SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times DATE: Issue #1678 (40), Tuesday, October 11, 2011 ************************************************************************** TITLE: Complaints Threaten Film Deal PUBLISHER: Vedomosti TEXT: One of the largest cinema projects in Russia — a partnership between billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s Sistema and St. Petersburg’s venerable film studio Lenfilm — could fall apart due to complaints by filmmakers. The Culture Minister recalled a package of documents on creating a public-private partnership between Lenfilm and Sistema that had already been agreed upon with all relevant government agencies, two officials familiar with the details of the project told Vedomosti. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the documents had been retracted. The option submitted to the government proposes that the company RWS — part of Sistema Mass Media, which belongs to Sistema — in exchange for its own assets would receive 75 percent of Lenfilm’s shares. The government would keep 25 percent plus one share. Lenfilm is completely owned by the government, and the studio’s management has regularly complained to officials about insufficient money, dilapidated facilities and even a lack of means to pay workers’ salaries. Yevtushenkov proposed to the government to merge the production capacity of Lenfilm with his own studio RWS. In August, a package of documents together with a draft edict by President Dmitry Medvedev on the creation of a PPP was submitted to the Culture Ministry, two officials familiar with the project told Vedomosti. At that time, filmmakers Alexei German Sr. and Alexander Sokurov wrote a letter to Putin stating that the planned unification “means the end of Lenfilm as ... an independent producer of high-quality national cinematographic productions.” TITLE: Employees at Shipyard Cancel Planned Strike AUTHOR: By Irina Titova PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: Employees at Baltiisky Zavod, one of the city’s biggest shipyards, dropped their plans to hold a preventive strike planned for Wednesday after their demands were met Tuesday. “Today, after a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, the trade union committee took the decision that all the questions that we had disagreed on were solved, and that there was no longer any need for a strike,” Vyacheslav Firyulin, head of the shipyard’s trade union, was quoted by Interfax as saying Tuesday. Baltiisky Zavod was also given a new acting general director and came under the control of United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK) on Tuesday. New director Valery Venkov, vice president of OSK, was awarded the position under an agreement with the management of OSK, Kozak told workers at the meeting, Fontanka reported. The former head of the shipyard, Andrei Fomichyov, resigned, while retaining the position of general director of Severnaya Verf, another local shipyard, Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily reported. Baltiisky Zavod also signed two contracts Tuesday. The first was for the renewal of financing for the construction of a floating nuclear power station under guarantees from OSK. The first tranche of 1.5 billion rubles ($47 million) is to be paid as early as Wednesday, Kozak said. Under the second contract, the shipyard has received an order for the construction of a large ice-breaker for Gazprom. Work on the order is scheduled to start next week, Rossiiskaya Gazeta said. Kozak also promised to pay off wage arrears before the end of the week, Rosbalt news agency reported. “The shipyard is currently in a complicated situation, so the government had to take tough and non-standard measures,” Kozak said. “At the moment, the shipyard’s shares worth 32 billion rubles are under the management of the Central Bank. The Central Bank has taken the shipyard under its management and appointed a new director,” Kozak said. Kozak arrived at Baltiisky Zavod to find a solution to the shipyard’s problems. The enterprise’s trade union reportedly hoped that the official would help to solve their problems. Vyacheslav Filyurin, head of the trade union, said members had hoped that Kozak would make the decision to hand over the company to OSK, as they believe it will result in the shipyard finally getting new orders, enabling it to pay off its debts and wage arrears. Consequently, no protest action is now needed, Filyurin was cited by Fontanka as saying. On Wednesday, workers had been due to stop work for an hour in order to take part in a protest meeting. The employees’ main demand was to have their wage arrears paid. Currently, the shipyard owes its workers about 40 billion rubles. The company has fallen on hard times due to a lack of commissions, and dozens of workers were quitting every day, Fontanka reported. Baltiisky Zavod is in debt to creditors as well as its employees. The city’s Arbitration Court is considering up to 20 cases brought against the shipyard by suppliers, partners and banks, including Khanty-Mansiisky Bank and Gazprom Mezhregiongaz St. Petersburg. Baltiisky Zavod owes about half a billion rubles, and the enterprise does not have that money, Fontanka reported. The shipyard reportedly began having problems two years ago, when it was passed over for several big orders in favor of other contractors. The shipbuilder’s trade unions said that clients were choosing other shipyards because they lacked trust in Baltiisky Zavod’s former owner, head of United Industrial Corporation Sergei Pugachyov, Fontanka reported. Three months before leaving office, former St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko appealed to the presidential administration, calling for the shipyard to get a direct order for the construction of an ice-breaker. The shipyard did not get any orders at that time, however. TITLE: Power Cuts Leave City In the Dark AUTHOR: By Irina Titova PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: St. Petersburg suffered several power cuts at the weekend, leaving hundreds of residents without electricity, water or central heating. Angry callers to Ekho Moskvy radio station complained Monday of having to walk up 16 flights of stairs because lifts weren’t working, and of having to feed their children cold porridge because there was no electricity with which to cook food. On Saturday, residents in part of the Primorsky district were left without power for much of the day, and on Sunday a similar problem hit parts of the Kupchino and Murino districts. Inhabitants of Murino village outside St. Petersburg were the worst affected, losing their water supply too, local news web site Fontanka.ru reported. The Primorsky district had no electricity from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday due to a problem at the Ozero Dolgoye electricity substation that belongs to local energy network Lenenergo. The incident left about 40 buildings without electricity in the area of Bogatyrsky Prospekt, Planernaya Ulitsa and Glukharskaya Ulitsa, including both residential buildings and shopping malls. On Sunday, 120 buildings found themselves without power at 7 p.m. in the area of Malaya Balkanskaya Ulitsa and Budapeshtskaya Ulitsa in Kupchino. The power outage also reached a local hospital and maternity clinic. The hospital was forced to use a reserve electricity system, while the maternity clinic was fortunately not open at the time of the incident. The blackout in Kupchino was caused by a problem at the Yuzhnaya electricity substation. The power was turned back on at 3:30 a.m. The third outage affected the village of Murino, located in the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad Oblast on its border with St. Petersburg. The blackout caused the local water pumping station to stop working too, meaning residents of the area suffered not only from a lack of electricity, but were also left without running water. St. Petersburg has suffered other blackouts in recent years, including a major power outage in the center of the city in August last year, when not only residential buildings were left without electricity, but also some metro stations and suburban trains, as well as streetlights. Just a few months later, on Oct. 13 last year, the city suffered another two localized blackouts, also in the Primorsky and Frunzensky districts. On Oct. 20, a power cut affected the city’s Central district, and on Feb. 13 this year, the city’s southwestern district was left without power, while on May 23 it was the turn of the Kirovsky district to make do without electricity. City Hall has promised to solve St. Petersburg’s electricity problems by 2012, Fontanka reported. TITLE: Journalist Sues Politician Over Arson Claim AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: A local journalist is suing the former head of a district administration for defamation, seeking more than 3 million rubles for legal expenses and damages, as well as a public apology. Alexei Dyachenko, a journalist with the Internet news site Zaks.ru, was among reporters whom the then Petrogradsky district’s head of administration Konstantin Zheludkov accused via Twitter of setting fire to a bronze monument during a small protest in front of the administration building in August. Zheludkov called the journalists “hooligans” and “vandals.” The protest was held by The Other Russia political party against controversial “secret” elections in which then City Governor Valentina Matviyenko ran in two municipal districts, including one located in the Petrogradsky district, to obtain the status of a deputy necessary to occupy the position of Speaker of the Federal Council. President Dmitry Medvedev offered Matviyenko the position, which meant her leaving the seat of St. Petersburg governor, reportedly due to Matviyenko’s lack of popularity with local residents. Matviyenko announced the elections after the registration of candidates was closed, preventing her opponents from registering as rival candidates, and was reported to have won more than 90 percent of the vote in both districts. Many other violations were reported. During the protest, held at noon on Aug. 18, three days ahead of the elections, two activists unfurled a banner that read “Your Elections Are a Farce!” and shouted anti-Matviyenko slogans, while a third threw leaflets into the air urging people to vote against Matviyenko and the United Russia party. One of the activists who was holding the banner lit a flare while a group of reporters watched and took photos. About 15 minutes after the protest, which lasted about three minutes with no police in sight, six journalists including Dyachenko were stopped by policemen near the entrance to Gorkovskaya metro station, not far from the administration building. Dyachenko said the group had apparently been followed by plainclothes men from the site of the protest. The officers checked and noted down the reporters’ passports and press IDs. According to Dyachenko, the reporters were released after they called the police press service and their editors. He said the policemen even apologized. Later, Zheludkov posted a number of tweets on the microblogging service Twitter, accusing the journalists of setting fire to a bronze bust of Peter the Great mounted on a granite pedestal near the building. “A group of hooligans was detained outside the administration building. Were throwing pieces of paper around and setting fire to the Peter the Great monument. Later turned out to be journalists. Very well-known publications,” he wrote in his first tweet. Zheludkov went on tweeting throughout the rest of the day, getting in online arguments with reporters and their editors, threatening them and calling them names. In his tweets, he insisted that he had witnesses and video footage of the alleged arson attempt recorded on surveillance cameras. He also wrote that the journalists were from Fontanka.ru, Delovoi Peterburg, Kommersant and Media SPb. Media SPb is a holding that runs Zaks.ru as well as a number of other web sites and print publications. “I called the administration’s press service and said that Zheludkov should either explain why he accused me of being an arsonist, hooligan and vandal, or apologize,” Dyachenko said. In a later tweet, Zheludkov said he was ready to argue it out in court. He has not made any video footage public. A St. Petersburg Times reporter present at the protest saw no protesters or reporters approach the bust of Peter the Great — which was about six meters from the site of the protest — or attempt to harm it in any way. Zheludkov resigned on Sept. 1, the day after new City Governor Georgy Poltavchenko was inaugurated, making a vague comment on his resignation via Twitter. He closed his account days after. “I filed a lawsuit on Sept. 5, and on Sept. 7 he quit Twitter,” Dyachenko said. “I suspect he found out about the lawsuit through unofficial channels, and decided to protect himself in such a way. But I had a notarized copy of all his statements by then.” Zheludkov’s tweets, posted under the now defunct user name @K_Zheludkov, can be found in Google’s cache. Dyachenko is seeking 3,300,000 rubles ($104,742) for legal expenses and damages, as well as a public apology. He said Monday that his lawsuit had been accepted by a court, with the first hearing set for Nov. 7. Zheludkov, who was reported to have got a job with an unnamed federal agency, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. TITLE: IN BRIEF TEXT: Road Reports via SMS ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The city’s car owners may be able to receive text messages in the near future containing information about roads that are closed for repair work, Fontanka reported. The current information system about problems on the roads, introduced via the web site of the State Automobile Inspection, is not effective enough, representatives of City Hall said. Car owners still create traffic jams because they lack information about diversions. District Gets New Head ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko has named Yury Gladunov the new head of the city’s Petrogradsky district. Gladunov replaces the district’s former head Konstantin Zheludkov, who left the position in early September (see story, this page). Gladunov, 57, in recent years occupied various positions in the administration of the suburb of Zelenogorsk. TITLE: Tymoshenko Handed 7-Year Sentence AUTHOR: By Maria Danilova PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: KIEV, Ukraine — Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of office Tuesday and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a trial widely condemned in the West as politically motivated. Judge Rodion Kireyev also barred Tymoshenko, now the country’s top opposition leader, from occupying government posts for three years after the completion of her prison term and fined her 1.5 billion hryvna ($190 million) in damages to the state. Tymoshenko remained calm, but didn’t wait for Kireyev to finish reading the lengthy ruling, standing up from her seat and addressing reporters in the courtroom as he spoke. She compared her verdict, which she claimed was written by her longtime foe, President Viktor Yanukovych, to the horrific purges by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. “The year 1937 has returned to Ukraine with this verdict and all the repression of citizens,” she said, adding that she would contest the ruling. “As for me, be sure that I will not stop my fight even for a minute. I will always be with you as long as it is necessary.” “Nobody, not Yanukovych, not Kireyev, can humiliate my honest name. I have worked and will continue to work for Ukraine’s sake,” Tymoshenko told reporters earlier. As Kireyev was leaving the courtroom, Tymoshenko’s husband Oleksandr yelled out that his time would also come for a similar verdict. One Tymoshenko supporter shouted “Shame!” Tymoshenko was found guilty of exceeding her authority during the signing of a natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009. The court ruled that she was not authorized to order the contract signed and that the price she agreed to was too high, causing losses to the state budget. The European Union was quick to condemn the verdict as politically motivated and urged the Ukrainian authorities to ensure a transparent and fair appeals process for Tymoshenko. A failure to do so would have “profound implications” for Ukraine-EU relations and could jeopardize the conclusion of a landmark association agreement, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement. Tymoshenko, 50, was the driving force behind the 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned Yanukovych’s fraud-tainted election victory. Yanukovych staged a comeback, narrowly defeating Tymoshenko in a 2010 presidential vote amid public disenchantment with economic hardships and constant bickering among those who had ousted Yanukovych. Tymoshenko has already spent over two months in jail after Kireyev ordered her arrested for contempt of court. Tymoshenko had also spent several weeks in prison in 2001 on charges of document forgery and tax evasion, but the charges were later dropped. Tymoshenko maintains her innocence and claims that her trial was orchestrated by Yanukovych in order to bar her from upcoming elections. She says as prime minister she did not need any special permission to order the signing of the gas deal and maintains her actions helped end a bitter pricing dispute between Moscow and Kiev, which had led to energy supply shortages across Europe. TITLE: Politkovskaya Case Sees New Charges AUTHOR: By Vladimir Isachenkov PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: MOSCOW — Russian investigators marked the 5th anniversary of journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s killing on Friday by filing new charges against suspects involved in the slaying, but they have remained silent about who might have ordered her murder. Politkovskaya, a sharp critic of the Kremlin and its policies in Chechnya, was gunned down in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006. The brutal attack drew worldwide attention to violence against journalists in Russia and caused widespread suspicions of government involvement. Russia’s top investigative body said it’s filing formal charges Friday against Lom-Ali Gaitukayev, a native of Chechnya accused of organizing the killing. It said it will also bring new accusations against the suspected triggerman, Rustam Makhmudov and several other suspects. Makhmudov’s two brothers and another suspect, former Moscow police officer Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, stood trial on charges of helping stage the killing, but a court found them not guilty in 2009. The Russian Supreme Court overruled the acquittal and has sent the case back to prosecutors. Makhmudov and Gaitukayev — uncle of the Makhmudov brothers — have been detained earlier. The Investigative Committee said that it will bring new charges Friday against Khadzhikurbanov and the two Makhmudov brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim. Khadzhikurbanov has been in custody, while the two Chechen brothers are free but have been requested not to leave town. The Committee had told the public earlier about the accusations against Gaitukayev and others, and today’s statement was a clear attempt to demonstrate a progress in the case. The investigators also said that Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who was a senior police officer at the time of the killing, is accused of tracking down Politkovskaya’s movements to help stage the killing. Pavlyuchenkov, who served as a witness during the abortive first trial, was arrested in August. Politkovskaya’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper has welcomed the detention of the suspected shooter and other suspects, but lamented slow progress on finding a person who ordered the killing and described Friday’s step as a mere formality. Politkovskaya’s son, Ilya, also criticized authorities for failing to track down the mastermind. “Five years after we only have suspects accused of staging the killing,” he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency. “It could have been done much earlier. A lot of time has been lost.” Politkovskaya was killed on the birthday of Vladimir Putin, who was serving his second presidential term at the time. This fact helped fuel speculations about possible involvement of authorities angered by Politkovskaya’s exposure of atrocities in Chechnya. “She was challenging the dominant power of the government with her lonely efforts,” Novaya Gazeta said on its front-page, which was carrying a photo of Politkovskaya. Putin made his first public remarks on Politkovskaya’s death a few days after, saying that she had little influence and that her slaying did more harm to Russia than her articles did. Putin, who turned 59 Friday, is now Russia’s prime minister and is all but certain to reclaim presidency in next March’s elections. Earlier this week, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed allegations of possible government involvement in Politkovskaya’s killing in remarks broadcast by independent TV station Dozhd (Rain). “People, are you crazy to associate this with Putin?” he said. Politkovskaya’s colleagues marked the anniversary of her death by opening a Facebook account dedicated to her memory, posting her pictures, books and favorite music. TITLE: United Russia Reps Launch Bigfoot Search AUTHOR: By Nikolaus von Twickel PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: MOSCOW — A scientific conference featuring a boxing legend and U.S. Bigfoot believers has claimed that it found “95 percent evidence” for the existence of a Yeti-like hominoid in southern Siberia, however, an opposition politician ridiculed the findings on Monday as pure pre-election publicity for United Russia. The conference, held at the initiative of local governor and United Russia strongman Aman Tuleyev, wound up over the weekend in the Kemerovo region town of Tashtagol and included a short expedition into a mountain cave, where participants said they discovered signs of the creature’s markings and took samples of some hair. “Participants concluded that the discovered objects confirm up to 95 percent certainty that a snowman abides in the Kemorovo region,” the local administration said in a statement on its web site. The group of international experts was graced by former heavyweight boxer Nikolai Valuyev, who told the conference that he was convinced personally by what he had seen in the cave. “I have no doubts: The Yeti really has settled in the Kuzbass,” he said in remarks carried by Itar-Tass. Kuzbass is the more commonly used name for the Siberian coal-mining region. Valuyev, whose 2.13-meter height gave rise to his boxing nickname “Beast From the East,” also showed reporters in the cave that his shoe size was no match for the Yeti’s, who he claimed left a footprint there. “I’m a size 52 — and the Yeti is maybe a 60,” he said, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. The paper even posted a video showing Valuyev raising a glass of vodka to the snowman in the cave. Valuyev recently entered politics and is standing in the Dec. 4 State Duma elections in Kemerovo for United Russia, which made him No. 6 on the regional electoral list. But Nina Ostanina, a Communist Duma deputy from Kemerovo, said the whole story smacked of an elaborate publicity campaign by United Russia. “I believe the administration is making a point in showing that Valuyev is not just meeting with voters, but is also the snowman,” she said. Dubbed “Kuzbass-Yeti,” the mysterious creature has been made a regional trademark with a special web site and even its own Twitter account. The conference also was attended by Michigan farmer Robin Lynne, who claims that she regularly feeds a Bigfoot outside her house, and California resident Ron Morhead, who presented audio recordings of noises that he said were made by the giant ape-like creature, also known as Sasquatch in the United States. But Arkady Tishkov, deputy head of the Academy of Sciences’ Geography Institute and an expert on cryptozoology, the study of yet-undiscovered animals, said the conference’s findings were unimpressive as long as DNA tests failed to prove that any recovered hair or tissue did not belong to bears or other known animals. “All this might attract so far is tourism,” he said by telephone. Research on the Snezhny Chelovyek, or snowman, was backed by the Soviet government in 1958 during the post-Stalin thaw, but official support ended soon afterward. Yet some 1,000 sightings of Bigfoot have been claimed in the former Soviet Union ranging from the Caucuses to Siberia. TITLE: $620M Allocated To Clean Up Baikal AUTHOR: By Roland Oliphant PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: MOSCOW — Lake Baikal, the Franz Josef Archipelago and Wrangel Island will be the first nature reserves to benefit from a 20-billion ruble ($620 million) environmental cleanup program, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yury Trutnev said.  The cleanup program, which will extend through 2020, will target 194 sites of critical environmental contamination, Trutnev said.  “This is not a dump, it’s something much worse. There are often thousands of tons of waste, often toxic, [which] sometimes have a significant impact on the environment,” he said Friday in comments carried by Interfax.  On Wrangel Island alone there are more than 2,000 barrels containing oil products, he said.  Scientists returning from a preliminary “spring cleaning” expedition to Franz Josef Land on Thursday said they had counted about 400,000 fuel barrels and 700 tanks of gasoline and lubricants scattered across the archipelago — many of which have leaked after years of exposure to the harsh Arctic climate. Most of the pollution in Russia’s far northern islands dates from the Soviet era, when they hosted large military bases. Much of the pollution lies in the newly established Russian Arctic National Park.  Tenders will be called for the cleanup operation, Trutnev said. Meanwhile, tourist trips to the newly created Russian Arctic National Park in the northern part of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land may end because ice-breakers are needed for the northern sea route, Vesti television reported Friday.  Atomflot, a subsidiary of Rosatom that runs Russia’s nuclear-powered ice-breaker fleet, told the station that all of its vessels might be needed to escort commercial ships along the northern sea route between Europe and Asia. About 865 tourists have visited the park since it was created in April, according the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. TITLE: Depressing Suicide Numbers Total Small City Population AUTHOR: By Lukas Alpert PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: MOSCOW — An alarmingly high suicide rate in Russia has cost the country the equivalent in population of a large metropolis since the Soviet collapse, a leading expert on the matter said Monday. “About 800,000 people took their own lives from 1990 to 2010,” Boris Polozhy, a director at the Serbsky Institute for Social and Forensic Psychiatry in Moscow said at a news conference marking World Mental Health Day. “That’s nearly a million people — or a city — that we’ve lost,” he said, Interfax reported. Russia’s suicide rate ranks second in the world after only Lithuania, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization. The average age of a Russian who commits suicide is 45 for men and 52 for women, Polozhy said. For example, a 52-year-old man killed himself in St. Petersburg on Sunday after firing at police responding to a call about shots fired from inside his apartment, authorities said. No one else was hurt and police recovered a rifle with a telescopic site and a pile of bullets. The suicide rate grew so out of hand during the economic cataclysm of the 1990s — when it surged to 42 suicides for every 100,000 people — that authorities were forced to take notice. Over the past decade they have made some headway in bringing it down, cutting the rate to 23.5 suicides per 100,000 people in 2010, Polozhy said. Still, much remains to be done, he warned. “We have developed a system [for suicide prevention], and it is ready to be implemented,” he said. “However, the reality is that there is a complete lack of coordination. “This is a question that must be addressed, financed and supervised at the highest state level,” Polozhy said. TITLE: Putin Travels to China to Improve Ties AUTHOR: By Christopher Bodeen PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: BEIJING — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders opened two days of meetings Tuesday aimed at boosting relations amid strains over declining military sales and stalled energy deal talks. Putin said after meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao that political relations between the countries were good, but hinted that tough negotiations over a massive natural gas deal still had a distance to go. “Those who sell always want to sell at a higher price, while those who buy want to buy at a lower price. We need to reach a compromise which will satisfy both sides,” Putin told reporters. He was to meet President Hu Jintao on Wednesday. Besides a struggle to increase trade and agree on sales of Russian gas to fuel China’s booming economy, Moscow is also unhappy with China’s copying of Russian fighter jets and other military hardware and recently announced the arrest of a Chinese man accused of seeking to buy military secrets. Putin’s two-day visit follows his recent announcement that he plans to swap jobs next year with President Dmitry Medvedev, returning him to the top position he held for eight years. Many observers say that transition could see Russia turn eastward after years of warming ties with the West under Medvedev. One area of cooperation in which China and Russia appear closer is international policy. Last week, both vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its brutal crackdown on pro-reform protesters that has killed nearly 3,000 people since March. The vetoes drew heavy criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia and China are also seen as key to how the Group of 20 responds to renewed fears that the global economy is headed toward a new recession. Bilaterally, the two have worked to overcome mutual distrust from the Cold War and have increased two-way trade volume to $35.9 billion in the first half of the year, up 39.6 percent from the same period last year, according to official Chinese figures. Efforts to finalize the natural gas deal have stalled mainly because of pricing disagreements. Russia is eager to link gas prices to oil prices as it does in Europe, but China says that is too expensive. Wen told reporters China wanted to push ahead a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with Russia that would safeguard world stability and development. Russian and Chinese officials say deals worth $7 billion are to be signed during the visit in fields ranging from mining to biotechnology and space exploration. The sides are looking for even more cross-border investment, and on the eve of Putin’s visit, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan called for more financial cooperation and accelerated construction of cross-border highways, railways, bridges, power grids, telecommunications links, and oil and gas pipelines. But hanging over the visit is last week’s announcement in Moscow that Russia’s intelligence service had detained an alleged Chinese spy who tried to obtain designs of an advanced missile system as part of Beijing’s efforts to update its weaponry. The Chinese national, who worked as an interpreter for visiting Chinese officials, attempted to buy documentation for the S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile system, the Federal Security Service said. He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted. Friction has also arisen from China’s copying of Russian military hardware, especially the Su-27 jet fighter and its aircraft carrier variant, the Su-33. Such copying has contributed to a virtual collapse in Chinese arms sales from Russia, further exacerbating the trade imbalance between the sides and fueling a growing competition for export markets among developing nations. TITLE: Police Hunt Azeri Over Fatal Brawl PUBLISHER: Combined Reports TEXT: MOSCOW — An Azeri national was put on an international wanted list Sunday over the killing of a football fan, a day after 100 people were detained near the Kremlin while planning to hold a nationalist rally over the death. Andrei Uryupin, an 18-year-old CSKA football fan, was stabbed to death during a fight in the Moscow region town of Podolsk on Saturday, while a 19-year-old friend was injured. The attacker, who fled, was identified as Nail Khosruvlu, 20. The incident echoed several recent brawls that have escalated ethnic tensions. Police spokesman Anatoly Lastovetsky said some of those detained Saturday on Manezh Square were carrying weapons, including guns that fire rubber bullets. A heavy contingent of police officers was deployed in and around the sprawling square after calls appeared on the Internet for an unauthorized gathering to mark Uryupin’s death. TITLE: Putin Offers Liberal Rules, Alexei Kudrin AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medtsky PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday attempted to reassure investors dismayed by swelling social and military spending and promised a slate of major high-tech projects and more liberal rules for buying into strategic resource companies. He also addressed fears of political stagnation that could accompany his likely return to the Kremlin after the presidential election in March, saying there would be gradual changes. Fiscal discipline will remain a “cornerstone” for the government after the upcoming election, Putin said during his first appearance before investors after announcing the Kremlin bid. “We have made careful calculations and believe that revenues will be enough … for those large and complex issues in the area of education, health care and defense,” he said, fielding questions after his keynote speech at an investment conference. Alexei Kudrin, the thrifty former finance minister, will remain part of decision-making, even after his public spat with President Dmitry Medvedev over defense spending, Putin added. “He is, no doubt, one of the best specialists not only in Russia, but also in the world,” Putin said. “He is a friend of ours and a personal friend of mine.” He spoke after approving a federal budget that is more dependent on the volatile oil price than most previous budgets on record. At the conference, Putin said it was “conservative” for the government to assume that Russian crude — the key revenue earner — would cost $100 next year, even as the global economy slowed down. Putin said the government would seek to clear the way for “thousands” of new projects and ideas to wean the economy off its reliance on oil and gas. In addition, “we intend to implement large projects in bio- and nanotechnology, telecommunications, energy efficiency and outer space to create a whole network of powerful high-tech companies in Russia,” he said at the conference organized by state-controlled bank VTB. “We need investment for that.” Even so, Putin indicated that more investment was welcome for resource companies as well. In a sign of the need, he announced that the government had submitted an amendment to the State Duma on Wednesday to allow foreign investors to buy stakes of up to 25 percent in strategic resource companies without permission from a special government commission. The current threshold is 10 percent. But Putin spent most of the time reiterating many highlights of his previous speeches — most recently at the United Russia Convention and the Sochi Investment Forum last month. The usual pronouncements included the relatively small sovereign debt, the record-low growth of consumer prices so far this year and a dig at the euro zone’s debt problems. He danced around the official expectations that capital flight from Russia will amount to $50 billion this year. “Putin has been saying the same thing for quite a while,” said Ovanes Oganisyan, a strategist at Renaissance Capital. “They’re general phrases and predictable answers.” He said Putin, a master of consensus-based decisions, was unlikely to announce any drastic economic policy changes after the elections either. While also advocating political stability as a measure to draw investment, Putin said it did not mean the system was cast in stone. “No doubt, there is a need for changes,” he said. “And they will take place, but it will be an evolutionary path.” “We don’t need great upheavals, we need a great Russia!” he exclaimed. When asked about Russia’s bid to join the WTO, Putin, who is often described as skeptical about the idea, supported entry, saying it was a net positive. The single major obstacle, Putin said, was now to win the consent of WTO member Georgia, which fought a brief war with Russia in 2008. Putin suggested that the United States and European Union — if they really supported Russia’s accession — could convince Georgia to remove its demands, which are related to its breakaway regions that have Russia’s backing. TITLE: Ufa Farmer Pioneers High-Tech Dairy AUTHOR: By Khristina Narizhnaya PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: KARMASKALINSKY DISTRICT, Bashkortostan — Artur Nurgaliyev pointed to a group of black-and-white spotted cows feeding out of a trough on his farm near Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan. “You pick a good cow from behind, not by the eyes,” he said. Nurgaliyev, 37, is a pioneer of high-tech dairy farming in Bashkortostan and a model for the regional government’s multimillion-dollar project to quintuple the sector by 2016. He bought the modestly sized 5-hectare farm five years ago. Before that he sold sugar. When sugar prices jumped from 15 rubles to 25 rubles a kilogram in 2006, Nurgaliyev thought he should grow sugar, not just sell it. He bought the land and planted beets. Then he got “sucked in” and bought cows, and began to grow grain in addition to beets, he said. Today the farm is one of the most technologically advanced in the region. The farm has special milking equipment that can accommodate a breed of cows that produces more milk. A regular cow produces about 8 liters a day, while Nurgaliyev’s cows produce 22. Six cows can be milked at a time with the German-made Yelochka system that cost Nurgaliyev 7 million rubles ($219,000). The milk passes through tubes to a cooler in the next room that can hold up to 5 tons of milk. A truck then comes to pick up the milk for processing. A special computer program connected to the milking device tracks each cow’s milk output, age and other biographical data. Nurgaliyev’s 200 cows produce up to 3 tons of milk daily, making him about 9,000 rubles per day. While most of the money is spent on animal feed and salaries, milk production is a profitable business, said Farit Samyekhov, a senior official in Bashkortostan’s Agriculture Ministry. Over the next five years, the Bashkortostan government plans to spend up to 17.5 billion rubles to add new dairy farms and modernize old ones at a rate of 100 per year. The overhaul is part of a nationwide effort to increase milk production. Some 300 million rubles will come from the federal budget of 18 billion rubles, aimed at increasing milk production in the country. The majority of the republic’s existing dairy farms use Soviet-era equipment, and most milking is still done by hand into buckets, Samyekhov said. “We do everything the old way here,” Samyekhov said. Despite the lack of modern equipment, Bashkortostan leads the country in milk production. The region’s dairy farms produced 1.24 million tons of milk in the first eight months of 2011. But the republic is ambitious. After the program is completed in 2016, milk production should increase by at least 1 1/2 times, Samyekhov said. The farms fulfill the republic’s milk needs, as well as dairy exports to other parts of the country. Taxes from all agricultural business will contribute about 1 billion rubles to the republic’s budget this year, said deputy finance minister of Bashkortostan Alexander Maryin. Next year, the republic hopes to get 2.5 billion rubles in taxes from farms. But it will take a lot of work, Nurgaliyev said. The region’s agriculture sector is riddled with problems. Nurgaliyev’s farm employs 11 to 13 people, depending on the season. The jobs pay an average salary of 15,000 rubles per month, higher than in many regions in Russia. But Nurgaliyev does not see workers lined up at his door. One reason is that there is no housing anywhere near the farm. Nurgaliyev recently hired a veterinarian from another town. She has to live in a dormitory in the nearby village, he said. Other issues include nonpayment of insurance claims and promised government subsidies, and unclear land-lease terms, Nurgaliyev said. The biggest problem, however, is the lack of cooperation between government and the farms and a lack of skilled managers that know how to take advantage of the resources, Nurgaliyev said. Investing in milk and meat production and beet and grain cultivation would create new jobs and be profitable for both investors and the republic, said Aidar Garyev, head of Bashkortostan Development Corporation. Although some investment has come into the region’s agricultural sector — Jordan-based Alrai Group Holding will build an $865 million wheat-processing complex that will use biotechnologies — investors with business know-how are badly needed in the republic, Nurgaliyev said. “We are ready to do anything — grow medicinal plants, spices — the earth here is good,” Nurgaliyev said. TITLE: Iran Dismisses Gazprom Neft From Project PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: MOSCOW — Iran has ousted Gazprom Neft from a project to produce oil in the country, Iranian media reported. Ahmad Qalebani, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, was quoted as saying the decision was final, Interfax reported. Gazprom Neft did not respond to a request for comment when contacted Monday. Iran in August censured the subsidiary of the biggest Russian company, Gazprom, for procrastination over the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed back in November 2009 for work on the Azar field. A consortium of Iranian companies will replace Gazprom Neft, Qalebani said. The expulsion appears to run counter to an amicable statement from Russia’s Energy Ministry last month. It said Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko traveled to Iran to meet with the country’s Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi on Sept. 11, and they agreed to take a month to consider bringing other companies into the project. “The parties discussed … the necessity of closer cooperation between Russian and Iranian companies in a number of oil and gas projects in Iran,” the statement said. Gazprom Neft has said it did not like the terms Iran offered, Interfax reported. At the same time, the reason behind the flop may have been the tightening of Western sanctions that punish Iran for its nuclear program. Gazprom, whose key revenues come from exports, has to take into account the repercussions of cooperating with Tehran. But, another Russian state-owned company, Zarubezhneft, signed a memorandum of understanding for working in Iran this past summer. Since January 2010, Russia’s LUKoil and many other foreign companies have abandoned plans in Iran, citing the sanctions and the difficulty of working with the government there, a U.S. congressional report said in August. TITLE: The Last Autumn in Putin’s Russia AUTHOR: By Victor Davidoff TEXT: For Russia’s liberals, 2011 has become the Year of Dashed Hopes. These mostly young professionals grew up after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and are avid Internet users. They also understood very well that “freedom is better than no freedom” long before President Dmitry Medvedev told them so. Many of them felt cautious optimism. They hoped that the upcoming elections would give them a chance to express their position and elect politicians who reflect their interests into the State Duma. Political reality hit the optimists hard. In the spring, the liberal opposition Parnas party was refused registration. After that, the optimists warmly welcomed Mikhail Prokhorov and began to pin their hopes on the party he headed, Right Cause. But then Prokhorov achieved a world record for the shortest political career, disappearing from the political scene after only three months. And then came the United Russia convention and the inevitable return of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin. Instead of hope, optimists faced living the next 12 years in the same kind of stagnating society that their parents lived in under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. “Get out of the country” has become a popular slogan that functions on the Internet as a kind of community for discussing various countries for emigration. There’s no question that this is a political issue for most people. A St. Petersburg IT specialist going by the name of Tebedam wrote: “The only way to change your life for the better is to vote — for another place to live, if you have the opportunity. Of course, it would be wonderful to change Russia for the better, and many have already tried, but those attempts have ended badly. A week ago, I already made a decision. And if there is no bureaucratic red tape, by New Year’s I’ll be living on the West Coast of the United States.” But Russians who can’t count on a Silicon Valley cubicle have to decide what to do in the December elections. Under Josef Stalin, depriving someone of his or her right to vote was a form of legal punishment. Today, once again millions of people are being deprived of their right to vote — this time because none of their candidates are allowed to run. This issue was discussed outside Moscow from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at a political forum held with the poetic name of “The Last Autumn,” the name of a hit song by the rock group DDT that was popular among political activists in the perestroika years. Three possible courses of action were proposed. Chess champion and former presidential candidate Garry Kasparov suggested boycotting the elections altogether. Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov disagreed, saying this would only make it easier for the authorities to falsify results. He suggested that people go to voting stations and mark up the ballots so that they are invalid. The popular blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny on his LiveJournal blog proposed voting for any party but United Russia. “This strategy will create the greatest number of practical problems for the crooks in the Kremlin and will make allies out of activists in other political parties,” he said. The majority at the forum supported Navalny’s proposal. But they were perhaps less concerned with the elections and concentrated more on finding new forms of civil protest. As Solidarity activist Denis Bilunov wrote on his LiveJournal blog: “We more or less know what to do after the ‘Arab Spring’ when Internet usage is constantly growing and people are more tired of Putin’s stagnation. We need to elevate communication among the discontented to another level.” This work is difficult to carry out when civil society is weak. But when society has no means to influence decision making at the top, the only alternative is violence. The Arab Spring showed this clearly. Coincidentally — or not — since the beginning of October, Moscow has been plagued by a series of car burnings, mostly expensive foreign makes. The most likely culprits are anarchists or nationalists. On Oct. 8 and 9, 11 cars were burned — in addition to the five burned in the previous days. To understand the connection between the lack of political freedoms and violence, you don’t have to go back in history. Today in the North Caucasus republics, the party of power gets a very Soviet-esque 90 percent of the vote, while a civil war simmers in the background, bursting into terrorist acts virtually every week. We can only hope that the authorities will wake up before this cancer of the North Caucasus metastasizes throughout the country. Victor Davidoff is a Moscow-based writer and journalist whose blog is Chaadaev56.livejournal.com TITLE: comment: Poor Medvedev PUBLISHER: Vedomosti TEXT: During the United Russia convention on Sept. 24, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave President Dmitry Medvedev the top spot on the party list. Now Medvedev is faced with a daunting goal — to lead United Russia to victory in the State Duma elections, a top priority for the Kremlin. It is already clear that United Russia’s campaign will have a large social component — including promises to establish “fair prices” for consumer staples, increasing pensions and salaries for many state employees, pledging to improve the health care and education systems, and controlling the price of utilities. But there is one hitch regarding Medvedev’s new populist role in United Russia. Until now, Medvedev has tried to build an image as a liberal reformer. How will this jibe with a more conservative United Russia, a party of “stabilization” and bureaucracy? How will Medvedev be able to appeal to the party’s large electoral base made up of state employees? Medvedev is also struggling with the problem of political status. Having made himself into a lame duck by refusing to run for a second term, he will have trouble mobilizing anyone. That is why Medvedev must now employ populism and disavow everything that he said as president. But creating a “new” Medvedev will be difficult to pull off.  His ideology remains undefined, and, more importantly, his political standing has been severely compromised by his decision not to run for president in 2012 and to continue to play the role of junior tandem partner as prime minister. As president, Medvedev focused on small and midsize businesspeople, liberals, the youth and technology-oriented Russians. Now, in his new capacity with United Russia, he will have to appeal to a new constituency that he all but ignored before — state employees and pensioners, most of whom are poor. Last week, the State Statistics Service reported that 14.9 percent of the population lives below the poverty level. Promises by leaders to raise salaries and pensions, rein in the price of utilities and goods controlled by monopolies, and make basic medicines and surgery free of charge should be very popular.  In surveys, Russians consistently say rising prices or a lack of money are the most serious problems they face. For example, an August survey by the Levada Center found that 73 percent of the population consider rising prices the most acute problem in the country, 52 percent cited poverty and the impoverishment of the majority of the population, and 42 percent cited increasing unemployment. Russians have little faith in elections, with 46 percent believing that the December Duma elections will be marred by manipulation and fraud, according to an August Levada Center poll. People will vote for United Russia on Dec. 4 only if they believe that the party can at least modestly improve their standard of living. Impoverished voters are more likely to swing their vote from the Communist Party and Liberal Democratic Party to United Russia in response to new promises of handouts. As the new leader of United Russia, Medvedev has the depressing task of pronouncing the populist slogan of “Help for the Poor!” Poor Medvedev. In the end, Medvedev has given up the task of trying to develop the country and giving people a way to support themselves through honest labor. This comment appeared as an editorial in Vedomosti. TITLE: CHERNOV’S CHOICE AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: A great Finnish band will perform in the city as part of the Helsinki Days in St. Petersburg, even though the band is based in Tampere, about two hours from the Finnish capital. Called Jaakko & Jay, the folk-punk duo’s music was described as “Punked up, acoustic songs with gusto” by Kerrang! and “Ferocious and impassioned and funny” by Distorted Magazine. According to the band’s bio on its label Fullsteam Records, it “throws a high-latitude spin on classic punk themes like drinking, revolution, drinking, making music, drinking, acute social commentary, drinking and drinking.” Jaakko & Jay will perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 at Helsinkibar, located at 31 Kadetskaya Liniya, Vasilyevsky Island. Tel: 995 1995. The next evening, Jaakko & Jay will play at the famed bunker club Griboyedov, where the Helsinki Days’ main music program is based. Boom Shakalaka, a Helsinki-based DJ/producer group, can be caught at the club on Wednesday, Oct. 12, while the next day will see a program prepared by Club Tampere, an organization that conducts music exchanges between the Finnish city of Tampere and St. Petersburg. The Tampere-based indie band Idiomatic will perform, followed by Hang the DJ, a group of DJs responsible for successful monthly dance parties at night club Klubi in Tampere since 2006. The other Finish artist visiting the city as part of the Helsinki Days is Jimi Tenor, who will perform at Griboyedov on Friday, Oct. 14. Last year, Tenor performed at the Ethno Mekhanika world music festival with Kabu Kabu, a band featuring musicians from West Africa. This time, he will perform a solo concert, which is expected to roughly correspond to the experimental funk-jazz-pop-lounge field. Speaking of Griboyedov, St. Petersburg’s beloved bunker club will turn 15 next week, and will celebrate the occasion with a huge party and concert. Even if Griboyedov is officially two years younger than Fish Fabrique, it is the rightful claimant to the title of the oldest local music club to have remained at the same location since opening. The club was launched on Oct. 18, 1996 by the music group Dva Samolyota soon after its members were kicked out of Nora, a now-defunct dance club where the musicians worked as hired art directors. “Griboyedov,” named after Alexander Griboyedov, a 19th-century Russian author and diplomat, can be translated as a “mushroom eater,” a reference to hallucinogenic mushrooms that abound in forests outside the city. During its 15 years, Griboyedov has promoted both live music and DJ sets in an attempt to bring together increasingly separate scenes. Indie film screenings, art exhibitions and crazy contests were added, while the bunker has expanded above ground to take in the music cafe Griboyedov Hill and semi-open Amsterdam Bar upstairs. The anniversary concert’s program includes Dva Samolyota, Kirpichi, Mister Maloy, Segodnyanochyu, Pep-See, Kod, SOK, Polyusa, Skafandr, Multfilmy, Kolybel and Prepinaki, among others. TITLE: Public funding AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: Local musician Yevgeny Fyodorov, frontman of the band Tequilajazzz, formed in 1993 and disbanded in 2010, is creating a musical revolution with his new band Zorge’s eponymous debut album. Released as an Internet download last week, it has been almost entirely financed by fan donations, which, according to Fyodorov is “a small revolution in the record industry.” Right now, the band is busy rehearsing in order to pay back its fans by premiering the new album with two big concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow charging the token sum of 100 rubles (about $3) for tickets in pre-sales. However, as a new, promising stage in Fyodorov’s music career begins, he has been quoted in interviews as “pondering” possible immigration, in view of the looming return of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the presidency in March. Zorge started as a duo of Fyodorov on vocals and bass and St. Petersburg-based German drummer Marc-Oliver Lauber in September 2010, with guitarist Vadim Sergeyev and Moscow musician Dmitry Zilpert on guitar and vocals joining later. The band played its debut concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow in February. “It was not at all clear then what the future held for us, but some positive things have happened quickly,” Fyodorov said. “We played a number of quite successful concerts, went on tour across Russia and Ukraine, and finally recorded and released a record. It all happened quite fast. “It was a special year. I can’t say we were starting from scratch, but it was a difficult year. Difficult, interesting and rather fruitful.” The band announced a campaign to fund the cost of recording the album on April 1, with the closing date on June 30. “We calculated how much money we would need; it was the cost of a full month of work at Dobrolyot studios in St. Petersburg, with all the services and equipment included,” Fyodorov said. “The idea was up in the air. There have been web resources for a while where you can donate any sum after listening to the record. Usually it happens post factum, when people listen to or watch a finished project, but we decided to do just the opposite, and announced that people could make a sort of investment, the final result of which would become the release of an album. “We recorded a single, uploaded it on the web and said to people, ‘If you like the direction we’re going in, if you’ve been to our concerts and understand what we’re about, you can take part in recording our album by pushing a button on a designated web site.’ It’s all happened rather fast.” According to Fyodorov, $10,000 was needed, and $10,052 was collected in three months’ time. The band began recording the album in early April as soon as money started appearing in the account. Although the enterprise involved an element of risk, Fyodorov now says he was confident that the sum would be collected. “In the past two or three years, since sites where you can upload your music and receive donations from listeners have emerged, we’ve collected substantial donations for our past albums, which are all available to listen to on the web site www.kroogi.com — when we went to the United States on tour, we simply took out money from the account and went to a shop to buy some equipment,” he says. “We saw how it happened with existing albums, and we thought that there might be an interest in supporting our future album as well, especially since our listeners traditionally live not only in the former Soviet Union, but also in European countries, in America and Australia, that is, people who have credit cards and have got used to paying with them.” According to Fyodorov, money has come from across the world — from Melbourne to San Francisco, including Israel, Germany, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. About 700 people donated various sums from $1 via SMS to 500 euros. “The last day resembled an auction; people seemed to be excited that it was the last day and wanted to participate before the campaign closed, that’s why such a large percentage was raised on the final day,” Fyodorov said. Everyone who donated to the album will receive a physical copy in about two weeks’ time, when the album is released by the major Moscow-based company Soyuz Music. “We released the album virtually because such is today’s reality,” said Fyodorov, who chose the release date — Oct. 3 — to coincide with his 45th birthday. “We released it in a virtual form to saturate the so-called ‘virtual market.’ To prevent the opposite situation, when people buy one disc and it is copied by the rest of the planet. This has happened to us more than once, when within an hour of releasing a disc, it has already appeared on torrent tracker sites. “This is normal and there’s nothing scary about it, but we chose to take another route and released it as a web download made under our control and with guaranteed quality.” With over 70 minutes of music, “Zorge” is a lengthy album, but it is not necessarily perceived as such, according to Fyodorov. “It’s long, but if perceived subjectively it’s totally different, because such a large number of musical events take place on the disc that it might sound much shorter or maybe even longer — as if it lasts for hours,” he says. “Because we ended up putting so many different types of music on it, every single song, if dismembered, could be turned into a full album.” Fyodorov openly acknowledges the legacy of Tequilajazzz by performing about six songs in concert from his former band’s later period, which he describes as “transitional.” “It would be strange if we were playing music that sounded like Chaif or Scooter,” he said. “There had to be some continuity; it’s natural that the author’s style is present. Moreover, I didn’t intend to change it. I’ve been developing naturally as a musician; I followed my own thread, that’s all. Changing one band for another was just a stop along the way. “The author is the same, the author has become set in his ways, the author has his own habits and devices, but if you listen carefully, you can hear that everything is totally different there: How it is sung, played, arranged, and also in its themes. When we played for the first time, even I was bold enough to label it ‘art rock.” Fyodorov, who admits listening to 1970s prog-rock bands such as Electric Light Orchestra, says he does not see anything objectionable in their songs now — even though he avoided such music when he started out as a bassist with punk-rock band Obyekt Nasmeshek (Object of Ridicule) in 1985. “We simply started allowing these elements to settle into our music easily, even if they are completely archaic,” he said. “We just think that enough time has passed for these archaisms to begin sounding more or less fresh to a new generation — or at least to us. “There are many elements that we considered to be very outdated when we were young, and because our younger years coincided with the New Wave battling against different 1970s music trends, we indiscriminately swept away everything good that had happened in the 1970s.” Although refraining from politics in his songs, in recent interviews Fyodorov has reacted strongly to the news that Putin intends to return to the presidency. “I used to tell everybody that if Putin came back to power, I’d leave the very day after the election; I keep saying it,” he said. “It’s not because I’m scared, but because I feel disgusted. It’s disgusting, revolting, all these ugly faces. It isn’t even Putin, it’s the people. For instance, the chairman of the Russian Football Union [Sergei] Fursenko declared yesterday that the victory of Russia over Slovakia was ‘our present to Putin.’ Putin did not make him say that! It was his choice. “These toadying instincts of officials and of a huge number of ordinary people who are afraid of him and kiss his ass, that’s what’s sickening. I don’t see anything scary in this coming era. It will simply be disgusting and you should either learn to deal with it, or simply leave.” While seeing no difference between Putin’s rule and that of current President Dmitry Medvedev, Fyodorov admits Medvedev gave some false hope for liberalization to the intelligentsia and liberals. “That’s where funny recent declarations by [rock musicians Andrei] Makarevich and [Vladimir] Shakhrin stem from. They have said they won’t play at the inauguration! They played before because they ‘had hopes, but won’t any more.’ What were they hoping for? It’s ridiculous. I did not have any hopes. “Everything that is happening provokes the gag reflex of every normal person. It’s a symptom of a disease. It should not be feared, but rather cured. “It could be combated with inner freedom, at least. If a person is free inside, he cannot be deprived of freedom; he’ll be free even in prison.” Downloads and mail order forms for “Zorge” are available on the album’s official web page at www.zorgefrog.com. Zorge will perform at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Glavclub, 2 Kremenchugskaya Ulitsa. Tel. 905 7555. Metro Ploshchad Vosstaniya / Ploshchad Alexandra Nevskogo. TITLE: Finland’s finest AUTHOR: By Lily Dashkevich PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: Alittle piece of Helsinki is visiting St. Petersburg for the third time this week, promoting a healthy relationship between the two cities. Once every two years, Russia and neighboring Finland take it in turns to organize a cultural exchange, bringing different programs, events, shows and sometimes simply ideas across the border in order to unite people and familiarize each other with their culture. Helsinki Days in St. Petersburg first took place in 2003 and consisted primarily of official meetings, but when the festival returned to the city in 2007, sponsors tried to make the program less formal and more interactive, bringing exhibitions and musical events to St. Petersburg. This year, the event will give Petersburgers the opportunity to learn more about Helsinki and present the city as a Finnish urban giant. This year’s program has a special flavor, as it looks ahead to next year: Helsinki has been designated World Design Capital 2012. “Sometimes referred to as ‘the smallest big city in the world,’ Helsinki is a place where everything good — and by everything, we mean everything — is just around the corner,” said the organizers of Finland’s World Design Capital campaign. On Oct. 14 to 15, Petersburgers can immerse themselves in Finnish culture without even leaving the city center. Both the Finland House and the Center of Finnish Culture, Science and Entrepreneurship will open their doors to the public to take part in a wide range of events, from getting an inside view of how Finnish companies work here in St. Petersburg, to the opportunity for visitors to create their own knick-knacks made from junk. The cultural centers will also host various master classes and competitions in the Helsinki Yard of Finland House, where visitors can have a cup of coffee and sample Finland’s celebrated Fazer delicacies inside a marquee set up in the courtyard. In the basement gallery of the Finland House, a group consisting of a painter, musician, designer and an artist will show projects created with the use of light and shadow. Finland is famed around the world for its progressive environmental policies, and the festival’s organizers will showcase handcrafted items made from various recycled materials, brought to St. Petersburg from the Uusix workshop especially for the Helsinki Days event. Visitors will also be able to try their hand at making their own decorations from recycled materials. Uusix workshops are part of the Social Department of Finland and employ people struggling to find work. All the items in the collection were made with the participation of Aalto University students. The Helsinki Days program also comprises a trio of exhibitions running from Oct. 6 to Nov. 2 at the Peter and Paul Fortress. For the first exhibition, the Helsinki City Museum has loaned photographs by the eminent Finnish photographer Signe Brander (1869-1942). Brander took many pictures of Helsinki at the beginning of the 20th century, and they are unquestionably the most interesting and most frequently used documentation of the Finnish capital. The exhibition will feature a broad selection of diverse images, including snapshots of Helsinki at the time when it began to rapidly change its architectural style and structure from wood to stone. These photos also clearly capture what life was like for the average Finnish citizen between 1907 and 1913. The second exhibition, titled “Woodism,” is dedicated to the work of groups of designers and architects from Helsinki, Lahti, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. They design and make furniture and household items from trees that have fallen naturally in yards and parks, eschewing timber that has been felled. Woodism is also part of the ‘World Design Capital Helsinki 2012’ program. The third exhibition, “Design From And For Kids,” is part of an educational program that invites children living in Finland and Russia to take a fresh look at the objects that surround them in everyday life and paint them from their own point of view. Afterwards, professional designers bring the children’s paintings to life. Organizers of the program believe in the creative potential of children and that talent and creative vision are should be developed from early childhood. The local exhibition will show items created by young designers from both Russia and Finland.  The Helsinki Days also have something to offer to party-lovers. Griboyedov club has a special program from Oct. 11 to 15, featuring the celebrated Finnish rock singer Jimi Tenor, as well as the Finnish band Dusha Petera and the We Love Helsinki DJs. For more detailed information, visit www.helsinki.ru/dnihelsinki TITLE: the word’s worth: King of the Castle AUTHOR: By Michele A. Berdy TEXT: Ïåøêà: pawn Ever since the Great Russian Political Announcement two weeks ago, I’ve been unhappy. Well, yeah, about that, but also about how to best translate the most commonly used Russian word to describe what was happening: ðîêèðîâêà. Ðîêèðîâêà comes from the game of chess and means “castling.” Castling — and I write this with great authority, having read five online chess manuals just yesterday — is the only move in chess where a player gets to move two pieces at the same time — the king (êîðîëü) and the rook (ëàäüÿ). If we ignore the complicated set of conditions under which this can be done, the point of the move is that the king and rook more or less switch places on the board. Why would a player do this? According to one source: “If the king is attacked, it must move out of danger immediately. … It is a good idea to move the king from the action to a safe place in the corner and to move the rook to the middle of the board where it can take part in the battle.” Note to Kremlinologists: Next time, just read a chess manual. In Russia, where chess is widely played, the specialized meaning of ðîêèðîâêà seems pretty well known. But the word has also entered the general language to mean any sort of shuffling of personnel within a company or other organizational changes. Sometimes this means switching jobs. For example, one CEO wrote: Ãëàâíîå ñîáûòèå äíÿ — ðîêèðîâêà. ß ïîìåíÿë ìåñòàìè Ïàâëà Âÿ÷åñëàâîâè÷à ñ Ìàêñèìîì Àíäðååâè÷åì. (The main event of the day was a job swap: I switched the positions of Pavel Vyacheslavovich and Maxim Andreyevich.) In other cases, ðîêèðîâêà (or the plural ðîêèðîâêè) is a synonym for ïåðåñòàíîâêà (rearrangement, shuffling). An article called “ ãðóçèíñêîì ïðàâèòåëüñòâå ðîêèðîâêè” (A reshuffling of the Georgian cabinet) detailed a half dozen horizontal and vertical personnel shifts. As far as I can tell, in Russian the figurative meaning of ðîêèðîâêà is not a dead metaphor: People still “hear” the original specialized chess meaning in the word. So when Russians opened their newspapers and read headlines like “Ðîêèðîâêà òàíäåìà,” they perceived it as “castling in the tandem.” And everyone knew who was the king and who was the rook. So how do you translate it? It is very tempting to render this as something like “Kremlin castling,” with that delightful alliteration and clear reference to the great political game of chess. But the problem with this translation is that a lot — if not most — English speakers wouldn’t get the chess reference, and “castling” has not become part of general English usage the way ðîêèðîâêà has become part of Russian. Russian readers get it, but English readers might have to pull out their dictionaries. So you have few other translation options. For example, Ðîêèðîâêà Ìåäâåäåâà è Ïóòèíà óäèâèëà äàæå èõ îêðóæåíèå (Trading Places: Medvedev and Putin’s job swap surprised even their close associates). Or:Ðîêèðîâêà â òàíäåìå ïîñòàâèëà åãî ïåðåä ñåðü¸çíûìè ïðîáëåìàìè (The reshuffling of the tandem has created serious problems for it). But you have to stick with chess when commentators play out the metaphor. For example, someone asked: Ðîêèðîâêà íàâåðõó, à êàê ñ ïåøêàìè? (There was a castling move at the top, but what will happen to the pawns?) Good question. We’ll have to wait for the next move. There’s still time on the clock. Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of “The Russian Word’s Worth” (Glas), a collection of her columns. TITLE: High fashion AUTHOR: By Olga Panova PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: The fourth Aurora Fashion Week kicked off Monday with a press conference hosted by Jenny Lombardo, guest speaker and world fashion and design director of W hotels. That same evening, the Fashion Next cocktail party was the first in a series of social events taking place in St Petersburg, ringing in the new season. This time around, Aurora Fashion Week’s organizers say one of the highlights of the festival will be a catwalk show of the Louis Vuitton collection. The fashion show will present two different outfits for each pair of shoes, comprising one day outfit and one evening outfit. “The Louis Vuitton fashion show is one of the major events of the week, demonstrating the loyalty and high interest of the leading fashion houses to Aurora Fashion Week,” said the event’s organizers. The show-stopper of the fashion week looks set to be “Inspiration,” which represents a series of fashion shows based on research into the phenomenon of fashion. The Manezh exhibition hall — the main location of the fashion week — will host a fashion show of vintage dresses belonging to fashion historian Mara Parmegiani. The “Inspiration” program will also include the final round of a competition for young designers organized by Grazia magazine. The fashion week is expected to attract more than 80 professionals from the fashion world such as buyers, journalists, designers, stylists and celebrity bloggers to St. Petersburg. Aurora Fashion Week, which runs through Oct. 16, is mostly directed toward industry professionals. This time around, it has been timed to coincide with the international fashion calendar. “Aurora Fashion Week opens at the same time as International Fashion Week and is one of the key events in the regional as well as federal policy of Russia in the culture and fashion industry,” said the event’s organizers. “The high regional importance of Aurora Fashion Week and its position in the context of contemporary fashion industry defines its unique status, which has been founded as a dialogue between culture, art and fashion.” The spring-summer 2012 fashions showcased at Aurora Fashion Week will be presented at the “Catwalk,” “Ambient” and “Inspiration” programs. Exclusive premieres of all the new collections will be shown from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, with most of them being presented as part of the “Showroom” program. During the “Catwalk” program, the new collections of Alexandre Arngoldt, Kute, Sandra Straukaite, Bessarion, Jana Sagetti, Kamenskaya and Kononova (Kiev) and Petar Petrov will be shown, as well as fashion shows by the internationally acclaimed brands Custo Barcelona and Tosha. Despite being primarily oriented toward fashion professionals, the fashion week will offer a series of innovative programs for less well known designers. One of the programs, “Ambient,” which runs from Oct. 11 to Oct. 16, will showcase clothing by young Petersburg designers at various locations around the city. Among the participants are Osome2some, Cat’s Production and Homoconsommutos. The fashion week is not just about daring designs and controversial clothing. This season’s event will have an educational component in the form of the “Fashionomica” conference, a platform for discussion and brainstorming on the effective synthesis of fashion and economy as the basis of a successful fashion industry. Another alternative aspect of the event is the Ready-to-Read festival, which is taking place with the support of the Russian National Library and the St. Petersburg Dom Knigi bookstore chain. The festival aims to promote art, fashion, design and contemporary photography. Avrora Fashion Week runs from Oct. 10 to 16 at locations around the city. For a full schedule of events, visit www.afwrussia.com.The fourth Aurora Fashion Week kicked off Monday with a press conference hosted by Jenny Lombardo, guest speaker and world fashion and design director of W hotels. That same evening, the Fashion Next cocktail party was the first in a series of social events taking place in St Petersburg, ringing in the new season. This time around, Aurora Fashion Week’s organizers say one of the highlights of the festival will be a catwalk show of the Louis Vuitton collection. The fashion show will present two different outfits for each pair of shoes, comprising one day outfit and one evening outfit. “The Louis Vuitton fashion show is one of the major events of the week, demonstrating the loyalty and high interest of the leading fashion houses to Aurora Fashion Week,” said the event’s organizers. The show-stopper of the fashion week looks set to be “Inspiration,” which represents a series of fashion shows based on research into the phenomenon of fashion. The Manezh exhibition hall — the main location of the fashion week — will host a fashion show of vintage dresses belonging to fashion historian Mara Parmegiani. The “Inspiration” program will also include the final round of a competition for young designers organized by Grazia magazine. The fashion week is expected to attract more than 80 professionals from the fashion world such as buyers, journalists, designers, stylists and celebrity bloggers to St. Petersburg. Aurora Fashion Week, which runs through Oct. 16, is mostly directed toward industry professionals. This time around, it has been timed to coincide with the international fashion calendar. “Aurora Fashion Week opens at the same time as International Fashion Week and is one of the key events in the regional as well as federal policy of Russia in the culture and fashion industry,” said the event’s organizers. “The high regional importance of Aurora Fashion Week and its position in the context of contemporary fashion industry defines its unique status, which has been founded as a dialogue between culture, art and fashion.” The spring-summer 2012 fashions showcased at Aurora Fashion Week will be presented at the “Catwalk,” “Ambient” and “Inspiration” programs. Exclusive premieres of all the new collections will be shown from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, with most of them being presented as part of the “Showroom” program. During the “Catwalk” program, the new collections of Alexandre Arngoldt, Kute, Sandra Straukaite, Bessarion, Jana Sagetti, Kamenskaya and Kononova (Kiev) and Petar Petrov will be shown, as well as fashion shows by the internationally acclaimed brands Custo Barcelona and Tosha. Despite being primarily oriented toward fashion professionals, the fashion week will offer a series of innovative programs for less well known designers. One of the programs, “Ambient,” which runs from Oct. 11 to Oct. 16, will showcase clothing by young Petersburg designers at various locations around the city. Among the participants are Osome2some, Cat’s Production and Homoconsommutos. The fashion week is not just about daring designs and controversial clothing. This season’s event will have an educational component in the form of the “Fashionomica” conference, a platform for discussion and brainstorming on the effective synthesis of fashion and economy as the basis of a successful fashion industry. Another alternative aspect of the event is the Ready-to-Read festival, which is taking place with the support of the Russian National Library and the St. Petersburg Dom Knigi bookstore chain. The festival aims to promote art, fashion, design and contemporary photography. Avrora Fashion Week runs from Oct. 10 to 16 at locations around the city. For a full schedule of events, visit www.afwrussia.com.The fourth Aurora Fashion Week kicked off Monday with a press conference hosted by Jenny Lombardo, guest speaker and world fashion and design director of W hotels. That same evening, the Fashion Next cocktail party was the first in a series of social events taking place in St Petersburg, ringing in the new season. This time around, Aurora Fashion Week’s organizers say one of the highlights of the festival will be a catwalk show of the Louis Vuitton collection. The fashion show will present two different outfits for each pair of shoes, comprising one day outfit and one evening outfit. “The Louis Vuitton fashion show is one of the major events of the week, demonstrating the loyalty and high interest of the leading fashion houses to Aurora Fashion Week,” said the event’s organizers. The show-stopper of the fashion week looks set to be “Inspiration,” which represents a series of fashion shows based on research into the phenomenon of fashion. The Manezh exhibition hall — the main location of the fashion week — will host a fashion show of vintage dresses belonging to fashion historian Mara Parmegiani. The “Inspiration” program will also include the final round of a competition for young designers organized by Grazia magazine. The fashion week is expected to attract more than 80 professionals from the fashion world such as buyers, journalists, designers, stylists and celebrity bloggers to St. Petersburg. Aurora Fashion Week, which runs through Oct. 16, is mostly directed toward industry professionals. This time around, it has been timed to coincide with the international fashion calendar. “Aurora Fashion Week opens at the same time as International Fashion Week and is one of the key events in the regional as well as federal policy of Russia in the culture and fashion industry,” said the event’s organizers. “The high regional importance of Aurora Fashion Week and its position in the context of contemporary fashion industry defines its unique status, which has been founded as a dialogue between culture, art and fashion.” The spring-summer 2012 fashions showcased at Aurora Fashion Week will be presented at the “Catwalk,” “Ambient” and “Inspiration” programs. Exclusive premieres of all the new collections will be shown from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, with most of them being presented as part of the “Showroom” program. During the “Catwalk” program, the new collections of Alexandre Arngoldt, Kute, Sandra Straukaite, Bessarion, Jana Sagetti, Kamenskaya and Kononova (Kiev) and Petar Petrov will be shown, as well as fashion shows by the internationally acclaimed brands Custo Barcelona and Tosha. Despite being primarily oriented toward fashion professionals, the fashion week will offer a series of innovative programs for less well known designers. One of the programs, “Ambient,” which runs from Oct. 11 to Oct. 16, will showcase clothing by young Petersburg designers at various locations around the city. Among the participants are Osome2some, Cat’s Production and Homoconsommutos. The fashion week is not just about daring designs and controversial clothing. This season’s event will have an educational component in the form of the “Fashionomica” conference, a platform for discussion and brainstorming on the effective synthesis of fashion and economy as the basis of a successful fashion industry. Another alternative aspect of the event is the Ready-to-Read festival, which is taking place with the support of the Russian National Library and the St. Petersburg Dom Knigi bookstore chain. The festival aims to promote art, fashion, design and contemporary photography. Avrora Fashion Week runs from Oct. 10 to 16 at locations around the city. For a full schedule of events, visit www.afwrussia.com. TITLE: Paying Homage to Kadyrov AUTHOR: By Anna Malpas TEXT: On Wednesday night, Rossia television treated viewers to more than an hour of a “live” concert in Grozny to celebrate the 35th birthday of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Or I should say, to celebrate Grozny’s City Day, since Kadyrov modestly waved away attempts to celebrate his big day or give him presents. After all, what do you give the man who already has a fleet of Porsches and Ferraris and a stable of racehorses? The opening of a glitzy new skyscraper complex, Grozny-City, was the ostensible reason for the concert. The birthday boy sat bang in the middle of the front row in a comfy leather armchair, wearing a slightly-too-tight navy blue suit. He was flanked on his right by regional presidential envoy Alexander Khloponin and on his left by Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, who spent most of the time looking bewildered through his tinted glasses and sinking down into his chair. Oddly enough, the concert, billed as live on-screen, was clearly not, since it started at 7 p.m. Moscow time but only aired on the channel at 10:50 p.m. Reading witness accounts and watching news, I realized that the show cut out substantial chunks of the concert, including a fulsome tribute from Van Damme, who stumblingly confessed: “I love you, Mr. K--k--k Kadyrov.” Also cut was a tribute from actress Hillary Swank, best known for cross-dressing in “Boys Don’t Cry.” There was no sign of Colombian pop star Shakira, after the Chechen government announced she was invited but she denied any involvement on Twitter. That left the show with dimmer stars, including pop crossover violinist Vanessa-Mae, who looked very different from her heyday of playing the violin on the beach in a see-through shirt. Wearing a drab lace dress, she played a bit of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” utterly mechanically. The most bizarrely unexpected participant was British singer Seal, who tried to put on a show, whirling his microphone and shaking hands with people in the front row. Kadyrov awkwardly tapped his feet to “Kiss from a Rose,” while the camera cut at one point to a group of suited officials openly sniggering at the singer. What with his wife, German model Heidi Klum, hosting the compulsive U.S. reality show “Project Runway,” you would think he would not need to do this kind of gig. Kadyrov’s aide Timur Aliyev wrote on his blog that he had never heard of Seal, but praised Van Damme, saying he behaved “simply and modestly” and even danced the lezginka at the end of the party. Naturally, human rights activists have criticized the stars’ decision to take part in a concert effectively glorifying Kadyrov’s leadership, without considering his extremely dubious human rights record, dogged with allegations of violence and torture. And it’s hard to see how they could plead total ignorance of a region that has been in the news for a decade, even if, like Hugh Grant’s hero in “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” they “couldn’t give a ----”  about Chechnya. What’s more, rights organizations contacted the stars, or tried to, through their agents. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights also warned them off in an open letter at the end of last month, detailing rights abuses and torture in the region. None of this put off Russian stars, who were there in force, including actors Sergei Bezrukov and Fyodor Bondarchuk, nor Ukraine’s Sofia Rotaru, who whispered flirtatiously in Kadyrov’s ear and sang a song called “I will give a planet your name.” Apparently untroubled by all the scandal, Kadyrov launched into a traditional-style dance on stage on Wednesday, bowing to the audience, which responded with a standing ovation. TITLE: Tchaikovsky in New York AUTHOR: By Chris Gordon PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: New York City’s Carnegie Hall inaugurated its 120th season with a month-long festival dedicated to the work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky on Oct. 5. Commemorating the composer’s 19th-century American debut on the concert hall’s opening night, “Tchaikovsky in St. Petersburg” kicked off with a gala performance of his “Variations on a Rococo Theme” by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma. When Tchaikovsky arrived in the U.S. in 1891 he was already one of the world’s most illustrious and popular living musicians. By then his opera, ballet and concert music had been enjoying success on the world’s stages for more than a decade. Arriving in New York, he was embraced by American audiences and feted by the city’s beau monde. For a composer whose work had been so often maligned at home, it was perhaps unsurprising that he took an instant liking to the place, remarking that “people in the United States know my work better than they do in Russia, in my own home.” For most of the composer’s short lifetime Tchaikovsky regularly divided opinion. While universally popular with concertgoers, his reputation with the critics and his peers had been fraught with drama and politics. And in a 20th century shattered by war and absorbed with “serious” atonal music, his compositions were seen as a bit too precious to be taken seriously. Relatively recently, however, a new appreciation for the composer’s output has emerged, led in no small part by maestro Gergiev’s tireless efforts. In addition to leading the opening night gala, Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra performed all six Tchaikovsky symphonies on successive nights as well as another concert dedicated to the composer’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” with soloist Daniil Trifonov, this year’s winner of the Tchaikovsky prize. The orchestra has just released new recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies No. 4, 5 and 6, and will reprise its performance of the piano concerto at the Mariinsky Concert Hall on Oct. 25. Meanwhile, back in New York, the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York will present a program of sacred music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Arensky on Oct. 22. Ensemble ACJW, a group of young musicians associated with Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute, will perform three mournful classics of Russian romanticism on Oct 25, including a Tchaikovsky piano trio. Bringing things full circle, the festival will finally wind down on Oct. 26 with another much-anticipated American first for Carnegie Hall, this time by Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. For her U.S. recital debut, Netrebko will sing a selection of Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky romances accompanied by pianist Yelena Bashkirova. No stranger to New Yorkers, Netrebko has been performing dramatic roles at the city’s Metropolitan Opera for the past ten years. In September she opened the Met’s 128th season in a new production of “Anna Bolena” directed by David McVicar, for which the diva was accorded a rare solo curtain call. For those who weren’t around 120 years ago when Carnegie Hall switched on its lights for the first time, this month offers a chance to experience some of the magical excitement of that far-off night. For more information about “Tchaikovsky in St. Petersburg” visit www.carnegiehall.org. TITLE: THE DISH: Gosti AUTHOR: By Shura Collinson PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: Home comforts Gosti is an establishment that does not take its name lightly. Literally translated as “Guests” and also forming part of a Russian expression meaning “to go to someone’s house,” Gosti does indeed do everything possible to make visitors feel as though they are visiting a friend’s house, rather than a commercial eatery. The experience begins immediately for those who choose to bypass Gosti’s small but diabolically enticing first-floor confectioner’s, with its compact counters laden with cream-filled pastries and chocolate treats, in order to head upstairs to its restaurant proper. “Welcome to Gosti,” announces a beaming waitress standing at the top of the stairs, making use of the word’s convenient double meaning, since the same phrase means “Welcome to our home.” The warm welcome continues as diners are shown to their seats, with more random greetings from equally smiley members of staff along the way. The effect of this enthusiastic reception — toasty by any standards, not least Russian — is almost overwhelming, so different is it to the indifference frequently encountered at other establishments around town. The tactic is partially successful at making guests feel like they are visiting a friend at home — albeit, a very nice home. The spacious room feels cozy, despite its size, due to the prolific collection of decorations and knick-knacks adorning every available space. The walls are peppered with plates and photos, and the wooden chairs are covered with patchwork cushions, while the green shutters and chintzy curtains enhance the homely atmosphere. The ambience is topped off by the cornucopia of candles and ornaments strewn along the ledge of the old-fashioned stove. In terms of its homely atmosphere, Gosti is not dissimilar to the hugely popular Teplo, located the other side of St. Isaac’s Square. But Gosti takes its warm and fuzzy theme one step further with an emoticon-peppered menu. Smilies are not the only symbol to be found in the menu: Vegan dishes are also considerately marked, though anything simply vegetarian is indistinguishable from the meat and fish dishes. Nor are the smilies the only source of amusement in the English-language menu, which introduces some little-known alternative food vocabulary such as sparrowgrass. Both the service and the food at Gosti maintain the illusion of being at a friend’s house, to varying extents. The waitress was so friendly and chatty that she was convincing in her role of hostess, gamely refusing to write down the order (such practicalities would, no doubt, shatter the illusion), and then, inevitably, forgetting it. The food itself also had a distinctly homemade feel to it. A mushroom burek (a Turkish/Balkan pastry) priced at 90 rubles ($2.85) was heavy and somewhat soggy, and seemed to contain far more dough than mushroom. It would also have benefited from being warmed up before being served. The tomato soup (240 rubles, $7.60) was far more successful: It was made with fresh tomatoes and was not overly seasoned, it was served at the perfect temperature, and topped with generous chunks of fresh bread and a drizzling of olive oil. The goat’s cheese and beetroot salad (340 rubles, $10.75) contained at least half a kilo of pickled beets, which was a little startling. Daunting as the quantity was, thanks to the excellent contrast with the soft goat’s cheese, crunchy walnuts and piquant arugula, enough of the beets were polished off to make even the strictest dietician proud. The main courses were less gratifying. Pasta with chicken meatballs and Parmesan (290 rubles, $9.20) was as heavy as it sounds, and would have benefited greatly from something green and healthy, as well as from a bit of salt (it was so bland that its recipient — the mother of a young child — compared it to a toddler meal). The vegetable and ricotta lasagne (360 rubles, $11.40) was an even stranger affair, with surprisingly solid chips of ricotta cheese topping a mixture of sour eggplants and roast bell peppers. Unlike in a regular lasagne, the ingredients were not bound together, but were all entirely separate. And if the pasta with meatballs lacked salt, the same could certainly not be said of the lasagne, whose disparate elements were floating in a salty broth at the bottom of the bowl. It is a tribute to Gosti’s atmosphere and attention to detail that despite these shortcomings, it is hard to be put off completely by its hit-and-miss-cuisine. After all, it would be difficult to be annoyed with a real friend who had gone to so much effort. TITLE: A City of War Heroes and Industry AUTHOR: By Alex Winning PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: VOLGOGRAD — Volgograd is a proud city, and justifiably so. Famed for its dogged resistance against Hitler’s invading forces under its former name, Stalingrad, it bore the brunt of the German onslaught between August 1942 and February 1943 and was awarded the title “Hero City” accordingly. Aside from its military significance, Volgograd has also served as an important industrial center and transport hub for more than a century. Shipyards, a tractor plant and a steel factory were all built here during the first Five-Year Plan. Since the completion of the Volga-Don canal in 1952, millions of tons of cargo have passed through the city every year. Today, Volgograd remains a bustling urban center and an industrial powerhouse of the Southern Federal District. The city stretches 80 kilometers along the western bank of the Volga River, its historic heart flanked by sprawling suburbs, malls, cinema complexes and industrial sites to the north and south. The Volga Hydroelectric Station, the largest of its kind in Europe, lies just a short distance away. But, despite its forward-looking ambitions and dynamic industrial sector, Volgograd is a city in which memories of former glories still loom large. This is a place that consciously strives to remember its past and celebrate its privileged position in the drive to industrialize and defend the motherland. Wandering through the center, you are first struck by the abundance of street names and monuments recalling Soviet times. The city’s main thoroughfare is called Prospekt Lenina, and streets named after Red Army generals, the divisions they commanded and the Soviet-era youth movement, the Komsomol, line the surrounding area. “The Motherland Is Calling,” an 85-meter-tall sculpture that commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad, towers over the city and features prominently on the Volgograd region coat of arms. For this reason, it is perhaps unsurprising that Volgograd was designated Russia’s most Soviet city in a 2011 Communist Party poll. Even local election outcomes hark back to Soviet days: Roman Grebennikov, Volgograd’s last elected mayor who was ousted in early 2011 after a well-publicized feud with the governor, ran on the Communist Party ticket. While seeking to preserve the city’s Soviet heritage, Volgograd’s post-Soviet administration has attempted to provide a blueprint for future development by overseeing a number of ambitious construction projects. One example is the recently completed Volgograd Bridge, which took 13 years to build. Spanning over seven kilometers, it is among the longest in Russia and has had an eventful history. In 2010, it achieved fame as “the dancing bridge” after a video posted on YouTube showed the bridge swaying violently due to powerful gusts of wind. More impressive, construction began in 2005 on Volgograd City, a business complex that will include a state-of-the-art business center, five modern apartment blocks and a hotel, as well as provide a range of public services. It is estimated that the project will be finished in eight to 10 years and will cost at least 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion). Once completed, it will constitute the largest business complex in the south of the country. Volgograd has also started to flex its muscles as an up-and-coming tourist destination for international and Russian travelers. Alongside its historic attractions, the city boasts a burgeoning ecotourism industry. Visitors can savor the Volga-Akhtuba floodplains, the Elton salt lake and the Don River, all within a few hours of the city. Now that Volgograd has been officially chosen to host the 2018 football World Cup, visitors will soon be able to enjoy sporting spectacles of the highest order in a 45,000-seat stadium due to be built in the shadow of “The Motherland Is Calling.” The city’s name has been changed thrice over 3 1/2 centuries. Founded in 1589 under the regency of Boris Godunov, the fortress town of Tsaritsyn acted as the first line of defense on Russia’s southeastern border. In 1925, the city was renamed Stalingrad to honor its role in the struggle against the Whites during the Russian civil war. Nikita Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization program inspired its rechristening as Volgograd in 1961. What to see if you have two hours Although the suburbs of Volgograd stretch out for dozens of kilometers, the center is relatively compact. For the time-pressed visitor, the city’s main historic attractions can be navigated easily using the high-speed tram system that runs parallel to the Volga. Start by ascending Mamayev Kurgan, Volgograd’s main vantage point and the site of the fiercest fighting at the time of the Nazi onslaught. Today, this high ground is the home of the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad memorial complex, “The Motherland Is Calling” statue and the All Saints’ Church. There are few more moving experiences than to wander the cavernous hall of the memorial building warmed by the eternal flame that rises from the ground beneath you and surrounded by plaque after plaque listing the names of the fallen. Marshal Vasily Chuikov and sniper Vasily Zaitsev are among those buried on Mamayev Kurgan. Next, after wending your way back to the center on the tram, stop off at Pavlov’s House, the four-story apartment building by the banks of the Volga for which Yakov Pavlov, the commander of a machine gun unit, fought tooth-and-nail. While only fragments of the outer shell still remain, these serve as a powerful reminder of the Red Army’s stubborn resistance. From here, you can stroll along the embankment and take in the mighty river flowing past you. Continue as far as the river port, where you will see a set of grand steps leading to the tree-lined Alley of Heroes. A welcome strip of green in the heart of the city, this is a perfect spot to sit, contemplate and end your fleeting tour. What to do if you have two days After visiting Mamayev Kurgan, you can spend a few hours in Volgograd’s Panoramic Museum (47 Ulitsa Chuikova; +7 8442-23-67-23; panorama.volgadmin.ru). The museum houses more than 3,500 exhibits on the Battle of Stalingrad, including Soviet and German weapons, propaganda and documents. It also contains the largest painting in all of Russia, composed by seven painters of the Grekov school and titled “The Defeat of the Fascist Armies at Stalingrad.” Should you tire of military exhibits, the city’s other museums can cater to a range of tastes. The Volgograd Regional Studies Museum (7 Prospekt Lenina; +7 8442-38-84-39; museum.ru/m742) contains archeological, ethnographic, zoological and musical displays. Another option is the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts (21 Prospekt Lenina; +7 8442-38-19-38; volgogradmuseum.ru), which is sure to impress with its array of works from the pre- and post-revolutionary period. The centerpiece of its collection is the artwork of Ilya Mashkov, a native of the Volgograd region. For those wishing to travel further afield, Volgograd can serve admirably as a base for exploring the surrounding area. Tour operator Volgograd Compass (75A Ulitsa Mira, Volzhsky; +7 8443-58-18-00; volga-kompas.ru), which is based in neighboring town Volzhsky but can pick you up from the city center, can arrange tours to any of the Volgograd region’s six national parks as well as hunting or fishing excursions. Alternatively, a Volga cruise can be easily organized with any of the companies operating out of the river port building. Nightlife If you are looking for an unusual way to spend an evening, then there is nowhere better than Volgograd’s New Experimental Theater (5 Ulitsa Mira; +7 8442-38-08-45; net.volgograd.ru). Staging highly original, if somewhat bizarre, productions of classic and contemporary drama, the theater has built a reputation for itself locally. For more mainstream shows, you should head to the city’s musical theater (4 Ulitsa Chuikova; +7 8442-38-30-68; muzteatr-vlg.ru). Keen to show off your dance moves to Volgograd’s hippest? Then nightclub Piranya (6 Naberezhnaya 62nd Army; +7 8442-90-05-33; pirana.ru) is the place for you. Located in the river port building with views overlooking the Volga, Piranya is regularly visited by top Russian and international DJs and stays open till the early hours. Calypso (2/1 Raboche-Krestyanskaya Ulitsa; +7 8442-95-64-50) offers the same thumping music and laser lighting, but with more upmarket decor and four themed bars. Where to eat Cafe Bellagio (13 Ulitsa Mira; +7 8442-38-48-86; cafe-bellagio.ru) is home to some of the finest cuisine in all of Volgograd. A hit with business visitors and the local elite, this tastefully decorated European restaurant offers all the Italian staples and an impressive wine list to boot. A meal for two people with three courses and a bottle of wine will set you back about 4,000 rubles ($140). Plus, if you visit in the summer, there is a charming terrace at the back where you can soak up the sun while dining. Another option nearby is restaurant Moliere (12 Ulitsa Mira; +7 8442-55-14-55). Here you can sample a mix of Russian and European dishes, with everything from fish to fowl on the menu. Located right in the heart of the city on the Fallen Fighters’ Square, this restaurant is popular with all comers and especially convenient if you are planning to spend the evening at the New Experimental Theater, which is a stone’s throw away. Expect to pay upward of 4,000 rubles for a three-course meal for two, wine included. If you are looking for a hearty, informal meal, then German-themed Bochka (16 Sovietskaya Ulitsa; +7 8442-91-93-19) will do the trick. Satisfying and inexpensive stews and draft beers from Europe are what this restaurant does best. A meal here should cost less than 1,000 rubles. Where to stay Volgograd Intourist (14 Ulitsa Mira; +7 8442-30-23-01; volgograd-intourist.ru) is the most luxurious hotel the city has to offer. Visiting politicians, businesspeople and the wealthy tend to choose the Intourist for its central location and modern facilities. Built in 1957 in pseudo-baroque style, it counts among its former guests ex-French President Jacques Chirac. Prices start at 3,000 rubles per night and rise to 10,000 rubles for a two-room suite overlooking the central square. Next best is Hotel Volgograd (12 Ulitsa Mira; +7 8442-55-19-55; hotelvolgograd.ru), which is situated opposite the Intourist on Fallen Fighters’ Square and is just as popular with business visitors. Completely rebuilt after the German bombing in Stalinist empire style, it represents a slightly less ostentatious alternative to its neighbor across the way. Conveniently, restaurant Moliere is within the hotel complex, on the first floor. Rooms cost 2,600 rubles to 8,500 rubles a night for a two-room suite with a hot tub. A more affordable alternative is Hotel Astoria (276 Ulitsa Parkhomenko; +7 8442-37-76-25; astoria-vlg.ru). Five minutes’ walk from the train station, this small four-star hotel is modern and comfortable. Rooms here vary from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles a night. Conversation starters History is everywhere in Volgograd. So mention the city’s glorious past or pay tribute to its war heroes, and you are sure to get the locals talking. In particular, Alexander “Sasha” Filippov and Mikhail Panikakha are dear to Volgograd hearts. The first worked as a Red Army spy, reporting on German troop movements at the age of 17; the second threw himself on an advancing enemy tank, destroying it with the two Molotov cocktails he clutched in his hands, while defending the Red October factory. If military reminiscences fail, you might have more luck mentioning the achievements of some of the city’s sporting greats. Yelena Isynbayeva, five-time world champion in the pole vault, and tennis player Nikolai Davydenko, formerly ranked third in the world, were both born locally. Also, Volgograd’s LUKoil-sponsored water polo team is among the best in Russia. How to get there Volgograd is easily accessible by plane, train and boat. From St. Petersburg the 1535-kilometer journey is most comfortable by air. On even days of the week, Aeroflot and Rossiya Airlines offer direct flights, taking about two hours and forty-five minutes to reach Volgograd International Airport and cost upward of 4,150 rubles one way. Direct trains from Moscow Railway Station leave every other day. The journey takes nearly a day and a half and tickets cost 1,761 rubles for a one-way second-class ticket and 4,217 for first. If you can’t wait for a direct train to get there, many trains leave from the same station to Moscow, where you can then change trains and continue on to Volgograd. Although impractical if you are planning a quick visit, there is no more beautiful way to arrive in Volgograd than by riverboat. Between the months of May and September, Volga cruises depart from Moscow and St. Petersburg, passing through the city on their way to Astrakhan. Prices vary considerably depending on the itinerary and level of comfort you choose, but expect to pay more than 35,000 rubles for a three-week round trip from the capital. Alex Winning lived in Volgograd for six months.
Volgograd Population: 1,021,200  Acting mayor: Sergei Sokolov  Main industries: shipbuilding, oil refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, machinery and vehicle manufacture, electrical and thermal energy, food processing, and steel, iron and aluminum production.  Founded: 1589  Interesting fact: Anna Chapman, a former sleeper agent returned to Russia in a 2010 spy swap with the United States, was born and grew up in Volgograd.  Sister cities: Yerevan, Armenia; Liege, Belgium; Coventry, Britain; Toronto, Canada; Chendu, China; Dijon, France; Köln, Germany; Chennai, India; Turin, Italy; Hiroshima, Japan; Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., and 10 others.  Helpful contacts: •Alexander Belitsky, president of the Volgograd Chamber of Commerce (7 Gvardeiskaya Ulitsa; +7 8442-24-22-26, 56-36-11; vcci@mail.ru; volgogradcci.ru); •Yevgeny Golovko, head of Volgograd administration’s economy department (25 Ulitsa Lenina; +7 8442-30-13-45; economy@volgadmin.ru). Major Businesses •Volgogradneftemash (45 Elektrolesovskaya Ulitsa; +7 8442-40-72-09; vnm.ru) is the largest Russian manufacturer of machinery for the gas, oil and petrochemical industries. As with all else in Volgograd, the company has changed names repeatedly since plans were laid for the Stalingrad cracking equipment factory in 1941. Over the 70 years since its first incarnation, Volgogradneftemash has expanded production significantly and now works with Gazprom, LUKoil, Rosneft as well as partners from Belarus, Ukraine and Central Asia. • Khimprom (23 Promyslovnaya Ulitsa; +7 8442-45-19-39; vocco.ru) is a major chemicals producer, specializing in inorganic and chloro-organic compounds as well as disinfectants, insect repellents and detergents. The enterprise is part of the state-run Russian Technologies corporation and employs more than 8,000 staff at its factory, to the south of the city. •The Volgograd Red October Metallurgical Factory (110 Prospekt Lenina; +7 8442-74-87-77; vmzko.ru) is one of Russia’s largest metallurgical facilities supplying the aviation, machine-building and chemical industries with high-quality steel. The factory currently produces more than 600 grades of steel, including alloyed and superalloyed varieties. Its export, trading and marketing activities are managed by the Midland Group.
Sergei Sokolov, Acting mayor Q: Why should investors choose to invest in Volgograd’s businesses? A: Volgograd is an important junction for the international north-south transportation corridor. Through our city run river, rail and road routes to Kazakhstan and the countries of Central Asia and beyond — to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and China. This opens up broad opportunities for the creation of logistical centers and other organizations serving Russian and EU retail companies here. The city’s powerful industrial complex is made up of leading machine-building, metallurgical, chemical and petrochemical enterprises. Compared with other cities in southern Russia, Volgograd certainly wins in terms of its investment potential, including the education level of its population, the efficiency of its scientific-technical activity and its labor resources. Q: Which sectors of the city’s economy are most attractive to Russian and foreign investors? A: Of course, the most attractive sectors for investors are the machine-building, metallurgical, chemical, petrochemical and energy-producing industries, as well as light industry and food processing. Q: What steps has the city’s administration taken in recent years to improve the investment climate? A: The main goal of the Volgograd administration’s municipal policies has been providing the conditions for an economic uplift in the city, including attracting investment in efficient, competitive, ecologically safe methods of production. For this, the city has created a whole range of normative acts regulating investment activity. Volgograd’s investment council carries out a coordinating role in supervising investment projects locally. Q: What do you see as Volgograd’s biggest asset? A: I believe that the main asset of our city is the people themselves, representatives of diverse nationalities and faiths who have lived in peace and harmony and worked productively on this God-given land for several centuries. Sources of social tension are absent here. It is also worth mentioning the city’s favorable geographical location. Volgograd is “the city of the five seas,” located on a picturesque bank of one of Europe’s largest rivers and within touching distance of major raw materials deposits.
Maxim Sergiyenko, General director, Volgograd City, a business complex that is being constructed locally. Q: What’s it like doing business in Volgograd? A: Running a business in Volgograd is not simple, and the economic crisis has played its role, but, as they say, “the road will rise to meet you.” Local authorities also contribute to this. Our project will raise the town to a new level, the level of a modern metropolis. Q: How does Volgograd City aim to contribute to Volgograd’s development? A: The Volgograd City business center has already become a local tourist attraction. Volgograd City is the tallest building in Volgograd and the only Class-A business center in the city. It is capable of holding more than 2,000 people and boasts restaurants, an entertainment center and fitness club with a therapeutic pool. We believe that we represent a success story on how to run a business in our “hero city.” The project is truly unique and ambitious. We are building a city of the future. Q: How can investors help your project? A: In order to realize the whole project, we would be glad to welcome partners in the restaurant business, large fitness club operators, experienced hotel firms and representatives from modern, Western-looking medical centers. TITLE: Moscow’s Red Cross Is Tangled in Power Struggle AUTHOR: By Alexander Bratersky PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times TEXT: MOSCOW — Irina Lernochinskaya, a veteran leader of Moscow’s Red Cross, proudly shows off pictures of herself together with Dutch Princess Margriet and former first lady Naina Yeltsin. Lernochinskaya has won much praise from the world’s luminaries for her work to establish and keep afloat a Red Cross-sponsored charity for homeless and runaway children in southern Moscow. However, the phone calls she now gets are not filled with praise and encouragement, but rather anonymous threats warning her to retire. Lernochinskaya has lost her job with the Red Cross, and she and other former Red Cross employees link the threats to the new head of the organization’s Moscow branch whom they describe as an unscrupulous businessman with highly placed connections. The city’s Red Cross, which numbered 50,000 members and hundreds of employees, including 205 full-time nurses, was disbanded last year and immediately replaced by a new Red Cross headed by entrepreneur Sergei Natarov. Lernochinskaya said the reorganization was carried out with numerous legal violations, all of which were condoned, if not implemented, by Natarov’s associates in government agencies. She said this is also why the threats continue, physical attacks against her and other former Red Cross workers have gone uninvestigated, and only a handful of lawsuits have been won by the Red Cross’ old guard. “If I had ever thought that something like this might happen, I never would have started working for the Red Cross in the first place,” Lernochinskaya, a woman in her early 50s, said dejectedly in an interview. Lernochinskaya joined the Soviet branch of the International Red Cross in 1989. Now she and a dozen other die-hard former employees of the city’s branch are waging a battle against the decision to put them out in the streets after two decades of hard work. They all blame Natarov, a Bryansk region native who runs a real estate business in the capital, for their misfortunes. The city’s Red Cross, incidentally, ran several properties in Moscow, including three medical centers, two charity drug stores and a small laundry used by low-income people. Its former employees said it assisted 15,000 elderly people and 5,000 disabled people per year. One of the medical centers, which opened in the late 1990s in southeastern Moscow and had the capacity to treat 30 people simultaneously, mostly lonely retirees, now stands abandoned, with its equipment and beds covered in dust. The 700-square-meter center had a cardiologist and a surgeon who treated patients under contract with the Red Cross. “We have closed all of this with tears in our eyes,” said Lidia Khrameyeva, former chairman of the Red Cross southeastern Moscow branch, who chaired the center. “They are so dumb to have destroyed this.” Khrameyeva said the center could not continue to operate after the new national leadership of the Red Cross disbanded the Moscow organization and took over its bank accounts in 2008. Red Cross Revamp The Russian Red Cross oversees all 82 regional branches of the Red Cross, including the branch in Moscow. All national Red Cross organizations are loosely affiliated with the International Red Cross, but the central office in Geneva cannot interfere with the activities of the local offices. The Red Cross survives on donations, but its charter allows it to raise funds through commercial activities, including leasing office space, running businesses and staging lotteries. Natarov was appointed head of Moscow’s Red Cross in 2010 by his friend, head of Russian Red Cross Raisa Lukutsova — another Bryansk native who became the organization’s chairwoman in 2006 and was re-elected to the post in August. Natarov’s appointment came after a drawn-out battle by Lukutusova’s administration to uproot the then-head of the Moscow Red Cross, medical professor Erik Prazdnikov, who also came to power in 2006 with promises to reform the organization. Lernochinskaya, who headed the southern district branch of the Moscow Red Cross, said Natarov tried to bribe her into replacing Prazdnikov at the helm. “I told him that even if he showered me with money, it would not help him because the decision doesn’t depend on me alone,” Lernochinskaya said. The Moscow Red Cross chief is elected through a vote by all district branch leaders. Maybe she should have taken the money, if there was any. In August 2008, Lernochinskaya was severely beaten in the hall of her apartment building, with the attacker stopping for a moment to inform her that he was acting on behalf of Natarov, who was by then a senior official in the Russian Red Cross, she said. Police never investigated the attack, she said, and soon after she filed a complaint, she started to receive threats by text message, urging her to quit. She also ended up at the wrong end of a lawsuit after Natarov reported to police that she had stolen money from the sale of an apartment donated to the Red Cross by a retiree. Lernochinskaya is indeed in need of money for heart surgery. But she denied wrongdoing and said she has bank papers tracing the sale proceeds to prove her innocence. But that did not stop the police from searching her house, embarassing Lernochinskaya in front of her neighbors. “My neighbors who once heard me speaking on television saw the police officers in my apartment,” she said, crying as she remembered the humiliation of the moment. The investigation is ongoing. A request submitted to city police on August went unanswered. Other people accused by the former Red Cross workers of wrongdoing were equally unresponsive to requests for comment. Natarov refused to comment for this report. A faxed request to Russian Red Cross went unanswered, and the organization’s spokeswoman, Tatyana Klinitskaya, declined to comment. The spokeswoman for the International Red Cross representative office in Moscow said her office was aware of the situation but could not comment on an internal matter regarding the Russian side. She also said she did not want to discuss the issue in view of an ongoing court case filed by the dismissed employees. Building Takeover In February 2008, matters were advanced by means of private security guards, employed by the Russian Red Cross to vacate the headquarters of the organization’s city branch on Piryeva Street in western Moscow. Moscow Red Cross employees, many of them middle-aged women, were put out in the streets during the takeover, much as illegal corporate raids are routinely carried out at hundreds of commercial enterprises across Russia. This was also when Moscow Red Cross chief Prazdnikov was fired by the organization’s national chairwoman, Lukutsova. She was helped by a State Duma deputy with United Russia, Viktor Voitenko, who said at the time that Prazdnikov was removed for “discrediting” the group. He did not elaborate. Prazdnikov declined to be interviewed for this story. A former associate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Prazdnikov “is afraid to speak out.” In June 2008, Moscow police opened a criminal case into the situation surrounding the Moscow Red Cross but dropped it soon without explanation. Natarov was appointed by the Russian Red Cross as the chairman of a close-out commission to oversee the disbanding of the city’s old Red Cross. Then in September 2010 Natarov established the new Moscow Red Cross at Lukutsova ‘s request. Voitenko — a former KGB general — was a co-founder. Russian Red Cross spokeswoman Klinitskaya also co-founded the new city branch. A fax sent to Voitenko’s office in the Duma requesting comment for this story went unanswered. Voitenko was not included on United Russia’s electoral list for the December parliamentary elections, an indication that he will not serve in the next Duma. The new Red Cross has 195 nurses who assist 35,000 elderly people a year, according to the Russian Red Cross web site. In contrast to the old Red Cross, the revamped city branch does not show how many members it has on its web site. In fact, it lists Natarov as the head of the branch but provides little other information. Those who want to make a donation are directed to the Russian Red Cross web site. A woman who answered the phone at a Red Cross office said no services for caring for the elderly were currently available but they were being established. Investigations and Lawsuits Lidia Chavkina, one of the former Moscow Red Cross officials, said Lukutsova and her allies wanted to take over the city branch because it is the most prosperous one in Russia. She is among the two dozen former employees battling the establishment of the new organization, which has been upheld by the Justice Ministry and now before the Moscow Arbitration Court, said their attorney, Andrei Yegorov. The arbitration court recently announced that it would wait until the Gagarinsky District Court hears a case contesting Natarov’s establishment of the new Moscow branch. The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 20. The disbandment was done with violations and without the members’ approval, Yegorov said. But even though the fired Red Cross employees lodged numerous requests with prosecutors and investigators to look into the situation, no inquiry followed, he said. Yegorov said he believes that all law enforcement officers who have tried to take up the case have given up on informal phone orders from senior officials. Threats appear to be the order of the day. Even City Duma Deputy Mikhail Antontsev, who organized unsuccessful hearings on the matter in the legislature in late 2008, has received anonymous death threats by telephone, said Chavkina, who attended the hearings. Antontsev was not immediately available for comment. Igor Maimistov, a reporter for the Literaturnaya Gazeta weekly who wrote about the scandal in May, also spoke about telephone threats. “I received calls from two old ‘pals’ who asked me about my well-being,” he wrote in his article, attesting the “pals” as “plainclothes guys,” a Soviet-era euphemism for law enforcement officers. He said he understood that his well-being might be in danger. Meanwhile, Natarov has begun to rent out Red Cross premises for commercial purposes and pocketed the money, said ex-employee Lernochinskaya. She estimated that Natarov collects 350,000 rubles ($10,000) monthly from the tenants. Former employees wrote in an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev in February 2010 that Natarov was once caught by city police red-handed with cash that he had received from tenants but released on orders from on high. The Kremlin did not react publicly to the complaint, which was the second one to the Kremlin. The first, submitted in early 2010, was forwarded to the Moscow prosecutor’s office, which promptly leaked it to Natarov, lawyer Yegorov said. The former employees have scored some modest wins in Moscow courtrooms, winning a combined 20 million rubles ($690,000) in wages that they were owed over their dismissals, Yegorov said. But reversing the group’s liquidation will be much harder because the new Moscow Red Cross appears to have friends in high places, he said. The husband of Natarov’s ally Lukutsova is a judge in their native Bryansk region, said Khromeyeva, another sacked employee. “Lukutsova told us she never has any problems with the courts,” Khromeyeva said. Yegorov still believes that the arbitration court might reverse the establishment of the new Moscow Red Cross. But Lernochinskaya, though she continues to champion their cause with the others, fears that nothing will change. “Elderly people have been coming to us, seeking our help. We were their last hope, and they have killed that hope,” she said. “And my own good name has also been ruined.” TITLE: Flooding Threatens to Reach Bangkok PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: BANGKOK — Thailand is counting the multibillion dollar cost of nationwide flooding that has killed nearly 270 people and may yet cause more havoc as waters threaten to engulf the country’s capital. Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said a preliminary estimate by the central bank shows economic losses from flooding that began in late July range from baht 60 billion to baht 80 billion ($1.9 billion to $2.6 billion). That figure doesn’t include damages to assets or reconstruction costs and is expected to rise as the flood waters surge toward Bangkok, a city of about 10 million people. Some of its outlying areas are already under water. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Bangkok officials pleaded Tuesday with the city’s residents not to panic as workers raced to complete three critical flood walls with only one or two days to go before the already swollen river that winds through the capital bursts its banks. Supermarket shelves have been cleared by shoppers of basic items such as rice, bottled water, pork and chicken. Flood damage to agricultural land in the country’s north is expected to push up food prices, rice in particular. The disaster is a further blow to Thailand’s electronics and auto industries, which have only just recovered from the production disruptions caused by the March 11 tsunami in Japan that knocked out suppliers of critical components. A dive in Thailand’s auto production caused the economy to shrink in the second quarter. The flooding is the worst to hit the Southeast Asian nation in decades. About 8.2 million people in 60 of Thailand’s 77 provinces have been affected by floods and mudslides, and 30 provinces are currently inundated. Prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoons and storms have killed hundreds of people across Southeast Asia, China, Japan and South Asia in the last four months. Moody’s Analytics economist Fred Gibson said economic losses from the flooding could swell if it spreads to the eastern seaboard province of Rayong where two thirds of Thai industry is located. Honda Motor Company said its Thai vehicle production has been suspended after two industrial estates in the historic capital of Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, were inundated. Local media reported that hundreds of new Honda cars were submerged. Damage to the Saharattananakorn industrial zone in Ayutthaya was estimated by the central bank at baht 25 billion to baht 30 billion. Officials at the Agriculture Ministry said 2.9 million acres (1.17 million hectares) of rice fields might be damaged. Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, has about 27 million acres planted with the staple grain. Another 700,000 acres of land planted with other crops is also likely to have suffered damage, the ministry said. TITLE: Myanmar Promises To Release 6,300 Prisoners PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s newly elected civilian government announced Tuesday it will release more than 6,300 prisoners in an amnesty that could help patch up the country’s human rights record and normalize relations with Western nations. It was widely expected that many of the country’s estimated 2,000 political prisoners would be among those freed, but the amnesty announcements broadcast on state radio and television did not supply any names. Freedom for political detainees has been hotly anticipated as part of liberalizing measures since Myanmar’s long-ruling military government handed power in March to a military-backed, civilian administration. “We welcome the amnesty announcement. This is very good news and we hope that many political prisoners will be among those freed,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi. President Thein Sein, a former army officer who took office in March, has begun a dialogue with the country’s pro-democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and promised other reforms that could start to reverse the harsh policies of decades of military rule. The announcement said 6,359 inmates would be released beginning Wednesday under a humanitarian amnesty signed by Thein Sein for inmates who are old, disabled, unwell or who had shown good “moral behavior.” Relatives of political detainees were excited by the announcement, but wary, given that they could not be sure who would be among those released. Thein Sein instituted an earlier amnesty soon after taking office, but it included just a few dozen political detainees. “We are waiting for the good news but we have not yet been contacted by authorities here,” said Ma Nyein, sister-in-law of prominent comedian and activist Zarganar, who is serving a 35-year sentence in Myitkyina prison in northernmost Kachin State. She said she was unable to reach the prison by phone Tuesday. Most prominent political prisoners, including many affiliated with ethnic minorities, are held in facilities far from the country’s main city of Yangon, in a policy apparently aimed at limiting their ability to communicate through visiting family members and lawyers. Zarganar was arrested in 2008 after he gave interviews to foreign news outlets criticizing the junta’s slow response to Cyclone Nargis, which left nearly 140,000 people dead or missing. He was convicted of causing public alarm and illegally giving information to foreign media. The release of political detainees has been a key concern of the United States, which has been seeking to re-engage with Myanmar after isolating its former military government with political and economic sanctions over its poor record on human rights and democracy. “We have made clear our desire to see continuing progress on issues such as prisoner releases” and other matters, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell said Monday during a lecture in the Thai capital, Bangkok. Myanmar officials who have spoken privately of the release do not expect all of the country’s 2,000 political detainees to be freed. But a failure to release a substantial number could be considered an inadequate gesture by Washington. “There are clearly changes afoot, but we are at the early stages of that process and we are looking to see whether they will be sustained,” said Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia. The United States believes Myanmar’s elections were flawed but has been encouraged by its liberalizing trend since the civilian administration took power, Campbell said. “I think it would be fair to say that we will match their steps with comparable steps,” he said. The U.S. could ease restrictions on financial transactions and travel by top Myanmar officials, and also unblock aid by some multilateral agencies as well as resume its own assistance. TITLE: Police Foil Latest in Series of Arson Attacks On Berlin’s Railway Tracks PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: BERLIN — An attempted arson attack on a railway link in Germany’s capital with three separate explosives devices was thwarted Tuesday, police said. It was the third in two days targeting railway operations in and around Germany’s capital. A railway employee found the explosive devices placed on cables along a railway track in eastern Berlin on Tuesday morning and alerted security, police spokesman Ivo Habedank said. The devices did not explode and were defused by police experts. It was not immediately clear how much damage they would have caused, but there are no houses or busy streets nearby, Habedank said. An arson attempt Monday on Berlin’s central station using seven bottles filled with flammable liquid bundled together and linked to a fuse was thwarted at the last minute. A similar device exploded in a utility shaft next to a high-speed train line west of Berlin a few hours earlier, causing damage but no casualties, and halting train traffic there for the day. It was still unclear whether the attacks were related, Habedank said. A previously unknown leftist group claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks in a letter whose authenticity was being examined by police. In a message posted on a leftist website, a group calling itself Hekla Reception Committee — Initiative for more Eruptions in Society claimed responsibility, saying it was targeting railway operations to protest Germany’s roles in the Afghanistan war and as an arms exporter. The group’s name is an apparent reference to Iceland’s Hekla volcano. Berlin has seen several recent arson attacks that police have blamed on leftist extremists. One of them in May targeted a utility shaft at an important railway hub in the city’s east, causing massive disruption that left thousands of passengers stranded. Germany is a large contributor to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, with about 5,000 soldiers stationed in the north of the country. TITLE: Family Rescued After 20 Hours in Water PUBLISHER: The Associated Press TEXT: MARATHON, Florida — Eight relatives had set out to fish in less-than-ideal conditions off the Florida Keys. It was raining, seas topped 7 feet and winds were whipping up to 38 miles per hour. Before they knew it, two waves hit, capsizing their anchored 22-foot boat and knocking them into the sea about 3 1/2 miles offshore Saturday. Seven, including a 4-year-old, survived by clinging to their capsized vessel and a small blue cooler for nearly 20 hours, suffering exhaustion, jellyfish stings and hypothermia. A 79-year-old woman, the matriarch of the group, was missing and presumed drowned. “When the will to live kicks in, human beings can do amazing things,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Nick Ameen said. The women grabbed the four-year-old girl and the 2 1/2-foot cooler. One of the men tried to rescue his mother, but she slipped through his grasp and disappeared into the water. The women said the boat turned over so quickly that there wasn’t time to grab life jackets for anyone except the child, said Kendra Graves, a seaman with the Coast Guard. Almost immediately, the two groups — the three women and girl, and the three men — drifted apart. Nearly a day later, they were rescued when a commercial fisherman spotted the men Sunday morning and alerted the Coast Guard, which found the women and the blue cooler several miles away in the warm waters. Those rescued were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Florida law requires children aged six or under on a boat 26 feet or less to wear a life jacket if the boat is moving. If the craft is anchored or docked, they don’t have to wear one. As the weather improved Sunday, fishing boat captain David Jensen headed out with customers to catch live bait. Off in the distance, he saw a large object floating in the water. As he turned the boat to get a closer look, he saw a man waving. At first, he said, he thought there was only one person holding on to the sunken boat, its bow protruding just a few feet out of the water. When he got closer, he realized there were three men. “I tried to get them to swim to the boat, but they said they didn’t know how to swim,” Jensen said. “Then I had the mate throw them life jackets. One guy put on the life jacket and swam to the boat. The other two guys wouldn’t get off the boat.” One of Jensen’s customers jumped in and swam over. He tied the boats together, and helped the other two men, one at a time, back to Jensen’s boat. “They were exhausted. One guy overnight had lost his mother,” Jensen said. “He was very visibly upset, which was a little tough because he was the one who spoke the best English.”