that the city should not economize in such matters. He went on to say that City Hall would study the experience of other northern countries regarding the use of anti-icing materials and would choose the best solution.
<b>Cash for Children</b>
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — City Hall has announced plans to pay 100,000 rubles () to families that have or adopt a third child. This is in addition to payments made by the federal government, Interfax reported Tuesday. 
The money may be spent on education or on improving the family’s living conditions.
City Hall has also signed a decree providing large families who have petitioned the government for improvements in their living conditions with plots of land in zones where permanent dwellings can be constructed.
Some of the plots will be located in the Kolpino, Pushkin and Petrodvorets districts of St. Petersburg. The rest will be located in the Leningrad Oblast.
Large families that are not waiting for new housing will be able to use the land for the construction of dachas, or summer houses.

TITLE: Putin Launches His Bid for Kremlin With a Hug
AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel and Alexander Bratersky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — It was the hug that sealed the deal.
President Dmitry Medvedev left the stage to thunderous applause after announcing Saturday at a United Russia convention that he endorsed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s return as president. 
More than 11,000 United Russia delegates and supporters, clearly delighted with the news, stood and clapped as Medvedev walked back to his seat next to Putin in the middle of the sixth row.
Then Putin wrapped his arms around Medvedev, his teeth barred in what looked like a forced smile, for a seconds-long embrace.
Putin and Medvedev declared at the convention that they intended to swap jobs next year: Putin will run in the March 2012 presidential election, and Medvedev is ready to take over the government if Putin wins.
Both leaders announced the moves in carefully staged appearances at the United Russia pre-election convention for the State Duma, ending months of political uncertainty that had paralyzed the country.
Putin was the first to address the attendees, including 639 delegates, in the Luzhniki sports palace. 
He told them that Medvedev, his protege, should head the electoral list for the Dec. 4 Duma elections, saying it would be best not to break with the practice of past elections that the incumbent president leads United Russia’s list.
“I believe this will raise the party’s authority and ensure its expected and just victory,” he told the cheering convention.
Medvedev then took to the stage to say he accepted Putin’s proposal and, in return, endorsed the prime minister as his successor.
“In light of the proposal that I head the party list, engage in party work and my willingness to engage in government work if we do well in the elections, I think the party convention should support the candidacy of party chairman Vladimir Putin as the country’s president,” Medvedev said.
When the convention burst into applause, he added, “This means I don’t need to explain the experience and authority commanded by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.”
After receiving Medvedev’s embrace, Putin returned to the stage to deliver a dry, hourlong speech about past achievements and future tasks, dwelling mainly on economic and social politics.
At the end of his address, he said, almost in passing, that Medvedev could build a young energetic team and “head the Russian government so that he can continue his work to modernize all walks of our life.” 
When Medvedev then delivered his second address, he declared himself ready to head the government. “When we manage to get a new government, I am prepared to lead that government and continue to work for the good of the country,” he said.
Putin, who served eight years as president starting in 2000, was widely seen as the country’s top decision maker even after he handed over the presidency to Medvedev in 2008. The Constitution allows only two consecutive terms.
Putin is set to win the 2012 election, given his unrivaled popularity, the divided opposition and the authorities’ demonstrated unwillingness to register serious opposition candidates.
If he is re-elected for two consecutive terms, he could remain in power until 2024 because of a constitutional reform, initiated by Medvedev, that lengthens the presidential term from four to six years. (The Duma’s legislative period was also lengthened to five instead of four years.)
While many political observers had believed that Putin would return to the Kremlin, an announcement at the party convention was not widely expected. One senior United Russia deputy, however, correctly predicted the announcement in an interview published in The Moscow Times on Friday. But conventional wisdom suggested that the veil would be lifted only after it became clear how United Russia performed in the Duma elections.
Pundits said the decision to end the uncertainty now dealt an irreparable blow to Medvedev’s political credibility. 
Gleb Pavlovsky, a political consultant who was fired as a longtime Kremlin adviser earlier this year, called it the president’s capitulation. “Maybe it was voluntary, maybe not. But it remains a unique fact that the post of president in a nuclear power has changed hands through a private deal,” he told Gazeta.ru.
Putin told the convention right at the beginning that an agreement about what he and Medvedev would be doing had been reached “years ago.” But he added apologetically that “who sits in which place” was not the most important issue. “Much more important is this: which results we achieve and what our citizens think of them; how our people react and how much they support us,” he said.


TITLE: Drunken Sailors Ram Sub
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The drunken sailors who accidentally rammed a nuclear submarine in a fishing trawler off the coast of Kamchatka last week tried to flee the scene, Navy officials said Monday, RIA-Novosti reported.
The Donets glanced the stern of the Svyatoi Georgy Pobedonosets, or “St. George,” which was moored and above water, after the submarine’s crew tried unsuccessfully to contact the trawler via radio and alert its crew with red flares.
After the collision, which lightly damaged both ships, the Donets’ crew allegedly turned off the ship’s navigation lights and increased its speed in an attempt to flee the scene. The getaway ended after the Navy’s local command ordered all ships in the area to halt and drop anchor.
The submariners were prepared to open fire during the crash but opted not to, the report said, without elaborating.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.


TITLE: Opposition Parties Hold Conventions
AUTHOR: By Alexey Eremenko and Alexander Bratersky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — Two left-leaning parliamentary parties, A Just Russia and the Communists, held their pre-election conventions on Saturday, approving relatively tame electoral lists in the shadow of United Russia’s political show at Luzhniki.
A Just Russia, which met in a congress hall in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park, picked its founder Sergei Mironov and party bosses Nikolai Levichev and Oksana Dmitriyeva to top its 600-member list of candidates for the State Duma vote on Dec. 4.
The federal list comprises mostly party officials, with the exception of Alexander Lomakin-Rumyantsev, head of the All-Russia Organization of the Disabled, and Andrei Tumanov, editor-in-chief of the Vashi Shest Sotok (Your Six Acres), a bimonthly nonpolitical agrarian newspaper with a print run of 230,000.
The federal list usually has 10 names, but A Just Russia’s only has eight because two candidates were dropped.
The party also approved its election platform, which promises to lobby for the poor and state employees.
Mironov lashed out at United Russia but stopped short of criticizing the ruling tandem, and dodged a question about whether A Just Russia would support Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s bid for presidency, announced at the United Russia convention on Saturday.
The party will reconvene in December to decide on its strategy for the March elections, Mironov said. He added that the party planned to double its results from the 2007 Duma vote from 7.7 percent to 15 percent in December.
The Communist Party stuck to its tradition of holding pre-election conventions on the premises of Moskovsky, a former collective farm seven kilometers south of Moscow.
The head of the Central Elections Commission, Kremlin loyalist Vladimir Churov, attended the event without voicing his reasons for showing up, Gazeta.ru said.
The Communists’ electoral list has 597 names and is topped by party leader Gennady Zyuganov, retired Navy Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, who commanded the Black Sea Fleet from 1998 to 2002, and the head of the Communist Youth Union, Yury Afonin, Interfax said.
The rest of the federal top 10 includes four more party bosses; Nobel physics laureate Zhores Alfyorov, 81; Soviet-era cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya; and, most curiously, the former head of the Federal Drug Control Service, Viktor Cherkesov, who infamously decried “feuds in the Chekist community” ahead of the 2008 presidential election when his agency lost in a turf war with the Federal Security Service.
Prominent names on the regional lists include Khakassia Governor Alexei Lebed and film director Vladimir Bortko, famous for TV adaptations of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Idiot” and Mikhail Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita.”
The Communist platform envisages the nationalization of the oil industry and the modernization of the economy, Zyuganov said.
The party will also campaign for the disbandment of “imperialistic” NATO and the establishment of a new alliance of former Soviet republics, he said.
He also promoted democracy, expressing regret that the word had been “devalued” recently. “Real political competition should finally replace the dictatorship of the information syringe, the money bag and the police baton,” Zyuganov said, speaking with a bust of Vladimir Lenin looming on the stage behind him.


TITLE: Air Crash Averted Following Laser Attack
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — An Aeroflot plane with 128 people on board nearly crashed while landing in Barnaul last week after a 15-year-old boy directed a laser pointer at the cockpit, news reports said last Friday.
The boy targeted the A-320 plane carrying 120 passengers and eight crew members as it was landing in the airport of the Altai republic’s capital around 6 a.m. Thursday, Interfax reported, citing regional police.
The boy could not sleep and entertained himself with the laser pointer, which he directed at the plane from the window of his room, news site Altapress.ru reported.
The unidentified boy told police that he “had not planned to blind the pilot and had only directed the beam at the flashing lights of the airplane.”
The parents of the boy will be fined about 500 rubles ($15) for negligence, the news reports said.
About 50 laser attacks on planes have been reported so far this year, causing the State Duma to consider legislation making the attacks a crime punishable by seven to 10 years in prison.

TITLE: Finance Minister Kudrin Resigns Amid Controversy
AUTHOR: By Howard Amos and Alexander Bratersky
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — In answer to President Dmitry Medvedev’s angry call for his resignation in front of television cameras and his Cabinet colleagues, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin couldn’t help but invoke the name of Vladimir Putin. 
In a second snub to Medvedev in three days, Kudrin made it clear that he would have to consult with Prime Minister Putin — who has admitted to affectionately referring to his long-serving finance minister as “Lyosha” — before he would resign.
Late Monday night, Putin sent Kudrin’s resignation letter to Medvedev, who signed it.
The surprise ouster of Kudrin, who was appointed finance minister in 2000 and is widely admired for his fiscal conservatism, marks the culmination of a rift that has emerged at the heart of the government. 
But there are few who believe that Kudrin’s career is over. Appointed as finance minister by then-President Putin in 2000, Kudrin has close links to the Kremlin’s ultimate power broker whose announcement that he would seek a six-year presidential term in the 2012 election was greeted by cheers at a United Russia convention on Saturday. 
Putin and Kudrin worked together in St. Petersburg under Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and they are long-term friends. Putin referred to Kudrin as “Lyosha” in a book of interviews published in 2000. 
“Kudrin will remain in Putin’s circle. The man who has a land burning under his feet needs a trusted professional,” said Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who worked with Kudrin under the late Prime Minister Viktor Chermomyrdin. 
Nemtsov said by telephone that Kudrin might become chairman of the Central Bank or Putin’s adviser on the economy. 
The announcement of Kudrin’s resignation comes at a sensitive time for Russian markets. Investors last week watched the MICEX plunge 12 percent and the RTS 16 percent.
“Just as Putin is the people’s champion, Kudrin is the investor’s champion. They will not be happy with his departure,” said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Troika Dialog. “This will be of greater concern to the markets than the reversal of the tandem.”
Medvedev confronted Kudrin, who was also a deputy prime minister, at a televised meeting in Dmitrovgrad in the Ulyanovsk region about Kudrin’s declaration on the sidelines of a World Bank and IMF gathering in Washington on Saturday that he would not serve in any Cabinet led by Medvedev as prime minister.
“Such statements appear improper … and can in no way be justified. Nobody has revoked discipline and subordination,” Medvedev told Kudrin, who, apart from a small pout, remained impassive as he was lectured. 
Medvedev said that if Kudrin was not satisfied with the Kremlin’s agenda, “you have only one option and you know what it is — to resign.”
Kudrin responded that he would make the decision only after consulting with Putin.
“You can seek the advice of whomever you want, but as long as I’m the president, such decisions are made by me,” Medvedev spat back.
Medvedev accepted the resignation of Kudrin, 50, hours later. 
“The president signed the resignation in accordance with the appropriate procedures and as advised by the prime minister,” said Natalya Timakova, Medvedev’s spokeswoman. 
Despite Kudrin’s airing of his disagreements with Medvedev over the weekend, the events appeared to unfold with a speed expected by few.
Timakova had told reporters on Monday morning that the Kremlin did not expect any changes in the government until after the December parliamentary elections, Bloomberg reported. 
Kudrin, who has confessed to enjoying playing hockey in his youth, was seen as positioning himself for the prime minister’s portfolio in an interview published in Kommersant last week. 
“It’s a clusterf---,” said one Moscow-based investor, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue. “It’s very poorly prepared — Kudrin was expecting to become prime minister, and Putin clearly decided otherwise.”
A senior United Russia official, Andrei Isayev, said Kudrin “did not understand that now is the time not for personal ambition, but for a consolidation of strength for the resolution of the country’s problems,” according to a statement posted on the party’s web site. 
Kudrin has also lost some important battles in recent months, including his failure to get the Cabinet to use a $70 base price for a barrel of oil in the latest budget. 
Kudrin has been a staple of the Russian political scene since he became first deputy finance minister in 1997. Following his appointment as finance minister in 2000, he has built a reputation on his fiscally conservative stewardship of the Russian economy. 
His tenure saw budget surpluses from 2000 to 2008, and he overcame political pressure to stash away more than $200 billion in gold and currency reserves during a period of climbing oil prices.

TITLE: Lokomotiv Air Carrier Loses License
AUTHOR: By Alexander Bratersky and Jonathan Earle
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The airline operating the Yak-42 jet that crashed earlier this month, killing most of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team, lost its license last week. 
The Federal Air Transportation Agency, which took away the license, said it based its decision on a check into Yak-Service’s operations and took the Yaroslavl crash into account. But it cited no violations.
Yak-Service had specialized in charter flights for VIPs. Before the crash, its fleet included four Yak-40 planes and one Yak-42. One of its clients reportedly was Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is now leading a government crackdown on small airlines.
Forty-four people were killed when the Yak-42 carrying Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hit a navigational beacon just beyond the end of the runway and crashed into a small river after failing to pick up enough speed during takeoff.
The only survivor, flight attendant Alexander Sizov, has recovered enough to meet with investigators, his doctors said last Wednesday, Interfax reported. No date for questioning was given.
As investigators were looking into the incident, Transportation Minister Igor Levitin reiterated that no “external factor” contributed to the crash.
The jet crashed on the opening day of a political summit in Yaroslavl, when the airport was crammed with incoming planes. This prompted speculation that the Yak-42 might have been rushed into taking off despite mechanical problems or that it did not have enough runway because of parked private jets.
“The plane took off on schedule, the runway was free, and there were no external factors to aggravate the pilots’ actions,” Levitin said on Vesti FM radio, indirectly confirming media reports that the crash was due to a pilot error.
Levitin’s recent report to the State Duma about his ministry’s performance did not mention the Lokomotiv incident during his lengthy speech, prompting angry remarks from lawmakers, Rusnovosti.ru said.
The minister, who has held the job since 2004, is regularly criticized for deadly incidents that plague the country’s decrepit transportation infrastructure. The ruling United Russia party backed down on a plan to request his dismissal during a Duma speech last week, citing no reasons.
Levitin said on Vesti FM that he “is not avoiding responsibility.” He explained that he was working to improve transportation safety, which he said requires both an influx of investment and an update of legislation.
Meanwhile, St. Petersburg-based blogger Leto06 reported on her LiveJournal page that one of the Lokomotiv crash victims, team captain Ivan Tkachenko, was a longtime anonymous donor to charity, giving sums ranging up to 500,000 rubles ($15,000) for expensive operations for children. He sent his last text message confirming a donation just 15 minutes before boarding his last flight, she said.

TITLE: Tuvalu Supports Abkhazia
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu became the sixth state to recognize Abkhazia and the fifth to recognize South Ossetia, the two Georgian breakaway regions said Friday.
Tuvalu’s prime minister, Willy Telavi, signed declarations establishing diplomatic ties with representatives of both regions during a visit to Abkhazia and South Ossetia earlier in the week, according to statements on both regions’ web sites.
The island’s government did not confirm the reports until Sunday. Nor did the Georgian government make any public comment. The news comes as a slap in the face for Tbilisi because Tuvalu established diplomatic ties with Georgia seven months ago. 
Abkhazia and South Ossetia were recognized as independent by Russia following a 2008 war with Georgia, but none of Moscow’s close allies among other former Soviet states have yet followed suit.

TITLE: Finance Official Murdered in Podolsk
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW — In the second high-profile murder in the Moscow region in a month, the official who oversaw the finances of the city of Podolsk — the region’s third-biggest municipality — was gunned down in her home on Monday.
Vera Sviridova, 53, was shot in the head in her private house in the nearby village of Svitino sometime before 8 a.m., regional investigators said in a statement.
Her body was discovered by her personal driver, a spokeswoman for the region’s Investigative Committee told Gazeta.ru. She added that Sviridova lived alone and apparently let the murderer in herself, switching off the door alarm.
Investigators believe Sviridova’s murder was linked to her professional activities, though they did not rule out robbery, the spokeswoman said. A case was opened on murder charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Sviridova held her job since 1996, with a two-year break in the early 2000s, city lawmaker Pavel Maximovich told Gazeta.ru. She handled Podolsk’s finances, but was not involved in decision making, he said.


TITLE: New Schedule at GM Plant Alarms Workers
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Workers at the local General Motors car manufacturing plant are unhappy about the introduction of a new working schedule at the plant, the Interregional Trade Union of Carmakers said last week.
From Oct. 2, assembly line operators are to work in two shifts: A daytime shift of ten-and-a-half hours, and a nighttime shift of nine-and-a-half hours, Pyotr Letkeman, chairman of the Interregional Trade Union of Carmakers, said Monday.
 Igor Stankevich, a representative of the union, said at a press conference last week that “the authorities of the plant had decided to introduce the new schedule to boost the plant’s capacity and increase car production at GM’s Russian plants to 350,000 by 2015,” Interfax reported. 
Starting from November, plant workers will work for four days a week in a row, followed by a three-day break, Letkeman said.
“Working on an assembly line is very hard work. Working for nine to 10 hours in one go will be very tough for workers,” he said.
 The current eight-and-a-half-hour day shift and seven-and-a-half-hour night shift were already difficult for workers, he said.
“I can’t imagine how we’ll work for ten-and-a-half hours on an assembly line, if you also add in time for lunch and journey time to and from the plant,” Letkeman said.
“Particularly when we are talking about night shifts, which traditionally run the risk of more injuries and accidents due to the human physiological condition of wanting to sleep at that time,” he said.
“I haven’t heard of such working schedule at similar car-making plants [in the area] like Ford or Nissan,” Letkeman said.
According to Letkeman, the plant’s management explained the introduction of the new schedule as being necessary for an increase in production. They also said they considered it more convenient for workers, who would then have more full days off.
“However, in reality, for most of the week, workers will not only be exhausted after long hours of hard work; they won’t have any time to spend with their families on those days,” he said.
Letkeman said the workers had appealed to the plant’s management, asking them to introduce three regular shifts instead of two. He said he had not yet heard how the management had reacted to that, he said. 
Sergei Lepnukhov, a spokesman for GM, confirmed that the new schedule was being introduced in connection with plans to expand GM’s production capacities in Russia up to 350,000 cars by 2015.
“Our plant in St. Petersburg is to expand its production capacity from 98,000 cars a year currently to 230,000 cars by 2015; that is more than twice. On a practical level, such expansion entails the construction of a second plant on the same territory in the village of Shushary,” Lepnukhov told The St. Petersburg Times.
This year, the existing plant is to reach full capacity, up to 98,000 cars. Construction of the second part of the plant will begin next year, he said.
“Accordingly, the expansion plans have resulted in the introduction of new shifts, a new working schedule and the hiring of more workers. So, by 2015 we plan to hire 1,500 more employees in addition to our current staff of 1,000,” he said.
Lepnukhov emphasized that all the new schedule alterations are in accordance with Russian legislation and that they were discussed with the plant’s personnel.
Any changes at any enterprise usually encounter dissatisfaction among a certain number of people, while others react positively, he said.
“It’s impossible to find an option that would satisfy everyone 100 percent... But doesn’t it sound attractive to have three full days off every week?” he said.
“However, changes occur regularly, and we are ready to consult with the staff,” Lepnukhov said.
GM began producing cars in St. Petersburg in 2006 on the territory of the Arsenal plant. The main plant was opened in 2008.

TITLE: S. Korea Boosts Trade Relations
AUTHOR: By Yelena Minenko
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: After two months of preparations and negotiations with the city’s authorities, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) opened a department in St. Petersburg last week, making it the fourth KOTRA office in Russia.
Established in 1962 to bolster the Korean economy through trade, the agency now has branches in 76 countries. 
“KOTRA doesn’t only help Korean enterprises to work internationally, but also helps foreign companies to enter South Korea’s market; it is a global economic collaboration,” said Suk-Woo Hong, president of KOTRA, during the office’s official opening ceremony last Thursday. 
“Just from looking out of my hotel room window, I can see how well St. Petersburg is developed economically,” he added. 
Today more than 30 Korean companies are represented in St. Petersburg, including the automobile industry giant Hyundai Motor, which makes 100,000 cars at its local plant per year, as well as LG and Samsung electronics companies and finance and investment firms. Several more companies are set to open in the city in the near future. 
“Today’s event was to be expected,” said Lee Yeon Su, general consul of South Korea in St. Petersburg. “The northwestern federal district is one of the most active regions in Russia, with highly intensive work by Korean companies.”
The current trade relationship between Russia and South Korea is developing somewhat one-sidedly. According to statistics, Korean companies import 12 times more here than Russian companies export to South Korea. Last year, however, a sharp increase in bilateral trade was observed. 
From January to August 2010, bilateral trade between Russia and South Korea increased by 82.2 percent to more than $11 billion. The data was announced by the President Dmitry Medvedev during an official visit to Seoul last November. 
“Unfortunately, the global financial crisis led to the decrease of bilateral trade, but according to this year’s numbers, we are gradually returning to pre-crisis performances,” Medvedev was quoted as saying then by RBC.
“South Korea is the third biggest foreign investor in the economy of St. Petersburg,” said Alexander Prokhorenko, head of City Hall’s External Relations Committee. 
“Korean investments demonstrate the interest in our region and our city. The opening of a KOTRA office is an opportunity for St. Petersburg to develop, not only at the level of large enterprises, but also in the sphere of small-scale business.”
Taking into account Korean interest not only in the city itself but in Russia’s northwest region as a whole, the development of Russia-Korea trade in the Leningrad Oblast and other regions appears to be promising. 
“Considering the presence of representatives of the northwestern federal district here today, I believe that KOTRA’s activities will not be limited to St. Petersburg only,” Vladimir Zapevalov, a representative of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in St. Petersburg, said Thursday. 
The development of the pharmaceutical and medical sector is already under discussion between representatives of both Korean and Russian businesses, along with the continuation of the ship-building industry and expansion of the automobile industry. 
“The opening of KOTRA in St. Petersburg became possible thanks to the positive background of the relationship on both sides, and thanks to cumulative investment experience, but we want the relationship to be even more saturated. We are putting our hopes on the Korean interest in pharmaceuticals and medicine,” said Prokhorenko.
“I believe that KOTRA will become a meeting place for Russian and Korean companies and will strengthen economic relationships between the two countries,” said Lee.

TITLE: Kudrin’s Wake-Up Call
AUTHOR: By Alexander Golts
TEXT: United Russia’s “Triumph of the Will” convention on Saturday caused quite a sensation. Obviously, I am not referring to the decision by President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to switch places in 2012. Perhaps the only people who were surprised by Putin’s decision to return to the presidency were analysts at the Institute of Contemporary Development and other members of “Medvedev’s Party” — a group to which, as Putin himself confirmed during his speech at the convention, even Medvedev himself never belonged.
The bigger sensation was Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin’s announcement on Saturday that he does not want to work in a government headed by Medvedev and his resignation on Monday night. Kudrin on Saturday painted a very bleak picture of an impending economic catastrophe in the country because of plans to spend trillions of rubles that Russia cannot afford on social programs, a giant Pension Fund deficit and the reckless expectation that record-high oil prices will cover budgetary losses from inefficient spending.
But Kudrin’s biggest concern was the impact that the country’s sharp increase in military spending would have on the economy. According to Kudrin, the steep rise in military contracts to modernize the army, military pensions and outfitting the defense industry with new technologies will increase budget outlays by about 1.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, and by 3 percent, or 2.1 trillion rubles ($65.4 billion), by 2014.
“That is equal to all funding of the entire education system for 2011, including all universities, all schools and special educational establishments,” Kudrin said. “That is, for three years we will spend a sum equivalent to the funding of the entire education system.”
In reality, however, it was Putin and not Medvedev who approved the increase in military spending. Therefore, any talk of a difference between Putin and Medvedev on defense expenditures is meaningless. The real reason for Kudrin’s sharp statement is that he does not want to be held responsible for the looming financial disaster that the Putin government is provoking.
It is no wonder that Kudrin placed so much importance on wasteful spending on defense. The re-armament program alone will cost 20 trillion rubles ($623 billion) from 2011 to 2020. These expenditures were approved despite the fact that all previous weapons programs have ended in complete failure. The plan is being implemented at a time when arguments between the Defense Ministry, military design bureaus and manufacturers over the exorbitantly high price of weapons systems reached their peak this year, resulting in many contracts going unfulfilled.
Putin is more responsible than Medvedev for this state of affairs. After all, it was during Putin’s presidency that the defense industry became a parody of the Soviet military-industrial complex. Several hundred defense companies were corralled into state-owned conglomerates, destroying the remaining elements of competition among military firms. The majority of companies that were merged into state-owned giants were highly ineffective and on the verge of bankruptcy. As a result, the end price for any piece of military equipment — from missiles and armored transport vehicles to combat aircraft — included not only the amounts that were stolen, but also the huge operating losses of inefficient factories.
Kudrin could not remain silent anymore on the massive waste and inefficiency in the defense sector, and there is a good reason for this. He understands perhaps better than anyone that Russia’s fiscal ship is sinking, and he has decided to jump overboard while he still has an opportunity.
Kudrin is the first to jump ship. Who will be next?

<I>Alexander Golts is deputy editor of the online newspaper Yezhednevny Zhurnal.</I>

TITLE: comment: Both Soviet and Tsar in One
AUTHOR: By Lilit Gevorgyan
TEXT: After months of foot-dragging and speculation, President Dmitry Medvedev announced at the United Russia convention that he is ready to swap his post with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in March.
Until Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin resigned Monday night, the announcement did not have any major impact on political stability or the Russian markets. In fact, aside from a small group of protesters demanding Putin’s resignation from politics, the news was accepted with general calm. This is because the swap was predominantly anticipated by the public. What was confusing was the political inner-clan wrangling in the past year and speculation as to whether Medvedev would challenge Putin and bring about a silent reformist revolution. To a degree, this speculation was born out of frustration at the inevitable return of Putin’s rule for potentially the next 12 years.
International reaction to the announcement was also muted. The U.S. administration made a neutral statement confirming that the “reset” with Russia will go on and hinting that the United States has been working with Putin over the past decade both as president and prime minister. Thus, Washington expects no surprises.
After more than a decade of de facto rule by Putin, the Russian electorate is showing signs of “Putin fatigue.” He has seen many transformations throughout his career as president and prime minister. Brought into the Kremlin in 2000 as a gray state official who could pose little challenge to the interests of the then-formed oligarchic elites, Putin developed into a strong leader who initiated a campaign against the very same oligarchs.
In his first term as president, he was a reformist who, together with Kudrin, undertook a series of liberal reforms and initiatives to boost the economy and fight corruption. But toward the end of his first term and throughout his second, Putin reinvented himself as the main advocate of state capitalism, resulting in part from a power struggle and drive to curtail oligarchic influence on the energy sector. He has since shown little interest in modernization or diversification of the economy, and has seen the emergence of a new circle of oligarchs. These oligarchs have close ties to the Kremlin without the inclination to challenge Putin, unlike former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Putin’s winning card is his popularity among ordinary Russians, even if his ratings have dropped slightly over the past few years. In any case, Putin understands the need to reinvent himself. His popularity has been underpinned by a number of factors, and he has to work hard to keep them going. The first is economic growth. Russia’s strong economic performance was largely thanks to high oil prices until 2008, and not Putin’s economic policies. With the onset of the economic crisis and a drop in living standards for many Russians, Putin has seen a drop in his popularity ratings.
Second, Putin is supported by many Russians as a leader who fought to return Russia’s pride as a superpower. His tough stance on global issues has earned him credit, especially in the wake of President Boris Yeltsin’s terms, when Russians felt they had lost their voice and place in global politics. Putin has also manipulated the old imperial nostalgia among many Russians who still long for the Soviet era. Initiatives such as the customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan certainly rekindled these sentiments. Given the popularity of these initiatives, Putin is likely to initiate a more aggressive policy toward Russia’s former Soviet neighbors in the coming years. Anti-immigration and nationalistic sentiments have also proved a good currency for Putin, and he is likely to make good use of this as well in the future.
Last, Putin has portrayed himself successfully as a strong leader who strikes fear in state officials and fights oligarchs on behalf of the common people. This curious version of Soviet tsarism has not really worked in recent years. The state apparatus needs manual control, which is not feasible, hence the bureaucracy is not working well and corruption is spreading. Meanwhile, the divide between the wealthy and the poor is growing.
The malfunctioning state apparatus, growing income gap and poor economic growth are Putin’s Achilles’ heel. To tackle them, Russia needs a reformist leader. The crucial question is whether Putin can reinvent himself and switch back to the role of the reformer that he once filled in the early 2000s.

<I>Lilit Gevorgyan is a Russia/CIS country analyst with IHS Global Insight and Jane’s Information Group.</I>

TITLE: CHERNOV’S CHOICE
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: American singer-songwriter <b>Jason Webley</b> might be a frequent sight in St. Petersburg, but this time he is up to something different. His upcoming concert in the city will see him sharing the stage with local all-woman folk-punk band <b>Iva Nova</b>.
According to Iva Nova drummer Katya Fyodorova, Webley, who plays accordion and guitar, is expected to perform some Iva Nova songs with the band, while Iva Nova have rehearsed their own versions of Webley’s songs.
“He sent us four songs to rehearse and we sent him some of ours,” Fyodorova said this week, adding that a joint rehearsal will be held when Webley arrives in the city on the morning of the day of the concert, Friday, Sept. 30.
The idea for the planned collaboration came about over beers after Webley’s concert at the now-defunct A2 club a couple of years ago, and became more real when the band and Webley exchanged emails a while ago.
Webley and Iva Nova will perform at J. Walker, a recently-launched club/pub/restaurant with a stage, known so far mostly for jazz performances. 
J. Walker is located at 36 Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboyedova, between Nevsky Prospekt and Gorokhovaya Ulitsa. The concert starts at 8 p.m.
Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg extension of the Moscow club Chinese Pilot Jao Da has announced a series of concerts by Spanish singer-songwriter <b>Juan Hedo</b>.
Legend has it that Hedo came to the club with a guitar one night in June without knowing anyone there and offered to play a little after the concert. In no time at all, he became a success with local audiences who started to come to his unannounced, semi-spontaneous appearances that followed.
It turned out that Hedo is an award-winning musician who has released ten albums and performs across Europe either solo or with his small band.
For Hedo’s current visit, the club has put together a series of regular concerts, which its art director Seva Gakkel highly recommends.
“It doesn’t sound like anything else, it’s beyond any categories, it’s popular songs, very beautiful,” Gakkel said this week.
“It’s something that we don’t have in the city. We have all kinds of Latin music, Afro-Cuban music, reggae, i.e. local performers who try to sound like this.
“But his is a genre that doesn’t exist here — it’s traditional Spanish song with a touch of folk, plus he writes his own songs and covers some hits. When the public starts to get really into it by the end of the show, he starts to please the crowd by performing some standard hits.
“He has a beautiful voice, and there’s nothing ideological about him; he’s no alternative to anything.”
This week, Hedo will perform on Thursday, Sept. 29; Friday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 2. The concerts start at 8 p.m., except for the Friday one, which starts at 11 p.m.

TITLE: Prisoners of conscience
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: <b>Taisia Osipova’s requests to see her five-year-old daughter have been repeatedly turned down.</b>
Vladimir Telegin, a local photographer best known for his black-and-white photographs of the punk band PTVP and art group Voina, and Maxim Gromov, founder of the rights group Prisoners Union, have come up with a new series of photographs depicting DDT frontman Yury Shevchuk with the five-year-old daughter of an imprisoned political activist.
Katrin Fomchenkova was brought to St. Petersburg for the photo session from Smolensk, a city about 700 kilometers from St. Petersburg, where her mother Taisia Osipova has been imprisoned since November, when she was arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs. Her supporters say the charges are fabricated, pointing out that prosecution witnesses are kept secret, while pro-Kremlin activists acted as witnesses of the search.
Osipova faces eight to 20 years in prison. Her supporters say that counter-extremism Center E agents planted drugs in her apartment because they wanted Osipova to testify against her husband Sergei Fomchenkov, an activist with The Other Russia political party.
The series is part of a charity campaign titled Children of Political Prisoners of Present-Day Russia, which was launched in February and aims to give publicity to cases of civic and political activists being put in prison on dubious charges across Russia by arranging meetings between their children and celebrities such as Shevchuk, Voina art group and the film actress Liya Akhedzhakova, who have so far taken part in the campaign.
In the video accompanying the photos, Shevchuk says that the public believes the charges against Osipova have been fabricated.
“How many people who really do steal from and destroy Russia are at large, while Taisia, a wonderful young woman who only wishes well to people, is in prison? It’s not fair,” he says.
The photo session took place ahead of another hearing into Osipova’s case in Smolensk, which was scheduled for Monday, Sept. 26. On that date, however, the court refused to conduct an expert analysis of the fingerprints found on the bag of heroin as Osipova had asked, and prolonged her pretrial detention for another three months. Osipova, who has diabetes, has been repeatedly denied requests to see her daughter.
Prisoners Union founder Gromov, himself a former prisoner, came up with the idea after watching a TV documentary about the 1979 TV miniseries “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (The Age of Mercy)” starring Vladimir Vysotsky, the iconic rebellious Soviet singer-songwriter and actor.
The documentary told the story of Vladimir Goldman, Vysotsky’s manager, who also appeared in the TV series, and was sent to prison two years later, having been arrested over financial violations in connection with Vysotsky’s 1978 series of concerts in Kharkov. 
According to the documentary, Goldman’s life in the camp changed for the better after his fellow prisoners saw him on screen with Vysotsky. 
Vysotsky was once described as the “voice of the silent nation” for his songs, which were loved by very different social groups in the Soviet Union, even if few were officially released. Shevchuk now occupies a similar niche of dissenting singer-songwriter, loved by the nation but mistrusted by the authorities.
It is no coincidence that the project started in February with Shevchuk.
“Maxim came up with the idea of taking photographs with people whose moral authority for Russians is unquestionable — people respected by cops and politicians and prisoners, especially prisoners — to help those who are imprisoned,” Telegin says.
“Why children? Because many of them have children left outside.”
Telegin first met Gromov last year in a police precinct where they were brought after being detained at an Oct. 31peaceful rally calling for the right to assembly to be upheld. Both were charged with taking part in an illegal rally and failure to follow policemen’s orders. Telegin says he was detained for taking pictures of the protest, and was later acquitted by an appeal court.
Gromov, chair of the Prisoners Union rights group that he formed in 2008, spent three years in prisons and a labor camp for taking part in a peaceful protest against the monetization of benefits in 2004. 
He was among a group of National Bolsheviks who occupied several offices in the Health Ministry and is featured on a famous photograph in which he is seen throwing a portrait of then-president Vladimir Putin out of the ministry’s window (he said he bought the portrait in a bookstore beforehand). For this, Gromov was sentenced to five years in custody, though the term was later shortened to three years. 
“I fully rely on Maxim in the choice of people for whom he is campaigning; I trust him completely and don’t recheck his choices, because he is a very conscientious man and very scrupulous in studying a case before supporting that person,” Telegin says.
“My job is the aesthetic aspect, i.e. I should photograph them in such a way that viewers will stand up for this person unconditionally. If there’s no art, then you won’t incite any compassion from people. I see it as my objective to do it aesthetically flawlessly, as far as I can.
“The documentary format for me is an artistic device; it’s simply a way of presenting the material. The documentary format works best for me. I have no doubt that it’s art; if it weren’t art, people wouldn’t like it. People write that first they are impressed by the photographs, and only then by all the rest. 
“A person should be hooked like a fish,” he continues. “If it’s just a photograph of Shevchuk or Akhedzhakova, a person will say, ‘So what?’ The photograph should surprise and impress him or her, so that they stop and take a closer look, otherwise it will be aimless shooting.”
Telegin, who describes himself as a “chronicler of the underground,” says that Gromov had every reason to ask him to take part in the project.
“I am not pop, not glamour; I am underground and the greatest — in St. Petersburg, at least, for sure.”
Telegin says that his political views differ from those of Gromov’s. “I am not that radical, but I believe that the authorities should be constrained from making wrong moves. In our last session, Shevchuk said that in the public’s views, Taisia is innocent. So I reflect public opinion to some extent. The authorities should be forced to listen. The more we speak about it, the less lawlessness there will be.”
Telegin says he was a businessman before becoming a photographer.
“Five years ago I was into totally different things, but when I met [punk band] PTVP I got interested in the underground,” he says.
“I met them in 2008, but I started taking photos probably a year earlier. Then it became impossible to combine business and photography, so I started doing only photography.”
Telegin says PTVP attracted him with their powerful lyrics and music and the sheer onslaught of their live performances. 
“PTVP are red hot — not only with their topicality and social subjects, but first of all with their aesthetic value,” he says.
Telegin uses Photoshop to work on the photographs in color, before seeing how they look in black and white.
“Color is redundant information in certain things, which prevents you from seeing the very essence,” he says.
“Black and white prevails with me, not only in such sad subjects as children of political prisoners, but in other subjects as well. I take away color to bring something that I want to the viewer. Photography attempts to prove that it’s objective, that it’s reality. 
“But in fact, it’s the reality that formed in my head. It shows what was in the frame, of course, but also what I thought, whether I was sad or happy, that’s what a photograph shows. It’s through my eyes. And black and white photography often expresses it best.”
Katrin also took part in the campaign’s second session in March with the art group Voina, while the third featured the two-year-old grandson of the imprisoned Yukos employee Alexei Pichugin, who was taken to meet film actress Liya Akhedzhakova at her dacha in Domodedovo near Moscow.
“Voina, despite their importance, are simple to work with, but Akhedzhakova — just imagine, we watched her when we were children, [she’s] a beloved actress!” Telegin says.
“She had made some treats — a lot — for us and didn’t let us go for a long time. We spent a long time there.”
Telegin says all four sessions are equally important to him, but he was particularly impressed by the first one, featuring Shevchuk.
“Of course, when I first sat down with Shevchuk it was simply great,” he says.
“I’ve been listening to DDT albums for 15 years, and it never occurred to me that I would sit and drink tea with him and take pictures of him in a simple, home-like environment.”
In the photograph opening the most recent series, Shevchuk squatted down beside Katrin, who was sitting on a stool (see photo, this page).
“He has a flawless aesthetic feel,” Telegin says.
“First he was standing, but then he squatted down to be at the same height as the child. I didn’t ask him to — I generally try not to ask people to do anything for the camera. Later, when I was looking at the photograph, I realized that this squatting pose is a prisoner’s pose. Prisoners squat like that in camps. But it happened purely by accident.”

TITLE: Comic artists of the world unite
AUTHOR: By Vanessa Prolow
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: This month, for the fifth year in a row, St. Petersburg is host to the international comic arts festival Boomfest, which features exhibitions and events all over the center of the city. Boomfest is the brainchild of St. Petersburg local Dmitry Yakovlev, who is also the festival’s current director. He became interested in comics after being introduced to artist comics by some Quebecois friends. 
“Before that, I thought comics were just Superman and Batman and nothing more,” said Yakovlev. He was inspired to create Boomfest six years ago after visiting a similar festival in Moscow called KomMissia, now in its 10th year. 
“I saw it and decided that we had to have our own festival, but do it our way. We work with a more artistic style of comics,” he said.
The difference between traditional comics and artist comics can be compared to the difference between a Hollywood blockbuster and auteur cinema. Artist comics differ from traditional comic books and strips and manga (comics inspired by Japanese animation) in that their purpose is not merely to entertain, but also to be regarded as a works of art and literature, the way that a painting or a traditional novel would. In addition, they are generally the work of a singular artist/author, or collaboration between an artist and a writer, rather than a team of writers, artists and inkers, like a traditional comic book would be. 
Length can vary from that of a single strip to an entire series of novels. Genre, too, varies. Some well-known artist comics include Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale,” which is the story of his Polish-Jewish father’s Holocaust experiences, with the Jews depicted as mice and the Germans as cats. Another well-known example is “Persepolis,” Marjane Sartrapi’s autobiographical account of growing up in Iran before, during and after the Islamic revolution. “Persepolis” was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated animated feature film in 2007. 
One of the most high-profile comic authors taking part in this year’s Boomfest is the French Canadian artist Julie Doucet, who published the autobiographical “My New York Diary” in 1999 and then collaborated with director Michel Gondry on the animated short film with companion book “My New New York Diary” in 2008, which is a meta-film and book about the creation of the film and book themselves, detailing events such as Gondry and Doucet’s initial phone conversations about the project and Gondry’s dealings with Doucet’s housemate. Doucet’s work is being shown at the Small Hall of the Manezh. The show includes work from her comics, as well as her more recent work, which has generally taken the form of collage and woodcuts.
Other comic artists being featured in Boomfest this year include Stefano Ricci, an Italian illustrator, comic book artist and designer; Nikolai Radlov (1889-1942), a Soviet cartoonist and art professor; Miguel Gallardo, a Spanish comic creator and illustrator whose 2008 book “Maria y Yo” (Maria and I) about the author’s travels with his autistic daughter Maria won the National Award of the Catalonian Government and has also been turned into an award-winning documentary film of the same name; and many others. 
In addition to the gallery exhibitions, several lectures and workshops have been held as part of Boomfest, as well as a conference with representatives from comic collection libraries from all over Europe. 
Boomfest is also showcasing the results of a competition sponsored by Moomin Characters — the official copyright holders of Tove Jansson’s ever-popular Moomin comics — featuring work submitted by comic artists of all ages, including children, and of many different nationalities and languages. 
The exhibitions run through Oct.16, and there are also comics for sale at the Small Hall of the Manezh. 

<I>For more detailed information on the exhibitions and a map of all of the events, see www.boomfest.ru and the listings section of this newspaper (pages 17 to 21).</I>

TITLE: the word’s worth: Nothing to Shout About
AUTHOR: By Michele A. Berdy
TEXT: Àó: Helloo! Where are you? Anybody home?

This year, áàáüå ëåòî (what Americans call Indian summer) seems to have lasted a total of just one day, but all the same dacha life continues to have its pleasures. The damp and relative warmth are still creating paradise for the modern hunter-gatherer.
After stripping our yards of every possible ãðèá (mushroom) in the categories of safely ñúåäîáíûé (edible) and the more anxiety-producing óñëîâíî-ñúåäîáíûé (edible with reservations), our little band of mushroom hunters moved to the fields and woods.
Everything was a delight for the senses: the scent of rich, loamy earth, the blindingly bright yellow leaves dancing down from the trees to the forest floor, and, best of all, the calls of our invisible friends floating on the air through the dense woods: Àó! Àó! (Where are you? Where are you?)
Sorry. Fall makes me lyrical.
Àó is called out in Russian whenever you want to know where someone is or to find out if anyone at all is there. You are most likely to hear it in the woods or the dark: Àó! Ãäå âû? Îòêëèêíèòåñü, ïîæàëóéñòà! (Hey! Where are you! Please respond!)
But you might also hear it when your significant other comes home: Âõîäíàÿ äâåðü îòâîðèòñÿ, ïîòîì õëîïíåò, è ÿ óñëûøó: “Ìèëûé, àó!” (The front door will open, then slam shut, and I’ll hear: “Honey! Where are you?”) There is even a lovely verb, àóêàòü (to call out): ß ãðîìêî àóêàë, îäíàêî ìíå íå îòâå÷àëè (I called out loudly, but no one answered).
There are, of course, less esthetically pleasing ways to shout in Russian. Êðè÷àòü can be used for any shout or cry: êðè÷àòü îò áîëè (to cry out in pain); êðè÷àòü îò âîñòîðãà (to shout with delight).
Alas, with êðè÷àòü, you need to pay attention to prepositions and case endings. Îí êðè÷àë îá ýòîì means “He shouted about it” — that is, he spoke angrily about something. Ìàøà êðè÷àëà íà íåãî means “Masha yelled at him,” while the less common Ìàøà êðè÷àëà åãî means “Masha yelled for him.”
Êðè÷àòü can also be used in the sense of testify: Êàêèå-òî ìåëî÷è â ïîâåäåíèè, â ìàíåðå âåñòè ñåáÿ è ãîâîðèòü ïðîñòî êðè÷àëè î òîì, ÷òî áîãàò (Some small aspects of his behavior, his bearing and his way of speaking made it obvious that he was rich). Or the tip-off might have been his million-dollar Rolex.
Another verb, îðàòü, is almost a synonym of êðè÷àòü, only it generally implies screaming rather than shouting and is slightly more likely to be derogatory. Îðàòü can refer to any noise — human, animal, natural or mechanical — that is very loud. If someone says: Ïòèöû îðóò íà ðàññâåòå (the birds start screaming at dawn), chances are he’s not enjoying their morning serenade. It can also refer to anything that screams visually: Ó íèõ ýòîò áåëûé äèâàí ïðîñòî îð¸ò! (Their white couch sticks out like a sore thumb!)
After an afternoon of shouting, screaming, and àó-ing in the woods, our band of mushroom hunters found each other. We showed off our laden baskets and tossed out a few dubious mushrooms.
Then I thought to ask: Åñëè êðèêíåøü â ëåñó “Àó” — ÷òî â îòâåò? (If someone shouts Helloo! in the woods, what should the reply be?) The answer — clearly from experience — was: Íå êðè÷è! ß æå ðÿäîì! (Don’t shout! I’m right next to you!)

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

TITLE: Post-Soviet states through a lens
AUTHOR: By Olga Panova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia share more than geographical proximity. They were all once part of a larger state — the Soviet Union — but since its collapse in 1991, they have continued their independent trajectories with very different political agendas. The effect of these different perspectives on society, and the way that Russia’s closest western neighbors see themselves, are the two main focal points of a modular exhibition representing the results of three national press photo competitions that goes on show at Loft Project Etazhi this weekend.
Since gaining independence, the Baltic states have followed the path of democracy, and their governments generally take a liberal stance on most things, including photojournalism. Not so in Belarus, once famously described by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as “the last true dictatorship in the heart of Europe.” 
Here, press photo competitions are organized with the support of the public and the mass media, but work by the majority of the Belarussian press photographers who endeavor to reflect local reality goes unpublished in the country’s newspapers and magazines. This year, even the exhibition itself was banned in Belarus, causing it to be held in neighboring Poland. Nevertheless, the often shocking images taken in these different countries have more in common than might be imagined. News, social issues, culture, sports, nature, fashion and art are all present, reflecting a common reality and everyday values that unite people from all walks of life, no matter where they live.
In Lithuania, a press photo competition has been held annually since 2003. The Lithuanian Press Photographers Club launched the contest in 1998 as an informal gathering of photographers who worked with Canon cameras, and awards the Golden Snapshot prize annually at the city hall in Vilnius. Along with the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, the club also organizes regular master classes by eminent photographers. The mission of the numerous educational programs and exhibitions is to develop the practice of press photography in Lithuania within a European context. 
“Lots of excellent photos are never published for various reasons,” said Jonas Staselis, president of the Lithuanian Press Photographers Club.
“Therefore the events held by the club, such as thematic exhibitions, are enjoyed by the community as a source of enjoyment and knowledge. This is because all of the photographers who are members of the club are employed by the largest press outlets and, due to their rich personal experience and distinction, see and record the same person or event differently, from different angles. 
“Once the public sees the totality of their vision, it can get a realistic picture of our jam-packed modern life,” he added.
In nearby Estonia, an annual competition has been organized by the Association of Estonian Press Photographers (EPFL) since 1997. This year, more than 800 works were entered into the competition. The aim of the competition, organized in collaboration with the Estonian Association of Newspapers, is to support the role of the press photograph as the most important source of information in contemporary society, alongside the Internet and TV. 
“Newspaper photos and fine art photography are adjacent practices that, when they meet, create a blurred area in which it is difficult to draw lines: Both practices have their advantages,” said Anneli Porri, a professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts and one of the exhibition’s curators. “Mass media has an immediacy, is widely circulated and can be infinitely reproduced, whereas art, on the other hand, is about concepts, exclusivity and an attitude of independence.”
The announcement last year of a press photo competition in Belarus came as a surprise to many. 
“There is skepticism about whether or not press photography as such even exists in contemporary Belarus,” said art critic Svetlana Poleshchuk. “So the decision to organize the competition was mostly based on the desire to disprove this point of view.” 
Press Photo Belarus is an independent competition for Belarussian press photographers. The aim of the competition is to support and develop professional press photography within less than ideal conditions. The competition is also devoted to the exchange of experience and knowledge between different generations of Belarussian photographers, and to encouraging the formation of high professional standards in the field. This year, 72 photographers submitted about 2,000 pictures that were then assessed by an international jury and divided into the categories of news, people, sports, everyday life, national traditions, portraiture, art and entertainment and nature.
“The distinction of official state documents and governmental policy can’t impede the rapid development of horizontal communication between ordinary people, both economic and private,” said the organizers of the Press Photo exhibition at Loft Project Etazhi. 
Whether or not the differences between the three countries’ political viewpoints are reflected on a visual level can only be determined by visiting the exhibition itself.

<I>“Press Photo: Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia” runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 24 at  Loft Project Etazhi, 74 Ligovsky Prospekt, 5th floor. Tel. 458 5005. 
www.loftprojectetagi.ru</I>

TITLE: in the spotlight: Pugachyova, Prokhorov and Politics
AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas
TEXT: Last week, pop diva Alla Pugachyova was on everyone’s lips after she stood up, hands in pockets, and bluntly expressed her support for “Misha” Prokhorov and dressed down spin doctor Vladislav Surkov for “going crazy.” Revenge was swift to come, as toadying channel NTV dusted off a shady financial scandal involving the singer for a show last Sunday night.
One of many jokes about Leonid Brezhnev was that he was a “political figure in the era of Alla Pugachyova.” And that was in the days when they really knew how to do propaganda. In a way, no muckraking documentary can really touch her because everyone knows so much about her anyway — the string of husbands, the chain-smoking, the dubious fashion sense and the face-lifts.
In Forbes magazine’s latest rating of stars, Pugachyova came in third, not because of her relatively modest earnings but because of the huge number of Internet searches for her name. But somehow, I felt more disgusted about that documentary than all the Gazprom-controlled NTV’s propaganda efforts. After all, how long ago was it that the Kremlin was handing her a medal, the president grinning away like a schoolboy?
The show, though, was so dull that one colleague fell asleep watching it. So what if Pugachyova got taken in by a banker who is now in hiding and doesn’t pay his kids’ school fees? Far more fascinating was the brief mention of Pugachyova’s ill-advised venture into a pyramid scheme in the 1990s. Not MMM, but one run by a woman called Valentina Solovyova.
“For the first time in my life, I saw a million dollars, how they fitted into a briefcase,” said Pugachyova’s latest ex-husband, singer Filipp Kirkorov. He said he drove the money over to Solovyova and saw a room full of sacks of money, and remembered thinking: “God, what are we doing?”
The malice intended in the documentary was most evident in the choice of the Pugachyova double for the reconstruction scenes: a toad-like squat figure with a cigarette dangling from her lips.
There was something magnificent about Pugachyova making her off-the-cuff speech at Mikhail Prokhorov’s meeting in the same forthright tone she uses for ticking off the contestants on television talent shows. And the whole affair has provoked some surreal combinations of heavy political analysis and big hair.
Left-wing politician and blogger Roman Dobrokhotov wrote on Slon.ru that Pugachyova was a “symptom” showing that middle Russia had finally grown sick of the political situation. His article was headlined “Alla Pugachyova, the mirror of the Russian revolution.”
He ridiculed any attempt to silence her, saying there are some things beyond Kremlin control. “I’d like to see them hinder Alla Pugachyova — how they would cut her out of all the television shows [and] ban Komsomolskaya Pravda from mentioning her new young husbands.”
Liberal Novaya Gazeta, which would normally ignore Pugachyova, had a similar message in its article, headlined “Alla is tired” (one of her lyrics).
“Alla is an indicator of the moods of society. Even that genius of managing his own fate, Putin, should envy her. He has stayed afloat for two presidential terms so far, but she has been around for at least 10.”
“One word from Pugachyova is enough to bring millions of people to the party without any program,” Ogonyok magazine wrote when Pugachyova announced her backing for Prokhorov.
Nonetheless she would not appeal to his target audience of upwardly mobile iPad users, it sniffed, calling her fans the “budget” classes. “For 20-year-olds, she is as much a symbol of the Soviet Union as the hammer and sickle. You can’t call her an idol of the middle class and youth.”

TITLE: THE DISH: Olivetto
AUTHOR: By Ronan Loughney
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: <b>Ain't No Sunshine</b><br />
Although centrally situated, located just off Nevsky Prospekt, there is something decidedly isolated about Olivetto, the Mediterranean restaurant of the new Crowne Plaza hotel. It is reached by walking through the hotel lobby and up some stairs, with no one on hand to greet diners and show them to their seats (admittedly it is not complicated, but it is still possible to get lost). 
On a recent Saturday night, the restaurant itself was eerily deserted, with just one other table occupied out of a total of about 30. The ’80s-style wood paneling, magnolia wallpaper and flat pack furniture are straight out of “The Shining,” (particularly incongruous in a self-styled Mediterranean restaurant) while the flat lounge jazz merely served to repress the atmosphere further. The sterility did have one advantage however, in that it extended to the toilets, which were army-base clean.
The distinctive hotel restaurant vibe is not, however, without redeeming features. The restaurant is well heated and well lit, an impression no doubt aided by the pale decor, while the staff are pleasant and polite, and speak an adequate level of English, as is only to be expected in an international hotel. The waiter was immediately on hand whenever required (though this is perhaps also to be expected when there are more staff than punters), and in general the speed of service found a happy medium between Russian rapidity and European languor (though it did take 10 minutes for a Baltika 7 beer — priced at a steep 150 rubles, $4.84, for 0.3 liters — to appear). 
The complimentary appetizer of black olives with breadsticks, hummus and avocado that we were brought was another nice touch, though the olives — that calling card of the Mediterranean and indeed, the inspiration for the restaurant’s name — were stale, soggy and quite obviously preserved. 
The menu comprises an encouragingly small range of dishes (that is, if you’re from the Gordon Ramsey school of thought, i.e. the fewer dishes there are, the better the chef knows how to cook them), covering the obligatory pizza and pasta spectrums adequately, and including a Russian cuisine section, for those who can’t wait to get their next hit of borshch (350 rubles, $11.30). A welcome change from the standard Russian culinary scene is on offer through the abundant selection of low-calorie food, with at least one option in every section of the menu.
The complimentary bread basket gave promising signs: Warm, crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and a variety of flavors, including one especially authentic red-pesto roll, whose taste and smell were capable of transporting even the least well traveled diners to a homely little Italian restaurant. 
After such an auspicious start, the stakes (as well as appetites) were raised. The seafood risotto appetizer (850 rubles, $26) was a mix of good and bad. The fish was fresh, and the tiger prawns perfectly cooked, but the rice was coated in far too much sickly-sweet butter sauce, completely suffocating the fresh chili intended to counter-balance it. 
The Mediterranean seafood soup (410 rubles, $13.25) was, however, excellent. Again the seafood was fresh, and the chili and garlic garnish brought out the flavor well and gave much needed variety to the bouillon soup base.
From the mains, the ravioli with lobster sauce and tomato confit (810 rubles, $26) was the most disappointing dish of all. Rather than a lobster sauce, what actually came was lobster-stuffed ravioli — quite clearly factory-made — with an overbearing tarragon-based sauce, whose sweetness, as well as the lurid pink and yellow color of the dish, only compounded the artificiality of the meal as a whole. The best dish of the night was most certainly that recommended by the waiter, the lamb pastille (1,100 rubles, $35). The gorgeously tender lamb was served in a satisfyingly crunchy filo pastry casing, offset with plenty of lemon juice and a mild but vibrant tomato salsa sauce. This dish certainly warranted its price tag.
While the size of the portions leaves little room for dessert, the ice cream (strawberry, vanilla or pistachio, priced at 110 rubles or $3.54 per scoop) comes served on a bed of brandy snaps with fresh forest berries, putting itself well ahead of the run of the mill soft-serve.
Although the food intermittently warranted its price, considering the slightly bizarre setting in which it was served, there are plenty of other, cheaper southern European restaurants to visit in St. Petersburg before rushing over to this one.

TITLE: City’s Sokos Hotels Welcome New General Director
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: In the course of her career, Marja-Liisa Jarvenpaa, the new general director of Sokos Hotels in St. Petersburg, has experienced just about every aspect of the hospitality industry. Having started in housekeeping, she has worked her way from invisibility to the glare of the public gaze, stopping off in the kitchen on her way to the restaurant, before finally arriving at the front desk.
Jarvenpaa’s vast experience has given her a unique opportunity to learn firsthand about all the segments of the field, understand the peculiarities of each job in the business, and discover the opportunities for continuous development within the industry.
Today, Jarvenpaa is inspired to bring “big changes” to the way Sokotel’s three hotels in the city function.
“We are facing tougher and tougher competition on the local hotel market, so we need to update our marketing strategy, work organization and management,” Jarvenpaa said.
“Another priority is the development of the staff. We now want to send more of our local staff to study similar experiences in Finnish hotels, schools and institutions, and invite trainers from Finland here. We need to grow our staff ourselves,” she said.
Despite Jarvenpaa having the same last name as the previous head of Sokotel in St. Petersburg, Juhani Jarvenpaa, they are not related.
“It’s just a rather common last name in Finland. By coincidence though, Juhani was the one who hired me to work for S Group 20 years ago,” Jarvenpaa said.
S Group is a Finnish retailing cooperative founded in 1904 that consists of regional cooperatives throughout Finland trading in groceries, consumer durables, service stations, hotel and restaurant services, agricultural supplies and cars. Jarvenpaa began to work for S Group as the manager of a Sokos Hotel restaurant in 1991. She advanced rapidly within the company, moving to the Radisson Blu chain, also run by S Group, and ultimately rising to the position of general manager there. From 2006 to 2010, Jarvenpaa acted as development director for Radisson Blu in Finland.
In August last year, Jarvenpaa arrived in Russia to work as general adviser to the Sokos Hotel Palace Bridge, quickly becoming general manager of the hotel. In the spring of this year, Jarvenpaa was appointed executive director of Sokotel in Russia.
Jarvenpaa said one of the biggest challenges in her move to Russia was the “rather different business culture,” compared to the one she left behind.
“What I noticed here was that the staff needed more supervising, instruction, even control. Supervisors here obviously need to be very close to the staff, whereas in Scandinavia, employees are used to doing many tasks without supervision,” Jarvenpaa said.
The city’s Sokos Hotels were opened during the economic crisis in 2008. However, the chain continues to grow, according to Jarvenpaa, with this past summer seeing the number of Sokotel guests in St. Petersburg rise 10 percent compared to the summer before. The year-on-year increase in guests is due to the growing number of tourists who arrive in St. Petersburg by ferry, she said. 
“We have very good cooperation with St. Peter Line, which operates the Princess Maria and Princess Anastasia ferries. A stay in our hotel is included in their package,” Jarvenpaa said.
“We now get 50 percent more ferry passengers than before,” she said.
Jarvenpaa said the hotel’s new marketing policy targets visitors coming from Moscow as well as ferry passengers.
“In fact, most of our guests are Russians,” she said. As for foreign visitors, the hotels are witnessing the arrival of more Asian tourists coming to St. Petersburg.
“This city’s potential regarding culture and history is endless, so there are many opportunities for the tourism business here,” Jarvenpaa said.
The client profiles of the three Sokos properties in the city differ to some extent. The smallest of them, Vasiliyevsky, is most popular among ferry tourists because of its location between the port and the city’s historical sights. The Olympic Garden property attracts large groups who avail themselves of the hotel’s conference facilities.
Palace Bridge serves a mixed clientele with its bigger apartment-style rooms that include a kitchen, attracting regular tourists as well as business people staying in the city for longer periods of time.
Jarvenpaa said the Palace Bridge hotel has plans to further develop its spa center and to offer guests free access to it during the day. There is also a plan to introduce late opening hours, with the spa staying open until 1 a.m.
“We want to host evening parties there with music, lights, food and drinks on weekends,” Jarvenpaa said, adding that they hope to have such events up and running by the beginning of next year.
Jarvenpaa said S Group was not planning to expand its hotel chain in St. Petersburg at present, though initially it wanted to build at least eight hotels in the city.
“Currently S Group is busy with the development of its Prisma retail chain in the city,” she said, adding that in addition to the eight existing Prismas, the company is planning on a total of 30 outlets here. 
Jarvenpaa said that during her years in the hospitality business, she has developed a range of principles that help her in her work. Her customer service philosophy is summed up by “value for money and keeping them satisfied;” her approach with employees involves “support and helping them to succeed;” while the thrust of her business philosophy is “hunt for opportunities to generate revenue.”
Jarvenpaa, who is married and has a 14-year-old son, has brought her family to St. Petersburg with her. Her son now attends the city’s Finnish school and is learning Russian.
Despite the short amount of time she has been in Russia, Jarvenpaa has already become immersed in the country’s history and local culture.
“My favorites are Peterhof, Erarta and the Russian Museum,” Jarvenpaa said.
“Another preference is taking boat trips along the city’s canals. I think we did that about 20 times this summer. Our favorite thing is to hire a boat, take our friends who come to visit us from Finland on board, take some champagne and those marvelous Stolle pies, and have a party,” she said.

TITLE: The Skolkovo of the North
AUTHOR: By Alexandra Odynova
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ARKHANGELSK — With a name that means “Archangel” in English, the Arctic city of Arkhangelsk is sometimes dubbed “Russia’s Los Angeles.” But in fact they are poles apart.
The history of one of the most ancient northern Russian cities dates back to 1583, when it was established on the order of Ivan the Terrible to become the first major Russian commercial port. Today, Arkhangelsk is frequently called the “Gateway to the Arctic.”
Nestled among forests, the city has long hosted a great number of timber and pulp-processing enterprises. It also serves as headquarters for companies dealing with oil and diamonds in the region.
But modern Arkhangelsk is turning into a sort of northern Skolkovo focused on the Arctic, the natural resources-rich territory where the Kremlin has been deliberately boosting Russia’s presence. The Kremlin is trying to make Arkhangelsk an Arctic center, and for that reason the city hosts many Arctic-related events, like the Second International Arctic Forum that took place earlier this month and was attended by senior Russian officials and scholars.
Almost a year ago, the government established in Arkhangelsk the Northern Arctic Federal University (narfu.ru), one of eight universities formed to cover all regions from the Far North to the Far East as part of President Dmitry Medvedev’s bid to modernize the economy.
The university’s “key aim [is] to protect Russia’s geopolitical interests in the Arctic,” said its rector, Yelena Kudryashova.
Alexei Kudrin, who resigned this week as Russia’s Finance Minister, has chaired meetings of the university’s board, becoming a frequent visitor to Arkhangelsk. Kudrin himself is a native of the city.
To protect Russia’s Arctic interests, the government has sunk 777.7 million rubles ($27.8 million) into the university during the past year. Uniting several local colleges, the university boasts the modern labs and technical equipment needed to study the Arctic and train specialists, although its leaders concede that not much has been achieved on the practical side yet.
When visited by a reporter in the summer, the city was swamped with posters reading: “Mikhail Lomonosov — the greatest innovator of Russia,” in a nod to the 300th anniversary of the birth in November of the world-famous Russian polymath and scientist who, among many things, discovered that Venus has an atmosphere. The slogan is a clear answer to President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for modernization.
There was no Skolkovo and no Medvedev in the times of Lomonosov, who was born to a peasant family near Arkhangelsk, so he had to travel to Moscow with a fishery caravan to get an education. Centuries on, his name has turned into a brand in his birthplace, where even a local potato carries the name “Mikhailo Lomonosov.”
The city itself is located 760 kilometers north of St. Petersburg and only 40 kilometers from the White Sea. The city covers 60 kilometers from one end to the other and contains numerous islands, not always connected with bridges, so people use boats to get around.
Unlike many other Russian cities, Arkhangelsk has no ancient Orthodox churches. “About 30 churches were blown up when the Bolsheviks came to power,” said Nina Tuchnolobova, an employee at the Stepan Pisakhov Museum. That was the price that the city paid for keeping its religious name.
Instead, there is a number of original wooden houses, often dilapidated, in the historic city center referred to as “Gorod.” They might disappear in a few years, however, because the authorities prefer to build new spacious brick apartment blocks instead of reconstructing the old dwellings.
Locals boast that the nationwide problem of racially motivated violence is uncommon in the city because of its historic background as a hub for foreign traders.
But the Kremlin’s policy may be seen as discriminating toward foreigners in the city. Under a January 2011 decree by Medvedev, foreigners are restricted from owning land in regions on Russia’s borders, including in Arkhangelsk because of its close location to Northern Europe.

<b>What to see if you have two hours</b>
If the weather allows, take a walk along the Severnaya Dvina riverbank past a few ancient wooden mansions, a monument to a seal, and Gostiny Dvor, which used to be a shopping arcade in previous centuries. Nearby stands a statue of Peter the Great, which is relatively small compared with the version on the Moscow River. The image of the Arkhangelsk monument decorates the 500-ruble note.
If you have time to go further, stop by the two colorful Orthodox churches facing the river. Next, turn left and walk to the crossing with Ulitsa Chumbarova-Luchinskogo, a cozy pedestrian zone that resembles Moscow’s Arbat. The street still has several picturesque wooden mansions, though sometimes spoiled with distasteful plaques, and two amusing monuments to Stepan Pisakhov, a 20th-century fairy tale writer who set most of his stories — narrated by poor peasant Semyon Malina — in the Arkhangelsk suburb of Uyma. Nearby stands a museum (10 Pomorskaya Ulitsa; +7 8182-20-59-78; arhmuseum.ru) dedicated to him that boasts an original, modern design.

<b>What to do if you have two days</b>
While the city center has little well-preserved wooden architecture, a good collection of Russia’s northern-style buildings is presented at the Maliye Karely Museum (korely.com; the web site does not include contact information but does offer a beautiful photo gallery and a live webcam). But take note: It might take a day or more to take it all in. Located some 25 kilometers from Arkhangelsk, the open-air museum’s 140 hectares resemble an ancient Russian city with some 120 wooden mansions, churches, windmills and barns — all built between the 16th and 20th centuries. The best way to get there is by taxi or bus.
Another remarkable sightseeing destination —  also not close to the city center — is the Novodvinskaya Fortress, established back in 1701. The fortress, surrounded by water, is isolated from Arkhangelsk by the river, and it takes a ride by car or bus, followed by a ferry, and then by vehicle again to get there. After being closed to the public for a long time, the fortress today is somewhat abandoned. Once it helped fend off attacks from the Swedes in the 18th century, but now the fortress consists of crumbling ruins and long-docked rotting ships. During the 20th century, the fortress housed a prison for juveniles and a factory, and signs of both are still evident inside its ramshackle buildings. Don’t bother looking for more information on the fortress’s official web site (novodvinka.ru) just yet; a recent visit showed that the site’s owners owed $134 and were in danger of losing the rights to the domain name.

<b>Nightlife</b>
Upon meeting a tourist, Arkhangelsk residents often say: “You might have heard that this is a northern city, but, no, polar bears don’t walk the streets here.” And it’s true. In fact, there are many young people who walk along the pleasant promenade beside the Northern Dvina River, looking at passing ships and beautiful sunsets. June might be the best time for riverside walks because of the famous white nights of Arkhangelsk, praised even by St. Petersburg residents who are no strangers to never-ending evenings.
When whipped by northern winds or hounded by a cloud of mosquitoes, you can check out the local music club Koleso (4/1 Ulitsa Gaidara; +7 8182-20-97-99; arkoleso.ru), known for its live jazz concerts.
The city also has three theaters: The Arkhangelsk Regional Youth Theater (9 Loginova; +7 8182-21-58-88; teatrpanova.ru); the Arkhangelsk Regional Drama Theater (1 Lenin Square; +7 8182-21-56-69; drama@atnet.ru); and the Arkhangelsk Regional Puppet Theater (5 Troitsky Prospekt; +7 8182-20-52-40; atpuppet@sanet.ru).

<b>Where to eat</b>
Locals view the Stare Mesto beer restaurant (41 Ulitsa Chumbarova-Luchinskogo; +7 8182-28-87-72; staremesto.ru) as the best beer place in the city. Located in the center and just steps from major business and administrative buildings, the place is popular with the city’s elite. The restaurant boasts Czech-brewed beer, original cuisine and perky waitresses in traditional Czech-style dresses. The average bill per person runs from 500 to 800 rubles.
Restaurant Pomorsky (7 Pomorskaya Ulitsa, third floor; +7 8182-20-18-58, gkpolina.ru/business/pomorsky) is a more prestigious and less busy place located in the central business center. Its interior design is reminiscent of a northern seaside village of the early past century and is filled with fishing nets and folk ware. The menu offers a good range of traditional meals, like venison with lingonberry sauce or cloudberries for dessert. Expect to pay 800 to 1,000 rubles for one.

<b>Where to stay</b>
Hotel Pur-Navolok (88/1 Naberezhnaya Severnoi Dviny; +7 8182-21-72-00, alrosa-hotels.ru/hotels/arhangelsk) is located in the city’s historic center and offers a wonderful view of the ship-dotted river. The cost for a room ranges from 2,700 rubles ($95) for a standard single to 8,300 rubles ($293) for a three-room suite.
Business Center Hotel (8 Voskresenskaya Ulitsa, +7 8182-21-01-30), a cozy hotel with 22 rooms located half a kilometer from the city center, includes a restaurant that holds VIP events and counts Britain’s former Consul-General Barbara Hay and State Duma Deputy Lyubov Sliska of United Russia among its pleased visitors. Prices start at $92 a night.

<b>Conversation starters</b>
Arkhangelsk used to be famous for its fishing industry, and locals these days are eager to complain about its absence. Ask: “Where are the fish?” and locals will reply with a sigh or a sarcastic smile: “In the water.” Among other things that the residents — known as Arkhangelogorodtsy — are eager to discuss are bad roads, which are quite noticeable, and the high cost of living. They are also proud to mention that Kudrin is a native son and that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin did his military service here.

<b>Helpful hints</b>
Like in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Arkhangelsk authorities are battling against gypsy cabs, though more successfully. It might be challenging to catch a car on the street, but Arkhangelsk has several taxi companies that deliver cabs within minutes. But don’t let them rip you off: Fixed prices for a round-the-city trip usually range from 70 to 90 rubles ($2.40 to $3.10). While crossing a street, beware that local drivers frequently ignore traffic rules.

<b>How to get there</b>
Several airlines make the one-hour, 30-minute flight daily to Arkhangelsk from St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport. A round trip in economy class costs about 10,000 rubles ($315). It’s cheaper to go by train, where a one-way ticket costs from 1,200 to 6,000 rubles ($38 to $190), but note that the trip takes about 26 hours.
<hr />
<b>Arkhangelsk</b>

Population: 355,000
Main industry: timber
Mayor: Viktor Pavlenko
Founded in 1584
Interesting fact: Thanks to its unique geographic location, Arkhangelsk has been named the center for Arctic exploration in Russia.
Sister cities: Oulu, Finland; Mulhouse, France; Emden, Germany; Piraeus, Greece; Vardo, Norway; Slupsk, Poland; Kiruna and Ljusland, Sweden; Portland, Oregon; U.S.
Helpful contacts: Arkhangelsk Chamber of Trade and Industry chairman Oleg Semkov (+7 8182-20-42-14; tpparh.ru/en/contacts/tpp); Olga Galvas, city hall department for investment and support of entrepreneurs, (5 Lenin Square; +7 8182-60-71-39; invest@arhcity.ru; arhcity.ru/?page=228/0)
<b>Major Businesses</b>
• Titan Group (7 Pomorskaya Ulitsa; +7 8182-46-24-92) includes several companies engaged in timber, tourism, security, bioenergy and real estate.
• Solombalsky Pulp and Paper Mill (4 Kirovskaya Ulitsa; 
+7 8182-67-96-79) produces wood-based materials and products exported to Europe.
• Arkhangelsk Sea Commercial Port (52 Troitsky Prospekt; 
+7 8182-21-05-80) is a big multipurpose port with open navigation all year long.
<hr>

<b>Viktor Pavlenko,</b> 
<I>Arkhangelsk Mayor</I>

Q: What sets Arkhangelsk apart from other northern cities in Russia’s European area? 
A:  Just imagine: This is a big Russian city, northward of the 61st parallel; a historical, political, economic and military outpost of the country in the Arctic. On the whole, it can be called a sort of mini-region: 60 kilometers in length and comprising three islands. Besides, the city has always been nationally significant historically and geographically.
Q: What positive changes have happened in the city recently? 
A: The main achievement of the mayor’s team in 2010 was that we overcame the financial crisis and managed to boost the city budget’s income by 16 percent. We continue to construct public housing. Arkhangelsk is one of the few cities where people (about 4,000 residents) are waiting for new housing because there are more than 1,500 ramshackle wooden houses. Last year, 400 people got new housing.
Q: Why should Russian and foreign businesspeople consider Arkhangelsk attractive for investment? Which city sectors have the most potential?
A: Arkhangelsk is the cultural, educational and engineering capital of the Russian North. We will develop housing, energy and infrastructure. 
Arkhangelsk is a gateway to the Arctic — a city able to receive considerable investment. Arctic exploration offers a great potential for the city’s development in terms of new jobs and investment. 
Arkhangelsk also has remained an important transportation hub. It plays an important role in President Dmitry Medvedev’s initiatives for Russia to return to the Arctic region, which is strategically important and rich in raw materials.

TITLE: Official: Wallenberg Death Date May Be Wrong
AUTHOR: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEXT: Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews before vanishing into Soviet captivity, may have been alive after the official 1947 date of his death — but only for a few days, says the chief archivist of Russia’s counterintelligence service.
The disappearance of the 32-year-old Swedish diplomat is an abiding mystery of World War II. His defiance of the Nazis is commemorated worldwide in statues, in streets named after him and in postage stamps bearing his likeness, and to this day inspires scholarly articles, popular books and Hollywood movies.
It also has been a perpetual embarrassment for Moscow, which has failed to dislodge a stubborn belief, supported by credible if unsubstantiated evidence, that Wallenberg lived like a ghost in the Soviet gulag for up to four decades after his alleged death.
In a rare hour-long interview with The Associated Press, Lieutenant General Vasily Khristoforov acknowledged that the Soviet version of Wallenberg’s death of a heart attack could have been fabricated and that his captors may have “helped him die.” He sought to counter accusations that his agency was hiding the truth, but his account and comments from independent researchers only underscored the possibility that the Wallenberg riddle will never be fully laid to rest.
Although he stopped short of discarding the official Soviet version of Wallenberg’s death, his remarks — coming from a custodian of the country’s most closely guarded intelligence secrets — represent a crack in the wall of official Russian reticence about Wallenberg. And while he did not cite any new evidence, the general said his statements were based on his knowledge of materials related to the fate of numerous other victims of repression.
Khristoforov denied that the Russian Federal Security Service — the successor to the KGB — is withholding any information on Wallenberg, and said that all documentary evidence on the Swede likely was methodically destroyed in the 1950s to cover up his fate. Still, he said, his department was continuing to search the archives for clues.
He discounted numerous accounts by former prisoners who claimed to have seen Wallenberg, or someone who might have been him, in prison or in labor camps after his purported death. Independent researchers cite compelling reports of “sightings” of Wallenberg, identified by another name or only a number, as late as the 1980s.
“I consider all that to be a product of these people’s imagination,” the general said, insisting that he was “100 percent certain … that Wallenberg was never in any other prison, either under his name or an alias.”
Khristoforov spoke in response to allegations by two researchers last month that the Russian archives still conceal information on Wallenberg or people who came into contact with him. The accusations came after Moscow released new material about a German officer, Willy Roedel, who shared a prison cell with Wallenberg, although it was unrelated to the Swede himself.
“It’s naive to accuse us of concealing the existence of the interrogation protocols. There is a mix-up of things here,” he said. “There is no mention, not even a hint of Wallenberg in Roedel’s materials.”
He said the archives had kept some pages from Roedel’s newly released file classified for other reasons, which he did not reveal.
Khristoforov confirmed a report published last year by Wallenberg researchers Susanne Berger and Vadim Birstein, who cited his agency as saying that the mysterious Prisoner No. 7, who was interrogated in Lubyanka, the KGB prison in Moscow, on July 23, 1947, could have been Wallenberg. The official version of Wallenberg’s death, given 10 years later, was that he died of a heart attack on July 17, 1947.
Khristoforov said he was “more than convinced that if he outlived the official date of his death, it could only have been by a few days.”
While not ruling out the Soviet official version of Wallenberg’s death, he said that “the second version is that they could have helped him die.”
The heart attack version has already been undermined by Alexander Yakovlev, one-time chairman of a presidential panel investigating the fate of repression victims, who in 2000 said he was told by a former KGB chief that Wallenberg was killed at Lubyanka. That year, Russia conceded that the Soviet authorities wrongfully persecuted Wallenberg and posthumously rehabilitated him as a victim of political repression.
Khristoforov said it was highly unlikely that he would have been held in another prison because “it would have been impossible to keep that secret for long, even under an alias or a number.”
An organization of U.S. Holocaust survivors said they want “more definitive answers” from the Russians on Wallenberg’s fate.
“Khristoforov’s comments do not end the controversy, they in fact reinforce the moral basis for a more vigorous inquiry into this profoundly disturbing mystery,” said Elan Steinberg of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.
Berger, a German, and Birstein, a Russian, served on the Swedish-Russian Working Group that investigated the case from 1991 to 2001.
Berger said in an e-mail that she remained unconvinced that all available evidence has been disclosed, citing the Russians’ history of “incremental revelations” of material that they previously had denied existed. She said that if the Russians had provided full access to the Roedel file, for example, enough “secondary information” might be discerned by trained researchers to shed new light on the case.
“With no unambiguous proof that Wallenberg died on July 17, 1947, and only circumstantial evidence that he may have died some time later, and numerous unresolved witness testimonies stating that Wallenberg was alive in later years, how can Mr. Khristoforov exclude the possibility that Wallenberg did not survive as a secret inmate?” Berger asked.
As Sweden’s envoy to Budapest from July 1944, Wallenberg saved 20,000 Jews by giving them Swedish travel documents or moving them to safe houses and dissuaded German officers from massacring the 70,000 inhabitants of the city’s ghetto.
He was arrested in January 1945. While the Soviets never gave a reason, Khristoforov, who considers Wallenberg a hero, shares the widely held belief that they suspected he was a spy.
In fact, Wallenberg had been recruited by a U.S. intelligence agent, with Swedish government approval, on behalf of the War Refugee Board created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But he is not known to have been engaged in intelligence gathering.
Some historians say Soviet leader Josef Stalin may have hoped to exchange Wallenberg for Soviet defectors who fled to Sweden, but then changed his mind for unknown reasons.

TITLE: Greece Says Loans Will Prevent Default
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BERLIN — Greece will receive its next batch of bailout loans in time to avoid a disastrous default, the finance minister said Tuesday, as stock markets rallied on hopes that the prime minister would discuss new ways of solving the crisis with Germany’s leader later in the day.
Reports that European leaders are considering bolder moves to relieve Greece and other countries of their debt burden have buoyed spirits in financial markets, though officials in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government have downplayed such speculation.
The current plan is to have Greece implement painful debt-reduction measures in exchange for rescue loans.
Greece’s international creditors are holding up payment of the next batch of those loans until a review of the reforms is completed in the coming days. Without the money, Greece faces bankruptcy in mid-October, potentially sending shock waves through the financial sector in Europe and abroad.
“I am very confident in ... the disbursement of the sixth tranche,” Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said, speaking above the sound of chanting from protesting tax office workers outside the ministry, who blew whistles and set off a fake siren. “But we must do what has been agreed.”
The minister said the country had already made great efforts to achieve its fiscal targets, but that a “hyper-effort” was necessary to fully meet its commitments.
Some experts, however, say the current course of austerity is untenable and that Greece will need bigger debt relief. Analysts say that could be achieved by imposing tougher losses on private bondholders, boosting capital in European banks that would take such losses, and boosting the size of the rescue fund.
Under the current plan, Greece had originally expected debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission to complete a review in September and approve the sixth installment of loans from its 110 billion ($149 billion) international bailout fund.
But the inspectors, known collectively as the troika, suspended their review earlier this month amid talk of missed targets and budget shortfalls.
Venizelos said the troika would return to Athens this week, and that the disbursement of the next bailout tranche, worth 8 billion, would be done in time as there were several meetings in October during which other eurozone countries could approve the payment.
In Berlin, Greek premier George Papandreou told a conference of the Federation of German Industries that “we are borrowing to repay” — but also stressed that Europe needs to show it can get its act together.
“I can guarantee that Greece will live up to all its commitments,” Papandreou said ahead of an evening meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel. He promised that Greeks will “fight our way back to growth and prosperity.”
The government recently announced new austerity measures, including pension cuts and tax hikes. Lawmakers were to vote Tuesday night on a new property tax, which is to be paid through electricity bills to make it easier for the state to collect.
Greeks have been outraged by the introduction of yet more spending cuts and tax hikes after a year of austerity. Unions have responded with repeated strikes and protests. Public transport workers walked off the job Tuesday for two days, and were to be joined by taxi drivers on Wednesday. Tax office workers were also on strike.
Given the sacrifices being made by ordinary Greeks, Papandreou said that the “persistent criticisms leveled against Greece are deeply frustrating.”
“You as businesspeople, you know that inspiration, innovation and motivation are important parts of success,” he told representatives of Germany’s leading industries. “If people feel only punishment and scorn, this crisis will not become an opportunity — it will become a lost cause.”
He added that Europe needs to prove it can get its act together. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, has been a sometimes-reluctant leader of the rescue efforts.
“We must prove to the markets that we have a firm grip on the debt crisis and that we are determined to resolve it together,” he said.
Merkel, also speaking at the industry forum, pledged support for Greece but didn’t promise any specific new measures. She expressed “absolute respect” for structural reforms pushed through by Papandreou’s government.
“The all-important thing is — and we will provide every assistance that is wanted from the German side — that Greece wins back confidence; that we get out of this terrible development that there is bad news every month; and that the impression arises on the markets that Greece is on the right track,” she said.

TITLE: U.S. Congress Manages To Avert Shutdown After Fight
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON — A bitterly divided and poll-battered Congress has nearly worked its way out of a nasty fight over disaster aid, but only by abruptly abandoning efforts to immediately refill almost empty federal disaster relief accounts.
Instead, with the administration assuring lawmakers that the immediate infusion of $1 billion in disaster money wasn’t needed to avoid a cutoff this week, Senate leaders moved quickly Monday to jettison the money from a pending Democratic measure and instead pass bare-bones legislation to avert a government shutdown at week’s end.
That measure, approved by the Senate on a 79-12 vote, would keep the government running until mid-November.
The House appears likely to endorse that measure next week when it returns from a weeklong recess. In the meantime, a one-week stopgap measure needed to avoid a government shutdown at midnight Friday appeared likely to be adopted in a sparsely attended session Thursday. The weeklong measure would provide a $2.7 billion infusion of disaster money that would make sure federal help continues to flow to victims of Hurricane Irene and other disasters.
The lowest-common-denominator solution came after Republicans stymied efforts by Senate Democrats for a $6.9 billion disaster aid package. House Republicans instead insisted on a $3.7 billion measure — with $1 billion of the most urgently needed money “paid for” with cuts to clean energy programs important to Democrats.
After pushing for weeks for a higher disaster aid figure, Senate Democrats instead fought their last battle to make sure the energy programs emerged uncut. But the casualty was $1 billion in disaster relief supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.
The breakthrough of sorts came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency indicated Monday it had enough money for disaster relief efforts through Friday. That disclosure allowed lawmakers to move to the lower disaster aid figure and allow both sides to save face.
The aid debate will be revisited when Congress passes a massive spending bill later this year. Under the terms of last month’s budget pact, up to $11.3 billion in disaster aid could be added to the budget without having to be offset by spending cuts.

TITLE: Official in Spy Case Resigns
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON — A man accused of running an illegal contractor spy ring in Afghanistan has resigned from the  U.S. Air Force, still maintaining his innocence, and still facing possible criminal charges.
Two investigations continue in a case that has tested the definition of what contractors are allowed to do in war zones.
Air Force civilian employee Michael Furlong, together with his boss, Mark Johnson, resigned in July after the Air Force inspector general told the men they’d face official censure for how they ran an information gathering network in Afghanistan.
“After 17 months of DOD investigations and an FBI investigation, it was determined that no criminal laws were broken,” Furlong wrote in his August 12 resignation letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
But inquiries continue by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, a senior defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters still under legal review.
The CIA alleged in late 2009 that Furlong’s private military contractors were running an illegal covert spying network in Afghanistan and Pakistan, managed by legendary ex-spymaster Duane R. Clarridge. The then-CIA station chief complained those contractors were helping target terrorists for capture and kill operations, and getting in the way of agency operations on the ground, according to multiple U.S. officials briefed on the investigation. All officials spoke anonymously to discuss intelligence matters.
A series of reports by The New York Times first exposed the controversy, leading then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates to order a review. A Defense Department inquiry dated June 2010, obtained by the AP, concluded Furlong’s “Information Operations Capstone” had hidden clandestine spying activity beneath layers of legitimate information collection, violating Pentagon policy and leading to the more in-depth investigations.
Furlong and Clarridge maintained to investigators that they were operating a legal network of paid informants, gathering data on everything from gas prices and local clan disputes to enemy threats against coalition forces. The information was used for everything from mapping tribal loyalties to tracking Taliban bomb-building cells before they could strike, two defense officials said.
Clarridge said what he did was no different than what a foreign news network would do, using a system of freelance local stringers across the country to gather information.

TITLE: Knox Is ‘Like Jessica Rabbit’
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PERUGIA, Italy — A defense lawyer told an Italian court Tuesday that Amanda Knox, the American student convicted of killing her roommate, isn’t a manipulating, sex-obsessed “femme fatale” as her accusers charge, but is rather like Jessica Rabbit — just drawn that way.
In closing arguments before an appeals court, lawyer Giulia Bongiorno compared Knox to the cartoon character, contending that Knox had been unfairly portrayed over the course of the media-hyped, four-year case.
She said the 24-year-old American is instead a loving young woman who simply displayed immaturity and naivete at the time of the 2007 slaying.
Knox was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Meredith Kercher, a British student in Perugia, and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who was Knox’s boyfriend at the time of the crime, was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 25 years.
They both deny wrongdoing and have appealed their 2009 convictions. A verdict in the appeals case is expected in early October.
On Tuesday, Bongiorno delivered her closing arguments, likening Knox to the voluptuous character in the “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” film.
“Jessica Rabbit looks like a man-eater, but she is a faithful and loving woman,” Bongiorno said. Paraphrasing a famous line from the movie, Bongiorno said Knox “is not bad, she’s just drawn that way.”
By the media as well as in court, Knox has either been described either as a manipulative “she-devil” or as an innocent girl caught in a judicial inferno in a foreign land. Bongiorno said she was really an immature girl who had just started dating Sollecito.
Kercher, 21, was stabbed to death in the apartment she shared with Knox. Knox and Sollecito insist they spent the night at his house the night of the murder, watching a movie, smoking pot and having sex. 
Bongiorno also looked at DNA evidence linking her client to the crime, most notably an alleged trace on the bra clasp of the victim.
Prosecutors maintain that Sollecito’s DNA was on the clasp of Kercher’s bra as part of a mix of evidence that also included the victim’s genetic profile. A court-ordered review of evidence, carried out by independent experts, said the attribution could not be certain and highlighted the risk of contamination on the clasp, which was collected from the crime scene 46 days after the murder.