SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #635 (2), Friday, January 12, 2001
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TITLE: Local Composers Caught Up in Anthem Fever
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Just when it may have been safe to turn your radio back on, the St. Petersburg Union of Composers has caught the Kremlin's anthem fever and presented a set of lyrics to local officials for the city's currently wordless theme song. 


St. Petersburg's little-heard rallying song currently consists of a wordless movement from the opera "The Bronze Horseman," by the Belgian-born Russian composer Reingold Glier, which was adopted as the city anthem in 1991.

Fittingly, the Union of Composers has selected the beginning stanzas of Alexander Pushkin's renowned poem, "The Bronze Horseman," and set them to Glier music on a compact disc that was presented to City Hall last Friday. 

The disc included several possible renditions of the melody, from a solo voice to a full choir. But according to the Union of Composers, parts of Pushkin's masterpiece may have to be edited to fit the music better, a task union head Andrei Petrov said the union would be happy to take on itself. 

According to Petrov, the idea to add words to the city anthem came about last year, when Gov. Vladimir Yakovlev was elected for his second term. 

"There was stability in the city and politicians started talking about the 300-year anniversary of St. Petersburg," coming up in 2003, Petrov said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

"The anthem would be a very important thing for a celebration of this kind." 

Even so, the new anthem with lyrics has to be approved by City Hall and the Legislative Assembly. 

But so far, officialdom seems largely thrilled by the idea of having a city anthem you can sing. 

Gov. Yakovlev's spokesman, Alexander Afanasyev, said a draft law regarding the lyrics was being drawn up and would be sent to the Legislative Assembly for its approval within a few weeks.

"The anthem has existed for years with no words and that is illegitimate," said Afanasyev in a telephone interview on Tuesday, adding that the governor "likes the words." 

But what of the idea of actually editing Pushkin's famous verse to fit the music? 

Lawmaker Leonid Romankov, who heads the Assembly's Commission for Culture and Education, said he didn't think Russia's answer to Shakespeare would be turning in his grave. 

"I don't think Pushkin would be offended if he found out that his poem is used for the anthem for his native town and such a significant town as St. Petersburg," said Romankov in an interview on Wednesday. 

The Union of Composer's Petrov agreed. 

"If the lyrics are passed by the Legislative Assembly, it would be a unique situation not just for the city, but for the world," he said. 

"Just imagine how great it would be if Britain had words of Shakespeare and Italy had words of Dante."

TITLE: Court Delays Trial of Researcher Sutyagin
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: KALUGA, Central Russia - A regional court on Tuesday adjourned hearings in the espionage trial of arms control researcher Igor Sutyagin after defense lawyers asked for more time to study the accusations against their client. 


The delay was the second requested by lawyers for Sutyagin, a researcher at the U.S.A. and Canada Institute in Mos cow who is accused of using his academic work as a cover for spying. Sutya gin has denied the charges. 

Chief defense lawyer Vladimir Va silt sov said he requested the delay so an additional lawyer could study the case materials. He asked on Dec. 26 that the court delay hearings so Sutyagin could review these materials. The judges agreed Tuesday to adjourn proceedings until Feb. 26, and dismissed an objection from prosecutors who wanted the trial to resume Feb. 10. 

Vasiltsov praised the judges' decision, saying they acted fairly after leaving the closed-door hearings in Kaluga, the capital city of Sutyagin's home region. 

The case is the latest in a spate of espionage trials that human rights activists say signal a revival of the powers of the secret services and a witch hunt for independent thinkers. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, says it's cracking down on spies who infiltrated Russia amid the lawlessness following the Soviet collapse. 

Sutyagin, 35, has spent 14 months in jail awaiting trial. But he received the first details of the charges against him only in an indictment filed Dec. 15, according to Vasiltsov. 

Sutyagin was arrested by the FSB on charges he was giving classified information about the Russian military to foreign intelligence services. The U.S.A. and Canada Institute has no access to government secrets, and Sutyagin's family and lawyers say his only crime was to have read between the lines of military publications, piecing together facts to construct a picture that the military did not want to be known.

TITLE: Headless Body Could Be Journalist's, Says Official
AUTHOR: By Sergei Shargorodsky
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: KIEV, Ukraine - A beheaded body found in a forest near Kiev is likely that of a missing opposition journalist whose disappearance sparked a scandal, Uk rai ne's chief prosecutor said Wednesday. 


But the official, Mykhailo Pote ben ko, said he could not "categorically" state that the body was that of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. 

While Potebenko reported to parliament about the investigation, people demonstrated across Ukraine for and against President Leonid Kuchma. 

Thousands rallied to support Kuch ma in Odessa, Luhansk, Lutsk and other provincial towns in demonstrations organized by pro-presidential parties. 

"We must protect Ukraine's constitution and president from slander spread by destructive forces," a Lutsk rally organizer, Ivan Sidor, said in comments cited by the Interfax news agency. 

Critics said workers of state enterprises and students were forced to attend. 

Anti-presidential protests prompted by the Gongadze case resumed after dying down during the New Year holidays. Several hundred people rallied near parliament in Kiev, where they confronted presidential supporters with shouts of "Shame!" and "Down with Kuchma!" 

Gongadze, 31, a critic of the government and of alleged high-level corruption, was reported missing on Sept. 16. 

Ukrainian opposition media have complained of harassment by the government. The Committee to Protect Journalists last year named the former Soviet republic among the nations where authorities "drive independent media out of business" by tax laws, crippling fines and other measures. 

The government denies persecution of critical media and says they are using such excuses to cover their professional and financial mistakes.

TITLE: American Citizen Missing in Chechnya
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russian officials said on Thursday that they were scouring Chech nya for a U.S. aid worker from Medecins Sans Frontieres [Doctors Without Borders] who was kidnapped by armed gunmen as the aid group concerned suspended its operations in the rebel region.


Kenny Gluck, 38, was traveling in a four-car convoy of medical aid workers in western Chechnya when unidentified men attacked the group, the organization said. Gluck was pulled from his car and forced into one of the attackers' vehicles, which drove away. 

Other foreign and local employees traveling in the group managed to escape unharmed, the statement from the organization's Amsterdam office said. Medecins Sans Frontieres supplies free medical help to disaster areas and war zones. 

Reports from the Russian military said the convoy was attacked near the village of Starie-Atagi, about 20 kilometers south of the Chechen capital Grozny. 

Separatist rebels rejected Russian allegations that they had kidnapped Gluck, the head of the North Caucasus mission of the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, on Tuesday. MSF said the incident had forced it to suspend its work in the region.

Russia's chief military commander in Chechnya, Lt. Gen. Ivan Babichev, chastised the aid workers for operating in Chechnya without a military escort, the Interfax news agency reported. 

"Such behavior in Chechnya by citizens of foreign governments and employees of humanitarian missions is dangerous, which, unfortunately, was shown by the case with Kenny," Babichev was quoted by Interfax as saying. 

"Part of the blame for this tragedy lies with the international organization." 

An official from the office of the Krem lin's Chechnya spokesman, Sergei Yastr zhembsky went further, describing their actions as a "flagrant violation" of rules on access to Chechnya for foreigners.

Interfax news agency quoted Russian official Lt. Gen. Vladimir Bo ko vi kov saying everything was being done to find Gluck.

Another car with an American working for Action Contre La Faim [Action Against Hunger], Jonathan Littel, managed to smash its way through the ambush, although Littel was lightly wounded.

A wave of kidnappings, including the murder of several foreigners, was one reason Russia launched a new military campaign in Chechnya in 1999, just three years after its troops were forced to quit the separatist region in defeat.

MSF said it would move its staff from Chechnya, where fighting between rebels and Russian forces goes on sporadically.

"We have suspended our work in Chechnya and our international staff are now in [neighboring] Ingushetia," said MSF spokesman Diderik Van Halsema.

"Depending on how the situation develops we will decide what to do next," he said by telephone from the Netherlands.

MSF had heard nothing about Gluck since the news of his abduction on Wednesday, he added.

Jan Kubis, secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the kidnapping was a "lesson to us all" but hoped his officials would anyway soon start work in Chechnya.

The OSCE hopes to send officials to Chechnya to work on rights issues and help find a political settlement to the fighting.

The OSCE quit Chechnya in 1998, citing security fears, after helping negotiate an end to the first Chechen war, in 1994-96.

Russian officials have blamed Chechen rebels belonging to a group controlled by a field commander called Akhmadov for the kidnap and expected a ransom demand soon.

But rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov denied these allegations.

"Akhmadov has no link to this incident. We have no need to bother with Americans, we have no money problems," he said by telephone, from an undisclosed location.


- AP, Reuters

TITLE: Dark Rumors Surround City FSB Shuffle
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Nikolai Patrushev, the national director for the Federal Security Service, or FSB, Tuesday relieved Alexander Grigoryev - a close ally of President Vladimir Putin - of his post as director of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast FSB. 


In his place, Patrushev appointed Lt. Gen. Sergei Smirnov, a St. Petersburg native who worked as a deputy head of the Federal Guard Service in Moscow. He was appointed to that post in 1998, when Vladimir Putin was still the national director of the FSB. The FSB is the Successor organization to the KGB. 

Smirnov will be taking up his new duties in St. Petersburg next week, FSB spokesman Alexander Koloshensky said Thursday. The FSB said Grigoryev would be leaving for an as yet unspecified post in Moscow. The presidential press service could not be reached for comment.

Though the reasons surrounding the shuffle remain unclear, it has led to dark speculation in some sectors of the Russian media that Grigoryev was removed for airing concerns that Victor Cherkesov, Putin's Northwest governor general, has known mob bosses in his administration. 

On Wednesday, the Moscow daily Segodnya - owned by Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-MOST company, which has been critical of Putin - took this line and provided a list of Cherkesov employees that are allegedly linked to the notorious Tambov crime organization. 

Putin and Grigoryev have known one another since their law school days at Leningrad State University and have remained close ever since. Later, while working in the secret services, they were acquainted with Cherkesov. 

But according to Segodnya, Grigoryev and Cherkesov's relations soured when Grigoryev voiced concern over Cherkesov's employment of a certain Sergei Sviridov, who had earlier been connected in press reports to Alexander Malyshev and Vladimir Kumarin, both reportedly high-ranking members of the Tambov gang. 

According to the report, Grigoryev made his feelings about this known in Moscow. 

Also of concern to Grigoryev, the paper said, was Cherkesov's appointment of Valery Bolshakov - a former deputy chief St. Petersburg prosecutor - as one of his deputies. 

Bolshakov, after leaving the prosecutor's office in 1994, went to work for Viktor Novosyolov, the then-controversial vice-speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Novosyolov was decapitated in October 1999 by a bomb placed on the top of his car while he waited at a stoplight. No suspects were ever apprehended. 

Novosyolov had been confined to a wheelchair after a 1993 assassination attempt. Before his death, he maintained close ties to Kumarin. Segodnya also cited rumors that Grigoryev had clashed with top officials in St. Petersburg who want to pin several high-profile contract hits on Yury Shutov, the former Legislative Assembly deputy who has been in prison since 1999 awaiting trial on charges of murder and running a criminal organization. 

It was Grigoryev's contention, Segodnya reported, that the Tambov group - not just Shutov - was responsible for some of the alleged murders. 

The account presented by Segodnya was confirmed as true by a source close to the events who requested anonymity. 

"There was a conflict with Cher ke sov," said the source in a interview Wednesday. 

"The decision to get rid of Grigoryev was made Dec. 23 or 24. The unexpected blow came in the form of Patrushev suspending all of Grigoryev's orders to appoint new deputies." 

Yet few of the figures named in the Segodnya report could be reached for comment. Despite repeated attempts, neither Kumarin nor Sviridov were available by telephone. Grigoryev, likewise, was "on vacation," according the FSB's Koloshensky. 

Bolshakov when reached for comment said he had not seen the Segodnya report. But he was outraged when given a description of its contents during a telephone interview Wednesday, vowing to take the paper to court for slander. 

Alexander Chizhinok, Cherkesov's spokesman, refused to comment on the report's allegations in a telephone interview Thursday. But he did confirm that Sviridov and Bolshakov were on Cherkesov's payroll. He added that he knew nothing about any conflict between Grigoryev and Cherkesov. 

The FSB's Koloshensky agreed. 

"There was no such a conflict between the FSB [and Cherkesov], and that's why there is nothing to comment on, really," Koloshensky said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. 

If the Segodnya report is true, Grigoryev is not the first law enforcement official in St. Petersburg to get a job transfer after rooting out alleged members of the Tambov gang who have achieved positions of power. 

Anatoly Ponidelko, who was St. Petersburg's chief of police from 1996 to 1998, made a splash at the beginning of his tenure by claiming to have a list of members of the Tambov group who worked in Gov. Vladimir Yakovlev's administration. 

However, in 1999 - a year after a reportedly unrelated dismissal for "unprofessionalism" - Ponidelko made a frail peace with Yakovlev by announcing that no such list ever existed and that the Governor's administration was free of Tambov influences.

TITLE: Gazprom, Media-MOST Feud Over Sale of Shares
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russia's natural gas monopoly has called off talks on selling to foreign investors some of the shares it holds in Russia's largest private television channel, a Gazprom official said on Thursday. 


The breakdown of negotiations is the latest upheaval in the protracted battle between the government and Russia's largest independent media holding, Media-MOST. 

Media-MOST agreed in November to turn over a 19 percent stake in its flagship television NTV to government-controlled Gazprom as collateral for a loan. 

Under the agreement, the stake was to be sold through Germany's Deutsche Bank to a foreign investor. But on Thursday, Gazprom announced that Media-MOST had failed to hand over the shares, and said that sale negotiations with Deutsche Bank were off. 

"Today, all possible deadlines have expired," Gazprom said in a statement Thursday. "We have exchanged letters with Deutsche Bank on the cancelation of the agreement." 

Media-MOST spokesman Dmitry Ostalsky said his company refused to turn over the shares because Gazprom had made a separate deal with Deutsche Bank that abolished an earlier provision allowing Media-Most to vote with the shares until they are sold. 

"This is a very serious violation of our rights, and that's why the shares were not transferred," he said. 

Gazprom, which had previously held other stock in NTV, also received another 16 percent of shares under the November deal in payment of overdue debts. The deal made the monopoly the single-largest shareholder in NTV, raising concerns about state influence over the channel, which is known for its critical reporting on the Kremlin.

TITLE: Media-MOST Says Talks Being Held With Turner
AUTHOR: By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - After weeks of rumors in Moscow's media circles, the mysterious "foreign investor" negotiating a potential purchase of a blocking stake in Vladimir Gusinsky's beleaguered NTV was publicly named. And a familiar name it is: CNN founder and Time Warner vice chairman Ted Turner.


Confronted with a question from an Itar-Tass correspondent after a news conference Monday in Washington dedicated to an unrelated subject, Turner all but confirmed that he was indeed talking to Media-MOST, Prime-Tass reported.

"I am currently working on a major investment into one of Russia's companies, although I cannot say yet which one," Prime-Tass quoted Turner as saying in its Russian-language report. "Perhaps, it is NTV," he added. "They are looking for an international investor."

A source at Media-MOST on Tuesday confirmed that negotiations with Turner have been under way for at least two months, and said the ultimate outcome would depend on the Krem lin's position.

The Nov. 17 agreement between Media-MOST and Gazprom settling their long-running politically charged dispute over a total of $473 million in debt stipulated that 25 percent plus one share of NTV was to be sold to a "recognized international media investor" for at least $90 million. The portfolio included a 19-percent stake in NTV transferred to Gazprom as collateral. Media-MOST was to include slightly over 5 percent, with Gazprom-Media adding about 0.5 percent. Deutsche Bank AG London was hired as an intermediary.

But a day after the news of the Turner negotiations broke, prosecutors searched Gusinsky's Media-MOST company and questioned Andrei Tsimailo, the man involved in negotiating a deal with foreign investors.

The news that the CNN founder may buy a stake in NTV also appeared to anger Media-MOST's main shareholder, government-controlled Gaz prom-Media, thus ending a two-month-old peace.

In the news agency reports, Gaz prom-Media officials charged that Media-MOST is violating the Nov. 17 agreement by not coordinating the search for a foreign investor with Gaz prom and by not using Deutsche Bank as an intermediary. 

Media-MOST spokeswoman Yelena Bruni contended that Media-MOST is allowed to search for an investor independently. She said Gazprom wants an investor "who would suit their political and business patrons, namely the Kremlin and Video International."

Advertising giant Video International was founded by Mikhail Lesin, who is now the press minister.

What is surprising is that the agreement was welcomed at the time by Gaz prom, NTV and the Press Ministry, particularly because it would mean that no one would have a controlling share in the television company but all three owners would be able to veto major decisions, to ensure political neutrality. If the deal is implemented, Gusinsky will control slightly more than 25 percent of NTV, leaving Gazprom-Media with about 45.5 percent and the foreign investor with about 25 percent. The U.S. fund Capital Research holds 4.5 percent of NTV.

Turner's press office in Atlanta was caught totally unaware Tuesday morning and started to hunt for confirmation or refutation of the report. Later in the day, Turner Enterprises spokeswoman Maura Donlan hinted that Turner likely negotiated with Media-MOST as a private individual and not on behalf of Time Warner or CNN.

"Mr. Turner has always had a keen interest in Russia going back to the 1986 Goodwill Games," Donlan said by telephone. "However, it is not our practice to comment on Mr. Turner's personal investments."

Given the small number of "recognized international media investors," Russian television analysts have tossed about several names ever since the November announcement. In December, Kommersant Vlast magazine profiled four potential buyers: Turner, Hollinger International owner Conrad Black, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and Australian-born magnate Rupert Murdoch who, the magazine concluded, was the most likely buyer of the NTV stake.

Russia is unique among Eastern Europe countries in that its television market has been dominated by local tycoons rather than by Western media companies. "Whichever Western magnate is the first to get a foothold in the Russian market will have big opportunities in the future," Anna Kachkayeva, a television and radio analyst with Radio Free Europe, said.

In preparation for the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Turner worked closely with Vladimir Putin, who oversaw international affairs in Anatoly Sobchak's city government.

Turner was also the first major Western businessmen to get an audience with the new Russian president, on May 11, four days after Putin's inauguration. By coincidence, also on May 11, masked special police forces raided Media-MOST headquarters in central Moscow, signaling the start of the showdown between Gusinsky and the government.

On the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people for 2000, Turner is ranked 30th with a total worth of $8.3 billion. In 1997, Turner pledged $1 billion to the United Nations over a period of 10 years.

TITLE: Beer Draws Health Ministry's Ire
AUTHOR: By Oksana Yablokova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Health Ministry on Tuesday called for tough curbs to be placed on beer to counter what it said was a deadly addiction sweeping the nation.


Deputy Health Minister Gennady Onishchenko warned that Russians have been buying into advertising touting the frothy beverage as a healthy alternative to the traditional favorite vodka, but instead of picking beer over vodka are drinking both at a frenetic pace.

"A sea of beer has been added to the 14 liters of alcohol consumed in Russia per capita annually," Onishchenko told a news conference.

Beer by law is not considered an alcoholic beverage.

Slamming the country's growing fondness for the frothy beverage as a looming addiction problem, Onishchenko said the government must take steps to ban beer television commercials, outlaw brands that have an alcohol content of 6 percent or higher, and recatagorize stronger beers as alcoholic drinks.

Beer producers immediately expressed alarmed over Onishchenko's remarks, saying he is trying to ruin a prospering industry. 

The deputy health minister is also head of the State Health Inspectorate, which has the authority to shut down any brewery over health concerns with the wave of its hand.

Onishchenko just last month ordered that health inspectors examine the quality of beer made at all of the nation's breweries and report back to the ministry by June.

In recent years, the beer market has been one of the few booming sectors in Russia, growing by 20 percent to 22 percent in 2000 alone. Consumption shot up by 10 percent to 30 percent a year through much of the 1990s.

But with about 30 liters of beer consumed per capita per year, Russia is still well behind the United States and many European countries.

Onishchenko said that while Russia is following a global trend in developing a taste for drinks with weaker levels of alcohol but, unlike in the West, the nation's love for vodka is not declining as its appetite for beer grows.

But Stephen Ogden, chief financial officer for Bravo Holdings Ltd. - sole owners of Bravo International, which produces Botchkarev beer - said on Thursday that Onishchenko's assumptions were incorrect.

"There has been a definite and observable trend [in Russia] away from hard liquor consumption and toward beer," Ogden said. "It's a positive trend that is clearly healthier and carries positive social implications."

Ogden cited a United Financial Group report that said annual vodka consumption had dropped from about 2.8 billion to 2.4 billion liters between 1998 and 2000, while beer consumption over the same period rose from 3.3 billion liters to around 50 billion, according to figures from the State Statistics Committee.

"Alcoholics here don't drink beer, but vodka," added Ogden. "One has to ask whether the vodka lobby is behind this."

Onishchenko also attacked what he called aggressive television commercials that often target youth. As a result, he added, beer consumers have become increasingly younger in recent years.

"Now even children and teenagers drink this seemingly non-alcoholic drink," he said. 

"Beer, seemingly harmless and even useful according to the commercials, is becoming women's favorite drink. Even pregnant women drink it and that is how a beer alcoholic is formed in the mother's womb," he added.

"It's incredible," responded Ogden. "In most countries we see a large number of beer ads. Why is Russia any different?"

Other beer producers also reacted strongly, with some accusing Onishchenko of incompetence and others calling for him to resign.

"He is making an anti-state and anti-people policy against a progressively developing industry," Nadezhda Vinogradova, spokesperson at the nation's largest brewer, Baltika, said by telephone on Wednesday

But breweries may not have to fight off new regulations from the Health Ministry any time soon. Legislation over beer is unclear. The law calls for special legislation to be enacted for beer, but none has yet been approved.

The Health Ministry would also have to gain the approval of a number of governmental bodies - including the Anti-Monopoly Ministry, which oversees television advertising - if any of its proposals are to go into force.

Andrei Ivanov, consumer goods analyst at Troika Dialog, said the industry is in no danger from the health authorities as long as there is no legislature regulating the quality and amount of alcohol contained in beer.

Whatever the outcome, Ogden said that attack would not do the overall investment climate any good.

"Government officials should really be more careful with their public pronouncements," he said.

"Particularly over the last three years, there has been a significant level of investment in the Russian beer industry. The government has been taking in more tax revenues from higher sales.

"[But Onishchenko's] comments appeared in a newsletter aimed at foreign investors. So people in London or Washington will read this and think, 'Here we go again.'"

TITLE: President Puts Alcohol in Limbo
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Alcohol producers and wholesalers awoke with a serious hangover New Year's Day after President Vladimir Putin made them outlaws with a late-year veto that shocked the industry.


"All alcohol that is now being produced and sold on the territory of Russia is technically illegal," said National Alcohol Association head Pavel Shapkin. "Any store can now be shut for selling it."

The journey toward prohibition began in August when Putin signed into law four chapters of the second part of the Tax Code, which included strict new alcohol regulations that were slated to become operational Jan. 1. 

Among other stipulations, the code calls for excise duties on alcohol to be split evenly between producers and wholesalers, whereas previously the producers bared the full burden.

Instead of a single stamp from just the producers, a second, regional stamp from the wholesalers is now also needed. As a result, the excise tax is now split evenly between federal and regional budgets.

In order to implement the new system, traders were to receive the status of "excise warehouses," where inspectors from the Tax Ministry, according to the plan, would ensure the orderly use of special regional excise stamps and help to rid the industry of its estimated 40 percent to 70 percent bootleg production.

The legislation even stipulated that special tenders be held in order to choose the companies that would make the stamps.

It all sounded good. But in November, realizing that virtually nothing had been accomplished to turn the legislation into reality, the State Duma voted to give the government more time and delay the operational date of the new system to June 1. 

Meanwhile, Putin kept quiet and waited until less than three days before the week-long holiday to inform Duma deputies in a letter that he had vetoed their extension and that they would have to face the consequences for slow work.

Putin's veto shocked producers and dealers alike. With no system in place, after Jan. 1, all production and sales of alcohol became technically illegal. Some producers stopped producing altogether out of fear. Many decided to continue business as usual and hope for the best.

Whatever the outcome, the effects are already taking their toll nationwide. And the volumes involved are staggering. In the first 10 months of 2000, Russia produced 950 million liters of alcohol, with preliminary forecasts for 2000 set at 1.2 billion liters, said Shapkin of the National Alcohol Association.

All 10 distilleries in the Kemerovo region have stopped selling, Shapkin said. Most wholesalers in Tomsk have done the same, as have some of their counterparts in Moscow.

But Alexei Yegarmin, deputy general director for Moscow's Serebryanoprudsky distillery, said his company wasn't altering its production. 

Regardless of their different strategies for dealing with being in legal limbo, however, both producers and wholesalers wasted no time blaming the Tax Ministry for being slow with providing documents and instructions.

"By all means this is due to the sluggishness of the Tax Ministry," said Yegarmin. "The required stamps have not been produced. The method for working with the excise warehouses has not been worked out. With a later deadline [the ministry] relaxed and was not prepared [for Putin's veto]," he said.

When contacted by telephone Wednesday, a Tax Ministry spokes woman said the ministry wasn't prepared to comment.

The spokeswoman said the ministry would hold a press conference on the issue at the end of the month.

TITLE: 2 Arrested as U.S.-Russia Sex Trade Scam Revealed
AUTHOR: By Yereth Rosen
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A check into the legal status of Russian dancers at an Anchorage strip club has uncovered what U.S. federal prosecutors say was a scheme to force women into the sex trade.


The investigation has resulted in the arrest and jailing on Tuesday of two men - one American and one Russian - who prosecutors say used false pretenses to get seven women and teenagers to dance topless and naked.

One of the men, Tony Kennard of Chugiak, Alaska, appeared on Wednesday before a federal magistrate for formal charging.

He was charged with lying on visa applications, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

The other suspect, Viktor Virchenko of Krasnodar, Russia, was scheduled to appear before the magistrate on Friday.

The two had obtained visas for the dancers by saying they would appear at folk festivals and cultural events such as Russian Orthodox Christmas celebrations, according to charging documents.

The dancers were said to be shocked when, after arriving in Anchorage last month, they were told they would be performing in a strip club, according to the affidavit filed by an Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, agent.

They were made to dance for tips that were confiscated by Kennard, said the affidavit released on Wednesday, and their belongings, passports and airline tickets were held by Kennard and Virchenko.

The dancers were brought to the United States "to be placed in involuntary servitude and coerced into dancing for money, all of which money was kept by Kennard," said the affidavit of INS Special Agent Stefanie Vetter.

The dancers, who included a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, lived in wretched conditions and feared Kennard and Virchenko, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Cooper.

"They were essentially kept in one room. They slept on mattresses on the floor," Cooper told U.S. Magistrate Harry Branson.

One of the teenagers was so depressed that she suffered an emotional breakdown around Christmas and deliberately injured herself, Cooper said.

"We have victims who have been exploited, and we're going to play this right by the book," he told reporters.

INS agents became interested in the case when the strip club, the Crazy Horse, began advertising the Russians' appearances.

The dancers were still in Alaska in the care of the INS although some were reported to be preparing to head home to Russia.

TITLE: Berezovsky: Moscow Wants Control of ORT
AUTHOR: By Ron Popeski
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky said in an interview on Thursday that the state is planning to take control of Russia's top television station ORT, as a dispute rumbled over rival NTV's bid to stay independent.


The status of Russia's media has come under close scrutiny under President Vladimir Putin, with some critics accusing him of trying to stifle free speech.

NTV, Russia's biggest independent TV network and considered the most influential Russian media outlet not controlled by the Kremlin, says it has battled government influence. NTV has launched talks to sell shares to the U.S. media mogul Ted Turner, who founded CNN.

ORT, Russia's most-watched television station, has always been partly state-owned but Berezovsky was seen as the true force behind it.

But Berezovsky - once a Kremlin insider during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin - who has sided with those who accuse Putin of threatening press freedom, told the daily Kommersant he was to sell his 49 percent stake in ORT and that this would effectively transfer the company to the state.

"The deal to sell ORT shares is being completed. Roman Abramovich is acting as go-between," Berezovsky told the daily, referring to a leading oil magnate and one of his close business colleagues.

"I don't know who the new formal owner is, but I have no doubt that these shares will pass under state control," he told the daily, one of several media outlets he still controls.

Berezovsky, wanted for questioning in a fraud case, quit parliament last summer and fled abroad, saying he felt threatened by the president.

Berezovsky refused to reveal details of the ORT talks, but Kommersant suggested that Berezovsky's stake would sell for approximately $80 million or could even involve a swap for shares in an oil-related enterprise, such as a large oil refinery for example.

Sergei Dorenko, an ORT journalist and executive, told the daily Segodnya he had opposed bids to pass ORT to the state. But the shares were "being handed to Putin like a gift."

"My understanding is that the Kremlin was given the task of taking over ORT no matter what ... " he told the daily.

TITLE: Wallenberg's Death Still Questioned
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps, could have lived beyond 1947 when Russians say he died in a KGB prison, independent researchers said Wednesday. 


Last month, Russia acknowledged for the first time that the Soviets had wrongfully persecuted the Swedish diplomat. But Russian prosecutors did not explain how, where or exactly when Wallenberg died, and family members have pressed for more details. 

"The most likely scenario is that Raoul Wallenberg did not die in July 1947, but 'disappeared' - that is, his identity was changed," researcher Susan Mesinai said. 

The researchers cited witness accounts and detailed analysis of Soviet records in raising the possibility that Wallenberg was kept alive and isolated as late as the 1980s. 

Wallenberg was arrested in Budapest, Hungary, soon after the Soviet army entered the city in January 1945, and he was brought to the Soviet Union, accused of spying. 

Moscow first said that he was killed during fighting, and then that he had been taken under the protection of Soviet troops. A 1957 memo from then-Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, however, said Wallenberg actually died of a heart attack while in Soviet custody in 1947. 

Mesinai said the strongest evidence that Wallenberg could have lived into the 1980s was the fact that his possessions were not returned to family members until 1989, contradicting what she said was Soviet policy to return such items upon repatriation or to relatives upon death.

TITLE: Putin Repeats Old Tune In Praise of Prosecutors
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin returned to his cherished theme of law and order on Thursday, defending Russia's prosecutors and saying they were no longer instruments of totalitarian oppression.


Russian prosecutors have often been tools of the state, particularly under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, when "special troikas," panels of three judges, sent millions to firing squads and prison camps.

More recently, the Prosecutor Ge neral's Office has been attacked as a political instrument in what some critics see as Kremlin attempts to silence independent media.

"In the heat of debate, the Prosecutor's Office has been called a relic of totalitarianism," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as telling a meeting of state prosecutors.

Putin, who has pledged to restore "dictatorship of the law" in an often volatile country, said prosecutors these days were improving, though they were not yet perfect.

"The times have gone when the Prosecutor's Office was a cover for lawlessness in our country, lawlessness for which the whole machinery of the state was also a cover," he said.

"Changes in the Prosecutor's Office comply with the democratization of Russia's legal and police system," he said.

Putin has said his dictatorship of the law is not aimed at an increasingly authoritarian state, but making sure people and businesses know what they can expect from the judicial system, that laws work and the creation of a level playing field.

"The development of the Russian economy depends on the effective work of the Prosecutor's Office and the judicial system," Putin told the prosecutors.

The Prosecutor's Office has been criticized in recent months for allegedly being used by the Kremlin to pressure Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of Russia's only independent media empire, Media-MOST.

Gusinsky has been jailed once and is currently fighting extradition from Spain to Russia on fraud charges, which he says have been cooked up by the authorities to force him to silence his media. Prosecutors deny the charges are political.

TITLE: More Woes Strike A Freezing Siberia
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW- A gas main ruptured and caught fire in Siberia, cutting heating fuel to three regions already caught in one of Siberia's iciest cold snaps of recent history, emergency officials said. 


The gas pipe broke about 50 kilometers west of Barabinsk in the Novosibirsk region, said Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. The line served the Kemerovo, Novosibirsk and Altai regions and did not have a backup, but some gas was still filtering through the system to supply residential heat in most areas. Some heating stations were forced to switch to backup fuel supplies such as coal, he said. 

A crew of more than 100 people has worked around the clock on the rupture and expected to have the pipe repaired by around 5 a.m. Thursday, he said. 

Meanwhile, NTV television news Wednesday showed Siberian residents walking in cocoons of fur coats and hats, with only their eyes showing. One woman complained, "How can you possibly live in these conditions?" NTV also showed a crew searching for homeless people who froze to death during the cold snap.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Rail Fare Hikes

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Fares on long-distance railroad trips will be increased by 30 percent starting Wednesday in a bid to reduce government subsidies to the railways and to turn around its loss-making activities, the Railways Ministry said Tuesday.

Ticket prices from Moscow to St. Petersburg in four-person compartments will rise from 350 rubles to 456 rubles. The price for a ticket on the high-speed train from Moscow to St. Petersburg will grow to 600 rubles.

The Railways Ministry said in a statement that the hikes, which follow a government resolution on the issue in late December, are needed after it lost 27 billion rubles (about $1 billion) on passenger trains in 2000. 

The ministry also said that with the fare increases it will still only have enough funds to cover 60 percent of expenditures.



Local Births Get Safer

ST. PETERSBURG (RBC) - St. Petersburg was rated among Russia's few cities with a low infant-mortality rate, the RBC news agency quoted City Gov. Vladimir Yakovlev as saying on Wednesday.

"St. Petersburg is the safest region in Russia with regard to infant mortality ... and leads in special milk-product supply for one- and two-year-old infants," Yakovlev said at a city administration meeting. 

Mortality level among newborn St. Petersburg children is 6.9 percent, which is close to that in Sweden, where it is 6.2 percent, Yakovlev said, according to RBC. 

Yakovlev's statements took place following a meeting on Tuesday of the Health Ministry during which strategies for decreasing both infant mortality and falling birth rates in Russia were discussed, according to local press reports. 



Mir Order Signed

MOSCOW (AP) - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed a decree ordering work to begin on a gradual lowering and discarding of the 15-year-old Mir space station.

Kasyanov ordered space commanders to ensure that a "controlled de-orbiting and sinking" of the 140-ton space ship take place in February or March, Itar-Tass reported Friday, citing Kasyanov's office. 

The decree also said a special commission will be formed to oversee the work, according to the report.



Belarus Press Closed 

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Belarus tax authorities have shut down a printing press where most of the independent periodicals in the country were printed, the director of the press said Wednesday. 

Yury Budko also said workers had managed to put out Wednesday's newspapers before the tax authorities came in and ordered the press shut down Tuesday night. Budko said he was told by the tax authorities that the press was seized on the grounds that it belonged to the Soros Foundation, which closed its activities in Belarus three years ago. 

However, Budko said that he did not rent the press from the Soros Foundation but from the Open Society Institute, which was created by Soros to promote education, civil society, independent media and human rights. 

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko's government is openly hostile to independent media.



Pope Gets Book Deal 

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - Retired U.S. Navy officer Edmond Pope, convicted by Russia of spying but quickly pardoned, has signed a deal to write a book on his ordeal. 

Pope will pen the book for Little, Brown and Co., his literary agent, Norman Brokaw, said Tuesday. 

"Edmond has a strong interest in telling his story which, based on what I know now, will be a page-turner, one of the most riveting, behind-the-scenes Cold War tales ever told," said Brokaw, chairman of William Morris Agency Inc. 

Financial terms of the deal and a publication date weren't disclosed.

TITLE: Kasyanov Orders Kudrin To Strike Deal With Paris Club
AUTHOR: By Jim Heintz
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Tuesday that Russia is not able to make full payment on its Soviet-era debt without endangering the welfare of its citizens as a direct result and ordered finance minister Alexei Kudrin to begin negotiations with creditor nations.


Kasyanov made the statement just hours after Russia announced it had made a $10 million payment to the group of creditor nations, known collectively as the Paris Club, even though it had said last week that it planned to skip the scheduled first-quarter payments in 2001.

The $10 million payment is just a small fraction of the total $1.5 billion that Russia was supposed to pay the Paris Club in the first three months of the year. In total, Russia owes $48 billion in debt which was built up during the Soviet era.

The announcement that Russia would miss some of the first-quarter payments raised questions about whether the country's economic recovery is really as strong as the Kremlin has claimed and could potentially darken President Vla dimir Putin's attempts to encourage foreign investment and cultivate better relations with the West.

On Sunday, at the end of a two-day visit by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, which is Russia's largest foreign creditor, Putin declared that Russia would meet all of its Soviet-era debts, but also suggested that in the process of doing so Russia would seek new terms.

It was not immediately clear what arrangements Kudrin would be intent on negotiating during the talks with the Paris Club called for by Kasyanov on Tuesday.

Recent statements by Russian officials have indicated the Kremlin is placing substantial hopes on working out some kind of arrangement for a standby loan from the International Monetary Fund. Approval of such a measure would be seen as an endorsement of Russia's current economic policies and could give government officials some leverage in working out new debt payment terms with other groups of creditors.

But Kasyanov on Tuesday admitted that the country is still facing a number of economic difficulties.

Russia's budget for this year does not envisage payment of all of the Paris Club debt which is due and such a payment could be made only if additional budget revenue is received this spring, he said, according to Russian news agencies.

"Uncertainty related to the available sources of additional revenue is growing," Kasyanov noted, as reported by the news agency Interfax.

That report went on to cit Kasyanov as saying the full payments could not be made without creating a risk to other payments linked to the needs of Russian citizens. Putin and his government have made full payment of pensions and salaries one of their policy keystones.

TITLE: Ministry To Curb Foreign Telecoms Investors
AUTHOR: By Yelena Seregina and Leonid Konik
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: MOSCOW - Foreign capital has poured into the development of the telecommunications sector over the last 10 years. Foreign investors now hold significant stakes in almost all mobile-and fixed-communications companies.


But the reconstruction of the sector planned by the Communications Ministry could lead to significant cutbacks in foreign holdings.

In the early '90s, regional telecommunications providers setting up joint-operating companies could only offer their subsidiaries access to infrastructure - such as telephone cables, metro tunnels and electricity cables.

Their foreign partners could give much more. Not only did they put up their own money - unlike the cash-strapped privatized regional monopolies - but they also introduced previously unknown technology and equipment to the country.

Some Russian partners employed all manner of cunning to bring their investment in the subsidiaries' charter capital in line with their foreign partners - at least on paper. One of the directors of the St. Petersburg Telephone Network said one of its joint ventures included the roof of its own building in its charter capital.

In recent years, the communications industry has continued to attract foreign investment. The volume of direct foreign investment in Svyazinvest projects alone exceeded $134 million last year. In the years just before the 1998 financial crisis, this figure had surged to over $800 million.

Regional communications companies have mainly attracted foreign portfolio investors, who are counting on their shares gaining liquidity with time. But St. Petersburg and Moscow companies have principally been approached by strategic investors interested in developing individual companies and their technology in an effort to increase the businesses' profitability.



INCONVENIENT PROPORTION

The first telecoms joint ventures set up in Moscow generally split the share of foreign and local participation 50-50. Almost all alternative fixed-communications operators in the capital are now organized this way - including Comstar, Telmos, Sovintel and Gol den Line.


But the proportion has proved unwieldy from the start, as it did not give a single company direct control and management.

Sistema Telecom plans to correct this "inconvenience" prior to merging its subsidiaries - Telmos, Comstar and MTU-Inform. Foreign shareholders will be given an opportunity to sell their shares or exchange them for shares in the new company.

The holding is negotiating with foreign partners to increase its stake in the charter capital of the joint companies.

The position of foreign shareholders may change in other joint ventures as well. International telecoms company Alcatel, the new owner of a 50 percent stake in Moscow operator Golden Line and a stake in St. Petersburg's Neva Line, long ago announced that it intended to sell its shares in the two ventures.

The St. Petersburg joint founders of the companies were more pragmatic and tried to keep a controlling stake for themselves. This was also the case with Delta Telecom, Severo-Zapadny GSM and Metrokom.



THE YEAR AHEAD

The ministry's plan could put foreigners in an uncomfortable position this year if the government scales back their opportunities to invest in the charter capital of communications companies.


If the government's development of the telecoms industry follows this plan, the market could be seriously shaken. But the restriction would not put the country out of step with the rest of the world. About 25 member countries in the World Trade Organization restrict foreigners' participation on the communications market.

In Portugal, a foreign shareholder cannot own more than 25 percent of the shares of a local operator company and no more than 20 percent in the United States and France. Poland limits the level of foreign participation to 47 percent.

In 2001, foreign investors are likely to concentrate on the regional Svyazinvest organizations.

The main game for portfolio investors will be in purchasing undervalued shares of second- and third-level regional communications companies to subsequently convert them into shares in the enlarged companies, said Yev geny Golosny, an analyst with Troika Dialog.

TITLE: Utility's Debts to LAES Still Unclear
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: An adviser to Lenenergo general director Andrei Likhachev has said that the local energy utility has paid 286 million rubles (about $10 million) it owed to the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station (LAES) for electricity supplied to Lenenergo in December, RosBusinessConsulting reported on Wednesday.


But officials at LAES say that they have yet to see the entire sum that was owed. Sergei Averyanov, a press officer at the facility, said that Lenenergo had only so far paid its debt for November 2000 in full.

"The November payment made it possible for LAES to pay its own debts to tax authorities and social structures at all governmental levels," Averyanov said in telephone interview on Thursday. "For the electricity supplied in December, Lenenergo has paid only 33 percent of its bill, and only 0.7 percent of the total amount was paid in cash."

"At present Lenenergo owes LAES 191.9 million rubles [about $6.7 million]," Averyanov added.

LAES is the largest external supplier of energy to Lenenergo, with a production capacity of 4,000 megawatts, second only to the 5337 megawatt capacity of Lenenergo's own generation stations, which are fueled by oil, coal and natural gas.

On Wednesday, RBC quoted Natalya Nikiforova of Lenenergo as saying that the utility originally agreed to buy 286 million rubles worth of power from LAES during December. But ultimately it used less than planned - 240 million rubles worth - and had already paid 230 million of the total.

"As of Jan. 10, Lenenergo has paid its current bill to the power station, and all old debts have been restructured," Nikiforova said.

According to Averyanov, Lenenergo's long-standing debt to LAES, which almost led to a court battle between the two entities last year and which stood at 620 million rubles (about $21.8 million) at the beginning of 2000, has increased to 742 million rubles (about $26.1 million) at present.

LAES filed suit against Lenenergo in the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast Arbitration Court in August 2000, but the first hearing was postponed and the suit then dropped after Lenenergo made good on debts for 1.56 billion rubles ($54.9 million) incurred through power it received in 2000.

Lenenergo took a hard line last year in attempts to clear up its debt situation, with such unpopular actions as cutting off power to a number of its debtors between July and November and the introduction of a 38 percent hike in electricity tariffs at the beginning of November.

Hartmut Jacob, a utilities analyst at Renaissance Capital, said he doubted that Lenenergo was able to pay the full tab for the power it received in December.

"There's nothing to prove that Len energo didn't pay its December bill," Jacob said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

"But they simply don't have that kind of money [about $10 million] on hand to pay LAES." 

Neither Nikiforova, nor any member of the press center at Lenenergo were available for comment on Thursday.

TITLE: Diverse Group To Meet on UES Reform
AUTHOR: By Igor Semenenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - In an effort to increase its influence in the discussion of proposals for the restructuring the UES national electricity grid, the Kremlin administration has set up a working group to draw up a suggested reform program.


The group, to be headed by Viktor Kress, Tomsk governor and Unified Energy Systems board member, includes about two dozen people, selected to represent the broad spectrum of lobby groups concerned with the restructuring - from local energos to the nuclear power industry to minority shareholders.

Presidential economics adviser Andrei Illarinov is a deputy chairman of the group and Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, who last month put forward his own proposal for the restructuring of UES - one which is quite similar to that favored by UES CEO Anatoly Chubais - is also expected to play a prominent role.

The proposal to set up such a working group was first floated Dec. 26 by the State Council, a newly established body with vaguely defined duties, at a meeting chaired by President Vla dimir Putin.

"The creation of the working group appears to indicate Mr. Putin's desire to bring the process of developing the restructuring concept more under his control," the Renaissance Capital brokerage opined Wednesday in its Morning Monitor.

Minority shareholders will have United Financial Group's Boris Fyodorov, Alexander Branis from Prosperity Capital Management and Vadim Kleiner from Hermitage Capital Management to stand up for their interests. Opposition from these shareholders has played a major role in miring down some of the restructuring plans which have been proposed by UES head Anatoly Chubais over the last year.

Chubais and UES board members Valentin Zavadnikov and Vyacheslav Sinyugin will represent the management team.

The group is also heavily packed with representatives of the presidential administration, scholars from the Academy of Sciences and directors of regional energo companies.

The broad composition of the new body may be a daunting obstacle to its smooth functioning: Some of the members have made caustic remarks in the past about a UES restructuring plan that has been championed by Chubais and the company management.

The Chubais plan calls, among other things, for UES to spin its 89 electricity generation plants - the energos - and the national power transmission grid into separate companies, with the grid staying firmly under government control.

Tomsk Governor Kress has said the UES restructuring should pursue the interests of the entire nation and not just the company itself. The minority shareholders have worried aloud that the Chubais restructuring will dilute the value of their holdings.

Lenenergo director Kirill Androsov also has his own views on the separation of power production. Androsov said he was invited to the group because his proposals to overhaul the operations of Lenenergo received a welcome response both from minority shareholders and UES.

Among other things, Androsov proposes splitting off the sales of heat and power from the main body of UES. But other details of his plan are not widely known.

Branis from Prosperity hopes that the first meeting of the new group will take place at the end of next week, but said there is so far neither a schedule nor a clear game plan. "I am cautiously optimistic about [the working group's] prospects," said Branis.

"Clearly, Chubais will have an edge in the early stages," said Mikhail Seleznyov, an energy sector analyst with United Financial Group. "A lot will depend on how fast the opposition will draw in resources to draft its own proposal."

It is unlikely that the decisions of the group will be arrived at by a simple majority vote, Branis said, so it is likely that which ever factions will apply more concerted efforts and wield more weight in the discussion will have the most influence.

Originally, the group was ordered to take up a proposal by March 1, but the deadline Tuesday was set back to April 15 - giving Chubais' opponents a badly needed respite for brainstorming and coordination of efforts.

Chubais tried to defend the old deadline at the end of December, but made compromising steps Tuesday.

"UES management is ready to cooperate with the working group on all issues related to the overhaul of the power sector," a company spokesman said, according to an Interfax report posted on UES's Web site.

Branis from Prosperity said the initiative to set up such a group lay with the presidential administration and that minority shareholders were invited to get on board.

"We had been mulling over calling an extraordinary shareholders meeting," said Branis. "Then we got a proposal to join the group." 


WHO'S IN 

The Kremlin's UES Working Group


Viktor Kress Tomsk governor, chairman

Andrei Illarionov Economic adviser to the president, deputy chairman

German Gref Economic Development and Trade minister

A. Sharonov Deputy Economic Development and Trade minister

A. Golovka Presidential Administration

V. Kudryavy Energy Ministry

G. Vasiliev Energy Ministry

A. Danilov-Danilyan Presidential Administration

I. Melyukhin Presidential Administration

V. Prosorov Presidential Administration 

S. Trunov Presidential Administration 

Anatoly Chubais UES CEO

Valentin Zavadnikov UES board member

Vyacheslav Sinyugin UES board member

A. Nekhipelov Academy of Sciences

Y. Kusnetzov Academy of Sciences

S. Shernavskiy Academy of Sciences

Boris Fyodorov United Financial Group

Alexander Branis Prosperity Capital Management

Vadim Kleiner Hermitage Capital Management

G. Kutovoi Rosenergoatom

F. Kushnarev Rostovenergo

K. Androsov Lenenergo

G. Lebedev Vanguard

Source: Renaissance Capital

TITLE: Stranded Ships Sold At Dubious Auction
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Tyomkin
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: The saga of six refrigeration ships which have been stranded in St. Petersburg's harbor for over 1 1/2 years took another turn in December when five of the vessels were sold to the Preobrazhenskaya Trawling Fleet Base for $4 million.


The vessels - the Anton Gurin, Kapitan Pryakha, Dubrava, Vasily Polishchuk, Kapitan Kirichenko and Kommunar Nikolayeva - formerly belonged to Vostoktransflot (VTF), a shipping company located in Vladivostok. In January, 1995, Britain's Bank of Scotland and Holland's De Nationale Investerings NV (DNI) opened a line of credit for VTF, which put up 11 refrigeration ships as collateral. During 1995 and 1996 the ships, as part of the loan agreement with the banks, were re-registered under the Cypriot flag, and the debt was passed to six Cyprus-based companies - one for each vessel - set up by the Bank of Scotland.

When, in 1998, VTF was unable to fulfill its side of the loan agreement, ownership passed to the Cypriot firms. VTF was declared bankrupt in a Sept. 1999 court ruling.

The six ships were detained, however, on the order of the Prosecutor's Office of the Primorsky region in the Vladivostok area, in connection with alleged breaches of Russia's customs laws as a result of the transfer of ownership to the Cypriot companies.

According to Nikolai Bezruk, president of the St. Petersburg committee of Russia's fishermen's labor union, an auction was held on Dec. 5 in St. Petersburg at which five of the six vessels were sold. The sixth - the Dubrava - was not put up for bid as it has outstanding debts to the EKO-Phoenix fuel company. The auction was held on the order of the Kirovsky Regional Court following a suit filed by the captains of the ships over wage arrears of over $1.5 million owed to about 200 crew members of the vessels.

Allan McCarthy, the director of Recovery Strategies Ltd., the London-based legal firm which represents the interests of the Scottish and Dutch creditors, said that the auction was held without any prior notification being given to his firm's clients.

"The court was kind enough to give us notification of its decision, but we only received it [Tuesday]," McCarthy said in a phone interview. "In such a case, where the limit for filing appeals is 10 days, you would think that the court would give the parties involved sufficient time to respond."

The court ratified the results of the auction Dec. 9, so any appeals would have to have been filed by Dec. 19.

McCarthy also said that his firm's next steps have yet to be decided.

"We have over 30 pages of documents to sort through here before we can determine the legality of the court's action," he said. "If it was a valid auction and was conducted on the basis of international law, then we'll respect the court's decision."

"It doesn't appear that the court has competency to make a ruling as an international admiralty court, which international admiralty law calls for in such cases," he added.

"If there is not the proper legal basis for the court's decision, then we will have to consider our options."

TITLE: Saudi Supply Warning Fuels Rise in Oil Prices
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - World oil prices continued to flex their muscles on Thursday as news that OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia was preparing to slash supplies in February spurred an already buoyant market.


London benchmark Brent blend shot up 51 cents to $25.85 a barrel, just under the session high of $25.90 that extended Wednesday's sharp gains.

U.S. light crude climbed 33 cents to $29.81.

Prices rose on news that Saudi Arabia had informed crude customers worldwide of a reduction in deliveries.

The move underlined Riyadh's intention for the cartel to agree lower output when ministers meet next week.

Oil majors operating in the United States, and European and Asian customers said they had been notified by Saudi Arabia of lower supplies.

Some said their Saudi allocations for February had been sliced by around 20 percent from standard contract volumes. That deepened a supply shortfall versus standard contracts of up to 10 percent for January.

Riyadh has said it sees a consensus in OPEC for a reduction of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) - a figure widely expected by the markets.

That would see Saudi Arabia cut output by 500,000 bpd, based on its one-third share of OPEC output, to a new quota of 8.2 million bpd.

Some buyers said February's export allocations appeared to indicate that Saudi exports might fall by more than 500,000 bpd. But industry sources said that if that were the case, it was probably because Saudi output in January was running at least 200,000 bpd above its official 8.67 million bpd quota.

TITLE: Capital Outflow Nears '98 Levels
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Capital flight from Russia, one of the country's most significant economic problems, grew by some 30 percent last year compared with 1999, an independent analyst was quoted as saying Tuesday.


Interfax cited Mikhail Delyagin, head of the Institute for the Problems of Globalization think tank as saying that capital flight from Russia in 2000 amounted to about $24.6 billion.

The 1999 amount was estimated at $18.6 billion. The level last year was just 3.5 percent less than in 1998, when the Russian economy was hit by a severe crisis, Delyagin said.

Capital flight - moving money out of the country, often to avoid taxes - has been a severe drain on Russia, stifling investment as the country tries to restore its economy.

TITLE: Sweden Promising Aid For Russia's WTO Bid
AUTHOR: By Paul Ames
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Calling good relations with Russia the most crucial issue facing the European Union, Sweden's trade minister said Tuesday that his country plans to use its term as EU president to help Moscow lock its economy into the world trading system.


Leif Pagrotsky said Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization was vital to ensure the country would never again lapse into economic seclusion and pledged that Sweden during its six months at the EU's helm would make every effort to help Moscow prepare for WTO membership.

"It would be an irreversible step, and Russia would not again be tempted by isolation," Pagrotsky told reporters one week into Sweden's six-month EU presidency. "They would be embedded in the international system."

Pagrotsky's words echoed comments made by other Swedish officials that the consolidation of President Vladimir Putin's government and improvements in the state of the Russian economy represented an opportunity for the 15-nation Western bloc to build a stronger relationship with its eastern neighbor.

"We now have a very promising situation in Russia," Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson told reporters Monday evening.

Pagrotsky said that the EU would be extending technical assistance to help Russia adapt its legislation and commercial practices to meet the requirements of the 140-nation WTO, which sets global rules on international trade from its Geneva base.

However, Pagrotsky acknowledged that the going would not be easy and declined to speculate on when Russia might achieve its aim of WTO membership, despite the efforts of the Putin government.

"The present [Russian] government wants to integrate Russia into the world economy ... they are working extremely hard," said Pagrotsky, who added that the EU would hold a meeting with Russian officials in Mos cow in March to help push forward the WTO bid.

The Russian parliament is scheduled to approve a series of bills this year as part of its drive for WTO membership, including legislation to introduce a new customs code.

Moscow's negotiators with the world trade body are also expected next month to make new offers regarding the cutting of tariffs and opening the Russian market to foreign goods and services.

Russia's leading negotiator, Maxim Medvedkov, said in Geneva last month that his country may have a clearer idea how much longer it will take before its seven-year bid for membership will be completed.

Despite their professed commitment to deepening ties with Russia, Swedish officials said they would continue to press Moscow to improve human rights in Chechnya, clean up nuclear dangers, fight organized crime and pay outstanding foreign debts that date back to Soviet times.

"We want them to pay their debt, and with the current oil prices they can afford to do so," Pagrotsky said. The Paris Club of creditor nations says Russian debt payments due in 2001 total $5.9 billion. Germany is Russia's No. 1 creditor.

TITLE: Mailbox
TEXT: Dear Editor,

It is touching to see how concerned Western officials and the media are with the fate of the few thousand NATO soldiers serving in the Balkans, without ever uttering a word about the 10 million Serbs and Albanians who were unwillingly exposed to the depleted-uranium bombs.


The "humanitarian war against the Milosevic regime" is going to haunt this part of the world long after anybody can remember the dictator's name. Cancer, birth defects and contaminated soil and water are going to be with us for decades to come.

I expect the next move of civilized Europeans is going to be an import ban on all food products from Serbia, hence pushing the country deeper into misery and dependency. This more-than-cynical selective concern smacks of racism and hypocrisy.

Peter Rajacic,

Moscow



Dear Editor,

I am an American and have followed the Edmond Pope story for months. I think that he should get on his knees and thank God and President Vladimir Putin that he was allowed to go free. No one here in the U.S. is so naive to think that a naval intelligence officer specializing in maritime equipment did not know that he was dealing with sensitive matters.


President Putin did grant him clemency as a gesture of the great Russian Federation and as a humanitarian deed. Pope was and is a foolish man and now to flaunt his freedom in the eyes of his benefactors only adds guilt to his deeds. I, as an American, am ashamed that no one in his family thanked President Putin for sparing him 20 years in prison. 

I am a doctor and am amazed at this "rare form of bone cancer" that has never been made clear. I am shocked and ashamed that a former military officer has no respect for the graciousness of President Putin. I understand that the Russian government has no obligation to pardon enemies of the state.

Suzanne D. Scott, 

San Antonio, Texas



Dear Editor,

Can there not be some opinion-balancing attempted to counteract the bile that Chris Floyd spews forth every week? I enjoy your coverage, but I simply cannot understand why you give a forum to this columnist who does not even make a pretense of being open-minded or even-handed. He uses his column simply to put forth vitriolic enmity without a single toe dipped into the water of fairness or even reality. If you cannot get rid of this moron, can't you at least attempt to balance his "Blind Eye" with someone at least attempting to act like a responsible journalist?


Douglas McBroom,

St. Petersburg

TITLE: What Other Papers Are Saying
AUTHOR: by Ali Nassor
TEXT: Life was back to normal this week, as the hibernating Russian press shook off any after-effects of the festive season. But while some had reason to celebrate, others were looking into their crystal balls and predicting calamity ahead.




Culture Shock


The century started with bad news for lovers of the city's cultural and historical monuments, when an unknown merry-maker from Alexander Garden rocketed a flare at the Chariots of Glory, which had just undergone major restoration works, causing millions of rubles of damage, says Smena.


Expressing his outrage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum, immediately called upon City Hall to come up with the cash to restore the half-melted statue of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, and her chariots atop the General Staff building, the paper says. 



Back to Business


But compared to some others, Piotrovsky has little cause for complaint, as the city's hitmen got back to work, gunning down four businessmen in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast, reports Nevskoye Vremya.


Nikolai Areshkevich, 48, head of the construction firm Almaz, was the victim of what could be a contract hit, says the paper: The firm had previously won a tender to reconstruct a church whose clergyman, Father Alexander, was subsequently killed allegedly in connection with the project's financing.

Moreover, Areshkevich had last year contended for a seat as a municipal council deputy, while his running mate, Yury Vertyanov - already on the council - was charged with extortion.

Immediately after Areshkevich was laid to rest, the director of the Japanese restaurant Fujiama on Kammenoostrovsky Prospect, Viktor Nosenko, 35, was next. The killers are, as usual, still at large, says the paper. 

One professional hitman spent the Christmas period behind bars after he was caught preparing a hit. Vyacheslav Lenets, 33, had long been a target of local law enforcement organs, report several papers, and had turned up in the city from Belarus, apparently in order to work for a crime syndicate here.

On a more amateur note, a 13-year-old boy ended up in intensive care after escaping death when a friend he was calling on used his father's gun to shoot him in the neck, says Nevskoye Vremya.



Knives Out


Two policemen also ended up in the hospital when they intervened to protect a Spaniard, who had arrived in town to marry his Russian fiancee, but who was attacked and stabbed by an insane assailant, reports Moskovsky Komsomolets v Pitere.


Also stabbed - and lucky to be alive - was an Armenian gentleman who offered a ride to two 11-year-old boys, and got a knife in the chest when they decided to steal his pager. He was nonetheless strong enough to run to the nearest police station, whose staff caught the boys in record time.



Health Concerns


While Komsomolskaya Pravda reports of Lenoblast detention cells being filled with hundreds of poachers of Christmas trees from the region's forests, Mos kov sky Komsomolets v Pitere says doctors in St. Petersburg spent much of the New Year period treating hundreds of cold-weather victims.


But according to Kommersant, health problems of another kind have been bothering Gov. Vladimir Yakov lev recently, causing him to ban smoking on the premises of Smolny, the site of the city administration's offices.

Pausing to note, however, that the governor's wife is reportedly a chain-smoker (and that various other family members also indulge in the nicotine habit), the paper says that it is strange no penalties have been set for those who break the new rule, and suggest that City Hall officials may not take the ban seriously.

And it also points out that the ban comes just days after Yakovlev's visit to Cuba, where he clinched a deal with one of the world's largest suppliers of tobacco.

TITLE: EDITORIAL
TEXT: Attack on Beer Ignores Real Problem 


IT is especially frustrating to watch as government agencies address serious problems with proposals that are almost laughably inadequate.


The latest case in point came on Tuesday, when Deputy Health Minister Gennady Onishchenko launched an assault on the beer industry, claiming that beer had become a major contributing factor to Russia's overall alcoholism crisis.

Obviously, it is ridiculous that Russian law treats beer as a non-alcoholic beverage and it is clear that this absurdity plays a role in introducing children to drink. This lapse can, and should, be immediately remedied, and Russia's responsible beer producers should be the first to advocate this step.

However, the Health Ministry must realize that Russia's alcoholism problem is far more serious than this. In fact, the bare statistics make a strong case that alcoholism is the most serious problem Russia faces.

Half of all Russian men who die, says one study, are drunk. Thirty thousand Russians each year die of alcohol poisoning. Alcohol plays a major role in road accidents, homicides, suicides, domestic violence, industrial accidents, birth defects, violent crime and so on. Orphanages are full of children abandoned by their alcoholic parents.

Alcoholism is a major contributor to the country's demographic crisis, the claims of nationalists about an anti-Russian genocidal conspiracy notwithstanding. In fact, even though former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign was roundly trashed as a failure, demographic data show clearly that the number of deaths owing to non-natural causes fell considerably from 1986 to 1988, before once again beginning to rise. Since 1991, accidental death in Russia has increased by 83 percent, according to the British Medical Journal.

A big part of the problem lies in the fact that the state is as addicted to drink as the people are. Last year, vodka duties accounted for $470 million in state revenues. Last May, the government set up a state-controlled holding company made up of 70 distilleries in an effort to squeeze even more revenue from this sector. Obviously, it will be hard for the Health Ministry to combat the alcohol problem when other state agencies are committed to increasing production and sales.

All of which means that the government is unlikely to do what desperately needs to be done: an effective, all-out campaign - on television and radio, on street billboards, in schools, in the press - to persuade people to reduce their alcohol consumption. Health officials directing the occasional broadside at the beer industry will do nothing.

TITLE: COMMENT
AUTHOR: By Susan Bayh
TEXT: Bill, Now It's Your Turn To Nod and Smile 


PRESIDENT Bill Clinton, Jan. 20 will bring tremendous personal changes for you and your family. Although you have not announced your plans, it is certain that you will take on the historic role of the first former president Senate spouse. Now you might wish to consider some of the unwritten rules that apply to spouses of U.S. senators: 


. Never wear pants. Do not take this literally. It really means "look your best in public." You might have been dreaming of trading in those uncomfortable pinstripes for a loud Hawaiian shirt, golf shorts and a Big Mac. Not so fast: remember you must be a credit to your spouse, and the media are always ready to take pictures. 

. Perfect your adoring look. It is natural to be overly attentive the first time you hear your spouse give a particular speech. Staying that way the 20th time requires more effort. I used to make fun of that adoring look every spouse wears even if he or she has heard the same speech over and over many times. Now I realize (and so will you) that there is really nothing else you can do. Here are some tips for you to stay mentally focused: Relive your best golf game, make a grocery list, and for longer speeches, rearrange your closet. 

. Don't talk too long. No one really came to hear you. Remember you are a supporting actor in this production, not the star. Also, never publicly disagree on an important policy issue with your spouse. You will look bad; she will look worse. On important national issues, perfect the "no comment" response. After a couple of years as a spouse in Washington, many people will not remember your first name. Then the only question you will have to answer is "How do you like living in Washington?"

. Seek out other spouses. The only people who will have any empathy for your new role will be persons similarly situated - other spouses. If support groups are not your cup of tea, why not convene a Thursday night poker game with Dick Blum, Stewart Boxer, Jock McKernan, Steve Lincoln and Frank Snellings? 

. Keep your nose clean. The worst way for a spouse to get media coverage is to break one of the ethics rules. Put a Senate ethics attorney on retainer. Most of the spouse ethics rules were written for wives with big causes and little jobs. You will get used to the $49.99 dinners and sports tickets and the $99.99 gifts. Accumulate evidence to prove that anyone who you wish to exceed these limits with is a "true friend." Also, before you take on an interesting new challenge, you'd better check whether there's a "conflict of interest" with her job. If you are tempted to throw caution to the wind, remember Jim Wright and Newt Gingrich. 

. Adopt a cause. The only acceptable way for a political spouse to receive media attention is by doing good. I know that you want to make some money, but choose at least one worthy cause. You are not known for taking on small challenges, so aim high: world peace, interracial harmony or curing cancer. 

. Break all these rules. If you think these rules are onerous and silly, remember that Hillary chafed under their weight for more than 20 years. Now you can work to change all these rules. Go ahead. It will be a pleasure to watch. 


Susan Bayh is an environmental attorney and a commissioner on the International Joint Commission between the United States and Canada. Her spouse is Sen. Evan Bayh, Democrat-Indiana.

TITLE: Easing Debt Repayment
AUTHOR: By Eric Kraus
TEXT: RUSSIA is coming to a critical juncture in its resurrection, yet amid renewed growth and hope, shortsightedness by several European countries that refuse to renegotiate Russia's Paris Club debt is threatening to derail the incipient economic recovery. 


While there is a growing perception in the West that Russia is at last showing signs of recovery after 10 years of a catastrophic downward spiral following the collapse of communism, many do not fully appreciate just how fragile this rebound remains. The shear devastation wreaked first by communism itself and then by the collapse of the Soviet Union simply defies description. Poverty is still rampant, regional imbalances are huge, the economy is recovering from 70 years of Soviet irrationality followed by a decade of under-investment. 

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, Russia will remain highly vulnerable to growth rates of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations and world commodity prices for a decade at least. In order to continue as an industrialized nation, Russia requires huge capital expenditures just to maintain - much less renew - its dilapidated infrastructure and industrial plants. 

Paris Club debt is government lending, generally extended on noncommercial terms, often for political, military or humanitarian considerations. The bulk of Russia's Paris Club debt was in fact German corporate welfare: government lending to the Soviet Union, then a bankrupt totalitarian state, as a covert subsidy for domestic exporters in sunset industries. 

Modern Russia has less than half the population of the Soviet Union, as well as a vastly different economic geography. If during the brief honeymoon following the collapse of communism Russia accepted legal responsibility for all Soviet debt (Soviet assets proved to be largely worthless), this was done in the misguided belief that, with a few orthodox fixes, Russia could quickly resume its place among the industrialized nations. Alas, it was not to be. 

In early 2000 the London Club successfully renegotiated Soviet-era bank debt now held by private creditors. This deal included approximately 45 percent debt relief - about the average for Brady-type deals and similar to those granted Poland and Bulgaria. While Russia is now quite logically requesting comparable treatment for Paris Club debt, the main Paris Club creditor, Germany, has repeatedly proclaimed that it will settle for nothing less than full payment. This position is unjustifiable, shortsighted and frankly dangerous.

The issue of morality ("gentlemen repay their creditors") is here quite simply irrelevant. More than 50 sovereign debt restructurings have been carried out since the Mexican pre-Brady deal of 1989 put an end to "La Decada Perdida," the lost decade for Latin America. Much like corporate bankruptcies, these workouts aim at salvaging value for creditors, leaving the debtor with a challenging but sustainable debt load. Recent sovereign debt workouts have seen an important innovation: The Paris Club and international financial institutions have successfully demanded "burden sharing," i.e. that private creditors suffer a write-down similar to that granted by public entities. To put it mildly then, it is surprising that the Paris Club now indignantly refuses to offer the same terms already accepted by the London Club.

Sovereign debt restructurings usually focus on what is doable. Russia is already paying well over $10 billion per year - some 25 percent of its total budget - in foreign-debt service and amortizations. In the absence of a Paris Club write-down, the debt load in 2003 would be an unmanageable $18 billion. Even if it were possible to pay in full, this would starve the country of vital investment, rendering the economic edifice highly susceptible to macroeconomic shock.

While it might seem self-serving to claim that Russia's rescheduling of Paris Club debt is actually in the best interests of the creditors, this may nevertheless be the case. An unsustainable debt burden is, by definition, destined to be defaulted upon - but in the meantime, pumping all available resources out of the country for debt service would lead to arrested development, grinding poverty and eventually, a strengthening of populist-extremist forces, whether of the left or the right. It should be obvious that Europe has a strong interest in political stability in Russia - however, such stability in the absence of economic recovery would be illusory.

Russia remains in transition. There has not yet been time to establish the checks and balances of advanced parliamentary democracy. After at least 700 years of dictatorship, liberalism is barely a decade old. The crash of 1998, attributable to a combination of domestic rapacity and strikingly incompetent (if well-intended) Western economic advice, put an end to the most pro-Western regime in Russian history.

The successor regimes - first under Yevgeny Primakov and now under Vladimir Putin - while not overtly hostile, have been primarily concerned with the defense of specifically Russian interests. 

Fortunately, the demons of nationalism and xenophobia are being kept in abeyance by rising living standards and new hope. Were incomprehension from the West and a crushing debt load to push Russia into a renewed recession, then the current political consensus would be fatally imperiled.

While no one can predict what the successor regime would look like, if history is any guide, it would not be friendly to the West. It is certainly not a risk worth taking.


Eric Kraus is head of strategy at NIKoil Capital Markets in Moscow. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: mariinsky unveils new recording studio
AUTHOR: by Galina Stolyarova
TEXT: The Mariinsky Theater has taken a step toward ever-greater artistic independence with the opening of its own recording studio, which was presented to the press on Tuesday by artistic director Valery Gergiev.


"We just invited a few singers who aren't singing in the opera tonight, and who were available," Gergiev said, as soloists Vasily Gerello, Daniil Shtoda and Irina Dzhioyeva lined up to be recorded performing operatic arias, with the Mariinsky's orchestra playing an excerpt from Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin."

The resulting compact disc is for historical, rather than commercial, purposes, according to Gergiev, and will have a run of just a few dozen copies.

Apart from Gergiev himself, one of those copies will go to Alexei Vasilyev, project director for the World Bank in St. Petersburg, since the studio was funded with part of the $31 million World Bank loan to Russia.

Although the bank's project is dedicated to reconstructing the historic city center, nine leading artistic institutions in the center - including the Mariinsky, the State Hermitage Museum, the State Russian Museum, the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and the Russian National Library - shared $1 million of the loan after presenting commercial projects aimed at acquiring more financial independence.

"The project's goal was for the institutions to use the grants to make money for themselves," said Vasilyev in an interview on Tuesday.

The Mariinsky's new studio cost $200,000 to build, with 20 percent of the sum covered by the theater itself. The studio took just under a year to create, and - as well as recording facilities - can be used to broadcast performances via the Internet. DVD format recordings are planned for the future.

Equipment for the the studio was supplied by the Moscow company ISPA Engineering, which won a tender to do so.

While artistically speaking the Mariinsky ranks within the world's top opera and ballet houses, its technical capabilities are way behind, Gergiev said. Most Western opera companies have had state-of-the-art recording facilities for several years, producing and selling their own recordings. 

"Behind the stage curtain away from the public eye are extremely limited backstage facilities that do not meet today's requirements," Gergiev said.

"Not only will the studio allow us to make records with our best singers, such as Olga Borodina or Anna Netrebko, but will also bring money into the theater."

Stripped of state finances, the story of the 1990s for the big artistic institutions in Russia has been one of finding alternative sources - something which the Mariinsky has done better than almost anyone.

"We could have survived anything - the Mariinsky has made its name worldwide, so we would always get enough foreign tours [to keep us going]," said Gergiev.

"But I realize that people who work here in St. Petersburg deserve much more than they are now getting from the theater."

TITLE: chernov's choice
AUTHOR: - by Sergey Chernov
TEXT: Edik Nesterenko of Petlya Nesterova was walking through the city at night from one club to another, when he suddenly saw a Duran Duran poster. The singer gasped and almost went into hysterics, laughing and crying at the same time.


Duran Duran, which was exceptionally influential not only for Nes te ren ko, but hundreds of Russian bands including the seminal and still popular Kino (look at their old photos), will play the former Soviet Union for the first time ever during its current tour. 

The band, which now features Simon Le Bon, original keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and Warren Cuccurullo, the ex-Zappa and Missing Persons guitarist, will play Ukraine, Russia and Estonia.

St. Petersburg will hear "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Save a Prayer" "Wild Boys" and the James Bond theme song "A View to a Kill" at the Ice Palace on Feb. 2.

Those interested in harsher sounds have to undertake a trip to Moscow - Marilyn Manson will attack the city on the course of his Guns, God and Government world tour on the appropriate date of Feb. 23, Soviet Army Day. (Manson can also be caught in Helsinki on Feb. 21.)

A trio of big mainstream rock artists are expected in the spring and summer. Eric Clapton will finish the European leg of his tour in the city on Apr. 8. The "guitar god" will perform at the Yubileiny Sports Palace. In principle, the gig is to support his forthcoming album "Reptile," due out on March 19.

Clapton will be followed by Sting, who will bring his Brand New Day tour to Moscow and St. Petersburg at the beginning of the summer. The show here is scheduled for June 3. The venue is the now rarely used Sports Concert Complex (SKK).

Finally, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame will play at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall on July 31.

The agency which last year brought us the Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band - with an only slightly different name - is determined to improve this dubious achievement with a festival entitled "Legends of Rock," featuring all kinds of tribute bands and reformed 1970s acts with few or no original members. The line-up includes - as they told us - Slade, Christie, Mungo Jerry, T. Rex ("without Marc Bolan,") and Glitter Band.

What's listed as "Slade" might be Slade II, which played a local casino in 1995 - it did feature original members - the bassist and drummer - but not Noddy Holder and Jim Lee, whose songs made the band famous. T. Rex does feature guitarist Mickey Finn, who was with the band in the 1970s, but without the late Bolan it seems highly dubious. No idea about the rest. Yubileiny Sports Palace (Small Arena), Feb. 4

TITLE: bedazzled: the old stories are the best
AUTHOR: by A. O. Scott
TEXT: "Bedazzled" is about a troubled young man, unhappy with his life and desperate for wealth, love and power, who signs away his immortal soul in exchange for everything he thinks he desires. Does this sound familiar?


It's a story that has been recycled more frequently than "A Star Is Born," and not only in Hollywood: It goes back at least to Christopher Marlowe's "Tragical History of Dr. Faustus" in the 16th century. Goethe's "Faust," two centuries later, was, as they say in show business, a remake. Of course, "Bedazzled" has a more recent and less highbrow source: Stanley Donen's cheeky 1967 satire of the same name, which starred (and was written by) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. 

Harold Ramis, directing from a script he wrote with Peter Tolan and Larry Gelbart, has cleverly updated the earlier film, transporting the action from swinging London to yuppie San Francisco. In place of Moore's shy burger-flipper, Ramis' film stars Brendan Fraser as Elliot Richards, a socially maladjusted tech-support geek whose office mates go to great (and justifiable) lengths to avoid having anything to do with him.

More than anything else, Elliot longs for the attention of a pretty co-worker named Alison (Frances O'Connor), who doesn't even know he exists. In the middle of a humiliating night out, Elliot encounters a seductress in a tight red dress (Elizabeth Hurley), who says she is the devil and has the business card to prove it. (It says "The Devil" in handsome type.) Soon she has packed him into her Lamborghini Diablo (get it?) and spirited him away to an after-hours club where she produces a fat contract. He'll be granted seven wishes, and she'll have, well, you know.

What follows is outrageous fun. Elliot, wishing himself rich, powerful and married to Alison, is transformed into a Colombian drug lord. Fraser is a master of goofy befuddlement, and his face as he discovers himself speaking Spanish is almost worth the price of the ticket.

The considerate princess of darkness has equipped Elliot with an enchanted pager that allows him to bail out if his wish isn't going well. And so he finds himself, after the narcotraficante gig doesn't work out, as a 2.25-meter-tall NBA superstar, a famous author and the most sensitive man in the world (in a brutally funny parody of "Dawson's Creek").

The physical transformations that Fraser undergoes in each scenario are impressive, but the real artistry is in his quick-change performance. He looks perpetually surprised at himself as he utters dumb-jock cliches, sings a song in praise of our friend the dolphin (complete with dolphin voices) and delivers nonsensical witticisms at a high-toned literary soiree.

With his slightly pudgy face and his loose, ungainly physical presence, he manages to be both likable and ridiculous. Hurley struts through her role with insouciant glee; her performance is a sneaky tribute to Cook's arch English naughtiness, even as her get-up recalls Raquel Welch's cameo in the original film as the incarnation of lust. 

Ramis, a reliable purveyor of pleasant comedy - and the author of one indisputably great movie, "Groundhog Day" - offers a streamlined refashioning of the raffish anarchy that made the first "Bedazzled" a product of its place and time. He brings off big blunt effects, like Fraser's crashing onto the hood of a car or shattering a backboard with clean efficiency, and keeps the momentum going with offhand witty jokes and sight gags. In an especially clever touch, he uses the same actors who play Elliot's co-workers as comic foils in the wish sequences - a kind of infernal homage to "The Wizard of Oz."

The old "Bedazzled" - a worthwhile video rental whether or not you see the new version - flirted, in its youthful, rebellious way, with blasphemy. Ramis, a man of his times, elects to embrace piety instead. "Bedazzled" ends with the usual affirmations of the need to work hard, to believe in yourself and to make your own way in the world.

"Heaven and hell are right here on the Earth. It's up to you to choose." It's a familiar Hollywood moral that also happens to be one of the cornerstones of Western theology: the doctrine of free will. Who could wish for more?



"Bedazzled" is now showing at the Barrikada and Crystal Palace cinemas.

- NYT

TITLE: translated theater for foreigners
AUTHOR: by Tom Masters
TEXT: Theater-going in St. Petersburg can be more than a little intimidating for those whose Russian is not up to the finer nuances of Chekhov or Ostrovsky in their native language. A new project from the Russian Drama Studio Theater will therefore come as a relief to those who avoid local theater for lingusitic reasons: The ensemble's aim is to let foreigners hear what they have been missing via personal headsets providing an English translation.


Galina Perveyeva, general director of the studio - which has been collaborating since last year with art club Fish Fabrique in showing cult Russian films with English translations - explained that the group aims to "deepen foreign guests' understanding of Russian film and theater."

"Foreigners can go to the opera, ballet or music concerts, but the whole field of drama is cut off from them without fluent Russian," Perveyeva said at the inauguration of the studio's latest venture, a stage adaptation of Andrei Platonov's short story "The Potudan River," which played at the Theater of Young Viewers (TYuZ) on Tuesday.

The fact that simultaneous translation was available - via headsets given out in the lobby - was perhaps the least unusual thing about the production, however. Those assembled in the theater's small hall were treated to a spectacularly original fusion of puppetry and acting from the cast in a performance that ironically often transcended language.

The unique writing style of Platonov - a writer who is currently in vogue, with works being adapted for the stages of both the Maly Theater and the Lensoviet at present - lends itself to innovative adaptation. Ruslan Kudashov's production, using hand-manipulated puppets, a sand pit and innovative lighting, brings home both the brutality and humanity of Platonov's prose.

Incorporating elements of physical theater, shadow puppetry and music in- to the production, Kudashov impressively demonstrated the broad talents of his actor puppeteers.

The play follows the return of a soldier, Nikita, to his village after the Russian Civil War, and charts his relationship with his girlfriend and father against the backdrop of an increasingly non-individualist society.

The English translation was handled highly competently by interpreter Tatyana Balandina, and the international audience received the performance very positively.

The ambitious program seeks to put on plays by Chekhov, Gogol, Pushkin, Ostrovsky and Nabokov among others, using renowned theaters such as the Bolshoi Drama Theater and the Alexandrinsky, while continuing to show films at Fish Fabrique every Saturday. In keeping with the theatrical theme, this months films are Russian versions of Shakespeare.

Indeed, Grigory Kozlov's Golden Mask-nominated production of Chekhov's early play "The Wood Demon" will be performed next Tuesday with translation - a larger production not involving puppetry. 

"There is an unprecedented theatrical renaissance in St. Petersburg going on at the moment," says Perveyeva. "The theaters play to full houses, and more exciting productions are being staged all the time. We want to include the foreign community in this."



Theater of Young Spectators (TYuZ), 1 Pionerskaya Pl. Tickets for "The Wood Demon" are 100 rubles and can be ordered from Galina Perveyeva on 167-08-27 (English spoken).

TITLE: rozhdestvensky's return a triumph at 'arts square' festival
AUTHOR: by Giulara Sadykh-zade
TEXT: The "Arts Square" festival, which ended the musical year in 2000 and began this one, had its closing performance on Saturday with an appearance from the eminent conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky - his first appearance in St. Petersburg since 1989, although he has worked with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in both Naples and London over the intervening period.


The winding route that brought him back to a city he professes to love seemed emblematic of Rozhdestvensky's circuitous route through Russian symphonic music as a whole, however, and Saturday's concert was very much in this vein. 

The first person to perform the symphonies of Alfred Schnittke, Rozhdestvensky included that composer's piano concerto in a fairly "unfestive" program. This was coupled with the rarely performed Fourth Symphony by St. Petersburg native son Dmitry Shostakovich - one of his most tragic and conceptual works, whose mammoth construction is hardly in keeping with the New Year mood.

The symphony, which lasts for over an hour, contains a mass of quiet, slow music in its central parts, and is overloaded with thematicism, which demands that the listener immerse himself in the score and follow the composer's thoughts and emotional conflicts tirelessly right up until the music coalesces in a mournful finale.

The symphony is the most Mahleresque of all of Shostakovich's symphonies, and has not been performed for a long time, once being under a secret ban that was lifted only in the 1960s.

Yet despite this, many consider it to be a work of genius, even one of Shostakovich's finest creations - a view that Rozhdestvensky shares. And his interpretation of the work was simply outstanding: wisely measured, allowing both instrumental solos and dialogs between sections to stand out even in the most complex passages, but never overstressing the abundance and diversity of thematic material.

The two works are, of course, complementary: The closing theme of Shostakovich's symphony revives the opening of Schittke's piano concerto. 

The homogeneity of the two compositions' stylistics are surprising, even given that the two pieces were only written 25 years apart. But the almost literal intonational coincidences bear eloquent witness to the continuity of musical tradition through the generations.

The soloist for the Schnittke, Viktoria Postnikova - Rozhdestvensky's wife - curtailed her usual explosiveness and played sadly and without a shadow of aggression. However, her performance, well suited to Schnittke's music, also went to show that not all the performances in the festival were of equal artistic merit.

For example, the joint performance of Valery Gergiev and the orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater with viola player Yury Bashmet was extremely unsuccessful. The two famous musicians apparently believed that the magic produced by the combination of their great names would be enough, and allowed themselves to relax - bringing before the public two rather unrehearsed Bartok pieces, The Miraculous Mandarin and the viola concerto - both of which sounded like they were being sight-read and were at times clearly misinterpreted.

The imprecise performance of the orchestra, which seemed to be unsure about the complexities of what was apparently an unknown score, turned the concert into a disconnected musical stew. Even the second half, in which the orchestra cheered up somewhat and played Igor Stravinksy's familiar "The Rite of Spring," did little to rectify the situation. For those who have heard this popular piece performed ceaselessly this season, the spectacle was simply boring - Gergiev for once failing to bring anything new to his treatment.

Thankfully, this concert was the sole unpleasant memory from what was, on the whole, a very productive and interesting festival, and one in which it was hard to name one outstanding performer.

Following pianist Yevgeny Kissin's fantastic performance in Sergei Prokofiev's piano concerto No. 2, it seemed nothing better could possibly be hoped for during the festival.

That was until the 17-year-old Lang-Lang, a student of the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, who was invited to perform on the personal initiative of festival director Yury Temirkanov, took the stage in the Shostakovich Philharmonic Great Hall. 

The performance was proof that, out of the boundless sea of musical talent in the world, a new face can come along at any moment, ready to upturn and subvert our preconceptions about the existing, seemingly impenetrable musical hierarchy.

This Chinese-born American has a great future: He is a formidable virtuoso blessed with an iron sense of rhythm, possessing a romantic freedom of temperament and seemingly unlimited musicianship. 

Perhaps most telling was that both Temirkanov and Gergiev attended his concert - something quite unprecedented in St. Petersburg's musical world.

TITLE: dj vadim: back in the u.s.s.r.
AUTHOR: by Simon Ostrovsky
TEXT: Since trip hop/acid jazz group Funki Porcini's visit to St. Petersburg a year ago, the city hasn't had a lot of trip-hop performers to brag about. Two sets on Sunday from DJ Vadim - St. Petersburg-born but London-based - were therefore as much of a surprise to acolytes of local electronic music culture as a performance of Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theater is run-of-the-mill to ballet lovers.


DJ Vadim's records are on the Ninja Tune label, a British record company at the forefront of the electronic music industry that specializes in - and itself invents - such styles as abstract jazz, jazz hop, trip hop and jazz jungle, to name a few.

DJ Vadim himself was courted by the Cup of Tea label and Ninja Tune at the same time in the mid-90s, with Ninja winning out in 1996 to sign a deal for his first album, "U.S.S.R. Repertoire." Ninja's creators, Jonathan More and Matt Black (who form the band Cold Cut), have spent a decade collecting progressive artists such as Vadim, and now hold a strong deck of cards: Funki Porcini, The Herbalizer, Up Bustle and Out, and the London Funk Allstars are just some of the more famous musicians on the label. 

Although he lives in west London and holds a British passport, everything about DJ Vadim - his discography, Internet site, and his pseudonym (Vadim's real name is Andrey Gurov) - proclaims his Russian origins. This, however, is not just down to his birthplace.

"The reason all my albums are subtitled U.S.S.R. - U.S.S.R. Repertoire, U.S.S.R. Reconstruction, U.S.S.R. Life from the Otherside, and the new album, U.S.S.R. The Art of Listening - is because they are like bits of a jigsaw puzzle," he said in an interview after his first set at the restaurant Brazil near the Kazan Cathedral.

"I want people to collect all the albums, and they form a big picture, a picture of the music I'm trying to create. It's like my own little house of music."

"Another reason is that, for me, U.S.S.R. stands for the Underground Society of Secret Rythm. Although for Russians, obviously these words stand for something else, so they won't get the acronym. And it's also a parody: There's no such thing as the [Soviet Union] now, it ended 10 years ago, but I take from the era the very powerful image that it evokes. I'm not a communist, but I am trying to get at the power of that image."

The relatively small space in Brazil didn't bother DJ Vadim - "I've played the Glastonbury Festival, I've played for 40,000 people, and I've played clubs for 50 people, the lot" - and neither did his next stop the same night, new club Neo on Vasilievsky Island.

The club's high ceilings didn't do the sound any favors, and neither did its art director, Samir Askerov, who did nothing to impress the crowd by yelling: "This is DJ Vadim!" every so often, in case they'd forgotten who they had come to see. Nonetheless, the show was spectacular, taking in old and new styles of hip hop, electro and jungle. 

After St. Petersburg, DJ Vadim is playing in Yekaterinburg, capital of the Urals Region, before heading off to Spain, England, Portugal and Prague in the Czech Republic.

But if you can't make it to those locations, it's worth checking out DJ Vadim's Web site, www.djvadim.com, which not only gives out his future plans and an array of links (including Amnesty International and Christian Aid, as well as hip hop sites), but also lets you play around with the master's own beat box.

TITLE: 'enjoy' - what's in a name?
AUTHOR: by Masha Kaminskaya
TEXT: One may have to be a purple-suited, gold-chained, toothless and grinning mobster with a flat top and a Nokia phone to feel at home at the Enjoy Restaurant. In fact, one should be just about anyone but a normal restaurant visitor to enjoy this most extraordinary mishmash of a diner.


Enjoy looks like a teenage first-date nook, feels like a gangster den, sounds like a Texan truck stop and tastes like a serve-yourself-quick-and-leave bistro.

True, we fell victim to our own naivete when we chose Enjoy for nothing but its cheerful magazine ad, which said "Restaurant and Jazz Club, Live Music" in capital letters and, below that, "located at 8 Bogartyrsky Prospect" in the size of font normally used on microfilm.

Checking out the prices in advance, a girl on the phone told us a steak would cost about 200 rubles ($7), which was high enough to make us think that the place might have some quality to it. So we braved the slush and mud out at Pionerskaya metro station to check it out.

Well, the live jazz music proved to be a couple of lethargic rockabilly puffs, the five cloakroom attendants were a scene from a suburban version of The Godfather, and the cute little tables were helpless against a crooked bandstand and the dull pink walls.

Another red light that we shouldn't have missed was that the menu - including the special offer - was way too extensive (one wonders if the chef there hasn't overestimated his capabilities). However, the portions were so small, we were in little danger of overeating.

My first pick, the traditional Greek salad (90 rubles), was born of a sudden, whimsical desire to see if real feta cheese would be included. The cheese, when it came, was actually hard to identify, but easier to spot was the ... celery. I don't wish to sound like a know-it-all, but celery hadn't figured in my anticipation of a Greek salad.

Next, we had two rounds of Gurievskiye bliny, with salmon and with red caviar (both 100 rubles), which was all the credit - besides the toothpicks and the bathroom - I'm willing to give this place.

Garnish here is worth a separate word. Green beans with bacon and tomatoes (45 rubles) came as a still-frozen typical supermarket vegetable mix, and my companion's rice with vegetables (30 rubles) - namely, three carrots and two peas - spoiled his passable chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms (130 rubles).

The three-layered steak, itself entitled "Enjoy," with beef, veal and pork (230 rubles), arrived for me - occupying only half a plate, with the other half occupied by a pool of meat sauce with a slogan written in cream sauce saying "Enjoy." I'll spare you the taste particulars of this dish: Suffice it to say that however hungry I still was, I couldn't finish it and turned to my warm Coke as a last resort.

The band, my companion was saying meanwhile, was like a group of old high-school buddies who'd once gathered over a few bottles of beer to rehearse for the prom, and hadn't really practiced since. The way they were harassing their strings, he said, was no help to the decadent atmosphere of the place, which would be being more honest if it was renamed "Get Drunk and Conk Out." 

But it almost managed to distract us from the fact that the two pieces of bread that we had with our meal were separately counted in the bill. 

Almost. 



Enjoy Restaurant, 8 Bogatyrsky Prospect. Tel: 393-30-40. Open noon to 5 a.m. Dinner for two: 855 rubles without alcohol, ($31). Major credit cards accepted.

TITLE: Portland Wins Battle of Conference Leaders
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia native Rasheed Wallace had 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Western Conference-leading Portland Trail Blazers never trailed in a 93-75 National Basketball Association victory over the Eastern-leading 76ers.


Wallace had a follow shot, a dunk and a long jumper during an opening 16-3 run as the Blazers took command early and never looked back, cruising to their ninth straight win while ending Philadelphia's seven-game run.

Sixers star Allen Iverson, whose mother is a sideline fixture in Philadelphia, received a hug from Wallace's mother, who wore her son's No. 30 jersey at her courtside seat Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for the Sixers, Iverson was off his game, misfiring on 16 of 21 shots for a meager 12 points in 41 frustrating minutes.

Damon Stoudamire notched 17 points and 11 assists for Portland, which had seven players score in double figures, despite the absence of starting forward Scottie Pippen (sore elbow). The Blazers (26-10) avenged a 107-94 home loss to the Sixers (25-9) on Dec. 8.



Dallas 106, Minnesota 86. At Minneapolis, Dirk Nowitzki scored 20 of his 28 points in the second half and Michael Finley added 26 as the Dallas Mavericks posted their seventh straight road victory, a 106-86 rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves.


Christian Laettner had 14 points against his former team as the Mavs won their fourth straight. Dallas (24-13) moved back into a virtual first-place tie with San Antonio (22-11) atop the Midwest Division.

Kevin Garnett led Minnesota with 26 points and 13 rebounds as the Timberwolves shot a season-low 37 percent (34 for 92). Minnesota, which never led in the contest, has lost eight of its last 13 games.



Sacramento 108, Cleveland 103. In Sacramento, Chris Webber had 30 points and 14 rebounds and Jason Williams scored 24 points as the Kings finished a home stand at 5-2 with a 108-103 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers.


Peja Stojakovic scored 27 points for the Kings, who remained one game behind first-place Portland in the Pacific Division.

Chris Gatling poured in a career-high 38 points for the Cavaliers, who have lost nine of 11 since an impressive 15-7 start.



Boston 88, Miami 76. In Boston, the Celtics gave Jim O'Brien his first victory as Paul Pierce scored 28 points and Antoine Walker added 27 in an 88-76 win over the Miami Heat.


The Celtics snapped a season-high six-game losing streak.

It was a 112-86 drubbing at Miami on Saturday that led to the resignation of coach Rick Pitino, something he had threatened earlier in the season if the Celtics did not improve their defense. Boston began the O'Brien era on Monday with a 98-90 loss to Portland.



Toronto 110, Detroit 85. In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Charles Oakley scored 19 points and Vince Carter and rookie Morris Peterson added 18 apiece as the Toronto Raptors blew out the Detroit Pistons 110-85, winning for only the second time in six games.


Jerry Stackhouse scored 19 points, Joe Smith added 12 and rookie Mateen Cleaves - Peterson's former college teammate at Michigan State - chipped in 11 for the Pistons, who have lost three straight.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Plavsic Turns Herself In

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic surrendered voluntarily Wednesday to the war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague and will answer to genocide charges in court Thursday, the tribunal said.

Plavsic becomes the first woman known to be indicted by the tribunal and the second key figure from the former Bosnian Serb leadership to come to The Hague. Her indictment was one of a number kept secret until it was made public Wednesday.

During the 1992-95 Bosnian war Plavsic was deputy to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

She took over from him when he was forced from office in 1996, but broke with him a year later and campaigned to oust his hard-line allies, with the support of the West.



Cole Trial 'Unfair'

ADEN, Yemen (AP) - The man believed to be the top Yemeni suspect in the deadly bombing of the USS Cole can't get a fair trial in Yemen and will probably be convicted, the prominent Aden lawyer who is preparing to represent him said Wednesday. 

The lawyer, Badr Salmin Basunaid, said that two brothers of suspect Jamal al-Badawi asked him Tuesday to handle the case. 

Al-Badawi has been jailed since shortly after the Oct. 12 attack, when two suicide bombers are believed to have sidled their explosives-laden boat up to the Cole while it was refueling in Aden and detonated it. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed and 39 others wounded. Up to eight people are expected to be tried in connection with the bombing. 



Clinton 'Regretful'

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Clinton issued a written statement of regret that South Korean civilians were killed at the hands of American troops during the Korean War, senior administration and defense officials said. 

Clinton decided not to make a formal apology but instead to express regret Thursday at the loss of innocent lives in the 1950-53 conflict, said the officials, who discussed the matter Wednesday on condition they not be identified. 

Clinton's statement was timed with the planned release of the Pentagon's final report on an army investigation of a July 1950 incident in which American soldiers reportedly killed a significant number of South Korean civilian refugees near the hamlet of No Gun Ri. The South Korean government conducted its own investigation and also released its report Thursday. 



Korea Veterans Meet

BEIJING (AP) - U.S. and Chinese veterans shared their Korean War experiences on Thursday in the first such exchanges that Washington hopes will lead to information on the whereabouts of missing Americans. 

Wearing civilian dress, the six former U.S. soldiers and five Chinese veterans greeted each other warmly at China's Red Cross offices, on a winter day that mirrored harsh conditions they faced on opposing sides of the 1950-53 war. 

Although Chinese troops ran most of the prisoner-of-war camps during the conflict, the government and military have declared all files on the matter secret and refused to open them to U.S. officials. 

The Defense Department estimates that some 8,100 U.S. servicemen are missing from the Korean War, and the remains of 1,200 are believed to be buried at prisoner-of-war camps along the Yalu. 



Hostages Rescued

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombian soldiers swooped down near a patch of blocked-off highway and freed 56 hostages held by Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group, authorities said Wednesday. 

Less than seven minutes after the choppers landed, the insurgents from the National Liberation Army fled into the mountains, said the operation's commander, Col. Edgar Ceballos. 

One guerrilla was killed and all the hostages were freed unhurt at the roadblock outside Barbosa, 240 kilometers northwest of Bogota, Ceballos said. 

Colombia, the world's kidnapping capital, had more than 3,000 reported kidnappings last year. 



Chavez Bows Out

WASHINGTON (AP) - Linda Chavez withdrew her bid to be U.S. Labor Secretary on Tuesday, saying that controversy over an illegal immigrant who once lived with her had become a distraction for President-elect Bush. 

Chavez told a news conference the decision to bow out just a week after being named was entirely her own. But three Republican officials involved said she reluctantly stepped aside under pressure from Bush's political team. 

Chavez allowed that she should have been more candid about the circumstances surrounding Marta Mercado, the Guatemalan woman who lived with her for about two years in the early 1990s. But she said it was "the politics of personal destruction" that brought down her nomination. 



5 Killed by Rocket

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Five people, including two children, were killed this week in accidents involving Vietnam War-era weapons, police said. 

Three men digging a well were killed when a rocket exploded in the central highland province of Gia Lai, police said Thursday. 

Vu Xuan Tam, 26, his brother Vu Xuan Luyen, 23, and Tran Van Cuong, 26, were killed instantly Tuesday when they tried to use the rocket, which they had found lying in a forest, to blast through a layer of stone, said Nguyen Thac Phuong, police chief of Duc Co district. 

Unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War remains a huge problem, with 40,000 people killed over the past 25 years by land mines and buried bombs. 



Bin Laden Sighted

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden has celebrated the wedding in Afghanistan of his son to the daughter of one of his aides, according to Qatar's al-Jazeera television, which Wednesday broadcast footage of the ceremony.

The footage, which al-Jazeera said was exclusive to it, showed bin Laden sitting on a carpeted floor in a tent surrounded by his son, Mohammad, and other men.

Al-Jazeera said the Muslim ceremony - during which bin Laden often smiled and shook hands with the other unidentified men - took place Tuesday in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar.

TITLE: Storm Brews Over Nuclear Cargo
AUTHOR: By Laurence Norman
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - So far, it's been smooth sailing at sea for the Pacific Swan, a British-owned ship carrying French nuclear waste to Japan. But back on land, environmental protesters are giving the shipment a rougher ride. 


As the Pacific Swan neared the southernmost tip of South America at Cape Horn on Wednesday, it faced numerous protests by environmental groups who fear it may be only the first of a series of ships bearing dangerous cargos through the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

And local governments have also made clear the ship isn't welcome. Last month, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay all opposed the ship's arrival, fearing it could cause damage to delicate ecosystems. They demanded tighter, universally agreed standards on such shipments. 

The Pacific Swan left France in December carrying 90 tons of nuclear waste. Its journey is set to last around 60 days, though the ship's exact sailing plans have been kept under close wraps. 

Last week, protesters gathered outside the British Embassy in Argentina, where they hoisted a skull-and-crossbone flag, emblazoned with the words "No Plutonium" in place of Britain's Union Jack. 

On Wednesday, Greenpeace environmentalists said they were dispatching a "search party" to track the Pacific Swan as it rounds Cape Horn. 

Martin Pietro, a Greenpeace spokes man, charged that Argentina would be ill-equipped to handle the outcome should something befall the ship off its waters. He called for concerted action by Latin American governments to prevent future shipments. 

"If the governments of Argentina and Chile don't send a strong message of opposition to the use of the Cape Horn route ... they will be opening up a nuclear highway for this and future shipments," he said. 

International law prevents countries from blocking a ship's passage as long as it stays beyond 19 kilometers from the shoreline. 

The majority owner of the company that operates Pacific Swan insisted fears over safety are baseless. "This is one of the safest ships to sail the seas," said Paul Vallance, a spokesman for British Nuclear Fuel Ltd. 

He said the Pacific Swan, built especially for transporting such wastes, bristles with safety features, including a double hull, duplicate navigational and power systems and reinforced structures to guard against collision damage. 

In the event of damage or mechanical failure in any part of the ship, all essential systems would be able to continue functioning, said Vallance. "All hulls could be flooded and the ship would still float," he said in an interview. 

Vallance added that the ship had no plans to enter Argentine waters as it sailed on to Rokkasho-Mura, Japan. 

And while the ship's operators accept that it is possible ships carrying more dangerous material could come through the area in the next decade, BNFL spokesman Mark Scott said there was "no proposal to do so." 

Argentina's national atomic energy commission recently issued a statement giving the all-clear, declaring "the population faces no risk." 

The last time a vessel carrying nuclear waste arrived in the region, in 1995, the Chilean government deployed an armed warship to escort it out of Chilean waters, while a concerted campaign of demonstrations dogged the ship's journey.

TITLE: 6 Charged With Aid Worker Deaths
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: JAKARTA, Indonesia - Six men suspected of murdering three UN aid workers in West Timor went on trial in Indonesia on Thursday, launching a court case that will be closely watched by the international community.


The six East Timorese, who consider themselves Indonesian, have been charged in connection with a Sept. 6 rampage in which the three aid workers were stabbed to death and their bodies dragged into a street and burned.

The three victims came from the United States, Croatia and Ethiopia.

The accused, who face between 12 to 34 years in prison if convicted, appeared in groups of three under tight security in separate courtrooms at the North Jakarta Court. Both hearings were adjourned until next Tuesday.

The murders and sacking of the West Timor office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) by mobs of pro-Jakarta Timorese militias in the border town of Atambua sparked condemnation of Indonesia and threats to withhold aid.

"Xisto Perreira, Serafin Ximenes and Joao Martin were involved in violent actions causing the death of three people who were burned so much that their bodies could not be identified," prosecutor Fardan Ro chim told judges in one courtroom.

Appearing in the other courtroom were Julius Naisama, Joao Alvez da Cruz, Jose Fransisco.

Officials shifted the six to Jakarta late last year after deciding to hold the trials there amid fears pro-Jakarta Timorese militias living in West Timor might disrupt the hearings.

The militias, with backing from elements in the Indonesian military, ravaged East Timor in 1999 when the territory voted to break from Jakarta's harsh 23-year rule.

They fled East Timor when Jakarta caved in to international pressure and allowed foreign troops to enter to restore order.

Indonesia has been under considerable pressure to try those responsible for the September 6 killings.

The trial is being held in the same court building where East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres is being tried over separate violence in West Timor.

TITLE: Uranium Weapons Plan Set Up
AUTHOR: By Jeffrey Ulbrich
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO announced on Wednesday that it will set up a group to exchange information on possible health risks from depleted uranium munitions because of public concern that they may lead to cancer and other illnesses. 


NATO Secretary General Lord Ro bert son told reporters there is no scientific evidence that exposure to armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium poses a significant health risk. Nevertheless, he said NATO has set up an action plan because of European fears about health risks to soldiers assigned to the Balkans, where depleted uranium munitions were used in combat. 

Robertson said the plan calls for full NATO cooperation with any investigations on depleted uranium's risks. It also includes consultation with countries that contribute peacekeepers to Bosnia and Kosovo and creation of a clearinghouse to exchange information on depleted uranium. 

Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in anti-armor munitions because of its high penetrating power. U.S. forces fired weapons containing depleted uranium in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, and in 1999, NATO fired such weapons during its bombing of Yugoslavia. 

Numerous studies into the effects of depleted uranium have not revealed any connection between the metal and cancer. But concerns among European nations have intensified since Italy began studying the illnesses of 30 soldiers, seven of whom died of cancer, including five cases of leukemia. 

While Britain has argued against a link between the depleted uranium and cancer-stricken soldiers, a document leaked to the British media revealed that a British army report had warned four years ago of health dangers connected to the heavy-metal munitions. 

The draft document, prepared by the Headquarters of the Army's Quartermaster General in March 1997, said that soldiers exposed to dust from depleted uranium shells might be at risk of developing lung, lymph and brain cancers, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. and newspaper reports published Thursday. All troops who come in contact with depleted uranium "should be aware that uranium dust inhalation carries a long-term risk to health," the document said, according to published excerpts. 

The Defense Ministry said that the document was a "discredited" draft paper, prepared by a trainee and never endorsed by senior staff. 

In France, four soldiers are being treated for leukemia. Several European countries have begun screening soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans. Many civilian aid agencies are doing the same. 

On Wednesday, Portuguese Science Minister Mariano Gago said Portuguese scientific experts have found no dangerous levels of radiation during tests in Kosovo over the past four days. Gago told Portuguese state radio RDP that readings taken around the central Kosovo town of Klina, where Portuguese peacekeepers are stationed, showed normal levels of background radiation. 

One Portuguese peacekeeper has been diagnosed with cancer since returning from Kosovo. 

In Berlin, Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping also insisted there is no evidence to support growing concern that weapons containing depleted uranium pose a health risk. But he said Germany still wants a moratorium while more research is carried out. NATO turned down a request by Italy and Germany for such a moratorium Tuesday. 

Asked why NATO refused to consider a moratorium, Robertson said that since there are currently no hostilities in Europe, the weapons are not being used anyway. 

"What we have to do is act on the basis of our analysis of the facts," he said. "I would not agree to the use of the munitions if I believed there were a hazard." 

One risk that NATO itself has acknowledged is the possibility of contamination from breathing dust from an exploded depleted uranium shell. But even then, Robertson said, one would have to be inside a destroyed vehicle to be affected.

TITLE: Backup Shines as Stars Slip By Atlanta
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: ATLANTA - Dallas Stars goalie Ed Belfour is back from his walkout, but not back on the ice.


Backup Marty Turco made 31 saves for his third straight victory and Brett Hull scored twice as the Stars held on for a 3-2 National Hockey League victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Belfour was reinstated from his team-imposed suspension on Tuesday after a meeting with coach Ken Hitchcock, general manager Bob Gainey and assistant general manager Doug Armstrong.

But Hitchcock stayed with the hot goalie and Turco came through again Wednesday night, protecting a one-goal lead in the third period when the Thrashers outshot the Stars 13-3.

Belfour walked out on Saturday after a disagreement with Hitchcock concerning the veteran goalie's preparation for an optional pregame practice. But Turco insisted the Stars have put the incident behind them.

Donald Audette, who scored Atlanta's first goal on the power play 2:45 into the second period, was alone in front with a minute remaining. But he could not score on a rebound as Turco robbed the NHL's third-leading scorer with a glove save. In his last three starts, Turco has stopped 101 of 104 shots.



St. Louis 4, Anaheim 2. In Anaheim, California, Bryce Salvador and Tyson Nash scored third-period goals as the St. Louis Blues beat the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 4-2.


Al MacInnis and Pierre Turgeon also scored for the Blues, who swept the four-game season series, outscoring the Ducks 15-5 and outshooting them 151-90.

Rookie Brent Johnson made 20 saves for St. Louis, which rebounded from a 1-3-0 slump and remained within a point of Colorado for the best record in the league.



Colorado 4, Columbus 2. In Columbus, Ohio, Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic each had a goal and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche made the most of a season-low 14 shots and completed a sweep of the expansion Blue Jackets with a 4-2 victory.


Chris Drury and Adam Deadmarsh also scored for Colorado, which produced three unanswered goals in the second period to end a three-game winless streak. The Avalanche won all four meetings with Columbus by a margin of 17-6 as Forsberg and Sakic combined for five goals and nine assists.



New Jersey 5, Phoenix 1. In East Rutherford, New Jersey, red-hot Alexander Mogilny and ice-cold Bobby Holik both scored twice as the Devils extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games with a 5-1 triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes.


The Devils also are unbeaten in their last eight home games (6-0-2-0). Holik ended a 17-game scoring drought 77 seconds into the first period, then scored again at 8:21 of the second to put New Jersey ahead for good. Mogilny got back-to-back tallies before the period ended, extending the Devils' lead to 4-1 and giving him 14 goals in his last 13 games.

TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Bradman Doing Well

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) - Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman is resting at home after a bout of pneumonia forced him into the hospital before Christmas, his son said Thursday.

John Bradman issued a statement amid speculation that Bradman, 92, was suffering deteriorating health.

Bradman appealed for the media to respect the privacy of his father, who has shunned public attention during much of his later life.

Wisden, cricket's authoritative almanac, last year named Bradman as the best cricketer of the 20th century. He scored 6,996 test runs in 80 innings during the 1930s and 1940s at an unrivaled average of 99.94.



Ronaldo Testifies

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian striker Ronaldo told a Congressional inquiry commission Wed nes day that he only played in the 1998 World Cup Final after medical tests showed he was fit to do so, despite suffering convulsions hours before the game.

Ronaldo was testifying to a lower-house panel investigating the Brazilian Soccer Confederation's sponsorship deal with sportswear giant Nike.

He was adamant that the decision to play in the final at the Stade de France on July 12, 1998, was based on medical evidence and on his own wishes rather than outside pressures.

"I only played after medical tests showed I was clinically and physically fit to do so. If the tests had showed otherwise, I would not have played," he said.



Ingle Inquiry

LONDON (Reuters) - The British Boxing Board of Control said Wednesday its inquiry into the fight which left Paul Ingle in intensive care would resume Jan. 30.

After a meeting in London, the board issued a statement saying it would be interviewing a number of people involved before, after and during the contest.

Briton Ingle, 28, collapsed in the 12th round of the International Boxing Federation featherweight championship fight against South African Mbulelo Botile on Dec. 16.

Ingle is recovering after emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain and is set to leave intensive care at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield this week. 

One proposal under consideration is for fighters to undergo more stringent weight checks before fights.

TITLE: No. 1 Hingis Makes Easy Work of Williams
AUTHOR: By John Pye
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SYDNEY, Australia - Top-ranked Martina Hingis secured a straight-sets quarterfinal win Thursday over No. 5 seed Serena Williams and promptly pulled out of a doubles semifinal at the Sydney International.


Hingis said a blister on her right foot had prevented her from teaming with Monica Seles for a doubles semi against Lisa Raymond and Rachel Stubbs, but she expected to be fit Friday to play Conchita Martinez.

Martinez, the No. 4 seed, advanced to the singles semis with a crushing 6-4, 6-0 win over Corina Morariu of the United States.

Defending titlist Amelie Mauresmo overcame back pains to oust Seles 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) and move into a semifinal - and replay of last year's final - against second-seeded Lindsay Davenport.

Davenport swept Raymond 7-5, 6-4 in an all-American quarterfinal.

Hingis, who won three successive Australian Opens before losing last year to Davenport, said the Sydney International had not been a successful warm-up for her since she won it in 1997.

But her 6-4, 7-5 win against the big-serving Williams had given her a confidence boost, she said.

The 20-year-old Swiss broke Williams in the opening game and maintained the advantage for the balance of the opener.

She rallied from 4-1 down to clinch the second set and the match to edge ahead of the world No. 6 on career head-to-heads.

After completing her second win in three days against Serena - she and Seles combined to end Venus and Serena Williams' 22-match winning stretch in doubles - Hingis said she wasn't afraid of the powerful American sisters.

"The more you play them, the less problems you will have," Hingis said. "Other girls are already intimidated, but I'm the No. 1 player so I just have to defend my position. I shouldn't be scared."

Williams said she was a "little bit rusty," but said she'd planned to use the Sydney tournament as a warm-up and vowed to improve at next week's season-opening Grand Slam.

Mauresmo was having treatment late Thursday on a back injury. She said she hoped it was nothing more than a muscle strain.

Trailing 3-2 in the second, the Frenchwoman called for a medical time-out so that the trainer could treat her back injury, a problem that plagued her last season and sidelined her for four months.

Then, when leading 5-3 in the tiebreaker, Mauresmo looked to have earned three match points when Seles hit a forehand over the baseline.

But Australian umpire Leanne White called for the point to be played again, Mauresmo lost the replay and the next point for Seles to draw level.

After recovering to clinch the tiebreaker, Mauresmo said she was happy with her overall game.

In men's quarterfinals, top-seeded Magnus Norman overcame George Bastl of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to set up an all-Swedish semifinal against Jonas Bjorkman, who erased German Rainer Schuttler 6-3, 6-4.


*******

MELBOURNE, Australia - Pete Sampras isn't overly concerned about two losses, and Andre Agassi isn't especially impressed by two comeback victories in a warm-up for the Australian Open.


Sampras lost 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Thursday to Patrick Rafter, who was at his acrobatic best in a losers' bracket match at the Colonial Classic.

Agassi picked up his game while trailing 3-5, 0-40 in the second set and yielded only one more game as he beat Nicolas Escude 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, advancing to the final.

Sampras, one of the favorites for the Open, starting Monday, said, "As long as I'm hitting the ball well and feeling well, I think I'm getting there."

Sampras lost Wednesday to Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero and has one more match, against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, in the losers' bracket of the eight-man exhibition.

Agassi said early matches in the Open will be more important to him than last year, when he added the Australian title to a run that also included the French and U.S. Open championships and a runner-up finish at Wimbledon.

Facing three match points against Escude, "I was disgusted with myself that I was about to lose my serve because you always want to make somebody close you out," Agassi said. "When I got back into the match, I started making fewer mistakes."

In the Colonial Classic final Saturday, he will meet the winner of Friday's semifinal between Ferrero and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Rafter, a two-time U.S. Open champion and the losing finalist against Sampras at Wimbledon last year, gained his first-set break in the seventh game with a forehand at Sampras' feet.

The two then traded breaks in the middle of the second set. Serving at 5-4 in the tiebreaker, Rafter lost the point on a foot fault, but then served an ace and belted a serve return too wide for Sampras to handle.

Rafter is seeded 12th in the Australian Open, which he said probably will be his last one as he heads toward likely retirement at the end of 2001.

Despite that, he said, "I don't feel any pressures, I don't feel any relief."

He said he has decided to go all out for the whole year, and "it is not just the Australian Open thing."

TITLE: Tiger Looks To Improve His Game This Season
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: KAPALUA, Hawaii - It won't be easy for Tiger Woods to match his accomplishments of last year, but it won't be for lack of effort.


"Just try to get better than last year," he said when asked his goal Wednesday on the eve of the Mercedes Championship, where he will make his 2001 debut after skipping last week's Match Play Championship in Australia.

"Each and every year I've become better. Sometimes it doesn't equate to wins. Like in '98 I was a better player than in '97 but I wasn't winning as much."

Woods, of course, won three major championships last year, along with six other events on the PGA Tour, as well as the European Tour's Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.

He will try to clinch the sequential Grand Slam at the Masters in April, although many believe a Grand Slam is only that if a player wins all four majors in the same calendar year.

If he wins the Masters, Woods will consider it the Grand Slam, even if others don't: "Let me ask you this, do I hold all four?" he said, answering a question with a question.

At the same time, he acknowledged that winning all four majors in the same year would be a tougher proposition "because you have to win the Masters to start off."

Lest his rivals think Woods might have trouble maintaining his burning desire this year, he put paid to any such thoughts.

"Winning never gets old," he said. "Let's put it this way: I've never enjoyed losing. I've always enjoyed winning. Hence, that's one of the reasons I work as hard as I do."

He is familiar with Augusta National, home of the Masters, and he also likes the U.S. Open venue of Southern Hills, and the British Open site of Royal Lytham and St. Anne's. It was there at the 1996 British Open that Woods, then 20, first felt he belonged on tour.

"I hadn't played well in a tour event [until then but] I made eight birdies in 11 holes in the second round," said Woods, who eventually tied for 22nd, at the time his best major result.

"I kind of blitzed them there for a little bit. I had an inkling I could do this at the next level."

But if Woods will return to Lytham with fond memories, it won't be quite the case at Southern Hills, where he played the 1996 PGA Tour Championship while his father was in hospital recovering from a heart attack.

"I wasn't in the best frame of mind that week, but I remember the course being a wonderful layout. You need to drive the ball in the fairways because the greens are so severe you have to put the ball in certain locations or you're going to three-putt."

Woods has never played Atlanta Athletic Club, site of this year's PGA Championship.

But the first major is still three months away. Before then, Woods will contest a half dozen regular tour events, starting with the Mercedes Championship, an elite tournament restricted to last year's tour winners.

TITLE: Division-One Crystal Palace Scores Upset Over Liverpool
AUTHOR: By Bill Barclay
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - English division one side Crystal Palace took a step toward its first appearance in a League Cup final with a surprise 2-1 win over premier league Liverpool in Wednesday's semifinal first leg.


Latvian Andrejs Rubins put Palace ahead at Selhurst Park after 56 minutes with a vicious left-footed drive.

Clinton Morrison made it 2-0 to Alan Smith's side 21 minutes later before Liverpool's Czech raider, Vladimir Smicer, fed by new Finnish signing Jari Litmanen, pulled one back moments later.

Gerard Houllier's side, which has won the League Cup five times, was left to rue a host of glaring misses.

But the Palace players were not overawed, and Morrison tested Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld while Dean Austin also headed just wide for Palace before the interval.

Owen failed again to score when clean through after 53 minutes, denied by another impressive Latvian, Alex Kolinko, in the Palace goal.

Three minutes later, Palace, who held premier league Sunderland 0-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday, took the lead when a blistering Rubins shot on the run whistled past Westerveld.

Liverpool brought on Litmanen for his debut on the hour, but the visitors' horror show in front of the goal continued as Nicky Barmby and Croat Igor Biscan missed clear opportunities in quick succession.

They were made to pay after 77 minutes when Finn Mikael Forssell cushioned a cross into the path of Morrison, who smacked home his 16th goal of the season.

Litmanen immediately broke down the right for Liverpool and crossed for Smicer to halve the deficit.

The winner faces either premier league Ipswich Town or first division Birmingham City in the final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Feb. 25.